What is the difference between a cat and a comma? One has claws at the end of its paws, and the other has a pause at the end of its clause. (Thank you Boy's Life magazine)

But are we really "controlling" dengue here? I thought it was just that the mosquitos that carry that, zika, and chikengunya were susceptible to northern climate, unlike the ones that carry West Nile and Yellow Fever.

Cute!

Wow, sounds great and exciting and swirling and scary and all that. I love hearing about all you all do.

I have a small chest freezer that I have been happy with. I bought some metal, stackable baskets that cost me a bit of space, but make rotating the inventory so, so easy. They also mean I don't have to lean to the very bottom. It held half a pig, when we used to buy those, and now it can hold 6 9x9 casseroles plus the other freezer things. I use the fridge freezer for certain things, and the chest freezer for longer-store things.

I've heard something like that, too. My thought was "does that require a whole YEAR of their life at a time?"

I would often use food to draw then to the table, so we would do some school just after breakfast and just after lunch, and, if "necessary" along with afternoon snack. If they were already at the table them listening to me read and answering questions, or doing some copywork and math before they left was not a big deal. At some point we moved to starting at 9, so there is sometimes playtime in the morning.

Sigh. And the rub is, probably, that you don't want to burn those friendship bridges for your kid. I agree with pp keep it simpler, "sorry, that won't work for Jimmy." If they push, mention that there was an incident during his research on incredibly transmissible viruses and that the government wants him to stay isolated for a bit longer. Or you could say "none of your business why" in whatever other way appeals.

You can also buy vinyl by the yard from a fabric store. Usually they have a few different thicknesses. In fact, I seem to remember some patterned versions in addition to clear. Might not be cheaper than Wal-Mart, though.

Check out this chunky yarn project for later when he wants to (literally) attack using needles! http://www.purlsoho.com/create/2015/11/16/big-little-dandelion-garter-blanket/ You might look at spool knitters also, they are smaller, more portable, and make essentially a long copied that you can craft into other things. Perhaps search it a geared one to avoid burnout! Perhaps to far OT, but he might also like making friendship bracelets. They use embroidery thread and are made by knotting the colors into a pattern. These are also portable which can be handy.

I have a tilt head. It can be tricky to add a cup of flour with the dough hook on. Also, I didn't need it before I had a family, but now that I prefer to double recipes to feed my family, a larger capacity would be nice (I'm not sure that applies directly to the head type). Downside could be weight of the machine? Mine stores in a lower cabinet with a slide-out drawer. Any heavier than my current one and I would have to rearrange the cabinet to not have to bend so far with that awkward weight.

My library has a lot on castles, even Ms Frizzle visited one, apparently. Don't forget David Macaulay, he has a castle book that could be studied for quite a while.

We have a game called Rummy Roots that we play occasionally. It may be more Greek than Latin Ellis, but it has been helpful.

The two choices I see most often are The World in Ancient Times books by Oxford University Press or the three book series The Human Odyssey by K12. Human Odyssey has a similar scope to SOTW, and would be a good spine. The OUP books don't go beyond medieval times, but they are really nice and perhaps would not require outside books.

Crackers? Call a cab company and pay somebody to deliver you something from a bakery or a Grocery? Hahaha

I used it, but I tend to steer people away fromit. I preferred Progressive Phonics which is free for the printing. My kids didn't need a ton of phonics instruction (although nobody was reading Alice in Wonderland a year later), and that was a much more pleasant program for us.

I don't have direct experience to offer, just empathy. I am detouring my dd through One of the Pizzazz! books on fractions that I found for the downloading in the internet. We may have to continue later into summer, though.

My thoughts too. Whip out that handy American sense of entitlement, and a dash of self-righteous indignation about the housing increase. I'm sorry about the troubles, though. Such a tricky time when they are no longer kids, not quite adults. I hope your ds is able to separate from his friend's issues.

Yeah, I find that tricky, too. One thing I have talked about is the concept of budgeting. I don't have the bandwidth to implement a budget, but you might consider that path.

You and your dh (but not your kids!) should listen to the Freakonomics podcast, "The Upside of Quitting". I agree with the majority, power up your job search and stay the ball rolling!

We have an independent green house in town that sells grass seed bulk. Otherwise, canvas your neighbors. Mine can't be the only household with a random half bag of leftover grass seed from a small patch job.

We use BFSU for science and at the end of each lesson (a day, a few days, a week) we do a summary page for their notebooks. When they are young, K-2, I write a sentence or two and they draw a picture. For the longer lessons this helps consolidate the topic. It is also helpful when we review older lessons as part of new lessons (i.e. reviewing inertia as part of our gravity discussion). As we moved into the second book, the lessons got more in-depth and we needed a more back-and-forth format so I pulled together some worksheets that require a variety of response formats. Constant narration would have caused problems here too. All that said, I think your plan sounds great. I had the impression that SWB's recommendation to write across the curriculum was initially developed before she wrote WWE, and that raked the place of some of the narrations at your discretion.

Finishing Miquon then to Beast Academy and/or MM.

One thing I liked about Brussels sprouts was that the taste improves after first frost. For me, that puts them into the special category of being able to plant them and then forget them until the garden gets closed down for winter. I agree that cutting the sprouts and leaves off the stems gets old well before the job ends! I'll put in a plug here for chard. DH propped plastic sheeting over our volunteer chard plants and we are still harvesting despite below-zero temperatures. Taste has mellowed, too. As much chopped chard as I can jam in a quart freezer bag substitutes for a 10 oz block of spinach in recipes.

Everybody listens, but notionally Eagle of the Ninth is for my 10yos, The Whipping Boy and Pippi Longstocking for younger dd. In the car we are all listening to Hat Full of Sky.