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Janine in Ca

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  1. I have a second edition Equine Science book by Parker with Instructor's guide for sale for $40 obo if interested. I don't check the boards often so email me if interested: slonewby@aol.com
  2. Bravewriter is very, VERY different than IEW! We've done both and they are vastly different. Bravewriter strives to find voice, develop interest and explore....IEW is very, very structured. I'm not sure you can truly compare the two. If your writer feels stifled and blocked by the structure of IEW, I'd try Bravewriter...if your writer loves the structure, stick with IEW. We used IEW in the elementary through Jr High years and, while it was the single most effective means to get my reluctant writer to put something on paper, in the end it kind of stilted his writing and made it sound very contrived and programmed. We switched to Bravewriter and also employed the services of "Write at Home" and his writing has vastly improved overall. He still finds it very difficult to put ideas on paper but at least now there is some originality and flavor to his work.
  3. We found the solutions to the proofs to be pretty worthless. As another poster mentioned, the answers can be developed many different ways based on logic. Our son rarely came to the solution the way the book did and that made me really nervous. So....we discovered that they have a phone tutor available for questions and I had our son run his proofs by him on a regular basis until I was comfortable knowing he was getting it. Then I'd only run the proofs on the tests with the tutor. Our son is just finished a pre-calc class at the community college with the only A in the class!
  4. We just finished National Driver Training...it was pretty long and pretty boring but I honestly think they are all that way. I was fairly painless and took about 30-40 hours...but that's with a student who reviews EVERYTHING before he tests.
  5. Ours looked like this: 7th - Algebra I 8th - Algebra II 9th - Geometry 10th - College Algebra at Comm College, Pre Calc at Comm College 11th - Calculus at Comm College 12th - Trigonometry at Comm College The 11th and 12th grade years may be reversed and/or he might take both classes in 11th. He is currently in 10th right now. On the transcript we have a section that is titled "high school level work completed prior to 9th grade" and have listed his early math courses there as well as foreign language.
  6. I really think it depends on the student. I have one who did Saxon through Alg 1 ...then, to "try something new" we decided to try Teaching Textbooks for Alg 2 and Geometry. He thought it was easy. He is now taking his math at the community college and getting a 98% in the class. He is my child who could basically learn math no matter how it's presented. He's just wired that way - to think mathematically. He learns the "why" because it intrigues him. He stays after class to discuss advanced math that isn't in the scope of his coursework with his professor....(how this happened, I'll never know....it's just who he is) Our daughter, on the other hand, can DO the math, but really doesn't think mathematically at all. She will learn "how" to do the problem to get through the subject but the why's are of no interest to her. She is currently doing Saxon Algebra 1 and is doing fine but she isn't wired the same way and I don't really think any program can substitute for that natural "wired-ness" of certain students. She excels in understanding the nuances of literature....an area that baffles my math student mentioned above.
  7. I have a "math kid"....he did Saxon through Algebra, tried and hated Chalkdust, merged to Teaching Textbooks and found their Algebra II too easy but thought they did a great job with Geometry. He is now at community college taking math and loving it. We thought he'd test into college trig/precalc but, because there are a few components in TT that aren't presented until their precalc book, he ended up having to take college level intermediate algebra instead. Just know that most math sequences go farther in Algebra II than TT does. They get there, but not until you complete the entire series (through PreCalc). But, he's loving math, has a 98% average and is excited about math on an almost daily basis..... Janine in CA
  8. I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with former posts regarding English credits in Notgrass. I've checked into what local high school programs include and I must say that the variety and depth of the Notgrass World History reading is adequate. It will probably not suffice for a student who would benefit from a strong great books course but I have a very math and science student and for us, it is fine. The author has reasons for why he worked the course the way he did and I appreciate his thoughts on this. The writing assignments are plentiful and varied... however, we are using an online writing course for more instruction and critique this year so we aren't actually doing the Notgrass writing component...at least for this first semester. We add history channel dvds and other visuals also...for fun. And, we do it as a family which leads to great discussion. Please remember when reading others reviews, that your students are unique and what may be easy for one, can be challenging to another....also, that each parent brings something to the plate of homeschooling and can add/alter any curricula to fit and individual student's needs.
  9. Ellie, I find the 10 credits interesting. I've always heard that one year (two semesters) credit equals simply "1" credit and a single semester course equals .5 credits. Maybe this differs in regularity per district? Also, I've heard that any community college semester course that offers 3 college units equals an entire year of high school credit. This brings up another thought...what about those 2 unit courses or the 5 unit courses cc courses? Our son took a 2 unit computer programming course last year at the cc. For the amount of time he spent on that course both inside and outside of class, I gave him a full year's high school credit. I'm not sure if I can give him any more than one year high school credit for his 5 unit accelerated college algebra course though.... Janine
  10. I list the course as it is listed at the community college with an asterisk saying (this course completed at Cuesta College...blah blah). Official transcripts from the college will need to be submitted in addition to the high school transcript I assume so it doesn't really matter. I would think his highest course would be his highest course...no matter where it was taken. Janine
  11. From what I understand, the second year of Rainbow is an entire year devoted to Biology. I was thinking about doing the first year this year (8th grade) and then continuing to do Biology next year with Rainbow for 9th grade. The publisher has a document listing their reasons for their course being used in either 7th/8th or 8th/9th....From that document, here is an excerpt: "In our viewpoint, this curriculum is entirely adequate and fulfills all necessary requirements for high school credit as a 9th or 10th grade Introduction to Biology. It is designed to be completed as such in the 9th grade." They go on to state that they feel an *inappropriate* use of their curricula would be to consider it as a high school physics or Chemistry course (as it lacks the appropriate mathematical rigor) or as an Advanced Biology course. Many on this list have voiced their opinions that they feel it's too light to be considered a high school level course..... If Rainbow is considered too light for 9th grade biology, I was thinking about supplementing with video, more dissections, maybe some time spent with a veterinarian...more work on classification of species.... Honestly, she isn't a math/sciencey girl and if I can get her excited about science, I think I've won the battle. I don't remember much about my high school biology class other than boredom, NO dissections, labs were mostly movie viewing....lots of memorization of facts that I've not really used since.... I didn't really start liking science until I had some fun material to work with (veterinary/animal science later on in HS and on into college) more thoughts?
  12. Brian, the tutor, at TT saved us! Our son is very mathy but his thought process was different than the proof writers of TT so his answers would always be very different. We would call Brian at TT to go over proofs until our son proved to me that his logic was sound. Then, I only had him call Brian for the proofs on the tests. They would go over them on the phone and 99.9% of the time our son's logic was just fine. THANK YOU BRIAN!!! and, thank you, Teaching Textbooks, for having him work for you!
  13. Our daughter is not a math/science type so we chose Rainbow Science for it's short lessons and fun looking labs. She is in 8th grade though and I'm wondering what others have done for 9th...did you just continue with Rainbow as is, or did you add to it? or do something else? The publisher says it can be used as is for 8th and 9th grades. I don't really want to plow through it (complete it all in one year.) She did Apologia General Science last year and really didn't care for it. Thoughts??
  14. I ordered mine on September 7 and it came today! so....what is that...10 days? Janine
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