Me too.

DS has a group of friends that he sees several times per week. Three are boys that he's known for about four years and met through baseball. DH and one of the other fathers have coached together, so the four boys have mostly played on the same teams. The fifth boy is homeschooled and we met him at the library last fall. He doesn't live very close to us, but he comes over every Friday afternoon to do a science lab with DS, then stays for the evening to hang out with the other boys. DS has some other kids he considers friends from baseball and soccer, but these four boys are his real friends. He's having a birthday party next weekend and will be inviting 12 boys, including two cousins. DD hasn't had it quite as easy with friends, but she does have a few. She has a best friend who is homeschooled, but lives almost an hour away. They really click, so we make an effort to get the girls together every second weekend or so. She also gets along great with my nieces and a few girls from dance, so she has a friend or cousin over most weekends. At your son's age, DS had a bunch of "friends" that he never saw outside of school. DD had a few girls from the neighborhood who've since moved away. Their real friends at that age were their cousins, and birthdays were family events.

I would either go with option #4, or do American in 6th and 7th, then Sonlight Core W in 8th. I would definitely keep the two years of American history together and take advantage of your trip to the US, but I think either option for 8th would prepare your daughter for high school history.

DH was a member for a few years, but he doesn't think he got anything out of it.

Yep. Silly mom here. One morning a few weeks ago, I got up at 7, dressed, made coffee, wrote out DS's checklist for the day, got DD's books ready and started some laundry. When 8 o'clock came around and DH hadn't come down to get ready for work, I put two and two together and realized that it was Sunday. :blush:

DS likes to work independently, so he does the majority of his work on his own while I work with DD. We go over and discuss his work at lunch, then work together on English and French in the afternoon. About 2 hours per day.

DS read all three books the summer before he turned 10. I hadn't read them, but he didn't have a problem with any of the content. He was reading all young adult and adult fiction at the time anyway. I don't prohibit my kids from reading any books (within reason), but I would prefer DD wait until she's 10/11.

It's indirect, but DS has learned a lot about programming from the guys he plays with. I have no idea what he actually builds. :)

Usually clean-shaven, with the occasional light beard. He went completely gray early, so a beard makes him look at least 10 years older.

I read the novel a few years ago when my nephew studied it in high school. 8th grade might be a bit young, but I don't remember thinking it was inappropriate for 10th (or 11th, I'm not completely sure). I quick google search led me to the short story version here.

Whether it's too much or not will depend on your kids, but I would think that any more than 3 hours would be pushing it for a 2nd grader and 6 hours would be my limit for 5th grade. Mine are in 3rd and 6th right now and we do each subject daily, but we don't hit every part of English every day. DD 3rd does English (grammar, vocab, writing, literature), history, science, math and French with me every morning. This takes about 3 hours. After lunch, she does spelling, handwriting and geography on her own, which takes 30-45 minutes. She reads for 30 minutes and is finished by 2. ~4 hours total, including reading. DS 6th does Arabic, math, science and history in the morning, then English and French with me after lunch. He finishes before 3, but has a little assigned reading after that. ~6 hours, including reading.

I would not have let my kids read The Hunger Games at 7. DS read it just before he turned 10 and loved it, so I think that's the earliest I would let DD read it as well.

My DS is almost 12 and I could leave him home every day for 3-4 hours, no problem. I probably would have been okay with it around 10 1/2 or 11. Eight hours is a different story. DS was supposed to stay home from 9-5 every day for a week while DD and I were away, but he got lonely and ended up going to work with DH on Thursday and Friday. I would hold off on that until he's old enough to walk or take a bus somewhere to break up his day. Maybe 13, probably 14.

Do you mean every day? Or just occasionally?

For Harry Potter, I would definitely get a hardcover version. We buy mostly paperbacks, but my kids read Harry Potter over and over, so we need hardcovers for the durability. :)

Both of my kids also started FLL with Level 3 and had no trouble. For a 2nd grader, I think either FLL 2 or 3 would be fine.

In our marriage, I express my preferences, and he decides whether to take my advice or not. I think he looks equally as handsome with a beard and without, but he thinks he looks more professional when he shaves, so he usually does.

My DS is almost 12 and I consider him to be a mature and motivated student for his age, but he would not be able to take a list of assignments for the week and have them completed on time. We do a daily list of assignments, with a marking of where he should be by lunch. I don't think you need to sit by his side the entire time he works, but setting him up with a morning's worth of work and checking that it's been completed before you break for lunch might be a good compromise.

:grouphug: We've hosted two boys and a girl and our girl was definitely the biggest challenge. I'm sorry you've had such a tough time.

I agree with this exactly. If gymnastics was their only sport, I wouldn't drop it, but in your case I would.

With children those ages? Not a chance.

This has been our experience as well. DD just started playing the flute and is the youngest student that her teacher has ever taught. DS started trumpet last year at 10.

We schooled year-round for several years, so we still tend to finish and start curricula at random times during the year. In three weeks, DD will (finally) finish Noeo Physics. We're both really looking forward to spending the next year or more on environmental and life science.:)

For Ancients, my DS used a combination of the three Dorothy Mills books that BFamily mentioned (Ancient World, Romans, Greeks), two of the World in Ancient Times books (China and Early Human), Famous Men of Greece and Rome, several encyclopedias, some ancient literature and historical fiction. He read through SOTW the previous summer for a quick overview.

At the recreational level, basketball is pretty safe. Most of the injuries I've seen have been knee and ankle injuries in competitive players. Baseball can also be very safe at that age, depending on the position and with proper equipment. Flag football isn't bad either. DS plays with boys who almost all play tackle, but he's keeps up and doesn't mind not playing "real" football. My DH went to college on a football scholarship, and he's also completely against DS playing. Track, cross-country and swimming are good options as well.