I love your ideas, but a box/envelope has proven disastrous for our family when the box gets dropped. Thus we've switched to a binder format.

have you pondered how you're going to keep the laminated margin even? Are you going to round the corners (they'll be sharp otherwise)? If so, how will you do that uniformly? (I've personally run into these issues in my homeschooling journey). For a uniform hole location, you could preprint a dot on the card where you want it to be punched after lamination. Or are you planning on punching a hole in the laminated margin? Won't this take a lot of class time? Why do they need to be laminated? do they need to last that long? What about unlaminated but with hole reinforcers that you can sticker on? Can you use page protectors instead (probably more expensive, but it'd be faster and ensure uniformity). EDIT: What size are you making these cards? if the kids won't be writing much on them, what about making them baseball cards and then putting them (unlaminated) in a baseball card sheet protector and then putting that in a 3 ring binder. That's what our co-op history teacher did last year. Overthinking?!?! I don't know what that is. hahahaha.

JCPenney has slim jeans up to 16Ss ... maybe even the rare 18s. Lands' End has the dimensions *of the item* on their website. Look under the "Fit & Size" tab. It's the first text at the top of that tab.... a small link that says "Item dimensions". It was the only way I could figure out the difference between 12S, 12, 14S, 14, Young Men's 27", 16s, blah, blah, blah.

The first thing that came to mind was Satori's schedule, which is linked within this thread: I do MCT by time. There do seem to be natural breaking places, so if you pre-read GI, I think you'd be able to plan your own schedule.

@Gil you’re right; there’s no reason why it all has to be done in one line. That’s a self-imposed requirement that deserves questioning.

Thanks for the idea! It's a possibility, but it kinda muddies the idea of place value. And understanding place value is very important in my tiny realm of teaching. Perhaps if he wrote: 300 +190 + 16 ------- oooof.... I don't think I like that, especially since this problem would need another layer below what I typed. This technique would be called "really, really Long addition." 😄 haha. oh, please let this stage pass by quickly!!!! 😉

He would love it if he didn't have to write numbers!! Great idea! Thanks!

At this point, yes, it's important for the child to notate. We're just starting multi-digit addition and careless addition mistakes are the norm. ^This is what we started doing, but all the (incomplete) erasing was driving me a bit batty. I mean, he was getting the concept (yay!) but the paper was a mess! We've tried Tanton's technique of noting the sum as 3 | 19 | 16 =4 | 9 | 16 = 5 | 0 | 6 = 506 with pretty decent results. This afternoon, I tried "previewing" where the explosions/trading will occur and making "reminder tallies" in the appropriate column, but it got a lukewarm reception and still a bit of confusion as to where the reminder tally goes. Maybe it's really tricky, maybe it's just the initial confusion (like the notation for left-to-right subtraction). Shrug. I'm still holding out hope for a glorious, elegant notation to solve all the confusion. 😄

He said it in earlier videos, but this was the most memorable/recent to me ... (It's within the first 1.5 minutes of the video): https://gdaymath.com/lessons/explodingdots/5-6-remainders/ It was the most memorable because Yes! I'm always telling this child to read left to right, left to right, left to right. At this point, I'm guessing it will just be a passing phase until he gets tired of all the erasing, but I do want to validate that what he's doing (i.e., left to right is perfectly fine too. Messy, but correct.) Here's Tanton's video for multi digit addition where he compares his algorithm to the traditional algorithm: https://gdaymath.com/lessons/explodingdots/3-3-optional-traditional-algorithm/

While watching James Tanton's Exploding Dots, he repeats the idea that all of life has us going from left to right, but with so much of math it is taught as right to left. I'm a devoted RightStart user, so I'm familiar (and now comfortable) with left to right subtraction. But now, I've got a kiddo who wants to do multi-digit addition from left to right, and I have no good reason not to accommodate this. Is there a neat, compact notation to deal with left to right addition? Right now, the best I've got it to make a two-line answer similar to Tanton's demonstrations. It works, but it's not too elegant. Perhaps look ahead and draw "reminder dots" before writing any sums, similar to how RS marks up Left-to-Right subtraction?!?!

Would you mind linking your favorites, please? I like your ideas around compromise.

I'm sure there will be snacks provided, but I *may* be an over-planner. What if we are stuck on the tarmac? What if my kid doesn't like the snacks? What if it's not braces-friendly? What if we get stuck in the terminal waiting to board and the shops are closed? Yup, the orthodontist said no nuts -- almonds and peanuts being the worst. Our list is very similar to whitehawk's list, with the exception of popcorn. They told us "You can eat popcorn, but you'll be in for a lot of careful cleaning for days afterwards." And as someone else pointed out, I really don't want to be finding an orthodontist to do repairs miles away from home. Thanks, @whitehawk, for the breakfast cookies; that's a great idea that hadn't crossed my mind.

Please help me come up with some packable, snack food ideas for a kid wearing braces and going on a long plane flight! Nuts used to be our go-to packable protein solution, but now that that's been eliminated, I'm feeling clueless. Help, Hive, please!

After some sleep and further thought, OP, I think what you really want is a smooth (as smooth as it can be) transition to life with another person in the house. I think what you are *really* after is that your DD has a heart that is willing to do what you ask and with a good attitude. Because if she's independently doing her work -- but doing it with a resentful or grumpy attitude -- then you'll be frustrated with your day. I think her independence is a symptom/outward appearance of a deeper heart attitude, which is really what you want to establish in your daughter. So, I'd encourage you to focus your vision on what you'd like from her .... then figure out how you can develop and make progress (not necessarily completion) towards that goal that in the weeks before baby comes. (If only we could snap our fingers & immediately our kids have a joyous, compliant spirit ....... hahahaha.........)

What about making your goal to have a "School Routine" in place before the baby arrives? So that when you say "It's time for school now." She knows to expect subject X. Then come Subject Y. and so on. If a mom can make the routine predictable, that's one less battle you have to fight. Sometimes the novelty of a personal timer from the dollar store might provide some incentive to focus ... but start with short, short time periods and work your way to longer duration. A memory binder is working magically for us this year. Of course some things need to be done together (the memory part ha!) but I started adding math worksheets or handwriting worksheets under a section. I think my DC likes that he has control and knows which tabs to go to. (Daily, Odd/even, day of the week, number of day in the month). And often, there will be a whole worksheet for that day, but then I just ask him to do half of the problems. It's a little motivating to know you only have to *half* a worksheet. Oh- and make these worksheets (that are really ,meant for training independence) below what she's learning; make it easy for her to succeed. As for copywork, assuming she has the letter formation mastered, perhaps start with just a small chunk to copy - but make sure it's DC's best, most beautiful handwriting. If it's sloppy then they have to do it again. .... And I'd start this with just one, short word, so that they get practice in "doing-it-right-the-first-time." Once the habit of careful, neat handwriting is mastered, then you can increase the required output. Could DC listen to classical music while doing copywork? or get to burn a scented candle nearby? or use a smencil? something peppermint to get DC to be alert & focus? But with all these suggestions, I'd be starting with 2 min or 5 min of independence ... in other words, short periods! ETA: you could start teaching her to use a check-list. "Ok, we did our 15 minutes of math. That's number 3 on our list, so let's cross that off our list!" Again, it's not really independence, but you're laying the groundwork and knowledgeable and habits for when it IS time.