How to Make Clear Slime

I originally published this tutorial on Crafting a Green World.

Slime is a wonderful sensory experience, and I'm thrilled that so many young people are embracing the joy of exploring interesting textures (there are no interesting textures on their phones!). Making slime is also a terrifically educational activity, with problem-solving and reading and following instructions combined with quite a lot of chemistry and not a little bit of physics, as well.

To make clear slime, I consulted my own resident slime-making expert. She's put in hundreds of hours making slime, and is here with us today to teach you how to make clear slime, the Holy Grail of slimes. Syd's clear slime isn't your ordinary, everyday "clear" slime that's actually milky or white, she tells me. When she says that her slime is clear, she means it is CLEAR.

As in crystal!

So read along as the world's slimiest kid takes the task of making clear slime and breaks it down so simply that even the average non-slimer adult can follow it.

To make clear slime, you will need:

• Clear Elmer's glue. I used to be able to buy this by the gallon, but lately, I've only found smaller containers for sale. I sure hope the gallon size comes back soon!
• Hot water. The water should be hot, but still, a comfortable temperature for a kid to touch. For mobile slime-making (yes, this is something that she does...), Syd boils a kettle of water, then pours it into a thermos for transport.
• Contact lens solution. Buy the cheapest on the market for this project, making sure that it contains boric acid.
• Baking soda.
• Two mixing bowls, a spoon, and a resealable container for storage.

1. Pour 1/2 cup of clear glue into a bowl. Remember that kids do this, so don't worry about trying to make your measurements too fussy. The important thing is that you're using CLEAR glue, not white. You can use white glue for other slimes, but then your slime won't be clear!

2. Mix in 1 tbsp of saline solution. This is also known as contact lens solution.

So here's a thing that I want to tell you about: we're going to talk about borax. When slime-making first got big, there was an actual backlash as people started FREAKING OUT that their kids were touching borax. As alternatives, people started posting slime recipes that don't use borax. Some of those recipes are great, some are not, and lots of them use contact lens solution as their substitute for borax.

Y'all, contact lens solution and borax both come from boron! They're pretty much the same, just that one is in powder form and the other is dissolved into a solution.

Not that I think that you should even force your kids to avoid borax, because I don't think that at all. Heck, my kids were making laundry soap from borax with their bare hands at the age of eight (they probably should have been wearing gloves, but still). Borax is FINE, Friends. Sure, if they bathe in it every day for a month it'll irritate their skin, but so will pool water.

3. In a separate container, dissolve 1/2 tsp of baking soda into 1/2 cup of hot water. Stir it well and make sure that it dissolves completely.

4. Once the baking soda is completely dissolved, pour it into the glue mixture. Try to pour it over the entire surface of the glue mixture.

5. Wait approximately a minute, then stir. Knead if necessary. 

At first, the mixture will be a goopy mess but continue stirring and you'll be able to see when the slime activates because it will start to ball up. It will still be sticky when you start to knead it but keep working it and it will become ever more elastic and non-Newtonian until it's the perfect slime.

You will have some of your baking soda and water solution left in the bowl, and that's perfectly fine and normal.

One thing that your slime will not start out as is perfectly clear, for the simple fact that you just kneaded a ton of bubbles into it.

If you really want perfectly clear slime, then pop it into an airtight container and let it sit for a day. The next day, it will be clear!

Note that as soon as you start playing with it, though, you'll start kneading bubbles back into it. This picture is of the clear slime that Syd has played with for a while, and you can see the bubbles:

Pro Tip: Syd stores her slime in small plastic deli containers to keep it fresh--and off of my carpet! She tells me that this particular slime will lose its bounce after several days, but it's easy to reactivate it. To reactive this clear slime, dissolve 1/2 tsp baking soda in 1/2 cup hot water. Pour the older slime mixture into this solution, stir, and then knead it when it becomes firmer. Keep the reactivated slime and discard the excess water.

Homeschool Math: Perfect Squares Hiding inside Area Models

Syd was simplifying radicals the other day, and not having a fun time of it. She was struggling to link the concept of factoring the radicand to simplifying, and I was trying, as usual, to think of hands-on manipulatives that might clarify the process. 

I did NOT find a way to model simplifying radicals using manipulatives, alas, but while I was playing around with the decanomial square I DID find a hands-on enrichment that kids who are first learning the concept of perfect squares might enjoy.

I like this little activity because it connects the mathematical definition of the perfect square with the Montessori-style sensorial skill of eyeballing it, or even measuring it by feel. Although you're technically not allowed to eyeball stuff as mathematical proof, pattern recognition via the senses is very important. That's how kids learn to read, for one thing, and it's how IQ tests are built, for another. 

Use this activity with a kid who's first learning, or reviewing, the concept of the perfect square. You can do it with paper area models that a kid can draw and color on, or you can do it, as I've done here, with the decanomial square model, which is extra fun because it has pieces you can manipulate. Kids could try to find the largest perfect square(s) that would fit inside the area model, or just find any perfect squares that would--whatever they find fun and you find helpful! Here are some models that show examples:

These first two are when I was still thinking I might figure out a way to model simplifying radicals. I LOVE combining manipulatives with a dry-erase board to help kids connect the model to the algorithm it represents.

For all these examples, I've pulled an area model from our decanomial square, and we're arranging the perfect squares on top of it, leaving, of course, a remainder since the area models aren't themselves perfect squares.

You can write algebraic equations with these, showing how to use the Order of Operations and/or solve for x. For example:

5 + 5 x 5 = 30

or

8^2 + 2^2 + y = 80

You just can't, you know, use them to model how to simplify radicals...

The search continues!

P.S. Here are the resources that I used to help both kids master radicals.

Six Months Ago: Homeschool Science: Dissect a Sheep Brain
One Year Ago: August Favorites: Soap Operas, Broadway Musicals, and Ballet Studios
Two Years Ago: We Went to Canada and Saw the World's Highest Tides in Fundy National Park
Three Years Ago: History of Fashion: How to Put on a Doric Chiton in Ancient Greece
Four Years Ago: Cruise to Alaska Day 7: Haines
Five Years Ago: Watercolor and Wood Burned Building Block Excess
Six Years Ago: Cardstock Covered Wagons on the Oregon Trail
Seven Years Ago: Demonstrating the Commutative Property of Addition using Cuisenaire Rods
Eight Years Ago: Cave Painting with Story of the World Ancient Times
Nine Years Ago: Giant Cardboard Constructions
Ten Years Ago: Have You Climbed a Tree Lately?
Eleven Years Ago: Where Small Things Will Soon be Sorted
Twelve Years Ago: Scooby Dooby Doo, Where are You?

A Small Social Justice Study

 

This summer, I think that a lot of us felt the need to start getting a lot more informed about social justice issues. The kids clearly felt this need, too, and we had a lot of great conversations... which led to a lot of great questions...

...which I did not feel equipped to answer. 

I did what I generally do, then, when asked a question I do not know the answer to--I suggested that we look it up!

Rather, I suggested that we rewrite two of the Girl Scout badges at the kids' levels--the Cadette Finding Common Ground badge and the Senior Social Innovator badge--to encompass a short study on social justice, during which we could research the answers to our most pressing questions and find out more about the issues that we felt most called to.

There are so many--too many!--social justice issues to be able to give them all our careful attention during one short study, so we decided that we'd focus on just Black Lives Matter and the LGBTIA+ pride movement for the moment. 

The National Museum of African American History and Culture has a LOT of helpful information for thinking and talking about racial identity, bias, our country's history of racism, and how to be activity anti-racist. The kids and I went through a couple of their topics together, and then we each explored the rest of the topics separately and came together for conversation about them.

We spent another interesting afternoon working on a giant puzzle and listening to interviews of people who represent important moments in LGBTQIA+ history. Or rather, the kids got to work on our puzzle, while I stayed at the laptop and ready-referenced the questions that they continually peppered me with. AIDS activism in the early 1980s and the Stonewall Riots are the only historical events that I feel confident lecturing off-the-cuff about to the kids, so thank goodness for Wikipedia!

If you're interested in the history of the AIDS epidemic (it has a lot of modern parallels!), I highly recommend this book:

It's intense, and so, so, so sad, but it's also a vivid example of the extreme amount of social activism that's required to achieve even a starting point of social justice. AIDS activists sacrificed their careers, their reputations, and sometimes their lives just to get to a point where our government could begin to consider that perhaps we should not deliberately let entire swathes of people succumb to a pandemic.

On another afternoon, we popped popcorn and watched this documentary on the Stonewall riots:

It's a good example of how yes, you DO sometimes have to commit civil disobedience to right a social wrong that's been legislated into existence.

Here's another good example:

There IS a Book Three, but we're still on hold for it at the library!

John Lewis' story is epic. I'm ashamed to admit that I knew nothing about the Freedom Riders until I read his story. I'm sure my school system failed me in not teaching this, and then I failed myself by still not learning it after I was grown up and supposed to teach myself everything I'd missed out on learning as a kid. 

As another project on another day, the kids looked up book lists featuring POC and LGBTQIA+ people. There are several book lists referenced in this article about things white people can do to advance racial justice. There are a ton more great books in this list of children's and middle-grade LGBTQIA+ literature. The kids requested all the ones that looked interesting to them from our public library, and if there were any that the library didn't already own, they were to fill out a Suggest a Purchase form for it. Our library is awesome, and I think that Will only managed to find one book on all of these lists that the library didn't own! We got a bunch of new stuff to read for ourselves, though--I was especially excited to see that Jazz, whose picture book I always recommend to people as THE way to explain what it means to be transgender to anyone young or old, has a memoir now!

The Cadette Finding Common Ground badge wanted Syd to explore civil debate. Watching protest march footage certainly covers that, but at that point in the summer I didn't want to actually take the kids to anything in-person, but I did want to find something that showed how anyone can agitate for social justice, so we also spent another afternoon working on our paint-by-numbers and listening to protest poetry and protest songs. Here's an extensive list of protest poetry--shout-out to Paul Laurence Dunbar, who we previously met while learning about flying machines!

The kids sat with all of the research that we'd done for a few days, then came together to create a list entitled "How to be an Ally." Here's part of it:

They did pretty well, although their list shows that I didn't do enough to help them feel empowered and able to take direct action, perhaps, as much of the list is more about amplifying the message or showing support for the message, etc. Or maybe that's a product of this pandemic, when I don't feel comfortable encouraging the kids to attend protests or physically volunteer their time, so then they don't think of those options. But ultimately, their list is do-able and kid-friendly, and they each chose an item from it to do right then:

Syd intends to make digital copies of her hand-drawn pinback buttons (in the top photo), so that anyone with a 1" pinback button maker can download them and make them, too, but then high school started, and her algebra and biology teachers are definitely making up for the lack of work that her French and art teachers are giving her. So pinback button designs might have to wait until she learns everything there is to learn about algebra and biology first...

In other news, Will's teen police club, run by our local law enforcement officers, had a meeting (in the brief window when our community was starting to get back to doing stuff like that, before they stopped again) specifically to discuss Black Lives Matter and the instances of police brutality that have been so much in the news. Will came prepared (because I'd given her a list of these instances and required her to research them, summarize them, and then write her opinions), and although overall the discussion wasn't the absolute greatest, it wasn't terribly awful, either. I don't think that the officers who volunteer their time to work with the community's children are bad-hearted, but I don't think that they're exactly the wokest, either. And at one point, when an officer was discussing our farmer's market controversy and told the children that there was no proof that the Schooner Creek farm was run by Nazis, Will spoke right up and told everyone there that our family knows them and they're definitely Nazis.

Technically, I think they're actually "white identitarians" who refuse to admit that they're racist and instead insist that they just want to evict all POC from this entire country that was originally stolen from its indigenous people, but whatever. Everyone knew what she meant.

And I guess if I was looking for direct action towards social justice, then stepping up to contradict a police officer and tell a group of your peers a bit about your own experience with racism is pretty direct!

Homeschool STEAM: An Introduction to Designing Robots (and Badly-Designed Robots!)

After you learn how to program robots, you can focus on how to design them to both meet specific challenges AND be pleasing for others to experience. 

The kids learned a LOT about robots during our Programming Robots study, and I'm excited for them to be able to make use of that knowledge while they develop creative solutions to problems that they find interesting.

First, though, we've got to figure out what it means to "design" a robot, what the qualities of good design are, and how to think about problem-solving in a way that encourages good design.

To that end, we explored this website on Design Thinking, and watched the related TED Talk:

I really love the emphasis, here, on research to find out what the intended users' needs and experiences are. Skipping that step results not just in bad design, but bad charity projects, bad business start-ups, bad Christmas gifts, bad social justice efforts... bad everything! Putting people first, and really taking the time and effort to meet them where they actually are, so that you can serve them in the ways that most benefit them, is crucial. It's the first step in everything from solving world hunger to fighting racism.

Before we get started on designing robots for real, I wanted the kids to have the chance to play around with some fun and easy designs, just to get the idea of how design can transform an object. I gave them this recycled robots kit (that I checked out from the LIBRARY!!!!!)--

--and told them to build me any kind of automaton that they wanted.

Their automatons turned out useless and adorable, just they way we wanted them to be!

As well as being cute and fun, this activity is a good example of "bad" design. Sure, the little automatons are cute and fun, but they're also useless, and their designs are meaningless. There's no particular reason for any given design feature, and although aesthetics IS a good reason for some design decisions, each decision should still have a reason for why you did it that way.

If I had this lesson to do again, I'd have the kids make their recycled robots first, then constructively critique them after learning about the Design Thinking process, and THEN redesign them on paper or as a model so that they actually DO fulfill a purpose or solve a problem.

...Actually... I may do that last part as our next robotics lesson!

How to Homeschool in Indiana

Fun facts about homeschooling in Indiana: there are very few regulations, and no top-down guidance.

If you're a confident and conscientious homeschooler, this is great news. You can follow your kids' interests, let them learn at their own pace, explore whatever inspires them without having to worry about state standards. You can study Ancient History instead of State History in fourth grade, let your kid learn everything possible about astronomy instead of following along with the second grade science standards, mind your own business while they drop every other academic goal and simply read for most of their waking hours. Essentially, your kids can study what they want,when they want, and how they want, and the state of Indiana does not care.

If you don't know where to begin, though, don't know what to encourage your kids to study, or when to encourage them to study,  or how to encourage them to study, this can be terrifying. The state of Indiana won't give you curriculum advice. It doesn't employ consultants for you. It won't offer you any kind of testing, portfolio review, or any other way of making sure your kids are on track, at-level, and learning well. You are responsible for ALL of that.

That means, of course, that if you're lazy or don't prioritize, you might not do any of that. Yes, I DO know parents who shouldn't be homeschooling their kids. I know parents who do a much better job educating their kids than could be done in any local school, and I know schoolkids who'd be much better served by homeschooling instead, but I also know kids who are homeschooling but would have a better academic and social experience in school. 

Don't be those parents.

ANYWAY... I'm mostly here to talk to you uncertain Indiana parents today. I know that generally, when a blogger says something like, "Everyone is asking me about blah blah blah," nobody is actually asking them anything; they just want to talk about blah blah blah. But when I tell you that EVERYBODY is asking me how to homeschool in Indiana these days, I promise you that this is metaphorically true. I've been spending some time every single day lately talking someone or other through Indiana's very few homeschool regulations. So here, and mostly so I can copy-and-paste my own words more easily into various Facebook Message and Comment boxes and text conversations, is what I've been saying.

HOMESCHOOLING IS ALLOWED IN INDIANA

This state code tells you that homeschooling in Indiana is allowed:

IC 22-4.1-25-1.5"School"

     Sec. 1.5. As used in this chapter, "school" includes a public school, a charter school, a state accredited nonpublic school (as defined in IC 20-18-2-18.7), and a nonaccredited nonpublic school.

A homeschool is a nonaccredited, nonpublic school. Just flows melodically off the tongue, yes?

BEGIN HOMESCHOOLING BY THE AGE OF SEVEN; PROVIDE AN EDUCATION EQUIVALENT TO THAT GIVEN IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

This state code tells you the age at which you must begin homeschooling your child:

IC 20-33-2-8Students not bound by requirements

     Sec. 8. A student is not bound by the requirements of this chapter until the student becomes seven (7) years of age, if, upon request of the superintendent of the school corporation, the parent of a student who would otherwise be subject to compulsory school attendance under section 6 of this chapter certifies to the superintendent that the parent intends to:

(1) enroll the student in a nonaccredited, nonpublic school; or

(2) begin providing the student with instruction equivalent to that given in the public schools as permitted under section 28 of this chapter;

not later than the date on which the student becomes seven (7) years of age.

The magic age is seven! If you've kept your kid home from first grade, though, you've likely begun to homeschool them before their seventh birthday, but before the age of seven, you don't have to even call it homeschooling; school in Indiana is not mandatory until the age of seven.

This code is a little strange in that it seems to imply that you can EITHER enroll your kid in a "nonaccredited, nonpublic school," OR begin providing them with instruction equivalent to that given in the public schools. But both of those things are homeschooling! The key phrase in there, though, is "instruction equivalent to that given in the public schools." Although there are no curriculum requirements (as you'll see below), your kid's education must be "equivalent." There is no definition of this term, either! Here in Indiana, homeschooling parents take this to mean that we should be able to show our local school corporation's superintendent, if so requested, that we are educating our children. This means that you should be keeping some records and a portfolio of work, even if you unschool.

HOMESCHOOL FOR AT LEAST 180 DAYS PER YEAR

When your homeschooling kid is seven, this compulsory attendance code comes into play:

IC 20-33-2-5Days of attendance

     Sec. 5. A student for whom education is compulsory under this chapter shall attend school each year for the number of days public schools are in session:

(1) in the school corporation in which the student is enrolled in Indiana; or

(2) where the student is enrolled if the student is enrolled outside Indiana.

Right now, Indiana public schools are in session for 180 days each school year. You should have some kind of method for proving that your child homeschools that number of days yearly, as well (although at least in our family, we homeschool FAR more than that...). Your method can be as simple as a calendar on which you've written "absences will be marked with a red x." If your calendar is blank, there have been no absences!

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TRANSFERRING TO HOMESCHOOL MUST SIGN A FORM OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

If your student is in a public high school, however, and wants to transfer to homeschooling, there is another regulation that applies to you:

IC 20-33-2-28.6Transfer to nonaccredited nonpublic school; acknowledgment of legal requirements; notification to bureau of motor vehicles

     Sec. 28.6. (a) This section applies to a high school student who is transferring to a nonaccredited nonpublic school.

     (b) Before a student withdraws from a public school, the principal of the student's school shall provide to the student and to the student's parent information on a form developed by the department and approved by the state board that explains the legal requirements of attending a nonaccredited nonpublic school located in Indiana. The principal and a parent of the student shall both sign the form to acknowledge that the parent understands the content of the form.

     (c) If the parent of the student refuses to sign the form provided by the principal under subsection (b), the student is considered a dropout and the principal may report the student to the bureau of motor vehicles for action under section 28.5(g) of this chapter. The student is considered a dropout for purposes of calculating a high school's graduation rate under IC 20-26-13-10.

The reasoning behind this is that apparently, some schools that wanted to get rid of students would convince their parents to withdraw them to homeschooling, instead, so that the school didn't have to count those students as drop-outs. The kids generally essentially were drop-outs, however. So now if you withdraw a high school student to homeschooling, you have to sign a form saying that you understand what you're doing. You still may NOT understand what you're doing, but at least the school's butt is covered!

Here's the problem with homeschooling a high school student in Indiana: you can transfer from public high school to homeschooling, easy-peasy, but you do not want to transfer from homeschooling to high school mid-way through. That's because the state calls courses that are standardized to meet their minimum requirements "accredited," and ONLY the public schools, private schools that have jumped through the hoops, and a couple of online providers count as "accredited." So if your kid homeschools through ninth grade, then wants to transfer to the public high school in tenth grade, they'll take her, but they won't count her as a tenth-grader, because they won't accept anything she studied at home as "accredited." My kid has a rocking PSAT score and three stellar AP exam scores under her belt, not to even mention her super challenging math classes and all the other kick-ass stuff she's studied in the past two years, but if I tried to put her in our local high school, she'd have absolutely nothing they would accept as a credit towards graduation.

So in Indiana, if your kid thinks that they might want to go to public high school AT ALL, they need to try it in fall of their freshman year. They can always transfer back to homeschooling if they don't like it, but if there's even a chance they'll want to graduate from a public high school with that accredited diploma, they need to start in ninth grade.

INDIANA HOMESCHOOLERS HAVE NO PRESCRIBED CURRICULA; INDIANA HOMESCHOOLERS "MAY" PARTICIPATE IN PUBLIC SCHOOL ACTIVITIES WITH PERMISSION

Here are two state regulations wrapped into one:

IC 20-33-2-12Nonpublic, nonaccredited, and nonapproved schools; curriculum or content requirements; student enrollment or participation

     Sec. 12. (a) A school that is:

(1) nonpublic;

(2) nonaccredited; and

(3) not otherwise approved by the state board;

is not bound by any requirements set forth in IC 20 or IC 21 with regard to curriculum or the content of educational programs offered by the school.

     (b) This section may not be construed to prohibit a student who attends a school described in subsection (a) from enrolling in a particular educational program or participating in a particular educational initiative offered by an accredited public, nonpublic, or state board approved nonpublic school if:

(1) the governing body or superintendent, in the case of the accredited public school; or

(2) the administrative authority, in the case of the accredited or state board approved nonpublic school;

approves the enrollment or participation by the student.

     (c) A student who attends a school described in subsection (a) who also enrolls in a particular educational program or initiative as permitted under subsection (b) may be offered the opportunity to participate in state standardized assessments, but such participation is not required.

Here's where Indiana tells you that there is no prescribed curriculum or content for homeschooling. You're a "nonpublic, nonaccredited" school, and they wash their hands of you!

Here's also where they tell you that your homeschooling kid CAN participate in a public school--a class or a club or, as Will does, a standardized exam--IF the superintendent or school board (or often just the principal) say they can. What they don't tell you is that depending on the district, more often than not the school will say a flat-out no. The school district we live in, for example, is extremely unwilling to let homeschooling students participate in anything, including College Board exams that are ONLY hosted at schools. Will has had to go out of district to take both the PSAT and AP exams, because the school that our property taxes go to refuses to host her.

Pro tip: if you want your kid to do something that only happens at school, like the PSAT or AP exams, start asking far and wide several months in advanced, and be prepared to travel when your local schools refuse.

And that's all the Indiana-specific regulations for homeschooling! You can see that other than some rules about compulsory education, you're quite free to plan your child's educational experience with them. It can be intimidating, at first, not to have any guidelines about curricula, but you can always peek at the state/national standards if you're curious to know what's being studied at every grade, and the freedom to let your kid study at their own pace, within their own passions, and as adventurously as they desire is so worth it!

P.S. If you want to see more about the day-to-day of our homeschooling, check out my Craft Knife Facebook page for pics, works in progress, resources, and all the weirdness that encompasses my kiddos' education!

How to Homeschool Math: Our Curricula, Resources, and Activities for Middle School and High School (So Far!)

In a lot of ways, middle school and high school are GREAT years to homeschool math. Homeschool math curricula are written to the student in these grades, so most of your mentor time is simply keeping them on track and making sure they're completing their work correctly. 

This, though, seems to be when a lot of parents lose confidence. Yes, you can teach your kid how to multiply multi-digit numbers with your eyes closed (I hope! If not, just look it up--it's easy to re-learn). But if your kid needs help with quadratics, you might be at a loss, because you don't remember that nonsense AT ALL, and now you're back to thinking that you're terrible at math, you don't like it anyway, and you probably shouldn't be teaching your kid, anyway.

I'm not going to tell you whether or not you should be teaching your kid, but I AM going to tell you that middle school math and high school math are NOT beyond you. The only reason you think they are is that your kid's independence has meant that you've stopped following along with them in their math curriculum, and of course you're going to be lost when they ask you to help with some random skill that you haven't reviewed the background for. 

So keep following along in your kid's math, even if they can follow it themselves these days. And even when they don't need your help, keep doing enrichment with them. All those fun games and activities and craft projects and puzzles that inspired them to love math in the elementary years are still fun and inspirational, and being older and knowing more skills just means that they can be exposed to even cooler games and activities and craft projects and puzzles! Sometimes math is going to be a real slog for them, because some of those skills ARE hard and DO take a lot of grit to master, and while that grit is also a very important lesson, kids also need to be reminded that math is fun and exciting. 

That's what YOU'RE for!

The kids' curriculum for middle school math was the same as for elementary school math, Math Mammoth's Light Blue Series. After a kid finishes level 7, she's ready for Algebra!

For part of middle school, we also used this text as a combined math/science/history study:

This is Will's curriculum for high school math:

• Art of Problem Solving Introduction to Algebra: This was Will's Algebra 1 curriculum, which we spread out for all of eighth and ninth grades. We used the textbook alone for the first half, until I got sick to my bones of Will turning my corrections into a power struggle and switched her to their AOPS online classes. They're spendy as hell, and if we couldn't afford them I'd still be teaching her, myself, but it's quite the relief to no longer be the object of math-related ire!
• Here are extra resources for AOPS Introduction to Algebra Chapter 1.
• Art of Problem Solving Introduction to Geometry: After Algebra 1 comes geometry!
• Art of Problem Solving Intermediate Algebra. Will is going to start this class later in August. After that, I'm confident that AOPS precalculus and calculus will see her through to graduation!

Here are some other textbook, reading, and viewing resources that we used:

Depending on your kid's interest and attention span, middle and high school open you up to the whole range of books and documentaries geared to a general audience. You are going to be shocked at how many really fun non-fiction books on mathematical topics there are! There are histories, biographies of mathematicians, cool things that people have done using math--seriously, do a catalog search at your library! It's going to be awesome! There are also tons of documentary series and high-quality feature films--think about the first time you watched something like Primer or The Astronaut, and how inspired you were. Now imagine that you're a teenager with a billion opportunities in front of you. It's really exciting!

I don't have a list of must-have manipulatives and enrichment resources for these grades, because there aren't really any "must-haves." That doesn't mean that middle and high school kids DON'T need manipulatives, however--just the opposite! Middle and high school kids have the sophistication to use anything in the real world that interests them, or any high-quality tools and supplies that might help them engage in their passions or inspire them to try something new. Here are some of the super random things that my kids have enjoyed and that have given them a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts:



Here are some of the other exciting stuff that we've done in middle and high school math. Just like with elementary math, some of these projects were inspired by what the kids were currently studying or their interests at the moment, and some were cool projects that I presented to them or that we did as a family. I like both ways--if the kids are studying geometry, for instance, that's the perfect time to introduce some really wild and fun geometry activity, but it's also the perfect time to introduce some really wild and fun very much NOT geometry activity, too. Get those brains ranging deep and wide!

• Archimedes' Method of Exhaustion to Calculate Pi. We're kind of collectively obsessed with pi in our homeschool. I'm also a huge history nerd, so I was all about showing the kids how Archimedes approximated pi by calculating the perimeters of of inscribed and circumscribed regular polygons on a circle... and then I had the kids try it!
• Level this down to a challenging elementary activity by simply showing a kid how to draw circumscribed and inscribed regular polygons on a circle.
• This activity also works as-is for high school.
• Map Coloring. Using the greedy algorithm makes map coloring surprisingly systematical (and fun!), but it's still a tricky little challenge.
• Mathematical map coloring can be used as-is as a challenging elementary activity.
• Mathematical map coloring can be incorporated into geography and history studies at the high school level. There are always maps to color!

• Model Algebraic Equations with a Decanomial Square. This is a terrific introductory exploration of how to write and solve algebraic equations. 
• Level this down to a challenging elementary activity by using it as an extension after a kid learns how to calculate area.
• Level this up to high school by asking the kid to simplify the equations they create.

• Perfect Squares Hiding Inside Area Models. Practice spotting perfect squares, or use these area models to help you build equations that use the Order of Operations, especially exponents.

• Model the Pythagorean Theorem with the Decanomial Square. The decanomial square is endlessly useful! Here, you can use some of the square pieces and some centimeter graph paper to model and test the Pythagorean theorem.

• DIY Binomial Square/Trinomial Square Manipulative. This manipulative is related to the binomial cube/trinomial cube, below. Your kid might encounter binomial squares in their math curriculum, but even if they don't, I am a BIG fan of introducing it here. It's great practice in modeling formulas that might seem abstract (and therefore scary), and it's fun!
• Level the binomial square/trinomial square manipulative down to a challenging elementary activity by playing with it after the decanomial square.

• Binomial Square from a Decanomial Square. I love to present the same concept several different ways and at lots of different times. This activity uses the decanomial square to build a binomial square, and then explore creating an equation that represents that configuration. I like it even better than the manipulative, above, because there are so many more choices a kid can make.

• Area Models to Square Binomials and Trinomials. Before (or while) you teach the FOIL method to square a binomial, let kids actually see what they're doing! THIS is how FOIL makes sense!
• Level the area models to square binomials and trinomials down to a challenging elementary activity by exploring it without connecting it to the FOIL method.

• Fibonacci Sequence. Middle school is a great time to explore the Fibonacci Sequence for fun! Kids can create their own Fibonacci Sequence models, and then play with pattern creating using them. 
• Level Fibonacci Sequence exploration down to elementary by providing the models as manipulatives, and letting kids concentrate on the pattern creating.
• Level Fibonacci Sequence exploration up to high school by including more reading/viewing resources that discuss extensions and applications.

• Fraction Division with Cuisenaire Rods. If all you know about dividing fractions is to invert the divisor and then multiply, you don't *really* understand dividing fractions. Model it with Cuisenaire rods, and you can see what you're actually doing!
• Level this to high school by using it as a review when a kid can't immediately recall the correct algorithm.

• Fraction Multiplication Model Sun Catchers. Here's a really fun project that's as much art as it is math. As long as you choose your sample problems correctly, you'll make a model that will both demonstrate exactly what you're doing when you multiply fractions, AND you'll have a beautiful sun catcher!
• Level this down to a challenging elementary activity by pre-printing the model blanks and encouraging more open exploration of the ways that one can combine two colors rather than specifically making multiplication models.
• Geometry Nets with Building Toys. Convert a kid's building toys into polyhedra models, either challenging kids to come up with specific polyhedra or encouraging open exploration to see what polyhedra are possible. Here are some building toy sets that work well with this activity:

 

• Level this activity down to elementary by introducing the concept of geometry nets during free play, and encouraging kids to create the nets for some of the Platonic solids.

• Graph Candy. Here's a delicious way to review fractions, decimals, percents, and ratios, as well as how to make graphs and pie charts. 

• Graph the digits of pi. Don't believe that pi goes on forever? You will after you've graphed it as far as you can stand! This also makes a beautiful art project, even a permanent installation. It can be a fun activity to do over several days, eventually taking over an entire wall or spreading out across the whole house.
• Level graphing the digits of pi down to elementary by introducing it after learning the concept of graphing. Use Cuisenaire rods as the graph pieces!

• Mark Circles in the Snow. A fresh snowfall is the perfect time to take math outdoors! Here, the kids practice their geometry knowledge by marking a giant circle in the snow. Grab a meter stick or tape measure to take some measurements, and head inside, or snuggle up to a bonfire, to calculate the radius, diameter, and circumference.

• Measure Tall Objects using Ratios of Similar Right Triangles. Get outside and measure something tall!
• This activity works as-is for high school, as well.

• Zometool Crystallizations. The sky's the limit when you figure out how to tile a basic shape in both two and three dimensions. This is a surprisingly tricky logic puzzle, and it's terrific for building patterning intuition.
• You can use this activity as-is in both elementary and high school.
• Tangrams. I first introduced tangrams to the kids when they were very small and we were studying China, but tangrams are such a sophisticated manipulative that you can easily challenge yourself with them no matter how old you are.
• Definitely use tangrams as-in in high school!

• DIY Binomial Cube/Trinomial Cube Manipulative: This is a visual, tangible model of the binomial cube and trinomial cube. Kids can help build it, or simply manipulate it after it's built. You can create pattern cards or work through it verbally. You can use it as a bridge to teach kids the formula or let them figure out a workable formula through their own experimentation.
• Level the binomial cube/trinomial cube manipulative down to a challenging middle school activity by calling it a "puzzle," the object of which is to create a perfect cube.
• Level the binomial cube/trinomial cube manipulative down to an elementary activity by offering it as free play.

I don't blog about every single thing that I do with the kids, so here are some of the Pinboards where I collect even more middle and high school math resources. Some I've done, some I haven't, but I think they all look pretty cool!

• Homeschool Math: Fractions
• Homeschool Math: Geometry
• Homeschool Math: Algebra
• Homeschool: Logic
• Homeschool: Physics

I often tell people that I LOVED homeschooling the early years--I mean, who wouldn't? The picture books! The mud puddles! The field trips to the fire station! But the thing about me that you've probably sussed out is that I need a LOT of mental stimulation--like... a LOT--and homeschooling those little kids didn't always provide it to me. There was a whole summer when I think I fell asleep every single afternoon while reading Syd whatever Rainbow Fairy book she'd presented to me that day. Anyway, homeschooling big kids isn't like that. They can do puzzles and work projects and try activities that genuinely grown-up humans think are cool, too, and don't have all the answers for. That Zometool crystallization activity, for instance? I STILL think about the crystal that I created, and I still kinda think that I accidentally found the cure for cancer or unlocked another dimension with it...

...until, you know, I took it apart so that we could do something else cool with the pieces.

P.S. Want to see what else we do that's cool? I share resources, works in progress, and more updates on our adventures daily over at my Craft Knife Facebook page.