Bumping for the weekday crowd. I ordered a cheap textbook and the first workbook, but I'm still interested in hearing about anyone's experience using Destinos. We're excited to add it in.

Ok, after a few blissful quiet hours I have a reading stack going: Who's in Charge? Free Will and the Science of the Brain - Michael Gazzaniga. Goes with my free will/gnosticism theme The Impact of the Gene - Colin Tudge - potential read-aloud with Shannon when we do genetics. I'm really liking it so far Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth - James Lovelock. I read this years ago, but wanted to revisit it in thinking about good reads for Earth System Science/Enviro Science studies. I'm working through a list of seminal yet readable books For fiction - the jury is still out. I started to re-read Speaker for the Dead, because Shannon really wants to read the sequels to Ender's Game. I'm going to have to veto this one for now, though, and steer her toward the Ender's Shadow series. I remember now how profoundly this book affected me, and upset me, and I am not up for reading it again right now, and I think it is too adult of a book for her. So back to my teetering fiction stack to try and find something else.

Right. I started to say in my earlier post that "following a different path" would still include some method of verifying home-based learning, if the student is planning on applying to college. But I got distracted and just hit Post.

Sigh. I may have to skip another meeting. I have completely struck out with their selections this year - My two least favorite books of the year, Amsterdam and The Sense of an Ending, were book group selections. All right, I just finished a big work project, Shannon is off at a horse show, and dh and Morgan went to the beach. I'm going to pour a tall glass of iced tea, grab a stack of books, and read for awhile!!!

The Understanding Geometry book Kiana mentioned above is one thing we've used, along with the Intro to Geometry class at EdX (or the exercises on Schoolyourself.org's website). For statistics, we did a Spectrum workbook - Data Analysis & Probability. It was ok. We also used Khan for this. http://www.amazon.com/Data-Analysis-Probability-Grades-Spectrum/dp/0769663168/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443385526&sr=8-1&keywords=spectrum+statistics

I just put Slaughterhouse-Five on hold too. My book group is reading A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh next. Somebody say something good about it? I'm not that excited, the only EW I've read is Vile Bodies which I thoroughly disliked.

Yes, well said. That is what I meant to convey in my message, but I wrote it at 5:30 am so it might not have made sense! JA covers the algebra part very well, but does not cover arithmetic review, geometry, or statistics. So using something that covers those things rather than Keys to Algebra would allow you to construct a full PreA class without too much repetition.

Hmm, I don't know where to go next. I planned to read Slaughterhouse Five as my banned book, and a bunch of Dracula spin-offs for my spooky read, but I've now got a stack of gnostic/postmodern/alien encounter books on my TBR stacks. I suppose any of them count as spooky! Books Read in September: 140. The Search for the Red Dragon - James Owen 139. Under the Skin - Michel Faber 138. The Man in the Brown Suit - Agatha Christie 137. Ella Enchanted - Gale Carson Levine 136. Exellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life - William Deresiewicz 135. The Soul of the Marionette: A Short Inquiry into Human Freedom - John Gray 134. Here, There Be Dragons - James Owen 133. Invasion of the Body Snatchers - Jack Finney 132. Memoirs of a Porcupine - Alain Mabanckou 131. Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded - Simon Winchester 130. Itch: The Explosive Adventures of an Element Hunter - Simon Mayo 129. The Castle in Transylvania - Jules Verne 128. Andrew's Brain - E. L. Doctorow 127. The Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper

Looking for high school electives leading to law enforcement Hmm, well, ok. Wine Tasting? Home-Made Explosive Devices? Engineering Bio-Weapons in your Kitchen? Creative Texting While Driving? I usually try and direct my students away from activities and electives that lead to law enforcement, but to each her own.

The first book, JA, is Pre Algebra, and the 2nd two are Algebra 1. Yes, we'll do Geometry after finishing the Algebra books. Doing JA and then Jacobs was my original plan, so I think it should work out fine! ;) It's just that dd liked the Arbor books much better, so asked if she could use them instead. Given how much I'd spent on math books we won't use (I'm looking at you, AoPS :toetap05: ) I could hardly say no to getting her math books she was actually asking for! There is a lot of similarity between Jacobs and the Arbor books - they are based on a combination of Elementary Algebra and Math, a Human Endeavor - but the Arbor books feel much more personal, and conversational. Dd feels like Linus is right there talking to her, and that she's getting to know him. She enjoys his quirky sense of humor, his literary allusions in the word problems, and his obsession with weasels. YMMV. :D

I thought it was a nice assessment of the AP situation, which as WMA says has been discussed here before, many times. I don't think it offers much resolution to those of us trying to decide whether to go the AP route. It criticizes all the things I have troubles with, yet the author says she is glad she took 9 APs. I'm starting to think it's really all about that "aiming for a top/elite college" thing. If you are, there are strategies for that. which most likely will include APs. If you aren't, then you can follow a different path. Or, there are many different paths, and different destinations.

OP, I just want to applaud you for doing the right thing and telling people. Dd got lice a few years ago from a kid whose mom sent her child to a slumber party without telling anyone that she was infested. DD proceeded to spread it to all of us and to friends out of town where we were houseguests. I had to make some uncomfortable phone calls after we discovered the lice (after we were home). Come to find out the mom of the originally infected child had known her kid had lice and just not bothered to tell anyone else or take any precautions. I thought that was pretty appalling, but in my calls letting people know we had inadvertently exposed them, I was told over and over that the other families had all had lice before, often several times, but that no one else had ever had the courtesy to call and tell them about the exposure. I was shocked to realize both how common it is with ps kids, and how thoughtless many parents are about exposing others/not communicating the risk to them. Geez, my head is itching just writing this post! Anyway, best wishes on getting rid of the lice. And good for you for being honest with your guests and letting them make the choice for themselves.

I don't know Keys To Algebra so I can't speak to that. It's hard to say what constitutes a complete PreA - it depends on what you are looking for. PreA often includes some geometry and statistics, and JA doesn't cover those at all, it is really focused on working with variables. So it also doesn't include the extensive arithmetic review you often get in a PreA program. You would want to be sure that your child is very solid on all operations, an particularly on fractions, without variables before starting JA. The only thing JA introduces from scratch is integers, for everything else you are working with variables from the start. JA has 6 chapters. Depending on how well prepared the student is, it could take as little as 8-10 weeks. Or you might spread it out, reviewing the operations using another program before using the chapter in JA with variables - we did this, combining the old MM6 with JA. We also added other resources for Geometry and Statistics. My dd really loved JA, and is about to finish Crocodiles & Coconuts and has Chuckles all lined up to do next. I had her try Jacobs between JA & C&C, but she liked the Arbor math books much better and asked to continue with them. It seems to be extremely solid. You will need to work through at least the first chapter with your child - most kids of this age are not really able to discipline themselves to really understand the whole explanation of deductive and inductive reasoning and how it applies to math and science on their own. After the first couple of chapters, though, dd has worked through this program totally independently. Its only weakness as far as we can see is that there are a ton of errors in the answer books, and given now many errors there are, the price for the answer books is ridiculously high. I plan to do outside assessment after dd finishes all three books. I predict that she will need more work with word problems, but that otherwise her skills will be very strong.

I wanted something for a comprehensive grammar review and found what I think is perfect: http://www.amazon.com/Best-Grammar-Workbook-Ever-Punctuation/dp/0991167406/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1443363964&sr=1-1&keywords=the+best+grammar+workbook+ever It has a pretest at the beginning so you can see what you know. I'm having my dd work through the whole thing, even though the early lessons will be review, but you could easily skip to later to start based on the pre-test. It's well written, to the student, can be used independently, and is ideal for somebody who has used something like MCT, where they may have gotten a lot of depth on certain topics but essentially no coverage of other topics, like punctuation. It's great, dd and I both really like it and it seems like a perfect final, comprehensive run through grammar before high school.

It's not my favorite genre, so I'm probably not going to be a lot of help, other than to say I've read (or at least tried to read) several of those, in my youth, and while I am sure your son will get more out of them than I did, I don't think there is anything inappropriate in them, given his wide-ranging reading. What about adding in some short stories to explore some of these themes without committing to a huge novel? I'm thinking of Donald Bartelme & Jorge Luis Borges for example. Do you think he'd like 2666 by Roberto Bolano? That's been on my TR list for awhile. When I scan through most "essential postmodern lists" I get a list of books I have read and not gotten much out of, tried and failed to read, or keep meaning to read but not gotten around to yet. Like I said, I'm no help! I do really like Philip K Dick, though, and I remember enjoying both Foucault's Pendulum and The Name of the Rose by Eco

That was our experience with Easy Spanish Step by Step. I've revamped our Spanish plans and I'm now going to use it as a grammar supplement to other resources rather than the primary text. It's excellent, but it's relentless, and trying to work through it at what seemed to me like a reasonable pace was sucking all the joy out of learning Spanish. But your post helps me see that BtB is a similar approach, rather than an alternative, so I appreciate it.

I think I might appreciate the movie, after having watched a more extensive analysis of it (with spoilers) but it just sounds like a totally different work, with totally different themes - only very loosely based on the book, but really missing the book's point entirely. And of course it turns the girl into a victim, which she wasn't in the book. Damn Hollywood. At least, she wasn't a victim in any straightforward way. She was exploited by her culture and thus felt no qualms about exploiting others. So she was not a victim in a personal sense, she was like anyone else - affected by her particular culture and social class. And her choices, or perceived lack thereof. The movie has her personally victimized, and it really sensationalizes a particular violent scene in the book and makes it central. I hate that. It's a hard book to talk about without giving too much away. But I thought about it all night. It has stuck with me in a way few books do and I keep mentally exploring different aspects of it. So haunting is a good descriptor.

I just finished a rather creepy read. Shannon and I have been reading books about alien/human contact, and I've been pre-reading various things I've stumbled on that quest. I picked up Under the Skin by Michel Faber. It's . . . allegory, I guess? Psycho meets Animal Farm? It was a strange and disturbing book, but I ultimately really appreciated it. I don't exactly recommend it or anything - it is very disturbing - but I am glad I read it. And my child is not getting anywhere near it!!!! ETA: I just watched the trailer of the movie version of this book . . . it doesn't seem remotely like the book.

yes, do post. That would be great. We are doing the Edx Intro to Spanish class right now, and it's a great addition - also free - it gives you practice listening to instruction and conversation in spanish and doing simple grammar and vocab exercises. We both find it helpful. It's kind of what made me recall Destinos and think it would work for us. I know my kids would enjoy following the story. I know I could use it alone and just use the grammar/workbooks we have, but it seems like it would be worthwhile to get a workbook to go along with it, if we're using it anyway.

We need to add some listening practice, and some interest, to our heavily grammar-based spanish studies. I remember using Destinos, and I think my dd would enjoy it. I know you can watch the videos online for free at Annenberg, and there are some online quizzes over vocab and grammar. That's all great. What I'm trying to figure out is if I need to get some supplemental printed materials - and if so, which? I'm kind of overwhelmed by all the offerings on Amazon - there is the first edition, the second edition, the alternative to the second edition, workbooks, textbooks, oh my! If you've used Destinos, what do you consider the indispensable components? Links would be incredibly helpful. I also see that for the workbooks, there is the regular college version, and the McDougal-Littell high school version. I'm guessing we'd need one of these but not both. Anyone used either? I'm learning toward just getting a workbook to go along, as this isn't the only thing we are doing for Spanish. But do we really need the textbook and the workbook? I'm so confused . . . TIA!

If a person wanted to use Destinos, what in your opinion are the indispensibles to go along with it? I see there are onlilne quizzes over grammar and vocab for each episode. And there are a plethora of resources on amazon! It's confusing. There is the first edition, the second edition, the alternate to the second edition . . . . Does one need the textbook and the workbook? What would you get to supplement the online videos?

10 points for you and for DH. I am impressed! Are you musicians?

I'd definitely be up for a re-read of The Turn of the Screw! On another topic - erudite word of the day: hemidemisemiquaver. 10 points if you know what it means without looking it up! 8 points if you get it after I tell you it was used in a Patrick O'Brien/Aubrey Maturin book. Jenn, I'm looking at you here! On a third topic - I finished The Man in the Brown Suit. Who else is reading it? I won't say anything till we're all done.

Hmm, I've been saving up some of the suggestions from earlier in the year - I think from Stacia? for Dracula spinoffs. Things like: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6420652-dracula-the-un-dead https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/417656.The_Stress_of_Her_Regard https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/72473.The_Dracula_Tape https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13616652-the-finno-ugrian-vampire There is also the Grim Reaper series from Christopher Moore. I've not read these, although I've enjoyed many of his other books: https://www.goodreads.com/series/136898-grim-reaper