Homeschool Track

The following is what I wrote to some of my homeschool groups and I wanted to post it here to show part of our educational track through high school. We are figuring it all out, and it seems to be coming together. If you want to join the group, then send me and email and I'll invite you!:

I just started this yahoo group because I am looking ahead to what we'll do in the high school years and I'm hoping to find others with the same outlook. We found that there are about 20 different AP tests that they can take, and they are hard and objective and would probably be great for college admissions and for proving that they have mastered the subject matter. As my kids reach that age, it would be wonderful to find others interested in taking the same tests so they could study together, help each other and maybe even teach sections to each other if there is no expert available. I know there are practice tests so they wouldn't be completely on their own.

Also, I definitely want my kids to take the AP Calculus AB test like I did in high school, and would love for them to take the BC test which I did not since I was a senior when I got to Calculus. So to do my track in math, I took Pre-algebra in 7th grade, Algebra 1 in 8th, Geometry in 9th, Algebra 2, Trigonometry in 10th, Pre-Calc. in 11th and Calculus in 12th. I am planning on my kids starting Algebra in 6th or 7th grade depending on their readiness so that they can also take the Calc BC test or Physics since I think they need calculus before they can take physics. I love Singapore Math for the basics up to Algebra. They were number #1 in math in the world using that program.

When I took Calculus, we had AB days, so we would have the teacher explain it to us on the first day and then the next day we had Calc. lab with the teacher and it was open to do our homework. It was great to have friends to work with and to help each other in the lab and get the work done. I would love to be able to do that for my kids for not only calculus but other academic subjects they are interested in and then to have them take the AP test to show they mastered the subject. The AP test to me is kind of like the recital is for a musician.

Another requirement in our homeschool is the study of Latin. We want our kids to take 4-5 years of Latin so that they can master it and take the AP test. With the track we are on, our kids should start Henle's Latin 1 around 7th grade, latin 2 in 8th, latin 3 in 9th and latin 4 in 10th, then the junior year could be spent reviewing and then take the AP test. In order to do Latin 1 in only one year, we are currently studying Koine Greek otherwise they would probably need 2 years to cover year 1. The curriculum we are using is at www.opentexture.com .

This may sound pretty rigorous, but I think it can be done. If we have to slow down we will, but we are shooting for the stars!! We are in the middle of the 2nd year of Greek now and my kids love it. They are learning a ton too. I would love to find others who are interested in this track so we could get together and play review type games and find people to study with especially as the high school years approach.

Sidenote: I am not against sending them to high school. I loved my math teachers and my math experience so when we get to that point, if we are doing the exact same thing at home that they are doing at school, then I will probably send them to school. We'll see what works best when we get to that point. Here is the list of AP Tests!