That's good to know. We live in FL and UCF is on my DS's list of schools of interest.

Another idea if you choose to postpone SOTW for another year or so is to study local or state history. We spent an entire year studying FL state history when my kids were 9 and 7 and they LOVED it. It was one of our favorite years of homeschooling.

Whatever carrier you choose, I would recommend looking at buying whatever level of minutes are good for an entire year. We used to have a prepaid dumb phone through Verizon, and I would buy $100 worth of minutes that lasted for an entire year. That works out to be a little over $8 per month, and however many minutes we purchased never ran out, until my DD got to middle school and her calls & texts went WAY up. But because of that initial outlay of minutes that didn't expire for a year, the additional minutes I needed to buy didn't expire for the remainder of the year. The prepaid phone no longer worked for us after a certain point, so now DD uses a dumb phone that is on our family plan, so we pay the $20 line fee per month for her phone. When she graduates to a smart phone, she'll share data on our family plan.

I live in Tampa, and if you're considering this part of the state, there's a lot to do here. Legoland is about halfway between Disney and Tampa. If your DS likes rides, Legoland might be just right. The rides there are fun, but not nearly as intense as the full-blown roller coasters of Busch Gardens. Busch Gardens has a LOT to do - really intense roller coasters, some milder roller coasters, a train, a preschool/little kid area, some rides and things for middle age kids to do, plus animals. The Florida Aquarium and Lowry Park Zoo are also a lot of fun. As for beaches, keep in mind that some of the east coast beaches allow driving on the beach (like Daytona and New Smyrna). When my kids needed near-constant supervision at the beach, I wasn't very comfortable letting them run around with cars actually on the beach. I'm pretty sure Melbourne and Cocoa Beach don't allow cars on the beach. The downside to not parking on the beach is that you must haul all of your gear over a boardwalk or dune to get to the beach itself. None of the beaches on the west coast allow driving. If you do come over to Tampa, I'd recommend Honeymoon Island State Park - it's one of the closest to Tampa and typically isn't as crowded as Clearwater. The sand on the west coast beaches will be nicer than the east coast, but the east coast beaches have bigger waves and stronger undertow. The weather in October should be great. Still hot enough to go to the beach, but not so hot that you melt standing in lines at a theme park. You should be fine weather-wise whatever you choose to do. October is still within hurricane season, but the peak time for hurricanes will be over by then.

My state requires that I keep a portfolio for 2 years, but rather than picking through everything to pick out a portfolio, it's easier for me to just dump everything into a big bin, label it with the school year, then keep it all for 2 years. At the end of our school year, I empty out the bin from 2 years ago, then dump everything from the just-finished year into the bin. My oldest just completed his first year of high school, and I may keep everything for high school, assuming I have the storage space. I have kept his Biology notebook from 8th grade because I'm giving him high school credit for that course. I do keep all of our yearly evaluation reports and/or standardized test results that have been turned in for annual evaluations. Those are in a separate file. OP, if your state doesn't require you to keep anything, I'd just set aside one afternoon and look through everything quickly. Pick out a few momentos, keep whatever is required for your state, keep anything from high school, (maybe) keep other material from the last year or two, then dump everything else. Don't spend more than one day working on it, and don't overthink it. You will feel SO much better!

I would say something about the grandparents, and offer the golf cart idea as a possible solution. Chances are, like most young couples I know who are getting married, it was just an oversight and not intentional. If the bride also has elderly grandparents, perhaps her parents will bring up the same concerns and you can work on a solution together. I would not say anything about the food. If they plan to have food on site, their caterer will mention it or offer a solution. My niece got married last year at a "park" which was just a big open field on the waterfront. It was a beautiful location, but not very guest-friendly, but thankfully she had help from a wedding coordinator who arranged for chairs for guests and directed the wedding. They had no decorations other than a simple runner, and it was just what the couple wanted. The reception was at a nearby restaurant, so there was no food at the wedding site. If they don't already have one, perhaps you could offer to pay for a wedding coordinator (who would think about the contingencies that concern you)? This could be your wedding gift.

My FIL passed away last year after having dementia for 20 years. It's a horrible process to watch. I also highly recommend that you read The 36 Hour Day. It will help you understand from your MIL's perspective how frightening and unnerving her circumstances are right now. Some things that helped us.... "For a little while" is a good phrase. You're going to the new home "for lunch," or "for a little while." She may continue to ask if she can go home, and your answer should be something like, "The doctor wants you to stay here for a little while." Put up pictures from when she was young - childhood, teen years, young adult, etc. Don't show or display pictures of anything within the past 20-30 years. It was amazing that FIL could name every person in his pictures from his childhood or young adulthood, but had no idea what his own son's name was that day, nor did he know my name or the names of his grandkids. Don't give any instructions until it's time to act. "We're going to go downstairs to dinner in a while" meant one thing to DH (in an hour, at the proper time for dinner), but something completely opposite to FIL (immediately). Only give instructions for what you want/need her to do immediately, and only give one step at a time (like you would give a toddler). You've already figured out that finding a "job" is extremely important. FIL used to love to help carry dinner trays for the little old ladies who couldn't carry their own tray. Or he would push someone around in their wheelchair. Some of the ladies in the memory care facility where he lived would sit on the couch folding washcloths all day long, because it made them feel useful and that they were needed. One person's "job" was to put silk flowers out on the tables in the activity room - several times per day. Don't take anything that she says personally. Try to smile and be positive, and treat her with respect, but don't try to reason with her and don't explain things she can't understand. "The doctor wants you to _________ for a little while" was a good phrase for us to use with FIL. He would follow instructions from nurse's aides who wore aprons better than he would follow instructions from us. FIL's memory care facility was also set up with the residents' only private space being a room with a bathroom. This was intentional, as they wanted the residents to think of the ENTIRE facility as their "home." They had a kitchen that looked like a home kitchen (but the stove and microwave only worked if activated by a staff member's key), a living room with comfy couches and old movies playing constantly, activity rooms, a dining room, a "front porch" area, and outdoor courtyards. The bedroom was just like it would be in a traditional home - just a bedroom. If you adopt that mentality, it may help your MIL with the transition.

I'm not a swim parent, but my son is a high school cross country runner, and this is what we'd do. Regular lunch, then small to medium size snack (mostly healthy carbs, with a little protein, but not junk) between 3-4. No food within an hour of practice. A small snack right after practice (like an orange or banana) if you can't get a regular meal within 30-60 minutes. Then a regular meal afterwards. Make sure he's drinking water throughout the day. The book Feeding the Young Athlete has been very helpful to me to learn what kinds of food DS needs and when.

I agree with others that neither Apologia's elementary A&P nor Guest Hollow would be high school level. I'd probably lean toward Physical Science if she hasn't done that, or something like Environmental Science or a high school level conceptual Physics. Apologia's A&P (as would other high school A&P curricula) requires high school Biology as a prerequisite.

My 19 pound schnauzer eats palm nuts and vomits them every time she gets one. They look just like peach pits, only smaller. She is a walking garbage can and has amazed me at the junk she's picked up out of neighbors' yards. Even with supervision, she is so fast that sometimes she's eaten some really gross things before I could get them away from her. I would agree that you don't need to worry unless she stops eating or pooping. I would probably also take her to the vet if she appears to be trying to vomit but nothing comes up. Anything that indicates a blockage or affects her behavior significantly requires a vet trip. I don't worry about the other stuff she eats.

We've had the same experience with broken bones and stitches. Multiple people (more than one nurse, the doctor, sometimes an intern) will ask, "So tell me what happened?" and ask for the same story to be repeated multiple times. I always figured they were trying to make sure the story didn't change as a way to screen for abuse. When my DD busted her forehead and needed stitches as a 1-year-old, they asked me, but ever since then, our broken bones have happened when my kids have been old enough to answer the question for themselves.

Before choosing any type of curriculum, I would advise your friend to find out what type of credits would potentially transfer to a public school. This may limit her options. I also live in Florida and the public high schools won't award credits for unaccredited courses. Since FLVS is an accredited public school, classes taken there would transfer with no issues.

We've used the Reinforcement and Review book from AG. I truly think it's enough to do one review page every 1-2 weeks. One thing we do with the main AG program is only schedule it 3-4 days a week, so that stretches it out a bit longer through the school year. We have a co-op that meets on Fridays, and my kids take math classes at a different co-op on Wednesdays, so I only schedule grammar on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays once the co-ops begin in September. So instead of Season 1 taking 10 weeks of 5 days per week, it took us about 16 weeks of 3 days per week. Then there were 18 activities in the Reinforcement & Review book, so I think I had my kids do one per week rather than one every 2 weeks. That worked well for us.

I use the Todoist app and really like it. Not sure if Alexa or Siri can do it, but I have the app on my phone, tablet, and as an add-on to Outlook, so I see it as a separate pane on the side of my Outlook email. I can also access it online via a browser, but it's easier to have it integrated with my email.

Sounds exactly like what happened with my DD. When the next "real" period came after 3 months of irregular spotting, however, it was a doozy. I think it was 11 or 12 days and extremely heavy. Along with reassuring her that this is completely normal, you may want to prepare her that it might show up "heavier than normal" so she doesn't think she's bleeding to death. After that monster of a period, DD became very regular for about a year, then this summer has become more irregular again.

My rising 8th grader specifically asked for a writing curriculum focused on writing fiction and/or short stories this year, before she has to do "all the boring high school writing," and we settled on The Creative Writer.

Asking again if they checked her thyroid. One of my former cats developed hyperthyroidism (very common in older cats) and one of his symptoms was chronic vomiting. Pill pockets were the only way I could get him to take the pills.

I use Homeschool Planet and LOVE it. It's $65 per year so slightly above your budget, but I'm pretty sure it can do everything you are looking for. I'm not sure what you're asking for in #1, but I can try to answer each of your requests in terms of what HSP can do. You can add both an assignment for a particular class (or as many assignments for that class as you'd like, with a checkbox to mark when it's done), and can also add notes with more details. You can link web pages through the notes. I haven't used this feature but I've seen it in the notes section. You can specify grading categories for each class. For example, my DS's history this year will be graded based on 10% homework, 50% quizzes, 20% maps, and 20% timeline. You can set up whatever categories you wish to use, and they can vary for every class (and every student). I have found it very easy to navigate. It does take a lot of time to front-load all of the assignments, but I try to get the entire year's assignments input over the summer except for outsourced classes, and then add those weekly or as often as the teachers send assignments. My DS inputs his own assignments for those outsourced classes, so he manages everything on his own. One bonus to HSP that I've used this year.....my DD will be doing some of the exact courses/assignments that DS did two years ago (which was the first year we used HSP). I was able to copy entire classes from DS's 2015-2016 school year to DD's 2017-2018 school year, then make a few minor changes based on a handful of different reading assignments. What would have taken me days or weeks to input took just a few minutes. That's worth the cost of the program to me. If you are interested in seeing how I use it more specifically, feel free to PM me and I can send you some screen shots.

I have used Homeschool Planet for a couple of years now and absolutely love it. When I plan the entire year out in advance, we actually finish curricula. Things don't get forgotten. My kids know exactly what they need to do, and can work ahead if they have a busy week. On the rare occasions where we've been sick or had major "life" events (like when my MIL passed away two years ago), Homeschool Planet is SO easy to just shift assignments out. No white out, no erasing, no fuss. *Oh, and an extra bonus....this year my DD will be doing some of the same curricula (history, vocabulary, Latin, grammar) that my DS did two years ago. Since we used Homeschool Planet (I think that was the first year we used it), I was able to COPY the entire "class" from DS's 2015-2016 school year to DD's 2017-2018 school year. Then I just edited for the handful of adjustments in reading assignments. This saved me a huge amount of time and made the cost of HSP totally worth it to me.

I also recommend a used iPhone with restrictions so it only calls, texts, and has the apps that you want to allow. You can also disable the ability to add or delete apps. We have a dumb phone that we use as a spare house phone since getting rid of our landline, and DS used it for a little while before he got a hand-me-down iPhone. He was on several group chats with friends and the dumb phone made it impossible to follow the sequence of the chat. The iPhone is 110% better for texting or any kind of messaging.

Both of my kids started playing guitar around ages 11-12 after years of piano lessons. They started on a hand-me-down guitar that was my DH's when he was in elementary school. Our deal was that they would take lessons for one semester using that old guitar, then if they wanted to continue, we would buy them each a decent guitar to continue. They both absolutely LOVE guitar, but their style is very different. DS has a steel string acoustic/electric guitar, and he likes to play worship music and plays occasionally in the band at church. He's working toward getting a bass guitar this fall so he can get more playing time with the band, and to learn some new techniques. DD has a nylon string classical guitar, and she plays mostly folk tunes, broadway music, Disney songs, etc., that she can sing along to, and likes fingerpicking rather than chords. She also just got a ukulele for her birthday and loves it as well. I agree with others that you should look at the guitars you have already and see if the size would work - can she reach the frets comfortably? If so, start with that before investing in a "good" guitar. You won't know for a few months whether she'll want to stick with it, and if so, what style of playing will most suit her. Definitely start with short lessons, and make sure your DD understands that her fingers will be very sore for at least a few weeks until she develops callouses. If she plays every day for 5-10 minutes, she'll be fine within a month. The soreness and callouses helped push my DD toward a classical guitar style, plus she liked the sound better than the steel string acoustics. Both of my kids instructors recommend the Hal Leonard guitar method books.

You have to find the right thrift stores. The Goodwill stores here sell children's books for $2-4 apiece, but a local children's home has their own thrift store, and they sell children's books for $0.25 each. I just went there last week and picked up 70+ books for less than $20. Call around before you go shopping. If you see large neighborhood/community garage sales, that is another great place to find used books. I have sent my kids out on their bikes with $10 in small bills, with instructions to look for books in our target age range for $0.50 or less. We usually net 40-50 books this way, and sometimes I've gotten them for as little as $0.05 per book. There are several sellers on eBay that will sell large book lots of used books. I typically look for prices at $0.50 per book or less, and have recently purchased another 150+ books from eBay. Most sellers will work with you if you tell them the reason you are buying the books. OP, this would be a great way to purchase books for your DD and have them shipped directly to her, without needing to go shop in person. My kids and I adopt a 1st grade classroom (or like last year, the entire 1st grade) at an inner city elementary school. We visit the classroom once a month and bring snacks and an activity for the kids to do. For the past couple years, I've brought the kids a book to take home every time we visited. So last year there were 35 kids in 1st grade, and we try to visit 8-9 times per year, so we buy around 300 used children's books each year. Most of what we buy are "leveled reader" books, but there are always a couple of kids reading on a much higher level, so we get some chapter books too.

Has he read the Freddy the Pig books? (They're much less juvenile than the series title sounds, but not exactly high school level literature.) The first book is called Freddy Goes to Florida, and there are 20+ in the series. Some are out of print, but you should be able to find them in eBook format. I also look at the list of 1000 Good Books when we run out of reading material.

I live in FL where almost every home (or at least every neighborhood) has a pool, and the pool would totally depend on your older kids' swimming ability and trustworthiness. I hear reports of kids drowning in backyard pools almost every week - and some of those were kids who could swim. If your older kids are old enough (and have enough self-control) to stay out of the pool unless there's an adult available to supervise, then the pool might be OK. We bought our current home, which has an in-ground pool, when my kids were 7 & 5. Even though they were both pretty compliant and could both swim at those ages, I don't think I would have been comfortable having a pool when they were younger, unless we had a door alarm of some sort. I would do Dollywood with a baby without hesitation, like others have mentioned. Some theme parks have toddler-friendly play areas, so that might also be a possibility if you put it off by a year. I would wait until you know the new baby before deciding about the trip to FL. One of my kids was fine for long car rides and would have had no problems. My other child screamed in the car and could last approximately one hour per year of age. She was 4 years old before she could make the 4-hour car ride each way to visit my IL's without having a meltdown.

It's too late for this summer, because they started in June, but Mr. D. Math has once a week live online classes over the summer to review and prep for upcoming math classes. My DD is doing the Algebra I prep class now.