I agree, I think the first place you need quadratics is in Chapter 6 (Pythagorean theorem) but most all the chapter can be done without quadratics - I've done it with kids before quadratics and concurrently. I think chapter 7 of geometry is the hardest chapter, also power of point chapter.

My oldest did all four Intro books concurrently. He'd work through the exercises in one book in about a week and then do the review problems the next week, Meanwhile he'd start a new chapter in a different book while doing the review problems. (He did about one chapter out of each of the four books every month). I'd say you need some algebra before really getting into the geometry book. While a few of the problems involved quadratics, I don't think you are losing anything by starting geometry before quadratics. Just be aware that a couple of problems (not many) might be overly frustrating as you haven't covered quadratics yet. Same with the Counting and Probability book - generally it's easier than algebra, but a few problems involve more advanced algebra like quadratics. Currently he's finishing AoPS Precalc. If you are starting the Number Theory book later, then you might find the beginning repetitive of prealgebra and algebra, but it is useful and gets into many topics not covered elsewhere. My second son started both algebra and geometry after the AoPS prealgebra book. He's running a little ahead in chapters in algebra, but alternates the two -- he does about one chapter out of each of two books every month. (Though he's good at math, he doesn't like it and therefore is not doing counting and prob nor number theory. I'll probably move him to something else instead of going to the Int. AoPS series.) Generally, I say you have to keep doing math, but I give them some say as to which book next at the end of each chapter.

Totally agree about graphing calculators. My oldest has one and can use it well, but does all his textbook math without a calculator. I'll take a look at the other texts. Thanks for all the suggestions.

I agree you can learn a lot by playing with a graphing calculator. I need to look more carefully at the Brown text. Also, I own the Larson text so I'll take a look at that more closely.

Brad, Thanks for the reminder that there is a sticky of Homeschool math options at the top of the forum. I'm a math person and I've already taught AoPS Precalc to my oldest so I'm not intimidated to teach from anything else, but I'm looking for what is a good fit for my next son.

What about textbooks I can teach myself - I can teach any of the math, just haven't looked at textbooks.

What's available for a rigorous Precalc course besides AoPS? I've used AoPS Int. Algebra and Precalc for my oldest and I love AoPS. However, I don't think my second son would do well with those books. They'd just frustrate him too much, though he's quite capable of hard math.He will finish the AoPS Intro books and I will fill in a few more algebra 2 topics with somehting (any suggestions?) and then I'm looking at what to do for precalc. I've looked some at Foerster's. One thing I notice is that a lot of problems are dependent on a graphing calculator. Is this a good thing to be teaching? or should I focus on something more like AoPS that doesn't require a calculator to solve problems. What are other rigorous choices?

Super cool!

I'd have issues with chemistry. Fumes that should be outside, chemical spills, etc. If you pick carefully, you might be able to find labs that can be cone inside -- especially if you work on a small scale. However, I find a larger scale is much more fun. I teach chemistry lab out of my garage, and what I do I wouldn't take inside.

Yes, the Writer's Jungle will help guide you through this process. I think it is on the expensive side, but well worth it if it helps improve writing at our home like it did at mine. If you don't think you can do it on your own another choice (more expensive) is doing Brave Writer's Kidwriter Basic which is basically the Writer's Jungle as an online family class with the parent as the student and teaching you how to implement TWJ. I don't have alternative suggestions.

Texasmama, My kids have alternated books for years. It's our style. If I were you with a self-motivated independent student, I'd hand them each book and let them decide which book to work out of. I don't think there is a best way to do it. Just say keep doing math and see what happens.

Does she NEED AoPS rigor? No. But it will teach wonderful thinking skills that will be beneficial no matter what direction she heads. I am currently tutoring AoPS virtually through Hangout - not taking anyone new, but you might be able to find a similar arrangement. A lot of us would be happy to help on individual problems that you post.

I used Runkle's geography - a one semester physical geography course - 9th grade.

I'm interested also as I'm thinking about using Shepherd Biology on my own next year.

I love hands on science experiments for young kids, but I don't do it formally or which reports, conclusions, etc. We gather data informally and chat about it but I don't make it "schoolish". I'm the house the neighborhood kids gather at and ask to do more science experiments - it's fun with learning. I'm the one that teaches hands-on science in co-op and everyone else send their kids to me to fulfill the need to do science experiments. At my home, science experiments are not formal, but are more like explorations of topics. Often when we are reading a book like history, we'll come across the mention of something and we decide to try it out. My kids love to watch science videos and then recreate the experiment and tweek it every way they can think of to further investigate. This is the real power of doing the experiments - the kids change variables of their choosing and then test. They don't have to report on their findings. My kids explore books on science experiments and then pick out what sounds interesting. It's definately more fun to do experiments with friends than alone. I teach formal experiments with lab reports in high school.

When life and kids get complicated, I try to boil it down to what are my priorities? I have to work on my dyslexic daughter's reading, have to work on speech, etc. After I set my priorities, I see how much more I can fit in/combine, but I give myself permission to let things slide, If I don't teach handwriting this year, it'll catch up later. If I don't do science, history, and read-alouds, I try not to get sad over what I'm not doing, because I'm doing my best. There are so many read-alouds out there that sometimes it's okay to skip what is scheduled (but done in the past) and just do a book that none of the kids have heard so that you can combine them. Hang in there and take it one step at a time.

The hardest parts at the beginning are negative numbers, exponents, and order of operations. The first several chapters are often a rough transition, but after that it all levels out.

You have lots of options. What I did after SM was to go to AoPS.

Alcumus is AWESOME! It doesn't go into the theory and doesn't have as many of the hard problems, but it is a great place to both start and continue for a long time. Even after doing the books, it is worthwhile to keep doing alcumus.

I still think Intro to Algebra might be a good place to start. You can always just skip the chapter and go to the end of chapter review questions and see how he does. The review questions start easy and move quickly to very challenging. Unless the challenge problems are easy, then I'd be wary of skipping much of the chapter. For a student that has already covered the material, I would tend to go through the exercises in the book leading up to the chapter review. Alternatively, you can try out Alcumus for free. If you continue to think AoPS would be a good fit, then I'd suggest going ahead and buying the book. The majority of students that AoPS caters to are just like your son - taking math in school and doing extra supplement at home with AoPS.

Looking at the previews, it looks like a cool book.

I think Beast Academy is meant to be a complete program, but no one has had the opportunity to use it that way as it's not finished being written yet. For some students I think it would not be enough practice. The only subjects that I can think of Beast skipping are clock reading and money, but the math is all covered. My daughter has used Beast since it came out and runs it behind SM as she's progressing faster than Beast is published. It is still a fantastic program for her to do. My youngest son started begging to get to do Beast as well. Originally, I said he needed to finish SM 2B, but we ended up starting Beast alongside 2B and it has gone fine so far. He'll continue both Beast and SM. If Beast is getting too hard, then I'll put it away. If he's already learned the topic, I may not make him do all of SM (but I can't imagine him not doing all of Beast).

If there are specific books you want added, you can request Learning Ally to do them. When I was doing SL with my daughter, I went through the LA list, decided what LA had and what I wanted to read aloud. A few we just tossed out and then I requested two books to be recorded and they did! I know a number of textbooks and I think they have Joy Hakim's History of Science (otherwise I'm going to request it when I renew my membership).

I guess what I mean is that Brave Writer isn't scheduled. I have to decide what online classes and how many. I have to decide what to do when we aren't doing online classes. I have to decide if I'm doing literature with Brave Writer (either online or the LA program) or go a different direction with literature - can still use the Brave Writer ideas, but without their handholding. I can do copywork and dictation, poetry, freewriting, but I don't have someone scheduling it out and saying here's what to do for the year or week by week. The complete philosophy of Brave Writer can be applied to everything we do, but I have a lot of freedom in how to accomplish those goals.

I think this is both a big con as well as a big pro for Brave Writer. The open-endedness makes it where I can use the same techniques with multiple kids and have it look completely different.It also leaves it where I can get lost in the lack of someone telling me what to do next. Even if you don't use Brave Writer, there's a lot to be gleaned by reading her blog posts and/or getting the writing tip of the day.