Nope, just for this season. There are two more seasons of 16 episodes each. I hope we get lotsa answers tonight! I'm sure we'll be left with more questions!!

Yes, K-5th is Sadlier Oxford Progress in Mathematics. 6th - 8th switches to the Dolciani pre-algebra and algebra sequence published by McDougal Littell.

I had a dream last that Ben from LOST was chasing me down the road that I grew up on. We were both riding bikes. :D

I haven't used that level so I can't answer from my own experience, but I do know that families have done the World History courses for 5th and 6th and then the American History for 7th and 8th. If you wanted to get in all of American History before she heads back to ps, you could aim to complete both of the American History courses in one year. It would be a lot of reading, but I think Sonlight uses the Hakim series in one year in Core 100, and they add extra books, so I think it could be done.

I think the 7 and 10 yo's would be fine with level 1, and possibly even the 13. The advantage would be that you could expect a better "product" out of the older student. The lesson would be somewhat short for the older student, but you could very easily add extras, like having him find a couple of books about the week's topic to go more in-depth. It has been 4 years since we did level 1, so I'm having a hard time remembering the details, but I know as a mom, I enjoyed it. If you went the route of two levels, you could get the first grade and the seventh grade, and they would both be starting with ancient art. The 7th grade covers a larger time period in one year, so maybe you could do the two weekly lessons at grade 1, and then have the older student additionally do a 7th grade lesson on a third day. And I bet the younger ones would probably like to join in with that also!

However, anyone who has compared Calvert to K12 math would likely admit there is a huge difference between even these two standardized curricula. And while the content may not be teacher-dependent, the actual teaching/learning of the material would at least to some extent depend on the abilities of the parent / "learning coach", wouldn't it? If this is a state-mandated standardized test in GA, the students who participate in the virtual academies would have been required to take the test too. So once the full reports are issued, we should be able to see exactly how it panned out for the virtual students.

:banghead::banghead::banghead: I'm all for raising standards, but when it becomes a matter of shoving as much info into a kids head and hoping that it all stays in there just long enough to take a test, that's not education! And those poor kids! The emotional scars are going to stick with them long after they have been released from their unpaid duties as official state guinea pigs.

Art is another K12 subject that we have really enjoyed. The art follows along chronologically with the history program, so 1st-4th grade would essentially follow the 4 history stages. Then 5th and 6th grade are in depth American Art, and 7th and 8th would again be World History/Art. In addition to art history, there is an art appreciation aspect that uses books like the Come Look With Me and How Artists See series. There are projects for each lesson, though some are spread out over a few lessons. The projects use a variety of media: crayons, paint, markers, colored pencils, clay, etc. You make woodblock prints, relief sculptures, medals, sun catchers, etc. You start and end the year with self-portraits, which have been a great way to look back through the years and see how her skills have changed. The art courses are scheduled for twice a week. The lesson itself may take maybe 15 minutes to teach, and then the project takes however long your child needs. Some, obviously, take longer than others. Or, if your child is really into art, you could complete more lessons per week and complete more than one grade level per year. The online subscription price wouldn't change, you would just need to purchase the next level of materials. Let me know if you have any more questions!

Yeah, pretty much what Michelle said. We just finished Book C. They haven't done words like humor/humour or theater/theatre. They have stuck to standard words. Some of the dictation sentences will have places like London or England in the sentence, and I just substitute whatever city/state/country that I think dd needs to practice. It's such a great program for struggling spellers. I can't believe the improvement in my daughter's spelling this year! And Book C really stepped it up a notch or two by the end! We are looking forward to the using the next book this fall!

Maybe that is his humanity, pure and raw, his quality of being human. Of course I agree with your basic sentiment. But I'm not sure that what you want him to be is what he wants to be. He sells lots of books, has a lot of fans, and he gets to express himself in a way that is genuine to who he is. He isn't watering his personality down to try to make it more agreeable to the general population. Would the basic message be more widely spread if he did that? Possibly. Would he be able to publish a book feeling like it said exactly what he wanted it to say in exactly the way he wanted it to? Probably not. Yes, he is someone who is trying to promote a point of view, but he is refusing to lose himself in the process. And I appreciate that.

And see, that's one of the things I love about him. :tongue_smilie: Intelligence, sarcasm, and arrogance make interesting reading, in my opinion. However, I fully realize most people do NOT feel the same way, and therefore I don't usually recommend him unless I know the person can appreciate his style. (Therefore I don't usually recommend him.) :D But seriously, I don't know that I think he is trying that hard, I think that certain things really gripe him and it comes through in his writing. And though I try really hard, I can often relate. :o

I was very surprised myself when I learned more about what satanism is really about, as opposed to what I had always believed it to be. Very very different things. Great point.

5th Grade: Winners: Philosophy for Kids Philosophy Rocks! Apples and Pears Spelling Books B & C K12 Literature Oral Language Lessons (A Beka) Easy Tech Technology lessons from Learning.com Losers: Calvert State History

For Christians (and really for non-Christians also), Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth.

Okay, here's the review from the files section of K12 Users Group. It didn't have the person's name on the file, so I can't give her credit. :o K12 Music—An explanation of the “Method Behind the Madnessâ€: I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE K12's music. However, I hear a lot of complaints from people who have played instruments but were not taught this way. The main premise/philosophy behind the program is similar to the phonics program--sound before symbol. Hear it, experience it with your body, learn to read it, then learn to write it. Most traditional music programs and piano method books (under which I was taught until I received two degrees in music education) are almost completely backwards--they teach reading, then writing, then hearing. That is why so many music majors in college struggle with ear training and sight singing--they have only learned to "read" and "write" music within that traditional method, but don't really have the concepts internalized. K12 truly begins from the beginning. It is educationally sound, I promise. It aligns with thoughts about language development. How do we acquire language? Hear, speak, read, then write. Music is a language, as we all know. Hearing it first, "speaking" (singing, body tapping, body movements, basically, the doing), then reading with symbolic notation BEFORE attempting traditional notation...Here's a question for all you out there--when first teaching rhythm, how confusing is it to a young child to tell them that a quarter note gets one beat. Then why is it called a quarter note? Well, because most of the time it is one of four beats in a measure. But of course, there is 2/4 time, 3/4 time, and 6/8 time--the whole thing breaks down so rapidly, and your little student's eyes just glaze over. K12's way is actually based on the teaching methods of Zoltan Kodaly, a famous composer and music educator. In this method, one sound on a beat is a "ta." It's always a "ta", whether in 2/4, 3/4, or 4/4. I even taught my high school choir sight-reading skills this way--sort of. Instead of "ta," I made them say "one" every time they saw a "quarter note." So if there were four quarter notes, they had to say, "One, one, one, one." (Drove the band kids nuts, tee hee.) I wanted to reinforce that that particular note gets ONE beat, whether it is on beat one, two, three, four, five, six, seven...ever ask a relatively advanced musician to play in 7/4? It blows their mind. Okay, I digress, but I just want to ask all concerned to give the music method a chance. It is truly based on sound principles and will, I promise, give your kids a better grasp of music theory at an earlier age than most of us ever had.

Yeah, you do have to join the group, and I know what you mean about being on enough already!! :001_smile: The music courses are a series: Beginning Music 1 Beginning Music 2 Intermediate Music 1 Intermediate Music 2 Intermediate Music 3 Or if you have a little bit older child starting, you would do: Introduction to Music 1 Intermediate Music 1 Intermediate Music 2 Intermediate Music 3 (I just saw they now list Preparatory Music. This must be new, but I guess it is K level.) And it doesn't appear like they are listing their Music Concepts A & B courses online. Those are the last two but they are completely different than the series I listed above. They use Music Ace and the Vox Music Master series of CD's. Why did I love K12's music SO much? Well, I a big fan of conceptual understanding. I wanted my daughter to see/feel/hear the big picture of music before getting caught up in what note on what line stands for what letter. I didn't want music to turn into a mechanical thing. Yes, some of the activities called for stuffed animals, and for as much as my daughter would have loved using them every time, we only used them a couple of times. We're far more "silly" than "cool" around here, so we just had great fun. They do use folk songs and some songs that at first may seem silly, but once you have gone through the levels, and they bring back some of the "silly" songs, and now you hear them with new ears and new understanding of some of the musical concepts used within the song, it's just so neat. Most of the criticism of the music course does seem to stem from people who have a hard time being silly and moving around to the music. The other set of criticisms are from parents who have a hard time hearing what they are supposed to be listening for in the music. I have a music background and only occasionally had a problem. The other thing I really liked about K12's music courses was the music appreciation portion. Almost every lesson included listening to a section of classical music. Sometimes you would be listening for something you just learned about in your lesson. Sometimes you would be listening more for the mood of the song, or a certain instrument. Throughout the course you learn about most of the major composers, although not in great depth. Oh, this is bringing back so many good memories! I really am sad that we have completed that whole series. I did absolutely love it, as did my daughter. I wish their middle school course was similar! Luckily, we have just found a piano teacher who is far more into training the student's ear than having them memories notes on paper, so in a way we are continuing with the style of K12. :D I just remembered a really great review of K12 Music that was written by someone in the yahoo group and it was such a great explanation that they put it in the files section. I will go cut and paste it here in a new post. It explains more of the technical background of the program.

There are definitely mixed reviews on the music courses. We personally LOVED them, but not everyone does. And again, it depends on the particular course. The middle school courses are quite different than the elementary. I haven't heard anyone complain about the middle school courses.

Nope, you can just buy the online content. But you do have to buy at least one month of the online content to be able to purchase the student and teacher guides.

Okay, here is the pricing list. This gives pricing for subscriptions to online content as well as (when you scroll down) the materials costs. You can pay for the online content on a month-by-month basis, or on a one- or two-year contract. Here is the list of materials that come with the different kits listed at the link above. I believe they are offering a sale right now of 10% off. I'm not sure if that is on materials AND subscription or just one or the other. I can find out more if you are interested.

(hanging head in shame) I pierced a guy's ear in history class once. The teacher was out of the room. :blushing: Of course I see the whole thing very differently as a parent. So sorry!

Yes, you can purchase it privately. And yes, the website can be hard to navigate, although they have made it a little more independent-user friendly lately. Which music course are you looking at? My dd has completed most of them, but they are very different at the different levels, so I could tell you more if I knew which you were looking at.

My 5th grader read The Red-Headed League and The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle this year and really enjoyed them both.

I have always gotten a knot in my stomach for the poor guy every time I hear that clip. Whether he messed up or not, can anyone blame him? (not saying you or anyone here is) But here's the guy, stepping onto the Moon's surface and he has this meaningful comment to make, and either he flubs it up cuz ya know, he's stepping on the moon, or the microphone missed it or whatever. I wonder how often he gets asked about that quote vs. being asked about being on the moon. Maybe not nearly as many times. But more than enough for a moment you probably wish would just be forgotten already.

K12's middle school history is a wonderful secular option. They cover American History over two years using the Hakim series. Then they cover World History over two years using a self-published series, unfortunately also titled The Human Odyssey. I have the first volume of their Human Odyssey (as do a few other members of this board) and it is really a great extension to SOTW. I like that it also includes more Eastern history than some of the Western Civ books that are often recommended here. You can buy these books separately, sometimes used, without purchasing the online content offered by K12.

I thought the same thing for a while! We must both be really dense. ;)