With two of my kids at public school, my lone homeschooler has to follow the public school schedule. Otherwise, there would be grumblings about why she has to work when they get a Spring break or a teacher in-service day or whatever.

We have a huge deer problem and have tried everything. Only fences work - 8 ft.

We do a portfolio in history. It might be what you're looking for. I'll PM you a link to a video I took of what my daughter did last semester.

The price I pay for having my kids clean the kitchen is a constant battle to reseason the cast iron. They regularly use heavy duty abrasives and dish soap, and leave water sitting in it. I come along afterwards and add oil and pop it into the oven. I use it a lot, but not as a nonstick surface. One day, when my kids are off at college and I do my own dishes, I'm going to have the best seasoned cast iron pans ever.

I found that my daughter's math dislike wasn't related to the materials I chose. It's just that she doesn't like math much. In the end I stopped trying to make math fun, and she came to tolerate it, and life was easier. I'd choose a solid, middle of the road program and just do it. What level/grade math is she doing?

We tried it briefly, but I didn't love the format the way I had loved SM. Also, it had a feeling to it that it was really classroom oriented. Right after that, I spent a week or two with AOPS pre algebra and didn't like that either. I think either would have been fine had we stuck with them, but I was feeling picky. We settled on Galore Park SYRWL Maths 2&3 and that worked well. We were a little behind in the SM CWP books, so we also did CWP 5&6 while working through the Galore Park. It gave a nice preparation for algebra. Had MM7 been around, I probably would have gone from SM6b to MM7.

Ours too! I don't mind terribly having a quick shower in the communal showers and I'm good at facing my locker and changing. Nudity for a purpose is fine, but i'm always startled to see so many naked women just hanging out chatting. I feel like a prude. And more to topic, no I have not taken and will not take boys over the age of 4 into the women's locker rooms. There are three private changing rooms and one unisex shower/toilet. I'd use those if they need my help and send them to the men's when they're ready. The locker rooms might have a plethora of naked people chatting about their vacations or the last hike they went on or some great recipe they'll make for their grandkids, but it's hardly a den of iniquity.

I've got one daughter who has never wanted to homeschool and one who prefers it. So one loves public school and is thriving there, and one loves homeschooling and is thriving at home. It's not really about me, it's about doing what is right for my kids - giving them the best chance for success. Circumstances change... our kids' needs change.... Public school can be awesome. If it works out - great! If not, re-evaluate your options.

We've been using American Odyssey, though it is a hefty book intended for high school. I'd go with Hakim concise if you wanted it oriented to middle schoolers.

We're using Jacobs geometry (3rd ed). I chose it because it had good reviews on this board and because our local high school uses it for their honors geometry course. Since my daughter will start there next year, I wanted her to have had a similar math background. I've been working along side her for most lessons and have found the book clear. Much of the learning happens in the problem sets. It's been a little tricky to figure out which problems to assign. Usually we do both set 1 and 2, but I sometimes take out groups of problems that look annoying or redundant.

When my daughter used foresters last year, it was about two hours per day to check, teach, work practice problems and do the lesson. She is not a quick worker at all! Now we're doing Jacobs Geometry and it's taking about an hour and a half. I'm also having her use Saxon algebra 1 to keep her algebra skills up. It's pretty much just review so there isn't anything that needs teaching. I have her check and fix and then do either odds or evens. The checking and 15 problems take about an hour and includes little doodles and designs for dresses in the margins.

How about The imitation game? My daughter loved that when it came out last year.

Not movies - but we've been watching American Experience episodes about WWII. So far- FDR, Jesse Owens, J Robert Oppenheimer, America and the Holocaust, The bombing of Germany. This next week we'll watch The battle of the bulge and Victory in the pacific. Also crash course us history has two segments on WWII and cc world history has one.

We finished in 6th grade.

I don't remember the details, but I know my daughter got through 6a and 6b standards in a semester. She's a very day-dreamy procrastinator type and probably worked an hour or hour and a half per day.

I used to copy and paste a page-long text (on a topic we're studying) into a word document and then make it all lower case and remove all the punctuation (use find/replace). Then I'd have my daughter have to re-punctuate and capitalize it.

Click here to resolve your IPA vowel questions: http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/course/chapter1/vowels.html I always think of schwa in the unaccented version of "the". Ellie, schwa is a legitimate sound in English and plenty of other languages. Nothing lazy about it!

We have used Math Minutes to keep up with skills (also during vacation). It's gentle and has helped my kids keep things fresh. It's a bit easy, so get a year ahead. http://www.christianbook.com/math-minutes-grade-8/9781591984320/pd/882636?event=CPOF

We're using Jacobs and have found that being serious about memorizing postulates and theorems makes proofs much easier. Also, this website: http://feromax.com/cgi-bin/ProveIt.plhas been helpful.

My daughter went from SM 6b to Galore Park SYRWL Maths 2&3 to Foersters Algebra.

I think the best grammar resources are: Azar Understanding and Using English Grammar Murphy English Grammar in Use Azar is better for pair or class work and Murphy for self-study. Both are clear and straightforward.

I'm a huge Terry Pratchett fan, so have to recommend Wee Free Men here. Also, Stardust was mentioned above and is awesome and my own daughters have read it (at age 11 and 13) and I would absolutely recommend it, But... some parents might find a scene or two objectionable, so think YA not kids... or pre-read if your family is sensitive.

Since your daughter likes manga... My daughter recently read the graphic novel Maus and loved it and cried.

Apples and pears for spelling has worked great for my younger. She's started book b in 3rd grade and now in 6th is finishing book D (we just do it when her public school is not in session). Ellen McHenry has awesome science units. They've been some of our favorite materials.

I have one daughter at public middle school and she *loves* it all (except maybe not the girl drama). I have another who refuses to go but wants to go to the high school next year. I like that both my kids are invested in their school experiences. Perhaps give it a try and see how it goes? You can always switch later if it's not a good fit.