We start school again tomorrow.  I feel much better about starting this year, since I had all summer to plan ahead, and  I am happy with all the curriculum choices I made. 

The greatest blessing I see is that Michael has our dear friend, Jeanne to teach his Algebra 2 class.  Jeanne is a retired college math professor!  I can't wait to see how Michael grows to love math with her, as I am sure he will.  I am looking forward to teaching his chemistry class.  It will have lots of labs, as I added an additional lab curriculum to the BJU class in order to make it an honors class.

The girls are going to have lots of fun this year working on science, bible,  and social studies together.  This will be our first year to really be able to do combined classes well.  I love their art curriculum and hope I have time to do some of the projects along with them. 

Michelle's Curriculum - 5th grade

Bible                                      
Included in Science, History, Art
Memory Work Notebook                    Paul Settle
Italics Calligraphy Copywork – Books of the Bible
Tapestry of Grace

English
Shurley Grammar 5
IEW - Institute for Excellence in Writing
Calligraphy - Italics
The Giggly Guide to Grammar   by Cathy Campbell

Math                                      
Saxon 54

Science  
Apologia – Botany

History & Geography
Beautiful Feet - Early American and World History (Reading, History)
A Child's Story of America  Christian Liberty Press
Tapestry of Grace  (Geography & Reading List)

Art
How Great Thou Art - Colors, Colors, Colors

Emily's Curriculum - 3rd Grade

English
Shurley Grammar 3
Read & Think 3

Math
Abeka 3
Enchanted Learning

Science
Botany - Apologia

History
Early American History - Beautiful Feet
Little House on the Prairie Primer
Enchanted Learning

Art
Joseph – The Canada Goose              Barry Stebbing
Little Annie’s ART Book of Etiquette & Good Manners               Barry & Saundra Stebbing
Draw Write NOW

High School: Transcripts & Calculating GPA

Keeping accurate transcripts is an important job for me once my kids reach high school.  Colleges want to see not only what subjects we studied but their degree of difficulty.  That is when calculating GPA becomes complicated.  Colleges look at the weighted and unweighted GPAs to evaluate difficulty, and they also do their own GPA calculations.  So, honors classes, dual-enrollement, AP classes all weigh in differently from regular classes.  Each district has its own standards, and since we are registered as homeschoolers at our County School Board, I am using their standards for GPA calculation.  The Hillsborough County School Board says we can add .04 points for each honors .5 credit class.  Their policy for dual-enrollment goes like this:

Dual enrollment courses will receive the same course weighting as Advanced Placement courses. A bonus of .08 is added to the cumulative GPA for every one-half credit and .16 per 1.0 high school credit for each duel enrollment course in which the student earns a grade of C or higher. Since college credit is awarded, this grade will remain a part of the college transcript. Students are limited to nine (9) credit hours for fall, nine (9) credit hours for spring, and nine (9) credit hours for summer, not to exceed 27 credit hours per academic year.

Creating a weighted vs. unweighted GPA is important in producing a good transcript.  I base my GPA on the following letter-grade values:

A = 4.0
A- = 3.7
B+ = 3.3
B = 3.0
B- = 2.7
C+ = 2.3
C = 2.0
C- = 1.7
D+ = 1.3
D = 1.0
F = 0

So, if my son took seven classes, one of them being a PE class that only counted for a half credit (.5) and another one an honors class, he has 6.5 credits.  Say he got five As, and one A- in one of the regular one credit classes,  here is how I would calculate weighted and unweighted GPAs:
4 x 5.5 = 22 ,  22 + 3.7= 25.7 ,   25.7 / 6.5 = 3.93
Unweighter GPA = 3.9
3 x 4.5 = 13.5 ,   4.8 + 3.7 = 8.5 ,   13.5 + 8.5 = 32 ,   32 / 6.5 = 4.71
Weighted GPA = 4.71