It's 82 here right now. I'm doing the fall sheet guessing game. You know the one. When is it cold enough to put the flannel sheets on the beds? They are all out of storage and freshly laundered. I just feel crazy running the a/c and putting flannel sheets on my bed. So there they sit, waiting for the cold to come back. Blessings, Melinda

We tried Rosetta Stone and Tell Me More (and several others) before switching to Visual Link Spanish. The three oldest, 15, 12, and 10, are using VLS now and doing great. The children are working through level 1 and the add on pack. We also have a membership to the Personal Proficiency Tutor and they enjoy trying to figure out the native speakers before they slow it down. I want to add a workbook component, but I haven't decided which one yet. VLS has workbooks, and I'm also looking at Breaking the Spanish Barrier. Blessings, Melinda

:bigear:

I've had both the KTEC and the Whispermill. Both were loud, and I did my grinding outside because of the fine dust it put in the air. The main problem I had with the Whispermill was the tube getting clogged with flour on humid days. I now have a Mil-Rite from Retsel. It's quite a bit more expensive, but it's quieter and I can walk off and leave it grinding. Blessings, Melinda

Dd understands how to round and estimate. What we don't know is what to round to. Her lesson today says to round to the nearest thousands or hundreds. If you had a problem like 5,698+1,394 would you round the to the nearest hundred or thousand? How do you decide which one, or does it matter? Blessings, Melinda

I can't think of anything I haven't tried that is mainstream. There are a few things that I tried and didn't like (olives) but I will try anything (except brains) at least once. A few other things I have eaten are chitlins, beef/pork tongue, beef/chicken liver, beef/chicken hearts, gizzards, ants, mealworms, grasshoppers, Rocky Mountain Oysters, regular oysters both raw and cooked, mussels, scallops, squid, frog legs, rattlesnake, squirrel, armadillo, duck, quail, crawdads, pickled eggs, pickled pigs feet, kimchee, rabbit, venison, buffalo, alligator, dove, pheasant, crow, goat, chicken feet, nori, scrapple, and hogs head cheese. I have also eaten lots of weed type plants like sunflower buds and leaves, wild mustard, thistle, dandelion greens and buds, and cactus. Our family will try most anything and when we raise it ourselves, we use all we can of it whether it's weeds or animals. Blessings, Melinda

I'm trying to find a science curriculum for 10ds and 12dd. I had a bunch of links up for them to look at the samples, but they closed the links when they were done, and now I can't find them all. Ds really liked one and thought it was funny. It was not a regular textbook. The pictures were colored drawings and not photos. In particular, ds remembers the book talking about Newton's Laws, force, and pushing off an asteroid. Anyone recognize the mystery curriculum? Blessings, Melinda

One of our potbellied pigs had babies this morning. 10ds went out to do chores and discovered them. Two were dead and the other five were very cold and not moving. I gathered up the five and sent them into the house to 12dd. Dd put a towel in my roasting pan, set the pan on a heating pad, put the piglets in, and covered it all with another towel. She also heated milk (raw from our goats) and was feeding the piglets with a syringe when I came in. All are lively and crawling around. Mama pig has gone nuts. She had the babies scattered everywhere in the pen and was not tending them at all. She won't let anyone near her, which is very not her. Any possibility that now that the piglets are up and moving, she will take them back? What do I do now? I will bottle raise if I have to, but would really rather not. Blessings, Melinda

Cocoa Chewy from Whole Foods cold goats milk

Build our dream home. Blessings, Melinda

Is this Lesson 9 #4? If so, the expression should be 2x+4*-*+1 and not 2x+4*-x+1. We just did lesson 9 this morning. 2x+4*-*+1 Subtract the * leaving 2x+3*+1 2x+3*+1 2x and 2*cancel each other out leaving *+1 if x=-5 then *=5 5+1=6 I don't think I explained this very well. If you get the pawns out it's easier to see. Blessings, Melinda

Are you using health insurance to pay for the birth? My health insurance will not pay for the birth if I travel more than one hour away from home in the last month of pregnancy. You may want to check with your insurance. Blessings, Melinda

We saw them bring the first two up last night, and we have been watching the rescues all day today. Can anyone tell us what they are cheering? The chi chi chi le le le then something else and Chile at the end? Blessings, Melinda

15dd always makes our lasagna in the crockpot. Blessings, Melinda

Dh was on meds for gerd, but they didn't help much. He went off grain, and now he doesn't have any problems. Blessings, Melinda

I make dh lunch every day, either leftovers or something freshly made. We don't do sandwiches. He also gets a hot breakfast, cup of coffee, and an ironed shirt. Blessings, Melinda

Praying

Dd received a set of drawing supplies. It had several charcoal and graphite pencils, sharpener, different erasers, and something we can't identify. The item is a small wooden paddle about six inches long and one inch wide. The paddle is wooden and it has a bunch of narrow sandpaper strips stapled on it. What is it and what does she do with it? Blessings, Melinda

Our library has it and dh will pick it up tomorrow. Thanks for the recommendation. Blessings, Melinda

If I could get away with it I would bathe the children less, but we live on a farm and several of us have allergies. My children get from 1-3 "baths" per day. On all baths the stinky parts are washed, but the other stuff varies. Hair is washed as needed, usually every 2-3 days. Anyone out in the tall grass, messing with hay, etc has a water bath. No soap, just a rinse to get pollen and hay off. If you hugged the calves or goats, you get a good scrubbing. Our tub gets a workout. Blessings, Melinda

Anyone have this? Like it or not? What age is this for? Blessings, Melinda

I like the download version. With six children, it allows me to make a workbook for everyone. I also have one that needs to repeat things to get it, and with download I can make as many copies as I need. Whatever version you get, I would get the answer key. I can figure out the problems while checking, but the answer key saves time. Blessings, Melinda

:iagree:

The children (all six) and dh are sick today. They are all in my bed making paper airplanes and the planes aren't flying well. A paper airplane book has been requested. Does anyone have a favorite? I see several on Amazon, but would like recommendations. Blessings, Melinda

Last month we did a major overhaul of all my storage with IKEA. I have five tall wide Billys, three narrow tall Billys, a 5x5 Expedit, two 2x2 Expedit, a 2x4 Expedit with a desk, and a whole bunch of Besta. Right now all we have are the bookcases/cabinets, but later on we will be putting on doors. The Billy's work great for books. Very wide books and binders won't fit without sticking out. I also have one that I bought extra shelves for that I put dvds in. You can get doors for these. The Expedits have fixed shelves and are very sturdy. No doors, but you can buy the little drawer and door inserts. That could get pricey though, depending on how many you want. I had the 5x5 for a room divider, but when the children would put things on the shelves, things would fall out the back. I've moved it and now use it to store unused curriculum on. I would also recommend you check out the Besta. The shelves are deep enough for binders and are adjustable. You can stack several units to get the height you need, and they have doors. Out of the three, we like the Expedit the least. The desk Expedit and the smaller units are good, but the 5x5 just doesn't work for us. For us, it's just not as flexible as the others and dh doesn't want to spend the $500+ to buy the door inserts. Blessings, Melinda