I would add in some reading and discussion. I would probably count the hours and then decide how much credit. I wouldn't be afraid to count some hiking (especially anything guided) and exploration hours, but make more of the course text, video, discussion oriented. If you count mostly text, video, lecture learning then it might be a core science geology, but it you count a lot of outdoor time then it'd be more of an elective.

The above is why I gave grades and included these classes. If the schools want to recalculate, they are welcome to do anything they want.

I have no problem dropping a bunch of stuff and doing something similar to your second schedule for a period of time. Usually if asked what we are studying in school the answer is whatever historical time period that we are reading about. As my kids have gotten older and take more online or outside courses, it's certianly more difficult to drop everything because I don't control their schedule. We do still drop a lot and schedule afternoon family games days or ultimate frisbee days. For my high schoolers, the family fun time has become more important than the read-aloud time. For my math geek, I think we hit a wall and take off Jan. from math every year. For my other kids it may be other subjects. It is fine to take some time off from the monotony of drill and school in a different way.

As far as which to choose - I'd pick the one with the books that are the most interesting to your student. My boys took world lit as they didn't care for the selections in British lit. The Andrews are definately Christian. In many discussions, it never comes up and they certainly never try to press their views onto others. Chritianity is their worldview, so it will come out in some discussions.

I'm not as worried about the specific schools as we've always tested through them. It's higher up in the school district that has passed down the word not to test homeschoolers.

I did not put it on my son's transcript.

I've never used Patty Paper Geometry, but I've heard great things about it. Would it work as an elective in a co-op or does it need to go alongside a geometry class? What age is this best for? Can students use this before they take geometry? Is it still good after they've had geometry? Do you like this book?

I've done it both ways - both with gifted math students. DS1 - lots of conceptual physics exposure simply by reading, but no physics course before AP calc based physics. He planned to do both AP Mechanics and E&M in the same year. He finished Mechanics before Christmas, but as he felt he didn't have a good teacher, he opted to take an additional math class in the spring rather than continue with E&M. I have no doubts that he could have done this if he had wanted. DS2 - did Derek Owens honors physics - strong algebra based physics and he will follow up with AP calc based physics. I agree with the others to be hesitant of the new Physics 1 and 2 courses.

With DO, you pay by the month. You can quit at any time and be done if you don't like the format.

I think you have to pick what works best for your child. The best math program is the one your child actually can learn from.

I never dreamed that they'd actually change their minds this year since there were so many people involved saying no. I was really trying to advocate for the testing situation for next year. I don't think they liked the idea of the newspaper publishing my story of my tests being cancelled.

I don't know, but I didn't get or submit a transcript from PAH. I simply stated on my transcript that who the provider was and the grade. Also, one of the PA homeschool teachers (statistics) clearly stated her grading guidelines in her syllabus, but also stated as a parent we could use her class and grade however we choose and thus could give our own grade. While I don't change grades from PA Homeschoolers, I do lump multiple online classes (some with grades) all together as my English credit.

Updating again on my AP saga. This year, I was looking for four less common AP exams. I called my local public schools where we tested in past years and who have been friendly toward testing homeschoolers for years. I was able to arrange three of my four tests in Jan. at two local schools and I registered online and paid in early Feb. My fourth was much more difficult to arrange, but with jumping through a bunch of hoops, I found a small town school willing to give it to us. In mid- Feb., I received an email stating that my 3 local tests had been cancelled and refunded. UGH!!! Some upper level person decided to send out instructions district wide (in large city, KY) to the schools to not test homeschoolers. I was registered through two different local schools and they both cancelled my tests. After calling 40 schools, I ended up arranging my other three tests out of state. I sent out some nice letters advocating that the school system work with homeschoolers to give tests such as AP tests that must be done in the school system. They basically replied that I had given up all legal rights to the schools as soon as I decided to homeschool. Fast forward to the past week. The newspaper has called and asked to run my story. The school district has called saying they'd now be "happy" to accommodate my students for the tests cancelled. I now have my tests scheduled at the original schools I registered through, but still need to cancel my out of state tests. The school system has been very clear that they have no intention of testing homeschoolers next year. Every time I think I have it all arranged something new happens. Julie

I gave grades for our "fluffy" classes though I did limit how many appeared on the transcript.

I second the suggestion of Derek Owens for outsourcing math with video teaching. As far as algebra done in middle school, you can list it on a transcript under middle school courses or leave it off. Either way colleges generally want 3-4 years of math done DURING high school. My son did Algebra 1 and 2 as well as geometry in middle school and none of it appeared on his high school transcript. We just listed the math courses starting with 9th grade. Consumer math - when it appears as a course in high school, it is usually taken by students that do not want to take higher maths. You can simply teach these skills on your own and never call it a math class, but call it life. I teach all about personal finance, bills, wages, taxes, checking and savings, insurance as general family knowledge that is not a school subject.

I did not designate honors. I did simply state in my school profile that compared to local classes, many of my classes would be honors but I choose not to use that designation. I did email the Vanderbilt admission counselor and ask if it would be helpful to list courses as honors. She said it was only helpful to compare students within a single school and not between schools as each school labels things differently. If my son was aiming for any specific scholarships then I might ask elsewhere, but he got into his top choice without anything listed as honors.

I've been quoted several proctor fees this year in my search for AP tests. Anywhere from a flat fee of $50-$75/test or $15-$25/hour.

It's sad that something that the university made freely available is being taken down for these reasons. I agree that a student at a university should receive any accommodations that they deserve. However if a university wants to freely make public any videos they should not have to accommodate everyone who might want to watch them. ... it sounds like some of the complaints may have nothing to do with these videos, but it sounds to me like some are.

(1) Do you provide course descriptions for all of your student's classes? If not, which do you exclude and why. Yes, I include all course descriptions. I turned in the document as a second transcript for common app schools or I just mailed it in with everything else. My student took outside classes from AoPS, Brave Writer, Center for Lit and PA Homeschoolers. For some of my courses, it was a mix of things. For example English 10 might be one or two Brave Writer classes with Center for Lit discussion class as well as a variety of things added at home. I described what was done. If a course (like Brave Writer) gave a grade, I put it in my course description since it was not the entire grade for the course. (2) Do you include the method of evaluation in your course description and if you do, how much detail do you provide? Not in my course descriptions. I usually reference that papers and discussion were done, but gave no other details. I gave a brief description of evaluation in my school summary. (3) Is it ever a bad idea to provide more information than admissions may need (aside from the time it takes to pull it all together)? Should you err on the side of over or under inclusion? I don't know, but as long as you don't overdo it, I'd err on including more as long as you don't think it is detrimental to your student. (4) If one of your students* receives a majority of his credits (approximately 5-6 of the 7-8 credits each year) via a combination of public high school, online accredited high school and online accredited AP provider (who will all be providing an official transcript to supplement your homeschool transcript) would you include course descriptions at all? Please note that in this particular case the non-accredited credits will likely be PE and Latin (taken via The Lukeion Project which does not provide official transcripts and substantiated with AP/SAT II). I'm not in this situation so I really don't know, but I think that I would not provide descriptions of public high school courses - just list where taken. I would take a course description off their webpage for my description.

Whatever you decide to call it is fine in my opinion. However, I'd include course descriptions with the textbook so there is no question.

You could separate these. I would at least give an overview of Te Kura and how it fit into your son's education in a school profile or counselor letter. I'd still simply list it on my transcript as Te Kura Math 101, just as I"d list a dual enrollment class here. You can leave off any grade or assessment and you could mix these classes with your own or list them in a separate section. Just make sure to also provide the Te Kura transcript either way.

Well as far as the music, if he's taking university courses and working toward a post-secondary diploma then I'd count that as coursework for sure. I don't see how you don't count it as coursework. Here in the USA, many students take music in school as an elective. Private lessons wouldn't count as they are not doing it through the school. I know many homeschoolers who do count the private lessons as courses. There are definitely schools here that you can take competition math as an elective so WOOT could be a course. On the other hand, I think most of the students in WOOT are in more traditional schools and might count it as an elective. I'm not sure. My son talked about doing WOOT and I would have listed it on his transcript if he did, but we went in a different direction. I don't think there is a clear answer to your question as different people would clearly do it differentlly. :) If you are going to label anything as honors, then I'd go ahead and label middle school classes that way so be consistent - it certainly won't hurt.

I agree with this for English - keep the course title simple and then explain further in your course descriptions. For AoPS, I simply listed AoPS course title on my transcript with my own grade. I've never asked for nor received a grade from AoPS. If you do have a grade from AoPS, then certainly list it. I'd probably list WOOT as a course rather than extracurricular, but I suppose it can be either. For any outside providers that I used that gave grades (like Brave Writer), I described it in my course description and said part of my course included x,y,z course with grade x from such and such provider. I then lumped it together with whatever else I deemed as my English credit and gave it one total grade for that year English. For any course that you do in 7th/8th grade, I'd be sure to make it clear that it was before high school. For courses by outside providers, I'd probably list Course name (provider). If it's clear what the grade was, simply list it. If it's more complicated, you might asterisk it and then provide a better description of the assessment in your course description. I would use your transcript to list everything and mark clearly which ones are included on an outside transcript. This would be similar to anyone that lists a dual enrollment class on the transcript and also provides a transcript from the university.

Agreeing with the above advice.

I choose not to call anything honors on my transcript. As soon as you label something like AoPS as honors, anything you don't label as honors looks "less rigorous". Along with my course transcript, I gave detailed course descriptions of every course. I started second thinking myself as I read everyone else talking about honors, so I specifically emailed the Vanderbilt admission officer. She told me that weighted grades and honors classes are a good way for them to compare students WITHIN a school group. It lets them know if a student took the most rigorous classes available. She told me the it was meaningless on my homeschool transcript to list honors as they will evaluate him based on my course descriptions. She said the same thing about a weighted GPA - not to bother. I did state on my school profile where I talked about grading that no classes were listed as honors though many might be considered honors. You might ask an admission officer. I wouldn't bother with an honors designation if I were you as you are trying to create artificial labels for your classes in society that doesn't use that designation. (I suspect most of his courses would be honors level as it is mostly a designation of working at a higher level than average).