Yes. Lial's has FAR more problems than you need. If you can trust your student not to look at the answers in the back of the book until it is time to check work, I would assign the odds. Learning to look in the back and compare your answers and then go back and find your OWN mistakes is an awesome skill to learn early. If your student is more prone to temptation, assign the evens.

Simply because many who are anti-homeschooling are on the left does not mean that those on the left are anti-homeschooling. This is a logical error.

Totally true, but the time at which he (the brother) said that he saw them playing musical instruments was shortly after they were pulled out of school. This case has been on-going for some time.

Well, no, it is more that they don't have an absolute constitutional right to homeschool without any sort of state regulation. They cannot say "the state cannot regulate this because I have a constitutional right to do this." The children in the article had been pulled out of school after a certain age. It is quite likely that they were already reading.

Lial's is so cheap that it's really great to have on hand as a reference.

older, btw, = prior to the early '90s or so. You don't need to get a new-new edition.

Food safety authorities definitely say you should not thaw it on the counter. Many people have done so for years with no ill effects.

I think it's super awesome that your son is so excited about the proofs. He totally doesn't need to memorize them, but he may find it interesting to go back and look at them again if they get him so excited. (Also, it warms the cockles of my heart to hear a kid excited about proofs).

Is there any way that you and your husband could get together, make some sort of hearty vegan stew (no specific advice on that), dump single-serving packages into ziplock bags, and toss them in the freezer? That way, when you ignored hunger until you were starving, all you'd have to do is walk to the freezer, peel the stuff out of the bag, toss it in the microwave, and wait for it to thaw.

Frozen vegetables, cheap meat (for example, chicken leg quarters are much cheaper than chicken, and beef is VERY expensive), potatoes, and eggs. The only fruit that I can find affordably are bananas and sometimes apples/oranges, and grapes. Also, lots of beans and lentils.

Any edition will work. If the edition is old enough you just might have to discard any calculator instructions. About the only thing I can think of that I saw in old college arithmetic/pre-algebra books that is totally irrelevant now is extracting non-rational square roots (so if they're teaching an algorithm for calculating decimal approximations of square roots without a calculator, you can safely skip that section). I would recommend pre-algebra for students with solid arithmetic skills who need some maturation before algebra, and BCM for students whose foundational arithmetic skills are shaky. If unsure on arithmetic skills, I would start with BCM and work the chapter tests. If the student fails a chapter test, go back and work problems from that chapter. If the student gets a B or C on a chapter test, work problems relating to the missed concepts and then do the chapter review. Depending on the age of the student they may go directly from BCM to algebra. I would recommend this especially for older students (high-school-aged students) who get at least a B in BCM. If they get a C or lower in BCM, I would do pre-algebra regardless of age.

They do not seem to have been. They did get forced out of their business, but it was in a family quarrel over homeschooling and not by the government. As a matter of fact, they did not even get convicted of the misdemeanor truancy charges (the school district dropped charges), but filed the lawsuit alleging that the charges should never have been filed and that they had an absolute constitutional right to educate their children or not in the privacy of their own home, without providing any documentation whatsoever to any government official. Where it hit the national media in a "the sky is falling" manner is when the court ruled that they do not, in fact, have such a right. The bar for removal for neglect is pretty high -- especially for immediate removal. Yes, you hear about the occasional case making the news where someone makes a mistake. That is very uncommon. As long as the child is being fed, housed, and not beaten or molested, it's pretty hard to get an emergency removal. If it were routine to remove children for any neglect allegation, I would never call CPS for anything short of molestation that I considered 95% likely or direct physical harm. But I don't think the off-chance is sufficiently high to not call for what *I* would consider a sufficiently serious allegation.

PS also assigns points to homework because most students won't do it if it isn't worth points. This is not relevant in most homeschool settings.

Quite honestly, I think almost everyone would agree with you on the bolded. But the issue is that people will vary on where true neglect falls. Some people, for example, consider pretty trivial things like letting a 6 year old play in your yard alone neglect (I am not making this up) and other people won't consider things like not filling a (free!) prescription for your 6 year old's urinary tract infection neglect (and I am not making that up either). You're *never* going to get everyone to agree ... as you've seen from this thread, even on this, some people fall into the "call CPS immediately!" camp, and others fall into the "Under no circumstances!" camp.

I would cook them thoroughly and eat them without a qualm.

Foerster's math without borders has pretty good reviews that I've seen.

I don't think it's *bad*, but I'd be more inclined to go through something like BCM or the Power Basics Basic Math first in a diagnostic-prescriptive manner just to check for holes. If there are holes, you'll be glad you found them, and if there aren't, it should only take a couple of weeks to do all the chapter tests for those.

Keeping extremely low-cal snack foods that I happen to ... like is the wrong word, but I don't DISlike them. For example, baby carrots -- you have to eat a LOT of them to add up to any significant amount of calories, but you still feel like you're eating SOMEthing.

It's not too difficult but it's not really worth it unless you're really into making things yourself. But if you ARE into making things yourself, go for it!

Yes. Also some problems really cannot be tested well with a computer.

I think a more challenging pre-algebra, a lite algebra (with the goal of doing a challenging algebra in 8th) or the first half of a challenging algebra (with the goal of doing the second half in 8th) would be a better fit. MUS pre-algebra is very light and not a good fit for someone who's already done pre-algebra unless they failed miserably.

My biggest thing was reminding myself that the food was either going to waste or to waist.

Honestly, I'd start by tracking (and weighing) everything he eats and drinks for at least a week using a tool like myfitnesspal to look for patterns. Get some baseline data on what he's actually eating *now* before you start experimenting. Agree with others that going on and off low-carb is not a good idea.

There definitely are unschoolers like that -- I have known some. Some of the kids were very positive about their education later on in life. Others (and I do know these personally) not only are very negative about their education, but at least 1 of them is a "ban homeschooling" activist simply because she feels her education harmed her so much that nobody else should ever be put in the position she was in. (please note -- I don't agree with her, so you don't need to post telling me how wrong her position is or anything else. That's her position and she is unlikely to change).