There are many families on this board who have had their kids go to school for at least part of high school. It is a very personal decision. I do think homeschooling high school and preparing for a competitive college is very doable, but that doesn't mean it is the right decision for your family. There are two things I would look at carefully to make the decision. First, can you change your mind? If you homeschool part of high school, will your local schools accept his credits? Some will some won't. The flip side is that if you start in public school and decide homeschooling would have been a better choice you can always make that change. Second, I would make a tentative course list for the next 4 years. Then I would figure out what you can teach, what you need to outsource (if anything) and identify the possible stumbling stones. Often the idea of high school is more intimidating than the reality. Also include in this the opportunity for dual enrollment. DE classes could provide some of the social opportunities you are concerned about for high school. If your concern is less academic and more social, I guess only you and your ds can answer that. But I would consider what it is you are looking for socially. Is it friendships and just getting him out of the house? Is he lonely? Is he not socially adept and you think he needs practice? Volunteering, a part time job, interest based clubs or activities, DE and even online friendships are just a few of the things that can fill the social needs of homeschoolers. Homeschooling high school isn't for everybody, but having completed it for one kiddo and being almost done with the second, I am completely biased toward it :). It was the best decision for our family. I wouldn't put a kid in ps against their will. While I think school choice is still the parents, I wouldn't try to force a high school student in either direction, but would make sure they were in agreement with whatever decision was made.

We love RMP here and have been able to benefit from using it. However, the CC where dd attends also has their own reviews based on end of course questionnaires. Most teachers have 200-500 reviews in that system. They don't have any room for comments on those, so we look for professors who rate well on the CC system, then go check RMP to get more details.

Elegantlion, I'm so proud of you. I've been very impressed with the way you've handled what life has thrown at you the last couple of years and I think it is great that you finally have your off to college story!

Thank you, I'll take a look.

This is the one I have. I remember someone (maybe Jann in TX) saying they didn't like the graphical approach edition as well, but I haven't looked at it in person to know.

From someone who has at least a gallon of cherry tomatoes in the last week... Thank you all for your creative ideas!

I'm not completely sure if I am taking your question the right way, but here are my thoughts. SL is often criticized for teaching a variety of world views or taking on difficult issues and letting parents explain differences and their own beliefs. From that broadness and openness, I would not consider it sanitized or at least far less so than any other Christian curriculum I have used. However, the highest level core I used was 100 which ds used in 7th grade, so I can't really address their high school cores.

She has read Jane Eyre, that was my absolute favorite book when I was in high school. I'll give thought to Pride and Prejudice. I hated Wuthering Heights too. I refuse to force that book on my kids. They can try it on their own if they would like, but it won't be assigned by me. :D

I'm a Gladwell fan. :)

Do you have to contact him to purchase this way? It isn't in the automatic options as far as I can see. I love that he is offering this!

I have two friends that did this for a few years. One mom taught math, the other science. I'm not sure if they shared any other subjects but I know they did a lot of projects on those days. It went well for a couple of years. The kids (2 each) were at similar levels, they did 2 levels of math, one level of science and had great success. Eventually, one mom began to have higher expectations and requiring more of her kids and they stopped co-oping. I think for the time that they were on the same page, it was a really good thing. The girls all enjoyed it and the moms both benefitted by having their weak subject covered by someone else. It is important to have evaluation times and times that you can get out. They didn't handle the end well and I think that was just because there was an assumption of it going on forever, instead of the idea that it was for a semester, a year, or asking each summer, "Should we do this again?".

Here is my current short list. Any suggestions for additions or subtractions? I still want to add 2 plays. Plays: A Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night-Time (might require a trip to NY to visit family and see the play :) ) Peter and the Starcatchers (we saw off Broadway in NY) Both of these were based on books rather than originally written as plays and I haven't decided if that is an issue. Movie tie-ins: The Help (she has seen and loved the movie) Seabiscuit Life of Pi Novels: Their Eyes were watching God Speak Story of a Girl Angle of Repose Non-Fiction: Something by Gladwell Children's Books: (1 week each) James and the Giant Peach Black Beauty Jonathan LIvingston Seagull ETA: I haven't read all of these and I have several on hold already so I can preview. Please feel free to critique the selections.

She has read both the Importance of being Ernest and Christmas Carol in previous lit years (I love both). Seabiscuit is a good idea for a book w/movie. She did a lot of animal stories as a child and might like it. I've seen the movie, but she hasn't. The perfect storm is pretty depressing. I'm not familiar with the others, but I'll take a look. Thanks Sebastian

We're starting the 17th. That is when dd's fall term at the CC starts. Since she is my only one left and is taking more classes at the CC than she is with me this year, I am just synching my schedule to theirs so when she has a day off - it is completely off.

I posted last night and then went to bed. Today I got up and went biking early to avoid the heat, but the heat got me anyway. There was a head advisory with the heat index over 100 by the time I finished my 26 miles. I was so wiped out, it took me awhile to get online. How encouraging it is to come and read all those ideas Lori!! Thank you to Junie too. So, here are my thoughts based on those ideas: She isn't a big fan of plays and hates anything with less than contemporary English. To get through one Shakespeare play this year took reading it, watching the play, then re-reading it with a study guide that helped her figure out meanings a paragraph or two at a time. I know, this means we should work on it, but really, it isn't the hill I want to die on this year. However, the idea of movies or plays would be a positive for her. She is a strong auditory learner. I've looked at the Movies as Literature curriculum before and I just haven't been able to convince myself it is credit worthy, but I might reconsider that. I think I'd like to give putting something together myself a shot. I'm thinking maybe 2 plays, 3 movies (w/books), and 5 books without visual supports. I could throw in a poetry/short story unit too or instead of a traditional short story unit, we could do a children's literature unit. That could be light and fun. What she does like are stories that are strongly relationship based. She likes to get to know a main character and the people around that character. Some bad things can happen along the way, but too much violence or if the book takes on a depressing tone, rather than seeming like a resolvable conflict, she'll give up. Adult or mature themes are not a problem for this child. In movies, she always wants to watch comedies, although she has chosen to watch some more depressing movies like The Fault in Our Stars. Lori, I'd love a few suggestions for plays. She hates musicals (even when watched live on broadway). I'm thinking one drama and one comedy. Many of the movies she choses are those based books, so I think that will be a popular idea. Finding ones she would be interested in, but hasn't seen may add challenge, but I think I can do that. I'll start looking through the contemporary lit lists on this thread and the other one you linked Lori and see where that gets me. Thank you for the help ladies!

Looks great to me. I agree with Lori's count of credits 6-7 which looks totally solid.

Update: My current list is in post 9 if you want to give feedback. I was planning on my dd doing lit at the CC this year and it looks like it isn't going to work out. She needs a lit focused class for the coming year, but what I would really like is to have her read books she won't hate for a change. It would be great if I could convince her she likes reading again (she did when she was younger). So, what does she like? Not much of anything. She has liked some dystopian books like The Hunger Games and The Giver. It is actually easier to tell you what she doesn't like. In general she doesn't like anything more than 50 years old and no fantasy/sci-fi type stuff. It has to be real or at least plausible. She also doesn't like anything depressing or violent . I know this isn't at all WTM, but please give me ideas of books, preferably current and even popular books, that aren't total junk. GO! Just for background, the last two years she has done: EIL Intro to Lit Blue Tent Honors English 2 CC Composition She should be a Junior this year, but is almost certainly going to graduate a year early. ETA My current list is in post 9 if you want to give feedback.

I like the look of it, but I'd probably replace Streams with Speilvogel's The Human Odyssey. I never buy packages from SL so I could do that pretty well.

I picked the book in the shade, but also prep homeschool materials because I find that fun and love it when I get to do it uninterrupted. The question is what will you love or what will you feel best about having done?

This is SO good liking it wasn't enough. I can remember my ds asking "why are you yelling at me?" when I was responding in the tone and volume he was using with me. He had no idea his tone or volume were in the "yelling" range, but considered it that when he heard it mirrored back. Not letting his behavior, tone, or volume spread to me was extremely important and diffusing difficult situations.

I didn't know this and I can't find anything about it on his website. Does anyone know if this applies to all his web based classes? We would actually prefer mom graded and I'd love to find out we could do Physics for half price this year! If no one knows, I'll contact DO. I just thought I'd check with the hive first.

My ASD child is 18 now too and headed off to college. Routine (which I hate) was exactly what worked for him. Routine over schedule is a great way to say it. We had an order for things to happen, not a timed schedule. Mine was GFCF at that age and it did help, although I know it doesn't help everyone. We did Magnesium back then too, Epsom salts baths. Homeschooling really helped him gain social skills because I spent so much one on one time and could model, correct and discuss social situations as they came up. Mine was not defiant though. We were always able to get school done. He worked slowly, processed slowly had to be kept on task, but I never had to fight against refusals. Best wishes in whatever decision you make. Having an autistic spectrum child is challenging. However, I think I have appreciated every success more for having fought for it with him rather than having it all come so easily with dd.

Planning - definitely. I also make sure the house is extra clean so that when we jump into school, there is some wiggle room on other chores. We do not start gradually. The most excited my kids ever are about school is when we first start back in the fall. I like to take full advantage of that. I think we get more school done in the first month than in the last 3 months :lol: Starting slowly would just waste the available enthusiasm and momentum.

I have been trying to decide if I should buy one for my dd. She and ds will both be taking college math classes (at different colleges) at the same time next year and won't be able to share. Dd is only taking College Algebra, so I thought about making her just use the scientific calculator she has, then taking ds's when he is done with it, but maybe I'll just go ahead and bite the bullet. ...and as a person who would not have seen the post on the chat board, thanks for cross posting :).

My ds definitely didn't handle the process on his own. It looked more like: I showed him the essays and he worked on those, I reviewed, he revised. They were done about 2 weeks later than I hoped, but it was in September. He was applying to a school with rolling admissions. When the essays were ready, he sat beside me on the couch and pulled up the ap and filled it out with me providing any information he needed. Then I sent in the transcripts and course descriptions. It really wasn't that big of a deal I expect dd and I will do something similar. I mentioned the essays last night and she asked if I thought a paper she recently wrote in college comp would work for one. I told her the style changes she would need to do. When her essays are ready, I'll do an edit pass for her and then we'll fill out the ap together. She will be waiting for September ACT scores before turning in her ap, but like ds, she is applying to a school with rolling admissions and we'll get it in ASAP. If my oldest had been left to do college aps on his own he wouldn't have gone. Does that mean he isn't ready? Maybe. He has multiple disabilities though and executive function issues would probably keep him from ever being ready by that definition. Could dd do it on her own? Yes, but there is no reason not to edit for her or provide her with the information she doesn't know off hand on the application. I didn't and won't push. I do let them know what they need to do and help as needed.