This is a sample from another book, however it is exactly the same as chapter 18 in Glencoe World History 2005 edition. http://www.glencoe.com/sec/socialstudies/ose/gwhmt/sample/docs/Chap11.pdf Kim

Thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts and experiences. You've given me a lot to think about. I guess high school has me in a panic at the moment. My son can be very hard on himself when he doesn't do as well as he would like, so I just want to make sure he's up for the challenge.

Yeah, that's what I'm trying to do. My son's passion is writing and he wants to become an author eventually. Luckily he knows he needs to get a degree in something and have a way to support himself until that first bestseller is out there. Aside from that, he doesn't have a goal at this point. The possible major changes periodically, which is to be expected at his age. I didn't even know what I wanted to major in when I started college. My goal is for him to have the classes he needs under his belt when it's time to apply for college, no matter what direction he decides to go.

I'm not worried about running out of classes. I just want to make sure my son is up for the challenge. He took algebra 1 last year and is doing geometry this year. I plan for him to take AP classes and duel enroll for chemistry and physics. I just want to make sure he's ready for those classes when we get there.

That's good to know. I had no idea that some do that.

Ohhhh. Thanks, I'm new to the high school lingo. :) No, our state, Virginia, does not give us a break on cost for DE and the cc near us doesn't either.

Usually the classes or camps ask for an age, but if they ask for a grade I would put 8th. I didn't really assign him to a grade early on, but people kept asking and it came a bigger deal for him. What is 'free DE'?

My ds13, is working at an 8th grade level this year, which is a year ahead of most of his friends his age who are in public school. Academically he is doing well and it has been a good year. However, I feel he needs to focus more for high school. He needs to step up his game with note taking, paper writing, being more responsible, etc. So, I have been thinking about taking a year to work on those things before starting high school. We do not want to take 5 years for high school. If we continue on to 9th grade in the fall, he will be a young 17 when he graduates and barely 17.5 when he starts college. I have thought about a gap year after high school before starting college. I have not talked to my son about this yet. I don't want him to see delaying high school as a bad thing or as a sign that I don't think he can do it. I just feel it would be good for him to mature a little before tackling high school and cc. So, I would like to hear from the hive. Based on your experiences, what would you suggest? Do you think it is better to delay high school to work on skills needed for high school and then college or is it better to press on and do a gap year if needed after high school? TIA, Kim

Has anyone here used the Oak Meadow high school world history syllabus with the Spielvogel's World History: The Human Odyssey instead of the Glencoe World History? If so, how did it go? Would you do it again? Thanks, Kim

Like Rose said, it's hard to schedule WWS sometimes. Sometimes we did a "week"/chapter of WWS in a week and sometimes it took 2 weeks depending on if we needed/wanted to do more research before writing. Also, sometimes we would take a week or 2 off from WWS and do something else for writing when my son just needed a break. As I said, it isn't his favorite curriculum. We also took a month off for NaNoWriMo last year. So, a lot of things factored into our slow progress. Kim

Yes, WWS is writing all about writing and not grammar/mechanics. We used Hake Grammar for 3 years after FLL 4. It worked well for us. We did not use the writing portion of the program as it was not very robust. There wasn't much instruction on how to write. I think doing Hake grammar alongside WWS would be fine. After 3 years my son grew to dislike Hake grammar, much as he did Saxon math. For the past 2 years we have been using Analytical Grammar. I know AG has a junior program, but we have not used it so I cannot comment on it. I do like AG. It's very thorough and my son can diagram sentences like a champ. We are nearing the end of WWS 1, having started in the fall of 2012. We have worked through it slowly, taking breaks as needed. Although it has not been my son's favorite program, I have seen a lot of improvement in his non-creative writing since we began the program. The Creative Writer books are good, but if BW is working for you, stick with it. Kim

Thanks for the info Lisa and Rose! I just received the TM a few days ago but haven't had time to really look through it yet. Kim

Thanks Rose! Kim

Does the Essay Voyage teacher manual include the student text (like most other MCT levels) or do I need to get both the student and teacher books? Thanks! Kim

My 12yo son wants a pen pal. He has no preference whether he has a male or female pen pal. He is interested in music, Irish dance, video games, tennis, and writing books. He would love to have a pen pal in Ireland, but mainly wants to connect with someone and find out about his/her life. Please contact me if your child would be interested. Thanks! Kim

Thanks Lanny!

My 12-yr-old son is interested in having an international penpal. (We're in the US.) I saw a website called penpal world, but I know nothing about it. Has anyone here every used it? Have you used any other penpal websites? My son would like to have a penpal from Ireland. Are there any Irish families here with a child around 12 who is interested in having a penpal? Thanks, Kim

I can soooo commiserate. My DS 12 and I have been working on WWS 1 for a year now. He does not like WWS, so we have been working through it slowly. Periodically I think about just dropping WWS, but then I re-read lewelma's posts about WWS and decide to keep going. :) She just makes it seem so doable. My son wants to be an author, so we have several creative writing books that we use when we need a break from WWS. I also have the Writer's Jungle. I've looked at IEW. I think part of the problem is that WWS is parts-to-whole and my DS does better with whole-to-parts. He needs to see the big picture and then work on the details. I recently downloaded the first few weeks of WWS 2 and my DS said it likes it and wants to do it, but I have a feeling it will be the same frustrations all over again. I'm not sure what we will use. Is it the 'baby steps' that drives your daughter crazy? Would she do better if you used a curriculum that taught the big ideas and then refined the process? Kim

Christianbook.com has samples and a TOC for each level. Kim

I definitely would not try to do both. If you think IEW will work best for your son, use that. The grammar and writing portions are totally separate so you do not lose anything by not doing the Hake writing. Kim

In case you missed it, in this thread today they said this about WWS 2: 1. On Monday, August 5th, we will make available the first TEN WEEKS of the Student and Instructor texts, as a free downloadable PDF (it will also include the Table of Contents and Introduction, so you can get a good idea of where the year's curriculum is going).

Thanks for the reply and for sharing your advice. I'm always willing to learn from the experiences of others. :) I have been reluctant to do more than one writing program, but my ds 12 likes variety. He tolerates WWS, but it's not a favorite. So, we would alternate weeks with the programs. Kim

For those of you who have used CW, do you think it is necessary to have done Aesop and Homer before starting Maxim? I'm considering using CW along side WWS 1 this year (we're half way through WWS 1), but I'm not sure if it's OK to jump into Maxim or if we need to do Aesop and Homer first. TIA, Kim

Has anyone used these? My ds 12 is finishing up Lial's Introductory Algebra this summer. We're moving on the geometry this fall, but I want to 'practice' algebra once a week to keep up his algebra skills. I plan to finish LOF Algebra, which we use as a fun supplement but got behind on, and Zaccrro's Real World Algebra. This morning I came across the Algebra Survival Guide again, which I had looked at before and have had in my 'Save for Later' list on Amazon for months, and thought I might add it to the mix. I would like to hear from anyone who has used it before. Thanks! Kim

We started the year with ACS Middle School Chemistry. It's easy, but my son enjoyed it because there is a hands-on activity with each lesson. Not all of the activites were exciting (like watching water evaporate), but they deomonstrated the concept we were studying. Some lessons were bigger hits than others, but when we finished my son said he enjoyed it and he seems to have retained what we covered. Now we are going through Ellen McHenry's The Elements, which my son is also enjoying. We also have the Thames and Kosmos C3000 chemistry set. (I found it on sale around Christmas.) We have done some experiments from that as well. Kim