Beautiful pic. So are you moving to core F next year?

My oldest is using doing SS Bio this year. The books are soft covered so they don't hold up as well, but I think two students could share. I am copying the labs out of the lab book, so you could buy just one. I also bought the lab DVD which I think is very helpful. My only complaint is that it is very quiet and hard to hear on my laptop. I think one supply kit shared would be plenty. I bought the basic lab kit (no dead animals) from Rainbow Resources and we are just getting to the dissections. The official dissection kit from Rainbow is like $40 for all the animals, but I bought and equivalent one from Home Science tools for less than half that. I haven't received it yet so I don't know what is is like. I also copy the tests out of the book. The FAQ section on their website states that these items may be copied within a family. If you want to piecemeal your own lab materials and need to know more specifically what prepared slides and such are needed let me know.

I own the Visual Link spanish course, but they often send me updates on the online stuff they offer. Linked is a website they sent me where you can explore the beginning lessons of many common languages. I think this could be useful for a child who maybe doesn't know what one they are interested in. My 8yo and I had fun listening to the same phrases said if each different language. http://www.learnalanguage.com/

I have been considering the same with our 12yo ds who is currently labeled a 7th grader. He also has an August birthday. He is quite immature for his age and very small. He is also having a hard time with increased academic expectations. My biggest concern academically for him is reading and writing. He is struggling with WWS and it is like pulling teeth to get him to read. He is doing fine with R&S English and AOPS Pre-Algebra. We have discussed with him about having an extra year before high school and he is all for it. I am hesitant because I would love to see my guys take a gap year and, I know it's silly, but I think our health insurance will drop them once they are 18 and not in school. I would love to know what you decide.

I had to pick and chose the Ken Burns documentaries for my 12, 9, and 7 yo boys as they were too long to fit in. They did like the Teddy Roosevelt documentary by the History channel so we are watching it all. It is not an instant play but Netflix does have the DVDs. We watched all of disc 1 and are trying to find time to watch disc 2.

In NY, I believe the cut-off is still 6 by Dec. 1st to be 1st grade. Personally, I think it should be more like Aug. 1st.

I always purchase directly from the publisher. They should be having their spring sale soon.

I understand what you mean about about the solution guide. I picked up a used copy of Jacob's Geometry 2nd ED last week at the Goodwill store and thought it would be nice to have to use as backup to LOF. It is an interesting read, but I found myself frustrated at not being able to see if my answers to the problems were correct as I cruised them. I started looking online for one and they are just not to be found (at a reasonable price).

I made it through Week 1 of Brazilian Butt Lift. I feel positively silly listening to him carry on about my boom-boom, but it must be doing something as it is really sore. Love the cloud and tree picture.

Both the teacher's edition and the solutions manual have all the answers, but they are worked out in the solutions manual. I picked up the student and teacher's book at a used curriculum sale for $10 and made it about half-way through the year with just that. Eventually, school got too busy, and the problems more involved than I had time for each day. So I bought the solutions manual new through Oasis at the Pearson website. The solutions manual is definitely more useful than the TM if I had to choose. The TM basically has a reduced size student book along with ideas for working examples on the board and homework to assign. I used the Math W/O Borders dvd-rom which already has a homework schedule already put together. It was handy to have my own book so I wasn't always looking over ds's shoulder.

Depends on the child and my schedule. Many times my 3rd ds needed extra time or the worksheet was too much for one day so we would take another day. My 4th ds doesn't need the extra time to do most things. I have done many 2-3 day lessons in 1 day for him. When I do a second day, I usually just pick up where we left off. Sometimes they have a 2nd warm-up scheduled, so we will do that first.

I think it would be fine. None of my guys did R &S in 2nd grade (they did FLL). They all started in 3rd grade. I have also learned not to be alarmed when they have a hard time with a concept in third because the english repeats and builds on the concepts each year. I was banging my head with my one guy in third and now he is sitting here doing his 4th grade work with no problems. I will say that I don't make them do all the written exercises. We do most orally and only the written if it seems beneficial like diagramming or adding plurals and possessives where the spelling is important. I do have them do all the worksheets.

I have been searching past posts and see that others have considered this but have not seen any results. This ds has been doing R&S since third grade and is currently doing the 7th grade book. I think that he needs more practice in actual editing and less formal grammar. I am considering Easy Grammar Ultimate and/or IEW Fix IT. I would like what he uses to be quick to open up more time for him to do writing and reading which are his weaknesses. Any ideas? Are there any other options which would be a quick grammar review for an 8th grader?

I use the instructor text and highlight the directions for every lesson. I do think this program is helpful in just getting him to write. His writing quality is also slowly improving.

I am doing CPO Life this year with my 7th grade ds. We don't do a lot of the investigations (we read them all and you tube videos of similar ones), but older ds is doing biology so we have many of the supplies needed when we do want to do one. We tried growing some bacteria using hay, crick water, and milk. We saw many "things" under the microscope, but I wanted to see movement and didn't. Older ds has a very similar lab in his biology coming up. so hopefully he will have better success. I have done CPO Earth and Physical and am now comfortable with the layout. I also found tests online (no solutions) so I have been able to assess his comprehension better. We do very few of the skill sheets this year. I did many more of them the past two years. I wish my oldest had done life science before biology. He is doing well, but a better foundation would have made lot less of this new to to him. One less "s" makes a big difference!

My 7th grader is also. He is only at the end of Week 20, but he even had a hard time at the beginning. He would see WRITE 200 WORDS and go into shock. Actually Weeks 19 and 20 went quite well and he sat down and wrote without fuss. I've been wondering if my ds was the only older child having a hard time using this book but have been afraid to ask seeing that it was written for children as young as 5th grade. My guys would not have done well at all with this at that age. This ds is not new to writing either. He did two of the IEW theme-based writing courses plus the assignments in the Rod and Staff books. I think part of the problem is that now I expect him to sit down and get it done right away. I gave him a week for most of the IEW assignments. I also used to think of this ds as a creative writer, but we had to drop "The Creative Writer" because it just overwhelmed him. I liked the book, but he needs more writing stamina before doing it.

I am planning on taking a break from history next year to concentrate on geography. I did this 4 years ago and used Trail Guide to World Geography. It worked out OK , but that ds liked to read and I could just hand him a book and he would read it. This time I am going to do it with a young 8th grader, 5th grader, and 3rd grader. I need readers scheduled or it will not happen. For this reason, I ruled out MFW because I can do the same with Trail Guide and my own book basket. I do like the missionary focus of both programs. I also am trying to stick with the literature approach. I have two ideas: 1) Get Sonlight F new and use it with all three but with modifications. I have time to modify just not to start from scratch. I do realize that is just the Eastern hemisphere and am OK with that. My hesitation is that I would buy the $100 IG to just get the schedule and the Eastern Hemisphere Notebook pages. I would not do the LA although I may assign some of the writing. I cannot find any reviews on the new SL F and note booking pages. Does anyone like them? 2) Pick up an older version of SL F for the reading schedule using Trail Guide for the notebooking and maps. This would take some time moving the reading assignments but I could also add in books I own. I also have my guys do the Bible memorization scheduled in SL. I know I could schedule memorization on my own, but I don't think to. This year these three are doing Sonlight 4 (now core E). I probably don't have my 7th grade ds do as much with it as he should but he is already overwhelmed with his other subjects. We may keep him as a 7th grader next year.

I forgot to include that he is just finishing Algebra 1 (Foerster's) and will be starting geometry in a week or two. This will probably take us to next January.

I asked about earth science earlier and it doesn't sound like a popular choice for 10th grade even though our local school district does it in 10th. I wanted to wait till 11th for chemistry because both the BJU text and the DIVE website recommend it for that grade. I think ds would be more interested in chemistry than earth science, but I don't want him to be blown away with a science that is really meant for an older student. So should I wait for chemistry? I guess another option is to pick an easier curriculum.

Oldest ds is doing Science Shepherd Biology this year for 9th grade, and I wanted to wait until 11th grade for chemistry to get through Algebra 2 first. I am planing on using DIVE Earth science with my 8th grader next year and am considering having my oldest also do earth science but at a higher level. I was looking at the Pearson high school Earth Science book and wondering how homeschooler friendly it is. Another option I could do is an interest-led study of aerodynamics and building model airplanes. He already does this for fun when he has free time. He has made many motorized planes out of foam boards and is also working on a large scale wooden one. My concern is that this would not be a laboratory science and how I could keep it academic. So I am really looking for answers to two different things. 1) What to do for high school earth science if we go this route? and 2) Should I really make him do this or find a way to develop a study of what he is passionate about? I guess another option would be doing both and have the airplane study be an elective. Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

For oldest ds, I used Singapore in 5th and 6th grades and Auffman Pre-Algebra in 7th and now Foerster's Algebra (spanning 8th - 9th grades). For next ds, I used CLE for 5th and 6th grades (I needed something independent so I could teach the younger guys) and now he is doing AOPS Pre-Algebra. I didn't like the mastery approach of Singapore alone although I did have them both use all the levels of Challenging Word Problems. I also had my oldest do Life of Fred Fractions, Decimals & Percents, and both Pre-Algebras for fun spanning several summers. He enjoys Fred and wants to use it for Geometry. I'm not so sure it will stick. I did not feel as though my guys were ready for algebra after RS E as the author suggests. I know my current ds in RS E is not even close to that level of math. He needs the regiment of something like CLE so that is what he will be doing next year. For kids who "get it" really quick, CLE may be painful.

I have been considering this lately. My almost 8yo is in pull-ups at night and even during the day he has accidents. We have had him checked, but I think he is just not in tune with "nature's call". I don't want to take over the OP's thread, but I would love to know what brands are recommended. Do they all have to bought online? They seem quite pricey, but so are night pants after awhile.

I entered it for AHL, but he needs to refer to the original schedule. I entered it in terms of Week 1 Day 1 etc. I divided it into three separate subjects; Bible, History, English. I did go back and put in for specific days when a grade needs to be entered. Some are just graded as class participation. I may be able to send you the lesson plans, but it would have to be later in the week and I would need to figure out how to.

I don't know where you are in NY, but here in the Southern Tier there is a wonderful library system called STARCAT which connects all the libraries. Using this, you have access to many books from all the libraries not just your local one. They do have the latest edition of WTM if your interested in reading it. Just don't let it overwhelm you. I'm sure other libraries do this too. Your best bet is to get to know the librarians as they can be very helpful. My library will also let me check items out for much longer, so I don't have to go very often. I do try to be mindful though that there may be others waiting for it. I am editing to add that I also have a 2nd grader. Except for history, which he does with his older brothers, his day is usually done by noon. For that age, don't think school has to take all day. The one on one time is invaluable. He does have a handwritten schedule I quickly fill in each week into a form so he knows what he needs to do. It is basically just a "do the next thing" schedule. For example, lesson 23 on Monday, lesson 24 on Tuesday etc.

Thanks so much for your honest responses. I showed them to ds and he is making improvements. He did admit that he didn't feel this was a good paper. He said he knew about half-way through that his argument was not that strong. I also wanted him to know that his papers may or may not be just for mom's eyes only.