I know that 8th is still considered middle school, but I couldn't find anything on economics for this age on the logic stage board. My son likes money/economics (the subject, that is :001_smile:). I would like to do something with him this coming year involving this subject, but i don't know what to do. I've looked at some courses that seem to be too old for him. Would any of you have suggestions for a light economics course that a 13 year old boy could do? Thanks!

Yep, I downloaded some stuff from Redshift.

This is great info....thanks!

So when your kids take these classes, do you do another writing program on top of the online class, or do you just use the online class as your writing program for the school year?

I'm doing Art of Argument. I see there is also Argument Builder and then Discovery of Deduction. I can't figure out if Argument Builder is the book that follows AoA or if it's a supplement with AoA. If you've used these, what order did you do them? Thanks!

If you've had experience with either one or both of these, could you give me your thoughts on them. I'm trying to determine if I want to use an online writing course. If there are other alternatives that you believe are better, please give your opinions on those as well. Thanks!

If you've had experiences with either one or both of these, could you tell me about them. I'm thinking of using an online writing class for my middle school boys. If you have used another online writing program that you like better, please let me know. Thanks!

Anyone???:lurk5:

Ha! That's very helpful. I was hoping that I wouldn't need them. Thanks!

By the end of this school year (7th grade), my son will have completed GWG 8. He is also doing MCT Grammar Voyage. I plan on moving on to the level 4 series of MCT next year because I really like the way they do grammar, but I also like the traditional way of diagramming. My son knows grammar really well. GWG stops at 8th grade, so I'm not sure if I should find another program, or just use only MCT. I looked at Analytical Grammar, and I don't want to spend 100.00 on that program-especially if it's just going over what he's done with GWG. I also looked at their High school reinforcement books and am wondering if this is an option. What are your thoughts on grammar? My son knows grammar better than I ever did in HS (so does my 5th grader for that matter). Any help would be appreciated!

Or is it just as doable without them? I don't really want to pay the extra money for them if my so can get the same info from just reading the book.

I'm thinking I'll go ahead and do SOTW 4 for 8th grade. What I'm looking for is someone who has done this before me and has extra reading suggestions...maybe even a good schedule that they can send me?? I don't want to reinvent the wheel if someone else has gone before me and wants to share :001_smile: History has been my nemesis. I have followed the 4 year plan, but keep changing programs. We did SOTW 1 with extra reading and assignments with my son was in 5th grade and that actually worked well. Don't know why I felt the need to try other things, but hind sight is 20/20. So, if you've gone this route and are willing to share book suggestions, extra readings, or even a schedule, please feel free. Any help is greatly appreciated!!! Thanks!

Modern, not early Modern. Thanks.

Anyone use this?? :bigear:

I know this is new, but if you started using it this year, could you tell me how you like it? I'm using MFW and it's too scattered for me.

I used the Level 2 Middle Ages history last year and tried MFW this year. I don't like MFW-but I'm going to finish it for this year. I'm looking for opinions on the Modern History Level 2. So please share!! :001_smile: Thanks!

No, this man has not been convicted, yet.... Sexually explicit pictures and videos of his victims were found...all victims have been identified and are in a safe place. This is not an instance of a man taking a photo of his kid in the bathtub. They were very sexual in nature and he made videos of them...then sold them across state lines via the internet.

Thanks Joanne, I don't feel patronized. I know that many of my home school friends are in shock over this.

I live in a suburb and our town has about 50,000 people. We are a middle to upper class town. We have a lot of home school families here and it is a good community. I found out the other day that a man that I know and have worked with in our homeschool group was arrested on producing child porn and distributing over state lines. I know this man well. I did recreation games with him at a monthly home school event, we did Lego club and robotics with our kids together. His wife works long hours, so he was a stay at home dad and home schooled his 6 kids. He is a super nice guy, made friends with many of the home school moms in the area and put together a lot of activities. He never creeped me out and was wholeheartedly accepted into our town's home school group. Many of us called him a friend-including me. My children were never alone with him, but I'm so shaken by this. Just goes to show you that you never know what goes on inside a person's home. I believe that the victims were his own children. Thankfully, when this story was reported in our local paper, the fact that he was a home schooling dad didn't make the paper-I'm sure that many people would have had a field day with that. So, all this to say that we can NEVER be too diligent in keeping our children safe. BIG eye opener for me!

Thanks for all your thoughts. I already have a writing program. I am doing the book basket reading as well. I think adding in the extra research papers will probably add what I need, now that I think about it.

Okay, granted, I'm only on week 2, but MFW (the history part) is just too easy for him. Very little writing is expected except summaries. There is an assignment this week that is optional for older students I plan on having him do, but reading little excerpts from books and then summarizing is even a little too easy for my other son in 5th grade. I'm NOT switching programs, though-too much invested in it and I don't care to figure out history with another program. So, what did you do, if anything, to pump it up a bit for older kids. I'm planning on having them do a short research paper every week, so that will add on some extra writing. Any thoughts? I'm I doing MFW correctly? What am I missing here? :)

I use MCT and really like it. From a grammar perspective, I find that I like the way they do the 4 level analysis, but I also like traditional diagramming, so my kids do both MCT AND Growing with Grammar. We (yes, me too) are learning grammar from 2 different perspectives-making for a richer understanding of grammar. I also use 2 different writing programs-MCT and whatever strikes my fancy for the year (I'm trying Jump In this year), because I want them to have different perspectives on the writing process as well. Am I overdoing it?? I don't believe so. It doesn't take a lot of extra time to add in GWG, and I can work the writing assignments between 2 writing programs in such a way that they are not overwhelmed with writing too much at one time. I find that mixing MCT with other curriculum has been an excellent balance for our school.

Ha! I took various documents from other people like you are doing and put them together and tweaked it for myself.

I did HO and SOTW with a few other books, too this past year. I have an excel document I can send you if you send me an email to my email: karieann67@hotmail.com I also used Susan Strauss Art, Famous Men books, and The Human odyssey, plus various videos-they are all included in this excel document.

My son was in 6th grade this past year and we started Algebra 1. I am using Foerster's algebra. I didn't see a reason to continue with Prealgebra stuff if he understood it. We are going through the text very slowly (he's in ch. 10 out of 14). I do odd problems and if he doesn't get it to my satisfaction, we do even problems. My thought is that I will probably do another algebra 1 program to solidify this in his brain after we finish Foerster's-thinking maybe Kinetic books. I want him to have a solid grasp of algebra-which he was completely ready for in 6th grade. Foerster's is very thorough and I am happy with his progress. Every kid is different-most aren't ready for algebra in 6th, but some are, so you need to make that final judgement since you know your child the best. If you begin algebra and it isn't going well, you can always go back and revisit algebra later-the beauty of home schooling! :)