Thanks for walking me through that. My dd would love to go to UVA. She's attended summer camp there the last couple of years. But, as you've pointed out, it is extremely competitive. I knew it was, but I hadn't looked up the specifics before. Seeing that gets my blood pressure up, lol. But, we know lots of homeschoolers who have gone there, so there is hope. I need to start looking at colleges and trying to figure out which ones are a good fit, so thanks for the link. It's all so overwhelming.

They can use any book of literary value that they have read and pick their topic from that. All the papers are persuasive essays and they start out very basic. The actual essay is so basic, especially to start, I really thought the class was too easy and that I had made a mistake. It's the brainstorming process and the thinking skills they are teaching that have been so helpful to ds. And me. The teacher has not given a ton of feedback on my ds's papers either. Just minor changes, but then, I don't think there were very many things that he really needed to change, so I'm not sure if others are getting more feedback. Definitely sit in on the class with your dd if you can. Or watch the videos afterwards. I saw the main point of the class and have been able to reiterate it and point it out to my son. He may not have figured that out in his own. He may have just gotten bogged down with following all the rules of the paper and missed the reason behind what he was being asked to so.

I do like Renee. She is very engaging and the class time goes by pretty quickly. The class is one hour long. I don't know if I said this in one of my earlier posts, but the value in this class for us has actually been in the presentation of the material, which is kind of ironic because I recently started a thread about whether online lectures were worth the time or not.

Well, I don't want to act like this class is some sort of miracle, but my son just got his literature paper back. This class has 50 students in it and his paper was one of two picked to be read in class. And this is a kid who has really struggled with writing. No, it's not all due to LTOW, but the heavy emphasis on brainstorming has been the missing piece for him and LTOW addresses this so well. Up until now, I have had a friend who was an English major working with him on his lit papers. This is the first one he did without her and I almost emailed his teacher to let her know that since he spent about 15 hours writing this thing and I was afraid he'd give up if he got a lot of negative feedback. Now, I'm so glad I didn't do that. Well, he is walking on air and so am I. I almost cried when he showed me.

Thanks again, Lori. That's helpful. I've started putting together a spreadsheet of the classes she is planning to take and getting frustrated because there didn't seem to be any room for some of the things she's interested in. We are in VA, so you've really spelled it out for me in black and white. I've looked at that before and am familiar with the requirements, but I guess I'm not being realistic about what we actually have time for. There basically is very little room for any electives with that diploma. Good idea about classifying the CS as Fine arts/Tech. I will check into that. So, my dd has really met all of her language requirements already. She already has 5 years of language classes as she's in Spanish 3 and Latin 2 this year. But, she loves those classes and I can't see her stopping before she takes the AP in each. I wonder what would happen if we step away from the advanced studies diploma? I may start a separate thread on that. I'm thinking the problem with that is that colleges basically want to see what is on the advanced studies diploma.

Interesting thoughts. Thanks for sharing that. Unfortunately, she is doing a python class this year and next year she will take AP CS, which I believe is basically a java course. So, I guess we will just classify it as another elective or career tech/fine arts as Lori suggested.

I think part of it comes from very strong memory and visualization skills. I was always extremely organized. It was one of my biggest strengths. Then I had an injury a few years ago and it's completely changed me. I never could understand people who weren't organized,. I thought if you just kept a list and worked on it, how could you not be organized. Well, now I can never find my list. Even worse, it won't even occur to me that I have a list or that I should look at it. I get a fraction done now in a day of what I could have done in a couple of hours in the past and, for me, it's all about memory and focus. I used to hold so much in my mind that I didn't even realize and now I can't be sure I'll hold anything in my mind, not even things that are really important.

My dd started participating in speech this year and loves it. Next year, I'm sure she will continue and is thinking of adding debate as well. Do you give any high school credit for this or just treat it as an elective? What do the schools do?

Thanks, Lori. The problem we seem to be running into is that my dd wants to earn the advanced studies diploma, which requires 4 lab sciences, 4 history, etc. Next year, she wants to take psych and CS, but she is already heavily into Spanish and Latin and there is very little room for electives with that diploma. So, what I think of as the typical social studies curriculum is World Geography, US History, World History and Government. I wonder if we can substitute psych for one of those? Or do you think that would be frowned upon?

So I'll throw in my own science question. Does anyone know if psychology counts as a science or as an elective? And if it's a science, does it ever include labs? My dd really wants to take psych, but we don't have room for it and a lab science. And what about computer science? Recently, I've seen an article proposing that it be treated as a math credit and another proposing it be treated as a language credit. What do most people usually classify it as? Science or elective? TIA!

Wow, that looks like a lot of fun. Things have been getting so heavy around here during high school. That looks like a real homeschooling program. Love it! I'm going to seriously consider that for one or both of my kids this upcoming year.

Glad you found a solution and that you know the dean well enough to feel it is a good one.

I don't know what I would do for sure, but I lean in this direction, especially for such a young child. I think those that are assuming the school will handle this professionally and better than the parent might be right, but they might just as likely be wrong. Someone close to me has a child who has been struggling in school, and her child was hospitalized for suicidal feelings after a bullying incident. The school was well aware of what had happened, but what did they do on the day she returned to school? They sent the school security officer to get her from class so that the kids who had bullied her could confront her. She said she did not want to meet with them, but was pressured until she broke down again and had to have her mom come and pick her up. How many times have we heard of children being bullied and schools doing nothing? I don't know that I would tell the parents the specifics of the incident, but I think if I was worried enough about this child, I would at least alert them to the fact that my child told me something upsetting had happened in the classroom. An 11 or 12 year old needs their parents' support. Hopefully, he will get it.

It feels so great when you find a good deal like that!

I use a free app called "breathe" that would be great for a beginner. I like this app because it has quite a few meditations to select from and most of them are pretty short. I don't think there has to be a spiritual component to meditation. I've used it with and without. I used to picture myself as being protected by God and that strengthened my faith at one point. Many of the meditations I prefer now on the app are the ones where you focus on relaxing your body, one part at a time and don't really have a spiritual element to them. When I am regularly meditating I can shift into a state of relaxation during the day whenever I think of it. There are periods in my life when it has also had a profound effect on my outlook.

This really resonates with me. I always looked to and continue to look to moms who are in the same stage of homeschooling that I am because they tend to have the most relevant info for me. Likewise, I used to be a great resource for getting info about elementary and middle school programs because I loved to research different options and used a lot of things that I was very happy with. I couldn't/wouldn't tell someone that they must use a certain program, but I knew enough about what was out there to be able to hold a helpful discussion. Now, in high school, I outsource so much that, sadly, I don't have much to contribute to others that are in this stage unless they want a review of an online class one of my kids is taking, and I haven't kept up with the latest and greatest offerings for the younger grades.

My family is extremely fortunate in that my in laws want to take us on a cruise to Alaska this year. I have always wanted to do this! But, MIL has asked me to research it and tell her what trip, cruise line,etc. So, any suggestions? I have 2 teens. I was looking at Norwegian, I think, because they have things like rock climbing, mini golf and ice skating on the ship and my kids would love that, but it looks like they may be booked for this year. One of my kids also has food allergies, so we've got to be on a cruise that will accommodate that. We have used Disney in the past for another cruise we did and while they were great about the food allergies, the kids/teen club concept they had on board didn't appeal to my kids. TIA for any info or advice!

Yes, we noticed a lot of people putting their kids in school in the middle school years. I don't blame them! It does get tough socially at that age and the thought of high school seems pretty foreboding. I definitely started feeling the pressure when my oldest hit middle school age and I seriously thought about public school. In the end, I didn't think it would be a good fit, so we started participating in coops for social reasons and then some online classes for subjects I didn't feel I'd be able to teach well at home.

I don't think you are wrong to want it and I can see why you would want the change. I just think it's highly unlikely that it's going to happen unless your husband wants it to.

Yep, my ds is in the 20+ student class, too. We couldn't switch to the smaller one because it conflicts with Boy Scouts. Hopefully, Spanish 3 will be smaller.

The only movie I think I've seen this year is Inside Out. It's animated and I only watched it to keep my dd company, but I was surprised at how good it was. Extremely creative and it really moved me. I cried!

We've had multiple people on shots here for 5+ years. The only one with an epipen is the one who also has food allergies, so I have definitely not heard of that being a new standard for shots. Then again, I don't think our allergist is the greatest, but there is no one else close enough for us to go to. All had improvements within 6 months of starting. I will say that my dd and my dh, who have always had a horrible time in the spring and fall, improved during those seasons and then seemd to get worse in the winter. My dd was retested after 2 years if shots, had a bunch of new allergies and when they added them to the serum, things got better in the winter again. Good luck! I hope they are painless and that you get great results.

All these videotext recommendations are making me wished I'd used it with my kids!

Sounds like it might be best not to involve your mom. Unless your kids have some sort if ld, there is no reason why you should have trouble making sure they get a good math education. Then, you can share the great test results with grandma. Really, you can do it.

Hoping to spend a long weekend in Pittsburgh this spring and maybe a few days in Boston. My ILs are talking about taking us on an Alaskan cruise in August. That would be wonderful and if it happens we won't fly straight back. I've never been on the west coast and I'd really like to see some of it.