My oldest was like that. We borrowed large amounts of picture books from the library, some fiction and some non-fiction, and also worked on handwriting and spelling (AAS)

Does this include all of their courses? So far we have only been borrowing the videos from the library, but my oldest two love them. Having a larger selection and no due dates would be nice.

My science-loving 10yo loves Harcourt. No matter what you choose, I recommend checking a bunch of books out of the library on her favorite topics. Ds has a whole shelf in our living room filled with library books about science, engineering, and Lego/Mindstorm projects. He does beg to do science first every day, but he learns much more from his library books.

We're in the same situation. Our oldest was born 1.5 weeks after the cut off but we chose to put her in the higher grade level. She fits in well as a 7th grader, both in her studies and with peers. She would not be happy to finish high school at almost 19, and is already asking if she can graduate early. She probably could, but I don't think we'll chose that option. It sounds like you want to leave both options on the table, making sure that his 8/9th grade year will be high school worthy. That sounds like a good plan to me.

Does your library have a copy so that you could check it out before deciding?

This is how memorizing the multiplication tables worked for my dd, too.

This list may look overwhelming but in reality it isn't. We only read each book 1-2 times a week. I'm reading all of them to my kids and I'm loving the connections that I'm making between the books for the different kids and between our history studies. I've read most of the books multiple times and *I* get something new out of them each time I read them.

In general, I like to keep catechism, Bible, and saint stories going for each student. Sometimes we have another book that we read as well. My 4yo is using the Catholic Children's Treasure Box series, Little Book of Saints series, and The Beginner's Bible. My 6yo is using the New Saint Joseph First Communion Catechism, a Catholic children's Bible, the Once Upon a Time Saints books, and 2 extra books (Just Like Mary and The Mass Book for Children). My 8yo is using the New Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism No. 1 (part 1 of 3 parts), A Life of Our Lord for Children, and Saints for Young Readers for Everyday. My 10yo is using the New Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism No. 1 (part 3 of 3 parts), Bible History by Ignatius Schuster, 57 Stories of Saints, and St. Patrick's Summer. My 12yo is using Chief Truths of the Faith and The Story of the Church. We haven't picked a saint story yet, but dh or I are reading through books written by the saints with her. We get a lot of our ideas from Mater Amabilis: http://materamabilis.org/ma/

For the right student Beast Academy is the perfect math series. But I think most students would be best served to use something else as their main program. BA is perfect for my oldest dd. She was bored and annoyed by Singapore Math and has really grown in her math ability and enjoyment by using this series. She loves the presentation, both the fun comics and how the concepts are presented and also likes the problem sets. She hates having a problem set of the same type of problem over and over again. The challenging, puzzle type problems in BA give her just enough not boring problems to learn the concepts well. Unless your student is similar, it probably won't be a good fit. ETA: I don't think we'll be using it as the only program for the younger kids. They need more practice and can't handle the frustration of the super challenging problem sets. For them, it will make a good supplement, but we won't do it all. They are using Singapore Math as their main program.

DD was given a regular adult Bible when she went to youth group last year.

What doesn't she like about it? Oldest dd used CPO Earth Science last year in 6th grade. I had planned on studying physical science this year but dd wanted chemistry instead. We are using Apologia Chemistry (she has a lot of experience with chemistry from studying for a contest, or I would have chosen something else). If he's up for the math, I'll probably use Conceptual Physics with her younger brother when he is in 7th grade.

I haven't used Spanish for Children, but did dismiss it for my whole-to-parts learner. I have Getting Started with Spanish for her to use this year. She used and enjoyed Getting Started with Latin a few years ago. We also borrowed this book from the library a few years ago and she liked it: https://www.amazon.com/Fun-Spanish-lee-cooper/dp/B000JE08M2/ref=sr_1_62?ie=UTF8&qid=1471871809&sr=8-62&keywords=spanish+fun

If your ds picks the right school he could be a TA. I was a TA for chemistry labs, dh taught computer science, and a friend taught English.

Which of these books have you used and at what age level? Were you able to find them for a lower price?

It's pretty easy to tell with my kids how sick they are. If they are in bed most of the day then they won't be doing school work. If they are throwing up, we all usually watch movies for the day. If they are up and around playing and doing other normal things then they will still be doing their school work. If they've lost their voice or have a really bad cough then I try to minimize the talking that they need to do, but we'll still do most of their work. In a case like your son, if one of my kids was complaining of an upset stomach and they were resting on the couch or going to the bathroom they would be excused from school for the day or part of the day. But if they were doing normal activities, we would still be doing school work. If it was an on going thing I'd be trying to figure out what was going on.

What did/are you going to use after the 3 Arbor Algebra books? They have been a perfect fit for my dd, too, and though we probably have 1-1.5 years to go, I'm trying to figure out what to use next.

Forgot about this one. We liked it, too.

I better not show that website to my kids...

That's one of my oldest dd's favorite topics and has been for many years. When she was younger we grew crystals and made rock candy, though we had our best luck during the drier winter months. She really liked a kit that we bought that had several small polished stones imbedded inside of rock and she got to use a hammer to get the stones out. We bought and broke geodes. We visited a local cave. We polished stones. A favorite book around that time was the Basher Rocks and Minerals book. We have also checked out every intermediate level book that our library has on crystals, rocks, minerals, and gemstones. She also particularly liked the DK books on these topics (Rocks and Minerals & Crystal and Gem). As she got older she now likes (and has for a few years) field guides, and is especially interested in the chemical content of her favorite kinds of gems. It has fueled an interest in the elements and chemistry. She has also been learning more about how to tell real gems from fake ones.

My Lego and physics loving son likes this set.

My 5th grader loves the Secrets of the Universe series by Paul Fleisher. Liquids and Gases: Principles of Fluid Mechanics Objects in Motion: Principles of Classical Mechanics Matter and Energy: Principles of Matter and Thermodynamics Waves: Principles of Light, Electricity, and Magnetism Relativity and Quantum Mechanics: Principles of Modern Physics We just borrow the books from the library.

Listening in. My oldest two kids are interested in these areas, too. They've read a few of the books that have been mentioned but not many. Time to order books from the library!

No experience yet but I'm strongly considering it for my daughter's 9th grade year (two years from now). I think this text is fairly new. We are using Light to the Nations now. DD says it is okay but enjoys some of her other texts more.

Our biology teacher was friends with some of the professors at a university 30 minutes away and a handful of us got to go there to use an electron microscope. It was definitely one of the highlights of my time in high school. It makes me sad that most kids don't get to have such wonderful experiences.

We definitely weren't well off, probably average. We lived in a small town and I graduated 15 years ago with a class of about 150 students.