I can't imagine that quitting one or two activities would make any difference. Quitting everything could be seen as a red flag that there are bigger issues going on, but choosing to focus on fewer activities or trying some new things will just look like they're normal kids whose interests have changed a little over time. It's also very common for juniors/seniors to start working part-time, so most kids' extra-curricular lists will get shorter over their high school years rather than longer. I wouldn't force them to continue an activity they don't have any interest in (but I would say the same thing even if it did "look bad"). If you feel it's important, I don't think it would be unreasonable for you to require that they continue some kind of volunteer activity that aligns with their current interests and values.

When Ds21 started taking Singulair a few years ago, his doctor scheduled a follow-up appointment at 3 weeks to check for mental health side effects. I remember she said these effects usually start within the first few weeks, but they tend to become more severe rather than subsiding so she would take Ds off Singulair if he had even mild effects at 3 weeks. When he didn't have any issues, we were told to keep monitoring him because side effects could still appear at any time. He's continued to take Singulair every spring/summer since then with no issues. I'm not sure if his doctor is always so cautious or if she was especially concerned because Ds was a teenage boy, but I really appreciated having her check in on him. He had taken Singulair for a few summers when he was much younger (probably age 5-7, then he started allergy shots) and we weren't given any warnings except that it might affect his sleep.

We liked Analytical Grammar. I'd usually recommend AG for a 7th or 8th grader and Jr Analytical Grammar for 6th (or for any student who would find AG intimidating).

12-15 hours/week is not unreasonable for a DE course. Over the course of a 15-16 week semester, that works out to 180-240 hours. For a high school course taken over 30+ weeks, it would be absurd (360+ hours?). I've heard of AP classes from online providers taking students this much time and I really don't understand why parents choose these courses. My older kids have each taken some AP classes, both at home and through partial enrolment at our local public school, and they've never spent nearly that amount of time. Ds took AP Chemistry through the public school and that was likely his most time-consuming high school course - 120 hours of in-class instruction (including 20 90-minute labs) and about 100 hours of work at home. Because my kids always took a few courses online, at the public school, and/or through DE, it wasn't possible to completely control the number of hours they had to work each day. They kept track and we looked at the hours in weekly chunks. Ds's time working increased each year as he took more AP and then DE classes - roughly 40 hours/week in 9th grade (but this included PE at the public school for 4 hours/week, so we could say 36), 40 hours/week in 10th (no PE), 45 hours in 11th grade, and 50 hours in 12th. Dd's has stayed about the same because she hasn't take any AP/DE sciences and isn't taking a lab science at all this year - she's still right around 35 hours/week.

Robert Service was my son's favorite poet at that age, and I remember he was especially enthusiastic about some of the ballads (The Shooting of Dan McGrew, The Cremation of Sam McGee, The Ballad of One-Eyed Mike), The Men That Don't Fit In, and a humorous little poem called Duello. We never did get around to formally studying much poetry in high school, but he's read quite a bit on his own so I'll ask if he has any other suggestions.

This school year has completely snuck up on me! DD’s classes at the public high school begin tomorrow, and we’ll pick everything else up next week. Geometry – Discovering Geometry American History (1890-present) / Literature / Government – America: A Narrative History, A People’s History, etc., selection of American lit, parts of WWS 3 & Excellence in Literature AP French Honors Spanish 2 (taken at our public high school) Honors Biology (public school)

At 16/17, or if the situation seems sketchy at any age, I would want my teen to wake my husband (not me!) to go with him to pick up the friend. I would not call the other teen's parents unless they were in medical distress or my teen couldn't find them or something, and would not call the police unless the party seemed especially unsafe.

My son started French in 3rd grade, Arabic in 5th, and Spanish in 7th. It wasn't planned (I only cared about him learning French), but Arabic became a passion of his, and Spanish was an easy course he could take with his friends at the public school (he attended part-time, two courses each year, in 9th/10th). He'll end up with 8 credits of Arabic, 5 credits of French, and 3 credits of Spanish. Some colleges really do want to see 3-4 foreign language credits taken between 9th and 12th grade. For a student who is already proficient in Spanish, that could mean taking more advanced Spanish courses, studying another language, or both.

I agree with SKL that it is helpful to include a deadline for their responses. When I e-mail groups of parents, I always create a fake deadline (bold and underlined). I usually get a bunch of immediate responses, a bunch on the fake deadline date, one or two that respond a day late with an apology, and one or two that I have to follow up with.

We've also been very happy with Analytical Grammar. I can all be covered in one (fairly intense) year if you would like your oldest to finish grammar before high school. Otherwise, you can spread it out however you like.

AP Biology requires that students spend 25% of class time on lab work, which works out to roughly 35+ hours. For a typical high school biology class, 20+ hours sounds reasonable to me, whether that works out to 10 or 20 labs.

DS took both his DE exams yesterday, so today was his day off before shifting his focus to AP exams! He's taking English Lit, Physics C, and French this year, so he does have adequate time left to study. He's convinced himself that he "needs" 5s in Physics, but seems to be taking a more relaxed approach to English and French. When he showed me his study schedule this evening and I commented on how little time he'd allotted for them, his response was, "Mom, at this point I either speak the language or I don't." So that's comforting...

DS took AP Biology (at home) without having taken a regular biology course. It was more time-consuming than we anticipated, but DS did well and felt it was worth the extra effort just to "get it over with". He's more of a math/physics guy, and would not have enjoyed spending two years on biology in high school.

Our church offers coffee and snacks after the service, so we have always stayed and talked for 15-30 minutes. Most of DS17's friends no longer attend church and he isn't really into chatting with adults, so he takes DS5 outside to play until the rest of us are ready to go.

It's not at all weird for high school kids not to have Facebook where we live. DS17 did recently sign up so that he could join a few groups related to the university where he does DE ("used textbook sale" was the most important one!), but he doesn't use it "socially" if that makes any sense. Your DD might find it useful to join when she gets to college, or in connecting with other prospective students in the months leading up to college, but if she doesn't, no big deal! There are plenty of college students who don't use Facebook at all. :)