I never knew the bolded. But...I'm curious about the word may here--a school "may" disclose information....sounds like they still don't "have to."

Legally speaking, parent 1 is correct. However, my kids know that if I'm paying, that means they must grant me access (and they have no issue with that).

Kidswrite Intermediate is a common placement for high school students who haven't done the BW classes before--maybe he just doesn't understand from the title of the class, that he's doing just fine? It's not "low" at all (I'd take that placement as an endorsement that he's doing just fine). From the BW website: If you have kids 14 and older, consider starting with Kidswrite Intermediate. Kidswrite Intermediate prepares students for the demands of academic writing in high school and beyond. As far as what my kids could do--one was able to write a research paper of a couple of pages fairly independently (we discussed revisions, I asked questions to help the student flesh out info or make things clearer), and the other struggled with writing a decent paragraph. Both were still working through AAS at that point. Don't worry where they're at--work with them at that point and build from there.

Maybe he'd like some of these review ideas (or ideas from the comments section). My youngest always liked drawing pictures too!

What's important is, do you like what you own? If you do, it doesn't matter what anyone else is using. But for 5th-8th grades, some of the things we used: Noeo Biology II Apologia Elementary series-- Astronomy, Botany, Anatomy Apologia General and Physical Science Supercharged Science Sonlight Science F the Tiner books My oldest preferred more of the text-book approach, and my youngest liked a more eclectic, self-directed approach (we chose a variety of materials together, and then she worked for 30-45 minutes per day but could read, journal, do experiments etc..., pretty much whatever she wanted for that time as long as she told me what she was up to a couple of times a week, and wrote something in her science notebook at least once a week. She is more science oriented and may go into a STEM field--she'll be a senior this year.) Anyway...see what appeals to you. The important thing for this age group is mainly to develop interest. I don't think it matters all that much what you cover.

LOL, I joined the chorus as well! Have you looked at Essentials in Writing by Matthew Stephens? I found that instruction very incremental.

I've only used Essentials in Writing for the older grades, not in elementary. But in elementary, I always liked alternating my focus each year so as not to over-extend myself. So I would say that you could certainly decide to just use EiW this year, and do a grammar focus next year, instead of trying to do both. Or, if you happen to finish EiW early, then work on some grammar specifically after that. I used Easy Grammar Plus, and didn't find it needed a lot of instruction time, but I usually did need to go over the instructions or help them with certain aspects--and then they could go do that page themselves. So, it's not solid one-on-one time, but maybe 5 minutes. HTH!

If you want to do something over the summer, I would work in more game-like review. Go to the library to get books to read, use some of the review card or fluency page review ideas: Reading Review Card ideas Fluency page ideas Free Activity Downloads for both reading and spelling Spelling Review Card ideas My kids definitely lost content over the summer. I had one forget how to write many letters between first and second grades, after having done them for 2 years! We spent 2 months reviewing. That was the last time I took a 10 week break. Usually we took a 6 week break after that. We still did some review when we started back, but usually just a couple of weeks. Breaks were important for all of us to recharge, even if it did mean some extra review. But if you are able to keep up with some skill areas without them or you feeling burnt out, go for it!

Timberdoodle has a fun program that my son really enjoyed. I forget what it's called--but check it out on their site. He'll learn a lot from it.

Bring the phonogram cards back out. My son struggled with these for awhile. One way to solve it is by coming up with a mini story. We’d pull down the AW and say “awwww….too bad….†He came up with something bad that happened to the AW tile — it got stepped on or something, for pretend. For the next week, every time we pulled down the tile or reviewed the flashcard, we both said “awwww….†very sadly. Then we linked the AU to the AW. That came easy, after the AW story was cemented in his brain. The OU phonogram also involved some violence. This was a boy — I’m sure you can relate. There was a fight, and the sounds went like this: “OWW!!! OH!!! OOOOO! uh.†The last sound (/uh/) was the sound of getting hit in the gut. I don’t know if this will translate well in writing. :) For tricky phonograms, do whatever it takes. Be theatrical. Make up a funny story involving the phonogram. Let the child improve upon it and make it his own. Make sure he is saying the sounds correctly and writing the correct sound from the red phonogram cards. When he's really solid on the phonogram and sound cards, then show him the word card again, and have him read it and note which sound the word "flower" uses. Then have him practice spelling it again. Keep the word card in daily review until he spells it correctly several times. (I like to not move cards to "mastered" until my kids get it right on a Monday--if they remember over the weekend, they are more likely to remember long term.) Then if he still writes "flawer," in a dictation or somewhere else, have him try to sound out *exactly* what he wrote. If he says "flower," then say, "actually this says flaw-er. What would make it say flower?" If need be, stretch out the sounds and show him that he has the sad /awww/ sound in there instead of the ouchy /ow/ sound. Anytime he misses words in dictation and can't easily correct them just by re-reading (without prompting/questions from you), put the words and any related phonogram/sound/key cards back in daily review. He'll get there!

Enough to hold your interest and theirs! Not so much you can't eat :-).

Hi! You sound like me about 16 years ago. I too needed to "map things out" to get that "big picture" in my mind, even though I knew the details could change (and boy did they!) So, as long as you hold onto any kind of long-term plan very lightly, it can help you get through this stage of "can I really do this." (And if I could just encourage you--you can! I wasn't so sure at some stages, and some stages downright intimidated me--but God walked with us every step of the way, and he will walk with you through this journey too.) My oldest just finished his first year in college, and my youngest is a senior this year--we've homeschooled all the way through. It's challenging at times, but such a blessing too. The journey is like that old adage about eating an elephant though--do it one bite at a time! We really enjoyed Mystery of History (and also Sonlight--I often combined those two resources. You can see some of my posts on what we did in the younger and older years on my blog under history.) Anyway, it would work out fine to use MOH 1 and move into SOTW for the youngers, and then go through MOH again when they are older. (That's similar to what we did--we used MOH 1 and 2, and finished with CHOW, combined with Sonlight for the younger years, then did some US history and Geography with Sonlight Cores D-F, then back to MOH combined with some upper SL cores, plus SL 100 for a high school US history). We used Notgrass for government, and it was a regular class. We did two complete world history cycles, and 2 cycles through US history. My oldest did a semester of government, and a semester of Japanese history and culture in high school after he finished his World History cycle (started at an odd time) and US history. My youngest finished world history in 10th grade, has her year of US history in, and will do government in 12th grade. We didn't do economics in high school, but my kids used Whatever Happened to Penny Candy when they did Sonlight Core F, and then they also both did personal finance courses. If you like Rod and Staff--honestly, go with it for awhile. Likely after a few years, you'll want to switch anyway, and it's great for grammar. There are always people who say something is or isn't good enough--opinions vary so widely. If you like the look of something, trust that and try it out. Don't be afraid to make mistakes--you can't have the freedom to succeed unless you give yourself the freedom to fail too. And most of your choices will be successes. We liked Essentials in Writing by Matthew Stephens for composition. We didn't find that until my oldest was 9th. He struggled greatly in many LA areas, and no, he was not writing a good solid essay by high school. Over the course of time he did learn though. I like the short, incremental lessons in this program. I haven't used it in the elementary levels though--it seems some like it, and some think it needs more grammar. (Only levels 1-6 include grammar. I've used levels 7-11, and will use 12 next year). Kids all develop at different rates. Some will be ahead--or even way ahead. Some will be behind--or even way behind. Just keep working with them and encourage them at their level. You'll know as you're going along what you need, and you can look for good resources to meet their needs along the way. BTW, by the time your kids are in high school, all new curriculum may be out! Just another reason to hold plans lightly. My oldest did 4 years of history but 3 years of science in high school--and my dd will do the opposite. They have different strengths and interests than I thought they might when they were little--and we tailored things to their interests whenever possible (while still meeting a solid college-prep course of classes.) As for analyzing literature--I really think I worried about this way more than was necessary or worthwhile. Reading and discussing books definitely works for the K-8 group (you might like a book called Deconstructing Penguins to help you with discussions). In high school, I never found a course I "loved" for literary analysis, though I tried a few. The thing I liked best was actually to download free Glencoe guides on an occasional book--and to continue our habit of discussing books as we always had. So, we did dig deeper into some books, but we also just continued to enjoy quality literature together. I think the latter is far more important as a life-long habit. (And I was an English major in college!) Anyway...enjoy your kids and enjoy learning together, and walk this journey one step at a time.

I'm totally sure you're not the first person who has released gas while doing some of those moves! Carry on! Pretend someone else made the stink!

LOL, I'm curious if anyone out there who has homeschooled through junior high has stuck with only one! Some we've used: Bravewriter: The Writer's Jungle (love the approach but my kids needed more direction. This is more how I write though). Also did their monthly subscription (I'm forgetting the name right now...The Arrow I believe) but felt it was a lot of money for what we received. Story Starters by Karen Andreola--love this! I used this for a year or two for some writing units, alternated with grammar units, for my youngest. She really enjoyed it (this one didn't work well for my oldest). There are stories, written up to the climax, with a nice line drawing, and then the student writes the ending. Just a fun resource. Writing Strands--not incremental enough for my oldest, not enough direction. Just "okay." Jump In--again, we needed something more incremental and with more direct instruction. Some interesting assignments though. IEW--my oldest didn't really like the videos--they seemed to drag on for him. He did find that key word outlining was a helpful strategy, but was overwhelmed by the instruction after that point. Essentials in Writing by Matthew Stephens--short, 5 minute videos that focus on one task or one aspect of writing. This series really opened up writing for my oldest, and worked well for my youngest as well. Here's a post where I did a longer comparision of IEW and Essentials in Writing. Have fun looking at curriculum!

I think I'd keep going in LOE for reading since that's working, and add on All About Spelling, which also uses the phonograms and would be very compatible. That way you could progress in each subject at your student's pace.

I do 60 hours for a half credit and 120 for a full credit for PE and as a minimum for Fine Arts. (Academic credits for us are 150-180 hours--one or two have gone over that--or 75-90 hours for a .5 credit. When I hear the "120" hours as part of the range for a credit, I assume that means for non-academic classes.) PE can be any physical activity. I've included: walking, running, biking, boating, swimming, park days, time with friends (things like air-soft gun games, laser tag, shooting hoops, etc...), gym days with our hs group (they meet once a week for 1.5 hours to do a PE class with calisthenics, group games, and swimming at our local Y), various summer activities...Really, it's pretty easy to get a PE credit. You could aim for 30 minutes of some type of exercise per day on school days, which gets you to 90 hours over a 180 day school year, and then add in some summer activity and you're there. I like there to be some instruction mixed in, but I don't personally feel it all has to be--I'm going for a mix of activities and a habit of daily exercise as my goal. Your goal may vary! No square dancing, LOL! (Though I personally enjoyed that in school!) Fine Arts--we have a number of credits in this from various music lessons, theater, art etc... My dd took a class this spring that met for 2.5 hours every other week for 8 weeks, and spent another 10 or so hours outside of class working on that project. She also does a lot of drawing, did a painting on her closet drawer (she googled how to simulate a wood-grain technique) etc... She'll do another art class in the fall, and I'll count the two together plus her outside work as a .5 art credit. She'll be in that 60-90 hour range at that point. Music lessons--my kids would practice 30 minutes per day when they did lessons--give or take. I never counted exact hours but did a rough estimate. Practice, lessons, performances usually added up pretty quickly to make a .5 credit there. HTH some!

Have you looked at Easy Grammar Plus? That works for this age as well.

No, they can likely start higher. I would start them at a point where they need the review. To get an idea of where to start, first take a look at the article: Should We Start in Level 1 or Level 2? Make sure they have mastered the content in Level 1 (which they probably all have, unless you have one that's just starting or hasn't yet done PR). Most students don’t start higher than level 2, but someone who has used Spalding or OG in another program sometimes can. So, the next thing I would look at is how strong they are with syllable rules. If your kids are very confident in syllable rules you can probably start higher. If that’s an area of weakness, then you’ll probably want to start with 2 but fast-track through the easier steps. If you think they can start higher, look at the scope and sequence for each level to see what they have mastered and which concepts need additional review. In AAS, the words are grouped according to spelling concepts--so look through the scope and sequence links at the concepts covered when you are trying to decide where to start. Also, know that since AAS is mastery based, each level has the materials you need for that level. If you want the phonogram, sound, or key cards from earlier levels, you would need the student packets from those levels. (I'd consider levels 2 and up to get all of the key cards. Level 1 cards are going to be very basic for PR kids.) It really depends on when they start, if they have any struggles etc.... The series includes all of the Ayers list words, which ranks words up to 12th grade, and also uses words from other lists that rank words in 9th-12th grades. So, you'll have quite a few high school level words in the last level. It also covers Greek and Latin roots, and common loan words from French, Spanish, and Italian. A lot of kids finish in upper elementary, some in junior high, and some in high school. If your 5th grader is an excellent speller already, you may just want to cover spelling mistakes in her writing. Review concepts/rules if she forgets to apply them, or bring her in when you are teaching another student if you think a lesson would be beneficial. I probably wouldn't devote a lot of time to spelling for a student who isn't struggling with it though. But it wouldn't hurt if you want to take her through the upper levels for a review or if she could use work there. I guess it just depends on the time you have versus how strong the need is. Students who don't have spelling struggles could go quickly, I would think. We started when my kids were 4th and 6th grades, and they were struggling spellers. That first year they went through levels 1, 2, and part of 3 (oldest nearly finished 3, youngest was nearer to the beginning of 3). After that, they did about 1.5 levels per year (but went more slowly with 7). I'd start them together (that's what I did with my kids--they did level 1 together, and the first part of level 2. Then I split them when my youngest really needed to spend more time on lessons, but my oldest was ready to move ahead more quickly). I would also think if you had kids close together in ability, you could likely group them throughout. Start with them all together, and see how it goes. Easy Grammar worked pretty well here. HTH!

In a homeschooling situation, I'd pick whichever date worked in my/the student's favor. However, since the student is enrolled in public school, then I think the "graduation date" is whatever date they have set. I actually "graduated" before my requirements were all met. My high school graduation date was in early June, but I took two classes in summer school to complete my degree a year early. They just considered my "graduation date" contingent on successful completion of those classes. I think you can put forth a good argument for the earlier date if that's in your favor, and try to talk to someone in person to see what you can do about it...but I'm not sure they'll have a vehicle for changing the date for one student. Bureaucracies are difficult in these types of situations--but I'd sure try to plead my case with that much money at stake.

That's so bizarre! I forget sometimes that there are people that don't know. We live in small town, middle-America where our local CC proctors the ACT tests, and they not only know homeschoolers go to college, they court them (and even have a homeschool scholarship category).

MUS Geometry went just fine for both of my kids. I'd say Algebra 2 is where it can get a bit tricky (the first 5 weeks jam in a lot of content, reviewing things from Alg. 1 and including some new info. I found for both of my kids that there were spots in that series of lessons where we had to slow down a bit to adequately review and move on). My oldest stopped there and did Stewardship (good course). My youngest will do both Stewardship and PreCalc next year.

We really enjoyed it--we used MOH 4 with some Sonlight books for high school. Here's a blog article on what we did.

I started my kids in 4th and 6th grades. Like others have said, you'll go through the early levels quickly. Both of mine got into level 3 the first year (oldest nearly finished it, and he was a struggling speller--so I'd expect a student like your son would easily get through 3 levels). Here's an article about how to fast track through Level 1.

Hope you continue to recover! Take care (and I think starting fresh makes the most sense).

Not the actual transcript (I doubt I even have a copy right now!), but many experiences, both with regard to grades and otherwise.