A Christmas Carol is in the 8th grade program for Lightning Lit., and I agree with the program's choice that this Dickens' work is a good fit for that age. It is shorter, and already familiar so students can focus on struggling through/appreciating the lovely and complex Victorian language and dense descriptive writing style of Dickens -- plus learning how to look a little deeper through some beginning literary analysis. (Huge bonus is the ability to watch The Muppet Christmas Carol movie version, which uses chunks of the writing straight from the book — not to mention: muppets! :laugh: ) Two other Christmas-based works by Dickens that are shorter like A Christmas Carol (48 pages) are The Chimes (51 pages) and Cricket on the Hearth (53 pages) — though Christmas Carol is by far the best of the three. Dickens also wrote a number of short stories, so you might start by "dipping a toe" into his works that way. The Signalman may be his most famous short story. It's a ghost story, so lots to discuss as to how he builds suspense. The Magic Fishbone is Dickens' original fairytale, written with a lot of humor, and very short. Here are links to other Dickens short stories and novellas. Oliver Twist (267 pages) is a much longer work (a novel), but a good one as an early Dickens exposure — very distinctive characters, and the storyline is not difficult to follow. Also several good movie versions to help out. David Copperfield (578 pages) is great -- but llloooonnnngggg, at almost twice the length of Oliver Twist. As long as you leave plenty of time to get through the whole work, and you have students who don't burn out with longer works, this is a good one, with meaty themes — and a great movie version as support. :) A Tale of Two Cities (227 pages) is one of the shorter (relatively speaking, lol) novels, but probably better for high school in order to already have some familiarity with the historical times/events of the French Revolution, and to mature in reading level -- the first 8-10 chapters were stiff going here, even doing it with high schoolers. JMO, but Great Expectations (298 pages), while not among the longest, is one of Dickens' saddest and most mature works. It was written late in his life, when his own "expectations" for what he wanted to do in his life had not been met, and he realized would not happen. That is definitely reflected in the tone of the work, the choices of the character, and the ending of the book. Pretty mature stuff for your first Dickens, and you are a middle schooler with your whole life before you... ;)

Agreeing with previous posters that elementary grades, esp. young elementary grades need a LOT of direct teaching and mentoring, and that the *average* student doesn't start moving into short periods of basic independent work (still with a lot prep time setting them up, and being close by for oversight and question-answering) until somewhere in grades 4-7, depending on the student. It is the rare student who is ready and able — and does WELL — with almost all independent work at about grade 6. Usually it is more along grade 8-9. And if there are any special needs or LDs, you are likely looking at a much more delayed time table all throughout the grades, as far as being able to do well with mostly independent work. Gently, without any details of your situation, and not knowing your students or your educational goals, this seems backwards. The focused teacher time needs to be on the core subjects (Math and Language Arts), and then any time spent on the content subjects (History, Geography, Science, Art/Music, Logic) is a fun bonus. If your time is super-crunched, use what time you do have to in rotating through your students with focused 1-on-1 time for Math, Reading, and Writing. Grammar could be delayed until 5th grade. And Spelling could be practiced as a out-loud back and forth spelling of the week's list of 10-15 words in 5-10 minutes per student, while doing dishes, prepping dinner or other work. Then History and Science (which are "supplemental" subjects) can be the independent work — educational videos, books at their level as assigned solo reading, and hands-on kits/activities. A family read-aloud time would also work — for example, listen to Story of the World as an audiobook all together in the car, or at lunch. A kinder student at most only needs maybe 30 minutes of 1-on-1 for phonics and very beginning to read lesson, and very basic math. The kinder can enjoy doing hands-on activities with the older children, which passes the kinder student from sibling to sibling while you rotate through 1-on-1 time with the older children. You can establish a routine with everyone at the table together, all doing Math, but rotating through giving instruction to one student while the others do a supplement, or a "workbox" activity, and then once they understand what they're doing, they can be working at the table and you're doing 1-on-1 with the next child. If the first child gets stuck, they set it aside and move to doing a workbox activity until mom is free to answer their question. "Workboxes" are supplemental materials that don't require mom attention or setting up, and are based on age level : - a page or two in a supplemental Math booklet with go-along manipulative such as pattern blocks, geoboard, multi-link cubes, etc - read in a solo reading book, or listen to a book on tape - a few pages of mazes, simple word search, logic puzzle, ken-ken- puzzle or other printable page - handwriting / copywork practice - box of art supplies and create something - science kit for independent exploration - watch an educational video - several children at one time play an educational board game or card game - 4th grader reads aloud their assigned reading to 2 of the 3 younger siblings (while you work with the remaining child) - card that says "do a chore" — child dusts, sweeps, vacuums, washes dishes (or plays in the sink with soapy water and dishes, lol), etc. - card that says "exercise for 10 minutes" with a timer; child goes to another room with the timer and does something active — jump rope, mini-trampoline, run around the backyard, dance to music, etc. BEST of luck in finding what works best for your family! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Did you mean my avatar? Thank you, and he sure was. He was THE sweetest, most gentle boy ever. He is the dog who picked US, and we were so blessed to have him for over 12 years. Even with having a wonderful new dog that we love, I still tear up and miss my beautiful flat-coat retriever terribly. I love this thought that someone once posted about that avatar photo: she imagined my dog at the computer, paws on the keyboard, very intelligently typing up my posts for me. ;) ETA: PS Just thought of another title that was beautifully written, very enjoyable, with quirky characters on a physical journey, but also a journey of self-discovery: The Plover.

Not read any of the books you mentioned, but these might loosely fit as they have quirky characters and humor: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Death Comes for the Deconstructionist Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry -- this one is on some of the same lists as the books you mentioned so you may click with it (I confess: I found it pretty weak and "meh"; I struggled to make myself finish it)

Windows to the World is a stand-alone program. No need to have any familiarity with IEW. WttW is written by Leisha Myers (as is the Elegant Essay and Writing Research Papers: The Essential Tools). Yes, IEW does sell her materials -- but so do Rainbow Resource, Christian Book, Amazon and others. And while her materials fit in with, or blend easily with, IEW's type of instruction, Leisha Myers' materials are not part of the IEW series. We never used IEW and had no problems with WttW. We plugged in a unit or two of WttW here and there over the course of 2 years (in between doing longer literature in a DIY style), and did not use the Jill Pike syllabus that adds material and extends WttW from a 1-semester program to 1-year. The writing focus in WttW is on how to write a literary analysis essay -- one of the clearest, step-by-step ways of explaining that I've seen. The other two major focus points in WttW are annotating and how to use your annotations as support in the literary analysis essay, and then coverage of about 8-10 of the most frequently used literary elements and how they work in literature -- seen by focusing on 6 short stories.

Not to burst your bubble of hope, BUT... May I just say, that parenting adult children is by far the hardest stage of parenting. The tightrope of being hands-off (but being available). Or watching the crashes and consequences that are far bigger and more long-lasting -- while keeping your mouth shut (unless asked for advice). Because they ARE adults and this is THEIR time to make what they will of their lives... And I have easy adult kids, who had their roughest stage as baby/toddler/pre-schoolers... :eek:

Also -- get online 24 hours in advance of your flight and download to phone or print out your boarding pass. Esp. if you don't need to check a bag, this will speed you through the process as you don't have to stop at the entry desk to have them print a boarding pass for you. And check the dimensions of what size bags are allowed as your "1 carry-on" and your "1 personal item bag". Even if your luggage fits these dimensions, be prepared that they may require you to hand over your 1 carry-on right at the door of the plane -- you put a tag on it and tear off/keep the bottom part of the tag for proof that it is yours, and they store those bags in a compartment below the passenger cabin. When exiting the plane, you stand in the walkway right by the plane door and they unload and hand up all the carry-on bags. The reason they do this is that many planes are small commuter sized planes and the overhead bins are too small to hold those carry-on wheeled suitcases. You don't have to pay to have them stored underneath, but you aren't allowed to have them on the plane with you because they are too big, so as mentioned up-thread, be sure to have everything you want on the plane (plus the change of clothes in case luggage is lost) in your personal item bag, NOT your carry-on. I have never had a problem with a small wheeled suitcase as my carry-on, and a regular-size backpack as my "personal bag". And I am able to fit in to the backpack a sweater/light jacket, a full change of clothes, 1-2 books, a bag of food/snacks, a water bottle and all my personal items, my phone & charger, and a small purse, and it fits under the seat. You can bring your own food and snacks -- but NO ice blocks or ice packs, so it needs to be food that does not need refrigeration. Bring an empty water bottle, and once you are through security you can fill it up with water at a drinking fountain (usually near the bathrooms by your gate). I have never had a problem with underwire bras. But be sure to leave pocket knives at home or in a checked bag (DH lost a really nice folding multi-tool that was metal and was taken from him because he forgot it was in his personal bag). Knitting needles and even small scissors for needlework or other handcrafts are NOT allowed, so find something else to bring to keep you busy. Also check what the airport on either end of your travels says about how early to get there before the flight leaves. For big airports, arriving 1 hour before your flight if it is during the rush period would NOT be enough time to get through security and get to your gate in time to make your flight -- so some airports recommend arriving at least 90 minutes to 2 hours in advance of your flight time.

Gently... that is just guesswork. Hard to make a solid decision and know how to prepare without knowing what the school policies are. :) JMO, but you need to speak to the administration at each of the two high schools and ask them what smooths entry into each of the schools. Perhaps start by looking over the website for each school and see if they list their policies for students transferring in partway through high school? BEST of luck! Warmly, Lori D.

gr. 1-3 reading level (sometimes it's nice to read easier books, too, on a topic of high interest :) ) - Billy and Blaze series (Anderson) - Riding the Pony Express (Bulla) gr. 3-5 reading level - Mr. Revere and I (Lawson) -- humorous; history events from horse's POV - Om-Kas-Toe (Thomasma) -- Blackfeet Native American boy tames the first horse for his tribe - Chicaro Wild Pony of the Pampas (Kalnay) - Smoky the Cowhorse (James) - Horses of the Dawn series (Lasky) -- wild horse herd from their POV (along the lines of Warriors cat series) - Pony Pals series (Betancourt) -- girl protagonists - Horse Diaries (Hart) -- girl protagonists gr. 4-6 reading level - Beauty; Danger on Panther Peak (Wallace) - Riding Freedom (Ryan) -- female protagonist; disguises self as boy - Horses of the Maury River Stables series (Amateau) -- from horse POV gr. 5-8 reading level - Black Stallion series (Farley) - Black Beauty (Sewell) -- from the horse's POV - Justin Morgan Had a Horse, and other Marguerite Henry books - The Winter Pony (Lawrence) - The Horse and His Boy (Lewis) -- talking horses Non-Fiction - DK Readers: True Stories of Amazing Horses (Petty) - Seven True Horse Stories (Davidson) - Who Was Seabiscuit? (Buckley) - True Horse Stories series (Andrekson)

The reasons people tend to use a cover school: 1. want/need an accredited diploma 2. want/need someone else to oversee the transcript and record keeping Sounds like those are not your needs. It sounds like your main concern is ease of transition from homeschool to possible brick and mortar school partway through high school. Since the policy of both the b&m schools you are interested in is to accept homeschool credits and homeschool transcripts without any additional requirements, then it doesn't look like you have any need for a cover school. The main problem that homeschoolers run into in transferring from homeschool into a b&m high school partway through is that the school's policy is to either not accept homeschool credits (which requires restarting as a 9th grader, even if the student has completed up through 11th grade at home), or the policy is to accept credits, but only when the student takes and passes the school's end-of-year exam for each course. When a school has that type of policy, homeschooling high school can be an "all or nothing" decision for families at the end of 8th grade. The major thing I would be concerned about is to double check the high school's policy about acceptance of credits, to know for sure that if you start off homeschooling high school that the b&m school WILL accept those credits so that the student can transfer in to the b&m school at grade level, rather than having to start over, or have to take a lot of tests as proof of credits. As far as college admissions: If you homeschool all the way through, virtually all colleges accept home-awarded diplomas and transcripts. Some have a few additional hoops to jump. And some states have special additional homeschooling high school requirements (CA, NY, PA esp. come to mind). If you both homeschool and attend a b&m school, when applying to college, you sent an official transcript from each. If you do any dual enrollment, you also must send an official transcript from each community college/university where dual enrollment occurred. BEST of luck in wearing your administrator hat :hat: as part of your homeschooling high school! Warmest regards, Lori D.

2nd grade is quite young to be doing formal lit. studies, so another option is to not worry about it until middle school, and just enjoy reading some great books together, discussing very informally to keep alive the love of reading, and filling your shelves with great books for your student to enjoy solo. :) (Just me, but I do think there can be a danger of turning the enjoyment of good books into "boring school work" by starting formal literature studies too young.) If instead you mean expanding a book, or exploring the world of a book with a unit study, LitWits has some good "kits" (gr. 4-8). And Five in a Row, Heart of Dakota, and Moving Beyond the Page are year-long programs that expand books into unit studies for the young elementary grades. Below are some formal lit. guides, mostly for middle/high school ages, but some go down into elementary grades. Enjoy your reading journeys together, whatever you decide on. :) Warmest regards, Lori D. Lit. Guides (for individual works): - Blackbird and Company (elementary/middle school) - Garlic Press Discovering Literature: Challenger series (middle/high school) - Glencoe Literature Library (FREE; middle/high school) - Portals to Literature (middle/high school) - Penguin Teacher's Guides (FREE; high school/college) - Bibliomania (FREE high school/college) - Pink Monkey / Sparknotes / Cliff's Notes (FREE high school/college levels) Lit. Guides (for several works, or for poetry): - Memoria Press (gr. 1-12) - Lightning Literature (gr. 7-12), but also some elementary aged guides - MCT Royal Fireworks literature trilogies - Progeny Press: Introduction to Poetry: Forms and Elements (gr. 8-12) - Classical Academic Press: Art of Poetry (gr. 6-12) Online class option - Brave Writer: Arrow (ages 11-13) or Boomerang (ages 13-18) -- a la carte/NOT a full semester or year - Center for Lit online classes

Sorry Corraleno, but due to some real-life things I've got pressing this week, I don't have time to keep going with this topic, as it would require hours of digging up info from 7-8 years back when we were looking into CLEP and the specific colleges. Since my info is older, I've opted to edited my post upstream, and leave it at that. Cheers! 🙂

Cool! First I've heard of this program. 🙂

Adding on to this option: Here are several articles with lists of companies that offer tuition reimbursement benefits, for any college (not limited to a specific university): The Krazy Coupon Lady blog: "23 Companies That Will Pay For Your College Degree" USA Today: "15 Companies That Help Employees Pay For College" Get Unbound blog: "33 Companies That Can Save You From College Debt" This idea, and many more alternatives to funding college, are in those 2 threads I linked upthread (post #6). 🙂

:thumbup1: That's awesome! Our CC is great, too! 🙂 See my post above (#37). 🙂

Absolutely! I promise that I am NOT a pot-stirrer! I was just trying to help with thinking through the options by listing some pros and cons. 🙂 We DID do the CC route and transfer to the public state university and it a terrific option for DS#1 on the way to earning a BA -- so much so, that he is doing it a *second* time, pretty much doing what Kassia's DS did, going for a BS in Mechanical Engineering. And like Evanthe, our CC has great programs, smaller classes taught by good, actual teachers (rather than the university's mass classes led by graduate students), a great articulation agreement for credit transfer, and is 1/4-1/3 the cost of the university. Woo-hoo! Love our CC here! 🙂

I'll be very honest with you -- I'll accept ANY complete thesis statement my students can come up with and support. At the early stage, I personally do NOT think it's important whether or not it's an obvious observation or something more unique and interesting. For me, the point of the assignment is to: 1.) have a claim (an opinion or "big idea") about the piece of literature 2.) build a logical argument of support for the claim in the essay body The way I see it: students are just learning how to think, have an idea/opinion, and how to build an argument to support it. It's super if that idea is something new, or complex, or interesting, but because they are in the beginning stages, it's fine (for me), if it's a very obvious observation -- as long as they can make a solid thesis statement, and then support it with the essay body. :) Just my take on things. :) I would accept either of those as completing the topic and claim parts of the thesis statement. However, this is not a complete thesis statement, as it still needs the "direction" portion of the thesis statement -- what are the 3 points (the literary elements, or the scenes, or other aspects of comparison) that will be used to support the claim? In Wives and Daughters, by Elizabeth Gaskell, and Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, the two main characters are similar in _________ , but _______ is experiences more growth than _______ , which is seen through __________ [the major points of the essay body]. And, a side note: a thesis statement does not have to fit in 1 sentence; if it takes 2 to write a complete thesis statement, that if fine, too, if it helps keep everything more clear. There is no rule that says a thesis statement MUST be only one sentence. Otherwise it would be called a "thesis sentence" -- lol.) There are two ways you could tackle building your argument (the essay body) around this thesis: A. The similarity aspect is part of the topic, so you: 1. explain the similarity in the introductory paragraph(s) 2. and in each body paragraph just focus on the new point of how ____ experiences more growth than ______ In Wives and Daughters, by Elizabeth Gaskell, and Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, the two main characters are similar in _________ , but _____ is experiences more growth than _______ [claim], which is seen through __________ [direction]. B. The similarity aspect is part of the claim, so you make this a 2-part argument, so that in EACH body paragraph you are showing: 1. how they are similar with this new point 2. but how ______ experiences more growth with this new point In Wives and Daughters, by Elizabeth Gaskell, and Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, the two main characters are similar in _________ , but _____ is experiences more growth than _______ [claim], which is seen through __________ [direction]. Be gentle with yourself. I'm a natural writer, and never struggled with this myself, BUT, it's taken me NINE years (all 5 years of 2 DSs in high school + 4 of the 6 years I've been teaching co-op classes) to figure out what the needed parts are, and how to explain them, and then how to provide guidance and leading questions to students to help them come up with complete thesis statements! :eek: :laugh: Take heart -- this stuff is HARD! You and your students are doing a great job working through this. And I totally agree with the suggestion up-thread about using the "fill in the blank" template for a thesis statement from Windows to the World. That *absolutely* clicked for DSs here, when I was muddling about trying to get this thesis statement thing figured out... BEST of luck! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Longer answer: Just me, but a comparison essay and thesis statement that doesn't "make a point" as you say, is never appropriate -- for younger ages or high school. At least, it would not fly in my high school OR middle school Lit. & Comp co-op classes. The whole idea is that the thesis statement: 1. tells what the overall subject of the essay is (persuasive argumentative essay thesis topic: what is the best kind of pet) (literary analysis essay theis topic: one of the characters in a particular book) 2. tells what is the specific "claim" or "opinion" or "big idea" (as you call it, "your point") ABOUT that subject (persuasive argumentative essay thesis claim: dogs are the best pet) (literary analysis essay thesis claim: the character changed) 3. tells the direction (major points) the essay will cover which build an argument of support about your claim (as you call it "your point") (persuasive argumentative essay thesis direction: dogs are loving, trainable, and easy to care for) (literary analysis essay thesis direction: character changed in his/her words, actions, and choices) If you don't have a "point", you have nothing to support with an "argument", so the three points of the essay body (the argument) are just sort of floating there, not proving any "point". You saw things in the book -- but what does it mean, or "so what", or what conclusion or big idea does that lead to/support? My opinion is that you always need to teach the WHOLE process and all the parts of the thesis statement. But also realize that for the first number of papers you will need to heavily guide the student into having all 3 parts of the thesis statement (usually it's the claim they are missing, as that is the part that comes out of their head). And also realize that literary analysis thesis statements are the very hardest ones to build. But in every case, with students in my co-op classes where I have to very much guide them individually into what is their thesis, once they have a completed thesis, they really "get" how each body paragraph is a point in their argument that is supporting the "point" (claim) about the subject. Without that part, I see a lot of "aimless wandering writing" (lol). A few students "click" and develop this rhetoric stage thinking in middle school, but I'm finding that the majority of my co-op students are getting it more along about grade 9-10, and that's only after we've worked through doing several papers over the year that require thesis statements. Shorter answer, in my opinion: - teach all parts of the thesis statement from the beginning - first practice with lots of short, 1-paragraph persuasive/argumentative essays -- the easiest type (pro/con types of questions, or the "which is better" type of question (like: which is the best kind of pet: dogs or cats) - to develop in to literary analysis essays, do a lot of short 1-3 paragraph reader response papers (answer a specific prompt question on the literature, and they practice using examples from the text as their support, and also practice writing the commentary sentence that explains how/why the example supports their opinion) - when the individual student is *ready*, in their own time, try a longer literary analysis essay (the hardest type), and provide lots of guided support Yes, I found that asking a lot of (leading) questions helps students move towards the "claim" or "the point" part of the thesis statement. :) PS -- For some help in teaching this tough concept check out these past two threads: "Transition to Original writing" -- lewelma in post #17 has a great activity that starts with coming up with points ("thesis direction"), and eventually you start thinking through what is the "thesis claim" "s/o of a s/o: Implementing ideas for preparing our kids for college-level writing" And, check out the book Writing With a Thesis (a college level book, but you can work through it slowly with your high schoolers). See the thread of "Writing With a Thesis -- How Do I Use This?" for ideas.

Other reasons why community college / junior college might NOT be an option for some families: - if it costs very nearly as much as the university, so no savings -- plus loss of freshman eligibility - if it has low quality classes/teachers - if the credits don't transfer (no good articulation agreement with 4-year universities) - if it doesn't offer the prep courses needed for the student's choice of 4-year degree

Not a Lumerit expert (lol), and my scanty knowledge comes from talking with the 2 homeschooling friends whose daughters went through the program back when it was College Plus. 🙂 1. Do you think Lumerit credits are transferrable to a state college? It would all depend on the state college's policies for transfer credits. My understanding is that the credits for the degree are earned through a combination of CLEP and DSST tests and distance (online) classes, so it would depend on which CLEPs your state college accepts as credits toward a degree program and which are only accepted as "electives". And then it would depend on whether or not the state college accepts courses from other colleges (for transferring credits from the online courses). One thing that I know used to be true when Lumerit was College Plus, but they would work with you about folding in credits earned from dual enrollment, or if you had earned credits from a university. So there might be a possibility of setting up to do some of the initial online classes for a degree with your state university, so then you would know that the credits would be accepted if you ended up switching out of Lumerit and attending the state university. The usual financial pros and cons of coming in as transfer student would then apply. 2. Do you think Lumerit is a good program? No personal experience to be able to comment. When Lumerit was College Plus, both young ladies I knew who were doing it were very happy with the program. They both highly praised the personal coach, who they both said was the reason they were able to complete the program -- the weekly coach's phone call of encouragement, answering questions, and guiding them through the administrative aspect. I understand that with the name change from College Plus to Lumerit, there was also a change in business emphasis -- that College Plus was specifically about being the go-between to match up students with partner colleges and how to accomplish a degree in a shorter period of time through tests and distance courses. Now it appears to also be a clearinghouse working with colleges to match up their online courses with students. Here's Lumerit's "about us" statement. ETA: One of the young ladies who went through their program has since said that they have changed their course work and she does NOT feel that most of it is of good quality. 3. Do you think employers would have a high regard for a Lumerit degree? Again, not a question I can answer. Many employers don't care about the school or program awarding the degree, they just are box-checking that you *have* a degree. So in those cases, it won't matter where you got the degree. 😉 One slight misconception that can be cleared up, though: the degree is awarded through a partner college, not by Lumerit, which is the company you pay to do all the admin. and organizing of lining up the combination of CLEPs and online classes that will be accepted by the partner college as meeting their degree requirements. It all depends what field you are going in to. So the two young ladies I know who earned their degrees through College Plus (what Lumerit formerly was named), actually were awarded their BS in Science and BA in English through the partner college of Thomas Edison College. I imagine that it depends on the field you're going into (obviously Engineering and Medicine are fields that do NOT work well with this type of degree), but I doubt that the majority of employers for jobs in business, education, liberal arts, etc., know or care whether or not the college degree was earned via being in classrooms, or through tests-for-credit and online courses. That is JMO, however. 🙂 Some employers might really value the determination and perseverance that goes into earning a degree "on your own" via a non-traditional path... Others might prefer employees who had traditional in-class interactions and experiences. 4. If a student can earn a 4-year program in just 2 years, would that mean it's maybe not as rigorous as a traditional degree? I don't know how to answer this. It's certainly a different route to a degree -- more about self-study at an accelerated pace, rather than traditional classroom/teacher interaction. Don't know that either method of learning is inherently more "rigorous" than the other, as I can see how some people will study just enough to pass the test -- whether that is a CLEP or an in-classroom test -- and some people will dig deep into their studies -- whether for a teacher or for themselves. Where there may be a potential problem is that there is no GPA attached to CLEP tests, so a large part of the degree is "ungraded". If interested in getting or entering a graduate program that requires a minimum GPA, having a distance degree *might* be problematic -- but that might also be overcome by submitting a portfolio of work or interviewing to show body of knowledge, or passing an in-take test with a high score, etc. Just as a general final observation: Lumerit is a specialized type of program, and only a small segment of people are a good fit for it. From what I saw of the 2 homeschoolers who did the program, it is intensive and requires having innate perseverance and being a good self-studier. I have seen several other homeschoolers dabble initially with the program, but drop it after a semester as it was too much for them, and they needed classroom settings to succeed with college. BEST of luck deciding what works for your family. 🙂 Warmest regards, Lori D.

Can't help with your specific HOPE program -- definitely need to go in and discuss with them, to make sure you're not going to have a financial hiccup, but also that there won't be any problems coming in with freshman eligibility. (Some colleges limit how many total CLEP and transfer credits a high school graduate can come in with and still be considered a freshman in order to be eligible for freshman scholarships.) I do know that you're a college student, you are "on the clock" with federal financial aid -- 6 years (12 semesters) total. High school students/dual enrollment are not eligible for federal financial aid, so not a problem in your situation. BEST of luck in finding out what the policy is! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Totally JMO, and you know your student best! I'm adding this as a general advice, NOT directing this specifically at the original poster ;): One last thing to consider is that dual enrollment is college, and college grades are forever -- they are part of the permanent GPA. A low grade on the permanent record as your first college experience, can be very upsetting for some students (saw that with one of my co-op students -- in 10th grade mom signed him up for Spanish as his first dual enrollment, he struggled, got a "D", and not only did he refuse to do more dual enrollment, but he ended up feeling really stupid and as though he couldn't learn a foreign language. :( ) If a student is young/immature, or does not have study skills in place, is really not interested/ready, don't do dual enrollment. Or if there is no real goal for taking specific classes via dual enrollment -- like needing to outsource, or needing a challenge for an advanced student, or student has an interest that can only be pursued via dual enrollment -- don't do it. Especially at the young teen ages, you want more rigorous academics (the step up into 9th grade work, or doing college level work) to be a *success*, and to do it when the student has developed the tools for succeeding -- earning a low grade right out of the chute with dual enrollment, or being exposed to things not ready for, can really stumble a student. There is plenty of time to "try out" college later when the student is ready, interested, and has the tools for good success. :) Just my 2 cents worth! :)

My suggestion is to go through the Congress for Kids website, plus either of the pair of books (Sobel or Buchanan), and then enjoy the supplements and/or other websites as icing on top. :) Websites: - Congress for Kids -- Independence; Constitution; Legislative, Executive, Judicial; Elections; Citizenship - Ducksters: U.S. Gov't for Kids -- short website articles - PBS Zoom website: Elections 101 -- election info and links Books: - How the U.S. Government Works; The U.S. Constitituion and You (Sobel) - The U.S. Constitution and You; Our Government: The Three Branches (Buchanan) - The Constitution Translated for Kids (Travis) - My American Government series (Stevens) * What is a Constitution * What Are the Parts of Government * How Do We Elect Our Leaders * What Are Citizens' Basic Rights Supplements: - Schoolhouse Rock: ; ; ; - U.S.A. Constitution Activity Book (Tallarico) - Chester Crab Comix: Constitution Construction; and, American Symbols

Welcome! I see by your post count that you are new. 🙂 1. I can only speak about what the homeschoolers in my city are doing: a. Our DS#1 did, and many of the local homeschoolers in our big homeschool group do, the "2+2 option" -- 2 years of gen. ed credits at the MUCH cheaper local community college and then transfer to an in-state university and finish the 4-year degree. b. I know several local homeschoolers who did the at-home/all-distance degree through College Plus (now Lumerit). (At the time, this ran them around $13,000-16,000 to earn a 4-year Bachelor degree in 2-3 years. Lumerit is now a good $25,000 total for finishing a 4-year degree in 2 years, so less of a "deal" than it was just 5-6 years ago. Also note: no federal aid is available for this option.) c. I know 1 local homeschooler currently attending Berea University (a "free tuition college" -- students work part time at the school to pay tuition), d. and his sister was a National Merit scholar (high score in 11th grade on the PSAT test), and landed a full-tuition scholarship to a mid-western university. e. Many local homeschoolers are attending the local university as commuter students while living at home and working part-time, and have partial scholarships or grant aid. f. A number of local homeschoolers go the route of 2-year vocational-tech Associate degree, and work, or go straight to working and are working their way up into the company -- so no 4-year college degree for a number of homeschoolers, as that is a much better fit for many students. 2. Yes. 3. Edited: Check to see if the college has a deadline date prior to the start of college enrollment for acceptance of credit-granting-exams, as some schools do not accept CLEPs for credit towards the degree if taken while enrolled. re: gap year A gap year comes between high school graduation and college**, and you can NOT take ANY courses at ANY college during that time, or you automatically lose freshman eligibility (which is when you are awarded the most scholarships, for the highest amounts, and the scholarships are usually renewable -- i.e., good for 4 years). Taking ANY class will turn the student into a transfer student, and there are far fewer transfer scholarships offered, usually for a much smaller amount of $$, and usually they are 1-time awards (i.e., not renewable). ** = there are some students who take a gap year DURING college, halfway through, but that does not affect freshman eligibility status -- although it could impact other financial awards, so you really need to check the individual college's policies on gap year Yes, college is through the roof, and no, most homeschoolers I know are NOT paying those "full freight" costs. For more ideas on how alternatives for funding college or reducing college costs, check out threads linked in post #2 of the big pinned thread at the top of this board: "Transcripts...Scholarships/Financial Aid... links to past threads here!" Here are a few to get you started: "High scholarship earners: which test and at which grade did your high schooler take?" "s/o Cautionary Tale: High Costs of College -- a brainstorm $$ ideas thread!" "How are YOU managing to pay for college?"

A thesis sentence requires 3 parts: - topic (overall subject of the paper -- a statement of fact) - claim (your position, "take", or "big idea" about the topic -- a persuasive opinion) - direction (the major points of the essay body -- the argument built to support the persuasive opinion) And, you're right: with a comparison essay, always there needs to be a claim, an opinion, an answer to the question "so what". When you compare things, you come to an *opinion* ("big idea", argument, claim, position) *as a result of* the comparison. What I see with my co-op class students is that they do a comparison, see that there are more check marks in one column than the other, and so they think the claim of the thesis statement is: "there are more similarities than dissimilarities." lol. That is NOT really a claim. A claim is a thought or conclusion that goes beyond just seeing that 2 things are "more alike" or "more unalike". A claim states "as a result of these similarities (or dissimilarities) I learned / realized/came to the opinion of _______." Or, "as a result similarities/dissimilarities in the comparison, _____________ was revealed." In the case of a literary analysis essay (such as your DDs' two essays), you discuss specific literary elements (theme, imagery, metaphor, conflict, mood, dialogue, etc.) as part of the essay, even when it is a comparison. _________________________ re: DD 11th grade: In her thesis statement, I see a topic, and possibly some incomplete/very general direction, but no claim and no specific direction. What I see here is a danger of just "retelling" the story rather than analyzing the story. This is a common error that many of my students fall in to when they are new to the idea of coming up with a claim and having to build an argument of support for it in the context of literature. (BTW, while a literary analysis essay is a type of persuasive essay, it is very different than the typical persuasive argumentative essay when it comes to the thesis statement. An argumentative essay usually takes a pro or con stand on something and builds an argument of support around it. A literary analysis essay opinion is really an observation the reader sees in the text, and then uses examples from the text to support their opinion that, yes, that observation falls in the ballpark of possible because of the textual support. As a result, I find that it doesn't tend to work very well to try and use as an example a thesis statement for an argumentative essay, to help build a thesis statement for a literary analysis essay. JMO! :) ) There are many ways she could go with this, but here's one example, with black = DD's original material, blue - suggested added material, red = identifies the 3 parts of the thesis statement, and appears right after each part appears in the thesis statement: "The novels Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, and Wives and Daughters, by Elizabeth Gaskell, both have female characters who have bad first impressions of the main male characters in their lives . Through dialogue and the characters' choices in overcoming obstacles [direction], both authors cause their heroines, Elizabeth and Molly, respectively, to develop in character [___in some specific way___] as they change their initial opinions [claim]. So in this case: - topic = two characters in two different novels by two different authors - claim = undergo a similar sort of change [__in some specific way__] - direction = which is seen through the use of dialogue and characters' choices (Notice how if you read the 3 parts of the above all together, they make a thesis statement sentence?! :) ) So for each of the 2 points in the direction, your DD: - should develop 2-3 paragraphs in the body of the essay - using several specific examples from the text in each paragraph to support that point - and for each example, write a sentence of commentary to show how/why that example supports that point - and then end the paragraph with a sentence of commentary that explains how the point of that paragraph proves the overall claim (the characters changed in __some specific way__) _________________________ re: DD 10th grade: In her thesis statement, I see a topic and direction, but no claim. Just one of many ways of revising: in this case, the claim might be "makes use of irony", or "creates humor". Here's for example (black = DD's original material, blue - suggested added material, red = identifies the 3 parts of the thesis statement, and appears right after each part appears in the 2-sentence thesis statement (and yes, it is perfectly fine for a thesis statement to take more than 1 sentence. :) ): “In The Importance of Being Earnest, two friends who thought they were very different from one another, ironically find themselves in the same situation and discover that they are more alike than they knew. Through almost mirror-like words and positions as higher class gentlemen, and actions in the practice of bunburying, as well as the situations that result from both characters assuming the name of Earnest [direction], author Oscar Wilde creates humor [claim]. So in this case: - topic = two characters who thought they were different realize they are the same; - claim = the unexpected similarities creates humor - direction = through their words and positions as higher class gentlemen; action of bunburying; and situations that result from both using the name Earnest (Again, see how reading the 3 parts of the above all together makes a thesis statement sentence. :) ) So for each of the 3 points in the direction, your DD will: - develop at least 1 full paragraph in the body of the essay - using several specific examples from the text to support that point - and for each example, write a sentence of commentary to show how/why that example supports that point - and then end the paragraph with a sentence of commentary that explains how the point of that paragraph proves the overall claim (unexpected similarities create humor)