I agree with the others on minimal reporting in most cases, but I did register my "super senior" for I think 2 more years. In Minnesota, that means a small yearly grant (like $60 for student materials). It also affected things like student rates on car insurance. Of course, I had my own transcript, but sometimes folks like paperwork, so I had a copy of the school district form on hand when needed. Julie

I tutored an extremely shy young man for a school year, and he said the main thing he got out of it was confidence. We were just working on ACT test prep, so not working on shyness or on any particular class. And somewhere in there, he found out his college wouldn't accept another ACT score, so the technicals we worked on weren't of much use after all, except maybe general testing skills. But he has told me that it built his confidence and helped him a lot in college. I think just working in-person with another adult, without peers to compare, was a nice way to ease into the independence he needed to speak up in college. Just another thought on tutors, Julie

One possibility is to add another activity to draw more people. My son was in a boys book club for many years and not many of the boys were readers but, similar to what Sebastian mentioned with food, the mom who led the book club used sports as "the draw," and the boys all went to the local park or to a local community center in bad weather and played after discussing the book. The sports were not a draw for my son (too competitive of a group for him) and it wasn't the reason us moms were fitting it into our schedule, but it brought in more boys than would ordinarily have participated. Another "draw" I've seen work is to create a full English credit, similar to a co-op class, and the draw is that you've taken English class off the mom's hands and given the kids a group setting for their English. I think it's the same with some women's book clubs I know of. A few will be there for the books, but for many there is another draw -- the socializing, the food, because their friend is there, etc. We'd all love everyone to be there for the reasons we are there, but I've never personally seen that become a large group. Julie

Does he get that in high school, an F does not get you a diploma? Maybe he remembers junior high, when he moved ahead even with Fs. It's a big change to realize in high school that those courses don't go away, and there are kids in our local high school who are 21 and still working on that high school diploma. He's 15 so maybe he's figured this out, but there are a lot of kids who do not come away from high school with a diploma. Julie

Aw, thanks for the shout-out :) We used MFW for high school for youngest, along with dual enrollment, and ds has now been admitted to college (after a gap year). So yes, like others have said, it's college prep. After reading the thread, I think it's probably important to recognize the Old Testament as a major "textbook" in MFW's ancients. It is a very robust Bible credit and also carries over into history and English credit at times. Reading the entire Bible for themselves at a high school level was one of my major goals for my high school students, so this was great for our family. Also, I think it's good to realize that Notgrass is not the major source for history study in AHL. To me, it's the major textbook in WHL, if folks want to use Notgrass for history. But Marie doesn't "waste" the B.C. portions - she pulls that section out and uses it in AHL as more of a supplement and expansion on various parts of ancient history. The timeline, mapping, Pharaohs book, literature, and the hefty Encyclopedia are also used to touch on historical and cultural details. Everything cannot be studied in depth, but I was glad to have a range of topics touched on, like the various Greek wars that were not in Nograss were in the Encyclopedia & timeline. I also never regret having my student exposed to a variety of sources and viewpoints on history. MFW moves to textbook learning for 10th-12th grade history, probably due to the need to cover extensive ground, but during those years, the English or Worldviews courses complement the textbook nicely. And thirdly, to me AHL is a very "9th grade" course. I think it could be used up through 12th, but it is a fairly gentle intro to high school for 9th graders, with few tests and little textbook (outside of math and science of course), and a focus on getting thoughts into writing through a limited number of essays. Tests and textbook learning ramp up in MFW's 10th & 11th grades. Hope those help "see" what MFW is doing in AHL. Julie P.S. My son didn't color the timeline, and I cut it out the summer before, so it wasn't color-and-cut, just reading and placing the event in time.

That's a great list. Word has also been required by the colleges my son has attended, and when he tried to copy from other formats, some formatting and text could be lost. I might also try to get students familiar with Blackboard or Moodle, using online tutorials or by joining an online class such as through Virtual Homeschool Group. Students need to not only learn to navigate online according to class instructions, but it's important to develop the habit of checking for online messages and added assignments and such. Habits take a while to form, so starting in high school wouldn't be a bad idea. Julie

I am a fan of Math Relief for Algebra 1 & 2. He is a video teacher, who works out problems that will be in the assignments, and which can be re-watched if needed, of course. The answer key is just like the worksheets but with all answers completely written out. They also answer email questions. There are sample videos at their website and on youtube. Here's a review: http://cathyduffyreviews.com/math/math-relief-algebra.htm Personally, I felt the Derek Owens videos were much more thorough than Callahan's for Geometry, and the Owens email support was far superior to the Callahan company, at least the year we did it. Although Owens is more expensive, that price includes the assignments and grading; there is a much-reduced price for just using the videos. Hope that's more info for evaluating the options out there. Julie

I don't know why you'd feel strange listing 0.5 credits for TT. You did the first semester, so you gave a semester credit, that seems totally ordinary to me. Colleges are used to much stranger situations than that from public schooled students! (At least ordinary colleges; I have no experience with Harvard and such.) Also, I'm wondering what is making you worry that you can only give 0.5 credit for the college course. Don't you decided what to give credit for at your school? I actually was pretty odd, in that my transcript key said "Dual credit courses: 0.25 high school credit per credit," so most of ds's college math courses earned 3 college credits which became 0.75 credit on my transcript. But none of his three colleges questioned that. As long as you are clear, it seems it would be up to you what your transcript said? Julie

Glad you found them. I remember those headaches. But I really don't think this is a homeschooling issue. It's not even a driving issue. It's a state-issued identification card (even a permit is a MN ID). And even though I'm pro homeschoolers' rights, I am not in favor of states issuing identification cards based on a home typed piece of paper (notarized or not) and a birth certificate, which anyone can purchase (I've ordered copies by mail). An ID card is a much bigger issue than getting into college. Julie

We did 12th grade as a block schedule, mostly because my son wasn't cooperating with me. First semester, he did college courses. So, he had only 3 classes that semester and he liked that a lot better than jumping from subject to subject all day. So, second semester, he wanted to finish all my requirements but do them one-by-one. He would do history all day every day until that was done, then he did English, government, etc. I had my doubts about long-term retention, but you know I think he was right. At least for him, a kid who wasn't interested in most of those subjects, he got more into them when he was able to really concentrate, get feedback, and go back to it again, rather than off to another subject every hour and by the time he got back to it he couldn't remember what we discussed or why he went wrong. I'm not sure how much maturity figured in there, but he remembers the block classes better than ones that were more spread out. Math was okay in the semester block, but that one I don't think he could've done in a 30-school-day block. And, as someone else mentioned, I wouldn't have given him credit for a phy ed block :) And the Y was a daily treat for him. Julie

I would get that social security card. Ensure your kids have adequate IDs now, while they are still minors and you are a parent with your ID & your name on their birth certificate. Believe me, it all just becomes more difficult once they reach adulthood without enough identification (it took months for my dd to get her driver's license at age 18 because of her lack of ID, and at one point they said we would have to go to our state representative). It's a pain, but on the other hand, IDs provide no security if the requirements for obtaining them can be easily bypassed. More and more things require identification these days. It's something important to do for your kids. I even ordered those homeschool photo ID cards (one with a date and a unique number), which seem silly but sometimes a "school ID" was required for things (or gave us lower prices on things). A passport is expensive (mine was around $150, kids are a little less), and a social security card may take more time at the SS office but it's free. Julie (in MN)

A baseline sale is 70% off, so you pay 30% plus shipping. A better sale will add free shipping plus maybe another $20 off of $100 or something like that. Great sales can go as low as 90% off plus free shipping, but it's fairly rare for those to include the most expensive or most popular courses (except a few of the Vandiver courses which everyone here loves). Occasionally they have a clearance-type ad for courses at about $10 each plus free shipping, but they tend to be a particular group of courses they are going to discontinue, or shorter courses that go on sale often. So all-in-all, I'd look for at least 70% off plus free shipping, if what you want is on sale. If it's just a fun splurge, then wait for those big sales (I agree, they are often best around the Christmas/New Years holidays). Oh, and yes, you get to use two codes with each order, I think one is "coupon" and one is "priority code" or something like that. You can mix and match from different magazine and email ads and coupon sites that are still current. HTH, Julie

The grades are not fair, but the test scores and other things will balance that. At least in my dd's experience, summer school is not giving them a good education. It's kinda like Aces Paces, running through worksheets all morning every day, but not as comprehensive. (I think the formula in my city is something like 2 hours a day would earn you one semester credit by adding that to whatever was done during the school year - you couldn't earn the credit if you hadn't taken the class already). In hindsight, I look at it as just an effort by everyone to move on. Don't worry that there is an "incentive" to get an F and go to summer school. This is of course is a generalization, but those kids don't want to be there, aren't there by choice, often aren't motivated to succeed, don't all pass by any means (my dd didn't,, she's bright but quit working), and don't get enough education to do well in the next year. The worst thing for my dd in summer school was joining a mass of peers who all have found a way to incorporate failure into their comfort zone. The thing is, there are tons of kids who won't fit into the public school system, no matter what you do (for various reasons, not just intelligence by any means). So what does our society do with them? There are all kinds of measures in place that the average kids may never see, many mentioned in this thread - add "alternative" school to the list. One of my son's friends had a ton of summer school every year and I remember one class where they just let him take home all his worksheets. His friends proceeded to "help him out" by dividing them all up and doing them for him. But that boy doesn't have a great life as an adult, so far. It's not like the "easy" pass gave him any advantages - I wouldn't worry about that. Julie

My son applied to two private colleges for dual enrollment and this year one for college attendance. He was accepted to all and no course descriptions were involved at all. Test scores seem primary, and then a transcript (clear course titles may get across the course info), at least for the usual college.

Not sure if the book she hates is Barron's, but if she's using that to begin French, I'm not surprised. Vocabulary is usually the initial focus in a language program. Like little children, first you learn some nouns, then some basic verbs, and gradually you add in tenses, proper sentence structure, etc. So it isn't until later in year 1 or maybe even year 2 that a grammar workbook like Barron's starts to be useful. (Of course, vocab is increasing all the while.) In other words, it isn't an intro to the language. It starts right out with sentences and adding adjectives, pronouns, etc. And I wouldn't expect to finish the book until French 3. (Per the French tutors we have worked with, high school French 2 usually gets through the perfect tense, and I think one of the later chapters on numbers.) If you find another audio/video type program, I might keep the Barron's on hand for later? Julie

Probably just repeating what Crystal said, but I like talking about writing :) The two biggest things I see, in terms of long-term writing benefits, are: 1. Structuring an argumentative essay, taught in AHL (usually 9th grade). I'd make sure the student gets a solid understanding of this at some point before graduation, and hopefully before #2 below. It involves the usual essay structure but isn't just reporting back what was read or taught - it's making a claim in the thesis (one which could be argued for or against) and supporting it with real evidence. Most high schoolers need lots of pushing and guiding to really get this, because they don't have enough life experience to truly predict and respond to the other side of an argument. 2. Writing a long research paper. MFW does this in WHL (usually 10th) and US2 (usually 12th). College will require lots of papers - even my son's intro-level dual credit courses had him writing many papers. Jobs also may require writing long reports, instruction manuals, etc. College & job writing isn't always research-based, but you've gotta have something to talk about, so researching a topic works; my son doesn't like to read, so most of his research with me was interviewing folks and gathering facts that way. In any case, it should involve organizing a lot of info logically, using good evidence for each point that is made, carrying the vocabulary and grammar with some degree of dexterity, and building "works cited" pages. There's lots of other good writing in MFW high school, some of it fun and some short answers and etc., and being adaptable to different types of assignments is good in its own right. It seems to me a reasonable amount, pushing up a notch while allowing time for reader feedback and editing/polishing - , best things you can offer a student, IMHO. However, I really think fitting in #1 above is worth sweating through, either adding or subbing before you get to the research paper in US2 or at least covering it at some point before graduation. Julie

Christina, there are some samples at Rainbow, not the easiest to see, maybe this link will work https://www.rainbowresource.com/viewpict.php?pid=027113 The author's website also has a place to "ask a question about this product," so maybe you could ask them for sample pages: http://www.summit.org/store/Secrets-of-Great-Communicators-TRAINING-KIT/ There is also a pretty thorough review at Exodus books: http://www.exodusbooks.com/details.aspx?id=30669 That's all I could find! Julie

I used MFW for my youngest, and in 12th grade they include a semester of Speech using Secrets of Great Communicators. (My son did that piece as dual enrollment, instead, using a college course called Interpersonal Communication.) I know in past years, some of us have discussed how we included listening to famous speeches in our year(s). That's a possible component of a Speech class (MFW 12th grade also does that as part of their US History). However, typically "Speech" includes speaking aloud in front of an audience. When ds did a co-op Speech class in 7th grade, they began with reading a children's storybook aloud, progressed to teaching the class how to do something, and eventually did a group project that included a formal speech. Back-in-the-day when I was in high school, I went to several public high schools in the same state. The last school I went to (the one I graduated from, which I attended for one semester) required Speech class in order to graduate, so I had to take it that last semester. However, other schools in the same state didn't have that requirement. So it varies. HTH, Julie

I would assume that the WTMA course is a full, worthy credit on its own. If you want to build a credit out of the additional literature, I'd have her do some writing or discussion over the summer, rather than more reading. There is a lot that can be discussed about those works. You could check themes in an online Sparknotes, go through a guide such as Glencoe's http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/, watch Youtube lectures like the Providence elearning ones on Pride and Prejudice (a simple high school level, but enough to prompt discussion topics), or maybe assign a comparison essay between one of the works and its movie or theater version or a related Youtube video (you can usually find book clubs, personal reviews, student documentaries, etc., and Zeezok has some in-depth movie guides). Or just have her do research and see what she can learn about what others think about a few of these works, their impact on our culture, etc. It doesn't have to be boring. Unless she's overloaded with credits already, I personally would build at least a 0.5 credit for 9th grade out of those works, just adding some basic analysis of themes and perhaps an essay or book study. Really, our local school district's "English 9" includes only 2-3 books, often one classic and another very short (they add other things, but not necessarily advanced things). I'm not sure if I'd call it British lit (minus the Mockingbird and Pilate) or Literature 1 or something else, depending on what comes out of your upcoming discussion and analysis, such as a Christian perspective. It could also be English 9, but that usually indicates some work on writing/editing and maybe vocab/grammar review. (I like the title to be very clear, since few colleges ask for further information.) My kids were not the sorts who read on their own -- I would have been thrilled with a dd like yours! Julie

I went to a grad party that had a trivia game about the graduate. We had to go around the house to different photo displays to find answers (from how many siblings to sports he played to what he got an award for). It was fun for me and my grandson who was about 7, because it gave him something to do when he didn't know anyone. We didn't do anything amazing at ours, but I had fun making a "school shirt" at CustomInk with a muscleman carrying books (youngest was into weight lifting). He also liked the shirt I got him from HSDLA because on the back it said he won all the awards - in a class of one student :laugh: He wanted that one on the wall. Oh, and the diploma was a hit - for some reason, everyone seemed amazed that he got a real diploma :huh: Julie

She might mean that public schoolers are often assumed to have private lessons (with recitals) and daily home practice plus band class every day at school in some kind of an ensemble experience that may include competitions as well as various performances during the year and often required summer marching band or other extras. I did give credit for my daughter's flute but required her to have a variety of experiences and exposures outside of the daily practice and weekly lessons (and skill). And I agree on the importance of extracurriculars, too. Julie

I agree that math is the main prerequisite to good STEM colleges. Not necessarily doubling up but things like... 1. very solid foundation & dexterity with basic computation, 2. spend as much time as needed for solid understanding and progression, shortening other things if needed, 3. build math endurance for longer and longer periods of time, 4. make sure he tests well in math (i.e. concepts + speed + understanding the tests), and 5. if possible, extracurricular or outside opportunities in math, such as math competitions, teams, clubs, or special programs. STEM colleges also like students who have interests outside of schoolwork and will contribute to the student community. Also students who communicate well (speaking and writing). Julie

I don't think learning something is ever a con. Learning early just puts you at a higher level in high school, and college. Learning a broad range of things impresses professors during class discussion and has other benefits besides transcript listing. My oldest is a graduate of Colorado School of Mines, a good STEM college, one where employers court students long before graduation. They only require one year of high school foreign language ( http://www.mines.edu/NewFreshmen ) and really that son's public school German class was lame but it never came up again. I would focus on math scores not foreign language requirements. My youngest homeschooled son has been accepted into 2 private Christian colleges in MN for dual enrollment and 1 public university in Colorado, all requiring formal admissions, and his 2 years of basic homeschooled high school foreign language was never discussed, no one asked exactly when or where he took it (he did take 1 college Latin course during that time, not sure if that impacted the last admission). I would not get too worried until you know where he is going and then he can work on filling in any gaps. Of course, if your son sets his sights on a college with a 5% acceptance rate (e.g these colleges or medical schools ), he will need to start planning soon. For the rest of us, usually 12th grade has room to fit in those last details. A liberal arts college that considers foreign language an important component of education may have all students take a university-level language course or test out, even if they received public school credits. Thus they may have several types of testing and accept several types of international situations. There are really many, many college situations. I would not panic yet. To me, colleges care more about things that makes your son stand out than they care about cookie-cutter requirements, and worst case in many instances will be an extra course taken during the college years. Julie

There was a thread on here a couple months back about all the kids on this board who are not aiming to be rocket scientists. It might be worth hunting down, since the conversation showed there are lots. My youngest has never liked school. Even in public school for K-2, he did the minimal, just wanted to have fun, tried to get things wrong in order to get out of the gifted classroom. I just couldn't see sending him to public high school (which he wanted) when that was still his character. Personally, I set my minimum goals. I agree we don't want to do them a disservice, so I spent a lot of time deciding what was really essential to me. Basically, I found I could not see graduating him without strong communication skills (i.e. 4 years of English), knowledge of American History, a solid math foundation, and reading the entire Bible. Then I showed him what a full college prep transcript would look like, told him why it would give him more options throughout his future, all the while in the back of my mind I knew what my minimums were -- i.e. where i would compromise and where I wouldn't. When needed, I gave him options for ways to learn, gave him extra credit options, gave him credit for unusual electives. Things were rough sometimes, for both of us (I agree with Tibbie, be thankful for your young many, he sounds great!). His 12th grade transcript feels like a lame mess to me, for various reasons. He's working "sweat labor" this first year out of high school, which is what he wanted, and he is supporting himself 100%. And wonder of wonders, he went through all the hoops to apply to college for next fall and was accepted. There is some value in letting him be him. And like Tibbie said, these kids have some strengths that others may not have. Julie

My Word program (2010) will convert a Word file into a PDF. That's what we sent to colleges with online apps. Probably just sending a Word doc would've worked, too. Colleges my sons have attended have used Word (sometimes required it, sometimes provided it). Julie