My daughter got a letter from them that she finished that said something about her earning 3 credits for the course. That was 3 years ago, so you might want to ask what they do now just to make sure, if that's important. BTW, if your son is as much of a "bird brain" as my daughter was, I encourage you to look into volunteering at a local wildlife center. My daughter has volunteered for 4 years at our nearby center and has gotten so much out of it! She has held/fed/exercised/released/cleaned up after/etc. many kinds of birds and other animals. It's been incredible for her! Garden Mom

My daughter did this a few years ago. She liked it, and supposedly got 3 college credits for finishing it. The course was very detailed - the contents at that time filled two large binders. Since she was in middle school, we divided it up over a little more than two years. The only thing she didn't like about it was the amount of evolution it contained. There is an optional chapter about evolution, and evolution is presented as irrefutable fact throughout the course. We are creationists, so we would have appreciated a different approach. If that doesn't bother you, and even if it does, then you will find an amazing amount of fascinating information about birds in this course. Garden Mom

What would I have done differently? I would have learned earlier about college options, and the alphabet soup that accompanies them: PSAT, SAT, ACT, AP, CLEP, DANTES, etc. Our son is now in college, and we didn't have him take the PSAT because we didn't know how important it could be for getting scholarship money. If we had him do it all over again, he would have taken that, and some more APs - starting earlier than January of his senior year of hs. Also, we would have had him do a different chemistry course instead of the 2nd year of Apologia Chemistry. Those two years of Apologia chem + lots of study guide practice were not enough for him to get the AP score he needed to get credit for freshman chemistry. I have read the same on these boards about Apologia Biology and Physics NOT being adequate prep for APs, even using the basic and advanced courses. In addition, we did not look at colleges for him until Christmas time of his senior year of high school! We assumed we would "find something online" that he could do at home to get a computer science degree. When we researched it, we found that almost all options for cs were IT-focused, but he was looking for a degree in scientific computing. Then we scrambled to apply to, um, one college. Fortunately he got accepted and is thriving there. But it was a little much to do all that with compressed schedule. Finally, we let our son get away with not taking foreign language in high school. Now he must fulfull the fl requirement for his college, which he hopes to do by studying Rosetta Stone French over the summer and taking the CLEP for the 1st level French. I am secretly glad the college didn't let him get away with no fl, but wish we had made him do one in high school. My daughter is in 11th grade. She studied for and took the PSAT, is using Zumdahl for her 2nd year of high school chemistry, will be taking 5 APs over this year and next, and WILL complete Rosetta Stone Spanish before she goes to college. We have also been to a couple of college fairs, have somewhat narrowed her choices of college and major, and have researched their AP/CLEP credit and scholarship options. Yes, we can be taught! Garden Mom PS We were pretty good about keeping records, but if you aren't, you will have a hard time preparing a high school transcript. So be organized!

I have Chalkdust Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra II, Precalculus, and Calculus. All have prepared tests. Some courses even have pre-tests, too. I agree that what you are using now will probably end up working just fine. Try giving it another month and hopefully you will get it worked out. Blessings, Garden Mom

Thanks so much, everyone, for your tips! I am going to look at the Cliff's book; we may use it for more practice if there's time. Evaluating political speeches is a great idea! I sat down with my daughter this morning and we worked out a temporary plan. We decided not to use the rhetoric text or literature anthology at this point, but we may later. I agree that students need to practice lots of essay writing according to the format of this test. She has had writing instruction from IEW and Rod & Staff, as well as practice writing essays about classics she read according to TWTM. We're using the Princeton Review and 5 Steps to a 5 review books for the English Composition AP Test. She is going to read and practice how to do the multiple choice and essay questions from these books, alternating between them. She will do 1-2 practice essays a week, making sure she works on all three types. Hopefully she will be prepared. When it's all over, I'll post back to let you know how she did. Could you post how your students do/did, too? Thanks! Garden Mom

"However he skips far too much economic basics for Penny Candy to count as as even a half credit worth of high school economics course." quote from Kathy in MD Your post made me actually go back and look at my son's transcript. I agree that the Penny Candy book alone is not enough for even half a credit of High School econ credit. My post is now edited to account for what he actually did for the 1 credit I gave him. He read all of the books in the series, did the Penny Candy study guide, and read a freshman college-level Microeconomics text. I'm sorry if I misled anyone by my faulty memory. Garden Mom

Here's the link to the IEW listing for this book: http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/index.php?q=product/classical-rhetoric-through-structure-and-style%3A-writing-lessons-based-progymnasmata Just click on the bottom left where it says "RBW Sample.pdf" to download a 14-page sample. HTH, Garden Mom

Here's the website for the Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments book: http://www.homechemlab.com I know what you mean about choosing between a chemistry kit or doing the experiments in the Illustrated Guide... book. Equipment is expensive, and buying a kit is sooo convenient. I hope to do the full-blown labs with my daughter because it will be her last year before she goes away to college to study biochemistry (at least that's the plan for now). It will be a good way for us to spend time together, and a way for us to really work on her lab technique before she leaves. Here are some pros and cons that I've had running through my mind about the choice. Chemistry Kit (Thames & Kosmos Chem C3000) Pros: Cheaper More Convenient Many experiments in the kit Safer because it uses tiny amounts of chemicals Cons: Uses tiny amounts of chemicals, so sometimes it's hard to see what's going on Quote from IGtHCE book, p. xii: Even the best chemistry set that is still sold, the $200 Thames & Kosmos Chem C3000, is an unfortunate compromise among cost, liability, and marketability. The Chem C3000 kit lacks such essential equipment as a balance and a thermometer, provides little glassware, and includes only the tiny amounts of chemicals needed to do unsatisfying micro-scale chemistry experiments. Despite these criticisms, the C3000 kit is a good choice for giving late elementary school or early middle school students their first exposure to hands-on chemistry lab work. It allows kids to produce bright colors and stinky smells, which after all are the usual hooks that draw kids into chemistry. The problem is that that's not enough." Note: I'm not sure I agree with this. The author is very enthusiastic about chemistry, and I don't believe every high schooler needs more than the Chem C3000. I would, however, think that if a student plans to major in a chemistry-related field in college he/she should consider doing the experiments in the IGtHCE book. Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments: Pros: Lots of support from the very enthusiastic author and his extensive website Full-blown experiments will very observable results Very complete high school chemistry course Lab technique and safety are heavily emphasized Uses real glassware and equipment, both of which are described in great detail in the book All of the recommended AP experiments are included. I have the Chem 3000 book (on CD - T&K sent it to me) and it doesn't have very many AP experiments. If your student is taking the Chemistry AP test, these experiments would be a better choice. Cons: Expensive Time-consuming to gather all of the supplies. Even the kits from the website don't include all of the needed equipment. For example, a hotplate, Bunsen burner, pH meter, and thermometer are not in the kits listed on the website, so you will have to research and select these items (not to mention pay for them). You must also buy balance, which costs another $200+. And finally, you will need to buy concentrated nitric acid, which requires special, more expensive packaging. The experiments may take longer because everything is not in kit form. You will also need to buy protective clothing (lab coats, vinyl aprons), gloves, and goggles. Hope this helps, Garden Mom

I agree that the Apologia labs are not very in-depth. If you are looking for a book with really great labs you can do at home, you might want to check out this: Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments by Robert Thompson, ISBN 0596514921. The author has a website, where you can find corrections, links to equipment and chemical suppliers, and even forums to discuss the experiments in the book. He has put together kits to order from a company with all the chemicals, glassware, and equipment. The book has 22 chapters, and includes all of the experiments recommended for the AP Chemistry course and many more. AND, the author likes homeschoolers, and even mentions them in his book I have it, and have been reading it, but have not used it yet. I'm hoping to use it next year with my daughter. It is so well done - I can't say enough about this book! The only downside is that, if you want to do all of the experiments with all the proper equipment and chemicals, it will probably cost about $700+. The cost includes about $200 for a good balance. If you have only one child, it might be cheaper to enroll him/her in a community college lab class. OTOH, it would probably be at least even for 2+ children. HTH, Garden Mom

My son and husband have read all of the UE books and really like them. My daughter and I have read the Penny Candy book. I would consider these books as a good supplement to a high school history curriculum. You could also use them as a high school economics course, especially with one or more of their study guides. Richard Mayberry is a libertarian who believes the theory of Austrian economics. The Ludwig von Mises Institute is a good resource for learning about this theory. It differs from the more commonly used theory of Keynesian economics. I gave my son 1 credit for an economics course after he read the whole series, used the Penny Candy Study Guide, and read a freshman college-level Microeconomics text. He enjoyed his study so much that he requested several of the books recommended in the Penny Candy study guide for Christmas, which he read for fun. He went on to study for and and ace the Microeconomics AP test (I should have planned ahead and allotted some time for him to study for and take the Macroeconomics AP test). He even downloaded economics lectures from the Mises institute and listened to them on his iPod for fun. Now he is at college; he plans to minor in economics. I hope you enjoy the books. Garden Mom

This is my first post to this board, so thanks in advance for your advice! I have a High School Junior who is interested in studying for the AP English Language and Composition test at home. She's studied IEW materials, both basic and advanced, for years, and is widely read thanks in part to the Well-Trained Mind recommendations. She finished Rod & Staff Grammar last year, and knows it well. We own the Princeton Review and 5 Steps to a 5 study guides for this test. We also have Literature for Composition by Barnet, Sylvan, and Morton Berman and Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student by Corbett, but I don't know how to have her use either of these. From a quick skim of the study guides, it looks to me as if the best way to study for this test is to practice writing a lot of timed essays. Does anyone have experience with the AP English Language & Composition test? What worked? How did your student score? Thanks so much! Garden Mom