@fledge1, shoot me a PM any time. But I must recommend looking into FB groups in your area (if you're on FB that is). That's where I get all of my advice.
@Wren, thanks for the link. I took a quick glance through and it looked really interesting. I will try to keep it in mind!
And no, I know nothing about Tennessee. But I'll give you the same advice I gave fledge1, check out HSLDA's website and they should give you direct links to the laws of the state and hopefully your friend can go from there (if she hasn't already found the same info).
I am nearing the bottom of my Google Sheets spreadsheet itinerary. Only 6 and a half more weeks to go and then we'll be done! Our co-op group ends in four weeks, my daughter's dance class ends in five weeks. The end of our first homeschool year is in sight! Wow!
I'm still trying to decide if I want to shift to a year-round homeschool curriculum for next year (six weeks on, one week off, month of December off) as my two older kids function SO MUCH BETTER on school days. My fear is burnout... burnout for me, burnout for them. And I haven't really found anyone that I can talk to about it in person because when I hear someone go "oh yeah, we homeschool year round" what they mean is that they do take summer vacation, but their kids still have to read and do math problems every day to keep from forgetting everything during the summer. Not quite what I'm looking for.
But regardless of what I decide, I'm amassing my curriculum for next year. It's not changing much as we've had great success this year. Sonlight for the bulk of the history, geography, reading, science. Shiller for math (halfway through book 2/3) and Logic of English for Phonics, Spelling, and additional Reading (starting level 3 next week)...those will just carry over.
I've also started gathering a pile of things to do in the interim so I don't go insane. All of our KiwiCrate and AtlasCrate boxes we haven't done, lots of games, some book lists, and (if I'm feeling REALLY crazy) my Rosetta Stone Spanish software.