And no, I'm not talking about a high-level screening like you can do with the College Board tool, which I have used and not found what I am looking for. I'm wondering how one goes about finding out which colleges are highly regarded for a specific academic area -- particularly in regard to how they prepare the student for graduate school in a discipline. Let me restate that. Let's use mathematics. What schools are highly regarded by college mathematics professors as doing well at preparing their undergrads for graduate school work in mathematics? See the difference between that question and a screening tool? I am having a hard time expressing it ... Anyone have advice on this? Thanks, Karen

A lot and a little. Faithr did basically the same thing we did, and she calls it a lot of input; I call it only a little input, but maybe that's just my pessimistic outlook LOL. DS14 and I sat down about a year ago and talked of his life aspirations. He's saying he wants to be a mathematician, or possibly a physicist, so we talked about how that means he'll be in college for many years getting advanced degrees. We looked at college admissions websites and reviewed the requirements for incoming students at several varying places, noting commonalities and differences. We also reviewed our state statutes for high school level. DS made a list of the coursework he needs to complete to meet all the applicable requirements. Then we talked about electives and he didn't have much to say about those at that time. We just recently reviewed that list and talked about what he'll be studying this school year, his 9th grade. He had little to say about selecting the courses, but then he knows why he has to study all of those things, too. It's for his future, he knows why he has to take each course, so he seems good with it. You asked a question that sounds like you were asking whether the student gets to choose the curriculum. For us, no. I won't say never, but looking ahead, I just don't see putting that fully into the student's hands. I might give them a choice of A or B, and I am always open to constructive suggestions/requests from the student, but I would never say "look around the big wide world and find something." As for the student not making a decision -- we haven't reached the point where that's really possible yet. DS still has a mountain of requirements to work on before he really has a lot of freedom to make significant free choices. HTH, Karen

:eek: NOOOOooooooo! Oh, sorry about shouting ... but no, that is exactly what kills the love of learning. It's what turns gifted kids into zombies in public schools. The best thing about home schooling -- it's done for your child, personally. So you can feed the child at their level of competence and/or desire in each area. Typically, they'll be way ahead in a few things, average in something, maybe behind in something. So what, that is normal for gifted kids. As opposed to normal for ordinary kids, which is an entirely different animal. I recommend the Hoagie's gifted website, where they have articles on asynchronous development that you might find interesting. Oh, and enjoy the ride! :) Karen

LOF is really a curriculum for strong readers. You said your dd loves reading, so it might work well for her. The books are inexpensive, as math texts go, so you might buy one just to experience it directly. It's hard to give the flavor of it online :) As for the "complete curriculum" question -- absolutely yes. The one thing a lot of families do is supplement with extra problem sets. You can find those in the Home Companion books or with other curricula/worksheet programs. Karen

I'm surprised they can get insurance that doesn't specify seat belts for all. Oh, wait, maybe they forgot about insurance, too ... ? Well, I would be wondering. And I agree with the other posters -- no seatbelts, no go with us. Karen

I sympathize and I feel the opposite way. We use Winston and its approach is effective. But for me, being a visual-spatial type, anytime there's a diagram is an improvement. Dif'rent strokes, etc. :D Karen

Love the way you said this Laurie! I am beginning to reach this point for my kids. FWIW DS14 will be going to the public high school for AP Bio and German I this school year. Well, we'll see how it goes. I'm sending him out for those classes for the following reasons: (1) It will save me tons of time. :hurray: I can see the school from my house, so commuting will not be a problem. (2) I will not have to learn a foreign language 2 lessons ahead of him, phew! Or rely on his self-study -- great for math & science, not so reliable for other subjects. (3) It will make him accountable to someone else -- and someone else serious, not just "someone else's mom." Both his teachers will be male -- and he needs that at this point :) (4) It will put him in an institutional setting, forcing him to hone his time management/study skills for that environment. This is important because 2 years from now, if not before, he will be attending the local college for a couple of courses. I want him to have that institution-comfort before hitting the college campus! (5) Worst case, he won't learn much ... but he WILL get those boxes checked for college admissions purposes. Frankly, I don't care that much about these two areas for this particular student. He will certainly absorb enough biology to meet his needs for Personal Life Knowledge. And he can always take a language sequence when he gets to college, if needed. Future plans for this student: if this high school experiment works out, do a similar thing next year. Then switch to local college for math and science in his "junior" year. Don't know yet where we're heading with foreign language .... I also have a younger dd, for whom I am beginning to consider these issues, but she is currently entirely at home, except for her youth theater class, which isn't academic, anyway. ETA: We don't do coop stuff. What's available in our area is mostly elementary-oriented. The little that is aimed at older kids is so namby-pamby it's not worth the time, in my opinion. We are looking for academic rigor in most subjects, and that is not the culture of the area we currently live in, sadly. FWIW, Karen

Thanks, Karin, that is exactly the info I was looking for but didn't know quite how to say it -- that's a big help! :) And the solutions -- yes, I am noticing that problem, too, sigh. Thanks again, Karen

So do you think it really matters ... I mean trying to match up my books for Alg. I and Alg. 2/Trig? Is there a functional point to that exercise? Or are the books similar enough that it doesn't really matter? Please do tell :) Karen

Clearly, these kids were not home schooled students -- they are suffering from home school failure. Your uncle would never have met them if their home school experience had not failed. He is judging all home schoolers by a couple of acknowledged failures. What amazing rational thinking. I agree with everyone who is saying "you're doing fine" and "try not to second-guess yoursef." Time to put Uncle's email addy on "ignore." Prayers, Karen

I live in Utah and I am NOT Mormon, thank you very much. :)

Ah, thanks for pointing out the Modern School Math is a different thing altogether. So all the Algebra + Trig combos are basically the same, just idfferent names for different editions? That helps. Thanks, Karen

Sorry if this was covered before, but my searches didn't come up with threads that answered this question ... I am confused ... looking at the Dolciani algebra books ... So I have a copy of Book 1 Modern Algebra Structure and Method, 1973. Looking for the next in sequence at Amazon, I'm finding titles such as: Algebra and Trigonometry Structure and Method Algebra II and Trigonometry Modern Algebra and Tigonometry Structure and Method Book 2 Algebra and Trigonometry Book 2 Modern School Mathematics Structure and Method Book 2 So many titles, so little time & money! Which, if any, of these would you recommend investigating further to match up with the book I already have? Help! :) Karen

:iagree: FWIW, I'm older than most of the parents here. Gifted programs didn't really exist when I was a schoolchild, so I can't speak to that. Public school didn't challenge me until college -- first time I ever had to actually work -- that adjustment was a nightmare. :tongue_smilie: I have two gifted teens, at opposite extremes -- one totally interested in math/science, one totally interested in arts/writing. We have chosen not to test for giftedness; if they want that kind of information, they can choose to do that as adults. We follow the children's interests/needs, along with making sure the bases get covered. Personally, I find some of the conversations I observe about testing disturbing -- some of them strike me as almost dehumanizing. Emotionally, I don't want to go there; intellectually, I don't see that that type of information would change what our family is doing. We aren't going to send them away to special programs or whatnot -- family unity is a prime value for us. I know some on this forum would ask regarding choosing not to test, "how do you know they are gifted?" And my answer is "how would you not know?" Especially if you're gifted yourself -- you can just see it, can't you? Meet the children at their level of understanding and interest as much as possible. Go deep in addition to going wide. Keep feeding them as much as they'll absorb. Gifted children will tug you along with them. Enjoy the ride :) Just my experience FWIW, Karen

Not unschooling conflict, but I feel a similarity FWIW ... ... we live in an area where the dominant religious denomination makes up 75% of the total population. We don't share that religion. I am talking about one centralized denomination -- not just "general Christianity" or whatnot. All the home schooling groups in this area are almost entirely ... you guessed it ... families in that dominant religious denomination. They call themselves "open to all," but they are so immersed in their own denominational culture that they don't even realize how overbearing and exclusive they are. We tried a year in the most active group in this area. The socialization among the kids depended on the denominational codes and customs. Outsiders were tolerated but not accepted. It was not worth the emotional toll. Now we do activities on an individual basis -- e.g. community theater rather than home school theater -- and I get my support online. If the differences are sufficiently large, you might be better off without :(

For this, when I'm feeling like an a**, I put a really confused look on my face and ask "I'm sorry, who are you and why do I care what you think?" What fun ... not.

Cities sometimes have projects that kids can do. Our scout troop cleaned out and re-chinked a couple of historic log cabins in town. This was under the aegis of the city historical society. Karen

FWIW, we have not yet used this book, so take what I say with your salt shaker handy ... ... but my 12yod will be using it this coming year. She loves to write, (sounds like much the same genre as yours :) ), so my thinking was to use it to give her a little more structure to what she's already doing. E.g. Yes, you really do need to plan your plot in advance ... etc. It's been awhile since I looked the book over, but, I have the distinct "memory" that the author is Christian, though it isn't all that explicit in the book. And I would think it would be a little young for an 11th grader. But you said your dd would be in a coop class, so maybe the instructor will add to it? If you can, maybe talk with the instructor about it? It's also not a complete language program, so my dd will be doing additional grammar/vocab/lit. Hope this helps, Karen

Not sure what you mean here. I've sold several cores/IGs. Leave the marks in, and describe accurately in your post just how marked up it is. Examples: not a mark in it, clean & crisp, pencil mark dates/checks, etc. Also describe the condition, what elements might be missing (timeline figures? student sheets?), and note the publication date. Does this help? Karen

As a Purdue engineer, :iagree: As a home school mom, I have to add: some kids are ready younger than others, so why hold those kids back? FWIW, my high school experience (back in the stone age) was just like yours. Some schools still use that as the standard track. Others not. For your home school students, you get to decide :) Karen

FWIW, my kids have both gone through bad carelessness phases. I make them work problems out loud, and on paper while I watch. This tells me whether they understand what they're doing. If they really don't understand something, we back up/slow down/whatever seems necessary. But when the problem is obvious carelessness -- arithmetic errors, most commonly -- then I make them redo until correct -- however long that takes. Some days, it takes all day :( Then I get to do the lecture circuit -- "it would only have taken 15 minutes if you had paid attention to the arithmetic computations ... blah blah blah." And I get Dad in on the lecture circuit, too. After he tells them the same thing, sometimes they actually believe me. LOL Some hope for the future, perhaps ... ds14 is now doing official high school work, for which I have to keep his "permanent record" looking toward college admissions ... which means assigning permanent grades ... which means he is suddenly not making any arithmetic errors any more -- hallelujah it's a miracle! LOL Bottom line for my experience -- it's a habit of attitude, and it will take a long time to really get through to a kid ... well, at least to my kids. And in my kids' case, self-interest is a big factor. Courage, Karen

:iagree: Oh, yeah, I do wish I could have grown up and "wised" up a whole lot sooner than I did. I wasted about 10 years there ... and intelligence wasn't part of that problem. Wisdom is very much underrated and misunderstood in our general culture. Karen

:grouphug: Right with you, only for me, it's my mother still lamenting that I didn't become a brain surgeon. And I just turned 50, you'd think that's long enough to get it, sigh. Now I'm a SAH home school mom, "wasting" my potential. I rather believe that God made me smart so I could give my even smarter kids what they need ... maybe they'll be the ones curing cancer or not someday :tongue_smilie: At any rate, particularly during the school age years, I don't see that service work is any different for gifted kids -- my kids do all the same kinds of things their friends do. Looking into their adult years ... who can know? The person who originally asked the service question mentioned the "great power ... great responsibility" ethic, which I agree with heartily. But for school years ... I just don't see that there's a place for large differences just because of giftedness. FWIW, Karen

fwiw ... We had good results with reading aloud with adult level books, even when that was beyond the kids' reading levels. You could enrich history, etc. curriculum in this way. The kids loved it until they were old enough to handle that kind of reading on their own. I would digress from the reading to discuss current events that seemed relevant ... it was a great opportunity to weave together a lot of things that a curriculum would not have touched on. Now they prefer to curl up in their rooms and read in solitude. :) Karen

:iagree: I experienced this when I was young, and see it now affecting my children. Gifted kids aren't easy. They make more work. Ordinary teachers often don't respond to gifted kids' needs because ... it's more work for the teacher. Home schooling parents don't get a free ride with gifted kids -- we have to work harder to keep up with them. But all this is invisible to parents of ordinary children. When I'm tempted to be resentful, I keep reminding myself that I am so glad to have this problem rather than some other kind of problem. As life's crosses go, this one is pretty cool. FWIW, Karen