I have read about Signs and Seasons, but it sounded like it wouldn't be nearly rigorous enough for Science Olympiad - at the high school level it is full of math (I know because my oldest dd ended up being the partner in the astronomy event and had no clue what was going on) Thanks Meryl

If your child doesn't have a clue about which college, I would suggest math as one she takes - a few of the colleges my dd looked at require math as being one of the 3. I didn't find any that wanted more than 3, so she just took 3 (and ended up at a college that didn't require any!) Meryl

We did SL 100 (with grades 6, 8 and 11) - and that uses History of US by Joy Hakim (mentioned above) and my kids absolutely loved it!! And they remember so much of it too ... you now 7th grader regularly gets the Jeopardy clues on US History correct - specially the ones about 'which president ...' Meryl

Usborne has one that Sonlight uses in year 7 ... but it isn't thick enough to be sufficient for a full year Meryl

My dd is just finishing grade 2 - and this is definitely better than what she is giving me!! Meryl

Thank you thank you thank you!! The best is how much free stuff is out there! I am going to make a note of all these and he can work thru them over the next 3 years he does the event. I know nothing at all about astronomy ... so he needs good material Meryl

My dd has taken 7 AP exams in all (she just graduated). I would say they are a good way to show colleges your kid can handle academic work, and a good way to get college credits BUT not good end-of-subject tests. MOst schools teach to the AP exam when they give AP classes. My dd has a very smart friend at a local high school who said he didn't learn any advanced chemistry all year - he just learned how to take the AP chem exam!! All AP exams have a specific slant and you need to get a reviwe book (we used Princeton Review) to see what they are looking for and how they want it. We chose to study the subject in the way I thought best (ie actually really cover the subject properly) - and then 2 weeks before th exam my daughter would start working thru the Princeton Review and prepare for the exam. Sometimes there would be a lot she had not covered, but because what we had covered she knew well, and she can write well, and take good educated guesses - she ended up with a 5 on the 3 we already the results for (this year's only come out in July) I think it would be overwhelming to just take an AP as an end-of-subject test as they are HARD! Meryl

Computer education? Economics? I get my kids to do some of both in middle school to prepare them both for high school and the real world. For computers, I would suggest learning Excel or Powerpoint if she doesn't have those skills already ... or a package like Microsoft Publisher. Meryl

My 'blocker' blocked the video ... but I voted anyway - she is in first right now! Meryl

My dd has just graduated high school - she got accepted into all 8 colleges she applied to - and 4 are hard to get into - Emory, UNC Chapel Hill, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest. I made sure it was obvious that the grades I had given her were a true reflection of her ability by getting her to take AP exams and also SAT 2 Subject tests. I think homeschooling improved her chances as I was able to give her many opportunities our local schools don't offer - for example she took APs in subjects few schools in our area offer classes for (World History, Art History and Spanish). She also did every contest going (from Science OLympiad to AMC Math to Stock Market Game to Optimist Club Oratorical Contest to History Day and Scholastic Arts). Very few schools in our area offer any of these - and none offer them all. We would have had to convince some teacher to sponsor these - and I doubt we'd have had much success. As I was the 'teacher' it was easy for me to sponsor her and so she ended up with a very impressive list of awards by the end of her high school career. Meryl

Thanks ... I will look at both of those. I will probably get him a text books and use the link posted to the online course. Science Olympiad Astronomy is very hard - and very mathematical ... so I will probably get him to focus on the areas that come up most. Meryl

I am still getting an error - security error #2048 ... why am I the only one who can't get in? I click on the link and then get Error LOading ... Anyone with the same problem? I love free stuff and am real frustrated! Meryl

Always a winner Sonlight - all cores!! This year's winners Word Power Made Easy (scheduled in SL 530) - my dd (12th grade) says it is the best vocab book ever (and she has used Vocab from Classical Roots and Wordly Wise and liked them too) Musictheory.net - free online music theory exercises (used by 9th grader) Teaching Textbooks Algebra 2 (9th grader) Losers SOS Health - 9th grader - some of the things they said were ridiculous! Someone needs to write a decent Health Curriculum - this is the 2nd one we've tried and hated Abeka English Lang for 9th grade - only piece of curriculum I've ever allowed a kid to abandon ... Meryl

Sonlight uses 'cores' instead of grades, because each 'core' is designed to be used over an age range of a couple of years. So, I have used 1 core in the past to teach history to 3 kids who are 5 years apart in age from the oldest to the youngest. Obviously they do math, lang arts etc at their own level, but it is such a blessing to be doing the same thing with a bunch of kids. Meryl

Thanks - am going to check that out!! Meryl

Just one more plug for Princeton Review over everything else. Princeton Review believe these standardized tests are stupid ... and they are out to help you do as well as possible on them. So, they do more than just provide the actual tests, they go about showing the kids how to answer them so they can maximize their scores. They understand what the test writers are after. Meryl

I just tried to access and it gave me an error " unable to load document" Meryl

If you like God King don't forget about Hittite Warrior by the same author. Meryl

I am looking for an Astronomy textbook for my son. He will take it as a credit or half credit, but the real purpose is to prepare him for the Science OLympiad as this will be one of his events for the next 3 years (he did it at the middle school level, so has a basic knowledge). It needs to be indepth (college level) and preferably have an interlinked website. I will need to be able to assess his progress, so I need tests (with answers) - or at least online quizzes. I am not expecting anything Christian ... that would be hard to find Meryl

We have used Prinecton Review books for all tests (SAT, ACT and APs) and my daughter is convinced they are abig reason for her success. You can buy them at a reasonable price used. One of her friends needed to improve her ACT score, and I convinced her to use Princeton instead of the books she'd be using - and her score went up to enable her to get the schoalrship she needed. Meryl

SL's strength is the books they choose ... and I want them to continue with their fantastic work, so I always buy the IGs. I wish I could buy the books to, but I just use the library for those. But buying the IGs not only gives you access to a really easy schedule to follow, but I also feel I am paying for a bit of the work the staff have put in to find these great books. Meryl

My dd just graduated and will be off to college on the other side of the country in the fall - she begged to be allowed to take The Annotated Mona Lisa by Strickland with her ... (it's not going ... I have 3 other kids!!) Meryl

I bought an online art course just after they started - and it worked perfectly. I love their site and their service. I have also found lost of cool things through their 'free sites' section of their newsletter. Meryl

My dd did get accepted to Wake Forest this year (and all other colleges she applied to incl Vanderbilt and Emory). She has done quite a lot with 4-H and has participated in a lot of academic contests, but I suspect, as has been mentioned in previous posts, her essay probably had a fair deal to do with it. The essay needs to have some 'angle', say something about the student to set them apart. As also mentioned previously, it can be just about anything. My daughter wrote hers on 'Diversity' - she explained how she liked to experience different things (and listed places she's travelled, things she's done etc) and ended by suggesting with her many experience, and particulalry the fact that she lived in South Africa until she turned 12, she would add to the diversity of their student population. (In the essay she made it obvious that she understood what was happening in SAfrica and other parts of the world, so they could see she was informed about world affairs). When we went on a campus tour of Vanderbilt they read us an essay a student had written about some citizenship project he'd started somewhere in Africa. So, I would suggest, find something that sets your child apart, or encourage them now - in the summer - to do something not many other people do - and then they'll have something to write about that will make their essay stand out. Meryl

I really like Get me Out of Here! We have the CD Rom version (I bought it used, so not so expensive) and it teaches Map SKills and teaches kids to pay attention to instructions. Meryl