My daughter had a couple of years of Latin using Latin Road to English Grammar - several years ago. She did three quarters of Italian at the CC last year and just loved it. She appreciated having the Latin background because it made the endings and parts of speech easier to understand. Our CC classes assume no previous knowledge of the language although the class moves quite a bit quicker than a typical high school class. As for credits, in Washington state, our colleges accept 1 - 5 credit quarter as equivalent to a year of high school.

I think I have the link working now - thanks.

My daughter Katherine and her dog Dazzle have made it to the semi-finals in the Best Trick category of the Worldwide Fido contest. You can see her video and the new tv commercial advertising the show at the links below. She is starting some dual-enrollment classes in the fall and is a little worried about having to work within a school schedule and not having enough time to devote to her dogs. She has been homeschooled since she was 7. Regards, Susan M Message from Katherine: Hey everyone! Dazzle and I need your votes on our trick video. Dazzle is one of four semi-finals in the Worldwide Fido best trick video contest! If she wins her category (best trick) she gets to go to LA and be on the TV special for the final round. Voting for this round is open through the end of September. You can vote for her video once every day until then. http://www.worldwidefido.com/watch/3599/dazzles-tricks-of-the-trade She is also in their TV advertisement that aired for the first time yesterday evening on Nick at Nite, you can watch that here: Please feel free to pass her video link on, Dazzle is counting on your support! Thanks! Katherine and Dazzle

I had my 9th grader take the PSAT in October and then again in 10th grade. She will take it for real in 11th grade as well as start taking the SAT in 11th and 12. Her older sister took a combo of ITBS, PSAT, and SAT tests during her high school years. PSAT and SAT are both appropriate tests for homeschoolers in WA. If you have a 4 year degree, you can become a proctor for the ITBS which is what we used prior to the college board tests.

But I was wondering the same thing. I am interested in Italian. We have used the Rosetta Stone through the library, but that will be ending soon and my dd likes the Rosetta Stone format. If there are significant advantages to the newer version, I would hate to miss them in favor of a scheduling program, but I can't tell from the website if there are lots of significant changes.

I bought the whole 3rd edition set from ebay and it included these resources. The "Enhanced Teacher's Guide for Geometry" is the teacher manual. It is a softcover book almost 2" thick. In the first half, it contains the answers to all of the problems including drawings since many of the problems are constructions. In the second half of the book there is a lesson plan for each lesson in the chapter. Apparently, there are transparencies to go along with the lessons, but when I checked the web, these were very expensive. The teacher's guide contains copies of the transparencies in reduced form - slightly smaller than a business card but readable. The lesson plans even include hands on activities for the class. We are early in the program since we just started it this month, but so far my dd loves it and geometry is becoming her favorite class.

My dd (15) has a really busy schedule. We have substituted audio versions of some materials to help us use travel time wisely. We use Teaching Company courses in the audio version. For some classic literature, we use the audio version and she listens either while traveling, while settling down to sleep at night or while editing photos on the computer. Lots of free classics are available in mp3 format at http://www.librivox.org

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-11-04-nsse-helicopter-parents_N.htm This article was from Nov 2007. From the CNN article: "The same report concluded students with higher levels of parental involvement had significantly lower grades." From the USA Today article: "But the study also found students with highly involved parents tended to have lower grades — a surprise, because higher engagement "tends to be linked to higher grades," Kuh says. An additional note from USA Today article: "Students who reported frequent parental intervention reported lower grades. While the difference (3.21 vs. 3.31 for other students on a 4.0 scale) was statistically significant, it was still quite small. It may be that parental intervention helps keep underperformers in school. Or, grades may not be as important a gauge of how much a student is getting from college as other measures, Kuh says. "

I would be skeptical too. I thought there was an article several months ago referencing this same or a similar study that said those students with Helicopter parents actually had higher grades. I wish I had the link and may do a quick search, but I don't have the source handy.

I went to Storm's page. What a beauty! I'll bet she loves the cold weather. Tricks are definitely easier with a food motivated dog. Dazzle is trained to respond to regular kibble for treats but we have lots of agility buddies who create very special treats for agility trial days.

I'm glad you liked Dazzle. She and my dd are both pretty motivated. Dazzle's Dogster page Dazzle won the World's Coolest Dog photo contest this year on Dogster. Photography is another of my dd's hobbies. My dd has a website where she keeps a blog and Dog info... http://www.agilitypup.com/ Thanks for the compliments - I will pass them on to Dazzle in the form of treats. Enjoy, Susan

I sent my girls to the store (15 and 17) with some money but no list. They needed some dinner food and some snacks. They were shocked at how expensive some of the prepared foods were - pizzas and frozen dinners - and suddenly they had to choose carefully how to spend $25. I agree it was a great learning experience.

Thank you - we are proud of dog and trainer around here. My favorite trick is called "Clean Up" and she has to pick up all of her toys! When we showed that trick at a festival - the parents wanted to know if my daughter could train toddlers ;)

My dd does dog agility and makes movies. Here is one of my favorites of Dazzle the border collie in her "Trick" video. There are lots more of Dazzle and agility on her main page: Kats Dogs YouTube page