[After Cambridge Latin]

What did you do after all four levels of Cambridge Latin? What do you wish you'd done? Thanks!

[Canterbury Tales]

We enjoyed combining this with some of the stories from Boccaccio's Decameron, one of Chaucer's sources.

[First year in public school, 13 y.o. son quite unhappy...]

I would just make sure he doesn't have Internet access while he's alone. Besides that, go for it!

[Doing 2 years of physics?]

I'd love it if one of you could link to this syllabus. Regentrude, given the wackiness of the new AP scheme, what would you do with a bright student interested in physics where dual enrollment would be difficult?

[Science Sequence question.....]

Ds1 has been following this same sequence--we did astronomy in 9th.

[Best ancient history/literature courses from the Teaching Co?]

OK, my mouth is starting to water as the holiday sales heat up.  I'm already fully loaded up with Vandiver courses, but would love to hear your experiences with other lit. professors/courses and especially history courses.  Thanks!

[Anyone ever used UC Scout?]

I just found this, and wondered if anyone (Californian or not) has tried it. Thanks!

[Astronomy High School - Grade 10]

We did astronomy last year with the Teaching Co. course, textbook by the lecturer, and a telescope.  The lecturer is very engaging--he conveys the enthusiasm of a person who has really found his calling.  I made the kids take notes on the lectures, and read topics of interest to them in the textbook.  

[meteorology course]

My ds liked the Teaching Co. course.

[Safe eye or K9 for internet filter?]

I had all kinds of problems with K9--when the site went down, which it did regularly, we couldn't get any internet at all without uninstalling the dang thing.   Our current regime, which is working well, is a combination of OpenDNS (works through the router, so for all devices at once), safe mode on Google and YouTube, and the various Google Chrome browser add-ons.    OpenDNS blocked the website for my son's judo website, which was just about the level of sensitivity I wanted.  (It was easy to add it to the whitelist, btw.)

[What did you not anticipate...?]

Just now I was out in my garage cutting up a Lego piece with a hacksaw, to replace a missing piece that was essential for a Mindstorms robot.  Has homeschooling led you to do things you never expected?

[Suggestions for good movie version of Julius Caesar.]

Same. James Mason is a wonderful Brutus, too. Also check him out as Rommel in The Desert Fox--another honorable soldier seeking to remove an overreaching leader.

 

As an aside, the Teaching Co. course on Dante's Inferno had an interesting discussion on how Dante's view of Brutus as a traitor is different from the Shakespearian, anti-tyranny view we're used to.

[Annual PSAT sign up reminder]

In my area, the public high schools and the way fancy prep school have blown us off, while several church-affiliated schools have been willing to accommodate an extra. Anyone else had the same experience?

[LDS NHA conference]

Thanks for the report!

[BYU distance education middle school]

My oldest did several BYU independent study classes in 7th grade. The content was...light. I wonder if these courses are the same only with tutors or if they have more content.

 

I'm looking at trying a WTMA course next year when my second dd is in 8th grade. They'd be overwhelming to her this year, I think.

 

 

We haven't done any BYU courses, but "light" was my impression from a couple of the syllabi I looked at.  In a semester-long 9th grade English class, for example, the students were told, "We will be reading a novel."  A novel?  One?  Good grief.  I'd be happy to be set straight here.

[How Much Freedom?]

My dad blows me away with stories about traveling from Queens to Manhattan with a buddy at age 10 (yes, 10!) to go to kiddie matinees at the Met.  Make you feel better about the big boys?

[Itinerant High School homeschooling]

And keep us posted, just so we can take some voyeuristic pleasure in your adventures! 

[ham radio]

My kids bought hand-held transceivers for $28 each (a group buy on Amazon).  Their instructor suggested supplementing these with better antennas, which would bring the total cost to about $40 but not take up much more room.   They did a class and the certification exam through a local club, so I don't have a website to direct you to, but a quick search should get you to resources including practice tests.  

[Well, I did it. And now I'm scared.]

Woo-hoo!  You'll be fine--just hang out here from time to time. 

[For those who have been using WWS for high school or who are finishing it coming into high school...]

WWS3?  I'm not seeing it on the Peace Hill Press website.

[Supplemting French w/books or comics?]

I like reading detective stories for foreign language study--lots of dialogue.  

[Teaching Co. lectures for US History?]

Another vote for Turning Points in American History.  This year we've used the lectures from both this and Turning Points in Modern History that fall in the period 1600-1850. 

[Teaching Company Lectures]

There are two kinds of TC codes:  priority codes, and coupon codes.  You use one of each to get discounts, free shipping, etc.  Besides the ones they e-mail you, you can check www.retailmenot.com to see if you're missing anything good.

[Have you ever returned a Teaching Co. course?]

Funny thing, my oldest ds liked Cardulla's Chemistry.  He was just 12 at the time, though, and the somewhat goofy humor worked for him then.  He did every problem along with Cardulla, and rounded out the course with a ton of labs from a Thames and Kosmos kit.

[Have you ever returned a Teaching Co. course?]

We generally write about the ones we love.  Are there any that just didn't work for you?