My ideas so far are the following. If you are interested in links and more details, check out my planning page on my blog. Math: Teaching Textbooks Algebra, RightStart Math G, Speed Drills CalcuLadder, Middle Grades Math Minutes English: CenterforLit literature class with Independent Studies Literary Analysis, The Daily Poem, second half of Grammar and Writing 8, English Grammar Recitation II, Put That in Writing Level 1, Book of Mottoes, Rummy Roots card game, WordUp!, SpellingYouSee F, The Word Wasp, Sequential Spelling 5, Vocabulary.com, Better Handwriting for Young Catholics, acting classes Science: Exploring Creation with Physical Science (2nd edition) with lectures, Outdoor School book: Wildflower, and Mushroom Spotting, home ecology classes at local state park Geography: Draw Europe, Draw Africa, World Geography Power Basics (Use only for Europe and Africa.), Van Loon's Geography (Ch. 1-29), Buschmann, Buddha, Tuareg, Complete Book of Marvels (Videos) History/American History: Early American and World History (Beautiful Feet), U.S. History Detective (Book 1), Early American History: Natives, Colonists, and Revolutionaries, America the Story of Us (videos) Religion: Introduction to Catholicism: The Catholic Faith Handbook for Youth, The Young People's Book of Saints, The Catholic Youth Bible, scripture memory Art/Picture Study: Catholic World Culture, local art classes, charcoal drawing Handwork: Metal embossing kit, block printing, sewing Music/Composer Study: The Composers' Specials Teacher's Guide for Bach's Fight for Freedom, Handel's Last Chance, Rossini's Ghost, Liszt's Rhapsody, Strauss: The King of Three-Quarter Time, Bizet's Dream Classics for Kids Classical Kids Catholic hymn study All About the Symphony Orchestra Music Activities Kit Violin, recorder, alto recorder lessons Character: Ourselves, Beautiful Girlhood French: Getting Started with French, Rosetta Stone French, Skoldo French Book 3 German: Gezielt fördern Intensivkurs LRS 5./6. Klasse, Gezielt fördern Intensivkurs LRS 7./8. Klasse, Das sagt man so! (online), Abschreiben erwünscht German literature: Kleider machen Leute, Der geheime Bericht über den Dichter Goethe, So zärtlich war Suleyken, Pole Poppenspäler, Damals war es Friedrich Latin: Getting Started with Latin, Keep Going with Latin, Lumina Artes Latinae Biblical Greek: Getting Started with Ancient Greek, Elementary Greek I Student News/Civics: CNN10 Logic: Fallacy Detective Typing: The Good and the Beautiful Typing 3 Home Economics: Landmark's Baptist Freedom Home Economics (Not sure if I will use it.), Home Ec for Everyone P.E.: Local advanced ballet classes Volunteer work: At an animal shelter and a living history museum We loosely follow the ideas of Waldorf education and dedicate each month to a special topic (main lesson): Main Lessons: History: Revolutions: Live Education!: Revolutionaries and Romantics, Kovacs: The Age of Revolution: Ch. 17-34, Novel: Scarlet Pimpernel, Eine kurze Weltgeschichte für junge Leser Hörbuch September Earth Science/Geography: World Physical Geography (First four chapters) and workbook to learn countries, etc. October Biology: Anatomy Physiology: Kovacs: Muscles and Bones: Ch. 35-48, DVD: Biology 101, Lyrical Life Science 3, Blood and Guts, Life Science for Young Catholics November/December History: British History: Master Books British History, Great Britain: Engineering an Empire January Art History: BBC: Sister Wendy's Story of Painting (10 episodes), The Story of Painting (Thomas Craven), make an art history notebook February History: British History: Master Books British History, Great Britain: Engineering an Empire April Physics: Thermodynamics: DVD: Physics 101, TOPS Heat, Tiner: The World of Physics: Ch. 6 (4 weeks) May We also do a morning time together with rotating materials.

My "baby" will also be a ninth grader! I guess when it comes to the last child, you do feel more relaxed about the whole planning idea.

We will try Outdoor School: Tree, Wildflower, and Mushroom Spotting and Outdoor School: Animal Watching in addition to monthly nature studies (home ecology) in our state park.

We used to listen to "The Daily Poem" a lot and loved it. Thanks for mentioning the other podcast.

What about Read-Aloud Christmas School?

Rex Barks

Building Writing Skills might be helpful in a case like this. There is also a laminated chart from IEW that might help.

Sarah from "Read Aloud Revival" has wonderful audiobook booklists here.

My last child is having problems with spelling and dictation and I decided to try using SpellingYouSee with her. She is in grade 8, but we are doing SpellingYouSee level E. This approach to dictation is perfect for her.

Oh, I did not see that you were just interested in secular books.

We used The Fallacy Detective and The Thinking Toolbox.

Here is a wonderful list of great chemistry books for homeschoolers from Sabbath Mood Homeschool.

We are using The College Panda's SAT Math and ACT and SAT Review with Dana Mosely (Chalk Dust Company).

This is a fantastic book that can be used with almost not prep at all: Home Ec for Everyone.

Hillsdale College has a free philosophy course. I will try that one this school year with my 12th grader. We will also read Living Biographies of Great Philosophers. With one of my daughters, we did The Consequences of Ideas, which was very good. With my son, I read Sophie's World and a few German books on philosophy.

I have used Lies mal with my youngest. The booklets are well done and get more difficult as you go along. We also liked Der rote Gockel, Schau in die Welt, and Der Sonne Licht. Our very first "Fibel" was Tobi. All my five children learned reading with that. We also used the cursive workbooks later and some of the spelling workbooks.

Show him the first episode of Nicos Weg (and second part here; there are some more parts in this episode) and see how he reacts. He might become motivated then and will profit from that course.

Well, if you had a very motivated student, I would give it a try, but it is probably too overwhelming. There is a grammar site that goes with it.

No, I am not, but to me it looks like a course that would work best with a teacher. I am familiar with the authors: I am using a grammar book for my German college students by Heiner Schenke and I know that Paul Coggle is popular in the U.K.

You could have him take a placement test at the Deutsche Welle site and choose some of their free materials here. All suggestions there are pretty interesting. If you are more interested in a textbook, you could try Deutsch im Blick.

Rainbow Resource Center has lots of different materials you can choose from.

Complete Book of Marvels National Geographic Africa DVD Van Loon's Geography A Child's Introduction to the World Holling C. Holling’s books Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? (Game) Passport to Culture (Game) Continent Race (Game) Videos by Rick Steves Scratch Off World Map Our Wonderful World Activity Book Miroslav Sasek books Universal Yums Give Your Child the World

My daughter is 14 and in grade 7. She has NF1 and struggles with learning. We are using a mix of things for her: RightStart Math Level F, Teaching Textbooks Math 7, Math Doesn't Suck, Key to Algebra 1, and Mastering Essential Math Skills Book One (that one only as needed). We do RightStart together, she does TT mostly on her own. I read Math Doesn't Suck to her, but she does the problems on her own. We do Key to Algebra 1 slowly; the jump to negative numbers has been hard for her. That sounds like a lot, but all those resources complement each other nicely. I actually really like Math Doesn't Suck; don't let the title put you off.

I really like a book that is out of print: It is called Washington, D.C.: Guidebook for Kids. If you google Amazon, you will find lots of books for children about D.C.

I am using the Minimalist Notebook this year and have been happy with it. For my 11th grader, I am also using the Homeschooler's High School Journal to write down her assignments.