My plan for my daughter's senior year is give-or-take a semester each of government, economics, Christian finance, and accounting. I'm assuming two each semester but she could do some over the whole year if she wanted. Please tell me your thoughts on what would work best. This is my vague thoughts so far. Government - Notgrass, mainly because I like what it says it covers and it is only a semester. Other suggestions? Economics - Notgrass, sounds cheaper and more straight forward than Thinkwell. Am I correct? Anything you would say I really need to add or should do instead? Christian Finance - Money Matters for Teens by Burkett. I would do the book and workbook. Would this overlap too much with Notgrass? Any other one you would strongly recommend to add to or replace? Accounting - No real idea. I saw one called Accounting the Easy Way. I want the explanation and a workbook or worksheets for her to work through. I would also make her learn keying the number pad. In addition we will have a full load of other things: Sonlight's Core 400 literature, Apologia Physics, hopefully college level math through our local school, some writing, and an outside sign language course. Wow, hope we can do it all. But this is why I don't think we can do a full year of Sonlight's govt (we've pretty much done Sonlight all the way through) or Thinkwell economics. I'm not extremely worried about all of them (like the personal finances) adding up to 1/2 a credit since she will have far more credits than she needs. Thanks for any thoughts.

It is easier not to jump around in translations. If you attend church see what your pastor and children's programs use. I would personally suggest ESV for modern language and accurate translations. We've used NIV because it is in a lot of curriculum etc. Someone commented on AWANA and they give the choice of NIV, KJV, or NKJV.

Add in typing and other extra skills like that. I find typing works best in short units. I like 6-8 weeks, every day so this is a perfect skill to work on in the spring. We do start shortening days.

In Montana, the route from Yellowstone to Glacier is the most popular. There is rafting on the Gallatin river north of Yellowstone, Lewis and Clark Caverns, Fairmont Hot Springs, day hikes in the Bitterroot Valley, Flathead Lake, Glacier. Lots more but that is off the top of my head. There are a lot of neat Forest Service campgrounds you can find on the internet.

There may be resources other suggest but I will give you a hint with Teaching Textbooks. The word problem at the end of the practice and the end of the review always follow the same type of format. Help him figure out the first one or have him try and then watch the explanation on the video and then make him figure out the second one on his own. You start to see the patterns and I've found that they sort of build on each other from lesson to lesson.

I believe you have to get all the CD's together. There is no print version of how to solve them either, it is all on CD. We have gone in spurts on watching the video. It does help to see the work on the screen step-by-step and I have recently noticed in pre-calc there is some differences from the text book. That may be true all the way through more than I noticed since I don't sit and listen to them all.

Girls of Grace put out a Bible study along this line. http://www.christianbook.com/complete-grace-devotional-bible-study-workbook/9781439110058/pd/110053?item_code=WW&netp_id=575424&event=ESRCN&view=details

She pretty much had to email it herself!

I just had to post this exact quote from our homeschool newsletter. I can think of comments I shouldn't say! Looking for someone to tootor your child in Reading? contact...

My daughter just finished it and enjoyed most of it and learned so much. I really think it is a great background for church and political history. So much of history revolves around religion. Also it is great for them to understand other denominations and why we believe what we do. I will say, like a lot of Sonlight highschool cores, a lot of the learning comes in the discussion questions. She met once a week with my husband, a pastor, to go over them (okay they got quite behind!). You would not need my husband's background for discussion but that was definitely an added bonus.

Singapore

I couldn't believe they actually said this! Parents who worry about kids using computers should learn to trust the educational system, which already knows about the dangers of too much screen time, especially for younger kids, said another expert who worked to initiate a laptop program in Maine schools. “Schools are in the business of telling kids what to do, where to go, what to eat. They can determine, definitively, how much time a student should spend. These should be concentrated bursts of time that students spend and that time should be unlocking more information about things they are interacting with in class.†said Tom Davidson, CEO of curriculum company EverFi and a former Maine legislator. Here is the link to the rest of the article which isn't quite as bad. http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/12/21/great-parenting-debate-school-kids-computers/?test=latestnews

I really think it depends on what you want out of the course. It is worth far more than 1 credit of American History and one literary credit at a highschool level. I don't think anyone will argue that it is far more than a public school would even approach. That is of course if you do all the reading and discussion. My kids have learned and retained a ton and really enjoyed the process and all the great books. Literary analysis really only happens if you do the writing assignments (for some reason that is where the kids dig and respond to the literary analysis). I think you could add in a literary analysis credit or at least half credit if you did all the writing. But on the other hand it really doesn't teach a lot of writing skills so to count it for writing credits I really would want more instruction on that. All of this gets a little sticky if you are going to a college that really examines what level of books you have in your courses (my opinion is that very few do) because Hakim's and some of the reading books aren't highschool level. By sheer volume of books and amount of material my kids learned and retained I have no problem personally counting it for highschool level. I add in writing and discuss the literary analysis stuff rather than have that for writing. My personal summary: -one credit for American History -one credit for Literature -I add writing so that combined with discussing literature analysis from their writing assignments listed is easily one English credit

Actually Sonlight expects you to have these books but some buy it as an addition to Core 3 and 4 so don't need to re-buy it for Core 100. A lot of the spines in Sonlight can be replaced easily but this is one core I feel you need this spine. It is used consistently throughout and there are a lot of notes that are based on this reading. I've had two use this and although we frequently disagree with Hakim the notes have rounded it out and they have learned a ton about American history and critical thinking.

This is one of my main reasons I love Sonlight. You really do develop an understanding and love for the whole world and a grasp of the flow of world history. My personal impression is that Sonlight focuses on the world and world history more than any other Christian curriculum out there.

I just wanted to comment on Sonlight's lists. They have a lot of the older Caldecott, etc. type of classics in the grade school years. Most people describe their lists as just good books they are thrilled to share with their kids. There are a couple of obvious gaps like the Little House books and their explanation that I've heard is that most parents will have read those already. If those are the types of books you like you will probably be impressed with their list over all. They start salting in a few more of the 'great books' in junior high and high school. They never go to the extent that some curriculum does because there philosophy is that most kids don't have the life experience and maturity for some of them.

You need to track down someone who is presently doing this now or very recently. There has been a large loss of chaplains because of the gov't putting a lot of strictures on the poor guys. My understanding is it can be a very frustrating position. If God has called your husband there I strongly feel He will give you the grace but please try to go in with a full understanding. You should be able to contact someone in the service who can refer you on to a chaplain to ask questions. Keep asking but get the nitty-gritty from someone in the position.

http://www.flixxy.com/200-countries-200-years-4-minutes.htm

My daughter has had health problems for a long time that may never have a solution. I have found great encouragement from reading Joni Erickson Tada's most recent book. She is so real about thinking she had come to terms with being a quadriplegic and now having to come to terms with chronic pain all over again. You might try that or other ones by her.

The first one is costing me close to $1500 but the other 2 will reuse a lot of the curriculum. I'm thinking we will average $1000 a year for each. This is with about 2 outside classes a year.

I would personally look at the Sonlight list. They list the grade for their readers in their description. Probably you could pick a bunch out of Core 3 and 4.

I hope I'm not interrupting the discussion or sidetracking your thoughts . . . This post stuck out to me. When I think of the hours and hours you would need to do this I immediately think of the limited hours in a day. This is not along the line you are questioning but how else are you limiting your family if you have to spend that many hours to stay ahead and delve deeply into subjects? High standards in education is important but don't forget real life. At what point do you say I want them to have a really strong basis, I want them to know how to think and learn but they are not going to learn this area as much as I would like because real life is important? Just some thoughts as you agonize over not being able to be all you would like!

I could quote this word for word!! This is one of the best writing programs out there in almost every way but it is far more confusing than any other I have used. It is expensive but I would buy another edition for my third child if it was laid out better!

We used a little of Sonlight and a little of IEW. I think the main prerequisite is a Mom who can plan and organize the curriculum! I love it but the big picture and organization is not well laid out. I don't personally think the child has to have a lot of specific skills prior to this. We are only in about 9 weeks so maybe my opinion will change.

Thank you to so many of you taking the time to type this out! I have found it very interesting and have to admit I would love to add more questions but don't think it is probably the place for it. My daughter is printing them all out and will spend some time on them so we really appreciate your help.