I just reviewed all the Algebra 1 review workbooks available on Amazon and ended up buying this one for DS3 to use over the summer. It covers everything I want without a lot of extra stuff (arithmetic review, tricky mixture problems, etc). I like that it has short explanations and some example problems, but not so many that the book is overwhelmingly long. And each topic only has 10ish practice problems presented in a large, friendly way. And I like the variety of problems in the sample - not trivially easy, but also not unnecessarily tricky.

Yes, my kids have not yet had to miss any doses of their Focalin, though to get continuous supply we have had to switch between several pharmacies. On a regular basis, we fill (in person, or through the mail) prescriptions for Focalin 35XR, 30XR, 15XR, 10XR, 10mg (not XR) and 5mg (not XR).

My kids are part of a shared time program through the public school that pays for extracurriculars and requires that we primarily use Bookshark (secular Sonlight). I put up with Bookshark because the public school funding ($3000 x 3 kids) is worth a lot of aggravation. But, for us, Bookshark is not rigorous or delightful, and we do as little Bookshark as possible so we have time for more individualized education that is more enriching and less busywork. This year we are using Bookshark History B and G, ELA 3 and G, and Science E. My kids find the history books boring, and I don't like that they don't seem to include any differing perspectives, primary sources or logic stage thinking skills even in History G. I find many of the ELA assignments ridiculous, boring and counter-productive. We are entirely doing our own, separate ELA on top of Bookshark's, and doing the Bookshark assignments together as practice in how one can create meaningless, teacher-pleasing drivel quickly without fixating on the inanity of the exercise. The science is so, so dry, simplistic and surface-level, and every year more or less covers the same topics. I agree entirely with Clarita that, "all-in-one curriculums do similar things over and over again through the year and the years".

My kids are all pretty close age-wise - 2 year gaps between each - but they are not particularly close playmates, especially those closest in age. #2 has too many mental health challenges to really be a good playmate to anyone. #3 is off in his own classical music world and has little interest in other play. And #4 is an outdoor, sport-loving, worm digging girl in a family of indoor, bookish boys. So it is entirely possible that you could have another baby and end up with two lonely, needy littles who don't want to play with each other.

I mostly focus on what my goals are for "socialization". I want my kids to... - be comfortable in a group setting with a teacher/coach other than me. - have opportunities to play/interact with other kids of various ages. - have other adults in their lives who know them, value their interests, are positive role models, etc. - have one or a few closer friends to invite to birthday parties and the like. - be able to function in the adult world - ordering food, answering questions about how they want their hair cut, etc. - have opportunities to practice group planning, decision making and small conflict resolution. To this end, I try to give them some less structured group time, such as open gyms, board game groups, nature days, etc. Times when they have the space to disagree and try to broker a compromise. My kids have wildly different socialization needs and styles, so rather than ask "is it enough" or "is it too much", I instead ask "are they moving toward my goals" and "are other priorities being crowded out".

Is coop going to offer a science with labs next year (like they offered physics this year)? If so, I would be very tempted to take them up on the lab part, even if you did the rest of the class on your own at home.

This is where I am. Around here, most highways have 3 lanes, and the right lane is primarily for large trucks and for cars entering and exiting who are traveling a bit below the speed limit. I spend most of my time in the middle lane, driving 5-10 over the limit, but I don't hesitate to safely switch to the left lane (leaving plenty of following space) to pass around slower drivers or if that lane is a better match for my speed. I feel it is safest when everyone tries to match their speed to the traffic flow in their lane, so if I decide to move to the left lane to pass a slow driver in the middle lane, then I will increase my speed a bit when I move left so that drivers behind me don't have to abruptly slow down. I will say that not driving too close to other cars can be a bit of a luxury. Here in suburbia where I do most of my traveling mid-day, I can always wait for large openings in traffic. When I used to commute around Boston during rush hours - forget about it - sometimes you had to start changing lanes when it didn't appear there was any space, much less enough.

At those ages we really liked Mr. Q science. The (online) texts are conversational and funny, but also introduce deep science concepts. There are optional worksheets, lots of ideas for experiments (don't feel like you have to do all of them), and some of the experiments are extra in-depth and take kids through the scientific method (as opposed to many elementary "experiments" which are actually just demonstrations that don't really test anything). The best part is that the elementary life science book is entirely free.

My DH and three of the kids were just outside of Indianapolis for the eclipse (had amazing weather), left right after totality, and are making great time coming back north to Michigan. They are almost halfway home, already to Fort Wayne, and at this rate the return trip will take about the same as driving there - and that didn't take any longer than any other day. The highway is flowing at full speed, and they should be home by bedtime.

Great Courses / Wondrium have a number of courses he might enjoy. Introduction to Paleontology is about the profession, the tools, and the fossil record...some dinosaurs, but a lot not. Major Transitions in Evolution has a couple lectures about dinosaurs, but mostly non-dinosaurs. A New History of Life is an interesting mix of biology, earth science and paleontology...most of it non-dinosaur.

This is pretty much exactly our experience with public school 5th - 9th grades. Plus, Elliot is HARD on supplies, and after we sent in the very reasonable requested supplies at the beginning of each year (one binder, a couple folders, a couple notebooks, a couple writing utensils), the school has replaced them as he loses and breaks them. He evens came home with a new backpack from school when he swung his old one around until the strap ripped off. The school offers free after school care for elementary and middle school, and free summer school for anyone who chooses to take classes. Breakfasts and lunches are free for everyone (through the summer too), fundraisers are entirely optional, field trips are reasonably priced and there is a plentiful scholarship fund to pay for anyone who needs it. Busing is usually convenient…and they have not pushed back against paying for special needs busing for Elliot For us public school is very nearly free.

Homeschooling is so, so, SO much more expensive for us. Lost wages are a huge part of that. I was an engineer before having kids (and hated it), and was making ~$70k. That would have gone down a bit in absolute terms when we moved to an area with a much lower COL before our oldest was born, but it also would have gone up considerably if I had been working for the last 15 years. But another big cost is extracurriculars. I'm sure my 10 year old would be taking piano lessons even if he was public schooled, but there is no way we would be juggling two piano lessons, one violin lesson and a music composition lesson every week if he were at school all day. We would not be paying for a full day of Spanish immersion every week. I'm sure my youngest would be in a sport or two (and she is too young for them to be through the school), but we would not be paying for team gymnastics + swimming + dance + yoga + skating every week. Oddly enough, I also lump therapy into this category, because around here there is such a shortage of kids' mental health providers, that before/after school appointments are nearly impossible to get. So my homeschooled kids can only get weekly therapy because we can go during school hours. Thankfully, we have a half-way-between public school and homeschool option. My kids are technically public school students, get most of their curricula purchased (from a list of approved providers), get big chunks of extracurriculars paid for, and get to attend on-campus electives if they want, while retaining most of the perks of homeschooling. The cost is bureaucracy and submitting evidence of learning...but, honestly, not much more than it sounds like are required of homeschoolers in some of the higher regulation states.

Well, my 9th grader is at the public school this semester, and he isn't really learning for much more than 2 hours a day. The school day runs for 6 hours and 40 minutes, but 40 minutes total is passing time between classes, and 30 minutes is lunch. So that gets us down to 5.5 hours in class, but his (school issued) Chromebook log frequently shows that he is spending 3+ hours each day playing games after his work is done, so that gets him down to 2-2.5 hours at most of learning. Subtract interruptions, announcements, passing out supplies, etc, and he is probably under 2 hours a day...and he is getting 95-115% in each of his upperclass, college prep courses. Last semester, when he was homeschooled, he was staying productively busy for 8+ hours a day, but much of it did not look much like "school". He spent on average 2 hours a day on math, writing, history reading and his DE science class. The rest of his days were filled with art classes, Lego robotics, reading literature of his choosing, hanging out at DE office hours asking all sorts of astronomy questions he was interested in, playing chess with his Spanish tutor, Dungeons and Dragons club, student teaching, watching Wondrium lectures, etc.

We do not get to select a delivery date. We have signed up for delivery summaries from USPS, Fedex, and UPS, so we typically know ahead of time what day they will be delivered. If we are not there, they leave a sticky note on the door saying they tried to delivery and couldn't get a signature. They try again the next day, leaving another note, and then hold the package at the post office/Fedex office for a week for us to pick up. I prefer when they send through USPS, because then I know pretty closely what time of day the delivery will happen (our mail tends to get delivered between 10:30 and noon). Fedex and UPS are much more variable, and could be at my house anywhere between 10am and ~8pm.

We do in my state, but mail order is the only way our insurance will allow 90 day prescriptions, so it is worth the hassle for us. We have taken to calling the mail order pharmacy and asking what doses of Focalin XR they have in stock, and then having the psychiatrist write for that dose. It means sometimes a kiddo is taking three 10mg XRs instead of one 30mg XR, but the kids are all good pill swallowers, so that is fine.