Thank you so much for your reply! I haven't heard of some of these providers and I'm excited to have more options. I definitely understand that what works for one doesn't work for another! Since you have experience with multiple children, what do you look for in a LA class, especially for a enthusiastic reader/reluctant writer who is not going into a field where being more than a competent writer is required? Do you have any general advice for building out 8th-12th grades of language arts? From what I'm seeing most online providers seem to want to get the kids in 8th grade and keep them until 12th. It sounds like you have sampled quiet a bit.
I'm not necessarily only interested in literature and composition, combined, for next year, i.e, DS's 8/9th grade. Don't most people do lit/comp combos though?
Here is what I know I'm working with:
1) my son still needs 1/2 unit of foundational grammar next year, so I need to leave time for that.
2) my son loves to read and would enjoy a well run discussion based lit class,
3) my son is very social and live classes are preferred,
4) my son has low tolerance for "boring" writing drills,
5) we'd prefer not to devote more than 4-5 hours each week to writing, grammar, vocab building, etc. An additional 4-5 hours of reading is fine.
We tend to use providers/curricula that aren't overtly Christian but strictly secular is not a requirement. If Christian, Catholic would be preferred.
I'm excited to look at the providers you mentioned. Thanks for any additional guidance. I really appreciate it. This is the hardest subject area for me to wrap my head around.