My ds5 is very much a sensory seeker. I want to do phonics with him following Saxon Phonic's lesson plans but I am just not real innovative. I need ideas on how to incorporate the letters with his senses. Beyond just writing. I barely know a couple letters and I know he wants to learn but teaching him conventional ways just doesn't work. Does anyone have ideas, blog posts, a pinterest page or anything at all that I can look at and compile ideas to implement?

Beat it while it was cooling until the sheen was gone, and used whole milk. I am going to try again correcting the temperature. Hopefully that helps! :)

It wasn't of a hard candy consistency but it was really hard. I could bite into it but again, it was hard. Almost like almond bark hard. Would that be temperature or something else?

So I used a candy thermometer and after I made the fudge discovered that is was 8 degrees off. So when I hit the softball stage it was 8 degrees hotter than the thermometer read. That is enough to make my fudge come out hard right?

So... I have been researching it a bit. I think it would fit our lifestyle as it is at this moment but... It appeals and is scares me. I am used to having a set guideline. I am very much left brained and need check lists and schedules otherwise I feel like I am in a downward spiral. That isn't to say I can't be spontaneous but I like to plan. How do I get past this? It seems that if I was to make a schedule then I wouldn't be unschooling. I don't really care about the label, I just want the general feel that my kids want and like to learn. Right on down to math. Which they hate. Which I like. Suggestions?

I am decidedly not a night owl. The hubs, dd15 and ds11 are. Ds5 is kinda in the middle. He can go to bed by 10pm if he hasn't had a nap. If he naps he can stay up till midnight. I function the best in the morning to early afternoon. Usually by 2 or 3pm I am ready to call it a day. After dinner I am ready to sit on my bum and do nothing until bedtime. I am usually ready to sleep by 9:30. How do I reconcile this with everyone else? The kids go to their rooms when I tell them but they still stay up until 1 or 2 am. Dh goes to bed that late and will tell me they are still up with light on at that time. What can I do? I can't keep going to bed late and getting up late. I do NOT do well going to bed late and getting up late. I never have. Even as a teenager I would go home before my friends if I was tired because I needed my sleep (well that was still much alter than now, about 1am, but the point it I still went to bed earlier than everyone else.) I am a big baby when it comes to bed time and sleeping. I just can't seem to get anyone on my schedule. They won't adjust to mine, I can't adjust to theirs. Any ideas on what can be done?

OK here is the revision! Made all the corrections noted :) Parts of Speech.doc Parts of Speech.doc

Humph, spell checker didn't pick that up! Whoops!

Small correction... in the adverb poster change "and" to "an" :)

I made this file up for us. Thought I would share it in case anyone wanted one. *The font I used was Gabriela, if you don't have it your word processing programParts of Speech.doc will pick the best match. Obviously feel free to tweak it to your liking! Parts of Speech.doc

Make their own plans?! *shudder* LOL Plan B would actually be plan..... G... H.... Hehe

... never seem to work. :banghead: :willy_nilly: <_< :svengo:

I don't know where to begin. I want to do US History. I have looked online and haven't found anything that really strikes me. I like Sonlight (kinda) but I know they have at least one whole book dedicated to a missionary and I just don't want to focus on that. I looked at A Trail Guide to Learning but I don't like all the extra stuff like dictation and spelling. I don't need that. I was looking at Notgrass and think that may be the thing I need. Does anyone have any experience with the Notgrass US History? Unless there is a comprehensive chronological book list somewhere that someone has that is willing to share? :)

I need it printed not on the computer. I just don't know where to look! Any ideas for me?

North Carolina has no such provision in the law books. I looked. I wanted to set up an escrow account to put rent in until repairs are done but that isn't legal. He can still evict us for non-payment. NC says you must pay rent every single month regardless. You have to take legal action to get the landlord to do anything if they aren't don't what they need to. My dh and I have talked about it and he won't be getting November rent unless there is major work done this month. If not then we go to court to see what the magistrate says.

Actually I talked to them the day before yesterday and they can come but my problem is if they declare it isn't fit to live in. I don't think it is that bad but I don't know from an inspector point of view if they would do that. The landlord did come by yesterday, unannounced... while I was working, and talked to dh. Basically he was saying the same thing he has been saying all along. He is going to get it fixed he just doesn't have the money. Of course that is why he sat on the rent check for 5 days before depositing it. He text me when he got it and I get a copy of the check after it is redeemed. He waited 5 days. So still nothing has happened. He won't be replacing the heat pump. He said he is going to give us some special heater he has in storage or something that is supposedly going to heat the whole house. I don't know what that is. He said that getting the heat pump replaced will be in the thousands so he just can't do it. So, I don't know how that will pan out. I still want the mouse homes out of the duct system. It smells. We have to keep the vents blocked or it really get rank. He made vague mention of fixing the drywall himself. We shall see. He has our rent from Sept and rent for Oct is due next week. That will be two months of rent with absolutely nothing done. I am still in a holding pattern. I still think he is stringing us along. He won't let us take the repairs out of rent. I will only be strung along for so long before I cut the string though. :)

I did and that is why I need to call the health department/building inspector. Apparently those are the ones to handle the complaint. I just wish I didn't have to. I mean does he seriously expect us to go through winter without heat?

The landlord received my rent, he text me himself and said so. That was 2 weeks ago and he hasn't made a peep since. Nothing. We are still without heat and still with wires hanging out of a missing section of drywall. We still have no less than 5 (it may have been 6 but at least 5) mouse homes in our duct system. I am just beside myself with what to do. I am going to call that health department tomorrow and see what can be done (I was going to call today but woke up with a migraine that just went away about an hour ago). He flat refused to lower our rent until repairs are done and he refused to put in writing that we can have the repairs done and take it out of rent. Our hands are tied. Here we are 8 days from when the next rent check is due and you can bet your sweet bibby that he will be on the horn if that check isn't there but by golly he isn't going to lift a finger to do his duty. I am sick of it. I would love to just move. LOVE to. If I had the funds.

My kids and hubby equivalate me to a Vulcan/Romulan mix while my dh is a betazoid. I am an ENSJ, he is a INFP. How do I stay sane? He is all about feeling. I am logic. I get tired of hearing how in order to do this and that you have to feel good, it has to resonate (I really don't like that word). This resonates with his soul, that doesn't. He dreams and talks about them. I don't and I like it that way. I don't care about things resonating. Matters naught to me as long as bills are paid and food is on the table. Ugh. My sanity is cracking! :) So how do I keep from rolling my eyes?

All the recipes I have come across use dry beans. Which is fine but I have quite a few cans of beans that I would like to use. So does any one have a recipe for refried beans using canned beans? :)

I have all three, I like all three. However I can't really figure out which one is going to be the best. Or maybe use 2? Or all three? Thoughts?

I understand about the rent being paid. It is paid, I swear. It is in the mail. We are waiting for that. We never said no working. He said that. We told him he has to work around my schedule because I need it quiet. I don't think that is an unreasonable demand. Our pet has never scared off anyone. There have been UPS drivers and FedEx driver as well as 3 different repairman (in the first week we were here). They weren't scared off. They came and did what they were supposed to. No one was scared. The dog barely barked and we had him tied up on the back porch. We are only threatening legal action over the repairs that need to be done. We have electrical wires and insulation hanging out in the living room. We had mushrooms growing out of said place. We have no AC and no heat until the unit is fixed. We have a couch in the yard from the previous tenants that has a bee hive living in it. We have mentioned them since the day we moved in. We haven't heard from him (until today) since the 7th. We have no idea even now if he will actually do anything. We shall see. We are a bit jaded, we have been so burned in the past. For the record, I haven't threatened him yet. :)

We have a lease. It isn't specific to specific work but at least two things, possible more, are in violation of the law so they need to be taken care of. Yes, it was sent by electronic bill pay so I know it will get there it just wasn't today. He is supposed to have it by tomorrow or else it is late. If it is late I will pay the late fee. Noted on the lawyer. We do want to move, however we don't have what we need for a deposit for a new place. We can pay the monthly rent, we just don't have the up front money needed in order to secure another place. We shall see. I am not a real big on being patient but I am going to have to be.

So I sent my landlord a letter (return receipt) and although it has been waiting to be picked up since the 20th of August he just now picked it up today. Let me preface by saying we are still paying rent due. We are trying to renegotiate the contract since there is still work to be done. Some of the work is in violation of state law. There was an insurance guy here looking at the premises and said as much. He said a fire marshal should even be by to look as well. I don't know if there will be or when but that is what he said. So, we sent a nicely worded letter outlining the issues as to why we are trying to renegotiate. He responded today and it went like this... Landlord: Hey. This is "landlord". Please give me a call as soon as posible. Thank u Me: Is this referring to our letter? Landlord: Yes. And no money. Me: Right... Rent was sent by the bank although we do require an answer to our letter. Landlord: Thats why i asked u to call me soon as u get a chance. I no u both busy working on comp. And no money has came. Need cash or money order. I can get banking numb 4 u so you can elect transfer. If that b easyer 4 u. We talk when u call. Thanks. Me: The bank sent a check through bill pay so I can't send it again. I prefer to talk through text or email. Thank you. Landlord: I hav not recived any check. And i checked mail again at 2pm. And i don't have internet. And very low on phone money. And I hate typing , this is an old phone. Me: Sorry about that but I need everything in writing for our records. We spelled out everything in the letter you can just text us if you agree or not then mail it to us Landlord: Records are fine. U can even record the phone call. But its better and easyer 2 actually talk. Ok. Thank u. Me: I have no way of recording the call. What is there to discuss... We outlined everything we wanted to say in the letter. Landlord: Ok I told you up front. I would need 2 use ur rent money 2 finish up the house. And I need my XXX 2 do that. Thats why i gav u 2 or 3 weeks free. I cant do a different contract. If u feel wronged. I meet you in the middle. One hundred off decembers rent. Thats it. And i need u 2 say not to say no work alowed because u went back to work. And dogie scared repair people off. I will do what i said i would but thats all. And need my money 2 do that. U acting strange. If u want out of contract. 2 other familys hav seen it and want it. But we gonna both hav to b adults. OK, so one. We moved in on the 23rd of July so yes we got free time but only 8 days, not 2 or 3 weeks. Two, he told us initially that he didn't have a bank account in order to do electronic xfer as that is usually my preferred method. Three, I told him twice the bank was sending the money so why does he feel the need to repeat himself? Four, he never told us it would take months to get things done. He said it would be ready the day we moved in. He wants to give us $100 off one months rent? For the condition of the house? And waiting 2 or 3 months for things to be done? The dog scared people off? I'd sure like to know when. We work from home. We are here all. the. time. We lock up the dog if anyone comes over. I am acting strange? How. I never said he wanted to be out of the contract, I take this as a threat. Please, pray tell, when have I not acted like an adult? I have called legal aid to get an appointment with a lawyer. I just don't know how I am supposed to respond or if I should even respond to this. We can't move. We don't have the money. So I am hoping legal aid can shed some light on what our options are. I already know he is in violation of state law, so we do have that on our side. Should I say that though? Should I tell him I will be speaking with a lawyer? Should I remain silent until after I talk to a lawyer? Will this nightmare that began on July 2nd ever end?

Does anyone know of one? :)