LOL, I just saw this after posting in another thread singing the praises of our Mazda5. It's great for our family of 5 and has just enough storage room for us. We bought a new 2012 Mazda 5 for less than 20K.

I will be in my mid-50s I guess (if we're all going with age 21 for the kids to be outta here). I feel great. I plan on working full time at my current company, buying a summer bungalow on the beach, and vacationing a lot with hubby.

We're doing a bare minimum as well over the summer. 2-3 days a week, ds (a rising 6th grader) is easing slowly into Saxon Math 7/6, gets read to and narrates back, and does a bit of a summer bridge workbook, and spends a little time on independent reading (ok, so it's a comic book - at least he's reading). That was pretty much the summer plan anyway. Now that he's not doing day camp anymore, we're also planning lots of field trips and activities in the area.

Fully trained, day and night, home and away, no accidents, never even look at a diaper or pull-up again - was 27 months. All 3 of my kids were right at or under that 2 1/2 year mark and were each trained in less than 2 weeks.

We have a 2012 Mazda 5. I wanted something smaller than our previous minivans. This seats 6, has great mileage, and it's low-priced. The 2 rows of bucket seats in the back each fold down individually. I usually keep 5 seats up and the 6th one down for more storage (but it goes up with just a quick tug in case we have company). Both side doors slide open like a minvan's. We got the base model brand new for less than 20K. HERE IT IS

Cell phone Antibacterial wipes (for before you all eat anything) Car keys A couple of hair ties Sunglasses I totally bring the camera

CM here. Blog's in my sig.

Don't forget a USB flash drive (thumb drive).

Here's what I've planned for my 6th Grader (first 12-week term): LANGUAGE ARTS: Simply Grammar (Andreola) Spelling Skills 5 & 6 (Harcourt) Wordly Wise 6 (Hodkinson) MATH: Saxon 7/6 LITERATURE: Age of Fable (Bulfinch) Robinson Crusoe (Defoe) Chronicles of Narnia series (CS Lewis) HISTORY/GEOGRAPHY: This Country of Ours (Marshall) Poor Richard (Daugherty) Minn of the Mississippi (Holling) SCIENCE: Story Book of Science (Fabre) Physics Lab in the Home (Friedhoffer) Nature Study: Outdoor Hour Challenge blog SPANISH: Getting Started with Spanish (Linney & Orta) ART: Artistic Pursuits: JH Book 1 (Ellis) ARTIST STUDY: Renoir, Rodin COMPOSER STUDY: Debussy SHAKESPEARE: Cymbaline PLUTARCH: Pericles POETRY: Tennyson

That one is really nice looking. But we have THIS ONE. The pages are gold when the book is closed and it has one of those fabric bookmark things inside. (sorry for not knowing the technical terms for those things)

:bigear: I'm having my 11 y/o son evaluated in 5 days. I'm 90% sure he has dyslexia. I'd love to hear everyone's ideas.

...and the debate continues. Keep the opinions coming.

Ok, good. Thanks so much for the feedback. I just bought the whole series in one large book ($16 @ B&N w/educator's discount). It has them in chronological order, but I just numbered them by publication in the table of contents and that's how we'll read them. I'm really looking forward to it!

I'm starting the Chronicles of Narnia series with ds this year and I have a question. There seems to be a debate on whether to read the books in the order they were published: 1. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950) 2. Prince Caspian(1951) 3. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952) 4. The Silver Chair (1953) 5. The Horse and His Boy (1954) 6. The Magicians Nephew(1955) 7. The Last Battle (1956) Or in chronological sequence: 1. The Magicians Nephew 2. The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe 3. The Horse and His Boy 4. Prince Caspian 5. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader 6. The Silver Chair 7. The Last Battle What has everyone else done - or plan to do, and why? Does it matter? Is it better one way or the other? Thanks.

Jumping in here for a sec... I'm in NYC and to us, even Westchester is considered "upstate", LOL. :leaving:

I have 2-3 years left. That's when ds will start either 8th or 9th grade in public school. I plan to continue working part-time until I know he's settled in and doing well. Then I plan to work full-time.

I'm very excited for the new school year! Ds pretty much had all of June off, so we've decided to get a slow head start on the new stuff. A lot is changing and I want him to be fully prepared by September. We going to actually be following a schedule, lol!!

I work 5pm-9pm with Thursdays and Saturdays off. Academics are done from 10:30am to about 1pm and we still have time to go to the Hall of Science, hang out with friends, or run errands. Dh is home by 6pm. I'm home by 9:20pm and have the next couple of hours to be with everyone. A part-time job was the best thing for me and my family. I love getting out of the house alone, doing something I really enjoy, and the money is certainly wonderful.

Here's one of their pages. (lower your volume, lol) They've played at Le Bar Bat, Kenny's Castaway, Acme Underground, The Knitting Factory, Hog's & Heifers, Finally Fred's, The Village Underground, Continental, Blaggards, Tribeca Rock Club, and a bunch of others. LOL, I'll ask if they need illustration work. :001_smile:

My dh has been the lead singer in a rock band for years. They play all the cool clubs in Manhattan and they've even been on the radio (some "homegrown" segment). All the members do have day jobs, though - dh is an ad exec.

For only 5 bucks, I ordered it. I'm sure I'll use some parts of it. Thank you so much for pointing this out. I cancelled the auto-renewal.

Dd(15) has been a competitive dancer since she was 7. Regular practices are always in the range of 15-20 minutes away (less than 5 miles). Workshops, master classes, and conventions are from 30 minutes to 2hrs away. Regional competitions are anywhere from 15 minutes to 2hrs away. National competitions can be anywhere from a 3-hr drive to a 5 hr plane ride.

I have lots of things on hand and there will be some tweaking if something isn't working, but here's what I'm thinking for my 6th grader: Spelling Skills 5 & 6 Simply Grammar Wordly Wise Gr. 6 Writing Strands Daily Spark Vocabulary & Grammar ...and all the LA that he gets from the copywork, oral & written narrations, dictation exercises, and classic literature in Ambleside Online.

We're using Ambleside this upcoming year as well. Ds will be in 6th grade and we'll be doing Year 4 (he's done Yr1, Yr2, and some of Yr3 already over the last few years). We'll also be using various spelling, vocabulary, and grammar workbooks that hopefully will help with his dyslexia. I've always loved AO and ds has done well with it in the past. I'm planning on a very hands-on Ambleside approach this year with enough pre-planning and a set schedule.

In a couple of weeks ds will be taking part in THIS. They do a full battery of diagnostic tests (including an IQ test) and we get a full report with clinical feedback. There will be no charge and they'll actually be paying ds $50 a day. I'm not sure where you live but this is in NYC and they're still accepting kids.