I bought our inflatable globe from Rainbow Resources.

Thanks all for the replies. I really like the idea of doing the pre-test. I think when we start up the next semester we will treat the chapter test as a pre-test (closed book) and if he gets an A he can move on. If not he will study more and I will type up a new test. Regentrude, I like how you explained how you do testing with AOPS. My 2nd ds wants to do their pre-algebra and I was wondering how I was going to evaluate his work. I would rather just give him one test at the end of each quarter. Sue, I don't think he is cheating. I have encouraged him to look at the chapter test to see what he is in for and he hesitates because he thinks it is cheating. I also assign him even numbers from time to time to make him check the answers with me.

Ds is currently working through Forester's Algebra 1. He took the Chapter 7 (Expressions and Equations Containing Two Variables) test yesterday and bombed it. One of the problems he could have done but misread it and graphed the answers instead of finding the equations. I was surprised because he did so well with the homework and harder word problems in this chapter. My goal is mastery so we will be going back through this chapter to cement the concepts better. My question is when I give him the the retest, which I typed up from problems he didn't do in the chapter, do I average it with the initial test for his grade or can I use the grade of his second test alone? Obviously I am hoping the grade will improve. My goal is an ethical grade for his transcript as this course will not be completed till his 9th grade year. I know that in my experience with math tests in high school and college, our test grades were often inflated based on the best scoring test. Also course grades often included extra credit which I don't offer. His grade is based on doing his daily work and the chapter tests. The challenge, which is no surprise to anyone here, is am I expecting too much or not enough? What do others do?

Thanks both of you for taking the time to check. I mostly wanted to know if we were doing the problem correctly.

Could you tell me how they solved #17 b i on page 257 (section 6-10)? I get 18.74m, but the TM gets 18.75m. I know it seems like a petty difference, but I cannot figure out what I did different. The problem is a motorcycle jumping from one ramp to another using the equation: d= rt - 4.893t^2 Her flight time was to be 3.7 sec. and we calculated that the initial upward velocity to be 18.1 m/s. The one where I am confused is what is the highest she goes above the ground? (the ramps are 2m high). We divided the flight time in half and solved for d. I guess I am going to break down and purchase it tomorrow as I just don't have the time to work through them myself.

I didn't schedule it when we did it last year. We did the Earth science 3 days a week and didn't quite finish it by the end of the school year. This year we are doing the Physical Science 4 days per week which we will easily finish in time. We do have a routine. We would do the Investigations when scheduled before a section (sometimes we just discussed them if they were not feasible). Then we usually spend a day on each section and I would assign the questions at the end (last year we did them orally, this year they are homework). Then we would spend a few days going over the connection and assessment. Finally we would spend a day for testing. As needed and according to our interests, we would go over the Skill and Practice sheets.

I'll show you where to find them: Go here http://www.cposcience.com/home/Home/tabid/119/Default.aspx Go to - CPO products - Teaching and Learning Systems - to the Middle School Science course you are interested in. Then click on the far right tab which says program pricing and all the isbn's will be shown. Here is an online full copy of each book: http://alms.hermiston.k12.or.us/science-text-books I used the Earth Science last year and we are on the last unit of the Physical Science for this year. I am seriously considering the CPO Life Science next year with my 7th grader.

My oldest enjoys the Redwall books. His younger brother likes them, but they are too thick for him.

I will be having my last 2nd grader next year. I cannot believe how much I obsessed about it with my first son and with my last it is just such not a big deal as he tags along in most everything. Math: Continue w/ Rightstart C and add along with CWP 2 LA: Finish FLL 2 and do FLL 3 Rod and Staff Spelling 2 (along with SWR phonogram/ rule reviews) May do BJU Reading 3 w/ workbook WWE 2 Getting Started w/ Latin Typing: Typing Instructor for Kids Music Ace (would love to get him piano lessons) Art - Undecided - he has already done all 3 K-3 Artistic Pursuits book and I'm not sure I want to do the next level yet Science: We are doing Apologia Flying Creatures right now and they want to do the Swimming ones next. I would love to get a Life Science that my 2nd, 4th, and 7th graders could do together but have not found one I am really interested in. History: Core 4 from Sonlight. I'm not sure how much of the reading I will have him do. He is a good reader for his age and his older brother (3rd grade) struggles with this. This year they have been sharing the SL Core 3 reading together out loud. I see that some are doing Evan-Moor geography. I may add this if I haven't sold it. I need to go through my totes of curriculum to see what I have.

Here is a link to the Math W/o Borders assigned problems. I'm not sure if that is what you are looking for. We are doing the algebra 1. How do you like the bought tests as compared to the end of the chapter ones? I wanted to get them for us, but couldn't swing the expense. http://www.erclc.org/class_profile_view.aspx?id=340eea2e-f5c2-4677-8527-7cc5e0e78b02

Ds did Critical Thinking Book 1 in 7th grade. I would like him to do a logic elective in 9th. Could he do Discovery of Deduction or should I try to cram in Art of Argument 1st? He will be doing MFW AHL which recommends the Fallacy Detective / Thinking Toolbox combo which I am open to also. Any recommendations?

I have the movie "Third Man on the Mountain" coming tomorrow from Netflix. It is a Disney movie based on the book "Banner in the Sky", which we just finished reading together. My oldest is hoping it matches the book (a big pet-peeve of his) since it was made in 1959. We have found that many of the newer Disney movies ruin good books.

I too was surprised to see the "Light and the Glory". I have been doing Core 3 this year with a 2000 IG (which has an entire appendix written about concerns over L & G) and, to be honest, I really enjoy the simplicity of it. I feel no obligation to ask my boys all kinds of questions at the end of each chapter (because they aren't there) and we just find places on the maps as we come to them. I am grateful for SWB's teaching on narration which I feel has freed me in this department. I just ask them to narrate back to me what they got out of the reading, and I can tell from that how much they are picking up. If I want to stray from my $5 schedule I feel OK with that because most of the books are either from the library or salvation army. I do enjoy the Landmark History book (which I did buy), but I feel my 6th grader is the only one getting much from it. On the other hand, my oldest is doing a 2011 Core H which is about 3 times in size. I feel like I utilize so little of this even though the schedule alone makes it worthwhile for us. I do like the addition of vocabulary words which is helpful to review before many of the readings. wish they would offer a "schedule only" option for those of us who do not really see the need for pages and pages of questions. I don't think the new changes make me feel much different about Sonlight. I plan to do a World Geography study the year after next and am seriously considering the Eastern Cultures Core (F?) which I will have to buy new if I can't hunt up a used IG before then. I would be interested to see how they change it. I have never used their LA so that would be hard for me to have to buy just to get the rest of it.

" I get that" as in I understand. I keep hearing it in the movies lately, and it jumps out at me as slightly obnoxious.

I just bought it so obviously we have not used it yet. I like that the author has written a schedule to follow. I think you can see a sample of it at CBD if you look at the parent companion sample. I also considered adding DIVE but I think we will just use the program as written. I don't think this program holds the student's hand as much as Apologia, but it looks easy enough to form a routine and have the student follow it. I think I am going to have ds write definitions on cards as he reads so that he can practice them. Memorizing is hard for him and there is a ton of memorization in Biology no matter what program you use. They are woking on another full DVD companion to the program, but it is not available yet.

Maybe you are looking at the 4 day list. The 5-day still has it. The IG is helpful, but it is a shame that I paid full price for as much of it we use. It is most helpful just to have everything scheduled out. It is also nice to have the questions and vocabulary available for most all the books, but I refuse to be a slave to them.

Oldest is doing just the history / reading portion of it. He is doing IEW American history writing instead and CLE english of what they scheduled. I am enjoying the read-alouds; thankfully "Great Expectations" was available on cd from out library. I have read most of the others. He just started into SOTW 4 and I added the outlines, maps and tests to his assignments. He's not happy about that, but I wanted him to do more with it than just read and occasionally summarize. It is a little challenging because SOTW jumps around in the schedule. This ds is my reader. He devours books, so the reading has not been a problem.

I switch to CLE in 5th grade after Rightstart math. I supplement with Challenging Word Problems (starting w/ book 2 in 2nd grade) for both programs. We go slowly through the CWP books. My 3rd grader is just finishing book 2, but he also does them in the summer.

DH was homeschooled high school with ACE. (not thinking that took a whole lot of planning) I think he appreciates all the work I put into it, but sometimes I get the feeling from other family members that I am a bit obsessive about it. (which I kinda am)

Now I'm confused. I didn't think the Life Science had a lab component yet. I have been looking at this also for my up coming 7th grader. How do you like the Life Science books? I did email the author once about which grades they recommended the curriculum for as the grades listed at Rainbow seemed to be different. I did get a prompt helpful reply. I thought I would try here first for an outsider's opinion.

I have looked at the samples of the labs, but am wondering if there is any guidance as to what the completed lab reports should look like? I also looked at DIVE science and like that he shows what the completed labs should include. Yeah, I'm still trying to decide. (and have not ruled out Exploring Life either)

DH and I made some from a sheet of plywood. I designed them to be deep and high enough to comfortably hold binders. I painted them a creamy white and top coated them with a water based polyurethane. They are super stable and rugged. Even though dh has a table saw, I would have the lumber store cut them next time for ease. Even without a lot of tools, you could have the store cut all your pieces and assemble with a power drill. I have a Kreg jig now, so my next bookshelves will be really cool.

Thanks. I ordered the inexpensive Exploring Life student lab book so I could see how in depth the experiments are. I wish Labpak had more samples of their experiments so I could tell if it will work for us. (AKA how much hand-holding is there?)

We are doing CPO Physics this year. Ds tried to construct a homemade photogate using his light sensors and Lego NXT, but he ran out of time and ideas. For many of those experiments, we went over the experiment together and I provided them with the data from the TM and they did the calculations. I did buy a digital scale, measuring springs, magnets, and a bunch of stuff I can't think of right now from home science tools. I bought a whole bunch of washers from the local hardware store for a couple of dollars. We just used them for investigation 11A last week. Also, the link http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/pendulum-lab provides some real cool investigations. We used this one for the pendulum lab and it worked great.

We did the CPO earth science last year and were able to do many of the labs. I was able to find a pdf online of the bathymetric maps they use and the longitude latitude sheets needed. I ended up using a small, clear plastic Lock & Lock box I got at the grocery store in place of the geobox. The boys used playdoh to make the topography structure and I set a small piece of plexiglass on top. I cannot remember if we did the investigation with the chimneys. I think we did but I don't recall how we modified it. The real geobox would have been nice to have.