I haven't been to these forums for a while but I just wanted to pop in and let you all know how you can help homeschoolers who have lost everything in the Northern California fires this past week. (If this type of post is allowed!) I am sure you know from the news that roughly 8000 families have lost their homes so far from a single fire in Nor Cal. There are many homeschooling families in that mix. If you know someone personally affected, there are resource libraries for members of certain homeschool organizations which you can direct them to for help. But in addition, there is a homeschool bookstore which is teaming up with local organizations to rebuild family homeschool libraries. They will provide new curriculum for free to any family who has lost their home. However, they need donations to do this and are asking for people to purchase gift certificates to donate. The name of the store is A Brighter Child and it is in Fair Oaks, CA. You can find them online at www.abrighterchild.com. I am not affiliated with that store in any way. Thank you

That's some good confirmation right there, thanks so much. I am not worried about taking extra time on the other side of geometry, as she is only in 7th grade right now so we have time to review all this in the next couple of years.

Thanks, that's a good idea and very doable with our schedule. She read half of Advanced Math for Young Students last year, and she can finish that alongside TT this fall before finishing up review with Foerster as you suggested.

I am thinking of having my daughter skip the last chapter. She has done fine in the whole rest of the book but we are getting sick of school and want to call it quits for the summer. She will do Teaching Textbooks Geometry for the next school year and probably Math Without Borders Foerster Alg. 2/Trig after that. Anyway, ch. 14 in her current book is called "Functions and Advanced Topics" and covers: Functions Direct and inverse variation functions Function terminology Trigonometric functions Quadratic functions Solving quadratic inequalities by completing the square Solving quadratic inequalities by the quadratic formula I am trying to decide if we can skip it now and come back to it before the next Foerster book in a year or so, or skip it completely, or push through June and just finish it up.

My mom made and used those triangle flashcards when homeschooling me in the 80s. You just cover one corner for the first round and another corner the next round. She made a set for multiplication and division, too.

I am unfamiliar with online programs, but I do know our metro public library system (California) offers free tutoring to prep for the GED and they also have a free high school diploma program. The GED tutoring at the library is great because children can come with the parent and hang out in the kids' section during the session. I don't know how widespread these types of programs are, but thought I would throw that out there as an option.

What about summer BBQ? In my area it is common to start and end the summer with a BBQ party, as well as have one in the middle. Memorial Day BBQ begins the summer, Labor Day BBQ ends the summer, and the Fourth of July is in the middle. We also have the county fairs in the summer, too. I don't know how that correlates to customs worldwide though.

It thinks I speak Japanese and want to ride rollercoasters in Texas. Not related to anything in my life or posting that I can think of...it seems so random!

It may be that the simple CA requirement of needing to file an affidavit affirming the existence of a private school is what prevents public schools from being able lie like that. Interesting point to bring up.

I meant that I think it is more common in California to transfer to charter rather than private home school. I don't doubt it happens as you described other places, I just haven't personally heard of it happening in California.

I think it is more common for high schoolers to be put into online charter or public independent study programs where they can do credit recovery programs. Of course many then drop out of those public programs, which leads to anti-school choice groups pointing to charter schools as failures in and of themselves, when often they are just the last stop on the public school failure train.

Federal courts in other states dealt with the issue of home visits in the 80s and found them unconstitutional. In order to pass constitutional muster, the state has to prove that home visits would make a real difference in educational outcomes AND prove that home visits are the least restrictive means of ensuring children are being taught to read. Due process means government officials cannot come into your house to look for evidence of a crime without proving that it is absolutely necessary for state interests. Social workers must have a warrant, building inspectors must have evidence that you are renting or have made significant building modifications, they can see your trash, etc. Courts have held that the only state interest in education is basic literacy. So they have to choose the least restrictive means of ensuring that. In the case of California, according to the state constitution, school officials cannot support or monitor religious education, which is why they have left private schools, including homeschools, alone.

That is how California is set up, too. The state dept of ed has no authority over private schools. The only thing we do is put our name and address in a state directory of private schools every year to say that we are, in fact, a private school. The law currently exempts private schools with no commercial private school building from all the codes meant for brick and mortar campuses (gun laws, fire codes, etc). That's because if the place where kids learn is their own private residence, the law acknowledges that the primary use of the building is a home (privacy laws apply) and not actually a campus. The records we are required to keep (but not required to submit to anyone unless maybe investigated for a crime?) are shot records and attendance, but the law also says if you are not in a classroom based school you are exempt from mandatory vaccine laws, too. In 30+ years of being in the homeschool community in California, I have never heard of anyone having to show records of any sort to anyone but colleges. We are to teach the same branches of study as public schools, but there are no reporting requirements. It is just assumed that if a private school is bad, the parents will pull their kids out of it and put them in another one. The state is supposed to answer to parents for the education of kids, not the other way around. We will see if that changes. I hope not.

Meanwhile, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/06/us/california-literacy-lawsuit.html

I take three caps a day, all month.