Here is the link for the Lukeion class, should have included it in my prior post http://www.lukeion.org/literature_survey.html

Actually, that is another class I highly recommend, Muse on the Loose and Muse Reloosed at the Lukeion. It is an excellent overview of Greek and Latin literature and the teacher is Excellent. They do 4 (fun) papers per semester and the feedback that my daughter got from the teacher was superb.

Hopefully after taking this class she will be ready for the AP English in a year. That is a pragmatic in me talking. But I also think that Juila Denne is a very good teacher, and my daughter could work extra hard if she likes the teacher. She has done that in Sue Fisher's class at the Lukeion. Somehow I think Julia Denne is on par. So far no one has exceeded Sue Fisher in my DD's opinion. High bar, indeed.

Just want to mention here that we have decided to take a plunge with this class next fall for our language study. https://bytheonionsea.com/tolstoy-chekhov-anna-2017/ Number of people recommended this class to us, including my daughter's beloved teacher at the Lukeion Project. It is a rigorous class that involves good amount of reading and writing, but I think it is well worth it. Happy to post more, once it is going, but just want to alert people that the registration opened up for next fall, if anyone is interested. Irene

Wow! This is a tremendous resource. Thank you so much! I am in the same boat, trying to cobble home APHG info together and this is a treasure trove. So appreciate it!!

Same here. Another plug for WHA Geometry with Mrs. Smith. I love that it is a proof based program. I can see my daughter's logical thinking has deepened in general. Yes, she got older, but somehow I think this geometry class has something to do with it. :)

My daughter is in Lone Pine Latin 100 this year and loves it. It's an excellent solid language program. The teacher is great and strives to create a close knit community. I most definitely recommend them. When it came time for NLE, my DD felt fully prepared. So, the results mentioned are no surprise at all.

Ahh.. Just logging in.. and a bit late replying, but I am so grateful for your thoughts and suggestions!

Could someone give me any feedback about AP Geography course with PA Homeschoolers, especially the workload that comes with it and the teacher's involvement? My daughter will be 15 and it would be her first year taking AP courses. She will also be taking AP Psychology, which she really wants to do, but I am wondering if it would be wise to add another AP course. She works hard if she is interested in the subject or if she really likes the teacher. At this point she is cautiously (or somewhat) interested in the subject and I am not sure how much of the teacher's feedback they will be getting, being that it is an asynchronous class. I think of the Geography as more of an exposure class that would introduce her to the new concepts, and as a bonus, would serve as another outlet for practicing her writing, in somewhat different setting other than her English class. Her workload maybe a bit heavy next year: Latin 2 with Lone Pine Algebra 2 with WHA AP Psychology with PAH Biology with WTMA Essay class with the local teacher Lit. possibly with Center for Lit. Still thinking what to do about History Thank you so much for any feedback on this class!!

Sorry, I am not familiar with Novare lab. We used Spectrum Lab kit and it worked out great for us.

My daughter took it this past fall as well. Yes, there was a lot of memorization and that part she didn't like it. According to her, the Barbarian Diagrammarian was easier, because if was "more logical". This one relied heavy on a sheer memorization. I would say that the workload was about 2- 2 1/2 hours weekly for her. But really it depends on how easy for your kid to memorize unfamiliar words/ roots. She recognized that the class is useful and had fun figuring out different words and write funny sentences with them. Regan had contests for the funniest sentences, so it was fun. The good thing in the long run, is that all quizzes are cumulative and so, words do "stick". The bad thing is that as the course advanced there was more and more words to prepare. The unexpected perk, was when she took a National Etymology Exam (yes, I know, I had no idea there was one), she aced it. :) And I do see her trying to use roots she learned with the words she doesn't understand, not always successfully. But, yeah, I think it was a good class.

Then I would say it is definitely a solid high school chemistry textbook. Explanations are very clear and examples are numerous. I also purchased Nivaldo Tro's textbook and liked it a lot too for the same reasons. Sometimes when things were not clear in Zumdahl (only sometimes), I would fall back on Tro.

I am not familiar with Chang, but Zumdahl is a solid and very well laid out high school chem textbook. However, when I started scanning what is needed for SAT Chem test, it doesn't cover it all. To be honest we were using the World of Chemistry. I understand there is another version of Zumdahl that is more (rigorous?).

Have you checked Wilson Hill Academy? They use Jurgensen's book and have Geometry class at 3:30 -5PM Eastern Time, so depending where you live, it may work for you. Live classes and very good teacher.

We really love Lone Pine Classical School. Twice a week live online classes. Excellent teacher. The book they are using is Lingva Latina. Their pace is brisk but classes are fun and with a lot of student participation and my DD felt completely prepared for the NLE..

We combined Zumdahl's World of Chemistry this year with Spectrum Curriculum. I would say definitely Zumdahl is thourough and very well presented curriculum. I wouldn't worry about sequence of the chapters. You can always tailor the labs to the material covered. Another great text is by Nivaldo Tro. Older editions could also be purchased under $20.00.

We faced the same dilemma at the beginning of the year and decided to buy two copies of the textbook. Ahh... In the retrospect, I think we could get by with just one. For me to assign the homework, I need to read the chapter first, then my daughter reads it and works on the problems. So, I would say having two copies wasn't necessary, really. Good, that our texts were under $20, so, no great loss.

Hah, good question. I wouldn't call her a mathy kid. If left alone, she probably wouldn't do math for pleasure; writing, crafting, yes for sure, but not math. With that I think she has a pretty good grasp on math and it doesn't scare her. WHA geometry class keeps her busy with anywhere 2 to 3 hours of homework for each class, so 4 to 6 hours per week, so she doesn't fly through it. On the other hand she gets all the high A's in it. So, I really don't know how much is she really being challenged by it. I wonder by that, actually. I like the book they use (Jurgensen), so I trust that it is a thorough study of Geometry, so for now I am leaving it at that. :) Don't know how much of help that was..

Derek, I must add that it is mostly your helpful and enthusiastic posts regarding WHA that made me sigh my dd up. I am grateful to you for it :)

Mrs. Stublen is not teaching Algebra 2 this year. It looks like the only choice is Mr. Reini. She really liked Geometry class, so I hope Algebra 2 will work out for her as well.

My daughter is liking geometry class at Wilson Hill Academy with Mrs. Smith. We are planning to continue next year with Algebra 2 with them.

Just seeing this thread. We estimated that the labs that say 1.25hours are done in under 1 hour and labs that state 1.5hours are actually longer, like 2 or more hours, but those are not common. So, most are about 1 hour. I am not counting the clean up time and... I have 3 students working on 1 lab, so that could expedite the prepping of the materials. If it's only one child working, I would add at least 25 minutes just for labeling and measuring everything. Hope it helps. Irene

We are doing it this year with a small group of 3 kids. We did get Spectrum textbook as well. My plan was to actually combine Spectrum Textbook with Zumdahl. I was doing it in the beginning, but later realized that most of the time Spectrum is an adequate textbook on it's own.. for most of the time. Sometimes we had to fall back on Zumdahl book. The Spectrum labs are actually in sync for most of the time with the textbook,and sometimes work as additional chapters. It's not to say that you can't pair it with Zumdahl or Tro. Actually, the sequence of the material presented in Spectrum corresponds better with Tro. Now that we are almost 2/3 in, I would say that the experiments are fantastic and really make a difference in comprehending what we are studying. So, I am glad we are doing it. Oh I am also keeping my eyes on Barron's SAT subject test book as we are going through the course. I would say Spectrum covers about 75% of what in the test. So yes, a conventional textbook is needed if one wants to go for the Subject Test.

Could someone help me to figure out what writing program to choose for my will be 15 year old DD. She is pretty confident writer, but I feel she needs another year of polishing her writing skills before she dives into AP language. I know she would also love literature analysis component, but perhaps it could be another course all together. Anyone have any suggestions? It sounds like I am looking for the pre AP writing level class. Thank you so much! I am new to posting here. Your collective wisdom have been absolutely invaluable to me in the past year. Hope to pay back and contribute as well. Irene

I second that. Zumdahl or Tro are excellent, clear textbooks. I would even prefer Tro for clarity of explanations. I am using 10 year old book and feel like it's completely adequate. We are doing Spectrum Chemistry this year and I just read few Tro or Zumdahl chapters ahead of time, so that I can guide my small group as they cover Spectrum textbook. If I feel Spectrum is not clear in their explanations (sometimes it is the case) or we need more practice, we just switch to the textbooks I mentioned. It's a little more work for me, but without it I think I would be in trouble too. Hope it helps. Irene in NYC My first post and I am so happy to contribute as I benefited so much from lurking here.