Thank you, thank you so much!! I DO want to continue MUS but was a little concerned because the Calculus is new and there just didn't seem to be any feedback. But now I have it and I can quit stressing :001_smile:

Thank you! Does this mean I have permission to sell it now?? :lol:

Any opinions here? There are just simply no reviews for either program. We are currently using MUS Alg2 and ds will do the MUS Precalc in 11th, but I am even debating if he needs Calc at all because he is more interested in a business degree. Would I be doing ds a great disservice by skipping Calculus and do something different like Mathematics:A Human Endeavor?

This is what my son says too! I have been using LoF alongside MUS and he says he doesn't like storytelling learning. Honestly---I LOVE it :tongue_smilie: It gives the 'why' behind using math that I am just not finding in MUs, which just seems to be nuts and bolts---and that's it.

I suggest taking a look at the Ace curriculum---very inexpensive and VERY solid academics! We use various subjects and I am very impressed with it. The whole systems set up so the student sets their own schedule and learns to manage their time AND academics. They are supposed to grade, rework and then regrade their schoolwork. FYI---it is NOT a fill in the blank program with no thinking as has been claimed here too many times. It is a solid program with a good track record of students scoring well on college entrance tests and doing well in college. There is a yahoo group that is very helpful. I would do all Ace if I didn't have time/energy to be fully involved in ds's school LONG before considering public school :001_huh:

My cousin and my SIL went there and not only loved it, but are very successful adults now! But of course that was before CA became the disaster of a state it is now. Dh and I are both from CA, and have always wanted to go back and have our kids go to college there--- but not anymore. Between Moonbeam, the Dream Act, the cost of living and housing, always rising taxes and now the state college system in disaster---it's the last place we want to be or have our children be. There is no harm in your dd applying, but just be aware Ca is a state on the brink of complete collapse and disaster( or so the news makes it sound that way) so perhaps grad school would be a better bet ;)

We are using ACE Spanish with Powerglide--and really like them together! We are doing ACE half time, so will complete the course next year along with Powerglide Year 2 next year. 12th ds will use Pimsleur I-IV to hone in on his conversational Spanish ;)

[quote name=Teachin'Mine;3925897 No point to my posting this article' date=' I just found it interesting. :) As I'm thinking about it, maybe it shows just how wide the gap has become. And please don't get me wrong; there's nothing wrong with being able to pay for expensive colleges outright. The more who can do that, and even contribute a bit more as well, then the more there is in scholarship money for the rest of us who can't. ;) No--the article is interesting in a 'look what I can do that you can't' sort of way :glare: I wasn't bashing you for posting it----just bashing the 'news' services for actually reporting on an obviously non-news story. :confused: A better slant would be how a middle to low-middle class family put all 5 of their children through college debt free.

Kind of wondering why this is even a story since he can obviously afford it?? :001_huh: If we were multi-millionaires, then it would be our pleasure as parents to send our kids to whatever college they chose, complete with cars, premium housing etc. As it is, well, our story is a bit different. Kids will be working and paying their own way for a degree.......;)

Couldn't agree more! Dd has chosen the NO debt route----meaningno dorms, no partying ad nauseum etc. she is working and paying as she goes, and will graduate with NO debt! Her friend attending a private $40,000/year school just stayed at her apt for 3 nights waiting for some irresponsible schoolmates to move out of an apartment so she has a place to live for the summer, while dd worked every morning and did her schoolwork online every day. She feels like her friend is enjoying an extended adolescence while she graduated into the adult world. Not always easy for her to feel this way---but hopefully the benefits of being debt free will be worth it :001_smile:

My ds is using the Ace Physical Science, which truly is an ICP. Dd used the PaC course, which is not math based and much easier than the ACE, which is very math based and quite challenging!

It was seriously our least favorite core! The Bible and Govt portion was just TOO much---too much information without actually teaching the specifics of govt, too deep. I was hoping for a just the facts type govt book---which the Carson book is NOT! :glare: The lit was also just too much and there just simply wasn't much in the way of analysis of the lit----I am surprised it's considered an American Lit program. This was the first SL Core that we actually dropped books from left and right. DS will be doing bits and pieces of 400 over the next 2 years incorporated into 100 and 300----that's how much we disliked 400 :001_huh:

Exactly what I have been doing with ds! It works out better this way because it lets you savor the program a little longer;)

Dd elected to do her college online due to her extreme food sensitivities from Celiac and leaky gut. The schools we looked at were simply serving the packaged processed GF foods, which still have too much gluten in them to be safe for dd.

DD did odd jobs here and there until she graduated. The job 'opportunities' are few and far between in our small town, and usually kids get hired because they are 'known'. As homeschoolers, we are basically unknown in our public school sports obsessed town. Ds has applied many different places for weekend work and has not gotten one call back so far in over a year. His friends of the same age work as parking attendants at the local ski hill, but the drug use by all of them is so extreme, he is NOT allowed to even think about it! Our business is finally picking up, so he will most likely be helping out in our office soon.

We used SL 400 last year and it was our absolutely LEAST favorite SL core!! Everything about it was just so over our heads and the approach to Govt was just so dry and simply too much! We quickly dropped the Bible portion and the Carson Govt book was next.....and then a few others after that. If you want a Govt course that is understandable, I would recommend Notgrass.

:iagree: MFW assumes a student who already knows how to approach a writing topic, so no guided, hand-holding is given. Since EIW is pretty inexpensive, you could probably very easily use it alongside the MFW program.

I agree with you on SO many points here! ;). I spend far less time here than I used to because I simply don't feel it's necessary to push my particular kids so hard or to do college in high school. I regret, now, all the wasted time worrying and pushing dd into a college prep high school track when I could have eased up, enjoyed her high school years more with her and allowed her to truly follow her more artistic interests. I'm not making the same mistake with ds----we'll cover the college prep basics that he is capable of, but I'm not going to push him into a corner with rigor if it's not a good fit. You're not alone with your thoughts!

Yes, I got the 2nd edition. I meant that sWB recommended WWS for a high schooler that needs remediation to be ready for rhetoric, not the IEW. As far as IEW creating writers dependent on the structure, dress ups and source materials, I would think that could only happen if 'we' let it. I think the key with IEW is to apply it to what they are studying. We happen to be using the history based writing, but only because writing has been THE most neglected subject of our homeschool :glare: I read a bunch of articles at IEW about teaching writing and am now completely satisfied with why I am using it and definitely seeing progress already ;)

My goal homeschooling was always College Prep----until my dd got to the high school years and I realized that it was NOT working the way my well laid plans said it should! I still pushed her hard to complete challenging subjects, and still had her take that darn ACT. But in the end, amid all the pressure and stress of trying to complete all those requirements and watching all her friends go off to college and all the questions of 'So where are you going to college?'----she is doing online college and LOVING it!! She is working and paying for it all on her own. At first, this was a tough decision. after all we live in a very small, isolated town far removed from any cc's with terrible employment opportunities. The default for ALL kids around here is 'Get a loan, go to college'. There were problems right at the start forums though mainly, food intolerance issues that would have made dorm living and cafeteria eating 100% out of the question. Add to that one income homeschooling that has not allowed us to save to pay our kids way in college and our reluctance to allow our kids to get into possibly major debt before the age of 22--and we had our decision ready made for us. Her best homeschooling friend did the typical go off to college-----and dd is quite dismayed to learn that the 'liberalizing' we studied That happens in college is alive and well-----her friend is now enjoying the 4 years of partying and debauchery she missed being a homeschooled----and she gets to pay it off after she graduates and finds a job! All the kids she knows who went off to college regularly post their partying and debauchery of their wild college and dorm living on FB-whether homeschooled or not. Dd is now very happy with her decision and has met a wonderful young man who also decided not to return to his college for the same reasons. They both work and do online school----and don't drink, do drugs and engage in the promiscuity that pretty much ALL the rest of their friends are doing right now. They feel years older than their same age friends. Right now with ds 2 years away from this decision, we now are very pro online schooling either through College Plus or independently. Our new mantra is---"Dont do college unless you have a direction and goal----it's too expensive to toy with and waste 4years partying! Just be aware that your employment opportunities are very limited without a degree.". We are NO longer in favor of college after high school default obviously :001_huh:

We use the Hewitt tests for the History of US books. You could also use writing about historical topics via outlining then writing for grading purposes. It just depends on your own personal philosophy about testing/grading when it comes to history. For us, between the Hewitt tests and the IMMENSE amount of discussion via the IG---I feel satisfied that my kids know their history without having to use any more intense methods of memorize-to-regurgitate history. In fact, this is exactly why I always hated history, especially in high school! And we also don't ' teach to college' ;). As far as SL or MFW being better than one another---I think it's just a matter of learning style and intensity. sL has very intense reading schedules and MFW is more relaxed in this department--- they are both excellent programs!

We have been using SL since 2004 and I just recently graduated dd from SL--so I can answer your question. I gave up on SL LA our first year because at the time, it included no how-to-write direction--which is what we needed. I went in many different directions until finding IEW. Every year I would look at the LA and writing assignments and every year I would just shake my head in bewilderment at how SL considered it 'complete' :glare: If one has a student who knows how to write 2 page papers like a pro with just being given a prompt--well then SL will work. Otherwise, it seems that the majority of us use other sources: IEW, Easy Grammar Ultimate, Wordly Wise.

I finally bought it this year to use with ds after looking at the program for probably a year. everything was going fine until we got to the actual writing units---and that's when the balking started! If you have a natural writer, I think this program will work fine. We still need direction and guidelines and this program just was not working. I reluctantly dropped it about week 12 in lieu of IEW and we are MUCH happier! After reading SWB threads on WWS and how she even suggests it for high schoolers who need help in this area, I decided to add that in for ds and am SO glad I did! So if your child already knows HOW to write and has no problems outlining and then writing, WWTB is a good fit. If your child still needs work in this area, then I don't suggest it. And as in previous threads talking about WWTB---the writing topics given are awful! You would definitely want to tailor them to your student ;)

They changed the upper level IGs last year, so don't worry about the April 2nd deadline. Have you gotten a free 3 week sample of Core 100 yet? Do that and compare it to the older one you bought---- the differences are immense! The BIGGEST thing they finally fixed is that ALL the notes and full questions that were in the Student Question section are now ALL in the parent guide too----the older IGs do not contain this information which made it necessary for the parent to hold BOTH guides at once and do a LOT of flipping and checking and reading to be able to properly interact with your student and the material. It truly was a royal PITA :glare: If you are looking at any of the upper level IGs, you will want to purchase both the Student and Parent guides if you want your student to independently answer questions before you go over them together--- otherwise just a Parent guide would suffice if you just want to do it all orally.

Again----totally, 100% agree!! The older IGs are DREADFUL----cumbersome, awkward if not flat out impossible to use. The new IGs are worth every.single.penny!! In fact, I am appalled at how much dd and I missed out on using those old IGs, most especially with Core 100. I gave up trying to figure that one out early on when she started the core, and looking at the new samples compared to my old guide is truly shocking. SO much additional information is packed in the guide!