Oldest ds did not complete VP's cycle. We started out trying to combine VP with SOTW and then scrapped that for just SOTW (with Kingfisher & Usborne for older grades). I used many of VP's (and Sonlight's) literature recommendations for each history cycle along with the SOTW recommendations. This was an excellent preparation for the rigors of Omnibus in my opinion. Second oldest ds (the one going into Omnibus I next year) followed the same path except for using the 1815-Present Self-Paced program this year for 6th grade. He is reading the level two books. This ds is my most advanced reader and can go through the VP level 2 selections in 1-2 days. I can't quite say that I'm thrilled with it as the amount of books read is 1/4 the amount older ds read and there is absolutely no writing component. I consider it a step down in ability to what we did before and will not be having the other boys use it. We use Western Civilization. We have Streams of Civilization, but found it dry, dry, dry. (And we are fans of CLP!)

My oldest son completed Omnibus I as a 7th grader and is completing Omnibus II as an 8th grader. He has done all of the reading for Primary and Secondary in the recommended texts (not a jr. version). We are a conservative Christian family. There are areas that are very disturbing, but that is the truth about living in a fallen world. In our experience, they were acknowledged and then he moved on; there wasn't a dwelling on them or salaciousness to it. Everything was brought back to scripture and viewed through that context. We had the exact opposite of "hindering the learning experience" -- I saw my son's maturity (intellectually and spiritually) grow by leaps and bounds over these last two years. In fact, he initiated the process with our church elders and became a member of our church last year. We are planning for our second oldest to begin Omnibus I next year (7th) and our oldest continue with Omnibus III for 9th.

I assume this was what VP was referencing in a recent email: It's been a little concerning that so many lead teachers are leaving as my boys take classes at VPSA. I'm interested in the Wilson Hill classes as we really wanted certain teachers for next year although I'm a little nervous about being part of the guinea pig year with the various hiccups that can be expected.

This is me! I'll have a 9th, 7th, 4th, and K4 in the fall. I fluctuate between excitement and panic!

My ds took the test in Dec. The results were available online a few weeks later and he received a paper copy of the results about 10 days ago.

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/482991-nyt-article-on-how-college-maintains-class-inequalities/ :-)

I third this suggestion. In a book we discussed here awhile back ("Paying for the Party: How College Maintains Inequality"), a key distinction that stood out to me between students that ended up succeeding vs. failing were the students whose parents/older siblings helped them switch out of a bad dorm situation.

Bumping as I'm planning for next year. What are essential honors/pre-AP biology labs?

So wonderful! I'm really happy for your family!!! :-D

Angela, that is really encouraging. Ds is used to what I would consider a heavier academic load, so it might be do-able. Don't like the peer-reviews though! Gosh I hated that (and group activities!!!) myself in college! LOL! Thanks for the details on the writing, Brenda. I'm glad the PP asked. It sounds like great preparation for the AP exam.

Wow, Michelle. Thank you for such a detailed review! I really appreciate it. I would love to have ds love Latin! He does have a solid grammar base; we use R&S, too. :-) I'll have to really think about this one.

Well, now I'm nervous about switching! It sounds like an amazing class for a Latin loving student, but I don't know if this describes my son. His love is math/physics/programming. He has an A in the VPSA Latin II class, but I think he would drop Latin if I'd let him. (He wants to take Russian.) I really want him to at least go through Latin III so that we can get it on his high school transcript and had hoped he might go through IV. Then he'd have Latin III/IV in 9th & 10th and Russian I/II in 11th & 12th. He's hoping for a competitive college and a couple of the ones he's interested in want four years of foreign language. I haven't found anywhere where they offer Russian III. Urgh.

Bumping for updates. :-) Ds is currently in the VPSA Latin II and doing well. I'm thinking of switching to Lukeion Latin III next year. How did it work out for your children?

My son is currently in the online Physical Science class with Dr. Harmon & LOVES it. It is a difficult class, but would highly recommend if your son is STEM oriented. :-)

Thank you for linking that. I did a search before posting, but didn't see this thread. Also, since I know it's been a problem in the past, if someone has had a negative experience with either of these teachers or classes and they don't want to post publicly, please PM me. I promise not to forward negative reviews on to the companies and/or teachers.

I'm looking for information on the Pre-AP Biology class with Vicki Dincher (AIM Academy) or Pre-AP Honors Biology class with Noemi Gonzalez (The Potter's School). Does anyone recommend either of these classes? (Or another class?) I am considering these for my science loving son for next year (9th grade). I feel pretty uncomfortable teaching upper level science as this is one of my son's strengths and one of my areas of weakness. Ds is currently using BJU Physical Science online. We are happy with BJU (it goes so far beyond my level of teaching!), but I am contemplating switching him to a 'real class' with a teacher he can interact with vs. watching videos. Thank you. :-) Heather

Last year we did BJU Earth Science on our own. My son read the text, answered the questions, did the tests, etc. We also added in videos from Netflix and online that corresponded to the topics. We also bought the kit from Home Science tools and did most of the experiments. Although at times it was a little dry (I'm not really an Earth Science person, LOL!) I was very happy with what ds learned. Did you follow the schedule in the teachers guide? Yes Did you read the text to your child? No With your child? Sometimes Did your child read to themselves? Most of the time How did you have your child interact with the text? (Outlining, notes, just the chapter questions?) We did a variety of these methods. We started out outlining, but that became a little overwhelming after a few chapters and switched over to note taking. This year, we decided to try the BJU online option with Physical Science. I couldn't agree with the above post more! The online video lectures have gone so far beyond my level of teaching. My son is science oriented and I am so happy that he's being stretched and inspired. For this ds, we will probably stick with BJU online science for the next few years.

LOL at the board changing some of the letters/numbers with parenthesis to smilies. {grin}

Wow, I really think these are fascinating; I think it amazing how broadly educated a candidate would have been to have been able to pass one of these tests! I especially love the history & world history. I guess I don't look at it as rote memorization, but as the ability to comprehend & explain especially as I'm assuming the candidate didn't know which test they'd be given. Maybe I'm misunderstanding though. I'm looking at #24, June 1911 US History: I. Arrange these battles in chronological order, stating in each case between whom they were fought, the names of the commanders on either side, and the victor: 1, Antietam; 2, Big Horn; 3, Bull Run; 4, Chapultepec; 5, Chesapeake and Leopard; 6, Fallen Timbers; 7, Five Forks; 8, Gettysburg; 9, King's Mountain; 10, Lake Erie; 11, Lexington; 12, Manila Bay; 13, Monmouth; 14, New Orleans; 15, Palo Alto; 16, Plains of Abraham; 17, Santiago, 18, Tippecanoe; 19, Trenton; 20, Wilderness. II Explain briefly the significance in American history of the following names: 1, Peter Stuyvesant; 2, Pere Marquette; 3, Oglethorpe; 4, Shays's Rebellion; 5, Monroe Doctrine; 6, John Brown; 7, Farragut; 8, The Panama Canal; 9, Andrew Johnson; 10, The New Nationalism; 11, Greenbacks; 12, Boxer Rebellion; 13, The X Y Z Correspondence; 14, Nullification; 15, Dred Scott; 16, Dorr's Rebellion; 17, Harriet Beecher Stowe; 18, Missouri Compromise; 19, Clayton-Bulwer Treaty; 20, Lecompton Constitution. III. Give an account (not less than one page) of the life and public services of two of the following: Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, Alexander Hamilton, John Hay, and Benjamin Franklin. IV. Give an account of the founding of four of the thirteen original colonies, with dates, leaders, and circumstances. World History I. 1. Comment briefly on the following topics: (a) Tyre, (6) Nineveh, © Buddhism, (d) Ionians, («) Cyrus the Great, (J) First Olympiad, (g) Xerxes I, (h) Croesus. 2. Give a list of the principal Greek gods and the equivalent Roman gods. 3. Explain tie government of the Athenian state. 4. Describe briefly the age of Pericles. Mention eight important men of this time and tell for what each is known. II. 1. Trace the growth of democracy in Rome previous to the Punic Wars. 2. Explain the Macedonian phalanx and the Roman legion. What were the advantages of each? 3-4. Outline the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire. (One half page.) III. 1. (a) What were the causes of the breaking up of the feudal system? (b) What is meant by the "rise of the free towns"? 2. Write briefly on the following topics: (a) Rienzi, (b) Hanseatic League, © Xicaea, (d) Peter the Hermit, (e) Wycliffe, (f) Knights of the Temple, (g) Barbarossa, (h) Roger Bacon. 3. Give a brief account of Frederick the Great. 4. Explain the Renaissance in the following aspects: Inventions and discoveries; art and literature; religion and government. IV. 1. Give a brief account of the origin of the House of Commons. 2. What was the Reform Act of 1832? 3. (a) What is meant by the separation of church and state? (b) What did Victor Emmanuel II (Victor Emmanuel I of Italy) accomplish? 4. What were the causes of the Crimean War? V. Briefly explain who or what were the following: (a) Herodotus, (b) Arbela, © Hegira, (d) Domesday Book, (e) Pharsalia, (f) Marlowe, (g) Copernicus, (h) Peter the Great, (i) Bismarck, (j) Herbert Spencer. I think we'd be in good shape if all of our current military officers could answer these types of questions! :-)

We didn't do Apologia Physical, but my oldest completed Apologia General and now my sixth grader is using Apologia General. Both started out testing terribly. In our case, I think it's because until sixth grade we do a 'living science' type program and they had never been tested in science before. By about chapter three, both boys showed a huge learning curve uptick. I think it's just getting used to being required to do more. I am always available if there is a question, but current ds is expected to do the reading & answer questions on his own. He also spends two days on average preparing for the tests with the study guides and summaries. I have them write out all of the answers for everything; not sure if I'd go solely with a multiple choice online test for an eighth grader. BTW, you might want to see if your library has a copy of the Great Course DVD "How to Become a SuperStar Student." My boys learned a lot about how to study from this video ... and the teacher is hilariously funny to teen & pre-teen boys. ;-D

I just finished the book and found it fascinating. I've returned the book to the library, but will try to remember off the top of my head the things that struck me. The dorm picked for the research was known as a 'party dorm'. Some students requested this dorm, and some were put into it randomly. The girls were placed into six basic categories: Those who hope to succeed socially - socialites vs. wannabees Those who hope to use college to become upwardly mobile - those who stayed at the school vs. those who left for another path (AA degree, another college, etc.) Those who hope to succeed professionally - achievers vs. underachievers The ones who requested the dorm tended to be in the social group, while the ones placed into it randomly were in the other groups. This proved catastrophic for many of the girls in the non-social group that didn't have parents or older siblings/friends who could help them navigate how to switch dorms or make other living arrangements. The girls in the first group were the stereotypical upper class sorority girls who went to college for "the college experience". This group was divided between those that had a lot of money those that didn't. The ones with money got high level internships during college and then well-paying jobs afterward through parental connections. Even the ones who didn't get well paying jobs were fine because they were supported by their parents in nice apartments in places like NY or LA. The girls in the second group had difficulty getting internships and jobs after college. They tended to move back home or to smaller cities with lower paying jobs with high loans to pay back. Those in the second group were the ones most at risk from lack of parental involvement / parental educational experience. These were the girls who had to work to support themselves during school, had bad advice from college advisers, and often got lost in the shuffle. One girl from this group had very high university support while none of the others did. These girls were often influenced by hometown blue collar boyfriends that were antagonistic or non-supportive of the college experience. They tended to make little personal connection to people on campus and instead bonded with co-workers at workplaces like "big box stores." The girls that left this particular college for a different pathway (another college or a technical degree) ended up much better financially and career-wise than those that stayed. The third group was a range of what I would call upper to lower middle class girls and was made up of those that hoped to succeed professionally. The achievers were the ones who had involved parents that encouraged them to get into (and stay in) more difficult majors and study(!) while the underachievers were less prepared for college and often switched to less desirable/easier majors. The achievers were able to get into grad schools while the underachievers didn't. Most of the underachievers ended up moving back home and paying back loans while working jobs that didn't require a college degree. It is not a book I would typically pick up and read. What I took away from it, was that it is important for parents to stay involved and available as kids go to college. I guess that's not particularly insightful, but the book brought up a lot of scenarios that I hadn't considered before.

Thank you for your comments, Janice. I just requested the book from the library. :-)

I haven't used the program recommended by a previous poster, but have you looked at Latin Alive! 1? My oldest ds completed this program mostly independently with the DVDs and student textbook.

Oldest ds completed the two Visual Basic (Windows and Game Programming) classes on his own this past spring. He loved them! He thought they were very well laid out and easy to use. We are planning on buying more of the classes! :-)

Agreeing with Dereksurfs, too. :-) Oldest ds used Foerster's Algebra I with David Chandler. It was a fantastic fit for my son & I'm glad we used it. This year he's doing Geometry with Derek Owens. We're only a week into it, so I can't give a thorough review yet. My son is loving it so far and I'm loving have the corrections done by someone else. :-)