We are doing Conceptual Physics this year as well. Here is what I found to add to the book. Sixtysymbols.com - 60 symbols of Physics and when you click on them there is video explaining each. Low cost Physics Activities - Jabryan.iweb.bsu.edu Learner.org - Free course called The Mechanical Universe Tryengineering.org has some lesson plans wikihow.com - How to build a Rube Goldberg machine You Tube - search for Vsauce videos - "What if everyone JUMPED at once?" Search on Pinterest too - some great ideas there. I cannot figure out how to add Links on here otherwise I would have done so.

My ds is 14 too and these are some of the authors whose books were suggested: Max Elliot Anderson Thomas B Constain Rafael Sabatini C.S Forester The Once and Future King - T.H. White He enjoyed Enders Game by Orson Scott Card I am looking forward to what others will list as I am always looking for good reads too.

Thank you so much! We are using Conceptual physics this year as well.

I just found the Grammar for High School book at our library. I think it is a great program! This is just the student work text and it seems like all you really need to learn it. They teach them to "imitate the grammar of the great writers" So for instance in the beginning of the book one of the worksheets is to look at a model (a sentence from a published book) and then they give you two examples and you pick which one fits the model. Nice and easy to start but you are learning very quickly to spot the way the sentences are constructed - start with an adjective, an adverb etc. I've only briefly looked at the first couple of lessons and liked what I saw Maybe someone who has used the program can give you more details about the grammar part of the book. I am definitely going to use it this year.

You can check out the reading lists on the home pages of Sonlight and Beautiful Feet and on TWTM site of course! This blog had some good ones along with video recommendations. mthopeaceacademy.BlogSpot.com. Another good place to search for reading lists is on Pinterest.

The first official day of school for us is always after Labor Day. I read on here of having the tradition of starting the first days of school going on field trips. A nice combination of doing something that feels like summer and is educational. I think that is what we are going to do this year, just to ease into the school year at our own pace. So no you are not alone, enjoy your summer!

I like magazine holder containers. They are great for those large softcover books that are always hard to keep neat on a bookshelf. I bought some plain wood ones at IKEA and painted them different colors last year using acrylic paint. The colors correspond with a subject so you could paint as many of the same colored ones as you needed to hold all the books for that subject. It would just be taking the colored dot way one step further.

Thanks so much! I will look into it.. Do they have a classifieds section too?

I like to wait until after all the school supplies go on clearance and then I stock up. Nice to know that I don't Have to have them now.

I pulled my son out after 3rd grade and wish that I would have done it sooner! even in the middle of the school year. One of the main reasons was that I did not like how it was affecting how he felt about himself. I think we need to trust our motherly instincts when it comes to Our children... after all we know them better than anyone else. When I decided to homeschool him, it just felt right. In answer to other peoples questions I would say that we were going to take the next year and work on things at home. I never said anything negative about the school and that helped to make it a peaceful change. One year at a time. That is what I give as my answer to the questions about how long we are going to homeschool. One year at a time. That is what I tell myself when I started to feel any pressure about his education. It has helped me to focus just on the now.

I will have to try the multiple tab way! Have them all up and then start narrowing it down. Pinterest has been helpful, I have a board for each subject . I like that I can type in notes to myself below each pin, which is good for when I have learned things like: you only need the Teacher's manual or start with this level. The Key I think is that when you DO have everything to stop researching, easier said then done sometimes!

Pinterest! Lots of home schoolers with boards on there. I have found so many free sites including many you-tube links. I have one board per subject so it is easier to find these links when I need them.

Yes! My 5th grade teacher read to us and I credit her for helping me to become a life long reader. She read out loud every day and when she finished a chapter we would sometimes beg her to keep reading and she always did. Charlotte's Web, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and all the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books were our favorites. I have read to my own children since they were babies and now my youngest (14 ) still likes it when I read to him! My husband and I also have had times when one of us was in the hospital and we read to each other to help take our minds to a happier place. Our favorite books for those occasions have been books by P.G. Wodehouse (funny) and The Chronicles of Narnia. I don't think I will ever outgrow liking to read out loud or being read to.

Thank you for the great idea's ! I can't figure out multi-quote so will respond here in mass: I like the idea of finding people with similar goals and concentrating on what works for them Getting Catalogs is a great idea - then I can highlight and circle to my heart's content. Can relate to being overwhelmed and then finally making my choices at the breaking point,..lol Thank you, thank you for the idea of making a blog post about it.. funny I've read others posts but Never thought to do one myself! I finally have in ONE spot all the books I own, resource links that were formally on a Pinterest board, field trips ideas etc -All listed by Subject. I feel much better and more organized and might actually USE all these things I have been researching!

I have been on these boards many a late night in the past couple of weeks researching curriculum. I like doing the research and have learned a lot here but my brain can only remember so much. My method of the moment is to either scribble titles on the nearest piece of paper or throw it in Amazon or Pinterest. These are okay but I'm wondering if there might be an easier way? How do you research curriculum?

We are going to use Conceptual Physics this year, I have a 8th Edition that I'm going to use without the teacher manual. I found these free resources online to use along with it. (sorry it won't let me add the direct links) phsschool.com - the conceptual physics home page has a chapter by chapter list of links to go along with the book gpb.org/chemistry-physics/students/physics - these are for links to videos that go along with the book. I searched on these boards for "conceptual Physics" and found lots of helpful ideas that are for just using the book. When I found the links above I put them on my Pinterest Board labeled High School Physics. Hope that is helpful.

My son is like that too! I have been doing a lot of research ( mostly by reading these boards ) and have come up with two ideas that sound good to me. Essentials in Writing - DVD teacher who walks them step by step though the process of writing. Jensen's Format Writing - a workbook that has been around for a long time and with good reason it seems.

I have been reading all of this with the greatest interest as I also have a 13 year old. I saw it coming as he is my youngest and realized this would be the year when we would be at odds with each other so here is what I have done. If his curriculum had a teacher on CD/ DVD I bought it. it was worth the investment this year. I made a schedule of the subjects that have to be done Mon through Friday and hung that up. Having it on the wall makes a world of difference, if its on there in writing then no arguments ( even though I made the list!). Also I started something new this year, if he complains and goes too far, I write a chore on the whiteboard that he has to do After his school work is done. The first time he got up to two chores very quickly and behaved himself after that. Now when it happens I just calmly walk over and write a chore in the corner. I explained to him that this is a real school and like real schools if you misbehave you are punished in some way. Scrubbing jobs are good as he can work out his emotions and I end up with a nice clean tub, floor etc. I'm thinking that after lunch of taking a walk and calling it gym class. I think the break and the exercise would do us both good. Depending on your neighborhood she could go by herself. Hang in there, this too shall pass.

Thank you so much!

We use Can Do Cursive from handwriting without tears. It is written for older children and is an inexpensive workbook. It includes Greek, Latin and a writers section. For ease of use we practice on the whiteboard and write the letters as big as are comfortable at first. Excellent book!

I sometimes just pick a room or an area to focus on and do whatever needs to be done. That's when I get to vacuuming cobwebs & lamp shades, under furniture & couch cushions, wash pillows, dust books, disinfect door knobs... I try to rethink how we use that space, purge, reorganize and move things to where they belong. Other times I will just grab the Windex and a roll of paper towels and go around shining all the mirrors, glass items (picture frames, lamps..) and the fronts of the kitchen appliances. Or take I'll get some lemon oil and do all the wood items.. .

You can click the Watch Advert box on items listed for sale in the classified section. My question is where do you go to see the list of items you are watching?

Search on Pinterest for more ideas. Here are some that I found there that are free. http://thevirtualinstructor.com/videos.html = all mediums http://www.bachelorsdegreeonline.com/blog/2011/100-awesome-art-lessons-on-youtube/ http://www.artsconnected.org/toolkit/index.html http://www.freehomeschooldeals.com/free-frugal-ways-to-learn-art-in-your-homeschool/

Art = creating using all sorts of mediums, illustrating books read Creative Writing = write the stories as they make them up, tape record their own stories, poems Science / Nature = field trips, easy experiments, plants, animals.... Bible = memorizing scripture.

For cursive I would recommend "Can Do Cursive" by Handwriting without Tears. It is written for an older child and includes chapters on grammar, Greek, Latin and writers notebook, after he gets the basics down. It is a workbook and inexpensive. My older ds started by using a whiteboard to practice and that worked really well. The only thing I changed was to draw a little loop at the beginning of some of the letters in the front of the book. ( letters u, c, a, d, g...) which made it easier later when it came time to connecting them. I think it is a fantastic book! http://www.christianbook.com/can-cursive-student-workbook-grades-and/9781891627743/pd/498372 For typing there are some free websites. We have used Krazy Keyboarding in the past and he liked it.