I am with ByGrace3 - do fun stuff! There are also online games you can play - and apps. Maybe also read books that are set in other countries. And if your local library has Families of the World DVDs get some of those to watch as they are really good.

When I had younger children I tried to supplement the curriculum with some of the following (we weren't into hand on stuff much) * computer games (now one could add apps but they weren't around a few years ago) * movies * board games * jigsaw puzzles It is amazing how many one can find of all the above to cover all school subjects - and for history you can find things for all time periods. My boys used to joke that they were the only kids they knew who were assigned computer games for homework. Civilization (CD Rom game) is particularly good for history. As we moved through each different civilization I would encourage them to play the game as that civilization and it gave them a much better appreciation for the time period. I must say, though, we didn't add these things to liven up school - we did Sonlight and the books they used were really engaging. We just wanted to continue the enjoyment of learning in different ways and so I added these extras to cement their knowledge a bit more.

My daughter went to public school this year - and the kids in the Honors program do Chemistry in 9th grade if they have already had Algebra. She had to work hard all year at it but finished with an A - and I think most of the Honors class got As or Bs despite the teacher being pretty tough (no bonus points etc). Her school has had the best Chemistry EOC scores in our state for a few years now, even though most other schools wait till 10th grade to do Chemistry so they are firm believers in doing it straight after Algebra. My daughter didn't love chemistry, but she prefers physics and I doubt it would have mattered if she had done chemistry later.

I think repeating a year next year will be very demotivating for them, so whatever you do - try and make it look like they are moving forward. What curriculum were you using? I know that I realized (after the fact) that some curricula didn't work as well as others - and then we had to backtrack a bit with another curriculum before moving on. My kids all were ahead of where they should have been with math but if the curriculum wasn't teaching them to think, they didn't do very well in testing (this was the worst when I used Teaching Textbooks). Life of Fred and Singapore (the latter I only used until Algebra) worked really well for us. Life of Fred is fun but heavy on word problems. My one son particularly love LOF and would do tons of it just to find out what happened next. My youngest daughter did LOF and Singapore and I got her to take the SAT in 8th grade and she score higher on math than her brothers did in 11 th grade :). And no, she isn't "gifted" - good at math, yes, but no genius. I would second the suggestion to try Khan Academy. With the gamification element it may not seem like doing "school" in the vacation and the good think is, they will keep getting the same problem types appearing until they master them. I got my daughter doing Khan as a supplement to LOF Algebra and I tied the points she earned to rewards she could earn. This made the whole thing fun and she didn't object to doing it and worked of her own accord to earn the things she wanted. Kids' feelings about math seem to have a strong influence over how they do, so just try hard not to let your children feel like they are bad at math, or to let them feel upset at having to work on math in the summer. Obviously you need to do make sure they know what they are doing, but the more "stress-free" you can make the process the better.

I second Sonlight Science

This won't work when your kids are very young, but I am all for integrating the learning so seamlessly with the vacation that the don't even notice. Firstly - they get to help with the planning. They figure out where the stops should be if you are driving, what to do when you get there etc (ie they are doing research). Secondly - on car trips we tried to give each of them maps. All kinds of learning happens when they are following along and commenting on place names (often you can integrate history here) Thirdly - when they ask questions, use that for a learning experience eg How long till we get there? Tell them to look at the map and look outside for signs as to where they are (or to look for distance boards). Then tell them the speed you are traveling. They can do the rest. And if they ask about things you see, help steer them towards the answers but don't just tell them. Make them think. I can remember visiting Europe and seeing glaciers and asking my dad about them. He responded with a series of questions for us and we guessed / reasoned until we figured out what they were etc. Fourthly - read the signs ... so much to teach from signs. Are they ambiguous? Have spelling errors? Grammatically incorrect? Fifthly - budget - my dad used to make one of us take care of the budget. A great way to teach math and finances Sixthly - encourage them to record the trip: So many options here from journalling to photographs to drawing to videos. This encourages creativity. I am sure there are more things like this - but you get the idea :)

Have you looked to see what coursera, udacity and edX are offering. There are sure to be a number that will work for you. Most of the Coursera ones are live.

We also did Singapore and LOF in combo. And when we got to Algebra I did LOF as the main one - with Khan Academy as the extra (and I did the points to rewards to make it more fun). It seems that kids either LOVE LOF or hate it. Mine loved it and definitely were happy to do math when it had a fun story that showed how the math is used in real life. Many of the LOF titles (eg Algebra) now have extra practice problems you can get so they have addressed that need for more practice.

My kids also liked it - and my youngest LOVED the fun DVDs and would watch them just for fun. I found that over the years they covered all the major topics and the kids were ready for high school science. They also participated in Science Bowl and did no extra studying and just on what they had covered through Sonlight did really well! As someone else mentioned, the variety was a big draw card. Of course they didn't love every single book and activity. But that was OK and you would soon finish it and move on to something else. Kept us all from getting bored. I really liked getting the kits with everything we needed in them. I would never have done science experiments if I had had to look for what I needed.

FundaFunda.com - my site - we teach computer programming and photography at present and will add Geography and Spanish next year. Only Spanish will have live classes but there are deadlines and homework is graded and their is support when students need help.

How about watching videos - that's the way my kids learned a lot. Michael Palin's "Round the World in 80 days" is his attempt to follow Phineas Fogg's and use only transportation available to him. The result is a great travel documentary - and you learn Geography without trying. You can get it on Netflix or your local library. We watched all Michael Palin's - HImalayas and Sahara have short sections you won't want younger kids to watch so if you do those you need to preview but all the rest are OK (there is some drinking / smoking in a cultural context). And you can just watch typical travel documentaries eg Rick Steve's.

Depending on his age, Runkle's Geography might be a good bet. It is more 'earth science' geography and covers the different earth forms and then discusses the major ones around the world as part of that chapter. My kids did it in 8th grade.

I would just leave them off. As you say, you have no grades and there really isn't any way to include them. If you do want to include them then I would suggest you "complete" them some way. Add a research paper or other project to show mastery instead of using a test. And perhaps just take it as a 1/2 credit.

My 3 oldest kids all liked Word Power Made SImple best. It is a book and is pretty inexpensive. But my youngest is using Vocabulary.com and the "game" element is working well. I translate the points she earns into money and it is amazing at how good her vocabulary is becoming :glare: (Yes, by the 4th child you are ready to do anything to get them to do what they need to do)

I alternated between Art and Music each semester or year ie one semester (or sometimes year) for Art and then switched to Music. I used lots of different resources over that time - sometimes we did Music Appreciation, sometimes Music History. For Art we did Appreciation / History and hands on. There is so much available that you won't run out. Here is a music curriculum that wasn't around when my kids where younger, but I would have used it if it were - http://www.squiltmusic.com/p/about_14.html

Memrise.com? But it is free so probably not the one you are thinking of

Python is seen as a good language to start with - no one really uses Visual Basic anymore so I wouldn't recommend that. Java or Javascript or Ruby would be other options.

The Nutcracker Music Game (I wrote a review here - http://fundafunda.com/blog/the-nutcracker-music-game-review.html). They have others too - the games are fun and educational I got some of the kids I teach at co op to write a post about their favorite CD Rom games - fundafunda.com/blog/cool-educational-cd-roms-and-software-great-gifts.html. The ones they mentioned: Minecraft Rollercoaster Tycoon Civilization (this my boys LOVED) Age of mythology Age of Empires I love adventure games - they teach critical thinking - Nancy Drew has ones that are great for middle school. For the younger ones, Spy Fox, Fatty Bear, Pajama Sam Just check that everything works on Windows 8

I agree - if they enjoyed the Hobbit keep going. I read the whole trilogy in 5 days! (Yes, that was in the days before I had kids)

Years ago I played all the Kings Quests with my older kids (who are now in college). My oldest daughter discovered recently that there has been a remake of these games so they will play on today's computers (Mac and PC). If you played them - you will know how awesome they are. If you haven't, well, they teach critical thinking skills as you are in a fairy tale world and have to complete different quests. You move around the world and pick up items which have to be used elsewhere. The games all draw heavily on fairy tales which makes them extra fun. I loved playing them with my kids- we would crowd round the computer and brainstorm what to do. Now I am playing them again with my oldest who is on the other side of the country and we brainstorm via text messages. The link is here: http://www.agdinteractive.com/games/games.html If you download on a Mac be sure to drag the game file into your Applications folder or you wont be able to play it

Most would probably be high school - and this does sound like it would fit what he was describing. He runs the group at our local State University and this is the method they use to qualify their students - he mentioned the word "pizza" too :)

We had someone come and present about Ham radio to our 4-H Computers and Technology group. He offered to spend one Saturday with out students and prep them for the test and then they take it at the end of the day ie he thought you could learn it all in 6/7 hours. We want to do it - just trying to figure out a time.

They email them first and then mail them after that

Ah - I have never heard of a college wanting one from the parent. I did have to write why we homeschooled and had to provide a list of curriculum for a number of schools for my 3 kids who have gone through the process, but hadn't come across that. That will be tough ... hopefully someone has had to do it and can give you advice. I guess you need to be as objective as possible. Hard one!

Still waiting for scores here - I run it for our homeschool group and have always received it long before this ...