I really like Apologia, very homeschool friendly. Dr. Wile answers email questions quickly, and we have even spoken with him on the phone. We have done General, Physical, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. If your student is going to be a science major, I would recommend adding the advanced Apologia if they want to go directly to advanced classes. Also, speed it up, because college science moves fast. My son did Chemistry in the 10th grade, then as a freshman in college took advanced chemistry. Too big of a jump. Barely got a C and was overwhelmed. But he did ask for his Apologia Chemistry book and had it with him the whole semester!

We used Rosetta Stone for Spanish. Not sure how well he learned the language, but did two years worth for credits required. It pretty much ran itself and was easy for me to manage. It definitely is enough for exposure. My son is taking Spanish in college this fall, I am anxiously awaiting how well it prepared him (He is starting over from the beginning, RS is conversational so it didn't cover all of the grammar that conventional courses do). I also saw threads on here about SOS Spanish, and am hoping those using that will weigh in here for you (and me also!).

Thank you Veronica! I do have Craftsman and Format Writing, I'll look at them again. Did Format Writing with my older one, and liked it. For history, I want to use a textbook, we will see if she complies! Don't know if there are good writing assignments with that, even if there were, the only way I can check the paper is to read the text (ugh). I own Streams of Civilization and can borrow BJUP World History (used that for son and liked it). I have used Beautiful Feet and Greenleaf Press, but since both of my kids are very independent and don't want to do school with mom, doing the textbook, letting them answer the questions, and checking them in teachers guide has worked well. I do know it is a little boring, but since we did the book approach in younger years, I am hoping that the texts can summarize what they did then. I'll look at the vocab. idea also, and my friend has WTM, I can look at that as well. Thanks again!

Hi all, I am new to this forum and have really enjoyed reading other posts. I am looking to go a little out of the box with vocabulary and spelling for my upcoming 10th grader. I am open to grammar/composition suggestions as well! I know this is a classical education forum, but Latin vocabulary hasn't worked well over here.... I do like Wordly Wise, it is in the running. Are there some good vocabulary builders that any of you can recommend? She also could use a spelling program of some sort at high school level. She finished all that Spelling Workout has this year. I did have frustration with A Beka's spelling, they did spell some word endings in a non-conventional manner and the words are huge (my son ate that up, but she gets overwhelmed). I (and my daughter) really like BJUP Writing and Grammar workbooks. I own A Beka's 10th grade, my son did well with it, and she wants to stay with BJUP. (But it would be nice to not have to buy!). Any of you have suggestions for this level that they can do on their own and run easily? We do like the workbooks, so I didn't like Rod and Staff. I did have some frustration with both programs, we did grammar A LOT (and thankfully both kids are good at it), but they are both resistant writers. I am wondering if these publishers spend too much time in the details of things, and if we should be writing more. But I needs loads of guidance for this, I am not good at writing or coming up with specific writing assignments. And I need help with grading as well. Any input is greatly appreciated!

It was difficult with the DVDs...... BJUP high school science is very rigorous, we tried Physics and bailed for Apologia. And, you are watching old "live" tapes. Some of the teachers don't update the materials they send, it was very frustrating keeping up with it all. I do know people that use it and like it though... and am open to those who like it who can tell me how to let the kids handle more of it (I was up all hours with worksheets, their keys, text and key and CD with solutions, and lab manual with its solutions, took up the whole kitchen table!). I would love others posting about experiences with the DIVE science as well.

My homeschool association allows me to give honors credit for Apologia HS courses if we finish and do all the labs. That is different than AP, but you get a weighted grade, I think .5 above, but check me on that!

Hi, I am brand new to this forum... I used CC PreAlgebra for oldest w/o videos, took 3 hrs./day..... then used BJUP PreAlgebra for youngest. I liked BJUP much better, there was enough explanation for my daughter to do it by herself w/o dvds. CC was the hardest out there. If you stick with CC, know that you can leave out the hardest last half of the problems and it will still be a more rigorous program than even BJUP.