I try to switch to a new dishcloth/towel every evening after dinner cleanup...or more! If dishcloth is smelly (because I hadn’t swapped it the night before, or was used on tough things), I give it a good dish soap cleanse and rinse before I ... Then, I place dish cloths/towels on lower half of the standing drying rack I always keep up in laundry room (upper half is for clean clothes...if needed). I wash the dishcloths/towels twice a week - on a hot/pre-soak load w/a little borax.

Oh, I am doing some tutoring. Further discussion with the family proves my former understanding to be untrue - the child is further along in reading than I had realized. Re: your link, I had just found that lady’s YouTube this morning - I like her! That Happy Cheetah program is so new! I hadn’t realized that it had just come out. Looks really interesting.

Thank you, @forty-two, for your explanation! I think that SYS will be better suited for the student I am working with. (The student is further along in reading than I had realized). But, I like your explanation for how to combine them; I will consider that for use in the future. Thanks!

I would like to hear experiences with this reading program for a first grader, just beginning to read. Earlier phonics instruction was unsuccessful. Thank you!

Hello, Anyone with experience with both? Can either be used as a beginning phonics program to help a first grader begin to read/spell or is a separate reading program necessary? Thank you!

The mud. Can I jump in the mud? I am sick of all the isolation, weirdness, and suspicion of/between our fellow men. (yes, yes...shallow, I know, as it all is simply for my and other's safety) If they begin incorporating masks and social distancing and virtue signaling and...and...and...into my little bouts of escapism, I will just permanently escape into my real, semi-isolated-anyway-due-to-stage-of-life life and be much happier for it. I have had it.

This is exactly how I feel. But I do call my in-laws by their first names, grandma and grandpa, or mom and dad depending on my mood. I will admit that the terms mom and dad feel a little bit more cozy then I’m sometimes comfortable with. But it’s overall not a big deal to me. What my future DIL/SIL call me will be up to them Given the varying, valid opinions expressed in this thread, I clearly see that avoiding that simple potential for uncomfortable feelings is best. In a relationship potentially fraught with sensitivity, I don’t see it being my hill to die on.

Our daughter's college is breaking the fall semester into two mini-semesters. They’ll begin in early August and have 2-3 classes for something like 7 weeks of 4 days/week, in person for now, followed by a week for study/finals. Then the remaining 2-3 classes students had registered for - same routine. Finished by Thanksgiving. I imagine that their reasoning that if the semester gets cut short, at least the students will have a few credits finished. But they could just switch to online – so, I’m not sure what they’re thinking. Two students per room & takeout food only. Our DD is the

You described our upcoming trip perfectly! I generally don’t like cooking on vacations either, but DH smoked a pork butt a month ago that I froze for this trip, and we’re taking shrimp to sauté another night to top spaghetti Alfredo. Easy meals with salad & berries. We’re looking forward to a few restaurant patios like we enjoyed on a recent business trip. The boys will go zip lining & they’re masking up for a museum they don’t want to miss. I’ve got a hike picked out for all of us. We’ve had a farm emergency, so our daughter must stay home - I’ll miss her company while relaxing

Goodness, that is a mess waiting to happen! I think that relaxing in our cabin, playing games & enjoying the view seem like the best course of action. I am sorry about your cancelled trip @school17777

We are thinking of venturing to the mountains. We could simply relax in our cabin and take some hikes, but we are wondering about other things of interest. Cades Cove drive is such a crowded drive usually - how is the traffic now? We imagine that other venues will be closed, limited, or of no interest to us right now, but still wondering what is the current status of the place. Thanks!

I am once again brainstorming life after homeschooling! If you are a bookkeeper or do payroll, can you describe your education and job to me? (I have a bachelors degree is a field that requires licensure that I do not have, can no longer obtain, and does not lend itself to other fields. And, it is old. Very old) How much education do you have and how did you obtain it? Do you work freelance or do you work for a firm or solely for a specific business? Full time or part time? What are the good aspects of your work? The frustrations? Feel free to PM. Thanks so much!

Just brainstorming ideas for you that I have used/read about through the years: One thing that has always helped me function better is to follow the principle of only keeping out/insight/readily available items that are currently in use - it helped me keep my sanity and peace. Then, add to that the organizational trick of thinking “outside the box”for a storage area of labeled boxes or bins to fit that unique storage area. For example: go through art supplies and only keep out what is currently in use. Then, look up or down for spaces to store the ‘someday’ stuff. Can you add a s

While checking out the recommended Garfield book (that looks very good), I found this wonderful sticker book to complement any Shakespeare version you choose. I wish we had done more Shakespeare! https://www.amazon.com/Shakespeare-Timeline-Stickerbook-performed-Theatre/dp/0995576688/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2QGCGIOWYW27H&dchild=1&keywords=shakespeare+at+the+globe&qid=1592508353&s=books&sprefix=shakespeare+at+the+g%2Cstripbooks%2C211&sr=1-3

I just thought I would add our experience for you, @drjuliadc. We had the strictest screen-time rules of almost any family we knew, and we knew a lot of screen-limited families! Motivation was for our dc to develop other interests. FWIW, the rules never changed, and they had a lot of hobbies, so they never missed it/complained about it. Actually, now they thank us. They were allowed ½ hour of 'junk' computer games a week during school year, 1 hour in summer. Junk was computer football game, spore, or something silly along those lines. They were to set a loud family timer and walk aw