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choirfarm

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  1. I volunteered to answer phones at church this afternoon. Boys mowed a lawn and did yard work for the 102 year old lady in our church with other youth. (She still teaches 4 year olds!!!) Anyway, they finished and I still had an hour left. I was looking over prep for my literary analysis class for co-op and the boys next year. Part of it had "The Short Happy Life of ..... " by Hemmingway. "Oh, he must die with a title like that! Is that like that other story by the guy that wrote The Crucible.. " and he proceeds to give me a very good summary of Death of a Salesman. "When did you read that?" I asked. "Oh, I was bored some time last year so I read it. " Ok, he must have been reading out of my old literary anthology from college. Who does that for fun??? And to remember it so well when we didn't even study it.. The question is, can I get him to really look at these works in depth and actually write about them. AT 14, he just doesn't think that is important. It is "stupid." Sigh... I just don't get him. He devours all books and history and biographies. But what do you do for a living? He amazes me and frustrates me all at the same time. Christine
  2. Actually, if you wait until senior year then the colleges don't see it when you apply. Here is what my oldest is/has done: 10th AP Stats 11th AP Government, AP Chemistry, AP literature 12th AP Economics, AP Calc, AP Physics My other boy will take 9th AP Gov, AP literature 10th AP World History, maybe AP Economics, AP Language.. don't really know yet Christine
  3. http://www.hslaunch.com/mypage/profile/8288 Here it is. Look at the link on the left hand side that has honors biology living books + movies. It has the schedule in it along with great instructions to her sons. Christine
  4. Grin.. The best laid plans of mice and men. I'm going to plug in what you have here on a sample schedule. I don't know about how some of these classes go: 8-9am Chalkdust Geometry ( most kids would need more here, but if your kid is like my oldest this will be sufficient) 9-9:30 Go online for AP Government and post and get assignments 9:30-10:30 actually do the AP Government reading and assignments for the day 10:30-11:15 Latin ( don't have a clue how long this takes your child) 11:15-12 Lunch 12-1:30 Biology- I'm assuming watching a video a day, readin for at least 20-30 minutes and filling out on your own or study questions, listening to Lyrical Life science or just memorizing work however you do it, practice CLEP questions, etc. 1:30 -2:00 Go online to do AP Geography work, post, get assignments ,etc 2-3:00 Actually doing the work 3-4 Potters School ( don't have a clue how long this takes your child) Now, your child is already brain dead by this time. I haven't plugged in Bible, great books, logic, Spanish, American history... I have some really smart kids who are VERY quick readers and there is no way. I have a history lover, but if I tried to do AP Government, Geography and American history, he would hate it by the end of the year. Here is what I consider a rigorous schedule for my middle child who will be a 9th grader: Apologia Biology- using the honors schedule that joanna gilbert had with living books and extra projects PA Homeschoolers AP Government TT Geometry ( Oldest did Chalkdust like your child and did great, this one can't handle it) AP Literature- with me, I'm designing my own class Total Health- easy fluff class Spanish I and II at CC Racquetball at CC I'm not sure what his other course will be at the CC in the spring, probably another PE. So by the end of this year he will have 6 hours of college credit for Spanish, and a possible 3 hours in Government and 3 hours in English. We might try to do a CLEP with Biology as I have the REA guide and we can just play that by ear. He also does piano which requires an hour or so of practicing every day. You didn't mention if you do any extra-curriculars.. Those take time as well. The PA Homeschoolers AP classes take a lot of work. My oldest works really fast and has always finished his work easily. He normally watches a Chalkdust lesson and does all the odds in an hour to an hour and a half. He likes to do it all in one day. Most of those books he finished in Feb or March. His online AP class required a good hour and a half to two hours nearly every day. I just don't see how you can have them learn Geography, Government and American history in a year... Christine
  5. That is actually what I am trying to do with my boys, sort of. I had my math/science guy take that SAT II American history partly to prove rigor and partly because Baylor will let you place out of history with a good score. He's taking AP Government this year for the same reason. His AP Chemistry should count as well. Now his AP Stats from last year and then AP CALC and AP Physics from senior year won't count for credit. His Spanish should count at the CC. Trying to see, but it looks like Baylor won't give English credit for my local CC. Still trying to confirm that. He'll take it there or do AP. I plan to have my history/literature loving child try to take CLEP or CC for his math and science. I'm hoping he won't have to take math in college, but we'll see. He has no idea what he wants to major in right now. I know you were making fun, but this really has been my strategy. I'm thinking my math/science guy should have a good 30 humanity credits by the time he goes to college. Christine Christine
  6. Yep, that doesn't surprise me. I do AP mainly to prove rigor and give them a chance to do college level work. I knew that AP Stats would not count for his major. They have to take a harder stats. But to me, this was REALLY good prep for that class. I also know that his AP Physics and AP Calculus won't count when he is a senior because he will have to take 3 semesters of physics in college and 3 semesters of Calculus, so I wouldn't want him to skip a basic class that he needs for a higher level. But hopefully he will find them easier. I guess my whole purpose is not to acrue as many hours as possible, but to make the transition easier. Christine
  7. What do you plan to cover? You could call it American Literature and composition or grammar and composition or whatever you will be studying. Christine
  8. I came across this thread today: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=188354 I thought those of you also doing Biology might find it interesting. If you go to the second page, then you find a link to her site where you can download it. http://www.hslaunch.com/mypage/profile/8288 Christine
  9. What do you mean by independent??? I'm a little confused.. Basically, I make out a syllabus for each unit/quarter. It is basically a reading list since I often have alternate or extra resources. He puts this in the front of his notebook. I then sit down with him and give him the questions to answer for the week, maps to do, timelines to cut out ( get them from the yahoo groups). We discuss the deadlines: discussion will be Friday morning or Thursday since we are going out of town or I want the questions on my bed by 5pm Thursday, etc. I grade their questions on a completion/effort basis and then we have our weekly discussions. That is how TOG is designed to be used... so do you want more independent than that???? Christine
  10. mmm. One thing to consider is that you will need LAB science in high school. But perhaps you could do it with a history emphasis. Take a typical textbook and look at the table of contents. Find the main scientists. Have her make a notebook where she researches and writes biographies on the scientists, maybe summaries of their major discoveries and then labs she performs about the topic. For example: electricity could include Benjamin Franklin and I have a book somewhere where you do some of the experiments that he did. I'm sure other books exist.. I'm thinking Archimedes. some of his experiments can be recreated on a smaller scale. Also, what about KNEX.. I've used sets to show simple machines as well as a few physics topics. Here are some websites I just googled: http://charlottemason.tripod.com/hisci.html http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/sciencebooks.htm http://basicallybeechick.blogspot.com/2011/02/living-books-for-highschool-science.html http://www.abasiccurriculum.com/homeschool/raqlivingscience.html http://appliejuice.wordpress.com/brain-suff/living-book-list-for-science/ My middle, history-loving son is about to start Biology as a 9th grader. I may have to try this... Christine
  11. :iagree::iagree::iagree: I agree with all of this. I don't think we are looking at ivies at all...though I guess Rice might still be in the mix. Though I doubt it. He wants a competitive Christian university that is small to medium. Christine
  12. Hi. I'm confused. Are you going to switch from TOG to Omnibus???? I would just stick with TOG unless you don't like it and yes, read the rhetoric and do it yourself as he is doing it. That would be the "easiest" way and it has plenty of material for self-education. As far as math, it depends on you I guess. I remember all basic math and all of college Algebra. I remembered most of Geometry, though needed to brush up on proofs. However, by the end of Alg II, this last year I was no help at all to my oldest. Nor will I be able to help in in Pre-calc at all. Thankfully, he rarely needs my help. I generally hand him the key and let him look at it and he goes.."OHH!! I see." I am going to try and find a math teacher that may meet with him every so often this year. Which brings me to the point that I want to make and I know I sound like a broken record. The truth is you will not be able to self-educate yourself on every single subject your children are taking if you have more than one child..though I could just about do it with two. Adding the third child into the mix made me realize the futility. I have taken the last couple of years and had one or two subjects that I feel are a priority for each child and made sure to concentrate on that, self educate myself, etc. As far as AP, we are using PA Homeschoolers which I find to be great so far. Last year my oldest took AP stats, next year both boys will take AP government and my oldest will take AP Chemistry. As far as does it subtitute...depends. For history, TOG should give them a great background. You might just self study for the exam if you feel comfortable. Otherwise enroll them in PA Homeschoolers. What they did for TOD will give them a good background. However, for science most children need a year introductory course before they take an AP. That said, I know people on this board have done Apologia Chemistry and Advanced Chemistry in one year. We chose to break it up and actually do a different text for AP Chemistry with PA Homeschoolers. He is actually looking forward to having something other than Apologia for science even though he has enjoyed it. For language I have used RS and SOS and this year the older two will take it at community college. Christine
  13. It sounds like many of us are in the same place: 1. Writing- both to be comfortable and speedy in cursive and to be able to write a well developed paragraph. All we have done is dictation and narration type writing. 2. Automatic basic operations in math- really good at addition, ok at subtraction, not great at about 1/4 of multiplication facts and poor at division right now. But she can do word problems easily:tongue_smilie: 3. Grooming is also an issue here. Christine
  14. So what was the EA part of the class I took? I think that stood for elementary analysis. Is that trig? Christine
  15. I thought this was pretty good to show he learned the material. We do TOG and then he studied with a prep book. I don't go over to college confidential much, but most seem to want to retake it if it is less than 750 and most want an 800. He was a 10th grader, so I thought a 730 was pretty good for a math/science kid.. We are waiting until July for AP Stats. Christine
  16. I was just wondering as curriculum is already decided... When I was in high school, my junior year I took a class called Trig/EA. Now it was also the year I moved. My previous school was a wonderful class of students who all helped each other. I didn't know anyone who drank. I made really good grades, but didn't have any idea about class rank. So we move the summer between junior and senior year.. No one helps anyone because you might jeopordize your class rank. People are separated by hundredths of a point. This school is better in some ways because this is where I took Latin. She was AWESOME. We had a giant club and she taught 5 full classes every year, all the national merit semifinalists came from her classes ( normally had 8 to 10 a year. I only got commended. I was one of the stupid ones...) . ( Once again, I knew nothing at all about this test until I moved. I did no prep as I didn't know I was taking it or what it was for.) Keg parties were rampant...But I digress.. My son is doing Precalculus with Chalkdust. Is that the same as trig?? I decided not to take Calculus my senior year because I knew I didn't need it as a music major and needed room for choir, show choir, and drama. So was is the difference between all of those maths?? Not that I will probably understand the explanation... Sigh.. I loved math until we moved. I just felt so isolated and alone that year that math fell by the wayside.... Christine
  17. Both LeTourneau and Baylor both stressed to apply during the summer between the junior and senior year. They said the acceptance rates are much better for those than for those that apply in the fall or later. I'm not sure how true it is for other schools, but you might want to apply early. Christine
  18. Ok, what book is he talking about???? Both of my boys did it and LOVED it and especially that eyewitness Civil War book. I would just tell him tough. Boring??? There were very, very few books they didn't like: the ghandi one being the one that comes to mind. Christine
  19. Here is the post that got me thinking: Quote: Originally Posted by Beth in Mint Hill :iagree: It saddens me so much to see the way "homeschoolers" do it these days! THey should be called "runaround schoolers"--out of their insecurity to teach they run around seeking others to teach everything. If only they knew how empowering it was to learn so that you can teach. MY advice to young homeschoolers with little wiggly 8yo students. Let them play a little more in the woods while you do your teacher training. It goes on in the "real" schools all the time. The value that this will be to your kids when they are 10yo s will be immeasurable. The catch is that you have to be committed to it long term this way. Too many moms are doing it on a year by year basis and so they are paranoid of getting 2 months behind!! Oh me, oh my! :tongue_smilie: Well, part of it may be that a lot of homeschoolers are like me. Basically I want the BEST education for every subject, so I search and search to find the best wherever it may be. We don't think ps offers the best... I don't think home offers the best necessarily..it depends on the home. I've enjoyed educating myself over the last few years. TOG has helped a lot with that but my homeschooling co-op finds me intimidating in creating my own materials all the time because I never, ever use anything exactly as written. I love tweaking, but tweaking is also exhausting and I am just very, very, very tired and the boys are so old. I'm ready for someone else to do it...at least part of it. ( Especially since the 14yo thinks I'm not the smartest cookie. Part of him is tired of mom as the teacher. I'm not man enough.) I'm probably rambling, but to many of the new homeschoolers it is about education..the best education, not about home. Maybe we need a new word... but I'm not sure what it is. I'm the only homeschooler in my church. I tell them as well as anyone else: homeschooling isn't for everyone. There are pros and cons to every form of education you choose. There are great ps students and teachers. There are awful ones. There are fabulous homeschoolers. There are atrocious homeschoolers. Most of us fall somewhere in between. All forms of education have gaps. Christine
  20. I just realized something in the dumbing down thread. Many of us who "homeschool" and the new ones that everyone seems to think are so terrible don't really want to homeschool as it was originally defined. Homeschooling seemed to be born out of a very conservative Christian home needs to be the center of all things kind of idea. Home is the best place to teach everything. I agree to a point. A lot of us newer homeschoolers just want the best education, period. I want it to be unique to the individual student. That may mean everything at home with mom designed courses, it may been CC, online, etc. For my daughter who loves music, drama, etc It may mean a lot of time outside the home with violin lessons, piano lessons, choir, drama/community theater things, etc. It won't be the same. Several moms on here are so upset at the fact that it is not the mom teaching everything, but I really don't think that is a bad thing necessarily. So what are we? What is our new term. I'm not a homeschooler. I'm a best education for each of my children for each subject kind of mom. Im a ..... Christine
  21. Well, part of it may be that a lot of homeschoolers are like me. Basically I want the BEST education for every subject, so I search and search to find the best wherever it may be. We don't think ps offers the best... I don't think home offers the best necessarily..it depends on the home. I've enjoyed educating myself over the last few years. TOG has helped a lot with that but my homeschooling co-op finds me intimidating in creating my own materials all the time because I never, ever use anything exactly as written. I love tweaking, but tweaking is also exhausting and I am just very, very, very tired and the boys are so old. I'm ready for someone else to do it...at least part of it. ( Especially since the 14yo thinks I'm not the smartest cookie. Part of him is tired of mom as the teacher. I'm not man enough.) I'm probably rambling, but to many of the new homeschoolers it is about education..the best education, not about home. Maybe we need a new word... but I'm not sure what it is. I'm the only homeschooler in my church. I tell them as well as anyone else: homeschooling isn't for everyone. There are pros and cons to every form of education you choose. There are great ps students and teachers. There are awful ones. There are fabulous homeschoolers. There are atrocious homeschoolers. Most of us fall somewhere in between. All forms of education have gaps. Christine
  22. Here is another thing to consider: A friend of mine had a daughter who wanted to graduate early. Planned from the beginning to do this. So she took the PSAT... she was just a couple points shy of national merit status. So when she starts actually visiting colleges, she chickens out. She decides she wants to stay home another year... If she had waited to take the PSAT when she was REALLY a junior, then I'm guessing she would have been a finalist easily.. I think she got a 210 or 211. Anyway, it is too late... They can't recertify her. So she needs to know before she takes the PSAT. Christine
  23. Here is a site that I think we used when we chose http://www.savingforcollege.com/college_savings_201/ It was a long time ago, though. We live in Texas but chose the Missouri plan for their guaranteed and Utah for investing according to age. We opened one for each child when they were just a couple of months old. Use the comparison charts to help you. The NC plan might be best if you get enough tax benefit. Since Texas doesn't have state income tax, that didn't matter to us. If the site I gave you is correct, then you can put in the factors that are important to you. We liked the Utah plans because they were highly ranked and had some of the lowest fees, but it may be different now I don't know. So do your research. Christine
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