You might check out the Blue Collar Homeschooling website, that is run by a WTM participant. :) We did make sure both DSs had a basic set of credits so that college would always be a future possibility, but NO AP here, and the only DE was 2 semesters to outsource the 2 credits of foreign language in a shorter time frame. DS#1 started at the community college, earned an AAS degree (the "degree to work" type of Associate degree), then went on to earn a BA, and is going back now for a BS in Mechanical Engineering. So college degree(s) yes, but not via AP and high test scores and prestigious universities. ;) DS#2 got 2 years into the 3-year AAS for Interpreter for the Deaf at the community college, changed his mind, worked full time for a year, did a 9-month stint with a trail restoration group that is a partner program with AmeriCorps, and is currently working his 2nd season as a wildland firefighter. No need of a degree or more college at this time for this career. Totally agreeing with MerryAtHope -- a basic college prep set of credits does not have to keep you from exploring interests; just shoot for completing the following, and take an ACT or SAT test along in 11th or 12th grade, and the student will have what is needed: 4 credits = English (typically 1/2 writing and 1/2 lit. -- but very flexible about what that looks like, allowing you to follow student interests) 4 credits = Math (at least Alg. 1, Geometry, & Alg. 2; Consumer Math or Accounting or Business Math could be the 4th credit)) 3 credits = Science (with labs -- go with what your student is interested in, not just the "big 3 of Biology, Chemistry, Physics -- can go with things like Horticulture, Astronomy, Earth Science, Ecology, Meteorology, Environmental Science, etc.) 3 credits = Social Studies (1 credit = American History -- and most colleges accept the other credits as History, Geography, Philosophy, Anthropology, Archeology, Sociology, Psychology, Political Science, etc. -- so lots of leeway for student interests) 2 credits = Foreign Language (same language) 1 credit = Fine Arts (can be something like Appreciation rather than "doing" or performing -- like, Film Appreciation) 4-8 credits = Electives 22-24 credits = minimum total for college prep That's just 5.5 to 6 credits per year of high school, with room for 1-2 electives each year, and lots of flexibility as to how to accomplish the required credits. :)

First: WELCOME to the WTM forum! :) Agreeing with HomeAgain. You can set aside formal pre-reading activities for a few months if interest is flagging, and try again later. And lots of other things you can be doing to still enjoy your table time! :) Check out these books for ideas: Bright Beginnings (by Tammy Shaw) -- 2 full years of pre-school activities/ideas, including things like learning traditional songs, health/safety/manners, "PE" activities like hopping and balancing, and Bible Montessori activities of matching/sorting/fine motor skills; real-life skills; science; arts & crafts; etc.: Teach Me to Do it Myself: Montessori Activities for You and Your Child (by Maja Pitamic); or, Help Your Preschooler Build a Better Brain (by John Bowman); or Montessori Inspired Activities for Pre-Schoolers (by Jo Ebisujima). What Your _____ Grader Needs to Know series -- the go-along Activity Book 1 (ages 3-4) and Book 2 (ages 4-5). For more science ideas: 365 Simple Science Experiments with Everyday Materials and 365 More Simple Science Experiments with Everyday Materials Also for new ideas of things to do with learning letters: Letter of the Week free curriculum from Katrina Lybbert. (She also has Country of the Week and Science of the Week.) And check out the Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD (and others in the Leap Frog series, as your children are ready). Other ideas for your morning table time: get a little flag and learn the Pledge of Allegiance; do a weather chart and calendar time; learn your phone number and their full name; do seasons and holiday-related crafts and picture-books; Wee Sing CDs and learn patriotic songs, traditional nursery rhymes, and children's songs; Relax and ENJOY these early years! So much fun! :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

No personal experience, but here are a few grading service providers who are used to working with homeschoolers: Essentials in Writing: Scoring Service Reasonable Homeschooling Suzanne Barrett Write at Home used to offer a grading service, but apparently no longer -- grading is only for their assignments for their classes, which looks to be the case with all of the other online writing course providers as well. ETA -- PS I just noticed that you listed the EIW Scoring Service in your original post as too expensive. Ouch. May I just say that as someone who teaches and grades/comments on Writing in my homeschool co-op classes for Lit. & Comp. that $97 for a full year of grading for 1 student is a gigantic bargain! I looked at what you get for grading for grade 12 -- it's 11 assignments (6 paragraphs, 5 essays, and 1 research paper -- WOW! AND, it is grading that is geared for the very assignments that your students are doing. Just me, but I would absolutely scrimp and save and find a way to come up with $200 for a year of grading for 2 students. I don't think you're going to find an option for less than $25/essay, and more like $45-60 for a research paper from other grading services. Or, perhaps look for a local writing tutor, and work out a barter system and trade their grading services for your house cleaning services or childcare, or whatever you have to offer. Just my 2 cents worth. ;) Good luck! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Yes. And what a great bonus to combine 2 students for better discussion! :) LL7 is designed for 7th grade, but can be done with an advanced 6th grader, or with an 8th grader who needs more time for a beginning formal lit. study. Similarly, LL8 is designed for 8th grade, but can be done by an advanced 7th grader, or a lit-delayed 9th grader. Here are samples, in case you have not previously had the opportunity to check out if LL will be a fit for either/both of your students: overview of the program table of contents sample unit from the student guide (with workpages) sample unit from the teacher guide

So very sorry about the job loss, MIL insanity, and financial stress, but glad you are on the road to recovery. Before deciding about selling/not selling your house, can you try contacting charitable agencies that help with debt, or who help you reorganize credit card debt to something less onerous: there are a ton of links to helps at this website: Need Help Paying Bills: Get Help with Credit Card Bills. Also possibly this non-profit debt counseling service: InCharge Debt Solutions (although, do be careful, as many of these organizations apparently are just organizations that help you file for bankruptcy, which is NOT what you need at this time). And also check out Catholic Charities -- some dioceses have debt help. Also consider doing a google search for 2-1-1 assistance programs in your state -- for example: Colorado 2-1-1 -- as you might be able to get aid in other areas, which reduces your expenses, and makes debt pay-back easier. Things like a food pantry, clothing pantry, and school supply drives, as well as things like Freecycle that you can make use of to help reduce living expenses so that the debt payback is not so stretched out. As far as saving -- if you can put a bit aside each month for in case a car/house/health emergency comes up that would be super idea. And start saving towards retirement, as best you can/if you can. As far as college -- quite honestly, college costs SO much now, that it's doubtful you will be able to save enough to make much of a difference. Far better to use what you might have saved toward college to pay down debt faster and get totally out from under debt by the time your oldest child enters college to have those funds that were used for paying debt now free to pay towards college. To give you perspective: right now, typical state universities run $12,000-16,000/year in tuition + expenses, and even if a student qualifies for a full pell grant (free federal aid) + a partial tuition scholarship, you're still looking at $4-9,000/year -- and that's with attending in-state AND living at home. Selling your home will NOT help as far as college, and in fact, loses you the one asset that is NOT counted against you when you apply for federal aid on the FAFSA form -- your home. Once you know what you're doing about your house and get that settled, THEN you can start looking into alternatives for college -- things like: - free or reduced cost dual enrollment for high school students at your local community college, for knocking out college credits cheaper in advance, and reducing overall time (and cost) at a university for a 4-year degree - if your student is good at self-studying and is a good test-taker, knock out a lot of college credits in advance with CLEP tests - earn an AAS degree at the community college while in high school that could be used for a higher-paying job, and student works/saves for several years after high school and then attends college for a 4-year degree - work for a company that contributes towards college tuition - attend a work-for-tuition college When you have time for research, these two past threads have a lot of alternative ideas for paying for college: "s/o: Cautionary Tale: High Cost of College -- a brainstorming $$ ideas thread!" and "How are YOU managing to pay for college?" BEST of luck! Warmly, Lori D.

I ** starred books that have scenes of intensity or death of major characters to preview for intensity for a sensitive reader Fantasy Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (O'Brien) Knight's Castle (Eager) -- humorous; magic adventures Chronicles of Narnia series (Lewis) Howl's Moving Castle (Wynn) -- and then enjoy the animated movie Dragon Keepers Chronicles (Paul) -- Christian author Secret of Platform 13 (Ibbotson) -- a "gentler kinder Harry Potter", lol The Light Princess (MacDonald) -- Christian; whimsical; fairytale-feel; older Victorian language/sentence structure The Princess and the Goblins (MacDonald) -- Christian; older Victorian language/sentence structure Farmer Giles of Ham (Tolkien) -- humorous; once you get over the hump of the older language in the first few pages, it's a lot of fun) Book of Dragons (Nesbit) -- humorous collection of short stories The Reluctant Dragon (Grahame) -- humorous short story by the Wind in the Willows author ** Percy Jackson and the Olympians series (Riordan) ** Harry Potter (Rawling) ** The Hobbit (Tolkien) ** Watership Down (Adams) Sci-Fi The Iron Giant (Hughes) -- more at a gr. 3-5 level, but may still be appealing to a gentle 12yo ;) The Green Book (Walsh) -- gr. 4-5 level The City of Ember (duPrau) -- gr. 4-6 level Below the Root (Snyder) A Wrinkle in Time; A Wind in the Door (L'Engle) When the Tripods Came (Christopher) The Missing series (Haddix) The Ear, The Eye, and the Arm (Farmer) -- love the ethnic/racial diversity of this one; really disappointed in the low writing quality Leviathan; Behemoth; Goliath (Westerfeld) -- rollicking fun "popcorn" read -- steam-punk alternative WW1 world ** The Giver -- and sequels (Lowry) Classic Older Sci-Fi Star Soldiers (Norton) Out of the Silent Planet (C.S. Lewis) R is for Robot (Bradbury) -- short stories The Martian Chronicles (Bradbury) Lucky Starr (Asimov) Foundation (Asimov) 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Verne) War of the Worlds (Wells) Speculative Fiction (here, I mean a sort of mix of both fantasy/sci-fi, OR, has a fantastical element) Tuck Everlasting (Babbitt) Below the Root (Snyder) Enchantress from the Stars (Engdahl) Bromeliad trilogy: Truckers; Diggers; Wings (Pratchett) -- light, humorous, slightly irreverant possibly Biology-related books My Side of the Mountain (George) -- fiction Kildee House (Montgomery) -- fiction Julie of the Wolves (George) -- fiction The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (Kelly) -- fiction Hoot (Hiaasen) -- fiction The Cay (Taylor), or, Island of the Blue Dolphins (O'Dell) -- shipwreck survival Exploring the History of Medicine (Tiner) -- nonfiction; Christian perspective Exploring the World of Biology (Tiner) -- nonfiction; Christian perspective Ten Plants That Shook the World (Richardson) -- nonfiction Paddle to the Sea; Tree in the Trail; and esp. Minn of the Mississippi (Holling) My Family and Other Animals (Durrell) -- fiction -- along the lines of All Creatures All Creatures Great and Small -- may be stout going as an independent reading book, due to a LOT of British vocabulary, veterinarian/medical terms, and writing in British accents, so this may be much more enjoyable as a read-aloud, and be sure to watch some of the 1980s TV series of the books!

I dearly love Miquon! :) It was a favorite program (along with Singapore) for math-minded DS#1. For math-struggler DS#2 (very VSL, mild LDs in math, spelling, writing, with stealth dyslexia), Miquon clicked the best of all the programs we tried from grades 1-5. DS#2 finally clicked (as well as math would every click for him, lol) with MUS once we found it for him in 5th grade. Saxon was too many topics and too much on a page (plus too "spiral" in approach -- DS#2 needed mastery-based), and Singapore Primary moved too quickly for him. However, Singapore worked great as a supplement/review to the spine of MUS in the late elementary/middle school grades -- we used it "down" a grade in topics for him, so roughly: gr. 5 = MUS "classic" intermediate + Delta gr. 6 = MUS Epsilon + excerpts: Singapore 4A/B and Keys to Fractions gr. 7 = MUS Zeta + excerpts: Singapore 5A/B and Keys to Percents and Keys to Decimals gr. 8 = MUS Pre-Algebra _ excerpts Singapore 6A/B Beast Academy and Life of Fred came out long after our DSs had passed those grades, but I sure would have considered those as possible supplements. Math Mammoth looks interesting, as well, but also came out long after we were at that level. :)

I'll suggest using triangle flashcards for the math facts. By learning the three numbers of a "math family", you automatically see the connection between multiplication and division. For example: 6, 7, and 42 are the fact family for the 4 related math facts of: 6x7=42; 7x6=42; 42/6=7; 42/7=6. Here is a printable template of triangle flashcards, plus related activities. I'll also suggest Miquon. It is very easy to use as a supplement, is discovery-based, and does help students make those connections between math concepts. And it's a pretty inexpensive ($61 for the 6 workbooks & Lab Annotations + $18 for a bucket o' plastic rods), for a supplement that you can use over 2-3 years, as some of the topics go up into 4th grade (here's the scope and sequence). Miquon uses the cuisenaire rods which are different colors and size than the MUS rods, but I've not heard of anyone getting them confused. And, you really do need to use cuisenaire rods rather than subbing the MUS rods with Miquon, as the drawings on the Miquon workbook pages are the sizes and colors of the cuisenaire rods. I'd suggest going ahead and getting all 6 workbooks and the Lab Annotations (which has the answers), as you can start using Miquon as a supplement for the rest of your school year, or over the summer as a "bridge" math to keep fresh. I'd suggest skipping the first dozen pages or so in the first workbook (Orange), which seem to be the pages that confuse and trip up people, or make them feel they "don't get" or "can't do" Miquon. :) ETA -- aannndddd, I see someone else made my suggestions while I was still typing and looking up/linking resources... lol

Warning: I have strong opinions on full-time workers who live alone having dogs... ;) Oh please don't get a dog if the animal will be left alone 8-10 hours/day 5 days/ week! Dogs are very social and very much need people around them. Dogs are also far more apt to develop anxiety and health problems licking sore spots on themselves, chewing, barking, and destructive behaviors when left alone for large periods of time. Cats are far more independent and able to handle long hours of being solo. I totally understand the desire to have an animal greet you when you get home, but the price that a dog (left alone for 40+ hours a week) has to pay for the owner's momentary emotional "stroke" in being greeted when coming home is really unfair to the animal. :( If a dog is really the only animal that is acceptable, then calculate in the cost of having the dog go to a "doggie day care" several times a week, where the animal gets play time, walking, and interaction with people and other dogs.

Here are a few titles and links to free online/downloadable comprehension questions. Most of the books are well-known, so it shouldn't be too hard to do an online summary for "chapter summaries for ___(name of book)___" to get a quick overview of the content to help you keep up with your student as he reads. Memoria Press 4th Grade Books Cricket in Times Square -- K-12 comprehension questions/guide Homer Price -- Delightful Learning: activities Blue Fairy Book -- Weekly Storybook: journalism writing assignments to go with Lang fairytales (a Writing resource, more for upper elementary/lower middle school) Dangerous Journey -- Emily Whitten's Redeemed Reader guide; other free resources Sonlight 4th Grade Books (and check out Roads to Everywhere blog for links to many free resources for these and other Sonlight 4 books) Trumpet of the Swan -- Miss Aronson comprehension questions By the Great Horn Spoon -- activities & questions; Mrs. Andrews quiz [comprehension] questions In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson -- Betty Powers Francis Reading Right guide Sign of the Beaver -- Mr. Parratore chapter questions; K-12 comprehension questions/guide Caddie Woodlawn -- Scholastic lesson plan/discussion questions; Olol School NJ questions Om-Kas-Toe -- Grandview Publishing questions Freedom Train -- Lakewood City Schools comprehension questions Other good titles The Iron Giant (title is "The Iron Man" in the UK) -- activities, questions, vocabulary; Grafton Public School: unit study Frindle -- Scholastic lesson plan/discussion guide; Rise to Reading comprehension questions Nim's Island -- Savvy Southern parent blog: questions; list of linked resources Sideways Stories from Wayside School -- Bluestem Resources: questions Ben and Me -- Bradley Connections: comprehension questions The Big Wave -- K-12 comprehension questions/guide; Wise Owl Factory: discussion guide More good titles (perhaps use as "book basket" titles) The Rescuers (Sharp) Follow My Leader (Garfield) The Toothbrush Millionaire (Merrill) Archimedes and the Door of Science (Bendict) Behind Rebel Lines (Reit)

If you do Singapore 6A/B + BA5, afterwards you could either go straight to Jacobs Algebra, OR, to AoPS Pre-Algebra.

Yes, some WTMers have posted here that they skipped straight from Singapore 5A/B to Jacobs Algebra (or other algebra), so it is do-able. However, I personally agree with the previous posters. We used Singapore all the way through 6A/B (plus a few other things) before starting Jacobs Algebra, and no regrets here. It absolutely was worthwhile (for us), as 6A/B gave us more practice with multi-step problem-solving, and more time in solidifying those foundational skills needed for succeeding in Algebra. No matter how you slice it, even with Jacobs' strong connection in every lesson with concrete, real-life applications of the algebra topic of that lesson, algebra is still an abstract math, and algebra is going to be *much* easier for a student who is first given the time for the abstract thinking portions of the brain to start maturing (typically doesn't happen until somewhere along around age 12-14). If I had a young student, esp. one who is competent in math but not math-gifted, then instead of starting Algebra in grade 6 or 7, I'd take the opportunity to go broad and explore with some things like: Jousting Armadillos, Zacarro Challenge, TOPS Graphing or TOPS Probability, Dragon Box, Patty Paper Geometry, etc. Or even try something like: Life of Fred: Pre-Algebra Physics; Beast Academy 5 -or- Art of Problem Solving Pre-Algebra; Keys to Algebra. BEST of luck in deciding what is the best fit for your student and your family. Warmest regards, Lori D.

Oh, goodness, I was just tossing that out as a random idea... Don't feel you need to actually explore it unless it's something your DD really might be interested in. :) The nice thing is that she has lots of time ahead of her to explore all through the rest of high school. No need to feel "locked in" with one career idea at this stage! (:D

Kind of laughing here, but not really. IF ONLY the occasional typo or spelling mistake was the only thing wrong with my high school students' writing. ;) About 20% of my homeschool co-op students have extreme difficulties and LDs in writing -- not only spelling, but can't even see all of the lack of capitalization and punctuation, the run-ons and sentence fragments, and the subject/verb agreement problems. And I'd say 30-40% of all my homeschool high school students struggle with what makes a complete paragraph and how to structure a paper. And these are homeschool students who *want* to be in the class and who are really trying hard, and who have parents who are very involved in their education. I totally agree with previous posters about the ability to overcome dyslexia in order to do a job you love. However, I see the real issue to discuss is that the reality of teaching English is very different from having a deep love of literature, and loving to discuss / analyze / share great books. So much of being an English teacher is about activities other than reading or discussing books that it's really important to think through how much DD would like/dislike those other activities, since that will be the bulk of what the job would be about. Also, it's important to have a realistic understanding of the students that DD would be dealing with. The majority are not going to have the same sort of love of reading and interest in discussing books that DD has. The students (even in private high schools) are there because they *have* to be, and are focused on how they can most easily get you to give them an "A" for showing up. They are going to be watching the movie version and reading the Sparknotes summaries to do as little as possible. A friend of mine has been an English teacher for 38 years, with 33 of those years in the public high school, and the last 5 at an expensive/quality Christian highs school, and the above is his typical experience, even at the quality Christian high school school. He counts himself lucky if he has 3-4 students per year who are genuinely interested in the books and discussions, and who are really taking off with literature. His experience with both the public and private high schools is that the average reading level had dropped so low (in some cases to elementary grade levels as the AVERAGE for a whole class of students), that students not only cannot read the literature, but are unable to remember what happened earlier in the story -- sometimes even just a few pages earlier. Their brains have not developed the ability to hold past and present events side by side in order to compare, analyze, or predict. Which means not only can't the students read the books, they also can't discuss the books, even if you spoon-feed them summaries of what's happening in the book. As I recall, your DD is an extrovert, and enjoys working at church with younger children? What about teaching pre-K or kindergarten? The reading there would be the fun read-aloud of picture books to the class, and sharing lovely books with young children before they are cynical or look at school and reading as a "necessary evil". And, she'd get to do lots of arts and crafts and theatrical things with the children. Or... While it's a tough field to get into, if DD would enjoy getting paid for reading books, what about becoming a "first reader" for a publisher (also called a "publisher reader") -- these people read manuscripts coming into a publisher and evaluate whether it would be publishable or not. Of course, the downside is that these are rough manuscripts, not classics. ;) One thing that stood out to me years ago when I did some career testing was that you don't have to make one of your beloved activities into your paying job. In fact, sometimes that's can really "kill" the love of that activity. Instead, sometimes it's better to keep a beloved activity as a hobby, or personal activity, or as a volunteer activity, so it's all about doing what you love, without all of the things you don't like having to be attached to it (like with a job) and "dragging down" the enjoyment of the beloved activity. So perhaps your DD might enjoy getting into something else -- a high growth/higher paying job such as Occupational Therapist (or OT Assistant -- 2 year Associate's degree!). And then on her own time, get involved in an adult book club, or volunteer and oversee a middle school or high school book club -- a great way of totally "filling her cup" of love of reading/discussing books with like-minded people, with none of the disliked aspects and disappointments that an English teacher job might have for her. Not at ALL trying to dissuade your DD from becoming an English teacher, if there are multiple aspects of the job that she would enjoy! Just sharing some additional things to think about. BEST of luck as you and DD continue to look into what English teachers do, and other career explorations. :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

More Austen versions: Persuasion (1995) -- with Amanda Root Sense and Sensibility (2008) -- short mini-series, almost as lovely as the Emma Thompson film Emma (1996) -- with Kate Beckinsale Pride and Prejudice -- 1995 TV series with Colin Firth; 2005 Keira Knightly movie; 1940 film with Greer Garson and Lawrence Olivier Austen in contemporary settings: Bride and Prejudice (2004) -- modern India/bollywood musical version; not the best acting, but oh so very fun and colorful! Austenland (2013) -- I love this sweet, humorous, gentle poke at Austen while still honoring Austen and romance along the lines of Austen: Becoming Jane (2007) Jane Eyre (2011) Little Women (1994) David Copperfield (1999) Little Dorritt (2008) A Room With A View (1985) Enchanted April (1991) Babette's Feast (1987) Cold Comfort Farm (1995) -- quirky, humorous, 1920s setting, based on the novel Only You (1994) Dear Frankie (2004) Much Ado About Nothing -- both the 1993 Emma Thompson version and 2012 Joss Whedon version along the lines of Hornblower: Master and Commander (2003) Robin Hood (2010) -- with Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett Count of Monte Cristo (2002) -- with Guy Pearce and Jim Caviezal -- totally changes the end of the story, but romantic adventure fun John Adams (2008) -- TV series A Knight's Tale (2001) -- medieval honor, with a "rock opera" sound track -- a total guilty pleasure romantic adventure

Here's a recent one: "Packing for college dorm/apt. life" Here are ones linked in post #5 of the big pinned thread ("Transcripts...First Time at College... past threads linked here!") at the top of the high school board: Before sending a student off to college (to do list) Gwen's complete college supply list Freshman move-in day Small dorm storage -- share advice or past mistakes Keeping things in a dorm room Locking trunk?

Ouch. Feeling for you as you work your way to the tough decision either way. I'll just suggest that, as with many other kinds of things (like holding back a student or moving across country and leaving all of the student's friends), it's always easier the earlier it's done, rather than later on in middle school or esp. high school. In this case, not starting up again is going to be SO much easier for DD to accept / transition / move on to other interests, than if she starts up again and you have to pull the plug in 3-4 years. And, as everyone above has said, this is a personal choice for every family, but in answer to your question of "how far would you go...", the only way our family could have invested that kind of time and money into something would have been if it was for medical treatment for a serious health issue, or an expensive/time-consuming therapy to help with LDs. For extracurriculars, we looked at what was closer to home and fit our budget before making the suggestion to DSs or asking if they wanted to get involved (although, that's easy for me to say, since neither DS had a burning passion for anything -- lol). Good luck! :) ETA -- PS And, I think part of the problem in trying to decide is because the whole youth sports thing in our culture has spun wildly out of control over the past 2 decades. There seem to be virtually no "just recreation" versions of sports team activities out there. The mindset is all about sports 24/7 in order to become the next Olympian or the next pro sports team celebrity. You can't hardly get on a high school sports team unless you've been taking private lessons or have been playing intensive Club sports leagues for years. :( Geesh. What about those of us who would enjoy learning a sport, and doing it for leisure/pleasure?!? What about those parents of us who are trying to teach our kids the benefits of a healthy lifestyle (which includes physical activity), but also BALANCE (of time, resources, etc.)?!?

Aarrggghhh! I had a big long post in response yesterday, and then my computer froze and I lost it all. :( The upshot was that we made our own, and focused on Eastern Hemisphere, as that's where 80% of the world's population lives and because high school tends to focus heavily on Western civilizations. We used a lot of different resources and had 3 main components that we did throughout the year: 1.) cultural study of different nations 2.) physical geography (Oceania, Asia, Africa, and Middle East), and 3.) comparative religions. For the cultural study we read books about different countries (nonfiction books, picture books of myths with illustrations in the art style of the country, and cultural / historical fiction books), to learn about beliefs, customs, lifestyles, housing/clothing, and brief overview history/key people. For hands-on, we made/ate food, listened to traditional music, played traditional games of different countries. We watched feature films / documentaries / travelogues set in different countries. For the physical geography, we memorized nations and capitals and country locations with Shepperd Software free online games. We did a map workbook with an Eastern Hemisphere focus (we used Carson-Dellosa's Discovering Geography gr. 7-8, but there are other good ones, too). We used an atlas and explored websites to learn about key geographical features (mountains, rivers, historical landmarks, etc.), but also habitat and key biome (climate zone) plants and animals for countries or areas. For the comparative religions portion, we and focused on the "big 6"Hinduism, Buddhism, Shinto, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, but we also very briefly touched on a few others. We used the Milliken publishers Inside the Great Religions series (linked), but you might also check out things like the Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World Religions, and explore the internet links. We made a chart that compared aspects of the religions, and where the beliefs lead -- sort of like this chart at Rainbow Resource, but more in depth and 1 page per religion like this one at Course Hero -- the topics we compared were almost identical to these at Course Hero. We also were able to look for how the religious beliefs are intwined with the culture of the country, and also see how that sometimes played in to major history events and decisions. All year we added 2 pages per week to our own "atlas", which was 1 page per country that included: an outline map with key places/physical features marked or filled in; listing of these 5 aspects about each country: 1. capital 2. population 3. major religion(s) 4. major resource(s) 5. something the country is known for. Then the bottom half of the page was a paragraph summing up their research and what stood out to them about the country. I have heard good things about Mapping the World by Art by Ellen McHenry, but have no personal experience.

books set in late 1700s and/or early 1800s Ben and Me (Lawson) Mr. Revere and I (Lawson) The Birchbark House (Erdrich) Naya Nuki: The Girl Who Ran (Thomasma) Carry On Mr. Bowditch -- at a higher reading level, so maybe as an audiobook The Captain's Dog: My Journey with the Lewis and Clark Tribe (Smith) Seaward Born (Wait) Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin (Gunderson) -- biography Noah Webster: Master of Words (Collins) -- biography Francis Scott Key (Collins) -- biography The Great Little Madison (Fritz) -- biography A Boy Called Dickens (Hopkinson) -- biography What Are You Figuring Now: Benjamin Banneker (Ferris) -- biography The Boy Who Drew Birds: John James Audubon (Davies) -- biography Cornerstones of Freedom: The Erie Canal (Stein) -- nonfiction The Amazing Hot Air Balloon (Van Leeuwen) -- nonfiction Sea Clocks: The Story of Longitude (Borden) -- nonfiction "don't miss" books for a 3rd/4th grade Mrs. Piggle Wiggle series (MacDonald) Sideways Stories from Wayside School (Sachar) Encyclopedia Brown series (Sobol) Rascal (North) Shiloh (Naylor) books by Roald Dahl books by Andrew Clements The Toothpaste Millionaire (Merrill) Mr. Popper's Penguins (Atwater) Henry Huggins series (Cleary) The Mouse and the Motorcycle (Cleary) Trumpet of the Swan (White) The Rescuers; Miss Bianca; The Turret; Miss Bianca in the Salt Mines; Miss Bianca in the Orient (Sharp) One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Smith) The Great Mouse Detective -- and sequels (Titus) Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet; Stowaway to the Mushroom Planet (Cameron) The Iron Giant (Hughes) Stories that Julian Tells (Cameron) Nim's Island (Orr)

I totally agree there is a time and place for letting the consequences teach a person, and that we don't want to be rescuing hellicopter parents, BUT... I disagree that it is "a matter of will". It sounds like DD needs help in developing some basic TOOLS and SKILLS first before you cut her completely loose, in order for her to have a chance at success. Perhaps consider reading through Smart But Scattered TOGETHER, and together figure out the techniques that will help her strength executive functioning skills. Then you can give her a little bit of scaffolding support as she implements some of the techniques. And finally, once she's up and running, you can slowly step back in one area at a time and let her handle it. BEST of luck to you both. :)

Absolutely agree. Foundational to a good visual presentation is CONTENT. Which means solid research and writing, and thorough understanding of your material to START with, before even thinking about putting together a slide presentation or other visual aids.

While the role and focus of footnotes has changed in recent years, the importance of citing sources has not. In fact, by shifting to in-text citations (which give author and page number, at least in MLA format), credit is given directly adjacent to the source of the information, elevating (literally! (:D) the importance of sources by giving credit right next to the information, within the text, rather than making it easy to ignore the sources by giving credit at the bottom of the page in a footnote. The trend now for research papers is to give credit through in-text citations (also called "parenthetical citations"), which cite within the paragraph itself, plus full citations of all information about each source in the Works Cited page at the end of the paper. Footnotes and endnotes are for lengthy asides and explanations rather than for citing sources. In regards to the response you received from the Essentials in Writing author -- note he is FIRST focusing on teaching foundational skills -- how to write, and how to structure a paper -- and THEN when those skills are mastered, he moves on to formatting concerns such as citations. So he's not suggesting you NOT give credit, but rather, has you deal with that AFTER a student has mastered basic writing skills for multi-paragraph essays and research papers. I agree with his strategy, and I do this with my Lit. & Comp. classes as well, as only about 20-25% of high school students come in to class able to write a solid multi-paragraph essay. We need to first spend an entire semester working on what needs to go into the paragraph, how to write a thesis statement, how to support the thesis, etc., before the students are ready to tackle the details of when/how to cite sources. If your student has the foundations of solid writing down, then by all means, jump ahead and teach citing sources! :) The OWL (Online Writing Lab) at Purdue is a terrific resource for MLA, APA, and Chicago formats, including citing sources. Here are the first paragraphs from OWL at Purdue on how the in-text citation (parenthetical citation) provides the quick, in-the-midst credit of author and page #, and the matching Works Cited page contains the full citation for making it easy to find the source: In-text citations: Author-page style MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the page number(s) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear in the text, and a complete reference should appear on your Works Cited page. The author's name may appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation or paraphrase, but the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your sentence. For example: Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263). Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Wordsworth 263). Wordsworth extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (263). Both citations in the examples above, (263) and (Wordsworth 263), tell readers that the information in the sentence can be located on page 263 of a work by an author named Wordsworth. If readers want more information about this source, they can turn to the Works Cited page, where, under the name of Wordsworth, they would find the following information: Wordsworth, William. Lyrical Ballads. Oxford UP, 1967.

My aunt gave me a nice luggage set, which I treasured as a sign of "you're ready to launch into the world!" If you have a lot that you can spend, a tablet or laptop would be extremely useful (needed!) at either the CC or state U. If you have less to spend, what about a "celebration pack" of gift cards -- a gift card for i-Tunes or Amazon (for streaming movies or purchasing music) + movie theater gift card + a gift card to 1 or more restaurants near the CC or state U. Maybe an engraved key -- like, celebrating that her hard work is the "key" to opening up her future -- or other commemorative item -- that would be meaningful to her, plus a "booklet" of 12 "tickets" that are for you are inviting her to a family dinner once a week during her first semester at college (or rather, 12 weeks in the first semester), plus gas money or transportation for getting to your house.

What about a virtual charter through your public school system? Or does your public middle school/high school allow for taking just 1-2 classes in the classroom? If so, that would be daily contact for DD. Perhaps you could outsource Math and Science, or Science and English), and hire a tutor for the 3rd core class, and then you oversee the lighter remaining courses?

More glitter and blowing scarves than I would have believed possible for a single movie. LOL! (:D Which visually sums up my overall review of "sparkle (and special effects) over substance". (Although, "special FX over substance" is true of so many blockbuster films, lol, so that probably doesn't tell you much.) We covered the book earlier this year with my Lit. & Comp. co-op class, and as an optional extra, one of the students set up a time this week for us to go. It was me, three 13-yo girls from class, their moms, and 1 older sister. One student really loved both the book and the movie; the other two students loved the book, and while they were frustrated with the changes between book and film, said they were glad they saw the movie. The older sister and moms and myself ranged anywhere from "it was okay" to "meh". I would have been fine with changing the book if they would have actually used it as an opportunity to explore some contemporary issues and ideas... From the preview, I was esp. excited to see the changes in ethnicities/races of characters and all of the potential doors that could open for this film and audiences to explore. But the film really dropped the ball there, and just made changes to the book in a number of places for the reasons of... ?? Based on the reaction of my students, I think the glitter and "girl power" aspects of the movie might make it very appealing for 9-12yo girls, so if your children fall in that category, you might enjoy seeing it when it hits your local bargain theater. As an adult viewer going with kids, it wasn't the worst movie I've ever sat through; just disappointing and rather boring. Reviewing through adult eyes: Overall, I as an adult was disappointed that so much of the already short book was cut, which made for a film with no depth at all, and even very little "surface" -- a lot of the movie felt like everything came to a standstill so we could just watch the special effects. I was also disappointed (but not surprised) that the strong specifically Christian images and ideas of the book were removed, and replaced with more vague ideas of dark vs. light, which were more about emotions (feeling love vs. feeling bad about yourself/others) rather than a spiritual dimension. There was no explanation of what "light" or "good" specifically IS, or where it comes from, or even why it's important. There were images that suggested "feeling love" and "the importance of family" are good things, but no direct connection. There was just the call by Glenda the Good Witch of the North -- er, I mean, Oprah/Mrs. Which -- to "be a warrior" and fight the dark, but with no idea of how to do that, or how one can be equipped to do that. Dark was explained as a specific "IT" entity existing out there in the universe that was wrapping tendrils around the Earth and entering peoples' hearts to make them fearful or angry, which hurts them, and in turn makes them do hurtful things to others. That was probably the one moment I saw that could be a useful talking point with children, esp. with tween/teen girls who can bully with words/relationships -- there was the added scene early on of a girl at Meg's school who leads 3 other girls to bully her, and later we see that the darkness "IT" has the bully girl twisted up about her looks/body image and dieting, which she takes out on others by bullying Meg. Wrinkle in Time is a Disney-release movie, and I think a FAR stronger Disney-release movie that deals with the theme of absent fathers/good men who stand in the place of absent fathers, and the theme of a young person persevering and developing "grit", has a black tween/teen girl protagonist, and is directed by a female director (from India in this case), is the 2016 film Queen of Katwe. It's your standard sports sort of story, but with chess -- and portrays the real life of Phiona Mutesi, living in a Ugandan slum, who became a 3-time Ugandan chess champion. There is nothing surprising in the way the story arc unfolds, but the acting is so strong, and the visualization of the story really sets this one a cut above others in the "sports-rise-to-fame" stories. It's on Netflix.