I think if you decide not to take the test you get a refund less $40. I don't like it, but at least you don't lose the full cost

When I added a 4th, 5th,and 6th child to my school day (and littles underneath!) I did sometimes teach the lesson the evening before and then the next day the child could start his math without me and then during the day I was only needed if he had a question, and I could be teaching another child. It really helped when I did this. With some of my quicker kids, I didn't need to because they needed very little time with me before starting the problems. In my experience, my children much prefered me teaching them to them reading the lesson. YMMV. They did plenty of stuff on their own, but math I taught directly to them.

I just teach my kids the lessons and It sounds like you could do the same, but I have heard that Math Without Borders sells video teaching for use with the Foerster text.

In that situation I might start Foerster Algebra 1. He doesn't need to finish AOPS prealgebra; much of the rest of the book is material that will be covered in geometry or in algebra. You could have him slowly work through AOPS if he moves quickly in the algebra 1, which you may find that he does. This would give him the challenge of AOPS without the pacing frustration. My last few kids have done the first 7 or 8 chapters of AOPS and then done Foerster Algebra 1. It is a very strong algebra 1 text. My other children just did the Foerster text. He will find the first few chapters easy and can maybe build carefulness and reduce discouragement. When my children are missing problems, I check their work or have them check their work after every few problems.

I haven't found the kind of program that does retrieval practice perfectly (see retrievalpractice.org), but making your own set of index cards with the different types of problems (1 per card) and having the student cycle through reviewing them regularly has been the most effective for my children. This works with any program. Also, I don't know what topics are covered in McRuffy 5, but so much of 7th/8th grade math is just a review of grade school. Get that all solid by a regular system of review and Algebra 1 in 9th is quite possible.

I'm looking for non fiction books about anything in the 400-1600 time period. Things along the line of How The Irish Saved Civilization or biographies. I am looking for books particularly for my 10th and 12th graders, but if you have a title that's a little young I'll take that, too. I've got an 8th and 6th grader as well. Thanks, Kendall

Have any of you used Building Brilliant Architects? https://www.buildingbrilliantmindsonline.com/building-brilliant-architects1.html I'm interested in the Introduction to Architecture course. Thanks, Kendall

Thank you, both for giving input.

My son, who is also an older child of many siblings and was/is very good with children, would suggest consciousdisciplne.com or better yet the book by the same title or Easy to love, difficult to discipline has similar material by the same author (and is shorter) . As with all books, there will be a thing or two to throw out, but he has worked part time as a preschool teacher for 3 years and has gained very effective skills through this. One big thing he has learned is to view his time with the children with a focus on connecting with them rather than taking care of them. The nominal charge could pay for supplies. i agree that without payment people often don't show BUT if it is a chance to leave your child somewhere for free? I think they will show up!

This year I did something similar to what is discussed in Write Beside Them by Penny Kittle or 180 Days by Gallagher and Kittle (I didn't do the reading part, because my kids already do a lot of reading). It features modeling and mentoring and feedback and writing time and time to experiment. I wish I could point you to the perfect website for a quick overview, but I haven't found one. movingwriters.org has so much that I hesitate to send you there nor to link to just a few articles for fear you won't get the wonderful picture that I did from the books. But I will risk it. https://movingwriters.org/2018/02/01/what-time-is-it-notebook-time/ https://movingwriters.org/2015/09/14/891/

I think all of my daughters(6th through 12th) could tell me what alliteration is. What are the goals of learning such figures of speech? What would be the benefits of looking at examples from excellent literature if they already know that figure? Maybe trying to imitate? Maybe locating that figure in their reading? Recognizing the effect the alliteration has on the work? How can I take teaching figures of speech beyond the remember/understand level? Thanks, Kendall

This does help. It will especially help me feel better when we have a medically difficult year and only get 5-6 short polished pieces and lots of regular short writing that isn't polished. Which we did. This year will be better.

Thank you, all! This was so helpful. I'm going to set some kind of goal, with rough deadlines because working on any writing one piece can just stretch and stretch for weeks and weeks.

I think I need a clear goal with regard to the number of essays I should require for English each semester. I would love to get an idea about what other people are doing. I tried searching for senior english high school syllabus on google, but that didn't give me any with specific requirements. If your kids took an online class or if you taught this at home about how many did they write each semester? My kids are rising 10th and 12th graders I would also be interested in how much they wrote in other classes, particularly homespun courses. Thanks, Kendall