Wow! Dual enrollment is a fortune in PA--thanks for the heads up! In NC, up until last year it was free. Now, math/science/computer classes are still free. All other classes are $65/credit hour. I didn't realize how good we had it. I'm definitely going to have her take a class or two here before we move. Thanks!

Creekland, I see that your son is at Covenant. That is good to know. My younger daughter wants to go to Covenant so badly. Living in western NC (Asheville), we are in "PCA Country" and in close proximity to Chattanooga. Lots of her friends go to Covenant, so it's nice to know that some PA families are there too! Of course, now we might be looking at Messiah, as well. My oldest daughter is already at Grove City College in PA.

Thanks for the encouragement, ladies. Glad to know homeschooling in PA is doable. In NC, they quit monitoring kids once they're 16 because they would be older than the mandatory schooling age. Is that not the case in PA? Am I understanding correctly that we would still have to have our evaluation, plan, etc. even though she will be a senior? Does Pennsylvania have dual enrollment at community colleges for homeschoolers? I'm thinking that that might be a good option for my daughter--just to keep her occupied and busy while she's homeschooling one last year in a new place. Thanks again!

Hi Everyone! We just got a bombshell today. My husband's company is relocating from Asheville, NC (where we've been happily homeschooling for 7 yrs) to Shippensburg, PA. Homeschooling in NC is VERY easy, and I've heard PA is more restrictive--does anyone have any information for me? My oldest daughter is already in college, but I will still be homeschooling my younger daughter who will be a SENIOR. I feel terrible for her. The company says we won't have to go for a year, so at least we have time to prepare. If there's anyone out there who homeschools in the Shippensburg/Carlisle/Mechanicsburg area, I'm all ears! :bigear: Please let me know anything you can about homeschooling in the area, area groups, dual-enrollment possibilities etc. My daughter is so happy homeschooling here in NC. She says she just wants to finish her senior year up there and not get involved in any new groups. What's the point? she thinks. I hope she changes her mind. I feel so sad for her! We are incredibly GRATEFUL that my husband will still have a job, but we're just reeling from the shock of it now. Thanks in advance for any information you can give me! I really appreciate this board, you guys are SO helpful!

I'm curious. For those of you who are using Red Wagon Tutorial DVD's for science (and are doing your own grading), do you require the long, narrative lab reports (with outside sources/citations) that Mr. Rosencroff requires? After looking at the lab reports that he gives as examples on the DVD, I must admit I have never seen anything quite like them. They are more like papers than the lab reports I was used to. I took all honors science courses in high school, and I have a Bachelors of Science Degree in Nursing (I took four college biology courses as well as chemistry) from a competitive university. I never had to write lab reports that included outside sources and the type of narrative writing that Mr. Rosencroff requires. My husband is a mechanical engineer, and even with all his college science courses, he had never seen any like them. The lab reports I'm used to are all very technical, accurate, and succinct. The example lab report given for the worm dissection is 8 pages long (typed). Even labs where you only look at one slide are multiple pages long. I'm wondering if my experience with lab reports is not the norm. It's not like I don't require writing from my daughter. She writes lots of papers for her English and history classes. I just never imagined writing so much for science labs. If you have children in college science classes, are their lab reports comparable to the ones for Red Wagon Tutorials? I would appreciate any input you may have. Thank you!!!!!

Thanks for your input ladies. Good points. I definitely agree that homeschooling runs the gamut. Sometimes I just get discouraged. I also agree that the like-minded homeschoolers probably are are home doing their schooling, so they're not as obvious in the hs community. We do some outside classes with a wonderful teacher one day a week (Latin and literature). He is an amazing instructor who prepares the kids well for AP tests, the problem is that the vast majority of kids don't take the work seriously (but, of course that isn't my problem). I try to stay away from a lot of the hs groups, but then I feel like I'm just being a snob and that I should try to be a better "neighbor." I am really thankful for this board!!!

So many times I hear of homeschoolers who struggle with meeting other hs'ers in their area. They don't have the "benefit" of co-ops, enrichment classes, local graduations and homeschool sports leagues. Well, my area has all of these things in spades. Since our family began homeschooling, our local numbers have increased exponentially along with the number of "opportunities" for students. I'm beginning to think that hs'ing in our area is looking more like public schooling all the time. Frantic schedules, peer pressure, cliques, high school drama, and poor study habits seem to be becoming the norm. The enrichment classes and coops are woefully sub-par and ridiculously expensive. Parents who don't enroll their kids often feel that their students are "missing-out." Our hs sports league is huge and the time commitment is unbelievable (sometimes they travel 2hrs or more for regular games). We now have jocks, cheerleaders, nerds, cool kids, etc. Ugh! I was hoping to get away from all this when we started homeschooling 7 years ago. It seems like our area is abound with extra-curricular opportunities for hs kids, but the academics are getting left behind. It is so discouraging. At my oldest's hs graduation last June, only 3 or 4 were going off to college. Most were dabbling at the cc or trying to find work. A couple "ungraduated" themselves so they could play in the sports league or take co-op classes again! The standards seem to be sinking as the opportunities and numbers are rising. We used to have a great "core" group of very academic homeschoolers around here. Since their kids graduated (and went to Ivy League and competitive schools, BTW), we seem to have taken a very unacademic turn. Sorry for my rant. I'm feeling very frustrated this week. We are trying to keep our standard high, but feeling like there is no support around here for our type of homeschooling. Ugh!

Thanks for the input everybody. Many of you asked if I had talked to the "right" people regarding the GED issue. Well, I actually did speak to 2 admissions counselors and then i spoke to the actual Dean of Admissions who confirmed the policy that is posted online. All of them said that it is not their fault, that it is federal policy that demands the GED. Obviously, this is not true. To those of you who suggested that this may not be a school that we would want to look at, I couldn't agree with you more. If this is any indication, I would hate to see the headache we would encounter when it came time to apply for scholarships etc. I think what has be upset is just the principle of the thing. Obviously, they have misunderstood federal regulations. But why, when most other schools seem to "get it?" I mean they aren't even a competitive school. Grrrrrrr....... Oh well, up to this point we haven't encountered many homeschool obstacles. I makes me grateful for the parents that have gone before us and all the roads that they paved for us!

My daughter and I visited a Christian college fair at a local private school today. They had invited area homeschoolers. Out of ALL of the 35-40 schools that were there (including academically selective schools like Wheaton), only ONE required the GED for homeschoolers who are not under an umbrella school program. Carson-Newman University insists that they need homeschoolers, regardless of their SAT/ACT scores, to take the GED to be eligible for admission. CNU's average ACT is a 22! My daughter received a 31 on her ACT and 4's and 5's on her AP tests and they still insist that she would need to take the GED. According to them, in order to be in "compliance with Federal regulations" they need an "official" transcript and diploma from an accrediting body. They said it's not their rule it's federal law. HUH???? We live in NC, where you do not have to be under an umbrella school and very few people choose to be. We have homeschool friends that have kids in colleges all over the country. Public and private. Some are even in Ivy League schools (Brown) or well respected state schools (UNC-Chapel Hill). Many of them receive Federal Financial Aid (I know friends whose kids are at Covenant College that do). How come none of them were asked to take the GED? We live in Western NC, only an hour's drive from CNU. My youngest daughter might consider it, but NOT if she has to take the GED. I'm curious if this would be a matter for HSLDA. At best, it seems like a huge misunderstanding of federal regulations on CNU's part. At worst, it seems like discrimination. Thanks for letting me vent! __________________

Thanks ladies. I actually did speak to the dean of admissions as well as 2 admissions counselors at CNU. They all gave me the same information. I agree, that even though I doubt my daughter would actually end up going to CNU, I would like to educate them about homeschooling. It seems ridiculous, that in 2010 this kind of thing is still going on after all that homeschoolers have accomplished. I am not actually a member of HSLDA. Do I have to be in order to contact them regarding a matter like this?

My daughter and I visited a Christian college fair at a local private school today. They had invited area homeschoolers. Out of ALL of the 35-40 schools that were there (including academically selective schools like Wheaton), only ONE required the GED for homeschoolers who are not under an umbrella school program. Carson-Newman University insists that they need homeschoolers, regardless of their SAT/ACT scores, to take the GED to be eligible for admission. CNU's average ACT is a 22! My daughter received a 31 on her ACT and 4's and 5's on her AP tests and they still insist that she would need to take the GED. According to them, in order to be in "compliance with Federal regulations" they need an "official" transcript and diploma from an accrediting body. They said it's not their rule it's federal law. HUH???? We live in NC, where you do not have to be under an umbrella school and very few people choose to be. We have homeschool friends that have kids in colleges over the country. Public and private. Some are even in Ivy League schools (Brown) or well respected state schools (UNC-Chapel Hill). Many of them receive Federal Financial Aid (I know friends whose kids are at Covenant College do). How come none of them were asked to take the GED? We live in Western NC, only an hour's drive from CNU. My youngest daughter might consider it, but NOT if she has to take the GED. I'm curious if this would be a matter for HSLDA. At best, it seems like a huge misunderstanding of federal regulations on CNU's part. At worst, it seems like discrimination. Thanks for letting me vent!

Ahhhhhhh.....thank you all SO much! I love that we have this forum and that everyone is so knowledgeable and helpful. What a blessing! :) Have a great week everyone!

Sue, Thank you SO much. Apparently, you have to go to the "store" section of the MUS website and act like you're ordering the Geometry curriculum in order to see samples etc. This helps so much. One last question and then I'll leave you all alone. :tongue_smilie: Is ALL the instruction in MUS done in the videos, or do the workbooks contain explanation/examples of new concepts as well? I was just wondering if my daughter watched the videos, but forgot something that was taught, would she have to watch the video all over again to get the explanation. Thanks in advance!!!

Thank you all SO much for your help! Here's where things stand now: *TT has been ruled out--too expensive and not a good fit *LOF has been ruled out also *still looking at Kinetic Books. Pros: it's inexpensive, appears (from the table of contents) to be very comprehensive, has a great reputation for its other math courses, easy grading, immediate feedback. Cons: it's not out for another month, it looks like it is SO comprehensive that it would take forever to complete, the voice of the instructor is somewhat monotonous and not very engaging. I feel pretty sure my daughter would skip over the instructions and just try to get through the work on her own to make the lessons go quicker. She watched a sample lesson and worked some sample pages today. She kind of liked working on the computer, but wasn't impressed with listening to the video instructions (and frankly, my husband and I found it pretty dry too). Also, I didn't see that they included any plane geometry (we want just a little , for the ACT). * MUS is definitely in the running. We watched a sample "high school" lesson on their website today and found him very warm, engaging and clear in his instruction. I like that she will have to write down most of her work. I have a few question though: 1. Why can't I find a Table of Contents for the Geometry course? Does anyone know where I can find one? It doesn't seem to be on their website. 2. I also can't find sample pages of the lessons or sample video lessons from the Geometry course. I would have thought they would have them on their site. Any ideas? Will they send some to me? 3. Do they still use manipulatives for Geometry? 4. Is there Algebra review in Geometry? 5. Is any Plane Geometry included? While my dd liked the presentation of MUS, she is still apprehensive about using it. She says all her friends who are "bad" at math use it, and she thinks using it would make her feel "dumb." I told her we just need to use the course that works best for her, so we'll see what happens. Thank you all SO much for helping!!!

We are finishing up Jacob's Algebra this week and need to move on to Geometry with my dd. For various reasons, we are not going to use Jacob's for Geometry. I had been considering using Teaching Textbooks, but after doing LOTS of searching on the web and the boards now I'm not sure. I've become interested in Kinetic Books and their new Geometry program. But it's not out for a few more weeks, so it's hard to get opinions on. However, most people sound positive about their Algebra. TT sounds okay, but it's expensive and I'm not sure what I think of the samples I've seen. It just doesn't seem like a good fit. MUS looks good to me, but I've often heard it referred to as "remedial." I'm also considering LOF, but at this point I think my dd might like something with a video/computer component to help break up all her other book-work throughout the day. Anyway.........my main question is this. Is Geometry somewhat DIFFERENT than other upper-level math? What I mean is, while I'm concerned about keeping Algebra "rigorous," do I need to be as worried about Geometry? Most complaints about TT (for example) seem to be about their Alg. I and Alg. II sequence being behind. Geometry (it seems) is somewhat self-contained. I also hear things like MUS's Algebra word problems aren't hard enough, but would that matter as much for Geometry? I plan on using Lial's for Intermediate Algebra, so I'm really only concerned about using a curriculum for one year with Geometry. Thank you for your input (deep down, I think I'm wanting to hear that MUS would be "just fine" for Geometry :) ).

Thanks, ladies! Jann, what is your favorite Geometry program?

We have FINALLY finished Jacob's Algebra with my math reluctant daughter. She did "okay." We were going to start Jacob's Geometry 2nd edit., but after looking through it, my husband and I are wondering if it is really "doable" for her (my older daughter who is gifted in math, did fine). In looking at alternatives, I originally did not consider Teaching Textbooks after all the negative reviews. But more recently I have heard that their Geometry program is actually pretty good--much better than Algebra I and II. From those of you who have used it, what do you think? My husband (an engineer) is the primary math teacher, but he travels a lot. TT might be great for when he's out of town, but if it isn't rigorous enough then we don't want to waste our money. Do you have any other suggestions? I've heard MUS is not rigorous enough, but I'd like your opinions. What about Life of Fred Geometry? After we do Geometry, we plan on using Lial's Intermediate Algebra--we've had good luck with BCM in the past. Thank you all SO much! Sorry to add YET ANOTHER TT post. :) Looking forward to hearing what you have to say!

Valerie, You're exactly right. I've had non-homeschooling people chuckle about how excited I must be for her to leave! I'm dumbfounded when I hear things like that. Homeschooling has made our family so close. I feel like a part of me is leaving. There have been times when I've wondered if hs-ing has been good for my emotional health, but when I see what well-adjusted kids I've been blessed with, I know that we made the right decision. The leaving is going to be very difficult, but I feel hs-ing has prepared her well for the future, and ultimately that's what matters. I'll be praying for you and all the other moms sending of their kids in the coming days. These boards have been such a blessing.

My daughter is attending Grove City College where tablet computers and printer/scanners are included in tuition. She will be issued a tablet computer during freshman orientation. I'm glad that everyone in the school will have the same computer and software, so hopefully she'll learn how to use it!

I was sitting on my couch starting to cry once again, when I decided to check the boards and see if anyone else was feeling the same way. Thank you for sharing. My dd is leaving in 10 days to go to Grove City College which is 10 hours away from home. She visited many schools and we have no doubt that GCC is where she should be, but now that the time has come I am feeling incredibly sad. I will only have one child left at home, and I'm worried about how the dynamic in our family will change. She and her sister are so close. I feel sad thinking of homeschooling only one child and I worry about loneliness for her and for me. I am so grateful that I've had the opportunity to homeschool. I have so many precious memories, but now I'm wondering what the next phase of life will look like. This is a very bittersweet time. I'm truly excited for all the experiences my eldest will have in college, but I hate to see her go. Some days I really feel like I'm going to fall apart. Sorry to be such a downer. Thanks for listening.

Thanks for you input, everyone. I checked on Netflix, and they have the Geometry DVD's from TTC. We are going to preview a couple of them to see if we think they are worth ordering. Thanks again!

My husband is an engineer and has done a great job teaching our kids math. The problem is, he travels a great deal and sometimes our math lessons don't have the continuity we would like. I'm considering purchasing the Geometry lectures from the Teaching Company to help reinforce the lessons when my husband is away. Has anyone else done this? How did it go? My understanding is the TTC lectures would not equal a stand-alone course, and that is fine with us. We've had good luck with Jacob's with our older child. I'd appreciate any input you could give me on your experience with TTC. Thanks in advance!

Here in NC we can use the ACT as our required, end-of-year, standardized test because it is an "achievement" test. We can't use the SAT because it is an "aptitude" test. After taking the ACT for several years, my daughter was very comfortable with it, even thought the SAT is more common in NC. She will be attending Grove City College in the fall where over 90% of students submit an SAT score, but they took our ACT score, no problem.

Hi! My daughter was just accepted at and will be attending Grove City College next year. Their requirement for a "modern spoken language" does NOT apply to admissions. Latin is fine for a foreign language to be admitted to the school. If your child wants to get a BA from GCC, they require 3 years of a modern language in high school OR 2 years of a modern language at GCC. If your child is getting a BS degree, there is no foreign language requirement anyway. Either way, Latin is fine. The worst case scenario would be that your child would have to take a modern foreign language at GCC for their BA if they took Latin in high school. Hope this helps!

Thanks for the input. I really appreciated the PACE workbook and DVD examples. I couldn't find any anywhere and they were quite helpful.