We are doing American History and American Literature this year. Our spine for history is America: A Narrative History by Tindall Ds will also be reading additional books to get an overview of what else happened in the world during this time as well as watch some of the American Experience documentaries. Our spine for literature is Classics of American Literature be The Teaching Company. Many of the books you have on your list (or Lori's) are part of Classics of American Literature. Btw, I found it used for $ 35.00 on amazon. One I did not see on your list is Ben Franklin's Autobiography which we are currently reading and it turns out to have quite a bit of meat for discussion. I am starting to really like it. :-) Hope this helps.

In our case the transcript I wrote for my son and sent to his current high school became part of his high school transcript. Simple.

We have been using OSU's German Online program for the last three years, and have been quite happy with them. http://germanonline.okstate.edu/

Thank you for this info. I didn't realize this and that is definitively important to know. :-)

Interesting, because we'll be doing something similar. We have done a lot of history from K-8. Then the boys went to highschool for 2 years and have done much less history. He is going to be coming back home and needs US History for credit. Here is what we are settling on: Our main text will be Tindall's America. He'll read about 40 pages a week (I think that will finish the book in a year). While he reads .... He'll place dates on a timeline which he will keep for all his subjects. He'll fill in names of places etc on a very large US map (and a very large World map). He can also color or decorate this as much as he would like (or not) He'll think about some type of output each week. I will give him a lot of choice here. This can be anything from summarizing a section to briefly researching a topic, person or event and writing (quickly) about a page or drawing a map etc. He'll choose one topic or event or person for each semester to research and write a longer paper about (maybe 5 pages). In addition to all of the above he'll be doing lots of reading. These readings cover a lot of word history. I want him to be aware about things that go on elsewhere in the world but I didn't really want to make this difficult. I'll require no writing on this. However, he will put dates on a timeline and fill in names on the very large worldmap For additional reading I have decided to settle on books that cover a fair amount of ground in an interesting way, but are fairly easy to read. We'll be using the World of series by G. Foster and History books by Albert Marrin In addition to this we'll be watching some documentaries as a family. Hopefully, some of this helps.

Thank you so much ladies! I thought so, too, but needed to make sure....

I am looking at ordering Zumdahl's Chemistry for our studies this year. To save some dollars I am considering using the 2007 edition. Do you think this is okay? Or is there a reason I shouldn't use an edition this old? Thanks in advance.

LOL. Just realized how old this thread was. Never mind my post unless you (OP) need to rethink things. :-)

One of my boys had a similar attitude about school. (maybe not quite as severe, but severe enough). It was he who caused us to put both boys in school two years ago. He had already taken one Jr. College Course each semester his 9th grade years. Everything else was still homeschooled. It was not enough. We decided that he needed to be busy all day. He started attending a high school at the start of his 10th grade year. It was the first time he entered a 'regular' school of any kind. He has just finished his second year there. It was the best decision we made for him and for us as a family. He does all the work for the teachers there (never for me) and he love being around people all day, every day. Personally, I think he could do so much more academically than what he does at school. In this case, however, academics took second seat. We needed to look for peace; for all of us and him. He still loves it. He is learning. He has loads of friends at school. He has fun taking drama and being part of the play each fall. He loves all his Science teachers. He learned to, at least, like Math. He still comes home and argues about the work he has to do. The difference is that he mostly argues with the work directly and not with me. After all, I didn't assign the work. :-) He has grown a lot. And the house is so much more peaceful. For us school pretty much every day was the best thing for him. His brother on the other hand is bored to tears and coming home again. He can now homeschool without the arguing. Anyway, because of our experience I would choose a high school even if I had to pay for a private school.

ETA: Family time in the evening and on weekends is a thing of the past. His athletic career has top priority for DS, and training is in the evenings. We still spend time together, we eat a family meal every day at lunch time, and have family time when we travel. I see this as one of the natural changes when young people grow up; their need to hang out with the parets diminishes, and other things become more important. I totally agree with Regentrude. I just wanted to say that I sure miss those family times!

We used OSU German online. My boys started German II and just finished IV. It worked well for us.

Thank you Brad for the detailed outline above. We'll be studying Economics not this fall, but next. This will give me a head start on planning. I especially like the The Birth of Plenty.

Thank you so much for your feedback. I am considering these also. :-)

I appreciate the feedback thus far. To clarify....We will still use a textbook with the labs. Also. my kids have attended school the last two years and quite honestly we have done more labs in our science courses at home in more detail than they have at school. I have come to the conclusion that in many cases high school labs are not as involved as I thought they were. This is not to say I don't want to continue with quality science at home. :-) What I am thinking of using is: Chemistry by Zumdahl and some kind of kit Any other suggestions?

Hi Everyone, It looks like we slightly re-thinking our plans for Chemistry this year. Has anyone used (or have any feedback) the this kit? http://www.thamesandkosmos.com/index.php/product/category/science-kits/chem-c3000 We really appreciate any feedback on it. Thanks,

Check your states minimum graduation requirements. In California, you can receive a diploma with only three years of English.

I am agreeing with you completely. This is what most homeschoolers I know do....They simply take the A-G courses at the local CC while still in high school. If at that point their students choose to go to college elsewhere they do. It has not been a problem for anyone I know. In fact, some are able to cut one year of college at non-UC schools. Plus they do in fact have a lot of time to take courses of interest in addition to whatever they 'need' to take.

This only applies to you when you choose to enter a UC school as a freshman. If you choose to go to college elsewhere you do not have to go with the A-G requirements. The UC system has always been kind of 'anti'-homeschooling. This is not new. You can also transfer in as a Junior using the CC if you really want to go to a UC school.

If we were in any other state, I could HS for high school in a way that allowed my child the kind of academic freedom she craves. But not here in CA :thumbdown: Above is not entirely correct. You can homeschool in any way you want if you do an R4 in California. This is what we used to do and what many of our friends do. However, you are indeed micro-managed if you homeschool through any type of charter school.

Well, darn. Somehow I just lost my post. I am replying to the topic of content quality at the CC vs. high school. I used to think that high school courses in our area are at least as good as the CC courses. However, now that my boys have attended a high school I have found that this is not so. Our homeschool high school courses are at least as or even better in quality than the CC (in the areas I am confident to cover at home). I assumed that our courses at home were comparable to the courses at the high schools. I have come to find that this is not the case. We have covered far more material (in far more detail) than the high schools accomplish in our courses at home. When I compare the courses at the high school my kids attended this last year I would say that the CC courses are definitively a big step up. When I compare them to our at-home courses this is not the case. I am not comparing an Algebra course to a Calculus course; but Algebra to Algebra; or History to History. Imho, public high school spends a lot of time on the following things: paper work making sure all the kids are at the same level before moving on daily assignments (many of which completely useless) assemblies etc. I could go on and on. Our experience has not been all negative, however. My boys did get something out of going to high school. They did make new friends. They were introduced to new sports. One of them joined Drama. These are things we found difficult to do on our own. And I am forever grateful that we found some social outlet for both the boys. I do, however wish that the quality as well as the quantity of the material covered were higher. The most positive outcome for us is that both boys now truly appreciate the time they spent doing 'school' at home. One of them is switching back to more homeschooling because he just needs more material. Well, I think I rambled on. All this to say that CC in California works for many homeschooled kids; including mine.

I know a few people who have done this and it worked for them. So, I think it can work just fine.

Hugs to you. I can relate. I have two years left, but even that is not the same as it once was. What helps me is to remember how much time we had together as a family learning and playing. That makes me happy.

Hi, This is our third year taking German online via Oklahoma State University (the one mentioned above). Overall, we like it. I speak German which makes it very accessible to us. My boys tested into German II and are currently finishing off level 4. What I like about it is that it offers a schedule which we generally follow; and it takes me out of the equation of assigning school work. At this stage in our lives this is a very important aspect. The staff has always been very helpful. My boys do at times complain about the online videos being too archaic. Outside of this it has worked very well for us.

How about 'Competition Math'

Well, I am doing a lot of self-ed lately. The whole family is taking lessons in formal dancing (waltz, fox-trot etc.) as we are attending a wedding in Europe this summer. I am studying a lot of Math and Chemistry to prepare for the fall. Ds 15 has decided to go back to homeschooling (he attended high school for the last two years); so I need to brush up on our reading list for english and history. I like to read, though, so this is fun. :-)