I'm looking at it for 8th as well. Big ears!

It IS weird. If I'm already in, that link works. If not, it doesn't!

Wow, likes for you, my friend! Check out children's titles here: http://mobile.audiobookcloud.com/Index.aspx?categoryID=33

My oldest used CLE LA 400-704 or so. We just stopped. In retrospect, I'd stop after 5th, and focus more on writing. DD is enjoying the video lessons for Essentials in Writing. Grammar in application without so much intensive, at times abstract, grammar. My you gets have used it for 1-3 so far, and we still like it...up to a certain point :).

$40 and you get 3 years to download eBooks copies of all 500+ books. You could email them to your Kindle and amazon would store them in the cloooouuuud for you. I heart the cloud. So tempting.

Nothing like a good Robinson thread... ;D. I think we need to find a term for people doing their own basics-focused, self-teaching oriented, Kindle public domain, YC-style thing. Start a thread, and I'm in! Just dropped a bunch of the stuff in my siggy a couple of months ago. Going back to school myself, it'll do that to you. OP - I'm going to second CLE for math and LA (up to a certain point, the higher grades are a bit overkill) to get the basics down. I'm also advocating for finding your own eBooks and Kindles. PDFs just aren't that awesome. I'm also thinking of Bonnie Landry for some reason. She's got a bunch of kids and focuses on getting important stuff covered.

I'm not quite sure which board to post on, but I'll try here ;). x-post If we decide to do Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra for 8th next year, would we be set for American School Algebra 1 (Larson text) for 9th?

I'm not quite sure which board to post on, but I'll try here ;). If we decide to do Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra for 8th next year, would we be set for American School Algebra 1 (Larson text) for 9th?

We normally run through the Sonlight readers in order up to the 4/5 level. It's great for building fluency. We also like the Imagination Station early chapter books.

I don't know. We are odd, maybe, but I see other homeschoolers here with similar stories. My parents both have university degrees, neither worked in their field. We grew up very low income. I delivered newspapers and flyers with my family early in the morning before public school and in the afternoons after school. My mom started a cleaning company and I worked at that after school/weekends etc. until I was an adult. I left high school early due to a family emergency requiring me to work full time, but still managed to get a diploma. I did vocational college and worked as an administrative assistant/vocational college instructor etc. for a few years before I married my husband. He's from a farming family, and doesn't even have an 8th grade education. I don't think any of his ancestors have one either. We own our home, our vehicle, but we don't have a 'traditional' job-based income. I'm just glad we aren't living off-grid anymore!!! We are still in heavy house renovations (slow going), and are living in a very small space (back 1/3 of our house). I'm upgrading my high school right now to meet the pre-requisites for the local BScN program, we'll see how it goes. Maybe next year, maybe this year? Through all of this though, I grew up with a strange mentality. Even though we were poverty level (and still are, I suppose), my parents always highly valued reading and intellectual pursuits, as do I. My husband's family, not so much, but he is very supportive. It's an odd combination, perhaps? I have no idea how to label it.

We used AAS for a couple of levels then moved to Rod and Staff for several years. The lessons just don't seem to be sticking, errors are irregular, a few days ago she spelled making 'makeing'. Ack! Overall, I'd say she normally gets most of her spelling correct, but I don't think her lessons are really clicking. I tried pre-testing and then te regular test at the end of the week and there were honestly very few improvements. She's a good reader but sometimes has a hard time with longer word pronunciation like 'miscellaneous' which se asked me about yesterday. I'm looking into the typing program you recommended. She can type but can always use more practice. How far does it go? Most of the screenshots I see are very simple - CVC etc. she is far beyond that.

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions!

Right-o. What did you think of Essential Math as a pre-algebra option? Was it decent? I know I've seen some people ranting about its badness, but at this point we just need pre-algebra of one kind or another, either take AS or something else and then skip Essential Math and straight to algebra.

Thanks for those wonderful suggestions! I was hoping we might be able to do something like that :). Oh, would the first English course be appropriate for 8th? It looks fairly straight forward from the description.

So, experienced AS moms, what would you focus on getting done in 8th before enrolling in 9th?

Sheri, I just emailed them about middle school courses, actually! They were asking for feedback in one of their newsletters. That would be excellent. Asmaa, the deadlines might be the deciding factor - we like flexibility!

Oh, are they more flexible with their course completion timelines with the paper courses? I see you get 9 months for the online courses, how long do the paper courses give you?

Thanks, Asmaa! Do you think the paper courses are much better? I am in Canada and there isn't a big price difference - around $500 more for online, I think, over 4 years. I think if you sign up for the full diploma program you have to go one way or the other? I don't see a hybrid option other than adding on individual courses. I did look up some of your past relies, thanks for the tip!

I didn't find those reviews too helpful. They either weren't for the right school (at least one talking about somewhere else) and the others were mostly talking about the old paper courses. I'd love to hear experiences about the online stuff.

Well...my 7th grade DD still doesn't spell well. Any independent effective resources she could use over the next 1.5 years to get ready for high school?

I'm (sort of surprisingly) leaning towards enroling our oldest in American School for 9th (she's in 7th right now). She is an independent worker, very resourceful, but would like more teacher feedback. I'm doing some online upgrading myself and she thinks it looks neat. We can't afford a full slate of the courses I'm taking though, AS looks much more affordable. So, are the online courses decent? Can anyone let me know how it's going? What should we focus on her knowing before we start 9th with them?

Does anyone have this? It seems like a really good deal! We just got kindles for Christmas!

We like CLE. It's straight forward and comprehensive.

We use Rod and Staff also, but it is a textbook at the 5th grade level and up, not a workbook :).

Thanks. We like audible.