I just reread your original post and saw that your boys did geology/astronomy last year, so the 9th grade Lifepac science probably wouldn't be the best choice--it would be too repetetive. Would it work to have them both work through Conceptual physics if they weren't required to work together? I'll stick by my recommendation of The Spectrum chemistry as well. Good luck!

Yep--what she said. Matthew is going to use the 8th grade general science next year. They also have a 9th grade general science that includes geology, astronomy, oceanography, and other topics. Then they have high school biology, chemistry, and physics. They are available in the workbook-style Lifepac and the computer based Switched on Schoolhouse (SOS). The workbooks are not terribly exciting, but I like them for my non-science guy because they are easy to use and he just wants to get science done. You can buy lab kits correlated to the specific curriculum through the Home Science Tools catalog or website.

Hi Stacey! It's nice to see you back and I'm so glad you're doing better! For chemistry I'd like to recommend The Spectrum. My ds just did it this past year and I found it very easy to use. He kept up with the reading & labs (for the most part :)) and I just checked his chapter review questions, looked over his lab reports once in a while, and gave him the quizzes when they came up. With the lab kit all included it is so easy for teacher prep. I felt ds got a good grounding in chemistry from this program. He also did the Bridge math, which we both thought was a useful add-on. I purchased the college level Conceptual Physics for next year and it looks challenging. I'd think your 9th grader could handle the high school version, but I wouldn't recommend the college version for that age. There's just a lot there and I think we're going to have a hard time fitting it all in. Now I wish I'd gotten the high school book, but I don't want to sell & rebuy so I'll make it work. :tongue_smilie: My 8th grader next year is going to use AO Lifepac science, and I'll order the lab kit from Home Science Tools. That's another option for an easy-to-use science.

I like your method, Jenny! I think we are in the 60-80% range in terms of methods. If I counted only specific curriculum recommendations it would be much lower, but imo it's about the philosophy & method, not particular books.

I haven't used it, but this one looks good. Maybe you can preview it at your library. http://www.amazon.com/Cambridge-Illustrated-History-British-Empire/dp/0521002540/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215561270&sr=1-1

Robin, did you use the Study and Drill sheets? They are in a separate spiral-bound booklet but are an essential part of the program and my ds felt they gave him plenty of practice. In fact, by the end he didn't want to do the exercises in the book because he felt they were so repetetive doing them along with the drill. Also, I found that the TM gave me everything I needed to schedule the work. Sometimes I didn't--ds just worked though the chapter on his own--but if I wanted I could direct his studies. I'm sorry! I know this didn't answer your question and you don't have to like LitCT just because I do. :D I'm just surprised that the things you didn't like about it were things I considered strengths. I hope someone can direct you to a program that will be a better fit.

A good book on this topic is Playpen to Podium. I read it several years ago and I thought it gave lots of good ideas for helping kids get comfortable with public speaking at all levels. You may want to see if you can get it from your library. I agree with previous posters that the best way to learn is by doing. I just signed my kiddos up for a speech and debate class at our homeschool co-op next year. I know the teacher is going to do all kinds of activities--not just debates that require research but also impromptu speaking on various topics, ie draw a topic out of a hat and talk for one minute.

One of the districts near us uses McDougall Littell (sp?) texts called Integrated Math I, II and III. I believe those are used in 9th, 10th, and 11th. I'm not sure what they do in 12th, or with kids who are accelerated.

Runkle's Physical Geography was written for high school (9th grade). BJU's geography is a one-year course. A Beka has a one semester high school course.

SRA McGraw Hill Math Explorations and Applications, used 1-6 with one child and K-6 with the other (but did 2 books in one year to make it 5 or 6 years). We also did Spelling Workout for 5-6 years. The next longest after those would be SOTW for 4 years.

Ds did The Spectrum this past year. I really liked it for ease of use, number of hands-on labs, and breadth of topics covered. I wish they had a physics program! I also recommend Bridge Math--ds and I thought it was very helpful, even for a kid who is good at math.

IMO there's nothing wrong with physical science for a freshman. Many high schools offer it, even for college prep students. Dh and I would like our children to take one year each of biology, chemistry, and physics in high school, but that is just our personal preference. Ds #1 has always been my science kid. He did bio in 8th and chem in 9th and will do physics in 10th, leaving time to do 2 AP or community college science courses. Ds #2 doesn't care for science, so he will do BJU Physical Science in 9th, then the bio, chem, physics sequence.

How do I decide which one of these ds should do? I spent 30 min at Hastings looking at prep books but I am still confused & I didn't really want to buy both at $20 each. What's your preference & why?

You got some great suggestions here, but in my experience your best bet is to train her to use a barf-bag. My ds almost 15 has gotten carsick since he was a baby. We still talk about one of the incidents in my parents' minivan when he was two. Fortunately they don't have that car anymore. ;) A couple years ago he was riding to a church retreat with a friend's dad (3 hour trip over a mt. pass). The dad had stopped at a mini-mart and let the boys buy pop. After David guzzled a huge cup of pop it all came back up. He just barfed right into the cup--to him it was no biggie! I felt bad for the dad, though!:tongue_smilie:

If you haven't done the Story of the World series yet, you might consider it. The reading will be fairly simple for a 7th grader but you could have her read all four volumes in one year. I greatly prefer it to Hillyer's CHOW.

I just bought a new set of AG from the publisher a few months ago. The copyright is 1996 on the front cover and inside cover. The covers of both books are laminated and lime green.

I think Rosetta Stone is great for the speaking/listening part of Spanish, but alone it is not enough for high school. You will need to supplement with a grammar book. Dh is studying with the Practice Makes Perfect Spanish grammar and vocabulary books--he really likes them. (They're available on amazon--I think they're published by McGraw Hill).

This is what I have...I am struggling with whether to keep it past tense, "this course covered" or change to present which I think sounds better, "this course covers" but maybe isn't as accurate. I tried to keep them short and sweet! Algebra I Text: Elementary Algebra by Harold Jacobs. This course covered a typical Algebra I scope and sequence, including order of operations, linear functions and graphs, integers, rational numbers, equations in one and two variables, simultaneous equations, exponents, polynomials, factoring, fractions, square roots, quadratic equations, and real numbers. Biology with lab Text: Biology: God’s Living Creation and Biology lab manual (A Beka Book), with additional materials supplied by lab teacher. Textbook main topics included: botany, human anatomy & physiology, life sciences methodology & philosophy, zoology, and cellular and molecular biology. Lab topics included: ecology, natural selection, taxonomy & keys, microscopes, wastewater microbes, cell division (mitosis and meiosis), genetics (Mendelian and molecular), tissues & skin, bones & muscles, nervous system (eye & brain), digestive system, blood tests, dissections of cow eye, sheep heart & brain, fetal pig, frog, perch, grasshopper, crayfish, and earthworm, plus plant collection, leaf, roots & stems, plant divisions, algae, flowers, fruits & seeds. Labs taught by xx, professor of Biology at xx Community College. Geometry Text: Geometry, 2e, by Harold R. Jacobs. This course covered a full range of Euclidean geometry topics including: points, lines, planes, rays, angles, congruent triangles, inequalities, parallel lines, quadrilaterals, transformations, area, similarity, the right triangle, circles, regular polygons, and geometric solids. An emphasis was placed on writing proofs. Chemistry with lab Texts: The Spectrum Chemistry by Gary M. Wilemon, Ph.D. and Durell C. Dobbins, Ph.D. The Spectrum Chemistry Home Laboratory manual and lab kit, Beginnings Publishing Bridge Math by Durell C. Dobbins, Ph.D. A rigorous first year high school course including but not limited to: chemistry vocabulary, scientific notation, measurement, properties of matter, the periodic table, bonds and molecules, chemical reactions (oxidation, stoichiometry, etc.) , state (solids, liquids, and gasses), equilibrium, acids and bases, environmental chemistry, organic chemistry and biochemistry. Thirty hands-on labs during the year included: lab safety, density, chemical properties, chemical changes (heat, light, gas production, and precipitation), electrochemistry, thermal gel, chemical clocks, surface chemistry, vapor pressure, extraction, saturation, colligation, and reverse chemistry. Bridge Math covers the math commonly used in chemistry, such as scientific notation and significant figures. Latin I Text: Latin in the Christian Trivium vol. I by Gail Busby and Mary Harrington. A first year high school course in Latin covering grammar forms, vocabulary of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd declension nouns, adjectives, numerals, all six tenses of first conjugation verbs, adverbs, indicative and imperative moods of verbs, interrogative and relative pronouns. Also covered was the history of Italy, geography, the Roman calendar, the Circus Maximus, an introduction to the Vulgate and the Pledge of Allegiance. Vocabulary and culture are reinforced using an ongoing story about a family living in Roman Britain.

The ACT does not test on science content. It tests "scientific reasoning" which is basically the ability to read and interpret scientific data in the form of charts, diagrams, and paragraphs. If you look at a practice test you'll see what I mean. Take your science classes whenever you wish in whatever order--the only tests you should consider are the AP or SAT II if applicable.

I did. I gave my 9th grader one credit for doing TL 1 & 2 this past year. I'm listing it as Logic I on his transcript. I'm counting it as an elective. To me it doesn't fit neatly into English, social studies, or math, and ds doesn't need more credits in those categories anyway.

Karri, I'm still with you--hoping that TM isbn is out there somewhere! :D The isbn for the practice book is 0-321-05153-X. I'm planning to use it for most of the exercises since the answers are included. Then I will assign readings and a few exercises from the text & most of the labs from the lab book (depending on how many there are--I don't have my lab book yet). Ooh! I just noticed that in the back of the practice book are all the answers to the odd numbered problems and exercises from the text. That will be very helpful! Also, there are about a dozen multiple choice questions per section (not chapter) in the form of "sample exams" for Mechanics, Light, etc. Also a sample final with 20 short essay questions. I've tried getting into the tutor center but the sign-in info in my book has already been used. I think you can still buy access, it's only free if you are the first user of your book.

Sorry, people, there was spam here and now it is gone! I assume our wonderful webmaster came and blasted it. I'll try to edit my post but I don't think I'll be able to change the title. Is there a better way to deal with spam in this new format?

spam is gone.

I'd probably go ahead and try the TT since you have it. If she gets frustrated you can always drop back to Saxon Alg. 1/2. Also, there's not the pressure to get through the whole thing since you'll be covering it again with Chalkdust, so you can slow down if necessary. I think you're wise to use what you have. I'm trying to do that myself this year. I want to buy some cool new history curriculum but I know I have everything I need to do it WTM style on my shelf, so I'm practicing restraint. :D

A lot of people use BCM for pre-algebra, so if your dd has mastered the concepts in BCM (if she's taken all the chapter tests I would assume she has) then she could, theoretically, go into an algebra I course, especially one that may be a bit easier like TT. The only thing I would caution is to make sure your dd is developementally ready for the abstract thinking required in algebra. My younger ds did algebra I in 6th grade but he is a very analytical kid, and understood abstract math concepts at an early age. Some people notice that their children do better to wait until some of that "logic stage" thinking kicks in. Are you planning to do algebra I again the next year with a different curriculum, or move on to geometry?