I have a soon to be 8th grader that will be doing mostly high school level work. I need a language arts program for him. He is more STEM oriented, but he has natural grammar and spelling skills. He has a good vocaublary and can write just fine structually. He HATES writing. He complains over one paragraph assignments. I'd love to find a way to have him not complain every time I ask him for someting in writing (I don't care if it's hand written or typed). He can write essays, research papers, stories, etc...he just complains every time he is assigned something. I haven't been as on top of him with the writting regularly because of this. He plans to attend college, so this is going to be a necessary skill for him. Any ideas on fairly affordable curriculum for this? Thanks!

I need any and all recommendations for all subjects for next year. This was only our second year at home and my husband and I have decided we really need to step it up and get our kids more engaged and invested in their educations. We do one part of the day that is sef directed, the rest is fairly structured. I have been pulling together different curriculum and they are learning, but it's not rigorous enough. Here are the kids I have, I am open to any suggestions but since I work outside the home too, we need some things to be independent (but not against online learning or videos, etc). 8th grade boy, mostly jumping into high school level courses (does not enjoy any arts, very STEM oriented): math: will complete Algebra I this year via The Great Courses...geometry or Agebra II next? He is a math kid and can learn anything math related science: looking for robotics/mechanics/etc language arts: spelling-I think we are done with spelling, he is a natural speller and doesn't need help often writing: not his strong suit and not enjoyable for him, grammar and mechanics are great, he just doesn't enjoy anything about writing geography: we worked on World geography this year with Mapping the World with Art, he hated the drawing after a while, I think he could do something more rigorous with world capitals and such. history: We are at the Civil War now and just moving chronologically 7th grade girl, pretty much all 7th grade with some help with math (not very academic, loves arts and drama, etc): math: we have been using CLE 500 (in 6th grade) we are ok conitnuing with CLE with her science: I don't know, we have done chemistry and human anatomy language arts: spelling: she needs help with this, we have been using Apples and Pears and she should finish up with it this year. I'm not sure what to do next but I think she could still use a program writing: she enjoys writing but we need a program for guidance. Her writing structure and grammar need a lot of work geography: she needs US geography states/capitals, etc history: same as above, Civil War and moving chronologically I am open to anything. Just need some guidance and where to start for next year. This year I felt so on top of choosing their curriculum and now I'm lost. I just know I want it to be more rigorous and involved. They are whizzing through their work within probably 2 hours a day. I am glad they are getting through it and focusing on their work, but I still feel like it's not enough.

I have an almost 11 yo DD. She knows the rules and I actually saw her checking for herself the other day and it was something I was ok with but it didn't quite reach her fingertips so she deemed it too small, haha. That's ok with me. We set the rules from the beginning, I hate seeing little girls in adult clothing, so we just always had base rules..when purchasing clothes, and when going through "hand me downs." Our rules include: Shorts/skirts to reach fingertips (exception:beachwear, short shorts are ok over a bathing suit for the ride to the beach) Absolutely NO words across the butt, I cannot stand that..no one should be reading a little girls bottom. No crazy rips/holes/stains..not even ripped jeans, I hate that style. No make up, except for special occasions No bare midrift No strapless tops...thin straps are ok if doubled up or over a bathing suit Two piece bathing suits are ok if most of the belly and back are covered (we always only did one pieces until she was in an awkward size where it gapped at the bottom, then we switched to tankinis, which are easier for dressing/bathroom/etc, and the bottom can be pulled up to fit properly. Leggings are for under a long top/dress..or for pjs I think that's all, or most, lol. I kind of forget what they are because now the only question really is "is it apprpriate?" and she knows the answer based on ten years of helping to choose her cloths.

We used McHenry's The Elements at the beginning of this school year, over the summer I went through and broke each chapter down to 3 or 4 sections, it wasn't too hard. I added in the ideas from the teacher book so they had something most days each week. We worked through it rather slowly and just finished it before Christmas. Then I got Carbon Chem and I didn't go through it the same way. I have been assigning a chapter every other day. THere are 11 chapters and I thought it could get us through the rest of the year, but doing a couple chapters a week, it will not. So once we finish the book we will mostly just do some experiments and practice writing lab reports. My kids are 5th and 6th grades this year. So this might be too easy for your 7th/8th graders.

I feel like I am finally getting a handle on all of this and now everyone is starting to talk about planning for next year...I am panicking a bit. Next year I will have a chronologically 6th grader and 7th grader...but it will be more like a 5th grader and 8th grader. They have been doing history and science together, along with art and music. Their math is varried and spelling is very different. Their literature and writing is sometimes the same type of assignment, but with higher expectations for the older one. We are doing Ancient History this year and plan to move to The Middle Ages next year. We started out using SOTW but it was too young, so now we are using it as a supplement along with lots of other books. In Science they just finished Ellen McHenry's The Elements, so now they will do Carbon Chem. I'm not sure what we will do next year, I think I will come up with a list and let them choose which way to go. For Math, we have determined text books don't really work, especially for my youngest, so I started just picking a topic and finding my own lessons and we started Math Journals...both kids have been doing geometry with the older one just doing a bit more in depth, but I know he is not being challenged enough in math. I still work outside the home, I'm gone about 30 hours a week. My husband is home when I'm not, but sometimes he is sleeping (he works nights) and sometimes he just isn't able to help them or sit and teach them. So I do like to have some things I can just leave for them to do without a parent. I have literally no plan for next year yet and I'm kind of scared. I feel like 6th and 7th grade should be more of a push for them, we have really taken it easy this year because it was our first year homeschooling. Any tips on curriculum, advice on what they really should learn, or any ideas or advice in general would really really be appreciated right now!!

I think we are in a rut already. So I'm looking for ideas or advice, anything is welcome! I plan curriculum on my own, they are in 5th and 6th grades, but more like a late 4th grader and early 7th grader. I do the major subjects every day, then history/science each twice a week, art/music each once a week. We are first year homeschoolers so we started this year with Ancients for history and are somewhat following the SWB method with the notebooks. I think I want to do math/spelling every morning, then they read independently each night...then I want to spend the days doing more in depth science, history, art, and music. We started doing cake decorating with our neighbors and the mom sent me some links she found when the girl had issues with a cupcake recipe, so I think this week we will do some looking at the science behind baking and do some actual baking from scratch (I'm quick to grab a box of cake mix and call it a day..). They are also in an engineering class for co op, so I think I would like to build off of that and go more in depth on the topics they are doing there (electricity this month). We've been doing Story of the World vol 1, but I want to get past the ancients and move on, they are really kind of bored with it and I'm not sure they are retaining much...but at the same time I want to stick to doing it in some kind of order. AND I am not a history person at all, so I really don't know any more than they do and I'm learning right along with them. Also, I work outside the home part time, so I can do stuff with them, but then I leave so I'd like to have something independent for them especially on the days I leave earlier. Any ideas? Especially for history. Any ways to move a bit quicker and then go more in depth the second time through (in high school)?

Thank you so much! I looked closer and wrote it out and totally agree, A&P ends up being like half as costly over the long run. I am seriously considering using DHs OT pay to buy the big package of A&P since you save another close to $60 by doing it that way. We haven't used a whole curriculum yet (I've been building it) you make this sound so easy with everything it has in it! I appreciate your input, and if you like both it sounds like A&P is the better option, from a financial standpoint :)

My 5th grader has a hard time with spelling. We didn't have a lot of money for curriculum and this is our first year homeschooling, so we have been attempting Spell by Color (which was written by a mom who felt All About Spelling was too pricey). I don't feel like it's working, it just doesn't seem to be enough for my daughter. We are pretty sure she is dyslexic but hasn't officially been tested. So I'm looking at All About Spelling and Apples and Pears Spelling. I can get AAS Level 1 right now-the teacher's manual and student packet for just $20 (but it doesn't have the whole "kit"). The kit is another $30 (plus shipping). The thing is, I'm not sure I will be able to find the deal I found for the following levels, but it's $40 new for each level. Apples and Pears is $35 for each level, and I don't seem to find those used at all. So it would save a little money on each level, but it doesn't seem like it saves a ton of money. Would you just invest in AAS? Have you used it or Apples and Pears? Are there things you liked and didn't like? Did you need everything in the kit? Was there anything you could have made yourself instead of purchasing the kit? Thanks for any advice :)

This is awesome! Thank you so much for sharing it. Our budget is miniscule, but this looks worth the investment for my DD to get to run her own petstore!

We have those books on our list for this year! Glad to know they were enjoyable and you could discuss them!

I really like this idea. But this is our first year and my kids are 5th and 6th grades..I will give them their assignments for the week, but we will work every day. I am going to keep this in mind for next year though, I bet it really prepares them for college level classes!

I had intended to use AofA, but now I am second guessing that after reading all these replies! I have no idea what to do now! I will have to look at everyone's suggestions.

This is all new to me so having some ideas of outcomes is great. And then I know what my point of teaching it is if I have the outline of intended outcomes. These are some great outcome ideas, thank you!

I was just looking at Classical House of Learning's lit guide for Ancients-which would be SOTW 1, has anyone kind of worked these two things together? I had planned to use some of the books already, that are listed on the Classical House, do you know if I could just pull the lessons for those weeks and not use all of the weeks/outline from Classical House?

This is the awesome list I mentioned in my post that I didn't bookmark! Time to bookmark it :). Thank you for sharing it, it really is an awesome list!

Here are some links I'm using: SOTW1 and Netflix movie list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?hl=en_US&key=0AumgWD14ZCPSdGNRQVVjeVotbjcwVlByV3pPS2xJRlE&hl=en_US&gid=0 SOTW1 TWTM Movie List: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/historical-movies-and-documentaries-to-supplement-the-story-of-the-world-volume-one/ Resources: http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/SOTWmenu.htm And someone on here had a link to their blog in their siggy at the bottom and they had an amazing booklist, but now I can't find the post and apparently didn't bookmark it :( I wish I had, it was a great booklist. I also have a website for reviews/quizzes, but it's not pulling up (maybe because I am not at home..I'm using the microsoft store wifi..)but here is the address, hopefully it will work for you: www.bradenbryce.com/homeschool/

It's our first year homeschooling, and we are using SOTW1. I have 5th and 6th graders. I have a huge list of library books to get to go along with it (I got the list on here from someone who listed them on her blog, but I am on my iPad, I will try to post links later). I also have found two lists of movies/documentaries one is on TWTM website, the other was just a list a guy made I guess. I will try to share resources later when I get to my computer!

Thank you! I just downloaded it, I will try to read through it!

The books I have are Write Source G4 and Write Source G7...so they are grade levels 4 and 7 (the 4 can be for my 5th grader, she definitely did not master the necessities in public school) I may end up having them go through it more if I don't feel they are spending much time on schoolwork. I will also be working, so it won't hurt for them to have to read a few pages and do some paragraph,etc practice while I'm at work. Thanks for your advice!!

Thank you everyone! Just what I needed to hear! I am getting very anxious as we get closer to this being our real life! But I am excited too. Foxbridgeacademy- I will check out that book, I remember reading bout it on this forum. I'd also love to get the Art of Argument at some point too.

It feels like months of planning on a very limited budget, this is our first year homeschooling. Please share your thoughts, opinions, advice, anything! 5th grader: Math: Harcourt Math grade 5 (older text, using as a guide) along with http://cbolding.wikispaces.com/file/view/MathLineDesigns.pdf and Khan Academy as supplements, youtube videos, and lots of math games Spelling: Spell by Color jettedgames.com/spelling--we are fairly certain she is dyslexic and this seems to be similar to AAS but the first year is free. Writing: Mostly built into History and Sciene-also have Write Source for some guidance (more for me) Grammar: Write Source and dailygrammar.com 6th grader: Math: BJU Pre-Algebra, along with Khan Academy as a supplement and for fun. I also have MiF 3A for him to move into if he finishes Pre Algebra as quickly as I think he will. Spelling: http://www.splashesfromtheriver.com/spelling/courseoutline.htm to start, he really doesn't need a spelling program but we will do this and vocab Writing: Mostly built into History and Sciene-also have Write Source for some guidance (more for me) Grammar: Write Source and dailygrammar.com Together: History: SOTW1 as a spine with the activity book, and The Times Complete History of the World, along with documentaries and tons of library books Science: Ellen McHenry's The Elements, Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia, and extra experiments, and library books..and they are taking an engineering class at the Co op Foreign Language: Sign Language-mostly because I want to keep them together, they are interested in it and I read it is good for kids with dyslexia, they will move onto another language later...we will use Hands on Sign Language and a Signing dictionary, along with youtube videos Critical Thinking: All I have is a book of Brain Busters, I need to find more resources Typing: Dancemat Typing, it seems young but they thought it looked fun and they have to start somewhere Art and Music: Still researching and compiling-looking at piano lessons, also want to teach music and art appreciation and actual hands on art PE: dance for DD, basketball and something else (track maybe) for DS, along with lots of just outside play/bike riding, etc. We will also add in life skills-chores, gardening, sewing, cooking, fixing, building, etc. And do some kid-led stuff if they find things they are interested in. And they will join in whatever field trips and fun days with the co op and local homeschool groups.

This is great! Thank you!

I have a 6th grader that is pretty advanced in math. We don't have a large budget, so what I have is mostly what I can work with. I have BJU pre algebra, and MiF 3A which is 8th grade algebra. DS is a quick learner and I have no doubts about him picking up algebra with ease. Are these two programs close enough that he can move from BJU to MiF without being confused? Any experiences with or advice for either program is appreciated!

We are using McHenry's The Elements this year and I am sooo excited for it! I downloaded it and printed the kids' books, they are pretty excited too! I've heard great things about it, I'm not sure about Stop Faking It.

I'm going to follow this for some ideas too. So far I just printed the overview chart from http://harmonyfinearts.org/ and was going to find my own stuff but use the overview as a guideline as I also don't have money for curriculum. These are very affordable, but I need to spend any spare money we have elsewhere. Would you want to share what you've planned for art? I'm lost with both art and music, I really don't know where to start, it's our first year and I have a 5th and 6th grader.