Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood Blindness, by Jose Saramago I heard some expert on NPR say that the movie Contagion was the most accurate of fictional movies. Based on that, I watched it and am often reminded of it. I liked the Will Smith movie I Am Legend, but that was more post-pandemic (and zombie laden).

Sounds like you have the start of a plan. We have not used GSWS, but we are working through GSWL. It is great, but I have had to incorporate an increasing number of review days to keep ids from catering overwhelmed, so it is taking longer than I originally planned. My dc are slowly picking through the big worktext Spanish Now! It is nice for kids, not as dry as Breaking the Barrier or Practice Makes Perfect. From your discussion, you might want to check out the Spanish options from Galore Park if you are considering a full program once you get going. Buena suerte!

I haven't heard from Rachel in a while, but last week I got several calls in a row from "Steve" who was using a different phone number each time and informing me about some kind of imminent legal action from the Department of Treasury. The message repeats over and over. My dc were really getting worried.

We were able to buy our car using fleet sales at a local credit union. We told then what we wanted, they got email descriptions and quotes from regional dealers, we choose the one that best suited us. Totally able to bypass the local dealer. Might be worth the phone call since you know what you want.

We have done well with the WWE series up to now, but I would like to use this year and next to branch out some before we hit the WWS stage. SO, one of the things we tried recently was an island project. We started with some art work, read and talked about some islands in literature, then I set them free to write their own island story. So far, so good, but now what??? I envisioned them writing a story, then editing it with me, then one of us putting it onto the computer, printing it out and "publishing" it with the pictures they painted. What is happening, though, is they are still writing. And still writing. Not a lot of volume, mind you, just not "done'. If I let them continue open-ended will they ever stop? I'm afraid they will lose interest in the project altogether by then. Should I set a deadline, like, "rough drafts to me on Friday"? I don't want to crush their free-writing souls, even my reluctant writer is enjoying this, but I also don't want the project to slowly lose steam and never resolve, thus diminishing the appeal of free-writing in the future. Those of you who are more comfortable with open-ended writing, please share with me ideas that would work for your family. I am nervously treading in new territory here!

I did that at about his age when I was adding a light switch to the box fan in my room to make it "remote controlled" so I wouldn't have to get up at night to turn it off (monsters under the bed, don'tcha know). Better to unplug the cord first. Don't worry, I turned out pretty much okay?

I might even risk mayo, but I'm wild that way. I suggest that whatever you do, you come up with a tight rotation. The fewer daily decisions, the better. In addition to the above, Noodle salad? Vegetable sushi Cold fried chicken with potato salad?

Sadly, you've done the lessons we have yet to do, but I'm passing on a link to the family we share a microscope with. Good luck!

We've been doing Spanish for a while, coasting on what I learned in high school, but we do something 5 days a week. Last year we added in Latin with GSWL and various kinds of review also 5 days a week. When we learn new Latin vocab they also learn or review the Spanish word. Other than that, I try to keep the two language-learning times separated in the day. It is difficult to move from one right to the other and still do the second one justice. We do see some bleed over from one to another, but it is usually a source of humor. They call it Splatin. I would love for one of mine to express interest in studying a particular language! Until they do, we are sticking with Spanish which I am conversant in, and Latin which I'm learning along with them. I've enjoyed mixing a variety of resources for Spanish up until now, but in both languages we are following a text this year to start filling gaps and explicitly discussing things they "just know".

You all might like Homer Price.

Anecdotally I say yes. I've seen it with all my dc, but particularly my dds. My youngest is 5 and going through this right now. I'll say, "add 6 + 2, starting with the 6" She knows what I'm saying, but she usually has to count really quickly to 6 first. Not always, though! I think it is like learning to say the alphabet starting in the middle. Takes comfort with the whole thing, and then practice.

The whole milk can also be made into cottage cheese. It would be "dry curd" which is like if you took store-bought cottage cheese and rinsed it in a colander. I use it in fillings, like pierogies. Good luck!

Have you read through the thread Lewelma started here about approaches to teaching WWS? You are not alone! There are a lot of suggestions. Have you read SWB's sticky about If you're using WWE or WWS? She has a number of suggestions in there for alternative schedules that might help.

Ok. Beans are harmed, but it still tastes more like a fudgecicle than good chocolate, so I have to stick with my original "worse" vote. Sorry to hear we are on opposite sides if this seasonally important discussion. Not saying I would turn it down, mind you, just that if there were a bowl of each on the table, well...

But, were any cocoa beans hanged in the making if it? If it isn't real chocolate, I'm not interested. Don't get me started on "white" chocolate. I'd rather have a vegetable.

Not talking about the Indian corn you hang on the door, right? ;-)

Not talking about the Indian corn you hang on the door, right? ;-)

Hah! I'm soloing in your choir, sister!

Well, as long as you are pre-reading, what about The Toothpaste Millionaire?

I tend to defer to Farrar on child-lit related questions, but I wonder if "29 Myths on the Swinster Pharmacy" would work for you. It is also by L. Snicket and has the same oddly shifted perspective, leaving lots of things unexplained. Some humor, a few sinister sounding things. It is listed as a picture book at our library, hopefully that isn't too young (we all read it here).

Soror, I was struck by that same quote from Hunter, and I wondered what she was referring to and if it did or did not apply to me. I am a textbook victim of Silver's "amalgamated ideal homeschool mom". My dc are not doing literature at the level of 8's dc, or writing like Rose's or doing science like Lewelma's, they aren't bilingual, self-motivated or world travellers. I regularly have to evaluate these internalized "standards" and decide if they are rational or reasonable for my dc, otherwise I get depressed and we miss an opportunity to meet reasonable goals at a level that WE are capable of. I hear this comment occasionally irl, but I feel like I rarely hear it here. Even less so as the discussion moves out of the primary grades. As to what local schools are doing, and whether their standards are reasonable I feel like I have no way to tell. My state requires me to share nothing with them, but in turn, they share nothing with me - no list of textbooks or online list of available courses. All I see is the electronic sign advertising their high rankings, super (unbelievably?) high graduation rates, and plethora of extracurriculars. I circle back to Arctic Momma's point about the family ties we are building on top of trying to achieve the highest academic levels we are capable of in all we have chosen to do. Are standards too high? I don't know, I can only affect my own.

Sometimes I would write out a name (or other words) for them to copy when they get there. Still somewhat slew and choppy in WWE 4, so good to find a system now! I try to keep them mostly together so I only need to spell it once. If there is a long enough disruption I will have someone repeat the sentence again out loud.

Wow, good luck. At first read I thought you meant the "interview" was going to be that long. I was worried about staying "interview fresh" that whole time!

When we lost power it was nice to still be able to hear things on the range. The stove was electric. We also had a propane dryer and propane heat, neither of which functioned with the power out since they have electric igniters. I never had to call the propane company for a fill, they kept track of degree-days and came out to fill when needed and left a bill on the door knob.

My kids could not focus on me and history when surrounded by "all the books, mom!" They were distracted by the books, even in the absence of other people. Even when sitting in a low book-count area. YMMV :-)