Let me start by saying I hardly know anything about ADD. But here goes with a grain of salt: Can your ds get an evaluation for ADD perhaps with the intention of exploring non-pharma therapies or coping strategies, if there are any? Or just to get a better understanding of what is going on? (Maybe after you've spent sometime observing his class participation.) Does your dh think he might improve with age and maturity? He's only 8, so none of his grades really count for anything unless you are applying to a competitive private middle school. So maybe just make sure he's solid on what he is learning, and don't sweat the exam scores? Especially if you think he'll outgrow whatever is holding him back.

I'm not familiar with it, but I just heard about something called HopScotch.

Okay, I found the original article (really a Reddit post so there you go). I still don't agree. "Do you travel a long distance to practices? Count that time. Last year I worked with a national figure skater who told me she only practiced something like ~15 hours a week, so we put 15 hours/week on her activities list. Later, I learned she traveled FOUR HOURS round-trip EACH DAY for practice. What an oversight not to include that time in her hours/week calculations! Luckily, she hadn't submitted yet and we included that time into her activities list. Travel to tournaments every weekend? Count that time. "Let's say you traveled to Nepal to volunteer. Count the flight time, but don't count sightseeing and sleeping time. "Let's say twice a year you travel to national debate tournaments, accumulating tons of extra time. However, during the regular season you don't do a lot of traveling, so your hours/week is much less than those two weeks in question. Let's say you compete 8 weeks. 6 of those weeks have 5 hours/week commitments, and 2 of those weeks have 30 hours/week commitments. (6x5) + (2x30) = 90 hours. Divide 90 by 8 and you get ~11 hours. Write down that you have an 11 hours/week commitment, but include in your description something like "Attended 2 time-intensive tournaments" to convey that you incorporated those huge time commitments into your hours/week averages."

whew! Am I the only one who thought something terrible had befallen your ds 17?

And to be clear, I don't mean including commute time driving to CC for course credit. I mean when they ask how many hours a week you spend on an extracurricular activity. Not that it matters. I'm glad I'm not the only one who is uncomfortable with including commute time. (I asked because I feel like I've heard this twice now, but I can only find one source, the blog post linked above, plus a sometimes snarky thread on CC.)

I've read that when estimating the time spent on various extracurriculars, we should include the time spent commuting. That just doesn't seem right to me. I would definitely include preparing for the activity, but I'm not sure about including the commute. What do you say? "When you are counting time spent, remember to keep track of the following: Preparation for the activity Commute time Actual time spent in activity"

It depends on the field, DH studied machine learning in the 90s before it became a thing. There was nothing to read on the subject. He was so early, his paper for a long while was the most cited in the subject. He became an expert not by reading but by publishing his own research.

Watch out for this. If there are a lot of premeds, it could be brutal. Then again, at my college, bio was relatively benign and it was chemistry that was weed out. Can she speak with current students in the major?

Any interest in electronics and doing hands on projects? You can work through Charles Platt's Make: Electronics, published by Maker Media. It has 2 volumes, so if he's already familiar with the basics, he can start on volume 2. It has a nice balance of cool projects and theory and history, and you can schedule it as needed.

Another option if you want to delay AoPS Algebra, is to work through the AoPS Pre Algebra challenge problems at the end of each chapter only. My kids spend 2-3 days per chapter on challenge problems.

I like reading BA out loud. I want to ensure that the students are doing the problems at each stop sign like it asks them to. I also want to write out the expressions and equations as we read it and do the computations alongside the math beasts illustrated. I also like doing the pirate voice.

Take a look at message #30 in this thread where I copied verbatim from AoPS prealgebra. For my own kids (who don't insist on independence) I would write things out as I read them, particularly to illustrate dense paragraphs such as that one. Reading math is hard, kind of like reading in a foreign language you are still mastering.

Welcome to California, and I sincerely hope your dd recovers fully. We used a charter for elementary and part of middle school. Elementary was a breeze, quite lovely actually, and I loved that I wasn't leaving money on the table so to speak. (Ballet classes paid for!) By middle school, the red tape got to be too much, so we quit. I also heard not great things about high school, so we haven't looked back. Charter was great while it lasted, but we are also happy doing the PSA now. Have you seen the HSC site? It's full of clearly explained information.

I also hold dual citizenship in Flaky Land. Nowadays I rarely organize anything for the general homeschooling public. I invite families I know well to be reliable and low maintenance. They also happen to be my kids' friends. I think unreliable families end up not being invited to future events, and they wonder why there aren't more trips organized for them.

Make: Electronics by Charles Platt is very hands on and has lots of theory as well.

Chromebooks do not support Skype video calls, at least not without some sort of workaround. Otherwise I love my CB. It's cheap, and since I use google Drive to store all my docs anyway, it's all I need 95% of the time. (I don't skype much.) But check the tech requirements of your class.

It might help. But in my case, when I took a practice test for fun, I found that I was so afraid of running out of time, I read too fast and not carefully enough. It turned out I had plenty of time left over after I finished all the questions. If I had to do it again, I'd read more slowly and carefully to get the answers right the first time, while keeping an eye on the clock. ETA: the value of speed reading programs might be a good topic for a new thread.

I can't remember if it's in the Intro or Intermediate C&P , but there are some really nasty combination problems with large numbers. In that case, I skipped the calculator because *that* was too much work and just typed in 1387 choose 97 into google to get the answer. (I can't remember the exact numbers but it was similarly large.)

I think as long as you are clear up front about expectations. I was surprised that you define hiking as being quiet and observing nature. I define hiking to be walking on a dirt trail, venting and gossiping loudly with friends, walking at a brisk pace to get some exercise, and trying not to get lost. I wouldn't want to be in charge of a bunch of other peoples' kids in the woods strewn with poison oak and haunted by mountain lions. That's just me.

Not really. Just the provided practice test so she could see what the format is.

One trick is to rewrite the numbers in terms of some easy prime factors. (I'm calculator-averse, so I like doing it this way.) 9 x 8 x 7 x 6 =9 x 7 x 6 x 8 =63 x 3 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 =189 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 <now you double the result 4 times> =378 x 2 x 2 x 2 =756 x 2 x 2 =1512 x 2 =3024 ...and I didn't use a calculator. This is a pretty weird way to solve in real life, but I don't keep a calculator handy when I'm using AoPS, so I look for tricks to get to the solution. You can also just crank through 72x42 as practice for 2 digit multiplication.

Scribing has other advantages. You can model good math behavior such as lining up your equal signs to make equation chains easier to read. You can avoid stream of consciousness equations. Drawing geometry diagrams that are clear and well labeled. These are good habits for them to observe that lead to avoiding computation and logic errors. And hopefully they will adopt once their fine motor skills catch up with their academics.

I can't answer regarding the ACT. My dd prepped for the SAT with essay. As I wrote in another thread, after doing some internet research, she is convinced that a longer essay correlates with a higher score. I'm skeptical, but time will tell. (In a couple of weeks.) She also says there is a specific vocabulary that you need to memorize and use in your essay to maximize your score. Again, according to our friends on the internet. HTH.

My kids and I love taking tests. At my dd's urging I took one of the posted SATs. I was surprised by the reading comprehension selections. They are challenging! In taking the test I learned that I can spend more time really trying to understand what is going on in the reading selection instead of rushing through it because I ended up using less time than I expected. This is the kind of analysis that can really help with strategy. Dd spent some focused time studying how to maximize your score on the essay. She's convinced that a longer essay correlates with a higher score. I'm not convinced, but time will tell. She also says there's a certain vocabulary you need to memorize and use in your essay to earn a high score. Other than some internet research and taking the posted practice exams, she didn't do any other prep. But ask us again in a couple of weeks. Dd16 only took the SAT last weekend, then I can let you know if she's a high SAT scorer.

Some students who aren't division 1 swimmers may still swim for fitness and fun. (I am a slow swimmer, but it was a convenient way for me to get some exercise in college. And I got to use the same fabulous pool as our swim team.) I made the mistake of taking my dd to visit a college the week after move out, but before summer classes started. The campus was dead, and there was still the detritus of move out in the dorm halls. It was 80 degree weather and we saw a whole gallon of milk just sitting out in the hallway. (Thankfully it hadn't been opened.) It's been over a year, and I still can't think about this college without thinking of spoiled milk, garbage, and no students. (And the buildings were pretty crummy too.)