For us this would be too much. A lot depends on your kids and family. We are in our first highschool year and this is what we ended up accomplishing: 1. Great Books: This class we outsourced. It is working wonderfully. I add in things like spelling, grammar, writing as necessary and as we have time. Some weeks we have a lot of reading to get through; other weeks are lighter. 2. Modern Times: We try to follow WTM approach here. It is working out okay but not great. That could be because we are in Modern Times and I can't find books we like for the life of me. 3. Biology using CK 12 Flexbooks on line. 4. OSU German II 5. Math at the Community College Above subjects we always do. Not all of them happen every day, but it does seem to average out to about an hour a day each. We do spend another hour on Music, Art, Shakespeare, Programming etc. I just keep track on time spent and whenever we reach 180 hours (or so) I'll call it a credit class. Some of these will take us all 4 years of highschool and that's okay.

Well, I don't really have any suggestions. However, I have discovered that this, too, may be a personality thing. My 9th grader cannot do this. It seems that he just can't even begin to focus on finding information. He will read a chapter and say I have no idea what to write down. He just can't study this way. On the other hand my 8th grade ds loves studying this way. He has no trouble taking notes, finding interesting information and dislikes receiving specific assignments. What I have done with ds in 9th is to have him read a chapter and then assign him to find more information about a specific event or person. That seems to work better for him.

We loved, loved, loved SOTW with the activity guide! Is it necessary? No, it isn't. But for us, it is what made history fun! In the early years grade 1, 2 and 3 we started out doing the projects and then read the stories in the book followed by the maps and additional reading. It took us 2 years to get through SOTW 1. But it was so much fun! We didn't really use the questions or the narrations. Instead we chose which activities and books we liked and focused on that. My boys did not care for paper crafts so we skipped those. We did, however, all projects involving clay or cooking. :-)

We stopped using the charter school in highschool because there just more hoops we didn't want to jump through. We are perfectly happy doing our thing. In fact, for us it has been much better.

Yes, I completely agree with 8. My oldest is in 9th this year. And for the first time I actually see the importance of these three objectives. We worked very hard throughout middle school, and I still wish we had done better. Ds has always been a difficult student and he is now learning that all those things I have been trying to work on with him really do matter. :-) He is actually handling it as well as I thought he would, but we are having to spend a lot of time this year on these exact three objectives.

Thanks Quark! I'll check it out.

JennW (or anyone else in California) Did you use a specific resource to study for the exam? If so what did you use? Or do you have any other suggestions? Thanks for your help.

You know your stuff, JennW. :-) Palomar Community College is correct. The thing is some kids just have a tough time even with the CHSPE and I think it is too bad that things are being made more difficult for them. We are going to do CHSPE when the time comes and hopefully it will turn out okay. Having said that, it does seem that things are really in the air. The cost of units is also way more expensive than it used to be, although, that doesn't affect us at this point.

Well, this depends a lot on the specific community college. We are in San Diego County and the one we attend is apparently the most liberal in allowing us to attend. But it is getting more difficult all the time.

So when I read this form, it looks like a student needs to fill out the K12 Minor Unit Petition form in order to take more than 7 units. If they want to take 12 or more units, then they need the signature of the applicable high school officials too. Sebastian, Thank you for catching that. That does make it seem a little better. We shall see how much grieve they will give us in the fall when we will actually try to sign up for 8 units. We used to not need any special permission before as long as you kept under 12 units. I guess, I'll need to worry about transcripts sooner than I ever expected.

You need to petition via the local highschool.

Hi Everyone, It appears that we just got a new unit cap for classes while attending a community college during highschool in California. Here is what it says on the form I have to use: Effective spring 2014, K-12 students are limited to 7 units in spring or fall term and 4 units in summer session. A student requesting enrollment in excess of these limits must petition to the Director of Enrollment Services and provide transcripts and written justification. See K-12 Minor Unit Petition. If the minor student is attending high school, the parent or guardian and the high school district official must sign. If the minor student has graduated high school or has received a California High School Proficiency Exam Certificate, then only the parent or guardian signature is required. If the minor student has been home schooled, then an official from the high school district where the student resides must sign and the parent or guardian must sign. (Private School Affidavit is Required) If the minor student is under 15 years of age, then permission to attend must be requested of the Palomar faculty member who will sign the form if permission is granted. Admissions staff will process the enrollment in person. In all cases, submit the form to the Admissions/Financial Aid Office in the Student Services Center in San Marcos or the Escondido Center. This is going to be a real challange for us. Our plan was to have dss take all Math and Science as dual enrollment. He was so looking forward to it. The unit cap now is 7. Most Math and Science courses are at least 4 units each which means he can never take both at the same time. I am wondering if this a statewide change or not? They just posted this change right before open enrollment this week.

Well, I know nothing about meds and psychiatrists, however, I do have a son who does not want to work with me or go to 'highschool'. This year he is in 9th grade. It is so far our best year in a very long time. The reason? He has several classes with deadlines which are not mine. He gets them all done. He still complains to me, but because there is no chance of the deadline or the requirement changing he gets it all done; with a far better attitude than last year. All this to say that maybe he needs outside classes with deadlines. My ds's classes this year: Community College Math -- this has worked out beautifully. He never in his life has done as much as he is doing now. He is proud of going to 'college'. Part of the challenge with him is that he wants to be grown-up. Great Books Class -- He and some friends attend a great books class. They all like the class. The reading is extremely difficult for some of them including ds. However, again, since there deadlines, concrete assignments, and papers due it all gets done. On the side they also learn some Greek and Choir style singing in class. German --- via OSU German online. This is probably his least favorite. But again it gets done because the deadlines are not mine. American History -- with a coop. He has taken classes there for several years and loves them. He has an oral report due every week. No problem getting it done. Shakespeare Class -- also with a coop. He doesn't have a lot of work to do outside of class this semester. Next semester they will be doing a play which will require more effort on his part. We still do some other things at home as we get to them like art, music, science. Next fall he will add in Chemistry at the community college (his choice; he wants to study Biochemistry). To be honest, I was a little concerened with the amount of work I loaded him up with. However, it has worked out wonderfully. Our school days at home are so much more positive. Ds wanted to move on. All this to say that maybe he needs to have schedules from someone other than Mom. Hopefully, I haven't just rambled on and something here is useful to you. Good Luck. I know how frustrating this can be.

Janice, Thank you for posting this! It so exciting to hear when someone succeeds. We are in the trenches (so to speak) at this house right now. My older ds is a 9th grader; he is truly testing my patience. He swears that I am the meanest Mom in the world because he feels he has so much writing to do these days. Most of the assignments are still short (between 1 and 2) pages, but they are starting to require more cohesive thinking on his part. I can see great improvements already this year---in his writing not his attitude. :-) But we will keep on plugging along. It is good to know that it will be worth it in the end.

We, too, need a teacher when it comes to Science. Our solution will be (hopefully) classes at our local community college. Ds will start with Chemistry in the fall. He is very much looking forward to it. I say hopefully only because we haven't actually done this yet, but out plan is to take all Science classes at the community college. We cannot attend Public Highschool classes as homeschoolers where we live either.

I do believe Artistic Pursuits has a middle school level books on drawing with colored pencils.

Thank you for posting this. When you write this out it looks so simple; just what I needed. I'll borrow it for next fall. :-)

Ohh! We loved The Brain here. We actually completed the paper brain project. For about a month, every time it was time for Math he would put on his 'brain' first to help him think.

I don't really have much to add except that I often think of Nan's and Jen's journey. Believe me when I say that we are climbing a giant mountain (or so it feels). But ds 14 wants to study Chemistry; and I certainly want to keep the options open for him. Therefor, the basics for us are: Math (lots of it) English (lots of it) then every thing else.... Our main focus this year became study skills. How do you overcome your mind wondering off? How can anyone possibly remember all the people in the Iliad? Why in the world do I HAVE to use algebra to solve this problem? There are many more questions like the above. That's what we spend a huge amount of time on. The only thing I try to do is give him all the fun he wants and needs outside of school work. He gets to do pretty much anything he wants as long as we worked hard during our 'official' school hours.

I'll pm you.

I don't know about the Math test you are looking at, but the English test sounds like it would be an assessment test. At our local CC you can look up the assessment test online and find practice test etc. This should give you an idea of where to start.

I have one ds who is a big time waster. We used to just call it school time from 8-3 every day unless it was Thursday when we left the house at one to go to the park. On Tuesday we had coop classes. It was always difficult for me to get him to do his work during this time. He managed to make it almost impossible for me to judge if I was asking too much, or if the work was too difficult, or he was simply daydreaming. This year he is in 9th grade. He still has two classes with the coop. One of those classes has due dates and he does meet them. He also takes Math at the Community College. This was the best decision we made. It keeps him accountable. He does his homework on time. And he likes the class. For the first time a grade has meaning to him. It matters to him how everyone else in the class measures up. At home a grade meant nothing to him. He also has a hard dead line for Great Books class this year. In short, we were never really able to motivate him until now with outside dead lines. How did I keep sane? I stuck to school hours. We used virtually no online resources during this time because of all the side-tracking. We never turned on the TV even for educational programs. If I did that he would expect school to be TV shows all the time. We did do many active things: science projects, art etc. When he really chose not to work with me I did take away all screen time for the day. That worked somewhat.

Ruth, I love the way you have set forth a vision. I agree that this program requires a 'teacher'. And I especially love your visiual idea with the topos on the large boards. I may just borrow this from you when we start WWS II. My boys are older and I still found that I needed to slow down the pace. We also did (and are doing) WWS I at half pace. DS1 is done and DS 2 is in the second half. I wish I could add to your wonderful suggestions, but I really do appreciate you posting yours.

Yes, I agree with Jenn. Thanks for posting again! Our plan is to transfer into a UC if this is what my students want. I have one who says he wants to go to a UC school and one who doesn't. Ds who wants to go to a UC school just started at the CC to get accustomed to the courses. He is in 9th grade and is taking a non-transferable Math class. This is perfect for him to get used to the pace. The plan is that in 10th grade he will start taking some transferable courses and we'll go from there. This does seem to be the most painless way to cover the requirements while getting a solid education. For us it means that the UC door is open as well as other options if we need them.

Yes, I am in the same boat. My ds also just wants to finish. I had this vision of 'interesting' discoveries together. It doesn't seem to turn out this way. I think in many ways what happens is that the teens want to move on with THEIR lives which is completely normal. We will slowly add more CC classes because my son does want interaction; just not with me.