Praising God with you!

Hi! My older son used Sonlight's Econ course - excellent! The actual instruction in economics comes from Thinkwell's Economics course, which covers both micro- and macroeconomics. Additionally, SL's econ includes daily Bible readings dealing with money and stewardship which the student reads and then journals about. The journals are not graded; they are done to help the student learn to think biblically about economics. The course even includes a novel! This could easily be spread over a year if you planned to cover both micro and macro econ. If you only have a semester to work with, I would recommend just choosing one or the other - the schedule for completing all of Thinkwell Econ in a semester is very intense. My younger so will be doing econ this coming year. He will either do the SL course at home over the year and self-prepare for the AP Econ exam(s) or take AP Econ through PA Homeschoolers - they have games which sound very fun and educational. I would like to find time to do a Dave Ramsey personal finance course as well. I feel econ is important to cover well at this level, since my sons may not ever have to take econ again. Economically uneducated people can be at the mercy of those that would prey on them and can make all sorts of unsound economic decisions. Good luck finding what works for you! Blessings, April

Best wishes to all of your kids who will be in next year's AP Chem class - I am looking forward to hearing great things next July! Blessings, April

Hi Unsinkable! I may be showing my stats ignorance (also not unexpected!), but I was assuming that with a sizable group of students (not sure of the total number of students, although the instructor had a cool map that showed "push pins" where the students lived all over the world) that the class average would be in the 70% range, which is typically thought of as average in American schools. Was I thinking incorrectly? Thanks for asking, and thanks for letting me know if I was incorrect. Blessings, April

Hi Profmom, I bought a microscope from Sonlight very early in our homeschooling adventure, and I have never regretted it. I love having it around to look at cool stuff with. I have also done bio labs with both my sons and their friends, so ours has certainly had a workout over the years. It is still in great shape - I have never even had to change the light-bulb! The Sonlight scope is well-made and pretty economical. I say go for it if you can afford it. Another scope that we love is the Brock Magiscope - a virtually indestructible field-scope that you can take on nature walks - no electricity needed! You can certainly look at slides with the Brock, but the beauty of it for us is to be able to look at leaves, small critters, pebbles, etc, along with interesting things around your house (newspaper, dust bunnies, all that kind of thing.) Microscopes are terrific! Blessings, April

Thanks very much! Now I need to find alternatives for AP Language and Comp! Our local, wonderful AP Lit teacher doesn't have enough students yet to make teaching AP worthwhile, so we may need to find a different choice! Any thoughts? Thanks! Blessings, April

Hi! for those of you who are considering using ChemAdvantage for AP Chemistry, I wanted to share our good news! My ds just found out that he scored a 5 on the AP Chem exam! AP Chem with CA really prepares the student well for the exam, and I really feel that my ds learned the subject matter and enjoyed it. I will say that he worked extremely hard in this class - his final average in the class was around 94%, while the class average was in the 70's somewhere (as should be expected!). I just wanted to encourage those considering the class that we found it outstanding. I would not put a first year chem student in this course, however. As I have mentioned in other posts, we found the DIVE Chemistry cd course used with both Apologia chem texts to be an excellent foundation for AP Chemistry. Interestingly, my two sons (older ds was a freshman in college) enjoyed comparing what they were learning in chemistry; they found their courses tracked pretty closely. Older son did not take AP chem in high school. He used both Apologia chem texts and found he was very well prepared for Chem I and II and was happily surprised by how much he remembered after a two-year gap. Hope this helps and encourages someone! Blessings, April (so enjoying hearing the AP results of all of our "board" kids!)

Hi Margaret! I called on Sunday evening and got my ds's scores for Chem, English Lit, and US Government. I am so glad I did! He got 5's in Chem and Gov't and a 4 in Lit!! Doing the happy dance here in CA! Did your dd take the Lit exam or the Language and Comp exam? If you are will to pay $8 again, you might want to call back. Snail mail reports should be here relatively soon, though -very hard to wait! Ds is hoping the Lit Exam report will say how he did on the various parts of the exam. I took the APUSH exam in high school, but have no recollection of the score report (1979 was a long time ago!). Best wishes to your dd on her exam results! Blessings, April

Thanks for sharing!

Here is a link: http://www.diveintomath.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?display=home DIVE started as video instruction to go with Saxon math. The instructor now has made science video instruction for physical science, biology, and chemistry. (he does physics also, but it is specific to Saxon physics) I think his lectures were designed to line up with BJU texts, but the cds can be used with a variety of texts, including Apologia. On the website, you can find a page of syllabi showing how to coordinate his lectures with different texts.He is Christian, but his materials can be used with secular texts as well. The DIVE cds include tests and video labs. Sample lectures are also on the website. We have only used this for chemistry - we found it excellent and a great preparation for AP chemistry. Hope this helps! Blessings, April

Hi! Yes! It is very possible to do science at home without a co-op! Be prepared to spend a bit on lab equipment and supplies - it is worth it and makes learning science more fun. If you use DIVE cds along with your text you can watch video labs and then do lab write-ups. You could do this in place of actually doing the labs since he demonstrates proper lab procedures. This would minimize your lab expense, but would also minimize the hands-on part of science. We used DIVE for chemistry along with both Apologia texts. After watching the lab procedures on the cd, we did most of the labs and calculations. We would then check our calculations with his to make sure we were doing things correctly (obviously our data was a bit different from his). This worked very well for us. Home Science Tools is a great company to order science kits and supplies from, regardless of what branch of science you are studying. Also, there really are simple things you can do at home to illustrate concepts. If you are enthusiastic about science and labs, you can really have a great time with it! You can do it! One more thought - if you know another family with similarly aged kids perhaps you could do labs together and share the cost of supplies. Labs are sometimes more fun with a buddy. Blessings, April

Wouldn't that be wonderful! :lol: In the meantime, I think you could absolutely do TOG with just one student. You would need to be disciplined to actually set aside time to discuss each week (throughout the week) I would also have your student do at least some of the weekly quizzes and the exams. You could also look for a TOG co-op, either live or virtual - I have loved being part of a virtual co-op for accountability. Blessings, April

Thank you!

Hi! Could you share what all those initials stand for? Thanks! April

Hi! You have received some great help on how to solve these problems! I just wanted to chime in on how to think about this particular type of problem when you encounter something like this on the SAT and/or the ACT (and you probably will). Take a moment to think about what you know about right triangles and what the problem is asking. You are given information telling you that the short side and the hypotenuse are shorter and longer than the long side by THE SAME AMOUNT (3, in this case). What does that make yo think of? Is there a special right triangle that fits this pattern? What about the 3-4-5 right triangle? It fits the pattern, just expanded by a factor of 3. So the sides would be 9-12-15. Taking 15 or 30 seconds to think about what you already know can help you quickly find the solution on a standardized test ( the SAT gives you only a minute or so to solve each problem, so looking for patterns you already know is a good strategy.) Keep working diligently! We are proud of you, and enjoy watching you learn and gain skills and confidence! Blessings, April

Thank you very much! Blessings, April

Hi Memphispeg! What Larson book goes with the Thinkwell Calc course? I am just wondering if I should get a used copy for my son in case he needs more problem sets. Thanks! Oh! Have you been able to find a solutions manual for the Larson book? Thanks again! Blessings, April

My younger son used VCR book D this year in 11th grade as part of his AP Lit class. He enjoyed it, saying that he liked that it included the occasional word he didn't already know! If we do English together at home next year, we will use either VCR book E or Vocabulary for the College-Bound Student (used and enjoyed by my older son). We have always appreciated good vocab books, and we have also enhanced our vocabulary through reading wonderful books that include lots of big and/or precise words - books by Dickens, P G Wodehouse, Booth Tarkington, Tolkien, CS Lewis, etc. Hope this helps! Blessings, April

Congratulations! Very well done! For those who are taking the SAT in the fall, one thing that is very important is actually addressing the prompt. Your essay may be marvelous, but it will not score well (may be marked a zero!) if it does not address the matter at hand in an obvious way! My younger son will be prepping for the SAT over the summer - essays and math! The fun never ends! Blessings, April

Hi Cindy, I have not used the DIVE Biology program, but we have used the DIVE Chemistry program. Along with watching the video labs, we did most of them at home as well. These are real labs with real equipment and real data to collect and examine. I found the chemistry program to be excellent and great prep for AP Chem for my son.I expect the bio program would be just as good. Have you watched any sample labs on the DIVE site? I would encourage you to plan to do as many labs at home as possible. Biology is much more fun that way, and the student learns much more, in my experience. Hope this helps! Blessings, April

Yay! Thanks for sharing! Blessings, April

Very interesting! Hoping ds remains interested in chemical engineering, at least from a salary point of view! Blessings, April

Thanks for the info! My son is not a busy-work kind of guy either. I will have to ponder that one a bit more. Maybe AP econ instead. Hmmm...Congrats to your son on the physics score, and best wishes for the APUSH score. Hope it's a 5! We will be anxiously awaiting late July for ds's scores as well - chem, lit, and US gov't. Blessings, April

Hi! I hope you get the answers you need about those classes! My son took AP Chem through PA Homeschoolers - awesome. I actually have a question for you - my son is considering taking AP Comparative Government through PAH. Could you comment on your son's friend's experience? What made it not positive? This year, my son did a one semester AP US Gov't course (not through PAH). The material was great, but the pace was frantic. It met our needs and our timetable, but I think a full year course, or at least 24 weeks, would be a better choice if you have the time for it. Is the PAH US G class a full year? Blessings, April

Praying for Sarah, her parents, and grandparents! Thanks you for sharing your lovely tribute to your son. Blessings, April