Vivid purple or pink accessories/flowers would look amazing with that color.

Not sure if this helps, but negative integers, fractions, percentages, and graphing are all covered in 6th grade for BJU. Take a look at the scope and sequence. It might give you a better idea of where to place him. I'm pretty sure they offer placement tests too. Www.bjupress.com/pdfs/catalogs/2017-scope-and-sequence-subject.pdf

We are going to be working our way through our library's free passes this summer. I've taken my crew all over the world, but have been horrible about exposing them to the history right here in New England. Time to remedy things. My plan is to spend at least one day a week on day trips, and not to try to over-stay if the crowds are bad or we get tired. We seem to enjoy things better in short bursts.

We have a lake house. The land was purchased by DH's grandfather and has been passed down through the generations. We are next door to the cousins, inlaws, and DH's brother. It is kinda' like going to a never-ending family reunion every summer. Up side: Getting to spend lots of time bonding as an extended family. Down side: Doing housework for two homes

Is "dressy casual" a common term? I've never heard of it before.

He sounds like a good fit for a trade rather than an office job. Contractors of various sorts all work from plans, from framers, to landscape designers. Tile installation might be a really good fit since it requires working from patterns, heavy lifting, and lots of hands on problem solving. Same with upholsterery & finish carpentry. Electricians and plumbers are very well paid for their labor and work with their hands every day. Those would also be good fields to research.

Interesting article. It confirms everything I've intuitively done to tweak courses for my dyslexic dd. Take a look at Supercharged Science - Of all the programs I've looked at, they are the most adept at offering hands-on, open-ended projects, with real-world application. The reading is minimal too, since most of the content is delivered by video.

The Barton app OSAAT mentioned is absolutely wonderful. It saves you from having to set up or clean tiles, has all of your words pre-programmed, and it positions letters consistently in exactly the same location. It is well worth the cost in time saved alone.

CNN and NPR both have 5-10 minute news programs for kids. Not sure about the quiz portion though.

Don't try to piece together a program. It will only frustrate both of you. These kids need reading segmented down to a level that most of us can't comprehend, and if you skip a step (that you don't even recognize yourself skipping) it can be detrimental. My DD took years (YEARS!) to learn her letter sounds correctly. LiPS by Lindamood Bell was a lifesaver for us. It is even more basic than Barton level 1, and it is the program Susan Barton recommends for kids who can't accurately recall vowel sounds like your DD. It may seem like a step backwards, but honestly, until you get those skills solid, you will not be moving forward at all, regardless of how many closed syllable words you make flashcards for. She needs intense remediation, not experimentation. About grandma - if she can't be a source of consistent encouragement, you may want to hire a professional tutor. Learning to read is stressful enough, but when you constantly hear or even just sense that you aren't trying hard enough, it can be emotionally destructive. ETA - I just realized how negative the tone of this post sounds. Sorry! I'm not trying to bash you at all. You are a caring momma. I just want to save you from falling into a hole that I spent too long in myself.

I love the Big Oven app. There are pre-entered recipes, or you can add your own. You can schedule any recipe for any day, and you can quickly create a categorized shopping list from your selections. If you don't need something on the ingredients list, just uncheck it before adding the recipe to your shopping list. Easy Peasy!

I've found that the best way for me to joyfully volunteer (and to maintain my volunteer staff) is to make sure that everyone's work is seasonal. I can go full guns for only so long, and then I need to recharge so that I can look forward to starting the process over again. I long for those breaks by the end of each session, but when it is time to get started again, I am always brimming with new ideas. Everything gets old after you do it for too long - even the best of things. After watching multiple volunteers refuse to admit that they needed a break, just to get all upset at my other volunteers for not doing enough, I've finally learned that rest is not an optional luxury. Everyone has to step aside and just trust that their hole will be filled. As grandma always used to say, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder."

They will probably keep you up until an unreasonable hour. Plan ahead for the next day. Set up the coffee-maker, and have the yogurt, fruit, juice, muffins and/or whatever all ready to go so that you don't have to wake up early to bake or judge when they will be up. Also, make sure you have an extra craft or activity reserved for the morning so that you can pull it out if they start to look bored or grumpy from over tiredness. Easy activities: Rainbow toenails "spin the bottle" style - The girls sit in a circle and take turns spinning a bottle and then using whichever color it lands on to paint their next toe. Giggling guaranteed. Clay necklaces - Sculpey comes in zillions of colors and you only need a quarter size amount to make a decent pendant. Bake and then string with beads. Make your own bars - ice cream sundae, tacos, salad, pizza... anything that the girls can work on as a group is always fun

Praying that he goes back on his medication. Also, congratulations on your new little one!!!

Some smells can be removed by freezing. Just remember to put the book in a ziploc bag before placing it in the freezer to make sure that it doesn't come in contact with any moisture.

Is he on any vitamins or supplements? Some can exacerbate eczema. Sorry your boy is struggling.

Truth!

Ugh. She sounds like she is bored. Would she enjoy getting an Uber and spending "special" time with one of the kids? Maybe they could go see a movie together.

My boy transitioned between regular bricks and Mindstorm with Lego Technic. They teach basic physics. After the kids begin to understand how gears work with basic sets you can add motors and other power functions.

What about ordering Tinkercrate for the year? The kids ger simple hands-on science, and you don't have to collect any supplies or Research explanatory text - it is all in the box. Most kids love getting mail. http://www.kiwicrate.com/Refer?i=SherylG4 BJU online is great. You will still need to be there for support with written work, but the hard lifting is done for you. That said, there is generally far too much material for average learners to cover in a reasonable amount of time, so if your child is working even slower, you will need to make sure to cut them off at a certain point or assign less. I love their English (for grade 2 and up), Math, and Science.

We tried Apologia audio and it was a disaster. First the discs would only play in a computer and not a CD player. Then when I tried to download the files they sorted themselves into random order and I had to go back in and manually adjust each track. Finally, the narration was just horrible. I don't recommend their audio at all.

I'm sorry. Unexpected travel can be stressful.

Texting big news is fine in my family - it allows everyone to hear the information at the same time so nobody feels left out. I'd assume that the job issue is cultural. He may not know that texting is unprofessional. I don't think it is entirely bizarre to give resignation notice directly to the business owner, but telling your supervisor is obviously necessary too. I hope your dad will take some time to explain how to do it better next time.

CNN student news - 10 minutes of the kids sitting still and learning, while simultaneously giving me 10 minutes to finish my coffee, gather supplies, and mentally prepare for whatever comes next. We use the daily Brain Pop videos or a chapter from one of our read-alouds for the same purpose.

I'm of the opinion that it is the obligation of the person with the phone to adjust the ringer to their personal preference. It doesn't ever require missing important calls. For Apple devices, there’s a Do Not Disturb feature built right into iOS 10. Simply schedule the hours you don’t want to be disturbed, and you won’t hear a peep (except your alarm; that will always sound). You can allow calls from specific people regardless of the hour and enable calls to ring through if there’s a second call from the same person within three minutes. You can find Do Not Disturb by swiping up from the bottom of your phone or by going to Settings > Do Not Disturb. If you want only certain people to be able to get through, you can go to Contacts > Select the contact you want let through > Edit > Ringtone. On the ringtone page you can toggle on Emergency Bypass. Android users with phones running Lollipop 5.0 or later come with a feature called Do Not Disturb, accessed through the phone’s device settings > sounds and notifications. With Do Not Disturb, you can schedule hours when you won’t accept calls or notifications and allow your contacts or "Favorite" contacts to reach you any time. If you want to hand-pick contacts to be able to reach you, try Nights Keeper (Free on Google Play). For the same functionality on older Android devices, try the Agent app (free on Google Play). For Android phones running Marshmallow 6.0 or later, you get more control. You can set you phone to be silent when you have a calendar appointment, set Do Not Disturb for a specific time period and set your own rules for times and days when you don't want to be interrupted. Source: http://www.techlicious.com/how-to/how-to-make-your-smartphone-smarter/