My daughter does Bravewriter courses - they are not through the entire schoolyear - usually 4 weeks at a time.

I use Ting - it's pay for what you use. We don't use data generally - just turn off the data and use wifi only. I have two smart phones and pay about $30/month (total) - that's $15./phone. Great customer service; uses sprint network (and others if out of sprint).

The important part of algebra is mastery of the concepts and retention. Tests are one way of judging whether your child has mastered and retained knowledge, however they are not the only way.

OK. Now I'm second guessing myself. For Barton sight words, we are writing them on index cards and then drawing pictures. Is there something more we should be doing so it isn't rote memorization. I would love to jump ahead and teach how to decode the words, but that doesn't make any sense as he needs tons of practice with each new "rule".

I'm in the same boat with Comp Sci for next year. I'm going to ask the local schools if they are willing to give it even though it's not on their list this year. On top of that my son will need accommodations which can complicate asking around.

My daughter does not read the text - only the problems. She's dyslexic and slow at reading. I go through the teaching problems with her and do the teaching and explanations. She can read the problem sets herself.

Yes, the college board approval took every day of that seven weeks to approve for my son. College Board was more of a hassle, but very necessary if you want to take PSAT/SAT/AP tests.

Doing a happy dance that our local high school has been so willing to work with us. My son is now signed up to do two AP exams through them and they will have to (and are willing to) test him separately due to his accommodations.

My severely dysgraphic (very smart) son started high school with very little writing experience. He also needed to learn to be more independent as well as have someone other than mom teach. He's done very well with online classes through Brave Writer. It's been amazing how far they've taken his writing. He's gone from sounding like elementary level writing to college level writing in a few short years.

As far as whether to read or listen first, I've given that choice to my son. He likes to read a chapter or two and then listen to the corresponding lecture as he's reading the book. Sometimes the lectures are ahead of the book and give away things, but it really helps him understand the book better. You can listen first, listen last, or listen concurrently - I don't think it matters. By the way he's absolutely a STEM kid, but loves the Vandiver lectures.

Locally, algebra classes are often over $500 per year for experienced teacher teaching twice per week at 1.5 hours each time.

Consider a math tutor to shore up the foundational math. I get kids that want to move on to algebra with weaknesses in fractions, negative numbers, distributing, etc. I think it is a disservice to move them ahead too fast as they continue to flounder more and more until they get the basics of manipulating equations down solid. Having someone teach him the WHY's so that they can be applied to new and different situations makes a world of difference - though it takes TIME to solidify these skills.

Start with level 1 - if it goes really fast, then call her and see about swapping it out. You certainly don't need extra tiles for level one even if you resale - you won't be using level one tiles again. You "might" need extra tiles for levels 2 and up depending on how you use and sale. You'll need all the levels from 2 and up for any future levels so if you sell the levels as you finish you might want a set of tiles to sell and one to keep. I agree that Barton has made it very difficult for used purchasers to get tiles, however I "think" that she now will sell the ipad app to used purchasers if they do something like prove they actually bought a used copy by making a copy of the front page or such. Not sure why she makes it so difficult access. All my levels contain tiles, but I'm now not sure if I even want to buy tiles for my future levels. I've switched to using the ipad app for tiles and it is so much easier. (Wouldn't recommend using ipad app until level 3 or higher). This makes it easy for me to sell my old tiles with my old sets. I'm not sure if it's worth the extra money for me to buy tiles at all when I buy level 8 (currently I have kids in levels 4 and 7).

I've known several people that they've been very helpful to. This is usually the phone calls because the school district is asking something of us as homeschoolers that is not required by state law. They've been helpful in dealing with the bureaucracy and making it smoother in my district. Theoretically they are helpful if you need legal council based on homeschool issues, but I've not known anyone to need this. They are very clear that they don't touch issues that look like custody/family battles that involve homeschooling.

Looks good.

Agreeing with OneStep. First, you can't predict the future - good or bad. Take it one step at a time and keep taking the next logical step no matter how far off grade level they might be. Going back and solidifying the basics often solves many of the difficulties of moving forward. It doesn't fix the underlying problem, but if the foundation is shaking, there is no way you are going to make much progress at all. As you get a little farther in math, you'll have a better idea of if you need to teach life skills type of math or if you can keep going into harder maths. It's really hard to predict right now.

I'd pick back up with finishing the Intro to Algebra book. The Counting and Probability book is great, but it is not traditionally taught in public schools so it isn't as necessary. I did it along side the algebra book alternating chapters from the books. It is a fun book and one of my favorite. I think you can skip the geometry book if you've done a traditional geometry course. It is not necessary to have done the AoPS geometry book to move into the harder AoPS books. It is up to you whether you move on to AoPS Intermediate Algebra or move on to a traditional precalculus.

I moved away from IEW to Brave Writer with my high schooler (and then with my others) as I needed someone other than me to give feedback on the writing and encouragement. I know how to pick at the details, but I didn't know how to give constructive feedback because I would push too hard. Brave Writer online classes have been more expensive, but very worth it in my home. IEW and Brave Writer are on opposite ends of the spectrum. IEW often tells you what to write and gives you the tools to make your sentence structure and paragraphs more interesting. Brave Writer does teach formats such as a 5 paragraph essay, but it is much more open to each student writing in their own voice, yet also learning structure at the same time.

Not what you are asking, but some extra information - I don't think MUS is a strong program. After finishing Algebra 1 (with a different book), my son looked at MUS Algebra 2 and he could ALREADY do all of it. MUS might have decent explanations (I don't know), but it does not take any of the math to a deeper level that students looking at STEM careers ought to be challenged with. Yes, there are kids that do MUS and go on to higher level math, but there is an obvious difference in how they approach more challenging problems.

This age is hard and she has to figure out how not to get her worth by comparing herself to others. There will always be areas that you think others are better at. As far as math, it is incremental and you can't move on without the base being solid. Depending on the child, you don't necessarily need to repeat the whole year just to fill in some holes. It might be possible to speed up, but it's much more important to understand the math so you don't get bogged down later. As far as grammar goes, I'd finish "6th grade" grammar and skip to "8th grade" grammar next year. I tend to be more free-spirited so my daughter isn't so surprised if I tell her that I picked this text or class which is rated at a younger grade just because I thought it was a better fit (or taught what I wanted her to cover this year).

My reluctant writer did great with online Brave Writer classes - not sure this is what you are looking for.

I think it is possible to "unschool" 4 year of English, the required sciences, history, etc. Probably a little harder to unschool precalc and some other maths, but certainly don't have to go down a traditional path. I think if you want to get into a university with set requirements, then you should expect to jump through some of their hoops. It may be as simple as saying in your four years of high school you did 4 years of English, etc.You don't necessarily have to say what constituted your credit and it certainly doesn't have to be traditional. If you go through a different route to get into the university (such as community college) then you might not have to check all their boxes. I do think that it is beneficial to teach certain kids to be able to box check and jump through all the hoops required of someone else, because this is likely to be required for various classes or jobs.

I choose not to label any of my classes as "honors" since it implies that my other classes are not honors. It would be easy for me to label and justify that AoPS precalculus is an honors precalculus course, but it would be harder to prove that my homegrown English course is also honors even if it is just as rigorous as a well-known course. I've left off all designations except outsourced AP courses.

Foreign language or mom's least favorite subjects are what I'd look at farming out.

You can do either. You can do a 6 week class such as Expository Writing followed by a different Brave Writer class such as a literary class or poetry or MLA research essay. Alternatively you can do something on your own. I've aimed for about 2 Brave Writer classes per year and then I do my own thing, but everyone is different.