Thanks for sharing. I, too, loved SWB's quotes. Her books are why this non-religious momma was successful at homeschooling. I am thrilled to read such an inclusive quote. My youngest graduated college last year so it has been a few years since I've homeschooled. Still, in the last few years when I would mention that we classically homeschooled most people assumed we used Classical Conversations, etc.

Rear Window is a great way to begin Hitchcock. Both of the Enola Holmes movies were fun - as are the books they are based on.

Congrats to her! How exciting. I just added a hardcover copy to my Amazon cart for one of my dd's for Christmas. I needed more book ideas for her and this looks to be right up her alley.

Thanks so much for sharing. These are adorable. I ordered several for my girls.

Thrilled to hear that she had a good day!

Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag - WWI

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy - the Andrews Sisters WWII era

History buff here and over the years we have attended many historical sites and events. My girls are both graduated and grown, so these are all places we visited prior to Covid. I am unsure how the pandemic has affected our local sites. Keeping the kids engaged is always a plus. Holiday events at different sites were always special - we loved ghost tours and traditional Christmas events the most. Our local area is known for their early Moravian settlements, so we have a few sites devoted to the history of Moravians in the area. One of the smaller sites has really well done Halloween and Christmas events. Different stations and areas to visit. The Christmas at Bethabara event had traditional decorations, food, areas with singers, reenactors, storytellers, etc. I am going to attempt to add links. https://historicbethabara.org/ Our local Underground Railroad site. We visited this site a few times and they used to have a large one day or weekend event with wagon rides, more detailed tours than typically offered during the rest of the year, etc., but I don't see that currently on their site. They only have one special day listed for 2023 - a fiber arts day. This is a smaller site with just a few employees. https://www.mendenhallhomeplace.com/ Another local site offers puppet shows to elementary school classes and summer camps. This site really managed to work with the local homeschoolers so they had puppeteers during the school year. My daughters volunteered here as puppeteers and tour guides for years. This site has only a few employees, but they offered a few days a year with special events and Christmas tours. Various groups - women's clubs, churches, etc. would volunteer to decorate sections of the house during the Christmas season for special holiday tours. This site also used to offer a scout day where various badges could be earned - I was never involved in that other than to drop off my girls so I don't know details of how that worked. I just noticed they have detailed curriculum tie ins and standards on their site that might be useful if you decide to look into adding events for school aged children. This location used to give each child in the tours a photograph of a special item to locate in the house. That was fun for little kids and kept them engaged. Then each child in the group ( they usually split them up into groups of 8-10 ) got a chance to be the one to identify something that the tour guide would give extra information about. https://kornersfolly.org/visit/field-trip-tours/

I am on my second viewing of the series, and have been so overwhelmed by my emotions. I was raised in an independent, fundamental Baptist church and private school. My parents were not as extreme as many of the families in this particular church. For example, I was allowed to listen to music of my choosing (more or less) and wear shorts at home. But over the years, I have come to consider the church I grew up in as cult-lite (I think I saw this term on here once, but can't credit to any particular member) . It has taken so many years to truly see and overcome those teachings. I feel that our church controlled us with brainwashing and fear. (I am not commenting on any other churches, just the coalition I was involved in along with a church of the same denominational leanings in the area we live in currently that we attended briefly many years ago.) My children were homeschooled for many reasons, and I hope they don't end up regretting it. I hope that people don't lump all of us homeschoolers into this movement because of this documentary. So many thoughts and unexpected feelings after watching this. I have never watched the Duggar shows, and most of my info about them came from this site and articles online or in magazines. I have to admit to finding them fascinating in a train wreck type of way.

So very sorry for your loss. ((((Hugs KungFuPanda))))

I wouldn't change plans at such short notice. Just let her know you already made plans for the holiday weekend, and those plans include your parents.

Saraha's delicious-looking drop biscuits look very much like my MIL's and husband's version of biscuits. My husband would serve these with fried or scrambled eggs and sliced fresh tomatoes either as a late weekend breakfast or as breakfast for dinner. Not sure why the tomatoes - but that is how his family always did it. 🙂 Probably just need something to offset the heaviness of the meal. We haven't had biscuits and gravy in over a year, so maybe we can try this soon when the kids are home. Hope yours turns out great.

When our daughter moved to college 4 years ago we had to put her cat on Amitriptyline, and it made a world of difference for the poor kitty. It's so hard not to be able to explain things to the pets, isn't it? Dd's cat was so depressed that it broke my heart.

I am fairly certain a crocodile plays a role in the first book. The tea kettle is a must. The characters love taking a tea break, and many important discussions are had over a cup of tea. One of the male characters owns/runs a mechanic shop, so cars (and the tiny white van) are always a part of the background scenery in my mind when reading scenes that occur at the office. So many mentions of cattle and pumpkins ( I am never sure if these pumpkins are the same as our orange pumpkins or not). Your friend will so appreciate this gift. It is so thoughtful.

If you don't have a busy day ahead, I'd wake them up so the younger can open gifts. Then the teen can take a nap later. We wait for everyone to do gifts here.

He's beautiful. Hoping he feels better very soon and he is home asap. (((Hugs)))

I think they are both pretty, but I love the first fabric. I'd probably use the second one until you know if you like the buttons on the back.

I am so sorry. That sounds overwhelming.

Congratulations! Good work. That sounds like an incredibly stressful test, and I am so proud of you and all of your hard work.

Lizzie! How did I not know about this. Listening to the soundtrack now. My dd will love this. Going to check out a few more of your recommendations. Thanks for sharing. Love soundtracks. Our favorites have mostly been mentioned: Hamilton, Oliver, Cats, etc. One I haven't seen mentioned is one Once Upon a Mattress (the original recording with Carol Burnett).

Our oldest dd moved to Chesapeake last year, and we've visited several times. So far we've stayed in the Greenbrier east area when visiting - that's how Expedia lists the area. Lots of shopping, restaurants and a couple of movie theatres within a few minutes of most hotels in the area. If you enjoy antiques the Virginia Beach Antique mall is fun. Lots of variety. If I go by myself to see her, I usually spend the time that she's working shopping at antique shops and thrift stores. Agreeing with others that there is not a ton to do right in Chesapeake, but we have found a few local events when we were there. Her BFF has lived in the area most of her life and I might be able to find out more if you have any specific questions.

Laser pointer? The little rings from the top of a juice or Gatorade bottle are highly prized toys for a little while here. If he is treat oriented, your teens may be able to make him a maze or puzzle box with a small amazon box and some scrap cardboard. Or use a larger box to create a cat house as something fun to distract him. Holes to enter and exit with toys or fuzzy blankets to make it inviting. Sprinkle cat nip inside if you have any and if Obama is interested in it. If you were closer, I would share the dozens of ping bong balls, jingle balls, yellow plastic golf balls, etc. that my 21 year old hid from the bratty cat here who needs a million toys. She is back at college and I noticed her dresser drawer had a jingly sound when I put away the last of her winter break laundry. So Castiel is getting a few of his noisier toys back every day. In fairness to her, he does typically play with his annoying toys in her room on the wooden floor at 3 am, and she doesn't deal with his nonsense. 🙂

Me too.

Thank you! I missed this and it was there in my promotions folder. Can always use more credits.

The 9th should be good for me. Lunch or a late lunch would work well for me.