Test scores and relative rigor matter. Colleges have an ample pool of applicants who demonstrate both, and thus are able to check those boxes for a given applicant and compare/contrast on other factors. The choice to deviate comes with risks.

For the National Merit they are going to look at the PSAT you take in what you call 1tth grade. As long as you take it only once calling it 11th grade and you graduate the following school year you should be ok on that issue.

This is the one we have found most effective, we say it slightly differently..."We are deviants and we love the community."

:hurray: I hope the first day goes very well for you both. We have several appointments over the next couple of weeks, so tomorrow is a soft start for us. Everything goes into full swing the second week of September. I still need to work out how I want to address Physics, but otherwise all the materials are in and supplies bought. I am actually thinking about packing a backpack and heading to a coffee shop to start the day together...

I really want to underline the piece in Lori's statement about the lack of any real meaning to the Honors designation in today's educational environment, especially for homeschoolers. A local teacher I know explains it as follows: Honors means not AP and not remedial. The growth of AP classes has replaced what was once the "Honors" level. In some schools it might impact weights given to grades within the weighted GPA model, but this is about the politics of class rank. I am not planning to designate anything as Honors on Dd's transcript. Maybe I am becoming very cynical, but for homeschoolers it really seems that so much weight is given to SAT/ACT, that the transcript is more of a snapshot to glean if a student specialized in any areas or avoided any others.

Dd loves to journal, write songs/short stories/doodle, so this time of year is a bonanza for various styles and formats. I tend to pick up a several for the stocking, birthday and easter basket and put them in the closet. There is just way more variety during the back to school season.

We recently picked up the Teaching Company course Fundamentals of Photography. I haven't had a chance to dip into it yet, but Dd has long wanted to learn more about photography and just doesn't have the time to do a focused study, so we figured we would try watching a lecture or two a week. Learning to use Adobe Photoshop and work with digital editing is something Dd started toying with several years ago. She has found it very useful in all sorts of applications and fun to just play with to make all sorts of things.

Benjamin Franklin and his Society of Useful Knowledge was the grandfather of Steampunk --

Has he done Geometry outside of Saxon? If he is finishing up Algebra 2 with the older Saxon series and hasn't done Geometry, he may be tripped up even with a review of Algebra once he hits Pre-Calc. A big chunk of Geometry in the Saxon series falls at the end of Algebra 2 and in the beginning of Advanced Math? Just something to consider if switching programs.

I have always been a bit unsure why American Government is treated as a 1/2 credit course in high school but valued equally to other humanities in college. I don't have an answer, other than to say you might check and see if they are doing a bit of comparative government as well and thus adding in another 1/2 credit to reach one full one.

I second the suggestion to look at the Donna Young site.

Confessions has some issues teens can relate to in their own lives and is autobiographical. City of God, Dd read two small excerpts and found it interesting, but I think she got more of the "why" of Augustine from Confessions.

I am kinda thinking that if I were a teen with an 87 or so test average and I was told it is a "disaster" and I would have to go back and start all over for the entire course, I might not be happy either. I can hear my inner teen self saying..."so if I bring that up to a 90 average on tests would it move from being a disaster to maybe a worrisome situationt, would a 93 average make it a concern/disappointment?" Having a B in math and being told I would have to repeat the class...i would not be happy. That said, it sounds like you sense a lack of firm enough understanding the test results are not revealing. I have a love-hate relationship with Saxon, but on the love side is the feature allowing me to look back at what Dd misses and know which lesson numbers the issues are coming from so that we can direct any needed clarification/remediation in a very targeted way. We keep old homework and tests. If she is missing a type of problem consistently, I pick up on it fairly quickly. The program's notation of which lessons a problem comes from makes the job of tracing the source of confusion very straightforward. Have you been looking at his homework and tracking what type of problems on the tests he is missing? IMHO, Saxon Algebra 2 (we used the 3rd editon) does not allow much room for straying from the 4 lessons a week plus test a week model. 129 lessons, plus a couple of Geometry review pre-lessons means the student can wind up not finishing in the typical 36 week school year if anything comes up that slows them down. Dd was about 35 lessons from being done when our "school year" wound up the second week of June and summer activities. Starting into the new school year it appears she will have about 12 lessons remaining to complete. In her case, she drug her feet a bit at a couple of points last year and she had some illnesses and interruptions that slowed the pace (about 1/2 of each make up the deficit). We will finish those remaining lessons and move into Advanced Math with the goal of reaching at least lesson 60 this year. Her consequence for not being done came with having to work as she could during the summer and not having any math free time between school years. I am ok with it because I can see that the program leaves very little wiggle room for falling behind and she has learned to not let things go when there is a choice and plan for the rainy days. How does your son feel about Saxon? Is he asking for another program? Just how far behind is he? Have you analyzed where the deficits are using the provided lesson number references, provided help targeted to them? I like the Geometry course from the Teaching Company and it works with Jacobs. I have used it with Dd when I felt she would benefit some non-Saxon input. I agree with the others who encourage that Algebra is so fundamental it must be mastered, I am just not sure from what you have posted that the process of going over it all again is the best course to address the issues.

Two questions--Which version of Saxon Algebra 2? What Pre-Calc program is pending?

How far away is the next CC? We have a friend whose daughter is actually attending two CC's (yes, a lot of driving) to get around some of the site specific policies that prohibit her from doing all she wants.

It has been a long while since I last looked at the Stanford's score report, but by chance does it provide the number of questions in each unit, number the student attempted and number the student got correct? One problem, especially with items like vocabulary/spelling can be that the number of questions is so small. Specifically with vocabulary versus comprehension, while it might seem a student who has a large vocabulary should comprehend as well, the skills employed for success are not the same. Generally (very generally), vocabulary assessments with multile choice formats are allowing a student who may have familiarity with a word or word decoding skills to compare and contrast a small number of options and select or eliminate available choices. Reading comprehension, although still multiple choice, demands the student apply an array of skills. For example, a word may have a connotation and a denotation, context may play a large part in determining which prevails as important in the passage. Or another example, when reading a passage and then responding to questions to test comprehension, a student may need to employ an understanding of satire versus literal prose. Said another way, knowing words and their meanings is only one of many skills that in comprehension of reading. GE is not the most reliable indicator of ability. On many assessments, the percentiles are more helpful, but still not great.

Margaret, you have wandered many paths :) . Honestly, if I knew Dd would not want to try for admission to a competive college, or was definitely interested in a major in the performing arts, or really anything more definite, I could plan and provide for her much easier. This kid is an enigma. I guess it keeps things interesting, but it sure doesn't make them easy to plan. I appreciate you sharing the path you took with each, it helps in my thinking. I am going to try to finish my walk through the Saxon Physics over the weekend. Hopefully, any others who have also used the program will post their input about it.

Margaret, your post prompted me to search result for the SAT 2 Physics, and yeah it does appear it has a nasty curve. Did your other teens take it at some point and study Physics with something else?

Guilty, but then I have always been a big non-fiction reader and homeschool just gave me an excuse to do more. Don't even get me started on the Teaching Company courses...I need an excuse for when Dd graduates.

:grouphug:

You have been very helpful. I actually bought Knight on your suggestion and I really appreciate it on many levels. The writing is a real strength in it, very personable without being cheeky or condescending. If Dd didn't have this Saxon crush...

Me three.

TY for the response. The thing really throwing me is this would be 20 problems per lesson (plus 5 "curveball questions") and to do it in a year would be 3 lessons per week. He does a lot of the drawing for them initially and then drops it on later, a modeling sort of approach. I guess it is probably about the equivalent timewise, maybe a bit closer to the 4 hour to 5 hour a week range. Ugh! I really have a love/hate thing going with Saxon...

Regentrude: If you are still tuned in to this thread....about how many problems a week do your college students do for your class?

I was thrown by the TOC as well. Looking at the actual lessons confirms what he states in the Preface to describe what he attempted to do with the topical order. I wouldn't say it is superior, but reading through the lessons it is also not internally disconnected and disjointed. It is different.