Dave Ramsey is pretty forthright about saying he makes a good living off teaching people common sense. I tend to agree about Dave making lots of money, but his program would not be nearly so successful if people didn't invest in it. People are much more likely to follow through in something they've invested in. It's a little about teaching common sense and a lot about changing behavior.

I'd use some of the money to buy gift cards/gift certificates if you are able - most homeschool companies do this. Ipad printer for young kids I love my stereomicroscope from HST snap circuits math manipulatives (cuisenaire rods, fraction rods, clock, etc.) Sonlight history/literature books steve spangler science - fun stuff for young kids

I also would recommend calling Susan Barton about your specific situation. I use both Barton and AAS. I like Barton for phonemic awareness skills and teaching reading. My dyslexic kids need to move slower on the spelling with much more repetion and AAS has worked well for that. I pull the spelling rules from Barton (as well as some of the lists) and mix it with AAS. I do the spelling with Barton as we go through it, but my kids take much longer to master the spelling than the reading.

I'd follow your instinct in whether or not she should take the lab. Be aware of how many lab sciences she has had in high school and how many does she need? Is she going to go into something where chemistry knowledge is needed? If so, is she going to repeat the class with a lab for college? Some schools set up the lab as a separate class from the lecture with separate grades. I don't see why you can't just take one. Generally it is recommended to take both together, but not everyone takes chemistry lab in their lifetime.

Here's another site I like - it has both lots of problems as well as some teaching handouts. http://agmath.com/57427/index.html

My son likes to cover multiple math subjects at the same time. Therefore, we've mixed multiple math books just doing a chapter at a time from one book and then moving on to another. This also gives time for certain harder topics to gel before moving on. The Intro to Algebra is considered by many to cover Algebra I and II, so many take a break in the middle and do geometry.

My son liked the Intro to Counting and Probability book much more than Number Theory. It really depends on interests. We would do an algebra chapter and then while working on the review problems, either do a chapter in Counting and Probablity or Number Theory (his choice). We alternated the books at random as long as he was progressing in math, I wasn't too concerned about which book he was working in.

I don't know anything about the second, but I love the MAKE Electronics book. My husband and other electrical engineering friends look at the book, like an old friend making comments about loving all the projects in the book. (The way my electrical friends drool over the MAKE Electronics book is very similar to how I am with the Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments which is more in my own field.)

We also love the library books without the cards.

I would help him plan what has to be done for the week at a minimum. I then also give my kids the full year plan (or part year) and say that they can work at a faster pace. On that plan it may say, read chp. 1, answer questions, discuss with mom, take quiz. It is up to my child to come to me for discussion and quizzes if he wants to work faster. I also say, if you finish this early, I won't assign more for the year (but I expect time to be filled with something worthwhile of their choosing).

4th grade girl, loves science, art.

I have a fairly new account with Learning Ally for my daughter and we are loving it. She listens to lots of books that I would otherwise assigned her brother's to read as well as lots of books of her own choosing. I recently figured out that the Apologia elementary science books are available and she is listening to these. I am wondering what books are available that you like to use for school other than readers. In other words, do you have favorite science or history books, etc. Thanks

Actually, I have NEM sitting on my bookshelf. I did many of the geometry chapters with my oldest for fun. It's might be a great choice for my second child.

Thanks for the ideas. I have a feeling that I'm going to be slow at picking something out. How is Jacob's geometry set up? What kind of student tends to do well with it?

My oldest has done AoPS geometry and loved it. This is the only geometry book I'm familiar with. I don't think this will be the best book for my next son. What other options are good for a smart, engineering oriented boy that needs a solid foundation in geometry?

We've arranged for a local minister to Procter the test.

Is there a schedule linking Truthquest and MOH? I think I read that one existed, but can't seem to find it now. Thanks

All things is fun for a young child. Now that you've reminded me that I own it, I think I might combine the two. I just started the first DVD with my daughter. We break one DVD into about 3-4 sessions and to the assignments as they come up. After the first DVD, I think I will do some All Things for reinforcement before starting the second DVD.

You might look at some of Zacarro's books for accelerated upper elementary. They are good at giving kids something to think about.

Tenet doesn't have too bad of side effects. It shouldn't affect appetite. As the dose is started and increased it can cause sleepiness which can be the limiting factor of how high a dose you can go. It actually falls in the class of anti-hypertensive drugs. It shouldn't affect BP much unless the child gets dehydrated.

Yes, I've got the lab side of things as I already teach Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments to a group of students and have taken several completely through the text. Looking forward to my own kids being old enough to do it all as well.

I wondering what you like to use for AP or adv. chemistry. I doubt I try to get approval for an AP course, so I'm looking for anything that will prepare my son well for an AP chemistry exam. My son is a math wiz, so the math I don't expect the math to be a problem. I expect that I can teach it without a teacher manual, so I don't necessarily need that, though answers to some of the problems would be nice. What do you like to use?

I think it is probably unreasonable unless you live and breathe math. Online classes move faster than many people want to go. Doing intro counting and prob with intro number theory in one summer is ambitious. Beware their summer schedule does not always stay the same from year to year. Also, the int. number theory seminar does not get scheduled very often.

I would not allow a calculator for AoPS prealgebra. The book is designed to be done without a calculator. If you read the solutions, you can learn how the problems can be done without the calculator. Don't worry if you take it slow and steady through the book. It's not a race and the understanding of math will be so much deeper if allowed to process and internalize the concepts.

My kids, also, have used Singapore math befor AoPS. they have had trouble transitioning to negative numbers, harder order of operations, and exponents. Once they get that base AoPS moves much more smoothly.