"Learn This!" is a book about everything.  Things you should know before you enter high school.  I say that if you know most of this before you leave high school, you'll be in good shape - I doubt that most public school high schoolers know most of this information. From the "Mostly Bright Ideas" website:

Learn This! ($8.95) 

 "Geography, history, math, writing, science -- the things high school teachers will expect their students to know. There's a four-page spread on world history, two pages on U.S. presidents, four pages on science, four pages on math, and four more on writing and grammar. There's also an overview of art and music, languages, religions, astronomy, literature. Plus U.S. history, Canadian history, all kinds of geography stuff, and more. Sound overwhelming? The book starts off with a systematic way to approach all learning. And it includes enough humor to make the rest of the trip seem enjoyable. (Softcover, 64 pages, hundreds of photos and illustrations)"

500 Key Words for the SAT, and How To Remember Them Forever! presents five hundred of the vocabulary words that appear most frequently on the SAT. Just as important, it teaches you how to learn them. The book gives you visual cues and memory tricks to help you learn the words quickly, easily, and permanently. If you've ever said "profane" when you meant "profound", or confused "collaborate" with "corroborate", or wondered how you'd ever remember that "prodigal" means wasteful and "prodigious" means large -- this book is for you!

Each of the five hundred entries gives you the word, its pronounciation, part of speech, and definition. Then it supplies you with a visual cue for remembering the word's meaning. It's a mental bridge: when you see the word you'll think of the bridge, and when you think of the bridge you'll remember the definition. It's that simple! In addition, helpful notes will give you the other forms of the word (did you know that opacity is the noun form of opaque?) And they will warn you against look-alike and sound-alike words (favorite sources of confusion for the test-makers).

NOTE: Not all five hundred words have cartoons. In fact, about a hundred of them do. But all five hundred words have a visual cue; in other words, the pictures you should use to build those mental bridges are described clearly for you.

A list in the back of the book provides an additional 135 words you should know. Plus, a special section provides invaluable tips for avoiding the traps waiting for you on the test.

500 Key Words for the SAT, and How To Remember Them Forever! has helped thousands of students improve their vocabulary and better prepare for numerous standardized tests. It will help you, too. Now you can learn ten new words in ten minutes. Or twenty words in twenty minutes. You decide your goals and the pace at which you wish to achieve those goals.

It's fun, it's fast, and it's forever!

Finally, 100 Math Tips for the SAT - $12.95.  From the website:

Every year, thousands of high school students march off to take the SAT. They're full of confidence, eagerly awaiting the chance to slay the dreaded standardized test monster. And their confidence is well-founded, because they are very good at math. Their teachers, their friends, everyone has always said, "Wow, you're really good at math!" And so they came to believe that they were. Then they take the SAT and life slaps them across the room. Their scores arrive and they just can't believe how miserably pathetic they are. The future looks grim, and that's just the good part. A nuclear winter suddenly seems like a pizza party. A grey gloom settles over everything like the dust of death. Their parents begin to look haggard, walking all stooped over and mumbling under their breath. Dartmouth is definitely out of the question.

I wrote 100 Math Tips for the SAT, and How To Master Them Now! in an attempt to contain the crisis, and perhaps even prevent some of the suffering. The book is 120 pages and is filled with bad jokes and good cartoons. Most important, it teaches you how to handle SAT math. It does this by devoting an entire page to each question. The problems are dissected, chewed up, and spit out. Those invisible traps so cleverly planted by the evil geniuses at SAT Mission Control are flushed out, bathed in white light, and exposed for what they really are: cowardly, impotent bullies. Or at least that's the idea.

All types of SAT questions are included: multiple choice and grid-in, arithmetic, geometry, and algebra. The top of each page presents a concept, or math tip, relevant to the SAT. Then a question follows, which gives you the chance to apply that math tip. Diagrams are used whenever necessary, often in a step-by-step format. Cartoons appear, sometimes for obvious reasons, sometimes for no reason. Then the question is pulled apart. Various approaches and traps are explained. The best solution is identified and presented, along with the correct answer. At the bottom of each page, a "Did You Notice?" box points out still more dangers inherent in the question, and offers suitable remedies. In the back of the book you'll find thirty more practice questions, a thoughtfully-planned glossary that actually has some words in it you would need to look up, and a cross-referenced index to help you target specific types of questions.

It's not a thick book, but it's packed with insights and suggestions gathered over seven years of tutoring individuals, small groups, and large classes of high school juniors and seniors. I've seen, heard, and discovered what people need to help them do better. And I've tried to put those things into this book. I hope I've succeeded.

-- Charles Gulotta

P.S. In an effort to keep the price of the book well under $20, I created it myself. I'm not a graphic designer, but I think it turned out okay. In a further effort to keep the price of the book under $11,000, I also created this website myself. As you look at the sample pages, please keep in mind that I could not reproduce them exactly as they appear in the book. Some of the text has shifted around, the cartoons look really crummy, and I couldn't include some of the pictures because they required too much memory. Also, some of the text that is in bold in the book is reproduced here in regular type to make it more readable. The result of all this is a website that presents the book as accurately as I could. But the truth is, the book looks better (even though it's in black and white). (And even though I made it myself.)

These are three gems that I wanted to share with you.  We have all three - they are affordable, well written, interesting, and quite useful!  I hope they can help you to meet the challenge of homeschooling your through high school.

 Deb Turner - Homeschooling from the Heart
The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
Featured Graduates and Alumni  

Deb Turner has been homeschooling for 20 years, and is thrilled to have yet another 10 to go. She and her husband, Craig, have 5 children and 3 grandchildren.  Craig works as a mechanical engineer, while Deb enjoys raising her children and loving up her grandchildren. She also enjoys writing and gardening.