DS is going into 9th grade this year. He did want to be a K9 police officer, but now he wants to be a veterinarian. He also wants to have his novels published as a side job.

Sometimes the couch, but mostly the desk in the living room.

Wow, I'm surprised everyone is doing letters. I kind of thought it would be a 50/50 split. I've been doing numbers for grades so I guess I'll be changing them to letters this year. Thanks!

Do colleges prefer letter grades or number grades when looking at homeschool transcripts? I'm sure different colleges have different preferences, but overall which should I use?

Last year I started just giving him weekly assignments and leaving the logistics up to him. He would usually write down which day he was going to do what assignment. He was required to do one math lesson every day, but other than that he could do a whole weeks worth of science or social studies or whatever in one day if he wanted. I plan on doing the same thing this year for 9th. He gets up at 7:00 and has to take care of his dog and get breakfast, get dressed, etc. Then he starts his day. I don't make him work until a certain time but he is not allowed to watch any tv until 3:00. I don't allow video games or fun computer time during the week. We've never had this happen, but if he were not to finish his assignments during the week then he would not be allowed video games/tv/fun computer on the weekends.

This is probably a really dumb question and I think I am overthinking the whole thing, but... Is a 1/2 credit course only half a year or a whole year but not a core course? For example, I want DS to do some kind of art this year but I don't know if I should make it half year or whole year. If I make it half year will he have done enough to actually earn 1/2 credit?

Mine is starting 9th grade this year and I plan to continue to do what I did for his 8th grade year. I wrote down all his assignments for the week and he could decide how and when to get it done. My only requirement was that he did a math lesson each day and not try to get the whole week's worth of math done in one day. He did try that and ended up getting frustrated (so would I if I had to do 5 straight hours of math) so he has to do one each day.

For high school curriculum and supplies. I'm trying to set a budget but I'm not sure what is realistic. TIA

Thank you! I guess we'll start with the one we have and see how it goes.

DS has a TI-30X IIS calculator. Will that be sufficient for geometry or should we get him a more advanced calculator?

I just use a regular notebook. I list all his assignments for the week and he'll write which day(s) he's planning to work on things and then crosses them off when done.

You can go on www.myplate.gov and put in your child's info and it will tell you what they should be eating.

Wow! I'm glad to know that. I'll just stick with the 2nd edition then. Thanks

This will be our first time using wordly wise so I'm not super familiar with it yet. I was able to find the 2nd edition student book and teacher's edition on amazon brand new for cheaper than ordering it from the worldy wise website. On their website I noticed that they have a 3rd edition coming out and I am wondering if I should order that one instead. The 3rd edition is not available on amazon so I'd have to pay full price for it. Does anyone know the difference between the two? I saw sample lessons on their website of the 3rd edition but not the 2nd. WWYD? Would you order the 2nd edition on amazon for less or order the 3rd edition?

DS is just going to start 9th grade this fall but I'm trying to make a tentative high school plan. Our state has a dual enrollment program where you choose either college pathway or technical pathway, then choose a concentration in whichever pathway you choose. DS wants to do the college pathway with the life and health science concentration. I'm not too familiar with dual enrollment so maybe they're all like this, but I don't know. For the concentration DS wants, there are two english comp. classes, a fine arts class, social science class, math and natural sciences. The problem I'm having is that two of the natural science classes are biology and chemistry. I was planning on having DS do biology this year and chemistry next year at home. He will not be eligible for the dual enrollment until the year after next (he's 14 and he needs to be 16). So after all that explanation, here are my questions: Do I have DS do biology and chemistry for 9th and 10th grade and again at the community college for dual enrollment, or should I just do different sciences for 9th and 10th and let him do biology and chem at the CC during dual enrollment? If I don't do bio and chem, what other sciences should I have him do? He did earth science already in 8th grade. I guess it doesnt' make much sense to have him do bio and chem twice, but I don't know what other sciences would be good for high school. Sorry if I sound like an idiot, but I just finished my first year homeschooling and my head is spinning. Last year was definately a trial and error year, lol.

DS did the first part of us history this year in 8th grade and he also completed algebra 1. I know those are typically high school courses so should I include them on his high school transcript? If so, where on the transcript would I put them?

anyone?? bueller?? I guess I could just call it a creative writing class, but I always put creative writing in the same catagory as an english class. I don't really know how I could make it it's own class.

DS has been reading the Forgotten Realms books for several years. If you're unfamiliar with them, they are sci-fi/fantasy type books. There are probably 100 or more books in the series and some are done by the same author and some are done by different authors but they all revolve around the same groups of characters or realms. Anyway, DS decided a few weeks ago that he wants to write a story that would go along with the Forgotten Realms series. He's been spending all his free time researching different elements for his story. He wants it to be true to the original ideas of the series and it to be similiar to what he's been reading all this time. Since our school year is ending in another week (we follow the local ps schedule) I was wondering if there was a way he could earn some credit for working on it over the summer. Is there a way to somehow make his story and it's research into a credit earning course? I know that as a homeschool, I can assign credits as I'd like, to an extent, but I'd like to put it on his transcript and have it look like a "real" course, KWIM. I hope what I'm asking makes sense, lol. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks for all the suggestions so far! He does volunteer at the local animal shelter and he also does flyball with our dog.

I'm starting to plan for the fall when DS starts 9th grade but I'm having a hard time coming up with electives. DS is being less than helpful trying to think of something he'd like to do. I have english, geometry, biology, us history, french. As far as college plans, he's going to do two years at the local community college so I'm not too worried about needing a ton of stuff. He wants to be a k9 police officer or something else working with animals.

My state requires annual standardized tests. I decided to have DS do the IOWA test. He is only required by the state to do the core test, not the complete battery so that's all I'm going to have him do. Will it be a problem to leave the science/social studies part of the test blank? Will it be considered incomplete by the testing company?

My state requires an annual standardized test to be administered. I've looked around but they all seem the same to me. I'm leaning towards Iowa because DS took those when they went to parochial school so I think it might be familiar to him. Is Iowa good? Any other good recommendations?

I totally agree! Everytime I go to the doctor and step on the scale the medical assistant/nurse makes me get off the scale and she makes sure it's working correctly and I have to get back on again. And the doctor will ask me if I have any problems eating, etc. Ummm, no! I'm 5'2" and weigh 87 lbs. That's what I've weighed since I was a teen.

Know that even if you disable youtube in the settings, there are ways around it. Some apps have links to youtube and it won't be blocked. Also you can access youtube through facebook even if youtube is blocked in restrictions.

Yes. When you go to settings, restrictions, enable restrictions, it will ask you to enter a 4 digit password and then you can turn on or off youtube, safari, itunes, etc.