My ds 13 is also doing Rainbow Science this year, and he has also had trouble coming up with answers to some of the questions. What we do is answer the questions together like a discussion, then he writes down the answers on his own afterwards. I do use the TM to help with some of the answers while we are discussing, and I will even read some of them out to him. Basically, I am having write the answers in his own words (as much as he can remember) after we have talked about it.

When I did Professor B with my son, he preferred that I taught him from the TM rather than the CD.

My ds (13) will be finishing up CLE Math 7 this year, and he is doing okay with it. I was wondering if it's possible to to go Algebra 1 next, or if he should really do pre-algebra first? I am considering an online course like Derek Owens or Mr. D Math or Jann's math class. I had him watch some samples of Mr. D and Derek Owens prealgebra lessons, and he found that he already knew a lot of the material (of the samples he watched), and also found that the way they explained how to do something (such as finding percent of a number) made it more complicated than necessary. Thanks.

This is great, especially with our election coming up this fall! Thanks!

If you pay it all before August 31st, you get $250 off, so then it would be $1000 for the year. That's still expensive, but it might help.

I don't know anything about Writers in Residence. I was just looking at their online courses. They have several AP courses in high school, and their middle school courses lead students to take the AP courses. The only teacher there that I have heard about is Lili Serbicki, and I've read that she is a terrific teacher. I've emailed her with questions, and she replies very promptly. Another lit/writing course for middle school is Integritas Academy's Intro to Persuasive Writing Through Literature. It's expensive, but I have read only good things about Cindy Lange (the teacher for this course). She is also easy to contact.

Check out debrabell.com. My son will be taking the Middle School essay writing (a 7 week course) starting in May. They also have year long courses.

We are using Guitar for the Small Fry. There are three books in the series, and we are on the second one now. My ds12 is learning on his own with some help from me, and I don't know how to play guitar, but I can play some piano. Ds also takes piano lessons with a teacher.

Thank you for the suggestions, HollyDay. Thank you, merylvdm. Your unit studies look great! Does it matter which one we do first for WWII? Too bad I missed your sale 🙂.

Thanks, everyone for your suggestions! I'm glad that I have the opportunity to start planning now. I've never come up with our own thing to do before, so it'll be a learning experience for me. I can see that we'll be doing a lot of reading next year, and watching some videos. Other than having ds write reports and narrate, what are some fun and interesting things we could do with these resources, and ways to document his learning?

Wow, Kareni, That's a huge list. I'll have fun going through all of those books to see what I would like to use with ds next year. He does not love reading, so I will have to try and find books that will interest him, or do some as read alouds.

Thank you, FairProspects, Those are great ideas, and I will look up LoriD's posts. I loved The Devil's Arithmetic! Did you know there is a movie based on the book? But of course, the book is way better.

I am using MFW Creation to the Greeks this year with ds 7th grade. He has already told me that next year for 8th grade, he would like to learn about WWII, so I thought that I could put together some resources for WWI and WWII, but focus on WWII since that is what he is interested in (and my older ds19 said that we can't really study WWII without learning about WWI first). What are some books and other resources that you would recommend for a whole year's study on WWII (or most of the year, as long as ds doesn't get bored)? Thanks so much!

I saw the post about WWII and the Holocaust for middle school. Does anyone have recommendations for WWI? Thanks!

I read The Hobbit for the first time when I was in high school, and I loved it. Then I read it to my two older boys when they were in grades 1 and 3 (approximately), and all they remember are the pictures (I had used an illustrated edition - the same one I read in high school). I think it's okay to wait or use an audiobook. I loved the Prydain Chronicles when I was in grade 6, and I gave the first one to my son to read last year when he was in grade 6, and he didn't really understand it, so wasn't enjoying it. I ended up reading it aloud to him, and I had to explain some of the language to him, and he enjoyed it more. I didn't realize that some of the language was so rich. But I was an avid reader when I was a kid, and my son doesn't like to read.