We're using Memoria Press Geography I and II this year to go along with a one year world history (mostly non-western) and literature. It's not an inspiring program, but it's getting the job done. MP is a religious publisher, but for our purposes, it's fine and not particularly religious. Next year I have Ellen McHenry's "Mapping the World with Art" which I already love (We've actually done all of her other materials and this is the last that we've tried). I'm really looking forward to it!

This might be an unpopular opinion, but here it is anyway: I would consider letting it go. Stative verbs aren't the only type of verb that a person might classify. I mean, you can start looking at aspect or tense or voice or mood or valency and getting into identifying them as transitive, intransitive, di-transitive, pseudo-transitive, or as being perfective or imperfective or progressive or get into causatives, inchoatives, ergatives,... You get the picture. Identifying linguistic classifications of verbs can be a bit interesting, but it's a huge topic and not in any way the sign of an educated person. The identification-of-stative-and-dynamic-verbs-in-English isn't a hill I would care to die on. It's nice to have a taste of syntax, but making sure your child can use standard English well in their writing is really where it's at!

We do note taking with short lecture videos -- currently Crash Course Chemistry, world history or sometimes khan academy or other 10 minute lectures. I take notes with the girls. I'll write down things I think are important and we talk about how we know that it's an important idea or what we think the point or the big picture is... I show them how I organize my notes - usually outline form. It's really heavily directed/guided learning. Every Friday I give a quiz that I make from *my* notes over the previous 4 mini-lectures and they are allowed to use their notes on the quiz. So, if they have been careful with their notes and kept them in their notebook and wrote legibly, they do great. They're getting good at it. At first, I would stop regularly and pause the video, but Now we watch once without note-taking, and then watch a second time while taking notes (without pausing). I'm trying to get them to keep pace with a lecturer. Eventually, I plan to stop taking notes with them and just give quizzes.

I'd like a resource with explanations and practice on unit conversions. They are fine with reading measuring devices and know common conversions like inches to feet, etc... But they both get confused with place value in metric system and setting up proportions to do trickier conversions. The MM measurement is aimed at grades 1-5 and doesn't have more than a page or two at the level we need. Same with Keys to... Any thoughts on similar type resources, but at a more challenging level?

I don't know anything about the Apologia books, but the Elements and Carbon Chemistry is not too "young" at all... Totally appropriate for upper elementary, middle and early high school.

You know how sometimes when you think your kids have surely mastered a topic because you have worked it thoroughly in previous years... Then suddenly it shows up again and they're clueless? I need a resource for measurement - particularly metric... Keys to measurement and math mammoth measurement are a bit too easy and don't get into unit conversions very much. I need something at a pre-algebra type level to do a week or two of measurement boot camp.

We bought it for the first book and actually found it to be too much for us. It'd be awesome for a classroom, but just more than I needed to teach my own daughter. We loved the books though!

I used to make tables and fill in dates, but this year I've used homeschool helper app on my iPad. It's incredibly useful for me. The lessons I input are pretty basic "Read ch. 6 & activities" or "Watch video & work on portfolio". Still, when planning history, I like to find interesting activities or websites or videos or games or recipes or books, so I do keep a table in word where I add in possible activities. I plan about a month out, though have general ideas about aiming to finish a math book by April or to be done with Asian history by the end of the month or whatever.

I would make a table in Microsoft word that has a basic sentence with one word per cell in the top row. Ask her to imitate parts (then later all ) of it underneath. For example... "I saw a dog in the front yard." Then underneath she could change I to We to make "We saw a dog in the front yard." Then change another word like saw--> heard to make "We heard a dog in the front yard." Then change 'a' to another determiner like "that" to "We heard that dog in the front yard." Eventually coming up with something like "we heard that cat under our ugly sofa." Anyway.. If you do a sentence each day that she manipulates, she should figure out eventually how sentence imitation works. As you continue, make more and more complicated sentences.

Definitely CWP 4. We did CWP 4 after SM6b and it was fine; we're now working through book 5, though doing a second year of pre algebra. In general, we find the practice problems are easy (but not so easy that it's pointless), but the challenging problems are plenty tricky!

I would have her slow down by adding in the half books (level 3 1/2). The later books (4 & up) are not entirely aimed at the very early reader crowd at all. Our local schools use the higher level books with 2nd and 3rd grades - kids easily reading chapter books... Not to introduce new words or show how to read, but to reinforce the idea of roots and affixes and to help with spelling patterns. The company who produces ETC also has a reading comprehension series called Beyond the Code, though I confess I've never used it because I kind of feel after the phonics is covered, kids just need practice through free reading. If she wants extremely short sentences, try Elephant and Piggy books. Or read with her her favorite books and pause to ask her to just read a word. Or have her read a"in unison with you. Or you could offer to buy her whatever book she desired (I was a little anti-Barbie / Disney princess, but when offered the most vapid sparkly unicorn pink Barbie princess book to read, it really appealed and my girls couldn't resist wanting to read it). Or make her a blank book and sparkly pens and have her write (or even dictate) a book and read it to other people.

I teach my kids to think of division like 12 divided by 3 as asking 'how many 3s are in 12?' It's easy then to say 3/4 divided by 1/2 is 'how many 1/2s in 3/4?' Keys to fractions is very procedural and not very conceptual. It's good practice, but Math mammoth does a better job if you are looking to supplement.

I would explore other options. You could always pull kids out and homeschool if it turns out that that was the right thing to do. But perhaps they'll thrive in public school. I'd give it a try.

My ballet loving daughter will get a wrap ballet sweater. Previous years have brought a gym bag and a Pointe magazine subscription. I'll probably put a pair of ouch pouch pointe shoe pads and a ballet bun decorative hair net thing in her stocking.

I co-authored a series with OUP and can assure you the market is swamped with good quality texts. Use Azar or Murphy (Grammar in use) for grammar. I always enjoyed the "English File" series for a general ESL class. I have plenty of other suggestions if you want more specific advice.

These deal with themes of justice/ big questions / coming of age Cry the beloved country Sophie's World Snow falling on cedars A tree grows in Brooklyn Or for something less thoughtful, maybe he'd go for mysteries?

As for resources, look into Penguin ESL readers for adult ESL students. They're leveled readers and make adult popular books and classics accessible. Also, I would stay away from homeschool type language or phonics materials. What your student needs is something specific for adults learning English as a foreign language. There are plenty of materials available... Let me know if you want specific titles.

What is her native language? My students from non-Latin alphabet languages always had a rougher time with the reading.

I'd go in and talk with the school secretary about arranging a visit. Check out several of the classes if possible. Try and get a feel for the atmosphere of the classroom and school. It's naturally hard to talk to a teacher during class because they're teaching or preparing, but ask if you can set up a meeting or if it would be easier to find answers to your questions via email. Kindergarten and first grade classrooms have such a huge range of abilities - with some kids not yet knowing the alphabet and others able to read adult-length novels. So I think it's good to ask how the teacher meets the needs of all the kids. I wouldn't go into much detail if you feel your child is exceptionally bright, just ask in general.

We preferred the challenging word problems over the intensive practice. You might get both to give it a try and see which (or both?) you like.

The Third Judge Doesn't Object. POETS

Math mammoth has two geometry books for upper elementary age. Also look into Patty Paper Geometry.

What about Galore Park Jr. English? That starts at about a 3rd grade level.

We definitely write in them. In fact, those are the materials we bring while traveling so we don't need a big textbook and notebook, just the workbook and a pencil.

We love our 3/4 standard poodle 1/4 golden retriever mix. She's smarter than the golden retriever we had and less high strung than the poodles we've had. Plus she's got this awesome non-shedding coat... Wavy and soft.