I guess we need to revisit Prodigy. I can't remember why it didn't work here but it may have been a bad week. CTC math is very popular here but it isn't games.

Not Mrs. Twain but I will respond in case I might be able to help a tad. Are you thinking you would like to rotate R&S Climbing to Good English with Fix-It Grammar? What would be your goals? Are you looking to sometimes do something less intense, that only covers grammar and a bit of vocabulary periodically instead of a full scale program for English? Or do you feel your students are needing a bit more grammar practice/experience? Or ...? Knowing your overall goals may help people respond more effectively. Fix-It does not cover reading comprehension or phonics or composition. It strictly covers grammar, in a very gentle scaffolded way, plus it includes some dictionary work for increasing vocabulary comprehension. You could easily add in penmanship with the copywork. Fix-It is only :15 minutes a day, 4 days a week. Very short lessons, almost no prep at all needed once the notebooks are set up, and you only need to buy the TM. If you buy the TM you have access to the Student Book in electronic format for free and can print as many pages as needed for your family. 100% money back guarantee if it doesn't work out for you, by the way. I would not completely replace R&S English with Fix-It since R&S covers areas that Fix-It does not, but I guess you could rotate them, or replace the grammar portion of R&S with Fix-It if you were able to do some tweaking/adjusting.

I know a lot of people feel that since they don't have a lot of stuff, or their families get along really well, or they don't really care what happens to their stuff after they die, that a will isn't really necessary. Even if someone chooses to get a will, they may just slap something together on the fly. The thing is, though, there doesn't have to be any contention or a lot of money/property involved, for things to get very complex very quickly. A well written will can help prevent the person trying to settle the estate from spending countless hours over months or even years trying to straighten out issues that could so easily have been dealt with if a few specific words had been included in the will (or actually having a will in the first place, which many people don't). The will has many functions but one is to make things smoother and less troublesome for the person settling the estate, not just to prevent contentious relationships from getting out of hand once someone passes, but to make the process smoother and make certain there are no legal or financial snafus. There doesn't have to be any contention at all for issues to arise. And the will also hopefully keeps the IRS and lawyers from walking away with the bulk of whatever you own. I don't want whoever ends up dealing with my estate to be stuck trying to clean up my mess because I failed to take care of things while I was still alive. That being said, there are many instances where people really don't need a lawyer, the estate settlement goes glass smooth, and there are no issues to deal with. Since I don't have a crystal ball, I would rather air on the side of caution, especially since I have kids involved.

I think this is kind of normal for a lot of teens. I know this is frustrating. :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: Honestly, it sounds like he is working very hard in a lot of things. He may NEED, for his own mental well being, to have something that he can just "get done" instead of having to put 110% into all the time. We can't always put our all into every single thing we do or people can eventually burn out. I think balance and prioritizing would be a more important message here. Could you talk to him about balance and priorities? Not tell him but ask him what his real priorities are, both short and long term? And how well balanced he thinks things are right now? And what schools may not be affordable any more without the merit aid? Just get a dialogue going without putting in direct feedback from you right now. Get him thinking without feeling judged or pressured.

I agree. And the last would be a serious concern for me, too. Here, homeschooling is not common, is not seen as a positive choice, and is frequently greeted with at least suspicion, sometimes open hostility. Even family are still not really on board with my choice to homeschool the kids after some real struggles in brick and mortar. Heck, even the choice to put a child in private school can be greeted with hostility here. Local officials would almost certainly not be friendly towards homeschoolers and might very well be looking for any excuse to force children into the public school system, whether it would be a good fit or not.

I agree with the bolded absolutely. However, here parents ARE required to have a physical exam of their children by a physician every year before their child can start public school and AFAIK all local private schools require the same. Frequently it is also required that they have had that yearly wellness exam to start any kind of public sports and many privately supported sports activities, too. Whether that is truly necessary or not, they are required to do so.

Another suggestion: Do all of these jobs yourself first, and TIME yourself. Now plan to probably double or possibly triple that time for the teenager to complete those tasks until they are used to your preferences and where everything is and until they perfect their techniques, especially if some of these tasks they have never done before even in their own home. From that estimate determine how many hours you would need them to be at your home and whether you need to cut some of those tasks from their list if it will not be cost effective.

So the company that wants to interview your husband booked the flight through a travel agency but made an error? And the agency is dealing with your husband directly, not through the company that asked them to make the booking? If the company that is doing the interview booked the flight, and the agency they hired made the mistake, why isn't the company dealing with the agency? ETA: Or am I totally misunderstanding? FWIW, a lot of companies reimburse afterwards instead of paying up front. That isn't necessarily a red flag. The issue with the travel agency is a separate issue from whether this company is worth the effort to interview with. COL is definitely something to consider.

How sure are you that it is impetigo? I agree, if it IS then try to cover the affected area and keep him from physical contact with others where the affected area might touch them. And wash his hands a lot.

I agree.

My parents kept my room for me but only because it was actually an enclosed balcony on the second floor and neither of them used the upstairs much. They also stored my stuff and I really appreciated it. I didn't expect them to, though. They just didn't plan to use that balcony/room for anything so they had no problem with me leaving my stuff there. If they had needed the space I would NOT have expected them to keep my room indefinitely. As for my stuff, I think I would have been hurt if they had tossed it or given me an ultimatum on when to have it removed since my living arrangements after I moved out were not stable for quite a while and I was living light. However, I think it is absolutely reasonable to ask a child to cull down their things to a reasonable amount that you can store, or suggest they rent a storage unit to put their things in. Or if you have the yard space then maybe they could buy a small storage unit and keep it in your backyard. Cheaper than paying for off site storage if she needs to store stuff long term. I think a lot of kids (even adult ones) sometimes do want to feel like they still have a connection to home and that they weren't just tenants, that a part of them still belongs there and that they are still welcome, still a part of things, even if they move out. At least I felt that way. I needed to know that no matter how far away I moved or how long it was until I saw them again, I still belonged, that my childhood mementos were not just a waste of space or that my family was relieved to see me go so they could have their room "back".

We found Costco was the most affordable for frames and the service was excellent but cost for frames varies really widely. At the drs office it has always been higher than at Costco, though.

Gah!!!! I just bought and ate some this weekend and this morning. Mine is definitely on the list of possibly affected products. I am so sad. I haven't had humus in months. It tasted so good. I know they say they haven't found any issues with the finished product but since they are asking that all potentially affected products be thrown away I guess I will. Thanks for posting...

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

Agree with FaithManor see if you can find an expat site. For real estate, maybe this would help. http://www.home.co.uk/?gclid=Cj0KEQiA08rBBRDUn4qproqwzYMBEiQAqpzns629PjrCc5KMKu2vZ9KVVCIMox-qE6MaUPXjvtm69Y4aAgqY8P8HAQ FWIW, I would not move to another country until I had visited at least once with the express purpose of getting a feel for how it would be to live there. Vacationing is one thing. Living can be a HUGE adjustment, even when moving to a country where the language is mostly the same and the culture doesn't seem that different compared to other countries. Do you adapt well to other cultures? For Scotland in particular are you o.k. with lots of gray skies? The culture is different, too. If you are super outgoing and expect to make friends right away you may be disappointed.