Yes it is 9th grade curriculum. I substitute teach in the district and one time when I was subbing for a 9th grade English teacher, I looked over the literature text, workbooks used for grammar, vocab, etc and found them to be the same ones my twins are using in their 8th grade accelerated LA class. I figure what I will do is, get 10th grade curriculum for my twins. My son says he refuses to repeat 9th grade English-LOL. Then once they finish high school, I will decide how to list this on their transcripts. I will just make sure I keep a list of the exact curriculum they have been using this year and the novels they have been reading. They are also taking algebra 1 in 8th grade and that counts on their high school transcripts at the public school so makes sense to me that their language arts this year should count as 9th grade English too. Anita

I took College Composition in high school as a one semester course. I am having my twins do World History, World Geography, World Literature as three separate year long courses. My plan is for them to do all three by historical periods. So when they study ancients in World History they will also study ancients in World Geography and ancients in World Literature. I am not sure if this is do-able... will try though-LOL. Most likely they will cover the material (from ancients to modern times) over 1 1/2 to two years. They will do Language arts (grammar, vocabulary, composition) as a separate course as English 9 and 10. This is for their 9th and 10th grades. I have a question though about their Language Arts, so I hope someone will know what I am to do... Both my twins are in 8th grade, and they are in "accelerated language arts" using 9th grade curriculum at the public school. But (officially by the school district) this course does not count as high school credit. They were to take 9th grade English again (honors level) as freshman. But since we are homeschooling them for high school, I was thinking... Can I count the 8th grade accelerated language arts as 9th grade English on their high school transcripts and just put them into 10th grade curriculum for freshman year (I expect they still have to complete four more years of language arts)? Or do I have them "re-do" 9th grade English like the public school would do (but do I use 10th grade curriculum?)? Anita

Yes this is our major goal in homeschooling him... to help him learn the self-discipline to do the "work" even when he doesn't want to or when he doesn't feel the work is necessary. And to do his best... not to slack off or do just enough to get by. In public school, too often the teachers just didn't bother forcing son to get all the work completed. They would waive some of it. I hate that!!!! It is one thing to assign him work that challenges him in place of the "too easy" stuff. But it is another to just not bother with Ds. Ds thinks he is getting it easy when he homeschools-LOL. I have explained the expectations Dh and I have for him and his sister. Anita

Thank you for your advice!!

So much out there!!!! We have pretty much just started on looking into things for him and his sister for extracurricular. Ds is interested in programs from Fermilab here in IL not far from us. Our local colleges offer robotics labs. I haven't heard of competitive teams you mentioned so I will definitely look into them. He enjoyed math club at school but I don't recall anything about olympiad. Otherwise he does Kung Fu and bowling for extracurricular activities currently. Dd studies Shaolin Kung Fu and she competes for that. She also interested in music and has a teen band. We are looking into other options for her. She is very good in math... but she doesn't like it-LOL. I think she would like a debate team so I am trying to find out more of that. LOL, I question my son's logic often. But that is the Asperger's in him... he has his own logic and it is very hard to get him to open up to other possiblities. He has a hard time explaining his thoughts so there are times I have no clue to where he is coming from. I figure I will have algebra 2 and geometry so either way he will cover them. I heard Saxon combines geometry with their algebra program. I will definitely work with Ds and Dd on writing. I am looking for a good grammar/composition program for them. Also I am going to have them do essays and research papers in World History and World Literature. I plan to also use Writeguide.com to help evaluate their writing. They also will do lab reports in science and I know that will be more to Ds's liking. From what I have been told by his teachers... he actually writes well. The issue is that it needs to be a topic of his interest. Right now he is doing a reseach paper on cloning-LOL. Science based topics he has little trouble doing them. His major difficulties in writing is to be clear and explanitory in his writings. He writes from his perspective so when he writes he assumes a reader knows what he is talking about. That is what we will be working on. Anita

Thank you very much for your input Karin. I will look into your suggestions. I haven't researched Scholars Online... I just heard of it recently and it sounds interesting.

Thank you for your input Jean. No I didn't know Conceptual Physics is not math based. That is definitely not a good choice then for us... especially for Ds. He is completing algebra 1 now, will do algebra 2 next (and he wants to finish a year worth in just a few months and then do geometry next and possibly precalculus also this year). I didn't know about the Kingfisher being for elementary. I will definitely get a different text. Anita

Hello everyone, I am so glad that I was given a link to this group!!!! I am Anita. Dh and I will start homeschooling our twins for high school this fall. Both are in public school for 8th grade and they are both taking 9th grade algebra 1 and Lang Arts. Ds is very gifted in math and science. He has a weakness in writing unless it is about what he wants to write. He is diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome/Sensory Integration Dysfunction/ADD. He plans to major in astrophysics and geology (among other sciences-LOL). Dd is also gifted. She is very talented in music and writing. She also is athletic. She plans to major in music and minor in physical education. She competes in martial arts and will be going to Jr Olympics in August. She is self teaching sign language and Japanese for fun. Anyway, We are looking into the best way to educate our twins for high school. They plan to attend college (dual credit courses) for their 3rd/4th year in highschool. So I am mainly looking into their first two years of high school. For starters son is wanting to complete algebra 2, geometry (possibly precalculus), chemistry and physics in his 9th grade. He wants to take AP chemistry and AP physics in 10th grade. Actually he wants to take the AP exam end of 9th grade... but I think he needs more math to accomplish higher level sciences. He also is wanting to learn Latin... just for fun (he says he needs it for his science). For daughter.. she is wanting to take algebra 2 (possibly geometry), biology, Italian, and music fundamentals/theory for 9th grade. Both will do same language arts, world history/geography, consumer education, career planning, health, keyboarding/intro to computers. So I would love to get some feed back on the curriculum listed below, I would very much appreciate it. Biology (considering "Inquiry Into Life" by Madar or Holt Biology) and how do we handle the lab component??? I could sign Dd up for a local college that does some courses for homeschoolers... college supply the text materials and lab once a week... student studies and prepares for labs at home. It is paced over two college semesters for the high school level course. Chemistry (considering "The Molecular Nature of Change" by Silberberg, and "Chemistry Concepts and Problems-self teaching guide" by Houk and Post) Physics (considering "Physics: Principles and Problems" by Zitzewitz, or "Conceptual Physics" or "Modern Physics" by Trinklein) Algebra 2/Geometry (considering the series by Larson for all math- Algebra 2 (Applications and Equations and Graphs) , Geometry, Precalculus) World History (considering using Kingfisher History Encyclopedia as text or to use "World Civilizations" by Stearns) Geography (considering "World Geography: Building a Global Perspective" or "Human Geography") For Dd's music: ("Pracitical Beginning Theory" and "Music Theory with Practice Volumes 1&2) For Language Arts (considering Writer's Choice Grammar & Composition with workbook, Olsens Active Vocabulary General and Academic Words, Gencoe Literature: World Literature, "Writing Research Papers Across the Curriculum") I need some ideas for computer course.... Both kids are good on computers but I have no idea what basics they still need to learn. Ds is interested in computer programming and wants to do AP Java next year. Dd is more into using computer for video editing and such. For Health (considering "Lifetime Health" and "Personal Fitness" by Williams or "Health and Wellness") For Consumer Education and Career Planning (considering "Consumer Education & Economics" by Lowe et al, and "Career Planning in the 21st Century" by Blocher) For Latin... I have Wheelock's Latin For Italian... I have no clue. I know this is alot but I figure it is for two years of high school with extra math/science thrown in for son as it is his wish to go fast in these subjects. He already knows a lot in science (he reads every science reference book he can get his hands on) so I figure he won't have any problems. He learns math concepts extremely fast. His math teacher says that Ds masters the lessons in class in no time and without doing any homework he gets A's on the quizes/tests. So I figure he won't need to do a lot of practice problems- he would refuse anyway-LOL. So thank you in advance for your inputs. I very much appreciate your help. Anita