FYI - I emailed Vanderbilt (meets full need school) and asked them if it changed the financial aid package if we waived the cost of student insurance. They said it would not change our financial aid package. They also said that they do not include student health in the cost of attendance and most students waived the student health.

I thought about starting this thread last week. I have 3 of our 4 exams taken care of, but I'm beating my head against the wall trying to find our last AP exam. I still need AP Physics C Mechanics with accommodations.

I don't know about the student health. I guess I need to email the financial aid office about that. I assumed it was part of the personal expenses and that if we had our own coverage we'd still get the financial aid. Cost of attendance - Expected contribution = Your need. If you get scholarships, then they just decrease the need based grant and your cost won't change unless you get scholarships totaling more than "your need". If you drop the cost of attendance then your need should also drop. I'd email the financial aid office directly with some of your questions as I"m not sure every school treats it the same.

Completed it in one schoolyear. By the way we found AoPS precalculus "easier". My son found it harder because he was not yet able to write out solutions due to severe dysgraphia. He's a better writer now, but still does most math in his head.

I haven't done LToW, but no I don't think it would be confusing. I think BW would complement any other writing class. I certainly understand how some writing programs would be hard to combine.

Original poster - I'm not sure if this would appeal to your husband. You might ask him if he'd like you to post all his questions and concerns to the community and see what responses you get. Often, once you hear other's stories, you aren't quite as scared to try it yourself.

Sure you can do BW classes in the 1st and 3rd quarters. BW calls their high school classes 1/4 credit each. I often have times that we are more focused on lit and discussion with less writing. I usually have some literature still going during BW classes, but I'm very flexible with the lit schedule so my students can work around any other work. How demanding BW is depends on your student (and your base expectations). My reluctant takes forever to write a paragraph kid spends tons of time on BW classes. My 10th grader has writing come very naturally, but he gets stumped by paraphrasing, citations, etc. I think the workload is very reasonable.

Yes, Help for High School is parent led. I failed because I couldn't give feedback and I signed my kids up for the online version. Help for High School covers what is taught in KIdswriter Intermediate and Expository Essay. Much of it is exactly the same. These two classes are taught online as two six week classes and the Help for HIgh School is set up the same way. You could stretch it out more and do more assignments but it is not "curriculum" for a year. I LOVE the online classes by the way. Worth the price for fabulous teacher feedback.

You don't get to keep the dvds, they are rented. If you wait until Dec. the online version goes on sale for $99 for one year (plus you have to buy books). We've really liked the BJU science. I tend to do it without counting grades on the tests.

I don't think homeschoolers (or schools) can send "official scores". For them to be official they must come from the reporting agency. Just call them up and have them sent. There are exceptions like private scholarships that might want scores sent from you, but those are individual situations.

Well, I haven't read everyting, but I read enough to realize that your husband is not totally on board. This is a big problem. If HE"S the one making comments your child will hear and internalize. You might work a deal to try it for a year, but generally, I think you really both need to be for homeschooling for it to work well. Back to your original comments. I do hear all of those off and on from family, friends and strangers. You may want to spend more time with your kids (I do) but that doesn't make me selfish - it means I love my kids. I may be overprotective, but that's my privilege as a parent. The issues of homeschoolers producing adults that don't know how to socialize is basically a myth. There are kids that are socially awkward, but that is generally by personality - they exist in public school as well. There are homeschoolers that are totally isolated and don't learn socialization, but that is more a family choice to live isolated. It is easy to provde plenty of opportunity to socialize. In general, a class of all 1st graders that spend all day together learn many bad habits as they don't have the opportunity to learn from others. If you choose to homeschool, you WILL make mistakes. That's okay. If you love your kids and do what you think is best, you'll generally do well.

I own the IEW materials, but I've opted to go with online Brave Writer classes and then on to college or AP courses.

Most schools just want the AP scores reported with applications. If admitted they want official scores sent to the school. Not sure if this is the case for all schools, but it is for the ones my son applied to. I simply listed the AP scores on my transcript as well as in our school profile for application and this was good enough.

I think it is very worthwhile to issue a diploma - however, it can be homemade or one you buy. I don't think you need one for colleges, however sometimes later in life you need to show a diploma. I know I have been asked for my high school diploma even though I have multiple other degrees. Also, it's not unusual to be asked on applications - Did you receive a high school diploma. I want my kids to KNOW that the answer is YES they got a high school diploma and not to stumble over the answer even though they go on to college.

Physics Prep is online self-paced AP physics (both calculus or not calculus based). The same teacher teaches classes at AP Homeschoolers.

If he wants to go into engineering then a solid math background is essential. AoPS is great for this but certainly not the only way. It sounds like you are doing well with AoPS right not. I'd be inclined to continue with their Intro to Algebra and Intro to Geometry books. If you hit a wall you can always change. I'd probably be hesitant to continue into their Intermediate books with him unless he's loving it. You could always start with precalculus with another program. Another resource to look at if you want to move away from AoPS is Derek Owens - you can ask for his half price option and do the grading and support yourself - he supplies the videos, homework, tests, solutions.

I use Primary math - typically the US version. I still have some of the old 3rd edition books which are the same except they are the Singapore version with Singapore culture, names, money.

I've read your initial post and skimmed the rest. I just wanted to say that so many of the things that you describe sound like they could be helped with vision therapy. Anyone that is expending extra effort to "work" to make their eyes focus together will have less tolerance to be compliant. It does sound like you may be dealing with other issues as well, but I'd certainly pursue the vision therapy.

Is this something your teacher is asking for? I expect a recommender to write from the standpoint of how he/she knows the student. I did give our recommenders some additional information, but only info pertinent to things they should already know. I gave the math recommender a list of all high school math courses as well as math competition scores (which he already had somewhere) - this was mostly to jog his memory. I deleted info I had given other recommenders as it was in no way something this math teacher would or should know. I think it's find for a chemistry instructor to talk about other interests if it is something that has been discussed over the years or for some other reason that teacher knows your student in more than a chemistry relationship.

We read part of it aloud, but my kids were completely uninterested in the book and it's one of the few read-alouds we've ever just stopped midway through.

None.

I agree. I search out the best classes - online, in person, or mom-created for each of my children. A mom diploma with transcript is all you need other than ACT/SAT scores for most colleges. For more competitive schools, you might need more AP courses/Dual enrollment, etc. Certainly taking more rigorous courses will take you farther, but you have to do what is best for each individual student. If your standardized scores match your transcript there is no reason to question anything.

Some need based grants will change from year to year based on your families finances. Many scholarships are renewable, thought you might need to keep up a specific GPA.

I use Beast with gifted with learning disabilities. I sit with my kids and do it alongside them most days. I do it with another math program. We just go at whatever pace in each program.

Take a practice test - see what he's missing. You will have covered most all of it. Determinant of a matrix shows up sometimes. Edited to add that you definitely don't need the AoPS intermediate algebra book.