The Memoirs of Lady Trent series (A Natural History of Dragons). This are an alternative Victorian history, where dragons are real and part of the natural world (they do not have magical powers, but can fly and some blow fire). They are just good, clean fun. The stories are moving and wonderful, but not such page turners that you can't turn them off at night. The narrator is excellent and sounds exactly how an older Victorian lady would recount her adventures in her younger years. There are some very roundabout mentions of sex, but I'd let my oldest two kids read them with no issues, in fact my 14 year old just finished them and he really liked them.

Thank you for spreading your message of Hope despite your own personal grief. I pray you find some comfort knowing your two loved ones are reunited.

I'd consider a chest strap if accuracy is truly important. Optical HR monitors are notoriously inaccurate, and slow at picking up rapid fluctuations. They work ok for non-medical use. A chest strap though is MUCH more accurate, and they are not particularly uncomfortable if you tuck it under a sport bra strap to hold it in place, rather than cinch it down really tight with its own strap. Actually, I think Polar even makes a special sports bra for that purpose, but any will do. If she doesn't need constant monitoring but just needs to be able to do a check when she's feeling off, a finger pulse ox monitor is smaller than an asthma inhaler and can just be in a pocket at all times.

If it's for an audience of kids, they might already be familiar with Harry Potter... the fact that Voldemort sought out HP, believing him to be the object of the prophecy is what ultimately give HP the power to stop him. Or the Titanic... believing the boat to be safest in the world, they did not bother to include adequate safety precautions on board, making for a very deadly accident.

I added Drama of US History series by Collier to our SOTW 3 and 4 for logic stage and it was GREAT. It adds a lot of reading, but the books are self-contained and topical, so you don't need to do every single one, you can just pick topics. Also, they are available audible if that makes it easier. The physical and kindle books have nice pictures though.

And SOTW 4: (we just finished WWII Pacific front, have not previewed past that point) ETA: If you see an (M) next to a book, that was a "mom" book I read for background knowledge, not appropriate before high school as a general rule. Some titles on this list I allowed for my 8th grader but not my 6th grader. So really take this list as a jumping off point for your own research, I am not in any way saying these books are appropriate for all audiences.

I have a pretty solid SOTW 3 and 4 booklist, but it is definitely for middle schoolers, with some titles really needing a pre-view by each individual family for appropriateness. First Column is SOTW3 chapter, second column is Drama of American History book, third column is related literature or interested non-fiction

I take my child's opinion on math curriculum into account 0% of the time. The only reason I would change curriculum is if I thought it was legitimately not working. But I also see math curriculum mostly as ready-made problem banks. I'm still the one doing the teaching, so curriculum is significantly less relevant.

I buy my girls' shorts from the boys section. It's super annoying, but we try to get girls colors in with the t-shirts.

Yes. 🙂 I was being al little hyperbolic. That is what I was doing when I injured myself. I realized after the fact that it's probably fine to peak at that distance for a week, but then I need to go back down. My actual weeks at that mileage had days ranging between 8 and 12 km, with an occasional fast 5k. I kept running on a sore leg for way too long, simply because I've never been injured and I could still run, so I assumed I was fine and that I'd toughen up. Sigh. I forget sometimes that I'm approaching 40 and need to be a little gentler on my body.

The Splendid and the Vile is on my list! I'm just finishing up Flags of our Fathers, which was very good.

Yes, by droplet. But just briefly reading about it after leaving this thread, it looks like something like 80-90% of people exposed are able to knock it out with their immune system and never show symptoms. AgaIn, I know nothing about leprosy or your friend, it was just one of those "it's amazing how long it can take to diagnose weird stuff" stories. I'm so sorry your friend is suffering.

Interestingly, my mind also went to leprosy. I read an article years ago about someone who contracted it, and no one had any idea what it was. It took a stranger, seeing her in a café to come up and say.... "I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure you have leprosy." before the doctors knew which path to go down. This might have nothing to do with Scarlett's friend, just an interesting aside...

I'm sure you already have a meatball recipe, but if not, these giant meatballs from Simply Recipes are soooooo good. https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/italian_meatballs/ The recipe makes them about baseball size, but you can also make them normal sized 😂

I wish I could recommend good French resources because I get the question a lot! But my kids are "born bilingual"- my DH is a French speaking Swiss, and we live in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. So we use resources for native speakers. The best I can do is tell you that we love Getting Started with Latin, and the same author has a Getting Started with French book that I've heard good things about. However, the book will only get you through about one semester of foreign language. I still think it would be a GREAT jumping off pint. As for math education, I love love love the videos at EducationUnboxed.com. I have watched all of them, many of them multiple times. It really improved my ability to teach, as well as my understanding of just what numbers are and how numbers work. She uses cuisinaire rods as a manipulative. I love them, but some people never get into them because they don't take the time to really learn how to use them as a manipulative. They are not necessarily intuitive, so it is worth spending some time getting used to them if you choose them. I didn't mention them earlier because of that little initial barrier of getting to know cuisinaire rods. 🙂 There are a few resources for learning how to teach elementary math. The best one is probably Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics by Liping Ma, but the book is a bit intimidating. I found a learned a ton by choosing an Asian math curriculum and just really studying the teacher's guides. I chose Singapore Math and Right Start Math and spent a lot of time reading through them. I think a more economical route would be to get Math Mammoth instead and read through them. Math Mammoth is not aesthetically pretty, but the teaching is VERY solid, bite-sized, and cheap. Addition Facts that Stick was mentioned above, and it is another great resource. In your initial research, you really want to focus on the "making ten" concept. For example, when we add 7 + 5, the goal is NOT to have a memorized answer. The goal is for the child to know that 7 needs 3 to make ten, and that 5 can be broken into a 3 and a 2. So 7 + 5 is really 7 +3 + 2, or 12 (1-ten 2-units as we would say in our house for first grade). This is a combination of number bonds (what are the different groups 6 can be broken into?) and tings that make ten (1&9, 2&8, ...). I hope that helps get you started!

I've been saving cake on my hips. It will literally last YEARS if I keep it in this location.

I need to read up on poles because I actually thought of you and your nordic walking and I need to get more informed on it. I am thinking of spending my pandemic relief check (yep, they mailed me one abroad, LOL) on a running clinic that has this crazy machine that videos you running and then does a whole gait analysis thing. The physio thinks that I probably have some small form issues that are fine at 5k 3x a week, but not at 10k 6x a week...

I have to agree. I poked around the site a bit... I see no science there. No studies, no nothing. You need a gluten antibody blood test, as well as a food allergy blood test. In my personal opinion, you also need a better doctor. It is possible to have a negative scope and still be bothered by gluten. Non-celiac gluten sensitivity is a recently-legitimized diagnosis, but it is not a wishy-washy diagnosis. You get diagnosed either with positive blood test (but negative scope) or when every other reasonable explanation has been ruled out and you get symptom relief on a GF diet. Many of us in the nebulous world of food intolerance have had to do the research and self experimentation (or kid experimentation) while waiting for doctors and science to catch up. It is an extremely sucky process. You have to just get yourself out a calendar, give yourself a big old star each day as you complete yet another day of boring, repetitive elimination diet, reward yourself with things like 100% fruit popsicles, a new book, a new movie... I know it's not fun and you have all my sympathy. Set yourself a three month goal of elimination and reintroduction, and STICK TO IT!!! Figure out your strategy for holidays, guests, and invitations. Have a plan. You can't wing it until you KNOW FOR SURE that the diet is making a huge improvement in your pain and discomfort.

I can do you one worse: When I was in elementary, we were taught to put "X"s when doing multiplication, instead of zeros_ 23 12 ____ 46 23X ____ 276 😂 ----------------------- Back to OP: I agree with everything that has been said. 1. The best program is the one that significantly improves YOUR comfort and competence with math. Attentively reading through either Right Start, or the Home Instructor Guides for Singapore Math are decent ways to do this, though there are probably others. I know this is not always a popular opinion in the homeschool world, but only a few truly bright exceptional children will teach themselves math from a curriculum. The rest of them will be held back by their parent's ability to teach math. You must lead the charge up the math hill. This is not unique to homeschoolers. No amount of new textbooks will improve public school math outcomes when teachers are not trained in mathematics. 2. There is no discovery - or dare I say understanding, period- without manipulatives. You do not need the giant right start box, I think it's ridiculous as well. (Right Start is still a top program in my mind, however). Choose a handful. I suggest at the bare minimum: unit blocks (I recommend buying two sets or a classroom sized set), place value cards, and counters of some type (here you can indulge in "beauty" and use glass stones or whatever you'd like, certainly not those hideous bears! or be economical and use a pile of pennies or popsicle sticks). For older kids, i think geometric solids are a must, a pile of real money, and a clock can be handy. 3. Curriculum is a suggestion, not a law. LEARN how to teach elementary math, then teach it. Use workbooks as pre-made problem sets to save yourself some time. 4. I would take time away from literally every other subject except reading to give yourself the time you need to learn how to teach math. It is probably the single best investment you can make in your school. You can learn content subjects alongside your kids at a later time, but get math and reading right from the start if at all possible. 5. It occurs over and over here and in other homeschool forums: Kids struggle with math, people suggest new curriculum, kids still struggle with math. The issue of teacher training is politely ignored. You CAN learn to teach elementary math well. You may very well find that a subject you once feared and hated becomes your favorite as you learn, finally, how and why it works. I have a degree in physics, and I learned more about how math works teaching my oldest son 1st grade math than I ever did in university classes. So many of us receive an appalling elementary math education. - Sorry for my long-windedness.

How were you diagnosed with gluten/dairy intolerance? And what do you mean by scan? If you are not absolutely sure of the accuracy of those results, it is going to be very hard to stick to a special diet. If you don't feel the tests you've had are really definitive, you might want to see a gastroenterologist to run more robust tests and give you r firm diagnosis. Apples and cherries make me think oral allergy syndrome, but gluten and dairy are a big deal for us culturally, and it takes great will-power to eliminate them without solid evidence that it is necessary. I've got two kids with celiac disease. They don't have any choice, if they eat gluten, they get very sick. That makes our situation much easier than yours, since your symptoms are vague and only somewhat relieved with diet changes. I agree with others above that you need to have a LOT of good food on hand. Both healthy and junky!!! Don't bother with substitutes for a month or two, and then only substitutes that have nice strong flavors, like chocolate cake. It needs to be super-easy to reach for a gluten free treat that you like when, surprise, someone brings over donuts for the whole family. My mom is in your shoes. She feels better on a GF/DF diet, but she doesn't feel perfect. So she occasionally sneaks a bite of this or that. Which means her gut is never truly healing, never truly not inflamed. It makes it impossible to establish a new baseline.

Behind my right knee, the big one running along the outside. Can't remember the name!

This is just an obnoxious first world VENT. My tendonitis is not gone. I don't even think it's better. I get down to about a 2/10 on pain, the PT has me go on a run, and I'm back to 6 for two days, then maybe 4 for a few days. Repeat. My next step is to go to the sports med clinic. I've got an appointment with my GP on Friday to get the referral, fingers crossed they don't have a long wait. Running is my COPING MECHANISM!!! I am NO LONGER COPING!!! If I find my DH just standing in the extremely tiny 🤬 kitchen staring into space while I'm trying to cook one more 🤬 time, I am going to hit him with a frying pan. We have about 3x6ft of floor space in there. GET OUT!!! Vent over. I would feel better if I could be doing something physical, and I am still walking everywhere (Europe, no car), but lifting weights is mostly out because I can't do anything let-related. So pushups it is. Sigh.

Hat off to you for seeing what needed to be done for your kids and DOING IT, despite your personal struggle right now, and despite the emotional cost you knew it would take on you. That is real mothering. Take care of yourself. You are on the right path to recovery. No one can predict its length, but it does have a destination you will reach!!!

There are some excellent exercises in the book The Most Wonderful Writing Lessons Ever by Mericonda for improving description, word choice, etc. The book is aimed at PS teachers, but is a great read and great teacher training for the homeschool parent. It is aimed at grades 2-4, but I have used many of the exercises at many ages and have had excellent results, including improving my own writing.

I don't think anyone here is claiming this? The parallel line proof is great, assuming kids are quite comfortable with parallel lines and how they work. Tearing the corners off a triangle take 10 seconds and works regardless of a kid's prior knowledge of geometry. It seems like one segues right into the other. I would never recommend measuring with protractor though. That's a recipe for "Wait, this triangle adds up to 183°, and this one to 179°!"