I had been looking at this for my daughter to start in another year or two - just bought, so now I'll have it. :laugh:

Sounds like my son. How's her receptive language? Does she understand others? Usually both are delayed together, but sometimes just her expression. Definitely needs to be in speech therapy. Has anyone considered verbal apraxia? If intelligence and expressive language is closer to normal, then consider teaching sign language - it opened up the doors for my son to express all sorts of things - eventually his language caught up. The book, "The Late Talker", really helped me in how to think about my son's language. Also in that we naturally use "baby talk" when kids are babies, but as they get older sometimes we need to continue just to get them to say sounds.

My kids have loved: Balance Benders (Creative Thinking press) Detective Club and More Detective Club (Prufrock press) Logic Safari and other logic books from Prufrock press Chocolate Caper (Prufrock press) Zaccaro's Primary grades challenge math (I'm not sure if that's really the title)

I agree that I'd list it as two different courses - in the course descriptions, I'd say that the 1/2 credit of algebra 2 is the first half of algebra 2 or whatever. I don't think it's too confusing to read for your math progression.

I might look at some dvd based courses - Teaching Company, Discovering Music, etc.Can you buy science supplies - always a cost as you move into harder labs.

If she's not reading at what you suspect her potential is then I'd definitely look into getting her tested for possible learning difficulties (dyslexia, etc) and/or vision problems such as convergence insufficiency - both can cause a teen to baulk at doing much reading. Meanwhile, don't give up on literature. Literature does not have to be read, it can be listened to - and in the case of plays like Shakespeare, it can be watched. If she does end up with a dyslexia diagnosis, then there are services like Learning Ally where she can listen to human read books and textbooks. Pick some literature - read some as a family (read-aloud), listen to some on audio-books, and pick a play to watch. All of these modes count toward literature as long as you are doing unabridged books.

If transcripts are a valid form of id for public school students, then I'd call HSLDA and ask if it's discriminating against you if they won't take your transcript as well. I'd make it say "Official", true and valid and signed by "principal"/parent and have it notarized. Sounds like you need to start the process of getting a new SS card - hopefully you don't have to wait to have it in hand before getting a permit. (A passport is probably just as hard to get without multiple ids).

Take a look at the requirements for accomodations for SAT and ACT and work from there. They have specific guidelines as to how recent the testing needs to have been. I did testing about 2 years before the SAT and ACT and got accomodations. You do not need any school IEP.

It is very difficult to "plan" AoPS. It is hard to know how fast a student will progress through the books, it they want to do multiple books at the same time, if they need to slow down and review, etc. I aim to do one section (teaching and exercises) per day and then spend several days on the end of chapter reviews. Some of my kids will start working on a chapter in another book while finishing the chapter review. Some people go faster, others slower. I would start with Prealgebra when you get there. After Prealgebra you can move on to Algebra or any of the other Introduction books. My first son did all four of the introduction books at the same time, just rotating one chapter at a time.

I've done some of their other classes - all are listed as one credit if you don't do the writing, and two credits is you also do the writing. I just do the literature discussion and add my own writing. I don't have a problem assigning an "A" to the literature discussion part of the English grade as I've been very impressed with what my student has learned and how it has translated over into discussions of other literature. I add writing (Brave Writer) and my own as well as any poetry, grammar, Shakespeare, etc.. to round out my English credit. I call all of what we do one English credit. I'm tempted to do the poetry class in another year, but won't have anyone this year.

If you are doing the intro books, then Alcumus is a great way to review. It's free on the AoPS website.

I love how Teaching the Classics teaches you to discuss literature (and gives you both the framework as well as lots of questions). I would recommend getting the dvds and going through them together - both of you being the students.

The dvd lessons are 1 hour or less per week. The rest of the time is spent on exercises. There are lots of extra worksheets available on the Latin Alive yahoo group files.

There are sales throughout the year. I find that I can often get the best prices between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I can often get those prices at other times as well. Try to get a code that gives you free shipping or an additional $ off.

I'm not sure this is the route you want to take, but my kids have done literature through Center for Lit and writing through Bravewriter. It has worked very well at our home.

My non-reading 8yo loves doing science videos and audio books. He's been watching videos from Supercharged Science (requires a bunch of materials) and he loves audiobooks - We've gotten a bunch of audio books from the library and some from other sources.

I'm not a big fan of MEP in the primary grades, though I like it more starting with level 7. I love both SM and Beast - very different however.

I vote what you love since it definitely still has potential to pay off as well and can be the first step toward many things.

AoPS Prealgebra is very similar to the first half of many algebra programs - it doesn't cover all of algebra 1 nor does it go as deep. It does also cover geometry, statistics, counting and probability and number theory. I like the choice of AoPS Prealgebra. IF you are in a rush to get to calculus, geometry and algebra 2 can be taken at the same time. I do not feel like everyone should rush to get to calculus however.

Bravewriter -Help for High school - great teaching and it is written to the student. The student has to be fairly independent or have a good editor. I decided that I couldn't help edit, so I signed my kids up for Kidswriter Int. followed by Expository Essay. The teaching is very similar to the pdf of Help for High School, but the feedback on how to revise is awesome for the online courses.

I tutor one student online with Hangout. I wouldn't do it with a six year old.

I use Barton and am only trained by what her training videos are that come with it. I agree with picking up the phone and calling Susan Barton - she will talk to you and walk you through what you need to do for Barton.

Provide transcripts for all courses taken no matter where taken. If she goes the public school route and gets a diploma through them, I'd provide another transcript showing any other classes done at home.

I would strongly urge you to renew your Learning Ally subscription and then use it how YOU want to school. If there is a specific science curriculum that you want your son to do see if it is already recorded, if not ask them to record it. I take my Sonlight list and first see what's already recorded on Learning Ally. Then I decide which books I want to read aloud, any I want to drop and then I ask them to record the rest - they'll do it and it'll serve you as well as others. I have bought Mystery of History audio books and bought a bunch of YWAM audiobooks for my dyslexics. I also use the library a lot. Teaching Company may also have things you might be interested it - high level teaching on audio, dvd, or downloadable. To limit how much you spend, I'd first invest in a Learning Ally subscription and then decide if you want to spend more on other stuff. Make your dream list of books you want your son to hear and then work with Learning Ally.

I've used Brave Writer classes as well as many of their philosophies in my home writing. There are lots of ways you can incorporate writing about literature or other - Center for Lit classes, Brave Writer, and Excellence in Literature are some that I've looked at closely. Pairing up some of the rabbit trails and writing ideas from Excellence in Literature works nicely with Center for LIt, but I don't really think you have to add anything.