I actually had never heard of the J. Reuben Clark Society before, I just looked it up. I will tell dh about it. Reciprocity is crazy! Every 2-state combination seems to have a different process! CA would be my preferred place to live, but the expense and hoops just to be able to look for work there is nuts. Besides UT and CA, we are also looking in to AZ. Ironically, as low paying as public defense work is compared to private practice, it pays significantly better than prosecuting. But I've always encouraged dh to stick with what he loved. He absolutely loathed his time clerking for a private law firm. Now all his experience is in criminal prosecution.

Thank you for the suggestion, but I am hard of hearing. Do you know anywhere I could read the same info in print? This second is a concern of ours. Dh is actively searching for work already. I will schedule the kids for dental and medical checkups before the deadline, and stock up on my son's emergency inhaler. He's got his references lined up. His line of work isn't likely to be on those websites, but he is actively monitoring for new positions. I was actually thinking maybe I should be trying to use up my pantry staples, since a move is very likely. I buy in bulk, so I have quite a lot of food stored. Ug, I hate this idea, but it makes sense. I'll look into it. We have tried talking to the kids about it. Mostly they just seem annoyed that Daddy isn't available to play as much because he's filling out applications. Maybe they're just too little to care yet?

Thank you for the suggestion, but I am hard of hearing. Do you know anywhere I could read the same info in print? This second is a concern of ours. Dh is actively searching for work already. I will schedule the kids for dental and medical checkups before the deadline, and stock up on my son's emergency inhaler. He's got his references lined up. His line of work isn't likely to be on those websites, but he is actively monitoring for new positions. I was actually thinking maybe I should be trying to use up my pantry staples, since a move is very likely. I buy in bulk, so I have quite a lot of food stored. Ug, I hate this idea, but it makes sense. I'll look into it. We have tried talking to the kids about it. Mostly they just seem annoyed that Daddy isn't available to play as much because he's filling out applications. Maybe they're just too little to care yet?

Dh is a public prosecutor in a small rural county in Oregon. Our plan has always been to try to move to the federal system after he had some experience (in fact he has recently begun looking for this type of job). He could work anywhere in the country in the federal system, or otherwise in the state of Oregon. However, with the recent hiring freeze on all federal offices, those jobs are suddenly pretty scarce. With his experience he could also move to the other side of the table and work on the public defender's consortium. He has received offers to join them in the past, but the consortium here currently has no openings. I am not sure what it would take to make that move in an unfamiliar area. We do not qualify for food stamps, but I will familiarize myself with the process. We do have the benefit of knowing our church would assist us if it became absolutely necessary. I don't know how I could get a part-time job here. Unemployment is so high here, and we don't even have a McDonald's, or anything else with a night shift. Beyond babysitting, maybe I could look for some kind of online work? Yes, we will do this. That will be $400/month now. If he doesn't have other work by July, we will then be able to defer his school loan which will free up another $480/month. No severance, but he should be eligible for unemployment. It looks like we would be eligible for the maximum amount for up to 6 months. (He can receive this even if we move out of state). I calculate that as $550 more/4 weeks than the monthly bare-bones budget I worked out for if we were to move in with family. We have talked about it and determined to take someone up on the offer to move in if he does not find work by July--it is unlikely that the costs for him to travel for interviews would match the cost of housing and utilities. The question is which way to go. If he is going to apply for reciprocity in Utah, he will have to do that in February, and we can stay with my grandmother there. Otherwise we would go to California. If dh were to take the exam for CA, we would have to pay and apply by the beginning of April. I would love to live closer to my family, but it is much more expensive, and not a sure thing to even pass and get in.

That would be very unlikely for dh, as he is currently working full time+ hours with unpredictable call outs and using his spare time to apply for jobs. I preschool a friend's child two days a week, and could ask around about more preschooling or babysitting possibilities. It is highly unlikely that I could find work outside the home in hours when dh isn't working. We have a month to month, but the rent is already very low for this area, so we would stay here unless we were moving in with family. We already do all these things.

It looks like dh is losing his job at the end of June, so we have several months before then to look for other employment. We have a little set aside in an emergency fund ($1,600, but some of that needs to go to some dental work for ds)--mostly we have thrown everything we could at working to pay down school debt. If I start setting aside our extra monthly debt payment into savings, I can have another $2000 set aside by July. We are already living on a pretty frugal budget. There isn't much fat to trim, excepting the children's extracurricular/homeschooling fund, which I would really hate to cut if it can be avoided. Dh's car was totaled a few weeks ago, so we now have a car payment on the new (used) car; the family van is paid off. The credit card has a zero balance. We do not own a home; we are renters. We do have generous relatives with extra room offering for us to come and live with them (three different homes, actually), so if he cannot find something by July, we can stay with them to save on housing costs. This will, however, make interviewing for new jobs more difficult, as it would mean moving out of the state dh is licensed to work in. We might consider getting certified in another state to expand his potential employment area, but this would take a significant chunk of our emergency funds.

. . .what would you do to prepare? (Besides the obvious of applying for other jobs.)

Don't buy things unless you really need to. Buy food in bulk for the best price, use a large freezer, eat less meat, and cook from scratch. (I use Cash & Carry for most staples. I will also, for example, buy four turkeys at Thanksgiving and cook one every few months. But really, even just baking your own bread and eating oatmeal or brown rice for breakfast makes a pretty big dent.) Shop around for the best price on internet, and use Republic Wireless for cell phones ($23.10/month with tax for 2 phones, which act as smartphones anywhere with wifi) and Netflix for TV. No need for Cable or landlines. Mend clothes with minor damage yourself. Buy clothes from Goodwill. Furniture from there or Craigslist. Enjoy the outdoors for entertainment. Cut your family's hair yourself. Open windows and use fans in the summer, use extra blankets and sweatshirts indoors in the winter to reduce heating/cooling bills.

Get his hearing checked. This was me. I have some permanent conductive hearing loss, plus frequent temporary loss due to ear infections (plus nerve damage so I do not feel pain from infections). My own voice doesn't have to pass through my eardrums, so it sounds louder relative to everything else. I naturally picked up lipreading as a kid without realizing I was doing anything different, so it took quite a few years before my parents figured this out. I had to learn to speak louder than feels natural in general, but usually the first indication I have that I have an ear infection is when dh tells me I'm speaking quietly.

Here's another: So not out in public, but we had invited this nice couple we'd just met over for dinner, hoping to make friends. Dh had been gone out of town all week for work and was home for the weekend before being gone all of the next week again. Ds1, who was about three, was going through an epic tantrum phase. He would freak out screaming and hitting. I had found that the best way to keep my cool and help him calm enough to be able to talk was to put a locked door between us, because otherwise he would follow me from room to room winding himself up more and more. After five or ten minutes without me there to direct his tantrum at, he would calm down enough that we could talk through it. That night with our guests over, he volunteered to say the prayer at dinner. In his prayer he said, "And please bless that Mommy won't lock me up in my room while Daddy's gone this week." As though I had kept him locked in his bedroom the whole week before when dh was gone!

So many times! Let's see, there was the time dd2 was 15 months old. We were working towards weaning, so I was trying to put her off and offer snacks instead one day at dd1's gymnastics class. Dd2 yelled "I wanna nurse!" At the top of her lungs in the large echoey gym, while simultaneously yanking the front of my shirt down. I once hauled dd1 (then 2.5) out of an Old Navy store, kicking and screaming and buck naked, after she ran and hid from me and then tried to change into the dress I'd said no to. After a few minutes of trying to put her clothes back on her while she was writhing like an eel and screaming, I just grabbed her clothes and the baby and walked out with her under my arm. Ds1 is my most challenging child, and there have been far too many times to be amusing when I have had to carry him out to the car mid-tantrum for a time out. When she is hurt, dd2 has an incredibly high-pitched scream that just keeps going and going in one long breath. Once she was riding on the end of the grocery cart and decided to suddenly straighten her arms and drop her head back, almost into an upside-down U shape. This was just as we were turning around the corner of the aisle, and her head whacked the shelf hard. I think everyone in the store came running to that siren scream. I grabbed a bag of peas from the freezer, stuck it on her head, walked to the front of the store, handed the cashier a dollar for the peas, and walked out with everyone just standing there together staring at us. (She was fine, by the way.)

HOW THE HECK AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW?!? ETA an actual answer: Dd1(3rd) Singapore 4 & BA 4 MCT Town (or maybe Treasured Conversations first, then back to MCT?) R&S Spelling 3 Pictures in Cursive D- or E-ish If she wants to continue with her focus on Latin, probably Big Book of Lively Latin 2 If she wants to continue with Greek, ????? Piano lessons Dd2 (1st) Singapore 2b-3, BA 2 when it comes out Finish OPG Something else for Language Arts? Pictures in Cursive B- or C- ish Probably start spelling with R&S? If she still wants her special focus to be on plants-- I have no clue what else to do for this. violin lessons Ds1 (K) My wild boy is completely blowing me away lately. Not so long ago, I had thought that he would do better waiting a year and being an older K instead of a younger one (summer birthday). But with the way he has exploded lately, I think we'll call this K and keep on just doing things at his own request. Math-- he started Singapore 1a eight days ago, and has done three chapters (including IP and CWP). I have no idea where he will be by next Fall, but it will be Singapore and BA. He will continue with OPG for phonics Probably something for handwriting? Continue violin lessons (unless a move makes cello feasible, as he would love to play cello) All BFSU 2 SOTW 3 Excellerate Spanish 2 Again ETA: I wrote my initial response shortly after learning that my husband will be losing his job this summer. Hence the overreaction.

Well, I'm in budget. All I spent this week was $34 on groceries, $57.50 to the American Classical League for the NME and ELE registration, and $61 on purchasing four used MCT Town level teacher's manuals (actually they were $10 more than that, but I had two Amazon gift cards from bing points that I used). I guess you can see where my priorities lie from my spending.

Wow, you all have some awesome plans lined up! No summer camps here (we couldn't afford them anyway) but this area is amazing in the summer. We'll go up swimming in the mountain streams, hiking, swimming up river, clamming, probably camping on a weekend, wild blackberry and huckleberry picking, crabbing, and blueberries at the u-pick, and I'd like to get some poles so I can teach the kids to fish. A big element will be re-teaching dd2 and teaching ds1 to swim. (We have no swimming pool in town here, so we've found that they seem to forget how each year, but then re-learn quicker each summer.) If dh can save up enough comp time at work, we will make a week long trip to Arizona for a family reunion, then visit the other side of the family for a week in California. And my sister's family is going to visit us in August. All my wild nephews are going to love the outdoorsy stuff we do here.

It did not help me to shop for all kinds of groceries more frequently, but to do one big run every month or two, and then weekly grocery trips for produce and other perishables that don't freeze well. This helps to avoid the waste of spoiling food, but because I know I am only there for the produce and maybe one or two other items, it avoids all of the impulse buys that add up. Most produce can last a week fine in the fridge, and anything that can't we just eat first. (This set up also saves a lot of money because food is expensive here in our little town, and only a little better in the town I visit once a week south of here. So I make my big stock-up runs when visiting cousins out of town where the prices are much better, and the weekly produce purchases in the town to the south.)

I'm feeling so discouraged. My husband totaled the car on his way to another town for a job interview this past week, and then purchased another one with attendant car loan. I know I ought to be feeling grateful and happy, because he was not hurt and that is what is important. But I keep looking at the budget and debts and feeling like the past year's work of frugality, cooking everything from scratch, rarely eating out or hiring a babysitter, making adjustments to curricula to be reusable, mending clothes, etc. has just evaporated before my eyes. On the plus side, I finished paying off the last of the debt from dd's dental work this week, so if it weren't for the new car debt, we would be down to just student loans again. I only have $85.98 left in the budget for groceries and other home goods for the month. Which is fine, because I did a big stock-up run with meal planning at the beginning of the month, and all I should need for the rest of the month will be a block or two of cheese and more fresh produce.

:(

I'm curious about these, too.

For all: Try to get into a charter that will help with funding our schooling. Put on a children's Shakespeare play. Dd1 (almost 8): Continue to work on her attitude, perfectionism, and willingness to attempt some (reasonable) independent work. Increase her willingness/stamina for writing out her assignments. Really, I think her learning is on a very good track. It's just attitude issues that make schooling difficult with her. Dd2 (young 6): Give her more opportunities to delve into her love of plants and gardening. Work on getting her reading fluently. She has been able to decode at a high level for a while, but still hasn't made the step from decoding to just really reading. This child's memory/learning just puzzle me. She will learn some things so effortlessly while others take her a ridiculously long time, and I don't understand why. (Like, knew all her letters and sounds at 15 months old, took three years working at trying to remember the numerals from when she wanted to learn until she actually got them. She could subtract 2-digit numbers with renaming in her head before she could remember what a 4 looked like.) If we could afford it, I would be interested in having this child tested just for some insight into how and why she learns as she does. I've got a hunch that she would come out with some wonky subtest scores that might give me a hint. Ds1 (4.5): Work on developing empathy and learning to control his strength and be considerate of others, and to control his temper. This is definitely my most difficult child, but so far his academics have been surprisingly effortless. I am considering unschooling him for Kindy--which is really opposite my natural leanings with schooling methods. But preschool, which I make time for but then only do as desired by the kids, has been so awesome with my wild, stubborn boy. Since he first took an interest about 4 months ago, I have been so impressed with how well he has been learning on his own initiative. He will be a very young Ker age, so I think I may use this next school year as a trial run for unschooling him, and continue if it goes well. Ds2 (2.75): Make sure to carve out time to cuddle and read picture stories. Continue doing math when he demands it, and eventually cave to his demands to start teaching him violin and phonics. ETA: and potty train!

I'd like to participate, but with an adjustment-I've come a long way towards regaining my lost German this past year (after 10 years' disuse), and want to start doing some of my reading in German. But I read so, so much slower in German than in English, I thought my goal would be either just a chapter in German or a whole book in English, per week. This week: chapter 1 of Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen.

They said yes. Yay! We have Math Kangaroo!

Huh. I was so frustrated by the lack of response, I hadn't even looked at the Math Kangaroo site since I posted this. It turns out that three kids signed up at the last minute, so that makes five registered at the center, including mine. Math Kangaroo has a policy of not having a center with fewer than ten students registered, but I sent them an email asking if they would make an exception and offering to help with paying shipping charges, if that is an issue. Here's hoping.

No, hang on, here in the U.S., a pinafore is a little girl's garment that is kind of similar to a full apron, no sleeves, and buttons in the back. Often, but not always, worn over a dress. Except they have been out of common use so long that hardly anyone knows that anymore. Here are a couple I made for my girls when they were littler: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fxnang3cs3bbmkn/2015-07-26%2018.19.42.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/szg38i1vyqzlwq7/2015-07-26%2018.18.58.jpg?dl=0 (ETA: It is also gathered for a fuller skirt. Distinct from a jumper, which does not open at the back and hangs straight all the way down from the shoulders, and is generally made of heavier material.)

I love this thread! Dialects are so interesting! And, yeah, when I read the word 'spider', my first thought was to wonder if that was a typo, and my second was to think that I'm not sure I'd want to eat anything called a spider. So funny that Aussies find our name for them kind of gross, too. My husband served a mission in Argentina, and the drink he loved called "limonada" there was similar to what we call limeade here in the US (like our lemonade, but with limes instead of lemons), but with sweetened condensed milk added.

If you aren't sure, it's immoral to do it without clarifying with the professor that it's okay. The second example is obviously cheating, the first is dishonest too if you didn't check with the professor that it was okay.