http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/ is very kid appropriate, though the sounds on it get very annoying at times.

We liked a book called something like "through time: London" Also There's a horrible history book called loathsome London. Be sure to go to the Museum of London (and of course the British Museum and British Library and V&A and Tower of London... And you might enjoy the foundling museum if you've been reading any Dickens).

I would stick with what works! Especially with math, it's nice to keep the same scope & sequence. If you like BJU, keep doing it. If it's too slow, accelerate a little.

We're almost finished with Cells (a 10 & 11 yr old) and have loved it! What I thought was going to last about 3 weeks, has taken more like 9 weeks with all of the crafts and games and videos. The kids responded really well to it and I've learned so much too... I can't wait to do more Ellen McHenry stuff!

Google "Deep Litter Method". We rarely clean out the coop -- a full clean out maybe every 6 months? It's not even particularly disgusting. I have pine bedding down and mix in some diatomaceous earth sometimes... I mix it up and add a little extra bedding if I want it to look nice. I chuck the pine bedding in the compost every few months.

We liked this book: http://www.amazon.com/World-Religions-Gabriel-Arquilevich/dp/1557346240

Theoretically, I think older elementary or middle school are a great age for Harry Potter (like 9-12 year olds). But... it didn't work out that way because they were on my shelf and my kids really wanted to read them and I have a sense that a reader should be able to choose what to read. Plus, I figured they'd put it down if it's too scary or not the right level or not appropriate for where they're at emotionally. So my older daughter read the first three when she was 6 and the last ones when she was 8. And my younger daughter got into listening to them at age 8 on audio books during long car rides over the past year and has listened to all of them, but has not read them yet. Neither appear damaged by the early reading of Harry Potter. But... like a previous poster said -- there are lots of good children's books out there. So I wouldn't go out of my way to encourage a younger child to read them... especially the later books.

I'm trained as a linguist and have spent years teaching language, so I do enjoy learning about syntax and happily teach it to my kids. But I think that you can become a productive and educated user of written English without necessarily knowing grammatical terms. If diagramming or knowing different terms to describe categories of words aren't helpful to her, skip those and simply focus on the actual output of written English. Turn your attention less to "grammar" and more to writing mechanics. Can she punctuate? Does she know how to use quotations? Does she know the difference between possessives and plurals and can use an apostrophe appropriately? At the end of the day, these types of skills are what really matters...

I like fun and accessible books, personally... I have been through college and grad school and have read plenty of difficult books. I've decided that now I'm all grown up and can read whatever I'd like, I'd like to be entertained while I read. I've learned a lot from Joy Hakim's story of science. It's half-history and half-science. Horrible history also holds my attention and my daughter's too... I don't care for the gory bits, but I like the emphasis on presenting academics in a fun way. I enjoy watching documentaries a lot. Or reading humorous books with a non-fiction twist like AJ Jacobs, Sarah Vowell, Mary Roach, Bill Bryson... I want to be engaged, not lectured at.

Yes... that would be the simple thing we were overlooking! Thank you!

I don't normally have trouble with these sorts of things, but I just can't figure out how help my daughter to solve this with the "tools" she has. I also don't have the teacher's guide or answer key... It's SM6b Workbook Problem 4 from Unit 7, Exercise 8. It says "The figure shows an equilateral triangle and a circle. The radius of the circle is 20 ft. Find the area of the shaded part. " The figure is a circle shown with an equilateral triangle inscribed in it. The area below the triangle is shaded and one third of the triangle is shaded. The radius is shown as 20 ft. My daughter found the area of the entire circle and wants to subtract 2/3 of the area of the triangle. And then subtract 2/3 the area that remains, but she can't figure out the area of the triangle. The only way I can think of to solve it is to cut the triangle into 30-60-90 degree triangles and solve with 20 as the hypotenuse, but that hasn't been taught yet. The answers I see online for this type of problem all use trigonometry which also hasn't been learned yet. I wonder if we're overlooking something simple. Ideas?

What age student? Were you the one who is doing literacy tutoring for adults?

Our awesome 2 yr old golden doodle died two months ago and the kids have been desperately asking about a new dog. I'm just not ready for another puppy yet... Plus, we are fostering a toddler with a lot of puppy characteristics and can't imagine an actual dog in the mix.

7-8 yr old for short periods 10 yr old for longer periods but before bedtime

I used Wheelock in college... I can't imagine working through it with my 10 yr old when there are so many more age appropriate programs available. If Henle is working for you, why switch a third of the way through?

Last year's exploratory Latin exam had a section on the seven wonders. I think we made a little "passport" using their materials and watched a few you tube documentaries I found. If I recall, they weren't particularly inspiring... But they're out there if you do a search.

My daughter took extra subtests beyond her age for both those tests. If a medal matters, probably just stick to the requirements, since whatever is taken will be graded and count in the final score.

I agree! Fred is a great, motivating supplement, but do not use it thinking it will help a struggling math student. Keys to... Or Math Mammoth do an awesome job of building skills.

Galore park Jr History is kind of workbooky with text and then questions to answer. It just goes from pre-history to middle ages I think. And only focuses on Europe.

My 10 yr old dd favorite book is the Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett. I enjoyed it too!

We're just continuing on with what we started last spring. Nothing has really changed... Math - SM6b & LOF PA w/ biology and supplementing with other pre-algebra books English - a remedial com college textbook I used to teach from, plus some more Kilgallon, finish Figuratively Speaking, pentime 4 Science - finish McHenry Cells & continue biology and anatomy with different online and supplementary materials History - Currently Renaissance Europe with OUP and history portfolio Latin - continue Latin Prep 1 The focus for this year is going to be writing. My DD has a great style in writing short paragraphs, but it's time to step it up... Outlines, short essays, writing down answers in complete sentences...

I've heard about it anecdotally and read an article once posted here about a larger scale study done (possibly in the 1930's? My memory is shot...) Maybe somebody else remembers. Anyway, I would guess that it would be an efficient use of time to wait to begin formal math. But I could imagine problems if the child had to take a standardized test or ended up being enrolled in school or ever was questioned by friends or family not on board with Homeschooling. What about doing something less formal like LOF through early elementary and then jump in with a more comprehensive program around 5th grade that either doesn't make assumptions about previous knowledge (Jump math?), a spiral program that will review concepts previously taught (Saxon), or accelerating through a math program. My dd's homeschool buddy, for instance, started SM2a in 5th grade and is now working in 5a in 6th grade.

We ended up skipping a few pages of pentaminoes after my 8 yr old daughter reached her breaking point. I'm certain my 10 yr old would have felt the same way - they were hard!!! I wouldn't allow them to give up so easily if it was an essential mathematical skill, but the pentaminoes stopped being fun and so we stopped them.

Have you considered looking into writing textbooks intended for remedial Or ESL community college students? I find they are much more direct than those aimed at the homeschool market and they tend to be organized in a way that makes sense to me. With my 5th grader, I've used an old copy of "First Steps in Academic Writing" by Ann Hogue and will start "Introduction to Academic Writing" next. I also have Write Start and Composing with Confidence and a number of other books and I'll probably use them eventually. Old editions are really cheap, so it might be worth checking them out.

My daughter is working from SM 6b this semester, not DM. But I do also have her do one page of Math Minutes before each lesson. It's a quick and painless review of topics she's already done. It's not aligned with SM, but it doesn't matter as it is just a brief review of arithmetic and pre algebra topics. They put out books up to 8th grade level.