I have been considering the Apologia instructional DVDs as well. If you've used it, could you tell me whether the DVDs work in a standard DVD player, or do you need a computer that will play DVDs? I know this is a nit-picky question, but I'm going back & forth about whether we should purchase the DVDs or the streaming downloads. Thanks!

Both of my kids have had this vaccine with no issues whatsoever. I lost an aunt last year to cancer caused by HPV.

Mr. D. Math has a standalone option where you purchase access to the curriculum. Each lesson has pre-recorded videos, then coursework for the student to complete, check their answers, then an online quiz. After every 3 lessons is a spiral review. Twice a week help sessions are available with a live teacher.

Is that in Lake Mary? That's really close to where I grew up, and my dad & stepmom used to live in Lake Mary. They had bears in their neighborhood all.the.time.

I'm in zone 9b, and the easiest plants we have in our yard right now are liriope, African iris, and Indian hawthorne (athough deer love the hawthorne, so that might not be a good choice). Our azaleas do really well when we have mild winters, but this past winter's freeze hurt them quite a bit. We also had some yellow lantana at a former house that grew into a large mass, then once or twice a year my DH would cut it back tot he ground, and it would grow back just as full. Some of our neighbors use Confederate jasmine as ground cover and it looks really pretty, and has very fragrant flowers in the spring.

What about Holling C. Holling books (Minn of the Mississippi, Tree in the Trail, Seabird, Paddle-to-the-Sea)? The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus is a beautifully illustrated biography of Peter Roget, the writer of Roget's Thesaurus. There are tons of illustrated Usborne books written at a very high level. My DD read The Usborne World of Shakespeare for school this year in 8th grade.

Horizons is a tough program. I have one child who thrived with Horizons and my other child hit a wall somewhere around the same age. I would just bite the bullet and schedule to work with her for 20 minutes on math every day, and sit and work through the page WITH her. At this point in the school year, it's probably not worth switching to a new curriculum, but I'd definitely consider switching it up for the next school year. But I would also not require her to do every single problem on the page - let her pick half of each section, or you pick a problem, then she picks a problem, etc. Try to make it fun, keep it short, and just get through the rest of the year.

Other things to consider when moving to FL: Cost of homeowner's insurance Cost of hurricane deductible (because regular homeowner's ins. doesn't cover hurricanes) Is flood insurance required? Are there sinkholes in the area? (No idea about Ft. Pierce, but in the Tampa area there are pockets with a LOT of sinkholes.) Check on cost of sinkhole insurance (again, not covered by homeowner's insurance) Is the potential home in an evacuation zone? (Mobile/manufactured homes in ANY evacuation zone are typically required to evacuate first.) Is transportation available should they become unable to drive? This would be more likely in a planned retirement community rather than a standalone home. FL has very little to no public transportation. We had similar issues mentioned upthread with my ILs when their health declined to the point where they were unable to live independently anymore. DH, who lived 4 hours away from them, or SIL, who lived 5 hours away from them, had to start accompanying them to doctor appointments, then ultimately decided that they needed to move to assisted living in the same city as one of their kids, so they'd have help nearby. I would definitely have a conversation with parents who are in their 80's about the inevitability of declining health, and have a plan in place for how that might play out down the road. They will need to build a support system locally.

My DS has taken the PSAT in 9th grade at a local Christian school and in 10th grade at our zoned public school. The PS gives all of their freshman the PSAT10, and all of the 10th & 11th graders take the full PSAT. What the local PS charged me for DS to take the PSAT was less than the cost of the SAT, and the scores didn't count for anything, so there was no pressure. DS has since taken the SAT once, and his SAT score was within 10 points of his PSAT scores.

My DS is a runner but he's currently rehabbing a stress fracture, so he's not cleared to run that distance just yet. But he heard about it and thought it would be a lot of fun. Florida runners don't have many hills for training! The weather should be very cold by Florida standards. I'm in Tampa, a little further inland, and they're calling for mid to upper 40s at race time. Last week for the Gasparilla Distance Classic 15K, it was in the upper 70s at race time and humid, climbing into the mid 80s by afternoon.

I highly recommend that you read The 36 Hour Day. Also make sure to get Durable Power of Attorney paperwork drawn up before she slips too far cognitively, and have her authorize you (or someone else) to speak to doctors on her behalf.

Driving instruction with a professional driving instructor was the best money we ever spent. He had more credibility than “just Mom†and made me ride along so I could coach DS later.

I would look for black flats with a lot of cushioning. Do you have any local stores like Happy Feet or The Walking Company nearby? You could try on several styles in a store. I’d look for brands like Ecco, Aetrex, maybe Naturalizer or Clarks.

Many hugs to you. You’re going to feel very sore most of this week, so please get some help with the kids and get lots of rest. I was in a car accident in September where my car was totaled, and it took me a few days to get over most of the major soreness. Hot showers and ibuprofen helped, as did seeing a chiropractor for about 6 weeks for the neck pain. But I totally feel your pain. It’s no fun to deal with insurance, buying a new vehicle, paperwork, etc.

I grew up in Orlando and I feel the same way about it now. I would strongly prefer never to live there again. Tampa has its downsides, but I really love it here. All of those are on our list of places we'd love to retire. DH would actually like to retire and buy a trailer in the Keys, but I'd like something a little more sturdy and a bit less hurricane-prone.

I think it's awesome that we are all different, because I would crawl into a hole and die if I didn't have sunshine. Lots and lots of sunshine. If we have a week of cloudy, gray days (which happens occasionally) I can actually feel myself becoming depressed. I would have terrible SAD if I lived up north.

Boy, do I miss the orange blossoms. Growing up, my grandparents lived about 30 minutes west of Orlando and we would drive down Highway 50 through miles of citrus groves and in April we'd roll the windows down so we could smell the orange blossoms. Now all of the orange groves are neighborhoods.

My DS will be in Kathryn Walker's class as well.

I live in Tampa, grew up in Orlando, and have a sister who lives in Lakeland. Lakeland has a more small-town feel than Orlando or Tampa, but you are within 30-60 minutes of both big cities. There are plenty of conveniences that you can find in most medium size cities, and any upscale shopping, international airports, and other atractions are no more than an hour away. Beaches are about an hour and a half away. Between Orlando and Tampa, there is professional football, basketball, hockey, and baseball, many major venues for shows and concerts, and more outdoor activities than you can count. Lakeland has a really quaint downtown area with an outdoor farmer's market on the weekends, nice local restaurants, and its own arts scene separate from the big cities. The cost of auto insurance and homeowner's insurance is high here, and there are hurricane deductibles for homeowner's insurance (so hurricane damage is NOT covered by your regular homeowner's insurance), and depending on the area you choose, you may have to be concerned about sinkholes (and there is sinkhole insurance for that too). But you would not be in an evacuation zone for hurricanes in Lakeland. Last year the middle of the state took a direct hit from Hurricane Irma, but prior to that, the last direct hit in that area was in 2004. Florida as a whole has NO public transportation, so you will need a car to get everywhere, and traffic can be horrible at times. My DD says that Florida has 3 seasons: Summer (April-November, where temps are generally in the 90s and humid), Non-Summer (December-January, although this was the first year in 6 or 7 years that we've actually had a freeze), and Pollen (February-March, but sometimes starts in January). Florida is not very friendly to those who suffer from allergies. But you will never have to shovel snow, and except for about 10 days per year, you and your kids *could* wear shorts, t-shirts, and flip flops. Except for church or events where he has to dress for the occasion, I think my DS voluntarily wore long pants and a jacket about 6 or 7 days this winter. Most homes have pools, and my kids swim from February to November. (My grandparents had a heated pool and growing up, we often could swim on Christmas day.) Because of the warm weather, we do tend to have mosquitoes and other bugs, and every retention pond, lake, or other body of water will have an alligator within a short radius - but they are generally scared of people as long as they are left alone and not fed. If you stay inside at dusk, you can avoid the worst of the mosquitoes. Homeschooling is very easy and there are co-ops, support groups, and activities for homeschoolers all over. Orlando hosts one of the largest homeschool conventions in the country every year over Memorial Day weekend. Homeschoolers have access to extracurricular activities, sports, and part-time enrollment in public schools, online Florida Virtual School, Bright Futures college scholarship, and free dual enrollment at state colleges (we only pay for books). I would recommend looking in the 33813 zip code. I'm not extremely familiar with the entire area, but what I've seen is nice, suburban neighborhoods, with well-kept or newer homes.

Reading through this thread, this was my thought as well. When it's hot and humid, Keens make my feet sweat much more than sneakers with socks, so I would definitely have backup shoes available. Keens are awesome to have when you're around water, so if you plan to go to any of the water parks, they'd be great. But if he's not used to wearing them, and then tries to wear them in temps that he's not used to experiencing, you may want to have sneakers on hand. The other thing I haven't heard mentioned yet upthread is to make sure you wear sunscreen. There is nothing worse than having to walk around a theme park in the heat with a sunburn. I live in Tampa, about an hour away, and the temps have been well above average for the past week or two (we set a record for February last week at 89 degrees). But it hasn't been humid at all (at least by Florida standards). 89 and not humid is quite nice! The weather forecasters are saying that temps will go back to more "normal" ranges around the first week of March.

Daily, vigorous exercise helped my DS tremendously during the brain fog. “Go run 10 laps around the house†was a very common instruction here when he was going through it. He actually decided that he liked running so much that he now runs cross country and track for our local high school. DD got much better after her cycles became more regular. Make sure she is getting enough sleep (absolutely no electronics in the bedroom, not staying up late reading, etc:) and food. We were never big snackers, but the periods of brain fog usually correlate with huge growth spurts, and they need good fuel to do all of that growing. Both of my kids’ hardest age was 11. (....although 15 has been a close runner up so far.). By the time each of them was 12, most of the brain fog had cleared, and they had the maturity to recognize it and to better self-regulate.

We went through the same thing when my ILs moved to assisted living several years ago. None of their children lived any closer than 4 hours away (that would be us), so we made many weekend trips to declutter, throw away stuff, clean, paint, arrange an estate sale, and sell their house. It was a monumental task of sorting, to try to decide what was garbage (like the 20-year-old baby gear MIL had saved for grandchildren's visits, even though the youngest grandchild at the time was 11), what was able to be sold, and what needed to be hauled home for closer inspection. We found some real treasures, like a land grant from FIL's family from the 1850's, old Bibles, and personal letters. The paperwork was overwhelming. I think I spent several hours per week for the next 6 months looking through old receipts, shredding the garbage, and setting aside the important stuff. I've never been more motivated to declutter!

My DD had Mary Engelbreit's Mother Goose for many years until she wore it out. I think it would make a lovely shower gift.

I can't answer your questions about the videos, but we are considering DO's Honors Physics for my DS for the fall. There is a syllabus online with a weekly schedule (32 weeks), and I did go ahead and purchase the textbook he recommended (Giancoli 5th edition). There were multiple inexpensive used copies available on Amazon. Even if it turns out he doesn't need the textbook, I like to have it available.....and I'll probably re-sell it when we're completely finished with it.

One of my children scored consistently in the 99th percentile for the IOWA and CAT tests, and that high score (for each particular grade level) did correlate with a high SAT Verbal score. Math wasn't quite as high, but he's only taking Algebra 2 currently, and based on sub-section info, that should increase some just by learning the higher level math. He's taken the PSAT twice and SAT once, and his scores have all been within 50 points of what he's gotten at home on practice tests.