But that's only because I've finally (hopefully!) gotten a realistic sense of what we can accomplish in a given 24 hour day, especially with two not-that-highly-motivated high schoolers.

Both the Cedarville Academy and the summer camp sound very interesting. My current junior especially might like the camp. Thank you for the info!

I'll definitely look into Bowling Green. I've heard of it, but don't know much about it. Oberlin's not even on our radar, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on Malone and Mt. Union.

I'm not sure about the Logic, but as far as the Geometry proofs, I confess I graded them somewhat loosely at times, and sometimes not at all. I didn't assign a ton of proofs to do, but I often gave him the answer book, and assigned him to read through proofs, and explain to me how they were done. Sometimes, I'd compare his answer to the one in the book, and as long as they had most of the same elements, I'd check it as correct. Other times, I'd have him do the comparing, and explain how and why it was different to me. Occasionally, I'd sit down and fight my way through his proof... following each step to make sure it was logical, but frankly, I didn't do that much. Fortunately, in Geometry there were plenty of other types of things to grade, so the proofs were good for him to think through, but I didn't end up counting them as much of his grade. Blessings

Okay, now I feel like the folks who show up at the high school board saying, "I can't believe my kids are old enough for me to be on this board!" But, I have a junior and a sophomore, and I'm told 11th grade is when one ought to do 'college visits.' Unfortunately, neither of mine are terribly motivated about a particular college, or even a particular field. If that doesn't change, they'll either get a gap year, vocational training, or inexpensive community college while living at home. In hopes that it will change, I thought I'd do some 'generic visits' to local schools. By this, I mean: visit a small, rural private school; a large urban state school; a Christian college or two; and ??? What else? Are there any differentiating facets of colleges I should use to pick a school to visit? Also, if anyone is familiar with schools in or near Northeast Ohio, any suggestions of schools? Here are the ones I'm planning to try and visit: Hiram College (small, rural, private) Akron U (large, urban, state) Mt. Union (smallish, located in a small city, but very much IN town.) Malone: Christian in a a more urban environment I'm avoiding downtown Cleveland at this point, so not Case Western or Cleveland State. I'm also avoiding Kent State because of the intensity of the liberalism I've heard about from folks who've attended there in recent years. All the ones on my list are very close, within 45 minutes or so of home. If I go a little further afield (a couple of hours) I could add Grove City and/or Cedarville. Any thoughts appreciated!

I sent one of mine to a private school in 7th grade. She's a bright kid and I knew it would be no challenge to her academically, but I thought it would be good for her socially and in other ways. (Locally, it's considered a good private school.) It wasn't. We pulled her out in March, and on her Stanford tests that May, she did the worst she ever has. The next year we homeschooled her again, but skipped her to 9th grade (for a number of reasons.) We also gave her the Stanford 9th grade test and I was concerned about her results since she'd done so poorly on the 7th grade test the previous year. Nope... one year of homeschooling again had apparently erased the acedemic malfeasance of one year of private school. Even though she'd skipped a grade, she was basically back up to her usual nineties percentile scores. There a certainly a small subset of kids who will do better in school, but usually for a specific reason. Not out of fear. Never out of fear. All the reasons you homeschooled your children are still in effect, oftentimes more so, in the teen years. It's just a lot harder to see things clearly at this age. Blessings.

my daughter takes horseback riding lessons at a nearby farm. I don't know that it's the best fitness, but it's something. Oh, and I let her get a dog because she promised to walk it every day. That's setting the bar nice and low!

I will definitely be searching out performances. I'd thought about doing that, but you all convinced me. It seems the tragedies are more highly recommended than the comedies, so I will probably pick only one comedy. I know nothing about the sonnets. I know they should be included; I guess I just choose whatever seems most appealing. Thank you all.

My 10th grade daughter will be doing a half year public speaking class this year, which I've decided to count as half an English credit. For the other half credit, I'd like to do a study of Shakespeare. I'm thinking one or two plays each of comedies and tragedies, plus a few sonnets. Does anyone have any suggestions of which ones I should choose and why, or any other thoughts on how to do a half credit of Shakespeare? Thanks so much!

For the first few modules, we usually watched the lesson, and did the exercises the same day. If there was a quiz, we took it the next day, followed by watching the next lesson and doing the problems. Sometimes, if the load for that day was heavy, or especially in the last module or two, the quiz would be enough for one day. I tried to work in review, by occasionally having them do problems from earlier in the unit. I probably should have been more faithful in this, but it helped. HTH

Unfortunately, it's written for teachers who are much stronger in math than I and we were unable to continue after one very frustrating and difficult year. For my mathy one, we did two years of Videotext Algebra, followed by one year of VT Geometry supplemented with ALEKS since we didn't have all the modules. This year he'll be doing Chalkdust Precalculus. My less mathy one did two years of VT Algebra, and will do Teaching Textbooks for Geometry this year.

My summer project has been organizing it all... Maybe I'm crazy but I know at least one of mine has enjoyed looking at stuff from 'the early years,' and the other may as well someday, so I bought cardboard boxes used for filing and semi-accurately sorted their stuff by grade and kid. I just (more or less) finished a couple of nights ago. Of course, giant trashbags would always be another option, but that stuff probably represents more of my work than theirs, given all the planning and praying that went into it, and I just couldn't bear to toss it all. Blessings...

The Videotext website suggests what he calls a five-step method. This is likely what he explained to you at the convention. I found it most of the way down on the FAQ page... http://www.videotext.com/FAQ.html HTH

My son used it in 8th and 9th grade... We started it near the end of 8th grade, and got through just under half the book. We saw such improvement in his writing that we started over in 9th and redid all the lessons again, and went on to finish the curriculum. (I'm referring to PTIW 1, btw.) HTH

We did all of VT, and then a mix of VT and ALEKS for Geometry. I was also somewhat confused as to what to do next. These are the two options I looked at most closely: The Potters School has a two year program... the first year is Functions, Statistics, and Trigonometry (based on the title of the Chicago Math book they use.) The second year, also using a Chicago Math text, is called Precalculus and Discrete Mathematics. The other option we considered is Chalkdust, taught by Dana Mosely. That uses a book called Precalculus with Limits, and is usually considered to have enough material in it to require 1.5 years to do it well with most students. It includes Trig in it, I believe. Because my husband is an aerospace engineer, I found cheap copies of the Functions, Statistics, Trigonometry book, and the Chalkdust Precalculus book, and had him look at them and pick one. He chose the Chalkdust, and I figure that when I add in math spent on SAT and PSAT prep over the next two years, it will make a fine 2 year course. Hopefully, by taking our time with it, he can really master the material and be ready for college math afterward. HTH

I don't know anything about this particular movie, but I know that at least some of what is now PG 13 would have been R when I was a kid, so if a movie was rated PG back then, it's probably not too bad. I'm not sure when the Gatsby movie was made, however. HTH

This intrigues me... I know it's totally off topic, but would you mind giving a quick summary of why it's a hot button issue? TIA

I've done something similar... I have the 4th edition DVDs, which say 2005 on them. They're the ones available fairly recently from bookaggie for $16.32. I have the 3rd edition textbook also, from 2001. I agree with Martha. It lines up quite well as far as I can tell from the table of contents with the 4th editions DVDs. I also have the 3rd edition study and solutions guide, which has solutions to odd numbered problems, and has practice tests with answers. I think mine will work pretty well, though we haven't actually used it yet. I have one comment on what you have. I noticed that your textbook and solutions manual aren't from the same year. Both have answers to odd-numbered problems, but only the solutions manual has them worked out for you. I don't know how different the versions are, but if you need them worked out, you may want to see if you can find a solutions guide from 2001. I got mine from Amazon... less than $8 including shipping. HTH

I mentally counted the PT in my son's CAP meetings as part of our PE credit. Otherwise, I think it's an extracurricular, and one that is very strong on a transcript.

It's fine for history, although some folks watch videos to add another layer of interest... You will probably want to supplement for the English; exactly how will depend on your student's strengths and weaknesses. Most folks get lit guides like the ones from Smarrs or Progeny Press for some of the literature. As to adding grammar, vocabulary, spelling, or writing instruction... it depends on which of those the student needs. I added grammar and a little writing instruction for my daughter, and grammar, writing instruction, and vocabulary for my son. Neither of my kids still needed spelling in high school. I'm not sure about the Bible. My inclination is that it would probably need supplementation for a full credit also, but we never did the Bible academically, only devotionally. HTH

The comments so far have discussed finishing high school in three years. We chose a different option. During my daughter's 7th grade year, we accelerated her work a bit, and considered that 7th and 8th together, and the following year became 9th grade, with the understanding that should it not work out, we could go back to considering it 8th grade. She just finished 9th grade, and though the intelligence is clearly there, she wasn't always happy with the amount of work. However, she did well enough that we are continuing on that path and will consider her in 10th grade in the fall. HTH

Sounds like exactly what you're looking for... They have level 1 and 2. Level 1 works on writing paragraphs, level 2 on writing essays. I saw a noticeable improvement in my son's writing while doing Level 1. http://www.barrettsbookshelf.com/

Both of my kids are shy, and unfortunately, most of the kids in our neighborhood are significantly younger. So, neither of my kids fits the current model of popularity and frequent interaction with their peer group. HOWEVER, I'm not sure that's a bad thing. I alternate between worrying about it, and realizing that it's my own public schooled "popularity and friends are the most important things in life" background that worries me. Frankly, both of my kids get along much better with adults than with their peers because they don't really share in many of the shallow interests of teens. And I'm okay with that. In fact, I see it as a head start on their future, not the opposite. $.02

If you can afford it, the class from The Potter's School is very good. I think it's called Office Applications. They cover Word, Excel and Powerpoint.

You described my 14 year old, too. This is one kid who has always been a challenge, and for those who suggest "gently" that it's a parenting flaw, my oldest has gone through that stage with admittedly a lower frustration level at times, but remaining a respectful, hardworking student. Same parenting, different responses. Some kids are just wired to be more difficult and the best parenting in the world isn't gonna change that. Anyway, my 14 year old has also always been very precocious in most ways (though to me surprise, the whole period thing didn't happen till around her 14th birthday.) But she started into this unpleasant phase while she was still 12, and though things are far from all the way better, I think we may have hit the trough and started up the other side. Both my husband and I agree that things seem to have gotten better a tiny bit, or at least stopped getting worse! It's a phase. I do agree with others who have suggested spending time with your daughter. Most weeks either my husband or I will take her out... even just to a coffee shop for tea together, or shopping, or out for dessert. It's good to have positive, non-school related time. Hang in there! This, too, will pass.