My daughters, 8 and 10, use Singapore along with the Horizons. They're not crazy about the Singapore, but I think it makes them think more. You certainly don't want your daughter to hate math - try Horizons. I like the MUS and RightStart suggestions though. I may try this with my younger child.

Learning is an ongoing process, but logic seems to be a lost art. An ability to process information in an organized manner, along with the ability to communicate that information is swiftly spiraling downwards in this country. It's too wonderful of a country to allow this to continue - but heh, we're already working on it by homeschooling.

Have you looked through the TOG books. American history is incorporated throughout. We're using TOG 2 next year and the second half is all American colonization. I've looked forward into TOG 3 and again see a lot of American History. Check out the scope and sequence section of each year of TOG to see if you really feel you need to have a year of only American History before beginning TOG. Best of luck.

Have you looked at Noeo Science? I also have a 5th grader. We are using the Noeo Physics 2. It's a Charlotte Mason style with narrations, plus lots of experiments. Their chemistry 2 and 3 will be our choice(I also have a 3rd grader) next year, then perhaps we'll move into Aplogia. Google Noeo to check out their curriculum. They use living books.

I hope you give yourself wonderful kudos. We have a similar daughter, age 14, who has been this way always. She's wonderful as long as everything goes her way even though we are consistent with rules/consequences. We decided to put our older two girls in public school once it was time to homeschool this one. To this day, I regret my decision, yet still don't know how I ever could have homeschooled this one. You are doing a wonderful job I'm sure. Best of luck.

I know fish doesn't fall under vegetarian, but if you're tweaking your week, does that sound like a fair suggestion? As far as tofu, have you tried breading it, dipping it in buttermilk with a little butter, then cooking it on the stovetop? You can dip it in a sauce after that - sort of like a chicken nugget. Use extra firm tofu, then pat it dry between paper towels. I also put spices in my breadcrumbs. Okay, now away from tofu. How about a vegetable soup. Use the large V8 cans, any flavors you like. I use reduced sodium with a smaller spicy V8 can. Throw in your frozen veggies, then flavor with italian seasonings such as oregano and basil. We have this with grill cheese sandwiches a lot. You can find nice soy sliced cheeses at your local health store. We also like to roast veggies in the oven. I put a favorite salad dressing in a ziploc, shake some veggies in it, put it in a roaster pan, then sprinkle a little of a favorite cheese on top. We use parmesan, but again you can find a soy variety if you like or skip the cheese. Good luck on your quest to eating healthier - we're doing the same thing here. The girls are loving it, except for the tofu - I'm the only one on that train. A couple of our daughters will drink the unsweetened soy milk I buy. They also like seaweed sheets - it kind of tastes like popcorn. Weird, but true.

We use Singapore math, Horizons math, about to use Mind Benders (I've been using logic squares off the internet), Noeo science and I will soon start Pentathlon games (you can purchase game set even if you don't want to compete). My 5th grader will join a math team next year. I'm not sure when I'll switch her to BJU science. Noeo is doing an excellent job now and I'd like to use their Chem 3 next year. Right now she's (the older one) is interested in engineering or vet.

I think an 8th grader could handle The Killer Angels. It gives such a personal glance into the Gettysburg battle. That's my vote. Good luck!

My husband is an electrical engineer. My daughter, a junior, is also interested in engineering. Several times she has interviewed a variety of engineers. Other than heavy of math and science, physics specifically pops up in several of the interviews. Robotics club and math clubs are also mentioned for a hands on experience. Good luck!

We are on our second year of homeschooling. I began with living books, but am quickly moving more securely into following the WTM method. We began Latin this year (Latin for Children, loving it). I have a 5th and 3rd grader. To be honest, I began without ever thinking I would homescool all the way through, though I have two high schoolers in the public school system and often think "I could have taught that." I'm beginning to think, maybe we can go all the way. I know there are success stories, but locally I see so many schooled, especially girls, without college being the goal in mind. Can you guys give me your success stories so it seems more real?

For our history spines, albeit a younger level, I looked through the Greenleaf Press website, Sonlight catalog, and Tapestry of Grace resource list (available to anyone on their store site), then made a list in advance of which ones I thought we would like to use. If a book made the list on more than one of these lists, then it definitely went into the pile. After that, I began hunting the books down looking for them used on Amazon or at our local Half Price Books (if you have something similar to this in your area). SOTW is possibly to0 skimpy for high school, but their resource list in their activity books are wonderful. Also consider buying All Through the Ages (perhaps by Christine Miller, not sure of the author and can't find my copy). This is a spectacular resource book for history spines and living books for each time period divided into age groups. I've used it for 3 school years now. Good luck!:)