Even with my oldest having gone to the terrible public school, I'm one who doesn't agree with common core. My kids' public school teachers had a variety of styles and methods, and I found they did best when they taught they way that "they" taught best, even if it wasn't the way "I" would choose. My oldest got what he needed and moved on; he's now working and taking Master's degree courses, so the school didn't ruin him. Yes, lots of kids from our high school go nowhere, and it's hard to keep that from influencing my kids. But those kids have parents who didn't go anywhere fantastic, either, and that's okay. We need all kinds of folks, and if their family is happy, then what difference does it make? Some adults in my extended family actually look at college as a place paid for by the taxes of laborers in order to allow young adults to read literature for years on end, or something like that... We don't have to all be the same. I might go for a common core that only focused on teaching kids to read/write and do basic mathematics until they get it, with poor ability or behavior resulting in continued education rather than setting kids aside as the class moves on. I mean, today's teachers are expected to teach dozens of things that have nothing to do with those 2 core subjects. But even so, it would probably end up with what I'd consider typical American poor choices as for the best developmental ages to teach those core subjects, more reasons to "move on to the next thing," etc. I don't see anything new emerging. I think the problem with public schools is that we have 50 million kids who each have a right to be in the same classrooms, and the right to continue to be there for 13 years. That's really isn't something the rest of the world has to deal with. It affects the realistic goals that can be achieved. Sorry to digress on the common core thing, Julie

Pam, the public schools in my area are EXACTLY like that. Granted, this is a poor school district. But even the honors courses basically just do more worksheet on the same material. They try to do 2 classics in the 4 years of high school -- Romeo & Juliet, and the Odyssey. Those involve extensive worksheets taking students through the entire plot (and a prose translation that I don't care for). Basic grammar and vocab is covered every year because, well, it's still needed by a lot of the kids. It doesn't mean the kids are all doomed, my son did well in college, but it does mean that they don't get (and don't know they don't get) half the common references in everything from speeches to video games. They can't participate in some of what I consider our cultural conversation. But they do find stuff to do & to talk about. And some will be like me, still picking things up as adults (no grammar in the early 70s "relevant" generation, either). :) Julie

Danielle, I'm with you, I disagree with the dorm philosophy. My oldest (never homeschooled) really wanted the "dorm experience" so he had it; I didn't want it and lived in cheap nearby housing; youngest doesn't want it but is finding it a requirement in many schools. To me, it prolongs the "high school experience," and I was so claustrophobic in the artificial high school environment that I graduated early to get out of there, and I certainly didn't want it back when I went back to college. I'm surprised more homeschoolers don't equate dorm living with public high schools, what with the hordes of same-aged peers. It just doesn't seem like the real world, or like progress towards the real world as far as paying your own bills and just navigating life. The idea that most college kids who drop out are doing that because of social reasons just shocks me -- maybe those are the kids who only went to college for social reasons and really shouldn't be there? Or maybe they just aren't ready to leave a high school culture? I do think that comparing dorm living to living at home doesn't tell the whole story, especially when home is far from campus, so the students remain more connected with their friends they grew up with (not a bad thing, just possibly a pull to earn some money instead of studying so hard). A better comparison would be dorm living vs. cheap, nearby housing, and in both cases comparing only those with jobs (those who live off-campus can work on-campus, and vice-verse), or comparing only those who don't work (in terms of whether dorms affect time to meet for study sessions - a kid who has to deliver pizzas can't necessarily hang out spontaneously, whether he lives in a dorm or not). I'm also intrigued by those who report helpful study groups being a benefit of dorm life, since I only knew a few ex-dorm-livers and they were definitely escaping because study was not happening in the dorms. I also have trouble meshing those good dorm study groups with my memories of "classmate projects" (i.e. often one person did all the work or controlled the direction) or meshing those good dorm study groups with my memories of great college conversations (better because of a wide variety of ages and majors and life experiences). Okay, I'm biased, I liked living in nearby old houses with grad students and a variety of quirky folks, and then later having an apartment in a very international low-rent housing complex. Hundreds of 18 year olds would have made me crazy even when I was 18. But I love that my oldest wanted to experience dorm life so he went for it, too. I just don't like that being considered the only or the ideal option -- philosophically :) Julie

My son took the ACT this morning, too. He looked totally wiped afterwards. He said he felt he might be more accurate but wasn't as fast as he was in 11th grade -- getting old already, I guess. For this kid, accurate might be better than fast, but I definitely know he didn't listen to his mother and do very much prep... :) Julie

I agree, I don't think it's "pressure" as much as wanting to sell more tests than the midwest's ACT. Julie

Each child is different, but when I brought my dd home to school, she had not turned in one assignment in 9th grade for maybe similar reasons (but it crossed all courses, she just decided she couldn't do high school). I used Math Relief for Algebra, and I'm a well-known fan :) My dd didn't have a problem with elementary math but I have seen several teens come into Kumon (where I worked for like 5 years) with zero multiplication skills, and their technique is to just started them with 2x2 or wherever they are at, 20 minutes every day, 7 days a week, oral drills in order, then repetitive problems, and gradually mixed problems, up through fractions. Meanwhile, they were still attending math classes at their schools. So both basic math facts computation and math concepts can be taught separately but simultaneously, if necessary. It might make the math seem less babyish? Julie

I haven't seen those online videos but they might be nice. Your library might have the Teaching Company series on Anatomy & Physiology. For memorization, you can use online Quizlet or some kids do better writing out their own flashcards.

I was just talking to my oldest ds this week about how motivated he was in public high school -- or not. He chose NOT to sign up for ANY advanced high school classes, even though he'd been in "gifted classes" for many years before high school and had taken math at the University. His regular English classes read maybe 2 books a year, and studied basic grammar like to/too/two. He still hasn't read any of the classics I love, but he has done other stuff. Oldest ds is a petroleum engineer now, was near the top of his college class, courted and hired long before he graduated. He worked on his college newspaper and participated in casual hockey teams and was in the Army Reserves and had a few jobs. He had a lot of interests -- colleges and jobs like that. They liked his many interests probably more than they like advanced classes, as far as I can tell. Good ACT scores and good grades were important, but so were a lot of other things. You have a very capable son there, but I'd be careful of pushing him too far, especially if he's not a driven oldest child. Capable doesn't always mean it's meant to be. I had a college roommate who was a young scholar, motivated career employee, and had a nervous breakdown in the middle of college, never able to return. I congratulate you for being an involved parent and finding out your child's strengths and abilities. But I'm just a cautious one. Julie

Hi, thought you looked lonely. I don't think high school Time4Learning has been around more than a few months? If so, there won't be many who know whether it's high school quality or not. My only experience with an "online" type of Biology (Switched on Schoolhouse) was that it was very difficult to learn from a program that seemed designed more to "fit in the computer screen box with pictures" than to teach concepts. But of course this is a totally different program. I think it's best if Biology labs include either a microscope or dissections, or both. I know some do it without, but that's just my preference. I would think that the cell study would be where you would start getting out your microscope and looking at cheek cells and such, if you are going to use a microscope. Best wishes, Julie

Albert Marrin's books, particularly the ones on WWI (The Yanks are Coming) and Vietnam (The Elephant and the Tiger). http://bfbooks.com/Albert-Marrin-Collection?sc=18&category=864 Julie

Well for us, during my son's first year, his out-of-state tuition was high enough that his outside scholarships only bumped out his "school grants" (which were needs-based but also seemed to be based on merit, because they seemed to give the max in "school grants" as well as "school scholarships" to higher merit students, so I can't be totally sure of all the wording). In later years, I wasn't really involved in paying for anything. It's possible that the "school scholarships" part stayed in place even with outside scholarships, I'd have to ask him. He went to Colorado School of Mines. Julie

We did some of Apologia's Physical and a lot of Teaching Company lectures (Physics in Your Life, which tells how DVDs and microwaves and such work, and Beyond the Edge, which was a little more of a stretch, about concepts like perpetual motion and absolute zero). I was fine with that even for ds who is mathy will likely end up in the sciences. Some form of "easy physics" is common for 9th in my area, even at the college prep schools. The only down side is that it limits your options for cool elective upper sciences vs covering the big 3. Julie

Most of the hospital and school "counselors" I've worked for have had a Masters in Social Work. During Social Work training, you may have options to take counseling courses. To me, the biggest difference is that Social Work is intended to help clients connect with outside resources (hospital workers find appropriate nursing home placements, school workers find appropriate course plans and colleges, etc), while Counseling is intended to help clients find resources within themselves. Both need to evaluate the person & situation in order to do their job. Julie

I use "IP" for courses in progress, and I explain the abbreviation in the key. I think I got that from the HSLDA website. They have some good transcript info there. Agreeing with Regentrude that no further explanation is needed. This is very common and obvious. As for adding in courses for later semesters that aren't in progress yet, I think it depends on how your transcript is set up. I've left off future years when ds was applying to colleges for dual enrollment, but for the current year I may want to be clear that the courses he is taking aren't all for that year. However, if the semesters were clearly distinct on the transcript, then I'd just put the current semester and leave myself some wiggle room to change things up in that last semester. Again, it will be common for the college, and if they want more info they will ask. Julie

You might not need to schedule in electives. Some colleges only want something like 1 high school semester each of phy ed and fine arts. Or, you might find a 2-credit college course. Or, you might find your child earns some of those electives at home just in the course of his daily life (my ds lives at the gym and a class in "physical education" would just be silly). That would free up a bit of time. You could use that time to work more gradually into hard courses (my son took a math the first semester of DE that we felt would be fairly easy for him) or to take more courses in his field of interest (my son has taken DE math every semester). My youngest is doing pretty much straight DE this semester. He's a 12th grader. And he's only taking 3 classes. I was worried because it's only 10 credits, but we couldn't find a 2-credit course that worked. I realize now that it's been enough -- for him. He's also doing the ACT a couple of times, college tours, college apps, jobs, etc. Like many have said, I don't want him to crash and burn, and I've seen crash and burn in my lifetime. I'm letting him be 17 this year, not 19 like I was when I started college. And we do try to fit in extras during the breaks or during weeks he has fewer assignments. I think it can look many ways, but mostly I wanted to say that, despite the fact that I wish he could fit in more subjects this year, it's turned out to be the right thing for ds to not take a typical full college load, even though he's only doing DE this semester. Julie

I get that. I'm sure it works for most of the kids you work with. I'm just saying it doesn't work for me. Focusing and intently listening always seems like it's going great, but I leave the lecture not knowing a thing I learned, nothing, nada, all that great info is gone with the wind. I just *need* to be writing the whole time I listen in order for it to process into my brain whatsoever. I don't know why, but that's just the way I'm wired. (I may never even read what I wrote, I just need to have been writing as I listened.) So I like to point out that some other kids might be wired that way, too, or some other odd way. :) Julie

My ears always perk up when someone says "don't write, just listen." (I've had teachers stop mid-sentence and tell me that!) However, some of us don't learn by listening and need to write. I realize that those who learn by listening can't understand how writing wouldn't distract a person, but it doesn't - for some of us. I always suggest my kids "learn how they learn." Some students need to listen and watch, to "hear." Some need to focus and concentrate, and definitely shouldn't be throwing their attention all over the place (teacher, chalkboard, paper). Others need to speak during and after class, to hash it all out. Different note-taking methods work for different kids - pictures, words, outlines. High school is a great time to analyze how you, yourself, learn best. And yes on office hours.

I see your concern and have seen it play out in families I know. Public high school (and sometimes public gradeschool) is a different lifestyle, and it's not a family-unity-bonding type of lifestyle. With class time, homework time, travel time, transition time between classes, and just mickey-mouse and paper shuffling time, it's a full day of dedication for an honors student. Kind of like a career that requires a lot more than 40 hours a week. Some call that "growing up" or "learning independence." Others of us mourn the choice of a lifestyle we don't think is ideal. My oldest son was public schooled and literally the only time I could talk with him was if I stayed up til 1:00 am. He'd wind down and chat then. He'd ask for help on his papers then. My dh couldn't stay up til 1 a.m., so he'd organize family outings, summer trips, holidays. In junior high years, dh organized a game night for oldest ds and his friends. Dh would require some help with "man work" around the house. Sometimes he'd require we all watch a movie together. It was more "event focused" for dh, but he had to get to work in the morning :) Those are just a couple of things that worked at our house. With my homeschooled kids who wanted to switch to outside classes, it was a hard choice, a hard thing for me to accept, because as you mentioned it's a matter of giving up a lot of closeness and some of the last moments we have to teach our values and prepare our children for adulthood. So I didn't always allow it. However, sometimes I let go of my ideal. This past year, my youngest just started feeling confined, feeling the need to move out into the larger world, to interact with those in his potential fields. While at home, his interactions went downhill. So he's mostly doing dual enrollment right now, he has three part-time jobs, and he seems to live at the gym, not at home. I don't think outside classes are "necessary" for any reason -- I think folks have lived and learned and worked at home for thousands of years, and have produced some of our greatest advancements that way. But for some individuals it just seems best. I think of the Little House on the Prairie dad, who was always moving to new places. Ideal for his parents, siblings, friends? No. But for him, maybe yes? :) Best wishes as you navigate this change, Julie

Those quotes seem like our house. We definitely keep school hours. But my youngest son is VERY lackadaisical so it was a BIG shock in 9th grade when he couldn't just chat his way to the end of the school day. I know your pain. I don't think it's too hard with most high school work to say one math assignment per day, or one science chapter every 2 weeks, or whatever. Most textbook type subjects are parsed out nicely. It gets trickier with non-textbook subjects. We use MFW, so that means pretty much everything has been parsed for us, so that is one method of setting clear expectations -- use programs that have them already laid out. This semester, ds is doing mostly dual enrollment, but based on the pain of the past 3 years... Even with parsed out lessons, things change. Probably the most extra time is on writing & editing, and I also allow extra time on anything that ds seems to need more time for. So he might say that he's not getting the math assignment and needs more time, and I'll allow another day, or sometimes more, but of course that can't go on forever before I have to clamp down or at least do the lesson *with* him. Once he started doing math through college, he knew the deadlines, stayed up all night if he had to, learned to finish earlier so he'd have a chance to talk to the professor if needed. He was also learning by other life experiences along the way, such as jobs with bosses who didn't like late people. One thing mentioned in this thread that I did *not* do is hand ds an essay assignment and tell him to turn it in to me in so many weeks. I just think this is my opportunity to work with him on writing, so we edit at every turn. Each of my kids has different writing challenges and strengths, so we worked on different things. My youngest would just slap something on the page(s) and say he was done, so I need him to slap a first draft and require that we work on it, and then he has to use that to build a next draft, and so on. ALL deadlines were counter-productive with him, producing the lowest quality work. He's my kid who in elementary school told me, "It's okay mom, somebody has to get F's, I don't mind if it's me." He's capable of being an A student, so I need to require each segment of his work, not just the finished product. Even with his college papers now, we do a lot of editing together. It's not like I write the paper, but I tell him what doesn't make sense, what needs more evidence, etc. This is very common. I did the same for my oldest son in public school and college. I, myself, had college friends read my papers whenever I could. I was occasionally paid to type and edit other people's papers in college. I've helped my oldest and even my dh in the past to edit their work reports, etc. So I'm just saying that even if I was working with a more driven oldest child who wanted A's, having no one at all look at an assignment until its due date seems counter-intuitive to me. Julie

I can only answer this part of your question. No, you aren't silly. My oldest to calc at his high school, then at the community college via dual enrollment, and finally at his University. He started at the beginning of calc each time. He doesn't regret doing that. He did well in college, graduated in 4 years, and was hired right away, so obviously it didn't hurt, either. Julie

I had considered doing Life of Fred Statistics with my son. It looks like a full course to me (moreso than their other math books). I was able to preview it through my library, and it is reasonably priced. However, one other mom heard someone didn't find it AP quality: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/475260-statistics/?hl=statistics&do=findComment&comment=4998913 Julie

This was true for us, as well. Oldest's scholarships just meant "aid" was taken away. In fact, somehow we ended up paying even *more* because of that. It bumped him into a different category or something. Julie

I think most colleges want some kind of proof that the student didn't doctor his transcript. My oldest had to have one mailed directly from the public school, and I think there was something about the seal on the envelope? I expect the notary is a makeshift sub for home schools, to try to insure the student didn't doctor it and send it himself from home or sign it for you. I've had to have a ton of things notarized over the past year or two, and it's always a stretch as to whether it really means anything, but I guess I think of it as a "better than nothing" type of lame insurance that companies use because the alternatives of having you appear in person etc. don't work very well today. I bank online, so I go to my city offices for a notary. They charge $1, but I guess I'd charge $1 if I had to do it, too. (I've thought about getting a notary myself but decided I don't want to spend the time.) Julie

I don't think you made a mistake changing something up for your dd that wasn't working. Maybe you waited it out longer than you should, but it's a great luxury to change things up as needed in homeschool. Actually, even my public-schooled son had a ps teacher who realized he needed to change things up for him. How do you know you're on the wrong track? Well, you observe. Too easy, taking less than an hour? Too time-consuming? Does your student understand your 3-minute explanations better than the chapter in the textbook? Print something out online and see if the student can do the same problem in a different format. Etc. etc. My youngest sounds a bit like your ds (and his big brother is an engineer). Youngest did Singapore and he used MUS as an extra in younger years. Here's what's worked for him. 7th: Singapore 6A/B and a ton of math facts through fractions (and I very briefly introduced negative numbers, although they didn't stick until he was using them in Algebra). 8th: Math Relief Algebra 1 9th: Geometry (Jacobs at first, then switched to Teaching Textbooks) 10th: Math Relief Algebra 2, then some AOPS (glad we tried it, found it's not for my particular son) 11th: College Alg. 3 & Precalc through dual enrollment 12th: Calculus through dual enrollment Just one more experience, Julie

Interesting, I had this very same group of courses on my email banner back quite a few months and eventually caved and bought :) I'd think that means this ad lasts a long time and is fine for returning customers.