I answered in your other thread, with a link to the file from Apologia saying the pre-req's for each course. 7th grade math is needed before Physical, and yes, there's quite a bit of math in Apologia's Chemistry course. It's challenging. Anyway, I posted a lot more ideas in your other thread--enjoy your science-loving student, that's awesome!

It's really hard at this point to plan how the high school sciences are going to go. Your plan is fine as far as order, but I think you'll have to play it year by year with regard to math skills. It's going to be VERY important, especially in chemistry and physics (and even physical science--a student should have completed 7th grade math before starting it). Here's a PDF file that shows the math pre-requisites for each. With that in mind--you would be pushing it to do Physical in 7th for a student who is behind in math right now--she'd need to be ahead in math for this to work. For a child who loves science, I'd go broader rather than pushing ahead. Go through both Anatomy and Zoology if she's interested in both. Let your student explore all kinds of science books at the library if buying something else isn't in the budget. Let your student pursue interest-led studies, various projects and experiments, participate in science fairs and so on (a good science-fair project can easily take up 3-4 months of your science year and the student can learn so much). I used to give my science lover these parameters in upper elementary: Spend 30 minutes per day (as a minimum--she could do more on her time if she wanted) on science. She could read, do an experiment, go outside to nature journal, copy a diagram or illustration into her notebook, journal about her reading or experiments, etc... For experiments, I asked her to find her own materials, or to write down items needed on a list we kept on the fridge (with the understanding that we'd get the items within reason, likely sometime in the next week). In junior high we upped that to 45 minutes to an hour to get ready for high school. She really enjoyed the freedom to explore various topics and it prepared her well for text-book studies in high school. Doing biology-chemistry-physics in high school still gives you time to do at least one advanced science in a favorite area (and only about 20% of high schoolers take physics, so that's already something more advanced). My dd did chem. last year & physics this year, and some of the math was pretty challenging--and she likes math. (She'll be doing Advanced bio next year as biology is her favorite--she did 3 of her 6 science fair projects on biology related topics--one she did was a take-off from an analogy in the Apologia Anatomy book about cells being like a city--she made a whole cell city out of clay! I put a picture of one of the pieces on my blog here). Have fun with it! Science is such a great area for a student who loves it to explore.

Great Expectations to my teen :-).

I didn't find the TM's all that helpful, and didn't use them until it took less time for me to get up and go get the manual than to check my kids' work by doing the math in my head. Typically when I had questions, the TM didn't answer or address my questions. The things my kids struggled with didn't have instruction in the TM. The TM instruction often didn't really go directly with the workbook exercises. It had good added stuff--but I just didn't find it very useful/helpful for using the workbook lessons. There are times when a concept will come up in the TM before it comes up in the workbook (someone above mentioned skip-counting, and this is the most obvious example--in the TM, they worked on skip counting with a number for several days before it came up in the workbook--so if you are only using the workbooks, those sections can be a shock/surprise for the student. We often did those sections together until they were ready to take off with it on their own). Otherwise though, yes, I just gave my kids instructions and worked a few sample problems with them and then let them work. I also usually worked the first problem of a new concept right in their book for each page. My visual learner appreciated having an example to look at as he did his work. One other adjustment--my kids did struggle a bit with addition with carrying and subtraction with borrowing--and we used base 10 blocks for several days to solidify those concepts. Also, instead of flash cards, we used a Math Shark to practice math facts. HTH some!

A lot of times, when people talk about a child's learning style, they may mean "visual, auditory, or kinesthetic." However, there's a lot of evidence out there that finding ways to incorporate multiple learning styles helps with retention even more than focusing on your child's preferred mode. Ultimately, with a bright child who memorizes things fairly easily, it's probably not going to make a lot of difference. As you work with him though, these learning styles will come to light more. A lot of young children haven't expressed one particular preference yet either--so, nothing to beat yourself up over at all! And then, there are other models--there's one that has 7 or so different styles. You might like Cynthia Tobias' book, The Way They Learn. Excellent resource. Overall, I would encourage you that instead of thinking you need to figure all this out now, just become a student of your child. Note things that work well and things that don't, and allow yourself the freedom to learn as you go. Also, allow yourself the freedom to fail and make mistakes. You won't be the perfect homeschooler (no one is!), so that's not your goal. Choose excellent (not perfect) resources, and see how they work. If they bomb, examine the pros and cons of that curriculum as they relate to your family, and then try something else the next year. You'll likely hit on something good fairly soon, but don't be dismayed if it takes a year or two--that's normal and okay. Consider it teacher education--you are learning what works and what doesn't for your teaching style and your child's learning style. FWIW, I think finding something that works well for your teaching style is AS important--and sometimes MORE important--than your child's learning style. If it's easy and intuitive for you to use with the way that you think, you'll be freed up to adapt things to your child's needs (adding in more hands-on, more visual or auditory, adding in more examples or more review, moving faster or slower, and so on). If it doesn't work well for you, it's probably not going to be a good fit for your family overall. Most of all, have fun, and enjoy your little one!

I don't think programs are always distinctly one or the other--a lot of mastery-based programs incorporate ongoing review. I think sometimes it's easier to look at other factors that are important to you and your child, rather than focus on just this. I also think it sometimes takes a few tries to find the right math program. I'd start with one and see how it works--for me, that was the best way to see what my child needed.

I never kept track until high school--I didn't really need the information for anything before then. In high school, I simply kept a list in MS Word each year.

I thought that maybe I used either, but it seems I only use the right! However, I mouse with either hand :-).

I agree that money is likely a primary reason. A "partial" scholarship doesn't make a school affordable, and schools do NOT make up the difference between what they can offer and your EFC. (And, as people can attest on here, the government's idea of your EFC and your idea may be completely different things as well.) I also wouldn't assume that students won't be working hard at a state school or a CC, or that because a school isn't a "top" school, that means it will be easier than high school. A lot depends on the particular classes and instructors. (I went from a very highly ranked high school w/AP classes to a state university, and I wouldn't in any way say that college was easier than high school.)

I'm proud of you for not thinking "it's too late" and doing this now! It's a tough decision, I know. Hope you get helpful results!

Looks like your child is young, so you have time :-). I built up gradually over the years. Each year, we used literature based curriculum and added to our library. I kept anything I felt I would want to re-read or that a child might want to re-read. Books that feel like friends, books that make you think, books with beautiful illustrations. If it was a rainy day and you didn't feel like going out to the library, what would you want to cozy up on the couch with to read to your child? Or what might your child like to take to the reading nook? What books do you wish would never end? These are the kind I try to keep. In addition to classics, I'd say that many award-winners are also worth keeping. Have fun!

My kids each had a tote, and they put all of their books etc... in it each day for me to check. They had to turn it in by the table where I keep my binder and teacher box (with guides, answer keys etc...) I simply went through the stack and checked things. Pretty easy-peasy. If I was busy, I would have them check their own work, but I usually preferred to discuss it with them. Since I don't really lecture like a classroom teacher would, I considered going over the work verbally to be part of my teaching style. It helped me see where they had gaps in understanding that I could help to fill in.

Once I have the materials in hand, I go through each subject are and decide a basic, overall plan for the year. For a subject like math, this is fairly simple: see how many lessons there are and how many we need to accomplish each week to finish the course in a year. Usually I come up with a strategy to work in some "wiggle room" for concepts we need to spend extra days on, so that we don't end up feeling pressured to "hurry up." For a subject like Literature Read-alouds, I would look through each book, assess about how long I thought it would take me to read it aloud (so many pages or chapters each day), and then assign it a number of days/weeks for reading. Then I decided the order of the books. If they related to the history we were studying, I put them in time-order. If we had some "fun" books to mix in, I tried to put a fun book after a harder or meatier book. If I had a Christmas book, I tried to guess about when Christmas would come in the list--and so on. I put the approximate week that I thought we would start each book, so that I had a rough idea as I went through the year, whether we were ahead or behind of what I expected. I also put some books on an "optional" list. These books were ones that I added in if we got ahead of schedule or for summer reading. I asterisked books in my one-page list that were most important, "don't skip" types of books--if we needed to cut something, I didn't want to cut something that was very important to me. As I went through my year, I could check off what we read and cross out any we ended up not having time for. I came up with a one-page (or less) "strategy" for each subject, and put it in my Teacher Binder. I did not take the time to write out daily lesson plans--I just worked off of my yearly plan. If you are wondering about creating a daily routine, here is a blog post on that. HTH some!

My heartburn etc... went away after I started on the No-S diet. I wasn't even expecting that as a side-effect, but I guess my system was just really over-taxed with the way I was eating previously. I like that No-S is so do-able and sustainable too.

Only 2 kids, but here's mine--maybe something will spark some ideas!

I think this right here is your answer. If he's blasé about it, he's probably not going to make lasting social connections either--how can he readily identify shared interests with kids who are involved in something that doesn't really inspire him? There are lots of ways to help kids interact socially besides sports--I would look for things he is interested in and find other opportunities. Ask him what he's interested in doing. It actually seems like he's been in a lot of things--maybe he is kind of ready for a break from all the driving & activity too. Some people enjoy a less busy pace in life, and there's nothing wrong with that.

It's always hard to know how to proceed when we have a student that struggles. Don't beat yourself up over it or second guess at this point--just decide what's best moving forward. I'd probably do some things differently at certain stages, but all in all, they learn and grow sometimes because of us and what we use, sometimes despite us and what we use! Just keep working. He'll get there. LOL! Yes, effective spellers tend to use a variety of skills. If they ignored phonics and rules, spelling would be reduced to memorizing characters in order--can you imagine memorizing 5,000-10,000 phone numbers? That would be a pretty miserable task (though I did know a girl who compulsively memorized people's license plate numbers and was pretty amazing! She knew at least several hundred people's plates.) Good spellers tend to use a combination of effective strategies--phonics, rules-based, visual, and morphemic. Also, AAS can be done in 15-20 minutes per day, and includes strategies to help students develop writing stamina as they get into the upper levels--so it is possible to do an OG spelling program without it taking over the day. When it's the right fit for the student and family, it can be a huge benefit.

Christian/Secular is not a criteria for me for choosing a math program, so I did find that a very odd way to start the quiz.

I think I'd look again at what makes you not get around to read-alouds. Sonlight Core A is almost all read-alouds (you read the history, literature, and Bible aloud). We liked that core a lot, but I didn't really have trouble with read-alouds. One thing that helped me, though, was to break it up. I didn't like doing the lit. read-alouds during the day--it made school seem "long" to my kids and they didn't enjoy everything as much. So, I read just history and Bible during the school day, and did the lit. read-alouds at night. Then they just became part of our bedtime routine. I also liked a "slower start" to our day, so for me, snuggling on the couch to read Bible and history before digging into a lot of hands on stuff worked well. Maybe experiment with times when you do RA's, to see if that makes a difference in your motivation to do them? We used Sonlight (or at least parts of Sonlight) all the way through, and really enjoy their lit. selections, so I don't think you can go wrong with that. BUT...if you think you're less likely to get to all the books, consider alternate plans: 1, take 2 years to do a core (I did this a few times and liked mixing in other activities) 2, just get some read-alouds, set a daily time for those that you can stick to, and plan on more art or something else. HTH some!

Actually, I was going to suggest that she make her own. This could be a fun project--help her find some magazine pictures she can cut out and glue on (or find pictures online). I think Dianne Craft has phonogram cards with pictures on them--they wouldn't be just vowels though. AAR Pre-reading has alphabet cards with detailed line-drawings--but you'd have to order them as part of a set--there are rhyming picture cards and other cards that are used with that program (you can get just the cards for $8 by calling the company direct--otherwise they are part of the kit that comes with Pre-reading, and I'm sure that's more than you'd want to spend). You may be able to google and download something.

No, there are many more words on the fluency pages, the 10 are usually more high frequency words.

Here's a picture. Different grips help different kids--it IS hard to know! That's how we ended up with just the slightly textured ones that make the pencil fatter (and the other options I mentioned), but I did think this one was interesting.

In AAR, there are about 10 cards per lesson, so you can end up with a lot of cards. Each day, you rotate through the stack for about 2-3 minutes of practice--so you don't need to review all of them daily, but over time the child builds up fluency.

I would actually do LESS writing with her for handwriting practice. Have her work on one letter at a time--have her write that letter 3-5 times, focusing on forming the letter in the correct way. Let her put a star or sticker above the letter that she thinks she did the best. (Have her tell you why she thinks it's best. If you think another one is best, you could say, "That one is good! I also like the way you made a nice straight line on this one..." pointing to one that you like.) Getting her to slow down, make just a few letters, and identify the one she thinks was best will help her pay more careful attention to formation and will do much more for her writing ability at this stage than lots of copying/writing. Incorporate kinesthetic practice, such as writing with a finger in sand, cornmeal, whipped cream, on carpet squares or sandpaper, in snow, etc... This will reinforce the neurological connections needed for handwriting, and will make the motions more memorable. Make sure to incorporate lots of large-muscle play in her day--running, jumping, climbing, swinging...anything that strengthens core muscles and gross motor muscles. These are incredibly important to handwriting. (Many people think of handwriting as a fine motor activity, but it's the gross motors--the trunk muscles that hold the body up so kids don't lean on their arms as they write, the shoulder and arm muscles that control arm movements etc... that are really important). Have fun and enjoy your daughter! Handwriting will come in time!

You might try fatter pencils (like the Ticonderoga firsts or a mechanical pencil that is bigger around) or pens with built-in grips, or get those round grips that simply make the pencil grip area larger (sometimes I still like those myself). Kids who have grips like this are often looking for more neurological feedback from the fingertips, and a larger pencil. Have you tried the "egg" grips? They're kind of like a big round ball or egg-shape.