I agree. This is what we are using this year for my 9th grade dd. I have been very impressed with how thorough this program is. It gives the teacher and student excellent support. My dd loves the way Leisha Myers writes. She says she feel like she is right there explaining it in person. Ditto, for the lesson plans. They are very helpful. Do understand, though, that *I* do not feel that this is an independent program that you hand to your child. It really needs your involvement. The discussions are very useful to reinforce what is covered in the lesson, so I try to stay 1-2 weeks ahead. HTH, Jennifer

I'm going to also recommend Potter's School French. (Don't know if that's the language you want.) My 9th grade dd is in French I with Madame S & French Conversations with Madame Reilly. IMHO, both are excellent teachers. Clear expectations laid out, lots of speaking opportunity in both classes, very good grammar instruction, and lots of real life cultural nuggets about France and other Francophone countries. I took 3 years of French in high school, and they are doing lots more translation work than I EVER did. And, my dd LOVES theses classes. If we continue homeschooling, she'll continue on through AP French. Also, they offer the National French Exam for $20, but that is optional. There are ministry opportunities abroad, too. HTH, Jennifer

All I can say to this is that I am examining these very issues right now. We live in GA and I just talked to a mom with 2 high schoolers in our cyber school. She had really mixed feelings because the high school portion of this program is VERY new in GA and in the last 2 years it has been in a constant state of flux. She lamented that even the counselors didn't know what to recommend to students because of the continual changes in courses. When I add up what it's going to cost to outsource for next year, and the time requirements/gas to get to some of the courses, DH & I are questioning if that's the life we want for our family. Just letting you know you are not the only one! Jennifer

My 9th grade dd is using distance learning with Derek Owens. All of the videos are pre-recorded on the internet. Once you've registered, you get access to everything for that course. This has worked beautifully for my dd. She has done very well with this approach. She downloads the homework pages and tests, completes them, scans & emails, then Derek grades it and returns with a grade. She also emails occasionally with questions and usually gets a response back in 24-48 hrs. That has been a load off of me because I think geometry is the trickiest math to grade. There might be more than one way to approach a proof and I'm not sure I would always discern those possibilities. I pay $58 per month for his services and it has been worth every cent to me. He is a very gifted teacher. We also bought his physical science program, and have been equally pleased. Here's the link: http://www.derekowens.com/ HTH, Jennifer

Julie, So glad to see you post. I along with many others have missed you! Many prayers have been sent up for you and your family. I promise that I will continue. I have been down this road twice with one of my best friends. She lost her first husband when we were in our 30's and two years ago lost her second husband. Keep surrounding yourself with loved ones. She would tell you that time is the best healer and that life WILL be sweet again! Blessings, Jennifer

Still waiting here in rural NE GA!

My dd used BJU Pre-algebra w/DVD's 2 years ago, when she was in 7th grade. The teacher was very good, and dd did well in this course. About halfway through the year, she quit watching the DVD's because she felt it was too time consuming to watch them (30-45 minutes) then do the assigned problems (another 60-90 minutes). The book was fairly self-explanatory, so she proceded fine, and I helped as needed. She still ended the year with a high A. This was the older edition book that matched the video course at that time. I'm not sure whether or not the video course has been updated with the newer version. If it has not, let me warn you that there are NO solutions in the TM for this older version. That may not matter to you, but it bugged me, because there were times I wasn't sure how they wanted dd to approach the problem and having solutions would have been very helpful. The next year we used Lial's Algebra and it was a seamless transition. She did very well that course, and we liked the textbook MUCH BETTER than the BJU book. However, I still give BJU great credit in preparing her well for algebra. HTH, Jennifer

My 9th grade dd took the test today, and thought it was easier than she expected. She said she finished one section completely, and almost all of the others. She thought the vocab section was the toughest. Thanks to all of the previous posts, I'd obtained the homeschool code for our state and had her memorize it. Good thing....she was the only homeschooler in her room and the proctor didn't have any idea what the code was. No problem for dd, she just told the proctor she knew it, and the lady seemed relieved. Overall, this was a really positive experience for dd. Even she was glad we used this year as a "trial run" for these types of standardized tests. Plus, she can't wait to start getting mail from colleges! Jennifer

You're welcome. I forgot to mention that they fold up into an 8 1/2" x 11 size, so my dc keep each continent in its own sheet protector in a 3 ring binder. This makes it easy to pull out & put away each day. At my house, if there's not a good system like this, things get misplaced or torn up!

My dc are doing world geography this year and I toiled over how we would tackle the physical geography, too. I looked at maps until my face turned blue. Now I know others have mentioned printing maps on 8 1/2" x 11" paper from the internet and that IS a fine way to do it. However, both of my dc felt like everything was too crowded on the small map making them difficult to read/study. So, I bought the large paper maps made by Geography Matters for $11.75. This is a kit of continent maps. One side is a black & white political map with country boundaries. Lakes and rivers are also printed in light gray. On the other side is a BEAUTIFUL physical map in color. Shades of browns, yellows, greens, and blue are used to see the topography and bodies of water on and around each continent. They are combining this with the Kingfisher Geography Encyclopedia (newest edition) and my 9th grader is also researching from the CIA website. I know this isn't a "workbook" approach like you desired, but I can tell you, it will get the job done in terms of learning the physical geography of the world. Here's the link to a description of the maps at Rainbow Resource: http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/007475/fdefaa6aa9cd8f08473693d9 Hope this helps in some way, Jennifer

Hi Amy, I haven't used LOAW so I have NO experience to draw from to help you, so take what I say with a grain of salt. Are you and dd getting any helpful info from the reading? If so, then perhaps just reading the book straight through and taking notes would be more useful. Then use your own assignments across your other subjects (lit, history, science, etc) as other posters have mentioned. If you are concerned about how dd will handle SAT essay prompts, then what about really diving into the writing section of the College Board's Official SAT guide. There's some great tips written to the student which help them understand how they evaluate the essay. To me, knowing that makes writing the essay a little easier. I toyed with using LOAW for my dd, but decided to use SWB's recommendation for The New Oxford Guide to Writing by Thomas Kane and finish R&S English 8. (We got a little behind in this series.) I chose the Kane book over the LOAW for no other reason than I liked the writing style and practicality of it for us. I don't think one is better than another--it's more a matter of personal preference. Dd is also working through the SAT book, so for 9th grade, I think we have plenty to work with. I keep reminding dd that writing is hard, but step #1 is to just get the words on the paper, THEN come back and edit, refine, edit some more, and polish. Through this process, speed WILL come, just like in reading. Really, what I have discovered about writing with both of my dc is that *I* need to give them a lot of attention and help in the process of writing. It is NOT a subject that I can hand over to them. It really is a mentoring process. Sorry for the ramblings; I hope there was something in this post that was useful. ;) Jennifer

I completely agree with these thoughts! I signed up my daughter and she is in 9th. She and I talked about many of the reasons why it would be an invaluable experience regardless of her scores. Jennifer

While looking on the internet might be "convenient", I'd get her to a good library where she can look at several days or weeks of national newspapers like the Washington Post, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, etc. If it's a college library where she can access some of the peer-reviewed journals that are supposedly being reported on, she can actually examine the original research and see how the media misinterpreted the data. For medical info, you'll often see these journals quoted: Journal of the American Medical Association, Lancet, European Journal of Medicine, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Hope this helps! Jennifer

I'll throw out a couple of suggestions: A Patriot's History of the United States by Dr. Larry Schweikart A friend of mine used this last year and loved it. It is written from a more conservative viewpoint. My friend used the plethora of resources from his website: maps, exams, chapter discussion questions (She said these were great for essays.) Below is his website. http://www.patriotshistoryusa.com/author-bios/dr-larry-schweikart/ The Landmark History of the American People by Daniel Boorstin My dd used this last year and really enjoyed the narrative style writing. He covers some less traditional topics which gives this book a different flavor than most textbooks. You actually see from the beginning how our core system of beliefs (and I don't mean religious, but rather ingenuitive, self-starters) still holds true today. Great read; very interesting. Unfortunately, there are no adjunct materials to be found on the web for this book. Plus it does only go through the date of the moon landing. We added in lots of literature and I just assigned some essay topics from dd's readings to assess her progress. Plus she researched every state in the US and put together a scrapbook from what she learned. This really turned out to be a fantastic project and something she'll keep for college. Hope these ideas help! Jennifer

That's what you would think, however, I even called the 2 private schools in our county. One has yet to return my phonecalls and the other told me, no. Mind you, that was also the same school that we ALMOST sent dd to this year. They were willing to take my $7000 for tuition, but not allow my dd to take the PSAT. I agree with you that I think that this is discrimination, but in the big scheme of things, I don't know if it's worth it. Of course, I'm glad that they are testing on Saturday and allowing dd to take the test. So I probably just need to be grateful. This is just not the first time I've felt they were unfair to us. This school system has the worst test scores in our region, yet they have a repuation of being pompous and arrogant about how well their students perform.....and they have a 60% dropout rate.:confused: Jennifer

In years past, our county high school had students take the test on Wed and always allowed homeschoolers to be admitted. This year, there's a new superintendent, and when I called to get dd registered they told me they were not sure they were going to allow homeschoolers to participate. What??? At first, this infuriated me, but AFTER I calmed down, I started calling all my homeschool friends with high schoolers to pass the word. They all began calling or dropping by the high school, and received the same reply I did. A few days later, the school called to tell me that they had made the decision to allow homeschoolers to register. This year they moved the test to Saturday, which I am glad about, but get this.....they are charging $20 instead of the standard $14. Would you like to know who's paying for the proctors???? Yes, that's right; all of the homeschoolers, because the state pays for the 10th & 11th graders. This just burns me up. BUT I will step down from my vent now....... Jennifer

There was some discussion about this a while back. I've linked the thread to help you read the responses and see what the OP actually decided to do. I followed the thread because I was considering doing this myself with my 9th grade dd and 5th grade ds. I am using many suggestions from the thread to make a world geography/cultures/mission course that suit the levels of both my dc. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/showthread.php?t=366758 HTH, Jennifer

Ruth, Thanks for the reply. The amount of time needed to WATCH & READ was one of my concerns. So you have verified that for me. I decided to go with a Labpak for earth science along with some other experiments I found, so I didn't order the investigations book. What I did find to help dd were flashcards with vocabulary & concept review. For me, I was able to locate a teacher's guide w/answers to chapter reviews, an outline for me to teach from, and tests/answer key. YAY!! That saves me some time. Anyway, thanks for the help. I won't be getting the TC lectures. By golly, you just saved me $200. :D My dh thanks you! Jennifer

hsBeth, Thanks for posting those links and starting this discussion. A friend of mine alerted me recently to the changes in reporting going from monthly (county level) to annual (state level). However, I didn't have links to the info. Regarding your discussion about the learner's permit, is there an option to turn in forms monthly? And is that a better idea for those of us with kids turning 15 in 9th grade? I'm all ears to this conversation. I did talk to Piedmont College about 1 month ago and they confirmed what you all are saying about the free dual enrollment. The admissions counselor also told me that, traditionally, dual enrollment was available only to jrs & srs, but she thought that might be changing over the course of this year. She said that 10th graders who have a good SAT score, transcript, and recommendations, may also be eligible (with permission) to dual enroll next year. That was great news to me as I'm hoping that's how we can accomplish our goals for foreign language beyond this year. Thanks for starting this thread! Jennifer

Just bumping....don't want this to get lost!

Well, here goes.... 1. World Geography, Cultures, Missions--using Introduction to Geography by Getis, From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya, Kingfisher Geography Encyclopedia, lots of mapwork & research 2. Earth Science--using Tarbuck text, Labpaq, Other readiing: The Deniers by Lawrence Solomon & A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking 3. Geometry--Derek Owens online course 4. Traditional Logic 5. Grammar/Composition--finish Rod & Staff English 8, Writer's Inc & Skillsbook 9, New Oxford Guide to Writing by Kane 6. Literature--finish Figuratively Speaking, Baron's Principles of Literature by Myers-Shaffer, assortment of world literature to coordinate with World Geography 7. French--Potter's School 8. SAT Prep--using College Board book 9. Fine Arts--Piano & Violin lessons 10. PE--swim team & assorted other activities to earn credit Ack! I hope I'm not overwhelming my daughter! Jennifer

DD 9th grade will be using Tarbuck's Earth Science (college text). I have NO background in this topic. Do you think the text w/CD is explanatory enough, or would the TC lectures be a great asset? I'm asking because they are on sale right now. They also have a set of the How the Earth Works & Oceanograpy on sale, too. I guess if I am going to shell out the money, I want to know that they would be VERY useful to us. Thanks, Jennifer

Here's a link to the college board's recs for this course. The only way I found it was by googling "ap human geography textbook". I NEVER found it just by looking through the website. FWIW, my dd will be self studying for this exam also, and I'm planning to use Introduction to Geography by Getis, Getis, & Fellmann. This text is SO READABLE and interesting. Great controversial topics covered and many thought provoking questions. Since it's not set up to cover "countries", however, I'm also adding in AP study guides to cover any gaps. I will say it's been tough finding a teacher's edition for this text (still haven't found), but there are great assignments available via the free webpage for the text. It's linked below. http://www.collegeboard.com/html/apcourseaudit/courses/human_geography_textbook_list.html http://ewhighered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0073522821/ HTH, Jennifer

I went back and forth with this decision, and finally decided to buy them for my 9th grader. She'll be starting them in 2 weeks. I mainly did this because dd is going to have to do this course independently. I thought when questions arose it would make it easier for ME if dvd's were available. We'll give it some time, and I'll post later about my review of them for our situation. HTH, Jennifer

Another vote for Lial. Dd and I loved it. EXCELLENT instructions and examples. Challenging word problems, too.