We start when we feel like it. Usually by around 8:30 or 9 but some days much later and a few much earlier. We are not super structured people. ;)

We started with the DVD set and the Beautiful Feet theme based lesson set. http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/bfg-e I really loved it right from the start. It's a great program. That books that go with the Beautiful Feet set are incredibly good books, too, that IMO span from about the 2nd grade all the way through middle school, with kids at different levels being able to appreciate them in different ways. :)

Whatever you go with, I think you would probably really like the Usbourne Science Encyclopedia and the Usbourne World History Encyclopedia. They are great books with lots of information, and are connected by page number to internet links. We very much enjoyed exploring the books and links. Good luck on your search! What a fun time! :D

I also love IEW! :D

We get Rocket and Mango both free through our local library. Any thoughts on which is a better program? Also, does anyone have any thoughts on how to give credit for these? Is using one of these programs 4 days a week for 36 weeks along with a workbook really at all comparable to a typical high school Spanish course? I plan to have ds take two semesters of Spanish at the local community college as a junior or senior, so I think that should be enough foreign language for universities even without the online and workbook work we are doing first. Anyone know if I am right? Any ideas or advice would be most welcome. I feel totally out of my depth on this! Thanks! :)

Fantastic, thank you! :)

I know Stanley says to do Algebra 1, Algebra 2, then Geometry. I was wondering if anyone has any experience changing the order to Algebra 1, Geometry, then Algebra 2. The reason I am considering it is to get some geometry in before early 11th grade when they take the SAT. Thoughts?

Oak Meadow has some out of the box lab science. I considered it for this year but went with something else instead.

Not sure if you are at all looking for advice, but I have a bit of experience... It's a good idea to avoid pet stores and buy from a reputable breeder. If you are a first time owner, it's better to start with an older snake rather than a hatchling. Make sure that you have everything set up a day before so you can monitor that the temperatures are right. If you need any other details about snake keeping, I can send you links and/or share our knowledge. We love corns so much! :D

We have two corn snakes! We love them! :)

I would try Life of Fred, Khan Academy, and freerice.com. LoF and Khan are good for learning new skills and practicing them to mastery. freerice.com is good for basic skills practice. Good luck!

If you call this year 7th, then in two years you will be starting high school with him. If you call it 6th, you have three years to be ready for high school. I'd work at the pace needed by your child in each subject and worry about the grade designation later, paying attention to the onset of high school and being flexible about starting that in 2 years or 3 years. Good luck!

If it were me I would... Keep them home, do as much formal work as you can, let yourself off the hook when you can't get everything done, document the heck out of everything you do and really shine up all those unschooling moments and document them, too. The court doesn't have to know that most of your fractions lessons are baking cookies with the kids because yummy food and together time feeds a family's soul. Find yourself some community. If you don't already have a supportive homeschool group, get one. My homeschool group literally saved us through several single mom years. You need the break from being the only in-home parent, you need the shoulders to cry on, you need adult companionship. Make sure to take care of yourself. Don't make any major decisions you don't have to. This is one of the most difficult times and the world looks skewed and bizarre from where you are standing. Be kind to yourself and your kids. I'm so sorry your family is facing this. :(

Thanks for this thread. Somehow I missed this concept in all the mathing I have done!

Our start date is September 3. I am starting to get really excited. :) Everything we are using is in my signature, but here it is with a bit more detail... Writing: IEW, Literary Terms Handbook, NaNoWriMo Math: Life of Fred Algebra 1 World History/Geography/World Religions/Art History/Music History through 1400ish: World History for Us All, Illustrated History of the World, Mapping the World with Art, Usborne and "for Dummies" regarding culture and religion Biology: Quarks and Quirks Biology with a lot of changes by me Spanish: Rocket Languages Spanish Latin and Greek Word Roots: English from the Roots Up Philosophy: More Philosophy for Teens, Superheroes and Philosophy For Fun: Excitatory Topics in Physics, The Big Questions, Banjo lessons, Drama class

Superheroes and Philosophy: Truth, Justice, and the Socratic Way (Popular Culture and Philosophy) Tom Morris (Editor), Matt Morris (Editor) Here is the Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Superheroes-Philosophy-Justice-Socratic-Popular/dp/0812695739 It looks fascinating and I would like to use it for a partial philosophy credit, but I can't find any lesson plans or discussion questions about it or anything. Has anyone used it? Thoughts?

I plan on using IEW's basic program all through high school for the writing portions of our English courses.

I'm big on not letting the stumbling blocks of schoolish education get in the way of life. Lower grades can affect a person's chances of getting into a university or getting scholarships, which can affect the course of their entire life. I feel like grades under an A in high school should be awarded for not understanding or not completing the material. It's a legalistic schoolish thing to award the grade the student earns before they are done learning the material. So I would give an A since he mastered the material.

My understanding is that a single semester, three credit university course is equivalent to a one year high school course. The Arabic sounds awesome! My son tried out conversational Farsi but didn't get very far with it. It's hard without people around to practice with.

If my child was that involved in music I would shift around coursework to make that happen. The level of schooling most people ask of their kids is leagues beyond public school in intensity, time required, depth of study, etc. I would look to waht the basic, non honors, non AP high school classes look like and plan my year to mimic that. No need to go above and beyond on academics, IMO, if your child is really shining in music. Make sure the academics are "good enough" and send her off to do music!

This is a great point. My first priority is absolutely relationship. :)

We are getting to that point now and it isn't easy for him to transition, but we are figuring it out. Right now the rule is that all schoolwork, chores, responsibilities have to be completed by Friday before we leave for Park Day with our homeschool group. If he can make a case for doing it over the weekend, that will be allowed, but no sleepovers unless everything is caught up. All school WILL be done before the next Monday or all screen time, texting, phone, etc is gone, as well as no park day or sleepovers until it is 100% caught up. I would never hold him to this for illness or my lateness in grading or anything, but I am fair in what I assign and he needs to learn time management, and so far this is working. I think it helps that I give him things that are to be completed anytime during the week, so he can build his own schedule and work the way he likes to reach completion on all the items.

Thank you! And yes, it is definitely wonderful - the discussions that spring from our studies are probably my favorite (and possibly the most educational) aspect of our home education. :)

Yes, this! Not only do I find the word revolting to speak or hear, but I also do not want to develop any comfort level in myself or my child for speaking that word.

What an awesome discussion! I so appreciate all these perspectives. We may end up reading these and also adding in some works by people of color who actually lived through those times. I'm seeing our US history year filled to the brim with reading!