They were written for adults, but my 13-year-old has read and enjoyed quite a few of them.

I combined my two oldest boys (13 and 15) in every subject up until about 3 years ago. My oldest was a late reader, so his younger brother was actually "ahead" of him in reading and writing, but it didn't seem to bother either of them. I did some extra work with Ds15 in reading/spelling because he's dyslexic, and when I was working with them together I just adapted their output to suit their individual abilities. Ds13 was precocious and was able to keep up in math until they hit algebra and Ds15 pulled ahead. I really, really enjoyed teaching the boys together, they have great memories of working together, and we have no regrets. Their strengths really complemented each, and they were able to come up with and pull off a lot of really cool projects. Now that they're older, their interests and abilities are so different that it's impossible to keep them together for most subjects. This year, they're just doing some literature and history together, but next year they'll also be combined for biology. My next son is over 3 years younger, so I've never been able to combine him with his older brothers (although he's tagged along plenty), and my 7yo is another 3 years younger and has some delays, so he's been on his own as well. Last year, we broke the cardinal rule and adopted a son who falls halfway between Ds7 and Ds10. The transition (in terms of homeschooling) has been perfectly smooth because he and Ds7 are so similar in ability that I can combine them with minimal differentiation. Now, Ds9 is starting to pull ahead and Dd5 is coming into the mix, just to make things more complicated. Still, I'll be combining the three youngest as much as possible next year because I literally don't have enough time in the day not to. I've never bought a boxed "multi-level" curriculum, or bought a boxed grade level curriculum and tried to adapt if for more than one kid. I just find it easier and more efficient to come up with one plan for multiple kids than to come up with separate plans.

It sounds like your strategy of focusing on one area at a time is working for you, so I lean toward staying with what's working. For the next 2-3 months I think I would concentrate on shoring up reading skills and any other prerequisites to writing, and then focus on writing itself for the following few months. Because you have such a limited amount of time for language arts, I think writing out a schedule and maybe even setting a timer would help get everything done. So, for the next 8-10 weeks, it might look something like: Mr. 11 - 20m reading with you, 10m break, 20m typing practice, 10m grammar Ms. 9 - 20m assigned reading, 10m break, 15m spelling with you & Ms. 6, 15m phonics with you Ms. 6 - 20m assigned reading, 10m handwriting with you, 15m spelling with you & Ms. 9, 15m break

We've definitely experienced the "caffeine flip" in our house - a can of Pepsi picks up where the ADHD meds leave off.

My stepson went on an EF tour to London, Paris, and Barcelona in 2009. It was organized by his high school, so he did have a great time, but his complaints made me glad that I hadn't seen the movie Taken before he went. His experience was much like the reviews *lifeoftheparty* mentioned. The junk food didn't bother him, but the accommodations did. Their hotel in London and hostel in Barcelona were mediocre - small, clean, but about 30 minutes from the city. In Paris, however, they stayed in a hostel in the 19th arrondissement. This is apparently a very low-income, high crime, mostly immigrant area of Paris, and my stepson said that any time they mentioned where they were staying to people they met in Paris, they were warned not to leave the hostel at night or alone, and not to let the girls go out without them. They did end up having a very frightening experience inside the McDonald's next to their hostel, in the middle of the afternoon, when several men approached and harassed the girls until another local intervened. The hostel itself was terrible - bunkbeds so unsteady the kids chose to sleep together on the bottom bunk, water leaking from the shower into bedroom, day-old French bread as their breakfast, etc., but the fact that EF would put a group of kids in that neighborhood makes me wary of ever sending a kid on a tour with them again.

For a quick history review, would A Short History of Just About Everything do the trick? We just received it as a Christmas gift, but it seems to be a hit so far. For literature, I think finding shorter versions (Classic Starts, Great Illustrated Classics, picture books, etc.) does sound like your best bet. My oldest son read children's versions of the classics over, and over, and over when he was 10-12, so maybe having some easy versions around would encourage your daughter to do the same?

$10 an hour, rounded up to the nearest hour, is the going rate around here for teenage babysitters. Because she's older, I'd probably pay $50 for the evening.

Alrighty. He says he can open the PDF in Preview (which came on his MacBook & my iMac), and then write directly in the PDF using the "Annotate" tool. Or, he can open it in Adobe Reader XI, then write using the "Comment" feature. This feature wasn't available in some earlier versions of Adobe, so maybe you just need to upgrade to this one?

My dysgraphic high schooler usually types his answers directly into PDFs. He's only taking one outside class at the moment, and his teacher has been e-mailing him a PDF version of all in-class handouts and worksheets. In the past, when he's had paper copies, he's scanned them and saved them as PDFs. He uses a Mac, and doesn't seem to have had any trouble writing in the PDF files. I believe he uses Adobe, but I can ask him for specifics if they might help. Forgive me if I'm misunderstanding your question - I tend to be about 5 years behind when it comes to technology!

If the local ski hill is operational, I might get an hour of school in with my boys before their friends start calling them to meet up. I give in, drive them, and spend the day in the lodge with the other teachers and stay-at-home-moms. On days that we are actually stuck in the house, we have a normal school day in our pajamas.

If you're only looking at colleges in the US, the previous posters have covered it! Universities in other countries do sometimes require AP courses/exams from American students.

Great thread! My high schooler is having a really good year, and the only thing that isn't working is French. He's dyslexic, and the grammar just isn't happening. C'est la vie. Going well: Literature - I've cut down on the number of novels we'll cover and am reading half of them aloud. He's reading lots of essays & short stories instead, which seems to have taken some pressure off. Writing! - It's taken up a fair bit of my time, but I've been teaching him directly through discussion & modeling, using The Lively Art of Writing (along with a few other resources) as a guide. He's also independently writing shorter compositions once a week about a short story or essay that he's read, and working on some creative projects with his brothers. Demonic Mnemonics: 800 Spelling Tricks for 800 Tricky Words was a fun find. His spelling has improved dramatically over the last few years, and this is just helping us tie up a few loose ends. Math, science and music are also going smoothly. It's been more of a mixed bag with my younger boys: Working: Recipe for Reading (with workbooks & readers) Sue's Strategies: Best Reading Spelling Method Magnetic phonics tiles Handwriting Without Tears Miquon & Cuisenaire rods Key to... series Workbooks from The Critical Thinking Company, Tin Man Press, Evan-Moor, etc. Piano & music theory Speech therapy Didn't work: Dropping all workbooks and worksheets. Silly, silly idea. Any type of craft or intentional art project Teaching Textbooks (why do I keep trying this?) Writing With Ease / First Language Lessons Primary Language Lessons Mr. Q Science (or Noeo, or RS4K...) Co-op classes

This looks great! My boys have used the mnemonic "Does McDonald's Sell Cheese Burgers?" (divide, multiply, subtract, check, bring down).

I'm glad to be able to help! My son didn't write his answers directly in the test booklet - he was given a separate answer sheet with squares on it and he marked an X in the correct square for each question. Basically, it was a faster/easier version of the bubble sheet. I do remember reading that some students are allowed to write or circle their answers in the test booklet, but I'm not sure how the College Board makes that distinction?

Are you still using Jump In!? How is that going? How would your daughter feel about starting OYAN now and finishing it over the summer?

Hi there! My high schooler was approved for accommodations from the College Board last year, and has taken the AP Physics B and the Physics SAT 2 exams so far. He has dyslexia, dysgraphia and ADHD, and was granted 50% extra time for all sections, a large-block response booklet (no filling in bubbles!), small-group testing (although, logistically, this may be automatic if he has extra time?), and access to a computer for any essay questions. My son also plans to take AP Chemistry, Calculus BC and Physics C, along with two more SAT 2s (tbd) over the next few years. None of these exams require a written response of more than a few sentences, and I think he should be able to handle them without too much trouble. He’s very much a STEM kid as well, though he’s intimidated by the AP Biology exam and has decided to stick with the SAT 2 if he takes a bio exam at all. At this point, we’re waiting to see whether taking any other AP exams will be worth the time and effort. If it turns out that scoring a 3 or 4 on an AP history or English exam would give him useful credit at his future college, he may just go ahead and take one on in his senior year. He’s in 10th grade this year and can turn out a decent essay in his own time (as in, over multiple days), but getting him to write 3 essays in 2 hours might be a bit of a stretch... My son has decided to take the ACT instead of the SAT, and we’ll have to apply separately for accommodations from them. They require documentation from within the last 3 years (the College Board is specifies 5 years), so that’s something to keep in mind if you’re considering the ACT.