We only used it for Algebra with Jacob's. We liked it and thought the program was helpful. I provably would have continued with them if we had not switched to Saxon (we joined a c-op that used Saxon). I hope someone else chimes in.

I read it here in this forum. I had moms in my homeschool group mention it. You can also read the homeschool reviews below: http://www.homeschoolreviews.com/forums/1/thread.aspx?id=115718 And this quote: " ...I did want to warn people who have children who play a sport and homeschool - the NCAA does NOT accept using Rosetta Stone as a foreign language from what I've heard over on the Facebook groups. It's not an issue for my dd (as far as I know, Ballet/Dance are NOT NCAA sports, hahaha) yet, but it might be for my boys. So, be sure to check the NCAA website if you think you will have a kid playing a sport. (You'll want to register with the NCAA in between your freshman and sophomore years.) from: https://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?t=10249 It is true that if the college you are applying to doesn't need a course description then they will never see what curriculum you used. My oldest applied (and was accepted) to a selective school so curriculum and course descriptions were important. " Grammar is very week in Rosetta Stone. For what you get out of it you can use Duolingo for free and the free lessons from Visual Link. Best of luck.

"Placement Tests" are for placing students in the correct level course of College-level Foreign Language. If your child is not planning to take FL in college then he will not have to take a "Placement Test." Mine did, but at the time she was planning to minor in Spanish. No judgement, but please remember that some colleges do not accept FL courses done with Rosetta Stone (you may want to ask your potential college if they do).

duplicate :huh:

What other programs get a bad rap for being "too light." I think those are the ones I need to look at! Contrarily Yours, SHP Math U See has a reputation for being easy. I actually just had the opportunity to look at Math U See last week, both for Algebra and Geometry (we use Saxon,but I was looking at it for a friend), and I would say it is light. If you want free, then you can go with Kahn Academy. I would not say it is easy but it is light for a full credit and they do have Statistics (which my daughter is doing as a supplement to her regular Advanced Math and enjoying it). CLE does have a cheap consumer math but I have no idea how "light" it is.It comes in workbook format.

This site has lots of information but it also has a link to "Films" for each era: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/ Example: Important films of First Americans era (Digital History ID 3711) Across the Wide Missouri (1951) Black Robe (1991) Broken Arrow (1950) Cheyenne Autumn 1964) Dances with Wolves (1990) Devil's Doorway (1950) Fort Apache (1948) Geronimo (1962) Little Big Man (1970) A Man Called Horse (1970), Rio Grande (1950) She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) Soldier Blue (1970) The Squaw Man (1914) (1918) (1931) Tell Them Willie Boy Was Here (1969) One more site: http://www.teachwithmovies.org/indexes-main.htm

You are mentioning 50 minutes x 5 week. That is more than the kids that are taking Spanish with me do each week. What you will have your kid doing is a lot harder than what my first and second year "non-native speaker" students are capable of doing, and they will get high school credit for each course. If you are concerned about having to present something to prove you have done it, and you don't plan to use a HS Foreign Language textbook/workbook, I would keep a very detail log of what programs you have watched, podcast you have listened, articles/readers you have read, list of vocabulary covered, and workbooks you have gone through. You may want to check around in this site: https://www.nationalspanishexam.org/index.php/exam-preparation/online-practice-exercises for ideas of what topics are covered by many schools here in the States and make sure you do the same. Give some vocabulary/grammar/translation quizzes every so often and you can show whom ever what your child is capable of doing.

We liked the IOWA test. It is timed, which is a skill children need to learn, and I could administer it myself. Bob Jones sells and scores the test. I don't know what other providers are out there.

We have been very pleased with Christian Light Education (we switch to Saxon once our kids are ready for pre-algebra,--Saxon Algebra 1/2). We specially like the workbook format, the review, and the clear explanations. https://www.clp.org/store/by_subject/4

You got grammar, reading, and writing...I have a feeling you must speak the FL at home? That is all I see missing. The "talking" part :)

In Tennessee Physical Science (with Algebra) counts here but is not advised for college bound students. They like to see Biology in 9th grade (physical science in 8th). A minimum of 4 credits of math need to be earned during high school, one for each year of high school, Algebra 1 and up. Foreign languages taken in 8th grade count, but if your child will be required to take a FL in college you may want to wait (unless you plan to take FL each year in HS-- they tend to forget if they don't use it).

We are enjoying US by Hakim as well, we are reading the 10 volumes. I noticed you said it is for a recent immigrant to the U.S, is this for the civics portion of the citizenship test? There are lots of free material on the web.Example: http://americanhistory.si.edu/citizenship/ These are free just for an overview of American History: http://www.ushistory.org/us/index.asp http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/

As mentioned here, this section is mostly reading comprehension, thinking skills, and being able to interpret graphs. My dd scored a 35 in this section three years ago (old ACT test). She used an AMSCO product (math and science) to prepare: https://www.amscopub.com/mathematics/test-preparation/act-mathematics-science-reasoning.html Good luck!

I don't know if this is what you had in mind or you want to purchase a guide, but I have been happy with Sparknotes and Cliffnotes to make my own guides before. Some of these sites event have online quizzes, and all are free: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/montecristo/ https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/c/the-count-of-monte-cristo/book-summary http://www.shmoop.com/count-of-monte-cristo/summary.html More Activities/Questions ( I just googled it): http://www.penguinreaders.com/pdf/downloads/pr/teachers-notes/9781405878944.pdf http://www.cassiaschools.org/cms/lib8/ID01906472/Centricity/Domain/389/CMC%20Study%20Guide%20Questions.pdf

+ another elective: Nutrition

Answering the question: In my neighborhood: They are selling the Kool-Aid but I am not buying :)

:grouphug:

We also got two copies (one just last Friday)....same information :)

Dd#1 (this is her 4th semester in college): Double major in "Medicine Health and Society" and Psychology, with a minor in Religious Studies. She started with the idea of a minor in Spanish and a major in Biology, but she changed her mind before having to declare a major this year. Her goal is to apply to the fast track program at her university to become a Nurse Practitioner (6 years total from Freshman year to full fledged Nurse Practitioner--She thinks with an emphasis in Psychology right now). Dd#2: Sophomore in high school. Has no clue. She likes math and science and hates writing. Ds: 8th grader. Wants to be an Architect like his dad.

I don't stress too much when my children make mistakes if they can learn from the mistakes.My children use Jensen's Punctuation when they reach high school. They do Easy Grammar with me until 8th grade and then they are on their own. I can't say they love it but my oldest said it helped her do well on the ACT exam. My second high schooler will be taking the ACT this April so we will see how much it helps her. My children make 3x5 cards of the rules. They use the cards to do the exercises until they memorize the new rule.

Six is still very young :) To memorize the shape of numbers and letters: Tracing numbers/letters on sandpaper (mentioned above) We actually used a box of sand (just enough to cover the bottom, so you can see the shapes on the bottom) to trace letters and numbers. We also drew them with chalk on the pavement. Walked/jumped on top of the chalked numbers/letters. Made letters and numbers out of sticks (and other nature items). We made art: used tissue paper and made little paper balls and then glued them on the shape that needed to be memorized....use small stickers, or other small objects...finger paint dots on the number/letter shape.... This is something I had mine do because I did it in Spain as a child: Instead of using a pencil or crayon we we used a fat needle to perforate the shapes of the numbers/letters (they have to pay closer attention ).

Hello Geokitty, This is a long post. First of all my background is in Science and Math. English is not my native tongue and I need a lot of hand-holding when it comes to teaching writing. I learned IEW methodology with my oldest child who took IEW classes in a co-op setting. I edited her papers for structure (her father did the spelling and grammar) and she is doing great in college. IEW worked great for her. My second child cried every time she had to go to an IEW class and while she was writing her assignments. When writing for other subjects she was not able to implement what she had learned in IEW class. We did EIW 9 last year and it went a lot better (no crying). We may go back to EIW with this child if I can’t make something less formulaic work for her. My comments are in blue: My son knows how to write an essay. He needs practice writing various types of essays. I picked The Power in Your Hands because I wanted my Dd to review different kinds of writing as well. We covered them in EIW 9 last year but I wanted to use a less formulaic approach this time. My Dd has the structure of the paragraphs and of an Essay down. She needs more practice with making strong thesis statements, and I also wanted her to work on persuasive essays this year. He also needs practice in developing his essay quickly.... he can write a beautiful polished essay when given a week. The Power in Your Hands does not help a student to write quicker. It doesn’t have any kind of timed essays. I think the author provides prompts for timed essays if you subscribe to her blog (??); I think I read it somewhere (I hope someone chimes in on this). My oldest used IEW High School Essay Intensive (in a co-op class) to learn about timed essays. She scored well on the written part of the ACT. But when he writes his quickly, he has trouble with organization. So I want him to practice that as well. Although The Power in Your Hands does teach the different kinds of structures that a person can use to write an Essay, it all feels very “theoretical.†There is a lot of terminology in this book so you learn all about the different structures that essays can take (inverted triangle, psychological order, climatic order… ) and when to use one or another. There is a lot of “Do this†or “Don’t do this†but not much on “This is how you do it.†We didn’t dislike everything about The Power in Your Hands. There are samples of what good writing should look like. Some of the exercises required to recognize in others’ writing what they were doing wrong (or right). There were lots of terms and then “Now you do it.†There are people who do well with this type of instruction; my child is not one of them. She can recognize what people are doing in their writing but can’t translate that knowledge into her own writing. My child is going into science. This year I just want her to be able to write good persuasive essays. I want my child to be able to defend her position by quoting from sources (learning different ways to do this). The book does not really teach you how to organize your essays. If your son needs practice on writing good paragraphs (topic sentence, examples/statements with supporting evidence, clincher sentence), transitions, and how to write good introductions and conclusions you may need a different program. The programs I mentioned before, being more formulaic, do help you learn the structure of a good paragraph and the structure of a good Essay. Still Standing, what was it about Lively Art of Writing that worked better? How much time per day per lesson? We have just started The Lively Art of Writing. Each chapter has many questions and activities to help you practice what you have just read about (all these questions at the end of the chapter have been put together in the Notebook I linked you to). This book doesn’t address all kinds of writing. So far, it has been great to help my child learn how to write good “Thesis Statements.†Something she had a hard time doing. The book addresses the passive voice which my Dd needs help with (provably because I speak English using it --passive is very common in my native tongue) with clear instruction on how to recognize it and practice to change it to active voice. Will review for her the structure of a good paragraph and a good essay and will end going over the Research Paper. Instead of “make sure you do this or that—after the terminology has been explained to you†I like that The Lively Art of Writing shows you “this is how you do it.†I really hope it works for her. I would say that right now she is spending an average of 30-40 minutes each day on writing. Once she starts writing Essays it probably will take longer. As I said before, The Power in Your Hands was not a good fit for my child. You may like it.

I wanted this program to be a good fit, but is hasn't been. I liked the sample online and I really wanted it to work. My dd is a reluctant writer and English is not my native tongue so we have tried several programs over the years. Dd had done IEW B and B continuation, IEW The Elegant Essay, and EIW 9 so we were ready for something less formulaic. After Christmas we switched to The Lively Art of Writing with the workbook posted here in this forum http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/471529-lively-art-of-writing-formatted-workbook-and-key-x-post/?hl=%2Bthe+%2Blively+%2Bart+%2Bwriting&do=findComment&comment=6716472 so far so good. Good luck.

My oldest used it. It was O.K. It is mostly just math problems. There is not much to the conceptual part.

Everything I have done for the homeschool community has been to benefit my children: 1. I helped start a Homeschool Cub Scout Pack and was a leader in this group for five years. I moved up each year with my son, until he graduated into Boy Scouts. This included summer camps. 2. Became and American Heritage Girl leader (once my son was in Boy Scouts) until my daughters were done with it. This also included summer camps. 3. Taught free Spanish classes at our public library for Preschooler (and elementary age homeschoolers). 4. Taught Spanish (2nd grade-7th grade) in a local Tutorial so I could afford for my children to be in the tutorial. 5. Taught high school Spanish in a second tutorial so I could afford my children to take classes there. 6. Started my own co-op when after trying the second tutorial I decided I wanted higher quality classes for my highschooler. I lead the group for three years and then I resigned after I got fed up with people doing the minimal to be part of the co-op. I guess my standards of what constitutes quality classes not always matches those of other families in my area. 7. Now I teach small classes, for a fee. Usually a science class my children need. I also continue to teach Spanish even when my kids don't need it. I don't feel I owe anything to my homeschooling community.