I would say your way is accurate, but harder to follow if someone doesn't know exactly how you came up with the numbers. Most will recognize Avogadro's number, but not everyone will recognize where the 63.55 g came from (1 mole). Writing it out will help the student go back and know what he did, help others find where he made a mistake more easily and potentially earn more partial credit if the grader can follow it more easily. That said, I have a major struggle to teach my son to show any work.

You can see some of the AoPS style problems and teaching from the solutions by trying out Alcumus for free on their website. You just have to register with a login name and then you can do Alcumus for free. You can learn a lot from just that.

I think AoPS can be used by anyone who is willing to struggle over some problems. It starts with very easy concepts and quickly builds to very hard concepts in every chapter. It is very logical and stepwise and has a great solution manual for every problem. If you work through this book, you will understand algebra. However, It is not for the person who gets easily frustrated. It is a challenging program. I use this with my gifted son, my average smart math student, as well as several that I tutor who have struggled in math elsewhere, but are now understanding it with AoPS. I would consider starting with the AoPS Prealgebra book if I were you.

If you are feeling overwhelmed, another option is to continue the same subjects, but limit the time to one hour per day. Just pick up where you left off and keep going - if it takes more than a year, that's okay.

Congrats. Sounds like you are doing a great job.

I'm not sure if AoPS is the right choice for your son, but if you choose it, I thought I'd pass on some comments. I'd probably start with the prealgebra book. It's a good introduction to AoPS. It's not impossible to jump into the algebra book. My oldest went from Singapore 5 to the AoPS Algebra book, but there was not a prealgebra book at the time. He also lives and breathes math. My second son is doing the prealgebra book and it has been challenging for him. If you take an online course with AoPS, the pace is rapid and takes a lot of time, but you do go through the books faster. At my home, anything we can do with the books, we will without the online course. Intro to Algebra is usually considered algebra 1 and most/all of algebra 2. Many people do this book over more than one year. The geometry book is often considered the hardest of the intro books, but my oldest didn't find it so. The geometry book is a long, hard book. Intro to Number Theory and Intro to Counting are both fun extras. They can be done in about 1/2 a year for a strong math student. They are not necessary for the average high school student. My son tends to work on two or three of the books at the same time. He easily does more than one credit of math per year. For a strong, math-loving student, that is how many fit in all the books. AoPS is a real blessing to those students who are craving to be taught more math at a deep level. AoPS is a fabulous preparation for engineering, but certainly not the only route to a strong math background.

I don't know anything about Experiences in Chemistry - tried to google it and only found the student manual and nothing about the labs. I teach from Robert Thompson's BOOK the Illstrated Guide which is not the same at all as the kits he sells, but it is the same author. I've downloaded the Home Scientist labs and have done some of these. They are well written though the student that doesn't want to know all the details might get bogged down. I appreciate the author's attention to detail in being safe and giving good instructions that are usually easy to follow. As far as the kit, you have premixed chemicals so you are not calculating and mixing your own solutions. The labs are primarily done on a test tube scale and they are more observational in obtaining results. The labs are good and cover a wide range of topics. What are your goals for chemistry lab?

As soon as you record 30.0, you are saying you have three significant figures and that your measurement is somewhere between 29.95 and 30.04.

If you are allowed to be alone during co-op time, do it. Go walking, bring a book, listen to music, do your lesson plans. Find yourself a quiet place - outside, in your car, in a chair in the hallway... If you have to work/volunteer, figure out what works for you. The first week is usually the noisiest as people are catching up and learning he routine.

We do AoPS with just the books at home. So far the only class my son has taken has been the Mathcounts classes. He will take the other classes that don't have a book - Int. Number Theory and Olympiad Geometry, etc., but anything that has a book, we will do at home.

"I" really like the MAKE Electronics book, but my son isn't so enthused about it. He's working on the Learn by Doing kits by Applied Inspirations and loving it. I think these are great kits. http://appliedinspirations.com/

While I think it is good to learn chemistry, I question if it the best decision to repeat with the same course/book/instructor. Is there something about the course structure that led to him doing poorly? Would a different instructor inspire him better to learn? Also, while chemistry is good, so are physics and anatomy. Does one of these appeal to him better?

It's not really so much of a discipline issue since he's quite capable of going and playing independently when I tell him to. However, I also don't think it's fair to him to not give him some guidance toward fun educational things. He loves snap circuits. He's learning to soldier - but needs supervision there. He'd be glad to play board games all day, but we can't all do that. He's dyslexic and not reading so that makes him less independent in some areas. He loves to watch the MIT chemistry and physics experiment videos (geared to high school and younger). He draws pictures of circuit boards and takes care of his pets. He plays alone fine - builds with legos and k-nex, but I'm looking for new things that will stretch him but can be done independently. Thanks for the above ideas.

I think it would benefit non-dyslexics but might be burdensome in time. Go fast, modify as needed and see how it goes.

Do you mean teacher prep before doing a lesson? The teacher prep includes watching dvds for teacher training (maybe 6 hours) per LEVEL. From there it is very straightforward for each lesson. (There are 5 lessons in levels 1 and 2 and then usually 10-14 lessons per level.) Someone tutoring multiple kids would need to keep track of where each child is on each lesson. Some additional prep time might be required if adding in supplemental games, etc.

I make my students go ahead and write up what happened - just say at this point I spilled everything. If the data can be collected somewhere else (another student or online) I let them document where they go the data and do the calculations with this data. I would ignore this lab or count off maybe 10% in grading. I don't grade individual labs.

Unexpectedly, the hardest part of my schoolyear so far has been what to do with my six year old. I am quite settled on all his core schoolwork. My problem is that I also have a 5th, 7th, and 9th grader. My six year old does his work quickly and wants to be entertained by everyone else. My time is busy teaching everyone and they have a lot of work. My 5th and 7th graders have time to spend with the little guy, buy I am trying to come up with things they can do either with him, or him by himself, that is somewhat educational. He loves to take things apart and will spend all day disassembling a computer and asking the names of parts and what they do. He says he wants to grow up to be a scientist or a destructor. ... Any suggestions?

Most of the BJU labs can be done in 1 1/2 - 2 hours (not including set up and cleanup).

I think the approach by the AoPS books takes some maturity as well as math knowledge. As he is a little older, he might be able to take their approach better. I think there is a lot of math out their beyond the traditional path of precalc and calculus after algebra 2. AoPS Counting and Probability - I like the idea of this - it's different than what he's been doing and a fun book. It might also be a more gentle introduction to the AoPS style if you think you might like to use these books later. AoPS Int. Algebra - a great book to do to continue to develop the algebra skills. I have the Statistics book and like the looks of it - haven't actually done it yet.

I'm also doing this right now and enjoying it.

I don't think it is unreasonable for a 7th grader to do an hour of math. Some kids do better if that is broken into smaller chunks through the day. I would sit down and watch him do math. Is he just not focused? Does he understand? Is he struggling over certain concepts? Is he getting the problems correct? Some kids do better with a different curriculum, but I don't think that is the case. Does this book jump into concepts that he hasn't really covered before? Does he need more practice. My kids who are good at math, still struggled with that transition into prealgebra as some of the concepts were new and different.

It sounds like you are both learning flexibility - you in adjusting the schedule and he in the give and take of weekend work in trade for what he wants to do. I am a big picture person in scheduling - I want this done by this month, etc. I have to help my oldest with his daily scheduling to get the big picture done, but I don't stress if we didn't get any chemistry done, if we got caught up in lots of extra math and physics and he doesn't want to put down the lit book. I prioritize some things by every day work; some by get it done by x date; other things I schedule as I desire. I know roughly how much should be done daily/weekly to meet the end goals but I never schedule by the day.

Read, read, read. I wouldn't plan too far ahead, but I'd keep learning based on where my current learning takes me.

My son likes reading Mystery of History - definitely from a Christian viewpoint.

Just to note, the labs by the Home Scientist are authored by the same author as the Illustrated Guide. They follow the same progression of topics, but they are not the same. They use much smaller amounts of chemicals and often different chemicals. The labs are good. They have lots of teaching in the labs. They don't teach the use of bigger scale chemistry equipment. It also has the advantage of being cheaper - less equipment and less chemicals.