I have an older child that has been diagnosed with depression, OCD, and ADHD. She is on so much medication and still can't get out of bed until after noon, still is depressed, has a very low appetite, and is underweight. I have some control over what she is taking but because she is 19 she and doctor really decide. My youngest child also seems to have ADHD. After seeing this roller coaster of meds and side effects, I don't want to have the younger daughter take meds. I am trying to work with her through other ways to help her not feel overwhelmed and focus on getting work done. Does anyone have any recommendations that I could research to possibly help with ADHD? Any day to day techniques? Thanks so much!

I have a daughter with dyslexia. She has not been officially tested because the testing was super expensive but I can reach out to her old reading tutor and have spoken with her therapist about writing a letter for accommodations. She reads pretty well but is slow so I would love for her to get more time on the ACT. Has anyone had success with accommodations? Any advice for this mama? Thanks!

What have you found to be the best book to study for the SAT and ACT? We have been consistently using Khan Academy and other things. I just want some practice for the tests. Thanks so much!

They are really well done! I have made courses around the videos for my classes. My students love them! If you would like access to my American History class, let me know. I spent hours making the class with many videos from PragerU.

One of the presenters that they have used often is Victor Davis Hansen. Here is part of his Wikipedia bio-- Victor Davis Hanson (born September 5, 1953) is an American classicist, military historian, farmer, and political commentator. He has been a commentator on modern and ancient warfare and contemporary politics for The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, National Review, The Washington Times and other media outlets. He is a professor emeritus of Classics at California State University, Fresno, the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in classics and military history at the Hoover Institution, He was a registered democrat, then independent but now considers himself a conservative. How is he racist? Because he is a classicist? I listen to him often and find him to be insanely knowledgeable and has family members of different races. Calling videos or people racist because they disagree with your worldview is wrong on so many levels. We have lost the meaning of racism in this country. Racism means that you think that one race is inferior to another. That is not at all what PragerU videos represent. In fact, I would say that in about one third or one half of the videos are made by people of color, different nationalities (than American), or different religious backgrounds.

My daughter and I loved this novel! It is a great addition and so it Up From Slavery. I love Booker T and his triumph after so much heartbreak trying to achieve the American Dream.

How many of their videos have you watched? Because I have seen hundreds of their videos and never once have I seen anything racist. I have never seen the propaganda that I often see in the CNN videos for students. I have watched hundreds of those videos also. And hundreds of the Crashcourse videos, which I often disagree with. In fact, Dennis Prager, the founder of PragerU is a Jew. I don't trust media fact checkers. I trust what I can verify with primary sources-- whether that be news or history. I find that PragerU is often spot on.

I was awful as a student of Spanish in high school but I began to have a love of the language and the culture. It was not until I was immersed in it that I began to speak it well and LOVED it. But the foundation of that interest and love was in high school when I was awful at it. 🙂

I love PragerU. I use their videos all the time. I find them to have people from all different places and world views discussing history and current events. I have disagreed with some presenters but that is true of any group or platform. I try to go to first hand sources for whatever I can but in a pinch PragerU uses experts to discuss needed historic understanding.

Oh, and have you tried italki tutors? My kids LOVE their tutors and love chatting on italki.

I will jump in!! First, thanks for all the ideas. I love reading these threads because it helps me decide what I should teach and where I can find different resources! This is my baby and it is killing me that she will be in high school. How do I stop time!! This is my language kid. She excels at all things language. She will do a local Composition 1 class. For literature she will be with my junior's class. She can handle it and I don't have time to teach 2 literature classes. The list so far-- Julius Caesar, King Lear, The Iliad, The Odyssey, Antigone, The Art of War, The Canterbury Tales (we are doing the older texts so if anyone has anymore suggestions, I would love them! Just no Beowulf). We will do Caesar's English, Classical roots, and some editor-in-chief to go with the Composition and grammar portion of the curriculum. History will go along with our literature. We will be studying ancient history. The Spine will be The Story of Greece and Rome by Tony Spawforth, Hillsdale the Rise and Fall of the Roman Republic, Hillsdale Athens and Sparta, and some classes that I find on Wondrium. Geometry-- we have always used Teaching Textbooks and will probably continue that journey. She is not super mathy and that seems to work with my kid that is not super mathy. Science-- We will do a Biology class with a local teacher. Spanish 3-- I teach it. We will use Advanced Spanish Step by Step, other books that I love, tons of music, and Voces online whole language curriculum. Mandarin 1-2?-- She has been using italki tutors and Chineseforus for two years now and got into the Startalk program at our local college for the summer! Woohoo! I don't speak Chinese so I will have to ask her teachers her level is when she finishes the course. Choir-- We will keep up with choir and her musical theater that she loves as the art portion of her schooling.

I teach Spanish classes to my daughters and friends. I was a public school Spanish teacher but a LONG time ago. I use Easy Spanish Step by Step and Advanced Spanish Step by Step as "textbooks." I also use Voces-- an online curriculum with my students. I love Voces. It is super easy to use and uses a whole language approach. I teach that with the grammar from my textbooks. Voces uses ¡Go! Vive a tú manera as a show for students to watch to learn the language. It is a little difficult for students (fast Buenos Aires--Argentinian Spanish) but you have the option to slow the audio down. I think that the show is in Netflix if you want to just check the show out. If you are interested in Voces, they allow a 10 free-trial. They are also wonderful about answering any questions that you have over the phone.

Don't forget Edgar Allan Poe. He has so many fantastically creepy short stories-- The Fall of the House of Usher, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Cast of Amontillado, The Pit and the Pendulum... just to name a few...

Yes! I corrected to include that! Thanks!

I need all the best ancient world history books and curriculums for high school students. I would like to teach this for my kids and some friends next year but I really don't know where to start with a curriculum. I can also make up my own but I would love some great novels to go with the ancient world. Any ideas?

I like both Uncle Tom's Cabin and Up From Slavery for different reasons. I think as a piece of literature that Uncle Tom's Cabin was monumental in what it did to forward the abolition of slavery in America. Up From Slavery if a fantastic account of how far an individual could come when not bound by the pernicious evil of slavery. The book recommended above (I have not read that, but looked at it on Amazon) may be a good understanding for true life accounts of slaves and what they endured.

I really love to hear what other moms are doing. It helps me plan my year to see sights and curriculum that I have not used before. For next year have the following so far: English writing and literature with a private teacher that comes to our home. They will study Beowulf, Canterbury Tales, etc. She will also do Wordly Wise and Caesar's English. Spanish 2 with Easy Spanish Step by Step, private italki tutor, and Voces online curriculum Mandarin with an italki tutor and Chineseforus. (I would love to hear of any online Chinese classes that someone just loves.) Algebra 1 Teaching Textbooks and a private tutor Choir History will be American. She will sit in on her sister's high school American history class. Acting and horse back riding for extra curriculars. Economics over the summer with the Uncle Remus books and maybe some Dave Ramsey. Science will be a mix of Ellen McHenry Basement Classroom My last middle schooler!! It is a wonderful accomplishment and a little sad for me at the same time.

I really love to hear what other moms are doing. It helps me plan my year to see sights and curriculum that I have not used before. For next year have the following so far: English writing and literature with a private teacher that comes to our home. They will study Beowulf, Canterbury Tales, etc. She will also do Wordly Wise and Caesar's English. Spanish 2 with Easy Spanish Step by Step, private italki tutor, and Voces online curriculum Mandarin with an italki tutor and Chineseforus. (I would love to hear of any online Chinese classes that someone just loves.) Algebra 1 Teaching Textbooks and a private tutor Choir History will be American. She will sit in on her sister's high school American history class. Acting and horse back riding for extra curriculars. Economics over the summer with the Uncle Remus books and maybe some Dave Ramsey. Science will be a mix of Ellen McHenry Basement Classroom My last middle schooler!! It is a wonderful accomplishment and a little sad for me at the same time.

I love these threads because they make me think about what I need to do for the year. History-- Land of Hope by Wilfred McClay with corresponding videos. Math-- Teaching Textbooks Algebra 2 with a tutor English Literature-- array of American literature including-- The Scarlett Letter, Up from Slavery, The Great Gatsby, Emmerson, Whitman, and others Science-- Earth and Space Science taught at a local co-op Composition and Vocabulary-- Local teacher and Classical Roots Spanish 3-- Advanced Spanish Step by Step and Voces Spanish 3 and some works of Spanish Literature ASL 3-- ? Our wonderful teacher will not be teaching next year. I may mesh together something with an italki tutor. Choir-- Fine arts credit Dance--Too much-- almost every night, but she loves it.

Have you tried to find someone on italki? I would look there.

Hello everyone. I need an online math review program for the summer. We have used Khan Academy and IXL and I am not sure what I like better. Anyone out there have some strong thoughts either way and help me choose? 🙂 My kids are 12 and 14. One will be in Pre-Algebra and the other in Geometry.

English-- Writing class with a local private teacher and several classics that I will be teaching to a group of 9th graders Math-- Teaching Textbooks Geometry-- works great for us ASL 2 and Spanish 2 Choir and piano History-- I haven't decided yet, but I will work it to fit with the literature that we will be reading. Dance-- Science-- I need help! I really like Guest Hollow Chemisty and it would seem to fit our homeschooling life. But, my sweet husband says that she needs Physical Science because she has never had it. She wants to do Speech Pathology, so I know she will need Biology and Anatomy at some point. She is a bright kid, but as you can see above she has a heavy load. Any thoughts about if we really need Physical science or a good Physical science curriculum?

My daughter will be in 9th next year. She is not a huge science fan (she prefers languages). She does need Biology and Anatomy because she plans to go into Speech Pathology. I wanted to start her on an Earth Science curriculum that will not be too overwhelming. She is a perfectionist and taking a heavy load with 2 languages, piano, choir and dance. Can you recommend a good curriculum for us to do together for a mom that is not great at science or a good online curriculum? Thank you so very much!