What about the Eragon series? My girls loved those when they were 9 (and still do). Another vote for Redwall, too. What about The Heros of Olympus or something like that?

Me too! Especially at night. I will eat leftover chicken, sliced sandwich meat, etc. if we don't have any meat, I'll go for cheese. I am pretty thin and have always had a fast metabolism. I don't know if I just need more/frequent protein or if I get low iron, although I have never had irregular bloodwork. Let me know if you find an answer!

We still don't have power, but the derecho was a thousand times worse.

Oh no! Where are you?

I hope everyone stays warm, but come on- let's all be glad it isn't summer!!! The power outage from the derecho in July was miserable! At least it's not 100 degrees. ;)

Ours is out but we are using the new generator for tv, Internet, and the fridge. No water though since we are on a well and the pump is too far. :(

A friend just sent some awful pictures of the outer banks! Huge waves, lots of damage.

Snowing on Skyline Drive.

Bummer! Where are you?

Yikes! Tell her to be careful on the roads! These gusts are getting strong!

:( We were supposed to fly to Atlanta, then Los Angeles tomorrow morning to be with Grandma for Halloween. She made the girls' costumes and everything. Our flight is canceled and it looks like we won't get out of here until Thursday or Friday. Booooooooo. Now we are hunkering down and buying a chainsaw, just in case.

We sound like you. My kids always ask for food, but they are allowed to make it sometimes. I do make sure they get enough nutrition though. They are 10! They'd eat cheese and crackers for every meal if they could. Plus, we are on a budget, so they can't sit and eat a whole bag or box of something, but they can have an apple. ;) we live 20 mi from the grocery store, so we have to plan ahead. They most certainly do not have free reign of the fridge. We live in the country, so they are allowed in our yard. If we still lived in our tight neighborhood, they could go to a friend's house alone, but they still would not be allowed to roam or go down to the park alone. And they most certainly would not be "in town" alone. No movies, etc. without an adult. I was just thinking about this last night! How timely. I also feel bitter about the lack of care I had at this age. Yes, I grew to be independent, but at too early of an age. Thank god nothing horrible ever happened. I was just lucky. I would never put that kind of pressure on my kids to take care of themselves or each other (this young). It works for us and we have awesome kids and a good relationship.

Oh, that is just awful. Yuck.

Lots of leaves on the Blue Ridge, although this storm will surely take care of that!

Yep, but we are in the country. Is your water back on?

The power went out here early this morning, then came back on after a few minutes. We are showering and making coffee in case it goes out again.

However, there are 5,000 Dominion customers in VB without power already.

Hi Cindy- Just wind here in Cville. Fluvanna, Nelson, Louisa, Greene, Madison, ORange, and Rockingham county school districts have all announced closures for tomorrow. Albemarle is holding out, but we're surrounded! ;) I think we should all be fine, but please let me know if your daughters need anything!

My girls have had their IKEA dressers for the 5 1/2 years they've been with us and they've made two big moves. They are totally fine, other than where the more destructive one has pushed the bottom drawer liner so it pops out a bit. You can't tell though. They are cheap, but hey- they are cheap!

Also canceled to the direct north, east, and west of Charlottesville. I keep waiting for our district to pop up. We are supposed to fly out of here Tuesday. :(

OK, I think I will transition to Hake 5 now then. I have never seen it though! My girls really like and need the spiral approach though. What about the writing? Is it solid and clear? Too much as far as WTM goes? What do you think?

OK, this is what I was thinking, but I wanted to make sure there wasn't something special I was missing. Thanks.

Yay. Thanks for this. I really love the look of Derek Owen's classes.

I'm looking through pre-algebra curriculum and I'm having a hard time figuring out what makes it "pre-algebra," as a lot of it looks similar to what my girls are doing now (5th grade) and what they'll be doing in 6th grade math. It seems to be a general review of the concepts they will have already studied. Specifically, I'm looking at the list of subjects covered in Derek Owens pre-algebra. http://www.derekowens.com/course_info_prealgebra.php By the time my girls are in 7th grade, they will have already covered at least 80% of that. Is the pre-algebra difference in application? Integration? Is there a different way of putting it all together that is preparing them for Algebra? Is it a transition class, preparing them for a larger workload or a bigger output? Honestly, all I remember about pre-algebra was that it was really easy and a review of things I had learned in elementary school. I'm having a hard time extracting the point of it all. Please enlighten me!

Or should I not start FLL 4 (we just finished 3) and transition to Hake 5th?