I think that Jann (is it in Texas?) uses these texts for her online courses. Maybe tag her and she can give you her opinion?

I have a equally old Dolciani Geometry book. I found it helpful. I would be very happy to find a copy of a free college geometry textbook from that decade. KEEP IT!

$80 at the hardware store is less than when we had to do it at the dealer. (My husband's super-power is losing car keys at home!) It was closer to $200 last time we did it at the Volvo dealer and the Toyota dealer. I wish that I had known that there were other options. And once we had to get the "valet" key since even the dealer did not have any with the remote of the correct type. It was much more than $5, but I really wanted to be able to leave the house, so we got it anyway.

You have this on the wrong section. If you move it to the general high school portion, you will probably get more replies!

If you are willing to invest the time to figure it out, you can make great sandwich bread with the no-knead dough. You might consider a Pullman (or pain de mie) loaf pan. It has a cover, which makes a perfectly square loaf. It also controls the rise, because it cannot rise past the lid. It is tasty bread, and easy to make enough dough on the weekend for three to four small loaves for the week. I found it to be well worth the time to learn how to do it. Edited to add: I also purchased a bread slicing guide. If you do not have evenly thin slices for a sandwich, that defeats the purpose of all your work for a perfectly sized loaf.

I think that this one, the first one listed on the NRCE book list .... A Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome (TMRC-B0461) by Adkins and Adkins (ISBN 0195123328) … might be the most accessible. It is interesting to read, not too academic.

Writing with Skill Level One does a research paper in weeks 35 & 36. At that point, they have practiced all the skills with topics assigned from the text. In these last two weeks of the year, they finally get to choose their own topic to use. Other levels have more and longer research papers, using more of the "topoi" learned during the course.

If you do not have time to help her everyday, you might need to prioritize. (*) Middle school kids are not famous for their time-management skills. Perhaps you can do a few live classes, and then a few more self-paced (or mom-lead classes). In that way, if things begin to fall apart, you keep on with the outsourced courses, and then let a few things slide. You will have vacations (and next summer) to finish up. In my experience, the first few online (or otherwise outsourced) classes took a lot of time from me. It was sometimes harder for me to help, since I did not have all the material at my disposal, and I did not have the benefit of watching the class. In my home-school, English and Math are priorities. Everything else is easier if your English and math skills are tip-top! (*) Even if you do have time to help everyday, you probably still need to prioritize! I know nothing in particular about Vertias.

Sorry to be late to the conversation, but I am so intrigued! If you think that your daughter "doesn't like math", then maybe concepts are more important than procedures. We have calculators that can do all sorts of arithmetic, and much of algebra (maybe even all of it). In my opinion, what kids need is to understand the concepts, the "why?", so much more than they need to perform the algorithms. So if the supplementary stuff is more important to you, then keep doing it on Saturdays! You can make Saxon work for you. it is a tool, like any other tool. You decide how to use it. Maybe she gets a day off of Saxon since she works on the weekend. Maybe she does 80% of the problem set, or instead of 75 minutes a day, she does 60 minutes. And save that time for Saturdays. If she doesn't get through the book in a year - just keep going. Even if she did not like Beast, maybe AOPS will be a good fit when your daughter is older. It is sort of silly, and sometimes the instruction is not entirely clear. There is no time-table for math. Each student needs to learn as much as they need to learn for their chosen career. Math classes will stop at that point, and not before. Hopefully, an enjoyment of math (and an appreciation of the power of math) will last a life time! I think that you can continue to teach for more conceptual understanding, and less procedural focus. And I think that you should! If you have the background to teach your kids the reasons, and not just the procedures, then you are giving them a huge bonus. Not everyone has a mom who can teach math! So I do agree that even though she is making progress in math, if she is not making progress conceptually, then you can make a decision to change it up. If it is a difficult transition, maybe there are other compromises that you can make so that it is more palatable for your daughter. But, maybe what most people are reacting to is the fact that you are taking her "free time" to do it. I am not sure how much math is the exact best amount for a 10-year old. Only you can determine how much is just right for your child anyway. But perhaps your heart is telling you to spend that limited time first with concepts, then with procedures. And stop before overload, which for a compliant child might be hard to figure out. Maybe do what you like first, and then fill the rest of the time with Saxon. Consider that Saxon will just provide a time to practice - she will gain speed and the comfort with the procedures that will allow her to use what she knows to the maximum.

This is just my opinion from memory, since I did not like the book enough to keep it and use it again. The multiple choice questions were about minor details in the textbook. To me, some of them seemed intentionally misleading. Sometimes the wording was just awkward. For instance, I searched for the Notgrass sample pages and here is a question from the student review book …. Early representatives and senators who favored a strong central government took what name? It would be much more clear to ask … What was the name of the group of early representatives and senators who favored a strong central government? I cannot find a sample of the quiz questions, but here is what I remember. Many of the questions would give a stem, like this …. The early representative and senators who favored a strong central government were called - A. federalists and some other choices But giving a stem that is a incomplete sentence is harder for kids to answer. If there is a question, such as "What was the name of the group of early representatives and senators who favored a strong central government?", then your brain wants to answer that question. If you are given an incomplete sentence, your brain is confused. (Actually, educators and brain scientists know a lot about how to test people to accurately assess what they know.) I think that Notgrass would be a much better curriculum if it had better assignments. I still use Notgrass middle school books, so I am not against Notgrass, I just think that the high school texts leave much to be desired. I hope that helps!

I think that it is okay if you decide not to go to Sunday school for a period of time. All of the feelings that you have are important. Just last week, I decided to take the summer off from our small group meetings on Sunday mornings. Yesterday, we went to church (just church), and I came home feeling relaxed and refreshed! And I am trying to ignore the constant pleas to do more at church. After so many years of volunteering (while being busy doing school at home), it is okay to slow down. But perhaps there is another small group that is right for you during this season of your life. If you are going without your husband, maybe there is a women's group during the week?

My older son was taking the Notgrass Government in Fall of 2016. The class officially used the first edition. Although the teacher, and most students (at least those who got their books over the summer) had the older edition. The consensus seemed to be that the texts were easily enough exchanged. There were sometimes questions in the new quizzes on details that were not in the older versions. However, the Notgrass quiz questions are a bit fussy, but that is not the question that you asked! In any case, although Notgrass indicated that they were not compatible, but most people thought that they were.

The SAT was redesigned in 2016 to include significantly more higher math - like trigonometry. There is less geometry, and more statistics. I could not find any discussion of the changes on the College Board site, maybe it is old news now. But you can read this article on PrepScholar (the same site linked above) and search for more on their blog if you need more details. https://blog.prepscholar.com/new-sat-vs-old-sat-quick-summary

I lived in Wheaton (before kids). There is so much to do, it is so easy to get to all the fun - and cheap - stuff! The libraries in Montgomery County are fabulous. I know that you will love it.

I agree with you. There should be a glossary included with every single report. It should contain an explanation of all medical terms, some diagrams - whatever you need to understand it yourself.