Any suggestions for a curriculum for a once a week Christian co-op teaching science to grades 4 through 8? We like to use the time for labs. It doesn't necessarily need to be a full curriculum, but an explanation of the lab would be important; not just, "Hey do this cool thing and you're done."

It looks interesting, but it actually says it's $20 per month. That adds up to quite a bit! I'm hoping to find something that I can pay for just once and use over and over again. :001_unsure:

I remember 10 years ago when we had all these great educational computer games for my oldest kids, like Reader Rabbit and Jump Start. Now it's so hard to sift through "apps" (which don't do a whole lot); online free games (which are often disappointing or have tons of ads); and games where you have to pay a monthly fee (like Jump Start is now). Have you purchased any great software, or found an online game that you can buy one time, instead of a monthly fee? My dd is 10. I'm looking for something that would "provide hours of play" :) -- not just practicing math facts. Finding something is extra challenging because we have a Mac and a computer with a unique modified operating system for which you can't just go out and buy software. Online games usually work on it, though. Unfortunately I can't use the games from my older kids on the Mac, because even if they originally worked on a Mac, they don't now due to operating system changes. Thanks, Cindy

Thank you for the advice! I'll be looking into MUS again.

Thanks, everyone, for your advice. @ OhElizabeth -- he doesn't have ADHD, and he's not on any meds. The scholarship is awarded by the state, and they require Alg 1 and 2, Geometry, and one other math course in high school. He would apply for the scholarship through the college, but the state sets the requirements and provides the funds. The graduation date is not firm. @ EKS I was intrigued by the description of the Calculus Without Tears course being a good bridge. It sounds more gentle than a traditional course. I guess I am intimidated by Pre-Calc because I have this idea that it will be WAY more challenging than anything he has done before and I'm not sure I can teach him well enough. Maybe I need to change my thinking?!! My daughter went back to public school for her senior year and was able to take a course called "Mathematical Decision Making and Computational Analysis" rather than Pre-Calc. I haven't come across anything like that in my search of homeschool curricula, though! Is pre-calc the only option for the next step? Thank you for the suggestions on how to use TT. When you say, "...use the TT book to present the material yourself...", do you mean I would be basically reading the lesson to him, rather than having him watch the lesson on the disc? Also, even if he gave me the answers orally, wouldn't he still have to do much writing in order to get to the answer? Perhaps that's where the scribing mentioned by "OneStepAtATime" would come in. It sounds like maybe I should be there with him while he works on it, possibly to help him stay on track? LOF seemed to work well for Alg 1, but Alg 2 was rough. We switched to TT so he could watch the lesson, rather than just reading it. Turns out he would prefer to be reading it (he says watching it takes too long), but I make him watch the lesson. I feel I should add that I have no idea if he will even be able to make it once he gets to college, given the struggles he's had already. But he believes he wants to do it, and I want to give him that opportunity, if possible.

DS 17 / 11th grade was diagnosed last year as being on the Autism spectrum/highly functioning/Aspergers and as having a slow processing speed. It definitely shed some light on things. He completed Alg 1 and 2 through Life of Fred and is slowly trudging through Geometry with Teaching Textbooks this year. He needs to take a math class next year in order to meet the requirements of our state scholarship program. He plans to attend the local community college. Can you recommend something gentle for his next year? It should be something beyond what he's taken, but not extremely challenging. Honestly we just want to get him through the next year and then he can take math at college with a live instructor when he goes there. Maybe live, ha ha. Many of their classes are online. I'm looking at Mathematical Modeling / Calculus Without Tears, mainly based on this from Cathy Duffy: "Students who will continue to study higher math will still need to take calculus or higher courses that teach the theoretical math, but this course might be the bridge that helps students become enthused enough about calculus to continue on to higher levels of math. It also might be a good course for those who want to understand what calculus is all about and how it is used even if they don’t intend to take any higher math courses." My other idea is to make this Geometry class a two-year class, which seems a little crazy to me, but is it really any different than say a remedial math or reading class? He's only about 40% through the curriculum, but we're 85% through our school year! A few months ago I had him start doing only odds or evens, but he's still way behind. He understands it, but for some reason it takes him a long time. Maybe it's all the writing?

Oops! Ok, it takes that long to get one side done. I have justified it up to this point telling myself it's okay because the curric. is advanced, etc. Now that we're starting 4th grade and we're only halfway thru the book, it's bothering me! Not sure if I should get a new curriculum with fewer problems so I can feel better, or just keep pushing thru. I know I can adapt the curriculum to my needs, but I don't like how it feels to go half speed and skip problems.

Last year for third grade, I used Horizons math with my dd. I chose it partly because of the colorful pages and partly due to its spiral approach. My dd however needs short lessons. I read C Duffy's review which says something along the lines of it having a lot of extra practice problems, so we skip quite a few. I'm fnding it takes her 20-30 minutes to complete one sd

kbutton - By GAI I'm assuming you mean the General Ability Index? That is in the 70th percentile rank = Average. I don't know his reading level. He did k12 online school two years ago and had to take our state's standardized test. He scored in the 97th percentile for his Reading score. I know it's just one standardized test, but, based on that, it seems he shouldn't be having any trouble, doesn't it? Hmm. Of course, those tests probably didn't include "old English". :-)

Oh, goodness, yes, I did put that wrong on the IQ. 47 is the percentile rank, which they say is Average. I will try to fix that up there. I don't believe there are any other errors there. The Processing Speed Index is definitely 4th percentile rank, while when they list the subtests for it, he is 5th percentile rank for both of those, as I described. Thanks again for your helpful advice and input, ladies!

Thanks for the advice! Here's some info from his eval: Verbal Comprehension = High Average Perceptual Reasoning and Working Memory = Average Processing Speed = 4th percentile = "Borderline" Full Scale IQ = "47th percentile" = Average On the Working Memory, however, he was in the 25th percentile for Digit Span, while 75th for Arithmetic. Those combined/averaged out to 50; therefore "Average." Processing Speed Subtests Symbol Search and Coding were both 5th percentile rank. He was in public school through 5th grade and we didn't notice any problems. In homeschooling, I've always thought he moved slow, but I thought he wasn't applying himself. We got him tested because we got the idea he might be on the autism spectrum due to other behaviors. Never expected to find a learning issue, but it seems to make sense, in hindsight. He is indeed on the spectrum, although "highly-functioning". Their comments regarding the processing speed is that he "may need additional time to process new information. This may mean that he will benefit from extended time with school work, as well as a few extra moments in conversation to process what is being discussed." Observing him myself, I see that he has a difficult time reading wordy textbooks and literature that is not modern English. It takes him FOREVER. Like three or four times as long as the curriculum is written for. I'm not sure if "seeding" is something I will need to start working on with him. That would certainly take some planning ahead on my part, but it is an interesting idea. Seems like a spiral method would work well in those situations, right? I've already modified most of his classes in a way that seems to be working for him, but I'm not sure how to handle English and History. We used Beautiful Feet this year (Medieval History Sr. High) and last (Early American and World History), but I think he needs shorter, simpler, question and answer lessons, unfortunately. Before we got the test results, I purchased Lifepacs for 11th Grade English, but now that I'm looking at them, I think they're going to be way too wordy for him. I liked having all of English in one curriculum, so I chose that; but I think it will be a bad fit. I am planning for him to study American History, starting after Revolutionary War and leading up to modern times, if possible. So American Lit is what I'm looking at as well. I'm considering some of the booklets from the Focus on U.S. History series -- Cathy Duffy said, "If you have a student who struggles with all the reading required in a typical textbook and needs a more interactive way to learn history, you might want to use this series of books as a stand alone resource. It's one of the few such series that I think would work in this fashion. The information is not "dumbed down" as you often find for struggling students. Instead the content has been condensed."

DS 16 was recently tested and we learned he has a very slow processing speed. How do you accommodate that in homeschooling? English and History are the two subjects I'm most unsure of. Not sure if I should use a Jr High curriculum or a HS curriculum with modifications. I've schooled him for a few years now, and this diagnosis makes sense--in hindsight. Reading-intensive programs always seem to take him twice as long as the suggested pace.

Now that I'm halfway through the year, I realize I am in need of a better writing program. My son is in 10th grade. He's using BF Medieval and I need to supplement with some type of writing curriculum. Due to the way he is wired, we need something with clear, specific daily lessons, including how long a required essay should be. I have no desire to use IEW. Every time I find a curriculum wth clearly defined lessons, it has literature with it. He is already getting lit with the BF study. I also can't spend very much money on it, but I am sure something exists out there. Any suggestions?

Another problem with individual time is that you can't single out the middle child and not have special time with the other two! But it's important, so we need to make the time for them all.

Thank you for the suggestions! I mentioned the "manly" things because someone had told us to use that to help him recognize his unique place in this family -- not youngest, not oldest, etc. But I do think that isn't the best way to do it, because you're right -- he has his own unique interests and that is what he should be recognized for. After all, what if he were the middle son, right? I see a lot of people suggesting one-on-one time and special outings just for him. We have been trying to work on that, so we will keep at it. It has been particularly hard for the past few months because my husband has been ill and has not had much energy (totally another story -- we've finally made an appointment for him with a naturopath to discuss adrenal fatigue syndrome). This makes it quite challenging, but we do need to do it for the kids. I will try to keep an eye out for opportunities to do things with him. I already watch a movie with him twice a week after the rest of the family is in bed. Makes it hard to get up in the morning, though . . . :001_smile: Thanks again. If anyone else has advice, I would be glad to hear it!

DS 15 is jealous of the youngest, DD 7. He is the only boy out of the three kids. How do we help him embrace his unique place in the family? Helping Dad with his chores or giving him manly chores to do doesn't help, he gets very whiny! He is apparently not ready to "embrace" his "manly" position in the family. DH and I don't have experience in this middle-child area, as we are both the youngest of only two kids. Perhaps I should also mention that DS reacts emotionally rather than logically, which doesn't help.

Yes, that was helpful. I was curious about how much time it would actually take, including the reading. We'll see how it goes!

I'm getting ready to use this for my 9th grade dd. I'm wondering if anyone has created their own daily lesson plan for one of these? We're studying "The High King." I'm just trying to get a feel for how much work can typically be accomplished in one day. I've been reading the notes in the workbook, but I'd like to see if anyone has any experience they can share. Thank!

Wow, you all are so great! I love hearing the words of wisdom you have to share. Thank you for reminding me of some things I had forgotten -- such as how much freedom I have as her teacher! (Especially the tips from Daisy!)

So it sounds like the general advice is not to be too concerned about the exact # of days. Count those "short" days. The only thing our school district requires is written documentation that they were "in school" for that many days. No testing, no portfolios. Such freedom! (At the beginning of the school year, they do want to see your general outline.) Thank you for the advice. It helps!

I'm sure this has been asked before, so feel free to direct me to another post, if it exists ... How much is enough? We're trying to finish up our school year (kind of used to the PS schedule, since this is only our 2nd year of HS and my son is still in PS). Our state requires 175 days of instruction. Well, she has some days where she only works for a couple of hours due to other things coming up. Would you count that as a day? In some classes, I'm having her finish the course, regardless of the # of days spent on it, so those aren't an issue. But other classes aren't so well-defined. Would you count the # of days spent on each subject? Would you base it on hours? I just want to make sure she's not getting too little education. I'm especially eager to get this figured out now, because she starts 9th grade next year, and I feel I should have even better documentation of the courses she's completed. I know I've heard that if you completed 75% of a textbook, you can consider that "course" completed. But what if the work takes a lot longer for your student? That's a major benefit of HS, you can take as much time as they need to learn it, right? And what if it's not a textbook? I know I could set some learning goals at the beginning of the year, but those are subject to change anyway, depending on how well she's learning the material. Looking forward to all your helpful insight!

Okay, I'm sure this question has been asked many millions of times, but I couldn't find what I was looking for by searching the forum . . . How do you know how much time your child should be spending on school? My dd w/be in 8th grade. We HS'd for the first time last year. I've had other HS parents tell me so much of what they do in public school is "busy work", so I assume she doesn't need to spend as much time on school as she would in PS. Even if I follow a daily plan from the curriculum provider, sometimes it seems like it takes longer than I think we should be spending on it. But how do I know if I'm right?! And how do you choose what they skip? I'm trying to plan her schedule for next year, and I'm not sure what to do. Any advice? Thanks!

How do you schedule/manage so many different programs? To a newbie such as myself, this prospect is very daunting! This year we've been using a unit study which has it all planned out for me, day by day!

I am currently planning for our 2nd year of homeschooling in the fall. My dd will be in 8th grade, and she always did well in public school (good grades). I'm trying to figure out what to do for her LA curriculum, and finding it quite overwhelming to choose between something that covers it all or a lot of separate programs. Time is an issue for me, as I also have a dd who will be 3 next fall. My dd 13 writes well, basically, but she doesn't really seem to know the terms used in grammar. Just today she asked me again what a pronoun is! Is "grammar" in and of itself a big deal if she can compose proper sentences? Would choosing a good writing program be sufficient, without worrying about how much grammar is included? I'm considering CQLA, which would include grammar, and supplementing w/literature studies.