I've only done the planning, not actually used it... I've divided the 10 Hakim books so that we'll do books 1-6 (through the civil war) this year for 7th grade and 7-10 for 8th. I've combined it with Crash course US history, American experience, movies, quizzes, documentaries, DBQs, literature and historical fiction. I think it'll be a great year!

Some people do skip pre-algebra, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you had some need to get to Algebra 1 quickly (like you have a 9th grader who needs it for high school transcript purposes). Otherwise, I'd take the opportunity to solidify the trickier parts of elementary math, focus on problem solving, get a head start on algebra and geometry, and gain some maturity. I think it would be a rough jump between SM 6b and Algebra 1. At our house at least, there would have been tears and an increase in math-hating. But after two years of pre-algebra (which after SM6b, have included Galore Park SYRWL Maths 2 & 3 and Keys to Algebra and Real World Algebra and Algebra survival guide), Algebra 1 will be a breeze.

I know what you mean! I have a full sized Sentence Composing for Elementary, but a tiny Sentence composing for middle school. I was disappointed when it arrived.

I just signed my daughter up for French 1a at onlineG3. We've never done online classes, so not sure what to expect...

Definitely history for music lovers. Horrible histories has a ton of songs. Schoolhouse rock too, of course.

When you stop teaching reading, switch into spelling. For my younger, that was 3rd grade.

Yep

We used the teacher created materials workbook and it was just what we needed -- Short primary source readings with questions, historical and biographical information, activities, maps, information about holidays and modern religious practice. I found it interesting and useful.

I have used Story of Science Aristotle while studying ancients and Newton while studying the renaissance / early modern Europe and now Einstein while studying modern history, but I did not try to line them up exactly. I just felt it was unnecessary and too difficult. It is either a preview of events and time periods that we'll learn later or a review of something we've already studied. Think of it like a spiral approach rather than mastery.

How old is she?

The nice thing about homeschooling is that you can teach what you think is important for your kids to know without worrying whether it's "Classical" or not. I felt we had been a bit too Eurocentric, so after doing a three year sequence of Greece and Rome, Middle Ages in Europe, Renaissance and Early Modern Europe, we focused last year on non-western world history in a geography/literature/history continent-based unit study extravaganza which culminated in a month or two of modern world history that brought back in Europe again. The only thing we've glossed over is US history which we'll work on for the next two years. I teach what I think is important and interesting...

I don't understand the paranoid thinking that goes on around the topic of standards. The countries that I've lived in have all had national educational standards -and many were really strict. When I taught in Poland, for instance, all the students in a given grade not only had the same textbook, but all kids across the country would also have been on the same page on the same day. The economy didn't crash. The society didn't dissolve into murdering hoards. Teachers, schools, districts in the US have a lot more leeway in how they'd like to teach a topic with lots of textbooks now aligned. A good teacher will keep doing what she's always done - she'll look at the materials she has, consider the standards (state or now CC), keep in mind the expectations of parents and school administrators and then ultimately teach the material in a way that meets the needs of her students. Nothing really has changed other than the many state standards are now just one set of national standards. I can only see benefit to that.

And you don't *need* it, but it's a great way of increasing a child's ability to create more complex sentences.

The middle school or even high school books aren't really any more advanced than the elementary... It's just the sentences come from books that are more age appropriate -- Roald Dahl vs Harry potter vs Stephen king, etc...

It seems to me that Mrs.Tutt was operating her own group home with no oversight. It scares me to imagine one individual playing all the roles, besides mother and teacher, she was also apparently case worker, judge, visitation supervisor, perhaps therapist too?... making the decisions herself about visitation with parents, education, services being provided and returning children to their home. These are appropriate decisions for her own family, but those were not all her own children. I may sometimes hate all the bureaucracy of the social work world, but I do like that we caregivers have the support of mental health professionals and social workers and foster care support groups and certifiers and the folks at the visit centers and the court system. I especially like the family decision meetings where mediators and families try to find alternatives to having kids placed in community foster care. Or the citizens' review board who are community members overseeing the child welfare system. Or the permanency hearings where a judge makes a ruling about how the child will have a permanent stable home. It may be a ton of meetings, but I like that many of my kids get a CASA worker and an educational advocate and a mental health caseworker and an attorney. It may be a clunky system and while most of the people are good and caring, there may be a few incompetent or rogue caseworkers out there... But most of all, I appreciate that there is a community of people out there looking over everyone else's shoulders to ensure that kids are safe. Mrs. Tutt had none of that. I think my point is that the decisions of families in terrible need should not be made by only one person. I like that the biological parents have avenues to improve their lives if they want their kids back --- to do outpatient or inpatient alcohol and drug treatment (even in residential programs with their kids), to take parenting classes, anger-management classes, classes for victims of domestic abuse... I like that parents are helped with going back to school or with getting a job or with getting assistance for transportation or food or an apartment. Mrs. Tutt could not provide the parents of the children she was fostering with support. And then the kids... within the system, foster kids get counseling and therapy, occupational therapy, 504's or IEPs, supervised visitation with their families, monthly activities with other foster kids from other families. And we have access to respite care when I'm exhausted or need a break, support groups, training for helping kids deal with trauma. My family also has access to programs like WIC and free school breakfasts and lunches (regardless of our own income) and a monthly stipend and funds to pay for summer camps and extra-curricular activities and we have all sorts of community events provided by churches and community groups. When a family is in need, I like that we have a system in place to help keep a child safe, give foster families support and get the biological parents the help they need to get their kids back. As far as I can tell, Mrs. Tutt was not able to do any of these things. I suspect she was taking in children more to satisfy her own needs than to satisfy the needs of the children and their families.

I did my undergrad at a small private liberal arts college and went for a PhD to Yale and have taught at several public universities and community colleges. They all have their particular atmospheres, but I don't think Yale students are any more or less zombie-like or sheepish than students at other universities. There was a time not so long ago when Yale was entirely educating rich white boys whose fathers and grandfathers had all attended Yale. Those were more likely to be the days of zombies and sheep. Nowadays, the student body is far more diverse, and their opinions and pasts and futures are just as varied as students of other universities.

Both girls switched into juniors sizes at around 100 pounds (which worked out to a height of 5'2 and 4'10). Besides the major department stores, American eagle and Aeropostale seem to be popular for junior's sizes.

The test results look great, I'd just make sure that his multiplication and division and decimal skills are solid. With my daughter, I try to make sure she hasn't forgtten grade level skills while trucking through algebra, so we do regular easy review.

We used CC World History last year along with readings from a textbook, essays, historical fiction and primary sources, documentaries and portfolio. It was pretty cool. Crash course can be refreshingly irreverent and isn't aimed at elementary aged kids, so be prepared for mention of "skoodilypooping" and such... We'll be watching the US History this year (and the new world history series just for fun).

My daughter took the test and I've looked into what was on it. It's mostly common sense and maps and charts and texts that you don't need prior knowledge for. Honestly, it's not something that should drive your curriculum.

We only foster kids younger than our youngest. It really helps my girls to know they are the role models. Also, because of age and size, they don't feel threatened by the foster kids, and have learned to help with their care. It's good for them!

Ikea has fashionable and cheap sheets and duvet covers.

Hah!!!! I totally missed that ambiguous title. Perhaps "impacted eye teeth"?? Apparently it's an east-west coast dialect thing, like "pop" and "soda".

Obviously you should go! Just consider it a "preview" or "review" depending on how fast you're chugging along with the rest of your history studies.

My girls - not yet. Or if they do have crushes, they don't tell me. But... My 6 year old boy was totally sweet on this girl in kindergarten. It was weird. He saw her the first time and his eyes followed her around and he just went all silly and couldn't understand why I wouldn't support his immediately marrying her or hugging her or inviting her over or giving her presents. It was slightly worrying and cute at the same time and I tried to generally distract him as much as possible. It lasted until the end of the school year.