The Wordsmith books, Lively Art of Writing by Lucille Payne, On Writing Well by Zinsser, Elements of Style by Strunk and White. We've used all of these. Using the WEM to discuss books will also help writing. Susan wrote a three part guide to writing the reseach paper that is on this site- check site resources. Zinsser has several books she might enjoy- Writing to Learn, one about memoir, one about journalism.

Did anybody notice that David Archuleta semed a little tired last night? I love his voice and think he's amazingly talented. More, I think he's a wonderful young man; so sincere, caring, thoughful and intelligent. But I think this contest is too much for these younger teens. Just too much pressure. I thought it was sweet of David Cook to go and sit down with him. It seems that the contestants couldn't hear what Ryan was saying, and David A. seemed unable to hear even after the group that was safe heard. Next week, Andrew Lloyd Webber will be coaching. That should be a good show. I'm looking forward to it.

Well, Dolly should sing Mariah, and Mariah should sing Dolly. And then Tony Bennet should come back and sing something by them, too. ;) I would love to see Jennifer Lopez sing any of those... :tongue_smilie: ...and about Carly- could very well be...

Yes the Davids were great, but so was Jason. I love his reaction to Randy's reaction; he laughs and has a good time. :) Kristi. Kristi, please watch your performance, and withdraw. Please. Syesha does not have a pleasant voice when she sings strong; the "big notes". I don't think she is usually technically good; she often misses those notes, sings out of key, or just badly. She is pleasing on quieter songs (but she always goes for the big songs). Carly didn't have a good performance tonight, either. Those are my choices for bottom three. The chatter from the judges is distracting. They should each say their piece (if they must) then be quiet and let the next person speak. It's confusing to the contestant and the audience. I think that Paula, especially, goes overboard defending what she says, and praises a contestant more than another who does a better job, merely because she's angry at something Simon says about her comment. It's not fair to the singers. I don't think these "coaching" shows are good for the singers- it's just a showcase for the "coach". I think it's too limiting for the contestants. The coaches have a definitive style.The AI singers are there to show what they can do and should be given a wider song choice to express themselves. At no time in their life did any of those guys (nor, probably, the girls) cover a Dolly Parton song or a Mariah Carey song.

well- if you plan your subjects... schedule something you like, then something not your favorite. take short breaks after a tough lesson. commend each other for your hard work. work on things together and then have independent study. schedule a mid-week date for brunch, or coffees and bagels. plan several field trips during the year, to anyplace that looks interesting. we went on short bike rides and walks during the week (and that counted as PE). took cameras out with us and snapped photos. enjoy your special time together. and I did read, under your other posting, a suggestion that you schedule a sports (or maybe a music) class for outside instruction. also, having her do some of her work when her sis is doing homework. both good ideas. in the past, I'd always done math with my youngest (youngest by several years). she disliked it, so it made a big difference if I was there. I made sure to be prepared, go over lessons before hand. and for all subjects, I'd try to make things interesting, get her opinions, have discussions. nurture where she needed it, help her build independent study skills. (was far from perfect at it, but I did OK, mostly :)) guess I'm saying, pace yourself, and along with school, make it fun. have a great old time.

I have heard of a curriculum designed by homeschooling parents with a science background: Friendly Chemistry. I'm not sure if it's a full chem course...

probably just haven't found a poem that meant something to you. just browse- go to poets.org and read a poem a day till you find one you like. don't let somebody else interpret it for you or tell you what it's supposed to mean, or bully you into looking for subtexts. just read and think what you think. there are so many different styles of poetry. and sometimes, it's just a few lines or a stanza the catches your imagination or your heart. Frost has many that seem to click with with people. Have you read any of Emily Dickinson's? Yeats? Here's one by Yeats. Read it when you're relaxed, and the house is quiet. And tell me what you think. Please. :) I'd like to know. When You Are Old

Most high school Chem courses assume knowledge of algebra 1. The chem course taught in those public schools that don't have alg 1 as a prerequisite might include short lessons on the math required within that specific course to prepare students. I think Spectrum Chemistry publishers put out a course called Bridge Math to do that same thing. You may want to look at that. You could go ahead with biology, and then do astronomy, geology, marine biology, environmental science, or anything that your daughter has an interest in the next year. Then you could pick up with the sequence you had planned. It would be difficult to find chemistry and physics courses without math.

I should copy Robin's post and put it on my bedpost to read every morning. Thanks for this thread, Nan. I'm planning for next year, our last year, and I've just come to terms with "practical wisdom". Now...when I'm almost done.

HTRAB is much more in depth than WEM. Therein lies it's strength...and it's downfall. ;) I don't think the WEM totally replaces it- I don't think it tries to . It does give you tools to analyze literature in a readable and enjoyable format. I don't think you'd be getting a second class education for choosing WEM to use for your Great Book discussions, if that's any help. In fact, WEM is set up to to help you succeed. They're really different books; hard to do a comparison. Think if I were doing it over, I'd use WEM through high school and have her read HTRAB during her senior year. I wouldnt skip it. But I don't think it's best suited to a 13 or 14 year old. There's an article on HTRAB at Wikipedia- if you read it over, it might give you a better idea of how the two books, WEM and HTRAB, differ.

Congratulations to you! And thanks for sharing your preparation.

It's not for a browse, that's for sure. If you really don't like it, The Well Educated mind is a good substitute.

I own only the first edition, though I did see the second edition. I think the main difference at the rhetoric level is in resource recommendations. Sorry I can't give you specifics. I hope somebody with both editions will come along to offer more detail. *update* One new recommendation was was The New Oxford Guide to Writing by Kane. I remember because we're using that... ;)

OK- thanks. I'm going to check Spark notes

Some of our classes are easily tracked- math, for instance. Just do it, as you say. But, literature: reading and discussion (and that discussion can happen anywhere, in the car, on a walk, etc.), writing a paper- that time has to be tracked, within reason. If it's not a pre-packaged curriculum, how do you track time? Do you write it all down daily? Use a weekly calendar?

I'd like suggestions for keeping track of work done for credits. I know we need a better routine for tracking, but I'm wonder what you've found to work best.

My daughter is good with math; picks up concepts and integrates them quickly. In fact, I'd encourage her in a math field- the bump in that road is that she doesn't much enjoy it. She loves writing, history, biology, music, and dance. So when we reached high school level, we went with Math U See rather than the NEM (Singapore Math) we started with. I enjoyed Singapore; she did too. It's clearly written and teaches and explains concepts better than anything else I've seen. The problems are interesting. But there is a lot of math involved. It's overkill for my daughter. She's learned it, it's cemented in her mind- she wants to move on. Math U See fit her style and goals perfectly. It's a good and thorough program if she decides to pursue a field in science. She doesn't have to spend long parts of her day on math problems, but can put her energy and time into the subjects and interests she wants to explore.

For music, along with lessons, we listened to the Teaching Company's How to Listen To and Understand Great Music. We borrowed CDs and opera videos from the library. We sampled music on iTunes, listening to the variations in different interpretations of the same piece. My daughter is a ballet dancer, and she knows many different musician's music from her classes. We watch ballets on CD, too. We borrow art books from the library, and have sampled a book in art history. I have the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain for this coming semester.

We have used Math U See. My daughter has always done well in math, so I can't give you any examples from a teaching perspective, but when I was in 9th grade, I struggled with algebra. I have often wished that this was available when I went to school. The explanations are thorough and the concepts well explained.

We are using Artes Latinae. They are having a big sale this month; believe it's through the end of March. Their site (just google Artes Latinae) has lots of information. I think it has a demo of the program, too. I don't have a background in Latin and I have found the progam easy to use. I'm surprised at how much we learn and how fast we learn it.

Thank you, Jann in TX, and to everybody.

"College Algebra is an amorphous beast"...I've always felt that way about all algebra. :) Thanks, I'll check on acceptance. If anybody has a child who has taken this CLEP, can you tell me what you used for preparation?

Hi: We're homeschoolers finishing up high school. I was thinking of having my daughter take the CLEP test for College Algebra. Can anybody tell me which levels of HS math are needed? We're finishing Algebra 2. Is Trig necessary before taking the test? I'm not sure what is included in a college algebra course. Thanks for any help, Jackie