We had a neighbor lady do a class for a group of homeschooling kids. She was great. Apparently the clubs are required to do a certain amount of volunteer hours so this was a great chance for her to do them (and her grandkids were in the class). They had a formal closing event and all of the Toastmaster's members showed up for it. I was impressed although it wasn't enough for a full credit or anything - I'm thinking about 8 weeks? You could always contact the local Toastmaster's Club and see if anyone would be interested in teaching a class.

At some point I had to put it on their assignment sheets. 30 minutes of activity had to be checked off before their school day was done. There are a few states that require 2 credits of PE in high school. I told my kids this was my requirement and that 2 credits was 300 hours (it doesn't have to be that much but I felt it should be for them). They have been free to try different things and we discuss all the possibilities but the amount is required. Like the others have said, building up to it is just fine.

If you're conservative, I will second Economics in a Box. We thought it was excellent.

In Montana, check out some of the ghost towns such as Bannack, Garnet (personal favorite),etc. Also tubing on the Gallatin river. Big, wide, gorgeous river that is slow moving. One of the most beautiful scenes around. You can rent tubes from any outdoor place in Bozeman.

Strongly recommend "What did you Expect?" by Tripp.

I love Jump In and Lost Tools of Writing but LTOW is a big jump up from Jump in. I would put Jump In as upper grade school to perhaps 9th grade (depending on the student). LTOW is upper high school in my estimation. I actually think the Lord of the Rings one would be about the same level as Jump In so maybe you could combine the two (pp was right that there aren't any real writing instructions in Literature Lessons)

Sort of seconding one thing Lori mentioned: If I go to the web page of my local high schools and look under counselor, all of them have lists of local and state scholarships with dates due. This has been an amazing resource and very easy to access!

Do a search for cyclical vomiting syndrome. It is related, and some say just a variety, to migraines. My understanding is the chemical builds up in the brain in a fairly regular cycle until the migraine happens. With my son certain rich foods etc. would trigger it a little quicker but otherwise he was a consistent 3 week cycle. It involved violent vomiting and than sleeping a very, very deep sleep and then it was over with him very energetic the next day. Ametryptilene (sp?) helped limit these and using Aleve as soon as the headache started almost eliminated the vomiting. He outgrew them at about 11 but unfortunately is now starting to get you garden variety migraines.

We used Mystery of History.

Thanks all. I started the discussion but didn't have anything to add - just found it interesting!

This doesn't ring true to me: "I am well acquainted with the “new math†of the 1960s. It too was resisted and condemned. It produced a whole generation of mathematicians, scientists and engineers. It’s surprising that the current mathematics curriculum in Singapore is based on the “new math†of the 1960s." This is a quote from an editorial in our paper this morning about the Common Core in Montana. Some of you might be interested in her take (I didn't agree with a lot) but this quote stuck out as something I had not heard before and would tend to say isn't true. Anybody know anything about this idea? Here is the link to the whole article: http://missoulian.com/news/opinion/columnists/mathematics-standards-tested-pave-way-to-success/article_b9c3a1c2-4c6f-11e3-83dc-0019bb2963f4.html

I like the Christian college my daughter goes to. They have apartment buildings, 4 girls to an apartment. They cook and clean for themselves- have apartment inspection once a week. My daughter has to figure out her own menu, shop, cook, etc. The guys aren't allowed in the girls apartment building except the lounge in the basement. They are already very closely knit so it is creating the bonding but are also learning to be independent. She plans on one year and then going onto university and hopes she will not be considered a freshman (not all the credit will transfer) so she doesn't have to live in the university dorms.

Have you looked at Passport to Purity by Family Life today? They suggest having a special weekend and doing this but I knew it wouldn't work with my very private daughters so we listened to them in the car on the way to lessons. Because we were in the car it took the pressure off but did start some conversations. Perhaps there are other CD's you can do in the car along this line.

we are using this as our schedule and study guide. We are using their terms and practicing their DBQ's and FRQ's and taking their quiz. Will this help? http://www.montereyinstitute.org/courses/AP%20US%20History%20I/nroc%20prototype%20files/coursestartc.html

Thanks for the advice Kathy. That is helpful.

Still debating on calculus, feel like I have until next fall but am still starting to look. I know that he really didn't like Life of Fred when I wanted him to use it for Algebra. I like the look of Practice of Statistics. Wow, very expensive for 1 semester! I may consider renting through Amazon although we have never tried that. Thanks all for the help!

I have been searching for an answer and not really finding it. My ds (a junior) who is a science, math guy will be finishing TT Precalc in about a month. He has done Chalkdust Algebra I and II and then TT Geometry. He liked TT so much more he requested to do that for PreCalc. He doesn't do the videos and has gotten perfect or almost perfect on every assignment. I've rarely had to help him (I'm pretty proficient through pre-calc) because he has figured it out on his own. His science teacher recommended that he do some statistics before he hits college where he plans on majoring in science. So my present plan is one semester of statistics to finish off the year and then calculus for his senior year. We are not near a good community college and most online courses would be a little too much for our budget. So what are good options for one semester of statistics for a science major who is strong in math? AOPS (which course?) or something else I've not spotted? I wouldn't mind his calculus to be from the same publisher so any thoughts on that? ( I realize TT is not quite as rigorous as some but he does have it down really solid.) Thanks!

I've found memorizing the terms with flashcards has helped. If they can memorize, the other things start connecting a little easier. My best tool has been quizlet. A lot of people have flashcards on there for the different science publishers.

I think the issue with mental illness is it is really hard to monitor and set the appropriate amount of treatment. It could really skyrocket with years of counseling, etc. And it is hard to set an unbiased bar of what would be acceptable for coverage and what wouldn't. That is just my guess for some of the reasoning.

Another happy member of Samaritan. Not a lot to add to what others have said but we have had no issues.

With some poor spellers you would be in high school before starting writing if you followed this! I have a daughter with visual memory issues who will never be a good speller. We try to push typing at an earlier age than we would with others. Other than that we do encourage writing even when the spelling is wrong. I have to admit that after the rough draft I do correct all the spelling for her because I can't stand her 'learning' by practicing the wrong spelling. She does get a little more frustrated with writing because of this but I try to remind her about the other strengths in her writing and spend more time focusing on other lessons. As far as which writing program, I found IEW a good starting point because they spend a lot of time doing key word outlines so she can copy the harder-to-spell words.

It does what you are looking for. We used it one year for my son in High school. It was straightforward, held him accountable because of daily assignments, and made him practice consistently. But . . . it was extremely dry and boring and the videos annoyed him. So I would say adequate, not exciting as far what it accomplishes and covers, and dry presentation.

We also love Economics in a Box and I privately wish everyone would take a course like this with an open mind but . . . I really have to admit it is from a very conservative, John Stossel, etc. view point. Just heads up since the op did ask for balanced.

He will want to learn Koine Greek (this would be the equivalent to Old English so similar but not the same to modern Greek). I strongly recommend Elementary Greek from Open Texture. Very straight forward and easy to teach yourself. If he wants to turn it into credits you must remember these were written for all ages so Book 1 and about half of book 2 would equal 1 credit.

I have the program downloaded on my desktop and laptop and save the files to drop box. It automatically saves it on the computer I am working on and the other computer.