I have spent the last many years never able to really do all the work with each child that I wanted to be able to do. Well, dd1 is off at college. Ds1 is a senior who requires almost no help from me (he's doing completely online and college classes). Ds2 is now pretty motivated and needs little oversight. Dd2 is super-motivated and needs little from me. So aside from the 1 - 1.5 hours in the morning when I work with dd2 and the hour or two that I work with dd2 and ds2 doing read-alouds and going over work, I am pretty unoccupied. HOWEVER, I can't just leave the school area. The commitment to work is directly related to my proximity, and I do need to be around to answer quick questions. Right now I am doing a lot of cooking and a lot of newspaper reading, since I can be interrupted from those activities with no problem. But I don't want to spend the next four years reading the newspaper for several hours a day, and there is only so much bread that needs baking! Help! What do those of you with older students do during the day? How interruptable are you? Do you have an established rhythm?

Totally forgot -- Logic -- Traditional Logic 2 How long per day? Hours and hours. He does about 6+ hours this year; it'll probably be longer next year. He is a slow worker, but he fervently wants to go to a "REALLY" good engineering school, and he realizes that math and science are necessary, but to get into a "good" college, even in engineering, he'll need strong writing and language skills, so he is willling to do the work. I respect this kid a LOT. He's the one we held back last year -- and holding him back was SUCH the right thing to do. He is totally ready for high school now!

Next year's 9th grade schedule for ds2 (who does NOT like to read!) -- Math -- finishing up geometry (Jurgensen, Brown, & Jurgensen) starting algebra 2 (Docliani) Science -- biology using Holt text and tests, Thinkwell lectures. Expecting him to take SAT-II at the end. History -- European history 1600 - present using Spielvogel plus primary source documents. Weekly essays and some additional paragraphs required. Latin -- Regina Coeli Henle 2 English -- "England in Literature" by Pfordresher, Veigmeanis, & McDonnell plus addional books, possibly helped by the second part of Lightning Literature's British Lit. For writing he'll finish up WriteShop 2 and he'll do lots of essay writing. (He's done with grammar, vocab, and all that stuff) C++ through The Potters School He'll also build stunt kites, compete in competitions, and continue in Civil Air Patrol with an eye to trying to get his Spaatz by the end of next year.

Nan -- How you apply for the college merit scholarships depends on the college. Sometimes you do nothing -- all applicants are screened (Davidson is like this). Sometimes you just check a box (U Chicago does this) Sometimes you have to apply by a certain date (UPitt does this) Sometimes you have to apply early and submit extra essays (Washington & Lee does this) It's a complicated process. Keep lists and double-check EVERYTHING!

I totally agree -- RELAX!!!!! As a mother to two boys who had NO focus up intil 8th grade but who now have it in spades, I can honestly say that some boys bloom later than others! I also totally agree about the math. Yes, some kids do pre-algebra in 6th grade, but....in 7th they do algebra, 8th is geometry, 9th is algebra 2, 10th is precalculus, so 11th and 12 is calculus 1, 2, 3, & 4? There is NO rush! Algebra in 8th will get him through the beginning semester or two of calculus, which is good for a future engineer but not required. Kids seem to go through a hormone rush sometime in middle school and then all of a sudden you are dealing with a child who really approximates an adult in many ways. But that transformation often happens in later middle school / early high school. Your son is a long way from that! I totally second the suggestions of logic puzzles, chess, etc. Find out what he delights in and pursue that -- even if he is lazy wrt schoolwork, if he has a passion for something that is good!

Ds is doing Latin 1 through Regina Coeli. It is a demanding course, but i love the level of support. The course meets for two hours per week. It has an audio component so the student is hearing as well as reading Latin, and the audio component to the course allows the class to move faster than it does with just the written part. The daily assignments are REALLY specific -- for example -- 1) Listen to audio file twice 2) go through vocab cards X times 3) Take quiz (lots of quzzes, which is wonderful) 4) Do exercise ..... 5) Repeat vocab orally There is lots of drill, lots of support, and the multiple quizzes per week mean that I know that ds is not falling behind in any way.

who has actually found scholarships through fastweb or the like? Everyone I know who has received scholarship aid has found the scholarships locally or through the college or through a specific interest (Civil Air Patrol cadet received $$ through CAP fund, etc.) or through Natl Merit.

YES!

Our experience -- There is a LOT of money out there. 1) There are local scholarships that hs'ed kids are not eligible for -- the ones that state explicitly that the student has attended one of the public or private schools in town. These scholarships are usually small -- $500 - $1000. 2) Sometimes being a hs'er will be a drawback. Ds was invited to the Johnson Scholarship competition at Washington & Lee last week. None of the folks on his faculty panel OR his student panel were particularly aware of hs'ing, so all were amazed that he was able to participate in so many extracurriculars! Given the feedback he got, he does not feel optimistic about the results. 3) My kids were both invited to apply to the Presidential Scholar program run by the Dept of Education. The application was long and involved and my kids did not feel optimistic that the DOE would choose a homeschooler as an award-winner (they could only find one hs'er who has ever won -- out of 147 per year) so they didn't even apply. 4) On the other hand, plenty of people find hs'ers fascinating. Dd received over $400,000 worth of scholarship offers (over 4 years of college) including two full-tuition scholarships. Ds currently has received over $250,000 worth of scholarship offers (again, over 4 years of college) including two full-tuition scholarships -- so hs'ers certainly can get loads of money! (And we're still waiting on several colleges' final offers to him.....)

I am not going to attempt to answer most of your post -- but I do have two thoughts: 1) I would definitely NOT count work done in 8th grade as high school level work, except POSSIBLY for algebra 1 and foreign language. 2) Kids do get into college with only three years of science. My dd did it, with a full-tuition scholarship! And she is majoring in science. However, she didn't skip science her freshman year -- she did biology, chemistry, AP physics B, and then did AP US govt her senior year instead of a science. 3) You do not need physical science. Dh and I didn't -- and we're engineers! Neither of my olders kids have done it. The younger kids won't do it. Physical science is sort of a watered-down combination of physics and chemistry.

We only have the solutions manual for one course -- precalculus -- but having it is a lifesaver. Maybe I am a wimp, but I wouldn't want to deal with precalculus without the SM. (And we are not happy about doing algebra 2 without it, but we haven't found a copy.) Every course (even in algebra 1) we have come up against one or two problems that neither I nor my husband (the engineer) can solve. We believe that the book made a mistake in the problems and didn't give enough information, but we are not certain. Also, one or two of the "challenge problems" are seriously weird, and dh and I can solve them only by using approaches that the student hasnot learned yet. We don't understand how the problem is solveable for the student! I would absolutely LOVE to have the SM, even for algebra 1, just to deal with those super-weird problems.

If you find a copy of the solutions manual for algebra 2, PLEASE let this board now where you found it! I have worked through the algebra 2 text with two kids now, both without the SM. The TM doesn't do proofs, so I am definitely getting experience doing algebra 2 proofs, but I would LOVE not to have to do the proofs another two times!

If money is not a problem, buy multiple writing curricula! We have and use all of the ones you have listed except PTIW, which just didn't mesh with our style. We use one program, for a while, then another. I get assignments from one and enrich with a similar assignment from another. I borrow, I combine, I flesh out. I think the absolute most improtant thing with writing -- far more important than which curriculum you choose -- is just having the student write on a daily basis. I'll crawl back under my morning paper now!

My dd switched from French to Latin at the end of 9th. We hired a tutor and she hustled and hustled and managed to take AP Latin her senior year, so the switch was actually a positive on her transcript -- it showed how motivated she could be!

We have used Dolciani books from the '90's. I couldn't find TM's that I was abolustely positively sure were the same editions for the earlier ones so we played it safe..... I do like having TM's for the higher math! My kids are ridiculously strong in math (all right, brag moment -- it's one of their strengths -- there must be some benefit in having two engineers as parents!). If the later Dolciani aren't as rigorous, we haven't noticed it! :o

And an increasing number of top schools are eliminating tuition for those earning below a certain amount. I just heard today that MIT is now tuition-free for those kids from families earning below $75K. (MIT isn't exactly a small LAC, but it's only about 1000 students per class, and it provide a LOT of support.) ALSO, Washington & Lee had a scholarship competition last week. There were originally 44 full-ride scholrships -- now they are giving away 77. And ALL students who were invited to the scholarship competition and who applied for financial aid will receive at least half-tuition scholarships! So money is available!

After algebra 2 kids normally do precalculus, which is actually 1 semester of trigonometry and one semester of review/calculus prep. Usually books for the "after algebra 2 and before calculus" state are titled something like precalculus or precalculus and trigonometry or advanced mathematics. You probably want to check, especially if you are switching curriculums at this point, to make sure that the text is the 'right" one. I do switch curriculum between algebra 2 and precalculus -- but since I use the same sequence as the honors curriculum in an academically-rigorous local high school, I didn't worry about how they meshed.

The Joy Hakim science series looks excellent. I have gotten it out of the library numerous times and am thinking of using it as the core of our science with my youngest next year. It'll be something completely different! :)

For junior high we strongly recommend WriteShop I & II. For early high school to improve essay-writing skills we have used The Lively Art of Writing -- cheap and VERY good. It's from the 60's and the suggested topics for the writing assignments show it, but for working on style the book can't be beat.

All of my kids' acceptance letters came with an accept/decline postcard. You just check the box and pop it in the mail!

We only have experience with the Keystone chemistry course. Ds found it ridiculously easy. He said that he could do the non-honors part of the course in about 45 minutes per week. The honors part of the course basically involved researching something and then writing a mini-essay on it. I suppose it was good writing practice, but it didn't help him learn chemistry. BTW, this isn't sour grapes -- he finished the course with a grade of 99.?%. He just felt that it was WAY too easy. This is our experience. I have heard others say that they really liked Keystone -- to each his own, I guess!

I strongly recommend Rocket Revolution.

Like some of you, I thought "Why precalculus?" My dd was good in math and cruised through algebra 2. A friend of mine (MIT alum, taught math at a small Christian school) made me reexamine this. She had me actually sit down with the Brown precalculus book and the Dolciani algebra 2 book and compare them -- not the table of contents (which does look very similar) but the actual material covered. The precalculus textbook re-covered a lot of the material in algebra 2/trig, BUT at a much more advanced level. It is NOT the same material all over again. My kids found pre-calculus to be an easy course, but precalculus really solidified their understanding of advanced math. My kids entered their calculus course completely ready for the material -- and calculus is weird enough that most kids can use all the background they can get to prepare them! Would they have survived calculus 1 without precalculus? Probably -- but many people do founder on calculus. I would rather take my time getting there and have my kids succeed when they do get there. And there is something really satisfying when they come home from the William & Mary calculus 1 class with a 100% on the pretest and the comment from the prof, "You must have had an excellent math teacher!" :D I would exercise great caution in skipping precalculus. Undoubtedly some students can and should skip precalculus, but most can benefit from the increased preparation that precalculus/trig provides.

I'd love to hear an answer too! My inability to figure out the advison issue is why my ds2 is not currently enrolled in it -- he is the type of kid that this program would really benefit!

I am sorry -- I feel very stupid. When I went looking for the post I did earlier, I couldn't find it, so I reposted......well, guess what! I just can't read this morning. So I am off to get more coffee. :(