This year I bought several of the SAT/ACT guides, and I have to say that they are in no way a good curriculum substitute, although I can understand how you might think that if you haven't read the test prep books yet. These books really are just what they say - test prep, nothing more. If you wanted to buy one, I'd probably go for Barron's Perfect 36 just to get an idea of what's in store. I think that certainly wouldn't hurt, but wouldn't be simplifying your life at all. :) I agree with all the previous posts. A good solid curriculum, especially emphasizing reading, writing, and math will more than prepare your child for the test while also giving them a good education.

My two also took the extra section, but they weren't given a choice. It was mandatory. DD was thrown off by the science section. It was her first time taking it. She said all her practice tests start off with easy question and gradually get harder, but that wasn't the case yesterday. So, she spent too much time on the first questions and didn't finish. She forgot her calculator for math, but said she just did a lot of rounding off and guestimating to make it through in time. DS was happy that he seems to have improved in speed and ability to answer all the questions, which is good since he's a rising senior and can't really keep trying to raise his score. :)

I'd just like to add that being at a Christian university is absolutely no guarantee of a safe or spiritually uplifting environment. DD#2 went to a small Christian university and it was so bad (drinking/sex) that her roommate moved back home the first week! DD stayed, but was exposed to everything that she would have at a public school. By the end of the semester she was exposed to more than I had been by twice her age, but it was all by others who called themselves Christian. I agree with others who say that each child is going to choose their own path no matter if they are at a secular or faith based school.

Writing with Skill is great for ninth grade. You can do all three levels stretched over three years (if your child needs to cover all the topics) or take all three years and crunch into one year if you just need more review of expository writing. WWE is not a pre-requisite. You would still need to add in literature based on your child's reading level and interest.

Dropped off two today. DD forgot her calculator and was pretty upset about it. Luckily, she is a sophomore and only taking it for practice. DS forgot his ticket in the car, but I hadn't even made it out of the parking lot before he remembered. :)

I am also struggling to find the right Physics class for my son for next year. After looking at our local CC and Rate My Professor I've ruled CC out. One option that looks good so far is Conceptual Physics. I've already bought the book used off of Amazon because of reading so many reviews online from people who use it as a supplement to help with calculus based Physics. It is a college level book, with alg/trig level math. They have a high school physics book, but it would be for younger students. Here is a link to the online videos: http://www.conceptualacademy.com/ The videos are free, but they do offer classes that include worksheets and tests. I read on another thread that the price will be going up in the fall.

Regarding the financial aid aspect - my two oldest did a lot community college in high school, graduated early, and then did more community college. They did not need the SAT/ACT to transfer into a four year. But, the cc classes they did in high school still counted 'against' them as far as financial aid because they did take classes after graduation also. One thing that really sticks out in my memory of going through the whole FAFSA rigmarole the first time was that it did not matter if I put down that my child was a freshman/sophomore/junior/senior, it only mattered how many credits that the college they transferred to said they had. And the colleges counted the credits earned during high school the same as after graduation. This didn't affect to my child who transferred out of state and could not use a state grant, but for my child who transferred to an in-state university it limited how many semester of financial aid she qualified for. Luckily for us the 4 year university did not accept all of her transfer credits, so she was able to have enough financial aid to finish her degree.

Thanks, Maureen!

Did your girls have easy access to the teacher for questions? Did they do paper, online, or teacher-led? Thanks!

I asked this question over on the high school board, but didn't get any feedback, so I thought I could try here because everyone here has high school experience. :001_smile: Did anyone here have their kids do BYU online high school classes? I'm particularly interested in hearing any feedback about the Physics or AP Biology. Our charter school is changing our science classes, and not for the better, so we need to find another option for the coming year. Thanks!

I'm wondering if anyone here has had experience with the online high school (not college independent study) classes that BYU offers? I'm specifically interested in experience with the AP Biology and Physics classes. Any input would be welcome. Thanks!

My kids and I got to listen to most of it today. Thanks to everyone who kept us aware and updated on this!

I can now access this recording, but it looks like it will be $20, even though it says "free workshop recording" in the description.

My son just finished his senior project, even though he is actually a junior. Our charter school requires it for graduation, and our teacher prefers that the kids get them done a year early. It will be listed a "Senior Project" on his transcript, which might look a little strange in our case, but I think listing it separately is a good thing.

With my older two we did both US History semesters alongside Econ/Govt classes at the local community college and knocked it all out in one year. At that point we liked the professors that were available, but not so much anymore. For my younger kids I am splitting this into two years because it just works with our schedule better that way. We're doing Econ/Govt one year and a solid year of US History the next.

Also, if you're looking for good suggestions, I used the 1000 Good Books List from Classical Christian Education Support Loop: http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/celoop/1000.html There are four different lists, depending on the age of the student. Each of my children had their own list and had marked those they wanted to read and those they had read. I still have the older kids' lists around here somewhere. We found some of our favorite books this way. :001_smile:

I am certain that reading aloud is one of the most important things I did for my children's education. If you choose good books, it fills their imagination with the good, true, and beautiful. It puts the sound, the music if you will, of great writers in their head in a way that can't be duplicated. I often had one book going for my younger kids that we would read sometime during the day, and a family book that we read together as a family in the evening. We didn't have cable/satellite tv, so it was our normal entertainment. We sometimes had them listen to books on tape on their own, but they preferred it if I read. Now my youngest are in high school and they still love family read alouds, but I admit, we don't do it as often.

Yes, I agree that homeschool parent education is usually what comes from individuals, but what I see (and maybe this is just our area), is that new homeschool families aren't interested (maybe capable?) of researching homeschooling enough to have a basic understanding. From my own experience, and from what I've been told from my friends who are long-term charter school teachers, is that new families have a totally different understanding of homeschooling, and that does not involve self-education. It is simply a switch of dropping off your child at a public school, to dropping off your child at local co-op classes. It's a different mind set than what was the norm 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago. Do I want the government to require a class on how to homeschool? No! Do I have a perfect solution? I wish! :001_smile: I think it is the lack of educational capital that is catching up with us, as someone said earlier.

Like everything else in life, change is the only constant in homeschooling. I've homeschooled since the 90's, and the biggest changes I've seen are: - Increase in fear - fear of everything - common core, the government, and every 'ism' out there. Fear is the overwhelming emotion I get from the new generation of homeschoolers. For example, teaching language arts to homeschoolers has become challenging because of fear of literature. Families are scared of fairy tales, fables, Lewis, Tolkien, and Shakespeare. Crazy, but true. The belief that Christianity has to be separate from the intellectual life really concerns me in so many ways. I won't bother to go into all the long term implications of this, but it is definitely going to affect the future of homeschooling. At least in our area, the fear of intellectualism seems to be the greatest threat to the homeschool movement, not the government. - Also, there is a different idea of what homeschooling is. Back fifteen years ago, we were ecstatic to have a one day a week enrichment day with classes and the moms got to hang out and talk/learn about curriculum and the challenges we were facing. Now, at least in our area, "homeschoolers" go to classes all day, four to five days a week because we have an incredible amount of homeschool offerings for children of every age and because of the "fear of missing out" these parents enroll their students in as many co-ops and classes as possible. Often this means that the children's education is a mish mash of a variety of fun topics, but sometimes no solid foundation in math and language. This means that the students come to classes without having done their homework, because they have no time to do their homework. And the parents are okay with that. I hope to see better homeschool parent education in the future, but I'm not sure that is really going to happen because we often don't like to admit our own ignorance. As is often the case, we are ignorant of our own ignorance and reject sound wisdom coming from older generations. Homeschool hubris is all too common.

You can also takes Omnibus classes from Logos Online. They title the classes "Integrated Humanities," and there are six levels, one for each Omnibus book. http://www.logospressonline.com/logosonline

Here is one thread - http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/547282-anyone-used-schola-tutorials-romanroads-media/

Overall, homeschooling gave me more interest and knowledge of the curriculum used in a public school setting, and the firm knowledge of the importance of high moral character for public school teachers and administrators. We had a combination of public and homeschooling with my oldest two the first couple of years. Homeschooling gave me some knowledge about educational philosophy that I previously lacked, and a better grasp on phonics, since I my own reading education was whole language. Later, after many years of homeschooling, my son did most of his eighth grade year at a brand new charter school (5 days a week) that was supposed to be a combination of Classical and Thomas Jefferson Education. The main push of this school was imitation of the Founding Fathers, patriotism, and developing leaders. The main reasons we let him go was because I wanted a solid math program for high school for him. Also, all the boys from our homeschool group were going and since he is our only boy he wouldn't have had any male interaction at home. My son was able to participate in student government, which he greatly enjoyed, but at one meeting the student gov't members were told that they were to keep a high school dance a secret from the junior high kids. This felt too much like lying to my son. He was disappointed in the hypocrisy of the school administration. I learned a practical lesson in the difference in what is promoted by an institution is not any guarantee in what is actually taught. And, unfortunately, the math program was a disaster. There was no textbook and little homework. This was my son's Algebra 1 year, and I had really hoped for something solid. After some effort, the school offered a textbook to appease parents, but they only provided it on a kindle and the font was so small it was barely readable. We pulled out near the end of the year. My son had really lost heart after the whole 'secrecy' thing. Also, just the amount of time it took to be in a program like that was overwhelming because the parents had to volunteer hours if they couldn't donate enough money. I also was donating time to another daughter's homeschool co-op, and it was a crazy year. My son loved the science teacher, and was sad to lose him, but he was the only outstanding teacher my son had at this school. So, I was grateful that I was able to discuss and advise on math curriculum. I had also gained enough knowledge from homeschooling to know that the reality of what was taught at this school wasn't anything like a classical education. From reports I've heard this school has dramatically improved and undergone a change in leadership.

Here is the link for Schola Tutorials: http://www.scholatutorials.org/ Click on 'online tutorials' on the top left. It will take you to the schedule for next year. You can see that both GB 1 and GB 2 are combination classes that will be using the DVDs. Also, if there is someone who hasn't heard Mr. Callihan talk about his love for his subject, then this video is worth watching. It's kind of long, but definitely worth watching in it's entirety : Warning- don't judge his classes by his website! His tutorials give students this incredible view of history and he helps them make all these connections that they wouldn't ever make on their own.

Since this new combination dvd/live class will be new, I can't really say how important the live class will be, but I know it's optional. It's going to be an hour a week, after the kids have done their reading and watched the dvds. I believe he'll be answering any questions that might have come up during the previous week's work. As long as your son is happy with the Old Western Culture dvds, and if finances are tight, then I wouldn't worry about adding the live classes. One of the best things about the dvd series is that it makes going through a Great Books program possible for a lot of people who previously couldn't afford the various online tutorial services. But, it's not just any tutor. It's Mr. Callihan! My kids think he's the best. :001_smile:

My two youngest have used Mr. Callihan's Schola Tutorials online. Next year my youngest will be using a combination of the videos and the live online classes because the purely online courses will no longer be available at her level. Even though my children haven't used the videos yet as curriculum, I am going through The Aeneid dvds right now in order to earn free curriculum for next year- http://www.romanroadsmedia.com/2015/01/classical-edu-for-parents/. I am impressed with the quality of the videos. The graphics and art are a nice bonus that the live classes are missing. But, if you can afford it (and it is reasonably priced) I would still recommend adding the live session for the interaction with other students and Mr. Callihan. I own the first Omnibus book and used it as a resource for teaching a class few years ago. I like the books in general, but they can't compare to the knowledge and wisdom that Mr. Callihan shares with the students. He has decades of experience teaching great books and I'm grateful that Roman Roads is preserving some of this on DVD. Also, some people have been offended by the strong reformed stance in Omnibus. If that is an issue, Mr. Callihan, although a Protestant, is very respectful of other people's religion. Hope this helps.