See above post.... I am too tired to edit it right now :) Chelsea

Sequential spelling. My DS can't spell his way out of a paper bag. He is in 6th grade. He misses words on his 1st grade sisters lists - that she can spell! I remembered the other day that my oldest DS (9th grade) sis sequential spelling. I think we did level 1 and part of sequential spelling. Followed by apples in spelling. His spelling is not perfect BUT passable. Spell check and a little book my dad had and I bought a copy of - 20,000 most common mispelled words. Have helped. My dad is an engineer and has used this so much - he wore it out and had me buy and a new copy for him one year for Christmas or birthday. I bought a copy for my house hold as well. Spell well is great but if you butcher a word enough it won't catch it. I am a horible speller. My spellling only inproved after teaching my children spelling LOL. I never learned phonetics - i learned the "see it say it methos" they were experimenting with in AL when i started school. I do think spelling is important in life. It affects how people look at you. Just like i think hand writing is important - it says something about you and the pride you take in your work. If you can't spell - learn to use a dictionary. For most bad spellers spell check won't help. On the AVKO website it states that for homeschoolers doing 2 10 minute lessons a day (AM/PM) 365 days a year. you can complete 4 levels a year - they are 7 in all. I can not see anyone keeping that up for long - but maybe at first..... just completing one level could help a lot. At 12.95 a level and with the first 7 weeks on line what do you have to loose ? Chelsea

I showed my son the EPGY stuff. He thought it looked cool. He solved all the sample questions in the lectures before the answers were given in the pre-alg and Alg. samples. He wants to take the test next week over spring Break or the week we come back. Then he will need I guess the IQ testing done. We have never has any educational Psych testing done. He has always scored above grade level on his standard tests but that is all we have to go on. Then there is the cost of EPGY. It looks great but I would HAVE to have some financial aide. How do they determine need? Do higher educational testing, their EPGY test and standardized scores play a huge part in how much help you recieve?? Then I looked at Thinkwell, and Aleks. I saw that I think it was Aleks can be aligned with Lials. I was thinking of using Dolchiniani with him or Jacobs but if anyone can add any insite in using aleks with the intergrated sylabus I would love to hear about it. Think well looked good as well. What is the main difference between ALEKS and Thinkwell? I like the idea that we can try Aleks for 30 days. My son wants to do that as well. He is doing Saxon 8/7 ( new ed) now. So far he has not run into too much new. We are only on Lesson 40 though :) My son asked if he liked Aleks could it replace his math for the rest of the year??? Thoughts on that?? Can the thinkwell or aleks be alligned yourself to another test such as the Jacobs or dolchiani??? to be honest I may lean that way over buying a Lial book. I think he would enjoy Jacobs alg and I own Dolchiani and what I have heard about Lials I do not think it would be a good fit. My son is very strong in math but lags in the language arts department (surprise surprise) I would love to allow him to have a math program that he could move through at his own pace with out him having to wait on me to sit down and go over the lesson with him. Then I would have more time to work with him on improving language arts skills. I look forward to hearing your thought on another of my late night ramblings. said son just came out and told me to go to bed - or show him so more math stuff LOL. So i think I will go to bed :) Good Night! Chelsea

That wouls be great. And makes too much sense so it won't happen. I agree the TCAPS sitnk. I would much rather do the IOWA or the standford type test and then every states take it. Would be better to compare different states educational systems as well for PS. But it makes too much sense....

how funny.... but yet true. It seems that we as homeschoolers get our "panties in a wad" when anyone questions our methods, or even the fact we are homeschooling. I wonder did we as a group do better "educating" our children when we were scared someone would come knocking and demand to see just what were we teaching our children? NOw that it is legal in almost every state - have we as a whole gotten lazy?? I think it is easy to pigon hole ourselves when we are members of great groups like wtm, SL, Trisms, etc... That we think that every homeschooler does a great job with their kids. When I ran a homeschool support group in our area i found for a lot of children the few of homeschooling we gleem from being members of groups such as this one - do not necessarily reflect the real world. I won't dicuss particulars of these families here because some of you know me personnally and know the families. There are children out there who I do believe would be better off in school - than in the environment they live in daily. Again - should these families be reported?? I have been troubled by this Question. Ultimately i decided not to report the families because of the slippery slope that would start by opening that can of worms. I personnally believe we should not be afraid of testing, record keeping or gasp - looking at my curriculum and plans. In TN they are wanting every child to have to take the TCAPS. I say bring it on. I have my kids take the IWOA ro stanford every day. I do not teach the test - as they do in PS- and my kids do fine. I am not the "perfect" homeschooler either. I make grand plans every summmer - ultimately they get changed. I have switched alg I curriculums so many times I am surprised my son have not rose up in protest. My point it - if we are going to homeschool we need to do it well - no matter what method we choose. We need to prepare our children for the cold harsh realities of the world - I am talking Highschoolers not elemantary kids - let them keep some innocense as long as possible. it is our repsonsibility to make sure that when our children leave this house they are prepared so they can be an active participant in today's world. If they are to go to college to make sure they can function in a class room and can accept input from other sources other than mom. I would say that 99.9 percent of the people on this board - their children will be prepared for what ever life brings them. It is the other "hidden" world of homeschoolers that I worry about. In secruing our freedom to homeschool we have not left any ability for those children to get help.... I hope my ranting made some sense, Chelsea who was educated in PS and can not spell my way out of a paper bag :)

I do think this minority (I hope) of people who leave highschoolers to homeschool theirselves; gives people in general a poor idea of what most homeschoolers are like. Everyone has a different way of educating their children - like PS schools - some are better than others. I am dumfounded by the amount of parents I work with that pull their children out of PS to homeschool - and then continue to work full time! Night shift at that. They assign their kids their work and then go to bed because they have been up all night. Then the parents are angry because when they got up their teens - surprise surprise - did not do their work. IMO most kids that are motivated could probably eek out a fairly good ps education BUT if you are pulling your child out of school because he would not do his work there. What in heck do you think they are going to do at home left to their own devices??? YOu have to actually HOMESCHOOL them. Sit down with them, discuss their school work - bare minimum at least look through and make sure they did the work and check over it. I have one friend who took her child out of PS because she was pregnant. She was a sophomore. While it is great that this child "finished" 11th grade before the baby was born and then "finished" 12th grade in 6months. She did it all on her own while her mother continued to work full time night shift. The child scored a 14 on her ACT. Imagine what a child who was pregnant and then had a baby and finished the equivalent of 2 grades in one year; could have done had someone actually went over her school work with her?? I really do not understand it. I do not have a problem with un-schoolers (your children ARE learning just not in the same way mine are) and / or ecclectic schoolers - which I think to some extent we all are. Just if you are going to homeschool DO IT. Cartoons all day is not homeschooling. 2nd graders who can not write there name - shameful. Unless the child has special needs there is no reason why they should not be being educated. I could go on, and on.....what do you do when you know a child is being educationally neglected?? It is such a slippery slope to even open that can of worms. But don't we have a responsibilty to the chilren who - have not done school work in "years'?? Such a hard Questions with no simple answers......... Chelsea

thankyou ! Any other ideas or thoughts? What about Jacobs alg? Chelsea

I know this is the highschool board but most of you have been "there" with 7th grade children. My 12 yo son is currently working through Saxon 8/7. he should finish this over the summer. My Current thoughts for next year... A: have him work through The Teaching Company's Basic Math program and MUS geometry maybe Life of Fred Algebra book then into Dolchiani Alg I B: Finish 8/7 and go directly into Dolchiani Alg. I A: would have him doing Alg I in 8th grade B: Alg I in 7th grade. He wants to be an engineer of some sort - probably mechanical. Alg I in 7th grade would have a math sequence of 7th - alg I 8th - Jacobs Geometry 9th - Alg II - Dolchiani 10th - Saxon adv. math??? Or college alg at community college. 11th - Calculus or other math corse at community college. 12th - Calculus or other math corse at community college. Alg I in 8th grade would place him in adv math courses at an more mature age for tackling college courses and beign with older students. So what are the pros and cons of doing alg early and or waiting to do it in 8th grade?? BTW - he looked at my older sons work tonight in Dolchiani Book 1 - chapter 5 - took one look at the problem and solved it. Granted this is just one problem.. but he does this kind of stuff all the time. He seems to just "get" it. I look forward to hearing your words of advice and experience. Thank you! Chelsea

Thankyou so much for your thoughts. I am leaning towards LL midevil British and LLftLotR simutaneously. Not sure how yet :) My 7th grader will be doing LL 7 / 10th Grader LL Midevil British Lit Family - LLftLotR. What do you think? Chelsea

Thank you, I had already been to the website and i did not see it. I will look again though. Chelsea

I am looking at this as possibly a family study for boys 12 and 15 next year. We did ancients this year so 15 yo has read Gillgamesh. Homer, sophacles, etc... Younger son read easier versions of most of what older son read. Next year we are doing Middle ages. I see that Beowolf is discussed but what other books might it be good for the boys to be familiar with before starting the LOTR study. I was thinking of using the LOTR in Between the litterature books that we are scheduled to read - perhaps..... TIA Chelsea

ninth grade Math - Dolchiani Alg I English - So you want to learn English, Spelling the Easy Way, Vocabulary for the High School Student. Literature - History Odyssey Ancients Level I - plus a few added from WTM History - History Odyssey Ancients Level I - Used Spegielveil Wester Civ Instead of New World History World GEography - Hole - World Geography today Biology - Singapore Biology Matters, SAT II Prep book, Self Teaching Guide to Biology, Advanced disections, Abeka Lab Demonstation DVD (WELL WORTH IT - I found it used - Diesections are done step by step and she shows you exactly what you are looking at under a steroscope, Dpecimen kit from Home science tools. Lati I - So you Really want to Learn Latin book I Health - Abeka - health from the christian Perspective PE - Swimming, Boy scout hikes and gymnastics Typing - Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing Old Test History - Teaching Company - History of the old Testament and bible readings.

this looks pretty good. Those of you who have used it. What did you buy? Did you use anything else with it? Is it pretty easy to teach if you have limited Spanish skills? Thank you! Chelsea

And yet another avenue to explore.... thank you! I will be looking at this stuff later on tonight. Thank you!

Thank you! I will look int o the BJU products and the other books on Amazon. Chelsea

Thank you! Any resources you could recommend?? Chelsea

I would love to know the names of those resources. My spanish is VERY limited. basic greetings and some medical terminology since I work as an RN in an emergency department that is why I lean towards the rosetta Stone stuff:) I will look into some of the things you mentioned though. THank you! Chelsea

WTM recommends Rosetta stone or ( mind gone blank) Learnables??? at the end of the chapter they mentioned The Self Teaching Guide for Spanish. So thise of you who have been there what so you think? I am thinking about: Rosetta Stone the Level I-III Pack (Can use for 3 children so the cost is not so bad) Self teching Guide for Spanish for extra grammmar practice. and a Coversational Spanish Class offered at our red center. How does that sound?? Would this be enough for Spanish 1-3? I know I would need to add in some more grammar and writing practice - but what??? TIA Chelsea

Do you have a suggestion for a Spanish Text at the HS level??/ TIA Chelsea

I have been looking at the homeschool edition with the workbooks. IS this enough to count for HS Credit?? I will also have him attend a conversational Spanish Class at our rec center in addition. TIA Chelsea

We plan to use the Speilvogel Western Civ. For middle Ages (We started this year with ancients) Lightning Lit - Middle ages lit (1st semester) / Shakespeare tragedies or commedies for 2nd) Adding some literature from WTm not in the Lightning Lit. Will try to buy the teaching company lectures as well on Middle ages. HTH, Chelsea

I too get caught up in the "What curriculum is best" thought. I forgot that the reason I liked WTM is the "real books" focous. I will be taking my WTM off the shelf again tonight and reaquaint myself with what I REALLY wasnt to accomplist with my kids....... I must admist I was first turned off by this thread. There are so many different ways to accomplish an education for your child.... after readin gall the posts though it may me realize I need to re- examine my goals and not listen so much to the people I hang with. What works for them may or may not work for me and my family.....

I now want the TM ! I would definately like it for next year - alg II:) Chelsea

Dolchiani is a one year class. My plans for now 9th grader: 9th -Dolchiani Alg I 10th - Dolchiani Alg II 11th -Jacobs Alg 12th-Community College Now 6th grader 6th -Finish Saxon 8/7 ( he just started after christmas - so we will continue this into 7th grade) 7th - finish Saxon , Do Teaching Company Basic Math DVD's 8th - Dolchiani Alg I 9th - Dolchiani Alg II 10th - Jacobs Geometry 11th - Community College 12th - Community College As we all know plans may change but that is my plan for now:rolleyes: HTH Chelsea

I already own it :) It was given to me. I have not heard anything about the structure and method Geometry - it is not by dolchinani I believe. Night :) Chelsea