Since they did not e-mail you before sending payment per your request, I'd send the packages separately. Is it entirely possible that the items ARE Christmas presents? That, for example, my dh knew I wanted one and found it on ebay? And I knew he wanted one and also found the same seller on ebay? The coincidence is that they did this on the same day . . . I'd follow the rules. If they wanted something different, they should have requested it from the seller.

:iagree: Acid in the kind of high school described by the OP doesn't surprise me at all. I'd expect it.

I don't have experience with Apologia's Jump In, but I remember being impressed when I saw it. I would also suggest IEW in your case. My 17yodd much prefers the loose structure of Writing Strands, and she's used that for several years. I bought the IEW High School Essay DVD set for her this year, which she found helpful. Fwiw, I think IEW is hands down a better program; it's just not a great fit for my kids.

You asked which version. I'd try to choose the one used in church so that when the pastor reads from scripture, the Bible you are holding matches. I also asked a pastor what they recommended we look for (in our case, it was cross-referencing). I'd avoid a study Bible because it's possible it may conflict with what your church is teaching. It's good to know other possibilities/beliefs, and I wouldn't want to be looking at something different in my personal Bible.

EXACTLY my thoughts! :grouphug: :party:

This was a good book! Melissa Gilbert's tell all was embarrassing. And just to sidetrack again, I recently very much enjoyed Rob Lowe's book. It was interesting to note that he mentioned Melissa perhaps two times in passing. (In contrast, much of Gilbert's book seemed focused on their off again/on again relationship.)

I read my first Kristin Hannah book a month or so ago, Winter Garden. I don't expect reality from fluff fiction, but this book was so completely stupid that I will likely never pick up another book by this author again.:tongue_smilie:

Steven Tyler's autobiography, Does the Noise In My Head Bother You? Second worst: (fictional) Diane Mott Davidson's Crunch Time.

My vote will be for the non-fiction The Good Daughter: A Memoir of My Mother's Hidden Life, detailing the author's discovery of her mother's "previous" life in Iran. However, if I could also vote in the fiction category (:D), I'd choose Lisa See's Dreams of Joy. I read Snowflower several years ago. I love her books, with the exception of Peony in Love (which would be on my top ten worst books of the year).

:iagree:LOL, I could have written this post above except my dd was 6. Perfect for "retraining," and it was not unpleasant for my dd. (And no, we were still living an hour north of you, so it wasn't the same pede!)

I bought my 13yods this Star Wars Lego book. Dh nixed the make your own weapons book that was suggested here a few weeks ago. Ds is also getting new earbuds; those always seem to need replacing. Rechargeable batteries. MAKE magazine (also suggested here; found at some Barnes & Nobles). Small games such as those by Gamewright. I'm considering Guillotine (not Gamewright, I just saw). Computer programming books for younger teens. And the dreaded gift card to GameStop. I'm also reading this thread for more ideas.:bigear:

Rearrange my work schedule to work Sat. instead of a weekday. I work three days a week, and I was able to make one of those days Saturday. My kids much prefer having me around for school work during the week, and they get to have their Saturdays off.

Love this post!!

There is something my library offers for use (if you are in a conference room, for example) that will project your computer screen onto a wall. People use it for conferences. Is this what you mean? But I don't know the technical name of it.

I just went through this for several weeks. I think it was sciatica. The wrap around pain freaked me out a bit at first, and I thought "kidney." It was just on one side of my spine. It morphed into a few other things, occasional leg numbness, pain in my hip down my thigh. I kept using a heating pad, which gave me immediate relief and shunned the Advil dh kept suggesting, since it didn't seem to help. It did not get better. Standing/walking helped, lying down was fine, sitting was the worst (I even stayed off my computer for a few days or layed on the couch, looking at the screen sideways). Driving my car was torture. Eventually I realized that the heating pad was NOT helping and that the Advil was. It finally got better and stayed better. I really believe, in my case, that the doctor would have prescribed the same thing I did.

My dd attended a charter school, the top scoring school in the top scoring district in a large metro area. They did not have a cafeteria. They served hot lunch three days a week: Chik-Fil-A, mini tacos from Chipotle (or was it Q-Doba?), and pizza (Dominos or similar). They fed them candy all day long in the classroom. "Oh, you tried to read? Good job! Have a sucker!" Seriously. Those were two reasons that made homeschooling seem like a great idea.

Best Maeve Binchy? They're pretty much all the same. Young, poor unwed teen with a drunk, unemployed father falls in love with a rough boy or a married man. Gets pregnant, dumps the loser, gets a job and works hard to raise her child. :D They're all good books; but most run together and I don't remember which is which.

:blink: :w00t: :smilielol5::smilielol5: I'm just so not going to comment.

Doesn't sound like mountain driving, so I'd just go with a front wheel drive. If the roads are THAT bad, she shouldn't be out driving. Parker --> Boulder? All highway driving, except for getting on and off the highway. I lived in Denver for 20+ years and front wheel drive served me just fine. If it were my child, I'd be looking at Toyota or Honda.

We found it on Netflix streaming recently. My kids love it; it freaks them out but they find the special effects hilarious. I can remember watching the reruns with my sister when we were kids. Even then, it was old!

Thanks to this board, my dd just began The 5000 Year Leap as part of her American Gov't course. I found this free Study Guide online and wanted to share it here, particularly for anyone searching for the book at a later date. The Study Guide has in depth discussion questions for each section; so far it's been very helpful, and we plan to use it throughout the book.

:bigear: I'm looking for one for dd too. It doesn't have to be fancy--nicer than a blow up but not expensive. She's worn out our old one.

:grouphug::grouphug:

I thought he was going to tell the cashier, just as OP originally feared. My heart's still beating fast, worrying about what I was going to read! OP, your ds sounds extremely bright and matter of fact. He'll get over it. You, well, that's another story. We used to have a very large walk in closet that came in handy for other things. :D Now, it's turn on the furnace fan, lock the door, throw a pillow against the bottom of the door, turn on the tv, whatever. It's either too quiet or too loud, distracting either way. Dh does not appreciate all of my "security" measures.:lol:

My dd just began reading The 5000 Year Leap. I found a great study guide resource free online that we've been using as a jump off point for discussion/questions. I'm sharing it here because I've searched the boards frequently for info on this book but haven't seen the guide referenced yet.