I'm glad you have so many resources available! Our local library is atrocious. It's mostly romance novels and manga, and we don't have any Little Free Libraries. The nearest Goodwill is over an hour away, and the nearest used bookstore is about three hours away, and shipping adds up from Amazon, Thriftbooks, etc. I'm not saying I didn't - or wouldn't - support an interest. We did get books and find videos; she even has a translation of The Book of the Five Rings. But, no, I didn't bother setting aside time for it. That would feel too much like a class.

So, I've read a lot about the argument between moving through material more quickly (i.e. doing two weeks' worth of work per week) and going more deeply into subjects. However, I've yet to see a lot about just letting kids finish the day sooner. To me, that's the option that is simplest and arguably makes the most sense. Letting a child finish the day sooner gives him or her a tangible benefit of focusing and working hard: more time to do what he or she wants. Adding more work - either by starting the next week's work sooner or by adding assignments - seems like a punishment for doing well. I feel like it would encourage dawdling. Cost is an issue with both methods. Parents could easily spend double or more on curriculum each year. That could be financially impossible. It could also cut into the ability to do outside activities like visiting museums and attending theatre or dance performances. With acceleration, I worry about getting to inappropriate content too soon. I wouldn't want to water down upper-level courses by omitting certain books or topics, but there are books and topics I don't want to use before certain ages. Yes, part of that is protecting innocence, but part of it is simply not being developmentally mature enough for that material (read: I have known a lot of people who start prealgebra in sixth grade and end up having to repeat the course, often twice). Going deeper only seems like a benefit for subjects of interest, and those interests rarely seem to align with what's being learned (read: she fell in love with samurai at the time we were studying Westward Expansion and with dinosaurs at the time we were studying simple machines). Additionally, I don't want to plant the seeds that all studying has to be done for school; I want to encourage the idea that it's healthy and normal to look into topics just because they are interesting. - As an aside, I don't like the idea of doing purely interest-led studies because you have to be exposed to something to develop an interest in it. For example, during that study of Westward Expansion, she found her favorite author, Louis L'Amour. If we had just focused on samurai, she may not have discovered him. I'm obviously in the minority in my thinking, though, so what am I missing? Other than states requiring a certain number of hours, what made you choose to move through the curriculum more quickly or to go deeper?

I plan to use Introductory Algebra (for algebra 1), Intermediate Algebra (for algebra 2), and College Algebra with Trigonometry (for precalculus), all of which are by Lial. All of these books seem pretty commonly used, but I haven't really seen anything about geometry. I don't want AoPS. I'll look at pretty much anything else, though.

Asking for a friend: Does anyone know anything about Prang's Complete Course for art? It's four parts. Her understanding is that each part is to be used for one high school year. She is quite fond of his Primary/Elementary Course in Art Education and his watercolor course, so she is hoping the Complete Course would serve as a good follow-up. If you are not familiar with it, what is an inexpensive option you recommend? Art education in her district sucks. Even the high schoolers just color coloring sheets, so while partial enrollment is technically allowed in our state, it's not a good fit for her family.

What about gift bags? You could put them up to reuse next year (or even wait to wrap a few things and use them again this year).

Without going into much detail, I'll say that my own music education was... lackluster to say the least (and completely nonexistent starting in the eighth grade). I want to correct that gap in my education, so I don't pass it along to my children. The issue is that I live in a very rural area, so it's not as simple as scouting out a nearby class. They simply aren't here; I have checked. Music appreciation/composer study is the easiest part to tackle. I plan to use a few of the books mentioned on Miss Mason's Music and listen to some classical music playlists on YouTube. I may use the AO composer rotation for inspiration. If anyone has any other recommendations, I'm open to suggestions. For piano, I think Hoffman Academy will be a good starting point, but I'm happy to consider programs that are comparably priced. I would like to do some singing practice with Solfa/Solfege. I'm not expecting to win a Grammy or anything, but I would like to be able to demonstrate skills I'm supposed to teach (and maybe not make my dog's ears bleed?).