Thanks to everyone for the suggestions! In listening to the first lecture of TGC by Timothy Taylor, it sounds like a good fit. The presenter starts out at a very basic level, is easy to understand, raises issues that an engaged high school student or college freshman might ask, sounds practical, and seems balanced. It also seems substantial for a basic introduction and not a lot of fluff like I've seen in some high school materials. These all seem to check the boxes for us. We'll give it a try. I'm still struggling with what else to do in the course besides listen to the lectures.

When I read your OP, I had no idea what to do, but Regentrude's reply makes sense to me too. It appears that, somehow, your DS has learned most of the material for four years of basic high school English, or more. (ETA: That accomplishment is more important than the "how.") The one thing that I did wonder about was whether basic functional writing was accomplished or not. I'd take a "passing" score on the writing section of the SAT as an outside evaluation, or any other reasonable evaluation. From the ACT results alone, I'd take four years of basic high school English as being met as long as he's able to write at a very basic functional level (which he probably can). The mock trial success indicates to me that some serious rhetorical skills have been developed.

We used Jacobs Geometry, 3rd edition, and it worked great for us. We also used the Teacher's Guide (basically for the answers) and the AskDrCallahan.com videos, although DS often didn't need the videos as he was able to get the material from the book, which seems very clear. We mostly followed the syllabus that comes with the AskDrCallahan.com videos, except that we added the non-Euclidean chapter at the end, which I think is very informative, and used different materials for the algebra review, which I really don't like -- we just got a book that's used in a lot of schools and DS read the book and did the end of chapter problem sets. In that same book, we also used the chapters on basic data analysis and statistics which are now pretty standard, and which I'd recommend you do along the way of your homeschooling. IMO the Jacobs Geometry algebra review problems are just calculation practice. IMO the geometry is great; the algebra review is useless (though easily replaced by picking another book for review or running algebra 2 and geometry simultaneously over two years) and the lack of data analysis and statistics is a shortcoming, but also easily fixed. As wapiti said above, it's hard to make any specific recommendations without knowing more about the student's background, but I would not hesitate to use Jacobs Geometry again and think it would suit a lot of different learners. (By the way, we did NOT run the course as a "discovery approach," which was easy to do, but it could be done that way if your student would benefit and you've got the time.) The other (book-based) courses I've heard the most good things about, which make sense to me, are AoPS Geometry and Jurgenson's Geometry, although they may also need separate algebra review and data analysis instruction. ETA: "(book-based)" type of course I was discussing, to clarify.

Quoting a bit of foul language isn't a problem here; he's the youngest one in the house. The audio version of the course is available at the library, so that's a plus. In looking at the table of contents of the Timothy Taylor lectures and most textbooks (I have the McConnell, Blue, Flynn Economics text, but we'd only be able to use part of that book in a semester if we use it), there seems to be a lot of overlap of topics. Were the lectures more for an introduction or go into more depth or something else? How do they fit with a text? Have others used any supplemental materials on the side? Thanks!

I would go with medieval. I think you're right to be concerned about forgetting things and would be concerned about losing momentum. Having just watched my DS finishing up 9th grade, the changes and increase in maturity is breathtaking. What about starting out light on the literary analysis part and then increasing gradually over the year or trying a different program/text. IMO you could cover some of the same conceptual issues later in Renaissance-early modern as in medieval (in part for that reason, we are actually planning to compress years 2-3 in the "WTM schedule" into one year, in 10th grade; that will allow us to cover world history by 11th grade in case 12th becomes mostly dual enrollment or DS otherwise goes off doing other things or we have a year for US history). Best wishes on your journey!

Thanks for the recommendation on the Timothy Taylor Economics lectures! Is this something where the videos really add something, or would the audio only work well too?

What one semester high school economics course/books have worked well for you? My DS will be in 10th. Thanks!

Ours was similar to regentrude's but a bit different. Major works of Literature studied: The Epic of Gilgamesh The Iliad Homer (extensive selections but not in its entirety) The Odyssey Homer (translated by Fagles) Histories Herodotus Oresteia Aeschylus Antigone Sophocles Oedipus Rex Sophocles Medea Euripides Poetics and Rhetoric Aristotle Clouds Aristophanes Trial and death of Socrates and a few more dialogs Plato some parts of the Bible, and lots of other things in the Norton Anthology of World Literature, concise version, second edition We did a course on ancient lit, a second one on ancient history, and a third one on "composition and rhetoric" which contained a fair bit of literary analysis of more modern works among the writing assignments. Most people aren't going to have that amount of time, and the ancient lit took more time than we usually can devote to one course. But it worked for us. I really like the Norton Anthology, and with a different kid might just use it and nothing else for ancient lit. Edited for clarity.

We used Fagles for the Odyssey and, I think, for the extended excerpts from the Iliad that we read. For a high school student, I think Fagles is an esp. good choice for the clarity and directness. You might want to read a few lines with your DC of another translation which is more lyrical/poetic, for comparison, but Fagles is a great choice. I highly recommend Vandiver's The Odyssey course, and I'm sure the full series on The Iliad is great too. My DS liked it, and it really adds a lot to the understanding and enjoyment of Homer.

If the SWB books are working well, you might want to consider reading books 2 and 3 in one year and cutting back on the study guides if need be. It doesn't seem that the pace of the 2nd and 3rd books is going to allow adequate coverage of modern times, especially since you probably want to get in quite a bit of US history along the way. I was also concerned that my DS might be more doing his own thing by 12th grade -- I have no inkling of that right now, but the changes each year in the teen years are breathtaking -- so I didn't want to back load too much of history to 12th grade...I'm aiming for covering history in 3 years. We used the 4 Story of the World books years ago, and they worked great, but we abandoned HotAW early in 9th grade. For 10th grade, we're planning on using Duiker and Spielvogel's World History as well as The Great Courses three-course sequence on the western European middle ages by Daileader, and I'm hoping we'll get through the early 1800s. I have the three SWB high school history books, but some other books (like Duiker and Spielvogel or Strayer) seem more like history books both to DS and me; I'm sure SWB's books would work fine. YMMV: my solidly STEM 8th grader turned into liking history the most in 9th grade, although I think that transition started in 8th grade.

As you may or may not know, the Art of Reading covers reading "literature" and not general reading. FYI, SWB's The Well-Educated Mind covers reading in a broader way. I just thought I'd make sure you knew that.

I've found two possible books for DS to read on economic history, but I have no experience with either book nor have I heard of anyone who's used either book: 1.The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000 by Paul Kennedy; and 2. The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern World Was Created by Wm Bernstein The Birth of Plenty looks to be an easier read from reviews, and from what I've read of his, he knows his economics and he's balanced; it seems more focused on how economics has affected standard of living through the ages. Kennedy is probably better on the history side and seems to focus on how economics has impacted military strength in the last 500 years; the reviewers were pretty positive but indicated that it's not an introductory level text. They both seem to address reasons I wanted to cover the critical role of economics in history but different aspects. There may be other choices...I'm convinced that I should do something to supplement the standard world history texts I've seen, but I'm still not sure what to do. Any experience with these or others?

I'm looking for an economics history course or text to supplement a 3-year Great Books/WTM type cycle for high school, integrating history and literature over each time period. We're finishing up ancient history now in 9th grade, so I'd be looking mostly for something starting something around A.D. 500 or 1500. I'm looking at this as a supplement or companion course since some of the history materials we may use are pretty poor in their coverage of economics. Thanks! ETA: It could be a book, not textbook.

We used it at the beginning of 9th grade, and DS thought it was very useful -- and he's complained about many writing programs. We used it loosely in the sense that DS read a chapter, and I had him write an essay of the type in the book (he didn't like my assignments as well as reading the book, but that was because it was more work and because of the dynamic or grading your own teenage kid's writing). FYI, my DS is more of a whole-to-parts kind of person with respect to writing instruction, but I think the Skwire book could work for a variety of learning styles. We thought the text was excellent. I described a little more of what we planned and options we considered for 9th grade writing here.

What Texasmom33 said is exactly what I did with my older DS, and it worked great for us. DS learned to handle money well, in part by doing it (and us talking about it). I needed to be a joint account holder since he was under 18 -- I'm not sure what the rules are now. I think it did help his credit as well.

I agree with the first reply and would not go with Lial, which I also consider weak; I'd go with Saxon before Lial, esp. since your DC likes it. As for geometry, if your DC hasn't gone through a proofs-based geometry, I would do that, but perhaps through supplement rather than AoPS. I'd listen to others here, but it might be better to use AoPS Intermediate Algebra instead of Geometry. If you do go through a complete geometry course, I'd go slowly through the geometry to allow review or slow progression in algebra so as not to forget the algebra. I think your concern is justified. DO or some other course is another option, but I can't say which would be best for your DC.

We were going to do Traditional Logic 1 after standard proof-based geometry, but my DS said Traditional Logic 1 was far simpler and didn't add anything logic-wise to what he learned in geometry, so we discontinued after a while and just went through some terminology and left it at that. He really liked that kind of stuff, so I don't think it was trying to get out of something (and it was replaced anyhow). It would be nice if there were something complementary. We did, however, go through Art of Argument and DS didn't think that was redundant. YMMV.

A few years ago, I remember a local group of experienced homeschoolers passing along college application experiences to us then-younger homeschoolers; a couple of the experienced homeschoolers said that they'd experienced colleges asking for a list of books read -- at least one was a highly selective smaller liberal arts college. It didn't sound common, but it does happen. I've also heard of a student being asked a question about a book on the list at an interview. I don't know if this was specific to homeschooled students or not. The few admissions reps I've heard talk/talked to have been fairly positive about homeschoolers, but they're looking for a little something to validate the application. Clearly there are some places that have picky, useless hoops to go through, but I don't have any problem with colleges looking at the details of our home school.

It's been a long time since I read it, but, from my recollection, it would be preferable to read part of it rather than the whole thing. IMO Aristotle is a bit repetitious with his argument for the "mean" between positions being preferable, for example. I don't know, however, which selections may be best to pick, but maybe a chunk near the beginning and then try to find highlights from somewhere. If you can pick up a second used copy, or get it from the library or online, you may want to read sections together, silently, and then discuss them rather than a read aloud. Unlike poetry, drama, or something where the sound of the spoken word is beautiful or has special impact, it's really more small chunks of ideas with the Ethics.

As background, what we did in 9th grade for ancients: we watched and discussed the Great Courses' "History of the Ancient World: A Global Perspective†and read Noble, et al's Western Civilization through about A.D. 1000. DS read Herodotus and excerpts from Thucydides, Xenophon, Polybius, and Sima Qian. In parallel, we're also finishing up a world literature course over the same time period, using mostly the Norton Anthology of World Literature, Concise Edition. We're planning on going through world history in three years, mostly compressing years 2-3 of a WTM-type schedule. Thanks. Edited slightly for clarity and to update.

ETA: We're strongly leaning toward Duiker and Spielvogel's World History. I'm looking at options for “World History: Medieval-Renaissance†next year for a 10th grader who's pretty academically focused. I'd really like to use Daileader's excellent 3-part Middle Ages in Western Europe audio lecture series, so I'm looking more for a complementary text with a global focus and any interesting primary-sources reading in world history for period ~A.D. 1000-1800. Some of the world history options for our spine are: Strayer, Ways of the World: A Brief Global World History With Sources. I have this, it has a global focus, it has some focus on primary sources and their interpretation, so it's definitely a candidate for us. I would like to hear others' experiences, however, to see if there's something that might be better for DS. Duiker and Spielvogel, World History. A lot of people refer to using or having used “Spielvogel,†but there seem to be several versions of World History and Western Civilization by him. This one seems to be the best fit, but I'm really not sure. I don't think we'd go with his Western Civ. Book. An interesting review of an earlier edition of Spielvogel's World History: A Human Odyssey is here. It appears that Duiker was added as a co-author, and lead author, somewhere along the way, but I'm not positive. ETA: a 2008 WTM thread discusses this text; there's also an interesting review by an AP World History teacher for 9th and 10th graders here with experiences using Duiker and Spielvogel in 2001-2002. Spielvogel, Glencoe World History. This book seems clear, and I really like the extensive use of primary sources. It seems to me, however, that it's intended for a one-year non-honors 9th grade world history class, written at about a 6th grade reading level. It really looks good for its intended purpose, but I think DS is beyond that point in background, reading level, familiarity with maps, etc. ETA: In an earlier WTM thread, another reviewer considered it pre-high school and written at a 5th grade reading level. If you can handle the distracting side-bars and the reading level and background is right, it looks like a good text, however. I have Noble's Western Civilization, which has worked well for DS, but using it means I'd need to supplement for the rest of the world, which I might do, though not ideal; we'll also be using the audio lectures of “Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition,†which is taught by Noble for the middle ages period, and it would be nice to get another perspective. SWB's History of the Medieval World. I have this, and it's a good book, but we started with her ancient book at the beginning of 9th and switched. I'd appreciate any feedback on your experiences on world history spines for the Medieval-Renaissance period (or useful primary sources to use). Thanks!

As a textbook spine for medieval-Renaissance, we are planning on using Noble, et al, Western Civilization supplemented by sections from Strayer Ways of the World With Sources, for non-European history (or maybe just using Strayer and dropping Noble next year). I like that both of those texts refer a lot to primary sources and how to interpret them. DS seems to like the Noble text as part of our ancient history course (along with the ancient history Great Course by Aldrete). We are also planning on using the excellent Great Course audio lectures on the Western European middle ages by Daileader. We read SWB's Story of the World series when DS was younger and really liked it, so we started with her high school level HoTAW. While it's a pretty good book, neither DS nor I were that crazy about it, and we dropped it during 9th grade. I wanted something more linked to primary sources, he wanted something a little deeper, more interesting to him, and less western-focused. Biblioplan seemed more simplistic to us; I don't think you'll find SWB's History of the Medieval World choppy -- IMO it's well written. Besides the ones listed here and the posts above, you may want to consider The History of the World by Roberts and Westad which has received some good feedback on its writing style.

If WWS is going great, I wouldn't change. It's easy to run into problems in writing; if you hit a wall or need a change, then you could try something else. Otherwise, I'd ride the wave. Yes, it's easy to over-schedule. I really think that writing is important, and my DS wasn't where I wanted him to be yet, so we're doing a writing course and a separate lit. course in 9th (and maybe 10th). There are a few of us out there. It's really what works for your family.

While you're waiting for comments on teachers, you may want to take a look at "my review of various textbooks for AP calculus."

We're finishing up 9th grade using a Great Books approach, similar to what SWB talks about in the WTM. After buying some of the books and getting some at the library, I finally ordered a used, previous edition copy of the Norton Anthology of World Literature, Shorter Version, for a few bucks. I also ordered the instructor's guide. It's intended as an introductory college series, but we found it perfect for 9th grade; my DS started as a good reader, but I think he's really developed tremendously this year. The Norton Anthology has brief background on the author and work, but it's mostly reading the great works -- we discuss and DS has accompanying writing assignments. I like how they've abridged most works -- enough so that DS gets the flavor of authors we can't read the full works, and including major non-Western authors. We'll probably do the world literature in a three-year cycle instead of the four-year cycle in the WTM, mostly by compressing medieval and Renaissance. There are some writing assignment ideas in the Norton Anthology's Instructor's Guide; if you're really stumped, you could assign something on whether the work is relevant today or not (yeah, not real creative, but it's worked for us a few times). For individual works, you could go to free online guides, some listed in a previous post by Lori D., in the thread she listed below under "Need a Literature Guide for any book"; her same post includes some other DIY resources. A Great Books program is a bit more challenging for the parent, but it is doable for a lot of families, and IMO it's a deeper and broader education than what I've seen in most pre-packaged programs. It's been a great experience for us so far, and I think my DS is getting a terrific education out of it ... another approach to consider.