Tentative plan for 6th grade: Math: Derek Owens Honors Algebra 1 (parent-graded) English Language Arts: IEW Structure & Style Level B, Year 2 Fix It Grammar Level 2 Critical Thinking Co Mastering Middle School Vocabulary Critical Thinking Co Inference Jones Figuratively Speaking MENSA Excellence in Reading book list + Elevate Your Reading activities Good & Beautiful Handwriting Level 6 Typing.com (15 minutes any time she turns on her laptop to do school or fun) History: Story of the World Volume 4 with documentaries from Teaching with Movies Civics: Whatever Happened to Justice? and Teen Pact state government workshop Science: Guest Hollow Jr. Anatomy & Health with middle school supplements & Mark Twain Media Health & Wellness workbook Mini-Electives Loop (we rotate through a lot of small things and will plan to touch on two of these per day): Learning to Learn: Strengthening Study Skills and Brain Power Learning How to Learn: How to Succeed in School Without Spending All Your Time Studying; A Guide for Kids and Teens Crash Course Study Skills, Media Literacy, & Navigating Digital Information Developing Digital Detectives: Essential Lessons for Discerning Fact From Fiction in the "Fake News" Era Common Sense Media Digital Citizenship online modules Discovering Wisdom in Proverbs creative devotional Girls Seen and Heart: 52 Life Lessons for Our Daughters Critical Thinking Co Something's Fishy at Lake Iwannafisha Mystery River Problem-Based Ecology Unit Mystery Disease Problem-Based Learning Science Sleuths: Solving Mysteries Using Scientific Inquiry Critical Thinking Co Mind Benders Weekly homeschool co-op with electives TBD Extracurriculars TBD

Good morning, Just when I think I have a handle on high school plans, something throws me for a loop. I planned 7 credits per year for my student based on admission requirements to her target schools and leaving room for her interests. Adding in early high school credits from middle school and she'd be on track to graduate with 32 total credits. I reviewed our old high school transcripts and I had 31.5, my husband had 30, so this seems good and I didn't feel the need to require any more credits. However, I interviewed a high schooler applying for admission to my alma mater and the student is graduating with 40 credits from utilizing dual enrollment. There was obviously an opportunity cost, since this student had time for almost nothing in the way of extracurriculars or interests outside of classwork, but the student has already been admitted to several highly selective schools, so I'm a bit confused on what type of course load is typical when applying to selective programs. For reference, our local public school requires 25 credits (including 2 credits of Health/PE which we would likely not need to transcript). How many total credits did your college-bound homeschooler earn, and if you wouldn't mind sharing a breakdown (dual enrollment, electives, etc.) it would be enlightening. Thank you for any input you can provide.

@8filltheheart My first goal was to have English courses that I knew were Honors-level rigor to challenge my student and I wanted to leave that decision up to an outside provider since I'm not an English teacher and don't yet feel comfortable declaring that what we did was above the 'norm'. The second goal was outside feedback since I know she writes better when someone else is reading it. I agree, we prefer to insource whenever possible.

We used it as a very entry-level introduction to puberty (here's what a menstrual cup looks like). However, we have had much better success by binge reading the puberty section at the public library, watching Are You There God? It's Me Margaret, and having open discussions when topics come up in everyday life.

Many students expect to not have to *think* about a course when they are physically not in the class space. I've recently noticed this among the public high schoolers I visit with too. They get home from school, turn on the gaming console and zone out until dinner/bedtime, with no thought towards studies or assignments happening outside of the walls of the public school building. Please hold the line in your bio course!

These were the first two options on my list, I did not know about Aim Academy until reading this post so thank you for that information. This would be for 9th and 10th grade. I am exploring some piecemeal options now too. Thanks for all of your help!

Lori, thank you for the detailed responses! I certainly see the value in having peer interaction and instructor feedback at the high school level, and your explanation of in-depth reading vs. quantity of books is so helpful. You are a wealth of knowledge!

It's our first year homeschooling a daughter around the same age, and we came from an accelerated program in public school. Some of our favorites this year so far: Critical Thinking Co Detective Books (there are some that are just regular 'detective', also detective math, detective vocabulary, and detective writing - note that the "science detective" is super boring, it isn't fun puzzles like the others). We have Basics of Critical Thinking slotted for this spring. Khan Academy Middle School Science - we are going through all three courses this year (earth/space, physics & biology) and doing the activities/labs as well - this is a very, very well organized free resource and it's helping us identify her interests for future science choices. We started out with interest-led units like Campfire Curriculum Meteorology, Real Science 4 Kids Middle School Astronomy, and Big Data by Carla Mooney before discovering Khan Academy. We'll still have time for The Elements (chemistry by Ellen McHenry) in the spring too. MENSA Excellence in Reading program (we read from the grades 4-6, 7-8 and 9-12 lists with whatever is interesting at the time) Typing.com and Code.org Express Fundamentals Course to keep up with what she had started in public school (she loves coding and will join the local robotics club next year) Story of the World 3 - this is where we're at since we did 1 & 2 as read-alouds during our afterschooling years. The activity guide is amazing and we really look forward to history. We also do a lot of art (through co-op and any art activities in our other topics), and she just recently asked for explicit art instruction twice a week, so we're looking at Artistic Pursuits next. Math: Saxon 7/6. It's tried and true, and that's where she landed via placement test. She actually started with Art of Problem Solving after placing into their Pre-Algebra this summer, but we learned after about 3 weeks of it that she needed more direct instruction, and the 'discovery method' with pages and pages of instructions was not going to work (same reason we dropped Writing With Skill 1 for IEW Structure & Style Level B Year 1). Saxon is pretty 'open and go' once you figure out the daily rhythm and she does this mostly independently. The 'investigations' in 7/6 are well done too and a nice break from the regular lessons. I taught engineering at the university level and am completely confident with the Saxon method until we'll diverge for high school honors & AP math. Good luck!

Good morning everyone, My student is heavy STEM-leaning, and also a natural writer with reading & writing skills appropriate for Honors-level English classes. I am looking for a comparison between Excellence in Literature (book-based, self-paced with Honors option) and Blue Tent Honors English 1/2 (online, can be asynchronous or synchronous) in terms of workload. EIL has more assigned reading than BT, but BT includes grammar and vocabulary (which we would tack on to EIL to prepare for the SAT/ACT anyway). If you were trying to keep English output moderate for a student who was also taking AP science & math courses but capable of an Honors-level challenge, which course would you choose? My student is also 2E with ADHD, and planning to take AP English Lang in 11th grade if that's relevant. Thank you for any advice!