[Hamilton.....in charge of trading charter at 14?]

Since the age of 12 my son has had a bus pass and could get all over our city. We live in the 7th largest city in the nation. His 11 year old sister also has a bus pass BUT she has restrictions such as she can't go downtown unless meeting up with her brother. That will change now that they aren't going to PS this year but it was something I allowed them both to figure out. They are both confident with public transit now. When my daughter is a bit older the restrictions will loosen and she will be allowed to take herself to the library etc. They are required to keep their phones charged and just let me know when they get  on the bus and when they arrive at their destination. I will say I have not allowed the 11 year old to use the bus after dark alone.

[Keeping it all organized]

23 hours ago, Momto6inIN said:

Well, I always buy more bookshelves lol

But it doesn't sound like that's an option. Do you have storage space (attic, garage, under beds, etc) anywhere you could put things you're not using this year?

 

We have so many bookshelves.....each kid has one, we have one in the master, built ins in the living room, and 3 in the office space. We rent and the attic and garage (detached and set away from the house) are not allowed for storage use. The garage is actually not on the part of the property we have access to. Our house is 100 years old and the closets are so tiny. My wife has acquired so much "stuff" from teaching for so long that we have old christian curricula filling up two drawers of our filing cabinet on top of full bookshelves. We have one empty cube on our cube bookshelf because the cats have claimed it and push books off in order to lay there lol.

[Keeping it all organized]

Ok so I have 3 kids (15,11,7) at home plus I am starting grad school in August. How do you keep your books organized? I am out of bookshelf space and haven't even gotten any of our stuff in for the new school year plus we will be utilizing a lot of library books to save on cost. There are 5 of us working in the same space (my wife is a teacher likely teaching virtually at least for part of this year). I have one kid using a small ikea table, one in a small ikea desk, and the other at a folding table because he was running out of room. I have zero floor space left if we want to be able to walk. Please give me some ideas before I go crazy with the mess.

[Do I pull and fully homeschool?]

10 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

for 8th édition 

https://www.amazon.com/Student-Solutions-Manual-College-Mathematics/dp/0321574648

Thank you so much. I didn't know what it was called to even search for it. I found both the book and solutions for about $20 total! Pretty good deal if I say so myself

[Do I pull and fully homeschool?]

I can pick up Lial's Basic College Mathematics for about $13. Is there an answer key somewhere or am I working out all the problems alongside him?

[Do I pull and fully homeschool?]

Ok so he does not currently attend a normal public school. He attends a charter that has a focus on visual and performing arts. He is gay, immature, and ADHD. He did not fit in at the normal schools here. There are no "different sections" in his school. His 11th grade class has about 30 people in it total. He is in the 3rd quartile for gpa. He isn't going to get automatically admitted to any state schools right now without a good SAT score (Texas top 10% get in so he would need to be 3rd in his class). His guidance counselor said they only give credit for accredited courses but on a grad school student and teacher income in this house that just isn't happening. I think I am going to see how the first semester goes with distance learning and remediating at home before we pull him. I am having him also read good books and discuss them with me. 

So far we are doing:

Saxon 7/6 but may move to something like Lial's

Writing With Skill 1

Easy Grammar Grade 10

Mom-made geography crash course (I think this is crucial to understanding politics/current events/placement of historical events)

Guest-Hollow Physics to accompany his high school Physics course

Lots of reading of both great books and historical fiction/non-fiction covering Ancients through Medieval Times

SAT prep on Khan

Code Break on Code.org

Spanish 1 - supplementing what he is supposed to do this year in school

[Do I pull and fully homeschool?]

53 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

I hired an English tutor for DS15 in 9th grade for world history just to teach DS15 essay writing skills using history. 11th grade is where all the community colleges here allow dual enrollment so more choices are available. If your son is keen to homeschool, I would go for it.  One on one is so much more efficient for catching up and for working on weaker areas. 

He can't pass the placement test to get into Dual-Enrollment here. I am not pushing for him to go to DE at all honestly. He is only 15 and is not mature enough to handle that level just yet. He would be in normal classes with college students versus a class of only other high schoolers which would be a horrible fit maturity wise lol. 

I am working through Writing With Skill 1 with him now to try and strengthen those writing skills while also shoring up the math skills. He is slightly frustrated because his 11 year old sister is getting through the same text much faster and will be starting AOPS Pre-Algebra because her school doesn't challenge her. 

[Do I pull and fully homeschool?]

17 hours ago, CuriousMomof3 said:

Can I ask what you mean by "fifth grade level in math"?  Generally when kids are behind but have been kept in grade level classes, their skills aren't even enough that they correlate with a grade level like this.  

When I have him do placement tests for things like Saxon he fell between Saxon 6/5 and 7/6 and is wholeheartedly struggling with the beginning of 7/6 that I had on hand. We are breaking down every little bit of it and working through slowly right now. I know he will catch up because he is starting to catch on. His reading comprehension, vocabulary, and spelling are through the roof so when he went back to public school in 5th grade he was bumped up to 6th by the school and has somehow passed math each year although it wasn't until 9th grade when I had him repeat Algebra 1 that he pulled more than a C. He actually did pretty well in his Geometry class but I am now left wondering if he actually did well or were they so lax that anyone who made an effort got good grades.

We are in Texas so there is no return path should I pull him as it stands right now. If I were to pull him it would be to finish out high school.

[Do I pull and fully homeschool?]

Just now, EKS said:

True, many of them don't even get to a 5th grade level.  Average is about 5th grade (basic fractions and decimals).

I will agree that too many of our college students are going into remedial math......I just got my BA in History and worked alongside students in remedial courses. The vast majority of incoming freshmen were taking a remedial course UNLESS they were STEM majors

 

[Do I pull and fully homeschool?]

My son is 15 and headed into 11th grade. He will have to do distance learning next year because his sister is high risk. As I have been working with him since schools closed I realized he is at the 5th grade level in math (he passed Algebra 1 and Geometry) and cannot write a paragraph much less an essay. He technically has 3 years before he will be 18 and at the same age as college peers should he go to college. Do I pull him and back him up and solidify his math and writing or do I allow him to do the distance learning and just supplement and shore up these issues? He currently has every elective he would need for graduation through his school. He needs 2 foreign language credits and 2 of each core course to be done at the school meaning 10 classes. I may be able to convince his counselor to drop all the electives he has signed up for during the distance learning and have them put study hall on his schedule but I don't know how that will look versus having a mom transcript. We are in Texas if that makes a difference.