I'm preparing to use OM Health with the syllabus for the second half of this year. In looking at it, I'm realizing that squeezing it into one semester is going to be a real challenge. Has anyone done this? Would you consider splitting it into two semesters, keeping in mind that we'd have the summer in between? I don't want to overload my kids, but I also want them to get something out of it. I'd love to hear what others have done that worked or what didn't work. I sure appreciate any thoughts! Thank you so much!!

I would definitely agree with what’s stated above about having her call. I wouldn’t worry too much about some of the extraneous mail (I.e., the apply soon, etc.) that you’ve gotten. My daughter is attending a school this year as a freshman and this last week she received mail from them for prospective students. We laughed and gave it to her younger sister. I don’t think admissions talks to the prospective students department. Basically, I don’t think all departments at universities talk well with one another. Probably because these institutions are just too big.

We don't allow our kids to have smartphones until they are 18 or out of high school and they have to buy the phone and the service at that time. We have a dumb phone for the kids that they can use when they are driving somewhere or get dropped off somewhere. Our oldest bought herself an iPhone when she turned 18 and she pays the service. She uses Red Pocket Mobile which costs about $150/year when you buy on Black Friday. This is also what we use for our smart phones. The dumb phone is a Tracfone. We only use our smart phones for email, texting, and on occasion to look something up (usually a location) when we are out. Our kids do all have iPods which they can use once school work is done to text their friends. The iPods have restrictions on them so they can't access the internet, etc. We also keep them at night.

My oldest just finished high school. It's kind of surreal. My first homeschool graduate. She got into her top school of choice. I worried for years that we weren't doing enough. It's been such a relief to know we must be doing something right. Congratulations to all graduates!

Does anyone have a resource they use to get ideas for summer reading for their children? I'd like to keep them reading, with an occasional "book of substance" rather than just fun thrown in. I've been looking at the Sonlight catalog for ideas. I'm just wondering if there is some other good resource out there that I'm missing. Thank you so much! Enjoy summer!

AP World, 14-15, Mr. Mailand, 3 AP US, 15-16, Mr. Mailand, 3 AP Lang, 16-17, Mrs. Troxell, ? Sorry I can't give you a score for the Lang, but I can tell you that my dd felt very well prepared for the test. All the above classes were taken by the same dd. She's taken several classes with Mrs. Troxell and really enjoyed her as a teacher and has made a tremendous amount of progress as a writer. Just so you know, she has taken other AP Classes from other vendors and done very well with them and on the tests (4s). Also, she did take Calc AB with PA Homeschoolers this year with Mrs. Gilleran. She really enjoyed that class and again felt well prepared for the test, and my dd is not a mathy type person. Hope this helps.

We didn't find it to be too helpful. They did have some videos that helped explain the stuff in the textbook better. I will say that they supposedly have redone the course since she took it, not sure if that's for the better or for the worse. My daughter definitely says that the Bozeman Science videos were where she learned the most.

My dd took AP Bio with BYU Independent Study. They did a couple of virtual labs, but not much. She had previously done some a-g Biology labs with Lab Rats in northern CA. I don't think that covered what she needed for AP. However, once she finished the AP Bio with BYU, she went and watched all the Bozeman Science videos for AP Bio. She said they were extremely helpful. There are a bunch of videos specifically for AP Bio Labs. Not as good as doing them yourself, but it could work in a pinch. She ended up with a 4 on the test.

My dd took AP Psychology in 8th grade. The class was taught by a friend who had taught at the college level before. They seemed to do a fair amount of review and practice FRQs in the class so I didn't worry too much about prep with her. She ended up getting a 3, which I thought was really good given her age. She was really disappointed. I would say the lesson learned is to do more practice exams on your own, even if some are done in class. I'm sure she would have done better if she had done more prep.

Thank you everyone for the replies. You've given me lots to think about. We are leaning towards the 5 year plan for many reasons, but you've given me more things I hadn't even thought of. Although, as mentioned by Butter, the kids are already with older kids automatically and dating won't be an issue here. She can try, but she knows full and well that she better be 16, which of course, presents other issues like the fact that if we put her in high school now, she may never have a date before going off to college. I hadn't totally processed that, but you all have helped me think through more of these things. Thanks! Targhee, I'd love the link to the LDS sub group here on WTM. Thank you! Thanks again everyone!

This is long. I apologize, but I want to be sure the whole story is explained for better understanding and responses. Thank you for reading and for your responses. We are just finishing our fifth year of homeschooling. I have a graduating senior, a sophomore (who attends public school), an 8th grade ds, and a dd who by age should be in 6th grade. If you've done the math, you've realized that the youngest went to 1st grade in public school and then came home. While in public school, it was determined that she was advanced and they were going to allow her to skip 2nd grade and put her in third grade. Long story, but they didn't have room in third grade which was one of our reasons for bringing her home. That first year, she did third and fourth grade work, essentially putting her at the same grade level as her brother (the now 8th grader mentioned above). Since that year, she has done everything he does. The only exception to that is English. We have used TPS and due to her age, they would not allow her to be in the same class as he is. However, she writes significantly better than he does. In talking to her TPS teacher, she thought that skipping ahead now might be possible, but a placement test would be required. We chose to go with another provider for next year instead putting her in a class that would be freshman level. So, at this point, they should both be entering 9th grade next year, which for us (we are LDS) means Seminary. She is almost 12 (the end of this month). In addition, we are looking ahead to the future. This dd desperately wants to go to BYU Provo, which is fine and probably achievable given her grades, etc. assuming all continues as is now. Our concern is, do we send a 16 year old off to BYU? We live on the east coast. My initial first blush is, No Way. However, then I start thinking about whether we would be stifling her back by not letting her, etc. Another concern we have is her maturity level. Yes, she is mature for her age. However, is she high school mature? That's something we aren't sure about. Having said that, it's not a huge concern since she is homeschooled, but she does have to go to Seminary with high school kids daily. For the recent Face to Face event, our ward had a get together at someone's house to watch it. She came along, and was "bored" within 20 minutes and went in the other room to read a book. We are concerned that this is a sign she's not ready for Seminary. We could put her on a five year high school path which would give her more opportunity for AP classes, etc. and delays Seminary for a year. However, what does that do to her psyche when we tell her. She doesn't know we have concerns. She assumes she starting high school and Seminary in the Fall. Given her desire to go to BYU, we are not inclined to graduate her at 16, have her attend a CC for a year and then apply to BYU. This would make her ineligible for scholarships and also have her coming in as a transfer student. I would sure appreciate any thoughts anyone has on this. Maybe practical experience if anyone has any. I would love any insight anyone has, LDS or not. This is not a normal situation for anyone, but I'm sure there are some great ideas out there that haven't even crossed our mind. Thank you so much!!

My oldest took the class. I counted it as a one semester Personal Finance course. I liked that it talked about things like an emergency fund and staying out of debt. College students often get into lots of debt so I thought this was valuable for her. She's been doing a good job of applying the principles. She enjoyed the class and felt she learned a lot from it.

Thank you so much for all the replies. I will look at the other options as well. Thank you!!

I'm posting this here because I'm not sure where else to post it, and yes, it's probably a little nuts. I have a ds who will be 14 next week. He is in 8th grade and has ADHD (Inattentive). He struggles with math, especially math facts (although we've managed to get him to Algebra 1 [with lots of help] - he's finishing is 2nd full year of Algebra 1 and is still struggling). I've been researching like crazy trying to figure out how to help him. We've done flash cards, math fact programs, etc. I recently bought some cuisenaire rods. He likes them. He says it helps him see it a little better. I've been having him make fact sandwiches (i.e., all the two digit numbers that add to 9, etc.) using c-rods. I'm wondering if getting Miquon Math would be beneficial to run him through over the summer or if it would be too babyish? Or, would I be better served by just using all the videos on educationunboxed.com to come up with some things myself? I sure would appreciate any thoughts anyone has. Thank you so much!

My daughter said there is heavy reading the first semester, expect 3-5 hours per week. They read all of Aristotle's Art of Rhetoric in addition to other things. There is a paper due every week starting about half way through the first semester which continues at least until now. There are also other practice assignments. My daughter said she probably averages 7-8 hours per week on AP Lang, not including class time.

Rosepetal, I am no expert on TPS. We've just taken a bunch of their classes. I would say your best bet is to talk to TPS directly to see what they recommend. You can also look at this page (http://www.at-tps.org/subjects/english/) on their website. It gives more information on their English classes. For us, we preferred the literature path rather than just the composition path. We wanted our kids to read some good literature as well as learn how to write well, but that is a personal choice thing. My dd took English 4 and English 5 under the old system. TPS updated their English classes just prior to this current year. So, what my daughter took will not be the same as what is currently offered. I detailed above what she took. Sorry I can't be of more help, but they changed things and a lot of it is really what your preferences are.

Historymatters, thank you for the reply and all the information. I really appreciate it!

I'm not sure what your question is about English 3. My daughter who is taking AP Eng Lang took English 4: Western Lit (it had a date associated with it - like before 1865 or something). It was under the old system. They just revamped their higher level English classes for this year. Last year she took English 5: Western Lit (again with a date - after 1865). This was the follow on to the English 4. We preferred a lit emphasis rather than just a composition emphasis. Please let me know what else you'd like to know.

Historymatters, would you be willing to tell more about your experience with Writing ER? What is the workload like? Could you pair this with another full English class and not overwhelm the student? Do they read as well or is it just focused on writing? I'd love any feedback you'd be willing to share, including about the teacher. Thank you so much!!

We had this going on in our house with one child. I have four, all were homeschooled at the time. As has been mentioned, - all teachers manuals are locked up (behind a locked door as they used a paper clip on a locked file cabinet) - I supervised all work done on the computer - this child no longer has access to her computer without a parent present (only the parents know the password) Now, I'll tell you the rest of the story. This child suffers from depression, deep depression. She had been cheating a lot for a long time before we discovered it. We talked, we punished, we prayed, etc. My DH and I agonized over this for months. We tried to determine the right thing for this child. We even talked about putting her back in public school - not our first choice, at all! One day, her therapist said she thought we should put her back in public school. It was a message to us. We truly felt this was the confirmation we needed that this was what we were supposed to do. It was very hard! I'm not saying this is the right answer for you because it's not the best placed and not the right place for everyone. However, for this child, it was the right thing. She is thriving now! Life at home is so much more peaceful. Yes, her education is not near what it was at home, but when it makes this big a difference, it's worth it. I still homeschool three other children. Yes, she can still cheat at public school, but it's not as easy. She also knows that if she gets kicked out for cheating, she will not be homeschooled again. We made that very clear. I actually think, for her, just being in a different environment made all the difference. I'm not saying this is right for your dc. I'm just telling you our story so that you look at all the factors. I hope this helps in some way.

Both the work and the amount of work are challenging. The textbook she uses is not very student friendly IMO, and my daughter didn't like it. The class moves pretty quickly so there's lots of reading and assignments. My kids aren't very mathy so that didn't help them and made the work harder. If your student doesn't mind the math, that might help. There is a fair amount of memorization too. -Lisa

Which Chemistry at TPS? My daughter took Pre-AP/Honors Chemistry. She said it was a very challenging class.

My daughter has taken Advanced Composition and higher. She has never been required to quote from the Bible. You can though. She is in her 4th English class with TPS.

Yvonne, We have not had Louise Woods as a teacher, but my daughter has taken English 4, English 5, and AP English Lang with Potter's School. She is currently in the AP English Lang class with Mrs. Troxell. I asked about the checklist, and she brought me the 15 page checklist that they are supposed to follow. She said they're still just as strict as in previous years, with no "be" verbs allowed, no starting a sentence with an article, all sentences within a paragraph must start differently, etc. I'll admit when we started with Potter's School, I was a little concerned about the strict writing standards, but my children have learned tons from them. The particular child mentioned above really struggled with writing when she started with TPS. Now, she writes wonderfully and the rules are second nature to her. She doesn't even refer to the checklist anymore. I hope this is helpful to you. Lisa

We have used BYU for several courses, but not a math class. My dd took German with them first semester of this year. If your student is very self motivated, then it'll probably work. Mine was not, so it didn't work well for us. Two of my dc have taken art classes with them which have been good, but again, they need to be self motivated. My oldest dd has also taken AP Biology with them as well as a couple of college level courses. All of these required a lot of textbook reading and assignments. There is really no interaction with anyone for any of these courses, and my understanding is that it's that way for all the BYU independent study courses. They do have a language lab (I believe it's called Conversation Cafe) or at least they did for German. This did give my dd the opportunity to actually speak to someone there at BYU to practice her German, but it was very limited. However, that may have just been my daughter. I think you can go there (it's online) as often as you want to practice. I hope this is helpful. I'd be happy to answer any other question you may have. -Lisa