When I had an Expedition, it would seat eight. I could have put four carseats in it fairly easily, I think. I had a big toddler carseat, a big infant carseat, and a booster across the middle row, no problem, but I wasn't using the third row at the time. My friend's Sequoia holds six kids too.

I think a simple card would be fine. I would not be offended by something that said "Thank you for your business and for thinking of me this season" or similar. It might remind people who might otherwise have forgotten.

I did hop on to chat with them just a few minutes ago, and they still say it should arrive by the estimated time. I guess we shall see. :)

Nope, they didn't. I have seen that happen with the free super saver shipping occasionally, though -- it'll sit there for several days before shipping, but then when it does ship, it arrives really quickly. And then I've also had things arrive less than 24 hours after ordering, even without being a Prime member, so it's anyone's guess, I suppose. I do hope this stuff arrives Tuesday, though!

I ordered a handful of items from amazon on Monday (16th). All are in stock, and all qualify for free super saver shipping (and I am over the $35 mark). Amazon assured me that they would be here by the 24th, so I didn't pay for speedier shipping. There are two amazon warehouses very close to me, like 25 minutes and 30 minutes. It is now very early Sunday morning. The items have not yet shipped but are still saying that they will arrive by the 24th. Hmmmm, do we think amazon is accurate in that, or not? (IDK if the stuff will come by USPS or by UPS; amazon seems to use both for me. If it's by USPS, I will be stalking my mail carrier and will drive to the PO if need be to get those packages.) Just wondering -- do y'all think I will get these items by the 24th or not?

It depends. I will generally stop and take a baby out to snuggle and nurse before putting him back in the seat, if it's going to be a while before we reach our destination. But if we're very close? I'll probably just try to talk to the baby, put on music, have a big kid offer a toy, offer a pinky to suck on/hand to hold (that doesn't work very well in the van, though). I haven't had any who truly hate the carseat, though; usually, a little stop will help. I'm personally of the mind that I don't leave babies to cry, if I have any other choice. Sometimes I have to use the bathroom or take a shower, or there isn't a safe place to stop the car -- anyone available will do what they can, but sometimes we can't always make everything perfect.

I am Christian but concerned about biased curriculum (either way) as well. I am finding History Odyssey to work really well for us, though I don't know anything about Pearson for comparison. Granted, we haven't hit the early parts, so I may have to do a bit of "different people believe different things, and nobody quite knows for sure" about the origins of the earth stuff, but I really like that it's all laid out for us, what to do each day. At the same time, it's very easy to customize if you want to take two days to cover some material, or three, or whatever. Also, Saxon math has worked well with our easily distractible child. I also don't look at Common Core when I decide on programs. The only concession I might make is if CC means we have to change our preferred standardized test, which our state requires in certain grades; if we have to change to a CC aligned test, we may need to spend a little time hitting skills that are specifically part of the CC. But for day to day teaching, no, CC doesn't affect us at all.

Fort McHenry and St. Mary's City, and do try to make the trip to Gettysburg, preferably in September or in the spring -- it is stunning here then, and it'll be very pleasant to visit. There is a lot that is fun even for the small ones.

Just a note: DD uses the student version of WWS1 in PDF form, and when she reads it on her basic Kindle, sometimes the formatting gets messed up. Then she. Reds to look at it on the iPad or in my teacher version. It wasn't enough of a deterrent to keep us from getting PDFs for both WWS2 books for next year (not with PHP's incredibly generous 40% off sale!), but it is a little annoying.

Can you find out if there is something major going on that is making it hard for them to pay in a timely manner -- someone I'll, someone out of work, etc. It sounds like they are trying, but maybe they are just really honestly having trouble making ends meet. Groceries and utilities would come first in my book, if I had to choose between food/water/electricity and rent/mortgage, and I know I would be awfully grateful for an understanding landlord. I can't help but think that if you are able to be gentle with them, if they're really having a hard time, it will come back to you eventually.

Hugs and prayers.

You might also type in books you have liked at amazon, and see what pops up for other suggestions. That might get you similar books.

Definitely check out DuoLingo, and look to see if your library subscribes to Mango, also; it's another free app. I really like them both. My kids like Stack the States/Countries, Presidents vs. Aliens, QRC Elements, one called Logic Games, Sushi Monster, Meteor Math, TapQuiz Maps, and the free app from the National Archives (a new document to look at every day). Rohn Games has some nice puzzle apps for small people, and my 5yo likes the Bugsy K Read phonics game.

I agree. I think it's terribly mean. Life has enough cruelties of its own -- why manufacture them, especially as the trusted parent? I do find the outtakes from photo sessions to be hilarious, though, but only because I assume that the parent stopped to comfort the crying toddler or whatever, before trying again. I know I have btdt when trying to get a photo of several children; it can take a while. But my first reaction if my baby cried at Santa (IF I did Santa photos, which I don't) would be to pick up my baby and snuggle him (or her; I seem to have forgotten what girlbabies are like), not take a photo to show everyone. I also think people are way too free in what they post on Facebook and such, pictures and otherwise. I have four boys -- it seems fairly obvious that sometimes potty-related stuff is going to come up, and sometimes the stuff kids say is funny -- but that stuff, if it gets related at all, gets related in person, not in print on the internet where it can embarrass them for all of eternity.

Enjoy it! I am normally a last-minute person too, and when I actually get stuff done ahead of time, I'm like, "When did I become grown-up?" LOL!

BH for me, are just sort of squeezy and a little uncomfortable, but mostly up high and in the front. They also go away if I change position or drink water. Real labor contractions, for me, are lower and in the back/butt/cervix, and I know it's real labor when breathing hard no longer gets me through them -- I have to move and yell a bit through them. With my last baby, I had four or five contractions in an hour for about 20 hours, just enough to get me all like "yay, maybe this is it," but it wasn't until about five hours before he was born that they got really hard, and then they didn't even intensify to real labor until 1 1/4 hours before he was born (but I went from pretty much closed up to transition in 30 minutes, which was hard work but actually kind of fascinating).

Seriously! I am making one item and stalking ebay for another, but everything else? Came from amazon. Could not have been easier. :) My mom homeschooled my younger siblings before the internet. Before ebooks and PDFs, before online library catalogs, before samples online, before forums, before youtube and wikipedia, before amazon. It boggles my mind. She talks about making the several-hour drive with friends to go to CHAP, because that was the only way they could see samples of things; she is envious that CHAP is practically in my backyard. :)

Oh. Somehow I missed that in my very quick glance; I just saw "week 1" and didn't realize it was only one day. That's perfect! We do school 5 days a week, but sometimes every subject doesn't get done every day, so this year, I just have it looping around so that she does Lessons 1-4 of one week and then starts on Lesson 1 of the next week whenever she does writing next, whatever day of the week that happens to be. So it should be no problem to do four lessons of WWS and then a lesson from CW. Thanks!!

We have to test in certain grades, per our state's law; otherwise, I wouldn't do them at all. We use the 1970 CAT online, purchased from Christian Liberty Press. I don't really feel they're a very accurate picture of what my child knows, although they did tell me two things. One, since we have to test in grades 3 and 5, the CAT for those grades is exactly the same; it *was* gratifying to see that DD's raw scores improved in two years. Also, I had considered doing some extra vocabulary work with her this year, but when I saw that she did really, really well on the test in the vocab section, I decided that she was picking up plenty of vocab from reading and didn't need anything specific.

Thanks to PHP's 40% off sale on Cyber Monday, I bought WWS2 for DD to use next year (7th grade), and the sale also meant that I was able to get TCW1, which I had been debating about. DD is a decent writer, doing well with WWS1, although it's not her favorite subject. So, if you have used both of these together, could you tell me how it worked in actuality? Did you use both on the same day (I don't see this being a hit with her at all)? Did you do four lessons of one, alternating with four lessons of the other (I am leaning this way)? Or something else?

I generally buy ebooks when they are available, and I generally like them. -They are usually cheaper. -I can print multiple copies of things for multiple children; with five children, that's a big money-saver. -I can access them anywhere and have multiple copies for ease of use. -For some things, we can write directly on the PDFs on a tablet and not have so much paper to handle. -Annotating them is really easy -- makes my lesson-planning simple! -I prefer reading on my tablet because it's easier for me to hold with one hand (since I am often rocking or nursing someone). -One of my children really likes e-reading more than physical paper -- whatever encourages them to read more is fine in my book! Also, no excuse for not being able to do work because "I didn't bring the book" -- Mom has it on her tablet. -Since the tablet is portable, it's really easy to take the e-books wherever, which is often convenient. Today, for instance, I needed some info that I hadn't expected to need while we were at the library, and I was able to call up the PDF on the tablet. The downside, of course, is that you can't sell them if they don't work out. So far, that hasn't been an issue. Now, I don't buy everything that I possibly could in e-form. This year, I have Mr. Q science, two levels of History Odyssey, and the student book to WWS1 in e-form. I did not buy the teacher book to WWS1 in e-form, nor the book for WWE3, because I didn't want to have a backlog of people needing the tablet all at once.

I taught myself to knit because I wanted longies for baby #3, and I wasn't about to pay $30 or more for something I could make myself. So for me, it has been worth it for the diaper covers alone. I have knitted some other things too -- fingerless gloves (my sister worked in food service and needed something to keep her hands warm while doing inventory, where she needed to write), a chainmail tunic for my son (which he adores), legwarmers for my daughter. . . DD and I found a cute little outfit for our baby, but it had short sleeves, so I picked out some yarn to match it, and whipped him up a sweater and hat. It depends on what you want. It's usually more expensive to knit something than to buy the equivalent, especially for wool vs. acrylic, but it's also my hobby, and it just happens to be one that produces useful items. And it is seriously addicting!

I asked for shelves for organizing the playroom. DH has to build them (this is not a stretch; he does this professionally), and since there isn't really anything else I want, I am setting aside the money for the materials so he can build them.

We don't have Prime, but we do use the Kindle app on the iPad. Check your libraries; they may have e-books for the Kindle. Also, you can get a membership to the Free Library of Philadelphia for $50 a year (free for PA residents), and they have tons of e-books. We use a lot of e-books, and I rarely have to buy any. A lot of curricula comes in e-form now, and it's cheaper and often easier that way. The Kindle can do PDFs too, although I don't know what program you would use to annotate them (I use Notability, but I don't know that it runs for the Kindle Fire). Yes to a case. I like having a screen protector on the iPad as well. Yes, we use it for school a lot, so I think the Fire will be helpful too (I have considered one of those to be a second tablet, since my kids use my iPad a lot). I have used the Whispersync on both the iPad and DD's cheapie (non-tablet) Kindle -- it's super easy, and when I open a book, the machine pops up with "Do you want to sync this and go to the farthest point read?" One of the nicest features, IMO.

If he'd asked me nicely, and there wasn't a pattern of this, I might have made him breakfast, especially if I thought maybe he needed a little extra babying. I mean, who doesn't like a little extra care, y'know? I usually make my own breakfast and coffee, but DH often makes me something on the weekends; this morning, he even poured and doctored my coffee (er, hot my stevia-and-cream caffeine delivery system) and brought it to me, without me even asking, while I was nursing the baby. So yeah, I might have done similarly for a kid. But with the attitude? Nope.