One of our cats likes to sleep under the tree but otherwise leaves it alone. Our other cat will chew on the ornaments and the tree skirts and often ingests nonedible items so he goes in the basement at night and whenever we have to leave the house (large, comfy, finished basement :) ) We keep a close watch on him during the day. He pulls the Sleeping Angel routine and inches closer to the tree when he thinks we are not looking.

True block schedules don't work out so well with math and foreign languages. So a hybrid block schedule just like some pp described above should work just fine!

Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa is another. www.cornellcollege.edu

Listening in....

Shepherstown University in Shepherdstown, WV is known for having a very good art department. They aren't very selective in admissions but have some excellent programs - Art, Music, Civil War History, Nursing, Business, etc. They are very generous with financial aid.

There is a fantastic course by The Teaching Company on this topic that really broadened my understanding (and enjoyment) of all the crazy ways language develops. http://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/story-of-human-language.html

Apparently, it's becoming a "new thing." http://www.uexpress.com/on-religion/2015/4/22/sacraments-vs-state-marriage-licenses

There was nothing in that flier that advocated the persecution of people who support abortion rights. What's interesting is that since this now a "news story" more people will probably read the flyer than if Office Depot had copied it.

Painless Spelling

I am planning to be there.

Hi Moxie - I've tried to PM you twice but your message box is full!

:( So very sorry

I think we will be able to come as well!

I got my rebate a few days ago and immediately used it grocery shopping.

I had a mourning period, too. Too me awhile to continue on with Season 5 (I was watching on Amazon Prime) but I grew to really like Matt Smith as well. But not as much as DT :)

Praise God they are safe!

I plan to listen to the podcast, because I enjoy all of SWB's talks. But I have used Sonlight for years so there is no need for a read-aloud revival at our house!

The ones I just posted from L.L. Bean are great in this regard. I am plus size and the XL in medium tall are perfect.

Also take a look at these - http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/56777?page=perfect-fit-pants-straight-leg They are my "go-to" pants. I'd say that they run a bit big.

Amazon has Dickies that are 32X37 unhemmed. You have to scroll all the way to the end of the sizes to find them. http://www.amazon.com/Dickies-Mens-Original-Black-34x32/dp/B000N8X240/ref=sr_1_1?s=apparel&ie=UTF8&qid=1439260880&sr=1-1&refinements=p_89%3ADickies

What's kind of funny to me is that at first I was going to say no. Then I thought harder and remembered my BIL is black, my nephew bi-racial, and there are several homeschooling families that we do things with that are black. I guess I don't really focus on what color people are! (I do live in a very diverse area and always have.)

6th and 7th graders - Barron's EZ English (outside composition class) 3rd grader - First Language Lessons 3 1st grader - First Language Lessons 1

Teaching Textbooks is fine. Seriously. It's not the most rigorous math program out there, but it gets the job done.

Thank you!!!!

If she has good study habits then I think taking 17 credits would be fine. My first semester of college I was in a similar situation as your dd and went with the lower amount of credit hours that everyone advised me to take. I ended up regretting that decision as I had gone to a very demanding high school and the work load freshman year was much, much less. I could have easily taken that extra class. Instead I had to take it over the summer (more $$) in order to graduate in 4 years. Are there any Social Science distribution classes that she needs to take? That might be a nice balance to her math & science courses.