So far my daughter's gpa has mattered a lot. The school she really wants to go to has given her $10,000 off based on both her SAT and her gpa. She has been applying for scholarships all fall and I believe over half of them want her gpa. She is a hard worker and deserved her grades but her brother is another story! On specific things like math and science he does well but things like discussion questions on literature etc I struggle with grades because he doesn't try his hardest.

Thanks so much momato4 (and others). I had already found that thread - what wonderful advice on it! So my plan then is to use the NROC site for my core, add in some more DBQ and FRQ questions from previous tests, and finish early enough that he can use a prep book. I feel like I saw some flashcards specifically designed for the APUSH. Anyone used these or have any to suggest?

I would suggest Elementary Greek. It can be started at mid grade school age but my high school son is going through twice as fast. I personally think all three books are the level of two high school years. I took Greek at college level and like how it teaches. Very clear and no fluff but enough practice. I have heard suggestions for what to do afterwards on here if she wants to keep going - I can't remember the name but somebody else should.

Thanks, I still have some months to work on it so I will poke around more on the college board. Definitely planning on a test prep book etc.

Do you know specifically about this course? It has writing prompts for every chapter and to me it looks good but we have not yet taken an AP. I'm wondering if we will need more. I am planning on using the advise from this thread: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/434412-ap-american-history-questions/

Thanks!

http://www.montereyi...ursestartc.html Go to Unit 1, chapter 1 and at the bottom is a link to the quiz and answer key. Hope that works!

I have found two open access sites. one is ucopenaccess.org and one is montereyinstitute.org. Both have the same material although I can't find the answer key for the quizes on the first one. I found them through old threads on here. That is twice I have had the Tindall (A Narrative History) recomended. I will lean that way unless I hear otherwise. Nancy, I'll try to track down the link and let you know if I have issues. Thanks!

I am planning a course to prepare my son for the AP text next year. I've seen the open source course recomended a number of times. I love how it is all laid out and it looks like what we need. So three questions. Which book would you use with it? I've seen The American Pageant recomended but also have seen comments about it being too wordy. I've also seen America: A Narrative History mentioned. So pros or cons of these or other suggestions? My son absolutely hates listening to lectures. The Open course seems to have some good on line reading and then recommends which pages to use in the suggested text books. Would this reading (and doing all the activities) be enough without listening to the lectures? He is a quick learner and I know just feels he can read and understand way quicker than he can when he listens to lectures. The writing practice looks real solid to me. Any comments on it? Thanks!

Thanks a bunch!

Crossposting with the college forum. Happy New Years! Filling out my first FAFSA. The question is "What will the student have completed." I would typically put High School diploma but Homeschool is an option. In the box with extra info it says that studrents enrolling in college for the first time on or after July 1, 2012, must have a high school diploma or GED to qualify for federal aid. Am I lying when I say she has a diploma when it is Mommy issued? Will there be a problem if I put homeschooling? Thanks!

Happy New Years! Filling out my first FAFSA. The question is "What will the student have completed." I would typically put High School diploma but Homeschool is an option. In the box with extra info it says that studrents enrolling in college for the first time on or after July 1, 2012, must have a high school diploma or GED to qualify for federal aid. Am I lying when I say she has a diploma when it is Mommy issued? Will there be a problem if I put homeschooling? Thanks!

I've found SOTW is better for the younger years and MOH is better for about 5th grade on up.

I've enjoyed combining Mystery of History with the Sonlight readers from their World History cores. I do a reading and activity (mapping, quizzes,etc.) from MOH every day so it is quite a bit faster than they schedule. Then I read the readaloud from Sonlight and my daughter reads her reader all according to Sonlight schedule. They don't alway coincide but we do a timeline and she seems to connect all the dots. Perhaps if you bring in readers for the different ages and bring them all together for MOH it might work without you rescheduling everything and with you enjoying the wonderful Sonlight readers.

Oops, I do remember that they use NKJV. My understanding is that they are replacing NIV. The new NIV has too many issues (a whole nother topic!) and AWANA is not going to endorse that and probably can't get the copyright to use the old NIV.

Core 200 can be done independently for the most part. They have discussion questions that I would really encourage you to find a way to use. Since it is church history they do suggest the child find a spiritual mentor to discuss the questions with them. I did fine meeting with my child once a week for about 45 minutes. We did cut down some of the questions. Core F is my favorite core of all times but there is a lot of research and some of the books bring in a variety of scenarios so I would not want my kid to read the read-alouds on there own. So if you did Core B and F you would be reading two sets of readalouds and history. I have done it before but it is fairly heavy. I love, love Sonlight so would probably do it myself but many would find it too much.

FYI all AWANA people: They will be switching the NIV books to ESV in the next year or two. The two options will be ESV and KJV.

I go to advanced search (the magnifying glass next to the search field) and scroll down to author. Don't have a clue if this works on an ipad.

This is by far my favorite feature. Really miss it!!!

My son had this. Essentially it is a form of migraine. He started at about 2 and a half and it was about five before he was diagnosed. He was too young to tell us that he had a headache leading up to it. After that we would give him an Aleve and pretty much we were able to control it.

They have books you 'can' use but many choose other curriculum.

Have you ever looked at Lost Tools of Writing. The new edition is much better laid out (still not perfect) and really addresses what you are looking for. How to lay out an argument etc.

We love, love Core 200 and 300. Great discussion questions and a lot of learning going on. The literature analysis is in their writing so if you choose to do other writing you have to at least discuss the writing assignments.

We loved, loved 200. I called it History of Western Civilization. It is of course following that history through the path of the church more than political but it has both. My older two had so many connect-the-dot moments throughout the whole year. It answers so many questions they didn't even know they had about church history and about how different countries came about and governed differently etc. With Core 200 you absolutely need to have at least a weekly meeting to discuss the questions. I didn't require all of them but they had to write quick notes on the questions so we could have a good discussion. One note on the other cores, you must either require the writing assignments or use them as discussion starters if you want literature analysis. All the literature analysis is centered in their writing. Some years I required the writing and sometimes we just used it for discussion. The only Core we haven't done totally is Core 400. The philosophical depth of government is more than most kids could deal with! We did the literature and chose a semester each of gov't and economics from another place. And as usual, nobody can beat the literature. There is a fair bit of discussion about Core 100 being easy as pp mentioned. The level is fairly easy but the amount my kids learned was very impressive and they enjoyed it. In my books it was a winner but others may disagree.

We've been using it. She is definitely getting better BPI (brain processing index) in all areas according to them. Our dd has been using it about 2 months and I've been told it would take up to 6 months to see change elsewhere. I just consider it one tool and am searching for others. I will say she enjoys it and does it without complaining.