I wash my undergarments with everything else without any problems. I then hang-dry the undergarments. The dryer seems to do more damage than the washing.

Moise and Downs is very good. Both may be difficult to use, because you probably don't have a teacher's manual. If you are comfortable with geometry yourself, you might give it a go. I can't find any information on the algebra book. Weeks and Adkins also did a geometry book which has some good reviews but is said to be difficult for self-study.

Schaum's outlines? It's basically a brief outline of the topic, a boatload of worked examples and then a boatload of practice problems. Not only that, but the practice problems have a solution key in the back as these are intended for the autodidact.

Read the wikipedia summary instead, if you want to read the next one in the series :P

Mostly, I ignore other people's updates if I disagree with them. I blocked someone because she never got tired of posting every single conspiracy theory that came along, and it just annoyed me. (I think it annoyed me mostly because most of what she posted was flat-out mathematically and statistically incorrect.) However, I will delete posts on MY wall with which I strongly disagree. You have your own space! Don't fill MY space with your rants! :D

bucket of ice water? (sorry, no real help) ... if you find out, my mother wants to know too.

This is in the distance = rate*time chapter, right? General word problems: Write down everything you DO know. They walk at 4 mph (this is a rate). They drive at 16mph (this is also a rate). They drove the same distance each time (we aren't given the distance, but the fact that it is the SAME is important). The total times took an hour. What do we want to know? We want to know how long (this means we're looking for time) they walked. Since that's what we're looking for, let's call it x. We know that walking time + driving time = 1 hour. Since our rates are also hours, let's leave it in hours for now. So x + driving time = 1 hour. So driving time = 1 - x (hours). Using d = rt with the walking time, we get d = 4(mph)*x (hours). Using d = rt with the driving time, we get d = 16(mph)*(1-x)(hours). We were given that d was the same each time. So d = 4x, and also d = 16(1-x). So 4x = 16(1-x). So x = 16/20 = 4/5. This isn't enough for an answer, so look back at the original work. What was x? It was the time that they walked. So they walked for 4/5 of an hour. An hour is 60 minutes, so 4/5 of 60 is 48 minutes. If you'd rather have the time in minutes, they walked for 48 minutes. Here's another explanation of how to work with word problems using this formula, if what I said made no sense perhaps this will help. http://www.purplemath.com/modules/distance.htm

One of my homeschooled brothers graduated from Cornell and the other is currently there.

The other possibility is to plan this year so it could serve as either 8th or 9th grade, which gives you the year to make the decision. You should be able to say (later) 'whoops, that was 8th'

I found this unit at rainbow resource: http://rainbowresource.com/prodlist.php?sid=1298421160-633597&subject=14&category=4258 MIT has an OCW archaeology course here: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/materials-science-and-engineering/3-986-the-human-past-introduction-to-archaeology-fall-2006/index.htm I'm not sure how much you'd get without the labs (archaeology is far along on my to-do list) but the readings might be worth incorporating. I don't know how old your daughter is either, the OCW one would probably be better in late high school. The other thing you might do is see if your local university has anyone who teaches archaeology and ask them for recommendations. P.S. If you ever get anything, I'd love to know too -- archaeology is something I really want to learn more about for myself, but it's been pushed to the back burner.

I would smell it first. If it smelt like bacon I'd eat it. :D

My mother's one of the people mentioned in the book :D

Regentrude: If he likes chemistry, have you considered Atkins' Molecules? It is a popular science book about chemistry, written for literate adults without much knowledge of chemistry, covering many interesting molecules -- much of it is previewable on google books to see if it would work, either now or later. I wouldn't say it's a course per se, but it would probably be of interest.

If she doesn't complete the 3 years of math, she may have to start with a community college. This really isn't the end of the world. Many students start at a community college and transfer to rather good schools. Some universities will overlook deficiencies in otherwise good applicants. She'll almost certainly, though, have to take math (probably intermediate algebra) at university. Also -- things may start making sense to her with more maturity. You may find that she's not as lost as she thinks she is. I would, however, review algebra (probably once a week?) regularly through the geometry course so that she needs less review, especially if you think geometry may take a long time. Personal experience: My younger brother (homeschooled) clawed his way through school. Every time math came up, it was hysterical tears about how stupid he was, how he was never going to get it, etc. He started at the community college, and his transcript had 2 credits of general math, 2 credits of business math and accounting. He placed into algebra 1, where to his utmost surprise he earned a high A. He ended up going through calculus 1 at the community college (earning an A-) and transferring to a very good school, where he is doing just great in his junior year. Sometimes it really just takes some time and patience and persistent work. Some kids mature later.

Consult with someone local. Procedures vary quite a bit. Best bet is someone who shows chickens or someone at the county extension office. The fair book often has some details. For our shows (in Wisconsin) we had to have them pullorum tested and then leg banded. You don't need to prove her breed but if she doesn't meet breed standards she will be disqualified. Chickens aren't 'registered' in the same way that mammals are. We bathed ours before the shows. Be aware that: 1) You don't want to scrub her. It'll destroy her feathers. 2) Many soaps will kill the 'shine' which is necessary for a pretty hen. We used pine-sol but I understand they've changed the formulation now. 3) She'll need some time to dry out afterwards.

Hahahahaha wow! And people pay to drink this?

Statistics (not necessarily AP) would be my first choice for usefulness in the modern world. I'd also strongly recommend some sort of continuing algebra review (1-2 problems per day) so he doesn't lose his algebra skills -- he will probably have to take more math at college.

That, or Integrated Geometry and Advanced Algebra, or just half a credit of each per year.

Keep working steadily at a pace she can comprehend. It is far better that she end up slightly 'behind' than ahead with a weak foundation. That being said, I *would* work through the summer, but I would not worry about aligning each year of math with the school year so she is doing A in the fall and B in the summer. I would keep working steadily until she began 6B and then spend the time she was working on 6B figuring where to go from there.

I wouldn't skip rabies -- there's always a chance of a wild small animal with it getting *into* your house. Plus if your cat ever manages to escape ... it's just really not worth the risk.

Snipped from an Amazon review about Chemistry: -too chatty about stretching labs to connect them to Biblical culture -much too concerned with topics of evolution/chemical evolution (has very little to do with Chemistry at a secondary level, and Jay Wile's editorial contributed nothing to students' understanding of Chemistry). We felt it did not belong.

Yes, although I notice that you're in England. Are you planning on going to university in England? You will probably need some external qualifications for that. Many people do exams externally and some do find online courses for A levels/IGCSEs. Some people also take courses through the Open University. I also found an article in which you may be interested: http://www.home-education.org.uk/articles/article-open-university.pdf

I have a frankenlaptop at the moment. When it's at home, it's hooked up to a mouse, regular keyboard, second monitor, and external hard drive. However, I can still disconnect it and take it elsewhere if I need (such as when visiting family).

I would really consider hiring a tutor to work with her, if it is at all affordable. I think the best thing to do would be to go as far back as algebra 1 and go through it quickly, taking chapter tests, looking for weak points and remediating those. But having someone who has worked with it recently to figure out exactly where her misconceptions are makes a huge difference.

We teach these in intermediate algebra. They might also be covered in algebra 1. 1) Solving literal equations. Here's a tutorial. http://www.purplemath.com/modules/solvelit.htm 2) Factoring 3) Reducing rational expressions 4) Division of polynomials 5) This is more application of geometry -- draw it out as a triangle. Or you could have the distance formula memorized.