I have been very impressed by my physical therapist. She has me doing the usual stretches, but she's also convinced me that it's not just my calf and foot that need stretching--I need to have better posture, stronger abdominals and stretch from hip to toe. In my case, I think part of the problem is in how I hold my hips, which causes tension all the way down my left leg. When I pay attention to how I'm moving and keep stretching, I have far fewer problems. Other things that have helped: Superfeet insoles, Birkenstocks or running shoes as "slippers" in the house, and Nordic walking (with poles--takes some of the impact off the feet and is great for posture.)

We're having a problem with kids wasting time on non-school-related internet stuff when they should be doing math, chemistry, etc. I would like to find a piece of software that blocks internet access on the kids' accounts during school hours. Ideally, it would allow me to override that block if they are doing research--and allow me continue access to the internet during the school day so I can do both work and volunteer work. I don't really need full-blown parental controls--I'm concerned that a more complicated package would slow things down. Please tell me how you've dealt with the "messing around on the internet" problem. (We've tried discussing this issue--Facebook, etc are just too tempting--I feel we need a technical fix.)

We had a great year of using Conceptual Physics w/ my grade 8 dd a few years ago. Grade 7 ds is using Conceptual Chemistry this year and will do Conceptual Physics next year. (DD's year of using "The Extraordinary Chemistry of Everyday Things" was not as great.) My intent is to do high school science at a honours or AP level--because the kids will already have a good grounding. This is, so far, working well for dd who is using an AP chemistry book this year. There's a lot of science talk around the dinner table in this house, and both kids were a bit ahead in math. You'd want to at least be doing algebra concurrently with these books--and you'd want the child to be able to think well about abstract concepts. (A public school teacher was telling me about her difficulties in teaching some grade 7 kids--because their brains just weren't mature enough to get the abstract concepts required. )

We have used Aleks for review periodically. It's nice because it will review only things you don't know. I would not use it exclusively, because I don't think it is as thorough as some of the other options, but as a refresher it has been great. We used it for a alg 1 refresher after geometry and then we used it mid-way through alg II when it became apparent that dd hadn't absorbed everything she had worked through. Here's a link to a free month trial: http://www.aleks.com/webform/nw-69

This is the university level book, but dd (also in 10th) is a good reader and finds it fine. We are doing 1/4 of it each year. It's probably not what you want if you plan to do all of world history in one year. There are several different versions (based on the time period covered). We have the complete edition--pre-history to present. We add in DVD's from the library and do about 1 research/writing project per chapter.

Canadian music students and teachers tend to focus on RCM exams, and most provincial school systems give credit for passing those exams. So--dd has 1 credit of "Grade 8" piano on her transcript for passing both practical and theory exams. The province would give her 12th grade credit for this. She's now working on "Grade 9"--which is a lot more work--so we'll give her at least 1 1/2 credits (combined) for the practical, theory and history exams she must pass. (The provincial school system considers this university-level work and doesn't give high school credit for it.) I put 1/2 credit on dd's transcript for last year's choir work--it was a significant time commitment. This year I'll give her one credit for the combination of choir and private voice lessons. (I don't think she'll be working on RCM levels in voice.) In school here, grade 10 choir has higher expectations than grade 9 choir, etc--so that's the principle I'm using. Because there is a heavy academic component to dd's music study, I'm completely comfortable putting it on her transcript as a course rather than an extra-curricular.

DD used MUS through Algebra I, then moved on to Jacob's Geometry. DD finished pre-algebra last year and then moved to Jacob's Algebra I. Both transitions were fine. If I did it again, I'd do the pre-algebra through MUS then Jacob's Algebra I route. We used the honors books--I think that's helpful for encouraging thinking out of the box. We also dabbled with Singapore materials during the summer. I wouldn't recommend transitioning earlier than pre-algebra--MUS has an unusual order of presenting materials and I don't think it evens out until after pre-algebra.

The DVD seems quite good, so far. DS learns well by watching movies, films, etc, so we are encouraging him to use it. I would not have encouraged DD to do so, as she doesn't learn well this way. Best I can tell, the DVD is largely lectures--but interesting lectures. There are questions the kid can answer--but I don't think there's any feedback. (It's really set up for a classroom situation--the teacher would be sent the responses to the questions.) DS is doing the questions/problems in the back of the book. I would not use this as a course for a capable high school student who won't study chemistry again. We are doing "conceptual" courses at the junior high level, and will double back around with honours or AP courses in high school. My kids, particularly DS, are strong in math and science. I would use this course for a kid who probably won't ever seriously study science but is still interested in understanding enough to be a good, informed, citizen.

When I explain a math process, I can "see" the equation transform as I go through that process. That's where my visual skills help. I don't think dd does this--so I'm wondering if I need to explain things differently. I suppose I could write down what I "see".

I'll keep that in mind--maybe I can get one through ILL to compare it to what she's currently got.

I realized, as my husband struggled to explain a math concept to dd, that part of the problem is that both of us have good "visual" math skills while dd appears not to. I could "see" the process dh was explaining. I think dd would have understood better had the explanation been better suited to her non-visual learning style. Can anyone help me figure out how to better help dd with math explanations? She's just about to finish Foerster's Alg II and Trig (the algebra II part--we'll use his pre-calculus book for the trig part). She does comparatively well, I think, but doesn't like math and is not very confident. If I thought she wasn't capable, I might not push the issue. But--she's bright and does many things well (such as music, music theory, writing, memorizing stuff, languages).

DD has taken several on-line classes. We have found them to be more time-intensive than classes she does at home--and hear from others that they are also more time consuming than classes in the local p.s. This is because of how the classes are structured--the on-line classes require lots of research and writing. All good, to a certain extent, but time consuming. I was also surprised to find out how important I was to dd's success at the on-line school. I had thought I could be out of the picture, but found that wasn't the case. I'm sure these observations depend both on the specific kid and the specific on-line school. I'd encourage you to talk with others so you know what you might expect.

Have you asked about this? What would happen if a kid only did pre-calculus and calculus in grades 9 through 12? Would they really consider that kid unqualified because they didn't have 4 years of math? Or would they waive that requirement? Pre-calculus is as far as some kids well-qualified kids will get. Some will get calculus. It seems to me that a university couldn't reasonably expect more. None-the-less: If you do alg II in 10th grade (chapters 1-10 in alg & trig), as much of pre-calc as you can get in in 11th grade, you can at least do an "intro to calculus" class in grade 12. If I were going to cut from the pre-calc book, I'd drop chapter 8 (but reluctantly if the kid hadn't already covered data analysis in a science class), chapter 9 (probability), chapter 14 (series and sequences) and chapter 15 (which gets into the very beginnings of calculus.) If I compare Foerster to the sequence in Aleks, I note that Aleks doesn't cover the following chapters of Foerster: chapter 8 (data fitting), chapter 9 (probability), chapter 11 (matrix transformations and fractal figures), some of chapter 12 (conic sections), chapter 13 (polar coordinates, etc), chapter 14 (sequences and series) and chapter 15 (intro to calculus.) My experience is also that Aleks is a lot easier than Foerster. So--you could do one year of "pre-calc" and at least a semester of something with another name (but still from the Foester book), then a semester of "intro to calculus".

That's what dd's will show--but we may take longer to actually do it. Even so--if you get through algebra II and pre-calc by the end of 12th grade, you're doing well. A number of experienced teachers on this board have said that it's much better to solidly understand pre-calculus math than to rush through to calculus with little understanding.

Our original plan was to go through chapter 12 and then move on. However--dd has been at this for more than a year (with a detour into Alex for a couple of months to reinforce skills) so the current plan is to go through chapter 10 and move on. Chapters 11 and 12 are repeated in the pre-calc book--although I'll compare both books and use whichever presentation looks better when we come around to those chapters. Material in chapters 9 and 10 is also repeated--but these I'd like her to go through twice to reinforce the material. DD is younger than most covering this material, and is not as confident as she could be. We've decided to slow down and perhaps finish 3 years of math in 4. This will still have her finished with calculus by the end of high school, so I've decided I'd rather have a confident math student than a hurried math student.

We are currently finishing up the Alg II section of the Alg & Trig book, will then do the Pre-Calc book, and then will (hopefully) move on to calculus. There is a lot of overlap between the Alg II and Trig book and the Pre-Calc book. The trig in the second book appears to be more in depth. The second book covers some of the other material in the alg II book in more depth. If I had a very confident math student and was really pressed for time, I might just go with just the alg II and trig book--but I have a not-very-confident younger student--so any overlap between the books will be good. She'll be more confident and developmentally older if we take our time. When I did high school math, we did alg II and trig in one year and then had another year of "advanced math" before moving on to calculus. I think "advanced math" would now be called "pre-calculus."

and we will follow up with an honours or AP level physics class late in high school. Hewitt's Conceptual Physics requires some algebra. It is math-light, but the concepts are quite challenging. We really enjoyed it. It was exactly what we needed for kids who were ready for something challenging but not ready for a regular high school physics course.

We have the student book and the solutions manual.

Clearly this is going to be a problem over the next few years. I don't mind paying a little more to "buy Canadian" but more than 4 times as much is outrageous. I pointed out the inconsistence but was told that that was the price for a university-level text. Ordering from Amazon.com is one good solution--but they don't usually have the teacher's manuals. I'd be interested in hearing from other Canadians who have run into this problem.

I'm hoping that someone signed up with Pearson's OASIS can look up the cost of a book for me. Pearson Canada wants to charge me $90+ but I think the cost is much lower in the US. The book is the instructor's manual for Conceptual Chemistry, ISBN 0805382283 . Thanks!

I tried signing up. Because my billing address is Canadian, they referred me to Pearson Canada. I'm still trying to negotiate. The Canadian sources tend to be considerably more expensive AND they so far have told me I can't order what I want. I'm hoping someone more senior will say "oh, no problem" and actually be helpful.

Thanks for your encouragement. I'm going to follow up with US Pearson tomorrow. My parents live in the States, so usually I have stuff sent their anyway. (Better availability and better prices. I'm all for buying Canadian--but not when it costs me 30-50% more to do so.)

Thanks Nan! I was talking with the Canadian branch, who said "no way" when I offered to fax the letter I have from our school board. (The problem is that this is a university level text, in their eyes.) I haven't yet called the US branch--but your message suggests that I should give it a try. I've looked for it 2nd hand but am coming up empty. It looks like the 3rd edition teacher's manual is only available as a download--which would be fine if they'll sell it to me. I'll let you know what happens. Thanks for your offer.

I'd like to order the instructor's manual for Conceptual Chemistry. Pearson (Canada) is telling me that they can't sell it to me even if I provide a letter from my school district confirming that we are homeschooling. (The argument is that this is a university product.) Has anyone been down this road before?

partly because that's when the local university's program for high schoolers officially starts, and partly because dd still looks very young and thinks she'll feel more confident when she's older. However, there are grade 9 homeschoolers here who do take a university course or two. I think it depends a great deal on the kid.