Old Navy has some great deals and I've had two of their maternity coats.

We belong to a group (that exists to benefit autistic children and their families) but they do everything fun on Sunday mornings. Free movies. Free museum day. Free bouncy house. Sporting leagues for kids with disabilities. We have two services at church but that doesn't always work out for us. We have to pass on a lot of it, unfortunately. I guess Sunday morning is when people feel generous about giving our group free access to their stuff. It's kind of the same with homeschooling... we recently set up a small group and were meeting for the first time last Thurs, but the location called us and said "we forgot the kids are out of school, sorry, you can't have it this week." The real people needed it. LOL.

My son will be 4 going on 5 next year, but I still haven't even decided if we'll do another year of preschool or if I'll keep him home to do a gentle Kindergarten. But if he stays home (very likely) we'll be focusing on handwriting. Probably Handwriting Help for Kids, as that's such a reasonable workbook. Thinking about Earlybird Math, but we might just stick to playing with manipulatives. I guess I will look into AAR, I see that mentioned a lot for little ones. I think he will be ready to read in the fall, or at least receptive to reading lessons. He loves letters and their sounds.

Amazon Prime now has a baby box as part of using their registry (you don't have to share it or make it public).

Maria Miller is the best. I realized I had never saved MM level 1 when I moved info onto my new computer. I think we were in MM2 at that point and maybe I thought I'd never use it?? Did I really only have one kid then?? So I emailed to see if she would send me grade one. She sent me the 1-6 download and a very generous coupon for MM7. One decision easily made!

Thanks, I appreciate all of these ideas and I'm starting to formulate a plan for next year. :) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I keep looking at the Pre-A options, but I would like another year before doing something like AoPS. My son will be 10 and in 5th next year. He could use some work on word problems but would be very frustrated by a year of word problems. Some areas - like fractions and decimals - he's sailed along and that's how he's been completing more than one grade each year. Other areas, like geometry, we slow to a crawl and it's a real struggle. He does not particularly enjoy being challenged, either. I bought the MM 1-6 and committed to it for better or worse... I really don't know what else is out there and need some ideas!

No. I wouldn't want him playing the game, either. Btw I let all my kids (even the baby) play with apps and my oldest buys downloadable content for his Wii U. We love mindless games. But spending ALL of your money on playing the same game over and over again (basically)... it just reminds me too much of a gambling addiction, I guess.

Nope, no grades. And I've been using MM with its intro pages removed, so he doesn't know what grade he's working at, either. ETA I can't vote on your poll because WTM says I haven't made any posts in the forum, yet. LOL

My dad was a groundskeeper and my mom is a nurse. My husband worked retail for years and, while I have a BA and MA, work part time in an office. My dad has memorized numerous Frost and Kipling poems, Kennedy speeches, knows Latin, etc. My mom had won a full scholarship to Fordham but dropped out when her Dad became ill, so she could work and support the family. I think it's harder to define blue collar because, around here, people who work in offices don't make more than people who work in manufacturing and trades. I have been in many college classes where the professor started talking about blue collar and working class, and they totally described my family (as far as income, education level, etc) and then started going down a path that would cause me to say "apparently I'm from a working class family, but the stuff you just started to say - it doesn't apply at all." And then they would tell me my situation was unusual. But I'm not sure it was. So these discussions are hard for me. Apparently I was privileged blue collar because my parents read books to us.

Another thing is that we don't do naughty/nice stuff. Santa loves being a blessing to kids and does his best to give what they want. Even with "yes you'll get what you want" and "Santa won't punish you for your meltdowns" we still had a few really loud moments. It was bound to happen. He's trying to build legos while a 1 yr old is screeching and trying to mow everything down with his new ball popper, and right on the other side is a preschooler with a yapping play chihuahua. It's beyond overwhelming.

I believe it goes on sale in February on HSBC, but it could be March. The coop will be the cheapest, though.

I wear a big sticker that says "social anxiety" and it really helps. Just kidding. I say "hi!" and walk past.

We just saw Zathura: A Space Adventure this week, and my son liked it in spite of himself. It was the same idea as Jumanji. The main characters are two bickering brothers, but the fighting is so funny/realistic... And what about the Sandlot? Has that been suggested?

My husband's so mean on the phone. It's mortifying. But he gets results. Once a telemarketer called and asked if there was any chance she could speak to him. Me: "No, it's your lucky day. Bye!"

Exactly, I am in NY as well and I have lovely shiny IHIPs and quarterlies but the only proof they get is a possible 6 standardized tests over the entire course of education. They can require the cert teacher to do review/testing, though, which it seems more schools are insisting on. I do like the homeschool panel option- the only way to avoid a cert teacher if you're in my district- although I was a reviewer for a non-compliant family recently, and that made me nervous.

Portable... has panels... people in movies get dressed behind them... I googled to no avail. My coworkers think there is a fancier name for it.

Just sympathy! My mom is an RN on light duty right now. She is not allowed to lift more than 5lbs. I have to keep shooing her away from housework, but she doesn't shoo easily. And I don't live there :/

Yes, we are doing CLE LA with Word Roots (how we do spelling) and Treasured Conversations. It's too much. I'm doing the CLE and Word Roots at half-tempo and we'll re-evaluate next year. I never switch mid year. I just don't have it in me!

I had a party come along at just the right time and it definitely worked out for me. I like their encyclopedia books.

Oh, another fun and easy one. A can of pumpkin and a box of cranberry orange muffin mix. Mix together. Bake muffins.

Frozen peas and prepared gnocchi is one super easy option - or a mix of gnocchi and pasta We also do it just with pasta and veggies. And I have also put 1 jar of alfredo and 2 cans of fire roasted diced tomatoes in the crockpot with a package of chicken. It cooked up very tenderly (I'm a vegetarian but my one-year old chowed down). We put it over rice-cooker rice - so again, no work except cleaning the crockpot!

Can of diced tomatoes Jar of Alfredo Pour over whatever

Everyone told me to start with MM1 but I started with 2A. No problems here ;) Also, when we are doing really grueling stuff, I will find a chapter on stuff that comes more naturally and we will fly through that while doing 1 page of the horrible stuff.

I had a set of children's encyclopedias and my oldest is actually reading through them for fun right now. I think the "good old days" conversation is far too complex for me to even try to give an explanation. We don't go to the playground when school isn't in session, so I can't even compare.