everything here: but some favorites are: wordly wise singapore math (middle school) remembering jim crow (text with mp3) smithsonian.com current events showdown national geographic anything by Howard Zinn digital history bravewriter.com (esp. SAT essay class) virtual labs

Let them start the day reading for an hour and see if that helps. I don't like getting started on Mondays either and I find that reading helps me ease into the week!:001_smile: And, technically reading can be considered school, right?

I agree with the comments above. If you are going to enroll him in a class, I'd suggest the sat essay class at bravewriter.com because it really helps kids understand what the difference is between a good essay and a great one. One easy way to edit essays like this is to give him a list of things to add: 1. add 2 introductory clauses 2. add 5 interesting adverbs 3. add 5 interesting adjectives 4. revise your transition sentences 5. etc. Hope that helps. Cathy at Explore Academy

You can see what we used in 8th grade at www.exploreacademy.curriculum.blogspot.com Hope that helps.

I like searching the young adult./teen books at library thing and barnes and noble.

Consider giving him some big projects to do on his own like the ongoing projects at http://www.kidswhothink.blogspot.com building a boat, car, trebuchet, etc. can be lots of fun. Also, check out lapaz

Definitely love NC. If you like suburbia, Charlotte metro area is nice. So is Raleigh. Another great option is Chapel Hill/Carrboro. My parents picked up and moved to Chapel Hill without jobs when I was 12 and I lived there until college. It was wonderful.

The above samples should help some. Other things to do: For nouns, collect pictures/words from a magazine of nouns and paste them in the proper columns for types of nouns. For verbs, draw pictures and put a verb beneath each one. Or just pull some sentences from a favorite book and write them on a poster with one color representing each part of speech. All of these activities can be adjusted from elementary through high school by increasing/decreasing the complexity. Interjections are fun -- cut 5-10 pictures from a magazine and cut out the same number of speech bubbles. Have your student put an appropriate interjection in each speech bubble that goes with the picture. Hope that helps. If you have more questions, it is easiest to post a comment directly on my blog: http://www.exploreacademy.blogspot.com

What about making a map of Africa using different paper patterns -- 3 different maps -- 1 for each kid with 4-5 categories for each endangered species poverty level population For chemistry -- figure out the best ratio for baking soda/vinegar for volcanic eruption -- are permanent markers permanent? use a variety of things to "treat" permanent marker and or make sharpie pen t-shirts to learn about solubility hope those help

make a cell in jello or make a pillow of a cell make a bridge of toothpicks and gumdrops make a poster about parts of speech make a how-to video relating to science or math make a lap-book on any topic make a photo collage go to unplugyourkids.com for great project ideas go to harmonyartmom.com for great art ideas go to the crafty crow for great craft ideas listen to a piece of music and draw a picture to represent the music what are you studying? I have lots of ideas! see our blog: http://www.exploreacademy.blogspot.com. -- you could alter most of what we do to make it appropriate for younger kids.