Can you apply to colleges, and then if you don't like the results / don't get admitted where you want, decide to do a 5th year of high school and then reapply? Wouldn't the colleges notice and think it odd that you applied twice, as a senior both times? If you dual-enrolled during that 5th year of high school, might they not somehow decide that the student should have graduated at the end of their 4th year of high school and thus was really a transfer student? It seems risky to me - is it really a viable option?

I'm interested in AP French too... but I don't know anything about eLycee other than, it's expensive.

Will you be offering French II, III and IV/AP, to let students who do your French I continue with the same provider? If so, when would you start offering more advanced classes?

AoPS will move much faster...

We used AoPS for PreAlgebra in some cases, and LoF PreAlgebra for others. Yours might not like LoF books because they are definitely wordy, but my less mathy kids loved them because they are nice and slow and do an awesome job of explaning everything. I also liked how the LoF PreAlgebra books taught much more than just math - the way they integrate biology and economics. It really worked for us. AoPS is less wordy, but much more challenging. Great for my more mathy kids. We use AoPS for everyone from Algebra on, but some of my kids needed a gentler on-ramp. We did Singapore up through 5 or 6 for all of them.

I've had 3 finish AoPS Intro to Algebra at this point. Our policy was always that they did all non-challenge exercises and problems, but star/challenge problems were optional (I used the challenge problems as review, later, to keep their skills fresh - so for example they did the Algebra challenge problems, a few per week, while doing Geometry). Mine worked on it about 1.5 to 2 hours a day, and finished in between 9 months (for mathy kid) to 1.5 years. Note that we school year round. I have one kid who did LoF Trig, and handled it easily in one semester. We found it a great 'warm up' for AoPS PreCalc, and she loves Fred, but I would not have considered LoF Trig a full credit on it's own.

I have two heading into 9th next year... very, very different kids: For A: AoPS PreCalculus (book only) French I - still looking for a good online provider either Biology or Chemistry at the CC AP Psychology (finishing - she started this year but wasn't ready to test) Web Development English Literature - great books maybe an animation related elective? extracurriculars, figure skating, teaching skating, volunteering with the elderly For D: AoPS Algebra I (book only) English - Creative Writing Psychology Music - Voice Performance Arts - Acting Skilled Trades - Carpentry & woodworking apprenticeship extracurriculars, volunteering for political campaigns (note that she is not college-bound; she is planning a career in the skilled trades)

Lots of kids graduate high school at 19 - or even 20. The trend towards red-shirting kids in public schools makes this common, especially for boys. If she wants the extra time, and you are willing to give it to her, I don't think any college would find it odd. And if she'd be doing community college anyway, why not give her the extra year for math, and dual enroll her in whatever areas are her strengths/interests? Make it sort of a more gradual transition?

Can someone please help me understand what doing well vs. poorly on the NACLO (North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad) means? Here's why I'm confused: Two of my kids are very into logic and/or linguistics. They have spent meaningful time on the NACLO practice puzzles and enjoyed them. They wanted to take the NACLO. The other two had minimal interest, did no preparation, and just tagged along and took it "because why not". You know what happens next, right? The highest scoring kids in my family (by a lot!) were the no-interest, no prep kids. The two who practiced and prepared did much worse than the two who did not. Anyone have any idea why? Is this the kind of exam where you can do well by luck? Can you overprepare and do worse? Or do we just have a big mismatch between interest and talent going on here?

Thank you! That is exactly the kind of information I needed! I will check on AIM Academy. Has anyone tried Middlebury Interactive French? I saw some posts that referenced them. Reviews seemed mixed tho...

You should take the Latin exam that goes with the level she is studying. You don't need to start with Intro to Latin. Actually, I think they would probably frown on a student who is currently taking say Latin III, but has never taken the NLE, taking the Intro Latin NLE - because they would be sure to ace it, which is not fair to the other students, and because it would not reflect their correct Latin level. Per their policy, Introduction to Latin is for students taking only the first year of a 2 year Latin 1 program (the slower ramp up being common for middle schools I believe). Latin I is for students currently taking a 1 year Latin I program, or in year 2 of a 2 year Latin I program. Latin II is for Latin II students, etc. From what I understand finishing up Fourth Form is essentially finishing Latin 1, the 2+ year version. So probably your best bet is the Latin I NLE. I know Lukeion students start with the Latin I exam, and never take the Intro to Latin exam at all.

Child B is simple - for all practical purposes, they were completely homeschooled. There is no transcript from the school. So you have only your homeschool transcript, and you can include mention in the course description that one of your resources was (whatever they used in the public school - textbooks, etc). Or you can not include any mention of the public school, even in your course descriptions. Child A is harder - you would need to include the public school transcript. Are the trimesters independent/block scheduled or just breaks in the calendar? Meaning, at the end of the first trimester, will they have finished certain classes and have grades in those classes? If so, then you just list those classes as outsourced to the public school, include them on your homeschool transcript, and provide the public school transcript for that trimester, and you're done - you treat it like you would any other outsourced class. If they aren't block scheduled trimesters, and you don't have finished courses, then it's more grey. You would still need to include the public school transcript, but if that does not reflect a finished course, you'd need to address that in your homeschool transcript and course descriptions. Maybe something like "Course: US History, which included studying from ABC history textbook, other homeschooled resources, and 3 months of instruction at XYZ public school". Hope that helps. :)

I did see them - but they are not secular. We are Jewish. Does anyone know how much their being a "from a Christian perspective" school affects something like French?

My 8th grader is interested in French as her language for high school. She has not ever taken French. She says she would want to take the AP test. Does anyone have any suggestions for good online options for French that would be rigorous enough to lead to AP French in 3-4 years? I don't know French so I cannot help her. Ideally, something secular, online and relatively flexible in start/end dates. Any / all suggestions would be appreciated!

There are lots of existing threads on this topic - but, if you aren't already aware, high school level language before high school can be complicated and full of pitfalls. Many colleges want to see 2 to 4 full years of foriegn language *during* high school, and may not give credit for work done before, even if it was at a high school level. A language AP exam may or may not ameliorate this. Now, you are saying that she'll continue with Chinese and/or with another language during high school, so this may not be an issue, but be aware. In terms of record keeping, generally textbooks used, course description, and any outside grades or transcripts, should cover you just in case you need them. As to math - most kids these days do at least Algebra I before high school. Some people figure that you do not need to show high school level math done before high school on the transcript, because if you have a trascript showing 4 years of higher level math, including Alg. II, Trig, Calc, etc, then the earlier maths are implied. Other people add a column called something like 'preHS' to their transcript and put classes like Alg I there, but don't count the credits. Either way, if you keep the official grades/transcripts, course descriptions, and textbooks, you should be covered. Hope that helps. :)

I'm hesitant to even ask this, because it seems like Lukeion is the gold standard for Latin, but.... My 10th grader is in Lukeion Latin 2b, on track to do AP Latin in 12th grade. She gets decent grades - usually low-mid 90s - but she finds the semester structure very frustrating. Most of our other academic activities are year round, relatively self-paced. She feels like she has to "binge" on Latin during the semester, and then she loses ground during the long breaks (6 weeks or so over the holidays, 3 mos+ during the summer). Since language is so cumulative, she feels like she'd do better if she could spread it out, and do a smaller amount every week year round. Full disclosure, tho, I think at least some of this is lack of self-discipline. I've suggested to her that she use the breaks to review and study ahead, so that the workload during the term is not so heavy, and she sometimes does but mostly doesn't. She's struggling right now in 2b, and is sort of dreading two more years of this. But she really wants the Latin AP. Anyone else out there have similar experiences? Any advice? Are there any AP-track Latin programs that are more self-paced or year round?

I did Singapore 6 with my oldest, went straight to AoPS Pre-Algebra with the rest. I don't know that doing Singapore 6 was needed, but I didn't know about AoPS at the time. Going straight to AoPS with everyone else worked fine. I would not recommend going from Singapore 5 to AoPS Algebra unless the kid is very, very strong in math.

Alcumus, or Khan Academy - especially the SAT math prep from Khan, that's very algebra heavy but focuses on what they don't know.

I sympathize. It's been tough with my twins, too. For us it takes a different form. My older twin is much, much more focused and driven than her sister, so she's thus more advanced in almost anything. Which means that when younger twin accomplishs something, it's hard to make sure she gets appropriate kudos, rather than just being greeted with some version of "well, yeah, but your twin did that last year..."

We are quite non-traditional, but we have always been that way - transitioning to high school has changed it a little, but not all that much. I always say we are eclectic classical interest led quasi-unschoolers. :laugh: We have always homeschooled year round, 7 days a week. We take random days off when we need/want, but our normal daily routine has always included at least an hour or two of something academic. We fell into this schedule years ago because I work full time, so an hour or two a day of "school" every single day was the best fit for us. Now that mine are all in or near high school, we still do something academic every day as a group, but they work a lot more independently. And our mix includes some dual enrollment CC classes, some outsourced semester based classes (like Lukeion), and a lot of homebrewed, interest-driven classes. As to how I assign credits - for the CC and outsourced classes, it's obvious - 1 year of Lukeion Latin = 1 credit, one 3 credit class at the community college = 1 credit, etc. For homebrew classes, I do it based on the material covered, not so much the time spent - typically this is tied to finishing a textbook or learning a certain set of material to mastery. Sometimes this takes a year, sometimes less, sometimes more. And like some other posters, I have some classes that stretch out over several years but are only 1 credit or .5 credits - for example, I have one child who has been intermittently taking art classes at our local museum, working on art projects, going to art museums, reading art history, etc. I will roll all of that into 1 Art credit for her high school years, even though she's spent time on it each year. For the more elective subjects, it really is a matter of looking at what the student has done and is doing, and sort of packaging that up into a credit or 1/2 a credit. We follow the school year of July 1 to June 30, and we've never worried about grade level. As others have said, it only matters now because of the PSAT/NM. We haven't applied to colleges yet, but I am intending to do so with a subject based rather than a year based transcript. My kids will have lots of APs and SAT IIs and such to substantiate their work, so I'm guessing it won't be a problem. If it is, I'll create a year based version and just place the classes as best I can. I hope this helps!

I would echo the advice to make sure those quizzes have been graded! I don't know what section your son is in, but my daughter is in 2b, and her last 2 quizzes have not yet been graded by Ms. Barr. Actually, they have only done 4 quizzes, not counting the PSQ, and the 2nd quiz had no free translations, only multiple choice. I know I frequently get confused when I look at things I think were graded, and then realize they weren't yet. So maybe that's your problem, or at least part of it?

My kids have taken Lukeion Latin 1, Latin 2, and Greek 1. All have been very well done, high quality, and the kids enjoyed them. I would strongly recommend their language courses. I will say that there's a "sweet spot" for the knowledge level in the workshops. My hard core history geek found the workshops "superficial" and redundant, not much new info. My youngest found the same workshop overwhelming, but she had basically no knowledge going into it. On the other hand, my artistic kid really loved the 'vase painters' workshop and learned a lot. So pick your workshops carefully.

Just to reassure you - I homeschool a friend's son, who is very smart, 15 years old, working on college algebra and discrete math, and generally being very successful in academics in general and math in particular. He still is not solid on his times tables. He often forgets basic multiplication. He occasionally messes up basic addition. Note that I'm not saying this is a good thing - it does make his life harder - but it has not in any way interfered with his ability to progress academically or to master higher math. And he loves math! So don't sweat it - just keep it fun!

I would just do a transcript by subject, not by year. Lots of people do that. Give her credit for what she does - so for example, you could do 1 credit for biology, and .5 credit for anatomy/physiology. And if she did a full year of physical science, then she gets 1 credit for that, too. One of the advantages of being homeschoolers is flexible schedules. There's no rule that says that 1 credit must be completed in 1 calendar year. My kids will have several classes where they get 1 credit, because they did 1 credit's worth of work and learned the material, but they did it spread out over two or more years. Likewise, if they can do 1 credit's worth of material faster than 1 year (ie dual enrollment in a college class, or just accelerated learning/spending more time each day), they can get 1 credit in less than 1 year. Don't sweat the dates - just give credit for the work that's been done. Best wishes for her health to improve. :)

If you are open to an instructor-led class, I'd highly recommend Lukeion. They use the Wheelock textbook, and have live online classes. I've had kids do their Latin and their Greek. Very rigorous but very worthwhile.