Just when I think I have everything nailed down for next year, I go to write it down and I find more question marks! Math - We've had success with Math Mammoth so I'm leaning towards MM7. I've looked at AoPS Pre-algebra, but wonder if it will frustrate an already easily frustratable math student. Science - He wants to study astronomy, but it feels like Apologia astronomy is too elementary. I've looked at some resources on Amazon, but haven't settled on anything. Suggestions welcome! History - He wants to study the Wrold Wars. I'm super excited about that and so is he. Putting together a bunch of resources. Writing - We've had great success with Jump In so I think we are going to use Writers in Residence. That will cover grammar also. Literature - we will focus on books related to our World Wars study. Geography - I've looked at the Trail Guide books. Still uncertain... Bible - We do a Bible reading plan every year, but I think I'm going to look at something more formal as well. Some things I am still looking at are Digital Photography, possibly start a foreign language (would use Duolingo), computer, and music lessons. I have this weird thing in my head that 7th grade is our last year to pursue interest led subjects... I have a freshman this year, and the rest of his high school is fairly mapped out to meet graduation requirements and 8th grade feels like the year to get subjects in and solid before starting high school. I hate that feeling...

I am looking for American History to use with my DS15 next year. We are doing World History right now using Notgrass, but I want to see if there is anything else out there as he has not enjoyed this year at all. I was looking at Oak Meadow's American history. Can anyone explain exactly how this works? It says you can use any textbook to delve into the topics... has anyone used this? If so, what are some examples of what you have used? What else could you tell me about this curriculum? TIA.

My son just got this one and it seems to be pretty well made. He likes it a lot. I don't get it, but he seems to think it's great.

When we began homeschooling, I wondered about these same questions. This is our first year of high school homeschooling, and we ended up outsourcing two classes - biology and algebra. We could have done all of our high school courses at home between DH and I (he is a math/science whiz and I love history and language arts), but in the end we outsourced those two classes. The major benefit I've seen this year is that our DS has found a passion for biology. His teacher LOVES science and our "I hate science" student has become our "what jobs can I use biology with?" high schooler. Could I have taught the material and done the labs? Yes. But I don't think I could have done as great a job awakening a passion for biology as his teacher has. DS doesn't know for sure what he might be interested in pursuing down the road, so for us it is worth it to outsource the subjects we could do the academics with, but not convey the joy of as well... if that makes sense. At this point in our homeschooling journey, we take every decision with each of our homeschoolers a year at a time. So much changes in a year's time when they are teens.

We just bought a house with an additional bathroom and two more bedrooms than what we had previously. It felt a little strange to upsize at this point in our life with three teens, and to be honest our old home would be a perfect fit for my DH and I when the kids are gone. But we have some extenuating circumstances... DH works from home and the bigger house brings his office in from the garage. We also have a special needs child who may never live independently, so we had to buy for a number of different contingencies. My DH says we will stay in this house for another 7-8 years and then downsize. I HATE moving and have vowed to stay here until they cart out my cold, dead body. It WAS really hard to go from a paid down mortgage to starting nearly again, but we just weren't able to make it work anymore in the smaller house comfortably.

This is such a helpful thread for me. I am really stressing about what counts as "output" especially now that I have a high schooler. My guys tend to show mastery best through discussions or debates. Connections I haven't always seen them make through quizzes, papers, or tests become clear through student led discussion. But now I panic and think I need to have more "product" to show (Farrar - that is a terrific explanation!) for our work, which is probably just the nature of the high school beast. I wonder how much more I see progress in the "process" is really because I prefer discussions over tests/quizzes/etc...

We just moved (but only across our town), and I discovered the same thing! I am a HUGE book lover, and so many books catch my eye when it comes to homeschooling. I need about 2% of the resources I own, but I can't bring myself to get rid of any of it. I was terrified of the bathroom and kitchen purges too, but ended up just moving tubs and tubs of books. :lol: I hope everything with your move goes smoothly!!!

We have used VP for history for much of our homeschooling - both the self paced courses and the cards/lesson plans. With the literature added in, it made a complete history program for us when we combined our kids who were 3 grade levels apart. The cards list some additional resources to beef it up, and we were never at a loss for finding ways to dig deeper on cards the kids were more interested in. I thought it worked pretty well for a variety of ages.

Hi fellow TN mom! Welcome to the world of (possibly) homeschooling! I didn't homeschool from the get go with my kids (one went to PS through 3rd and one complete Kindergarten in PS before we began homeschooling), so I am not sure I can answer about registering/withdrawing your student from PS kindergarten. I will tell you that we are using an umbrella school for our kids (now in 9th grade and 6th grade), and it has been very helpful for me. I have heard good things about Home Life and also Daniel 1 - we use Aaron Academy and like it very much. AA is considered an "umbrella" school, so they handle the paperwork necessary with our district (withdrawing students) and with the state (keeping track of grades). We submit our curriculum list to them at the beginning of the year, and turn in attendance and grades at the end of each semester. The students are granted a diploma upon completing graduation requirements. Recently laws in TN were changed so that a diploma from a Christian umbrella school or homeschool are supposed to be weighed on equal footing with public school diplomas. I know many students who not only went to college with a diploma from a homeschool umbrella school, but went on to law school, med school, etc. I know families who do not use an umbrella school here, and they submit a portfolio to the district for review and have never had any issue. It can be hard to start the journey to homeschooling, especially when you may be hearing that your child may not receive a valid diploma, it's too hard, your child won't be socialized, etc. etc. It really helps to talk to people who have BTDT, and this board is a wealth of knowledge and encouragement!

DS12 is super excited to do an in depth study next year of both World Wars. I purchased this book, an I'm hoping it will work well as a "spine" (it hasn't arrived yet, so fingers crossed). What are some of your favorite resources about the World Wars that would be appropriate for a 7th grader? TIA!

I took my daughter to see it yesterday, and we both LOVED it. I was a huge Beauty and the Beast fan of the animated version, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I think it's a very fine line between staying true to the original Disney version for the purists and adding enough new to keep others interested, and I thought they did that really well. I was shocked at the cast - obviously I knew Emma Watson was in it, but the rest of the cast was amazing - Kevin Klein, Ian McKellan, Ewan McGregor, and my personal favorite - Audra McDonald. I couldn't believe how overblown the whole "gay" thing was. I thought there was so much going on in the character of LaFue in the film for media to focus on that millisecond. I loved seeing ALL ages there. Not many movies lately seem to draw such a wide variety in the audience. Loved Emma as Belle and loved the humor they added to Beast that wasn't super "cartoony". I would definitely see it again...but this is from a person who has seen her favorite musical 25 times. :laugh: What can I say - I'm a repeater...

We have done the self paced history classes through Veritas Press. I am not 100% sure on how often they offer the sale - I am thinking twice a year, but I'm not sure. We have worked through them chronologically, but you wouldn't need to do that. Each "class" is its own entity - there's no review from earlier time periods. VP offers some great literature options for each time period, and while we have used some of those, this could be done as a stand alone history program. My kids liked it well enough, and they did learn a lot.

We did a semester class this year on history of Rock and Roll, and it was one of our most enjoyable classes we've ever done! We used this book for our main "source" and added in YouTube videos, a few books, and some great music documentaries. The book divides music into seven categories (Rocking Out, Deep Soul, Punk Rock, etc…) and looks at influential performers/bands for that style of rock music. Probably my favorite thing is a little section on each performer called "Historical Facts/Social Connections". It's just a little paragraph about how that performer or music style was influenced by or influenced the country/world and what was happening at the time. That one paragraph led to some amazing discussions! Each "lab" has a song list, history of the band, historical/social connection, and then highlights one particular song by the artist. There is a listening guide that talks through the highlighted song which is very helpful and adds interest. Each artist is only two pages, but I found we could really delve into a lot with what he wrote. https://smile.amazon.com/Rock-Music-Lab-Listening-Exploring/dp/B00Y2VZ22Y/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1489519497&sr=8-2&keywords=music+lab+we+rock

My now 6th grader will complete VP history after this year. I'm wondering what other folks do for history if they have completed the VP series. The options I'm thinking of are: 1. Repeating a few of the VP online self paced classes from the earlier time periods with the more advanced literature and lessons. (Downside is that DS retains information really well and could possibly be really, really bored and annoyed…) 2. Doing a full year of geography instead of history next year. (We've done light geography in the past.) 3. Picking up a new history curriculum to try out with him. (Any suggestions?????) 4. Creating my own history with him based on a list of interesting historical events, people, etc. (I LOVE history, and selfishly this would be fun…) Would love any other options or recommendations y'all might have!

(Please be gentle…) I'm having one of those days... DS14 (9th grade) failed a history test today, and DS12 failed a math test earlier in the week. I know, I know - tests aren't everything, and I gave my kids the whole "This is just an evaluation of the hits and misses of the chapter/subject", and we went back over corrections. But inside, I just feel so discouraged. I know most of the issues we are dealing with, just not exactly sure how to fix them. DS14 isn't interested in history - so he neglects to really apply the effort into studying. He tests well on things he's interested in - he just got a 99% on his Biology midterm. I feel like for both of the boys it is a motivation issue… they want to finish school quickly and avoid "boring" stuff they don't like. Can't fault them for it, but I also know that that isn't how life works. I feel like they let themselves off the hook more than they should, and I feel partly responsible for that. I've been through two hip surgeries in the last 12 months with a TON of rehab in between, so I've set things up for them to work more independently than I normally would these last two semesters. While we've still plugged along with schoolwork, I know I haven't been able to give it 100% either which sets a bad precedent. I'm still having issues, could be facing another surgery yet again, am in pain most of the time, and don't know how to keep the ship afloat as well as I'd like. We started doing "weekly lists" so they can pick what they want to do and when and how much at a time (with some input from me on things we do together or they need help with), and maybe that will be a positive change. We are doing some "fun" things - like History of Rock and Roll (you don't want to know what happened when listening to Marvin Gaye music…) :huh: Field trips are hard right now because I really can't get around like I'd like to. I'm trying to stay engaged and keep it interesting. Just not sure how successful that is right now. I'm not sure what I'm looking for… maybe suggestions for how to help motivate, when to stop being an external motivator and let the chips fall where they may, or how to manage homeschooling better with a health issue. Or just a "nobody died, bled, or threw up today so we'll call it a success" high five... Just. Discouraged. :crying:

For assignment ideas, we are using this book. We are just getting ready to begin our photography course (just doing it at home here), so I can't give a ton of feedback yet, but it has great ideas for projects.

I second Ken Burns' The War for WW II documentary. One of my all time favorite documentaries. Honestly, anything by Ken Burns is fantastic. I know CNN recently did some documentaries based on the Decades - 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and I am guessing 90s (but I haven't seen that one yet).

I loved reading 1776. It isn't a living book per se, but it help my interest well and was super informative.

We are starting Week 5 (we go with our DD's ps schedule). It's my first year with a high schooler. :huh: I spent a TON of time laying out the year over the summer as I knew I would probably have another hip surgery this semester. So glad I did - surgery was 8/22, and although I was down longer than I thought, the boys were able to keep plugging away. So far, it's mostly good. We had really prepped DS14 that 9th grade would require a lot more of him, and he started strong - really committing doing his work well and investing the time necessary. But the novelty of that wore off quick. :huh: So we had to have the conversation again about ramping up effort and investment. He is taking Biology and Algebra 1 at a tutorial, and it's been great for him to have teachers who are super enthusiastic about those subjects as I am…not... DS12 is in 6th grade, and for the most part he is doing well. He is very bright, but struggles mightily with spelling (on paper - orally he can spell anything) and handwriting. I suspect he has dysgraphia, but not sure how to confirm that. I have found Jump In to be terrific in that everything is SO broken down he doesn't feel overwhelmed. I chose an anatomy and physiology course that would challenge him, but it hasn't been a good fit so we are waiting for another curriculum to arrive and try. We've tried just about every math curriculum out there, and while DS12 excels at math, he always finds something he doesn't like about the curriculum. This year we are doing Math Mammoth, but he is already "meh" with it. This year I really wanted to focus on the subjects that we often let go too much and allow for rabbit trails, especially for DS12. We are doing History of Rock and Roll for music and it has been so fun introducing the boys to Fats Domino and Chuck Berry. :coolgleamA:

Eating McDonalds Big Macs about 7 times a week in my early 20s. (In my defense, I lived alone in a new city, couldn't cook, and grew up in a small town where the nearest McDonalds was 40 a minute drive.) I'm pretty sure some parts of my innards died during those years.

This is actually the book (volume 1) that I am thinking of using. I really like it, and once I found there was a Teacher's Guide I liked it even more. I can't seem to order from the master books website though… They have these books at christinabook.com but the teachers guide is backordered. :thumbdown:

My 6th grade DS is interested in doing anatomy/physiology for science. Of course, I've looked at Apologia and may use that, but I wonder if y'all have any other suggestions. DS is interested in things like exercise science, physical therapy, massage (luckiest.mom.ever.). He has already done some basic anatomy reading/activities this past school year. He is not a huge fan of "read a book, fill in the blanks", but he is pretty smart and would do well to be challenged since it's an area of interest for him. I'd love to find something that might appeal to him that is more than "here are the body systems" - so maybe more exercise science??? What I have found online seems to be more college oriented, but he is not ready for that level by any means. Or should I just use the Apologia and try and supplement with some resources? I feel like there has to be something out there like what I want, but by dang if I can seem to find it! TIA. ETA: We are already planning to do nutrition/health with him, so maybe I only need to find a resource for fitness/muscles/exercise science?

Does anyone use the Amazon Fire TV stick? I have a slew of videos from Amazon planned to use for school this year, and I'm wondering if its worth the money to buy the TV Stick so we don't have to huddle around my computer screen...

We have done VP online one other year, and this coming school year my youngest DS will be doing it again. For cost reasons in between times, I taught the VP history. (Plus, I really, really love history!) The kids liked the online well enough, liked the independence of it, and retained the information well that way. We didn't do any adding to it the first go round, but I will probably do more this time because DS has a much greater interest in the time period we are going to be doing next. I liked that the kids had quizzes and tests online so I could make sure they weren't just cruising through. We bought it on sale this time around, and that makes it worth it.

This is our first year in the "high school" realm, but so far this is what 9th grade will look like: Bible - Notgrass & continue our Bible reading plan Algebra I - co op World History - Notgrass LA - Easy Grammar, Literature list with study guides (probably Progeny Press) from Notgrass World History, and Composition (outsourced) Biology I - co op German - I am still deciding. It's making me crazy! My sister has a masters in German, and doesn't think the OSU program is a good idea, but I haven't landed on anything else yet. (Did I mention it is making me crazy?) Art History - Spine is Janson's History of Art for Young People Intro to Photography - Creative Photography Lab by Sonheim Health and Wellness - Christian Paths to Health and Wellness History of Rock-n-Roll - Spine is Music Lab: We Rock by Jason Hanley Bible, art, photography, health, and music are all .5 credits. In theory we will tackle two in the fall and two in the spring, but we will have to see how that shakes out IRL. No idea yet of what this workload will look like and how DS will handle it!