Hi all, There are 4 of us travelling from PA to the Cincinnati convention for the first time. I have a question for those of you who have been there before. Where is the best place to stay? There are so many options and I am not sure what the parking situations are like and what hotels are the nicest. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

Thanks for the information ladies. I am really looking more at her having exposure to the works and understanding them. I am not necessarily looking for her to write several heavy literary analysis papers. We will be finishing up the LToW in the fall and then move on to some type of rhetoric to finish out the fall and the spring. She has already had plenty of exposure to literary terms. I can always pull analysis type questions from Spark notes or Pink Monkey if we need to. I guess what I am looking for is something that will lay out a reading plan for us and help us to understand the works. Will the Smarr ancients do that for me?

I am looking into using this for my dd next fall. She will be a senior and wants to study Greek history and mythology. She wants to major in English and has never read any of the ancient writings. I discovered Smarr ancient literature and was wondering if anyone has used this and what your experiences have been. Thanks

I feel the same way with my dd. She is a junior and wants to double major in English and French (work as a translator while she writes the great American novel). I have been trying to find a math for her senior year as she needs 4 years of math for the state university. We are working through Lial's Intermediate Algebra right now. Thanks to your post I took a look at the MUS website last night and decided this is the perfect fit for her. She did MUS geometry last year and it was the first year we had no math tears or frustration. We will be using the precalculus next year. For geometry the lectures were once a week and they weren't terribly long. As far as Lial's precalculus book goes, I did that with my dd who just graduated. We found the book frustrating at times. Maybe it is better with a teacher but our experience wasn't positive. Lots of frustration from both mom and dd. Good luck finding what works for your dd. Sounds like MUS might be a good option.

I am working on planning my ds's 9th grade year. I really don't feel he is ready to jump into the WTM rhetoric level recommendations. So I would like to spend one more year in the logic stage. I am reading through the WTM logic stage and rhetoric stage history sections again today. I see she recommends the HoAW for the Ancients at the rhetoric level. I previewed the text online and I think he may be intimidated by the reading level. It's not that he can't handle it, he will just complain..... So I am thinking of doing the following with him: 1. Use the KF Illustrated History of the World for outlining. This will help cement the concepts we are learning in WWS. 2. Create a timeline. 3. Do map work 4. Either have him write summaries of one or two of the topics listed in the WTM or have him follow the rhetoric stage recommendations for summarizing the end of a chapter. 5. His ds will be studying Greek history and mythology so I thought we all could read some of the HS level ancient works together. I would need to add in other works just for him. Does that sound like a decent plan? Also if we don't use the HoAW is there another spine we could use or would the KF book be sufficient? Has anyone else had a 9th grader that wasn't quite ready for the rhetoric level? If so, how did you treat the history/great books? TIA for helping a mom with hundreds of ideas swirling around in her head!

Hey Sue, Glad to hear the Lial's is working! :001_smile: Our sequence has been Algebra 1, geometry, and Algebra 2. Not sure about the PSAT as we never took that here. However there is a decent amount of geometry on the SAT. If you wanted to do Algebra 2 and geometry concurrently you could use Lial's Intermediate Algebra (which is Algebra 2) and MUS geometry. My middle dd used the MUS last year and it got the job done. The lessons did not take long and covered all the bases. This would work if you were doing it concurrently as well as alternating days. As far as college goes, if she is planning on going I agree with the pp who said to look into their requirements as well. My oldest transferred to Millersville and they want 4 years of math with the last math being a minimum of Algebra 2. HTH!

I never considered the migraines could be coming from the birth control pills. I have noticed that since she went on them (less than a year), she has more frequent migraines with her period and they last longer. Before bc pills, she would have one migraine and that was it. Now she has them and they last several days. Thanks for all the great advice. We will check with the doctor about what to do.

My dd (19) suffers from migraines that occur during her time of the month. This time she has had a lingering headache that has lasted for the past 5 days. She wakes up with them. She is currently taking birth control for heavy periods. She also takes one fish oil capsule and B12 complex each day. Is there a supplement she could take to help with the headaches? I was thinking of magnesium. Will that cause an issue with the B12? Any other ideas? We had been seeing a homeopathic doctor because she had issues with panic attacks. He did amazing work with her and she no longer suffers from them. However right now we cannot afford to go back to see him. Thanks!

My difficult to start up is vocabulary. I don't see either child retaining anything from the workbooks. I really want to scrap it.... Not sure what we will do.

I am looking at pre-calculus options for my dd who will be a senior next year. She is a B math student. She really doesn't like math or science and is planning on majoring in English. She needs a 4th math unit for our local state university where she plans to attend. We will need a course with a video option. I tried Lial's precalculus last year with her older sister and we made it through enough of the text to call it college algebra. I hit a wall and so did she with understanding the concepts and the DVT's that came with the text only "re-read" the lesson so it was no help. So this will not be an option for dd#2. She is currently working through Lial's Intermediate Algebra and that is going well for her. Here are the options I am considering: 1. Chalkdust (either pre-calc or college algebra) 2. BJU pre-calc with the DVD option 3. TT Pre-calc 4. Thinkwell videos Does anyone have experience with these programs? I am looking for advice on the strengths and weaknesses of these. I have never used Chalkdust or the BJU with DVD option. I am not sure how they work. I assume the teacher actually "teaches" a lesson and doesn't re-read the text. Do they assign a problem set or do I need to do that? I would do the grading of the problem sets and tests. Is there a solutions manual to show how to work through the problems if she gets stuck? I have also read on these forums that Chalkdust is difficult. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

Thanks!

Thanks Julie! I have a lot to think about for next school year. My dd is doing MFW American History this year and it is going well. I was hoping there would be tests similar to the BJU ones in the AHL. I guess I will add it to the list of things to look at when convention time rolls around.

I have looked at this for my ds next year. My fear of using BJU upper level math is the lack of a solutions manual. Are there solutions to the problems in the TM or just answers? Thanks for the help!

I am trying get ideas for my ds's 9th grade history. I am looking at MFW AHL. I had used Notgrass World History with my other children and was disappointed in the quizzes used for assessment. Can someone tell me if MFW has any essay type questions for assessment or is it only the quiz book from Notgrass? Thanks!

Thanks for the recommendation. I am going to order this and check it out. Musicmom: Thank you for the detail on Omnibus. When you said, "There is very little literary analysis in Omnibus.", it made me think this is not the direction I want to take. I am looking for literary analysis. Janice: I did look at the preview on Google. Thanks. I just wasn't sure how it all worked. Moira I was thinking of using Omnibus I since it had more of the works we would cover her senior year. She wants to be an English major in college and she has never read any ancient writings. I want to give her some exposure so she isn't at a disadvantage later in life. I also like the suggestion of using guides to go with the books we choose. Does anyone have good recommendations for Sparknote type guides to use? Thank you all so much. I appreciate each of your responses.

8FillTheHeart, I have followed your writing threads on these boards hand have gleened so much wisdom from them. Thank you! If a 5th grader should be able to gather research from 3 sources, organize, and compose without plagerism, what would you suggest for an 8th grader at the end of the logic stage? Thanks!

I totally agree with the bolded part. We have done BJU science for the last several years and this is by far the most difficult one yet. The tests are a huge jump in difficulty from the life science we did in 7th grade. I think I am going to break the material down into chunks and write quizzes to give him after every couple of sections in a chapter. Maybe that will help with retention for the tests. If that doesn't work then we will do the tests open book and see how he does. I know he doesn't have issues with taking tests. He has done fine up until this point and this is the only subject where he is doing poorly on the exams. Thanks for the great advice everyone! I am feeling a little better about things.

Hi all, I am beginning to plan my dd's senior year. She wants to study Greek history and mythology. I have some nice resources for the mythology. I bought a few books and a TC lecture series for Greek history. In addition I would like her to read some ancient works. I have the VanDiver lectures on the Odyssey and Illiad and a list of books from the WTM. However I am fearful of going this alone. I have been looking at Omnibus I but am unsure how it works. Do we read the material in the Omnibus text before we delve into the work? Is there a schedule on the teacher cd? I really don't want to spend $100.00 on something only to find out it won't be much help for us. Can someone explain to me how they have used Omnibus and secondly if you found it helpful in your great books study. Thanks

I really want to enjoy this curriculum but why is it nothing more than a fact cram????:mad: My 8th grade ds does fine with the reading, questions and activities. He studies with my dh for the tests and then takes them and does poorly. I hate their tests! There are so many questions that are unimportant in the grand scheme of things..... why????? He is enjoying everything about the curriculum except the tests. Sorry but just my frustration of the day! Why am I even considering more of their curriculum for next year????? Thanks for allowing me to vent!

This looks very interesting..... Would each student need a copy of the materials? I think cost would be an issue for many of our parents. Thanks!

Hi all, I will be teaching a semester writing class at our co-op. These will be 9-10th graders. I have decided that I will not be doing any creative writing with them. I want to introduce them to essay writing and possibly basic report type writing with some MLA formating. Unfortunately I won't have time for a research paper. I would be more comfortable with a curriculum to follow however it isn't a requirement. I have looked at The Elegant Essay and really don't like it. I tried it with 2 of my own dc and it was a flop. Are there any resources you could recommend? Thanks for any and all suggestions!

Thanks for the great ideas! I like the idea of a meal plan. Never really thought of that. I also appreciate the link to the other thread. I am also looking at a North Face jacket. She doesn't like big bulky coats so I am hoping to find something lighter and still warm.

Hi all, I need Christmas gift ideas for my dd who will be heading to our local state university in January. She already has a laptop. She will also be commuting. TIA

The Apologia Yahoo group has files which contain worksheets created by a Christian school teacher for all the modules. She also uploaded the answer key to each worksheet. I have been using these with my dd.

Hi all, I am starting to plan for my dd's senior year. She is interested in majoring in English and French at collge. These are the science classes she has had up until this point: 9th - Apologia Biology 10th - BJU Physical Science 11th - Apologia Chemistry 12th - ? She really wants to do Apologia Marine Biology and it may be offered at our co-op. I really think she needs more physics even though the BJU physical science was half physics. What are the thoughts of the Hive? I have Conceptual Physics on the shelf as well as the Apologia Physics. Should I let her pursue the science she has an interest in or have her do physics? She will be going to the state university a few miles away so it isn't an issue for admission. Thanks