We use tOG and for yr 1 in 9th grade, I did award 2 English credits. Dd did all of the R lit, Windows to the World plus extra assignments related to the TOG readings, Our Mother Tongue for grammar review, plus a hefty amount of composition. I ended up lumping the grammar, comp, and WttW into an English credit and the TOG R lit into a credit in ancient literature. I'd hemmed and hawed before doing this. I didn't want to inflate her transcript. But our evaluator wrote in her official report that she felt strongly that 2 credits should be awarded. So that's what I did. This last year, we did yr 2 ... Almost all of the R lit and a very impressive amount and variety of comp. I am awarding 1 honors credit even though she spent over 300 hours on her English work. I felt that as a 10th grader she should be expected to work at not only a higher level but also with a broader scope. I intend to follow the same rationale for the next 2 years as well. As far as art and architecture readings, many accumulate the time spent over all 4 years and issue one credit. I kept track of her art history reading last year and will add it to this year's reading plus some museum visits and several Teaching Company lecture series for one robust art history credit. I don't mind compiling work for credit over several years.

Done...good idea.

I realize that the op is now an old pro at homeschooling in PA, but wanted to reinforce the suggestion that you double check with the school district on what they specifically want (within the scope of the law). Our sd does not want to see portfolios at all but wants the evaluator's report stating that the portfolio was reviewed by the evaluator. So anything I put together for our portfolios is for our own use and for our evaluator--so it ends up more a scrapbook/yearbook with some work samples. When I turn in our paperwork, they notarize my affidavit for me, make copies if I need them, and check off what I give them in their files right in front of me. We appreciate being in such a sd.

Great...thanks!

I thought I'd bookmarked or followed it ... crud. Anyone have it saved/tagged/whatevered and be willing to re-post or share? TIA,

Yes, that's true. I don't mean to mislead anyone on what the law requires. Although I am planning on a parent issued diploma, I survey the various diploma programs for their basic standards. After all, I may find myself in a position to actually want to use one of those programs for reasons that I don't now know. If I am not planning with those requirements in mind, I could very well close off that option entirely by not documenting the hours or sessions for health or geography. I know a number of homeschool moms who found out that a specific college would have awarded more scholarship money with a PA Homeschoolers diploma, but their students didn't have a 10-pg paper one year...they had plenty of writing documented, but no single paper was at least 10 pgs. Seems kind of silly to me not to be aware of these toes of requirements. As the pp mentioned, most of us exceed the legally required minimums-- after all, the minimum would only result in 15 credits.

Next year? Oh boy. I'm still pulling together the oldest dd's portfolio to go with her to her eval this week. Fortunately, my younger two had their evals last week, so I'd already finished their portfolios. Then I get to bundle all the required paperwork up and make an appointment at the school district, write the required educational objectives for next year for each kid, get my affidavit ready to be notarized, submit proof that we are complying with the homeschool law regarding medical and dental care...all for the school district. Who has time to think about next year yet? :o. I do have almost all of next year's resources already and know who is doing what with which resources. I like to get stuff like maps or lit questions printed off over the summer. I also have to get a high school lit class I am teaching in our coop planned out in detail and start rereading all the assigned works. Sometime this summer, I will have to pin down which criteria I will use for assigning a grade in each course for my high schooler. I. Will. Not. Stress. About. Everything. I. Still. Must. Accomplish. I hope I just made all of you who have already started planning in detail for next year feel better. At least you have started!

I wanted to update my post above now that we have finished Spanish I this year. Although I very much like the grammar approach to learning another language, I've concluded that there isn't enough in the first level to be a complete high school credit. Not only was there no instruction on the preterite tense, demonstrative pronouns, direct object/indirect object pronouns, and a couple of other grammar topics were also absent. I have no doubt that they are covered quite well in subsequent levels, so if you continue on with the series, everything would balance out. Since I wasn't happy with any of the tutor options I had found, we decided to enroll in an online class for next year. Dd and I have gone through the topics the online course covers in year 1 using Practice Makes Perfect Spanish Completle Grammar to fill in the gaps so she can jump in to Spanish II in the fall. My conclusion is that SYRWTLS is an excellent approach...the first level would be a great year long course for middle school. For high school, it needs some supplementation unless you will stick with it all the way through. Even then, I suspect that 3 levels of GP would equal two strong high school credits, not 3. So, this is all FWIW...maybe nothing, but I wanted to update my opinion based on our experience.

Fwiw...I have three teenaged boys and one teen girl in a lit class I teach and we are currently finishing up Sense & Sensibility. I had wondered how the boys would deal with it, but they have enjoyed it. Granted, they have lots to say about how they want to yell at the characters...but they are fully engaged! Most of the boys have seen a couple film adaptations of Austen works and one declared that the movies don't do Austen justice since the book is so much better. I've been totally surprised by the quality and quantity of discussion we've been having. These are the same boys who loved Beowulf because of all the action, fighting, and gore. Go figure.

Fwiw...I have three teenaged boys and one teen girl in a lit class I teach and we are currently finishing up Sense & Sensibility. I had wondered how the boys would deal with it, but they have enjoyed it. Granted, they have lots to say about how they want to yell at the characters...but they are fully engaged! Most of the boys have seen a couple film adaptations of Austen works and one declared that the movies don't do Austen justice since the book is so much better. I've been totally surprised by the quality and quantity of discussion we've been having. These are the same boys who loved Beowulf because of all the action, fighting, and gore. Go figure.

I don't know for sure...but I do know that they use different norms for different times of the year. In other words, a 5th grader tested at the beginning of fifth grade will be compared to other fifth graders at the beginning of the year, not to fifth graders at the end of the year or in the middle of the year. Check with the vendor from whom you bought the test on if you need to adhere to a specific date.

I just have to pipe in...we did the first two LA books in 8th and 9th grades with my oldest dd. We did use the DVDs and thought Karen Moore was fabulous. What gives this program it's flair are the translation exercises from the very beginning. It is so gratifying to be able to apply what you learn immediately instead of getting stuck in toddler talk. The way grammar is taught is incremental and excellent. It is rigorous enough to hold your attention but not make you feel defeated. We had briefly debated using lfc at a faster pace because there were more fun supplements. But dd said she liked the focus on history and culture. I plan on using it again with my ds.

We just finished the Rev War one. I have both of my younger kids make their own booklets...but I don't always have both of them do all the same ones. I'll give them choices for projects and assign many of the lap book booklets. We skip some things that don't appeal to any of us. We've actually done 4 of these this year and both kids have declared that they like them --- and neither kid is find of cutting and coloring. I think they really like the content and they really, really like being able to look back at them when they have finished them.

This year my oldest dd has read, analyzed, and discussed: Roman de Brut, Dream of the Rood, Parable of the Christ Knight, Chanson de Roland, Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, select Canterbury Tales, all 2 parts of the Divine Comedy, multiple sonnets by Petrarch, Shakespeare, Howard, Sidney, the 1st book of The Faerie Queene, the York Play of the Crucifixion, Everyman, the Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, Much Ado About Nothing, The Tempest, exerpts from Don Quixote, Tartuffe, Paradise Lost, select poetry by Bradstreet, Wheatley, Dryden, Gray, Cowper, Gulliver's Travels, Sense and Sensibility. Additionally, she's written a couple of poetry analysis essays, a couple of lit analysis essays, done a major lit analysis project, a personal response to literature paper, a variety of poetry, and a short story (plus quite a few other essays and papers for other subjects that I don't double count just because there's more than enough here). This constitutes either an honors lit credit or an honors English credit (haven't decided what to call it yet) not due to the number of works or papers, but due to the depth to which she analyzed/discussed them and due to the types and substance of the papers she wrote. That would sum up my general attitude toward calling something honors level work -- taking the analysis and synthesis of the material to a deeper level requiring above average critical thinking skills. Are any of those things necessarily quantifiable? Not really. But it's pretty easy for me to determine if I am asking her to read, discuss at a moderate level, and write papers; or, if I am asking her to keep peeling back layers, really analyze what she's reading, pull out not just main themes but minor ones as well, examine how the author crafted the work and why, and write in depth with excellent analysis. Don't know if any of this helps. I wrestled with this last year and had decided to just omit an honors designation on anything until our evaluator told me that she would most definitely call several of the humanities courses we had done honors level because of the depth and substance. It's very similar to why you would call AOPS math honors -- it requires deeper thinking and substantive understanding of not only how to do it but why you should do it.

I asked TT about potential release date for precalc 2.0. They said it won't be available until sometime in 2015. Crud.

Dd just finished both algebra 2 and geometry. She started last year alternating lessons. This worked very well for this particular child. As she puts it, stuff leaks out of her brain when she doesn't use it regularly. Had she done one course at a time, I shudder to think what her retention would have been. However, now that she has worked through these course and has done well at mastering them, her retention of concepts learned last year has been excellent. This may not be the route for every kid, but it was the perfect choice for this one.

I used to carry a collapsible water container to use for gathering water from a stream or pond to carry well away from the water source to bathe. I never used soap or shampoo within a certain distance of water...25-50 ft? But far enough away, it is fine since there will be plenty of soil and plant matter to filter it. I've backpacked in black bear territory during my period...but I would never do so in grizzly territory. Of course, I'm a big chicken and wouldn't even hike in grizz territory! Enjoy your trip!

Finnish has very complex grammar and is not at all related to other Scandinavian or Germanic languages. It is not for the faint of heart! My grandmother was a native speaker. She and her relatives used to speak it on the party line telephone line so that none of the neighbors on the same party line could listen in and understand what they were saying!

WTTW is absolutely nothing like the themed writing books. This is truly a lit analysis course teaching elements and practicing on short stories. This is by far the best introductory lit analysis course I've seen. We used it early in 9th grade and subsequent lit papers and lit analysis has been very rich. It's incremental so not too much is dumped on the student at one time. There are models for HOW to do it. The syllabus referenced above is excellent, and you can tweak to your heart's content.

Windows to the world by IEW. No contest.

Not sure yet about level...but will pm you once we make that decision. Many thanks for your insight!

Oops...sorry I didn't reply earlier. My life is one big morass of chaos this week! I hope your interview with the leader went well. If you have any other questions for me, please feel free to PM me.

I've used TOG for 8 yrs now. We are in a virtual coop this year and consider it a blessing. I'd always done all discussions myself and have loved it. But I have to admit that I do appreciate having the opportunity to spread out the workload. My kids consider their coop discussion time the icing on their cake. They love interacting with other students at their levels. Each mom brings something unique to the table. Do they all do things just the way I would do it? No. But that can be a good thing at times. I teach the R lit class and thoroughly enjoy seeing how each student responds differently to each work. They bounce ideas off one another, they encourage one another, and they bring different perspectives to one another. Personally, I appreciate working with other godly women who share many (not all) of the same approaches to homeschooling I have. (Most of us moms actually do an I depth Bible study together in the virtual classroom every week.) Are all of these benefits only available with a coop? No. As Candid said, you can have amazing discussions with your kids and tailor them to your specific children. But I've found giving a bit of that up in exchange for the synergy in our group is well worth it. I don't mind being held to a schedule, but our coop families are quite accommodating if we don't quite get everything done in some weeks or need to skip a week here and there. It is quite important to discover what the group's rules and priorities are, though, to see if it is a fit with your needs.

Good thoughts...thank you. I'd like to see her either DE or CLEP college algebra in 11th grade, if possible. It sounds like that is a reasonable goal after she completes TT precalculus. I also very much like the idea of statistics in 12th grade. I've never paid much attention to statistics texts, so I guess I have another year to look around and ask questions. Any recommendations? Thanks,

Nonmathy dd has finished TT alg2 and geometry so will be continuing with TT precalc to finish the series. She ought to complete that by late fall. Understanding that TT is a gentler program (that's why we've used it), what would be a good next step? She is not pursuing a math or science major/career, but we want her to be well prepared for college. There's a good chance she could dual enroll in a college math course to fill that gen ed requirement in 12th grade...but that's not definite. Is there an advanced math (but not calculus yet) course anyone would recommend after TT precalc? Or should we try and do an intro to probability and statistics instead? If so, which? Thanks for your thoughts,