Do you do the oral review from the Teacher's Guide at the beginning of each lesson? Between the oral review prior to each day's lesson, the oral exercises, the written exercises (we did most orally & it worked for us), the worksheets (my children did all the worksheets in writing), the chapter tests (my children also did all the tests in writing), and the fact that each year of R&S goes back over the same grammar, adding a little more depth each year, I don't think you could find another grammar curriculum with more review. In a way, R&S is spiral in that it spirals back on the same grammar year after year, with a little more depth each year. If you aren't using all the components (TM, text, worksheets, tests), I'd try that first before jumping to another program where you'll have some sort of learning curve and you may find exactly the same issues in the end. Sometimes it just takes a few years of going through it for it to stick.

I was in a similar spot with my daughter last year. She was 12, in 7th grade. All she wanted to do is read her own chosen books. She did take a couple of online classes last year which went well. This year, I'm almost embarrassed to admit, we outsourced all her classes. She still would rather just lie about the house reading books of her own choosing or writing her own stories, but this year has been going so much more smoothly. She is getting so much more work done, almost without any whining. In fact, when I catch her off guard, she even admits liking a couple of her classes. LOL Mostly, I'm happy to have our relationship back on a positive footing. I don't know how much of the change is due to her (and me!) being another year older and how much is due to outsourcing. With outsourcing, the dynamic has moved away from her and me to her and the outside instructor. I'm more on her "side." It's like, instead of being on the other side of the table, setting out the requirements for the course and giving the assignments, I'm right next to her, helping her to do well in her courses, when she wants help. Some moms manage being on both sides of the table. I couldn't seem to do that well.

Wilson Hill Academy WTM Academy Memoria Press ETS's Great Books Tutorial (This is the only one I know of that shows the instructor and all the students! )

My boys are taking Algebra II this year with Anne Stublen. We are all very happy with the class, and I plan to have my daughter take it when she reaches Algebra II. I'm thrilled to have found a provider that offers classes for the whole Dolciani sequence. Mrs. Stublen has been very responsive and helpful in answering any of my questions. My sons think she is an excellent teacher who does a great job covering the material in class and giving clear explanations. I thought it was neat that she took the time to leave feedback via video on my sons' chapter tests. I can't say much about the class itself as my boys have been doing it completely independently, which I'm very happy about. :) A pp did a great job of describing the routine. There does seem to be a lot of homework, but that is probably par for a high school math course. I do like the format of the students doing the homework and checking it against the solutions manual themselves and then doing a quiz on the material at the beginning of class. I was initially hesitant about this approach because I couldn't see the instructor not correcting daily homework. However, having seen it in action now, I really appreciate the fact that it supports the student in taking responsibility for their own learning. They aren't just doing homework because it's assigned and they have to hand it in; they do the homework and check it themselves so they can be sure they understand the material before the quiz and end of chapter test. The quizzes ensure that the students keep up with the class. The students and the instructor can see from their quizzes whether they've mastered the material. It's a more active learning, I think, than a typical classroom where the student might feel more like it's the teacher's job to pull them through the material. I'm not doing a good job of explaining, but I think this is a strength of the class. The approach does require a certain level of maturity on the part of the student. My daughter has a similar routine for Algebra I, but, after she does the homework, she reads her answers and I look at the teacher's edition and tell her if her answers are correct. Anything she gets wrong, we work through together. She doesn't have the maturity, yet, or the stamina when it comes to math to self-check and really work on understanding where she went wrong. I think she'll be more self-directed when she reaches Algebra II.

off topic-sorry :)

Here are Pennsylvania Homeschoolers' online AP results from 2012. (I'm a little surprised they weren't higher.)

Rhetoric I !!

You were thinking there could be a logical solution to the problem. :) I'm cynical enough at this point that I went looking for the catch.

The Principal Certification option is not available after 2012-13. "Important Note: Using principal certification for non-UC-approved online courses to fulfill the “a-g†subject requirements is acceptable only through the 2012-13 academic year. Beginning with the 2013-14 academic year, students may only use UC-approved online courses to satisfy their subject requirements. The principal certification process for online courses cannot be used for the laboratory science (“dâ€) and visual and performing arts (“fâ€) subject areas." A UC, a-g approved geometry course must be critical to a human's future for them to put so much focus on it.

Ooo, that looks neat! I was only looking for a French/English dictionary, but I could have used something like this in college. I may have to pick it up in case one of my students continues with French lit in college. Thank you!

The Dark Is Rising series? Cornelia Funke's Inkheart series? All three of my children read and re-read Brian Jacques's Redwall series in 4th-7th grade.

Here, too! :) We do testing even when we're not in a charter because we want the standardized test practice. It's charter dependent. At our charter last year, we had to submit a list of specific, non-negotiable "key assignments" for foreign language. We were able to substitute some of the assignments that our students were already doing for their class, but there were some silly assignments that an academically serious class wouldn't include that just added busywork. But we knew we'd have hoops when we signed up. This year, the charter's requirements have changed and there's supposedly more flexibility. It's hard to know how onerous any given charter will be, esp. with regard to a-g courses, until you do it or talk to someone who has used it for whatever grade you're looking at.

I think we would have loved a hybrid model, too. How fun! I don't think there are any like that near us, though. Like any class, I'm sure quality is dependent on the individual teacher, but there can be some gems in those situations!

Thanks, Janet. I'll take a look at the Collins. Is it something a student at a college French lit level could use? (My oldest aren't quite there, yet, but they need a dictionary that could be used at that level. The Bantum was great.... had pretty much any word I came across in the range of French classics I read in college. It's also paperback, easily held and, therefore, frequently used. :) It may be that there isn't anything better out there. Wish I could find something with the newer tech-related words, though. (But not a pure technology French/Eng dictionary.)

Yes, CA charters are technically "California Public Schools," so, yes, Scout is free through a charter. Although a CA charter is a "public school," you can still home school pretty freely under them from K-8. There are definite advantages to using a charter for high school in CA, beyond the student funds you can use toward classes/materials, but there are a lot of hoops at the high school level, as one would expect with any public/governmental organization. If you use a charter in order to get that a-g designation, there are even more hoops. Having done a year of those hoops for my oldests' 9th grade year, if I absolutely had to get an a-g designation for a course, I'd use Scout (oh, the tedium!) or BYU instead of a charter.

Does anyone have a favorite French/English dictionary? I'm looking for one that is good for lit study, not just conversation. When I was studying French lit in college, my favorite was the Bantam French/English one, but it looks like the Bantam hasn't been updated since 1988. Is there anything out there as good as, and more recent than, the Bantam French/English dictionary? (I don't need a French-only dictionary...I already own and use a Petit Larousse and another recent French-only dictionary that I picked up in France.) Thanks! yvonne

This type of situation is why I finally gave up on jumping a-g hoops. If your daughter is doing AoPS geometry (good for her!), why should she have to do some approved a-g course, too? Yes, after AoPS, she should be able to blast through any a-g geometry text, but does it make sense for her to have to put any time into doing a second geometry text just to check an arbitrary box? We used a charter in 9th so my boys could label their classes a-g. They did a solid, substantial outside English course and a solid French course, but, to hit those a-g required assignments, they also had to do silly busywork on top of what they were doing for the outside courses. The busywork didn't add any value other than checking that a-g box. After last year's hoop jumping, with all its wasted time, we decided to stop worrying about a-g. It just isn't worth it for us. Our teens will need to go the test route, if they want to apply to the UCs. I think it will be fine. The son of someone on this list did the same and had no issues getting into UCB and other UCs. If you know your student tests well and will be covering the necessary material even if it's not an a-g course, I think the testing route makes a lot of sense. I don't know, though, if the a-g geometry requirement can be met through testing. The folks at the charter said no, but they've been known to be wrong. :)

Roadrunner & Rose, how do you plan to handle Geometry?

Could your student do a summer geometry course at your local brick & mortar public school or accredited private school? It's offered here (SF bay area) at some public & private high schools. Super expensive, but, if you really want to jump that hoop..... Geometry (and other a-g approved courses) are offered online through UC Scout and BYU.

Be careful of eBay. In my curricula junkie days, I found that prices on eBay were almost always higher than I could find at Rainbow Resource or amazon.com used. I rarely even look on eBay anymore because I want unmarked books at a good price. I've had much better luck at amazon. Regarding curriculum suggestions, have you looked at Great Courses? Our libraries have a lot of the courses, so they're free, and they come with a guide that often includes a handful of questions for each lecture that you could use as quiz questions or essay prompts. But, it doesn't give you answers.

Are you still doing the French? Or switching to Spanish? If French didn't work out, was it using a standard public school text? Or not having enough individual support, ie a tutor, etc? Those answers might help people suggest a more workable Spanish program.

When do results come out? And are they only delivered via snail mail? And you only get back results, not the actual test questions & answers, right? Thanks!

My boys thought the math sections were harder than on the practice test. They didn't have time for the last four or five problems, so they just bubbled in random answers. I'm glad this was only practice, but I'd hoped for fairly decent scores to up their confidence. This might be better, though, because they'll be motivated to prep before next year's test or at least try more practice tests w/ a timer so they learn to pace themselves better.

Thank you so much!! That is a huge relief. Wish I'd asked earlier! My boys will go with the TI-30.

Anyone have any idea how critical a calculator will be on the calculator-allowed math section? Is it critical for doing certain problems? Or is it mostly to save time? I haven't encouraged my oldest to use calculators. They've used & are familiar enough with the relatively uncomplicated TI-30Xa. However, that one is not on the list of PSAT-approved calculators. Last year, I bought them fancy TI Inspire calculators (which are approved) for a class, but they ended up not using them at all. The TI Inspires are so complicated that they might be more of an obstacle than a help at this point. Do you think they could use the simpler TI-30's or are the test sites absolute sticklers about only calculators from the approved list?