I found a newly published spectrum workbook for grades 6-8 called Data Analysis and Probability or something like that, but have not found a good source to buy it. Otherwise all I see is a chapter here or there in expensive currciculums. Jacob's Human Endeavor has a chapter, but I cannot remember how well done it is. A few years ago I saw a textbook like Human Endeavor that was so much better done, but I have not been able to find it or remember the title. The MEP curriculum site has free downloads, but they will be expensive to print and don't look at all efficiently done to me. I remember I used Amsco's Integrated Algebra 1 to cover this with my youngest son as well as a hodge podge of other things that were all lost in the divorce. With my memory loss, I don't remember all that we learned, and I'd like to go deeper as well. I'd like to be able to graph with pen and paper and with a spreadsheet. I'd like to really MASTER this. It is part of my bigger goal to be able to quickly write well researched and interesting short research essays.

When I was in high school, I did not have time to meet the requirements of all the adults in my life. I had to pick and choose who I was going to disappoint. It was very difficult when adults took it personally when I didn't make their project a priority over that of another adult's. And on top of that I was given projects without being given the tools to complete them. I would muck my way through my projects, trying to guess what was best to do, and what would bring the least anger at me, if I skipped, often guessing wrong, and knowing that no matter what, I was going to be told I was being "bad". It was never about me. It was all about them, as they fought over my attention. And it was always someone else's responsibility to teach me the tools. All each adult was supposed to do was set the expectations, and then evaluate my obedience to their impossible demands. For many students, high school is a sad and confusing time. A rubric goes a long way, in at least letting a student know exactly what the punishment will be, for each corner cut, instead of having to guess, when time gets too crunched.

Saxon is used more often for older children than younger ones. It really is not practical to judge a 1st grade curriculum by a calculus curriculum, or vice versa, but people seem to lump all grades of Saxon together when they judge it :-0

Reading Writing Tools and Write Like Hemingway helped me develop my minimalistic scope and sequence of what NEEDED to be covered. Now I am able to pick and choose resources, rather than blindly follow a curriculum. I used to just feel lost, not knowing what did and did not NEED to be covered, and then couldnt buckle down and MASTER anything. While you are reading and honing your scope and sequence, try assigning lots and lots of formulatic single paragraphs. Even if later you have a distaste for formulatic paragraphs, you can easily build off that foundation, to something loftier and more individual. It will keep the children busy, while you read. It is easy to find checklists and rubrics for paragraphs that describe, explain, define, etc. I have found the paragraph the place to start. I work backwards to work on my sentences, and forward stringing the paragraphs together into larger works, but have made the paragraph my priority and starting place.

Is there a really intensive, but middle school level statistics curriculum? Something that introduces spread sheets and will prepare a student for a research report and/or science fair project?

Charliegh, thank you for the info. I was looking at this curriculum last night and was put off my the review saying I needed the timeline book. I'm glad to know I dont need it.

Some old cell phones will play different types of audio files. If you get lucky some people will give you an old cell phone for free. I put teaching company and Librivox files on a cell phone for a retired friend. Overdrive stuff is the trickiest :-( There are ways to convert and remove the protections, if you are a bit savvy.

This is a more difficult question if the students were not previously given a rubric. Some teachers would think the quality of a paper is entirely based on the quality of research, and if it were not properly researched, then whatever is written afterward is of almost no value. If I hadn't previously handed out rubrics, I think I would now do so, and give everyone time to redo the papers without being penalized. It will be up to you how much value you place on research and how much you place on the writing. And if there is time, bringing a laptop to class, and showing students how to log on and use the local library's online research resources would be helpful. I've just this week figured out to use some of my library's online resources :-0 Also a map of the library with certain resource materials highlighted would help. I just found 2 sets of encyclopedias tucked away in a corner of my library that FOUR different staff members previously told me that they didn't have :-0 I believe that good research is critical, but I have been really struggling to learn how to do it. I can't imagine how much harder it would be for a busy young person to learn this skill. I don't even know yet, what I don't know :-0 I'm trying to find a checklist of research resources that I should know how to use and then spend a year pestering people to show me how to find them.

SHOULD My new social worker says I need to erase "should" from my vocabulary. My therapist would then ask me why I think I should know those terms. Even if we "should" know something, there are often better ways to use our time right now. It's okay to just focus on the big ideas and not get bogged down in details. Often if a new study doesn't look fun and fill you with excitement, it is cluing you in, that maybe it can be skipped, or that you are using the wrong curriculum. Volcanoes and earth quakes and crystals and deep ocean valleys are FUN. Do that stuff FIRST! Seriously, go to the kids department!

Without a live, in the flesh teacher, hosting scheduled classes, I wouldn't want to tackle even half the list in 4 years, and I'm an adult. I'd rather be learning HOW to read these types of books and choose a few of the best ones, to fall in love with, and spend a life time tackling and learning to love this list. I believe that high school is the START of the journey on the ground smelling the flowers, rather than the whole trip packed into 4 years, flying above in an airplane.

My friend and I, in our self-studies, are tackling the topic of organizing large volumes of data, in all our subjects. Not only are we tackling outlines, but also graphing, and classification. Even our map studies are overlapping, a bit. Divide and conquer.

The great thing about earth sciences is that you can hop around and study the topics out of order. And as Regentrude said, there are LOTS of videos available :-) My SOW studies are covering a lot of earth sciences in year one. I'm using a lot of easy, fun resources, most of them written for children or as edutainment. And lots of the experiments/demonstrations use food as examples :-) Winter is a good time to do geology nature studies. It only feels like there is so little time, if we are looking at the end instead of the journey. How awful it would be if we were already well educated! Then we wouldn't have the constant thrill of discovery :-) Eyewitness and Bill Nye have quite a few geology/ earth DVDs. A friend and I tackled an eyewitness DVD tonight and also two K-4 DVDs on graphing and maps. Sad to say both K-4 DVDs were not above us :-0 I got us National Geographic student atlases at Borders for just $2.99 each.

Is she interested in anthropology? I think the old CLE 7th grade Social Studies had a workbook on introductory anthropology. I'm not sure if it carried over to the newer sunrise editions. I liked the 7th grade introductions into social science courses usually not covered till college. The texts were dry...but...totally new material for my son, that really caught his interest.

Most of the unit studies for highschoolers are very Biblically based. Is that acceptable to you? Have you checked out American School? It was a godsend for my oldest, who wanted to teach himself, do the bare minimum, and go out to work. He started AS a year early and skipped the 8th grade. I just wrote "home schooled N/A" on the form where it said, "last grade completed". Some boys do better spending their days WORKING in a job where they sweat all day in pain, surrounded by other men all sweating and in pain. At 16 my son watched a coworker throw up his false teeth into the toilet and another coworker accidentally flush them. The coworker had to work a whole month in the eyes of the public with no teeth to be able to afford new ones. That episode lit a fire in my son to never end out in a similar experience. A few months later he completed his AS studies and started putting himself through the local junior college. He graduated from there at 19, moved to Las Vegas and now 5 years later is getting married this winter and building a house. The very strict, but short AS assignments graded by someone else were just what my son needed. They just kept sending the tests back until he did them right. He only spent about 2 hours a day doing school, attended an hour of family worship, and then went to work. Illegal, and negligent in the eyes of many...but it worked :-0 Cause look at him now :-) My baby is building a HOUSE :-0

For many families the line between school and real life is so blurry. Is family devotions school? Is cutting a recipe in half while baking school? What about edutainment software? Or the new box of crayons? For most families homeschooling becomes a way of life. The home becomes one giant classroom. The amount of time devoted to sit down skills work is pretty short for both homeschooled and PS students.

When I'm under stress, I find something soothing about having a week or month in chart form that I can TOUCH, and the rhythm of the pencil sliding over the paper. The information on the chart feels more real and solid. Okay...I'm weird, but it's a noticable difference for me. There is a concept called "writing meditation" where it is recommended to do free writing and keep the pencil moving in a steady pace. That scientists believe the brainwaves are more slow and even when engaging in this type of activity. When I sit down with paper to lesson plan or organize my more general schedule, the paper versions just feel better. I love access to ebooks, but there is nothing like a real book. I think a paper planner is the same way.

Justamouse, thank you! Thank you everyone! You have all been such a help. I really feel like I'm getting somewhere with this. I really like the 4 sentence precis idea and really want to be able to use it...and do it well. I want to eventually make up a worksheet to fill out as I'm reading along. I will definately add, "copy down the first sentence".

Oooohhh..thanks for the Shakespeare! My friend doing these lessons with me LOVES shakespeare. This will make a very welcome lesson for her! And it will be a challenge for me. I have trouble understanding him. I spend so much time teaching her. It's nice when she is far ahead of me in an area and gets the chance to seriously teach me. Thanks! :-)

I do better with paper too. I have some really severe memory loss issues, and my new social worker is trying to get me hooked up with Google apps and it's not going well. In the past I did real well with a Palm phone, but Sprint messed things up so bad even both of my backups were wiped out, and I was left marooned, and never wanted to end out like that again and turned to paper. But I keep losing my files, and running out of ink, and just being so disorganized about having the right worksheets printed out when I need them. I think I need the social worker to work with me with the paper route, but he is an IT specialist so... The stuff he set up for me stopped syncing though...and he went on vacation...and I'm back to paper. I NEED to go buy paper today, while I have enough paper to have a weekly calendar to write "go buy paper" on :-)

prealgebra was a hodge podge for my younger son and he did just fine in Algebra 1. All we had access to was some adult remedial workbooks from the library and some Math Blaster software. We were not even online yet, so I couldn't even run off worksheets. I focused on what he needed to work on, to be able to do the Algebra 1 textbook I'd scrimped and saved for.

I'm glad this topic has come up again. I had asked about it, and got started with a few things, but then got distracted. I REALLY need to get my multiplication and some others things memorized.

A friend and I are working our way through SOW. Week 2 includes Big Bang vs Creation. Neither of us are either pro or anti big bang, so resources for either are fine. We are just big kids wanting to do something loud and or messy this week. Any ideas? We are going to study poetic tone analysis with the Bare Naked Ladies song :-)

I'm using SOW (Students of the Word) a 6 year unit study on the Bible. Is a 1/2 year on Genesis in depth enough? :-) http://www.sowcurriculum.com/sow/sow1.htm

This week's SOW studies are on Genesis 2, Eve, Marriage and creation vs the Big Bang. I'm trying to add in tone. I looked up tone in one of my literature texts, and just laughed that they used Kate Chopin's "Story of the Hour". I don't think SOW was written for that type of marriage example...but I think it is funny and am going to use it :-) Any ideas on another short story about marriage with a very different tone? For poetry, wedding and love songs would be good examples of tone, right? Any suggestions? I put on hold the DVD about Michelangelo, called something like Ecstacy and Agony. Is anyone familiar enough with it to talk about the tone of that movie?

The articles in World Book Encyclopedia can act as a spine, for a student who is already familiar with the lit terms.