Jdahlquist, thank you. I wish home school curricula were reviewed with the same detail as college texts. Elizabeth, thank you for sharing what you use. I've always thought TTC is a very efficient way to organize a course. I generally like BJU. I need to be careful not to add to the list of materials from which to choose. ( Much easier said than done). I would consider looking at the college level texts since they are different from the resources listed in my OP above. (The stuff I finally down-selected from based on a long list of possibilities). Madrekts and Swimmermom, would you be willing to share links to the books you mentioned?

Thank, Clementine. Now I'm trying to work through the concern that Jdahlquist brought up....errors. Part of me can't help but think that any book can contain errors, but I do want to take to heart what she found. Anyone want to speak to this? Is a high school curriculum more likely to have errors? Could Notgrass overall be ok or is it really full of errors? Is a college level text more likely to be more accurate? I like curricula that plan out the course. I want that kind of help both for me and my dd. Notgrass has this kind of organization. If it is full of errors, however, that surely takes away from the allure.

(I wish I knew how to MultiQuote!) Madrekts, Same thing... would you provide links? I think the workbook may be the same as Swimmermom's. Also please link the Krugman book. Thanks!

Swimmermom, Would you please provide links to the books you are suggesting? That would be the McConnell/Brue text and the Student Activities book from the CEE. Thanks!

Clementine and Kinsa, Dd looked at Notgrass today and seemed to like it. Totally blew me away. I REALLY thought she would dislike this. This will move to the front of our list of possibilities. I'm sure it's enough on its own, but is there anything to add to it to make it more interesting/fun?

(See bolded above) Lori, I found Dave Ramsey's Foundation course at CBD. They have a new edition for 2014: http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?nav_search=1&Nf=product.has_image|GT+0&N=4294950803+5401+1014667&Ne=1000000&Nso=1&Nu=product.endeca_rollup&Ns=product.number_sold&event=Personal-Finance|| I haven't made any decisions, but this is what I have i mind, I think.

Jdahlquist, thank for the link! I'll take a look at it. We have satellite internet with limited gigabytes, so we have to be careful when we use anything online. Streaming is a monster eating a lot of our gigs. We loved cable Internet when we had it!

Bumping 😊

Thanks, ladies! Our homeschool cover school requires us to cover economics. It seems like a personal finance course would be more practical. It's nice to hear TTC videos are still relevant to use even though they're not current. I think adding Stossel and Walsh workbook would help make the course more enjoyable/understandable. Also, since this is a semester class, I will probably have her do personal finance 2nd semester...thinking about a Dave Ramsey course. I would really like to hear about Economics in a Box. I hate the expense, yet I love the variety of books/videos. Can someone tell me if it's worth $200? Also, how much time/day is reasonable to expect?

My senior (next year) is not looking forward to taking economics. She will have to take an intro micro/macro course in college, so the high school course needs to be decent. She'll have a challenging senior course line-up, so I don't want economics to be unnecessarily difficult or lengthy. (I'd love for her to even ENJOY it! :) ) I would like help weeding out some of the choices from below. The course we choose needs to be on the side of get 'er done. That sounds so shallow and I don't mean it to be. She probably won't have time for projects or lengthy analysis. Something to read/watch and a workbook to fill out and occasional quizzes is what we're looking for. Dd's first choice would probably be using the Dummies or Idiot's books. My first choice would be Economics in a Box (but, yikes! The price is insane). I am open to choosing a combination of the options below and kind of winging it. The following courses are the ones I tend to gravitate toward. There are pros and cons to each of course: Economics in a Box It is so expensive at $200! But it is all-inclusive and seems to be quite popular. How much time is required/day to do this? Is it really WORTH this price? TTC Economics This is one of my favorite options, but the course is not up-to-date. Is this a problem? I would also need to catch it on sale or it's a no-go. Exploring Economics by Notgrass Easy to use, but it's a textbook- ugh. Might be ok with supplements. Economics for Dummies or The Idiot's Guide to Economics Get 'er done but is this enough? Possible supplements: Economics in One Lesson Stossel videos Penny Candy maybe with the Bluestocking Guide Walch Basics: Economics If we tried to put something together on our own, it might look like this: TTC Economics with Walch Economics and Stossel videos. Or maybe Notgrass with Penny Candy and the Bluestocking Guide. Or, the Dummies/Idiot book with Economics in One Lesson. Believe me, I think I've read ALL the economics threads about 3x each. I'm just about going in circles trying to decide what to use for this half-credit. Can you all help me narrow my list? Please? :bigear:

Yes! Thank you! I eventually shot him an email. He said that of the 7th graders who have tried physical science, about half enjoyed it/did well. Clearly, it is geared toward an older child. What really clinched it was showing my ds snipits of the videos about topics that he would most enjoy. When he watched them, he just didn't like the format. It was obvious that the level of the physical science was not engaging enough for him to use and learn from. Again.... it is really meant for someone older. I really wanted to use Mr. Owens' physical science! It simply seems engaging and doable to me- very organized too. I think I'll have to get this youngest kid finished with homeschool and then order some of the homeschool things that have peaked MY interest for me!

Would you do this with a 7th grader who will be doing pre-algebra at the same time? http://www.lucideducation.com/?p=PhysicalSciencePre.php I'd like to do this with him, but I'm worried that it might be over his head. I don't want him to get frustrated. We're doing chemistry this year in 6th grade. In 7th and 8th, I'd like to cover biology and physical science. In 9th grade, we'll do Hewitt's Conceptual Physics. DO's Physical Science is similar in content to Conceptual Physics, so it seems too redundant to do those in sequential years. This kid LOVES experiments. He had a ball with Exploration Education years ago..... maybe he could do that again? He did it with his older brother. The boys were in 2nd and 5th grades at the time. That's an idea I had not considered. Still, do you all have a feel for DO's Physical Science?

Thank you, Happypamama! After making my post, I remembered Paula's Archives! See this: http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/SOTWmenu.htm I started reading History Odyssey's "Try Before You Buy" and I noticed a lot of repetition. I LOVE the way it is scheduled! This is a huge draw for me. But, I can get Mystery of History to bring out the Christian world view, SotW, Usborn, and Kingfisher scheduled for FREE at Paula's Archives. We're using IEW Themed History for writing with ancient history. It is going so well, that I would certainly consider using their Themed History for Medieval history. I own (I think) SotW Activity Book..... If I remember, there are maps in there? Yes, I realize SotW is written for a younger audience, but I am fine with ds reading it for a storyline. I think the historical maturity is really honed through writing. Anyway, I'm rethinking History Odyssey just a bit. It is VERY enticing, but I may be able to keep cost down by using Paula's Archives. If any of you have not looked at Paula's Archives, take a minute to look it over. There is a HUGE amount of material there to help with literature, history, art, spelling, and more! It is an awesome website.

Starting to think about next year.... We've been using Biblioplan for Ancients this year.... It's been great. I want to beef history up just a bit next year, and History Odyssey looks appealing to me. The only thing is, I would like to continue the Christian point of view in history. Is there a way to incorporate Mystery of History or something similar to this curriculum? This would be for ds in grade 7. (Just a side note... I also have SotW Medieval. I would also want to use this resource since I already own it. Has anyone scheduled this to go with History Odyssey? I don't have Story of Mankind..... I've also read negative reviews of this book.)

would you please share your opinion about it? I'm reviewing it, and I think there is a different teacher than the one I remember just a few years ago. Can anyone comment on this class and the teacher? (Classes like this one can be liked by some and disliked by others, so I don't wish to sound critical- especially of the teacher. We used the 7th grade Life Science that Mrs. Vick taught. It was wonderful. I want to know if the current teacher is anything like her.... Does she make learning biology appealing- even enjoyable? Choosing biology has been a hit/miss effort among all of my kids over the years; I'm simply hoping to hear some reviews.) We're currently using Science Shepherd Biology with my oldest. We're plugging along, but dd isn't thrilled with it. I have two other dc to think of. Although this is an expensive way to get science done, it isn't any more expensive to outsource it here at home. Oh, and as much as I would like it to be "enjoyable", I'm not really trying to pick something "fun". I am hoping to find something that will help my kids really learn the science (without dreading it every single day.)

Ladies, thank you so much for comparing these two! Wow, I see benefits in both. No wonder I bounce between the two. Julie, the math part you mentioned is important to me. Dd did well with the math in Apologia. Her teacher spent a lot of time on stoichiometry so that as many students as possible could succeed. Could you tell me what the math differences are between the texts? It sounds like there is merit to having the Apologia text handy to read alongside Spectrum. I've always wanted to do the Spectrum labs. My dh is a mechanical engineer, and he teaches our kids how to write lab reports. I was glad dd had lab with her Apologia class, but they were rather simple, I think. Selfishly, I loved outsourcing dd's chemistry class. If dd had questions, she just asked her teacher. I was able to help, yet my answers were only based on the memory of my high school class from many years ago. Her teacher was the expert. I've seen Landry's class, but the expense is insane since I would need to buy Spectrum plus pay for the class. That is a bit much. I don't think I've seen the price on sale. I think I will have my kids read a sample of both. My older will be able to make a comparison and make suggestions based on her experience. Maybe someone else here can continue making othercomparisono too. Thanks, again!

In all honesty, I've asked this question before as part of others' chemistry threads, but I don't feel like I have a clear feel for the comparison. My oldest outsourced chemistry with Apologia last year, but I am not sure if I want my second child to use it. I've always thought that I would use Spectrum IF I had to teach chemistry at home; however, I would much rather outsource this class because I don't have much confidence that I would be successful teaching it. I remember my high school chemistry fairly well, but I'm just not so much a science gal. What I understand: Both are written to the student Labs can be done at home. (I think it is fairly obvious that Spectrum wins over Apologia with the labs.) So, why might you choose one over the other? (Except for the obvious lab choice.) ESPECIALLY if you are not an accomplished chemistry teacher? I need to choose chemistry for my to-be 10th grader for next year. I'll either outsource with Apologia again or use Spectrum. Will you all help me decide between these two? Thanks! PS... Just to clarify... My oldest actually loved the Apologia book. She learned a lot, and she made an A in the outsourced class. The teacher just had to move slowly so that most of the class could grasp the material. For this reason, she only made it through about half of the book. I really disliked this. My second child would have a different teacher. I don't know how her class would be different just yet. Hopefully he would have a better experience.

We've been using VLS this year, and will eventually complete all three levels. I'm sure this will run into next year. I have Madrigal's Spanish here as a review and to use for Spanish II. I will probably also buy something like Easy Reader along with some of the PMP books. This is my plan for Spanish I AND II credits. Your may be able to use a book like Madrigal and also assign a series of books for him to read in Spanish. You could start with something easy and work toward more difficult material. Check your library for possible resources. Maybe give some writing assignments too. By Spanish III, maybe he could practice more communication if you know someone who could help with that. Go to Mexican restaurants and have fun ordering meals in Spanish. The biggest problem I've read about teaching foreign lesson is that most of the the time, the parent is not fluent. The parent, then, can't effectively teach or evalate the work. I'm certainly in this boat. This is one reason we went with VLS; it is self-teaching. I don't know if any of that helps. If nothing else, hopefully it helps you brainstorm other ideas. The books I mentioned are at Amazon and are easy to look up.

Just slightly off- topic. Hope you won't mind if I ask... My oldest took an outsourced chemistry class that used Apologia chemistry last year. It was a bitter-sweet experience. Dd learned a lot, and she loved the book. However, the teacher had to teach to the whole class, so she moved at the pace of the slowest students. They made it just past the middle of the book. My next child will take chemistry next year, but I'm not sure if I want to repeat the Apologia text. (It would be with a different teacher, so that could work out fine.) I've always been tempted to try Spectrum, but I really don't want to have to teach the subject. Outsourcing chemistry is a wonderful thing as long as the right teacher is teaching. My question..... How would you compare/contrast Apologia Chemistry to Spectrum Chemistry? I would love some information that would help me choose the best chemistry for my to-be 10th grader next year. (Who is completing Algebra I in 9th grade and will tackle geometry in 10th.)

Have any of you used this book? I had it years ago and was impressed with it. It employs the scientific method as the most science-minded ladies on the board describe. You could go through the book as written-especially to learn the principles of scientific method-but then apply them to any other science. It's written for elementary school aged kids, but the essence of it is applicable to high school as well. http://www.amazon.com/Creepy-Crawlies-Scientific-Method-Hands-/dp/1555911188/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297298250&sr=8-1 Also at Rainbow Resource with sample pages: http://www.rainbowresource.com/proddtl.php?id=014924 There is a 2nd edition at Acorn Naturalists: http://www.acornnaturalists.com/store/CREEPY-CRAWLIES-AND-THE-SCIENTIFIC-METHOD-2nd-Edition-P11150C789.aspx

Dorothy, thanks for posting this. My librarian helped me get Overdrive on my tablet for downloading books from our local library. I'm supposed to use the Epub option to download books. There is also a Kindle option (to read books through the Kindle app), but I still could not access the lending library by using this option. Could you be more specific..... Are you able to download books from the Kindle lending library? I've been reading the Hunger Games series, but this is not available in ebook form through my local library or from Hoopla. At the moment, if I want to read it on my tablet, I'll have to buy it. I've only found it through the Kindle lending library. For Jenn121, thanks for suggesting Kindle Unlimited. I'm trying to find free books, but it's nice out know about this option.

I'm sort of new to OneNote; I have some home school records started, yet don't use it frequently. I have it on my laptop, but I just got an android tablet for Christmas. Can any of you comment on the desktop version vs online version? I'd like to have OneNote on my tablet, but is the MS 365 subscription worth the money? It would be nice to be able to sync them together.

Thank you, ladies! I'll check these out.

I've used a Kindle for years, but my dh just bought a Samsung tablet for me for Christmas. My Kindle lending library book won't show up on my tablet because that service is only for Kindle. Without a lending library, I'll have to buy more books. My local library does have this service, but they don't have a very extensive pool of books.

Orthodox6, Thanks so much. :001_smile: