We love our pizza steel but it is sooooo heavy. Ours is a custom made one (friend works at a metal shop and got us the material for free, as it was scrap - we just had to pay for finishing), and with two pieces covers an entire oven shelf. But I can hardly lift either piece. It also needs an hour+ to preheat. It gives way better results than a pizza stone. If it's just me at home without DH, I default to the pizza stone.

We enjoyed The Romans by Alfred Duggan. It's out of print, but used copies are inexpensive. Definitely works as a middle school level text, but isn't so long as to be overwhelming (~115 pages).

Not at our house -- We do 1 hr/day of "fun" screen time (console video games, minecraft, netflix, etc) for the 9,12, and 14 years olds. Using devices for school/educational stuff doesn't count, and screen time that has some other purpose (coding, creative writing, creating D&D characters, playing D&D while keeping character stats on a screen) needs to have a brief "check-in" with me if it goes over an hour to make sure that the whole day in the summer doesn't get spent on a screen. Music listening is fine any time since it is basically always done while doing something else. Audiobooks are also "basically" fine any time (especially if it is listening to a book while doing something else), though for my youngest who might sit all day and do nothing other than listen to a book, I will sometime cut him off after a couple hours and tell him he needs to move his body, interact with his brothers, etc before more listening. I really don't monitor this for my oldest (just turned 17) - she is close enough to being on her own that I left her monitor her own screen time/device usage and I would only step in if I thought there was a problem or her grades were slipping or something like that. She spends a lot of her free time video chatting with friends and I wouldn't dream of putting a limit on that given that her best friends live out of town and she hasn't gotten to see them very much in the past year and a half.

I'd agree with the others to focus on the shirts, and you can have fewer pants/shorts/skirts. My DD usually has 8-10 seasonally appropriate shirts of various styles but rarely more than 3 pairs of jeans she likes at any one time, plus maybe a couple casual skirts or dresses she'll wear to school. She wears each pair of jeans 2-3 times at least before washing. When DS14 goes to school in the fall, he will probably wear athletic pants/sweats every day (or athletic shorts) and those can't really be reworn quite like jeans...especially not for smelly teenage boys. 😉 He always has 8+ pairs of athletic pants or shorts anyway since he doesn't rewear them, so I want to make sure he has 8-10 T-shirts that he likes that aren't ratty, too small, or full of holes.

I've used IEW with my middle two kids so far, and only used the videos with the older of the two. We really didn't love them. After one semester with the videos, I switched to a theme book with that kid and have always done theme books since then. Older DS needed almost no help at all with the theme books since he had the basic introduction with the videos. Middle DS really only needed help/"hand holding" for a few lessons with his first theme book to get the drift of how it worked, then was able to read the instructions and figure it out for himself. I do think the way we've used IEW the student can only get so far with the quality of their writing. My boys were able to read the instructions and produce papers that fit the IEW formula really well, but not necessarily take those tools and apply them generally. That's where I think either taking a class with an instructor or switching it up and trying something different can be helpful. I think if I had wanted to be more hands on we could have gone beyond what is written with the IEW books themselves, but it has worked out better so far to either switch materials or outsource after 3 years or so of IEW. Edited to add: My boys really liked the theme books they have done. I let them pick which ones to do since they all teach the same basic writing concepts, and that helped with buy-in. As far as scheduling, I tell them to complete one lesson per week, and they could figure out for themselves how to break that up through the week (with a little coaching from me and a bit of trial and error as to the needs of each kid). There were fewer lessons in each book than our number of weeks in the school year, but that allowed for occasional times where a lesson took 2 weeks either due to a longer writing assignment or just a busy schedule. Often they were able to finish an IEW book while we still had a month or more left in the school year, and they could do fun/creative writing for the last few weeks.

We just got back from a road trip across the eastern half of the US (midwest to NE), and we had really excellent luck with all rest stops and toll-road service plazas we tried to stop at being open as usual, and most fast food/quick-service restaurants having open dining rooms (so could double as a bathroom stop in a pinch). No extra long lines at gas stations anywhere we stopped. Probably the biggest thing we noticed is that because some smaller historical sites, park service sites, etc are still closed, some of those places we wanted to at least see the outside of (even if a building isn't open) didn't have a bathroom available because the building was closed.

My DD is in public school so I don't have some of the homeschool-specific hoops to worry about, but I am anticipating needing to give her a lot of cheerleading and help through the process. She's pretty intimidated about getting started. She's interested in a major that is really only offered at large public universities (food science), and she wants to leave our home state but not get TOO far away, so that gives us a very manageable list to consider. We only found about a dozen universities within a 12 hour drive of us that offer food science, and she crossed two off the list right away because she thought the states they were in were not places she would want to be. I'm hoping we can narrow down the list a bit over the summer and visit a few places.

I'm imagining variants being named after people like hurricanes: "New COVID-19 variants Ralph and Steve are now spreading..." 😁

No, I learned about it as an adult (I think the first time was from an article a friend shared with me maybe 8-10 years ago).

I moved school districts between 8th and 9th, which ending up leading to a duplication for me: (6th grade: State history) 7th grade: Geography 8th grade: US History from 1860 to "present" (which really meant through the 1960s, with a really brief spin through the 70s - this was in about 1991) 9th grade: Civics (government + current events) 10th grade: "Roots of Western Civilization" (basically, an ancient history class) 11th grade: US History, again from 1860 to "present" aka the 1960s 12th grade: electives -- I chose Psychology and Sociology

In the state where we are, you are "on your honor" to seek additional testing/evaluation for potential learning disabilities if your student scores below 30th percentile on their standardized test. Since it's "on your honor", there's no way to know how many families follow through on this. I think the idea is that it is supposed to be a "wake up call" to families who have no idea their kid is struggling. No one is saying you can't continue homeschooling no matter what the scores. We have mostly been in fairly academic circles in homeschooling, so parents with struggling kids I've known have usually known their kids were struggling and either got evaluations or just chose appropriate curriculum to address struggles, even if they didn't actually pay for an eval (buying Barton for a kid who is probably dyslexic, etc). But I'm sure there are circles where people don't follow through with additional evals, or who don't even do the test at all (since we don't have to show proof that we actually had our kids take the standardized test. We just have to promise to do it on our form each year and state which test we plan to use).

I think the Perfect Squares chapter is the most ill-placed out of all the BA chapters. Kids have just been introduced to multiplication, then it gets into this. After watching my oldest DS struggle a bit with this one and not really retain it at the time (and keep in mind, he was 7 when he was doing this -- I think the summer between 1st and 2nd grade), I decided it fit much better right before the next multiplication chapter, which I think is in 4A. So both DS12 and DS9 skipped the perfect squares chapter when it first appeared and came back to it right before starting 4A. The timing was much better as their multiplication skills had time to percolate a bit first, and it was a great warm up before doing the next full chapter on multiplication in level 4.

A couple more titles for you -- Asimov on Numbers by Isaac Asimov (out of print, but available with reasonably priced used copies) has many historical tidbits and was one of my favorite books in middle school (I was a bit of a weird kid!). My DS14 has not found the same love unfortunately even though I did purchase him a copy! Mage Merlin's Unsolved Mathematical Mysteries - a bit lighthearted and fun. All my DS's like this one. It uses a fictional story to tell about real unsolved problems in math. An Imaginary Tale: The Story of the Square Root of -1 - DS14 has been slowly working his way through this one. He says he can only read small chunks at a time because he really has to think about it The Great Mathematicians: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe - DS14 picked this one out at a bookstore but hasn't started reading it yet.

I was about to suggest this channel too...so many great things there! Veritasium just did a really interesting history-of-math related video too if you haven't seen it yet. We checked out The Math Book by Pickover from the library and 14 year old DS and I both really enjoyed it.

If you have any opportunity to ask locally, you might get more location-specific information that pertains to your local school district. I feel like experiences I've read here on the forums are all across the board from excellent to terrible in terms of high school placement. I think the hardest thing to do is to enter mid-highschool and have any credits count. Many (if not most) high schools won't accept course credits earned at home toward graduation, so by far the best time to enter is 9th grade (or earlier). As for personal experiences, my DD chose to enter public school in 8th grade, so it was super easy. They took my word for it on math placement (I just sent scans of the table of contents of the previous math text she had completed to confirm that what she did for Pre-Algebra matched what they covered), and everything else was pretty standard - no "levels" of classes offered anyway. My current 8th grader will enter public school in 9th grade. It helps for him that we were able to enroll him for 1 math class with the public school this year, so he was already "in the system" so to speak. But with no proof of his abilities in other areas, they enrolled him in all honors/advanced classes for next year. The only slight "snag" to getting exactly the placement we wanted is that due to the way our state's graduation requirements are worded, he couldn't just show proof of Algebra 2 competency in order to start in Pre-Calc - he actually has to take an exam-for-credit (unless he had taken the class with a state-accredited provider). The same would have been true of Geometry, but that was the 1 class he took through the public school so he has appropriate credit for that. Coming in with some kind of standardized test scores to show at least grade-level mastery might help in some situations. The school did ask me to show DS14's Algebra 1 competency (which I did through standardized test scores as well as a "placement test" I had him take in ALEKS math that showed he had mastered half of Alg 2 at the time) before they would enroll him in Geometry as an 8th grader.

If you are looking at considering other testing ideas that might show out-of-grade-level mastery, we did the online NWEA MAP Growth test to meet our state testing requirements this year (and the past couple of years) and it can go through high school level material in all subjects. (And into "college level" passages for the reading test - it gave my 12 year old a lexile level that's apparently considered post high school? I mean, I take it with a grain of salt, but it's there). It's a test that public schools also use, so it would have some "cred" with most schools I think. It's adaptive, so it keeps getting harder if the student answers correctly. For math, you can choose end-of-course exams for Alg 1/Alg 2/Geom if that's helpful, or just a standard math test that potentially goes as high as Alg 2/Pre-Calc level material. This year I had my 8th grader do the Alg 2. end-of-course exam, as he has self-studied Alg 2 (while also taking a geometry class). We used it as prep for the "exam for credit" that he will have to take in order to get out of Alg 2 and start Pre-Calc next year when he enters public school. Unfortunately due to the way our state's graduation requirements are worded, he has to take this school-administered exam-for-credit and they won't take his excellent MAP score as proof, but it is giving us piece of mind that he studied well that he got 97th percentile on this test and still has two more months to study before the actual exam. I booked the MAP test here: https://homeschoolboss.com/

I have 3 kids who used BA as pretty much their only math - two of them used it for the 3-5 levels, and my youngest from 2-5 (he's halfway through the 5 books right now). After experiencing it the first time when oldest DS went through the books, I found that I could judge each kid's "puzzle tolerance" and if they got to a point on a given page where they understood the computation or other concept being taught but we're just getting exhausted from the puzzle aspect (for example - match the equivalent fractions by drawing lines between them, but you have to do it by not crossing any lines over another line), I let them forget the puzzle aspect on some problems and just connect the fractions or whatever it was asking for. The only supplementing we did was fact practice for two of the three kids, and some additional long division practice. Youngest needs work on math vocab and reading/comprehending word problems due to dyslexia, but that isn't something most kids would need.

DS12 and DS14 got their shots yesterday afternoon at CVS. They didn't ask for ID even though email instructions said to bring one. I'm guessing they are using common sense to know that 12-15s may not have one? (I had brought their passports just in case). Both woke up with sore arms but by dinner time said the soreness was subsiding. DS14 seemed a little more tired than usual tonight but it may or may not have been shot related...hard to tell as he had a busy week so it might just be ready-for-the-weekend tiredness.

To answer the OP's question, we live in an area that has had very high masking compliance, and I suspect many people will continue masking even though the state mandate will be falling away. I also think at least for a while many local businesses and other places will still require masks. We'll be down to just DS9 being unvaxed within a little over a month, and I'll probably let him go unmasked in smaller settings but still wear a mask in a more crowded public place. We all may mask in more crowded places anyway. ETA: We also live in a state near the top of the vax percentage charts, in a county with one of the highest percentages in the state, so I think our local incidence of Covid is going to be dropping, especially with all teens being eligible. At CVS yesterday when I got my older boys' shots, there were many other teens getting vaxed. But if I lived in a place with lower vaccine take up, I might think differently.

I think you are looking at partial data for a yesterday/today. Yesterday we had 1,000 or so cases just in my mid size state. Here's what it looks like on that site when I click on "yesterday"

When my DS9 gets phonograms turned around like that, I first ask him to see if he can spot his mistake, and if he can't, I might ask him something like, "Is ao a spelling choice for the sound /long o/?" Nine times out of ten he'll catch the mistake at that point and be able to fix it. I will also plan reviews on any phonograms that he makes a mistake like that on. (For us, this would be a multisensory review of the mistaken phonogram, plus reading/spelling several words with that phonogram). We also drill all the phonograms he knows visually 2-3x per week (plus there is an another drill that involves writing all the spelling choices for each sound, which at this point we only get to any one particular sound maybe once every 2-3 weeks since we rotate through them). I think practices like that really encourage getting/keeping the phonograms cemented in his brain in the correct order, because he can run through the options and realize ao, uo, etc aren't actual phonograms in our deck, so we wouldn't be writing those to represent those sounds. It's not that he never turns things around, but I feel like when we slack on the review or drills, the mistakes happen more often.

I just got CVS appointments for DS12 and DS14! Other pharmacies were saying to check back tomorrow for appointments, but CVS was on top of it right away.

Reporting back on DD16's second shot. Unfortunately she had kind of a scary side effect. She went to work at Dairy Queen about 3 hrs after her shot since she was feeling fine. Then after having been on her feet at work for a couple hours, she got very dizzy and "blacked out" (though didn't lose consciousness). She sat down and said everything was black for a couple minutes, then vision came back and she still felt dizzy. Her manager was great about it and had her call us for a ride home since it didn't seem safe at all to have her drive home. She felt ok all night taking it easy at home, and went into school late this morning since she was a bit dizzy and had a headache. She was feeling well enough by mid morning to go to school. On the plus side, she said her arm wasn't sore this time! We are super grateful she didn't black out while driving. While we can't know for sure it was a vaccine side effect, it does seem likely since she was trying to stay hydrated before and after the shot to (hopefully) reduce side effects and she had a snack before work so wasn't hungry. She's never experienced anything like that before.

I agree with this. Oldest DD started public school in 8th grade and while she experienced absolutely no "middle school horrors", it was a real challenge to make any friends, despite the fact she is super outgoing and friendly. It didn't help she was small for her age so everyone assumed she was either a 6th grader or 7th grader (and she was in a couple mixed classes with both 7th and 8th graders). But other 8th graders pretty much ignored any attempts she made at trying to be friends with them, and she never met any other "new" 8th graders. She found some acquaintances among the 6th graders, but it was hard to be motivated to make new friends among kids she wouldn't be in school with the next year. As it turned out we moved in between her 8th and 9th year so it didn't really matter anyway. But I think even for an outgoing kid it can be hard to break into established social circles in the last year in a school.

When I've had two kids who needed me to be side by side with them for math (too young to read the book, or just needed my encouragement), I scheduled it for totally different times. None of my kids have ever been very proficient at working with another kid in the room, and running back and forth between two rooms sounds stressful to me. My kids all started clamoring for independent work by around 3rd grade or so (about age 9 or 10). For all except my youngest, they started asking for some subjects to be done on their own around that time. By 4th grade, they all wanted math on their own especially. Maybe I'm bad at talking about math with them? I was doing Right Start with my oldest in 4th grade, and she was in tears every day asking me why I had to be telling her the lesson out loud. We switched to CLE/Christian Light (written to the student in a worktext), and everything was so much better. She hated listening to an oral math lesson. With my boys we were doing BA as early on as possible, so there was a natural transition to them reading the comic and the text at the top of the workbook as soon as they were ready comprehension wise. I can see this is going to be a stretch for my youngest since he is dyslexic/dysgraphic and not a strong reader. He doesn't really want any help, but if he tries to read it on his own he easily gets confused or gets really exhausted of the writing if he has to do all the writing himself. It's hard for me just to be an impartial reader/scribe. 😉 If he starts getting frustrated on a beast academy puzzle, what would build his stamina is to work through the frustration, but yet it is hard for me to just sit by while he exclaims he just can't figure it out. (Usually he CAN get it eventually, but sometimes he gets mad if I give hints too soon).