I'm asking for a friend whose son wants to homeschool for 11th and 12th grade. They want him to get a high school diploma and you can only get that through an accredited school here in WV. Anyone have any experiences with Keystone? Pros and cons? My kids aren't quite there yet so I'm not sure. Any other suggestions for online high school / accreditation? Thank you!

Has anyone used this before? I ordered it from Timberdoodle and am just now getting to it. I'm intrigued. It seems like it would be used for a child who struggles with math like my daughter does (she definitely has dyscalculia or something similar) and gets great results. I am not familiar with it and wonder if I need a teacher's guide (it's $85! each level) or not? http://www.timberdoodle.com/Jump_At_Home_Math_s/889.htm

We use a lot of the copywork material. My daughter just LOOOOVES to do copywork so I download a new one whenever there is a good freebie or sale.

I liked reading "With Lee in Virginia" by Henty. It really helped me to see that not all slave owners were wicked people. Often, they were good bosses and the slaves were very loyal to them and remained so even after the war ended.

It's on sale right now until midnight, I think! http://www.visionforum.com/browse/product/balancing-the-sword/?search=balancing+sword&sortby=0

So, I'm looking at TOG again and thinking this might be a better choice for my 7th grader rather than Omni I. I could also combine with my two younger school-aged kids. When I used TOG before, I really didn't like the fact that I couldn't just hand my kids their student worksheets. I had to photocopy the pages for each child as I'll have 2 in the same level and one in Dialectic. I want to keep the master sheet in my binder and not have it used up. Is there an easier way? Is there something on the Loom or elsewhere that has student activity sheets that are easily printed for each student in advance? It was so much work and time to go thru the guide and make copies. Also, how do you do the vocab and geography? The lists are so long - I ended up typing them out but it really was too time-consuming this way. Is there a better way? Is the DE version the way to go for what I'm wanting? Basically, a way for me to just print out their own mini guides? I already have Years 1-3 and used part of #2. I have the first two units in page protectors so I could check things off with a dry-erase marker. I don't think I'll do it that way again. I think I'll just use a pencil this time. I just wonder if DE is the way to go for me as I'm thinking this through. If I make marks, notes, etc. I'm pretty weird about having a nice like new curriculum for the next child. I have 2 more under that who will go through this in a couple of years so it does have to last. I'm blabbing along. Can anyone give me some tips?

I get all our Faber books from either JWPepper or Sheet Music Plus. Take a look at the Accelerated Piano Adventures for Older Beginner series - it says 11 and older - but might be a good fit for you and your older children. My husband used the Alfred Adult beginner which has a very nice selection of pieces.

Ooh, thanks for the evaluation! I think I will go for the WWE 4 and see how he does. If anything, we can practice and then the younger kids will use it later on. So, nothing lost.

What's WWS?

I really like the Critical Thinking material. Reading Detective series is excellent imo.

I'll take a look at it and compare! Level 4 seemed ok, but I don't want to make it too difficult for him. Thank you!

I agree. I would just go for the American history when it comes up. He can also watch some History channel episodes in chronological order if you want him to get some Am. Hist. until he gets there.

Oh! Hadn't thought of using that! I do have the HB! I'll take a look this evening. Thanks so much!

Cayden (8 yr) is very very active. My husband, who is a psychiatrist, is sure he has ADHD but doesn't want to medicate him. We've been trying nutritional supplements up until recently. The thing that really concerns me are the tics that he manifests. The tics change from time to time and they are very obvious. As he gets older, he is more self-conscious and if ANYONE mentions them, he is really embarrassed and hurt. I've just made an appt with his ped. to see him but I wonder if someone can help me? What do we do? How can we help him cope? He is a nervous ball of energy. When he sits on my lap, I can feel him buzz. His arms and hands twitch. His tics range from: eye-blinking either blinking hard or blinking fast or a combo of both shaking his head like he's getting hair out of his eyes making small burping, gulping sounds flaring nostrils raising his shoulders up and down pushing his head forward when he talks in an exaggerated motion blurting out things you know he's not thinking before speaking He's getting tagged by his buddies and siblings as being odd. He is always in someone's face, touching someone, blurting out stuff, not controlling his body, up and down up and down. I'm really having a hard time with him. He is a sweet kid and doesn't maliciously hurt people. He almost 'can't help it'. We have the bouncy ball when he does school, he has a small tramp he can jump on. I try to have little Legos or something he can fiddle with and I think it helps. Funny thing is, he scored so high on his testing. He got all 8s and 9s on the Stanines and 95%ile overall which was a pleasant surprise! He's a smart cookie but he's exasperating! I love him and want to help him. Anyone have this in their children? Help!!!

Would WWE 4 be a good fit for him to practice? He's never narrated, no copywork, no summaries, no dictation. I am going to go through either Classical Composition or IEW with him this summer but also want to give specific narration / dictation / copywork exercises. Would this be too easy for him? I want something that's already pre-packaged. I use WWE with my other kids and really like it.