I am so sorry, and I hope your husband is able to find a new and better job very soon! If you think telling your daughter now would cause her unnecessary stress as she is heading into finals, I think it would be totally fine to wait to tell her. You want her to be able to focus on her classes rather than being concerned about the job situation right now. I am sure she will grieve with you and appreciate your sensitivity when you do tell her. Blessings, April

This was true of us as well, except for the being a bio major part. :001_smile: My guys really got into the dissections and wanted to explore more than required by the labs. Eyeballs were totally part of the program here. :tongue_smilie: Blessings again, April

Hi! I would do two and two if you don't want to do them individually. The earthworm will not take long. :D The others are much more interesting and more detailed. I really don't think you could do justice to them if you tried to do them in one afternoon. The frog dissection is really cool, especially if you have kids that get into it. And, of course, more kids means things take more time - lots more, in my experience. Have fun! Blessings, April

Hello! Last year my son (currently in AP Chem with ChemAdvantage - found through PA Homeschoolers) did chemistry with DIVE. He used both Apologia texts throughout the course of the year, letting DIVE "drive" the course - thus he skipped around in the texts to match the lectures. We have accumulated a pretty vast array of lab supplies, so we were able to do many of the labs here at home. My son found the course very valuable and great preparation of AP Chemistry. I have also heard really good things about Spectrum Chemistry. I don't know if the DIVE guy has a syllabus for Spectrum, but if your dd really like lectures, you may be able to match up the content yourself. You could also look at Hippocampus to see if they have any chemistry videos - free is a good thing! Good luck finding what you need for your daughter! Blessings, April

Ha! What a fun thought - and good advice - some of those lectures are quite long! Blessings, April

Expensive, but worth it! My 11th grade ds is doing AP Chem through PA Homeschoolers (ChemAdvantage) - awesome and totally worth it, in my opinion. You should be able to find the book used for around $50, maybe cheaper. The lab kit will cost $ -do you know anyone else who is interested in taking the class? Perhaps you could share the cost - the supplies will easily cover 2 or even more students. My son is also doing AP Govt with Patrick Henry Prep Academy - a 1 semester course. What you are describing sounds really fun. I would definitely have you son take that class - a structured environment that requires him to interact sounds like a good thing for him. Is this course local with a live teacher and group of students? I think having him go the the local community college for a few classes is also wise, since it sounds like he needs a bit of nudging toward social interaction. Plus, foreign language is really better when you can actually converse with others (this has been a big challenge for us! Be on the lookout for a microscope from Sonlight. I bought one years ago when we started homeschooling - terrific purchase! Yes, high school can be surprisingly expensive, especially if you outsource, but it is worth every penny! Blessings, April (who also suffered sticker shock when looking at outside classes...)

I always loved Punnett Squares - they seem like fun puzzles to me, and my boys were fine with them. However, when I did bio labs with my younger son and some of his friends, we added in a lab on Dragon Genetics (someone linked one for you; you can google to find others). This was a huge hit, and really helped cement the concepts for the guys. Much hilarity ensued while creating and mating various dragons and tracing their genetic inheritances - gotta love adolescent boys! Wishing you much fun with dragon labs! Blessings, April

Hi Rhonda, See if you can find some of the Teaching Company Lectures on Late Antiquity - Early Middle Ages (Off the top of my head, I think the prof's first name if Phillip and I think he teaches at William and Mary. Last name begins with a D, I think). We found this lecturer to be engaging and informative. When we were jamming through the late Roman Empire, we found this very helpful! Blessings, April

Don't forget about the ubiquitous fees! There are fees for just about everything - labs, gym access, all kinds of things. These can add up to several hundred dollars per semester! My freshman son was blessed with a $1000 per semester scholarship which he can use for books and fees, since his tuition is covered by a different scholarship. DS spent around $700 or so on books first semester (expensive science and math books, some of which are used for 2 semesters) and around $400 this semester. The rest of his scholarship money was spent on those pesky fees! Good job thinking about parking expenses - those things add up quick! Blessings, April

Hello again! I am off to youth group, but I will write back tomorrow! Blessings, April

Hi Elizabeth! Another TOG lover here! TOG is very flexible, and you can tweak it to fit your schedule. The Redesigned TOG is wonderful and very thorough. My older son did the TOG years in order for high school; my younger son is now doing yr 1 as a junior and will finish out high school with year 2. He is also doing AP courses at the same time, so it can be done! He just started AP US Gov't with Patrick Henry Prep. He is also studying AP Chem with ChemAdvantage (through PA Homesdchoolers) and AP English Lit with a young woman here in town who is working on her Master's in English. Thus, we are not doing TOG Lit this year (even though I had visions of doing it along with AP Lit...some things are just not possible...) Since he studied TOG yr 1 at the D level four years ago he is familiar with the flow of history, making R level material easier to digest. We are also part of an on-line virtual co-op, which I absolutely love. Our co-op keeps us on schedule and moving. The moms take turns facilitating the discussions for history and lit (we take about 2 hours each for these), so I am not responsible for leading a discussion every week. The con of this is that I don't always read the teacher's notes for the weeks I am not teaching! But, since they are at hand, I can catch up on the flow of things pretty easily. My son organizes his time pretty well and is used to how TOG works, so I just copy the assignment pages and Student Activity Pages for him and he takes it from there. I do require him to answer questions in writing since we have to turn work in to our umbrella school. I also find that having to answer questions in writing keeps him engaged in the material. I have also required the guys to do the quarterly evaluations. Reviewing for these keeps the material fresh in their minds. Our co-op takes a week off between quarters to do evaluations and unit celebrations and catch up on whatever needs doing. If we had started TOG in the early grades, I think we would have loved the unit celebrations, but we didn't have time for them in high school. Sorry for all this rambling! About literature - year 1 is a great place to start because it really does lay a great foundation for the later years. You can cut the Egyptian stuff if you want to, and the Mesopotamian stuff, and you will be fine - that will buy you a bit more time for the Greek and Roman stuff. But don't skip Ryken! Year 2 lit is very full, as you would expect, given the time-span covered. TOG includes lovely "what to cut" instructions if you find you need to trim the lit. Year 3 lit is quite accessible and enjoyable. Year 4 lit is also very well done, although the worldview is generally bleaker that that of year 3 lit. TOG lit does a GREAT job of including worldview analysis - very valuable! Hope this is helpful! If you have more questions, ask away! I think TOG is a great program for helping me give my guys the kind of education that I wish I had had. My older son credits TOG with teaching him how to think clearly and deeply about history and literature and worldview (and with helping him to become a National Merit Scholar Finalist), which he appreciates since he won't be taking many classes of this type in college - he is an engineering major. I say go for it! Blessings, April

My son is doing AP US Gov't this semester. He is only a couple of weeks into the semester, but he is enjoying the class so far. His textbook seems pretty engaging and he really enjoyed reading Born Again by Chuck Colson. He will be writing a review of Born Again over the next couple of weeks. In addition to the text, he will be reading five other works and writing papers on them. Ask again throughout the semester and I will let you know how he likes it! One thing I really like is the syllabus - very detailed with due dates and assignments. Blessings, April

sounds intriguing? Can you tell us more or post a link? Thanks! Blessings, April

Thank you again to Laundrycrisis and Heigh Ho! Laundry, your brother's career path sounds really cool! My older son is studying mech eng right now (freshman) - I will mention the nifty bio-med stuff your brother is doing. Heigh Ho, thanks for the link - that camp looks very very cool! Blessings, April

Howdy! How you determine your son's grade is up to you and the teacher/administrator! What I typically have done for math is require the daily homework to be done in a timely fashion. I then correct it promptly and return it to my son. If he missed any, I required him to redo the problem(s) until he got them correct. I think the purpose of "homework" (which sounds odd - as homeschoolers, all our work is homework!) is to practice concepts until you really get them. Tests are for showing mastery and are what I have used for determining math grades. If necessary, I factor in things like attitude and timeliness. So, like you, I would not mark your son down for incorrect answers - but I would definitely have him correct those answers! Blessings, April

Hi! My older son did Thinkwell's Econ course as part of Sonlight's economics package. Excellent! If you have time, Thinkwell along with Sonlight's other econ resources could profitably stretched over a year. The course is quite challenging to get done in a semester, but it is doable. I really liked the way Sonlight scheduled daily Bible readings and jounaling to go along with Thinkwell's econ course. My son found it very valuable. Hope this helps! Blessings, April

Hi Kai! Yes, the UC system and the Call State University system are still rather suspicious of homeschoolers, for whatever reason. However, my older son was accepted by both UC Riverside and Cal State Fresno (the only public CA schools to which he applied). However, his transcript did not scream "homesachooler" and he was a National Merit Finalist with very high SAT scores. We homeschool through our local Christian school. As part of the home education branch of that school, we have our own special registration number with the College Board, and our own school name, recognized by the state and the College Board. Although the brick and mortar school is accredited, the home ed division is not - I don't know if either of those facts mattered to UC or CSU. Honestly, although I and my dh are graduates of the CSU system (Humboldt State University, and, no I never participated in the party scene!), I really think CA is losing out big time by this policy of scrutinizing homeschooled students so closely. Also, in addition to hiking tuition and fees, UC and CSU offer astonishingly little in terms of merit aid. My son was offered a $5K scholarship from UC Riverside if he wanted to be part of the honors program. He was offered nothing by CSU Fresno. However, to be fair, he could have applied for a substantial scholarship from CSU Fresno; he chose not to since that school was pretty low on his list. Public education is a mess here in CA, in my opinion. The wealthy can afford to send their kids to the UC, and financial aid still seems to be available for the poor and first generation college students. Middle class kids, whose parents have tried to do the right things by saving and preparing the students for college, sadly, really cannot afford to go to university here, unless they are willing to go into debt. For my older son, this was not such a big deal, because he was offered really good merit aid by a number of universities (and could probably gotten a full ride if he had chosen certain out of state public universities), and his first choice university, LeTourneau University, in TX, offered his full tuition for 4 years (in exchange for keeping a 3.4 GPA). However, our younger son will likely be interested in some larger public schools. He is also likely to make it to at least NM Semifinalist. I would really like him to have to opportunity to go to school here in CA, but he will need to follow the money, and the money will most likely lead him away from California. If you really want your students to go to UC or CSU, many are advising students to go to a CC and then transfer in. Also, be prepared to take more than 4 years to get a degree. As you think of us here in CA, say a prayer for our state - we were once the envy of the nation; not anymore. sigh. Blessings, April

Thank you for the update, Laundrycrisis. (love that name by the way - I experience that myself from time to time :)) I am not sure which industry appeals most to my son - I don't think we are that far into the thinking process yet. Alternative fuels appeals to me, personally, along with bio-medical applications. My son was originally intrigued by chemistry when we met a young Air Force Officer who had studied chemistry at the Academy and is now getting his Masters in chem at UC San Diego. That young officer was in munitions - my son thought a career that involved learning how to blow things up sounded pretty nifty. I think his appreciation for chemistry has expanded beyond that, but blowing things up still appeals to him. :) Thanks again for any and all comments and recommendations! Blessings, April

Thank you all so much; you have given us much to think about! I am sorry that I was late in thanking all of you; we were at a Robotics tournament this weekend, and my son's team won! Now we get to start saving to go to St Louis in April for the FIRST World Championships! I really do appreciate all the comments from each of you, and if you have anything else to share that you think would be helpful, please share with us. My son is quite interested in Texas A&M and the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Both of these schools offer generous aid to National Merit Finalists. Any thoughts on either of these schools? Or others that might offer good merit scholarships. Sadly, our state schools her in CA offer virtually nothing in merit aid, so going to school here is unlikely. I wonder if CA is aware of the brain drain happening due to this policy? Sigh. Thanks again, so much! Blessings, April

Hi Kristi! Last year in 10th grade, my sone used the DIVE Chemistry cd in conjunction with both Apologia texts. You ca find various syllabi on the DIVE website showing in what order to read various textbooks to make them work with DIVE. My son really enjoyed chemistry last year and is now doing AP Chemistry with ChemAdvantage, which we found through PA Homeschoolers. My son really enjoys the class and is learning so much that he is considering chemical engineering as a possible college major. I feel it is money well-spent since I can't duplicate the course at home. The class is asynchronous, so the students do not have a set time to meet in a virtual classroom; thus, there is little to no interaction with other students, but the instructor is available to help at any time. He also gives very clear assignments and my son feels he is being well-prepared for the AP exam. Since we had time for 2 years of chemistry, I am very glad we chose to do both years this way. Hope this helps! Blessings, April

Could you have the kids and you take turns reading aloud? When my guys were in middle school and early high-school, I would often read aloud to them as we plowed through the material, sometimes stopping to discuss as we read. We use Tapestry of Grace for history, and some of the R level books are quite heavy, both in content and writing style. Sharing the reading load was helpful as my guys transitioned into R level work. So, taking turns reading aloud might actually be an additional benefit to your youngest high schooler! Plus, you wouldn't have to wonder if everybody had read the material! Hope this helps! Blessings, April One more thing! Since we owned the books, I let my sons mark in them. With only two students they were generally able to work out a schedule for sharing books. My older son typically read the history assignment first, marking where he found answers or relevant passages. My younger son was the happy benefactor of this. Perhaps you could make something like that work, if reading aloud doesn't work.

Howdy! I would recommend looking at Tapestry of Grace! I think it might meet your needs. Blessings, April

Hi KarenAnne! We are in SoCal. Your husband's research sounds interesting and I was wondering what kind of summer opportunities for high school students might exist. Thanks! Blessings, April

Hello again! If you go to the DIVE website, you can find the course instructor's plans for using DIVE with various textbooks, including BJU, Apologia, and a few secular titles. Abeka might be in there, too. I don't know about the Physical science course, but the chemistry course had options for using both Apologia texts, the first Apologia chem text plus internet readings, and just using the internet. Pretty flexible! I found the instruction to be valuable, even as a mom! Blessings, April

Hi! I think the DIVE cds were originally designed to go along with BJU science texts (except for physics, which I think is tied to Saxon). However, my son used the DIVE chemistry cd last year along with both Apologia chemistry texts - it was a very successful year. The DIVE guy has syllabi telling you how to organize Apologia readings to go with the order of topics on the DIVE cd. If you are comfortable with letting DIVE be the course "driver" rather than feeling like you need to cover the book "in order," DIVE can work very well with Apologia - at least with Apologia chemistry! Hope this is helpful! Blessings, April