I have to say that every year I am newly entertained by your DH's gardening woes (or your woes related to his gardening).

You got huffy and left because of something a 7 year old said to you. You were being a bit of a snot.

DS9 does both. He does TT a grade level ahead (so 5th grade) and BA a grade level behind (so BA3, give or take, although he does 4 sometimes too because we have it). TT I make him do every day, just the next thing. BA I say "go answer 4 questions in any BA workbook you can find." I don't care what the questions are or which book they come from. We never talk about the TT (I check the grades on the quizzes every now and again, we don't have the second chance/hint thing enabled, so it's pretty accurate I figure); we often talk about the BA. The only problem I see with TT is that it goes very fast. DS does two lessons a day, or a lesson and a quiz; it takes approx. 20-30 minutes and he'll be done with TT5 before summer. BA goes much slower - 4 questions can take quite a while or not much time at all depending, but 4 questions is only 1/5 or so of a lesson. So I figure we'll take some time off between TT levels to do just a lesson a day of BA (or just go through what was missed with the 4 questions random approach) before moving to the next TT level. The thing is, he's kind of noncompliant about schoolwork. BA has him fooled because of the monsters and because I can tolerate talking about 4 questions a day and he can tolerate doing 4 questions a day. TT doesn't have him fooled but he's more tolerant of it because it is on the computer and has moving cartoon graphics on occasion.

Possibly that is part of it; I'm very verbal. I find wordless books quite irritating and poorly written books even more irritating. I imagine the soldiers did feel bored and terrified; the movie gave me no sense of terror, though. I thought it was quite a sanitized version of war - no one you care about dies (in fact you don't care about anyone), little if any blood, etc. There was very little sense of scale - maybe a tiny bit when Branaugh sees the civilian ships all coming into shore, but mostly completely devoid of the scale of the thing (which is part of what was so impressive about the actual event!). I don't know what kind of good acting she's talking about, honestly - they were fine, but you couldn't connect with much of anyone and no one went through any serious character change or anything. The score was good.

I think the Waldorf school made education a priority too - (it was a charter, which I think DeVos even likes, and I support as well) - but what they meant by education and what my children needed from education were two different things. The same was true of the neighborhood school - it's not like it costs extra money (are you saying that MA values education because it spends more money on it? I don't know the stats) to put kids in pods instead of rows, or to have the teacher do this or that interactive project instead of worksheets, or whatever. They were trying to educate according to what they thought education meant, or how it was best delivered to their student population. I just disagreed with regard to my kids.

I've had kids in 2 different public schools; one a Waldorf charter and one just a regular neighborhood school. Both could have provided photos of the kids not sitting in rows. The Waldorf charter had a school garden and chickens and knitting time. The PS had circle time and stations and a library. But for both of them, a kid who was not the target of the school's philosophy or was out of the norm was pretty much SOL. We tried school twice because I have really great memories of school (largely sitting in rows, which I liked). What I don't like about schools these days is not the sitting in rows aspect - I don't care how the desks are arranged. And we definitely give up things when homeschooling - regular peer interaction, the chickens at the Waldorf, and lunch period at the neighborhood school. But what we get in return is instruction targeted toward our kids' interests and abilities, freedom (both physical and mental), and a lack of stigma for being non-average.

watched Dunkirk (without DH, who refused) DH was correct. I think this review sums it up nicely: https://warisboring.com/dunkirk-is-a-booming-bloodless-bore/ how you could take something as exciting and relevant and emotionally stirring as Dunkirk and make a boring movie out of it is beyond my understanding, but Nolan managed it somehow. Again, the only particularly compelling writing was written by Churchill 75 years ago.

Yes, we do the morally complicit bit, but also the "why (especially economically, or in terms of big sociopolitical considerations) might various groups of people at various times have thought this thing we think is reprehensible was not only okay but even necessary?" Not, largely speaking, with younger kids. But DD12 and to some very limited extent DS9 are starting to be able to think this way. Some things are still almost unanswerable, though, or at least none of us seem to have the answers for them - both past and present.

Oh, yes, if you're having to pay for childcare, that definitely costs more. But that's not a taxes issue, it's just a cost of living/working issue. I mean, if I work outside the home I have to pay for all kinds of things I don't pay for when I stay home; staying home has definite economic value. But it's just not true that you lose all additional income when you work. You might have to pay for things instead of getting them for free - this is true if you're on food stamps or medicaid too, but most people don't say hey, don't take that job, you lose your food stamps and will have to pay for food! (unless it would really make the situation untenable). Instead they say great, you have a way to pay for your own food now! You're moving up in the world! etc.

Well, yes, you'd have to pay more for college - but you'd be making the income, you'd just have to pay for something instead of getting the state to pay for it.

Well, I was thinking about posting something along the lines of, "Bill, you're being obnoxious; it's pretty clear in the rules of the forum that coming along to a descriptive thread about one thing to debate the legitimacy of some aspect of that thing is a faux pas here," but reading Bluegoat talking about theology is just always so interesting to me that I decided not to complain.

I wasn't talking about college classes in either circumstance.

That Modern States thing is pretty incredible. For people considering things like APs to cover 1st year college credit it looks like a much more affordable (and potentially lower-stress) option,

But by almost nothing you still mean half, right?

Depends on the student, I'd say, and their age, and etc. I don't know what "No More I'm Done" is, but I find that WWS requires very little energy on my part for my 12 year old. There isn't a writing program in the universe that requires very little energy for my 9 year old, though, because it has to not only be something I am directly involved in (otherwise he won't be interested) but something I can talk him into thinking isn't actually schoolwork.

Well, good luck to the company finding someone to not fall asleep (or just quit out of frustration for other reasons) with that working situation. It sounds like a miserable lot of boredom, honestly. I'd rather do a physically hard job than one where you have to sit and look at a wall for hours at a time, in a room by yourself.

Would he be allowed to bring something to work on (or at least read!) during the down times so that he doesn't fall asleep? I know the answer is probably that he has zero interest in asking for this, but I'd think as someone running a pool that they run into this problem with employees pretty often - it is hard to stay awake in an empty room with the humid warmth and the muzak, and I bet he isn't the first who falls asleep when no one is there. But I can understand not tolerating lifeguards who sleep. I just wonder if they could come up with a solution that allows him to keep his job and makes him more safe.

We don't take the kids to doctors (or take ourselves to doctors) unless they are ill after the first part of babyhood. If the government wants to force taking kids to doctors, all kids (because why would homeschooling make the kid less or more in need of doctor visits?), well I just don't see that happening in most states.

Yep, I looked at my alma mater, University of State, recently. I graduated in 2006. In-state tuition has gone up 3x; out of state has doubled. Meanwhile, their big merit scholarships have been in some cases halved - they no longer have a free ride for NMF. I expected some tuition hikes, sure - but 200-300% over the course of 10-12 years is just insane.

I really like the California model. I would love to choose some oversight for $, and I am not hurting for $. But yes, imo just homeschooling is not cause for an invasion of privacy - and it makes no sense, because if you're worried about kids who don't go to public schools (or any b&m schools), there are millions of them under age 5. Are we going to mandate yearly home inspections starting at birth?

I have a strong reaction to requiring me to allow a government official in my home without any particular compelling pretext. In practice, I don't mind letting anyone in. In theory, I am very opposed to being required to let the government into my private property without a (very) good reason.

I can't see a mandatory home visit passing anywhere in the US. I just can't even.

Oh, definitely texting and calling are convenient! Even if you're just avoiding a walk from the driveway to the front door, it's convenient. What I'm saying is that, as a person who does not ever text or use a cell phone for these types of things, they are not strictly necessary. If someone was waiting to pick me up after school, for instance, on a large campus with limited parking, I'd arrange ahead of time where to be at what time and wait there (outside, in the cold, if necessary); alternatively, if it was a mom driving my friend or something to pick me up, she might drop off the friend at the entrance to the apartment complex or school and the friend would walk in to get me while the mom made the block (or a couple of blocks) or idled or something. It was not super convenient but it worked okay.

I don't live in Maryland; if I did and this became law, I'd move. I would never consider living in Maryland.

From someone who doesn't use cell phones in this way, either to text or call, I can tell you that what we would do is go up to the door and knock. that is what we always did when I was a kid and indeed it is what I do when I'm taking DD12 and friends somewhere.