Well, we haven't started yet, but I am starting TOG year 1 this fall with my rising 9th grader. I bought the digital edition and so far have found it very easy to navigate. I may add in my dd the following year, but for this coming year it will be just my ds :D.

I believe he only meant this was the case if your child put the school code on the test. If the homeschool code is used, they are compared to other homeschoolers. I agree that it doesn't make a lot of sense, but I think the schools are trying to account for differences in quality of education across the country. A score in one county might be consisdered average for THAT county, but stellar for another. I think colleges use this to get a better idea of the applicant pool and individual applicants. It really might work to your child"s advantage. However, you can always put the homeschool code on the test, and they will just be compared to other homeschoolers. Now, of course, I am just repeating what was said at the conference, and I am no expert on this by any means. But I think it is very interesting :D.

This might actually work to your son's advantage. I listened to Jim Stobaugh give a talk last year at the homeschool convention (he grades the writing section of the SAT). He said that colleges actually compare your your child's score to others in the same school code that you put on those tests. He encourages kids to put the school code on their test, rather than the homeschool code (as he believes homeschoolers score better than public school kids). That way your child is being compared to public school kids, and NOT other homeschoolers (although I am sure they are compared to other applicants at a given college). Stobaugh said that while they do look at individual scores, colleges also consider the average scores of the local high schools (so a score of 1500 might be above average in one district and below average in another). Just a thought :D.

We LOVE R&S, but I will agree that there are WAY TOO MANY exercises. That is why we do many of them orally, and only do some of them written (like diagramming). It is a dry program, but my kids and I have fun with it. My ds son about fell off his chair laughing this year when one of the sentences talked about a kid running through the house because he was so excited to mow the lawn.....LOL!! So I guess you could say that we have fun together doing this program, even though it can be BORING :D. We also don't agree with everything the book asserts (like organized sports are wrong :)), but we all have differences of opinion. My children have learned grammar VERY EASILY with this program (we start with book 4, after FLL). It has also helped greatly with their study of Latin. Blessings, Michelle

Thanks, Crystal! Enjoy the sun!!!

I just have a question out of curiosity. We have used Saxon from Saxon1-Alg II so far. I hear so many good things about Singapore that it has made me question my decision to use Saxon (although we started hsing when Singapore was still fairly new). My question is.....why do people switch after Primary Math 5 or 6? Is it that you want a more traditional sequence? Is it less teacher intensive? It will "fit" better on a transcript for college? I don't mean to highjack this thread :tongue_smilie:. I was just curious as I still have a little one (3 years old) that I will be hsing, and I have considered switching to Singapore for him (but of course I have all the Saxon books, and they have worked well for the two older children. But I do like the concepts behind Singapore). I will say that as far as the VP sequence goes, they statrt with Saxon 1 in K (which is what I did with both ds and dd). This means that a child would be ready for Alg I in 7th (if they have not encountered any difficulties). My ds did Alg I in 7th. I will see how dd does in 6th and determine if she is ready for Alg in 7th.

My ds has completed Apologia Biology with the Red Wagon Tutorial CDs and loved it (I did not help him at all and he scored nearly perfect on all tests). He is now working through Apologia Chemistry with the Red Wagon CDs. He has had to have a bit more help, but the answer keys are quite thorough, so I was easily able to assist ds. Mr. Rosenoff also gives you his e-mal and telephone number with the CD. I have already e-mailed him once, and he responded the same day!! I hope you find something that will work well for you :).

We just have OT & AE so far. No shrivled up mummies....LOL!! All of the pictures were fine. The ancient Egypt pictures have paintings, pictures of the pyramids, or statues. They have the Michaelangelo's David statue (but only the top portion :D) when talking about David. We are moving onto Greece and Rome next, but we don't have the cards yet.

My dd is finishing the OT and Ancient Egypt course, and will be moving on to Greece and Rome. She has learned SO MUCH this year :hurray:. We are doing some of the historical fiction readings as well. I LOVE all the interactive activities and the print outs! Sometimes my 13 year old listens in as well :lol: (he has even learned some things...LOL!!!)

If your child plans on playing a sport in college, their coursework must be approved by the NCAA. A place to start is here: http://www.ncaa.org/wps/portal/ncaahome?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/ncaa/NCAA/Legislation+and+Governance/Eligibility+and+Recruiting/index.html My oldest will be entering 9th grade this year, so I am by NO MEANS an expert. I have just been doing research :001_smile:. I do know that you should register with the NCAA clearinghouse early in your child's junior year to start the review process. The NCAA requires that your student have at least 16 credits (for DIV I schools now, and Div II schools starting in 2013) in core areas (they are listed in the link I posted above). I, too, would be interested in the experiences of others and their curriculum choices :D.

I am feeling this way especially now with a rising 9th grader. However, I know that God has called me to do this. My dh reminded me the other day that it is fine if our children are not the BEST in evey area. Not all learning is completed by 18,.....or 21, or 31...LOL!!! For us, the MOST inportanat part is our children's character and their relationship with Christ. I do not mean that we are not pursing a highly academic homeschool, but the "gaps" will be filled in as they grow and mature (even after they have graduated :D). Now I just need to keep reminding myself of this!!! Blessings, Michelle

I am using WttW with my ds (and the Jill Pike syllabus) and we LOVE it. The syllabus extends this curriculum to a full year. This will be one program I will do with all my children. I think the explanations are very good, and the readings are excellent. I do think it is sometimes confusing visually (there is a student book from IEW and the Jill Pike syllabus and a teacher manual for both as well). I will say that most of the year I have not prepared in advance (this way has made some of the lessons longer beacause I needed to figure out what to do, but it still worked :D). We did use the Teaching the Classics seminar. Literature analysis is not my stong suit, so I appreciated this program. I would not say it is absolutely necessary.

Wendy, I have a rising 9th grader as well. We have used IEW Ancients as well, but I used it for ds when he was in 6th grade and I am just finishing it with dd who is in 5th grade. It really is YOUNG. But maybe you could "beef" it up a bit by requiring a little more :confused:. IEW's Elegant Essay might be a good place to start as well to get the basics. This is just my 2 cents :D. Blessings, Michelle

You are not the only one :D. DS (13) hit a wall in Saxon Algebra II, around lesson 70 (maybe there is something about those adolescent boys....LOL!!!!). I had him back up about 10-12 lessons and re-do ALL the problems and the tests (even though he had done well on the tests up to that point). I am so glad we did this. And glad that my son has a teachable spirit and understood why we had to do this :D. We do math through the summer anyway, but trim it to 1/2 a lesson a day to avoid burn out. DD has started 8/7 and it does have a lot of review, but she is only finishing 5th grade, and I really felt that she would benefit from more review and timed tests!

We do "school light" as well. This includes reading and math. My dd (10) will be doing history over the summer because she loves it. My ds also does science through the summer so we can get more advanced electives in. We started Apologia Biology last summer, finished it in March, and we are now working on Chemistry. I also don't let our schedule revolve around "school", so we take more days off for fun. I also try to pick subjects the kids really love (except math, they must do that because they forget too much with a 3 month break!)

My ds will just be in 9th next year, so I am not the best source, but I have heard good things about this course for Spanish http://spanishonline.okstate.edu/. It is $389 for students in public schools, and someone on here have mentioned they have a discount for homeschoolers. You have weekly assignments and then a teacher calls you once a week to go over questions and practice conversation. Of course community college might serve you just as well or better if the price is right :D. Blessings, Michelle

You are right. So sorry for the misinformation. I realized it was the AP exam scoring that was changing as of May this year :blushing:, not the SAT II.

We are finishing our 5th year with R & S (4th through 8th so far). I know you are looking for a secular version, but if you really like it I think you could adapt it to fit you needs:confused:. We are Christian, but we do not subscribe to all they teach (one sentence stated that organized sports were wrong......and both of my older kids swim competitively :lol:). This just led to a discussion of how we should not set up things of this world as an idol! I just love the ease of use of R&S. Plus, my kids really know grammar!! Many sentences are also neutral (no relidious overtones). I just mention this in case you can not find an alternative and you think R & S would work otherwise :).

I am not sure how helpful this thread is as I think the math portion of the SAT is different from the math subject tests. I know the subject tests differ in that they contain 50 multiple choice questions (whereas the SAT has multiple choice and "fill in") and the student is not penalized for guessing on the subject tests. We are using Saxon math as well, but ds is just now completing Alg II. I hope someone else can give you more insight. Blessings, Michelle

I have posted on here a great deal as ds has done a great deal of hs level work already. But ds will be 14 in Sept and officially starting 9th grade :D. Ds thinks he might be interested in computer science or engineering, although he LOVES to read. Here is our schedule for the coming year: History: TOG Year 1 English: TOG Year 1, R & S 9, supplement with Lively Art of Writing, Art of Argument, & Essential Literary Terms. Math: Saxon Advanced Math Science: Finish Apologia Chem I & Apologa Chem II Language: Wheelock's Latin Computer Science: C# Piano: private lessons Swim Team It's nice to see so many on here with rising 9th graders!! These boards have been invaluable to me in planning this coming year. I appreciate those who have BTDT, as well as all of those who will be homeschooling a high schooler for the first time. Blessings, Michelle

For my dd, I plan a 1/2 year at a time using a "Sonlight" type of scedule with all lesson plans on it. For ds I planned out the entire year, but I did each subject seperately without dates. He just checks off each assignment for each subject as he goes. I did his this way because he works through the summer on some subjects. Since you are just starting out, I think planning a couple of weeks at a time is a good idea. As you become more aware of what you can accomplish each day, it will be easier to plan for longer periods of time.

I have had a general plan for my older children. And once I find a curriculum I like (for us, Rod and Staff and Saxon have worked very well), that makes those subjects easier. I think it's a fine idea to lay a plan. Just realize you will most likely make changes to those plans to fit your child :D. My youngest is just three, and I am already thinking about the path I would like to take with his education!! Blessings, Michelle

Ds will be in 9th grade: History: TOG Year 1 English: TOG Year 1, R & S 9, supplement with Lively Art of Writing, Art of Argument, & Essential Literary Terms. Math: Saxon Advanced Math Science: Finish Apologia Chem I & Apologa Chem II Language: Wheelock's Latin Computer Science: C# Piano: private lessons Swim Team

Sandra, I have not used Starting Points with Potter's School, but I did want to say that my ds and I are working through this curriculum together right now and we are both loving it. I think the curriclum is demanding in that it really makes the student think. It does an excellent job at developing a world view. I think it would be wonderful to take this in a class setting, where you could have discussions with others. Just my 2 cents. Hopefully someone who has used the online class will chime in :).

Thank you for taking the time to read my son's essay, Ester Maria. You definately pointed out some items I missed (which has me seriously doubting my ability to teach writing :)). I did know the quotes were not cited properly, but I wanted someone else to mention this besides myself (I think my son will take the critique of others more seriously). Again, thank you for your help! Michelle