WOW! What a nice library!

You all are in my heart. I'm so sorry. You all have been through so much already.

Thank you, MSNative! Yes, that helps a lot. I just joined the TN Kids Club yahoo group thanks to your link. I'm looking forward to seeing what's available. We LOVE Market Square!!!!! Dh and I spent lots of time there when we lived there years ago - way before it was rehabbed and as fabulous as it is now. Tomato Head has always been a favorite of ours. On recent trips, we also had the fortune to give Oodles a chance. YUM! We spent last week in Knoxville and the mountains and were able to enjoy jazz on the square. We missed Shakespeare by a couple of days, though. : ( I think its wonderful you live near there. I am sure that even if we live a bit remotely at first, we will spend plenty of time downtown. Dh and I worked downtown and lived close enough to walk there years ago - pre parenthood, so our doings were not skewed towards family activities back then which is why we'll need some guidance in this area now! : ) Plus, it has been over a decade since we lived there, and I know from visits things have changed a lot in those years. I'm so glad to hear UT offers classes for kids, too. I was hoping that would be the case. Thanks for the feedback on the Discovery Center classes, too. We'll give them a try. I love your statement about so many free opportunities. That's one of the reasons we've been wanting to move back. We remember how happy we were there on even a tiny budget back then. We spend a fair bit on entertainment here, and there we hardly spent a thing to have fun because there was so much to do for free. It warms my heart to hear it's still that way. Thanks tons for your reply. I am so looking forward to getting there! (even though we will all miss our friends here SO MUCH. I've always wished I could just pack up everyone I love and bring them where ever I happen to land! Too bad it doesn't work that way.)

Thanks for your insight, Lolly. I'm glad to hear some areas of Knoxville will be close to us. I hope it will be the downtown and University areas! ; ) I will look into ranger classes. I'm sure dd would love that!

My family is moving to the Knoxville area before the end of this year. We have been anticipating such a move for about 3 years, and it is finally happening! : ) I have asked about homeschooling in the area before, but now that a move is actually going to happen, I'd like a fresh list of resources, groups, classes, etc. that would be good to plug into once we arrive. Our dd is 9 (10 this fall). She loves theatre - all aspects - and theatre has been a big part of her life since she was 4. She has performed in many plays/musicals, but she has also worked behind the scenes on about half as many productions. Finding a theatre home for her in our new area will be a priority. We live in a relatively large-ish city now with several theatres nearby. It seems that even though we're moving into an area with a smaller population, we might have a lot more driving to do to keep her involved in theatre. We will be renting a home from a friend on Lake Loudon in Blount County until we figure out exactly where we want to be long term. The closest city with anything going on will be Maryville. Can anyone tell me about theatre in Maryville? I would love for her to become involved with Knoxville Children's Theatre even though it would mean a longer drive. Does anyone have any experience with KCT - good or bad? She also loves nature and animals, so I hope to take advantage of community classes or field trips with that sort of focus. We know about zoo classes, classes at the University Gardens and the Aquarium in Gatlinburg. Are there any classes like that that I'm not listing? Do the rangers in the Smokies offer classes? Please share personal experiences with these classes. Are they worth the time? Is attending them a good way to make new friends? Science is another area of interest to her. I saw that Knoxville has a Discovery Center for kids. Is this something you would recommend for a kid who is already pretty smart and informed in many areas of science or is it more for younger kids without as much exposure? It seems someone also mentioned a planetarium in Maryville. I've heard Oak Ridge has a nice science museum, but I have not yet figured out how far away that will be from us. If the museum itself is worth it, we would, of course, make the drive as a family some weekends. If they also offer decent classes for homeschoolers, I would be tempted to sign dd up for those as well. I would be interested in any local homeschool groups to join, too. I'm especially interested in groups that organize lots of field trips and regular park days since we'll need to make new friends in the area. I'm not really that interested in co-ops unless it's a Charlotte Mason-esque nature study/exploration type co-op or an arts type co-op. We've found academic co-ops are just not our thing. I'm open to hearing any other suggestions/ideas for getting involved once we're there. We're all very excited about the move, but leaving our friends and activities here will be hard. It would be great if we can jump in soon and start making new friends and finding new activities we can enjoy. Thanks so much to anyone who takes the time to help! : )

Oops! I didn't even think to check the OP date before adding my thoughts. ; ) For the record, I still hate roaches. ICK!

I'm with you! I'm a brave, brave woman for the most part. I'll tackle venomous snakes, spiders, scorpions, maintain a calm demeanor for wildlife and unknown big dogs all on my own, etc., but roaches leave me powerless and screaming like a little girl. I HATE them! Even WALL-E couldn't cure me of this (admittedly irrational) fear. So, no, I wouldn't have slept in there if it couldn't be found, and I would probably not have been as considerate of my dh as you were of yours. My freak out would most likely have woken him up, and then he would have dealt with it.

Dh and Dd are. I've never seen it, and I just heard it about it for the first time yesterday. Apparently, they've been bonding over it unbeknownst to me.

We buy a lot less meat now due to price. We hardly ever buy processed foods. We no longer buy soda or other chemical filled drinks. The bulk of our budget is spent on fresh produce, so that means we have to shop more often which makes me wish we lived in a European city with small markets and shops on the same street as our home.

Our first puppy caught it after only two sets of puppy shots. He didn't make it even with vet treatment. It was an awful experience, and the trauma of it caused us to opt for an older puppy when we were ready for a new pet. We had that one for almost 17 years. I'm glad your puppy is doing better, and I'm sorry about your experience with that vet practice. I would probably say something to the vet about the tech because people in your situation don't need more guilt and stress added to the ordeal. She was way out of line.

a small farmhouse on a lot of land with mountains, creeks, and at least one pond or lake travel money for global experiential learning cook housekeeper gardener even more bookshelves filled to the max a great microscope gymnastics classes dance classes voice lessons math tutor French tutor

I agree. No one living on savings due to unemployment should ever be expected to host a party for anyone. I cannot fathom a mother expecting this of a child going through a difficult time.

We would eat it.

Congrats to your dh! What wonderful news!

Dd wants us to get him a hammock. I suspect something other than pure generosity inspired this idea, but I just might go with it.

Your FIL has a point. We tackled our problem in the winter. Not sure if the coffee grounds would have been strong enough in the summer. On the other hand, maybe you'll have a shorter period of funky smell.

We had to resort to poison. Traps just didn't work. Thankfully our issue was confined to the attic, so we were able to keep our cat away from the poison. We did have to set out bowls of coffee grounds in certain rooms of the house to combat the smell for a few weeks.

Heartbroken. We were so lucky to have had her among us.

I have taken prescription muscle relaxers a few times - not regularly. I feel soooooooooo good on them. In my experience, pain goes away - as long as the relaxer is in effect. I sleep really well, and all of my stress disappears when I take them. I'm grateful I don't have a chronic need for them, but I do like them a whole, whole lot! I'm always fine by morning. They work so well on me that I would not take them during the day unless I had someone else home to care for dd.

Mine would eat the cheesecake, no problem. As for the other, she would dissect the cake and eat the jam layer. She's not a fan of cake itself, but she'll eat jam straight out of the jar. As for me, I'll take one of each, please! : )

We have used Biology, Earth Science/Astronomy, and Chemistry - all Grammar stages. We've been pleased. The instructions are clear, and the manual and student guide are well-laid out. I cannot recall an instance where I felt we were missing information necessary to complete an assignment. I did think that the book choices in ES/A were a bit too easy for my child, but that could be because she had already had quite a bit of exposure to both topics. I ended up supplementing that year. We loved the projects from that year, though.

This sounds like an interesting book. I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I saw the title, but it looks like a gem. Thanks!

I like the looks of the bird log. I was just going to buy a sketch book for her, but this looks like it has space to sketch plus a checklist to fill in. Is that right? Does it have certain pages pre-set for specific birds, or are all pages open-ended so you can fill it with whatever birds you find? Thanks! : )

Thanks! I love your pinterest board. I haven't heard of The Life of Birds before now, but it looks like we can view them either on YouTube or Amazon Prime, so we'll take a look. Dd loves videos. We have an Audobon center w/in a easy drive and have attended the annual hummingbird festivals, so we've done the beak activity before. It might not hurt to try it again as a reminder, though. The Cornell unit sounds like a winner, too. Thanks so much for these ideas.

I love these suggestions and am eager to look into them. Thanks so much for all of the help! : )