Did you just buy the student books and not the teacher's?

Thanks, regentrude. We teach to mastery, as well, but I wasn't sure if grading the final paper was considered "cheating." I never even thought about the writing centers in college.

For those who grade writing assignments, do you help them edit their paper? My dd and I are used to her printing her rough draft, editing it, and then letting me edit. Do I assign a grade to the final draft I've helped edit or to the draft she first gives me? How do you all do it?

My dd is studying US History and also Literature so we have a long list. Here are some titles in her queue that lean more toward history: Common Sense Federalist Papers Anti Federalist Papers Killer Angels by Michael Shaara Moby Dick Uncle Tom's Cabin Farewell To Arms Grapes of Wrath Flags of Our Fathers: Heroes of Iwo Jima Flyboys My Antonia O Pioneers Last of The Mohicans plus a slew of Jeff Shaara (Rise to Rebellion, etc.) and Louis L'Amour books because they're fun :)

Math: AOPS Precalculus + Intermediate Counting & Probability Science: Giancoli Physics History: American History and Gov't. English: American literature; They Say, I Say; TC lectures Foreign language: Japanese (Genki) Art and piano are outsourced. She will also be taking Stats, Python, and an Astronomy survey through Coursera for "fun." But if her interest in the subjects continue, we'll someday find a way to round out credits for them.

The PWN the SAT blog is a good resource for SAT Math. This post in particular aggregates the algebra, geometry, etc. concepts and techniques needed for the SAT: http://blog.pwnthesat.com/p/math-section.html?m=1#.Uf73YWS9Kc0

How about Michael Shaara's Killer Angels, upon which the movie, Gettysburg, was based? Long, but engrossing and well-written (won Pulitzer Prize).

Thanks for the replies, regentrude and 8filltheheart. I appreciate it. My dd is in 7th grade but she's insisting on skipping 8th. She is currently taking the Intro to Physics, and my husband has been teaching her basic calculus (she's on AOPS Precalc now), as needed, for her class. The Big Bang won't be until the fall. I didn't notice that it required physics and calculus. As I mentioned, she signed up herself. I'm not sure what her thought process was. I'm thinking that the subject interested her, and since it's only 4 weeks, she thinks she can plow through it however she can. She's stubborn that way :). I'll talk to her about it. Thanks for catching that.

Can we talk about grading? I've never assigned grades before, but I'm reconsidering after having read the 'honors' thread. My dilemma is that we don't always follow curricula in a linear fashion. We go on rabbit trails galore. My dd just discovered Coursera, for example, and has now signed up for Physics, Statistics, Python, and Big Bang. I understand some assign grades based mostly on exams, but what are some other ways you've determined grades? And how do you incorporate rabbit trails in your transcripts? Thank you so much in advance for your response. High school is coming much too quickly for me.

Thank you so much for this. What an encouraging post.

My dd12 used PPG along with Algebra. She says it helped her intuition when she worked through AOPS Geometry last year.

We used omnibus1 last year but we just went through the class samples. We thought they were terrific. We especially enjoyed the friendly debate about differing views on creation. I hope VP will be offering self-paced courses on the rest of the series. I'dlove to get in on a group buy on the later ones.

Have you considered University of Hawaii? They have a strong East-Asian languages dept. Also, if you're in the PNW, you pay less tuition than do regular out-of-state students through WUE.

Sorry, i can't help with algeblocks, but could you please point me to HoE resources? Like you, I bought the materials, but I have friends I'd like to recommend them to but would like to save them that initial cash outlay. Thank you so much.

My dd9 wants more Irasshai, ASL, WWS, and KISS Grammar. She's my language girl. My dd11 wants more of AOPS and more science.

Calvin & Hobbes :)

This comic seems apropos here: :)

As someone who's had Type II diabetes for over two years and manages it through diet and exercise, it pains me to hear some of the answers here. Contrary to other what a few posters have written, I'm sorry to say there is no cure for diabetes. Believe me, I wish there was! There are treatments to manage blood sugar levels, yes, but they're not cures. If a diabetic who has good blood sugar control, eats a piece of cake, his blood glucose will spike. My biggest piece of advice, borrowed from Jenny Ruhl at http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/ (a must-read), is to exercise and have your mother-in-law "eat to her meter." Have her test often and see how different foods affect her. I also second the advice to read Dr. Bernstein's book. His program is pretty radical but you can modify it to suit your MIL's needs. For instance, after testing extensively, I discovered I could have a little bit more carbs at each than what he recommends and still stay below 110. Tudiabetes.org is also a great forum to ask questions. It's a community of people with diabetes, both Type 1 and Type II. I urge you to really get informed. You could be your MIL's best advocate for her health.

Since I really learned about homeschooling through research on the internet (computer), I honestly don't think I would be homeschooling, otherwise. I would have just sent my kids to public school because that's what all our friends did. I would still probably view homeschooling as something not viable for our family if it wasn't for online research.

Because my dd wants to read ancient works in Latin.

Math: finish up AoPS Algebra, then Geometry Literature and History: Omnibus 1 Language Arts: Intermediate Language Lessons (Maxwell), Caesar's English Science: Biology (co-op) Latin: Wheelock's and Rosetta Stone Logic: Mindbenders Art: outsourced

My dd8 uses Signing Time from the library as well as the videos on this site: http://www.start-american-sign-language.com/free-sign-language-asl1.html

I like planning with google docs because it's easy to share the files with my hubby and kiddos

Reading and memorizing Philippians

My dd10 is also really into space. She's checked out countless books from the library on the subject but she's not around for me to ask about her favorites. Here are a few links she has bookmarked online: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/. You can subscribe to the Astronomy Picture of the Day and see incredible images which come with descriptions and info on current research each day. http://www.kidsastronomy.com/ http://skysurvey.org/ interactive 360 degree composite of the night sky http://www.sixtysymbols.com/ astronomy and physics symbols I don't know if you're interested in videos...If you have a Netflix subscription, The Universe, a History Channel documentary, is available to watch instantly. Astronomer Carl Sagan's Cosmos is available through Netflix, as well. Hope these help!