I understand your predicament. We are Americans living in the UK, but we've only been here a year and have always home educated. I'm gearing my dc's studies according to what the US colleges require for US residents, mostly because that is of what I am familiar. I can't seem to wrap my head around the UK school system. My two oldest are fairly certain they want to attend college in the US anyway (especially my dd who's considering majoring in American Government). If we're here longer than four or five years, I may do things differently with my younger two dc. Right now, this whole high school thing terrifies me enough as it is.

Until this year my dc have been on a swim team each year. My oldest ds took karate for several years until he got his black belt. At that point he decided to stop. This year my dc are taking tennis lessons, but they aren't really enjoying it, so we'll probably only do that for the fall. As a family, we take a lot of walks and do a lot of biking.

Would Bauer's History of the Medieval World be too intense for this age? TIA!

My 5yo does it four days a week, but that's because she loves it. I try to get her to do something else for handwriting/drawing on Fridays. The funny thing is she actually enjoys it for the copy work, not the drawing. In fact, she insists on doing her own thing for the drawing and will only use the DWN instructions if she gets really stuck. That's only happened once. Because my dd loves it so much, this is her daily copy work. Otherwise, I'd probably only schedule it once or twice a week.

I just keep a record of books my dc have read that year (title, author, genre and/or subject) and a few samples of work from each subject (anywhere from 3-10, depending on the subject). So I just keep a file folder for each child handy and add a piece of work to it every now and then. At the end of the year I buy one of those thin project/report folders, the kind with the page protectors in them. I write the name of the child, grade, and year on the front cover with a sharpie, put the book list in the first page protector and the samples of work in the rest. That's it. It doesn't take a lot of work and takes very little space to save. As for the book list, I type it into a spreadsheet and then print it out at the end of the year. I have a designated spot for my dc to put any books they have completed (I use a basket, but anything will work) and then just empty it and record the books every couple of weeks or so. HTH!

Math: Saxon 8/7 Science: Apologia Physical English: LLfLoTR, Abra-Vocabra, WWS, not sure about grammar History: Beautiful Feet Middle Ages French: private tutor PE: swimming or tennis

Thanks everyone! I will take a look at these. I forgot to mention that I would like to use something worthy of high school credit. But I suppose that's assumed. :001_smile:

:bigear:

My dd will be a 9th grader next year and has expressed an interest in learning Latin. Her written and spoken grammar is good, but she is not strong in knowing grammar terms and has had little diagramming. What Latin program would you recommend for a student like this? Also, she has just started and will continue to take French lessons with a private tutor (native speaker), but they only concentrate on speaking/understanding French. They are not doing doing a lot of grammar with it. TIA!

Sounds like WWE 1 and FLL 3 are where we should start. We can probably get through WWE 1 and 2 in one year. Thanks!

:bigear:

My dyslexic 9yo is finally coming along nicely with reading (slow, but sure), and he enjoys it. PTL! Now I need to concentrate on writing and grammar. The only writing he has done so far is short copywork from literature such as Aesop's Fables and Paddle to the Sea. Should I start WWE in book 1 or book 2? If we were still in the US he would be considered about to enter fourth grade, if that makes a difference. Also, we just started using the old Easy Grammar Daily Guided Teaching and Review for 2/3 grades (the pink book). It's gentle, easy to use, and I already had it. I really like it, but I'm not sure I want to continue with Easy Grammar. Maybe I should switch now. Which level of FLL could I start with? Do I have to go back to book 1 or would book 3 review enough that I could start there? TIA!

:lurk5:

I would have to say "other" as well. Math and Reading get done, if nothing else.

We had a very out of the norm school year with dh working from home for most of the first half of the year and a major move the second half of the year. But it's not been too bad. Here are the successes...... 1) LOTS of reading. Because of our hectic year, the content subjects were mostly done by reading independently. 2) Despite my 9yo's dyslexia and extremely slow reading, he has developed enjoyment for reading. I am really thankful for this! 3) Reading aloud The Hobbit. None of us had read it before. We all LOVED it! The kids were always begging me to read just a little bit longer. 4) DS12 has come to, well let's say "appreciate", math more. All my kids loath math, but he's the one who has been brought to tears by it the most. He's doing Saxon, after trying it once before and hating it. This year he actually told me he liked his Saxon math book. 5) Moving to London! We have taken some incredible field trips and are so excited to study British history more in depth this summer.

:iagree: The most I had my dc do for science in the younger grades was read a few books now and then: Let's Read and Find Out Series, Christian Liberty Press Nature Readers, etc. I also got a sturdy, but not too expensive microscope and a few fun experiment kits and things like Snap Circuits. I just let my dc use the stuff when the interest hit them. I never directed any of it or even helped. When I had my oldest two dc tested for the first time, at grades 5 and 6, they both tested well over grade level in science. In fact, my ds' highest score was in science and it was several grade levels ahead. Now, I have to say, we didn't plan to be that lax with science. I, too, am not a science person. My dh volunteered to teach science for me, but after only a week or two it got left by the wayside. My dh likes to joke that it was HIS unschooling method of doing science that worked so well. :lol: I'm following the same "method" with my younger two. Science will be interest-led and nothing formal until 7th or 8th grade.

Ooh! Thanks for the tip about the church lectures. And, yes, dh is reading Our Island Story aloud right now. I've compiled a list of biographies for dd to read in chronological order, but I'd still like a spine to pull it all together.

Hi, Megan! Yes, we've been taking in a lot of the London museums already. I'm really excited to learn more about the history right along side my daughter! It's nice to have fellow UK-living Americans here on the board!

I will have my first high schooler this fall and am trying to map out our plans. We just moved to the UK a few months ago and will be here a minimum of two years, after which, we will either move elsewhere in Europe or go back to the States. Regardless of where we are living in four years, my daughter feels that she will want to go to college in the US, so we are trying to gear her curriculum towards what a US college would want to see. However, since we are new to the UK, my dd wants to delve deeply into British history for the next year. Do you think this will look ok on a high school transcript? I thought perhaps she should do European history, but she much prefers to narrow her scope and go deeper than wider. Right now we are thinking she will do British history for 9th, 20th century world for 10th, US history for 11th and then either US government and economics for 12th or ancient history in 12th and do the US government/economics along with the US history in 11th. Does this sound ok? I'm just not sure how important it is for us to follow a more traditional scope for history in high school. I'm thinking as long as we have four social studies credits with one being in American history we should be good, right? FWIW, my dd has no idea at this point what she wants to major in in college, but she's leaning towards something in business or economics (possibly international economics). She's also mentioned government. TIA!

:lurk5:

:lurk5:

Still unsure, but this is what I'm thinking...... Math: Lial's Introductory Algebra Science: Apologia Physical Science English: Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings Easy Grammar Plus essays from history topics History: something for British or European history with added biographies Art: European Art (maybe a course from The Great Classics) Music: guitar Foreign Language: Rosetta Stone German

Thank you!

If I'm going to do this orally with my dc, I only need the TM, correct?

Any other suggestions?