I find it interesting that many people say LOF is good for math adept kids. My dd is anything but math adept. However, she does love to read, and I think that this story part of LOF keeps her interested.

After Rightstart Level E, my dd completed LOF Fractions and Decimals and Percents. She's currently working through Algebra 1, with the Home Companion. I think it's plenty. Every so often, I get a month of Aleks for her so that she learns how to answer standard math questions. Recently, I had her look at a Glencoe Algebra 1 text. She knew how to do all the math, but some of the questions were confusing because they were in standard math speak. As y'all may or may know, Fred doesn't *do* math speak. LOL I love it, my dd loves it, and it's working for us. I don't know how it will go with dd #2.

I only go to two grocery stores. I tend to buy only the loss leaders at one of the stores and/or stuff that is on sale because it is going to expire. At the other store, I go in the mornings because that is when they mark the stuff that is going to expire down. It's Kroger and they have orange stickers for the items that are on super sale. I scan the organic area and the health food area and the milk area. I often find great prices. If I do, then I buy all they have. Freezing milk works, and then I don't have to worry about the expiration date. I look at Target for food items that are going to expire as well. If the prices are great, then I buy all they have. Another great place for me is the salvage grocery store. Recently, I found chicken and apple sausages for $1 a package. These are organic and usually run over $6 a box. We don't buy them. But, I bought all they had. They also had organic whole wheat pizzas for $1 each. I bought all they had. On another recent trip, they had 3 lb bags of apples for $1 a bag. I bought several bags. We ate a lot of apples for a while. They usually have tomato products that run about 50 cents a can less than they run at the store. I buy organic olive oil for $5.99 a container. If they don't have maple syrup, then we don't buy it. They often have organic yogurt, though we don't eat store purchased yogurt anymore. Another thing I do is find chickens on sale for 99 cents a pound. I bring them home and cut them up. Breasts go into one ziploc, wings in another, etc. I toss the bags in the freezer. Then, we can eat chicken parts instead of the whole chicken. Some of the chickens are also put in the freezer whole so that we can have a special dinner. Remember, Thanksgiving is coming up. You'll be able to buy turkeys for cheap. Stock up. A huge turkey will give you many, many meals. The original meal, the bones for stock, the leftovers for adding into pasta and rice dishes... If I were going to go on a super budget, I would buy what I could from the salvage stores and the local stores that were very well priced and then build my menus from them. I'd probably add in dry beans, rice, and some grassfed beef. I can buy beef from my farmer for much less than I get it in the store. Alas, I cannot find chicken for less than $2.50 a pound from a farmer. HTH,

I need a download for Cursive First. Even though I try very hard to keep all of the pages together, I still manage to misplace one or another of them. Does anyone else have this problem? I have a friend who will copy off the pages for me that I lose, but gosh, it seems like it would behoove the company to make a pdf product in addition to the hard copy. Argh.

Thanks! This looks like something we might be interested in. Are there groups that have activities for the younger ones? Or is it best to go to a Y or community center?

I'm seeing a few things, but I am guessing that they are foreclosures or short sales. I'd rather stay away from a short sale. Both Haymarket and Sterling have some houses. Do you know what kind of homeschool activities are available? Right now, we get choir through our congregation. That's our only outside activity. I plan to put the girls in something when we get there just to help them meet some new people.

Please talk to me about Northern Virginia. My husband is on the job hunt and has had an interview near Dulles Airport. He wants to live as close to the airport as possible. Our budget is teeny. I don't imagine that we will rent first, but that could happen. More than likely, we'll buy a house. A yard and 3 bedrooms are minimum requirements. My max to spend is 300K. I've spent quite a bit of time looking around at houses. Haymarket is one area I like, as is Sterling. We would like to be near some homeschool groups and/or activities as well as natural food places. I want it all. LOL Oh, and a a basement. I miss having a basement. The last time I posted about a job opportunity, my dh didn't get it. I kind of hope that's what happens this time, too.

I generally use whatever is cheapest that has the ingredients that I like. FE, I use chelated calcium, so get the least expensive of that. I think I probably have some kind of Solgar produce in my vitamin cupboard, but my vitamin cupboard is larger than the cupboard designated for plates. ;/

Interestingly my d is pretty low. It was 18 at the beginning of the summer and was 21 in July. I'm also supping with B12, zinc, and sea vegetables. I went to Dr. Tom Hale's website before starting the synthetic hormone. He was of the opinion that it would not affect my nursling, and I'm not currently pregnant. I've also read in various places that if the mother needs the hormone, it will be ok for the baby, and that the mother might need to increase her levels during the pregnancy. I haven't read anywhere that it could hurt the unborn child. I could be wrong, as my focus was not on the pregnant woman, but more on the breastfeeding mother.

There is a lot to think about here. This is what I think, too, but I haven't been able to find a medical professional tell me this. I've struggled with depression for a very long time. After my 4th pregnancy, I had my TSH tested and it was 1.337. Since then, it was borderline, but I never knew what that meant. I should have looked into it more closely, but I did not. Hugs.:grouphug: This is what I don't want to happen. Truly. I've had to deal with a lot of health issues with my kids through the years and I've worked to heal them, not mask the symptoms. I don't know why I would mask my own symptoms. It just doesn't make sense. It's good to hear that you feel better. I really want to feel normal again, though I'm not sure what that is. I'm already gluten free and mostly chemical free. I take a sea vegetable supplement that has bladderwrack in it. I actually just started doing that. I stopped taking the levoxyl and started taking the Standard Process T3 supp. Currently, I'm awaiting hair analysis results for any chemical sensitivities I might have. It wouldn't surprise me if I had a few. I'm not afraid to take out more foods from my diet, but I've btdt with my kids and it's just not fun. Thank you for taking the time out to talk with me. I'd appreciate any more info you had.

I meant postpartum. Thanks. :001_smile: 25 mcg of levoxyl. I cut a 50 mcg tablet in half because the 50's don't have any dyes in them.

So my thyroid is whack. I have a higher than normal TSH and TPO antibodies. I keep going to stupid doctors who don't do the right tests and the brain fog has been so bad that I wasn't able to ask for the correct tests. So, I know that the TSH is high and I haven't had the Free T3 or Free T4 done. I also haven't had the thyroglobulin test done. Right now, I'm assuming that I have pregnancy thyroiditis which can "go away". Honestly, I think the medical literature even uses that term. I started taking levoxyl, but it makes me nervous to take. It's helped the brain fog, which is why I can now homeschool, make simple decisions (i.e., what to have for dinner), and write this email. In all of the email lists about thyroid, I see post after post about people taking either synthetic hormones or dessicated pig hormone to "suppress" their thyroid. I don't understand why the thyroid cannot be healed. I'm not a medical doctor, but it seems to me that suppressing the thyroid causes it to work more poorly. This, in turn, makes a person have to replace more and more of the hormone the body normally makes. And frankly, the options are not optimal. Neither seems to work well for everyone. There are very few sites that show healing of the thyroid. Standard Process has a T3 only bovine product for sale. My chiropractor seems to think that this could heal the thyroid. I'm not sure how that works either. I guess I'm wondering if anyone has tried to heal his or her own thyroid and how it was done. There are herbs to take, adrenals to fix (which is a whole 'nother bag of worms it seems), homeopathics to try, etc. I'd much rather heal a body part than make it non-functioning, but I'm not finding a whole lot of material about doing that. If you got through all this, thanks.

You can make coconut milk work for anything that dairy can do. Sometimes, you have to adjust for thickness, as coconut milk tends to be thicker than cow milk, but it almost always works. I've made a lot of "cream" sauces with coconut milk. The only change is that I add more salt. The sweetness of the coconut milk is sometimes a tad bit too sweet, but more salt tends to help that issue. Did you know that you can put a can of coconut milk in the refrigerator and the thick stuff will rise to the top? Open up the can, scrape the thick stuff off and use it like regular cream. It's yummy.

We're using TOG. For 9th, we're using D level history, with the Spielvogel Combined 5th edition, and the R government.

I was recently diagnosed with hypothyroid as well. From my reading, it seems that many people with hypothyroid need to have almost zero for their TSH and in the upper level of the ranges for FT3 and FT4. In addition, many people with thyroid issues have adrenal problems, so sometimes that needs to be addressed as well. From what I can tell, this thyroid mess is a journey, rather than a quick fix with tiny pill.

I had an almost 3 yo quit nursing a couple of weeks before the next one was born. She had no idea how to nurse after the baby was born and actually refused to nurse. As for nursing through a pregnancy, there are some people who equate it to hearing fingernail scrape across a chalkboard. If nursing is important to you and your nursling, keep that in mind. For me, I find nursing at night to be incredibly irritating while I am pregnant. I also find that I am quite irritable about nursing during the day, but I'm more likely to put up with it then. But I only put up with it; it's certainly not something I enjoy.

Then I would go for a Moby Wrap. You can buy them used at http://www.thebabywearer.com for about $20. Her legs will froggy up when she's first born and after that, she can wear baby legs. They are so adorable. :) I've found that once the baby reaches about 15 lbs, the Moby isn't as comfortable, but some people use them a lot longer. There are a ton of videos on how to use the Moby. Or find someone who has one that is willing to show you. I'm sure they would love to show another person how to wear their baby. Let us know what you decide on. I love wraps and sweet babies.

I like my Maya Wrap for a sling. In the newborn phase, I really liked the stretchy Moby wrap. Since about 15 pounds, I've been using a Didymos silk wrap and a Kozy. The Kozy is actually not all that cozy, but it's what I have. I'd love to be able to afford a kindercarry, as I understand that they are more comfortable. Ergo's are great for a pack type carrier and I just ordered a kinderpack for the baby as a bday gift for myself. So, um, what age baby and what do you want to do with it? Also, what is your price range?

I'm perfectly happy with the LOF algebra book. We're using it as a stand alone this year, along with the LOF companion.

I've been having hypothyroid issues for a long time, just didn't know that is what they were. Last week, my TSH was finally high enough that my doctor prescribed meds. Of course, then I had to go and do research... http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com is a great site. I am still reading and have decided to either ask my current doctor for more tests or get a new doctor. This thyroid issue doesn't seem to need blood tests that indicate a problem, even when there is one. <sigh> I also did a search for progesterone and thyroid on google and found quite a few interesting hits. This all seems to be inter-related, as many hormone issues are. Actually, I was just going to get on here and ask a question about thyroid. Guess I'll just sub here and see what I can find out.

Looks like you were right on the money wrt thyroid. My levels were much different today than they were in May.

Thanks for the link. I had my thyroid checked in May and I go to the doctor again today as he just checked it again. So, I guess we will see how it goes.

Ya know, I'm not yet 40 and I'm having a ton of trouble with this as well. I had a lot of rosacea while pg with my last. And, I noticed that my skin elasticity had gone south. Then, after the pg was over, the rosacea seemed to go away and the hyperpigmentation just took over. I'm not going in the sun at all if I can help it because it is horrific after I'm in the sun. I've heard that HLA helps, but that it mostly heals during the winter months when we are not out in the sun. I'd love to hear more about what you are doing, because this is just not fun.

I have a friend that is turning 40 at the end of the month. I'm going to forward these messages to her.:lol:

None of the above, but some of it. LOL I buy a menu plan from tfrecipes.com. I pick seven dinners from that and that's our week. It only comes with 6 meals, but I have enough of them that I forage for another meal from one of the past mailers. I often look at what I have on hand when I'm picking and choosing. Twice a month, I get a 50 pound box of produce. Every couple of months, I order beef from a local farmer. I get milk and cheese once a week from another farmer. I'm trying to get chicken from him as well, but that's hasn't worked out so far. Once a month, I try to get to the salvage grocery and I stock up on stuff there. The last time I was there, I got a bunch of canned tomato items, olive oil and something else I was super excited about. Can't remember now. Must not have been incredibly exciting. Once I look at what we have, then I plan the grocery list. I go about every 10 days. I buy whatever veggies I need to add to our produce, a couple of frozen items I like to have on hand, mac and cheese, hot dogs, a loaf of bread. I spend less than $100 at the store, unless they have a great deal on something. I'll pick up chicken there, as I can't seem to find a farmer that has what I want at a price I can afford. Periodically, I will hit a farmer's market or a local farm stand to pick up something I can't get at the store or would prefer to get organic. I need a couple of bell peppers right now and would prefer to buy them organic. I'll have to get to the farmer's market on saturday or see if our local farm stand has it. I doubt I'll find any, but I could be wrong. I try to buy in season, so we are eating a lot of melon and zucchini right now.