I am using Cambridge Latin 1 with my 6th grader. I got the Student Study Book (which is supposed to be for kids who independently want to learn Latin), and it is my "teacher's guide." It's going well for us, but my dd is totally a whole-to-parts thinker.

We like some fraction things from Lakeshore Learning Center. We just finished this: Solve and Match Magnetic Math Tin - Fractions http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/seo/ca%7CproductSubCat~~p%7CHH997~~f%7C/Assortments/Lakeshore/ShopByCategory/mathematics/fractionsdecimalspercents.jsp And are currently using this: Building Fractions Activity Center. http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/seo/ca%7CproductSubCat~~p%7C2534374302175929~~f%7C/Assortments/Lakeshore/ShopByCategory/mathematics/fractionsdecimalspercents.jsp Once we finish those, we have this waiting in the wings: Math in a Flash Fractions Discovery Can. http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/seo/ca%7CproductSubCat~~p%7CLL295~~f%7C/Assortments/Lakeshore/ShopByCategory/mathematics/fractionsdecimalspercents.jsp

I have been surprisingly impressed with the English for Young Catholics series by Seton books. Link for English 4 here: http://www.setonbooks.com/viewone.php?ToView=P-EN04-13&Zoomin=1 Workbook format, not too many exercises, somewhat colorful, not remotely mind-numbing, some grammar but not too much. I'm not Catholic, but I am really liking this series. HTH! Kim

When I was in college, I got help from our Study Center for this exact thing. They had me make a schedule of my time from 8am to 10pm. Fill in classes, travel time. Then, fill in study time, scheduling 2 hours of study time for every hour spent in class. So if she has 15 class hours, she needs 30 hours set aside for studying. Also, you must schedule in breaks. These are the guidelines for breaks: for every hour you spend studying, you need a fifteen minute break. For every three hours, you need a one hour break. This helped me a lot and made me very efficient with my time. HTH!

Voyages in English 8? They have it completely online for free in their sample section: http://www.loyolapress.com/voyages-in-english-2011-grammar-and-writing-view-samples.htm

I can list the peanut free candy (it's also milk and egg free, but that's just our allergies here), but I don't know about strawberry allergy: Double Bubble bubble gum Laffy Taffy (apple, banana, grape) Krabby Patties Pixie Sticks Sweetarts Gummy Bears Dots Twizzlers (black) JujyFruits Nerds Peppermint candies Peeps Candy corns (some brands) Blow Pops Dum dums It's close enough to Halloween that it should be easy to find large bags of small individual bags of these candies. HTH!

For a few years, we had a number line running around our living room from 0 to 100 something. I got it in the bulletin board trimmers section at the teacher store. My dd, who is very visual, only understood "before" when I literally pointed out and said "that means on the left side." This was a breakthrough for us. Everything had to be visual. Hope this helps you.

They want to come home. You want them home. Presumably you are home during the day so this is possible. Bring them home. Your schedule will be less crazy, too. I don't really see any downsides to this, based on what you've said. Science is easy. Buy some fun kits in areas of interest and some related books.

We school year-round, but take it much lighter and more vacations in the "summer" (April to Aug for us). I CAT test (christianlibertypress.com) at the very end of whatever grade we are in, after we are "officially" all done with that grade. (This usually happens in April.) That gives me an ending and beginning benchmark at the same time. I note progress from year to year.

My VSL loved and learned a lot from Grammar Tales, Punctuation Tales, and Parts of Speech Tales by Scholastic. The Brian Cleary books are also good. Eat, Shoots and Leaves is good. I agree with pp suggestion about the Sentence Family. What about reading Nesbit's Grammarland together? Super Duper Inc. makes some awesome Fun Decks with all the different parts of speech. Schoolhouse Rock is good. Besides these kinds of things, my VSL also really clicked with diagramming (color code it to be additionally helpful). Also, the Editor in Chief software from Critical Thinking Company was very helpful for my VSL. Painful, but I only required about 10 or 15 minutes at a time once every two weeks. Oh, my VSL also did well with the Language Smarts books from Critical Thinking Company. HTH!

ACE has 7th grade Texas History Paces on cbd. I haven't tried them, but they're not super expensive. I won't be starting Texas History until next year, but I have a few books. The Story of Texas by Weems is in a story format. A Cartoon History of Texas by Patrick Reynolds is a black and white comic strip style book. There's also a neat book called Diary of a Texas Kid which will be nice for field trips. HTH.

Well, if you want them to participate but not rock the boat too much, you could let them dress up as Biblical characters. Or sheep because Jesus is the good shepherd. Or a critter on Noah's Ark.

Ditch the BJU. I did this year (although we're doing 6th grade). You can always come back to BJU a different year if you feel so inclined. You won't miss anything now that won't be covered again later. I highly recommend Evan Moor Literature Pockets. We got Tall Tales. So fun!

Math: Mathematical Reasoning (Critical Thinking Company), Hands On Geometry (Lakeshore Learning Center), Algebra (BJU Press) Grammar: English 6 for Young Catholics, CLE Extra Practice Diagramming Composition: Winning with Writing 2, Beginning Outlining (Remedia) Handwriting: Classically Cursive Attributes of God Spelling: Spectrum Spelling 6 Literature/Reading: Evan Moor Tall Tales, MCP Comprehension Plus B, Illustrated Poems for Children by Stasiak, misc. books at the 6th grade reading level Vocabulary: Garfield Vocabulary Escapades for Middle School US History: A Child's Story of America Memory Work: Declaration of Independence Map Skills: Maps Charts Graphs Ancient History: Evan Moor history pockets on Ancient Civilizations, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome Health: Abeka Choosing Good Health Science: MPH (Singapore) Interactions and Systems Latin: Cambridge 1 Fine Arts: Art Fraud Detective, Mark Kistler Online Academy, Piano, Mozart unit study Bible: Notgrass Draw to Learn the Life of Jesus

Evan Moor has some fun Literature Pockets for the 4-6th grade range. Nonfiction, Fiction, Tall Tales, Greek and Roman Myths, Caldecott Winners. We're doing the Tall Tales one, and it's really fun AND educational!

I would leave asap while the husband is still well. It's going to be one miserable day for everyone, but at least you'll get home.

I am also increasingly doing my own thing for English. I have tons of resources, and I just decided that I'm going to get workbooks that address specific skills to supplement. For grammar, I recently discovered English for Young Catholics by Seton. I'm not Catholic, but I like their approach. They have sort of a big picture explanation (at least in the 6th grade book) at the start of each chapter, and then address a single topic within that for a day or two before adding another topic. Plus they have diagramming throughout and colorful pictures. I am supplementing with a Beginning Outlining book by Remedia Publications (says it's for grades 3-4). CLE has a wonderful diagramming book called Extra Practice Diagramming, and we use that daily. I recently discovered Evan Moor Daily Proofreading, and I love that idea, but I think I'll wait until we finish our other workbooks before adding that in. We use Winning with Writing for Composition. 2nd/3rd graders don't really need much. If you've already done Abeka 3, you're ahead of the game. So I totally agree that you should just pick the skills you want to work on and do your own thing.

Have you looked at changing your electric carrier? I don't know how things are in NC. I'm in TX and you can use powertochoose.org to find who has the lowest rates. We chose a Co-op from the list and have excellent utility rates. Plus they usually give us a giant credit in December, making December and often January totally free. Our co-op is not-for-profit. We love them, and they have saved us a ton of money. If you can work from home, wouldn't you save on gas and clothes?

They are around a fifth grade reading level. They are really, really gruesome, though, so it would depend on how your dd handled that. My 6th grade dd is not ready. But we don't watch horror movies or anything, so our experience might be different from yours.

I like the zippable tote from LL Bean. "Small" size is plenty big, all one compartment. Very durable. I get the Long handles. http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/37037?feat=677-GN1

I think yes. I think they only close the dangerous ones in the rain. However, the best thing to do would just be to call them and ask that particular question. They have pretty good customer service by phone.

Keep him home. Unless you are planning to be at camp with him, it's unreasonable to expect the camp counselors to stay on top of his injury and his activity level. They have enough to do with managing all the children and such.

I love Jamestown. I wouldn't miss it. I like your "one of each" option.

I always take a backpack in with me into Fiesta Texas. They will do a cursory search at the entrance and hand it back. As long as there's no food in it, they shouldn't hassle you. I like "rainy" at Fiesta Texas as long as it's the kind where everyone leaves the park, then it stops and you have the park to yourself. Sadly, it shuts down things like roller coasters. If that's not going to be an issue with you, I vote for a day where some rain is expected, but not all day long all the time. The cooler temps are worth it.

Has anyone tried the Behold and See Science on some of the Catholic homeschool sites? It looks really good, although it only goes through 6th grade. I think I might try the 5th grade book for 7th grade and the 6th grade for 8th. We're not super-science-y here, but my dd has really bought into the YE thing due to BJU and I need to work on that. They have a Life Science for middle school (this was CHC), but it was all black and white so I didn't spend too much time looking at it. They recommended Science Shepherd Biology for high school, with a supplement that CHC provides about evolution and such.