That was my argument as well. My son is quite bright and generally tests well, but he doesn't do well with re-doing papers or even correcting his work. He simply doesn't care and won't put forth any effort even if given the opportunity. I do give him the opportunity to revisit Latin and French tests but even taking a second look at them, sometimes he just doesn't know them and no amount of encouraging, nagging, etc can make him memorize all the vocabulary! ha ha ha! I think that's fair. Perhaps not my approach, but I can absolutely understand what you're saying. 🙂

Thanks, everyone. Interesting and different approaches here. I do realize that percentages don't go on a transcript; I'm a former classroom teacher, but I just wanted some guidance on how to set up a homeschool grade versus a classroom grade where I did give value to homework completed, classroom participation, etc. I don't think giving an A is always appropriate. While, yes, he may be able to more thoroughly understand the subject matter, it doesn't mean that he is a good writer or will get every single math problem right or even be fluent in French even if I give him repeated opportunities to correct. That feels like inflating grades to me, and it also doesn't seem realistic. A college professor isn't teaching to mastery nor does he/she care if students pass/fail half the time. I do appreciate the thoughts though

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but my search words aren't giving me what I'm looking for! 9th grader, so I'm in the early stages of grading and preparing high school level grades. He does math and science online, so those percentages are set by the teacher-- x% for homework, y% for tests, z% for labs, etc. What I can't wrap my brain around is something like foreign languages? What's an appropriate percentage for quizzes versus tests? What if it only has tests and daily work? We don't grade daily work like a public school teacher might, so I can't just grade him on tests! That's not fair! What about history? Our text only does some projects and unit quizzes. Can anyone share your percentages for grading purposes?

Thanks so much!

That's actually what I was thinking, too, since it is short! I appreciate the suggestions for the Canterbury Tales stories, too, as I would not know where to start. I know we read a few in our AP English class, but I have very little recollection of them! Would I need any sort of a guide for the Canterbury Tales?

I'm looking for something set in the history period being studied rather than when it's written. Thanks, Lori D for the thoughts. Sounds like Beowulf may be the best option. Thanks, Farrar! He read Once and Future King this summer, so I definitely need something different. Looks like Beowulf it is! So... I THINK you don't like the literature for Exploring World History! ha ha ha! I don't disagree with you for some works. I like some but we are definitely replacing some others--either he's already read it or I just don't care to have him read it. This is not our only literature, so I don't mind him reading some biographies or non-fiction as that really appeals to him as well. However, I agree with you that I'd like more classic literature. Between Beowulf and Canterbury Tales, which would you choose? I I mentioned above, but he's already read Once and Future King, so I think one of these two might be the better choice. I personally hated Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and I'm not sure I can make him read it!

My son is doing Notgrass Exploring World History this year, and I'm not interested in having my son read Imitation of Christ. He's is a 9th grader but can handle any literature I've thrown at him. Can anyone suggest a suitable replacement that would take place during similar time frame? This covers the units from the Fall of Rome to the early Middle Ages. I considered: Beowulf OR Beowulf, Dragon Slayer The Dragon and the Raven (aka the Days of King Alfred) by GA Henty Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Would any of these be more appropriate than another or something else anyone can suggest? Thanks!

My son has done Geometry and Algebra 2 with DO. Our experience was complete opposite. Geometry took him forever and he breezed through Algebra 2 finishing the year early. He did every video and every problem that DO required but not anything extra. I’m not sure what you mean by “he did all the problems”—my son did the ones in the workbook and then the ones to turn in. Were there others your son did? were doing pre-cal with DO this fall and reviewing Algebra 2 this summer via Khan Academy. He’ll take Math 2 Subject test in the spring

Good heavens...how did you get anything else done if you had to tie up one class period with PE every semester all four years? That's crazy! Four core classes, foreign language, and PE. Is that all your transcript said? We're a military family and will be moving in the middle of his high school years, so I'm not sure what that is! ha! I'll certainly look closer at the local systems once we're closer to graduation though!

Thanks! I think I've read every thread on French classes, and I know your name has popped up a lot! I have a tutor lined up already, so I just need to decide which option to go with! For B th B, do you utilize the print or iBook versions? Or Both? I like the look of the iBook version but I'm still a little old school and like print!

Thanks, everyone! Sounds like this is really all over the place, so whatever I decide to do will be ok! We're a military family so where we live now is not where he'll graduate but I would like his transcript to look similar to local high schools if he applies to in state schools for core state requirements. I do plan to do .5 credit (semester) of health, so it sounds like I need 1-2 credits for PE as well.

How many PE classes do you do for your high schooler? Our academic advisor says two years of PE with each class being .25 credits. That just seems high--two years worth of PE or maybe the credit per semester seems low. Is that typical? 100 years ago when I was in school, two semesters of PE fulfilled our PE requirement and I just can't imagine that there's MORE PE required now! (Yes, I know..."required" is all just wording and nothing required of homeschoolers per se but I don't want to be giving .5 credit when typical high schools are giving .25 credit!)

Can anyone compare Breaking the Barrier and Language City self-study? I'm looking for French 1 for rising 9th grader. I think I understand the gist of BtB...textbook with workbook, etc and/or the iBook version. Can be used separately or together, right? Essentially we're on our own though, so I would certainly utilize a French tutor. I don't understand what is included with Language City self study. Watch the recorded videos and then what? They do the course work/homework and turn in for a grade just like the live classes? Is there a schedule or totally self-paced? Thanks for any help!

I would just email him and ask him! He's quite responsive. There are practice problems that are just to reinforce the concepts and then there are homework problems that are from him--those are to be completed and turned it (via scan/email) for a grade. I'd think you could use the book you have to do the practice problems.

Thanks! I thought about that--just having him read the textbook and do notes, end of chapter, etc. I'll take a look at Paradigm, too. That isn't one I'm familiar with.

Looking for a biology course that ds could work through mostly on his own or online asynchronously. Really just need a get 'er done course as his focus is on physics and more engineering type courses. He hates the idea of bio (as do I), and we just need to get it done! Thinkwell? Acellus/Power Homeschool? Plato?

Those are good questions! By rigorous, I'm looking for higher level reading but not necessarily more writing output. Writing is a weak area for him right now that we're working on, but he can handle so much more than a short lesson each day. Ideally, I'd like something that comes fairly prepared with reading lined out and assessments of some sort. Honestly, I don't do well with having just a spine. I love the idea, but it just becomes too time consuming for me to try to piece things together. I know--I completely agree with you that it's hard to have any depth in one year. Last year, we worked through about 10 major topics in world history focusing on time periods that HE wanted to do, so we spent a month on WWI, for example, and several weeks on ancient Rome and ancient Greece as well as Napoleonic Wars, imperialism, as well as some biographies like Winston Churchill and Queen Victoria. I basically let ds choose what he wanted to study more in-depth and them put together novels and historical books for him to read. I essentially did what you suggested but not counting it as a high school level course. I'd rather have a full year of world history to piece it all back together even though I know it'll be light and fluffy in some places. I agree with you in general. I feel like he needs the world history credit, and I don't have any big desire at this point to stretch it out longer than a year. I know it means less in-depth, but my thought is to circle back around his senior year and if he chooses, we could do more in-depth studies. He reads history books on his own for "light" reading, so I'm not really concerned about squashing his history love. if we stumbled on something he really wanted to know more about, we could always pause for a bit or add on some additional reading. I just wanted something that went deeper than a typical high school history book!

Thanks! I'll take a look I'd like for it to go through Modern. I know that means skimming the surface of some topics unfortunately! I'm not familiar with Spielvogel, but I'll take a look! I really hadn't considered Great Courses. Maybe I should revisit that!

I'm not looking for an online class but a rigorous world history curriculum we can work through. DS loves history and enjoys reading and learning history, so I need something that isn't too light and just covers the surface--something with some meat! Even a good solid world history curriculum I could beef up with extra reading would work. Any suggestions? I spent the last two years piecing together history curriculum for him as a 7th and 8th grader, so I do NOT want to do that again!

Brenda--I'm curious. You said he did the two physics classes to be better prepared before he did calculus based physics. Did he do calc based physics in high school or not until college so that he just had a good solid conceptual physics basis before he went to college?