Heather in VA
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Posts posted by Heather in VA
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My friend just pulled her 9th grader from public school and is worried about math. She was registered for Algebra II in public school and is good at math. She is worried about her ability to teach just buying a text especially being overwhelmed with the sudden decision to homeschool and so many decisions to make so she's looking at either Teaching Textbooks or Saxon. She's leaning toward Saxon but is wondering about review. Her daughter is good at math but will need review of Algebra I which is typically done in public school at the beginning of Algebra II because they take Geometry in between. I don't have Saxon experience at the high school level but I told her I thought they were known for review. So I told her I'd ask the Hive. Also, when I was looking for her I noticed there are now two edition for high school 3rd or 4th edition. If I recommend Saxon, which edition would you recommend?
Or would you recommend TT over Saxon? I think one of the reasons she was leaning away from TT was that Saxon would take them through Calculus, but she said if TT was a better choice then she'd be willing to find something else for Calculus or I recommended CC as another possibility when that time comes.
Thanks
Heather
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nm
I saw your previous post and I thought it was very helpful. I hope you didn't feel like you weren't allowed to say that. Thanks for the congratulations!!
Heather
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I have two college students at LU, and I am a graduate as well. They LOVE it there. Yes, they looked at other schools both secular and Christian. They even took classes from community college. Hands down, LU has blown them away. My suggestion is to definitely take them up on a CFAW event (College For A Weekend). This is truly the best way to find out if this is the place for her.
Again, congratulations. LU has some amazing academic scholarships. It is getting more and more difficult to be accepted into LU residential programs.
What is her major?
Thanks - she is going to the CFAW next week. I did worry about the crowds and 'not real school' feeling but the time worked out for our schedule so that's when we'll go. She's looking at a variety too and this will be her 2nd college visit. She visited Cedarville last year.
She plans to study nursing.
Heather
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Thanks everyone...that first one is just such a relief.
:party:
Heather
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My oldest got an acceptance notice from Liberty University this morning and so far the scholarship information coming from them is very promising. I have no idea if this is where she'll end up but it's a school she's interested in and has a good program for her major so we are off to a good start. Yipppee!!!
Heather
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Well you've got some historical literature so I will suggest some more as well as some non-fiction history.
Red Badge of Courage
Huckleberry Finn
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Up From Slavery (and/or Souls of Black Folk)
Battle Cry of Freedom
King Leopold's Ghost
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Grapes of Wrath
Cry the Beloved Country
The Great Gatsby
Guns of August
10 Days the Shook the World
Citizen Soldiers
I Have a Dream and Letters from Birmingham Jail
Fallen Angels
There are lots more... but this is a start.
Heather
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Honestly, if you aren't doing the books and you aren't doing EHE, then what is left??? You could have a geography study but you would be doing it all yourself, so you would be better off with a different curriculum.
I guess I misunderstood. I thought the EHE was the geography study with the worksheets that are in the sample. But it sounds like things are more integrated than I thought.
Thanks
Heather
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We just received ours last week and I can't wait to start.
We are going to do a unit on animal classification that I already had planned and then we will start. I can't wait it looks like fun.
The first chapter discussions animal classification so you might be able to start and use your unit to expand it then continue with chapter 2 when you are done studying classifications.
Heather
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We start Tuesday. (that's when we start school). I will be using it as a combination Science and Geography program. I am so excited about it. It looks terrific.
Heather
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I am using this core right now with my 5th grade daughter and it is absolutely NOT high school level, especially the way they have changed EHE. It is SO much easier than when my children did it. The reading level of the books and work required is a good level for upper elementary/middle school NOT high school.
I saw some samples of the EHE and I definitely see how it isn't high school. What I was wondering is how you felt it (just the EHE) would be for a geography study for a middle schooler? It looks like you could use it with research instead of having to read all the fiction from the Core itself. Is that true?
Heather
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Yeah, its hard because really, the quality of education at the CC is not likely to be as high as what you can give her at home. And UVA definitely has strict requirements for what CC classes you need to take (and i'm not even sure all of their programs honor the guaranteed acceptance? or maybe their gpa requirement is higher?) I saw them at a homeschool highschool to college conference once (by VA Homeschoolers).
I've heard that SWB's kid? grandkids? were not accepted at W&M despite her working there, and I heard another story of them not being particularly home-school friendly.
Ugg, planning is so annoying!
Well NOVA (our community college) has a setup with all the major schools that anyone getting an associate degree at NOVA is guaranteed admissions. I actually don't know anyone who has done it personally so I'm not sure about any 'gotchas'. My oldest daughter's two best friends just started college (VATech and UVA) and both were public school but I am already seeing a radical difference in how college was when I went and how it is now. Kids can't get the classes they need. They aren't allow an advisor until they take a certain number of required courses in that "college" to consider them that major, but they can't get off the wait list of those required courses without an advisor. It's really crazy some of the stories coming from them just one week into classes. So I can see how just being guaranteed a spot in the school might not do them any good if they use that against them when it comes to getting into the right major etc.
And yes - William and Mary is not very homeschool friendly at all. When you speak to them they act very open to it and I do know a few who have gone there but they make you take more tests and jump through more hoops than the Ivy Leagues so it just seems stupid to me. I'd do it if my kids really wanted to go there and it is an excellent school but unless it ends up that my youngest wants to go there some day it won't fit my rising senior (nursing) or my 8th grader who will be more of a science person.
Heather
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I just read your other post about last minute homeschooling and I was going to recommend you look at Kolbe as an option. I have no used it myself but we purchased their schedule for Anatomy and Physiology for my senior this year (she wants to be a nurse too) and I am really pleased with how it's laid out. It looks challenging to me but the right amount of challenging. It is high school after all. But the answers are all there for the parent and every assignment is laid out so the student knows exactly what to do. It appears to me that all of their schedules are like that.
My middle daughter will be using Shepherd Biology this year and I am very pleased with what I see with that. I didn't really know much about Kolbe schedules when I chose that for her (I just knew she didn't want DIVE which worked very well for my oldest but this one is not a video learner). But if I had known about Kolbe it would have been a contender as well and we will definitely look at them for future science since Shepherd only has Biology for high school.
Heather
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My ds's chosen university recommended that he NOT get an associate's degree while in high school, because of its effect on scholarship eligibility.
He can still come in as a freshman, regardless of how many CC credits he has, as long he doesn't take *any* CC credits after officially graduating high school and doesn't get an AA certificate. The AA degree would force them to recognize him as a transfer student, and then he would only be eligible for a two-year instead of a four-year scholarship.
~judi
This is a concern for me. The one thing that an AA degree would do for her is guarantee admissions to all of our state schools which would counteract quota problems. Our big schools like UVA, William and Mary, VATech etc have quotas of how many students they can accept from our area making some of them harder to get into than much more competitive schools. They often put more value on the IB/AP schools in our area then a homeschooler.
But I don't want to just skip high school in favor of community college. I believe high school is a time for a broad base of learning and reading rather than specific interest focus. I think you could potentially miss that by specializing too soon. I never looked into this with my oldest because I knew she didn't want to go to a huge state school so that benefit was of no interest to her. My middle might be more likely to attend one of those.
Heather
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Thanks everyone. It's pretty exciting. A few of her choices have rolling admissions so it will be nice to have an acceptance or two in her pocket.
Heather
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I know it's silly but somehow it just seems like a huge milestone. Hard to believe I started homeschooling this one 8 years ago as a temporary fix for a teacher problem.
The college decision ride has begun....
Heather
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How are you managing to get high school requirements as well? I was looking at our local community college which has an extensive number of associate degrees available and you can start as soon as you are 16. That's great. But they are 16 - 17 credit hours per semester and all topic specific. That is a full load and doesn't include basics like history, science, foreign language etc. - at least depending on which associate degree you choose. Some will have science but not the basic three. A few have some math but then no history, literature etc. It just seems to me that you'd have to do so much at home as well that you would absolutely drown your student or you'd end up with an associate's degree but not really a well-rounded high school education. Are others finding this?
Heather
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My oldest used Omnibus (until her senior year) and my middle who will start high school next year will use Biblioplan.
Heather
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Obviously I have everything recorded and written down from the last 3 years and the plan for this upcoming year but now I need to put it in a 'send to colleges' format. A couple of schools she is applying to have a form they want us to use but most don't. Does anyone have a sample of transcripts they have used? What information should I include? Do they want detailed descriptions of each course? Do they want book lists? Textbook titles? We also have a few grades from online courses. Do I just mention that I can provide documentation? Do I sent that separately since most of these are applied online?
Let's hear it ladies - transcripts for dummies info needed!!
Thanks
Heather
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Heather, I'm not certain about the English, but for the math, the tests are stapled in the very center of the lightunit. They have a slightly different color margin. I always remove the test as we start each lightunit.
I hope you can find them!
Jetta
YES!!!!! That's where they are. I didn't think to look in the very middle. Odd. But thank you so much for pointing me in the right direction. DD is a little less thankful - she was hoping no tests LOL.
Heather
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I found it!! The 3rd edition of the book 'All Through the Ages' has an entire section organized by countries and regions. Here's a sample from the China page.
http://www.nothingnewpress.com/atta/atta_3rd_edition_china.pdf
I thought they just had a book list organized by historical time period. I think this is what I'm looking for. We are going to be studying animals and habitats around the world and I want books about the places since our study is more focused on the science.
Thanks!!
Heather
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If anybody has a link to that kind of a booklist, I'm :bigear:
Me too. I never thought this would be this hard. I asked in a different post if there was such a thing as a secular Galloping the Globe with booklists hoping something like that would have more of the books I'm looking for and less missionary books but there doesn't seem to be one.
I'll be sure to let you know if I find something or share what I do if I end up having to put one together myself.
Heather
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What a bummer. That would have been just perfect. Thanks for looking for me.
Heather
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I'm looking for a book list by country to enhance our geography and science studies. I bought Galloping the Globe but it's too young and the books that are old enough are all missionary studies. I'm not looking to do a missionary study. Trail Guide is for older kids but I can't tell if it has a booklist. I am just out of time to create a list myself and for $12 I'd rather just buy something that has one.
Thanks
Heather
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I am using a new program (for us) this year that I am really excited about. It's called A Fresh Approach. You didn't mention what math course she is doing but they have Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II. I have read some of the book and the explanations are clear and understandable.
Heather
Science living books?
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
Try these books too... This link is the publisher but you can 'look inside' many of them at amazon. The Leonardo DaVinci book is especially good for science.
http://nomadpress.net/book/subject
Heather