I highly recommend this one. My DD15 really enjoyed it - we used it to supplement her economics and she looked forward to watching the lectures: "Thinking like an Economist: A Guide to Rational Decision Making Randall Bartlett"

If a child has that little interest in science, I would use Biology 101 and Chemistry 101. I use these excellent DVD's as a supplement, but there is a guide included which provides plans for a full high school credit for each course. Physics 101 should be released within the year, so this student would be able to cover all three courses by 12th grade. My 2 cents.

i have that same digital microscope and really like it. i also have a regular microscope i purchased from homsciencetools.com and i prefer the digital one. It is lighter, comes with a carrying case, and mechanical stage. i bought mine on amazon much cheaper. i will warn you, the first one they mailed to me was defective and wouldn't turn on. The replacement worked perfectly right out of the box.

Does she like to read? If she does, and she wants to be more comfortable with math, try Life of Fred. They have sample pages on their website. You can even just let her read it in addition to doing her regular math. Danika McKellar (The Wonder Years actress) authored several books especially for girls to overcome math phobia. We have Math Doesn't Suck and Kiss My Math (ya, I know, the titles are a little over the top). But DD15 enjoyed them when she was in 6th grade. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=math+danika CLE is a Mennonite curriculum which incorporates real life scenarios into their math program. Level 8 was all about a family, their farm and how they used math in their everyday lives to run their farm/business. My older DD was actually sad when she finished it because she liked the family and characters so much (like wishing there was a sequel to a good book). However, CLE is advanced, so as a 5th/6th grader, she may be in level 4 or 5. If you go this route, make sure you use the placement tests which are free on their website. I'm not a fan of Saxon, but I will say there are a lot of support materials available, especially at higher levels. It works great for some families, so if it's working and you like it, it's worth a try. We also like Teaching Textbooks, but it worked better for my older DD than my younger one. DD12 is using it now, but she doesn't love it. It was exactly what DD15 needed (she's very artsy and creative) for Algebra and Geometry.

:iagree: :iagree: I concur whole-heartedly with your taste. I despise Saxon (I've used Alg 1/2 and Adv. Math) and loved using CLE with my older DD. I really struggled with what to use for DD12's math this year. She has the mathematical foundation for Algebra, but she doesn't know any of the why's. She's been using BJU which we were very happy with, but I think TT does a better job of explaining the why's. We're using TT Pre-Alg version 2 and it's going very well so far. And I'm happy with the topics it covers and think she'll be well prepared for Alg next year. My DD15 used TT for Alg 1/Alg 2 (we called this Alg 1) & Geometry and did very well with them. But I'm hoping for DD12 to switch to Jacobs Alg next year. Either that or we'll go back to BJU. In other words, maybe do one more year of TT and then you have a lot more options for Algebra. It seemed like "slim pickins" for pre-algebra choices. One more thought.... if you want REALLY concise with lots of "whys" covered, how about Life of Fred?

Just send her an email. I scheduled a once per week session with her for the whole school year. But you can schedule a couple classes and see how you like it first. Or you can schedule classes on a need-only basis whenever your DC gets stuck and needs help.

We are very happy with DD's French tutor. Lessons are provided using Skype. Chantal is extremely prompt and professional. http://www.learnfrenchwithchantal.com/ DD15 had her last year for French 1 using Breaking the Barrier and is continuing this year for French 2. DD12 is just starting French with her. Each level of Breaking the Barrier is only 12 chapters, so if you push hard you might finish level 1 & 2 in one year, taking about 1.5 weeks for each chapter. But this might be stressful. Hope this helps.

dd15 will be attending landry academy for ancient lit this year. i really like the smarr lit guide and planned reading assignments. they will cover all the major works i want her to read for ancient lit.

DD is using BJU 3rd ed. We don't need the TE. We use all the DIVE tests and worksheets and they provide the answers. The BJU text is excellent. DD regularly tells me about what she's reading, feels like she's learning a lot and really enjoys the course.

For me personally, 10th grade was by far my most productive year. I played several sports, worked part-time and made honor role. 11th grade was pretty good too. My DD15 will be in 10th this year and we're looking forward to it! We're outsourcing a lot, but hoping for excellent results. And we're maximizing her extra-curricular activities too.

We kind of do block scheduling for science, lit and history. DD15 works on those topics for 2+ hours at a time, a couple times per week, but all year long. When she's reading about a topic, she wants to focus on it for several hours instead of jumping around to the next subject.

"The Help" has some laugh out loud scenes. DH is NOT a reader. He mostly reads for information (Popular Science, technical journals, etc...). He read "Night" and was very moved by it. It's only 109 pages and 20 years from now your DS will still remember it.

This is what we'll be doing this year. I think the texts look great and the TE provides some suggestions for digging deeper with literature, outside sources and discussion.

We're using DIVE with the BJU test. It's all scheduled out and there's no problem finishing in 32 weeks, including time to study for each of the 4 quarterly exams. Here's what I like about DIVE: 1) I didn't have to buy the Teacher Editions for BJU since DIVE has their own worksheets, quizzes and tests and all of the answers are provided. DIVE + Textbook was much more cost effective than Textbook + TE + Tests + Answer Key. 2) The lectures are excellent and completely related to the reading. Every week DD15 is telling me about her reading and what she's learning from the lecture. This is great, except during lunch. :) 3) Lectures are only once per week for about 30 minutes so DD doesn't have to watch one every day. 4) All of the labs are demonstrated. 5) The schedule is easy to follow. Just a suggestion...... Ann

That's a great compliment! I totally agree! I think it sounds totally appropriate to post this to DD's recruiting website.