We haven't been doing formal spelling, grammar or phonics studies this year. I'd love to say it's because my students are awesome at all of those things, but alas, it's because they have fell by the wayside in favor of reading, science, math, and pet projects. What we have been doing is keeping lists posted on the wall of what we call Mystery Words. Mystery Words are words that we don't know, have questions about, or are just fun or unique for whatever reason. Mystery Words get looked up in the dictionary or Google. They get written down in their notebooks. They (and their definitions) are often copied down in the copywork book. Every few weeks, I take down the lists and we start over again. Sometimes I have my kids make booklets of their words, with illustrations. DD really likes doing that and DS2 will sometimes do it as well. It's a relaxed approach that is probably more supplemental than formal, but it works for us. It's encouraged them to hone their phonics skills and led to discussions about parts of speech, word structure, etymology, and plenty of other things. Mystery Words also sometimes make a guest appearance as a category on our Learning Jeopardy game days. Now that DS2 is old enough to participate, we actually have three contestants lol. Basically, I try to make grasping the concepts and mechanical workings of the English language fun and memorable. I think that is probably the most gentle approach for us prior to delving into formal studies. Next year I plan on introducing grammar as a subject with DD and DS1, and probably some formal writing as well. Maybe this helps? Maybe I'm just rambling. :001_smile:

I've had some success on Craigslist. I've sold book lots on eBay before as well. Our preferred strategy is to wait until April-June to sell. A lot of people are looking to buy curriculum for the next year that time of year in the US.

I agree with 908874. I think that maybe you shouldn't focus 100% on classics. Non-fiction is cool too, especially for curious kids who want to see how things work and why they came about and so on. Another thing that came to mind after my last post was that maybe your boy would be interested in Snap Circuits or Robotikits. He may be a touch too young though, plus I've found those sorts of things to be more a Dad thing in our household. I would also recommend a few books that my little guys really liked. We do a lot of science fiction for bedtime and read alouds. :) The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet -- This is a chapter book. Written in the 1950s and it's never went out of print, which is a testament to its greatness. It's a really good adventure story with young boy protagonists who take off on a trip to outer space in a ship they made themselves. The Time Machine and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Classic Starts series) -- These are shorter kid-friendly versions of the classic works by HG Wells and Jules Verne. My boys adored both of these. Great science-y adventure stories with lots of imagination. DK Eyewitness also has good reference style book on robots for kids. It's a bit outdated though. R Is For Robot is a cute robot themed alphabet book. What Do You Do With An Idea? is an awesome little book about ideas, confidence and a lot more. Good for character education, inspiration and just a neat little read.

I'll have to look into these apps and the Genki textbook. The apps may make a nice summer intro to Japanese to gauge interest. There's also a family at our church who lived in Japan for a length of time. Two of their kids are fluent and the oldest has done a few presentations/informal Japanese classes with the homeschool co-op/group. They were for 10-14 yo though, so DD wasn't old enough to attend the last time they were offered.

We have considered having him do FF on his own. I am on the fence as to whether or not he can handle it on his own though. He still needs quite a bit of handholding and oversight. I think he would get overwhelmed or just obsess over irrelevant things at this point. I'm looking for something that he can do on his own, but that has a monitoring component to help him stay on track. Plus I want him to have a bit more exposure to the German language before I leave him to own devices with FF. Since I can't really help him, he'll need to be more independent in seeking help and also in managing his time. I just don't think he's there yet. Duolingo looks really promising and we've used Memrise before for other subjects, so I think that is most likely path for us to take next year unless we find a curriculum that just wows us at this point.

We kind of do this multiple year for multiple kids approach. Ambleside Online is fairly comprehensive and can be tailored to individual kids and levels without much fuss. If nothing else, the booklists are a valuable resource, imho. AO also posts TONS of resources, like week by week lesson plans and ideas for art, music, and Shakespeare rotations. AO encompasses pretty much every area but math, if you want it to do so for your situation. I don't use it for everything, but you probably can. Best thing is you don't really have to purchase much formal curriculum (textbooks, workbooks) until your kids get older unless you feel the need to do so. SotW is another multiple year, multiple kid curriculum. Works great for history, language arts, and writing, as well as read aloud, dictation, narration and sometimes copywork. Math is really tricky though. I like Singapore Math, but different families/kids have different needs. It isn't a curriculum that lends itself to multi kid, multi year approach, imho. However, I believe that SM makes it easier to track your child's progress and see problem areas. My oldest uses Saxon because it works for him, but some find it dry and boring. Real Science 4 Kids is fairly easy to use for multiple kids at multiple levels. I have to do some extra work to seek out supplementary resources for my older ones, but it is pretty easy to use with the younger kids and it's pretty fun to do together with the whole family. I do rely on consumables more than I should. I'm a Kumon fangirl, and I'm not ashamed. The investments are worth it though because all of my kids like them and they are great supplements for the younger ones. I strongly suggest splurging on the Let's Fold, Let's Cut and Let's Paste workbooks if you have littles. They are great fun group activities for anyone doing Pre-K or K at home, I think. :) The Maze books are also really good. As for learning to teach, I think that some structure is good, but good teaching is somewhat intuitive. Only you know your kids, your family values, their passions, their learning styles, etc. Adjustments are necessary and curriculum that are really great when you're teaching a 6 year old and 8 year old and a gaggle of littles tend to wear themselves out by the time you're teaching a 12 year old, a 9 year old, and a gaggle of littles a few years down the road, in my experience. Jmho.

My oldest (12yo) expressed an interest in learning German this year, so we purchased Rosetta Stone Homeschool German for him. He is really NOT liking it, complains about it being boring and his progress is fairly non-existent. He says that he still wants to continue studying German, just not with Rosetta Stone. He's pretty good with languages despite having a lingering speech impediment and not being very verbally oriented. We did Fluent Forever Spanish on our own for 5 years with pretty good success. He likes flashcards and rote memory tasks a lot. He is also very auditory and has to have a curriculum that features a strong auditory component. I would have done FF with German, but I just don't have the time to whip up a DIY curriculum for a language that I know little about. So we thought that Rosetta Stone would work well enough. ------------- DD (9yo) wants to start studying Japanese next year. I don't think she would do well with Rosetta Stone and I haven't found much else out there that I think would be appropriate for her. Any ideas? Anyone else doing Japanese with non-high school level students?

I would do an interest-based theme unit. What is your little interested in? What does he want to learn about? What sorts of things do you want to do with him at this stage? I'd say it's a special treat to just have one child to focus on. I really enjoyed just having DS2 at home last year and kind of miss it on crazy days now that I have 6 nerdlings in the nest most times. Also be sure to make plenty of time for play, trips to the park and such. That was actually my favorite part of just having DS2 around. I could take him places and really connect with just him. We had a lot of good conversations and fun times doing things like making picnic lunches, playing in the snow, tackling the climbing wall at the big park together...

My Ideal K Curriculum: Varies by child, ;) I've only homeschooled one K, because my two older kids went to school for K due to me working at the time and juggling multiple littles. Last year, my K boy was already reading, writing, and ready to do serious school so he did all first grade level stuff. This year, my K boy is still doing Pre-K. So I guess next year he'll be doing "real" K level stuff. --------------- My Tentative Plans for K Next Year: READING/LANGUAGE ARTS: Ambleside Online Year 1 (currently doing Y0) All About Reading Level 1 (probably just supplemental usage) Mom-made Phonics Games MATH Singapore Math Essentials and Earlybird Kindergarten Mathematics Kumon G1 level workbooks Math Minutes and other drills SCIENCE RS4K Chemistry and experiments with siblings. Lots of books. HISTORY Story of the World 1 (next year we restart the cycle...) Lots of books. FAITH This is up to DH, since I don't teach subjects related to this. Probably some Daddy devotionals and Seeds Family Worship and other scripture memory songs.FOREIGN LANGUAGE Fluent Forever Spanish. This is DIY, using resources I've made for my kiddos. Little Pim Spanish Spanish language DVDs from the library. ART Artistic Pursuits Ambleside Online artist rotations Drawing Lessons with DD (she wants to teach her little brothers how to draw so that they can help her realize her dream of making her own anime...) PE continue Tae Kwan Do, Irish Dance, and Ballet lessons free play at home MUSIC continue piano lessons 2x weekPENMANSHIP Handwriting Without Tears, Kindergarten level and maybe grade 1OTHER Lego Lessons with DS1 Train time if he's still into that Speech Therapy starting in May Summer Sports camp in July Cub Scouts, maybe ----- Most of this is probably doable, with the exception of Artistic Pursuits. Probably not going to happen because I am just not that sort of hs mom. Not crafty and frankly, only DD has any real interest in art at this point. DS2 isn't ready for a formal art curriculum and basically just likes to paint and scribble. So formal art would be a stretch for him. A lot of what is on here isn't so much an ideal for him but is realistic because of my older kids. He'll study what they study and we'll do the best that we can to make sure that he makes progress.

I would suggest Real Science 4 Kids. They have elementary and middle school level chemistry curriculum available. We were going to do chemistry this year, but opted to do astronomy for the older ones and physics for the younger one who is ready for science. We'll be doing chemistry together as a family next year, so we're looking forward to that.

Our Experience: DS1 and DD both went to public school for K. DS1 went to school until halfway through second grade. We dissatisfied with the level of services of local school system was providing and disagreed with their decision to mainstream him in second grade. He did not adjust well, so we withdrew him and kept his sister in the local school for K until the end of the year. We hs'ed everyone for 2 years. Then in 2014, I had some health issues and we had to re-evaluate our educational plan. We decided to place the oldest in a small private school near our home at the time. My MIL stepped in and continued to homeschool DD and DS2 until the end of the school year. DD went to public school last year for third grade. The two youngest went to a church-run preschool/day care program 3 days a week up until last summer. The hardest part was definitely the pick up and drop offs, along with all of the activities we were doing at the time. Activities fell by the wayside. DD stopped doing ballet because it conflicted with other activities. We stopped doing so many church activities. We managed, but barely. If you are very organized and have a DH that is willing and able to help, that's great. Definitely look into carpooling. If your area has public transport, maybe your oldest could utilize that too? Stay on top of schedules and make sure any kids who are outside the home are aware of the schedule too. Last spring we discovered that #6 was on the way. We decided to try homeschooling everyone again because I'm a glutton for punishment. Plus I just couldn't continue to spend 2-5 hours a day in the van with all of the kids and a newborn. Just NO. :scared: ------- I wouldn't feel bad about my kid going to ps or private school or whatever, and my other kids homeschooling. Sometimes you have to do what needs to be done and sometimes that involves different strokes for different kid-folks.

It's a puberty thing. My oldest started going through the space cadet thing at 11, right before puberty REALLY started. Now he's in the full swing and we've had some adjustment issues. He doesn't space with math, but reading, writing, Rosetta Stone, copywork, Bible... What worked for mine was to structure his workflow so that he didn't have to read as much. Just listen. More reading aloud, more audiobooks, more video lessons. I also let him do "Lego Lessons" with DS2 and DS3 a few afternoons a week. He teaches them how to build things he has already built, older kits, that sort of thing. They spend time together, he gets to focus on something he loves, it's a good reward for those longer days when things haven't gone so smoothly. I also let him spend time playing guitar in the basement when he needs to "chill out". I set a timer and 15-20 minutes of guitar time can really work wonders for him in terms of stopping the puberty space out blues, lol. I'm also a big fan of backyard recess for my kiddos. Just because DS1 is 12 doesn't mean that he doesn't need to run around and doesn't enjoy bouncing tennis balls off of the house, climbing trees or riding his bike around the neighborhood with no particular goal in mind. Sometimes I think he needs that downtime more than the others. He is also in TKD and has been since age 6. He's not competitive, but I think that the discipline and the physicality of TKD has really helped him to manage his energy level over the years.

We only do school 4 days per week now. We go year round, only taking brief period off for family time and holidays. Birthday Policy: We kind of consider birthdays to be holidays. DS1's b-day is close enough to Christmas that it gets rolled in with the general holiday hullabaloo. DD and DS4's birthdays are both close to the 4th of July, so we just take a couple weeks off around that time and celebrate both b-days and the 4th with a family trip if we can. The other three have birthdays scattered throughout the year, but we just take the birthdays off as a family if we can and go out for a celebration then. Illness Policy: We work around it if we can. The older two (ages 12 and 9) will usually stay in their rooms. I will assign them a documentary to watch on Netflix or YouTube and they are expected to write a journal or do a narration on it. They will usually do some exercises from their Kumon workbooks and maybe some math worksheets if I feel it necessary. DD will also do penmanship and they will both be expected to do their copywork exercises. Reading, drawing, Lego, and that will round out a sick day's worth of studies for them. DS2 is 6 and when he is ill, I will usually put him in in the guestroom/office on the futon. I allow him to watch to educational programs (Word World, Wild Kratts, Leapfrog, Odd Squad) and I will have him do narrations to make sure he actually paid attention. He will do exercises from his Kumon workbooks. I will give him a stack of coloring pages and some crayons to keep him busy. I also allow him to play games on the tablet because I'm not a perfect parent, lol. My three littles are too little to be trusted for extended periods of time while ill. Generally, if one or more of them is ill, I give the older kids a light sick day's worth of study and send the older ones off to grandma's if she can take them. She will drill them and make sure they get some music and reading time in, at least. If the baby is sick, I do the best I can to keep the older ones going while caring for him. Thankfully, we've only had a few bouts of illness so far this year. Mostly Mommy's bronchitis and DS3's ear infections, booooo. ------- Do the best you can, that's all any of us can do. :)

We've got the opposite issue, as you can see in my sig. One girl and FIVE boys! I worry a lot about her sometimes, but as she's gotten older, I've seen that it's not always a bad thing. She is much more resilient than most girls her age in terms of bouncing back from teasing and such. She is much more comfortable around boys than most young girls are and seems to be more confident as well. Like she isn't afraid to go up to a group of boys and ask them to spar at TKD or to ask a group of kids at church if she can sit with them or whatever. I think that comes from her constantly having to stand up for herself in a group of wild and outspoken brothers. Plus she is very close with my oldest, even though they are three years apart. They're a great team, she's outgoing, he's the workhorse basically, lol. I have taken care to put her in "girl" activities like dance classes because we felt that she needed to be around more girls when she was about 5-6. She wasn't too keen at first, but has grown into it over the years and really looks forward to spending time with her girlfriends at class and camps and such. So I guess my recommendation would be to find something(s) that is male-dominated that he is interested in. Scouts, sports, Mathletes, Science Olympiad, Lego, there are plenty of things out there that would fit the bill as he gets older.

Hey there! :hat: I'm Nerdybird. 30 something lady STEM nerd with 6 nerdlings in the nest. We love science, math, nature, board games and art. DS1 has significant learning delays associated with PDDNOS, and speech issues, along with a real gift for music and a strong interest in building things and tinkering. DD has ADHD, loves dance and Tae Kwan Do, and has recently fallen in love with anime. Spends a lot of time drawing and is currently trying to "anime-ize Frozen" in her sketchbook. DS2 is very smart, but also a bit of a wildman who likes climb things. Loves to read and has recently discovered chess. :willy_nilly: DS3 is transitioning from Pre-K to K this year. Taking things slow since he has speech issues. Spends most of his time playing with his trains. DS4 is a bright 3yo Preschooler who likes painting, banging on the keyboard and hanging out with his older brothers. DS5 is a baby. We're still working on the basics like not screaming during math time and not puking on his sister during SotW time. :thumbdown:

:iagree: That's where I stand at the moment. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as earning/deserving a good education. No one is guaranteed the right to a good school (a safe school, maybe, but a good school, no.) Good teachers are hard to find and harder to keep. The problem is that there really isn't any consistent measure (other than test scores, which are not an indicator of much, imho) to judge the quality of teachers. Parents can say that Mrs. X did a great job, that Johnny loved her class and got an A in it, but you can probably find others would say that Mrs. X was not a good teacher at all, Janie failed her course twice, etc. I am on the fence here. Homeschooling is not available to the masses without a lot of sacrifice. Not all parents are capable of homeschooling and homeschooling is not a wise choice for every given circumstance. Some public schools do fail the students and communities that they are supposed to serve and support. Not all public schools fail to provide decent educations to the students in their care though. Some (mostly the very well-funded ones) are comparable to private prep schools and offer a wide variety of services, activities and opportunities to their student bodies. Public schools are sometimes guilty of falling asleep and driving the educational process into the ditch though. They are supposed to be providing everyone who comes through the door with a basic education (3 R's and an exposure to books, music, art and sports). Often times, they tend to focus on being the surrogate family (providing food, talking about relationships, socialization, counseling, interventions, etc) and not on the educational process. When a family chooses to homeschool, they can provide the type of education their child needs and/or the type of education that they desire. They have much more freedom to modify things. Homeschool families can provide the type of socialization they want their children to have and don't have to worry about pleasing the community at large in most cases, whereas public schools do. The number one indicator of student success in school is parental income. and 25% of American children now grow up in poverty. I'd argue that one of the main factors as to why our society and our educational system are both decaying in the US is tied to these factors. There are plenty of families where both parents are working, but still struggling. There are others where a single parent works 50-80 hours a week a 1 or 2 jobs just make ends meet. What time is there for enrichment activities? How much time do these parents spend reading to their kids or playing with them? Or even talking to them? Academic success is not entirely about the ability to afford testing and test prep, summer camps and the latest iThing. Some of it is, but not all of it. Academic success hinges in part on literacy, exposure to the written and spoken word, understanding of one's native language and perhaps another language in addition to that on. Academic success is also linked to mathematical literacy as well. Knowing how to handle money is part of that package. Sadly, many adults do not have literacy in either area. Most don't realize what they are lacking, so they don't know that they need to address these things with their children. They assume that it is the school's job to teach their kids to read, to provide books for them to read, to teach them how to do arithmetic, to teach them how to handle money, and all sorts of other things. The schools usually try to provide these things, but parental involvement is key. If reading isn't important in the home and there isn't anything to read, it is unlikely that kids will read. If the kids never have any incentive to learn or apply math to their lives, they won't do so. Schools can assign homework, but if Mom is working 2 jobs and the kid(s) are at a low budget baby-sitter's house with a half dozen other kids until she gets off of work, who is going to help them with the homework? Will it even get done? There was another thread a couple of weeks ago that talked about this sort of thing....HERE is a link to my post there. The rest of the thread is a good read as well for those who may have missed it. :)

ITA. I suspect this is the case. Non-Chinese or Non-Chinese American students with Chinese on their transcripts woulds stand out by this measure. Especially if they sat for an AP exam and were able to pass it or score in the 4-5 range. /end thread derail/

I am located in the Midwest, where Chinese is not widely taught nor tested for at the secondary level. My initial thoughts are that yes, Chinese would be something novel if you were looking to catch the attention of an admissions official. Perhaps it is not so much about scores as it is about exposure to me. I am considering switching DS1 to Chinese or Japanese in a couple of years. He is starting to get bored with Spanish and isn't visually oriented enough for Latin, imho. What do the percentages mean though? Let's say you have 100 students sitting for the Chinese exam and 74 of them score a 5. ~20 score a 3 or 4. Roughly 6 would fail with a 1 or 2. Compare those 100 to the 1,000 taking the Spanish exam. There we have 718 scoring a 3 or higher, with roughly 250 scoring a 5. Let's take 2 groups of bright students with a 4.0 GPAs who scored 4 or 5 on all APs and tested within the top 10-20% on the ACTs and/or SATs. If it really comes down to splitting hairs to decide who gets chosen to get into a particular school or gets a scholarship offer, which pool stands out ever so slightly? The 1-2 students who took Chinese or the 10-20 who took Spanish? That's my line of reasoning, fwiw. Don't feel bad; I did too. Now I remember why I wear reading glasses, lol

It really depends on how you list it on the transcripts and how in depth your coursework is in Spanish. Sure, you could do Spanish IV and in all likelihood, that is the path of least resistance. However, my initial suggestion was only meant to be taken IF the student was pursuing Organic Chem that year. The initial suggestion was swapping out Spanish IV for Latin I/II on the premise that Latin would be a lighter and potentially more useful course. Chinese would be a suggestion if you were looking to add some variety to a transcript. Tons of kids will be coming through with Spanish IV on their transcripts. Some kids with Spanish V or other equivalents. Few kids will coming through with any Chinese. Even a single year of Chinese could potentially be impressive to a perspective school since so much of our industry here in the States is tied to China nowadays. Even more competitive would be to up the ante by taking as much Chinese as possible and counting credits towards that for actual college admission. 2-3 years of Chinese study is a very formidable and respectable task and something useful and impressive, imo. If the OP's DD studies at an accelerated rate year round, she may very well finish Spanish IV by Y9 anyway, or be very close to doing so. Then OP could list Spanish III and IV on the transcript, do a light year or two of Latin or pursue Chinese and she would still have 2 years of FL on the transcript. You could list AP Maths, but isn't that only if the you sit for and pass the AP exams? Also, IIRC (can't see the post atm) the OP was not listing DD's Y7 and Y8 maths on the transcript. If that's the case, DD would be sans at least one year of algebra on the transcript. How do you explain that? Or do you really have to if your student is accelerated? I suppose it depends on the school's requirements and how much the student completes by the end of high school years. One can plan on making it through 2-3 years of calc in high school but that doesn't mean that the student will actually complete them in the timeframe given.

Only commenting on math and science. You are using an integrated approach to maths, which is a bit different than the traditional scope of maths here in the US. If you are listing math on transcripts, you may want to check and make sure that your college(s) of choice accept Integrated Maths IF you are listing them as such. Personally, I would list her maths as follows: Y7 - Algebra 1 Y8 - Algebra 2 Y9 - Trig + Statistics (Statistics is often a semester course, so it could be taught concurrently with Geometry and there would be no big loss there Y10 - Pre-calculus (This is the kicker. I'd want to be done with Pre-calc by the end of Y10. However, I wouldn't rush through Algebra to get there.) Y11 - Calculus (I would not CLEP Calculus. This is a foundational course for STEM majors. Dual enrollment would probably be a better option. Or direct enrollment in a transferable online or CC-taught course.) Alternatively, if it is a sound idea, you could list her maths as such: Y7 - Integrated Maths 1 (Algebra 1 + Geometry) Y8 - Integrated Maths 2 (Algebra 2 + Geometry) Y9 - Integrated Maths 3 (Stats + Trig + Intensive Algebra Review) Y10 - Pre-calculus Granted, if she works through summers, she will likely be able to start Pre-calc midway thru Y9. That would have her finishing Pre-calc midway through Y10 and may free her up to take a semester course or simply move right into Calculus 1, Calculus AB or whatever Calculus you are using. Sciences She should read at least one science themed non-fiction book each semester. Carefully selected and discussed, of course. If you want to assign writing, I would assign it based on these and not her actual science curriculum books. I would also look into opportunities for Science Olympiad if there is a group in your area. Y7 - Biology Summer: Consider looking into a programming or robotics project or course for her. Purchase a kit or two and let her experiment with it. Give her some reading to do as well. Y8 - Chemistry + Anatomy and/or Microbiology course. (I'd do semester courses or look for a solid online course and purchase dissection kits.) Summer: Anat or Micro course if not done during the year. Free study of CAD, programming, modeling, or robotics. Possible science camp. Y9 - Physics (Supplement with problem solving and hands on building projects) + Intensive Chemistry Review and Additional Labs + Research Project or Science Fair Project. (Something that will make her stand out when it comes time for college applications and portfolios.) Summer: Supplemental Astronomy, Zoology, Botany, and/or Geology units. Programming or robotics course if interested. Possible science camp. Y10 - Intro to Organic Chem @ Home. Find an online course (iTunes U, Open Courseware, other option) that will teach the basics. Have her work slowly through the text(s) of your choice. She should participate in a science fair, essay contest, internship or other outside science endeavor during this year as well. Summer: Continue study of Organic Chem @ Home. Prep for whatever College-level courses she will take in fall. Internship, maybe. Possible job opportunity if available. Y11 - Chemistry @ College or Dual Enroll. Summer: ??? Y12 - Biology @ College or Dual Enroll. Work or internship opportunities. That is serious science. Yet if she is truly interested and engaged, it will keep her going. I hope she stays hungry for the sciences. Other: I would trade out Spanish IV for Latin I/II if you decide to do Organic Chemistry in Y10. This would possibly give her a light course to put on her transcript that will also help her down the road. Science has lots of Latin terms scattered throughout. Some classical science works are written in Latin as well. It's good knowledge to have if you are doing anything in the S fields or the M fields. If you are looking to challenge or give her a leg up on the competition, you could also swap out Spanish IV with Chinese. But that would not be for the faint of heart! Final Thoughts: I'd move Composition and Rhetoric to Y9 or Y10, if she is ready. It could remain a summer course or be paced throughout 1-2 school years. Rhetoric is important in STEM fields and strong writing skills are essential for college courses, imo. That would also potentially lighten her course load for the first year of college. The workload in Y10 and/or Y11 should be relatively light. You should plan for Organic Chemistry + whatever math she is doing that year to be the primary focus subjects and for all else except studies of faith to take a backseat during this year. Not that they should be neglected. Just that they should not be a priority over Organic Chem and Maths during that year. Not listing courses is a bit strange to me as well. I can understand not listing Middle Grade courses, but anything she takes from Y9 on out should be listed on the transcripts, imo. Otherwise, the persons looking at the transcript will assume that she hasn't taken X course(s) and it may cause confusion and chaos come time for dual enrollment or actual enrollment.

:iagree: As it stands now, the ones that can afford to get out of bad situations, do. Either by tutoring, afterschooling, private lessons or by transferring to private or parochial schools. Maybe gaining entrance to a magnet or charter. Maybe homeschooling if the family is able and it is an option for them. Many are left behind, but what hope is there for improving the system for all? Those are left behind are most likely kids who are dependent on the welfare state and schools to provide food and a basic education to them. They aren't complaining about test scores or shoddy textbooks or the need for new desks or more books in the library. They want new gyms to showcase their kids athletic skills. Equipment so their kids can play sports. Reliable buses to get them back and forth from school. Free lunches because they can't afford to feed their kids at home. A lot of the systemic inequalities we are seeing now are the result of forced integration in the 60s and 70s, coupled with the white flight of the 80s and 90s. Rising immigrant populations and the increasing amounts of second and third generation single parent families play a role too. Thinking is risky business. ;) Don't do too much of that! Lol. I have seen "Waiting for Superman". I've also seen "The Lottery" and "The War on Kids". All of these films made me sad because I saw the desperation, the aspirations of parents who want better, who work hard, and want their kids to do better than they are...but they know that if they don't get a spot at XYZ Academy, their chances of becoming anything other than a service drone are ever dwindling. I believe that the American Dream hinges upon education. It is disheartening to realize that so many children and young people aren't getting a shot at obtaining a strong foundation to build their American dreams upon.

:iagree: This is part of the reason why moved towards more store-bought toys in recent years. When DD and DS2 were younger, I let them roam and play with everyday objects. Shoebox houses, plastic bottle castles, toilet paper roll turrets, yogurt cup "rocks", all that sort of thing. When we moved into our current home, I realized that having 3 small boys roaming around getting into things was a disaster waiting to happen. So we've invested in the Geotrax, Moonsand and a few other things to keep them entertained. The clutter with homemade stuff is nice if you have space for it, but in a situation where you have 3 kids sharing a single bedroom and very limited space in the common areas of your home, it just isn't a viable option. So I send them outside to be creative with chalks and whatever else we have out there for them to mess with. Currently, they like playing with mud, catching bugs, re-building their fort (old tarps balanced over the edge of our deck), and dragging their new Rescue Heroes on their plastic toboggan. DD has made a small "secret hangout for horses", complete with a cardboard sign taped to the fence, lol. Kids are creative. Don't mind the mess. :)

I haven't gotten to high school with mine. Here is what I can remember from my own high school experience and also what I gathered from helping my nieces and nephews at various times in the recent past. And conversing with my SIL, who is currently hs-ing a high school boy. Biology -- Lab reports 1-2x month. Research paper each semester. Chemistry -- Lab reports when assigned. Research paper each semester. End of year major project that require extensive research and a 7-10 page paper. :-O Physics -- No lab reports. We kept a record of experiments that our instructor went over every so often. The only time I remember writing anything of note is when we had to write a paper based on an important discovery in the world of physics since WW2. He made it seem fun to do all of the research and we had lengthy discussions about various topics. Programming -- semester course. No papers. Just labs. Anatomy -- Lots of dissections. Lots of lab reports. I opted not to do a research paper and made a presentation about the "computer of the brain" and how the human mind can be hacked. :D I think that there can be as little or as much writing as you want there to be in upper level sciences. Personally, I think that biology and its sub-fields are the ones that lend themselves most easily to research projects and writing. Physics and chemistry should be focused on the work, the math, the facts, etc. And of course, have fun with it. Too often the hard sciences are thought of as boring and pointless, when in fact they are incredibly interesting and wonderful. There is a great deal of math in science and I wouldn't jump on board with supplementation right away. Unless your curriculum of choice is very light on the math, that is. Take the time to focus on math-math, especially algebra. Spend 3 years there if you have to and do geometry last. Problem solving skills and familiarity with formulas, equations, and the metric system are musts, imo.

I've found that kids will make toys out of just about anything. They loved playing with plastic cups that I purchased at a yard sale last year. Stacking, filling them with water, throwing water at each other in the back yard, using the dig in the sand and dirt, using them to catch crickets and grasshoppers, to collect rocks, to make "mudshakes"... Poker chips were another favorite. Paired with two divided containers that my MIL found during a basement purge, they were used as everything from play money to sorting games to make "roads" for the Lego minifigs to cross. Boxes are great for creative play. DH works around large computer equipment and his workplace frequently gets large and unusually shaped packages. Sometimes as a treat, he will bring home a "special box". DD and DS2 LOVE these boxes and will spend hours decorating them to look various things (Canterlot, Ponyville, an airplane, a cave, a "home for forgotten mermaids"...it's fun. Except for when it rains or the box tears up...then it has to go in the trash and that's a sad day for them. Old pillowcases, soap bars, abandoned pots and pans, margarine buckets, wooden utensils, hula hoops, ping pong balls, milk jugs, egg cartons, brooms...my kids have made games or toys out of just about any and everything, lol.

Charter admissions can very greatly by district in my current state of residence. Right now, there are only about 2 dozen districts that offer charters, mostly larger ones. The district I currently live in operates 2 charters. One is high school only and operates as a school-within-a-school for at-risk youth. It is an example of the special ed/remedial funding preference talked about upthread. Most of the students in the program (from what I gather through the local media outlets and a few friends with high school aged kids) are either ESL students or teen moms. The program has a high drop out rate (only 40% of its 4 year students graduate; even less of the later entrances do.) The goal is to get these kids to graduate, but honestly...I don't think it is working. The other charter is for K-5 and is by application only. There is a lottery for open spots. They had trouble filling their base spots at the upper levels though. Many of the kids that applied didn't pass the entrance exams. Some of them ended up returning to the public school because they couldn't keep up. I think that this may be the case for a good portion of charter students, especially those in academically rigorous charters. If a student falls behind, they may end up leaving the charter due to low grades or family pressure at the upper levels. Some charters have contracts stating that they can suspend or expel students for reasons that don't fly in public schools. Others essentially function as surrogate families for their students. If they don't, the charter doesn't thrive because many of the students have little or no stability at home, or even access to basics like food, transport, laundry services, computers, etc.