Yes. I liked the look of the course. One problem my daughter had was figuring out how we would space them as the simulations and lectures did not indicate the time on them. This isn't a deal breaker though- I just think we had a hard time figuring out the time commitment. I liked the look of the Knight book but my physics is pretty rusty (last physics course in uni. was 22 years ago!).

My dd is taking Calculus at the university (starting today) and is also going to take her first physics class at home. We have Apologia Physics to use but she wants something less chatty (dyslexic!) and more challenging (she is very mathy). She is also a very strong auditory learner and does super with lectures (she took a gr. 12 chem class last year and loved the lecture format). Any suggestions for a good course??

I forgot about TOG- I will look there for the book choices (we don't need the other stuff). By the way, I am a Wendell Berry junkie, but just his fiction so far. I have read, and reread, and reread all of his books and short stories. The are wonderful!

I forgot: we also want to read some biographies. I think I will go with a student interest driven choice process for that.

That is what I want! Thank you for saving me heaps of time! My lit. list is not that big. Dd listens to and reads lots of great lit. These are just the more formal books.I asked my older son who just graduated and he helped me pick a few not to miss modern books: ~Crime and Punishment (a must read before graduating) ~Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry (he is family favourite and I love this book) ~Cry Thy Beloved Country by Alan Paton ~One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Soltzenhitsyn (maybe- we have a similar book on the go now) ~Things Fall Apart (maybe) ~maybe.... My Antonia (but this might be just a mother to daughter read aloud) We also might be doing a lit co-op with a few other teens so I don't want to add anything until we firm up those plans.

I need to design a modern history course for my daughter. She is a total math, science, and art (oh, and drama!) person who is headed into engineering or costume design. She is finishing up highschool next year. So far she has covered her three history credits with an Ambleside Online light list, but she really wants to focus on art, math (dual credit) and science next year. So I want to design a course that will be interesting but not super reading heavy. I have my modern lit picked so no problem there, but I want to include historical dvds, lectures, podcasts etc. Some history reading is fine, but I want her to be able to go 'big' on the other courses! Any suggestions out there in the hive for great biographies, documentaries, movies, lectures etc. for the Modern era (but mostly 20th century)? By the way, we are Canadian- so even though I know we will be learning about some American History, it obviously won't be our primary focus!

My dd loves math and Shakespeare but is only finishing up Pre-cal right now. She in enamored of the problem but has one question- what do the d and t stand for??

I taught this one- I found the explanations in the text thorough. I just used the answers from the back!

My dd is finishing up Foerster's Algebra and Trig- she is going straight to the U. for calculus. I looked at our school systems topics and she will have covered them all. On a side note, she was at an engineering fair yesterday and answered almost every math question from the prof., including ones from the second year engineering math class that the students were having a time with. I would love to take credit, but she is pretty much self taught at this point. It was a nice break from the anxiety of transcripts right now...

My friend's son is from MB so had no ON credits and actually did no outside classes. He did however do some type of contest at the U of Waterloo in the summer in highschool. U of M is now giving homeschoolers a hard time at direct entry into science- they are requiring students to do University 1 and then transfer. They are looking at textooks and curricula that they can pre-approve but that is a ways away (I contacted them re this). My dd i hoping to volunteer in the chem lab next year, which should help, as it is the lack of lab experience that they are really going on about (but I am astounded how little lab experience kids are getting at school around here). That is great that U of M is your alma mater- I went to Queen's. My son, whose transcript I am writing up as we speak, is hoping on entering CMU at least for his first year. They heart homeschoolers there which is so great...

That is helpful to hear. We are in MB, although we have hsed both in ON and BC. By the way, I have a friend whose son is in his second year at Waterloo who got in with a mommy made transcript and Apologia science courses and Saxon math. He had done all the regular Apologia and one or two advanced ones. He was accepted into engineering. That was two years ago. In Manitoba we have a wierd tightening of the reigns at U of M with regards to science admissions for homeschoolers, which is a bummer. U of W is also giving us a bit of a hard time with the 'letter' from the homeschool liason officer. I wish they were a little more enlightened...

Thank-you Connie. I have looked all over Sarah's site but am still having trouble with this one. No tomatoes, but we have used Apologia along with Khan, old college texts (now and then) and The Illustrated Guide to XX etc. for our courses so far. Hmmmm...

I am writing up my son's transcript- I am right down to the wire. The one thing that I am having a hard time figuring out is how to list science courses. In Canada we have gr 9 and 10 general science and then biology, physics, and chem for both grades 11 and 12. I don't know how to translate how we have done things (in, for want of a better description, an "American manner") into a Canadian transcript. Any Canadians who have blazed this path with some suggestions???

We are moving into Calculus after doing the whole Foerster's book. My dd is taking it at the local University. We looked through all of the topics (they call of the courses here in Manitoba pre-calc if you are in the non 'applied math' stream) in the Grade 12 math course and Foerster's has them covered. I would still like my dd to do some review of topics over the late spring and summer and she is eager. Does anyone have any suggestions for a refresher for some of those need to be fresh topics??

We love his Algebra 2 with Trigonometry. My dd is VERY mathy and finds that he explains things very thouroughly, including how to use Graphmatica and other more modern technology that the Foerester's book didn't cover (as it is so old!)

Listening!!!

Not again! Can't download them in Canada! They do look good though...

That looks good but I will have to see- always have to check the accent of the instructor (my Canadian kids are picky!)

Hmmm....Doesn't it just do part of the Advanced book?

First off, even though Apologia is not my favourite, said I would never use it, etc. we are using it for a variety of reasons. But I do have a very bright daughter who is working on the course and finding it a little too breezy. I am looking for any ideas on how to beef up the course: adding things into modules, subbing out modules with something more comprehensive etc. Any ideas??? :)

That was the syllabus that I was going to use but my dd doesn't like the Way Life Works book- finds it way to easy. Kristie

Ack- need syllabus soon! My dd was going to do an AP Bio. course but we are really rethinking the time commitment (as she dances professionally and sews and acts and, and, and!). I own this book (as well as the Mader one) and thought I would see if someone had a plan before I try to reinvent the wheel:) Thanks, Kristie

No tomatoes please!! But there is an umbrella school here in Canada that counts Elementary Algebra as 2 credits. My son definitely put in that much time really mastering the material. That is why he wants to move on. But thanks so much for the info! Also, I have had friends children going into a non-science field be accepted at good Canadian Universities with little or no math on the transcript....

Thanks ladies! That is sort of what I was thinking. I think though that my son wants to stick with the Mathematics a Human Endeavor for his last credit- he is enjoying the book and wants math to be done soon!!:) (My dd on the other hand would rather do math, hard math, all day and never read a book!:D)

My son has finished Elementary Algebra (Jacobs), Geometry: Seeing, Understanding, Doing (Jacobs), various chapters of consumer math and sections of Mathematics a Human Endeavor (Jacobs). He needs one more math credit and it does not look like he will be going into a STEM field. He finds math, by far, his most challenging subject. I wondered if the above prep. would be enough for the Math-U-See Pre-Calculus? (We used math u see up until the first Jacobs book). Thanks!