Amen. And well you *should* be irked. It irks me, too, to be increasingly packed in like a sardine with no leg room into ever-smaller planes that require that even the carry-on gets packed in the below-storage, no water unless you pay for it, and you have to stand in the passenger walk-way by the plane door to get it back again...

This is exactly what I do, too! As long as the backpack isn't a padded one, or a huge one, and can fit under the seat, no problems. YES! Everything vital goes in the personal item. Remember that you are only allowed a 1-quart ziplock for shampoo/cosmetics/etc., and no bottle can hold more than 3 oz. Put all of those items in a 1 quart ziplock, and also put all food/snacks in a clear ziplock, as it makes it so much easier to pull those out and go through security check, and then throw those 2 ziplocks back in your carry-on (shampoo et.al) and personal item (food/snacks). Also: bring an EMPTY water bottle, and you can fill it at a drinking fountain once you're past security. NO drink bottles with liquids -- even sealed ones -- are allowed through security. Sometimes I just go buy a $4 water bottle that's the 16-oz or larger size in the terminal once I'm past security, and then keep refilling/reusing all during my trip. I just looked, as I am flying Alaska this summer, and it is listed as the same 22x14x9 size as OP lists -- but that 22" has to include the height that spinner wheels add... Side note: another reason I hate those spinner wheels (in addition to taking away from actual bag room) is that I see people trying to put luggage with spinner wheels in the overhead bin, and the wheels catch on everything -- and also don't make it as easy for someone else to fit a bag in there with these awkward wheels sticking out. Just me, but I would fear that the wheels could easily be damaged or snap off... 😵

LLftLotR only has writing assignment ideas -- no teaching of writing, no exercises, no grading rubrics. Windows to the World is mostly about literary analysis & literary elements, with a good unit on how to write a literary analysis essay, and then some exercises that involve writing, plus some writing assignments for writing about the short stories studied. If you don't need a ton of direct writing instruction, that would give you plenty of writing assignments to cover the year for the Writing portion of the credit. If you DO need/want more writing instruction and guidance than that, then consider doing WWS, since that has worked for you. Or, possibly consider doing some of the 1-year program of The Power In Your Hands while doing LLftLotR -- it covers all kinds of types of writing, is written to the student, and can be done as units plugged in here and there over more than 1 year. Windows to the World will help with that. But yes, if you can do Figuratively Speaking casually this summer, that will help with familiarity of literary elements and discussing literature for next year. (:D Maybe look at The Power in Your Hands? Or, just go with WWS since it's what gets done? And either would work as an at-home program I wouldn't worry about Pol.Sci. -- or any of the other less common Soc. Studies courses -- unless DSs express a high interest, or if it looks like it will be a good support for what one of your DSs wants to do in college and for a career. And you probably won't see that until later in high school. 😉 Sure! Nothing requires that a credit has to be done only in the year you start it. Some people accumulate a 1 credit course (say, an Elective, or Fine Arts, or other subject) by doing 1/2 in each of 2 years. Or 1/4 credit in each of 4 years. I had a non-STEM DS#2, so we spread out 3.5 Science credits over 4 years to work at his pace. One way to get another REALLY fantastic extracurricular in there that can also cover the legislative part of a Gov't credit is to do YMCA Youth in Gov't (SUPER for public speaking and debate practice as well!), or Teen Pact. Then you could do the remaining topics for a 0.5 credit of Gov't whenever you like. So, it looks like this is your line-up for this year? credits 1 credit = English: ? -- at home 1 credit = Math: Geometry -- at home 1 credit = Science: Honors Biology -- outsourced/co-op 1 credit = Social Studies: ? -- at home 1 credit = Foreign Language: Spanish -- outsourced/co-op 1 credit = Elective: PE: Swimming -- outsourced 6 credits = total extracurriculars - library volunteering - swimming - National Honors Society And it sounds like you are considering these as your Social Studies credits? 1 credit = History at home 1 credit = AP/Honors Human Geography 1 credit = American History + Virginia History 1 credit = 0.5 credit Gov't + 0.5 credit Econ Since you're all burned out on History, or at least American History right now, and since you really like the teacher who does the Honors Human Geography and Honors Modern History, you might consider the following for 9th grade: - entirely skip Social Studies (for 9th grade) and jump in later in high school with that teacher for her Geography and Modern History classes -- and double up on Social Studies credits in a later year of high school to get all 4 credits done - OR -- do Gov't and Econ (so not doing History for a year) in 9th grade, and jump in later in high school with that teacher for her Geography and Modern History classes, and fit in American History + Virginia History in the remaining year of high school when that teacher is doing one of the classes you've already done, or after you've already done both of her classes I will just note that Econ can be a bit abstract and it touches on both nat'l and internat'l policies, so it can be more comprehensible to an older student, and to the student who has some World and US history under their belt... But nothing saying you can't use the 0.5 credit of Econ as a "preview of coming attractions" for later Soc. Studies credits... You might look at the Notgrass materials for American History, Economics, and Government while you're at the conference -- Christian worldview, and uses primary source documents with each. Or, the Great Courses: Economics lecture series by Timothy Taylor is 36 30-minute lectures (so, 18 hours total); we did that and added in a short book or two on Economics topics, plus a personal finance resource and called that our 0.5 credit of Econ. We did the Econ lectures 2x/week -- day 1, we used the GC as practice for note-taking while listening to a lecture, and then on day 2, I had DSs study their notes and take a quick quiz I created on that previous lecture. Just rambling now... ENJOY browsing the vendors, and hope you find everything that's a perfect fit for your family for next year! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Tips for stretching your packed clothes: - Wear your coat onto the plane, rather than packing it; you are allowed to take it off and drape over your lap, or store under your seat or in the overhead bin and it doesn't count as another "carry-on". - Pack thinner items that you can layer for warmth. - Take silk or lightweight thermal undershirt and leggings for added layers of warmth under your clothes, which also helps "stretch" re-using clothes for several days. - Plan on doing laundry a time or two while visiting, and re-wear clothes. - You can always borrow a coat from family if you didn't pack enough. Or buy an extra sweater or jacket from a second-hand store when you get there, in case you can't fit everything into the suitcase. We got the luggage I love close to 20 years ago, so it's not out there anymore, BUT... features I love: - wheeled!!! - soft side rather than hard shell (expands a bit for stuffing in just a little more...) - handle that telescopes out for pulling, and back in flat to the bag top for storing - small, flat, zipper "pouch" on the outside is perfect for storing your book handy when having to juggle boarding pass and ID - recessed wheels -- in line with the bottom of the bag, giving an extra 2 inches of bag space (so NOT the "spinner" wheels that are fully below the bag, taking up precious inches allowed for bag dimensions

Also, have you mapped out your Social Studies credits for high school? Usually these are required by many colleges for admission: - 1 credit = American History - 1 credit = World History/Geography - 0.5 credit each = Economics and Government That's 3 credits right there. And if your DSs get interested in doing some other Social Studies topic -- Philosophy, Religious Studies, Anthropology, Archeology, Sociology, Political Science, etc. -- that can be another credit, bringing you up to 4 credits of Social Studies, with 2 being History credits. And if you all really WANT 4 years of History, then you'll want to plan for at least a 5th credit to cover the Econ + Gov't. Or, if your students aren't that "into" History, then perhaps rather than a 4 year classical History study + 1 year of American History + 1 year of Econ & Gov't, knowing in advance that they don't want/need more than 2 History credits can help you pick the specific World History program that is a better fit -- maybe a 1 year overview of World History + 1 year of American History. Or a 2-year World History program + 1 year of American History --

Quick side note: I thought you were considering doing Literary Lessons From the Lord of the Rings (due to DSs' interest in the trilogy) + Windows to the World or a writing program for next year?? re: LA The Language Arts of elementary/middle school years becomes the English credit for high school. And the high school English credit is typically composed of 1/2 Literature and 1/2 Writing. (Some people also include a little light Grammar review, and/or some Vocabulary, and/or remedial Spelling, if any of these are needed or desired.) Since most programs do not include both the literary elements/literary analysis and info on literature topics for the Literature, AND the guided instruction, exercises, assignments, and grading rubrics for the Writing, most homeschoolers go with separate programs to cover the Writing and the Literature. Long way of saying: you'll probably want to look at both Literature and Writing programs. (:D Here is the "usual line-up of suspects": Writing - Essentials in Writing - 1 year, video-based lessons, additional grading option for a fee - Power in Your Hands - 1 year, written to the student, covers a broad range of types of writing - IEW - 1 year - Elegant Essay + Writing Research Papers the Essential Tools (or other) - each is 1 semester - outsource to an online course provider Literature - Windows to the World -- 1 semester, 6 short stories, major literary elements/beginning analysis, how to write a literary analysis essay (add Jill Pike syllabus for a full year) - Excellence in Literature: Introduction to Literature -- 1 year; 9 units -- 5 novels, 6 short stories, 2 plays, 1 novella; writing assignment heavy OR Literature and Composition -- 1 year; 9 units -- 5 novels, 1 nonfiction/essay, 3 plays - Bob Jones: Fundamentals of Literature -- 6 units grouped around literary elements; uses short works & excerpts of longer works; very thorough; requires more parent time - Essentials in Literature: grade 9 -- 1 novel, 7 short stories, 16 poems, 5 non-fiction (1 biography, 2 letters, 2 articles/reviews) re: History What have you been using, and has it been a good fit? If so, I'd just go with the next level of that. Otherwise, homeschoolers tend to go with one of these options: - textbook -- Spielvogel, etc. - living book-based program -- Sonlight, My Father's World, Biblioplan, Pandia Press History Odyssey, etc. - classical program -- Tapestry of Grace, Veritas Omnibus, Roman Roads Media, etc. - DIY -- often using many resources: documentaries/videos, Teaching Company Great Course, non-fiction books, etc.

I hope so! I must confess: it did not "grab" me right away, and I initially thought it was going to be a bit "twee". I had to read a few chapters before I really started to click with it and give it a chance to settle in and "find its voice" -- so you may need to persevere a bit if you're not "feeling the love" (lol) in the first pages.

Agree. Original Poster (OP): When you're just getting started, it's absolutely *fine* to have casual discussion about the works. Don't feel you have to go into heavy depth with every book -- or even ANY book! (:D Agree. Different translations will "click" with different students. OP: Also, you may want to consider an abridged (shortened) version or a "retelling" (modernized/re-writing), rather than a full translation, if it makes it more readable -- for example, we used Jennifer Westwood's abridged prose retelling of Gilgamesh -- very readable, AND it also contained several Babylonian myths for us to further enjoy with our ancient History studies. What textbooks are you considering (as we might be able to help you find sample pages or at least a table of contents)?

To me, Little Grey Men has a bit of the feel of Wind in the Willows crossed with Watership Down. 🙂

Just popping in to say that I just finished The Goblin Emperor a few weeks ago and enjoyed it! It was a fresh/novel approach to a fantasy work, both in the world created (fantasy with a few light touches of Steam Punk), and with a focus on a people group not typically used as protagonists (goblins). But I esp. enjoyed the politics aspect, with a young distant heir kept far from court suddenly rising to the throne with the unexpected deaths of those in line before him, and both learning about court life, as well as his people.

Ancient Lit. can be difficult at any age, as it involves: 1.) reading a translation rather than original language 2.) understanding of a culture so distant in time/place as to be very alien to the reader's contemporary culture and experience 3.) understanding of the literary conventions of the time (example: Greek epics written in the poetic form of that time, which is completely different from poetic forms of today) All that said, there's no reason to fear doing Ancient Lit. in 9th grade to go along with your Ancient History studies, esp. since you are planning on using a resource (anthology or textbook) that will likely walk you through those above 3 difficulties. Having a student's "buy-in" or high interest helps a LOT in jumping potential hurdles! (:D One thing you might consider doing is including a little bit of contemporary literature alongside the Ancient lit. as "relief", but especially for practice of literary analysis (and possibly for writing practice of literary analysis essays or reader responses). Short stories and/or highly-discussionable Young Adult (YA) literature are a great place to start with analysis and discussion, and Figuratively Speaking is a handy resource for learning literary devices, the "tools" of literary analysis. This past thread: "Figuratively Speaking paired with short stories", has several posts (scroll down in the thread) which suggest literature to go along with the 40 different literary devices covered in Figuratively Speaking. (BTW -- Figuratively Speaking is also available at Amazon -- I just linked where you could see the table of contents and sample pages.) Also, it can be nice to transition slowly into formal literature studies and the reading of classics, so including some YA works that would be of high interest to a 9th grader makes the whole process more engaging. OR... if needing more of a "stepping stone" in to analysis and discussion, you might consider doing the program Movies As Literature as a second credit or partial credit (an Elective, perhaps), which guides you through analyzing and discussing films. Sometimes it is easier to start by *seeing* cinematic elements and how they reveal/support a theme, and then translate that to reading literature and picking up on how literary elements reveal/support a theme.

oops!

Another option might be to browse ideas in these past threads: "Top 5 must-read books before high school" "Which 20 books help prepare for reading the Great Books?""Where do you start w/ h.s. boy who has never read classic lit?" "Getting a teen to read/understand thicker books" "Preparing our DC to read the Great Books?"

I would consider, together with the student, watching a good film version of several of the works so you'll have the opportunity to practice a little advance discussion together, but especially for your student to gain familiarity of characters/story/themes in advance of reading/discussing for the class. (Or, listen to audiobook together and discuss as you go. For Oedipus, a play, consider doing it as family "readers theater" and each of you take several parts to read aloud and let out you "inner thespian", lol.) Julius Caesar Royal Shakespeare Theater video version and/or Shakespeare Animated Tales (25 min, abridged, but using all original language) Lord of the Flies (1963) Great Expectations (1946) If wanting *other* books as prep, you might look at reading some things to help get used to the older/elevated language, or background of the times. Examples: - greek myths: Wonder Book + Tanglewood Tales (Hawthorne) or Bulfinch's Mythology --> Oedipus, as prep for background gods/world/tragic hero, and older language/sentence structure - House of Stairs (Sleator) --> Lord of the Flies, as prep for themes of dystopia and children's choices to go down a dark path - Bill Bryson Shakespeare --> Julius Caesar, as prep for background of the times/world of Shakespeare - A Christmas Carol (Dickens) --> Great Expectations as prep for Dickens' language/sentence structure via a shorter, lighter, more familiar story - End of the Spear, either the book or the movie --> Through Gates of Splendor, as further background of another perspective on the events and life choices Otherwise, you might go with some high-interest fast reads that also have high discussion-ability, and have fun with dinner table discussions about the themes/ideas raised in the books. Just a few ideas to get you rolling: - The Giver (Lowry) - Tuck Everlasting (Babbit) - Below the Root (Snyder) - All American Boys (Reynolds & Kiely) - The Day They Came to Arrest the Book (Hentoff) - Uglies (Westerfeld) - The Wave (Strasser) - Twisted (Anderson)

Not straight up narrative, but perhaps check out several of the titles from The World in Ancient Times series? Each is around 170-190 pages. They are geared for late middle school/early high school, but since your 10yo is reading above grade level, these might fit: The Ancient Egyptian World The Ancient Greek World The Ancient Roman World Other titles in the series that fit with Ancients: The Early Human World (pre-history) The Ancient Near Eastern World (Mesopotamia, Sumer, Assyria) The Ancient South Asian World (India) The Ancient Chinese World The Ancient American World And for later on, there is also the Medieval & Early Modern World Series: The European World, 400-1450 The African and Middle Eastern World, 600-1500 An Age of Voyages, 1350-1600 An Age of Empires, 1200-1750 An Age of Science and Revolutions, 1600-1800 For go-along historical fiction check out: Biblioplan's booklists for each of the 4 chronological time periods, and listed by age/grade ranges Guest Hollow's History Shelf, which lists books and movies to go with history studies from year 0 to the present A Book in Time fiction and nonfiction suggestions Home's Cool list of Sonlight books in WTM order ETA: Perhaps Pandia Press level 2 of History Odyssey Ancients? Or perhaps the first few volumes of A Picturesque Tale of Progress (Olive Beaupre Miller): vol. 1 (pre-history through Egypt) vol. 2 (Assyria, Babylon, Israel) vol. 3 (Greece, Persia) vol. 4 (Rome, Christianity)

^^^ What Corraleno shared was how things worked here for both DSs. DS#1 is in the midst of going back for a second Bachelor degree, and he is totally responsible for it at this point, but he is also 27yo. I would not have expected my late teen/early 20s boys to handle college finances solo, or even with a lot of reminders from me. It was too important, plus we were paying, so we handled all the finances directly, and I gave a lot of reminders on scholarship application deadlines, registration deadlines, etc. re: credit card DSs only had debit cards until about age 24, when they applied for their own credit cards. I would have been very uncomfortable with a shared credit card with DSs, as when they were new high school graduates, they didn't think to pay attention to things like fraudulent activity or setting up automatic payments with a new credit card. I think every student matures at a different rate and is ready for bigger levels of solo responsibilities at different ages. It's a case of knowing the particular adult child in front of you. Mine are both "late bloomers", so stepping into solo financial responsibilities really wasn't realistic for *them* until into their 20s. YMMV.

Does "old Star Trek" mean the original/classic series with Kirk, Spock, Uhura, etc.? That's a fun one! And pretty simple beginning politics to follow. Star Trek: Next Generation gets more of that, especially seasons 3-5, but seasons 6 and 7 also have some good episodes. You start getting into the politics and intrigues of the Klingon empire in ST:NG.. And definitely Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, seasons 1-4 have a ton of great politics. Especially season 1, the Bajoran and Cardassian situations reminded me of the Bosnia/Herzegovina War of the early 1990s, but also echoes of other 20th century oppressor/oppressed countries, plus there is political in-fighting within the Bajoran religious hierarchy. What about the John Adams mini-series? Or the older British TV series comedy of Yes Minister? And some movies: The Manchurian Candidate (1962) Casablanca (1942) The Mouse That Roared (1959) The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming (1966) 12 Angry Men (1957) Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) Hunt for Red October (1990)

Yea! Hope something there will be of interest and a good fit. And hope others will post lots more ideas. 🙂 Thanks for the links! Although my boys have long-since graduated, I am often looking around for various Lit. for my co-op classes of middle/high school ages. Yes, I think it does happen over time -- the more stuff you read, the more "fluent" you get. I also think watching a lot of certain movies and TV shows from the 20th century can get you "up to speed more quickly" on the culture/politics/mindset of those times, so when you read a book from the 1930s or 1950s, it is not quite so "foreign" feeling, lol.

This is for "just for fun" reading -- i.e., not your formal/school Literature? That's always an interesting age, as they are both reading "up" (some high school and adult titles) and also still reading "down" (enjoying late elementary/early middle school titles). A few possible ideas: non-fiction Bomb (Sheinkin) -- and others by this author Tommy: The Gun That Changed America (Blumenthal) Chasing Lincoln's Killer (Swanson) Code Talker (Bruchac) The Boy Who Harnassed the Wind; young reader's version (Kambkwanda & Mealer) The Boys Who Challenged Hitler (Hoose) Lost in the Pacific 1942 (Olson) Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage (Lansing) Mutiny on the Bounty (Nordhoff) Kon Tiki (Heyersdahl) The Colditz Story (Reid) The Way Things Work Now (Macauley) science fiction Shadow Children series (Haddix) WONDLA trilogy (DiTerlizza) When the Tripods Came (Christopher) Star Soldiers: Time Traders (Norton) Enchantress from the Stars (Engdahl) sci-fi titles by Alan Dean Foster Twenty One Balloons (du Bois) -- has a Jules Verne feel, but lighter/fun The Martian Chronicles; R is for Rocket; S is for Space -- all are short story collections (Bradbury) Foundation (Asimov) 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; Mysterious Island; or others (Verne) The Time Machine; The Invisible Man; War of the Worlds (HG Wells) Bobiverse trilogy: We Are Legion (We Are Bob); We Are Many; All These Worlds (Taylor) -- "popcorn" just for fun series; very influenced by Star Trek: Next GenerationAnathem (Stephenson) -- no s*x, little to no language, no gratuitous violence -- not all of Stephenson's works are as "clean" other threads with Sci-Fi ideasBook suggestions for Science Fiction -- 12yoClassic Science Fiction recommendations - Wells, Verne, etc historical fiction that is similar to non-fiction Red Hugh Prince of Donegal (Reilly) -- prison break/escape adventure in Elizabethan times Midship Man Quinn series (Styles) Hittite Warrior (Williamson) Beorn the Proud (Pollard) Ides of April; Beyond the Desert Gate (Williamson) -- the first is also the solving of a mystery Captain Blood (Sabatini) The Scarlet Pimpernel (Orczy) Little Britches series (Moody) -- fictional biography humor Bromeliad trilogy: Truckers, Diggers, Wings (Pratchett) Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; Restaurant at the End of the Universe (Adams) -- just a very FEW crudities/innuendos Hoot (Hiaasen) -- and others in his children's books Wooster & Jeeves (Wodehouse) Wodehouse on Crime -- short story collection (Wodehouse) A Year in Provence (Mayle) books by Bill Bryson comic strip collections: Calvin & Hobbes; Foxtrot; Pearls Before Swine Mystery/Detective -- my STEM/non-fiction DS#1 really enjoyed mysteries minute mystery collections (by Hy Conrad, Donald Sobol, and others) Theodore Boone series (Grisham) Samurai mystery series (Hoobler) Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators series (Arthur) Alex Rider series (Horowitz) -- spy-intrigue with a sort-of teen "James Bond" Adventures of Sherlock Holmes -- short story collection (Doyle) Hercule Poirot's Casebook -- short story collection (Christie) Murder on the Orient Express; And Then There Were None (Christie) The Moonstone (Collins) for slightly younger ages, but would be fun fast reads: Framed series (Ponti) Spy School series (Gibbs) 39 Clues (Rick Riordan, and others) -- adventure/puzzle-solving

Other ideas: - listen as audio books - "buddy read" -- "you read a page, I read a page" -- and use a blank index card or sheet of paper to block out the lines of type above, below, or both - watch a good film version first - copy-paste a public domain version of the book into a document you create, with the size margins and type/spacing needed, and print it out Book Edition Ideas: Companion Library <-- link to a set of 15 volumes of the original 18 volume set; can also find them sold individually (see photos below of Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn) A vintage series of classics, with each volume containing 2 books in 1 (you flip the book over/upside down for the other story). They are complete and unabridged. The type is a good size, with some white spacing between lines; the pages are more of a regular paperback size, so not an overwhelming amount of words per page; and there are illustrations (not the originals, alas) every so often. The only thing it doesn't have is large/generous margins, but since the pages are a smaller size. Titles include the following, with red being ones that go with LL7, and bolded titles being ones that may be possibilities for future Literature: - Adventures of Huckleberry Finn + The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - The Swiss Family Robinson + Robinson Crusoe - The Jungle Book + The Wizard of Oz - The Little Lame Prince + The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood - The Story of King Arthur + Adventures of Pinnochio - Just So Stories + Prince and the Pauper - Little Men + Little Women - Gulliver's Travels + Treasure Island - A Dog of Flanders + Tom Sawyer Abroad - Kidnapped + Tom Sawyer, Detective - Anderson's Fairy Tales + Grimms' Fairy Tales - Heidi - Hans Brinker - Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass + Five Little Peppers and How They Grew - Aesop's Fables + Arabian Nights - Call of the Wild + Black Beauty - Wonder Book + Nonsense Books - Tanglewood Tales + Wind in the Willows - Toby Tyler + Rip Van Winkle More Book Ideas: - Tom Sawyer The Illustrated Children's Library -- easy read type, good margins, illustrations (not originals). - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (see photo below) You get both Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass with this edition, and with original illustrations, large/readable type, wide margins (to leave room for the annotations) -- plus really interesting annotations! - All Creatures Great and Small It looks like your only options are the tiny print paperback (which has a few photos in the midst of the thick book), or a large print edition. I'd suggest having an audiobook to go along with whatever print version you get (there are some sections written with thick accents that make for tricky reading, esp. for a struggling reader). And also consider watching some of the TV series, while you are reading -- the series was fairly faithful to the books. - Story of My Life <-- online public domain version This is a public domain online version with photo illustrations -- I'd suggest that you copy/paste this version to a document you create on your computer, with margins/type size to suit your DD, and print out and read from your printed version. Otherwise, you might try this large print edition of Story of My Life. - Stories and Poems for the Extremely Intelligent Children An anthology, with only one version. However, you only read 2 short stories and about 12-14 poems out of it for LL7. The type is smaller, but has fairly decent space between lines, although the margins are not as generous as one would wish for the stories -- the poems are pretty do-able, as they have wider margins. If you feel this just won't work, all the stories and poems are in the public domain, so you could copy-paste the text into your own document and set the type and margins to what would be comfortable for your DD to read, and print out. Or, try these versions of the short stories: - Rikki-Tikki Tavi: print out this version (and cover the column of type NOT being read with a blank sheet of paper OR, read online from this version with illustrations - Bride Comes to Yellow Sky print out this 10-page pdf -- wide margins, readable type with space between each line

It would have been great if Selkie & DH had turned together as one and smashed cake into the face of the obnoxious wedding coordinator (OWC), since OWC so desperately wanted to see cake smashing. 😂

free short articles: Writing Across the Curriculum: Social Studies, Science -- has a few tips for thinking through creating writing assignments free pdf: Writing Across the Curriculum by Steve Peha -- while designed for classroom use, there is some useful info in there * pages 7-8 = bullet points of setting up the writing like a writing workshop * pages 9-10; 18; 21-22 = charts with types of writing to use in the "content areas" of school subjects * page 24 = types of *assignments* for different school subjects * pages 12-13 = note-taking tips * pages 16-17 = what do you think + why do you think that (very helpful for coming up with a claim and support for the claim) * pages 26-29 = real-life example of how to encourage student to come up with "writing assignment" on their topic of interest * page 30 = bullet points of how to guide student into coming up with a "writing assignment" on their topic of interest * page 33 = summary charts of all the techniques and ideas in the pdf And here are *types* of assignments, in case it helps see which types of assignments might help connect up well with different subjects: - descriptive writing — use sensory words and/or strong images, plus an orderly sequence of thoughts to describe a person, place, event, process, etc. - descriptive essay - brochure - menu - food review, to help reader smell/taste it long distance - advertisement - poetry - descriptive passages in fiction - narrative writing — narrate in an orderly sequence narrate a story, event, experience, etc. personal experience of travel - biography / autobiography - journalism: news (print or other media) -- tells the story of what happened that was news-worthy - sportscaster -- narrates the story of a sporting event - journal entries - story of a personal adventure, a vacation, or a humorous or life-changing event - spiritual testimony - fiction -- novels, short stories, parables, plays etc. - expository writing — factual writing - report -- relating facts about the subject - narration / summary - research paper -- with citations - cause & effect essay/paper -- explains the interconnectedness of two or more events, facts, etc. - definition paragraph/essay -- thorough explanation of the multiple meanings (with specific examples), of an abstract idea, process, or word - process ("how to") paragraph/essay — details the steps of how to do or make something - factual oral presentation with slideshow - journalism: news -- reports the facts of events - business writing -- resume, cover letter, requests, reports, etc. - invitation -- facts of when, where, what to bring, etc. - directions to a location - instructions/directions for assembling/building, making a recipe - textbook - persuasive writing — expresses an opinion; attempts to persuade the reader to a mindset or to a course of action - plea or request of others to support or reject a particular event, cause, or position - advertisements - politics -- campaign speeches - newspaper -- "op/ed" page -- newspaper editorials and letters of the editor - legislature -- debate for/against a law or potential law - church -- presentation in support of a mission or charity - cover letter or letter of recommendation -- from a point of view to look favorably on the person - reviews (of books, music, movies, restaurants, etc) -- expresses an opinion - "reader response essay" -- thoughts/opinions about a work of Literature (or about the reading from History), supported with examples from the text - argumentative essay -- prove your opinion, theory, or hypothesis about an issue, using facts, examples, details, anecdotes as support - analysis essay -- digging into the "how and why" of something - literary analysis essay -- explanation or discussion about, or "digging deeper into," something within the work of Literature, supported by examples from the text - comparison essay: compare/contrast 2 things/ideas/processes AND explain what conclusion or new thought you have as a result of the comparison (NOTE: "they are more alike than different" or "there are more differences than similarities" is NOT a conclusion -- the comparison must result in a "reason" or "opinion" -- for example: "as a result of comparing, while car A is less expensive and has more features, car B is the better choice because of its high record of dependability, more comprehensive warranties, and ease of service and repairs".

For your request about writing assignments for the subjects of History, Geography, Ecology, Chemistry, it seems to me that you either need a specific program (for each subject) that *includes* specific writing assignment ideas so that the student *can* write from the curriculum (i.e., learned from the program what is needed to answer the thought questions) -- OR, go with much more general Socratic questions or Bloom's Taxonomy, and you and DS can find ways to specifically answer those questions from whatever curricula or books or resources you're using to make your own writing assignments. Or, if you're looking for different *kinds* of writing assignments, here is a list of "78 Ideas for Writing Across the Curriculum" from the makers of WriteShop. Not that it will probably help you, but here's our experience writing across the curriculum: - we tended to focus on writing for just 1-2 subjects at a time (sometimes for a semester or a year at a time) - some writing was more of a summary paragraph of what was learned, or was key facts - sometimes DS would research a topic of interest in a subject area and write up something based on their research - sometimes we used the writing assignment ideas already included in a program with writing ideas embedded - sometimes DSs would do a "follow-up" or "extension" paragraph from a discussion we had on a subject (this was mostly for our high school Literature)

As long as the required credits are completed, I would guess that it is very possible to graduate at a younger-than-average age in PA -- by doing 8-10 credits per year or completing credits during the summer, so that grades 9-12 are completed in just 3 years. Or being academically advanced and doing all-high school work starting at age 12, for example.

Yes it does make complete sense. I feel that, too. (((hugs))) and hope that you will soon find that purpose and meaning.