I really like Chemistry Matters. It gives a great overview of chemistry without getting bogged down in a bunch of details. It is not very mathy. It has the math, but on a simpler format than most high school texts. It goes very well into the concepts. My son used it for 8th grade and is now doing an AP level advanced chemistry. It shows a lot more laboratory chemistry than many texts. I can't comment on how easy this would be to teach if you don't have a chemistry background. I have a strong chemistry and math background and my oldest just absorbs the information naturally. I know one other family in real life that also really enjoyed this text. I think this book would be great for anyone as a first year chemistry course. It prepares well to move on to more advanced chemistry and is a great book if this is the only exposure to chemistry.

I don't have a great suggestion. I would agree with everyone else to not do the lab with Chemistry Matters. It's not doable. I have the knowledge and equipment, but without a teacher guide it can't be done. Most of the labs say mix unknown A with unknown B but nowhere except the teacher guide does it tell what the unknowns are. The teacher guide is not sold in the USA and when I emailed Singapore, they said I couldn't buy it unless I was a registered teacher in Singapore. I teach from Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry - it is meaty but definitely not open up and go. My second choice behind that had been the BJU chem lab. I don't really remember much about it now. I love everything I've gotten from HST - both kits and individual supplies.

I think the remainder of the book is comparable to the first half - some sections are definitely harder than others. We haven't done the online course, but I would expect that the workload would be similar.

We are doing: Art of Problem Solving online classes (none at the moment) Center for Literature by Adam Andrews - will start in Sept.

I pull my NEM books off the shelf lots for extra practice for specific topics. Some of the topics I still find hard to figure out what they want and I have a great math background.

I like NEM but found it difficult to teach without a lot of math background. We have used AoPS which IMO is easier for a student to self learn from. It also has full solutions. AoPS has free online videos that you could watch alongside NEM. AoPS also has a free online learning program called Alcumus.

We share computers and they are owned by mom and dad. I have been known to buy a new laptop and say that all of one child's computer work will be loaded and done on that computer. They have priority for schoolwork on that computer, but the rest of the time it can be used by anyone.

I think a lot comes down to WHY they want to homeschool. There are lots of good reasons - do they have one? In my opinion, homeschooling is best accomplished as a LIFESTYLE of learning. Some people want to talk homeschooling and want an easy answer of THIS is the curriculum to use to check off the boxes. There aren't easy answers and I don't want to give my time to those kind of questions. You have to figure out what goals you want to achieve and what works for your family.

For most people, it takes practice to be able to focus with both eyes through a binocular scope. It is easier for most students to just use one eyepiece - or really just use one eye through the binocular scope. I remember in learning to use a binocular scope that often I'd use one eye at first and then with two eyes the image would go back and forth between being two images and then merge into one and back into two - it can be very disconcerting when the images keep changing.

Is it worthwhile to buy the text or just use the online version? (for the online class as discussed)

PDFs are pretty easy to download to the ipad - you just need to tell it what program to use to open the pdf. It could be read in a free kindle app and many other apps. I use Notability to open pdf worksheets and have my kids write their answers on the worksheet digitally on the ipad.

I wouldn't flat out declare it a "homework free" home. I think that sends messages to kids that you can disrespect authority. I agree with the previous poster that you want to avoid busywork that is already too easy for your child, you should discuss it with the teacher and come to an agreement. That said, I'd expect to go back to homework if the child it moving to more difficult work or not learning it well. I also don't think you should avoid projects.

I'd find a different tutor or math person who can sit down and evaluate him. To evaluate, I would start at the beginning of an algebra book and pick some random (good) end of chapter problems and watch how he does them. Is he correct? Is he confident in correct problems or just hoping he's correct? Oftentimes, students struggles with foundational pieces of algebra and understand harder concepts - just messing them up because they don't understand how to manipulate fractions or exponents, etc. It might be beneficial to start over, but for many you just need to find the holes and then fill them in. Pushing on to higher math is crazy if he doesn't have the algebra solid.

I like Blood and Guts as suggested above.

I like the elementary science texts. I also like just going to the library and getting science books. We read and read. Sometimes discussions lead us to dig deeper in one subject. I also am inclined to send my kids out to draw one thing from nature that they find interesting. From there, we look up more information and learn things I would have never dreamed of teaching. We also do lots of hands on experiments as we have time.

We use SM and BA. I haven't paid too much attention to how long it takes to do a single book as we've been finishing each before the next is published. I don't think it is unreasonable to be able to do all four books of Beast level 3 in your schoolyear alongside SM. It really depends on your student - how fast they get it and how many pages per day. My daughter is loving it.

I do both SM and Miquon. Some days we do both, but oftentimes we go in spurts of one book for several days/weeks and then the other. If one book is becoming difficult, I set it aside for awhile. I usually let me student pick which book for the day.

AoPS is a complete curriculum. I'm not sure of anyone that calls any of their books a supplement. Kids that do well with AoPS don't need the extra practice of LOF - they might like the storyline, but AoPS already goes farther and deeper than LOF. While AoPS has fewer total problems, they take much more time to solve and generally more time is spent in an AoPS text compared to a standard text of the same subject.

My son has competed in Mathcounts, initially as an individual, and more recently on a team of homeschoolers. For Mathcounts, you can sign up as a homeschool and register just one individual. Many schools send both a team and some individuals. Your son would do the sprint and target rounds just like everyone else. Here in our chapter, they match up groups of individuals to do the team teat together, but it is not graded. You compete in the chapter on whatever date the chapter competition is held in your area and you are treated as a school with only one competitor. It was a hassle for me to set up a proctor for AMC, but worth it for my son. As far as I know the AMC 8 still has to be given on the national date.

I love the AoPS Geometry book. It's challenging! You don't have to have previously done any AoPS, but you do need to know Algebra through quadratics. It goes deeper than the traditional high school geometry course.

I often do number bonds orally. I say 10 is 6 and what. If my kids can do that, then I'm satisfied. Oftentimes, my kids have been confused about how SM wants in written.

I freely let my kids use Cuisenaire rods or some other hands on supplement to help them with counting, adding, subtracting, until they can do it in their heads. It is common for my kiddo in 1A to draw 10 circles on the page and then cross out four to figure out that 10-4 = 6. He also also reaches for the Cuisenaire rods or whatever else is available. All four of my kids have used manipulatives alongside SM until they knew their facts.

I do similarly to regentrude for at home. I list the text. Math - I just say goal is one section per day unless changed by mom. Science/history - list text - goal of one chapter per x days for a rough idea. I list things the student can do independently such as reading, supplemental videos, etc. I list supplemental books to be read sometime in the year, but don't assign them to a schedule. I might list a few problems to be done be the student, but I discuss the chapter and assign more problems as needed for each chapter. I don't try to plan this ahead of time. Labs are scheduled by mom. Lit - I make a list of books without a timeline. Read, discuss, do extras, write - sometimes start the next book. IF moving fast, might give option of doing other educational reading as break from classic lit.

If you are doing well with Barton for spelling, then I wouldn't do anything else. About level 4, my daughter started moving much quicker through the reading portions, but not mastering the spelling at all. We kept moving and we do the spelling of Barton, but I only worry if she can read it. We use All About Spelling for spelling instruction.

Hooray!