You will find the same error here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_horses_are_the_same_color

No.

There is NO way that I'd repeat the same year with the same curriculum for a student who'd gotten all A's and a B. If you wanted to correct the grade placement, one option could be homeschooling for a year and doing something completely off the beaten path for all topics, then re-entering in 6th grade the year after that. hypothetical example since I know nothing about your kid: Math: Do arithmetic review on an every-other-day basis combined with introductory computer programming. Science: Astronomy, Astrobiology, Robotics, or something similar that's not part of the standard curriculum. English: Weekly review of 5th-grade level grammar and composition, read books at his level that will not come up in grades 6-8. I'd actually ask their teacher for "books you wish you could include but just don't have time for" Social science: Anthropology, History of a specific country, or something similar that's not part of the standard curriculum. Of course these are only examples.

Try a computer shop, some viruses will do stuff like this.

Wanting them to stay engaged with material that is far beneath them is a big red flag for me.

It is pretty difficult to find a college that does not require at least one lab science; it is more common to require two. You can definitely get into some colleges without labs, although this will seriously restrict the choice of where to apply. I did not find it difficult to jump into college labs without high school labs. One option you might consider is waiting until jr/sr year and dual enrolling for a few "sciences with lab". Some labs might be more interesting than others -- for example, my plant science lab at the university was much more interesting than the basic biology lab. Maybe geology would be interesting? This way the sciences would count both for high school and hopefully transfer as general education credit to the intended university.

But the issue here is that I really don't think there's going to be a perfect solution. The perfect solution would be for the mom to either start educating the kids herself and quit the damn business or hire a tutor. School is probably not a good solution at this point because they just aren't equipped to deal with kids this far behind. Odds are that they'll just get shunted into special ed classes. (However, school is a BETTER solution than what's happening now). I think that involving CPS is likely to lead to a brief period of compliance along with the mom cutting off the well-meaning friend who involved them, along with slipping back into her old habits as soon as feasible, quite probably involving a move to drop them off the radar. The other option I can see happening is removal, and outcomes for kids who are in long-term foster care are so extremely negative with respect to education, drugs, pregnancy, etc., that I'd genuinely consider being exploited (and yes, I do think this is what's happening) as a mother's helper less terrible, if they learn to read. I can't see a mom who's as nutty as this one going along with sending them to school because CPS tells them to. Rather, I can see her fleeing to another state and claiming that she's been religiously persecuted by the secular authorities who want to turn all her kiddies into atheists.

I agree with what everyone else has said about "girls". I would absolutely not use ladies either. That really carries gender connotations that she probably doesn't want to carry.

On the internet, the only thing that you *have* is the story the person tells you, and the only advice that can be given is predicated on the truthfulness of the story given. If the OP is trolling or lying (OP, I am NOT saying that you are -- it is just ALWAYS a possibility on the internet), and takes our advice based on a misrepresentation of the situation, well, she will justifiably look like a fool. But the sort of person who makes malicious calls to CPS usually doesn't need the justification of a message board to do so. CPS is not where I would start, but I would start with frank discussion of what happens to adults who can't read, along with Elizabeth's estimates of how long it actually takes children to learn phonics with her online phonics lessons. I would try to convince her to teach the oldest one, at least get them watching the phonics lessons, and then the oldest could teach the youngers. If she refused to let ANYONE help get the oldest reading, then yes, I would call CPS. I think that an illiterate teenager is serious enough for that. There are very few other educational things that I would consider serious enough to call about.

They might be mad at the time (a lot of parents get upset when someone else is pointing out something that they feel they should have noticed), but they need to know and they really need to know that others notice it. The earlier these are caught, the less terrible they are to treat -- same with any other mental health issue. I think your plan of focusing on the behaviors rather than attempting to diagnose is right on the mark.

If you've tried that many curricula and she still doesn't like math, I'd pick something that she can learn from and that YOU can live with and just get it done. Not everyone has to like every subject. TT being "behind" is not a bad thing. Yes, it doesn't get to algebra until 9th grade, while others have it scheduled for 8th or even 7th. This is not a big deal. Algebra in 9th is sufficient for all but the most selective colleges, and frankly, algebra in 9th with good understanding is far superior to algebra in 7th or 8th with poor understanding for ANY college. If she is understanding TT, I would quit changing curricula looking for the "magic button" and just get through it. If she is not understanding TT, again, I would pick something YOU can handle and just plow through it.

+1 to this, except for the book where Charlie hits his head.

More Lucy Maud Montgomery books. Betsy-Tacy series Many books from Beverly Cleary (there might be a few issues with ones such as Dear Mr. Henshaw) And on the picture books, Miss Rumphius <3 <3 this book

So I stumbled across this list of textbooks approved by the American Institute of Mathematics. I've only read the analysis ones (because that was what I was looking for) but I thought others might find it useful. It goes from precalculus and liberal arts math through real and complex analysis, abstract algebra, and other advanced topics. I suppose including the link would have helped -- http://aimath.org/textbooks/approved-textbooks/

Yes and no. I think that expectations of output are far too high in the early grades, period. I think that high school expectations for the brightest students are too low in terms of thought required and too high in terms of busywork required. I think that high school academic expectations are WAY too bloody high for non-academically inclined students, whereas I think "common sense" and vocational training expectations are far too low. I'd love to see a real vocational system where you could take high school courses and still graduate with an LPN, or a CDL, or a cosmetologist's license, or training necessary to get an entry-level job as an auto mechanic, throughout the US. It exists in some places but it should be available everywhere. Would the academic courses for this diploma necessarily be college-prep? Probably not. That's what community colleges are for. ETA: I guess I misread the OP's intent, because I was thinking about the educational system in general and not just homeschooling. In some circles, academic pressures are absolutely far too high. But in other ones (not so much on THIS board) I see people whose neurotypical children are doing 3rd grade math in high school or not at all being told that they're doing just fine and life happens etcetera. This is not cool. I am not saying that everyone needs to be prepared to go to college regardless of interest. But I think if your neurotypical child is leaving high school under 8th grade level, you're doing them a major disservice. (This is not to say that the public schools in all areas do better. I am aware that many don't. Even the community colleges are not well equipped to deal with students at this level, and adult basic education is being cut more and more. If they're at the 8th grade level in reading and math, they can go to community college and catch up if they change their mind later. That being said, I think attempting to be better at EVERYTHING than the public schools can be equally disastrous. Part of "rabbit trails" is that they're not going to be achieving at the same level in all subjects. You may have to drop something back in order to make room for others. You may end up with a child who could easily have done calculus as a 9th grader doing algebra 1 instead because their real passion is linguistics and they're working on their 7th language, and that's Just Fine.

That doesn't stop people from trying it :P

An astronomy year is a great option. Other options: Meteorology, physical geography, geology, environmental science (non-ap), oceanography, ecology, forensic science.

PM loesje about CTC geometry -- she's using it in middle school and could probably give you more details.

I think going from MUS pre-algebra to Saxon alg 1 might be too challenging for most students. MUS is very much on the light side and Saxon is not. Given that math has been a struggle since middle school, I would suspect that there are holes in math from 4th-5th grade that did not show up at the time but have compounded in future years. I might be wrong and it might just be a carelessness and I don't wanna issue, but usually a struggle for that long indicates some lack of skills. I would definitely bring a placement test -- since you own TT, I think I'd bring that. Once you look at it, don't tell her WHAT is wrong -- but tell her "this problem is not right, can you try again?" -- if she can find the errors working more carefully, then I would suspect carelessness. If she cannot find the errors but can understand your explanation of the errors, then I would actually consider that a skills issue.

Is this just a one-time thing, or will you be tutoring on an ongoing basis?

You know, I *never* saw stuff like this in college (and it was within the last decade). My psychology professor talked about things like the Milgram experiments and such that I found deeply shocking, but they were psychology and not basically experimenting on US. Anyone can post reviews on Rate My Professor (it is anonymous), but I would actively encourage your dd to post rather than you, with thoughtful critiques of the professors and what they teach. If I saw a psychology class where it was mentioned that they did this experiment, and the review itself was well-written and avoided personal attacks, I would actively avoid it. I really don't like it.

Does not matter. Depends on whether your student is the type who will use the answers in the back of the book properly or use them to cheat. Proper use = work the problem, check answer in back of book afterwards, if wrong, re-work problem looking for mistake. Improper use = look at the answer in the back of the book, reverse-engineer the work (if work is required) to find "work" for the answer, or worse yet, just write down the answer.

It was common when I lived near Chicago. People would see you signalling and speed up to make sure you couldn't get in.

A little problematic with word problems :P

The solution manuals would depend on how well and rapidly you are able to work the problems yourself.