[Latin: MPOA vs. CLRC vs. Lukeion (Homework Load, Quality, etc.)]

I can’t compare as we only have experience with CLRC Latin (and WHA, but you’re not considering them). But I can tell you, my DD is thriving in and loving Anne Van Fossen’s instruction in CLRC Latin 3 this year. She recently mentioned that the Oxford Latin textbook is so much better than Latin Alive series used by WHA. I really regret wasting my time on a very average/lackluster experience at WHA.

Workload is always hard to measure for this particular DD. She’s a fast processor and very efficient worker. I don’t think she spends more than 30-45 minutes per day working on Latin, but she does do it daily 5-6x per week, in addition to the two-hour class 1x per week.

I would ask for Anne’s help with placement; the only downside to beginning in Latin 1 is that your student will not reach AP Latin (Latin 5) in high school, if that’s important to you.

Good luck with your decision!

[Circe LToW I vs. Integritas]

Cindy Lange is remarkable. Her instruction is very explicit and she has high expectations, but she’s gentle and motivating (rather than rigorous and demanding). My older did one year with her then we left to do an integrated great books class, followed by AP Lang, then AP Lit. Younger will start with her at some point, and I hope to continue all the way through her high school sequence (I’ll have to balance the budget by keeping other things in house rather than outsourcing— a fair trade to get to take Cindy’s classes).
 

I have no experience with LTOW/Circe, so I can’t compare.

[Coolest thought on raising teens]

Oh, wow. I love that. Thanks for sharing. 
 

My 20 year old college junior called me yesterday to excitedly share an anecdote from her Pediatric nursing simulation lab she had just completed. The professor pulled her aside afterward to congratulate her on doing an amazing job and ask if she had experience working in Peds (she does not) because it seemed like she was a pro. DD responded that she thinks her scenario was so smooth and natural because (1) she knew the material really well but maybe more importantly because (2) she was homeschooled with three sisters and spent MANY years playing pretend and providing child care, so she was just super comfortable role-playing with a 6-year old (sim dummy).

It was really hard to see this same DD struggle through a rough freshman year filled with some unhealthy friendships, a bad boyfriend, gaining weight, and generally just failing to find her groove. At the time, I so wanted to jump in and solve all her problems for her, but luckily DH encouraged me to give her space to settle in and fix it herself. It is all the more gratifying to watch her flying now. The growth from freshman to junior year is astounding!

[Dance Parents]

46 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Did anyone ever leave a school (studio) because it wasn't the right fit for your dancer?  What  made you do it?  Was it the right choice looking back? 

This choice is so difficult when you have multiple kids.  But we have had a lot of signs, but stuff keeps happening.  There has been a lot of stuff.  I am not sure when you say enough is enough.  And to make it more difficult, it feels like it is a good place for some of my kids, but not others. 

We’ve definitely left a dance studio (and, similarly, a barn for my equestrian), but I only had one dancer (and rider) to consider.  I guess it comes down to meeting the needs of your neediest child. If current studio is a bad fit (not just a not ideal fit) for at least one child, I’d consider moving them all. I suppose you could split them, but that becomes logistically complicated. 

[Dance Parents]

What has everyone decided for summer programs? Or are you still deciding?

My DD will stay at Miami for the first 4 of the 5 weeks (we had to pay for the full program, naturally), and then will go to Chautauqua. They offered all admitted students full scholarships this year, which makes it financially affordable. Chautauqua is planning for two full performances in their outdoor amphitheater during the 4-week program and my DD is dying to get back on stage, so that’s why we’re willing to double-up this summer. So, she’ll get 8-weeks of training with (fingers-crossed, pandemic conditions allowing) 2 shows. 
 

This will only leave 2-3 weeks for college application ‘boot camp’ at the end of August, so it will be another full summer for her!

[Any reviews of summer programs at colleges? Different this year, I know...]

My DD is doing the Michigan Math and Science Scholars program this summer: https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/mmss/

At least in our area, it is seen as a selective, worthwhile academic program that isn’t a “pay to play” summer camp for rich kids. Unfortunately it’s virtual again this year, but for my DD’s purposes that is excellent since she can do it even while away at her summer ballet intensive. 
 

I really wanted to consider one of the pre-college programs geared toward students interested in medical school, but those I found are uniformly $$$. Her life is already ripe with privilege, so it just didn’t seem right to us to buy into that sort of madness (not to mention it just doesn’t fit our budget).

[CLRC Comp & Lit (cross-posted from K-8)]

@stripe It IS a rather dark reading list, now that you mention it. This DD is a little ‘young’ and tender-hearted. Sigh, I don’t think it’s right for this child, this year.

[Honors Biology -- PA Homeschoolers vs Blue Tent]

My DD is in BT Honors bio this year. Honestly, with your student’s background, I don’t think it would be much of a stretch at all. My DD is finding it easy and relatively low-output (but she’s learning new material and enjoying it). It might be a good class for an otherwise demanding year though. 

I really haven’t been able to get any/many reviews of Dr. Kanner’s courses/teaching through PAH. We’re going to go with BT for AP Bio next year. Her honors class might be good...but I haven’t seen a single review outside of those posted on PAH’s site (and that makes me a little nervous about how biased or not they might be).

[Is finding a space for AP testing going to be even harder this year?]

^^and somehow my DD is crossing her fingers for digital exams (Lit, Stats, Psych) at home. Go figure. She would just be happy if she never has to step foot in a physical high school building ever again!

[CLRC Comp & Lit (cross-posted from K-8)]

1 minute ago, Roadrunner said:

Cindy’s class is less in quantity. She scaffolds a lot more and really teaches one step at a time. So I would ideally do Cindy’s class before CLRC Intro to Lit, but it isn’t necessary. 

Whoa, I’m so glad I asked. That surprises me. Thanks for weighing in!

[Is finding a space for AP testing going to be even harder this year?]

So has anyone heard from their high schools yet re: which AP Exam option/dates they’re going to go with for homeschooled kids registered through their school? I’m tempted to reach out so I know whether we need to be ready by beginning of May; but ‘our’ school is a bit of a scramble and I always seem to know more than they do about the AP process, so I suspect they haven’t even digested the CB’s announcement and formulated a plan.

I’m a little nervous (even though we already have our exam codes) since they weren’t equipped to take payment when we registered in the fall and I got no response to my 1/4 email asking if they want their payment yet.

[CLRC Comp & Lit (cross-posted from K-8)]

2 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

Two of my kids took Intro to Lit with Tessa and we absolutely love her. One took it as a 6th grader and another one as a 7th grader. 
Both are very capable kids (definitely not struggling) and neither is liberals arts leaning. 
How well she scaffolds? Well, if I remember correctly they built the essays one paragraph at a time. I really hope I remember that right. It isn’t like Cindy Lange’s class that actually scaffolds a paragraph development. With Tessa, you have got to be able to produce that and the writing is weekly. Both learned how to write essays in that class, but I was there to help them understand thesis development and help at least with the first essay. 

I didn’t think the workload was heavy. At a time when my kids took it, she provided very good feedback (red pen to the paper approach). CLRC has grown though, so it’s possible now that grading is done with a rubric. I simply don’t know. Yes, the class is secular.

My only complaint about that class is the choice of the Dickens novel. Tale of Two Cities was too much for both of my kids. I wish she had picked another Dickens novel for the Intro class. 

Would you consider Cindy Lange’s Intro class lower or higher than this class (in terms of challenge/expectations?). Or are they comparable? My older did & we loved Cindy’s class in 8th, but I don’t this this DD is ready for that class yet. (Although, every time I say something like that about her she has a big leap in maturity/skill and proves me wrong).

[CLRC Comp & Lit (cross-posted from K-8)]

(Cross-posted from K-8 for anyone who might have experience with this class, but no longer visits the K-8 board)

What can anyone tell me about this class? About Tessa Carmen as a teacher? How heavy is the workload? How age-appropriate are the expectations for written work? Does the teacher do a good job of scaffolding the student’s development over the course of the year, or is it a steep learning curve? Would you describe your student (who took this class) on grade-level? Advanced for their age/grade? Is the class secular?

Trying to find the ‘just right’ level of challenge for my rising 7th grader is tricky. She’s a much more average student than my last middle schooler, but just as bright. Seems like the reading lists are either WAY too challenging or still using late-elementary books and I think we’re mostly past that. 
 

Thanks for any thoughts on this course. 

[CLRC Intro to Lit & Comp]

What can anyone tell me about this class? About Tessa Carmen as a teacher? How heavy is the workload? How age-appropriate are the expectations for written work? Does the teacher do a good job of scaffolding the student’s development over the course of the year, or is it a steep learning curve? Would you describe your student (who took this class) on grade-level? Advanced for their age/grade? Is the class secular?

Trying to find the ‘just right’ level of challenge for my rising 7th grader is tricky. She’s a much more average student than my last middle schooler, but just as bright. Seems like the reading lists are either WAY too challenging or still using late-elementary books and I think we’re mostly past that. 
 

Thanks for any thoughts on this course. 

[Seventh Grade Planning Thread 2021-2022]

On 2/12/2021 at 11:44 PM, eternallytired said:

Social Studies - Crash Course World History (I had no idea there was a curriculum to go with the videos, and it's really nicely done

Can you link to the crash course curriculum? I’m aware of the videos, but didn’t know there was a full curriculum.

[Best stage to dish out for an Integritas Academy Lit/Writing course]

My DD took Lange’s Intro class as an 8th grader and I would say that was a perfect time for the splurge. She grew so much as a writer, especially learning how to always support her assertions with evidence from the text. She learned exactly how to do this (integrating quotes seamlessly in her writing) and it has served her well throughout high school, across the curriculum.

For 9th this DD went on to take Great Books 1 at CLRC. In 10th she took Serbicki’s AP Lang and in 11th she’s taking Serbicki’s AP Lit. Next year, she’ll either take Lange’s Upperclassman course or Blue Tent Senior English (TBD). It has been a really great progression for her. 

My next DD won’t be ready for Lange’s course until 9th and will never have the stamina for CLRC’s Great Books! 

[Cross Posted - MP Form Latin - how far did you go?]

1 hour ago, Trilliumlady said:

 

@fourisenough, what level of MS Latin did you place your DD into?  Was it MS Latin, or a HS class?  Trying to figure out where DD would place after 2 years of decent Latin learning with MP.  

My DD (16, 11th grade) started last fall in CLRC HS Latin 3 (after having completed Latin 1, Latin 1, and Latin 2 in the preceding three years at WHA). I really don’t know how that correlates to the Forms series, but Latin Alive (the series used by WHA) teaches the full Latin grammar in 3 years. Hope that helps. 
 

I would think an 8th grader with two previous years of Latin instruction could easily begin the high school level at CLRC, likely in Latin 1 or 2? I’m sure Anne could help with placement.

[Are there an AP US History Classes that you LOVED?]

1 hour ago, mjbucks1 said:

Our dd took APUSH with Susan Richman at PA Homeschoolers when she was sophomore (2016-2017 school year).  She absolutely loved the class.  The class is asynchronous, which was perfect for us as dd was swimming competitively and was gone Thursdays-Sundays many weekends due to swimming and speech and debate tournaments.  

The class is set up on a rotation of weeks (A,B,C,D).  Mrs. Richman assigns certain homework to be completed depending on which week you are currently on, as well as weekly homework.  At first this was a little confusing, but I made a "cheat sheet" for dd that had the assignments due each week (not specific assignments, just general), as well as weekly assignments due.  I can not remember all of the different assignments, but I do remember that they had to analyze political cartoons (I think that was weekly) and write written responses to readings weekly, but then some other assignments were just once/month and were due either week A, B, C, or D (I hope this makes sense).

The students are required to be active on the message boards, and the class was quite engaging even though it was asynchronous.  Mrs. Richman has quite a detailed description of the class on the PA Homeschoolers site.  

This class was one of our daughter's favorite classes!  I am happy to try and answer any questions you may have 🙂

Is this class secular? I realize the CB approved syllabus must be secular, but is there any religious discussion/influence whether from the teacher or the students in the class?

Thanks for your detailed review!

[How do you (personally) handle your state's "fluff" requirements at the high school level?]

I gave my DD a credit each for PE and Fine Arts during 9th grade so that I meet all my state’s (very loose) requirements. It was an easy no-brainer since she is a pre-professional ballerina who trains 20-25 hours/week. Other than those initial credits, I’m treating her ballet just as a robust EC and not assigning it any more credit (even though I know many of the residential ballet schools assign multiple credits to their training yearly). 
 

Aside from the requirement of one credit PE and Fine Arts, there are no fluff credits expected here. If there were, I’d meet them as efficiently and with as little fanfare as possible. This particular DD is a strong academic student and will be better served by a 4 x 5 plan (4 years of Eng, Math, Science, Social Science, & Foreign Language)  + rigorous electives (AP Art History, AP Stats, etc) rather than fluff credits.

With regard to your scenario about music: I think just listening to a variety of great music and possibly attending concerts, operas, and musicals a couple times per year would be perfectly adequate! I have an 11-year old who can ONLY do math while listening to classical music so I’m considering that her music education this year!

[How Many Courses a Semester in HS]

My junior has had 6 each school year and it’s plenty. We’ve been able to sneak in one additional credit during an intense summer session each year for a total of 7 credits per year.
 

This year, with 3 APs and 3 Honors-level classes, there is no way she could have done more on top of her heavy (20-25 hrs/wk) ballet schedule.

My older girls who attended our ‘great’ local PS, took 6 credits per year (no block scheduling). There was no way to take more than 6 credits at their school.

[What Should Grade 7 math look like?]

34 minutes ago, kristin0713 said:

I think the main thing to consider is whether the student needs Pre-A spread out over two years with a consistent review of arithmetic.  My DD would have really struggled with the pace of Unlock Math. The new info is presented in very small increments and there is review everyday, so in that sense, it is similar to CLE.  However, there are a lot less review problems than CLE and it does not review all of the topics that CLE does.  I think that the reason my DD is doing so well in Algebra 1 is because there was such a thorough review everyday during 7th and 8th grade which covered long division, fractions, decimals, and percents.  She's so confident in all of that now!  My DS did not need that sort of review and, in fact, it would have been torture for him.  I think CLE is great for a student who can wait to do Algebra 1 in 8th grade and who would benefit from consistent review.  Unlock Math has been great for my mathy kid who is amazing at mental math and just intuitively understands how numbers work. 

Sorry, one last question: what Algebra 1 program is this DD using?

[What Should Grade 7 math look like?]

On 2/7/2021 at 7:41 PM, kristin0713 said:

Me, too.  It was truly my most favorite thing to do all year!!  

My mathy 7th grader is doing Pre-Algebra this year with Unlock Math. 

My math-averse older child used Christian Light which covers Pre-Algebra over 7th and 8th grade and she is now successfully doing Algebra 1 in 9th. 

Sorry for the hijack, OP, but I’m wondering if @kristin0713 could give me a comparison of Unlock Math’s Pre-Alg and CLE 7 & 8?

I have a 6th grader finishing CLE 6 math and I’m debating between continuing on with CLE or possibly trying Unlock. How would you compare the level of difficulty between the two? (I’m generally familiar with Unlock because older DD used their Geometry, but have no experience with lower levels).

[Updated: Scholarship hoops as a homeschooler (She got it!)]

That is so tricky! Good luck. Keep us posted!

[Le français ! WTMA, TPS, Aim Academy, other?]

Sally Barstow is amazing! My niece has done 4-5 years with her and is piloting her AP French class content with her in a private tutoring format now. DN/sister love her. This DN is bilingual Spanish/English and is in private school, but has continued with her French learning ‘for fun’ largely because of Madame Barstow. 

[Cross Posted - MP Form Latin - how far did you go?]

We didn’t do the Forms series (sorry, op), but our experience with WHA Latin classes sounds much like yours with MPOA, @RootAnn; my DD took Latin 1 (twice!) and Latin 2 at WHA, scored As, and retained very little. She wanted to quit, but I bribed, I mean encouraged, her to switch to CLRC where she is working much harder but is finally mastering what she really didn’t learn in Latin 1 & 2 AND the new material in Latin 3. Anne Van Fossen is brilliant and so warm and encouraging. I’m so happy DD hung in there because Latin has now become a favorite subject. She’ll continue on next year in 12th with Latin 4/Readings at CLRC.