Um....celebrate?! But yeah, I guess it would depend on when they finished, why, and what subject it was. If they're done sometime in May though, they'd just be done. We school through the last week in May or first week in June typically. If I saw that they were going to finish up something sooner, I'd probably assign a research report or some fun reinforcement to stretch it out a bit more. If they are finishing early because we had started it the previous year or something, then I'd probably go on to the next level or next thing.

I haven't used Saxon, but if you don't get an answer here, try posting it on the main K-8 board--I think that gets a lot more traffic.

11th grade - outsourced at some point during the year: voice, art, ACT test prep, PE not outsourced: everything else: Physics, Algebra 2, Psychology, Spanish, College and Career Prep, Lit & composition

We use Math-U-See also. You only watch a DVD about once a week, and they are really short. We just get up and go to the TV when it's time to do math, and watch the lesson. We also use Essentials in Writing, which has a 5-minute lesson to watch more often (sometimes every day or two, depending on the lesson), and again, we just get up and go to the TV to watch when it's time to do writing. DVD lessons can be good for both auditory and visual learners, since it combines both. Also, with Math-U-See, it's good for kinesthetic learners because they actually have the blocks and practice doing problems with them--so they've seen it, heard it, done it--and they also teach it back to you, so they get to explain it (which takes a deeper level of understanding as well). Since the lessons are short and incorporate multiple approaches, they work pretty well for ADHD kids too.

I do. We typically do "lit and composition" for English credits, and my kids spend about 30 minutes reading and 30 minutes writing (daily). Discussions on their reading or writing usually happen during our one-on-one time, so I don't "count" that additional time, but it's likely another 30 minutes a week or so.

I don't copy workbooks, too frustrating to me! I would print out a PDF versus purchasing a workbook sometimes though (plus PDF books tend to have copyright rules that allow copies for one family, and not all workbooks do that). Printing a PDF is so much easier than photocopying!

I agree, I'd stick to the first two points. The third, while frustrating, might sound "subjective" to them, while the other two points are very objective. I think you had good examples. Here's a slightly edited version: Dear Board (I'll put their names here), Thank you for the opportunity to try _________ Co-Op for the spring semester. Unfortunately, this co-op is not a good fit for our family. As you know, my children all have severe nut allergies (there is nothing like sitting in the back of an ambulance with your three year old as the paramedic calls in your child's information and "near fatal anaphylactic shock" like we experienced this past October!) I do appreciate the efforts with signs, multiple emails, multiple Facebook Group announcements and asking each parent on campus. Unfortunately, this hasn't reduced the amount of nuts on campus, and I can't continue to put my children at risk. In addition, it doesn't seem like the co-op guidelines are being followed. Per ______ co-op guidelines, there should be two parents in every classroom for liability issues. Unfortunately, there hasn't been a co-teacher available for the three Fingerpainting classes I've taught. I have tried to fulfill this guideline for others--in addition to teaching finger-painting, I've served as a co-teacher for Elementary Science, completed the kitchen tasks each week, and sat in on several other classes to ensure that the 2 adult member was met. So, for these reasons we are discontinuing our co-op attendance. Thank you again for including us, and best wishes for your future classes. Sincerely, GAPeachie

Seriously, only her child remained? I'm thinking the board member needs a few more tools for handling young ones... Wow. I'd detail all of this in a nice but direct "thanks for the opportunity but it's just not going to work for us. Here's why..." and bow out now w/o burning bridges if possible. Maybe one of these families could be friends or could join you in other homeschool pursuits at some point. Sorry. I know that's disappointing.

I used to tell my kids it was coming and to be thinking about an interesting person or event they would like to write about. In other words, I had them pick the topic.

I agree, you can do a broad overview of all world history, or a shorter time frame. My oldest did 2 years of World History (he likes history) that spanned from Ad 0 to modern times. My youngest had done world history up to about 1700 in 8th grade and doesn't really care for history, so she just did 1700 to modern times for high school. We always aim for 150-180 hours for a history credit, with a combo of reading, tests, discussions, summaries/notes, and usually a short research paper or two.

I roughly follow the idea that 150-180 hours is a credit. Generally my kids carry 6 credits in high school, so about 6 hours of work. Usually they had .5 credit for PE, and .5 for some kind of elective (like music or art or theater etc...), so it isn't usually 6 hours sitting at a desk (or in bed or on the couch or at the computer or...) I did find that doing subjects daily usually worked best here, so we didn't really experiment with block-scheduling. We did do some semester courses though.

I encourage career exploration in both high school and college and encourage my kids to consider the pros and cons, but I don't try to dissuade from certain careers. Instead, I encourage them to think about whether this is something they would love to be a hobby for life versus a career, and to think through expenses and pay as some, but not all, of the criteria to consider. I always enjoyed writing, and my mom had concerns that I would never make money doing that. I wavered back and forth on majors a lot, trying to find something more "marketable," but always ended up back as an English major (not journalism and no teaching certificate). However, that degree helped me get almost every job I've had after graduation, and has brought in hobby income as well. So, that colors my take on the whole issue. I think it's good for kids to think it through and try to make a good decision, but I wouldn't automatically poo-poo a seemingly less-marketable degree. I would help them think through pros and cons, and variations on an interest that might make getting a job easier, and I definitely steer them towards minimizing debt (I don't think it makes any sense to spend $40-50,000 a year on private school when we don't have that kind of money unless one absolutely IS going into a high-paying career). We have a family member who is a total wet-blanket on all college without a specific job in mind though, and I really don't find that helpful to a young person who is trying to find answers. I get the thinking... but I just think differently.

My son might have been older--he didn't even start the program until he was 11, and it looks like your oldest is doing level 5 at 12--he wasn't that far yet at that age. My dd who was younger did closer to a level per year after the first 3. Both of my kids needed lots of review as well, so it's good that you're focusing on the review your dd needs.

It took my oldest about 4 years, and my youngest about 5 years, to get through all 7 levels. My oldest worked for 20 minutes per day, while my youngest tended to do slightly shorter lessons (about 15 minutes). Also, she was 2 years younger when we started (I started them both the same year), so my oldest was ready to progress a bit faster through some things. My oldest did levels 1, 2, and most of 3 the first year, and then did levels 4-6 over about 2 more years, and spent a full year on level 7. We did have some breaks in there (we also did All About Homophones and took a month off every year for our local spelling bee, plus level 7 didn't come out right when he was finished with 6, so he did a semester of keyboarding that included retyping all dictations from earlier levels--double-duty practice on spelling and keyboarding!). So all told, it was 4 years of work spread over 5 years of time. Levels 6 and 7 actually do have more rules (one of the rules in level 6 helped me correct one of my own spelling bugaboos), and also work more with morphological strategies. Some students might be ready for a more independent program sooner--mine still benefited from the one on one. HTH some!

Why not pop it in the mail?

All About Reading--here's a link to their placement tests.

If I could just encourage you--just keep working at it, and try not to focus on her being "behind." Work on spelling as needed (both of my kids needed direct spelling instruction for a couple of years in high school, and spelling struggles definitely affect a student's ability to get thoughts on paper--it's much easier to write if you know at least a reasonable way to represent most of the words you are thinking). Work on grammar, and quality sentences and paragraphs. Work on quality essays. Take it at her speed and don't worry how much or how little you get through, but can she do the process. Build up her skills gradually. She'll get there. Trying to get through a lot of material to say it's done tends to stress everyone out and leave gaps--better to go at a good pace. If she needed a remedial writing class or two in college, would it be the worst thing in the world? Lots of kids do need that, and it's why they have those classes. (I don't know if that will help you, but it's the thought that finally helped me relax and just keep teaching with my struggling writer.) Let go of the stress and just take things step by step. You and she can do this!

It sounds like what you are doing is working and your kids enjoy it...not sure why you would change things up then! Sure, it's great if readers match the history, but is it absolutely essential? Probably not. So, my first vote is...if it ain't broke, don't fix it! However...if you want to consider shaking things up, you might start to think about what you think you'll do long-term. If you really like Sonlight and just find it's hard to get through a whole core--there's lots of us that are "Sonlight eclectic" and end up dropping some books (or subbing in different spines, or other tweaks and alterations). If you are starting back with Ancient History this year though, have you thought about pulling from the Sonlight G readers for your oldest, and Sonlight B for younger ones? You might find appropriate read-alouds from those two cores as well. Sonlight says core G is best for ages 11-13. When my youngest did ancients in 6th grade, I found that many of the books from core B that she had missed the first time around were still interesting/enjoyable for her, and so we sometimes mixed in some of those easier books. Just a thought if you are set on doing ancients this year but are wanting to have readers match your history. I suggest that with some hesitancy though...if the read-alouds from Core D were a good fit this past year for your kids' span of ages, you may not want to jump up in levels to the matching read-alouds. So much depends on the family dynamics and how things are working now.

I haven't used all of those, but either AAR or AAS could work for your situation. If you go with AAR, you can use the placement tests to decide which level to start in. With AAS, you would start in level 1. It will fill in any gaps, but it would be awhile before you got to longer words. So, if you decide to just help him with reading books as he goes but are concerned that he may end up with gaps that way, AAS would eventually fill those in for you. Here's a post from the AALP message board on using AAS to teach a child to read that can help you decide which way would work for you. I also really find this blog post helpful on understanding the differences between AAR and AAS. HTH as you consider all of your options!

Sounds like fun!

Goodness, you had me at "introvert meltdown," before you even had to do things like worry about peanut allergies. Ugh! No, I'm not cut out for co-op life! When my kids were young, we occasionally did activity days, which I always found very over-stimulating. Field trips as well, though they usually afforded a little less chaos and were not quite as taxing as being "on" for "teaching." We did a co-op every other week last year with my high schoolers, and it was fun but really hard still--I'm glad to not be doing one now! As for friends...over the years we developed more friendships through things like park days, support group (I'd connect with moms and then we'd get our two families together for a "Friday Friend Day." For years I've only done half-days on Friday so we could connect with friends. We met people through church, and the kids sometimes made friends in groups (AWANA, youth group, etc...)

I'm probably not as exact as you are. We use time both to limit working too long (aim for an hour, but if it's over 1:15, come talk to me--don't just continue), and to make sure enough work is done (aim for an hour. If you're done in 45 minutes, that's okay, but if it's only 30, do another lesson.) Or: (read for 30 minutes but if you're near the end of a chapter, finish it. If you finish a chapter in 20 minutes, don't stop--read for 30.) With those guidelines, I write down the work they did each day--which lessons were done, tests taken, pages/chapters read etc... But I don't worry about keeping track of whether they actually worked for 1:15 or 0:45--I assume a day on task in a 1-credit class is 1 hour of work. And, while we generally do every class daily, we only do half-days on Fridays, and I vary what gets done there based on where they are in each subject. I think it probably evens out, but I don't go back to make sure they did exactly the same amount for every subject (ie, two half days = 1 whole day, whether they did math twice and didn't do foreign language at all for those two half days, or whether it was exactly equitable and they did each subject one time). All together they do roughly 180 days, which roughly means 1080 hours if they have 6 credits.

Oh, I felt that heart-tug as I read your post! This is my youngest's junior year, and next year will be our last too! My oldest graduated last year, so it seems like things are very quickly wrapping up here! Definitely trying to savor this last year and a third here... Congratulations on all you've accomplished!

We always just called it Time with Mom :-)

I agree--with violin, there are too many details to work on, sometimes requiring hands-on guidance or help with positioning. I wouldn't start with an online teacher.