My son took Financial Algebra through Homeschool Connections. Dr. Morrow was the instructor. It was really good and he learned a ton! Here is the textbook they used: https://www.amazon.com/Financial-Algebra-Advanced-Applications-ebook-dp-B00H7HVFNU/dp/B00H7HVFNU/ref=mt_other?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=

Mine, too! It is soooo incredibly exhausting! I've started listening to the Calm Parenting Podcast and it is starting to help me with my perspective. It doesn't help that I'm an incredibly strong-willed firstborn as well so when DS and I are at it with each other, neither of us is backing down which sure doesn't make for a peaceful homeschool day.

Your son sounds like my 16yo son who is in 10th grade this year. I am 80% sure he will be going to public school next year. He's my firstborn and is incredibly strong-willed. To be honest, homeschooling has always been a battle with him (we started when he was in 5th grade). As much as I love him, am prepared to fight FOR him, and would like to him to be able to fully utilize his time for DE classes and/or classes that actually interest him for 11th and 12th grades, I am ready to push him out the door. He may not get the best education at the local PS (we have no private schools locally), but there are some DE opportunities in English and Math. Our youngest already attends public school (adopted with special needs) and one of our twin daughters (6th grade) started last week and it's gone incredibly well. Her twin wants to go next year at the beginning of 7th grade meaning I could, quite possibly, have an empty house next year during the day. Strangely, I'm kinda looking forward to it (at least for one year). My oldest has worn me out.

DS is taking a tutorial class for Alg 2. I forget the text offhand but it's a standard high school textbook publisher (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt or similar). I don't hate it but I don't love it either. A lot of that is due to the tutorial instructor, though.

DS10th grade took Alg 1 in 8th grade (my mistake!), geometry in 9th (though didn't cover some advanced geometry topics), and is taking Alg 2 in 10th, which we have struggled through. Math is not intuitive for him as it was for me. That means he has to take 2 more math classes to graduate which he isn't happy about. Right now, the plan is for him to take DE College Algebra in 12th grade. So, for 11th grade, I need a good plan for filling in the geometry and algebra gaps he has. My goal is for him to become really solid in those for the ACT and for DE College Algebra. So far, I haven't found a set curriculum that really covers what he needs to work on the most so I'm planning to do a homegrown course using a variety of resources. Topics will include advanced algebra topics, geometry, introductory trig, and statistics. Do you think we'd be okay using Khan Academy as our guide and pull in other resources? If so, what other resources would you recommend? What would you title the course for his transcript?

Hi all, just checking back in. Week 2 since laying down new guidelines has gone pretty well. We did end up having a hiccup or two last week with an assignment that didn't get posted on the tutorial's website until late and he'd "forgotten" about it so it did get turned in a little late, BUT he had worked hard the entire week so I chose not to give him too much grief about it. This week, he decided it would be in his best interest to work over the weekend since we had to travel some yesterday. To clarify, DS has six classes and three of them are very rigorous (chem, alg 2, and lit); the other three (religion, art, and history) are easy peasy. The three that are hard are supposed to be taking 6 hours a week each per the tutorial's guidelines/suggestions. However, lit alone is taking 10+hours. I'm not sure if/how I should approach it with the instructor that it's insane. For instance, last week DS had to read 11 chapters of a book (160ish pages), write a one paragraph summary over each chapter (so 11 paragraphs), AND write a two page poetry analysis essay over 20 poems that he had to read the week before that. This week is about the same for that ONE class except it's reading Ch 12-24 with one paragraph summaries over each chapter. It's Week 10 of the tutorial and they've already read Letter to the King, Momo, Out of Silent Planet, an abridged Don Quixote, Cyrano de Bergerac, 20 poems, and are finishing Trouble by Gary Schmidt. Personally, that seems like a LOT to me and that's only about 2/3 of the semester 😕 DS has enjoyed the readings but he would have enjoyed them a little more if he hadn't had to rush through them, especially Don Quixote and Trouble.

Again, thanks everyone. DH, DS, and I had a good long talk yesterday and implemented some rules related to home life and school. I can't say it's gone perfectly yet as we are navigating through them together. It's as hard on me to not hover over him as it is for him to stay on task. Thankfully, this week is a little lighter in homework than previous weeks have been so he shouldn't have much difficulty getting everything done on time. We have allocated his work across the three days he has at home and we've even decided to adopt the novel he's reading for lit as our family read aloud for this week and next so being able to do that together helped get our day off to a better start. As for gaming, the kids are only allowed to be on gaming sites after dinner and only after their schoolwork has been done. Being caught on them when not allowed is an automatic loss for the rest of that day. Period. *I* have to be better about enforcing this, though 😉 All in all, attitudes have been MUCH better today and I'm just going to try to take it one day at a time with him.

I appreciate the concerns about the traveling, etc. Truly, though, it isn't the traveling that is the issue. DS BEGGED to take these classes because it lets him be with his friends. He knows and admits than online schooling is not how he learns best and was not a good fit for him last year. He loves going to the classes. He just complains about the work the classes entail. He loves to get away from his siblings each week and have some down time at Grandma's and/or his cousin's house. It really is a nice setup he has as he gets taken out to dinner and has lots of veg time while there. It's the attitude when back home and having to do the work that is causing the issues. Staying on task is a huge struggle for him.

Oh, he loves going to the tutorial classes because he has a ton of friends/cousins there and I suspect he loves getting away from us two days a week 🙂 Grandma and Grandpa also completely spoil him while he's there. He just doesn't like the workload. I'll admit, it's a lot of work and I find myself internally grumbling about why so much is assigned each week, but I want him to develop the character trait of perseverance. He wants to give up too easily and doesn't like to be "uncomfortable." I keep telling him that life is full of times where he's going to need to man up and do things he doesn't particularly like to do and that his attitude about it is what is going to determine his happiness. And I'll fully admit that I am hard on him in many ways and I can't empathize with him many times when he just can't seem to "get it" on assignments. I was public school educated (not a ton of rigor) but I was a great student despite that. I was motivated to do well because my parents couldn't afford my college and I needed scholarships. I had nothing to fall back on. It was do or die (not literally, of course 😉 ). I get frustrated because I feel like my son has life way more easy than DH and I did and he is not making good use of the resources and opportunities he's been afforded because of OUR work ethic.

Thanks, everyone! This has all been extremely helpful. I should've included in the OP that DS is taking 6 courses ALL through tutorials (Alg 2, Chemistry, World Lit, Religion, Art, and American History). Most of the classes are very rigorous (probably even more so than college level courses) which is why I was even considering DE courses (the cost of the DE courses would be less than what I'm paying for the tutorial classes). The struggle we have is that he has to travel 2.5 hours each way to attend his tutorial classes because we live in a small town. He spends the night with grandparents while he is there. When he gets home, he wants to take the weekend off which leaves only 3 days to get all his work done, of which there is a TON to do. He doesn't seem to understand that he needs to structure his time better in order to be able to get everything done. I spend a lot of time and energy slugging through it with him and he will still end up racing on Wednesday night to get it all done before his classes the next day. His teachers require that I actually check all his homework and sign off on it before he gets credit for completing it so it puts a lot of stress on me to be spend hours on Wednesday night grading chemistry and algebra 2, wait for him to make corrections, etc. It's madness many nights 😵 I do think he needs more sleep, better nutrition and more exercise. I think he might run track in the spring with a homeschool group that his cousins are a part of so that may help. DH and I are discussing some more rigid guidelines about nutrition and screen time among other things.

The only high school in our small town is not an option for our son. He would probably like to go there since their chemistry teacher (who I'm paying to tutor him one afternoon a week) tells him that what he's covering in his tutorial chemistry is a lot more than what she covers in her high school class 😕

Actually, ALL his classes ARE outsourced now. He goes 2 days per week and they are pretty rigorous. He's got A's and B's in all of them BUT it's only because I stay at him the other days about staying on top of them. Otherwise, he'd get to the last day and have all his assignments due. Time management is a huge source of our conflict. He's not been evaluated for learning differences and honestly, I don't think those are an issue. It's more of an issue of "I don't like this and I think it's stupid so I'm going to procrastinate doing it as long as possible and when I do get to it, I don't really care if I do well at it." 🤯 In his spare time, he likes to hunt, fish, and do online gaming. He's a hard worker on our farm when asked and rarely ever complains about it. He just doesn't have the "gitty up and go" mentality, though, for that to be an option for his future. DH, OTOH, although he struggled in school with undiagnosed LD's, was a hard worker and puts 150% effort into everything he does. Our son, though, just does the bare minimum to get by. That's the frustrating part.

Surely I'm not alone in this........My oldest DS10th grade is doing okay in his classes but it's basically because I'm pushing, pulling, and dragging him through every single one of them. Frankly, I'm tired and I feel like my other homeschooled kiddos are suffering because my oldest just can't/won't rise to the occasion unless I'm basically sitting on him every day to get his work done and done well. I'm ready to throw my hands up and let the chips fall where they may regarding his future. Needless to say, it's causing lots of tension in our home day in and day out and it wouldn't change even if he went to public school because he lacks any motivation which keeps me awake at night worried about his future. My plan was for him to take several DE courses over the next couple of years but he has no desire to do so even though he knows it will save us lots of time and money on his education. At what point did you give your highschooler full ownership of their education for good or bad (if at all)? I guess I need some encouragement that this is somewhat normal at this age and some advice on how to really connect with him to find out what might motivate him. Also, for seasoned HS parents, if your child was like this in 9th-10th grade, did he/she eventually turn out okay/successful in the long run? I'm not sure if I'm not worrying enough or worrying too much.

This a great viewpoint. Do you plan to list any outside providers/curricula used on the transcript? I'm not sure I feel it is necessary unless it's a DE class taken through a university or CC 😕

This is where I'm confused. Where would I attribute a grade to a provider on the transcript anyway? In the school profile section? I just assumed that I'd put the grades on the transcript and not designate HOW the classes were taken/grades achieved (home taught vs online vs tutorial). Maybe I'm missing something 🤯

I agree 100%+! On the other hand, I know some kids who have really great GPAs and who are good students who miss out on a lot of money simply because they aren't great test takers 😕 Or maybe they had horrible teachers in science like I did during HS that totally failed in preparing them for the ACT Science portion. It's ALL nuts!

Along this same thread, what do you all think of parents awarding an "Honors" designation to certain courses provided by outside sources even if those sources don't necessarily call them "Honors"? For example, DS is taking World Lit, Algebra II and Chemistry at one tutorial location where ALL their classes could be considered Honors or AP because they are so rigorous. They are certainly more rigorous than any local PS Honors course in the same subject (as evidenced by the local chemistry teacher's remarks to my son). His other classes, taken at another location, definitely don't fall within the scope of "Honors" and even though one is called AP History, I'm not sure I'll designate it as such unless he takes the AP exam and gets credit 😕

Yes, I agree. When I looked up how the local public HS grades (I graduated from there 20+years ago), I was a little perturbed that the grading scale had changed. Back then, scores were not weighted for AP courses and I had ONE B my entire HS career (in an AP course) which got me a 3.96 GPA and I was ranked 4th with three students ahead of me that either took fewer AP courses or NONE at all. They all got to give speeches at graduation and got all the local-based scholarships (based on GPA's) while I just sat there 😕 Oh well.....

Exactly! That's why it concerns me about the university switching a GPA-based award system for scholarships. Plus now with the changes with the ACT, it all feels a bit arbitrary and absurd 😕

Where would you explain it? On the transcript? I don't plan on including numeric scores on DS's transcript (only alpha scores) and list whether the class was AP, DE, or Honors/CP. I'll probably include a weighted and non-weighted GPA as well. Therefore, I'm not sure I feel it's necessary to have to "explain" anything regarding to grading scale 😉

I need to call the state U to see how they handle/will handle the weighted GPA's but I feel fairly confident that they do accept them since most of the kids at the local PS end up there.

Is this something I need to decide now ? Our state requires us to provide grade reports at the same intervals at the local school district (for us, that's every 9 weeks). I don't have to show them to anyone, per se, unless they are requested by the district but I don't want to get too far behind in my record keeping or have to redo 4 years of progress reports at one time. I also want to be somewhat consistent in my expectations for him as well going forward.

Our nearest state university has just announced that starting in 2020, they will be awarding merit scholarships based on HS GPA's versus ACT/SAT scores. DS(10th grade) will likely attend this university and I'm trying to figure out a consistent method of awarding grades, but the online courses, tutorial courses, and DE courses he has taken/will take all have different scales. Besides being more rigorous courses than our local HS offers, I want him to at least be on a level playing field with his PS counterparts gradewise. Our local school uses the A (90-100), B (80-89), C (70-79), D (60-69), F (<60) grading system for all courses but weights AP/DE courses (+1.0) and CP/Honors (+0.5). Honestly, I really like this scale; however, some of DS's online courses and his tutorial courses this year use a scale of A (93-100), B (85-92), C (75-84), D (70-74), F (<70) scale. By and large, his tutorial courses are MUCH more rigorous than the local HS so it puts him at a great disadvantage if I don't make an allowance for that on his transcript. He is being tutored by the local PS Chemistry teacher because he is struggling in his tutorial chemistry class and she tells him that 1/2 of what he's studying is not covered in HER PS chemistry class 😳 (Those comments certainly don't help the HS'ing cause any because he perceives PS would be a lot easier...lol). So I'm curious as to what scale you use in your homeschool. Do you have different scales for different types of courses and do you weight the scores? Thanks!