I was not deliberating ignoring Zyngaru's question. Rather, I had seen it, intended to post a detailed answer, then completely forgot about it.
While I'm not sure I'll have time to do a detailed answer right now, I didn't want to risk forgetting it again, so....
The short version is everything is going well.
We've basically been running it as a book club - actually as two. It was a bit hard at first, but as the older kids grew to know each other (and to be fair, a lot of them already knew each other at least somewhat, from field trips or PE activity things their families had done together), I was able start leaving the older kids on their own more. A lot of it was really more about them getting an idea of what I had in mind. My first few weeks required me asking a lot of questions and driving the conversations myself.
Not every kid (remember, there are two girls with us - both in the older group) wants to talk about every book, and a few of the kids are pretty quiet, but most of them seem to enjoy talking about the books they like (and, as you might guess - the problem with a couple of the kids is shutting them up).
We are down to 23 kids. Three of them were pulled because the schedule just didn't work for them, one of them just wasn't doing well in the situation (a kid who I think had some emotional problems and I don't mind if the atmosphere gets a little rambunctious at times, which didn't work for him), and one whose mom decided she couldn't handle all my book choices after all.
I have had to have a meeting with some of the parents when I turned to some of the books with alternate mythologies. I had come up with an idea that seemed to work. In the first place, my standing argument has always been that fantasy books today are just a modern form of mythology. Over the years, I've firmed that up a bit to add that using 'mythological entities' allows authors to explore ideas without offending anyone's specific religious beliefs. My newer idea (which seemed pretty well received in this bunch, at least) is that using 'mythological entities' also allows them to deal with modern situations, such as people who are good people, but don't worship the way you do, without having to cast a modern religion in an offensive way, as well as by helping people look at issues in a different way by eliminating preconceived notions (and since these homeschoolers often feel oppressed, I might have tilted the way I presented that argument just a bit).
We had our first meeting in early September, and we've been meeting twice a week since then, except Halloween, when I had to cancel because I was sick. We have finished 6 books, and have also read a couple of short stories - Hatchet, My Side of the Mountain, Rangers Apprentice: Ruins of Gorlan, Tarzan the Ape-Man, and Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. The sixth one was The short stories were One Night in Horrorland, which we read leading up to Halloween (while I had to cancel, they did meet at the store for the snacks and TV version that I'd promised them on that day). The short stories we read were The Ransom of Red Chief by O. Henry (every kid there laughed aloud, but also agreed that Johnny needed a good spanking, which was an interesting discussion to hear) and The Adventure of the Dancing Men by Conan Doyle.
We've had four meetings since Halloween. The first was spent discussing horror in movies and literature. Since then, we've been reading/discussing the Pawn of Prophecy. That series deals much more with religion than many, so we spent a day discussing it before we started reading. That almost didn't happen, because the book is basically out of print now (the novels weren't very long, and the five books are now mostly available as two books collecting the original five, but at a $15 price tag, so I pretty much took a loss so the kids could read them). I'm planning on dragging this one out a bit to last through next week, since we're not meeting the week of Thanksgiving. I am going to make sure I have a short story on stand just in case - probably Rikki Tikki Tavi.
The reason it took me a while to answer is not what's been shared above though.
Let me start with Dwayne, who's 16 (and dyslexic). He was a bump on a log at first, but he was apparently listening, and as he realized the other boys were getting the same things from the stories as he was, he started being more willing to talk. I've actually had spent some private time to the point that he's been over here a couple of times, and I finally got his parents to allow me to try something different with him. He's been using Audible to get the books when available, and reading along with them. I had to work with him to get him to really try it, and his dad informs me that they have to watch to make sure he actually does read along, but it seems to be really helping him.
I stopped at Sonic the second time he came home with me. Let me say that Dwayne is an okay looking kid - kind of light brown/dark blond hair, fair skin, blue eyes, a bit of acne, and braces. A medium build - maybe 5'10", and lean, but not especially skinny or athletic - just kind of average really. Nice kid though and fairly polite. One of the other kids in our group had been a bit of trouble that day, and I used that to mention paddling kids when I'd been teaching. Dwayne went SO RED!
His mom is the teacher, and it turns out that she handles most of the discipline - usually with extra chores or homework, sometimes with restrictions. He doesn't remember the last time she spanked him, but maybe when he was around 10 or 11. Every once in a while, though, instead of sent to the principal, he gets 'referred to Dad'. "Dad uses a belt instead of a paddle, though."
No more details, but it was still a cute conversation, since I didn't have to pry for many details.
As I said, I don't mind the atmosphere getting occasionally rambunctious, when it's because the kids are excited (as opposed to deliberately disruptive). From time to time, I have had to settle them down, and some of them are more prone to having to be called down than others. If things get too bad, I've occasionally asked someone to step out into the hall with me for a short talk.
Now, I had one talk with a parent early on that led to some trouble. I just wanted suggestions from her on how best to handle her kid and help direct him, but (based on his reactions at the next meeting), she must have come down on him like a ton of bricks. I don't want kids who are cowed and afraid to participate (or even those who feel like they have to be there, whether they want to be or not). I'm trying to run this as something to help kids find the joy in reading. Since then, I tried to talk to all the parents about tips to re-direct their kids if I needed (harder to remember specifics that way, but better than stirring up trouble).
The other thing I've done is, if there's a situation where a boy won't be subtly re-directed, I ask him to step out in the hall with me for a moment. Now, while I don't have permission to paddle or spank any of these kids (besides off-handed comments from a couple of the parents, which I'm not taking seriously), they know I'm still in charge, and I'd imagine most of them have been warned about acting up before their parents started leaving them here.
Usually, once a get a kid in the hall, it makes them realize they've gone over the line. While that was the point, I usually push it a bit. Some of the boys try to stay vague, but it's pretty obvious that most of them at least still worry about getting spanked, and three of them have very specifically admitted it. However, the most fun was Hudson.
Hudson is my youngest student, and he won't be 9 until next fall (he's come over a couple of times, and he gets along with Curtis and my younger grands). He's smart and a very good reader, but that doesn't make him any more mature than other boys his age (maybe a bit less in some ways). I really like Hudson, but I've had to take him out in the hall several times. The third time was just a couple of days before Zyngaru asked about an update, and is the main reason I put it off.
Hudson had previously admitted that he does get spanked, but this time I pushed a bit more, reminding him that I'd already asked if I needed to have a talk with his mom. This time he was obviously a bit worried, and I think he might have been going for sympathy. I said something like 'I know you said you'd probably get spanked if I had to talk with your mom, Hudson, but I'm not sure what else to do, if I need to keep bringing you out here to talk to you."
"I'm sorry," he said, trying to look miserable.
"I'm sure you are, but maybe your mom's spankings aren't that bad, if the idea of me talking to her isn't making an impression on you."
Let me pause to say I know Hudson wears briefs - super hero ones both times I've seen them. He's about the same height as Curtis, but maybe slightly skinnier, so maybe 5'3" and 52 lbs. He has dark blond hair, brown eyes, a Caucasian skin tone that looks lightly tanned, and a mischievous little smile.
He very definitely didn't like the idea that I didn't take his mom's spankings seriously (or that I might mention to her that he needed one). He rushed to mention that both his parents spank hard - bare bottom, but Mom's were worse, because she uses this 'clear ruler', which I'm guessing to be an acrylic one, which I can only must sting his little bottom like crazy.
Well, he shaped up after that, and I haven't complained to his mom yet. On the other hand, the reason I'm sure he wears super hero briefs is that he's actually spending the night with us. While I do have the grands here, this weekend, Thanksgiving is going to be crazy in a couple of ways, so I let the younger kids (the ones who need more supervision and are unlikely to get to do things on their own - mostly Connor and Curtis) have a couple of friends over as well, and Hudson was among those invited.