I prefer fresh but live in the frozen north so have to be cool with many forms of food if I want to eat anything other than cabbage and potatoes for 8 months of the year. I can, dehydrate, and freeze as much as I can store each year. I rarely buy pre-canned or frozen foods because we try to eat local as much as possible and I have a strict food budget. But I like many factory canned foods well enough to eat them without complaint when necessary. We are currently in the doldrums of the food year. We still have canned tomatoes and some frozen green beans. All else is gone. The stored winter squash, cabbages, carrots, and rutabagas all got finished up within the last few weeks. It is three months until we can get fresh produce locally. I don't even start the garden until June. So we will resort to factory canned and frozen as well as shipped-in fresh from who-knows-where.

From day one. Unless someone asked dd to address them as Mr./Mrs./Ms. (which has not happened as far as I know), we default to first names. We run with a pretty casual crowd in a pretty casual area so this is the norm. About half of the adults dd knows are technically "Drs." anyway which is just another level of complexity that kids struggle with. I have had a handful of kids come to play over the years that addressed me as Mrs. Lastname and I asked them to use my first name instead as I prefer that. It was only a problem once. The mom called me after the child went home to "scold" me for encouraging her child to "be rude." I countered that it was even more "rude" to address someone by a name they do not want to be addressed. I was not surprised that that ended up being the last time our kids ever played together. Even dd's orchestra conductor and music teacher (both have PhDs) ask he kids to call them by their first names.

That is very good info. Thanks!

Year-round is one option we are looking at. Dd is also probably going to have to make some choices. As all-consuming as her sport is, she spends even more time on music. It is a double-whammy. And likely not sustainable. In the summers, in addition to training, she also has a lot of gigs, rehearsals, and festivals. It is awesome and maddening.

Yes. I agree with you. I was more worried/concerned about admission in general with a gap year/early graduation and did not think of how it might be perceived compared to other early graduates even if she would indeed be typical college age at the time she actually attended. As homeschoolers, we get so used to being able to do whatever works best for our kids but eventually have to face the music that we have to check off the same boxes as everyone else if they want to go to college.

I'm sorry. I guess I am not articulating well. I will try to be brief and to the point. We are just trying to identify all of the possible options for creating flexibility in the later teen years and what the ramifications of those options might be. I was wondering what some of the pitfalls of an early graduation might be and have gotten a of good feedback that has helped immensely. In my OP, I was clear that we are not in a position to make a decision right now. The only thing I might do is be more diligent when selecting materials and about record-keeping if I think there is any possibility at all of retrospectively changing what we are calling next year. Plenty of people choose to graduate early for non-academic reasons. From the feedback I have gotten in this thread, I would say that it is becoming less likely to be a good path for dd in my mind at this time. It has helped to discuss this with others because when this option first occurred to dh and I, we did not see some of the downsides pointed out here.

Another balancing act. There will be a point where we will have to look to outsource science and possibly math. DE is a strong possibility but balancing that with free time will be tricky, I know. We already run into problems with online classes and dd's race schedule. I really do not know how her traditionally schooled teammates do it to be honest. I have looked at the list of schools with dd's sport and many are not a possibility for various reasons. However, there are a few strong "candidates" that are good schools that would be a good fit for dd. It appears Latin would suffice for admission to those schools. A modern language is certainly not off the table and dd might very well want to take a modern language. I am just looking ahead with the possible goal of paring down academically as much as possible should that remain a strong desire of dd's. if I were betting money, I think dd will at some point elect to take more language.

This is also so hard to know right now. Dd is bright and a good student but my gut says she will not be merit-scholarship material. I think she could be but would choose to focus on other things if given a choice. So, like NCAA, I don't want to completely close any doors but don't want a long shot to dictate what the last five years of dd's childhood looks like.

This is kind of what is in the back of my mind. Keeping our options open to the possibility with good record-keeping and course management so that we could use it as a high school year if we wanted to later when we know more about what she might or might not want to do.

On the tiny chance NCAA eligibility does end up mattering, she would not take and classes that year. Since that is a tiny chance, there is a much bigger chance that it would at least be one of many options of what she could do with that year. I have not done a whole lot of high school research yet so I might be way off, but I cannot quite see how calling next year 9th grade would be condensing or cramming in high school. This is where my own ignorance might be showing. Don't many 8th graders, even in PS, take many classes that would be considered HS level if they happened to be in HS? I dd's case, she is taking algebra next year whether she is 8th grade, 9th grade, or whatever grade. The difference between calling her an 8th grader next year versus a 9th grader is that in the former she would take through calculus in a "normal' HS math sequence versus taking up through pre-calculus. Nothing additional is getting completed in any given year. It is 4 credits either way, just a matter of whether that 4th credit is calculus on one end or algebra on the other. When I look at our plan for next year, I was calling all of her classes "middle school" when we mapped them out but they could be called HS classes with little or no tweaking. The content we cover next year and the following years would not change, just what she might not do that last year if we called next year 9th grade. I'm sure I am missing something? Again, just thinking out loud. In all likelihood, for my own sanity and dd's comfort level, we will probably stay the original course so that we don't jeopardize any potential athletic pursuits. That gap year or even spreading out content over five years just seems like such a gift for a girl who is bright and academically talented but has other things she wants to immerse herself in.

That would be the same sport:) If we did arrange things for an early graduation, she would take a year off before going on the college. I'm not even sure that is an OK thing to do anyway. But watching some of her older teammates who are now competing at the collegiate level, some are "red shirting" their freshman year. I'm not even sure I know what that means.

DE is the current plan and is our likely path at this point. I think it is a fine plan but worry that it will be even more of a time-sink for dd during those years. We are also looking into different Latin paths to spread it out into high school, other languages, a potential fifth year of Latin, etc.... Math is also an issue for similar reasons. We have lots of options on the table right now. This early graduation and potential gap year option was a new revelation and seemed like maybe an answer to a lot of our issues but with the insight here, I am feeling less optimistic.

Thanks for the replies. There is a lot to think about..... To clear up the foreign language thing.....no, we would not reconfigure her entire high school plan just to resolve the language requirement issue. It would just be one additional "pro." The real prize would be the potential for a gap year or a way to spread out the HS requirements. It is so hard to say this far out if NCAA will even be a factor at all. Statistically, I would say that there is very little chance. This is not a "power sport" and there are only a handful of universities nationwide that have teams. The likelihood that dd would still want to compete seriously enough to do so in college, have the talent necessary, AND match with a school that meets her needs academically/financially are pretty slim in my eyes. My gut feeling is that if she did want to pursue it in college, it would likely be at a D3 school in which none of this matter. So, while I want to keep those options open for her, it is not my biggest priority. Dd's biggest homeschool-related desire is to have more free time to pursue her non-academic interests. Her sport is just one of those. I do believe her interests are pursuit-worthy enough that I am willing to consider pairing down her academic load as much as possible to make room. I believe a gap year would be very appealing to dd. It could also be a nice bridge into college as she would have access to a university on a part-time basis as a non-degree-seeking student during that gap year. She could take a handful of classes, pursue her interests, work a little, and ease into the rigor of college slowly. Of course, there is no reason she cannot do that on a traditional schedule as well but then there would for sure be a year off of participating in her sport formally with a team. As I mentioned in the OP, her current team is not school-related. It is club and by age only. I have to ask her coaches but I don't think her being technically "graduated" would matter if she wanted to remain on the team during the gap year. At this point, I'm really just thinking out loud so the input already shared and that might yet be shared is helpful.

We do not have any foreign language requirements for graduation in my state, so that is not a factor. Many school districts require it but it is not mandated by the state. It is college admission requirements that concern me.

I was pondering our plans for 8th grade next year along with an issue I have asked about here involving my dd taking Lukeion Latin 1-3 before 9th grade. For those not familiar with my Lukeion issue, in a nutshell we would like dd's latin classes to count as her two-year language requirement that many colleges have for admission. But because she will only take AP Latin while "officially" in high school, she may be forced to take at least one year of some other language. We would like to avoid this for several reasons that I will not bore you with here.... It has recently occurred to me that everything we have planned for next year (8th grade) falls well within the "high school" level. We could call it 9th grade, essentially "skipping" the 8th grade. I'm not really sure what to do with this. I see three scenarios: 1. Dd starts "9th grade" next year then graduates as a 16 yo going on to college a year early. 2. Dd starts "9th grade" next year then graduates as a 16 yo and takes a "gap year" to work, travel, pursue interests, and/or take classes as a non-degree seeking student at our local university. 3. Dd starts "9th grade" next year and we take 5 years to graduate. Option 1 is highly unlikely as we do not want to send a 16yo off to college on her own. But 2 and 3 are appealing. We are nowhere near ready to make a decision about this. In fact, I do not even plan to tell dd about this option right now. We would see how the year goes and if we do indeed want to make it "9th grade" when all is said and done, we will. This is mostly because there is a small but significant chance that dd will choose to attend a regular high school in what would be her projected 9th grade year. I don't want dd to feel pressured at all. But if this continues to be an option, I will treat is like "high school" when it comes to record keeping and such. As I think on this, do people see pitfalls with options 2 and 3? Has anyone done a 5-year high school (option 3) and gone through the college admission process? I imagine lots of people do a gap year (option 2) before attending college so I cannot imagine that would be a problem. To complicate things, dd is heavily involved in a sport that could lead to dealing with NCAA. Potentially even D1. On the local level it is a club sport so she would be eligible to participate as a 17 yo even if she is technically "graduated" should we do the gap year option. But I have no idea how this might impact her NCAA eligibility. I worry that muddling through a double-whammy of homeschooling AND a non-traditional timeline might just be too much for everyone to deal with. I imagine 5 years of high school would be 100% unacceptable in the eyes of NCAA. Anyone know what they do about a gap year? Any thoughts that anyone has about any of this would be helpful.

It is unprofessional and I would also be irritated. Our (very small) public library did this once and I complained. They were confused about my complaint but eventually figured out why it was not cool and how to fix it. If a business or institute of higher learning did it, I would be livid. I would likely ask to be taken off all of their lists indefinitely. Even my 12 yo knows how to prevent this.

I was in your shoes a year ago. My dd took the placement test and it said she was "ready" for algebra. After consulting the forums here and taking into account that my dd is bright but not a math genius, we decided to spend another year on pre-algebra. I am SO SO SO glad we did! The discovery method takes some getting used to. So does getting a LOT of problems wrong the first time. Dd has a very strong love/hate relationship with AoPS. The "grit" required has been both very frustrating and very good for dd. She has needed this experience even though it has caused tears. She is used to everything coming easily and quickly. There have been weeks that I have been concerned and considered canning the program. But now that we are nearly done with the pre-A book, dd's problem solving skills and basic resilience have greatly improved. I have suggested/offered to go with another program for algebra but dd wants to stick with AoPS. I am a little concerned when I see reports on here that algebra is much more difficult since we found pre-a to be difficult. But we will at least try it. We also have time on our hands. Dd will be in 8th grade next year so if it takes two years or we have to switch gears and start over with another program we are still good.

I also suggest having at least one back-up credit card. We have had at least one card locked up on every trip even though I always call ahead of time. Twice. Check out credit unions for a cc. Ours has no transaction fees. But I also agree that using ATMs and cash is usually preferable for all kinds of reasons. We typically locate an ATM first thing and take our the maximum for the day. Then keep an eye on your total so you can withdraw as needed. At least U.S. cards now all have chips. That was really irritating in the past when trying to use cards abroad. At least you have language on your side. Explaining the chip thing to cashiers WAY off the beaten traveler path has become my specialty. I am now a master at charades. I also wonder about the rental car. You are a brave soul. We tried renting a car one time in the Netherlands and we will never ever do that again. We are now strictly bus/train/taxi/uber people.

I do not know that I can tell you that you are irrational but we have travel plans coming up very soon to multiple places in Europe and have not even considered altering them. We traveled to former Soviet countries last year just as things were heating up and also did not consider changing our plans. To fear travel is letting the terrorists win. At least that is my personal opinion.

I was in GS all the way through high school. By the time we were in 7th grade, we had another fundraiser that was very lucrative so selling cookies was not only embarrassing because it seemed babyish but was not going to yield the kind of profit we could with our other fundraiser. I remember meeting as a troop and asking our leader if we could just not sell the cookies. She explained the rules and that we had to. But. We did not have to do a very good job. So we each sold one box of the same type (so we did not have case overages) and turned that in every year. No one said anything although I'm sure the council was on to us. Looking back, I kind of feel like we did not do our part to support the council by skipping the cookie sales. I don't think we as girls understood the financials. If we had, I'm quite sure we would happily have donated some of the profits of our other fundraiser to the council. We had a very active troop with BIG expenses (we even went to Space Camp, all expenses paid) and selling cookies was just not going to cut it.

Oh no! You are right. I just looked too. Mine are going on 4 years old of hard use but are still in good shape so it has been awhile since I looked. I got mine from the actual store. I wonder if they stock more sizes in-store? Whatever the case, I had better read the rest of the suggestions on this thread in case those odd sizes are indeed no more. Poo.

I'm confused about this. Don't the girls get orders first then the troop orders that many cookies? I was a GS and that was how we did it. Dd is not in GS but we order cookies from anyone that knocks on our door selling them and it is all orders first, cookies and cash later.

I have had great (and unexpected) luck with Gap Body. I wear a strange size (28D) that can rarely be found on racks so I usually have to special order online. But I do find my size at the bigger Gap stores so I can actually try on several different styles. Most are very simple in design and economical. And they hold up well despite me tossing them in the washer. I especially appreciate that most have re-arrangeable straps so I can make them criss-cross when wearing a tank top or sundress.

I have been a vegetarian for 22 years mostly for ethical reasons. However, I have and will continue to eat meat when traveling overseas in places where getting vegetarian food is difficult. I would rather have a little chicken stock or flecks of meat in a dish than stick to a bland diet and avoiding cultural foods. We also often are guests in people's homes where a language barrier is a factor. When in Rome (literally and figuratively....). My dh has also been veggie for 20+ years and dd has been her whole life. None of us has had a problem with these occasional omnivore phases. However we also have never sat down and consumed a big slab of meat. That might be a little more problematic.

This is food for thought for me. What do you mean by this? I am about as liberal as they get but I'm not sure I agree with this the way I understand it. Do you mean that when one needs assistance they should never have to ask/face those offering that assistance? ETA - You edited after I responded. I see you clarified.