How bout a computer programming/ animation course? My ds is doing one through Youthdigital.com now and he loves it. For grammar you might consider CLE LA (which is quite rigorous) or adding in a Latin program (like prima latina or Minimus.) Also Memoria Press has great literature guides that are fairly independent. ETA - We're also using VP self paced history and loving it with the recommended reading

There's this free ebook designed specifically for people on SNAP and other benefits. You can download it here http://www.leannebrown.com/

Never did get an answer but we use it all the time now. My dc's like it a lot for tracking their reading and writing reviews. I like that it creates a reading log that I can print. It's very safe - there is no way for kids to interact with anybody who hasn't been pre-approved by a parent and parents receive an email update for all activity on their kids' accounts. Great site. I recommend it. It would be even better if you had a large HS group to connect with.

This looks fun http://www.penn.museum/blog/museum/how-to-make-cuneiform-tablet-cookies/

We have a 2010 and I feel like the captains seats slant a lot compared to our old Ford and Nissan vans. We have a Britax Advocate rear facing with a 18mo in it. If I don't recline the carseat completely AND put a pool noodle under it, it is too upright for muffin to sleep comfortably. There are good carseat safety videos about how to use a pool noodle properly. You can also opt for the more expensive version and buy the "angle adjuster" if your carseat brand makes one. OTOH, the good thing about the Caravan is the way the Captains' seats recline to give muffin a bit more leg room :)

I bought this http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-CHM93-My-First-Dollhouse/dp/B00JC3MP2M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416799911&sr=8-1&keywords=fisher+price+dollhouse For dd when she turned 2. She loved it then and still uses it almost daily (she's 6.) It's one of the best toys I ever bought and I felt guilty when I got it b/c I could not afford the LF one. I did buy the LF family though ;).

BJU reading is very thorough and traditional. It also includes lots of nice projects.

Ooh I'll play the aristocratic name game William Strayer Oberon Charles Benedict Walker Theodore Bradley Christopher Edmund Sebastian Xavier Nathaniel Mason Maximillian Alexander James Atticus and Ptolemy

Art tango and Meet the Masters (which has a special price for Hschoolers at about $40/ semester and can be used w/ multiple age groups.) http://meetthemasters.com/

Having travelled to India, Lebanon, Hondouras, Mexico every year for 2-5 months, with 3 children of varying ages (each starting at 6 months old,) I recommend bringing these things: Peanut/ Almond butter (or similar) Gum Granola or other bars Emergen -C (vitamin C/ electrolyte powder- great if somebody gets a stomach thing) Toilet seat covers (available on amazon) Sanitizer Over the counter Medicines (children's tylenol etc...) Anti Biotics Mosquito spray Bandaids Lots of wipes (even for older kids) Good flashlights for everybody A sleep sheet or sleeping bag that can be washed A travel towel that can be washed A small ziplock of laundry detergent to get you started before you get to the store ;) Some cord to put up a clothesline with ZIPLOCKS to keep ants and things out and other stuff in Conditioner if you have long hair I have also carried a hot water bottle for boiling water - but often those can be purchased cheaply wherever you are. If you have access to a hot water bottle, you can also make ramen noodles and mac&cheese - That's all I can think of now but I'm not packing yet ;)

We love <3 Love CLE but when my older was at that point, I broke down and bought MUS alpha used - just the TM and video (and blocks.) It was the perfect bridge. If I understand what you're saying, your ds isn't quite getting the whole concept of addition. Mine was like that too. Mus really helped. We just added it in daily. We watched a lesson and then did some practice with the blocks but we kept plugging away at CLE. I also bought Gamma when my ds reached multiplication and did the same thing..... I foresee doing it again for some other topics too. I know MUS is a totally different breed of math than CLE but it worked well for us. You might also try the education unboxed videos. I've never really used them but they may be a good alternative to spending more money on supplementing. http://www.educationunboxed.com/addition-and-subtraction-to-10/ But as others have said CLE will continue to reinforce those facts so if it's just a matter of proficiency and not one of conceptualization then you probably can just relax and slow down a bit and it will all be fine ;)

It really depends on you. The CLE TM's can be helpful - they have all the answers and also include alternate tests for each LU in the back. They also have some occasionally useful lesson tips. For gr. 1 *I* like to have the CLE TM's b/c the LU's are not quite independent yet. By gr. 3 I don't think they are necessary any more but I still get them b/c they have the answers and the extra tests. Some people are happy with the answer keys alone but for my $ I find the TM more useful. For ST the TM is totally unnecessary. It just takes up space. It's easy enough to find out if Little Bear put his mittens or his hat on first ;) and the guide is really straightforward. I bought the TM for the first one and never really opened it. In general I don't find the MP TM's useful - the exceptions are the D'Aulaire's TM and Men of Greece/ Rome.

The LA includes phonics - and there is some time spent on diacritical marks but overall we found it very manageable. It is a bit more phonics heavy than some other programs but not like the CLE reading 100/200 which are crazy phonics heavy It has exercises like circle the consonant digraph or underline the consonant blend, put a macron over the long sounds etc... Funny, now she's doing Latin and just the other day she told me "diphthongs are like consonant digraphs with vowels." - that applied knowledge is courtesy of CLE. You can see samples of each LU on the CLE site. Check them out and keep in mind that as it progresses the emphasis on diacritical marks diminishes though they are still used occasionally in the 2nd grade books I believe. We did not do the few writing sections that existed in gr. 1 and we skipped any spelling tests (though we did all the daily spelling exercises.) I also think (it's been a while) that there were some extension activities in the back of the LU's that we skipped. Basically, we used CLE for the grammar which in 1st grade consisted of phonetic rules, nouns, verbs, complete sentences, some contractions etc... The main thing about CLE was doing it every day - and it did get done. When I saw that there was too much writing (like some of the copywork/ handwriting stuff) I just skipped it or allowed 2 days for the exercise. It was never too much for my 1st grader and she was 5 at the time. I do think however, that if you wanted a less workbooky/ more gentle program FLL would also be a great compliment to MP but then you would have to ask yourself if you also wanted to include handwriting and spelling. The great thing about CLE for us was that we could do as much handwriting and spelling as I thought necessary and still keep moving along nicely. For perspective, our daily schedule for 1st was: CLE math 101 - 30-40 min. CLE LA 100 - 30 min MP ST - 30-45 min SOTW 1 - 30 min (+ 1hr/ week spent on coloring pictures/ notebooking) Elemental Biology Grammar - 30 -40 min -3X/ week We also did Art, French and book projects on a less rigid schedule. I think there may have been a few times where the reading in ST made the day take a bit longer but my dd really liked the stories and if it went too long I might just have her do 1/2 a page and then 1-1/2 the next day when she didn't have to read. Also, I started with the first ST guide thinking I would give her the whole year to do it but then it rolled along so well we ended up doing both. I think that if you do use it and the second guide rolls into your 2nd grade year, it would still be totally appropriate and on grade level.

You can try putting paper-towel over the board and ironing over it with a hot Iron. The towels should absorb the wax. You might still have residue on there though - maybe you could throw it in the dishwasher after?

We also loved it. My dd who was 5 (in grade 1) when she did them loved the stories and was able to read them independently. The books are laid out really well and IMO very age appropriate. For each story there is some comprehension work, vocabulary, copywork (of single words) and usually a couple of drawing exercises that demonstrate comprehension. There is also some grammar worked in. More Storytime Treasures is definitely a bit more advanced but appropriate after the first level. The TM is totally unnecessary - as long as you are prepared to follow the story of course. I had my dd read the section for each day aloud to me (she wasn't really reading silently at the time anyway.) Occasionally I had to help her rethink the comprehension questions but by the middle of the first volume she had learned how to go back and check the story to find information. Personally I think this is an indispensable skill especially to learn so early on. We did every exercise - none of it orally - but not on a tightly fixed schedule. I had dd do 1 page everyday unless there was a coloring/ picture page and then she might do 2. We did both guides in 1 schoolyear with no problem (and they fit in just about perfectly.) We also use the upper grades MP guides and I can say without hyperbole that the Storytime Treasures ones are the best. The later ones can be very tedious and are very vocabulary heavy, unnecessarily so IMO. I can only speak from my experience but my dd really enjoyed the ST books and still likes to look through the guides. She was very proud of them when they were finished. I foresee keeping them for a long time as a keepsake for her 1st grade year. I should add that we also did CLE LA 100's that year for Grammar and spelling.

What is that? I'm looking for something for my mom and she hates electric can openers - but I want her to have something easy to use. Also - It's not as fancy as everyone else's fancy things but I just got bread machine and I love it. It has a timer so I can wake up to fresh bread ;)

Come up with an idea for a new Kat Mcgee book Contest open to US residents under 18 - Looks like it might be fun :) http://www.inthistogethermedia.com/kidscreatekatmcgee.html

I did the Calvert K program with one of mine and it was very good for reading/ phonics and also math - similar to singapore. It also incorporated plenty of cutting/ colouring fine motor stuff (that I neglected with my older.) It's secular and really well laid out. In the later grades I wouldn't be able to use a box but for K it was great. Calvert also has an enrichment music program that might be worth looking at. Other than that, the singapore K books are really nice, colourful and pretty gentle. Plaid phonics is cheap and painless - good practice. For science, the RS4K pre level 1 books and level 1 for your 3rd grader - might work well. Pre-level 1 is simple enough for a kindy - but could be explained up enough for a gr. 3. Also, though I found it boring, Elemental is a program that is very easy to differentiate for grade level b/c it comes down to how much writing you demand from each kid.

CLE LA is very grade appropriate - but note that if your 3rd grader has not done diagramming or cursive, you may want to jump back to like 205 and start there. The later 200's teach book reporting, cursive and diagramming. For 1st grade reading I really can't say enough good things about the MP Storytime Treasures and More Storytime Treasures program. It uses appropriate grade level literature and goes through vocab, comprehension a bit of grammar and a few literary devices. It has room for drawing and coloring and the student books create a beautiful keepsake/ portfolio for the year. It's also pretty cheap (if you get the reading books used or from the library.) You can see a sample here: http://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/literature-and-poetry/storytime-treasures

I'm a huge CLE fan but you should know that the 1st/ 2nd grade reading programs are VERY phonics heavy.... and I don't mean just teaching rules, I mean making little macrons and stuff all over the place. It is a bit ( very) tedious. It sucks the joy right out of reading. I would recommend buying 101 to check it out first. For an alternative for gr. 1 you can check either plaid phonics (for a weaker reader) or MP Storytime Treasures (for a stronger one.) The 3rd grade+ LU's are supposed to be great.

Vegetarian Lentil soup - actually, any bean soup. Red lentil soup with just red lentils, caramelized onions, lemon juice and rice is really good, cheap and nourishing. Also squash soup would be good @ this time of year.

You can often get groupons for Sam's/ BJ's/ Costco membership - which really makes them worth the cost. There is a groupon on now for BJ's @ 35$ for the super membership and you get a 25$ gift card when you sign up. We have an executive membership @ costco and get cash back every year which pays for our membership. But, we live in a rural area in Canada and don't have access to ANY discount supermarkets or even discounts at the supermarket. For us, Costco is our main shopping place for everything except produce.

Maybe you could use guidebooks to have them make a travel brochure. That was a fun exercise we did for French - the kids loved it.

The Happy Scribe has copy books on currclick. I bought them all once upon a time ago for very little. They are nice because they are thematic, history, science, poetry, Lord of the Rings, etc... http://www.currclick.com/browse.php?keywords=happy+scribe&x=-1030&y=-180&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto=&sdate_from=&sdate_to=&stime_from=&stime_to= They are cheap enough that you might give one a try.

I'm wavering a bit but DS is getting a quadcopter http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K5Y22VG/ref=ox_sc_act_title_7?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=AE5VRGUVPT1RP and maybe a set of whittling tools and a whittling book and this Horrible Histories Compilation (used) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1407136100/ref=ox_sc_act_title_10?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2JC3XEE40F8DH DD will probably get her first American Girl (sigh) - and a cheap RC car like this http://www.amazon.com/Maisto-Rock-Crawler-Colors-Vary/dp/B003ML36HI/ref=sr_1_3?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1415507595&sr=1-3&keywords=rc+car Baby is getting this http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00012O42W/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER I think I *might* get a big group present of a Jumpsport indoor Trampoline (which I saw on one of the threads here) but then we will have to pare down the other stuff a bit ;).... I mean a lot.