we had to put our elderly border collie down this morning--she was unable to recover from the coyote attack (I HATE coyotes)--in our front yard--and had severe kidney failure and blood poisoning...

Aren't there a couple of chapters at the beginning of Zoo I that they recommend doing first? I'd follow that schedule; then zip to Zoo II. We enjoyed those books tremendously last year (7th grade).

We've used the Iowa in the past; we just use grade level. My son invariably scores in the 97 and above percentiles--he gets all sorts of letters inviting him to all sorts of places. We did the Terra Nova through Clonlara this year. It's pretty easy to see where they are without the testing, although I like them for accountability (NM just plain makes me nervous). I wave as we pass Algadones, btw...heading up to SF (the back way) again tonight for hockey. All hockey, all the time! Yikes.

I LOVE those books...I occasionally give myself a treat and buy a new one at Amazon...I also want to read that book about Anne Bolyn's sister...(why can't I spell anything today???)

Abigail Adams and Eleanor Roosevelt...

Or vet, since I can't spell it!

My son (who will be 14--yikes!) will be focusing on hockey (he's the best goalie in the state), with competitive camps all over the country (thanks, mom!)...meanwhile, back at the ranch <grin>, he'll continue his chores and help dad with landscaping, as well as volunteer at least one morning/week for our local vetenarian or wildlife group...

For children your age, I'm very flexible with scheduling...if we liked a read-aloud book, we would read it, or watch the whole video, or go to the zoo...Now, I'm moving toward Carnegie Units (45-minute periods for afternoons) for 9th grade, following mornings with Trisms' Ancients--which includes history, timelines, research, and IEW for writing (as well as a couple of minor language arts programs)...afternoons will be CUs for Latin, Algebra II, German, and Science...

Wasn't that awesome? I went to grad school at Penn State, and Joe was always The Coach! What a great perspective...

Our homeschool convention had a pamphlet from the legal defense folks--they suggest four credits of English, 3-4 of math, 3-4 of science, 2 of a foreign language...so you're fine if your daughter doesn't have algebra until 10th...

I think that Abeka is fine--we just bought it at a convention, after we were planning Apologia...my husband liked the approach. It looks thorough to me, and includes the human body stuff that Apologia doesn't in the general bio course...

Congrats to you and your son!

I don't know--I wonder. I think about that Star Trek movie where the person from the future had to smoke cigarettes to keep her immune system functioning, since her world was so much more toxic than ours...fantastic? Maybe. What about the chemicals in those sugar substitutes?

We use the CM way of teaching; I did not teach my son diagramming (although we dabbled with Jr. Analytical Grammar)...I was once enrolled in a linguistics Ph.D. program, so I really do enjoy diagramming, but, as a college professor, I frequently teach communications classes. All I care about is that someone--ANYONE--knows where to put a comma...My son usually does. He's watched Cozy Grammar and Cozy Punctuation...we use IEW for writing now (he's 13), and we use Language Lessons for the Secondary Child (daily practice). We also use Word Roots and Editor in Chief (weekly) (for fun and practice).

I've been playing around with courses and credits (Carnegie units) for my rising 9th grader (thinking transcript here), and I have a similar plan, with 1 CU for each of the "biggies"--English, History, Science, Algebra II (videotext), German, Latin (with Latin Prep 1 and half of Latin Prep 2)...and partial CUs for stuff like PE and art and music history and performance (classical viola), as well as some over-the-summer courses (MS Word, PowerPoint--probably 1/4 CU each, grouping them under Computer Applications... So, I don't think you need a logic course--I think you're right on target. Are you using the new Rosetta Stone or the old Rosetta Stone? Can't decide if I should get the new one (we could afford it) and start with that...apparently, v. 3 has been revamped. Hmm.

Depends, like Tess says...do you have the time to shop around for all the materials? I bought mine for the convenience factor, since we live in a rural area, and going to the store is a major expedition...

Can you get the Teaching Company lectures through United Streaming?

from one bibliophile to another... Spines: SOTW 3 Hakim's History of US set** Projects: American Revolution for Kids: History with 21 Activities More than Moccasins, Laurie Carlson 8 coloring books (4 for each student) History Pockets: Explorers, Plymouth, and Colonial America Made for Trade board game** Amos Fortune Free Man Ben and Me** Carry on Mr. Bowditch George Washington's World, Geneveive Foster Guns for General Washinton If You Grew Up... series (early US titles - 12) my library doesn't have these! Independence (Drums of War series)** Johnny Tremain Lion to Guard Us, Bulla Mr. Revere and I, Robert Lawson Samuel Eaton's Day** Sarah Morton's Day** Sign of the Beaver, Elizabeth Speare

I had a medical friend who used to say that we needed to expose our children to toxins...not overwhelmingly, but if we did not, they would not build up their immune systems...we do have plastic water bottles and we drink a lot of gatorade/powerade...we use organic milk, meats, and fruit, but I do occasionally buy canned pineapple and "regular" frozen vegetables and pizza (gasp). Oh, well...we all do our best.

Sounds like you've got that basis covered...the individual and team sports are important, I think...my son enjoys tennis and golf, but his heart is with hockey and, sometimes, baseball (like when he hit his homerun yesterday!)

My son enjoys them...we have both CG and Cozy Punctuation...we use IEW for writing.

My son (interested in the same) reads tons of books on taking care of animals (he has a reptile, cats, dogs, a bird, and fish)...We studied the zoology books from Apologia in 7th grade, and have done a general science course this year (Rainbow). He'll use Abeka biology (with the DVDs; I'm not about to dissect a fetal pig with him) in 9th, and he can choose chemistry or marine biology in 10th...that's about as far as I've got...

My son enjoyed creating display boards (those science-fair things) for various wars (War of 1812, Civil War in US, etc.) His boards included various displays--lapbooks, for example, that might ask causes and open to display them, pictures, timelines, reports on battles, biographies of generals...graphics of ships with parts identified...

My son (almost 14, too) enjoyed the Lord of the Rings, Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe, some Henty books (which we read aloud), some Alcott! (yay!)...of course, Harry Potter and Narnia...I've got some car books for our trip to Utah (Rocky Mountain district select hockey camp coming up next week)--Great Gatsby and the Nick Adams stories (a good intro to Hemingway). He's also enjoyed MacBeth (more so than the comedies...) We'll jump into more of the classics as we continue highschool--Dickens for sure...I'm not too sure about DH Lawrence, though...which one would you use?

We're finishing 8th grade this year; I like the idea of some sort of Latin Roots program, especially if you're not teaching Latin. If he's doing well writing, and doing well on the testing, I personally wouldn't worry about grammar (and I teach composition at the university level). I'm always more concerned about punctuation--most readers generally have enough of an idea of grammar, I think (but that's a personal opinion through observation). What about typing as an elective? Do you want to expand on the geography? (We use Trisms; we added Mapping the World by Heart this semester; my son did a Lego/LOGO programming course the first semester.) We also added Health this semester--using some key chapters for us from Total Health...I'm assuming he's active enough to have some sort of informal PE?