I have a child working consistently at an 8th grade level who has received almost no formal writing instruction. If I give him a several page story to rewrite in his own words, he not only can do so, but his writing is excellent. Gets all the main and supportive details in, varies sentance structure, uses interesting vocabulary, and manages proper grammar and spelling. But he is not a creative writer (and we've determined he doesn't need to be). He has to be working with facts or a given story. We have decided to focus on teaching him to write research reports and possibly a standard essay (so he knows how before he encounters them on standardized tests). We've been trying to use WWS and it's just too incremenatal for him. I'm so disappointed, I really like the program. He needs something that is more condensed--something that you'd use for a child who has all the base skills, just needs to practice the steps and format of a research report. My main concern right now is being well prepped for rhetoric in high school. Does anyone have a favorite framework? I'm hesitant to come up with something on my own as I'm a natural writer and I'm having trouble breaking it down to a framework of steps.

That's great to hear! He's starting that class in two weeks.

Do you have a guess on how much time she spends on homework and studying outside of class each week?

5-6 hours per class is far more doable! He's a super bright kid and generally moves very quickly through material so I suppose there is hope.

Can anyone help me compare Lukeion vs. Classical Learning Resource Center? Ideally we'd prefer LegoMan take both Greek and Latin along with ancient history and mythology classes starting this fall. Lukeion sounds amazing. My major concern is the workload. Even if I take his course load down to a bare minimum, I'm concerned about devoting 20 hours a week to Greek and Latin together. That just seems like a bit much when there's still other subjects to cover.

Thank you! Darn it, I missed that. Ugh. Back to the drawing board for summer.

Legoman is curently enrolled in AOPS Pre-Algebra through WTMA and is having zero issues with the material. He will be taking Algebra 1 throug WTMA next fall but over the summer I'm considering Number Theory online directly though AOPS. Has anyone done that? Should I be concerned about the material level (since he won't have done Algebra 1 yet) or the pace?

I realize WTM specifies 4 History cycles starting in 1st grade but...I’d love to hear from some experienced parents on what age they felt their children actually retained a decent portion of the history they were presented? I’m really rethinking a few things. Such as time spent on history with my 8 year old is completely wasted and we’d be better off with more fabulous literature. If I do that I’m thinking we’d pick history back up next year or the year after.

Awe, thanks! I have the teachers guide and the student books so that helps. If I had just the main book I'd be up a creek! Oddly enough, my son told me last night that he'd love to switch to poetry in two weeks. So I guess we shall see when the books arrive.

Thank you! That's great to know.

I keep hearing CAP's logic books (Art of Argument, etc.) are secular.

It appears the author suggests: CW Homer weeks 1-10 Beginning Poetry weeks 1-12 CW Homer weeks 11-30 Beginning Poetry weeks 13-24 CW Homer weeks 31-40 Any wisdom on this? I'm nervous to switch to poetry soon as we are just hitting our stride with Homer (just finished week 8).

I'm really hoping The Monkey will switch to Singapore or Beast for second grade. I will be very surprised if ArtsyGirl switches before she ages out. One long term RS kid is more than enough.

Thank you! That's really helpful.

**I've cross posted in the Accelerated Learners forum** I'm looking for an online, high school level science option. Ideally video based where other assignments (tests, papers, labs, etc.) can be skipped. I need something that is fairly comprehensive, accurate information, and secular (includes evolution and climate change where appropriate). I have an unusual child who does best taking in significant amounts of high level information and I'm trying to find a good option for giving him an overview of science over the next year or two. We will of course tackle science more traditionally (exams, research papers, labs, etc.) once he reaches high school. So far I've found Time4Learning and Acellus. Any experience with these? Are there others that are better options? I'm ruing out SuperCharged Science for now as it's very disorganized (but I'm open to being convinced!) ETA: Others that have been suggested: Exploration Education and Learn Science Conceptual Academy (checking them out now, would love feedback).