This is fantastic!!!! Thank you for sharing!!

Why not do what SWB recommends in TWTM. I think I would start by having her outline her history (whatever book you will be using) and then work up to writing from an outline. I would say the basics need to be taught first, but since she is older she may need to only spend a few weeks on outlining before moving on. Once she feels comfortable summarizing what she has read, she can move on to writing essays and reports. If you want a more structured approach, you could use Excellence in Writing. This has been my son's favorite writing program, and it really doeas hold your hand. We used Ancient History Based Writing Lessons in addition to the seminar, and will be using more of their curriculum this year. Also, I love Rod and Staff for grammar. I would perhaps use the 6th or 7th grade text (it is challenging). R & S also does a good job at teaching outling and writing. If she is on level for everthing else, I would not hold her back (unless she wants to do this). You could also work over the summer with her next year to solidify her skills. Best of luck to you both :001_smile:

I have used Cores 4, 6, and 7. Personally, I would have not attempeted Sonlight when my kids were very young. It was just too much!! But, as my ds grew, he became an avid reader, and we really enjoyed the cores we did. There is some mature subject matter, but in the read-alouds I would leave those parts out (this was for Core 4). We just finished Core 7 this year. When our youngest gets to 5th grade, I plan on spreding Cores 6 and 7 over four years to complete a cycle of world history. We LOVED the great books we read! But, like the others have said, if you have reservations, that is probably reson enough. I knew when the time was right for us to do this. BTW, we will not be using Sonlight for high school. I just don't feel it is rigorous enough (many of the books are middle school level). Also, I used Beautiful Feet when ds was in thrid grade for Early American History, and this was a great fit :)

I thought I was the only one who had a dd with a bad attitude :lol: DD will be 10 soon, and she really is a negative person!! My husband always makes the kids tell him three good things that have happened to each of them each day, to try to get dd to focus on the positive. Now, she is MUCH better than she was at 7, but I would like to find the "key" to making her do her work cheerfully.....and not forced!! I do try to let her pick which subjects we do when (within reason) and this has helped. I have also tried what all the others have said....going to her room, pointing out scriptures about the subject, and more chores (but I do LOVE the idea of a work DAY :D). I wish there was a step by step process that would address this issue, but I don't think there is a magic cure. Just know you are not alone :)

Autodidact...thank you for your reply. I am so appreciative of others knowledge as I know nothing about Latin. I will e-mail SO today. For others who are reading this thread, I have e-mailed RCA and received a wonderful response. Wend Pierce told me that traditionally Memoria Press students do not do so well when transferring (she mentioned they test weekly, but so does Memoria Press so I don't know exactly what the difference would be). She said they would give him a test to see if he was ready for Henle II. She also said she would be watching for his registration to make sure he placed properly :). But Autodidact's post has really convinced me to use Wheelock's Latin (and reading the information at Lukeion.org). So now I just need to decide which class...SO, RCA, or Lukeion. There are people who are happy at each, so I will e-mail SO today and see if they can answer some questions. I think now it will come down to what schedule will be the best fit for our family :). Thank you all for your posts, and I will let you know what I decide!!

I just want to say how much I LOVE the Foster books. Yes, they have Christian stories in them, but just as much as there are Greek myths, etc. I am a Christian, so obviously this was not a problem for me. There really isn't that much, but I think it is important that our children be exposed to all points of view. (In my 8 years of homeschooling there have been things that I have disagreed with, but we just talk about them and move on. This year in the Rod and Staff English Book 7 it stated that good Christians do not use slang words....and you should have seen the words they considered slang :lol:. We just laughed and moved on :)) What I LOVE about all the Foster books is how they connect what was going on in ALL parts of the world for a particular time period. I also LOVE the sketches at the begining of each unit which connects all the people during a smaller time period. I will definately use then again!!

I saw this on another thread last night, but now I can't find the thread. What Saxon suggests is giving 1 credit for Alg I and 1 credit for Alg II. After finishing the Adv Math book through lesson 70, giving 1 credit for Geometry with Advanced Algebra. Then, after finishing the Advanced Math book, giving 1 credit for Trig and Pre-Calculus. Also, some suggest that if you are going to do a separate geometry course to wait until after Alg II so the student will not forget the algebra. I am not planning on having our children take a separate geometry course. We will just take 2 years for advanced math (ds will finish it by the end of 10th), and then we will move o to Calculus.

Autodidact...thank you so much for your post (and your mother for allowing you to post this). I really think we will switch to Wheelock's. My only reservation with SO is the time of Latin III (which is in the evening). Ds swims competitively, and this interferes with his practice schedule (He could miss one evening, but missing two practices every week is a lot). Do you know if the class schedule has stayed consistent with regards to the time? I really want to try to start with a program and stick with it if possible. Also, is there an audio component to the class? (Somewhere I read that there wasn't, but I may be misinformed). Also, is the reading introduced early on, and is it from outside sources (other then the text), or is all you need in the text for the first couple of years? Sorry for all of the questions :D. My ds REALLY loves latin and he is always connecting English words to their Latin root :). I keep telling him he might want to major in Latin, so we will see. I am so glad to hear of your success. Thank you again for your post!!!!

Margo, Thanks for posting this article. I really struggled with which curriculum I was going to go with. Ds will be in 8th grade (but is doing mostly high school level work). I really wanted to put together a program that would allow us to start with ancients again in 9th grade, but would prepare him to look at these works with a more discerning eye. I think perhaps Martin Cothran's point is that there IS worldview in all literature, so you really can't separate it from your other courses. This summer I am having ds read White Fang and Call of the Wild, and we are going through Logos school's Naturalism litertaure guide for these two books (it is wonderful in pulling out Jack London's worlview). I also purchased a small book by Logos school called Reading with Purpose. It covers the major philosophical movements in the US from the founding until post modernism, and how it affected the authors of that time (in general of course :)). This fall we will be going through Starting Points and Windows to the World (WTTW does not have a great deal of worldview in it). I think you must be able to identify an author's worldview in order to get a greater understanding of the work. We have already picked out some subtleties I am sure we would have missed had it not been for the Logos guide. I am sure it gets easier, but at the beginning I need some hand holding. So to some it up, worldview affects all that an author writes, so to try to separate it out of a work is impossible. You must understand an author's worldview in order to understand their work. Just my thoughts :) I too would be interested in what others have to say!!

Thank you all for your replies. Now I think I just need to pick a program and not look back :)

Rebecca and Brigid, thank you both for your posts :) Mrs. Barr actually sounds a lot like my son's swim instructor. Being a first born, ds is very much a rule follower and is very diligent in his work. I don't think that will be a problem. I do have one question about Lukeion and Wheelocks...are there additonal readings the students do in the program? Or is it all grammar the first two years? Again, is there anyone who has had experience with VP :) Thank you all so far for your insights. I just might go crazy otherwise :D

I also remember seeing a point about the work load and extra curriculars on the Lukeion site. Since ds is a swimmer, he will be spending 8-12 hours/week at practice. I also know there were a couple of not so wonderful posts on this board about the instructor for Lukeion, so I would love to hear what others have to say. I will e-mail RCA and see what they say about their course sequence and AP Latin. Does anyone have experience with VP online Latin?

I have been researching and struggling over this decision for a week now and I need some advice :confused: Ds completed the middle school Latin course through Memoria Press this past year. They only covered Units I and II of Henle (it did move VERY slow and I do think ds could move quicker). Ds swims competitively and we have switched swim teams. The schedule for the Memoria Press classes (for now and in the future) conflict with practice times. The only other online class that I could find that uses Henle is RCA. The classes go through Latin III but still only cover Henle First Year and Latin readings. Is this enough before moving to AP Latin? I want to try to pick a program and stick with it. I do not feel I have the time to devote to Latin to try to teach it myself. So I think we are going to have to switch to Wheelock's Latin in order for him to take it online. So I have narrowed it down to Veritas Press Scholars Online or Lukeion. I have read some information on these boards with regards to Lukeion, but I wonder if anyone could assist me in this decision. I like that VP also uses Cambride Latin with Wheelock, but Mrs. Barr at Lukeion has her masters in Latin. Any input would be greatly appreciated :)

If you look at the reaserch that has been done on homeschoolers test scores, they do tend to be quite high. The longer you homeschool, the greater the gap. Just FYI, the highest one can go is the 99th percentile, so if your child is there that is the top score they can achieve. I have encountered this with my oldest. I think you have a couple of options: 1) Keep testing at grade level. If you have to turn your children's scores into your school district, I would keep testing them at their grade level (that way it just shows how well they are doing :)). On the ITBS you can look at the SS scores each year (there is a separate column for this). If the scores are going up this shows the child is learning, even if their percentile rank has not changed much. 2) Above level test using a talent search. You really don't HAVE to go through a talent search, but I had my ds take the EXPLORE in 6th grade through Northwestern's academic talent search. They give you information about how your child's scores compared with other 8th grade students, as well as those gifted children who took the test through the talent search. They also provide a "plan" of classes that might be appropriate for your child to take (this was nice in solidifying my decision to have my ds start algebra in 7th and biology in 8th). This year I had my ds take the ACT and was pleasantly surprised by how well he did. I will have him take it yearly to allow me to guage his academic progress (but he still takes the ITBS and these are the scores we report to the district). 3) If you do above level testing with the ITBS I would go two grades up. I don't think one level would differentiate the scores enough for you. I hope this gives you some ideas :)

We implemented a system this past May and it is working wonderfully!! Each child gets 14 tokens each week (they made their tokens out of pearler beads :)). The tokens are worth 1/2 hour of screen time (tv, computer, or DS game), so 7 hours each week. They can use the time as they please, but they must still ask permission (sometimes I have something they must complete before they get to use their token). Once their tokens are used, that is it. Many times they do have tokens left over at the end of the week, but the tokens do not carry forward to the next week. I should also add that occasionly we will watch a movie as a family and the children are not required to use a token for this. We decided to implement this over the summer, as the kids only do a minimal amount of schooling over the summer. Once we get back into our full school mode, the kids will have little time for "screen time" between school and swim team :).

This makes me so thankful for a supportive family. While I know my in-laws do not totally agree with our decision, they at least don't share their opinions with us! My sister is a public school teacher, and always tells me to never send our children to school..LOL!! I may be homeschooling her little one when the time comes. I think most people are just ignorant of homeschooling, and really don't understand how it can afford a child so much greater opportunity. I think after your in-laws see how well your ds does, they may be less vocal. Praying for a great year for you!!!

My ds has started biology this summer. He spends about 1/2 hour to 45 min for readings, but on the day he has to complete experiments it is obviously longer. Also, when doing the end of chapter review, this takes a little longer. We are also using the DVD that Apologis sells which is a recording of the live classes that Steve Rosenoff does through Red Wagon Tutorials. I LOVE the DVDs, and so does ds, but each lecture is 1 1/2 hours (for a total of 3 hours per module). There is a lot of vocabulary, but ds does not seem to have a problem with that. If you go to www.donnayoung.org she has a free schedule for Apologia Biology with bookmarks for each chapter which have all the vocabulary for each module on them. This is helpful to have all the vocabulary in one place. My ds is really enjoying the course :)

I am a PT (I responded to the previous thread about curriculum). I took calculus in college, but it is NOT used in graduate school. Physics is important as that will be used in grad school, but not calculus based physics. Statistics is also VERY important. I would first check with the colleges your ds is interested in, but I would be apt to suggest physics and statistics. If you want to give him some exposure to calculus, you could offer this as a 1/2 credit course OR you could easily offer statistics as a 1/2 credit course and do a full year of calculus (this would look good on a transcript). I would definately have him study physics as his science course. Just as an FYI, in undergraduate school I took: chemistry- 1 year, organic chemistry- 1 year, biochemistry - 1 year, calculus - 1 year, physics - 1 year, invertebrate biology- 1 sem, developmental anatomy - 1 sem, genetics - 1 sem, anatomy and physiology - 1 sem, microbiology - 1 sem, abnormal pshchology - 1 sem, statistics - 1 sem, developmental anatomy - 1sem. There may have been a few other science courses (it has been 17 years ago!!), but those are most of them (along with a bunch of electives). Hope this helps you prepare!! Physical therapy is a great profession and very rewarding!!! Good luck to your son :)

Cheri, I used Core 7 this past year with my 4th grade dd and 7th grade ds. While I think that the spine (SOTW Middle Ages and SOTW Modern times) is more advanced than the first two in the series, I definately do not feel they are quite meaty enough for high school. However, Core 7 also uses the Foster books (George Washington's World and Abraham Lincoln's World) which go much more in depth, but again are middle school level books. The literature is wonderful for middle school, but again I don't feel it is high school level (except for Great Expectations). The writing assignments are integrated, and wold be quite approprite for high school IMO (there is a great deal of literary analysis). I LOVE SL core 6 and 7, but if I were to use it for high school, I would add a high school text and some high school literture to the mix. Just my 2 cents :)

Cynthia, I do not know how long the chemistry lectures are, but I would bet they are also pretty close to 3 hours per module as well (simply because it is a recording of the online class which meets for about 1 1/2 hours/week).

Is he planning on attending college, or going straight into a law enfrocement academy? If he is going to college, I would first check some colleges that are possibilities and look at the science requirements for those schools. I really am not sure I would repeat physical science. My son is 1/3 of the way through Apologia Biology, and there has been no math yet (there was more in physical science). If your son could take the class at the coop, it might make it more interesting for him and he could really get in a full four years of science (I am thinking if he is interested in forensics, he might like to take physics by the time he is a senior and has more math under his belt, so to speak). I gues my bottom line is I wouldn't hold back on biology because of his math skills, as most of biology is learning about cells, bacteria, plants, animlas, ertc. Just my two cents, whatever that might be worth :)

I am a practicing PT (I only work 4 hours a week but this allows me to keep my license). I really want to stress your son should try to take anatomy in high school (as well as many of the other science you can fit in). Physics (NOT calculus based) and anatomy are very important in graduate school, and the more exposure he has to them, the better (I would suggest when he does take anatomy to have him memorize as many muscles as possible...along with their actions. This will be a great head start!!) If he is not oppossed to it, I would have him study science year round to allow him to take two advanced courses if possible. I am only suggesting this to make him a little better prepared for college and make it a little easier for him, especially the first year :) I would also add that many graduate schools require statistics and psychology, so exposure to this might be helpful as well. Again, you will get all the preparation in your college years, but the more exposure you have now, the easier this will make college. I would also like to add that volunteering is very important as NevadaRabbit stated, and those were very good suggestions. Most of the volunteering is folding towels (and observing), but I volunteered for one PT in pediatrics who allowed me to help (not touching a patient, but, for example, holding a toy for a child to reach for, etc) She always explained what she was doing and why. It was a great experience!! I wish your son the best of luck!!

I am a practicing PT (I only work 4 hours a week but this allows me to keep my license). I really want to stress your son should try to take anatomy in high school (as well as many of the other science you can fit in). Physics (NOT calculus based) and anatomy are very important in graduate school, and the more exposure he has to them, the better (I would suggest when he does take anatomy to have him memorize as many muscles as possible...along with their actions. This will be a great head start!!) If he is not oppossed to it, I would have him study science year round to allow him to take two advanced courses if possible. I am only suggesting this to make him a little better prepared for college and make it a little easier for him, especially the first year :) I would also add that many graduate schools require statistics and psychology, so exposure to this might be helpful as well. Again, you will get all the preparation in your college years, but the more exposure you have now, the easier this will make college. I would also like to add that volunteering is very important as NevadaRabbit stated, and those were very good suggestions. Most of the volunteering is folding towels (and observing), but I volunteered for one PT in pediatrics who allowed me to help (not touching a patient, but, for example, holding a toy for a child to reach for, etc) She always explained what she was doing and why. It was a great experience!! I wish your son the best of luck!!

I just wanted to add that when ds watches a lecture, he usually does not do any reading that day because each lecture is about 1 1/2 hours (3 hours of lecture per chapter). When you are planning out your schedule, look on the syllabus that is provided to see how far your child should read before watching the lecture each week. Also, before your child takes the test, have him watch the first part of the lecture for the next chapter as there will be a review before the test. I also schedule labs throughout the week, and again I try to schedule no reading or very light reading that day. We will be doing all of the labs, as well as four formal lab reports. I am having ds only do informal lab reports for all other labs as we have done every lab for General and Physical Science and he knows how to write a lab report now (the informal report does not include the list of materials or step by step procedure, but does include a hypothesis, data collection or drawings, and a conclusion).

I just want to second Explorer's Bible Study. I have been doing the bible study orally with my kids and it is terriffic!! We have learned so much. I use the answer key as it really brings some insight into scripture that we have not thought of. I usually read the scripture (or ds) and then we answer the questions together. It takes 15-20 minutes per day. Great study :)