Has your child already completed PreA and Alg with Saxon? If so, then you MIGHT be able to complete both in a year. Otherwise, I think it would be pretty close to impossible. My dd has been working on AoPS for nearly two years now working one hour per day. She loves it, but it is challenging.

I love TTC! I'm so glad I got it! I finally learned how to teach literature in a deep, yet enjoyable way. I was used to comprehension questions growing up and in high school I was expected to just know how to analyze literature without being taught how. I would just go with the videos for now and see if you want any of the extras later. There's a good chance that you'll find the videos enough for now.

IEW's Phonetic Zoo has a placement test you can access online. It's just a list of words for each level that you would read to your child and then grade yourself. But that might give you an idea. My older girls were done with another program, but when I tested them on the Level C words, they missed enough that I'm making them go through Level C of the program.

I would say Explode the Code. I think there are samples at christianbook.com.

It is tough to find time! I have 7 ages 5m to 13 yrs. Right now I'm able to squeeze in an hour of planning most afternoons. I have sewing project I'm working on after the little ones' bedtimes. I'm looking forward to finishing it and using that time, too. I know that the more planning I get done, the smoother our days will go, but I have to accept that I won't have time to do everything I'd like. It's just the way it goes :) How do I do it? I'm working through the easy subjects now - the ones that have a list of lessons or pages that just need to be divided into roughly 36 weeks. I can knock those out quickly and I get a feeling of accomplishment. But, history is looming in the background with all those additional books and projects and writing that I'd like to work in. For those I'll divide up our spine over the 36 weeks and see what we have time for. I find it a lot of fun to plan. I just ash I had more time for it. I'm typing very thing up into charts in Open Office documents. I plan to print them along with some other things (calendars, places for note, etc) and get it bound into a planner for me for the year.

I agree! AAR is a very thorough program. It has lots of practice with each lesson. The only thing I'm adding is MP's First Start Reading for handwriting. It's supposed to be a full phonics program, but I'm just using it for handwriting instruction and practice with the bonus of more reading practice in that my dd should be able to read what she's writing.

I started my 8th grader this past year with IEW SWI B. She loved it! She was glad to finally have some rules to structure her papers with. I tried many other writing programs over the years and never made it very far. I finally tried IEW because I knew that, while she wasn't a reluctant writer, she needed some structure to be able to write papers. IEW was one of the few programs I knew of into which a student could jump when they were older. It worked exactly how I hoped for her.

How about TOPS Science units?

SWI A, B, and C are videos of Mr. Pudewa teaching a group of kids several of the units from the TWSS. I have only used B, and it covers Units 1, 2, 3, 4/6, and 7. He gives them a model for each unit and guides them through outlining, how to use the appropriate structure and goes through style, dress-ups and sentence openers. In the notebook you get with the videos there are more models for additional practice of each lesson. You can definitely teach IEW only with the TWSS. I got them both together (TWSS and SWI B), but after I watched the TWSS, I kinda wished I hadn't gotten the SWI because I felt I could've taught it myself. However, my kids did enjoy the videos and it went well for us. It was also good for me to see Mr. Puddles guide the kids in the video. It was a model for me. I hope that helps. There is an IEW yahoo group where staff members answer questions and give advice. I highly recommend it. HTH! Angela

I agree with the general consensus here - put a hold on grammar for a couple of years. Trust me, the only "grammar" they need at this point is learning to start sentences and names with capital letters and putting punctuation at the end of sentences. You can also talk about a few other basic punctuation rules if they come up (commas for items in a series, etc), but all of this can be done through copywork or AAS dictation. The other thing is that each LA subject is taking too long. My dd uses AAR and AAS (about half a level behind). Each takes 10-15 min./day. For AAR we do the lesson and activity on one day. We do the fluency sheets the next day. Now she is reading much better and can do them all in a ten minute sitting. But for a long time we would take 2-3 days for this. Then we take a day for the story practice sheet and a day to read the story. Once a week we review phonogram and word cards. We don't do phonogram cards with AAS since she's already done them with AAR, but we do review rules on Monday when we do the new lesson. On Tuesday, I dictate lesson words and some old words for her to write on the dry erase board. If she needs more practice we do this again the next day. I split up the phrase and sentence dictation over 2-3 days. She also does cursive HW which takes her another 10 min, maybe. So, if you spend 40 min on these things, then you can spend 20-30 min on math and then an hour for science/history/literature read-alouds. You can have her narrate or do copy work from these a couple of days a week. Do art or a science/history project occasionally and there you have about 2.5 hours of school! I hope you are able to find something that works for you. Don't be too hard on yourself. It's hard having young kids who can't work independently yet as well as babies/toddlers who need your attention, too. Read some to them. Have them read some to you. Do some math. Go outside. I promise they will be learning all they need to at this age.

I print up a receipt that says, "I have received the following items for (child's name):". The I list the items I'm turning in such as, 2013-2014 portfolio, Grade 8 standardized test scores, evaluator's letter, 2014-2015 Affadavit, medical exemption letter. Then I put a line for the signature. HTH!

All courses are 70% off for the weekend!!

Thanks everyone! I think I'll talk to my daughter and let her know that the possibility exists of taking an extra year at some point if she chooses. I can just adjust her transcript to reflect her last four years.

We are really enjoying the new edition of Fix-it grammar. These aren't the "baby" sentences that you usually see in early grammar programs. The addition of sentence parsing in this new edition really makes it a solid program.

This is probably what we will do. I'll let her know that it's a possibility to take an extra year since she's a little young, and if she decides to do that at some point we can adjust her transcript to reflect her last four years. Thanks for the replies!

Hi, I've been planning to have my oldest dd start 9th grade in the fall. She has an early Sept birthday and will only be 14. She's very smart and mature, but I wonder if I should give her one more year before high school. I don't want to hold her back just because I want to keep her another year, but I wonder if I should just give her more time before she has to go out into the world. She doesn't have any plans for the future yet. Here's what she has just finished for this school year to give you an idea where she is academically: AoPS Intro to Algebra AG Season 3 IEW SWI B Physical Science Modern world history Second Form Latin Here's what I have planned for next year: AoPS Geometry & Intermediate Alg (alternate days) AG high school review WttW TEE Biology with Kolbe's LP Ancient history or geography Third Form Latin Italian Thoughts? Thanks so much!

I would love to do a transition year with my dd, but I think it's only me selfishly wanting to keep her home another year. My dd will be 14 on Sept 9th, so she's always had this birthday that is on the cusp of the normal cut-off. I have 9th grade curricula planned for her. I guess at this point we will just do an extra year in four years if needed. She's academically ready and mature for her age. What would you do?

My dd took the Jr. High lit class (not writing) this past year and really enjoyed it! She learned a lot and came to understand and enjoy books that she did not at first. She got to read and discuss 12 good works of literature in a way that I could not, even if I found time to read all those books. They are offering some free classes this summer so that you can try them out and see if it is what you're looking for.

If you have an TC account, do they email you when they have new items discounted or do you just have to check periodically and find out for yourself? I just signed up today and got the Aeneid for my dd for next year ($15!!), but I'd really like the Illiad and the Odyssey to go with them. And that Ancient Texhnology course sounds good, too :)

I was wondering if you could name some favorite games or fun supplements for early elementary levels. I find that my younger ones want to do more since their older siblings are, but I don't want to turn them off on school with a bunch workbooks. We have Legos and dolls and such and I like them to have lots of playtime, but often they want more "school". Ideas? TIA!

My 8th grade dd took the Jr. High Center for Lit online class this year. She's really enjoyed it and gotten a lot out of it. She even decided to start reading the books two times before each class so that she could better participate, which I take as a good sign. I can tell that she has learned to think more deeply about everything she reads thanks to this class. They have a writing option that we didn't take, so I can't comment on that. I did have her do some writing for me based on the discussions. You get to keep a PDF of the story chart created in class and an MP3 of the discussion.

Thank you for all of the ideas!

My son LOVES anything to do with ocean life. He's watched Blue Planet a million times, we've read Apologia's Swimming Creatures book, and he's read many books from our library. He's asked to read/study more on marine science over the summer. Any suggestions? TIA!

My dd still struggles with "ink" and "ing" thinking they are supposed to be spelled with and "e" instead of an "i" and she's halfway through Level 2. We just keep reviewing a few of these words each week. I know she will get it sooner or later. I would say that two weeks is good enough and move on with regular review of these words that your ds struggles with.

Yes, I started with Nose Tree. I plan for my son to go through it pretty fast and not do the copying for The Nose Tree. He easily does a week's worth in a day. It will probably all be review for him, but I want to make sure we don't miss anything. Once he moves to book 2, I plan for him to use it as is.