oh my word. YES.

The ANI process starts with developing a question which you can take a definite postion about like "Should Edmund have followed the White Witch?" SO you can use it with stories, or with any other issue. We used it for "Should there be term limits for members of Congress?" and "Should a church have debt?", etc. It was not hard for them to pick up on how to populate the ANI chart--it was harder to use the five common topics with a government/econ question than with literature, but we did okay. I did not get to spend a lot of time teaching them how to pull out three main points and supports for each from each of the A and N columns.

If he likes history that is readable, we really liked the K12 Human Odyssey books (Volumes 1-3) which cover world history. So you could do those over the next three years, or consolidate, if he is able to handle more reading. They are supposed to be for 7th-9th grade (volume 1=7th, etc.). Unfortunately there isn't a lot out there to go with it. There are some student resource books such as this: https://www.amazon.com/Intermediate-World-History-Student-Semesters/dp/B001BKJ6XU for at least the first book. We just read and I took notes and had them copy. For the third book, I made up a "guided reading" workbook for my oldest. We supplemented all three heavily, but you don't need to do that at all. If you do choose to, we used the OUP World in Ancient Times/World in Medieval and Early Modern Times books and the OUP Pages from History (for the 3rd volume, high school level). For science, I would say the PH Science Explorer books are pretty readable. There are exercises at the end of each chapter to evaluate understanding--the answers are typically one to three sentences. There is a guided reading book for these if you want to have him do that (it sounds like writing is a no, so probably not). We also liked CPO Middle School Earth Science. Since you are skipping the experiments, it won't matter much but I will tell you the Science Explorer experiments are lame. LOL. I am pretty picky on science stuff and these experiments are just not my favorite.

This is a good thread for me to follow! My current thoughts of possibilities for this summer (other than reading books and continuing with math) Work on PE credit (maybe do a Coursera course on physical fitness someone had mentioned?) Do a cooking class using Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for the Food (It's really a great reference text for different cooking methods and explains the science of it) Teach more features in computer programs like MS Word, Power Point, Excel, etc. Can anyone suggest a cheap resource for this? My oldest is going to complete some additional history this summer so he can count this year's history toward a U.S. history credit I think they are too young for government/econ or personal finance. Or even career exploration. 😃 @Lori D. I think that camp is really close to us. I just wish it was cheaper. It's reasonable when you realize it is overnight and they need to pay staff. It's just more than we can afford.

If you are comparing the Spielgovel one year high school World History text with the K12 Human Odyssey Volumes 1-3, I totally agree with zookeeper's assessment. It is much cleaner looking. Since we have not used Spielgovel, I can't speak to that text in terms of ease of use or flow, but EKS commented upthread she didn't like it. The K12 volumes are well-written and flow well. We really enjoyed them. I also own a really old copy of Spielgovel's Western Civilization text that I inherited from a friend. I would agree that that one is also decidedly more "busy" than the K12 texts. Note this is western civilization so not a full "world" history. 😃 I think that @EKS has experience with both?? I thought that Human Odyssey Volume 3 was high school level, but the other two volumes are not (technically)? But I suppose you could supplement too. Someone said that the World History: Our Human Story (the K12 one year world history volume) was very similar to the three smaller Human Odyssey volumes. I don't own it, so I can't compare, unfortunately.

I watched them, yes. My kids did not. They are really designed for instructors, but I am guessing if you had a high schooler they could watch them and get something out of it. The newer edition of LTOW comes with online access to the videos. The older version has DVDs.

We used Lost Tools of Writing last year. I will say that one thing I did like about it was the invention portion. I would see what you can find online about the "ANI" chart (Affirmative, Negative, Interesting) and the five common topics. The five common topics give you questions you can ask to populate the ANI chart. For example this site has some questions for the common topics https://drrussel.public.iastate.edu/www548/aristcomtopics.html Here is a youtube of an ANI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBLC25d8J_4 you tube on common topics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-qkv-M24Sw I learned how to run an ANI chart from Lost Tools but I don't see how you couldn't do it without that program. While I did like the format/outline for the persuasive essay they presented, we felt LTOW moved too slowly and produced very simple writing. I felt like my kids' writing was worse than when we started. YMMV. I would definitely move through it faster than they recommend. I am teaching govt/econ this year to high schoolers and we often do ANI charts when we talk about an issue. It helps to come up with ideas, organize them, and understand how to present an argument.

I am part of a local homeschool group that provides social type opportunities, a classifieds forum, other discussion forums, etc. We used to use homeschool-life, but gave it up this last year due to expense. Also we couldn't do everything with it that we wanted to. In the end it was just too expensive for what we used it for. Currently we are using a website and all our registration is done via google forms. For our homeschool co-op (separate entity), I am not currently involved in registration but it has been done in a similar way for years. All of registration is done using google forms. The data is pulled from those into Excel and used to create individual schedules, etc. We also have a website with our class descriptions, relevant paper forms, etc. We are working on getting a forum going. We did look at using homeschool-life a few years ago instead and decided we would not gain enough from the transition. At the time there were features we needed that they didn't have (like tiered registration). It is very possible those things have been added. The program has been working to add features. Do you happen to be on Facebook? There is a group called I am a homeschool group leader, moderated by Carol Topp, which includes a lot of co-op/hybrid leaders. I have seen it asked on there what other options are out there. https://www.facebook.com/groups/72534255742/

That is SO good to know. We have used the K12 HO books 1 through 3 so the K12 Our Human Story book wasn't one I felt like we could use (because of the issue you mentioned upthread). We really liked the K12 books. I own The American Odyssey as well and that one appears to be well done. The Spielgovel text isn't really what I was looking for as I was looking for more of a western civilization approach. We are going to use A History of Western Society Vol 1 and 2 over three years instead.

Randomly as I was researching for next year I found that Spielgovel has a high school world history text. It is old, but there is a teacher book. I own it and don't plan to use it if you are interested. I did not pay as much as it's currently listed for on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/053843032X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 This is a true world history book--not western civilization. It reminds me of other high school textbooks in terms of its set up and the review exercises at the end of the chapter. Student text link: https://www.amazon.com/World-History-Jackson-J-Spielvogel/dp/0538423293/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=World+History%2C+The+Human+Odyssey&qid=1582481785&s=books&sr=1-5 Apparently there was once a test bank for this but it is hard to find now. I didn't look for it. ETA: See next post in this thread where EKS indicates to AVOID this text.

I didn't see this mentioned, but some people like to use the Jill Pike syllabus that combines Teaching the Classics with WTTW. https://iew.com/shop/products/syllabus-introduction-literary-analysis It provides a detailed schedule and grading information, etc.

God has allowed some hard things in my life, and I have experienced the loneliness that comes along with walking through struggles without real support. So when our church was considering Stephen Ministry, I felt God calling me to fill that role. As a Stephen Minister, I am able to (imperfectly) walk with someone through pain and loss. I can give them my undivided attention every week and truly listen as they share how they are struggling and cheer them on when they are taking steps toward hope and healing. I am there for however long it takes. It is a transformative thing to have someone really invest in you, to remind you that you are lovable and loved, and to pray over you. I believe that caring for even a single person well can have a ripple effect down the road as they are more emotionally healthy and able to relate to others well. I don't do it for the "results." I do it because I am called to love others, and I can think of no more needed thing in our disconnected society than having a true friend there with you in life's darkest moments. I pray that in some way it helps the woman I meet with better understand how loved and accepted she is by God.

Did they say why? I wonder what outside providers like Wilson Hill will do? This is not helping my book hoarding problem. Now I will definitely be holding onto my copies.

What you might want is something like a mini-economy curriculum. I looked at doing a mini civilization class at one point so I had some of these resources bookmarked, but they weren't exactly what I was looking for at the time. They might work for what you are considering though! These are some examples: Ecopolis: An Interactive Discovery-Based Economics Unit for High-Ability Learners (Interactive Discovery-Based Units for High-Ability Learners) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1593637071/?coliid=I149TP9G1Y70E2&colid=3FQ3BI4WKIAPB&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it The Mini-Society Workbook: Everything You Need to Create a Mini-Society in Your Classroom https://www.amazon.com/dp/1563083477/?coliid=I2O9XVSXCB70KC&colid=3FQ3BI4WKIAPB&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it Classroom mini economy https://www.amazon.com/dp/1561836273/?coliid=I3V4WP2TN84J0N&colid=3FQ3BI4WKIAPB&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

I can ask for sure. This sounds similar. Right now his papers are about 2-3 pages on average. They usually have a week or so for a draft, and then there is a review with comments from the teacher plus their self-evaluation. So maybe one paper in two (or three) weeks is what it has been so far. The class he is currently in is for high school credit but they do not do a research paper in this class. Sometimes they will be working on a second paper while the first is in the review cycle.