My daughter likes Mr. R's lectures. They can be a little long, but he does seem to "know his stuff" by making the lectures informative. The screenshots are only there to supplement his lecture. He goes from slide to slide/web page to web page to supplement whatever he is talking about at the time. The wiki pages are not meant to be read, sometimes if he is talking about an element (Chemistry), he will show a picture of the element's Wiki page so the students can see the element's chemical formula/picture while he discusses it. If he is talking about a certain figure in the textbook, it will be on one of the slides/tabs for students to see while he discusses it. He also goes through the fill-in-the-blank notes throughout the class. If there are calculation problems, he will upload the problem onto the screen and ask the class to solve it, then he will scroll down and go through the solution and explain it to the class. My daughter also took one of the recorded classes a while ago. I believe the "limited time" length was one school year (August - May), if I am not mistaken. He can be a little abrasive at times, but if I am not mistaken, he and his wife are a two-person team handling over a thousand students, so I understand. Everything is pretty specific in his class--make sure that your formatting in formal reports is correct, title your subject lines correctly, if you have any questions about due dates, look at the Student Notebook, and there is a pretty specific question/answer lingo (? for question, y for yes, n for no, ! for answering a question, m for me, etc.,) in the chat, but this is really all to make things correct and concise. To be fair, a lot of the questions the students in my daughter's class asks is in the Student Notebook or he has previously mentioned it before. Overall, this experience has actually helped my daughter to be more careful and double-check before submitting. I would say that my daughter has learned a lot from both Dr. Wile's text and Mr. Rosenoff's class.

Can I pm you what i have currently for a transcript?

Will the course description also be on the transcript? (i.e. page 2 on the back), or will it be on a separate form entirely? Somewhat related question: Instead of the "Credits" column on the homeschool template I linked to above, I instead wrote down "Final Grades Breakdown" and was just planning to do First and Second Semester Breakdown along with First, Second, Third, and Fourth Quarter Breakdown the the little space provided. I'd be happy to attach what I currently have, please let me know if anyone looking at this thread wants to see it.

I have decided to do homeschooling for my advanced daughter for 8th grade. I am hoping that she will get accepted into Phillips Andover/Exeter for high school. Anyways, we wanted to know if we were doing this entire homeschooling curriculum correctly and if it is in compliance. English: English composition at "The Potter's School" Literature class at Scholars Online Science: Honors Biology @ Red Wagon Tutorials Honors Chemistry @ Red Wagon Tutorials Math: Intermediate Counting and Probability @ Art of Problem Solving An advanced math course at EIMACS, not sure about that yet. Languages: Latin I @ Lukeion Extracurriculars: She's on a swim team Volunteer work: 4H and volunteering at local humane society History: Still haven't found a course yet. Looking for one! :) Please let me know if I missed anything. For a homeschool, are we required to have electives such as Art and Music? For music she does piano lessons, will that count or will it have to be something like "Music Theory"? Each of these courses I believe provides a letter grade, so we were planning to list these courses, along with provider, grade, and GPA on the transcript. I was also planning to attach final grade course proof from each of her teachers, along with a detailed course description. Is this enough "grade proof" or the "transcript" for applying to Phillips Andover/Exeter? If your child takes different classes from different courses like I am planning to do above, please list your experiences and how you wrote your transcripts. Would I be required to write down the specific course title (i.e. Intermediate Counting and Probability vs. "Advanced Math") I am planning on using the sample transcript on here: http://donnayoung.org/forms/planners/hs-transcript.htm. Click on the transcript that is "donated by the Brzowski family". I have been looking at this article: http://www.exeter.edu/admissions/109_homeschooledstudents.aspx I've been worried about making the transcript and providing enough substantial proof of her grades. I would really like my daughter to be homeschooled for eighth grade so she can take the advanced and challenging courses she needs to take. Thanks! :)

Has anyone had any experience with Alexandria Tutorials?

swimmermom3---- I have no doubt that Ms. Inspektor is a great teacher. I was just adding in that factor so that the parent I was responding to would know about the none online classes,, because it may factor in their decision. But her daily Morning Messages are quite good My daughter took Ms. Valle's asynchronous Expository Writing and it was highly beneficial, with no online classes.

@LNC: I wrote a review about the AIM Academy Pre-AP English class on this thread, if you would like. My daughter took her class. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/504043-9th-grade-english-class-as-prep-for-pa-ap-english/?p=5527732

@sully91: From what I have seen, Ms. Mulvihill seems like a good/okay teacher. Not exceptional, but pretty decent. My other daughter will be taking her Home2Teach class so I can let you know how that goes. Thanks for letting me know, snowbeltmom! :)

Sorry for the very many posts! Ms. Inspektor recommended me to have my daughter take a literature course before her AP English course. I have been looking for several english "tutorial" courses (such as Laurel Tree Tutorials, Bandusia Tutorials, Alexandria Tutorials, etc.,) Elena Valle at Bandusia Tutorials is expecting her second child so her classes are on hold Rebekah Randolph at Laurel Tree is trying for her second child, so her classes are also on hold Ms. Skiles at Captive Thought Tutorials her class was filled up Matthew Turnbull at Alexandria Tutorials seems to be good, has anyone taken his "Great Books I" literature course? Are there any other "tutorial like" courses I should know about?

@sully91: Matryoshka earlier posted that her child had taken a middle school AIM Academy (but with Lauren Bailes). Which teacher are you looking at? The only one I have seen is the AP English by Lilli Serbicki .... After the whole unproductive year with Ms. Bailes I am not trusting Debra Bell's judgment :( , but it is your opinion on which you choose. I am only thinking of signing up for Lili Serbicki's class, but afraid it will be another Ms. Bailes scenario as both have high credentials.... @snowbeltmom: I see your two sons are taking the eIMACS Computer Science I & II. My daughter is taking Computer Science I and loves it! :) How is the II from the I? Is it considerably harder? Challenging?

Which PA Homeschoolers AP English class are your children taking? Maya Inspektor is VERY GOOD. :) From Ms. Inspektor's reply to our email, to her examples of daily homework, it seems like she is a highly credible and dedicated teacher. The only thing I would be cautious about is the lack of live online class, instead there are daily "Morning" / homework messages, but you can email her at any time.

I recently updated my review on the Pre-AP English class. @Matryoshka: My daughter experienced the same thing that your child had. I sent her an email about the issue but instead she replied about how on some essays my daughter turned in late, and never answered my question..... :\ By the way, in her reply to your email...did she mention about how your child had to turn in all essays within two weeks to get feedback? My daughter just received a "Late." even if she turned in her assignments a day later..... In answer to your question, she mainly just had a first draft and a final draft, or all in one. Occasionally there was a "thesis, outline, intro, and conclusion paragraph" assignment but that seemed like a bit much without input. Right after that was the essay, then moved on to a different array of topics. Very similar to your child's middle school class, unfortunately :( --------------------------------------------- Elena Valle at Bandusia Tutorials is an excellent teacher. My daughter took her for asynchronous lessons in Expository Writing. She's engaging, gives PARAGRAPHS of extensive revisions, and is a very sweet and nice person. However she is expecting her second child so she is putting her online classes on hold. I highly recommend her! She is a very sweet lady. Will have to check out Blue Tent! :)

My daughter took the Pre-AP English class. I would rate the class as an Okay class. My daughter didn't really receive feedback on her essays except for a few sentences such as "I don't see connection" or "Connect to main idea". There was no feedback inbetween first revision of essays and last revision (which by the way are submitted one after the other), with only a couple of her classmates feedback (which were either compliments or one or two tips. Not as beneficial as because they are students and still learning as well). The directions were a little unclear on projects and the slides were a little basic and were review. The quarterly projects were Media Memoir, Battle of the Bands, Community Problem, and Digital media...not much feedback on these either, just a couple of circles on a rubric for presentation. The reading (Write for College) is sometimes optional but it wasn't really emphasized or used at all in the online classes. This class was pretty easy for my daughter so I don't know how it will work for your children. Again, I rate this class as an "Okay" class. It was good writing practice...but a little hard with no feedback to go on. @Dina in Oklahoma: When my daughter took the class, they basically did just the basics of what is listed in the syllabus. They didn't really dive into any other the topics as it seemed as shown in the syllabus. My daughter said it was very basic and that she just puts a few points on a Powerpoint slide (again, just covering the basics and just repeating what most of the students had already learned).

Lauren Bailes's Pre Ap English is an alright class....would rate it as "Okay." She didn't really provide feedback on daughter's essays (and when she did they were a few sentences). There was no feedback in between first draft and final draft (which, by the way, are submitted one week right after the other) except for a few tips from other students. Just good writing practice.

I'm not trying to subject my daughter or downgrade her abilities--by having her be in 9th grade. She will still be taking higher education classes, some community college/university classes; I just don't want it to be a mistake if she ends up going to college early. I would like her to graduate with her peers and be with her friends AND still have her have the challenges she needs. She will not be bored at all through her classes. It wouldn't make any sense for her to have a 7th grade report card (which she has now, while taking 9th grade classes actually), no 8th grade report card, no 9th grade, and a 10th grade report card.

Again, thanks for all the amazing input! The main reason why I am so concerned with the transcript/report card, or at least some record of grades/accomplishments in her 8th grade year is because after she takes the ISEE, she will apply to Phillip Andover/ Phillip Exeter. If she is accepted than she will certainly be challenged at those schools.

@Mom2toN's: Thanks for the suggestions! The local public high school allows you to choose whatever courses you may take (so she won't be stuck in freshman work), also the gifted/extremely gifted kids go over to the university and do extra coursework there with the teachers and do lots of fun experiments, etc., Thanks to everyone who has replied! It's been quite helpful. I think that we will put down her actual classes that she is taking for her 8th grade report card. How would I go about formatting the report card? Any links? Any pictures I can reference off of?

@wapiti: She has done many courses with AoPS, including Pre-Calculus last year (2013). Mr. Rusczyk advised that we take some other courses before starting Calculus, which we are doing right now (Intermediate Number Theory, Intermediate Counting and Probability). She has done well with the Pre Calculus course. @dbmamaz: Next year if she would continue her 2 grades ahead, she will be in 8th grade and doing 10th grade work. However her school is only K-9. We need something to substitute for her 8th grade year next year, so that is why we are doing homeschooling. She is already taking advanced online classes, and we were planning if she does 10th grade at her K-9 school, she would just sit at school and do her online classes and her teacher would have a report card for her. I don't believe having her skip grades is beneficial, as she would be 13 and be put with 16 year olds. When she is in high school, our high school has the gifted/extremely gifted children do some work at the local university (working with their teachers, taking advanced courses, etc.,), also with other AP classes such as AP Government, Biology, Chemistry, etc.,. We are also applying to schools such as Phillip Andover or Phillip Exeter [thus the university work will not be needed as these schools are prestigious college prep schools] Our main concern is just the grade card. We would like her grade card to remain in the 8th grade year, but once she goes to high school, we wouldn't like for them to start moving her up to the 11th grade or 12th grade years because of her accomplishments. Is it alright just to put down "math" and "english" rather than specify? How would we create the report card? Our plan is just to ask the teachers from her online class how she is doing for the current semester and put the grade down on an Excel spreadsheet. However, would we need to attach any official proof that she had gotten that grade (some parents might just make up a grade and put it down)? How do other homeschooling parents put their grades down on a report card if they are taking online classes from different websites?

Taken from other classes of advanced placement british/american literature courses. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (any edition; free e-texts are available online) · Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte (any edition; free e-texts are available online) · The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald (any edition) · Othello, the Moor of Venice, by William Shakespeare · The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams · Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad *Great American Short Stories by Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and more *101 Great American Poems The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, & other stories by Washington Irving The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne The Declaration of Independence and Other Great Documents of American History Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe. (I recommend you purchase this, but if needed I can recommend sites that print the assigned readings online.) Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe Our Town by Thornton Wilder A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain Selected Stories of O. Henry My Antonia by Willa Cather Fidelity: Five Stories by Wendell Berry To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Peace Like a River by Leif Enger A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration by Mary Rowlandson The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain The Turn of the Screw by Henry James The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams These books are from AP American Lit online courses I found online (which are very good, planning to enroll daughter in them next year).

Next year I am planning to have my daughter be homeschooled. She is in 7th grade currently (will be in 8th grade school year 2014-2015) but is currently doing 9th grade work in her school. Her grade card still says 7th grade, however. When we plan to homeschool, we will take advanced online classes (i.e. AP Calculus, British Lit, etc.,) but we have no idea how to put this on a report card. We were planning on taking her final grades from each online class and putting them on a speadsheet. In 9th grade she will return back to public high school and will be registered as a 9th grader. However, when she goes to high school, we don't want her to jump up to tenth or eleventh grade once they see her accomplishments. Is it all right just to say "English" and "Math" on her report card? We would like her report card just to stay an eighth grader.