Thank you for the suggestions. I'm not only looking for strictly educational games. I'm wanting to have some light-hearted fun with my older kids before they leave home. They work hard at school. I'd like to have some afternoons where we just have fun together. Some games we already have, for example, are 7 Wonders and Imhotep.

We are studying Ancients next year, and I am looking for fun games to go along. I will have kids ranging from 5-16. What games have your kids enjoyed with themes from ancient history?

I want a bookcase under the girls' window. I wasn't able to find one I like for a reasonable price (and none with optimal proportions), so I am going to make one.

My SIL was kicked out after graduation, with no money or plan. Her parents set her up to make really bad decisions. Thankfully, her grandmother took her in for the summer, which gave her time to make plans. My kids tease me about how hard it is going to be for me to let them go. But they also know they are expected to grow up. They want, at least the older ones so far, to be adults. They expect that they will be living on their own and supporting themselves when they can (when they get a job that will support them), but they also know they can stay here while they save for a down payment as long as they are actively saving and acting like adults. We aren't kicking them out, but they have the expectation that they will be living their own lives as soon as it makes sense.

The discussion involving the Paralympics made me wonder how people who feel MtG (I just noticed this typo. It should read MfF) people should participate in women's sports would feel about able-bodied people with body integrity dysphoria participating in the Paralympics.

When I was in Jr. High, we had a good 8th grade boys basketball game. Not spectacular (those boys didn't go to state or anything when they were in high school). The high school girls won state that year. Someone got the idea that the two teams should play each other. They did and the 8th grade boys annihilated them. I hadn't thought about that in a long time.

My husband and I are hoping to take an Alaskan cruise next summer for our 20th. We want to see the area, and it looks like there will be some fun things to do. I've only started looking into it, but I'm pretty sure we'll be able to do it for less than $5000.

I see. I thought the part I quoted referred to the "playing for the team they identify with" part.

It doesn't really matter?

Right. My family has discussed what we would do if my daughter's sport were to allow biological males to compete in her ring, and we have reached the conclusion that she would be done. She is pretty good at her sport. She is likely to win a couple of district championships next weekend (No guarantees! She has some tough competition.), and has competed at Worlds the past 4 years. It is a physical sport with kicking and punching. We have seen a number of injuries happen in the ring and all but one of them were in the 15-17 2nd-3rd degree boys rings - different things ranging from concussions to a broken rib. She already competes against some big (she is tall, herself), fast, strong girls. We would not accept the increased risk that would result from a mixed ring. She has 10 years into her sport, training as many as 6 days per week. I don't know what the answer is, but the rights of the girls and women competing should be protected.

We had decided to do Calculus as a DE class, but it won't work out. Dd16 can only go through the high school, and they will require her to take the class at the school first. Dd does not want to take it twice, especially since one of the classes would be at the high school. What online Calculus classes have your kids enjoyed?

I looked at levels P and Q on the Scholastic website, since those are the levels they have listed for the end of 3rd grade. The level looked like it should be manageable for most kids. Books like Flat Stanley, Magic School Bus (the picture books), If You Lived books, and Mr. Popper's Penguins. With phonics we should be able to get most kids to that level or close by the time they are at the end of 3rd grade. I do think that kids that struggle need one on one work. My sister spent many hours working with my dyslexic nephew. He will never read as quickly as some kids, but he is definitely proficient.

I was also going to mention Boys Town.

I got sick when my youngest was a baby. We aren't sure what caused it, but I had paresthesia. I would have phantom pains or muscle twitches, or random numbness, or sight/hearing issues among other things. Stress always made it worse. Like, if I was driving somewhere but we were running late and the baby was crying in her carseat, something would go numb. It was an amazingly accurate barometer of when I was stressed because the symptoms always got worse when my stress levels went up. I noticed something interesting that year. The paresthesia would get worse when I watched the news. I have always been interested in politics and world events, but I stopped watching the news that year.

I breastfed my 1st four exclusively, but my youngest took 2 months to regain her birth weight. It was a horribly stressful two months. The lactation consultant at the hospital was no help. She actually told me that I knew what I was doing because I been successful with 4 others, but Dd was still not gaining weight. I ended up giving her a bottle of formula each day. Even that was hard. She just wasn't eating. I ended up nursing until 15 months, but kept up the one formula feeding until she starting eating solids. I do think breast is best for a host of reasons (not least because washing bottles was a pain), but I am very thankful I had access to formula.