I hope so, but I feel like it is SO LATE. The poor kid has been struggling and I thought he was being lazy. Ugh, the mom guilt!!!

It's funny that you posted this. I am going to have my upcoming 8th grade DD do From Adam to Us next year, but I'm *only* having her do the map book, timeline, and lesson review along with the readings. I will do some of the literature as read alouds but I'm not going to assign those to her. I'm having her skip the creative world book, all the writing assignments (she will have enough writing with her English classes), and the special projects.

Lori-- I cannot thank you enough. This has been nagging me since my post back in April. Despite the fact that he is an incredible artist, origami master, and can solve visual logic problems that blow me away, I took him for a vision evaluation and he has several issues! Convergence insufficiency, binocular dysfunction, terrible depth perception, and something else that I can't remember. He is so stinkin' smart that I never picked up on it. This explains all of the pushback he has given me over the years about reading, complaining about the print of certain books, unwillingness to write out his math work, inability to catch a ball! I absolutely can't believe that I missed it. We started vision therapy today and I am determined to get this kid's eyes fixed. THANK YOU!

My DD just completed CLE 700 for 7th grade. IMO, the strength of this program is that the new information is presented in extremely small and manageable bites, and that the review is so thorough. I would not condense it. If you think she is ready for a year of Pre-Algebra followed by Algebra 1, I recommend getting another Pre-Algebra program that is designed for one year but is also a spiral format, such as Saxon or Horizons.

I would say it is highly likely that she will start with CC, but nothing is definite at this point, as she is only just going into 8th grade. I'm really trying to get a handle on how to navigate homeschooling high school. So when writing a high school transcript, can I count virtual labs as fulfilling a lab requirement? I would not have thought that virtual labs would count for labs, but I know a high school girl using Liberty University's online high school program, and every science course except physical science has online labs. They use Late Nite Labs. She is actually pre-med and has already been accepted into their college program based on her high school performance.

Are online labs sufficient for all high school science courses? Specifically if the student is not STEM oriented, will not be going into a science or medical field and will probably do at least a couple years at a community college first?

So I was all set to just have her do The Rainbow. Then I went to a convention and took a good look at Monarch. I realized...this girl really doesn't like science, and doesn't like hands-on. So instead of paying $430 for two years of The Rainbow condensed into one, I'm having her do Monarch online for $80 and some Uzinggo virtual labs with lab reports. This will also be a good way for her to step into more online classes. She totally needs "get 'er done" science and more online learning practice, so it's a great fit. THANKS!

Oh yes! We loved that one too. I’ll take a look at Harris and Me, thanks!

I need some read alouds that won’t leave me sobbing through the last chapter. We just finished Rascal, and I seriously could not get through it. 🙄😳 DS had to read the last few pages. My kids are 13 and 11. Lighter books we have enjoyed—The Phantom Tollbooth, By The Great Horn Spoon, Summer of the Monkeys (I cried in that one too but not as bad)... We love animal stories but would like to avoid ones where they die or are “set free” for now. Having a brother and sister as main characters is a plus (we enjoyed The Mixed Up Files...) Mysteries would also be good (but nothing dark). Also, no potty humor. Suggestions?

I don't know of any, but it is not hard to set one up. The challenging thing is waiting for people to pay. If I do it again next year, I will announce a couple weeks before my kids' memberships run out and have a strict closing date.

Math Mammoth single topic downloads?

This is now closed. For those that are in on the buy, I will message you as soon as Prodigy confirms and applies the memberships.

For 4th grade, you could do brainstorms and freewrites all year and pick one every once in a while to polish. He’s so young—definitely take the pressure off!

I’m not sure what age your child is. Bravewriter has bookclubs, a different book each month, $99/month. I’m looking into Lantern English online classes for next year and they have a literature class where the student chooses two books over 8 weeks. There are written responses and things due for that though. It does sound like a book club would fit what you’re looking for...our local homeschool group used to run one for middle schoolers and one for high schoolers.

The group buy is up to 28 with 17 paid. We only need two more, and everyone to pay, and then I can submit the payment and get our memberships unlocked. 🙂

I am already up to 24 commitments between my local homeschool group and those that messaged me here. I would love to close this next week!

I am organizing a Prodigy Group Buy again! I did this last year successfully and will message those that joined last year. I am going to do things a little differently this year. If you would like to be in on the buy, please be ready to send me the money via PayPal within a day. Last year I had to chase people down and it was very frustrating. I am going to close this as soon as we reach 30 memberships. The cost is the same - $12 per membership. If you would like one or more memberships, please message me (you may also reply here but don't ONLY reply here) and send me the following: 1) Your name as it appears in PayPal (or if you are using a spouse's PP, please tell me so I can properly keep track) 2) The email that you will use for PayPay 3) The email that your child uses for Prodigy 4) The number of memberships that you are buying I will then send you my PayPal address. Please be ready to pay within a day. I will ONLY accept PayPal, and you must send it via friends/family, NOT for goods/services, otherwise I will incur a fee. Thanks!! My son is already asking me how many people we have because he wants his membership box! 😆

Growing with Grammar is extremely independent and has diagramming. Daily Grammar Practice is very similar to the Daily Task Analysis of Classical Conversations' Essentials. It breaks down diagramming a fairly complex sentence into very small tasks over the course of a week, and in doing so, reviews grammar concepts very thoroughly.

We started with RS and switched to Singapore around 2nd grade for both kids. My DD's 5th grade year was a wash due to health issues and then we used several things to get her caught up prior to starting 7th grade. This year for 7th I put her in CLE. If I could do it over, I would have done CLE with her from the beginning. She has totally thrived with the traditional and incremental approach and lots of review. My 5th grade DS on the other hand has thrived with Singapore. He is incredibly math minded and has barely needed me to teach him. For him, the conceptual and mastery approach has been perfect. In your situation, I would look at CLE. It is extremely easy to implement. New information is given in very small bites and there is thorough review everyday.

If he likes Mickey's Typing Adventure, have him play the games for practice. My DD mastered typing in a couple of months using that program. She finished it very quickly as well, but I had her play the games a few times a week and it really did continue to improve her skills.

My 8th grader is going to do The Rainbow. It's a two year program that she's going to do in one year. https://www.beginningspublishing.com/rainbow-junior-high-science-curriculum/ My DS did Exploration Education this year. It's physical science, very hands on and independent. The textbook is online and can be read with text-to-speech. https://explorationeducation.com

My DD started a Write for Fun class on Monday and is enjoying it. The projects are fun and the instructor is very encouraging. She gives feedback on everything, but so far has not given any editing or revising suggestions. That might be because of these specific projects or it might be the way it is for the course--we'll see. I do hope that she gives suggestions at some point.

I agree, wait for the VP sale.

Does Uzinggo have enough lessons for a full year of science?

I'll look again at Uzinggo. At some point, we are going to do mainstream secular science and really discuss the differences but i didn't want to go there yet. VP uses Apologia which requires labs "with common household items" i.e. things we are probably out of and will require all this scrambling around to locate or just not do it. I wish they had virtual labs!