I have had Considering God's Creation on my shelf for more than 15 years and never used it much. This school year I got it out for my youngest daughter, grade 7. She is an auditory learner, but also likes to do crafts. The combination of scripted lessons and making your own lapbook is perfect for her. We are using it twice a week and are planning on finishing it next school year.

I am so glad that this was helpful! At the beginning, it feels strange to speak German when other people are around, but you could try to minimize long German conversations in front of others and save them for more private times. But short sentences and questions are normally not offensive to people who do not understand the language. And if you run into someone who feels hurt because he or she does not know the language, you could briefly explain what you are doing and why you are doing it.

This Natural Science Syllabus has quite a bit of zoology in it.

Why Greenland Is an Island

The Human Being and the Animal World (Waldorf education resource) The Burgess Animal Book for Children (Librivox) (Book here) Books by Wilfrid Bronson Nature Lore Books King Solomon's Ring Moody Science videos for free on YouTube, for example here (These are Christian.) Documentaries by David Attenborough Do the Great Backyard Bird Count in February So, You Want to Work with Animals? Zoology for Kids Master Books Zoology (Christian)

S. Timothy Online?

You are welcome!

We listened to it in the car, going back and forth to ballet lessons. Now you have convinced me to get the sequel.

I love The Wild Robot! I thought I would never like it when I read what it was about, but I ended up really liking it.

If you are looking for free audiobooks, try Vorleser.net.

I like many books by Hauschka Verlag, Stark Verlag, Jandorf Verlag, Heinevetter Verlag, Lük, and Stolz Verlag. I love to order things through IBIS or Book Depository. We like to watch Löwenzahn (the first episodes were called "Pusteblume"). You can find most of them on YouTube. Die Sendung mit der Maus has lots of "Sachgeschichten" you can watch. We also like this list of fairy tale movies. And Kinder Klassiker provides you with lots of tips on books, CDs, DVDs, etc.

Schaum's Outline of German Grammar German Grammar Made Easy Those two books are books I recommend for my intermediate/advanced German students.

We have used the live Algebra 2 course with Jean Hoeft. I registered my daughter because she was not getting her work done and that course made her finish the book. I thought Jean was a good teacher, but it was hard to know because my daughter simply does not like math. We will do the live French 1 course with another daughter in the Fall. I like that it is being taught by a native speaker. Have you looked at the course descriptions and videos about most teachers? That should give you some idea. I like that the courses are affordable.

We have used the old Catholic VIE series and in grade 9, we have used Correct Writing. We did most of the writing parts in the lower grades, but the old series is a bit different from the secular one.

What's Biology All About is the book I will be using next school year.

Wee Folk Art has a wonderful state study and it is free. It has hands-on projects, picture and chapter books, map skills, etc. You can always add to it or not do all suggestions. It is very flexible.

I think the high school ones for biology and chemistry are very good for a student who is not a science person.

My Side of the Mountain also has a nature guide you can use. Check it out here.

Books by Arthur Ransome?

I think Sequential Spelling is very easy to use and I am using it right now. You can see it here. We have also added SpellingYouSee, which is another easy program, but more like studied dictation. And there is a British program, The Word Wasp/Hornet, which has been helpful for us. They also have an American version. A combination of those three programs has done wonders for my daughter.

I also used this for four of my five children. It is excellent.

I have not used them, but they look interesting. I am going to try STimothy courses in the fall. They are similar, but look simpler to teach.

No-Nonsense Algebra?

Getting Started with German Goethe Institut German classes (They do have free ones.) Fokus Deutsch (Learn more about it here.) DW free German courses Anna, Schmidt und Oskar (Search for the free versions on YouTube.) Extra (German version, look for it on YouTube, some people find it too liberal, but it is quite funny.) Easy German Step by Step In case you are looking for some grammar/vocabulary books, I could list a few of those too.

I had the same situation when my oldest was born over 20 years ago. I am a native German, married to an American and living in the U.S. I decided to NEVER speak English to my son and his four siblings, who were born after him. That meant German in front of in-laws and other people who did not speak German. That caused some misunderstandings, but I tried to keep my talking brief if other people were around. I also only read German books to them when they were little and sang German songs. All of my children learned German first before they ever spoke a word of English. What really helped was that my husband also became fluent in German and German became our weekend language: My husband spoke English to the children during the week, but German on the weekends. When my children discovered that there were two languages in their lives and tried to speak English to me, I simply ignored them if it was a non-emergency. I told them I did not understand their English when it was addressed to me. Since they were little when I said that they thought that that was the way it was and never tried English again. When they got older, they had to learn to read and write in German as well as English and now I can read Goethe's Faust with my high school students. English is their strong language and they tend to speak English among themselves, but they have beautiful German and still speak German to me all the time. So, don't give up and don't make a big deal out of it. If children realize that you want them to speak German, it will probably backfire. I think the German language school you are trying is a good idea. It shows your children that other children their age also speak German. We tried a school like that while living in London and it was an interesting experience for them. All my relatives are German and so my children have to speak to them in German. Maybe you could find some people who don't speak English and then your children would notice that German can come in handy.