That is not a biology problem. That is something else. My 9th grader read for an hour (min) a day. She wrote for over an hour a day. If this child wants to go to law school, I'd be looking at the rest of the day, not biology. Holly

If you are asking if your dd can handle junior college at 16, the answer would be yes. That is not all that uncommon. If you are asking if your dd could complete the 9th grade year that my dd just completed, but in 6 months-no way! Your dd just doesn't understand the amount of work she thinks she is going to squeeze into 6 months. For example, in bio, dd did about 20 labs w/ about 10 full lab reports, read over 1,000 pages, memorized approximately 20-30 vocabulary words a week and answered 11-15 comprehension questions. For writing, she wrote 15 compositions. For literature she wrote 30 compositions and read around 12 major works of literature. I could go on and on. There is no way this could be compressed into 6 months without sacrificing quantity, quality or something. And I will add from a literary standpoint, lots of moms avoid cc humanities classes. Your child may be able to read difficult works of literature. But will she ready for any and every type of subject matter that cc will throw at her? Is she ready to read about rape, sex, alternative lifestyles, pornography etc. etc.? Holly

Absolutely amazing sand artist.

Mine is in my signature line. Holly

I think that the bummer is that you are just not going to get enough data to make any informed decisions. Blue Hen could probably offer a better explanation than I. It would take a lot of evidence carefully gathered in a scientific manner to really draw any conclusions. Holly Holly

Aren't you worried that he will soon be MANDATED to offer health insurance? Holly

Yes! No. If you (or I) post on a board, you will hear that you (or I) are wrong and that you (or I) should have worded things differently. :D I think this is true of almost anyplace we write words down, except our personal journals. Holly

I disagree.

I see the point you made with your child. However, posting it on this board in the way you did, seems to be the equivalent of kicking someone where they are already bruised. Ask yourself, could I have posted the following, made the same point, and not soured half my audience?

Only speaking to this part of your post-reading a/any genre across time sounds weird, inefficient, and impractical. So-maybe I'm not understanding what you mean? :D Sounds like you mean to read plays from Sophocles to Miller. Then you might read epic poetry from Virgil to ? (modern equivalent-is there one?) If that is what we are talking about-no-I would not do this with a student and I would not subject myself to that either. The weird factor for me is that a genre does not exist in a vacuum. Authors of plays do not just affect other authors of plays. And allusions to plays don't just happen in other plays. And Shakespeare did not only write plays, he also wrote poetry. And a play in 1800 does not necessarily transition or illuminate a play that happens in 1850. So, why study Shakespeare on the play go-round and then separately on the poetry go-round and then potentially ignore him on the allegory go-round when you hit Spenser? This seems inefficient. And the big elephant in the room-the novel go-round. How looooooong is that going to last? I think the whole thing is impractical. Don't bring me along for the poetry go-round. I can do about 5 weeks of sustained poetry and then give me a good novel! I can do enlightenment essays for about 5 weeks, then I need a break. My students feel the same way. Holly

Not at all. My dd said it wasn't disturbing to her. None of the students/parents in my lit class complained. Holly

I've never done it. However, looking back at Biology, I wish I would have given midterms. I think it would have helped to review that info midway, rather than at the end when we were studying for the SAT Bio exam.

Yes, what we say does affect others. And, I appreciate all responses, positive and negative by ACTUAL users. Openminded-don't feel bad. We learn from everyone! From my perspective, HOD has been fantastic for my ds. Bigger, as written, was a perfect fit for us. I tweaked a few things, but by far it was the least tweaking I've ever done. I don't see the curriculum as light-at least Bigger was very appropriate. However, I'm looking at it as someone who has an older child and I can see a broader picture, perhaps? Maybe a larger perspective. I know that I always questioned difficulty with my first child. Am I truly challenging her? Now I know lots of my worry was for nothing. So, I'm a little more relaxed. I have to speak to the HOD board. I have been on several boards where generally unhappy folks have poisoned the atmosphere. And I'm not really talking about legitimate curriculum questions-but just plain unhappy messages. SL's board, before it became private, springs to mind. I can't speak to what it is like now, but it used to be pretty common for folks to stir up quite a ruckus. So, I can really understand that Carrie desires her board to be a supportive, encouraging atmosphere. I have not noticed a "big brother" atmosphere myself. But, I suppose that in Carrie's attempts to keep most people happy, she might be interpreted as stifling others. Can't please everyone, but I honestly think she tries. Holly

The Israelis might disagree with you.:001_smile:

IMHO, 2 weeks is not long enough for HOD. You can read it faster than you can understand and appreciate it. I think that you are also pushing it trying to get through Gulliver in 3 weeks. However, you can always cut out a few adventures from Gulliver with no great loss. My students did not like Gulliver last year. After the first adventure to Lilliput, they thought the rest of the book was just more of the same. I would just take a week to read "A Modest Proposal," skip Gulliver and add 2 weeks to the HOD discussion/reading schedule. But, that is just me looking back at my class last year-what worked/didn't work for them. I would also cut one of your big works and instead include some enlightenment essays or some type of non-fiction. I am also teaching English lit next year. Here's my tentative plan: 5 weeks: Wuthering Heights In-depth 5 weeks: Short Story Bootcamp 5 weeks: King Lear & MacBeth 5 weeks: Romantic (and other) Poetry Bootcamp w/Faerie Queene 5 weeks: Tale of Two Cities In-depth 5 weeks: Enlightenment Thinkers-Non-fiction Essays Good luck!

I looked at a ton of biology syllabi last summer. I found trends for that particular class. Most classes I looked at counted tests/quizzes as 50% or more of the grade (usually 50-75%). Labs were 15-25%. Homework was usually 10-25%. Homework seemed to usually be weighted lowest. I would suspect that each discipline would be somewhat different. Holly

My immediate thought is to send a note in a closed envelope to administration and let them take care of it. or ignore it as a woman, I'd not directly deal with it because it is not the place of the teacher but administration to deal with this type of situation-same goes for a man IMHO

13 yo is responsible for the bike and any damage to the neighbor's SUV.

I guess it depends upon what you mean by "many." According to wiki:

Yes-Exactly the problem.

You must be doing Bigger. I also questioned the fact of there being 5 oceans. However, when I googled, I found that some do believe there are 5 oceans. Here's one site that mentions it. But there are others. http://geography.about.com/library/faq/blqzoceans.htm Holly PS-And I don't plan to start Preparing until late August.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,535361,00.html How sad.

I have worked a lot on learning how SAT essays are graded. The most helpful thing I've found is several examples of graded essays with accompanying explanations for those grades. What makes an essay a "1," and "2" etc.? It really took several examples before I felt somewhat comfortable grading the essays myself. Unfortunately, I have had to pull these graded essays from several different sources. It has been a lot of work on my end. I think that the challenge in grading middle grade papers is the sheer amount of variation in writing ability. It would be very helpful to have a tier of successive real-life student papers (maybe starting with paragraphs), showing what makes each paper just a bit better than the other. Holly

I read your post and have been following the replies with interest. I'll be in your position in only three years. At that point my youngest will be in grade seven. In another thread on the general board I mentioned that I try not to engage naysayers in conversation. They generally speak from their own "common sense" and I don't find what they say backed up with anything other than anecdotes. But if I found myself forced to respond, I guess I'd say this. DS is lucky to be in this position. He has been dragged around to harp lessons, piano lessons, and other teen activities. He has never been the sole educational focus in our family, but one of two. DD, on the other hand, got about five years of being the sole focus. I am happy that DS will get lots of individual attention in jr/sr. high.

DD would have too many credits.