We seem to have the same 14 year old. :001_smile: My son is in 8th grade this year but I feel like I am continually reminding him to date pages and put his name on things. He also loves science and has little to no interest in anything else. Assigning anything that takes effort is like pulling teeth and I feel like I am the only one doing any work! I am stressed out (majorly!) about Math this year and am even considering putting him back in school next year for high school. Maybe it's the age? (I certainly hope so.)

Have you tried The Jason Project? The website has awesome FREE science resources and full science curricula for geology, energy, ecology etc. You can download the programs on PDF. The website allows you to set up your own classroom and set assignments that can be completed by your student and handed in. Another great FREE resource for science is NOAA's Ocean Explorer curriculum. I am using it this year with my 8th grader. It's a bit advanced but can be customized for several grade levels, 6-12.

I know this is an outdated thread but found it while googling for help on which Saxon book to choose. My son is working his way through the Saxon 7/6 book now. We were advised to skip Saxon 8/7 and move to Algebra 1/2 in order to be ready for Algebra 1 for 9th grade. I was told that the two books were virtually the same. I contacted Saxon to ask about this and the reply I received was: Math 87 is the first of the pre-algebra texts, is very comprehensive, and should not be skipped. If a student does well in Math 87 (consistently scoring 85% or better on the cumulative tests) he can go directly into Algebra 1. However students who struggle in Math 87 should then take Algebra ½ for more practice in the fundamental skills of pre-algebra. The goal is to send a strong student into algebra 1. Students who stumble into algebra 1 tend to struggle throughout high school in math, whereas students who enter algebra 1 well prepared tend to do well all the way through high school math. Thought this could help someone else.

Thanks to everyone that posted. We have a secular perspective so some of the suggestions probably won't work for us but I've reserved copies of some of the books from our library. I won't hurt to check them out. I gave him a boy's health book at the end of last year and was a little surprised about all of the details that the book revealed. Kids Health.org has some great resources for all health topics and I did check that out. It's a starting point.

Help! :scared: I was just looking on the web for sex education websites that were geared toward teenagers. My son is now 14 and it has become painfully obvious that I need to be dishing out more (appropriate) information about sex and health issues related to it. The social networking websites that he frequents, mainly Facebook and You Tube, guarantee that he is going to run into something that is inappropriate or that we haven't talked about. My Google searches came up with a few websites geared toward teens, sexetc.org and realsexedfacts.com, but some of the content seems to be way too inappropriate for an 8th grader. I'm afraid that I might expose him to something that he isn't ready for by using these sites as a reference. Has anyone found any materials - websites, books etc, that they can recommend?

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Sue in St. Pete - I feel the same way. I have been looking for secular science resources for 6 years without much luck. I have used The Jason Project curriculum with some success (it's free) but it wasn't really self explanatory and I had a hard time lining up the lesson plans with actual work. I'm going to dive into NOAA's Ocean Explorer's curriculum this year (also free) because my son is interested in pursuing Marine Science. It's a bit like TJP but I'm hoping I can make it work. It has potential! http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/edu/curriculum/welcome.html :001_smile:

Thanks Tammy. I was unaware that Saxon even had science courses...off to check them out! Respectfully, Apologia doesn't jive with my philosophies...I'm looking for something that is secular based.

Hi! I'm new here. :) I have been home schooling for 6 years. I have found science to be the hardest thing to teach. Most of the packaged curricula that I've purchased has been disappointing. So my question is... What are you using to teach science to junior high and high school aged kids? What worked - what hasn't?

Just wondering if anyone has had any success (or failures) with The Jason Project science curriculum...or the more obscure, NOAA science curriculum. Both are free. Science has been difficult to teach without a formal course. I hate the commercial curricula...just looking for advice, suggestions...what have you.