I can relate to your concerns. I felt the same way when my oldest child was around 6th grade and I held off on much writing because it created a lot of stress. I do think kids can develop decent writing skills by the time they are high school age without a lot of overkill in the early years. In 8th grade my son used IEW SWI B. This helped him loosen up a lot about writing. He began to see it as less onerous although we never completed the program (planning to do the rest of it this year!). Grammar for Middle School by Don and Jenny Killgallon helped with his sentence variety. He developed an ability to write more complex and interesting senteces using their mimicking technique. Figuratively Speaking from The Learning Works. My kids learned soo much from this book and ended up writing very nice quality responses to the questions. I'd recommend you check out magazines from the library (if possible) with short essays in them. Discover Kids, Muse, Cricket, etc. were all good choices for my kids. Read some together, or just discuss the different techniques used to introduce the topic, develop the ideas and then wrap it all up. Reading these kinds of short essays helped my kids get a feel for the kind of writing expected of them. Good luck!

Not an online reference, but the simple card game Borderline has been fun and fairly effective in our family. The world edition covers large regions, oceans, and a few countries plus many landmarks. We are getting the Europe/Middle East one (which includes the specific countries in those regions) next since we have enjoyed the world edition so much. Here are a couple of geography links: http://www.lizardpoint.com/fun/geoquiz/ http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Geography.htm http://www.ilike2learn.com/ilike2learn/geography.asp

My son will be going to public school part time next year as a 9th grader (he has a fall birthday though and will soon turn 15, so he is on the old end for being a 9th grader). He has been home schooled (in a very relaxed manner) since the middle of 1st grade--which was a stressful disaster for him. Prior to this year he has been wary of any curriculum and structured classes. Taking classes at the ps was his decision. His primary motive is taking chemistry lab and advanced math. He is just going into Alg 2, but he wants to be comfortable with the ps math classes as the difficulty goes up. He is very self motivated, quiet and pretty introverted. Although his primary motive is academic, I don't think it is necessarily that he can get a better experience at the ps. But, he is interested in seeing for himself what the experience is like. I am hoping it will provide more social opportunities for him also though. The public high school has several science/technology clubs as well as engineering classes in partnership with the University. I see this as an added plus. With his interests (physics mainly), it has been challenging to find similar kids. Sports isn't a concern as my kids participate in tae-kwon-do and gymnastics. As far as family harmony, we are pretty good there. When my son was around 13 he had his share of emotional turmoil and angst, but he got through it. I think it was best for him to go through that in the home atmosphere. But that is him--he has a hard time with large groups and fluctuating rules and I think going through puberty in a school setting would have just been that much more frustrating for him. DS #2 will also be going to ps part time in the fall for 8th grade. He has been homeschooled since 1st grade and is pretty content at home. BUT, when we moved about 1 1/2 years ago, we found it harder here to meet up with other homeschoolers. So, his primary interest is having more varied activities. He is interested in taking music, drama and computer applications--more fun classes. :) In high school, I anticipate he will want to go to take the computer programming and CAD classes. In general, my kids seem to look at taking classes at the ps as a great opportunity for learning. They both plan on going to college and they see this as a chance to get a feel for more structured classes and the reality of attending a class every single day. Good luck whatever you decide. :)

MIT online courses has a Chinese class listed. I have only briefly looked though the pdf files and audio and it did not immediately strike me as easy to use. But, it may be of more use for a native speaker to use as instructional material. It is not a video course, unfortunately. http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/foreign-languages-and-literatures/21f-101-chinese-i-regular-spring-2006/

My boys are using Mango, online, free from the local library. I'd strongly suggest you check to see if your library offers it. For free, it is great. :) There is no written component though. It has a feature that records the kids as they say the phrases then they can hear themselves pronounce it. Helps them to get the tones better. We have been thinking of finding a tutor who can build off the mango program, but not sure how to work that out. They also have been watching Growing up With Chinese, but also this is not a writing program. http://english.cntv.cn/program/learnchinese/growingwithchinese/index.shtml I'd be curious to know what you end up using as my kids are determined to stick with Mandarin for high school.

My ds used Saxon Alg 1. When he was younger he struggled with every math program he tried...and yes, we tried a lot! Last Sep he tried Saxon pre-alg and for whatever reason, the timing and program were a good fit for him. When he moved up to Alg 1 book, the problems did get more challenging and he really had to SHOW ALL his work. This was not easy for him. He also worked a lot in his head, but when he did that, we could not tell where the problems were when he got a question wrong. Also, for very basic concepts, he would kind of skip past them quickly. Later, those simple concepts or procedures were built upon and he found he didn't actually fully understand them (probably because he had skipped though them). I'd say stick with Saxon and get her to the point where she can show all her work. Once my son started to show all his work, he began to do only every other question because it took him a lot longer. He did better on the tests though. I'd be reluctant to buy an expensive program like TT. My younger son uses it and enjoys it, but my older son never wanted to use it. If you already have programs, look through them and pick one.

Ah, I see. Thanks! :001_smile:

Some free sources for online video courses: http://www.hippocampus.org http://www.khanacademy.org http://www.ucopenaccess.org/ http://www.montereyinstitute.org/nroc/ Most of them are either not interactive or moderately interactive, but still offer a wealth of information. We tend to try to use them along with a text. I'm sure there are others, but those are the first to come to mind. Good luck! :001_smile: We also use Teaching Co. video lectures from the library.

Did the style of the different programs seem to be a better fit for the different children? Or did you all just like a bit of variety? Just wondering why the different kids used different programs.

Thanks so much for the input everyone. We are going to give Abeka II a try and keep downgrading to I as an option. The kids do have a decent grammar foundation, but little actual work book review/application.

Although I tend to avoid teaching to the test, in this case I'd like to plan for a solid program to prepare the kids for the SAT/ACT verbal sections. They are in middle school now and have done MCT Grammar voyage along with Grammar 101 (online). I'd like ideas for a grammar plan to get them through high school and provide a firm foundation for testing. They would both like something more straight forward than MCT. They'd prefer specific, student aimed lessons. I am leaning toward AG. Any thoughts on if this is enough, or would then need even more (aside from specific SAT prep books, etc.)? And for AG, is purchasing direct from them the best deal? Many thanks!

Does he have a planner or calendar? Maybe he needs some transitional help. Can you sit down with him every other or every third day or so and have him go through his assignments and upcoming exams, etc? Something beyond asking if his homework is done. One might say he should be doing this on his own, but I'm all for modeling for our kids and helping them learn the skills they need. :) Maybe while hsing he was able to focus a lot of time and energy on extra curricular activities, and now the demands of classes every day with rigid schedules is proving to be difficult. Not to imply in any way that homeschooling is less rigorous, but I do think we parents are more likely to take into account a swim meet or late night meeting. :)

DS#2 enjoys probability, of all the odd things, and does a lot of little things on his own pursuing this interest. Last weekend before his 4H meeting, he printed out a year calendar on one sheet of paper and told me he was going to poll people at the meeting to see if anyone had overlapping birthdays. Happened on the 31st person he asked. Then on the way home he wanted to go visit car dealers to collect data on the number of cup holders in the vehicles. Once he graphed the number of peas in sweet pea pods...that was really interesting! it was not a random distribution--most peas had either 7 or 4.

You could also use it for experiments on currents, water flow, etc. Here are a few links: http://home.fau.edu/jlambert/web/resources%20for%20teching%20climate%20change-page%203/Dr.%20Lambert%27s%20Climate%20Change%20Unit%20-%20Lessons/CurrentsLesson10.23.08.pdf http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/awesome-dry-ice-experiments

Corn meal gluten can be used as a pre-emergent (prevents new weed seeds from sprouting). It is derived from corn and described as a natural herbicide. http://www.hort.iastate.edu/gluten/ IF you have existing perennial weeds though, they either need to be removed 9as much root as possible), killed with boiling water/vinegar/chemical herbicide or smothered as many people mentioned with cardboard and mulch. I use the cardboard and mulch initially, plant heavily and then use the corn meal gluten. Best of luck!

My oldest son will be a high schooler NEXT year, but still thought I'd chime in. My kids stay involved in making their educational choices. This year both my kids are in middle school and we sat down to discuss various career and educational options. This has been an ongoing household discussion over the years, but this time we were in future planning mode. =) We went through potential scenarios for educational paths. Since they both felt a 4 year college path in a STEM field was a good fit for them, we went over the general guidelines of classes they should take in order to give them the foundation needed for their areas of interest. We will make the specific class content decisions for each year closer to said year. They will definitely be taking some classes at the local high school and at cc, so we have to fit their schedules to what is offered when. I know I feel VERY overwhelmed by the whole high school process and worrying about fitting in all the right things. Trying to write down the specifics actually makes me feel more anxious, but having a general outline (4 years math, 4 years science w 3 labs, etc etc) helps me see it as do-able.

Glencoe publishes consumable *note taking guides* to accompany some text books. For these, you would still need the text book, but they help a student go through the materials. I ended up getting the World History one for my 7th grader, although my 8th grader does not like the format and would rather just read the chapters and answer the review questions. For my younger son, the guide helps him stay on track. I read somewhere they were designed for remedial students, but I still find it useful in our situation where the kids are not attending a lecture. It also models good note taking skills imo. They even have the entire pdf online...394 pages! See second link. http://www.amazon.com/Science-Notebook-Biology-California-Glencoe/dp/0078759781/ref=pd_sim_b_3 http://www.glencoe.com/sites/florida/student/science/assets/pdfs/bdolflsn2.pdf

Whoo-hooo! Downloading kindle app right now. This will really open up so many possibilities. Didn't realize you could do that. Now.. to figure out the note taking etc. Thanks so much!

I'm not seeing exactly how to do multi quotes in my reply, so I'm just going to skip trying to do that, but reply to several messages in this one reply. :) I do think getting him used to the Holt format is a good idea. We've asked the public school which text is used for Alg 2, but are still waiting to hear back. I am thinking it probably is a Holt text since they use that for geometry and alg 1 according to our neighbor. Ya never know tho. I think (hope) the text book display will matter less to him when he is in a lecture but, like most things, we just have to wait and see how it turns out. Holt might be the fastest way, assuming that Saxon Geometry continues with their scheme of so many review questions. Takes my son 2 hours to do a lesson, but for whatever reason, he loves doing all the review questions. SO odd! Also, probably true that he really does not need the full geometry course content to get along in Alg 2. He has considered finding a geometry text he likes and working through it concurrently with the Alg 2 class. He'd probably be ok with that work load although he does find Geometry more challenging than Alg--I think the visual aspects of geometry are still hard for him to decipher. If we do that, we probably would stick with Saxon since it has been good fit for him to do independently. About why he is considering ps for math...well, there are a few different reasons. He said he has concerns about misunderstanding a procedure and that his way of solving the problem still gives him the correct answer, but there is some underlying inconsistency that makes it not universally correct. He is, ah, quite creative in coming up with solutions to problems sometimes, so I understand why he feels this way. He hopes having a lecture and instructor could help prevent this. So far, I do not know of any real instances of this happening to him, but there is another factor--science labs. He wants to do a chemistry lab and we looked into several options including a visit to the high school chemistry class. Much to my surprise, he decided he'd like to go to school for chemistry (prior to this he avoided ANY kind of class activity and has tends toward the quiet, solitary side). From there he thought Chemistry (honors, they won't let him go right to AP even though he has already done prentice hall chemistry and half of the MIT chemistry class), Alg 2 (probably regular, although he is considering honors but doesn't want to over do it) and the school's Principle's of Engineering class all were good choices for him. They can only take 3 classes as homeschoolers. We did discuss him going full time, but he would prefer to continue to do LA (IEW and MCT & starting some lit study for now) and SS (we just got Seigovias (SP?) world history and checked out SWB's newish Ancient History tome) at home. I think he actually views the math, science and eng as the *fun* classes. On the one hand, I am glad to see him branch out like this. His way of interacting with other people is definitely a bit different. He may have aspergers or a nonverbal learning disability, but not to such an extent that it causes many difficulties. To most people he just appears quiet, although he does use a vocabulary many kids find hard to understand. We moved here over a year ago and have not met many homeschoolers for the kids to connect with (they do have some ps friends in the neighborhood), so maybe this is a way of filling that. But, on the other hand, when I listen to the neighbor kid talk about the school environment, I am so grateful my kids avoid that drama and are close to each other and us. Plus, they just love to learn. I do not want the school classes to take that away from them. Then again, both kids want to go to college and I think my older son could potentially get into a fairly competitive engineering program if he so desired. I tend to think at least some class time exposure would help him both in admittance and in adjusting to college life. If he doesn't take classes at the high school, they'd both end up taking classes at the CC. Unfortunately, the CC is farther away than the high school and lacking good public transportation from where we live. I tend to feel that the only way to know if it works out is to give it a try. The kids are willing to try, so we are going to give it a go. My older son is going into 9th grade, so he will be starting some classes with a new group of kids. My younger son is going into 8th grade, and he has decided he will also take science at the ps, but wants to do math at home (largely a confidence issue I think). And lastly (wow I had no idea I could write so much!) about relaxed or unschooling approach...I cannot tell you how many nights I lay in bed agonizing with DH over whether or not I was doing the right thing for the kids. I had looked into WTM early on and loved the approach, but the work load would drive my kids and me to tears (we did actually experience several days like that!). I finally resolved to try a very different approach. Both my kids have some kind of difference (dyslexia, very RB or whatever) that made the elementary type of school work like pulling teeth. They could not get a 5 the right way or tell a 6 from a 9 for ages no matter what. So we kept on with the learning end, cycling through different history periods, doing science stuff all the time and embracing a Living Math approach at home, but they did very little writing. In the end, they needed time to mature for the writing ability to develop. The ed psychologist who tested my son for dyslexia long ago suggested we give them time for all their parts to catch up and I am so grateful she suggested that option. Phew. I have to say, this board has been so incredibly helpful for us! What a great bunch of educators and thank you so much for your thoughts. :001_smile::001_smile::001_smile:

I'd love some thoughts on preparing my son for Alg 2 at the local public school (here they can attend school part-time). This post ended up long! But, I know on so many posts people ask for more info, so here it is. :) Background: My son's early elementary teachers thought he was dyslexic so we did some testing for him. The results were somewhat inconclusive and we decided to home school 7 years ago since the ps said there was nothing they could do for him. He struggled with elementary math (many reversals, hard time memorizing facts, etc) and was a late reader. We ended up with a very relaxed, near unschooling approach where he absorbed tons of information, but produced very little work. Now, at age 14, his academic abilities have soared and he desires structured school work to prepare him for university studies (probably physics or chem. eng. and eventual grad school). After looking through some math text books at our local home school assistance program, he found that Saxon appealed to him. He completed the pre-alg in 3 months and is now almost done with Saxon Algebra after another 4 months. He is self directed and works through the text book independently; I think he has asked for clarification twice in the past 4 months. Now he would like to take Alg 2 at the local public school--a new development for him too! Our dilemma is this: Alg 1 and Geometry are listed as pre-reqs for the Alg 2 class. I understand Saxon integrates geometry into its Alg 1, Alg 2 and subsequent text book. But, what to do for getting him the Geometry he needs to be successful in Alg 2? He has been working through the Khan Academy videos on Geometry and has no problem with them. They do not equal an entire geometry course though. Soooo, I would love suggestions for getting him ready for Ag 2. My son is happy to continue working on math over the summer. We never had school breaks in the past since we were so relaxed it was just year round learning. Plus, he looks through the calculus lectures on the MIT open course site and drools over eventually doing that kind of work. I do not mind buying geometry texts because DS #2 will need them soon anyways, but I'd prefer not to buy 3 or 4 of them! Things he has tried in the past: LoF fractions -- he did not like and would not even read the book. Prentice Hall Alg 1 and Geometry -- does not like all the distracting side bars. ALEKS -- at lower level did not explain new content well enough. Not sure how it is for geometry. We looked at Thinkwell Alg 1 online course a few months ago and he was put off by the overly cheerful attitude of the instructor--there was a top 10 countdown which just did not appeal to my son -- so he is reluctant to try their geometry program. After watching this we decided to buy Saxon ALg 1 since he liked the Saxon prealg so much. DS #2 is using TT 7 right now, and my 14 yo son does not like the CD component of it at all. He seems to want the information with little fluff, black and white text, and clearly written, detailed explanations aimed at the student. He doesn't mind a lot of review (apparently!) but I think for getting the geometry in that he needs by Aug, something with a less spiral approach (compared to Saxon) might be more effective. Considering: Holt Geometry: The public school uses this text, so at least with this his back ground would be equivalent to other students in the class. But, I cannot find a local copy of book to see if it has a lot of the distracting side bar things my son dislikes. Jacobs Geometry: I have the feeling this would have too much info which my son might find distracting. I think DS #2, a real trivia lover, might like this text though. Lial Geometry: Lial's algebra sounds like just the kind of text my son would love, so if the geometry is similar, could be good fit. Fairly expensive though if it doesn't work out. Dolciani Geometry: Sounds like a rigorous course which will give both my kids the kind of math foundation they need for pursuing STEM careers. Can't find solutions manual or TE though. Some *refresher* type book such as, Geometry Success in 20 Minutes a Day: Probably enough for preparing him for ALg 2, but not enough for complete Geometry coverage. I'd love any thoughts on texts people think might be a good fit for my son. I know it is hard to generalize, but I am hoping with the bit of background info and his likes/dislikes, one might get a sense of what could work for him. I have read through many posts on various math programs on these boards and love the info already gained. Any other ideas greatly appreciated. :001_smile:

I'd recommend your son takes a look at the 24 Pre-Algebra videos at http://www.khanacdemy.org. They are short (10 mins) videos which build up on concepts nicely. They also have online exercises for many of the videos. Plus, it is free but you do need to register to use the exercises; however then it keeps track of you kid's progress. A more detailed preparation for algebra is under the Developmental Math section. Or, he could pick and choose the subjects with which he is having difficulty. The Khan videos have done a great job at getting my younger son ready for algebra. My older son is using their geometry videos while he does algebra 1 via saxon. Best of luck! By the way, new here, love reading these forums. :001_smile: