We have been using a Zane-bloser workbook to help dd. It actual gives tips and talks about where folks normally make mistakes in their handwriting and how to correct it. http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/060145

With the prepaid funeral you need to work closely with the funeral home. From what I understand in many states if you do not use all the money in the trust then the rest of the money is turned over to the state. Due to that reason you want to make sure that you get the numbers right. Most funeral homes will put in a little padding just in case prices go up but you do not want it to be too much. If you get a funeral home that is used to doing this they know how to do the adjusting.

They do say on their site that the advisors do not offer help when purchased second hand. I understand this because so many people just use their catalog as a reference for the books and do not buy the full core. They are a company that is in it to make money so it is understandable from a business perspective but it is frustrating when we are trying to save money because their cores are pricey. If I were them I might not want to make it easier for folks to not buy our product. They do offer a great product but they make no money when folks buy it used. Which Core are you talking about? The timeline figures do not really go along with the readers but instead the history core. So if you are using Core B you get the Core B timeline figures

I would also agree that talking to an elder care lawyer would be a great thing to do at this point. When my Aunt moved up to our area a couple of years ago we did not think about talking to a local lawyer. She had a will, my sister had her power of attorney and was her health care proxy. When her health started taking a turn we did get with an elder care lawyer. It was expensive but so worth it. They knew the ins and outs of applying for Medicaid and also had us set up a prepaid funeral plan for her. I cannot even imagine doing all that paperwork on our own, it was just too confusing.

You might want to check into Meals on Wheels for them. My mother just started getting those this past year and loves it. The cost is very reasonable and she gets so much food. If she is going out for dinner or something like that she will just freeze what she gets from them and then have it on the weekend when they do not deliver. Another thing you might want to do is check with their church if they have one. Many times the churches will have ministries where someone will volunteer to come over and help with laundry or driving folks to doctors appoints. This would be helpful for whenever you are not able to help.

We are using IEW's Research Paper program. I think it really gives a good foundation for the kids. It does allow the use of Internet articles but it also teaches how to use other source material.

We started in 8th grade doing a very basic one. For 9th grade dd will do a more in depth paper and then in 10th and even more in depth paper. We are using IEW's How to Write a Research Paper (at least I think that is what it is called)

Have you looked into an online writing program? I have several friends that have used So Verbose and it has worked out wonderfully for them. This would get the writing off your plate. https://www.soverbose.com/

We did Elegant Essay last year for 8th grade and I thought it was great. I did it in a group so we did it as an hour a week together time and then the girls worked on their assignments. We also started their research paper book. This year for 9th we are continuing with the Research Paper book and that will be our main focus with writing in English. I will be having dd work on writing DBQ essays in History too. For literature dd will be doing the Iliad and the Odyssey with a co-op class and we will be working through lit guides for Julius Ceasar and The Canterbury Tales at home. For grammar we will use some of Easy Grammar Ultimate series 9th grade and then some Editor in Chief. I just do 2-3 days a week with grammar to keep her fresh with it.

We had a Subaru that lasted close to 300,000. We did have some issues with oil but just kept checking it and adding new when needed. I would love to get a new one.

Apparently at least one of our new cats like to catch mice. One of them left us a gift in our bedroom this morning...yuck :eek:

I like the Iowa test which is a timed test. If you do not want timed Stanford is the way to go.

I was going to suggest WinterPromise's Equine Science course too. It is a very complete course. I know they say it is for 3rd to 6th grade but I think anything less than 5th is probably a bit young for the course. In my opinion you could even use this course as a high school course with just a touch of adjustment.

For 6th and 7th I just have a series of books she needs to read. I choose those based on our history program. Sonlight usually is my go to source for picking books. For 8th grade I started with doing 4 literature guides for the year with some additional assigned reading. We did Midsummer's Night Dream, Little Women, Tom Sawyer and the Chosen. I use a variety of literature guides but I think Novel Units and Memoria Press are my favorites.

If you do not know French it can be a hard program. I know some French and was fine with it for a bit but then it really started to be very time consuming on the grading end for me. It is also a fairly intense program so it is good for someone who can pick up languages well.

The Vionic shoes or inserts are the things that helped me the most. You can sometimes find them locally or I have purchased some off of QVC before. https://www.vionicshoes.com/ Some of the other treatments that have helped me are: stretching the foot before getting out of bed in the morning rolling a tennis ball from your arch to your heel (you can do this while at the computer or watching tv) I hope it is feeling better soon

Check out WinterPromise for Equine Science. I know they say it is for up to 7th but it can be used as high school. The material is really in depth. https://winterpromise.com/product-category/science-programs/equine-science-for-3rd-7th-grade/ Is she a member of 4h? They offer horse bowl and hippology contests that she might be interested in too. As for Math if you could get through Algebra 1 that should be enough of the standard Math. You might want to look at a program like VideoText for Algebra. The presentation of the ideas might be just what she needs. After that you might want to have her just do a consumer math program and then an accounting program. If she is planning on going into the beauty industry she might look to have her own shop someday or might end up as a contractor renting her spot in a shop. Having some accounting or business math would be very helpful for her For History you could do Beautiful Feet which is a literature based history program. That might be more to her interest.

I picked up a large cat tree for $50 (saved about $20) and then two indoor tv antennas one was $9 and the other $15. We were not sure which style would work better with each tv so for the prices we got one of each. Once those come in we will be closer to dropping our cable.

I wish they had not put it on so late. Our DVD player is broken so that was my only chance to watch it. Made up till Cool Considerate Men before I gave up and had to go to bed.

This is it exactly. I have had family members die because someone else shot off fireworks and one landed on their house. They did not know it and the thing smoldered and started a fire. They tried to make it out of the house but only made it part way down the stairs. It does not matter if there are forests, grasslands or what. Fireworks can cause fires and those can have deadly results. In my opinion leave it to the professionals.

We have Tracfone and it works great for us. We actually have their smartphones and love that I can use hot spots from my internet provider around town. We rarely have to use our data. We purchase minutes once a year and it works out perfect. I do find that I have been texting more but that is not a big deal because it is cheep to just add on more texts.

I have actually been a fan of this musical since I was in the 5th grade and that is way too many years ago. I remember when I was in middle school I used to go to the library and check out the album and they had a copy of the script I would check out too. I was in heaven. If you cannot guess I ended up a history major in college too :laugh:

Love it! We watch it every 4th of July. I knew I had raised dd right when I heard her going down the hall singing "here a Lee, there a Lee, everywhere a Lee, a Lee"

If she really is not enjoying it after only playing for a year I would drop it. It is not like she has really invested in it. There are scholarships and such for vocals also if that is what she wants to do. Scholarships are only good if that is where her interests are. Have you looked into any other choirs in the area? I know our area has a few choirs that do local performances and even travel world wide to perform.

As some of the others have said it depends. Dd really wanted to drop her instrument because she just does not like practicing. We did not let her quit because the reason was not that she did not enjoy the instrument it was that she did not enjoy the fact that it took time away from things like talking to friends and video games. She recently joined an orchestra and we have seen a lot of growth. When things get tough she still talks of quitting but then will turn around and be petting her instrument and then wanting more of them so we do not let her give in and she is sticking with it.