Thank you for the additional information. It is very helpful. No worries about the consumer math in our case as homeschoolers aren't required to meet any particular requirements in my state other than to teach math, language, science and social studies.

I forgot to ask, do you have a suggestion for a consumer math course? I was planning on doing one, but it never occurred to me to use it as part of economics.

Sounds good. I guess I better email and ask for a password so I can check it out.

Are the teacher's guides in pdf format as well? Also, does the password expire after a certain amount of time?

No, I had completely forgotten about those. Thanks for the reminder!

Looks like the Complete Idiot's Guide and For Dummies books are popular options. I was at the library today and forgot to pick them up. Oh well, I have some movies that have to go back at the end of the week so I can pick them up then.

Have you been using it for 2 hours a week for the whole year or just a semester? Thanks for letting me know it's on the dry side. I'll have to see if I can get it through the library to check it out. Can you elaborate more on the extreme viewpoint? You can PM me if you'd like. Sounds fun, but my son does better with books, he does not enjoy hands on learning.

Looks interesting, but I am going to go with one of the secular options. Thanks for sharing, I'm sure someone reading this thread will be able to use the information. :)

:lol: I can just imagine you doing that.

Brenda, thanks for the additional information. I think it sounds perfect for my son.

My guess is that she wants attention. We have an outdoor kitty that has never been in because he is really a stray that has taken up residence in our shed. We had him neutered and have been feeding him and getting him shots for a few years, but can't bring him in because our other cats try to fight with him through the screen door. Like I said, this cat has never been in our house, but he sits on the porch crying at the door. He won't come in if we offer, but wants us to come outside and spend time with him. He likes human companionship, but only outside and he generally doesn't allow anyone to pet him either. We sit outside and read and he will rub against our legs, but he runs off if we try to pet him. Occasionally, he will allow you to pet him, but not very often.

I don't know if I can help any, but I thought it might help to know that we are in the same boat. We didn't understand conceptual physics either, so we did biology this year instead. I doubt we will ever do physics. I think we may do something like geology, botany, anatomy, physical geography (science courses I took in college). After using several different math programs, we have found that teaching textbooks works well for my son. We don't use the videos because he hates video instruction, in fact he can't stand any type of instruction. I have to find materials that he can use by himself. He used to be very defiant about doing school work until I took myself out of the picture. I make a schedule for him to follow and let him do it when he pleases. That means he starts his schoolwork around 11pm and works until the wee hours of the morning and then goes to bed. He then sleeps until about noon unless he needs to get up earlier for something. Writing is the only subject I do with him since he struggles with it so much. I don't take a traditional approach to literature. I work with the books he chooses to read, currently vampires and murder mysteries. When I was in high school, I took a lit course that focused on monsters and science fiction, so I don't have a problem with that. I considered using Movies as Literature, but my son didn't like the idea of watching movies as part of schoolwork. Every year, I ask lots of questions and change curricula publishers for the courses that aren't working for us. Teaching Textbooks is the only publisher I know we will continue to use until graduation. :001_smile:

I'd just do general science stuff. Maybe look at some of the Janice Van Cleave books or see what else the library has. Take some classes at the science center if it's in your budget. Study a bit of geology and go on field trips to find rocks, AZ is a great state for that.

Wow! You are all so helpful. I don't know why I never think of the For Dummies and Idiot's Guide series. I use them to learn new computer programs. My son has helped get an initiative on the ballot in our state, so he has some hands on experience. Writing is really an issue. He has fine motor problems as well as being dyslexic and dysgraphic. I'm planning on starting a thread about writing curricula later as it is my biggest concern. But he might be able to handle shorter writing assignments such as summaries. I don't know why that never occurred to me. Also, thanks for the heads up on SOT. Believe it or not, most of the curricula we use seems to come from Christian publishers but it doesn't always include religious beliefs.

My son's school never did calendar and he managed to get through 6th grade without learning the order of the months. Anyways, if you are trying to make it more fun, add some songs. Here are a couple: Tune: Adams Family theme song Days of the Week (snap, snap) or they can clap if they can't snap yet Days of the Week (snap, snap) Days of the Week, Days of the Week, Days of the Week (snap, snap) There's Sunday and there's Monday There's Tuesday and there's Wednesday There's Thursday and there's Friday and then there's Saturday Days of the Week (snap, snap) Days of the Week (snap, snap) Days of the Week, Days of the Week, Days of the Week (snap, snap) Or to the tune of Clementine: Sunday, Monday Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday, Fri-day Sat-ur-day Sunday, Monday Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday, Fri-day Sat-ur-day Tune: Bumpin up and down in my little red wagon (I'm sure that's not the correct title) January, February Mar-ch, April May, June Ju-ly, August September, October November, December Twelve months in a year. Also, if you use a calendar chart or poster board with self-adhesive hooks to hold the numbers, you could use calendar number numbers and the name of the month in a different theme each month. If that didn't make sense, email me and I can send you a sample. You could use more than one set to make a pattern with the numbers and each day ask the kids what they think that day's picture will be. You could also make a calendar page for each month with the numbers and name of the month in a dotted font for the kids to trace. As they get better at their numbers, you could leave some out and they have to figure out what numbers are missing. Tip: it is really hard for them to figure out the missing numbers if they are on the first square in a row; that is an advanced skill. They need to see numbers (in the same row) before and after the missing number(s). If you have the large size construction paper, they could fold a piece in half, glue the calendar to the bottom and make a seasonal paper craft to glue to the top to make a mini calendar for the month. You could make a thermometer with a hole at the top and bottom with a ribbon thread through for them to chart the temperature each day. Sew a red and a white piece of ribbon together to make a band so the can move it to mark the temperature. You could also put up a 100s chart for them to count to 100. Then as they learn those, they could count by 5s,10s, evens or odds.

Thanks! It has good reviews on Amazon and I notice the publisher is the same one that put out the Math on Call and Algebra to Go books that I love so much.

1. I like the feel of books. I like to be able to put post-its in my cookbooks so I can tell at a glance where my recipes are. I am a very visual person. I identify my books by the colors on the spine and by their size. For instance, if I need a specific recipe, for say grilled tofu, I can tell my to get me the narrow cookbook with the red spine and yellow text. I can't remember the name of the book at all, but I know the colors. That is also how I generally choose books at the library and bookstore. I look at the cover and if I like the picture, I get it. Also, having that pile of books sitting on the desk reminds me that I need to read them. It is way to easy to ignore electronic devices and never even turn them on. I've purchased some e-books and never gotten around to reading them because they are in electronic format. I've never used a kindle, but if they are like most electronics, it would be really hard to read on one when the sun is hitting the screen. That is not a problem with real books. Also, I hate to admit this, but my family is hard on electronics. We are always loosing remotes, the digital camera, chargers and the ipods. I can't recall the number of times various remotes have fallen on the tile floor and the back falls off and the batteries scatter across the room. Or how many times people drop their cell phones in the toilet or in a puddle. I'm not talking kids here, I'm talking adults. So obviously we are better off without portable electronics.:)

Let be be upfront and say that we are only doing these courses because we have to, so I'm looking for something quick and easy that would count as 1/2 credit each. It also needs to be inexpensive. While I would prefer something secular, I've been told School of Tomorrow Paces would be quick and easy with minimal writing (my child struggles immensely with it). The description for Economics says it is from a biblical viewpoint, so I will pass on that, but the Civics does not mention any biblical perspective. Does anyone know if it is secular? How about the Uncle Eric series...Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?, A Bluestocking Guide to Economics, etc. They have good reviews on Amazon. If you have any other suggestions, please let me know. If I messed up posting in any way, please forgive me as I am new to this whole forum thing.

We switched to Teaching Textbooks this year since my son struggled so much with the Kinetic books algebra last year. He didn't learn anything from the Kinetic books. It required the student to do a lot of figuring it out on their own. My son doesn't do well with that. I can do algebra, but I often couldn't figure out what the lessons wanted. This year with the Teaching Textbooks, he is able to do it by himself with only occasional help. I didn't buy the CDs, so I don't know if they help any more than just the book alone. We will definitely be using TT for the rest of his high school math. http://www.teachingtextbooks.com has sample pages, and http://www.christianbook.com has different samples including lesson one of algebra one in case you need to see what level the book starts at. If you want to stick with what you are using, you might like a reference book called Algebra to Go. See if your library has it. I believe there are sample pages on Amazon.

You can buy colored overlays here http://irlen.com/index.php?s=overlays If they are the same type the Irlen specialist gave us, they are textured on one side to reduce glare. The textured side needs to be up. We were also told to avoid florescent lighting, task lighting and not use bright light. Natural light is best. We only use one 25 watt bulb in each ceiling fan in the rooms of our house. The only room with a brighter light is the kitchen. We were also told to do all written assignments on colored paper, not white. The color of the overlays and the paper would be the same, but different people do better with different colors. On the computer, you can change the background color and adjust the brightness to make it easier to read.

I feel the same way when I read the high school and college boards and it is NOT just the well trained mind boards. Since I haven't been able to find one for average high school students, I have quit reading them. It was too discouraging. My son is average and I'm just about positive he is dyslexic, but we don't have an official diagnosis. He is waaaay behind in language arts and average at everything else. He does not test well and he doesn't care about his grades. He is happy just to scrape by with a "C". On the plus side, he doesn't totally hate learning and has asked to switch to year round schooling without any breaks because he is happy with the routine he has created. Like someone else said, he spends all his free time on the computer and will not write. No matter what writing program we have tried, getting him to write is sheer torture and often unsuccessful. He finds both the physical act of writing and composition to be too difficult. He will most likely work in the computer field and is currently teaching himself Visual Basic programming. He tells me it is really easy and that I should learn it. Will he ever learn to write a five paragraph essay or a term paper? I hope so and I keep trying new programs, but I'm beginning to doubt it. On the plus side, our local community college offers really remedial language arts classes that he could take when he starts college if he still hasn't learned to write. One thing I found very discouraging at the beginning of the year is that after I talked to many people on different boards, I purchased Hewitt's Conceptual Physics (high school level) because everyone said it was the easiest physics program out there and neither of us understood it at all. So we are obviously too "stupid" to understand the easiest physics program available. :001_rolleyes: I never took more than biology in high school and didn't need to take physics or chemistry in college, so I took earth based sciences since they actually interest me. Don't give up. I think boxed curriculum or textbooks are just fine. We use an assortment of things in my constant quest to find materials my son will enjoy so that he will retain the information. I have considered ACE on several occasions, just so we would have some sort of written proof that he does schoolwork, but since we are not Christian, I don't think it would work for us.

Thank you for sharing. I was looking for something like this.

I buy my lamination sheets at www.laminator.com I haven't ordered recently, but they used to have a deal where you order two boxes and get one free.

Kim Harrison has a new teen book called "Once Dead, Twice Shy". My son just finished reading it and said there was no s*x in it. He said there is in her adult books, but he just skips those paragraphs. He really enjoys her books and has reread them numerous times. Other child/teen series he has enjoyed are the ones by Garth Nix and Eoin Colfer. When I was that age I enjoyed Piers Anthony, but stay with his older Xanth novels because I hear the newer ones are not child appropriate. I also enjoyed Nancy Springer and Anne McCaffrey. Try checking www.fantasticfiction.co.uk that's where my son finds most of his reading material.