Homeschool World Forum

[Texas Rose]

I plan to start homeschooling my dd14 over the summer and I am a little (read more than a little) overwhelmed, it seems pretty high stakes at the high school level and I could use the advice of those who have experience with this, so:

Is Micheal Clay Thompson (first level of secondary) good for developing a strong writer to her fullest potential?

Literature:
Hunger by Knut Hamsun
A work by Franz Kafka
A work by Virginia Woolf
A work by William Faulkner
Ulysses or In Search of Lost Time
A work by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Man Without Qualities by Musil or the Sleepwalkers by Hermann Broch
Poetry by Baudelaire, Mallarme, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Rilke, W.B. Yeats, etc.

I feel like it isn't near enough, but I do want her to really absorb it. Maybe some literary theory as well?

For math I am considering Singapore Math, not sure which one. If you've used either, what are your thought on it? I am not that great with higher level math and my dd isn't so hot either, so we need a lot of hand holding and a step-by-step approach, but on the other hand I don't want her to be ill prepared when she takes the SAT/takes a college class. She placed into level 1/7th grade math, is that normal? She is getting Bs and the occasional C in algebra I, could that just be grade inflation? Watered-down curriculum?

For social studies I plan to use of using Western Civilizations, Volume 1, Fourteenth Edition by Robert C. Stacey for and Psychology of Language by David W. Carroll. Have you heard of/used either of these? If, so what are your thoughts? Is there anything you would recommend for world history and/or psychology?

For science I am thinking of going with Biology by Jane B. Reece and Neil A. Campbell, is it any good? Dd is not terribly interested in science, but gets bored quickly with watered-down materials, so nothing "insulting" as she calls it.

For French I am looking into Rosetta Stone. I like the audio aspect, but will it just teach airport French? I want something that, with adequate practice, will result in dd becoming at least proficient in French. Is a tutor necessary to become proficient?

[hscoach]

I am not familiar with some of the curriculum you mentioned, and have not used it, so I can't answer most of your questions. My children have used Rosetta Stone and enjoyed it but they are not proficient in the language so it may be true that a tutor would be needed if you want to go to that level.

I highly recommend Teaching Textbooks for math. We love it. It comes with solutions cds so you always know 'why' you missed a question. They have placement tests on their website. Here is the link.

http://www.teachingtextbooks.com/

I also recommend that you check out Lee Binz's site called The Home Scholar. It is all about homeschooling high school. She especially has a lot of useful information in her blog.

http://www.thehomescholar.com/

Before you make your final decisions on curriculum, you might want to go to these links and see if you can find reviews that would be helpful.

http://www.cathyduffyreviews.com/

http://www.homeschoolreviews.com/

http://thehomeschoolmagazine.com/Homeschool_Reviews/
_________________
Laura L. Barth
http://www.freehomeschooladvice.com