Also, you might get additional responses if you cross-post this on the K-8, or Logic Stage, or even High School board... 😉

Girl protagonist, historical setting, possibly too young for your DS, but maybe: - A Murder for Her Majesty (Hilgartner) More historical adventure than mystery, and again, maybe too young, but possibly: - The Shakespeare Stealer; Shakespeare's Scribe; Shakespeare's Spy (Blackwood)

While I love these authors and works, the use of language is subtle and complex, and for my DS at age 12, when he was looking for more action-based and puzzle-solving-based detective fiction, these were too slow-moving, and the settings too old and unfamiliar... We also tried out Chesterton's Father Brown short stories that are short with paradox twists, but that also was a bit too old fashioned for what DS#1 was looking for. YMMV! 😄

DS#1 was a big mystery/detective fan. Around that age he enjoyed: - Samurai mystery series (Hoobler) - The Baker Street Irregulars (Newman) - The Westing Game (Raskin) - minute-mystery collections, esp. those by Donald Sobol, and, Hy Conrad - Sherlock Holmes short stories (Doyle) - Murder on the Orient Express (Christie) -- short novel - And Then There Were None (Christie) -- short novel - Hercule Poirot's Casebook (Christie) -- collection of short stories A few that came out after DS#1 was grown that I have heard others on these boards recommend: - Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer series (Grisham) - Spy School series (Gibbs) - The London Eye Mystery; The Guggenheim Mystery (Dowd) Possible nonfiction mystery/crime thrillers for that age?? - Lincoln's Grave Robbers (Sheinkin) - Bomb: The Race to Build, and Steal, the World's Most Dangerous Weapon (Sheinkin) - Lincoln's Spymaster: Allan Pinkerton, America's First Private Eye (Seiple) More atmospheric horror/suspense than mystery but possibly: - Alfred Hitchcock's Haunted Houseful, Ghostly Gallery, or other from this older series ETA -- NO personal experience, and had never heard of this one before, but possibly one to preview? - The Blackthorn Key (Sands) a trilogy -- "There is some dark subject matter in this book but it is an incredibly suspenseful and action-packed read aloud for older kids. (On par with some of the darker imagery in the Harry Potter books). Christoper, an orphaned apprentice in 17th century London must solve a complex puzzle surrounding the murders of apothecaries. Despite the seriousness of the plot, the well-drawn characters provide some humor."

- What will the full credit of English consist of? All Writing? Or part Lit, part Writing? Or some speech & debate or public speaking? - And can just a few of medieval works most frequently covered in high school just be folded in to whatever you're doing for the lit., if that is part of the English credit? - What is the reason for the medieval literature as part of the history? - And what exactly do you mean by medieval literature -- primary source / historical documents? nonfiction? church/religious works? For fiction literature and poetry (which is read/analyzed/discussed differently than essays, philosophy, and other nonfiction) there is not a ton of accessible works if your student is only "so-so" about literature, these are the 3 most frequent medieval worlds read by high school students: - Beowulf - Canterbury Tales - Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - and possibly add Dante's Divine Comedy, if the student is a strong reader/thinker Just throwing out some questions to help with thinking through what your goals are, what your student's interests are, and what might help with figuring out what you want out of literature and history next year... 😉 ETA -- oops, just realizing you are looking at Medieval AND Renaissance, so a lot more Lit. commonly covered in high school booklists when you add in Renaissance. Also, you might consider doing The Lord of the Rings in there (if that is of interest), as Tolkien was heavily influenced by some of the Medieval works, and somewhat by Arthurian myth. Just a thought...

At high school, I would suggest a goal of understanding the connections and the *why* things happened, rather than memorization of *what* factual things happened. Seeing patterns, and that those patterns are often repeated in history. Understanding the cultural/religious background as part of *why* things happened -- in addition to the geographical location, which often plays into the *why* things happened the way they did *there* at that place and at that time -- plus the political/economic reasons of *why* what happened. We did a World Cultures/Geography and Comparative Religions study (eastern hemisphere emphasis) in 7th/8th grade and it was fabulous prep for then doing high school history, and seeing the "why". Also, while my original plan had been a 4-year chronological history study during high school, that just didn't fit for us. First, we wanted that 1 year/1 credit of U.S. History, plus the Economics and Government exposure as other Social Studies in high school (which makes doing 4 years of world history on top of that hard). And second, DSs interests and goals changed during high school, and history was not as of high interest for them in the later high school grades. And third, they were more interested in doing a 20th century world history study in the early years of high school. So, we went with "interest-led" initially, and then completed "required" social studies credits and then let history studies come to a natural stopping point as interest faded. We did a TON of literature study, however, throughout high school. And learning about the background times/culture of the author and the setting of the work is always extremely valuable to a lit. study -- it does not necessarily require simultaneous study of a full history credit. Also, you do have to decide if you really want History "driving the bus" of your high school focus. We did not. We preferred doing Literature, Worldview, Logic, and Philosophy as more of the main focus of our Social Studies credits, with History as support. That's just what we did. Others have different students with different levels of passion for history. Or different academic goals overall. So everyone will do History uniquely, with their own focus. There is no "one way" or "the right way" to do it. 😉 BEST of luck as you think through what is important overall for THIS student for high school overall, and for THIS coming year for History/Social Studies. Warmest regards, Lori D.

@SKL -- really, it all comes down to what do YOU and your GRADS want? What would be *meaningful* to them, and to you? Hiring a professional is partly about paying for a certain kind of experience that represents the senior year and preparing to launch -- is that something that would be significant and special for your rising seniors? Would having professional portraits be special to you? Are you more casual people, and would it be more fun to have a friend who's good with a camera and would be able to bring out some great natural informal portraiture be more your style? If or spouse or a relative is handy with a camera, would you prefer to homeschool it all the way and go DIY? And what about the cost? Would that be special to spend the $$ on high quality prints and portraiture? Or would you prefer to go DIY for the photos and spend that money on a special family "senior trip?" Or something else that is special and meaningful? My vote is to go for what YOU all want, because part of the beauty of homeschooling is not having to worry about "what everyone else is doing." 😄

We did our own. One DS did several different poses with things to represent his interests and activities -- took a total of 10-15 minutes -- and the other DS was a candid shot, so his was outdoors with a great, rugged tree trunk behind him -- took a total of 2 minutes. Neither DS cares much about clothes or were into "outfit changes", so their shots are more close-ups (mid-chest upwards). And NOT in cap & gown... none of us were "into" that kind of traditional formality for the photo, because our homeschooling was about individuality and not traditional formality. 😉 Both perfectly capture each DS's personality. Those were the photos we used in the homeschool graduation ceremony program (each graduate got their photo and a page about info themself). And we printed (Costco) and framed (Michael's) those photos as 8x10s to hang on the wall -- plus we printed a couple of smaller versions to give to the grandparents and a few relatives. DSs weren't interested in exchanging senior photos with friends, as most of their friends were also homeschoolers and weren't printing senior photos to exchange, either. 😉 Love that we did it all "in house" and were able to make it so casual and personal.

Knowing this social need for yourself might make it easier to look at the schedule and find a way to include 1-2 chunks of time regularly each week that can be social time outside the home for you to recharge and be re-energized for homeschooling and homemaking. Can some of those "different directions" be streamlined or reduced, to free up a bit of time in the schedule for your needs? Could a spouse or a relative to be the "point person" to take the kids once a week to their activities, so that you can have a chance to do a regular social outing? How about scheduling the meal-making so it takes less time -- a 2-week rotating schedule of dinners is a routine that is easier than coming up with all new ideas every week. Or do a day of cooking for 2 weeks of meals. Or 2x/week are crockpot or insta-pot meals. All of which might free up a regular evening or two for you to more easily go do social stuff because there's less time focusing on that meal-making aspect of homemaking. What about possibly adjusting your schedule so that all of the "different directions" happens 1x/week and the schooling is completed in 4x/week? Or doing smaller "bites" or units of schooling with more frequent longer breaks to give you recharge time -- like, school for 6 weeks, then take 1 week off, and take a shorter 9-week summer break. Or, more of a year-round schedule and school for 9 weeks / take 3 weeks off, with a 6-week summer break. Also, since you've been doing this several years, I would guess your children might be old enough to include in the regular chores at home, so that could reduce the full load of homemaking requirements from falling on you, which might free up a bit of time for you as well. Maybe one night a week, kids and spouse make dinner, while you go out for a girls night with friends, or take a class outside the home, or meet with a crafting or tai-quan-do or whatever group -- whatever would fill YOUR cup. 😉 Yes, I agree with above posters that we do have to gird the loins and "just do it" -- but remember that YOU have needs too, and it is important to include yourself in the family schedule, to meet your needs and refill your tank so that you CAN be available for everyone else, and be energized and able to successfully complete the school year, and do what needs to be done at the house. Just rambling 2 cents there... 😉 BEST of luck as you plan for and start your new school year! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Congratulations! And what a beautiful gift and celebration for BOTH of you as you come to the end of the homeschooling journey! Wishing you both all the BEST on the next stages of your journeys! Warmest regards, Lori D.

PS -- In my post above I mentioned that Chicago hosted the 1893 World's Columbian Fair, which was a HUGE event and a very defining moment for Chicago. One of the people behind designing the location/venues of that event also designed Chicago's skycape, so that it is set back from Lake Michigan so you have all of these walking paths and beaches along the lake, and then can turn and see the skyscrapers. Anyways, you might like to do The Great Wheel (Robert Lawson) as a fun read-aloud before going to Chicago. And the game World's Fair 1893 is really cool, as all of the cards have the real exhibitors and venues that were at that event. The original version includes cards of the actual people responsible for financing or marketing or designing the Fair. The new edition has dropped those in favor of cards of people who promoted various social rights and freedoms in the 1800s.

We have boys here, not girls, BUT... when we visited Chicago and DSs were around that age, they really enjoyed: - Blue Man Group -- in Chicago, they perform in an intimate theater, so you're up close -- it was fantastic! - Museum of Science and Industry - Field Museum - The Children's Museum at Navy Pier - Shedd Aquarium - Lincoln Park Zoo (smaller, intimate -- NOT the huge Brookfield Zoo) - going to the observation deck at the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower), and the Hancock Building -- do one or the other - the Lego Store -- it looks there is now an even bigger/better Legoland Discovery Center in Chicago - Millenium Park and "the bean" sculpture -- the day we were there, a guy doing a "living statue" performance; they found that fascinating DSs were not that "into" these attractions that we did, but possibly: - Art Institute - Chicago Architectural River Tour - Botanical Garden One last unique thing we did -- this is YEARS ago, but at the time we were doing Letterboxing, and we printed off the instructions for finding 3 stamps that all had to do with the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition that was hosted in Chicago. The Japanese Gardens were built for that event, and still exist, and we found all 3 stamps at the gardens. Fun! (Side note: the Field Museum and Museum of Science & Industry were also part of that same big event, and continue to exist!) PS -- and I also am NOT a fan of deep dish pizza... 😉 But, DH grew up in Chicago, so going to Giodarno's Pizza (near Millenium Park -- we walked over from one to the other) was a "must" for us to do for his sake. 😉

Gotcha.

AP Score Report ?? -- that is what is sent for each individual student AP Student Score Distributions?? -- that is the spread sheet list of all scores by subject

We have experience with both Jacobs and MUS for Geometry. Our DS#1 is math-y and loved Singapore in the primary grades. He also loved Jacobs Algebra 1 and Jacobs Geometry (2nd ed.) Our DS#2 is a math struggler, esp. with abstract math concepts such as those in Algebra, but does very well with the tangible math concepts in Geometry. Whereas it took DS#2 1.5 years EACH for MUS Algebra 1 and Algebra 2, he flew through MUS Geometry in 1 semester. Jacobs Geometry (I am guessing you mean the 3rd edition?) is longer and more detailed, with more coverage of proofs. MUS is shorter and more focused on the three-dimensional aspects of Geometry (angles, circles, solids and volume, etc.) with only a brief time spent on proofs. Both Jacobs and MUS have DVD lesson support. As a side note -- Jacobs Geometry 3rd edition was a complete make-over of the 2nd edition, and I have heard numerous times that the 3rd edition is less sequential/more scattered in instruction, and many find it confusing. The 2nd edition does not have DVD lessons, but it was very straight forward and easy to teach/learn -- it had been 20-25 years since I had Geometry in high school, and I had no problems with overseeing doing 2nd ed. Jacobs Geometry with DS#1. If wanting something with DVD lessons, you might also check out: - Teaching Textbooks -- now online app; they use their own text/instruction - Cool Math Guy (formerly Chalkdust) -- known as a more rigorous, but detailed, video-lesson-based math program; he uses Elementary Geometry for College Students as his text If wanting to outsource, you might also look at: - Derek Owens -- uses 3rd edition Jacobs, which might make that more clear, having online class instruction - MyHomeschoolMathClass -- taught by Jann in TX of these boards -- I hear excellent reviews about her; uses Holt Geometry textbook BEST of luck in finding what works best for your family as you move into the high school years of homeschooling! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Some short stories: Bulfinch's Mythology (Thomas Bulfinch) -- retellings of classic Greek myths Twice Told Tales; Wonder Book (Nathaniel Hawthorne) -- short stories / retellings of classic Greek myths The Legend of Sleepy Hollow; Rip Van Winkle (Washington Irving) The Light Princess; The Wise Woman; The Golden Key (George MacDonald) Farmer Giles of Ham (JRR Tolkien) -- humorous mock epic And longer works: Life With Jeeves (PG Wodehouse) -- humorous The Importance of Being Earnest (Oscar Wilde) -- humorous Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien) -- epic fantasy quest Watership Down (Richard Adams) -- epic adventure quest A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Mark Twain) -- history/adventure Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; Through the Looking Glass (Lewis Carroll) -- get a version with annotations by Martin Gardiner A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens) -- novella, so a short novel / long short story 😉 Oliver Twist (Charles Dickens) -- child protagonist who suffers, so may not be good for a sensitive child Ben Hur (Lew Wallace) -- historical fiction And, what about watching a good production of a Shakespeare play every so often? Also, what about classic poetry once a week or month?

Yes, Grapes of Wrath is showing the aspect of the failure of the American Dream. As is Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man. I would probably NOT do either of those. GoW is soul crushing (IMO), and TIM requires a lot of maturity -- it's really an adult work, IMO. Also, both are long, and you mentioned you were looking for shorter works. 😉 Another Play: Our Town, the Thornton Wilder play, expresses the big themes of hope and life through the lens of a small, uniquely American town at the turn of the century. So it captures the American spirit and viewpoint, if not directly the idea of the American Dream -- in a way, the characters are living the American Dream, in a place/time that was uniquely suited for achieving the American Dream. I'd suggest watching, rather than reading. Both the Paul Newman (2003) and Hal Holbrook (1977) versions are good. A Short Story: "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan is a contemporary short story in which the first-person protagonist's Chinese immigrant mom directly expresses the American Dream. A Few Poems: "I Hear America Singing" (Walt Whitman) American Dream seen as each person being able to do what he loves/is good at "Let America Be America Again" (Langston Hughes) what the American Dream was, its failure, and call to remake it again "Us vs. Them" (David Tomas Martinez) contemporary poem, showing the shift of the American Dream (from individuality/rise to success, to simply being able to get debt-free) "Eden Then and Now" (Ruth Stone) read in conjunction with above poem; contemporary poem, showing the loss of the American Dream with the end of the Jazz Age, the Stock Market Crash, and the start of the Great Depression "The the Fig Tree on 9th and Christian" (Ross Gay) -- contemporary poem of pure joy and praise of life -- and I would argue that you see the American Dream beautifully reshaped from the idea of the individual rising from lowly roots to success, into a new dream of strangers in the City of Botherly Love, Philadelphia (the city of the beginning of American gov't/history) feeding one another -- so not the individual struggle for success, but the community of raising up one another -- here is a video of Ross Gay reading this poem

I've been to all 4 states and I think AZ, NM, and CO all have certain areas that are equally loaded with cool things to see and do. 😉 And, just an FYI -- the national parks and outdoor venues in UT and AZ are great places to tour, but NOT in the summer. It's currently running 100˚-115˚ in those states, which means doing any outdoor venues is right out. And all of those outdoor national parks are part of the huge draw for AZ and UT. Note that while August will be about 10˚ cooler, that is the middle of the monsoon season, which means huge wind and dust storms, massive thunderstorms, and dumping torrential rain storms for all of the Southwestern states. So that's another reason that planning a summer visit in those 4 states with lots of outdoor sites is not the best idea. 😉 But yes, input destinations to get ideas of what to do, and to get a realistic feel for travel time between sites -- which will help with deciding how much time do you want to spend on the road, and how much time do you want to have to actually see/do things. I linked the Trip Advisor top suggestions for each city in my post above.

1. Sunscreen, drink lots of water, sunscreen, drink lots of water... And carry several gallons of drinking water in your car, for emergency. 2. Distances between venues and cities are huge in the Western U.S., and highways/interstates are widely spaced which means distances from one place to another takes a lot of time, so you may want to focus on just one state. For example, depending where you are coming from in the Canadian prairies, that may be 20-25 hours of just straight driving just to get to Four Corners of CO/UT/NM/AZ. Also, I will mention that Four Corners itself is an hours-long drive from any city of note in any of 4 states, and the landscape is a bizarre post-apocalypse wasteland, with a long line of cars to get to "the spot" where 4 states touch. The actual spot is surrounded by booths where Native Americans sell tourist items. We just did an 11 day trip (which included 2 days of driving to go/return) in that very area -- so 9 days of actually being just in NM and CO. And other than a 4 day stay in one spot in CO, there was 3-6 hours of driving every.single.day to get from one place to the next -- which reduced our time to actually BE somewhere or DO something at the new location. Just trying to give you a feel for what might be realistic, or for how to plan. 😉 I'd suggest focusing on CO, and possibly dip down into NM (Santa Fe and Albuquerque). Maybe start by heading to Denver, as there are a lot of things to do in and around there, and then go south through CO, down into NM, and then back up into CO, and then west, hit 4 Corners, and then head then west, and hit Canada to Colorado USA -- 2 days Denver, CO -- stay 3-4 days - Museum of Nature & Science - Botanical Garden - Denver Meow-Wolf -- art installation / interactive experience - Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park -- need to pre-order your timed entry pass - Dinosaur Ridge -- walking trail, see the best fossilized dino footprints in the US Colorado Springs, CO (2.5 hours south of Denver) -- stay 2 days - Pike's Peak Cog Railway at nearby Manitou Springs -- go to the top of US lower 48's tallest peak - Penny Arcade in Manitou Springs (near Colorado Springs) - Garden of the Gods - Florissant Fossil Quarry -- $20 cash per person, split rocks till you find your fossil! Santa Fe, NM (5 hours south of Colorado Springs) -- stay 1-2 days - International Folk Art Museum - Museum of Indian Arts & Culture - Georgia O'Keefe Museum - Santa Fe Meow-Wolf -- art installation / interactive experience - walking tour of art galleries, historic town square, cathedral - food: Kakawa Sipping Chocolate & truffles, Tomasita's, The Shed, Hungry Harry's... Albuquerque, NM (1.5 hours south of Santa Fe) -- stay 1-2 days - BioPark -- botanical garden (very nice!), aquarium, zoo, etc. - Museum of Natural History - Petroglyph National Monument - Tour of the Historic KiMo Movie Theater Pagosa Springs, CO (3 hours NW of Albuquerque) - have lunch, hang out by the river (or stay at the inn and enjoy the hot springs), and then head to Durango, CO Durango, CO (1 hour W of Pagosa Springs) -- stay 1-2 days - Durango to Silverton steam train - river rafting, zip lines, horseback riding, etc. - possibly stay 30 minutes away at the Mancos Inn & Hostel, and visit the Mesa Verde National Park -- Indian ruins Drive up highway 550 ("the Million Dollar Highway") which runs up the west side of Colorado, for absolutely fabulous Rocky Mountain views. Be sure to stop in Ourrey, an old mining town, and go see the Box Canyon Falls there, and also park at the 8th Street lot and walk up to see another great waterfall there on the outskirts of the town. Maybe stay over night in Grand Junction, CO, and then continue north to head home. Colorado to Canada -- 2 days OR, do the "loop" in reverse. OR, drop out some of those states/stops and instead hit up cool sites on your way to/from the 4 Corner States area -- in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming (or whatever route you take). Another idea entirely might be to head for the Pacific Northwest, and enjoy Vancouver, Vancouver Island, and take the ferry to Washington state and see Seattle, and possibly dip down into northern Oregon... ETA -- note: - Carlsbad Cavern NM is cool, but it is 5 hours south of Albuquerque, and there's really not much else to see/do in that area - Grand Canyon AZ is cool, but overbooked in the summer, plus it is 5 hours west and south of Durango CO - UT Nat'l Parks of Zion, Bryce, and Arches are all nifty, but very HOT in summer -- plus hours apart from one another, and hours away from Durango...

Maybe use one of these books to pull out the facts needed to fill in your notebook? - A Kid's Guide to US Presidents (goes up through the 2020 election) - The Presidents Visual Encyclopedia (goes up through Biden) - The Big Book of US Presidents (goes up through Biden) And as a fun goofy supplement: Weird But True Know It All: US Presidents (2017) -- fun weird facts about the presidency and different presidents

Possibly read through all 4 volumes of SWB's Story of the World (secular)?? Vol 1 = ancients (gr. 1-4) Vol 2 = medieval (gr. 3-6) vol 3 = early modern (4-7) vol 4 = modern (gr. 5-8) Maybe use the Kingfisher Encyclopedia of World History (gr. 4-6) or Usborne Encyclopedia of World History (gr. 4-6) (secular) as a "spine", and add in books all year to flesh out different locations/time periods of interest? Or use the 7th grade Abeka History of the World (Christian) textbook? Or, if she is a bit more advanced, the 7th/8th grade BJU World Studies (Christian) textbook?

No personal familiarity with Axis & Allies, but according to this article, it looks like the original was acquired by Renegade, which plans on reprinting the original, plus adding new releases. And -- yea! Have fun getting into gaming! Ticket to Ride is a nice, gentle entry into the Euro style board games for 2-5 players. Catan is a bit more complicated to learn, but is a good "resource management" style game. Scattagories and Code Names are fun group/party games. Masterpiece is a good one to play with elementary aged kids. Stratego, IMO, is kind of a dull one-trick pony for just 2 players. But, YMMV, and hopefully it will be a fun one for YOU! 😄

Hmmm... I can't really think of a great American Lit. + writing program that is largely self-directed. Maybe you and DS together could come up with a booklist of interest, look for individual lit. guides? And then decide on writing assignments that would be useful for him now, and in his future adult life. A few assignments could be about lit. from the booklist, but what about including some real-life writing? Or, go with several of the Lantern English advanced writing classes, and outsource?

A high school English credit is often 1/2 Lit. + 1/2 Writing, but there are certainly options. What would he be interested in reading/digging into for literature? A focused topic such as works from the Sci-Fi genre? Or Ancient Lit.? Or World authors? Or would he prefer doing all-writing for the English credit, and doing something like a Journalism program?

Well, if she is mature enough to handle dual enrollment, DS#2 here did ASL for 2 semesters in 12th grade as his foreign language. He went on to continue at the community college and completed 2 of the 3 years required for the AAS degree before deciding that was not the career he wanted. If your DD is not willing to work for mom, then I would definitely outsource it as an actual class, and preferably in-person, rather than an online course. Perhaps check and see if one of the high schools in your area offers it, and see if their policy allows homeschoolers to take a single class with the school? (Although, it sounds like from your post above that may not work.) Or, see if locally in some other way ASL is offered as a class -- maybe through Parks & Rec, or even a college student you could hire as a tutor for a 2x/week lesson (like someone taking music lessons or martial arts)?? Life Print is the only thing I see recommended on these boards for ASL -- but it is self-paced, so if she is unmotivated, and doesn't respond to mom scheduling/pushing, I really wouldn't recommend that... Plus, there is no interactive element, which really is a must (IMO) for ASL or any foreign language. And, if she DOES do it as a DE course at the CC, and hates it or is falling behind, you can have her withdraw for a W on the transcript, which is "no harm no foul" -- you just need to keep a close eye on the CC's schedule for the deadline to withdraw.