Ancients: Epic of Gilgamesh Black Ships Before Troy The Wanderings of Odysseus Middle Ages: King Arthur and Knights of The Round Table Robin Hood D'Aulaires Norse Mythology Early Modern: Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Tom Sawyer The Raven (I'd say Pride and Prejudice here, but I absolutely hated that book, so I substituted something of Poe's) Modern: Animal Farm To Kill A Mockingbird The Grapes of Wrath

OK, Saxon peeps, question for you all: My daughter is fairly strong in math and just finishing up 7/6 (almost entirely 90-100s); we do every problem, as directed, from warm-ups to mental math to all the problems. My plan is to have her complete 8/7 next year and then move into Algebra I in 8th grade. Art Reed recommends Algebra 1/2 following 8/7, I think, but my God, I think she would be bored to death! Can I just pop into Algebra I after 8/7, without doing Course 3 or Algebra 1/2?

I used the Classical Education edition, not the colorized one (color wasn't an option when we ordered). We'll order CE2 colorized this year because I just bet it's gorgeous! I think if you are just looking for the basics and a solid vocab program, the regular edition would be fine. The classical education edition had lots of extras that we very much enjoyed and enriched our experience, but the core of the program is in the regular edition. I guess it depends on your budget.

Yes, we are. I'll have to contact them. I'd use the CAT, but I already ordered the IOWA intending to use that. Poor planning on my part....

Yes, that's the one. For some reason, I can't cut and paste here anymore. :(

Thanks for clarifying this, all. I was worried I would be double-dipping if I gave credit for Bio and AP Bio, for example. But it makes sense that they are different courses.

OK, that's helpful in clarifying things. In which case, my daughter would be buried with that and a full-on curriculum with other subjects. I do agree with the poster above that a lot of writing doesn't equal excellent writing. Perhaps think about what you are trying to accomplish during these middle years, what your son's weaknesses are, and then try to spend middle school remediating those weaknesses. Once you have a handle on that, prioritize your curriculum to attack those weaknesses (and maybe teach a few new skills he'll need, like 2-3 level outlining, researching for an academic paper, etc..). I way overshot on curriculum this past year, and way over-estimated what was realistically possible during the day, and had to ditch lots of my plans and re-group.

This is what I was planning, minus the Course 3. Just curious: What is in Course 3? Is it similar to the old Algebra 1/2?

I refuse to engage with that cr*p. I have always told my daughter that it's best to find better friends than put up with that kind of petty girl drama, and I've been telling her that since we first encountered this behavior in about 2nd grade. I have always told her she is better than that and deserves better people around her than would act like that. So, I don't respond other than to tell her to find better friends, and now that she's 12, she's pretty good at finding decent friends and leaving aggravating nonsense behind.

Saxon fan here too! Can you speak to the differences between Saxon integrated math for high school, and the books Saxon has for high school that treat Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II separately? If we don't plan on going back to public school for high school. I would like to use Saxon integrated math, but I have heard so many bad things about integrated math. Do you have experience with integrated math at the high school level? Why the bad rap about integrated math? I searched the high school boards and came up with very little info that I needed.

Yes, these are terrific also! My middle-schooler uses these.

We've been studying Latin, so we haven't been able to converse with native speakers :) , but our language school is going well. The key is to get it done, and get it done on a daily basis (even if it's just 15 minutes of review of grammar or vocab)

That seems a bit heavy, even for my independent and English-minded daughter. But it depends what else you have as expectations for him. What else will you be doing (non-English-wise)?

We used it this year and will do so again next year because it got the job done well. It is dry as dust, however. It's like the Saxon math of writing, LOL!

Sorry I cannot help; my kids were older when I started homeschooling. You might also want to cross-post over on the special needs forum for some information related to your son's needs.

Joy Hakim's History Of The US is non-religious and delightful. It is a volume of books that can get pretty dang pricey, but they can be had in excellent condition on Amazon for about $5/book.

We merge American history stories into our history at the appropriate chronological time, which means nearly nothing in Book I and only a bit in Book 2; that ramps up in Books 2 and 4, and you'll need to leave a bit more time for that. In some of those books, SOTW does touch on American events, but I wanted more than just that. Anyway, you could do that; there are a few schedules to do that on here, I just can't seem to find them at the moment. The other option is to complete each book, then take a "side trip" and let your kids know that this "side trip" will look at things that were happening in America at the same time as say, the middle ages (or whatever book you just completed). I also like the idea of chronological history, but think our kids should also be well-versed in our own history, given it's unique government and success.

We used CE I this year with daughter, who is almost 12, and we're using CE II next year, as well. I haven't used Word Within A Word, so I can't comment on that, but I have nothing but fabulous things to say about CE! I would call Royal Fireworks Press; we called last year for placement assistance and the woman who answered the phone was incredibly helpful in helping us decide placement. Like your son, my daughter is an excellent reader, but despises writing.

We're in Virginia; I modified my post to reflect that and maybe someone from Virginia will chime in on this. I can't find out from our state organization(HEAV) website what exactly they require, but I think I remember seeing just language arts and math and that they wanted a composite score. But I can't find the info that I found on that website before. So it seems that what I will need is the core score. My state accepts the IOWA, and I don't think it requires science and social studies.

You can skip those sections, which I would like to do. But I wanted to know if doing so would give me a composite score. It appears not, though. This is the first year we have homeschooled and tested.

Roast 'em with olive oil! They taste so good that way, you won't be able to eat them often enough! Also, my kids are very much enjoying growing veggies in their garden, and it makes it super easy to pop out the front door and get fresh veggies that way.

Your doctor has the capability to order the epidural at any time, so talk with him.

I don't teach spelling; I find my daughter aces every darned spelling test me or the school district ever gave her, and her spelling was still atrocious. Instead, I do things on a daily basis to improve spelling, including reading aloud to me and enunciating very well, editing her papers until they are error-free, and taking points off her exams for poor spelling (otherwise, she just wouldn't care about it). Tackling the rigor of Latin improved DD's spelling, also. I don't plan to teach spelling to my DS when he comes home next year, either; I look at formal spelling programs as a waste of time for my children, but YMMV.

I plan to have my daughter, at minimum, biology, chemistry, and physics in high school. The tentative plan is to also do AP Bio and AP chemistry sometime after the biology and chemistry courses. I understand that each of the high school science classes gets 1 high school science credit each, but what do I do with the AP classes? Are they also 1 high school credit each, or no high school credit and just "saved" for college credit? If they are worth high school credit along with the biology and chemistry, is that considered "double-dipping'" credit-wise? Also, most people I know take the sciences as a high school course, followed up by the AP course. But it seems most people I know just take APUSH or AP Calculus or AP whatever other class with no previous high school course. Is this correct?

So very, very sorry for your family's loss.