We have worms! And chickens. I love compost!

We tried eating the peel, but don't care for it. (We do eat delicata peels!) And . . . I got a lot more willing to peel the butternuts when I discovered this peeler. (YMMV) 😉

Our kids took the (very easy if you listened to the videos) quizzes online. We did use the student book, and split the weekly homework questions into 3-4 "essay quiz" questions and the other 9-12 "verbal discussion" questions. The "essay quiz" questions were due in well-written, typed essay form at the start of weekly class meeting. Our students appreciated being allowed / encouraged to go down rabbit trails in group discussion, and I as teacher was quite comfortable counting the open-ended essays as weekly quiz grade. (The online quizzes were more reading checks, not truly thought-provoking concept questions.) All students also took both US History CLEP exams after our DIY-at-home style course, and passed both CLEPS with no problem (that wasn't the purpose of the course, but a little side benefit after the fact). I did use the teacher's guide, but think the quizzes they refer to are the online ones? I can check my copy if you like.

This reminds me of the Gander, Newfoundlanders after 9/11. ❤️

It was honestly one of my life's top 10 days, and . . . in retrospect . . . (as Said Child related to me several years after), it became a demonstration in Finding Joy With What We CAN Do. ❤️ (We actually had a discounted coupon to the penguin exhibit that was only good during the school year, so the waiting time in between the IDEA and the REALIZATION of the idea just added to the sweet joy. Both Child and Adult took a savoring lesson from that, too. I'm still grateful, because in spite of the heartache and the grief and the wrenching misery in the world, there are also small serious children watching penguins. ❤️ )

At a tender age with a special young person in my life, we took Small Kid's stuffed penguin collection (carefully tucked into a backpack) to the nearest zoo / penguin exhibit (1.5 hr trip, so - significant journey for Small Kid & Penguins), and we lined up all the stuffies in an out-of-the-way window and just sat and let the stuffies watch the REAL penguins for ~2-3 hrs. ❤️ One of my personal dearest memories, though admittedly may not be quite satisfactory to your own Small Kid.

Have you ever harvested the beans?

We love almost everything Storey Publishing has ever put out (they're in a similarly northern climate, so that may have something to do with it). Practical instructions, gorgeous photos, intriguing ideas. 😉

I dragged a crepe myrtle all the way north from a Zone 8a to a 5b . . . she survived the (somewhat chaotic) trip quite well, including a 2-night stay in a hotel bathtub, and after settling in comfortably, is now preparing for Her First Winter. Fingers crossed. First killing frost last week, so all dahlias are down, and I'm giving the tubers a week to settle before digging them up. They'll over-winter in the basement and go back out in spring. I'll start up my indoor windowsill salad garden all winter, once I get the fall stuff put away. I just can't help myself. And I just discovered this truly lovely book Edible Houseplants, which gives me encouragement for our little indoor citrus grove (which is an overly-generous name for the too-clumsy pots we tuck here and there indoors from November-May). The Meyer lemon blooms are the highlight of January. But that library book helped me realize that I definitely need an indoor coffee plant. 😄 Attempting to water-root some hydrangea clippings . . . not sure how successful those will be, but if they do root, I'll baby them through the winter indoors. (Editing to add . . . we do have a hoop house that we use as an unheated greenhouse, but by this late in the season, we're just tired. It will sit there mostly neglected until we tap the maple trees and fire up the evaporator in Feb. 🙂 My gardening style could be politely described as . . . "experimental," LOL.)

We have trees down like your photo fairly often - every other year or so. One thing to consider with a gas-powered generator is that if your road is blocked, you may have some trouble / hassle getting to a gas station to refuel. That was one factor that helped us choose a smaller (not whole house) generator, for our purposes. It's also possible to put the well pump on its own generator, and use another smaller backup one for the household items. Freezers do not have to have continuous power to keep food frozen, either. And - for your bathrooms - those snap-light sticks work quite well, too, and are super cheap & convenient to store. 🙂 We bought them in bulk when the kids were young b/c candles were fire hazards and batteries were just difficult to keep on hand (for us, haha).

We also did this, for a large enough sum of money that rookie flier could get a hotel room if necessary / somehow stranded. Card was NOT needed for any emergencies, and we just used it to pay bills when flier returned home.

Some airlines do not extend the unaccompanied minor service to anyone over a certain age (editing to add - I think Southwest's upper limit was 11? could be wrong, and this was a few years ago). Just FYI - that was a surprise to me; might be worth confirming if you do decide to go that route. What helped one of our 1st-time fliers was to make a plan for every possibility we could think of: stranded in a foreign city, obnoxious fellow passenger, etc. None of those things DID happen, but rookie flier felt better being prepared with an action plan.

Wool socks are worth the money. Also, in cold climates, high-quality winter gear is often available secondhand, if you're trying to save some money; a gently used high-quality coat (or pair of boots) is FAR better than a brand-new cheap-quality coat, kwim?

^I currently have a student taking AP Physics w this provider, and he will take the exam at our local school in May.

Big Thanksgiving meal with dad + thanksgiving-themed "heavy hors d'oeuvres" on Thursday? That's what we'd do! (I have a beloved relative who lives overseas, and when that relative and I are together, we have Thanksgiving. Regardless of the month, the day, the season. ❤️ )

Moon Over Manifest?

^Yes, wool loves to be line dried!

+1 This is how our kids approach group projects, too. It's frustrating, but no longer surprising. It's also not 1 student's job to teach the required background material to the other project participants; this particular nuisance tends to improve as the students advance, but it's still annoying.

Little House in the Ozarks Mine has a beautiful white dust cover. ❤️

Geometry: An Integrated Approach includes fantastic algebra 1 review throughout the book, while connecting geometrical concepts to the entire algebraic way of thinking. Have had 3 kids (so far) go through this successfully in between Algebra 1 and 2. It was inexpensive for us to acquire - seems to be still inexpensive online, though I didn't check for the teacher's key.

This is what my crew loves!

We LOVED Land of Hope as a U S History option. We used parent-selected questions from the student book as weekly essay quizzes, discussed all the lectures together, and took both CLEP US History tests as final exams.

My local school does that (and same for SAT Wednesday tests and also AP exams). It did not interfere with Natonal Merit in our most recent case (2022), but I did have to call College Board after the test and have them "merge" the 2 accounts. (I've had to do this before, and our school always apologizes that they can't figure out how to do it a different way. They know there IS another way, but can't figure it out. Every time, LOL. )

My kids take it on the Wednesday "School Day Administration," which is NOT self registered. I'm guessing our errors are mostly specific to our location, but in case anyone else runs into similar problem, it's easy to correct after the fact.

The school that sets up SAT and AP for my kids doesn't know how to register them correctly, so every year they make a new College Board account for my kids, listing the public school as my kids' school so my kids end up w 2 CB accounts. Ps guidance is surprised and embarrassed every year, but I just call CB every year after the scores post, and they fix it. It's a small town, and they mean well. 😉