We have not tackled the AP question yet, but will likely opt to do about 4 exams along the way. As I was looking over the College Board course sites and reading forums a question came to me. If AP courses are so rigorous as to equate to a 100 level/intro college course, what does that say about high school teachers who teach the course in comparison with their higher paid/more credentialed college counterparts? Just how rigorous are these exams/courses really?

This year we are working on a quarter system and it amounts to five points of a possible 100 per term/per subject. Dd is in her first year of high school so I am trying to establish good habits but recognize I am still dealing with a kid with a rather short term perspective. She has five points per subject/content area that she begins with as a given. I randomly check a couple of the content areas per week and if she is not keeping on pace with work assigned, a point is lost. So far (first quarter just ended), so good. I should note that I am far more directly involved this year than had been true, because she and I realize that at this stage she needs that extra push.

I recall several courses in undergrad which would have approximately 10% of the final grade tied to attendance, homework, and so forth. The reason given: 10% is a solid letter grade difference and would distinguish able from reliable + able. In other words, scoring 100% on midterm/final reflected mastery, but not work ethic and those profs wanted to see both. I actually have adopted this approach in our studies, because I see this as my opportunity to impress on Dd the value of skill/ability coupled with persistence/reliability.

I think I would hit the library with him and a portable CD player/headphones. He could spend a couple of hours listening to anything on the shelf and see what grabs him.

Sometimes, it feels like just being the parent of a teen is a very real and very challenging education. There is not one area in which I am working to self educate, but I am loving relearning so many content areas alongside Dd. This time around I can learn without an exam pending.

:party:Inspiring.

We have chosen to outsource: Labs for Chemistry and Biology. Writing/Composition: Occassionally Dd will take a course away from home to allow her to have another point of view/assessment of her writing. We intend do PA Homeschoolers for a couple of AP classes in future years, not this first high school year. Community college would not be an option until Dd is older. We do not currently plan to use this option. If she selects a language other than Spanish or Latin, I would outsource after the first year. Dd's largest challenge comes from the number of hours she spends in the performing arts. Homeschool allows her to follow this interest far more than she would otherwise be able to do. We take opportunities as they fit and make sense for us. There are so many options.

Chemistry w/outsourced labs (Zumdahl and Chang) Algebra 2 (Saxon 3rd Edition) World History post Renaissance (Spielvogel Western Civilization, plus Teaching Company courses for nonwestern topics) World Literature/Composition (Outsourced Essay Writing Class, various Medieval/Renaissance Works, Shakespeare 2 Plays and LOTR, Wordly Wise 10, Grammar) Biology Labs + Genetics/Cellular Units (Campbell Concepts and Connections and Miller/Levine) Spanish (Textbook, Grammar Workbook and continue Rosetta Stone) Intro to Latin 1st Semester/Latin 1/2 2nd Semester (Linny/Wheelocks) DD spends 12-15 hours a week in various performing arts classes, 3 hours in clubs/scouts and volunteers another 3 hours a week. We begin our 42 week year next week. It will be a very busy and challenging year. She is excited, I am tired from all the planning/preparing.

Regentrude, thank you for updating. Prego does seem to be consistently well reviewed and have the benefit of being used widely enough to have many other resources. I hesitate a bit. This would be the third language which Dd has taken a strong interest in learning. I have been able to help her a bit with Latin and a great deal with Spanish, but Italian will be a new endeavor for both of us.

My Dd wants to try Italian. Bumping this to see if any other rec's emerge.

Thank You!

We generally prefer the college texts versus those designed for high school. They just seem to be filled with less visual clutter (standardized text practice, "critical thinking" suggestions, cross curricular connections...).

We also started it this summer and found the fill in the blank and vocabulary more time consuming and less "analytical" than what I guess I had expected. I find the "additional notes" helpful in reviewing literary terms in context. That someone has done the work to connect the terms with specific chapters in the narrative saves me time planning and compiling. I have Dd read the blurb provided and do the comprehension questions and challenger. She can usually knock them out in about 20 minutes. To the extent they have her "Find the example of an Elvish aphorism on page 84", I figure they are useful in application sense. Again, the unit studies save me some time, which frees me to do more with the rest of Lit/Comp credit for the year. The extra readings line up with either ones we covered last year (Illiad/Odyssey) or will cover this year (ex: Beowulf/Shakespeare). As we are going through it I am seeing it as a way to organize our thinking around one piece of what we are doing overall. Dd had not read any of the triology yet, had read the Hobbit, and it lined up with parts of what we are doing otherwise so I am content and she does not find it as tedious as she might if she were very familiar with it before beginning. In summary, we are culling out the time sinks which feel to us less valuable and intend to complete it. As it is a supplement in our plan overall, we will be fine meandering. I figure once we are done, we can use it for comparisons over the next several years.

Goals/needs can be so very different for students it is wonderful to be able to determine how to best accomplish them (Hooray for Homeschooling). For us earning college credits before entering college would not be a goal or need. Our goal is to do 4 years of challenging academic study in the 4 core areas, plus 4 years of foreign language and a few intriguing electives. Along the route we aim to prepare skills, attitudes and habits that may serve Dd well in college. The AP program in a general sense offers a course of study that is challenging and can be done independently or via any number of online and live options more formally. Ultimately, performance on the AP exam offers an indication of the level of expectations we set for a given content area and Dd's ability to meet those expectations (in whole or part). Colleges know what an AP score means, it allows us to speak to them about the quality/depth/content/scope of what we do in a language they recognize and can feel secure relying on to make a judgment. Dd plans to sit for a few AP exams beginning in 10th grade. We chose not to pursue any for the first year of highschool and focus on solidifying skills and laying a foundation. My issue with the AP program for homeschoolers is that we are often at the mercy of local personalities/systems to gain permission to sit for the exams at the schools. I would love to see the College Board establish a program that offered all of the exams at a state university in each state. It would open opportunities for rural students, homeschoolers and others who may not have access to the exams otherwise. I would gladly drive and stay overnight to know that at the end of our studies the exam is available/accessible and not be limited by local preferences or policies in selection of what AP's to pursue. AP, CLEP, SAT 2's, various national language exams, community college, distance education via colleges/universities......we all have so many ways to go about providing opportunities for our kids to be challenged and to verify they were.

Alexander...just makes me smile!

Sounds as though she "got" the crowd control aspect of her teacher certification coursework. When she has had a year or two of submitting lesson plans to comply with regs, form production/management, parent conferences, staff meetings, taking attendance, writing hall passes...then she might understand why being able to parent and teach is a different ball game.

That looks like the one. I have had it for about 4 years. It is just nice to have a quick reference. Before I picked up the Hamilton book if I had any desire to look further about a specific term, I just googled it. Figuratively Speaking is nice too, I still keep it around. I pick up the Quick Study fold out laminated cards for a lot of things we do. Their periodic table one is really nice to have around. When I go to plan a course, I take out the relevant one and have it at hand to compare to the materials we use. They are well laminated and hold up well. I still have one for Geometry formulas from back when the dino's walked and I was in in high school.

Essential Literary Terms by Hamilton, published by Norton. I also found a Quick Study laminated notebook insert for Literary Devices and Terms a while back that has been useful.

Topic: What might you deduce about a culture's values from the heroes it recognizes in literature/art? Compare heroes from various cultures.

:iagree:So many great resources have become known to us because of the comments and posts here.

Lovely poem! So much to be both inspired and saddened by in this.

We did a trial of high school this past year (8th grade). I found that I needed to provide a list of daily objectives, but not necessarily assign the time slots. I did need to check in every hour or so and monitor progress on independent work. I am not sure whether knowing I would be checking in kept Dd on her toes. I am sure that it helped redirect attention when she strayed before she let too much time pass. As the year went along, she would set her own goals (Ex: Do 15 math problems and 1/2 of grammar then take a break). She commented that it helped her know when to skip a question temporarily and ask it/seek help when I checked in with her. This is turn seemed to make the questions she asked seem more well thought out than they had been in early times.

Did the comments follow a formal speaking situation or casual conversation? I have noticed a huge difference in the way Dd speaks depending on the context. It is though she rises to the occassion when needed, but in everyday dialouge drops all formalities (unless addressing an adult).

I had a really intriguing conversation with a seasoned homeschoolers of many and wanted to continue it/have more input. It began with me expressing that I was inclined to load up 9th grade out of concern that in the later years (11th/12th) there would be college admissions activities and generally less direct input by me in Dd's content/course of study. The seasoned vet said she had found 10th grade the most productive for her first three graduated homeschoolers. Her take was that they had the foundation to produce deeper content and the maturity to go along with it. I was curious what some of the hive might have experienced. What made it the "most productive year". Productive = I really feel we accomplished a great deal and DC learned a great deal.

Dd will be in 9th grade next year. Due to the very incremental nature of the programs we chose for the year, I planned the expectations on a daily basis. We bought her a planner and each week we will fill in objectives broken down daily. It would just be far too easy to have the time slip away and have to scramble. In order to edge her toward more independence, she will have a scattering of bigger projects to self plan. I hope with 10th grade to see her take a weekly list and self subdivide it. Finally by 11/12th be largely self planning.