:lol:

I just think that's SO cool- to be able to look back at Beast Academy in 20 years, and remember how much discussion on the boards there was about it, and say, "I placed one of the first EVER orders!". Did anyone here place the first ever BA order? Or one of the first 10, or thereabouts?

:iagree: There are too many variables to offer a useful answer.

:bigear:

Hmm. Sounds like Personal Finance to me, as all of yyour examples had to do with money. Some schools offer Home Economics, as well.

I agree with the other posters... you know your daughter best. That being said, this load looks a bit much to me. As for decreasing the course load... here are my suggestions; please feel absolutely free to take them with a mountain of salt. Instead of Church History AND "Defending Your Faith" (I agree with the other poster the Christian Apologetics sounds better IMHO), could you choose just one Christianity/Bible course? I've also heard that AP World History is tough exam; maybe your dd should just stick with AP Env Sci this year and do none-AP World History (?). What with band/piano/choir this year, and band next year, would it be possible to drop the Music Appreciation class? As for Personal Fitness... is your dd doing anything "extra" to get the credit, or are you just awarding it to her by default due to her high level of physical activity? If it's the former, what are you expecting of her? Could this be decreased? Will she be studying French at the level of a level-4 high school class (if that makes any sense?). I guess what I'm trying to say is, you should name the French course by what class level she'd be in if she were in a B&M school, so don't call it French IV just because it's her fourth year of lessons. Like what Kareni said. I hope this helps a bit... (if not, feel free to disregard it). Please do update and tell us what (if any) changes you've made. Best of luck!

Just thought it was important to add- AO Years do not correspond to grade levels. As a rule of thumb, you'll want to place your dc at least one Year below their actual grade level, even if he or she is advanced, accelerated, gifted, or all three.

I 2nd the Levison suggestion as a good explanation. However, you really do need to read CM's writings in order to really understand her ideas. Ambleside has a Volumes 1-6 online that've been "translated" into modern English and are a bit easier to read than tthe originals.

:iagree: But I wouldn't recommend placing a new-to-AO 13 y/o into Year 8 - even if s/he is an advanced student. Maybe... place the 11 y/o in Year 3 and the 13 y/o in Year 5 (or roundabouts, based on ability), but have them both do the Year 3 history. Have them both read through the books on the Pre-Year 7 booklist that they missed.

Hmm. I wouldn't worry too much about keeping them plugging along chronologically in history; it's better to place them according to ability IMHO. A combined Year 5 could work, especially given their ages and stages... but it might be too much for your 11 y/o. Is it at all feasible for you to a) rework the book selections and do some major tweaking, and/or b) NOT have the kids combined in one year? Sorry, that's not very helpful... just some thoughts.

:iagree: I also highly recommend MEP. Based off of how you've described your son, MEP seems that it would be a great match for him. If nothing else, just look through some of the materials. After all, you can't beat the price. :D

What laundrycrisis said.

Thank you for the Google AdWords suggestion. Dd is looking into that. We are also getting a lot of brainstorming mileage out of the Parkat Home suggestion, so thank you for that too!

:iagree: Every student is different. Some need that intermediate step, while others are simply ready to move on.

To some extent, this is another reason why I supplement. It's a valid point. It's not a big enough deal to outweigh the benefits of MEP (well, for ME; I'm not speaking for anyone else, because YMMV), but it is nice to be able to see my kids moving along in their supplemental programs.

:D Those are good! Seriously! I'm showing dd right now. Thanks for the bump!

:bigear: Any ideas? They don't need to be good ones.

:bigear:

:bigear:

Yes, I would use it even if it wasn't free. We love it around it. I must confess that I do supplement, but if money was tight (well, tighter than it always it), I would stick to just MEP. The only reason I supplement is because 1) it's fun to pull from various different approaches, and 2) I just can't help myself. I'm a supplementer. And the kids like it, so why not? But, yes, it is a great, complete, standalone curric. I simple cannot recommend it enough.

For those of you that implement PBL in your schooling... how do you do it? What does it look like? What are the benefits, pros/cons, etc.? My kids do something similar to PBL, but we've been doing it way before I heard the term "problem-based learning". So, what is it in its current incarnation?

Yes, we do this too.

So, dd(13) is starting a blog. She plans to post about her opinions on education, but from a humorous perspective. Like a cross between a comedy blog and an editorial page. She is having trouble coming up with a good name for the blog, though. Ideally, the name will be snappy and somehow related to education. Extra points of there is humor and/or a pun incorporated somehow. We don't want her name or age to be in there, but it's fine if it uses her online pseudonym, which is Parkat. Ideas? Thanks so much, SuperDad

:bigear:

We supplement mainly because my dc really enjoy (and learn a lot from!) our supplemental programs. My kids need information presented in multiple formats in order for them to understand it. Plus, my own math education in ps was extremely lacking, and I just want to give my kids better.