She's referring to the Common Core Standards, which is a specific set of standards on what grade children should learn what in. She mentioned that CLE is ahead of the CCS in some areas and behind in others. The CCS is a set of standards that has been adopted by most of the states so that children in public schools in those states are learning the same thing in the same grade. (In theory anyway LOL)

Analytical Grammar (and Jr. Analytical Grammar)

Ah, good to know. He was under the impression they were Marines. I actually think he's leaning toward the police officer thing, although he sure would be good in the medical field. ;) Oh yeah, he's working on it. And truth be told, I'm glad he wants to go the PLC route because if, for whatever reason, they end up saying it's a no go, he'll have something else to fall back on. If he were to just enlist and have no other plans...ugh, I don't even want to think about it. :thumbup1: We use the Art Reed DVDs. We like them pretty well, although my son sometimes says that Mr. Reed makes things harder than they need to be. Who knows LOL. Oh yeah that's not an issue here (though it was in the past, which is why we're here today). He busts his hump and understands well...it's just that you can only do so much in a time period. It took him till he joined his Young Marines unit, but now he is highly motivated and works really hard.

He is not going to try for a scholarship. Yes, he's aware of this. I was just talking about when it comes to a college major. If he did something medical in the Marines he'd want to be a field medic. He also is interested in being a police officer. We talked more about it tonight, and I'd forgotten that he's leaning toward the PLC option. That will actually work out better for us financially because then he'd be able to attend our local community college the first 2 years. Since an NROTC scholarship won't be happening, he and we will be footing the bill for school. Our community college is a whole heck of a lot cheaper than the university that offers NROTC (or the cross-town affiliate). I looked at the Saxon Math. He should be able to do one lesson/test per day (and I stressed to him that he MUST do it even after a day at the charter school) and be able to do it in summers too and finish out Advanced Math by the time he's done in 12th grade. That will give him 4 credits. He also said that he'd be willing to do 2 lessons/day when it's something that doesn't take as long. So WHEW. I think we have a plan!

I'm not super familiar with how either of those work as standalone courses. Or ARE they standalone courses? Would he be able to use them for full credit? Yes, we weren't going to use the standalone Saxon geometry since the material is interwoven in the other courses (which I love). I believe I may have all of the courses, so I may sit down (tonight?) and see how many lessons/test days are required to complete them all. The school he wants to go to requires 4 math credits, Alg. I and up. They also have this indexing thing where they plot them on this chart based on their SAT/ACT score and their GPA. It does, thank you! It looked like that information was geared toward math/engineering students? He doesn't have any interest in anything like that (I'm thinking he wants to do something medical...maybe nursing but he's not sure yet). Would the requirements be the same? Thanks so much for y'all's help. This situation is exactly why I answered the way I did on that thread I mentioned in my OP. Ugh ugh, and double ugh.

Oooooooh! We use his DVDs! I just might do that! Thanks for the idea!

Hmmmm there actually is! As part of his charter school he has access to our local community college for free, I believe. He may have to wait until his junior year, but I will ask the coordinator more about it. That is an option I had not thought of at all - thanks! Yes, we both have come to that realization and had been planning to do that. MUS is a four-letter word to him. It is the program that put him so far behind. No way, no how will I use that. The only way I even recommend it is if absolutely nothing else works for a student. Lial's BCM sort of worked. He did OK with it, but it didn't have enough review for him to stay up on things - he kept forgetting concepts in between the review sections. Saxon is working, and apart from the amount of time we have left issue, we've both been very pleased with it. He is really learning a lot with it. I'm EXTREMELY hesitant to switch away now that we have found something that works well. The stuff he's learning, he is REALLY learning - Saxon is the first program we've used that I've been able to say that with. I actually can't say that about Lial BCM. It did the job but honestly I wish we hadn't used it - I feel like it was a wasted year, to be honest. I wish I would have used Saxon 8/7 with him so that he could have just gone straight into Saxon Algebra I. BCM didn't prepare him to do that, which is why he's having to do a 2nd year of pre-algebra and use 1/2. Sigh. BUT for the sake of being open to everything, what is so different about Lial/Jacob's Algebra and geometry (other than the mastery vs. spiral)? He actually has requested using Lial's again, but there again, I saw how much he was forgetting in between. He just seems to really, REALLY grasp the math concepts better with Saxon At the very minimum he needs to get through Alg. I, II, and geometry. Now, with Saxon I know that is tricky beacause their geometry is interwoven throughout the books (which I LOVE), and their actual geometry "course" is part of Advanced Math. I'd love it if he could get through Advanced Math because I know he is CAPABLE of it, but time is what is truly getting in our way. Also I want him to be able to take the science courses he needs/wants to without the math pre-requisites getting in the way. In addition to being interested in the Marine Corps, he's interested in medical stuff (not sure which field at all though), so he needs a good foundation in science too. Good idea. He knows which college he wants to attend because they are the only ones with an NROTC program around here. Maybe we can do sort of a combination...cut out some of the unnecessary review on stuff he knows backward and forward and also utilize our community college options....

No, no offense taken. I'm sorry if I came back snarky. I am so. stinkin. frustrated about all of this, and I am just kicking myself and want to kick our previous curriculum about all of this. He really COULD use an extra year, simply because while he has made TREMENDOUS strides with his language ability (his Iowa scores went up 25 percentile points this last year, which is HUGE for him), he is still doing some heavy work on vocabulary and reading comprehension. He's behind in all subject areas (though not as badly as math) due to his language troubles and all the time we've spent working on remediating those. But when it comes to the realities of the situation, what do I know? I'm just the teacher. :glare: :glare: :glare: Oh OK, I see what you are saying. I forgot about that aspect. Sigh. Now I REALLY have no idea what to do. :( :( :(

Oh you're preaching to the choir there. In 8th grade I offered him an extra year prior to starting high school to get caught up so he wouldn't have to bust his hump so much in high school. Both he and my husband nixed that idea. I've offered him an extra year after 12th grade, but he hates that idea even worse. In fact, he WANTS to graduate in 3 years rather than 4, so he can start his college/military career sooner. I told him that was absolutely IMPOSSIBLE. :glare: Keep in mind, he isn't behind in math because he struggles. He is behind because of curriculum choices we've made in the past. Those curriculums didn't teach things that they should have, and we didn't realize it until after we had switched. We also have had to spend a lot of time remediating language issues (he has CAPD). Also he went through a period of time when he didn't think anything of it to just not do his schoolwork. (I'm thinking it's a 12-13yo thing...he went through it at that age, my 14yo went through it, and my previously diligent 12yo is in the thick of it now. :bored: ) So all of those things have set him back, not an inability to perform at grade level. How would completing Algebra I, II, Advanced Math end up as "little on his transcript"? That would be the same amount of math he would have normally done. I'm confused. Also, I posted here for suggestions on how to get him through the math he needs by the time he graduates. The graduation date won't be changing - that's why I asked for suggestions.

Saxon 1/2 doesn't have all the fact practice sheets and stuff like the younger levels do. It's just the lesson and then the review problems, which he needs. We actually came from mastery curriculums, and it took a ton of time just helping him remember how to do xyz because so much time would go by between uses of whatever the topic was. Spiral works so much better for us, and I'm kicking myself for not using it years ago. We wouldn't be in the mess we're in today if I had. :glare: I think my best bet might be to go through and only have him do the review problems that he actually NEEDS more work on. Concepts that he gets easily, I'll just have him skip. I also plan to sit down and figure out just how many lesson days are needed between now and the end of Advanced Math. That might give me a bit more of a road map over the next couple summers and such. AND I'll be able to speak in more specifics when he balks at doing his math on Fridays after being at the charter school all day.

He doesn't spend that much time on it EVERY day, but the day before yesterday, yes. I think he usually spends about 2-2.5 hours a day doing math though, simply because it takes him about an hour per lesson. That's why I started this thread and am asking. :D He and I don't want him spending 3 hours a day on math either. But we also can't figure out how to get him to where he needs to be either. He's not (he plans to be a Marine), but math is his best subject. (By "best" I don't mean that he's a math whiz...he's just stronger in math than in any other subject.) The ONLY reason he's been doing this much math is to get caught up to where he needs to be.

Summer was already a given, the poor guy. I like the 1.5 lesson idea though. I don't know if he'd be willing to do it on Saturdays. I have enough trouble getting him to do it on Fridays after he's been at his charter school all day. :glare: We can't really afford one, but I don't really know how much it would help since he understands it...he just can't cram it all in at once. That's a good idea. That's actually how this discussion came up - he asked if he could just do the odds like he did with Lial's. I told him no because then he'll miss some of the review that's so essential. But maybe I can look through and nix certain problems I know he doesn't need. Poor guy is just pooped. He spent 3 hours on math yesterday, and not becuase he wasn't understanding.

This sort of jives with a post from the General Board from a while back: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/436444-when-is-behind-really-behind/ Due to a mixture of things (poor curriculum choices, some laziness on his part, remediation of language issues, etc.), my 10th grader is behind, particularly in math. He did Lial's BCM in 9th grade, and I thought it would prepare him enough to start Saxon Algebra I this year. I was wrong. He was only able to start in Algebra 1/2, and he's about 3/4 of the way through. He has been doing 2 lessons a day, but it's finally starting to get to the difficult point to do that, so he wants to cut back to just 1 a day. How can I catch him up by the time he graduates? While I wouldn't consider him "gifted" in math, it is not a struggle for him. He is behind simply due to poor curriculum choices and choosing to not do his work some days in years' past. (That is not a problem now - he is very diligent with his work.) If he does just one lesson a day, I don't know that he'll be able to get through Advanced Math by the time he graduates. If he struggled in math I'd be totally fine with this. But since he doesn't...I'm not. Is it possible to catch him up without burning him out?

:iagree:We keep our fridge around 37 degrees so we'd definitely eat them without even thinking twice about it.

The vaccine is cultured in cells that have been reproduced from the cells of an aborted baby.

At this point I am OK with that. I'm mostly concerned about my older children.

My mom had it too. It was on her face and even got in her eye.:001_huh: She was able to get an antiviral shot to lessen the severity of it. She was so thankful for it! No, she hasn't started her cycles, and yes, I'm aware that it could be worse for my teens, and yes, I'm aware that they might not get it. As I shared, they've already been exposed twice. It is because of my teens that I hope they get it as soon as possible.

Oh, we are going to visit my in-laws. It is most certainly NOT a vacation.:lol: Yes, this.

Thank you.:001_smile: The varicella immunization is not going to happen here unless they change the way they manufacture it, so even though some (including a PA at our pediatrician's office) feel we are being "irresponsible" by purposefully exposing our children to it, we disagree because we know that the older they get without having had it, the more dangerous it is if they DO get it.

Oh yeah, I'm not expecting it to be over in one fell swoop. (To be honest, I'm fine with that because I'm so tired of all the running around in our life!;) ) I just am wanting my olders to get it before they are much older. We've been exposed twice in the past with nothing. One family came from Canada to visit us, and within a day of leaving our house (on their way home!), broke out in spots. I thought for SURE we'd get it that time...nope!

Thank you to those of you who provided information without debate, like I requested. It was exactly what I needed to know.:001_smile:

I talked to my friend. We won't be getting together prior to our trip (which is good; I truly have no time). So the only way my kids will get it is if her kids get it and mine get it from them. So have no fear.

Thanks! When I had it as a kid, I think my mom attempted just calamine lotion or something. What a joke LOL.

They mail our ballots, and then we drop them off somewhere. I think our closest drop-off location is our city hall.

Has your dad gotten the antiviral shot? My mom had shingles but was able to lessen the severity with an antiviral. She was so thankful for it. I know that my kids can't catch shingles, but they CAN catch chicken pox from someone with shingles.