The only reason to start algebra in 8th grade or earlier is if your student is ready to start it then. Many are, and having them do another year of basic arithmetic is boring and makes them think math is no fun. 😊 In our school district it is not unusual to have the advanced math students do algebra in 7th grade. The sequence generally looks like this, regardless of what year you get to Algebra: Algebra Geometry Algebra 2 w/ Trig Pre-calculus Calculus Of course there is a lot of other math that students can do if they get through all that (statistics, linear algebra, differential equations.) I haven't used CLE, but I think it only goes through Algebra 2/Trigonometry and it is not necessarily a rigorous program. I'm not saying it isn't a good fit for some kids, but it isn't necessarily the strongest program for a kid who has STEM interests.

I agree with the suggestions to plan things out, but include your child in making those plans. Talk about their dreams, or what things they think they want to try out to see if they like them. Have them look at the college entrance requirements for a few schools to make sure they understand why you are suggesting the things you are. Don't just tell them, show them. Let them browse around on college websites and see all of the options for majors. ("Really, I could study that?") Talk to them about what you see as their strengths and ask them what other areas they want to strengthen. Then plan, but hold it loosely - use it as a guideline - because it WILL change. :001_smile:

Not ok. A lock in is a lock in, not a go out. Taking my child to another town without my permission - I'd blow a gasket. Communication should come to me, or be visible to me, ie all messages sent to my daughter copied to me.

If he completes Henle 1 in middle school, then I would list one credit of Latin under "High School Courses completed before High School," or something like that. If speaking the local foreign language been picked up by exposure without study, then I would list it as language skills, but not give credit. If he studies the local language, and is learning to read and write in that language as well, then I might award credit. Just my thoughts - interested to hear what others think.

I had taken this advice to heart and had decided not to share any of the tips I picked up from this thread with my daughter until she asked. I didn't have to wait long. Today she asked me if I thought there were any autobiographies of astronauts in the library to read. "I want to read what astronauts have written instead of what others have written about astronauts." "Well, hon, it just so happens there are, and here are some that have come recommended. We can stop at the library on the way to your flute lesson." I love this board!

I asked a similar question recently and got no answer, so I am listening with big ears.

Thanks for explaining that.

All of the comments about debt from grad school surprised me. Everyone I knew in grad school had assistantships, meaning we were paid to go to grad school - enough to pay tuition and basic living expenses. Are these kinds of assistantships only available in science and engineering, or are they less available than 20 years ago?

We haven't yet, but a friend has raved about it. Hopefully you will get more direct feedback!

I agree with this - slightly younger or slightly older - anything but the same age. My dd13 has good friends who are 11 and some who are 15. Other 13 year olds though, no, just no.

You can often find this kind of info on their forum. Here is the new list of all the books for the 9th grade core. http://forum.memoriapress.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=182&d=1426596619

If you look at the core curriculum for each grade, you will see how many literature guides they expect a student to use in a year. Does that help?

Is the title of the Architecture book you are using "A Child's History of the World - Architecture" or "A Child's History of Art - Architecture?" Thanks!

Wow! 18 minutes between your first post and update! I admire your ability to make decisions so quickly - I usually over analyze and agonize over mine. It sounds like a good choice!

October Sky is a another one that comes to mind.

I only have JA, so I can't comment on the others, and we never actually used it - we chose to go with LoF and AoPS instead. From what the authors explain in the beginning, they wrote this series because they were using both Jacob's Human Endeavor and Jacob's Elementary Algebra over a 3 year period (6th-8th grades) to cover Pre-Algebra & Algebra, as well as supplementing those 2 books with other in house materials. So they took the in-house materials that they had written and combined them with the parts of the Jacobs books that they wanted to include so that their students would not have to carry around 2 big text books and their teacher generated texts all the time. It owes a heavy debt to Jacobs, so I would think that doing Jacobs after the series would be redundant, but like I said I have only seen the first book. It is a much more like Jacobs than like AoPS. It places a heavier emphasis on writing about math than any other book I have seen, including math journaling. Hope that helps a little!

I don't know of anything that does all of the subjects. For Math, you could look at doing an assessment on ALEKS, or Khan Academy. There are reading comprehension tests on-line - here is one I found when I searched for it - http://www.pearsonlongman.com/ae/marketing/sfesl/practicereading.html, but I don't have any experience with those. As far as Science and History - there really isn't something that will do anything other than assess reading comprehension of those topics, if that makes sense. There isn't an agreed upon list of history topics that every child should know by the end of 5th grade. Next Gen Science Standards attempt to do this for Science, identify concepts a student should know at the end of each grade, but I don't know of a test to assess that knowledge. I don't know if that helps or not.

WWW1 is a huge leap up from CE 1 & 2, but it does review all the stems from CE 1 & 2 in the first few weeks. Magic Lens also goes into more grammar depth than the previous levels, so while there is some review, there is definitely new material there. The sentences in the practice book are harder. Same with Poetry - it is a step up. The upper level writing didn't work for us - not enough in the way of specific assignments. HTH!

The Girl Who Could Fly - not realistic fiction, but about a group of kids with special skills and the school that they go to is trying to make them be "normal" and deny their powers. In the end they learn to embrace their powers and who they are.

Thanks! I am going to give that cookbook to my daughter! She will love it!

Thanks! My dd11 enjoys planning ancient meals for us.

Thanks, everyone! I just wanted to share a short vent - then I will be able to let this go. Half of our team is enrolled in our Charter School, the other half is enrolled in our local middle school. I've known all of these kids since they were 4 together in Montessori school, which is how we ended up with a mixed school team. Amazingly, our Charter School wanted to pay our way, or most of it - $3000 of the $4600 that we needed. WooHoo, I thought. No fundraising! $200 each, and the team can go. Well, 2 of the other girls had older siblings on another team who also qualified for World Finals, and that team was going to have to fund raise the entire amount in order to go. They decided not to try and turned down the invitation. Then since the older siblings couldn't go, the parents decided not to let their kids on our team go either, because they didn't want to hurt their older kids' feelings. So, no world finals this year. I really don't understand denying an opportunity to one child for the sake of the other. I don't understand punishing my kid and the other kids on the team for the sake of their older child's feelings. There. Done, done, done!

These are great suggestions. A highlight of her year was when we drove 3 hours each way in one day for a talk given by a NASA Engineer who worked on the Mars Rovers. She got to ask him a question, and it was like some kids are about meeting their favorite singing star! Also, dmmetler is right about the budget cuts - a lot of things on the website are not as supported as they once were. Unfortunately, educational outreach was the first thing they cut.

Ellen McHenry has some free Latin games for download. http://www.ellenjmchenry.com/homeschool-freedownloads/latin-games/index.php

Hi Timerbly, maybe our kids will be on the Space Station together. My dd13 has the same dream. She is trying to follow more of a science/astronomy path rather than the Engineering path that sounds like would suit your son. There are many different career paths to NASA. We use the NASA website to incorporate her interest into as much as we can. We add Space Math or Exploring Space through Math units from them all the time. One thing she decided to do was study Russian after she saw an interview where a panel of astronauts all said the hardest part of their training was learning Russian. We got her a subscription to Astronomy magazine which she devours. We let her double up on math and science - yes, at the expense of doing as much history & lit as I'd like - everything can't get done. One of her history assignments this year was about the space race, another was the history of the space station itself. She has looked at the NASA website and knows what the requirements are for summer internships and uses those to drive her choices. She knows which of our state schools have the strongest physics/astrophysics programs, and what AP and CLEP tests they accept and we are trying to plan her high school choices accordingly. I have no idea if any of this is realistic or if we are doing the right things or not, but we are trying to figure it out as we go. Eta: you can even incorporate PE - there is a train like an astronaut unit out there that I ran across at one point. My daughter chose a "train like an olympic figure skater" option instead this year, but I can see us looking for the other again. :)