Our girls have taken several Big History live classes by Scott Powell at History at Our House, and they've liked his enthusiasm and passion for history. I'm wondering if anyone has taken Scott's high school curriculum; I'd love to hear the pros and cons. Scott has been extremely responsive to my emails and in fact, we spoke via phone today. He truly wants to share his passion for history, art history and writing. Before diving into the high school path - at $75 per month - I'm so hopeful that there are families on this board who could offer a solid review.

Our DD is very interested in the lab portion, so we would have no trouble dedicating more cash to buy a solid hands-on lab kit/equipment.

We would definitely be interested in such a class, and I'm with Roadrunner....we'd also love an optional live meet up.

I heard back from Cati, the owner of So Verbose. She indicated that this was the first year they offered a full English curriculum. As a result of feedback, they are revamping the literature portion of the curriculum. Apparently, students found the amount of work and time frame for completion quite daunting. This was one of my concerns after looking at their year outline. It sounds like she and the other teachers are willing to work with students should they become overwhelmed. I have a rising 9th grader who is not looking forward to high school English. I need a curriculum that will ease her into high school writing and literature, but still fully prepare her for college. This program may fit the bill for us. Right now, we're considering FLVS or So Verbose. I'm hopefully others will jump in on this thread.

Here's info from Mr. D.....it's definitely worth giving his demo class a try. And feel free to contact him. www.mrdmath.com "The course is a mastery based approach. There are spiral reviews though throughout the course twice per chapter starting at chapter 2. When students reach high school level math, the reviews are also built into the new content as students are applying previously learned concepts in the new content. During a lesson, the instruction both during the live class session or the pre-recorded video for each section reviews anything a student needs for that new lesson. Parents and students can also demo the curriculum to get a feel for if it is a good fit for their learning styles. Here is how to demo a class www.mrdmath.com Click on “student login†Username: Demo Password: MrDMath Then click on the course you want to see on the left hand side of the screen. There are short videos that will show how to use the course once you are in a course area."

Just wondering if anyone is using So-Verbose...

I'm interested in this thread as well. We've talked about Historyatourhouse.com with Scott Powell, but I can't find enough high school reviews for his classes.

We have worked with Mr D for over three years. Our girls take the live online classes along with the year-long curriculum. DD13 started off with pre-algebra, took summer Algebra, and then followed it with geometry last year and Algebra II this year. DD11 is currently taking pre-algebra. We adore Mr D and our girls thrive under his positive and encouraging way of teaching. Mr D truly wants each student to master every new procedure and offers extra help sessions for times when we struggle. He is also extremely responsive if we have any questions. We can't say enough about Mr D. DD13 is already upset knowing that she only has one more year with Mr D! In addition to our time with him online, Mr D administers our ITBS test each year. So it's always a treat to see him in May. Feel free to email him with questions. I know he'd be delighted to address any concerns.

We're also planning for our oldest to start high school. Here's our lineup: Pre-Calc (Mr D Math) Biology Honors (FundFunda) American Sign Language 201 (Ms Marie, CurrClick) DD will also be reading books which are required at a local college for sign language students. World History (FLVS) We may try for honors but I don't know if she'll be able to manage the extra time commitment. We also discussed possibly taking History At Our House with Scott Powell, but I'm not sure the class would be enough for a true high school credit. I don't want to supplement, as our plan is to outsource everything when it comes to high school credits. Hats off to all of you who develop your own curriculum! English I (FLVS) This class is listed near the bottom because it our daughter's least favorite. She loves grammar lessons and reading all types of literature, but she has limited experience writing. (I know I know, we're working on it!) Art History (FLVS) I'm not sure about this one. Our girl works very slowly. I'm not sure she'll be able to add in one more class. Lucky for us, she's always taken summer classes so she won't fall short on credits. Extra-curriculars: 6 dance classes each week and Congressional Award goals I look forward to seeing other 9th grade plans!

We're in the same boat as Roadrunner. This will be our daughter's first high school bio class so we're not looking to take the AP test just yet. We'll schedule AP Bio in a few years. Your information, Penelope, was very helpful. I didn't even know how many questions were on the test! I have so much to research!

A live online class was one of our daughter's request, but the only one I found was through WTMA.

Our daughter already said she'd read the textbook along with the assigned videos each week. She's always liked science textbooks so that's one of the reasons I try to find classes with a textbook I feel she'll enjoy.

Thought I'd share an email I received from the biology teacher (Dana Underwood) at FundaFunda. She responded immediately and as you can see, provided a ton of information. "Because I use the book (Miller-Levine) as a reference, it doesn't matter what copy the student has. Some use the dragonfly, and others have the bird (macaw?). There is very little change between different editions of most textbooks, so unless you need to do assigned end-of-chapter problems (which my students don't do - I write my own homework questions) any edition is fine. If you're looking for a book that you could use for a good reference or future AP, Campbell Biology is a good one. I still use mine, and it's 20 years old. Although technology changes, the fundamentals of metabolism and cell parts don't get updated very often. Unless you need something specific, any reasonably recent edition would make a good reference. Don't confuse it with Campbell's Concepts and Connections- that is a Bio II/Intro college text. I've taught with it, and it's a good text but not nearly as comprehensive. For the labs, there's a lot of flexibility - families want different things and have different constraints, so I try to offer options. For microscopes, if you have access to one you'll have a few chances to use it, but if you don't I post directions so that students can learn how to use it and then they can look up pictures of different types of slides. We do a molecule lab, and you can choose to buy a 'food molecule testing kit', or I can recommend a reagent or 2 that you can buy if you want to try the procedure without investing in everything, and I also post links to videos of the tests being done. There is a measurement lab where students use a balance and various methods of measuring liquids. I post videos that they can watch to show how, and you can pick which parts you want to buy or already have. The osmosis lab requires some eggs, vinegar, and a bottle of Karo syrup (and a way to weigh them - a balance or kitchen scale). We do an enzyme lab that can be done with milk, a glucose tablet, a couple of lactaid tablets, and a pack of urinalysis strips - all available at a drug store, and some you might already have. Today we did a DNA extraction, so we used an onion, meat tenderizer, dish soap, and 90% alcohol. For the genetics section, alas, we can't do an actual lab and so, like college classes, we just work problem sets. During the ecology section, student pick one of the DIY projects described in their book to do at home, so they usually just get some seeds and set up an experiment. For classification, we go outside and do some classifying, so that one doesn't require anything but a printout of the charts. The hands-on loading of a gel for the biotechnology lab is the one lab that doesn't translate to home use very well, but since it only takes about 10 minutes they're not missing too much (and I can link to a video). And, I've loved that the online format makes it so easy to post links to other videos - we watch mitosis or osmosis in real cells, etc. I hope this helps! Most of our labs translate easily to the home because the in-person facilities are in a church basement so I can't set up anything too involved. We do have a couple of other hands-on days, but students can easily replicate those at home. I use homemade felt boards to model transcription and translation, for instance, I made a video of it, and students can make something similar out of post-it notes if they want to practice. We also model mitosis and meiosis with pipe cleaners, and I post step-by-step directions. for that. Sometimes we use play-doh. It seems really simplistic, but it seems to work. Today was a felt board day, and there were a lot of a-ha moments. I think that having the students manipulate the pieces helps get them out of 'nodding while the teacher explains it but not really understanding' - once they pick up a pipe cleaner chromosome or a felt tRNA, they think enough to figure out what to do with it. "

We are planning to take the honors version. I'm hoping we can pull out if it's too much. Where would you take AP bio/campbell?

We also like the textbook. According to the current year's syllabus (2016-2017) chapters 1, 2, 7-10, and 12 are covered during the fall semester and chapters 3-6, 11, 13-18 in the spring. Did you consider Blue Tent? They use the 2012 interactive Holt book.

I noticed on their website that the online class would require 4 to 5 hours a week, plus study time for tests. I also had an email exchange with the instructor, who provided the following: Videos are posted weekly, 1 to 1.5 hours of video time. Honors credit is an option. Weekly quizzes. Homework. 4 tests (including the final). No dissection labs. 4 labs per semester. Including 3 microscope labs per year. 3, one-page article reviews. Plus small projects. It's molecular biology. $184 per semester. I'll share more info as I receive it. Right now we've narrowed our choice for bio down to FundaFunda, Blue Tent or WTMA.

Our DD will be 14 in April and is currently in 8th grade but taking all 9th grade classes. We anticipate her graduating in 2021, so June 2019 might be an aggressive deadline for us, but we haven't really put together a formal plan yet. We were thinking June 2020.

Woodland Mist, I was with you a hundred percent. I'm very surprised to hear of this short cut. We may also revamp our plan to submit for each level.

We registered on Monday so we're new as well. From what I've read, it appears as if we need to complete the "record book" which is found on the CA website. It has a line for the "validator"...advisor...to sign for each program area/goal. I'm sure someone with hands on experience can jump in to clarify for us.

Great exchange of information! Thanks to everyone for sharing. Our DD is scheduled to meet with her advisor on the 22nd of this month, and she's very excited to get this process started. I'll be sure to post our progress once she really sits down and focuses on each program area. She wants to get buy-in from her advisor before she finalizes any goals. With her volunteer position not starting until the summer, we feel like our hands are tied for the volunteer part of the program. We briefly talked about finding something else during the interim period, but so far no concrete ideas. We found a sign language club affiliated with our county library system, so she's signed up for the meeting later this month. This could become part of her personal development goal. Our DD also researched deaf schools and found 3 in our state - one is only 90 minutes away. She plans to contact the school to see if she could get a tour, volunteer or help in any way. We even discussed holding a fundraiser or getting involved with a fundraiser for the school. Her advisor is very excited about the physical fitness goal, so we're anxious to see what she has in mind for our girl. DD feels she should start out planning a local adventure for her first exploration goal. So, she's working on a list of historic homes and museums in our county. Not exactly groundbreaking, but hopefully, a small success will give her confidence to tackle more for the next goal.

We just submitted our paperwork and DD is working on scheduling a meeting with her advisor: a 25 year old dance instructor who is also a public school teacher and family friend. Our DD has a few ideas: Volunteer- teen program at a local hospital (our daughter is interested in the medical field) Personal development- something to do with her sign language courses, maybe sign the national anthem at a sporting event, join a club, attend deaf meetings, etc Physical fitness - the first goal might be as simple as strength training to do push ups, or a dance goal, perhaps a mini marathon (her advisor is extremely fit so we have a feeling she'll come to the table with ideas too) Exploration- explore the historic sites (including courthouse tour) in our county, one state park has great caves and we've never gone, shadow an aquarium/zoo employee for the day, visit our state capitol, Key West I'd love to hear from others. We're excited about the program but also nervous.

Our dd13 took the HOPE (health class) through FLVS. It was a check-the-box requirement for a high school credit, and definitely an easy A. Teacher feedback was consistent and very encouraging. Our daughter completed both semesters for one high school credit in two months. Our daughter is also taking psychology and 9th grade history through Sterling Academy (an Edgenuity program). She really likes the psychology class, but is just checking the box for the history credit. Each class takes about 90 minutes to complete.

We've used outschool for a few classes. We really liked Big Picture History by Scott Powell. He's pretty cool, very hippie-like. Our girls related to his style and free spirit approach to history and art. I'm trying to work his curriculum into our budget for next year. We've also taken classes from Denyel Parent, Where the Sidewalk Ends. Our youngest (11 years old) really wanted this class to run for the semester because it was so good. We also tried Anatomy and Physiology with Pete Alexander Reyes. This class was ok, but it wasn't a good fit for our 13 year old who is on a pre-med path. Our dd11 is signed up for Science Around the House with Tiffany Manley later this month and she's very excited. We're hoping this class is a good fit and turns into a semester long program. Our girls also took classes from Woodside Learning Center before she posted on Outschool. We enjoyed Woodside's creative writing classes, and it looks like she's now part of Outschool. Woodside's feedback was always positive, yet included good strong constructive comments as well. I hope others respond as we're always looking for new classes.

We're also considering this program for next year, 9th grade. I'd love to hear more.

We are also considering this program. Our daughter feels that one of her dance instructors would be a great advisor. The girl (woman) is 25 years old and truly an exceptional young role model. Our issue is time - or lack of time to really get the ball rolling. Our daughter will be 14 in April so we have plans to discuss the program over the holidays and decide if she can truly commit to it.