What makes us weird is that we are somewhat conservative educationally (I.e. classical) and rigorous and traditional in our religious practices in a very unschooling crunchy kind of town. But compared to the conservative Christian homeschoolers in nearby towns, we're much more liberal and secular (and lesbians!). So, I don't think we can win.

You might look into History Portfolio. We started off doing all of the suggested pictures/activities/writing and moved into doing mostly everything on our own. It can be very flexible like that.

I had pneumonia a few years ago. Neither my kids nor my partner got it. I was assured it wasn't contagious.

This is the first essay written by my 5th and 6th grade girls. It's heavily guided / modeled and really only the middle three paragraphs and end of the conclusion is actually their authentic writing. I used this guide to help them plan their essay: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=9&ved=0CHQQFjAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.classconnect.com%2Fapp%2Ffilebox%2F4f432711c582163d0a000dec%2F4f432711c582163d0a000deb%2Fdownload%2F&ei=XZNDUYcS0JarAfTpgPAL&usg=AFQjCNHKL1pbyiQPP5vg0TcciEE0pndS5A&sig2=FSWxp_SMH9uSd0zJKoY_5g&bvm=bv.43828540,d.aWM I'm hoping that these "essay training wheels" will help them to understand how to write their own essays in the future. I'm quite pleased with the results and plan to do similar essay writing with other books that they read. Romeo and Juliet In the prologue of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare calls Romeo and Juliet "star crossed lovers", introducing from the opening minutes of the play the possibility that their tragic end was unavoidable. Fate is seen by many of the characters in Romeo and Juliet as the reason for their downfall. In truth, however, it is the character flaws and actions of Romeo, Juliet, and Lord Capulet that cause their deaths. One character who contributes greatly to the tragic end of Romeo and Juliet is in fact Romeo himself. The reason why Romeo is involved in the death of Juliet and himself is because of his impulsive and rash decision making. Romeo reveals this flaw to Friar Lawrence in this quote:"I stand on sudden haste"[Act 2 scene 3 line 93.] Friar Lawrence recognizes this flaw and reminds him to "Go wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast." This impulse leads Romeo to rashly marry his latest love, the thirteen year old daughter of an enemy. Impulsiveness also leads Romeo to hold such anger at Tybalt, who killed his cousin, that he kills him. This starts a period of unlucky events that follow. Firstly, it forces Prince Escalus to banish Romeo from Verona, which ultimately leads to Romeo committing suicide. Juliet, along with Romeo, plays a role in their death. In a speech on her balcony, Juliet says, "Leap to these arms untalked of and unseen so lovers can see to do their amorous rites"[Act 3, Scene 2, Line 7-8.] In this quote, Juliet makes it quite clear to the reader that she is lascivious and wishes for Romeo to come to her in the night. This passion leads her to a quick marriage, but when her father tells her to marry Paris, he gets quite suspicious of her refusal. As a result, Juliet, upon hearing of her upcoming marriage to Paris, decides to go with Friar Lawrence's "desperate plan". The plan goes wrong and the conclusion is Romeo and Juliet's death. Juliet’s father, Lord Capulet, is the final person who hastens their untimely death. When Lord Capulet hears of Juliet’s refusal to marry Paris, he yells and threatens her by saying “Hang thee young baggage! Disobedient wretch! I tell thee what: get thee to church Thursday or never after look me in the face!" [Act 3, Scene 5, Line 160-162] This quote proves that Lord Capulet is not able to contain himself emotionally. Juliet feels desperate and suicidal when she hears her father’s words. This leads to the plan that goes wrong and eventually kills her. Despite the many references to fate and destiny in Romeo and Juliet, it is actually human nature that causes the tragedy. In particular, it is the flaws and actions of Romeo, Juliet, and Lord Capulet that contribute greatly to Romeo and Juliet's untimely death. Of these three characters, Romeo's impulsive and emotional nature is probably the worst flaw. If Romeo had not had such an impulsive personality, he might have not rushed into marrying Juliet and therefore would not have created a tragic situation.

Also -- Math Mammoth has pre-algebra and algebra 1 worksheets. The problems are not explained, but they are great practice.

We've had good success with Algebra Survival Guide and Workbook. I don't know that it's more in depth than Keys to, but it is faster paced yet still very incremental.

We're using SYRWL Maths 2 by Galore Park for math and you might really like it. It's got a very clean layout, an answer key *and* as a bonus, every once and a while, will have word problems with a more interesting twist to them. Last week my daughter solved a ratio problem that involved finding how much gin was in Colonel Mustard's gin and tonic.

I bought and returned it. I think we've grown so used to the Singapore way of introducing a topic that it kind of put me off to see such wordiness. It just didn't appeal to me at all to want to try to teach it -- especially since my girl isn't a math lover. I love the videos though (and the girl tolerates them). Instead, we've been working through a variety of pre-algebra type books: SYRWTL Maths 2 (for arithmetic review and beginning algebra intro), Challenging Word Problems 5 (for word problems, which we do using a bar model and also try with algebra), Keys to Algebra and Algebra Survival Guide (to ease into beginning algebra)... also a little bit of MM7 when needed. I think she's absolutely prepared to start algebra any time now, but I'm going to wait until fall. This summer we'll give Hands on Equations and Zaccarro Real World Algebra a try. I've found I like DIY pre-algebra. I use SYRWTL Maths as the spine and then supplement or exchange or skip or focus on topics as needed.

We loved Minimus and Minimus Secundus. It's light and entertaining... Perfect for a 10yr old not interested in diving into grammar too much.

I think poems or monologues from Shakespeare are nice to have memorized. Otherwise... the most useful things have been multiplication facts, formulas for finding area or physics formulas... Fraction - decimal equivalents Also conversions (like lb to kg) The periodic table is kind of cool to have memorized, though probably not as useful in everyday life.

I'm taking notes! My absolute favorite is Stephen Briggs who narrates many Terry Pratchett audiobooks.

You could ask to have ANA and TPO checked when you get TSH AND T3&4 done. I don't know how much difference it makes in treatment, but it's probably good to know if you have an autoimmune issue. I know thyroid dosages have to change during and after pregnancy, so it's a good idea to be rechecked. Some people rave about Armour - which comes from desiccated pig thyroid rather than synthroid or Levoxyl. You can look into the arguments... It's a little weird how passionate some people are about it. Armour is a sausage company whose slaughterhouse found use for pig byproducts and started producing thyroid tablets too... so it's been around for around 100 years or so... And according to my endocrinologist, it will work... It's just not as easy to dose and is less consistent. Anyway, I'm happy with the synthetics and don't feel the need for alternatives, but some people really feel the natural thyroid is better.

I did teach my kids grammar with simple syntax trees. I stayed away from delving into x bar theory too deeply and only lightly touched on wh-movement. I like that you can use syntax trees with any language and that it shows hierarchical relationships between phrases in a way that diagramming can't. I didn't have a textbook, so I can't help there. With an older kid, you could use an intro linguistics textbooks (Language Files would work well) or something like Pinker's "Words and Rules" which is written for a non-academic reader and so is pretty accessible.

My daughter read two of her chapters a while ago. She likes to have kids edit/review them. My daughter thought they were great. I'd love to get an ETA on those too!

Math: If MM is working well, stick with it! She's on track to be successful with pre-algebra I'm 7th. Spelling: When she finishes the series she's in, I'd probably just quit if you feel she spells reasonably well. Reading/Lit: Now would be a good time to consider learning about literature. Perhaps Figuratively Speaking this year and then Lightening Literature 7 next year? Writing: WWS will give her a good start. Grammar: Hake or Growing with Grammar or Voyages in English all seem fairly straightforward. Or you could ditch grammar and focus on writing instead. Science: I've never seen the Elemental series, so I can't comment. We've loved the science from Ellen McHenry if you're looking for something different. Latin: you could try Minimus with both your 3rd an 6th grader. It will be a fun taste of Latin for all of you and you could decide if you want something more serious or not.

We are using Ellen McHenry's free Owner's Guide to the Human Body combined with Brainpop and documentaries on Netflix.

Because of the common core standards, our local district had to change from TERC Investigations math to something more rigorous. TERC was a major reason for our homeschooling, so I'm really happy for the common core!

What about Story Elements by Rebecca Stark? I don't actually have this book, but I seem to remember someone saying it was similar?

Try Megawords by EPS http://eps.schoolspecialty.com/products/details.cfm?seriesonly=900M

I make a table in Word with columns entitled something like "Textbook" "Literature" "Videos" "Websites". Then I'll just write down the topic and organize anything supplemental in that row. I don't generally put dates down because I've found I don't follow them anyway. This will be our third year of using History Portfolios to organize topics, and either OUP or K12 HO as the textbook. I like having a notebook or portfolio of all the work the kids have done.

I don't think the OAKS is something you or your child should stress over. It's really a very top-down kind of a test. That is, it's devised by the state to see if the students as a whole are progressing. It's really not very useful to see how any individual child is doing. You won't be given subtest results. In fact, one year, I was only told my child "Exceeded expectations" and no score at all. Plus, if a child doesn't pass it, they'll just be asked to retake the test (I think up to three times?). But even if a child didn't pass, it really only matters to the school who wants to have better statistics. It's not about the student at all. It probably isn't a surprise that the standards for writing are pretty low. They *sound* difficult... expository essays at 4th grade, etc... but in reality, the expectations are not high. Look at http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?id=523 for information about the test and http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?=529 for scored writing samples at 5th grade level. I think you'll find that even the high scorers are writing at a very basic level. So... don't stress about the OAKS test. It's not inherently a bad test, but it's not going to be useful for you or your child. It's for the state and the schools. Teach your child to write a little essay if you want, but don't do it for the sake of the OAKS test. It's just not a big deal.

We've been using mm7a/b as supplements in pre-algebra. Whenever a topic comes up that needs a little more practice, I use the mm worksheets. So far, we've needed a little extra help with ratio and percentage, and been happy with mm. But... They don't offer explanation, just practice.

At nearly 9 & 11, our girls stay for a bit at night. We have cell phones and good local support if they needed help. They never have.

LOF is a fun supplement but won't help much with a child who is struggling. I'd go with MM or Keys to Fractions.

I have the art of argument on my shelf and It seems pretty secular... But I haven't dug in too deep yet.