We did the E last year and I didn't have any issues with it - my kids hadn't taken ITBS prior to that though so I don't have a comparison. They did well and we don't purposely do anything common core (we don't avoid it either but it's not something I look for)

They can do a blood draw for allergies. Our ped ordered that and then due to a positive to peanut and walnut referred us to an allergist to do any further testing. Since that time (they did a skin prick test) he has never had anything other than blood tests by any of the allergists he has seen.

We like the Amazon card from Chase - gives 1% on purchases most places but restaurants give more as does purchasing from Amazon (2 or 3% for restaurants and some other categories I can't remember, and 5% from Amazon as we are also Prime members)

Contact Amazon and they may replace it regardless of it being past the 30 days - especially since you've been trying to deal with it the whole time. Sometimes they are very responsive to issues even outside the window of returns.

My kids thank you for that link, they have been on there this evening and have already completed the trial!

My DS with a July birthday started the year he turned 5 as the cutoff in our state was December at that time. My DD with an early September birthday started while still 4 (again Dec cutoff so not the youngest in the class). We have no regrets on starting either when we did as they were both ready academically and did fine socially as well. We might have had other opinions if we didn't switch to virutal school and then homeschool when DS was in 1st and partway through DDs K year. Had we had a Sept cutoff we might have considered holding him out a year and sending him at 6 since DD would have had to wait as well (we weren't homeschooling at that point)

My kids have really enjoyed a lot of graphic novels these last few years. Some favorites: Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales - they like them all but have some preferred ones Secret Smithsonian Adventures Science Comics Human Body Theater Bone Zita the Spacegirl Nnewts (and anything else by the same author) Cleopatra in Space Legend of Zelda - they really like the Legendary Edition ones Maximum Ride Books made into graphic novels, ex. Ember, Wrinkle in Time, Percy Jackson books, etc Pokemon Minecraft and many many more

There is another difference between the 2 - the hardcover is larger than the paperback (physically not content). So if I were you I'd see if you can see them in person so you know which you'd prefer. I think the paperback is about 2/3 the size so the text and pictures will be smaller (not too small to read by any means) so make sure you'd be happy with that over the larger hardback. I do believe the paperback is made well and should last with no issues though.

How big is your kitty? We have a tower but our two are a bit on the bigger side at 15 lbs each and it isn't standing up to their rough treatment super well.

My kids like to tell me about half the books they read but we also keep track in LibraryThing. I create a new collection each year and just keep track of when they read each book and how many times each year (some books that is many times, lol) http://www.librarything.com/catalog/cabyrum

My experience is it depends on the individual location. We had a fantastic one near us when we lived in CA and a not so great one now. The one in CA was very on top of improper or unsafe behavior. The one near us now is very much not on top of it. Kids would throw the ball at other kids faces in dodgeball and if anything the victim was the one who had to sit out while they kept playing. In CA, they would eject the offender and they would have to sit out an entire round, if they repeated they weren't allowed to play again that visit. Here they don't even stop them from being unsafe, just let them keep playing. My kids do not like the environment of the one here and choose not to go - they've been 2 times in the 4 years we've been here whereas we went to the one in CA weekly.

DS taught himself at 2 or 3 with no involvement from me. DD was crying and asking to learn to read at 4 so I taught her how and by about 4.5 she read the entire Ramona Quimby series herself. It would have been easier for all if DS hadn't learned on his own.

I loved the Maida books! I still have them and need to introduce my daughter to them :) Another favorite of mine was Norby the Mixed Up Robot by the Asimov's. Then there are the Westing Game, Wrinkle in Time, and the picture book The Little House

I use LibraryThing to keep track of the books I've read as well as for both kids. Each calendar year we start a new 'collection' for each of us. They like to see how many times they've read a book, so I also keep track of how many times per year they've read something. I do also keep track of what is read for each school year on there so I can go back at any time and see what's been read. It also helps me keep track of what books we already own so I don't buy them again (though I have another app I use for the kids books when I remember to keep it updated). I started keeping track in 2011 I think so I missed the million picture books and mostly started when they were reading chapter books, so while they still read picture books it's a much smaller quantity these days. http://www.librarything.com/profile/cabyrum

We have a Samsung French Door with a drawer as well as the bottom freezer. It's almost 4 yrs old now and we love it and have had no issues whatsoever (the samsung washer on the other hand....)

My son is doing this course (started it late winter and it is still available) - would the next course he would take after this be PreCalc? Is everything in Alg 2 covered? I am going to run him through the Alg 2 book we have to make sure he's got things down before calling it done. There is a PreCalc class starting next week on edX also an ASU course so I was thinking of having him do that next if his Alg 2 skills are good. I also used this course as a refresher since I last had a math course in college in 1998, so a bit ago...

The Cricket magazines are great for that age - mine have liked Muse, Cobblestone, Dig, and Cricket. Muse is more science, Cobblestone and Dig are history (american and world respectively), Cricket is literature

To be fair - I think any allergy that is anaphylactic should be mentioned to fellow passengers so they can not eat it or move somewhere else. I can't imagine anyone sitting next to someone and knowingly putting them in harms way. We should all be free to request someone not eat something for the safety of others. My son is allergic to a whole bunch of things but only peanut is anaphylactic so that is the only one I worry about when out and about, especially on an airplane. I think any traveler should be concerned about something that could send a fellow passenger into anaphylaxis - it will be more of an inconvenience to them to have to make an emergency landing than not eating the offending product, be it peanut, treenut, orange, cinnamon, or whatever else the serious allergy is. I would have no problem with avoiding any specific thing if it would save someone else's life - Peanut is most commonly heard about because it is very commonly anaphylactic and can be airborne. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't be able to travel across the country to visit family, it just means we have to be extra cautious when we do so. We know someone who has an airborne allergy to corn - they should be able to fly safely and ask that corn products not be eaten near them just like I can hope that no one near my son eats peanut. But they can eat soy (another big allergen for him) as it is not airborne or a contact allergy to him so I would never dream of asking them not to as there would be no point to it.

My DS12 will only wear athletic pants as well. We find we have to bounce between brands. One year one will fit but then we need to find a different brand when he outgrows them (either waist or length). But the next growth puts us back in the first brand! He really likes the Starter ones at Walmart and the C9 ones at Target - so saves me from having to get more spendy ones!

You can sign up any 4 adults as a part of the family plan. You choose one bowling alley to sign up at and then you will receive a link weekly that you can either print the coupons from or show them on a smartphone. The only thing you should need to pay for is shoes - we bought the kids shoes last year on amazon for around $20 which saved us a lot of money over the summer especially since they still fit this year. Some bowling alleys may offer a shoe pass that you can buy for 15-20 per person that will get you shoes for the duration of the summer for free.

When we rented the house we were in for over 3 years we only had a lease the first year and then it went month-to-month after that (for over 2 more years) so just because it's month to month doesn't mean it has to be short term.

We went through the 2nd half of PreA quickly. I touched on every unit to make sure he really did know the material - we found something near the end that was new to him so I'm glad we didn't just skip it completely. I would consider having her do some random problems from sections and skip what is review if she thoroughly understands the material.

My DS is doing Alg as a 4th grader (did k12's Fundamentals of Geometry and Algebra in 3rd and PreAlgebra at the start of 4th) but he is definitely an outlier. I imagine my DD will do prealgebra in 6th or 7th depending on how she continues to do in math. She is a year ahead but that is through hard work not through just naturally 'getting it' like her brother. I don't think there needs to be a push to get to Alg early but I also think it's unfair to hold someone like my DS back when even in Alg he just gets it with little to no true learning happening.

We are currently not planning on using the Virtual Academy next year so are looking at other options than using k12's math. I do have the 5th grade math for her so would just need to pay for the online portion if we choose to stick with k12 math. Thanks for the huge post on the various programs EndofOrdinary!! That will be extremely helpful as I hadn't considered some of the info you had posted. DD is a full grade ahead on math even though she doesn't get it naturally like her brother. She is good at math it just has to be explained well for her to understand it but when it clicks she is golden. She is by no means struggling with it just not as natural to her as to her brother. She does actually enjoy k12 math so sticking with it may be the best option. We have the first two BA books and they love to read the guides but we haven't really used the practice books much since she still had to do her k12 math. DS also loves all the Murderous Math books so those are ready regularly (between 5-10 times each last year alone)

We are trying to figure out what math to use next year. DD8 is working on Math+Red with k12 (4th grade). Any suggestions on what might be worth checking into? She doesn't intuitively get math but works hard and once she knows it she doesn't tend to forget it. I was somewhat curious as to whether Math in Focus might be worth looking into. Also DS9 is working on Algebra 1 through k12 as well - I'm not sure if I want to have him go on to Geometry, do another Alg 1 program like AOPS, or do some other sideways moves to some fun math that's just different.