I was mentioning Wes Calahan for rhetoric, since you were asking about rhetoric. Wes Calahan doesn't teach Great Books at CLRC. He has his own program at Schola Tutorials and via videos sold through Roman Roads. These lectures are very well regarded here, but I know nothing about the CLRC logic/rhetoric sequence. I would actually love to hear feedback on his rhetoric course at CLRC (and any logic course at CLRC), if anyone has taken it.

My kid did BA5 through our local AoPS Academy, and they beta tested BA Online last year. That was all they used for the homework, so I assume they thought it was sufficient. He is doing Pre-Algebra now and it is a similar set-up. He only does the online homework, which is similar to the books, but not exactly the same. If he turns the homework blue, we move on.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/9-year-old-gifted-college-student_us_5c3cc04be4b0e0baf53fcef0?fbclid=IwAR0E6khBe2I5PWBfBLLZ1LrwptmlwRbjPhN3DHlA8sIGzQTl7fYFOPahFjE

No need to feel sheepish. I think a lot [most?] of the people on this board fall into that category. What I found particularly endearing about this kid was that he seemed so utterly normal to me, other than the whole, you know, PG and taking college classes at 9 part. And I think that probably says more about me on this board than Fortnight/Flossing says anything about you because I was the kid who was into pop culture growing up, who liked fashion, and teen idols, and makeup, and cheerleading, and so desperately wanted to be popular and feel normal, even though people were always reminding me that, on some level, I wasn't normal. So, I really related to this kid's desire to do normal (read: popular) kid things like play Fortnight. 🙂

And that's cool and all, but it really was kinda everywhere in 2018 pop culture (Ever heard of flossing? Again, everywhere), particularly among the middle school crowd. http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/07/how-fortnite-became-the-most-popular-video-game-on-earth.html

My DS (in 5th next year) is hoping to take online classes with Clover Creek for physics, Online G3 (Lord of the Rings and 19th Century American Lit), and AoPS (Intermediate Python Programming and Intro to Number Theory).

It's been chilly in So Cal lately, so I bought this mattress heater at Costco: https://www.costco.com/Sunbeam-Premium-Quilted-Heated-Mattress-Pad.product.141254.html It has cut down on us running the heater at night. It also has two settings since my husband and I cannot agree.

Wes Calahan teaches rhetoric at CLRC. I don't know anything about his rhetoric courses, but his Great Book series is highly recommended. That may also be an option.

Bwahaha. That's hilarious. I always say that I never had a child until I had my second kid.

Again, don't get me wrong. I adore AoPS. I think they are a phenomenal company. The teachers are outstanding. Everyone is caring and goes out of their way to really develop these kids. That's why I would give my left kidney to ensure that my kids get the chance to attend, if that's what they want to do. The fact that every other kid is walking around in their mom/dad's MIT/Stanford sweatshirt and pulling away in a Tesla is literally the only negative thing that I can say about AoPS.

But, there are virtually no homeschoolers at the academies. It's almost all public and private afterschoolers from the best schools in SD, and those afterschoolers are very homogeneous demographically. We've been there for two years, and I think I recall meeting one other homeschooling parent in that time. The general consensus among homeschoolers (who tend to be one income families) is that the academy classes (even using funds) are just too pricey. I would just love to see AoPS do some outreach to outstanding math students of lesser financial means.

2B is good news, Arcadia! I mean, all things considered. So so treatable. I am thinking of you and praying for a speedy recovery. You can do this!

I can only speak to the demographics that I see at the AoPS Academy in San Diego and my experience living/working in various parts of Texas in the military and as a management consultant. But, that was eons ago, and it sounds like the demographics are changing in that area of Texas. Don't get me wrong. I'm stoked that RR is expanding the Academy. It's been a huge blessing for us, and I am glad to see that more kids will have the opportunity to attend. I just wish AoPS hit up corporate sponsors for scholarship money (some economic diversity would be nice). I have to believe that there are enough AoPS alums working in powerful corporations that they could make it happen.

Great multicultural booklists for those interested in teaching social justice. https://socialjusticebooks.org/

Oh gosh, Sacha would love that. If only we could fit it in his schedule! I imagine that would be a popular class.

Interesting. I just couldn't see the Friday Night Lights crowd spending their weekends doing math, so that would make much more sense.

The Bay Area is a no-brainer. Texas is an interesting next choice: https://aopsacademy.org/campuses

I suggest using the apps Tiny Scanner on Tiny Fax on your phone. Literal fax machines have gone the way of the dodo bird.

And if you ever change your mind, I beg you to friend me immediately!! ❤️ OP, I used to blog, but I ended up with people stalking my family (seriously), going so far as to hack our computer. It became an absolute nightmare for our family, so my only caution would be to ensure that, unless you want to open your life/parenting up to public criticism/scrutiny, make your blog private. We were living aboard our sailboat and sailing with my older son when he was a baby at the time, and people saw fit to comment about our lifestyle/parenting choices. A similar thing happened to friends of ours and sadly, they ended up on the front page of the NYT and were vilified by the media. It was awful. Anyway, that's my cautionary tale about blogging. I stick to FB, but most of my posts are private. I do post things (from FB) here that I don't mind sharing, and those I set to public (I may reset them to private later when the kids get older). The other thing you may want to consider -- and this is something I think about regularly -- how might your son feel in the future about his development being shared for public consumption? Again, this is something with which I too struggle, and another reason why I mostly just post here and in private posts on FB. Good luck with your decision!

I work with my kids to plan, but they grow and change, and things don't always fit or work out like we thought. So, I don't mind that the reality never matches the plan. And, let me say that again: it never matches the plan. We used to say in the Army, "No plan survives the first contact intact." Learning to be flexible, fluid, adaptive, and open to change is a skill in itself, and one that I'm still learning to master and model for my kids. So, I like to involve them in the planning, and I like to involve them in the changes. Sometimes, the workload may be too much, so we scale back, or the subject may not be of as much interest as we initially thought, so we switch to something else. It is lifelong learning, following passions, and, like I said, learning to be mindful and roll with the only constant in life: change.

I am wondering if anyone has experience with their logic sequence? It starts with middle school level classes and culminates with rhetoric.

The class schedule is here: http://www.clrconline.com/2019-20-class-schedule

The lab science standards have been changed: https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/guide/news-resources/announcements/?fbclid=IwAR3pFYLzMvHjuMfU4umRscz7CJZHSNt-6rTZgQ78cd9IX6yel5zFkNwm6t4

Manatee of doom! Lol. Me too.

Just got word this morning that Sacha got into the Physics of Engineering at CTY this summer. He is so stoked! Hoping this will also give him a running start for Jetta's class in the fall -- if he can get in. Yay! 🙂