You can certainly do whatever you want, including stopping short of the end of the book... The homeschool police won't be knocking on your door and I think she'll be fine for geometry, though the intro to trig in the back of Foerster might be worth spending a few days on as she'll see a bit more in Saxon geometry I think. I would, however, continue to work on algebra throughout the geometry year so that she does not forget those tricky bits. At least, that's what we're doing -- we finished all of Foerster last month and will start geometry in the fall (going to give Saxon a try)...

We have been doing the US history ones in 7th grade and while a younger child *could* do it, I think they're best saved for around 8th-9th grade or so. Being able to step outside and see something from multiple perspectives, or to pick apart an argument, or to compare and contrast two points of view takes some maturity.

It wasn't until our family started doing foster care that I began to really, truly understand privilege. My foster children are without exception headed straight for a future of the same problems that plague their parents and grandparents and probably generations before them: poverty and addiction and victimization and crime and teen pregnancy. Those kids are set on a really rough path by birth and early neglect and abuse. It is cruel to imagine that the playing field is equal in any way whatsoever.

Visit a dig! There are even some volunteers can join, though few for young kids. Also, my daughter liked "Dig" magazine when she was younger and "Archaeology" magazine now. And Check out "Time Team" on YouTube. It's a British TV show about archaeology.

I remember loving Angela Carter and Jeanette Winterson as an older teen. I'm pretty sure there must be some sexy bits in there, but haven't read either author in years. For no smutty bits at all, and an easy read without high literature pretentions, try something like Nation by Terry Pratchett. I don't think he liked the term 'magical realism', preferring just fantasy. But I like the way he tells a realistic story but in an almost-identical-but-not-quite alternate world.

Mine will just continue practicing writing. She does a paragraph or two per day for history or a short DBQ and every few weeks she'll write a short literary analysis essay for English. I will also have her go through "They say, I say" because so far she's only approached writing from a perspective of writing her thesis and proving it rather than writing in a larger context of an academic conversation.

My family doesn't seem to have funerals so I've never even been to one. We just have a cremation done... And with my parents and grandparents even that was pre-paid through the Neptune society. The ash gets spread somewhere private, but it's nothing that requires the presence of multiple people or songs. I can't imagine expecting or wanting a funeral service, but if my family did, that'd be okay by me. And whatever songs they chose I'm sure would be just fine.

We do foster care and have had pretty similar experiences as Ottakee with the exception of slightly higher payments ($25/day) but no clothing allowance usually. Kids with higher needs have an incrementally higher payment. Also, most kids in our county are returned to bio homes. There's a big push for reunification, which is sometimes great. We have gotten kids back in foster care from relapsing parents several times however. Also, judges here love ordering lots of supervised parent visits - again, sometimes great... But driving round trip an hour 4-5 days/week for a visit is pretty inconvenient for us. Most case workers are pretty decent. All are well-intentioned, but some are too overworked or inefficient or new to be helpful.

Drop it. If they can use punctuation properly when they write, you've done your job. If they can talk about why and use words like 'appositives' and 'possessive' and 'dependent clause', then you get bonus points.

You might just explore what books are assigned at your local high school. There are also plenty of lists online: http://www.perfectionlearning.com/top%20100-american-lit-titles

I wouldn't worry about the quality of the literature is at this point. If your goal is for him to improve his English, anything that engages him will do. He has a lifetime to read quality literature, you might let him enjoy the simplicity of high interest early readers like Magic treehouse or A-Z mysteries or whatever strikes his fancy. He's picking up patterns of syntax, improving his listening comprehension, widening his vocabulary and having fun at the same time. Also, I wouldn't necessarily discount books about death or abandonment or abuse or crime... I know you said you want to process it with him and I get that. I'm also always sensitive about those themes with my foster kids, but have been surprised to find that sometimes those books or movies are the ones that really speak to my kids the most.

I just pick up a test prep book at the bookstore - usually it's Spectrum, but any would do. Realistically, though, it doesn't matter whether at or above grade level in content areas. Many of the questions are common sense or rely on maps or charts or timelines. The test prep books will give some practice with multiple choice and may highlight an area your child is unfamiliar with. I know my daughter realized she knows very little about us government and economics. We've never done much in those areas, so we talked about it and she did a few brain pop videos and we called it done. Did it matter? Probably not, but it made her feel more confident and she learned a little something. Just remember the test is norm referenced. His score is compared to a standardized group of kids his age. You sound very attentive and dedicated to his education, so I'm sure he'll do fine. You can relax!

The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell was really interesting and funny, though it does look at the early colonists with a pretty critical eye.

I was going to recommend Galore Park too. It's not super inspiring, but it's independent, secular and gets the job done. When you have more time in a year or so, check out Ellen McHenrys materials. They're more work, but also more fun.

Have your child send her an email. She's a really cool person. We found some minor errors in her books and my daughter and Joy had an entertaining correspondence which led to her asking my 8 yr old daughter to help her fact-check something else she had been writing. It was pretty cute and made my girl feel really important.

We have a ton of deer who live nearby and would like to live in our yard. Forget the deer repellant and deer resistant plants and motion activated sprinklers and draping netting over your yummy plants. The *only* thing that works is a high fence.

We've used a few, though not that one... My DD and I read an adaptation of the Divine Comedy by Seymour Chwast that was pretty interesting, though it'd be worth pairing it with at least an excerpt of the real thing. And we've read some kid's comic versions of Canterbury Tales and Shakespeare when we didn't have time to spend on the entire work. Also, she liked Pride and Prejudice so much I bought her a comic version. I'd only use something like that if the important thing to you was a brief overview of the plot, not actually the literature itself. My daughter's also read "Maus" and "Maus II" which she really really liked. Also Persepolis- about a girl in modern Iran. Those last two are different in that they are not comic adaptations of some other novel, but are the literature itself.

A few ideas from my 7th graders U.S. history studies -- If you want entertainment and don't have a lot of time, try Crash Course U.S. history on you tube. For a fun interesting read, I enjoyed Sarah Vowells "The Wordy Shipmates. " about the first European colonists. PBS American Experience makes some great documentaries too. Otherwise there's no reason why you can't grab a U.S. History textbook and jump in. We've used American Odyssey by k12.

History portfolio http://www.homeschooljourney.comwas helpful for us. We've used them for five years (though longer bother with their activities - we just get a blank one). If you buy the guide, it uses SOTW and includes pages to write or color or puzzles that kids cut and paste in their portfolio.

There are some bbc documentaries to watch -- especially "The Story of Science" and "Chemistry a volatile history". Also, check out "The Poisoners Handbook". It's a cool book, but the photographs and footage in the American Experience documentary is more engaging. It's about early forensic science.

The math sequence hasn't changed much around here. When I was a child, everyone in elementary school (K-6) did math with their class. There weren't any exceptions. In 7th grade, tracking started with Math 7, Adv Math 7, and honors pre-algebra. Similarly, in our district today, middle school 6th graders all take one class and 7th grade begins tracking students into "transition math", math 7 and pre-algebra. It's pretty much the same. I'm not sure if some radically accelerated kids are flying under the radar, but both in the 1980's and today the math sequence hasn't changed much. Interestingly, in Poland where I used to teach, all kids without exception take math with their classmates until 8th grade. The tracking comes in high school with kids going to vocational, technical or academic schools. There's a lot of ways to teach and learn math. I really don't believe that only one scope & sequence is ideal.

That's what I do... I make a table with the titles going across the top, for instance: textbook chapter, literature, documentaries and movies, art and music and cooking, essay topics. I just fill them in chronologically by row based around the textbook.

I'd get a pdf of math mammoth books for grade 1 and print off just the lessons on word problems and number sense and whatever else she needs if you want her to catch up with a traditional sequence. I'd start with 50-100 pages. Buy some sparkly card stock, print and glue on a title that she likes and take it to a print shop to have it spiral bound. It'll be a workbook, but individualized especially for her.

We did that lesson... That section is about algebraic proofs and the idea that that algebra has universal principles which can be laid out to prove an answer. I think it helps to have a name for what you're doing. It's not as important as the *doing* part, but it has its use. It's the same in geometry... Or knowing the names of things like "indefinite article" and "prepositional phrase" when learning another language. You can certainly learn without the terminology, but it gives you some worthwhile ways of thinking and talking about the subject.

There will be gaps for sure, but it's okay. My daughter says many questions involved graphs or maps or other common sense test items. He can't know all of science or all of history, so let it go. That said, I have my daughter work through a test prep book the week before the test. We use brainpop for quick remediation.