If you're looking for Volume 1, I'll sell it to you for $20 including shipping. It was only looked through once, so almost brand new!

If you have a good library, maybe work through the Let's Read and Find Out Science series. You could pick one of those a week as your 'spine' and supplement with other books from the library or activities.

I usually respond to that question with a question of my own. I ask them to clarify. Do they mean legally, or schedule wise, or teaching wise, or socialization, or... Usually the ones that don't really want to know drop it at that point, and the people that have actual questions will ask them and I will answer if I can.

I don't remember the exact total, but it was several hundered dollars - somehting lide $280 (and that was before we started homeschooling!). In my defense, it was because my house flooded, and all of the library books that I had checked out were destroyed. I had to pay the fee to replace them all. It was not pretty. Now that we homeschool, I check out more books, but we go at least once a week, so I rearly have fines anymore and none add up to more than $2.

I would talk to a realtor also, and see what they suggest. I'm thinking you can either leave it as is and price it accordingly - as a fixer upper - if you don't want to do the work. Otherwise, check out flooring stores for the new carpet. They frequently run specials (buy 2 rooms get 1 free) and would probably be cheaper. For the kitchen, with the condition of the cabinets I would think all or nothing. Check out Menards or Home Depot and see what you can do from there for cabinets, it might cost less than your previous quote. The two questions in the end: which will net you more money and can you take the time to do the repairs or will that put you at the end of the buying season (school starting)?

My issues and my tissues would love to be a friend, so obviously no email here... Boo!!!!

Issues? In our house the common expression is 'you need tissues for your issues.' We have lots of issues, but they're such fun! I hope they pick all 50 from this board, then we can also pick friends from this board and 200 of us will be able to use the software...

I am SO, SO right there with you. We finished all our improvements at 10:30 last night and the house hits the market this morning. Except this is the second time we've had it on the market, and we only took it off to do the improvements. I'm convinced this house will never sell and my dreams of living on land big enough to have a garden and a pool and fruit trees and chickens will never come true... Blech. Let's hope for all our sakes that this month is THE month and we all have awesome, fabulous offers on our houses.

I'm in the same boat, wait and pay full price, or hope I get into the trial. I'd really love to get the trial so that dd (17) can access her info on her android device and stop 'borrowing' my planner since she 'misplaced' hers... She'd loose her head if it wasn't attached...

Last time we went we enjoyed the Barren Lake Resort State Park. We stayed at the lodge. The food was good in the restaraunt, and we enjoyed the pool and trail rides. They also have a marina.

Today is the last day to enter. Tomorrow is notification day. So you can wait until tomorrow to stalk your email...

May I jump in and ask about heating the pool? If you are in an area like the midwest, how often do you heat the pool? I'm thinking it would be nice to have a heated pool in the spring and fall, but am wondering about the cost? If you use it a lot do you just leave the heater running? If so, how much does that cost? TIA!

It just picked back up a bit in the last month, but it is still a buyers market. What we're hearing is that if it doesn't sell within the first 90 days, we will probably be on the market for a year or so. The thought of keeping the house in show condition with the littles (my own and the one I watch) makes me want to cry.

Thank you for the link, I am dying to be a tester. Just like the others, if anyone needs a friend I would love to be one. Also, if I get picked all of my firends will come from this forum.

May I join? We had our house on the market for six months last year. We took it off to do some updating (painted an entire level, updated two bathrooms, new kitchen counters and lighting). Seven exhausting weeks later (we did all the work ourselves), we are relisting on Thursday. We are praying that we sell this time, and quickly. We really want out of this house...

That's actually how I found it! It reads a number of the same books as Sonlight, but I liked the questions a bit better, and the price a lot better. I was also looking for something that read the full novels...

This year we are using Signs and Seasons for astronomy. The text is not my favorite, and I do not like the tests, but I do like the labs. So, if you are only looking for labs, you can maybe use just that portion?

I just answered this question for myself, and I settled on the Brit Lit guide from Classical Conversations. If you haven't checked that out, you might want to.

Thanks for the feedback! I was of the feeling that as a buyer, I would want my own insepction, so I didn't think there was a point. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't just me.

If you are looking for a house, does a pre-inspection matter to you? Or do you not care? Our realtor if talking about us getting an inspection, and what he says makes sense to me (on one hand), but is not how I function. I've come to realize, though, that I do not function in a normal way when it comes to buying a house... So what say the hive, will it make a difference and help get the house sold? Thanks!

:iagree: Amen, sister!

Do you mind if I pm you a few questions? You might be able to give me some insight that I have been sorely lacking.

I agree with your points, and as you stated, it is an iddue of culture/class, not race. I think all to often things are categorized by race that should be categorized as other. Also, I think sometimes race is used as an excuse, for both priveledge and lack of accountability / responsibility.

:iagree: While I agree that her essay has merit, I feel that by reducing it to a race issue she turns the essay from something to talk about into a problem. As a former teacher that was told weekly that she could not teach the student population because of her skin color, I find that offensive. To me, this is an example that reverse racism exists, and needs to be dealt with. In my experience, the teaching in the classrooms in my former school was the same for every student, no matter the ethnicity (and that school was 50 / 50 in population). Also, if you truly feel that is a valid argument, then doesn't it also hold true that black teachers cannot teach white students? Or, are you going to call me a racist if I say that? so what now, go back to segregation? And yes, this is an over simplification of the issue. Yes, there were some students that I could not reach because I was white. I have a theory about that, but this isn't really the place for it. **Poor kids are nickel and dimed to death, done out of a fair shot by fifty small things anyone could overcome if it weren't for the poverty** I will also agree with this statement, but notice the difference. Poverty is a different issue than race.

I have to use a tool that's basically a razor blade in a holder to scrape off my heels, and even then it's a battle. I've only been to one salon that used that, but had the same soft-as-a result. Other salons, I end up with the same roughness problems. I picked my razor blade tool up in the cosmetics section of Wal-Mart. HTH