Oh - and here is a free online class my daughter took - http://www.impactvirtual.com/courses.html - The intro one is free. It is 6 weeks and covers a variety of different aspects. There is one starting beginning of January.

There's codeacademy.org and Khan Academy for programming. Jans 101 has free lessons on Excel, powerpoint, Word etc - I used that with my kids. Anything else you want them to learn? I got mine to learn video production, graphic design, websites etc as well.

A really good site for students to learn to use is www.canva.com. It makes graphic creation very easy and kids can use it for so many school-related things. A fun way to get them into it would be to suggest your kids send digital Christmas cards - and right now Canva has nice Christmas themes to make it easy to do. It is a free site - unless you choose to buy their graphics but they have a lot that is free and you can use your own (eg a family photo). I also use sites like pixabay.com and http://www.clker.com/for photos / clipart that are free to use without attribution.

I teach Scratch classes, but my own kids taught themselves to program, so I can see both sides of this. I think it depends a lot on the child. My kids like to learn by googling to figure out what to do when they get stuck. And they can come up with projects that challenge themselves. It took me a long time to decide to teach Scratch (and other programming languages) as I assumed everyone would just learn like my kids did and I didn't see the need for a class. But having taught for a a few years now I realize some students do better when they have a teacher to stretch them - many of my students would probably never try to create the games they do in the final weeks of my class but my class is designed to take them slowly to the point they can create them. I would expect this to be true of most online programming classes (I took one through Coursera and they did the same thing). The other things a class can teach is better coding practices. And in a class students can get help when they are stuck (even in free classes there are forums where you can get help from fellow students). A graded class also gives a student feedback - and that is something that often motivates students. I know it doesn't matter to all of them but my own kids definitely do better is someone else is taking a look at what they are doing. Pretty much anything can be self taught - and that is what our family does most of the time. Not just programming but anything using a computer - and also a host of other things. One of mine taught himself another language, even! It really depends on the student as to whether a course in Scratch would be beneficial or detract from the learning experience.

Can you give a link to the Coursera one ? I found the edX one and enrolled to see what it is like. The biggest problem with free classes is that it is easy to drop them when you get a bit busy - I know that is the very reason one signs up for them but after 3 years of both teaching free and paid classes - and taking them (and my kids taking them) - I have realized you need to be very motivated to finish free courses. I have finished 4 Coursera Courses now, and my one son did an Artificial Intelligence one and finished it, but my daughter has yet to complete one. As soon as she gets busy she stops and then doesn't come back. I suggest you either enroll with them or try to set aside a regular time each day and encourage them to work on it - maybe directly before or after supper. My daughter is also in public school now so I know exactly what you mean about being concerned the work load will be too much.

Is there a particular reason why you need to write this as a parent? Unless someone particularly requests you to do it as a parent, you should pretty much steer clear of writing one for your own kids. It is more likely to have a negative effect than a positive one no matter how balanced you try to write it.

I discovered this website on Benjamin Franklin: http://www.benfranklin300.org/timeline/ You move through his life and at each stage their are a lot of interactive activities. Sometimes you just watch a small video or listen to something about his life. Sometimes there is an activity - or a game. I managed to end up in jail after doing one where I had to keep choosing what to do next. The info presented is not just about Benjamin Franklin but about his world and what life was like then.

I homeschooled with SL all the way through - my youngest has now decided to go to school (high school) but I used all the cores. We started when we moved to the US and my kids were 8th, 5th, 2nd and 3 years old when we started homeschooling. So we started with the upper cores. I did do the younger ones with my youngest and what you are describing rings some bells but by that stage I was so busy coping with 2 high schoolers and a middle schooler that I wouldn't have been too bothered by anything I don't think! But - although I used SL all the way - I adapted it to us. I added extra Bible. I added more "formal" geography (over a few years we went through every continent using a variety of resources). We did use SL science and it worked fine for us. I added in extra art appreciation and music appreciation. And economics. And computers. So basically what I am saying is - you need to make it work for you. For us it was Sonlight and ... For you it sounds like it will be VP and SL and maybe others stuff too. That's the beauty of homeschooling. And you may find that you tweak for each child too - I would have loved to do the same for each child - but that just didn't work so I had to do things slightly differently for each. If you do decide to go back to SL ever - SL 5 (the Eastern Hemisphere one - not sure what it is called now) is quite unique and worth doing.

I thought I would post in case this helps someone. My daughter went to high school this year after being homeschooled the rest of her education. Her older siblings all graduated as homeschoolers - and so I am trying to afterschool to fill in the gaps as I am concerned she is not doing nearly as much as her siblings did. I know it would just end up in huge fights and misery if I insisted she do stuff - and she isn't the self-motivate type who would do it willingly. And then, she also gets a lot of homework (of which some is completely worthless academically). So, I devised a reward system - I was actually doing something similar for her final year homeschooling and I just adapted it. She earns points based on tasks I set. She gets points based on Khan points and Vocabulary.com points. And she get points for classics read (different amounts based on how big the book is). And for contests she takes part in. (Extra if she places). And for online courses she takes. And the points translate into cash. Every time there is something she wants - I see a flurry of activity and then it dies down - till she wants the next thing. Not ideal I know - but at least this way I get her to do things that are missing at school - and we maintain a good relationship.

How about the Time Warp Trio by John Sciezka? Here's one of them: http://www.amazon.com/Tut-Time-Warp-Trio/ My boys loved them - they are historical fiction similar to Magic Treehouse but a lot more fun in my opinion.

I teach computer programming - and have two sons who went to college as computer majors. What I can say is that our world is changing and more and more careers will require the ability to at least understand code. Mark Zuckerberg has said it will be like reading and writing - everyone will need to know how to do it. So for that reason I believe everyone should learn how - this is not something only CS majors need. And as a teacher, I suggest starting as young as possible. Many countries including England and Estonia are starting their students in Kindergarten. The US is falling behind the rest of the world. I watch how hard it is for students to learn and I keep wondering what it would have been like if they had started younger. So my advice - whether you start in 9th grade or 10th - just be sure to do at least one year before college. A number of the students in our homeschool group have gone to college with no programming experience and have struggled a lot. One who is currently a freshman even had done a semester in C+ at a local community college and was still struggling. And whether or not anyone considers it academic - it is VERY academic. Students have to apply logic and reasoning and so much more.

OK- well, then another suggestion would be to use Math games and math apps. Try to find the ones that are the most fun and feel the least like "learning". And how about just putting math facts up all round the house - back of bathroom door - that sort of thing. Keep the same fact all over for a week or so, then add a new one.

My daughter just got into Minecraft recently and she watched some Youtube videos were the youtubers played it as an economy (ie no killing etc) and she said it reminded her of a class I teach at our co op where the kids learn economics by "being" the economy. She asked if I could set up a server through my business and repeat this idea - and so I have. We have very strict rules (no killing, profanity, stealing etc) and if anyone does that they are kicked off immediately. First month is free and then if they want to continue it will be $3 a month just to cover expenses (I pay moderators to keep a close eye on things plus the server hosting). I make people actually apply to be on to try and keep it safe. So, if you are a regular here and sign up - just give me your username here and I will PM you to check. The blog post is here that explains it all. We have 7 students on 2 servers right now - one is for up to 9th grade and one 9th to 12th. We will keep the numbers on each server to 25 at the most so it will stay a smallish environment.

This may sound radical - but how about stop trying. Seriously. I never bothered to get my gets to learn their math facts. All I was interested in was that they understand how to do the math. The "facts" will eventually come eventually. They did for all my kids. The one thing you need to prevent is that he start to hate math and that he think he is no good at it because he can't retain the "facts". I have seen how many kids decide they are bad at math and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

PSAT is a different story - it is definitely worth it. My oldest daughter was a finalist and got some money from her college but some colleges (I think Univ of Alabama is one) do offer full rides for finalists. You get benefits - nothing to pay for except the exam.

No - it isn't a live person grading - it is a very sophisticated (though not perfect) automatic system. They explain it somewhere on their website but if I remember correctly the first time they offer a new prompt it is handgraded for a certain number of students. This is then fed into the program so that it can use the data to grade other submissions (ie using machine learning techniques). On the whole I found it pretty good. It points out grammar errors and also lack of cohesion, no topic sentences etc. They have learning modules the students can work through to learn about the areas they are struggling in. And they can resubmit as often as they like for better grades. I would help my kids work through the problems - and found this far less stressful than me grading and them arguing with me about the grade I gave them. I was now on "their" side helping them do better.

My daughter did Algebra 2 as an 8th grader last year and she took the SAT in May. The scores will be erased from the public records because she is not in high school, but we did it as a benchmark as I like to see whether the kids do better in SAT or ACT and then work just on that one. I did not do it for the talent searches as I asked friends who had gone that route if they felt it was worth it and they didn't. Essentially it gives you access to various programs at great universities - but they are pricey and we couldn't afford them. My kids have just done Udacity and Coursera courses instead which are free.

I bought My Access from Vantage Learning for many years and used that. The added benefit is that it automatically "grades" their work. I used to buy the 6 student package (which is now $99 for the year) and share it with 6 friends. I thought for under $20 a year it was a great deal as I got topics to choose from (you still pick what you want to assign and due dates etc) and it was graded.

One of mine did Meteorology as as 1/2 credit and one did Epidemiology (using the free online CDC course). You could also check and see what Coursera has to offer.

I used a 4.0 system for my older 3 - every college application they filled out asked for an unweighted GPA. Many colleges had admissions counselors specially for homeschoolers. My children all applied for lots of scholarships - and won quite a few of them - and they always used the 4.0 GPA (and none of them had perfect 4.0s). So, I would say you are correct - they are just using that to weed out students not as a final criteria. Elks has a formula that takes a lot of different things into account and I can't remember if they specifically asked for unweighted. We just didn't think about it and it didn't seem to hurt my kids.

My daughter did SAT in May as an 8th grader and we didn't have an umbrella school so I am pretty sure I would just have used the generic homeschool one. Scores are removed for students younger than high school, so I agree it is a good way to take the test with no pressure. Mine did much better than we expected and was a nice confidence booster.

My oldest dd did SL100 in 11th grade as she had missed out on doing it earlier (we only started homeschooling when she was in 8th grade). I added in SL's American History that goes with the US Govt Core and she actually did the Govt Core too (she took that as a separate Govt 1/2 credit though). Anyway, for the actually history part all she did was 100 and for 2 weeks prior to taking the AP exam she went through a Princeton Review book. And she got a 5 on the AP exam. I agree in comparison to some courses it is light (the one I created for my boys is MUCH meatier) and my other 3 kids did 100 in 6th or 8th grade, but it is still a solid course and probably more than most kids get in school.

Thanks Luckymama and JanetC - we do have a local science fair and I should have thought of that - I didn't know you could do AMC at another location. Always something to learn! NACLO is also one that you can take at a test center - we just didn't have one near us and so they did allow us to do it at home. I just got a friend to proctor.

I run the contests for our homeschool group and I thought some of you might like to know what is available. I will make a separate list for middle school. Obviously this is not exhaustive but I will include all the ones my own children have done individually and the ones we have done as a homeschool group. Some contests are done individually but you have to sign up as a group and usually it is too expensive unless you have at least 10 interested students. I will put a * next to ones that you can easily do as an individual homeschooler. The rest you really need a co op or homeschool group or something like that so you have enough students. I am not going to hyperlink at present as it will take too long but I might come back later and do that. You will find these contests easily by googling. Science Olympiad - team of up to 15 *National History Day - research based. Can be done as an individual or groups. Present research as documentary, website, play, paper or display board Science Bowl - team of 4 / 5 * Voice of Democracy - essay that you record yourself reading Medusa Mythology Contest - different theme each year; multiple choice test; scholarship possibilities * AMC 10 / 12 - Multiple choice HARD math contest - see post below on how to do it as an individual Poetry out Loud - learn poetry by heart and recite Stock Market Game - this one you do in teams of 2-5 so will be easier to do even if you aren't part of a group Optimist Club Speech Contest - speech contest with a nice scholarship for the state winner (my co op students won our state the past 2 years) Quiz Bowls - check to see what your area offers. We have a History Bowl and a Scholar's Bowl. I also know of an Ocean Bowl in WA * NACLO - linguistic contest - involves figuring out what words etc mean. My kids didn't do well but it is a cool contest * DuPont Challenge - Science Writing contest * Science Fair - try for a local one otherwise there is also the Google Online Science Fair

Dual enrollment will be a good idea IF the college is good. Our local community college has some good classes but on the whole it is not challenging. Our local 4 year college is fine though. He will find AP computer science easy. Other sciences - my kids did Meteorology, Epidemiology and Forensics as other sciences - you can pretty much take any field he is interested in and look for Teaching Company courses. I would then add a few books on the subject (once I even emailed a Teaching Company prof for ideas) and set a research project so you have something to grade. And of course, any of the MOOCs would have relevant courses - Coursera has a lot of options now.