Government would be .50 credit of social studies. Economics would be .50 credit of social studies. Health would be .50 credit of ... health.

Well, Walmart's quality is terrible, so I would probably go with Walgreens.

We don't do an official lit program either. We read books that correlate with history. This year, we are studying ancients, so we're doing D'Aulaire's Greek Myths, Coolidge's Trojan War, and some other stuff thrown in there. I bought Memoria Press guides for them and coloring books. My dd is a vsl, not dyslexic, though, and I read the books aloud while she colors. Then we go over the Guide. Although it was rather painful so we have basically dropped all the reading comprehension questions and only pay attention to the vocab and characters. My dd is in 9th grade, by the way. Next year, and I'm excited about this, I'm going to order the wonderfully illustrated Beowulf, Canterbury Tales, Robin Hood, and King Arthur from Usborne. I also found a Classics Illustrated (graphic novel) version of Ivanhoe that I will be using (not from Usborne). I found quizzes on Cliffs Notes website which I will make a study guide for. Plus I used Cliffs Notes to find a couple literary elements to discuss in each book. We will also use Figuratively Speaking at some point. My lit goals include having my dd familiar with a large variety of classic literature, but not necessarily have read the actual original or difficult translation thereof. We use easier versions. I also like to go through the literary elements occasionally. We do kind of a lapbook style thing with those when we apply them to books. Hope this helps!

I use Shutterfly to make our yearbook. It's basically a photo album of everything we did that year (the family, not just the homeschooled child).

Whites Pinks, Reds, Oranges, Purples All other colors We pre-sort when we take off our clothes and put them in the appropriate basket or laundry cart section.

Have you looked at Lifepac Geometry? It's by the same company who does Horizons. Alpha Omega. It's basically self-teaching.

I got one a couple years ago from Walmart that was about 40 bucks. Pre-lit. Pre-assembled so I had to do almost nothing. Yeah, it's not as huge as the one we had before, which took two hours to assemble. But I can put it up and take it down in less than five minutes. Buy a tree now. Get one that makes your life easy.

I'm just throwing this out there as an idea. Have you looked at Job Corps? The income requirement is not hard and fast, as I know people with great income who have a son in there. They live there, it seems, and counseling is provided and such. My understanding is that they can get education and job training, and counseling from people who are trained to work with kids who can be challenging. Just a thought as you sound a bit at the end of your rope, and that's how my friends were. It's a great program.

Pasta salad with garbanzo beans or chunks of ham. Grapes.

Seton Books has an American Literature book, World Literature, Poetry and Prose of England, and a High School Grammar. They are from a Catholic perspective and very get'er done. They also have some history books, with accompanying workbooks. Christ and the Americas is American history with a workbook. Christ the King Lord of History is a world history book with a workbook. Just something you might want to check out. I am Protestant, former Catholic, and I adore their High School Grammar and also their Composition book. Straightforward, get'er done, but thorough. I'm toying with their history and literature but have not taken the plunge.

Abeka has Government and Economics. They are also a Christian publisher.

What about Draw Write Now? Some of them are science-y, in a basic way. http://www.christianbook.com/write-animals-habitats-ponds-rivers-oceans/marie-hablitzel/9781933407609/pd/40761?event=ESRCG http://www.christianbook.com/write-tropical-forests-northern-down-under/marie-hablitzel/9781933407616/pd/93077X?event=CFCB

Abeka French. I wanted to like it. Too many books and too confusing to use. I dumped it (thankfully I had gotten it used) and switched to Galore Park's So You Really Want to Learn French. Ahh. Much better. We also sadly dumped WWS 1. My big picture thinker was dying at the "write a description" paragraphs. Dying. We switched to Seton Composition and like it so far.

Yes, I had seen that. I'm not sure if I can get a whole year out of it, though, plus labs. I have a syllabus of a dinosaur class from a different school that also calls it Dinosaur Paleobiology, though. I'm not sure what "paleobiology" is, and the class is a 300 level, which to me is junior level, at university. I don't want to misrepresent what we're doing. Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm supposed to receive my historical geology textbook today, and hopefully that will work as a jumping off point.

No, it's not my business. :huh: It's a bit like a British Amazon, and they ship internationally for free. You can get Usborne from them, Galore Park, etc. It's quite well-known. I always look at stuff on Usborne's website and then order them from bookdepository. I agree, Usborne books are wonderful! Just like I would wonder why you would need a representative for books readily available from Amazon, Usborne books are generally readily available at bookdepository. I think I learned about their website on these forums. Just wondering. Sorry to offend.

Without intending to offend, why be an Usborne representative or order from one when you can buy them online at BookDepository.com? I'm asking sincerely. Do people not know about BookDepository?

If there are going to be a lot of "loose" paper for that subject, I will use a binder (probably not 3" though) for it. If there are only going to be a few papers, I will use a folder. Some subjects have workbooks that I don't rip anything out of, so they get nothing. Some subjects, like Algebra, use a composition book (because we lefties don't like spiral notebooks). But, way back in the dark ages of my first years of homeschooling, binders were an amazing solution to: What do I do with all these papers? I did clean out the binders at the end of the school year.

I loan out materials, but usually they are ones that I decide I won't mind if I don't get them back. When they are good ones that I want to keep, then I worry the whole time they are loaned out. I try not to loan too much out anymore, but I love books and curriculum so much and want others to experience them that sometimes I can't help myself. I do not loan out expensive science equipment. I do not borrow homeschool materials. I do not want to, and I can afford not to.

Fall foliage! We don't get any where I live but if we drive 4 hours northwest, there is one little park that gets beautiful fall foliage. In early November. Some years, we take vacations in the fall just to drive though all the fall foliage in other states. Pumpkins! Love to decorate them, love to take pictures at the pumpkin patch. Love love love pumpkins! Fall Festival! Halloween costumes! I'm sad because my dd wants to use her costume from last year, so I can't buy her a new one. Cooler weather! Although more so in November than October. Still, it should drop into the 80s at least in October. Decorating my house for fall and then for Halloween and then for Thanksgiving is also really fun.

Have you looked at Seton's Composition book? It's straightforward, includes all the important things to know, but isn't gobs and gobs of writing. I'm using it for my 9th grade dd who hates to write. It gets the job done, and she's learning good stuff like don't write in the first or second person on formal essays (she likes to make little comments like she's advertising her topic. "Don't you think? You'll love it!") It hits all the major stuff. http://www.setonbooks.com/viewone.php?ToView=P-EN08-22

Ooh, are you watching My Fair Lady for Pygmalion? Classic!

I actually have made up a couple of multiple choice tests, but they are worded straight from the Teacher Guide, so I'm sure there are copyright issues with me posting them, even if I knew how. :)

My dd finally memorized her multiplication facts in 5th grade, but we spent all year on it. I like Memorize in Minutes: The Times Tables because it has pictures and stories. 8x8 = 64 is something like skate times skates equals sticky floor, and there's a little story and picture about that. http://www.amazon.com/Memorize-Minutes-Tables-Teaching-Manual/dp/0965176967 We also tried using the above recommended Times Tales, but it doesn't have all the math facts. Plus we bought Dianne Craft's Right Brain Multiplication cards. But my favorite is the Memorize in Minutes. (It doesn't take minutes, by the way, hate the name. But it's good stuff.) It does have all the facts, and the stories and pics are cute. They have large versions of the pictures in the back of the book.

Great idea! I ordered a couple books off of Amazon. Thanks for that thought.

Thanks, foxbridge!