What about bringing muffins or baked goods to the local police station or fire station? I did that with my kids during the Christmas season and everyone was so appreciative. It really helped brighten their day.

You must be right. I can't seem to find it anywhere. Since I have a current teaching license I still have access to some of the district testing sites and it isn't even listed.

That's what I thought too, but then I heard that some of the gifted programs in our county were using it in younger grades and I saw this chart (at the bottom of the page) http://www.riverpub.com/products/cogAt/details.html

I would like order the CogAT 1 or 2 for a young first grader. Is there a reason I'm having trouble finding these levels? I've checked several test sites and all they have is level A and up.

I have one less kid, but my 4 are almost the exact same ages. I get it. I spend most of my days overwhelmed. I'm grateful for my family and I'm happy with my choices ( ie homeschooling, staying home, kids close together) but it just feels like a lot sometimes. My husband often needs to remind me that its completely normal to feel like that. We don't live near family so I can't rely on anyone for help, so that sometimes makes it more difficult because often I just want an hour to myself :) I know lots of people with kids, but none of them have kids so close in age and none of them homeschool. It's easy for me to forget that its a lot of work and its ok to admit its a lot. We've made a couple of changes this year to try and ease the stress. We joined a co op which offers them very little academically, but its a lot of fun for them and they've made some great friends. I stay there the whole time but its still a break because I'm not teaching and I only have the baby with me. I've also been trying to show myself grace when it comes to our schedule. I used to be a stickler when it came to our school schedule and it exhausted me. If we're a few weeks behind, so be it. We just got dent doing a solid week of history, and nothing else, because we were behind. The kids loved it and it gave me a bit of a break and helped me feel more caught up. I have year end goals but we often school at unusual times, when we can fit it it. I try not to bet myself up for not getting everything done. Eventually something has to give, and so I give up where and when I need to. Even though you say the church work does a lot for you, I'd say give it up temporarily. Focus on you and your family and finding a rhythm that works for you. If you stretch yourself too thin, nothing will get done or it will get done with less than 100% effort. Ultimately something will suffer. Remind yourself its only temporary and plan to return tot the work when you feel ready. Of course this is coming from someone that gave up all extra commitments for the year, so take my advice with a grain of salt!

Rugsusa.com has some great deals when they are running a sale. If you can't wait a bit they regularly run 70% off deals.

Oriental Trading has them now and Amazon has them but the prices fluctuate constantly so sometimes its a good deal, sometimes it isn't. When I bought the loom and extra bands at Michaels I was told no coupons were allowed on any Rainbow Loom item (loom or bands).

My DS (4) uses the BambinoLUK completely independently. I would definitely recommend getting at least a few of the Bambino books to get your DD used to the system. Once they do it a few times it can easily become an independent activity. We also have the miniluk along with all of the regular and advanced books so it will last us for a couple of years. My DD (5, almost 6) outgrew them pretty quickly but she still loves to sit down and do them. Check out Thinktonight.com. They have quite a few different bundles to choose from and they have a best price guarantee.

I just received a big order almost 2 weeks after placing it. When I received the confirmation email it said most orders were shipping within 3 days. I finally called last week to check in. I had to call back on three different occasions in order to actually speak to someone. It turns out ONE pack of construction paper (in a $400+ order) was backordered. Normally they hold it for a day or two but apparently my order managed to get stuck for a much longer period of time. The rep apologized profusely and had it in the mail the next day and it arrived in 4 days. I'd definitely recommended a call just to check and make sure nothing is delayed or backordered. During the busy season I imagine anything can happen.

I've had to touch up a few pieces of Ikea furniture (including the Expedit) and the closest paint we could find was Glidden's Parchment White. It's an almost exact match. When we brought the swatch home it definitely seemed to be very off white, but when you see the furniture in the room it does look very white and fresh. Maybe you could grab a few of the Parchment White swatches and see how they look against your walls. We have an Expedit and Billy in a muted yellow room and the furniture has always seemed white to me, but we've never had anything but Ikea furniture in there so there isn't a pure white to compare it to.

I do have an iPad so I'll take a look at the videos. Thanks for the heads up!

My kids are too young to use the programs, but I use Photoshop and Indesign quite a bit when I'm creating materials. DH works in advertising so he has access to the Cloud through work, so we can get it for free here at home, but I think I'm just too stuck in my old ways. :laugh: I definitely recommend Lynda. When DH's career began, he taught himself entire programs using Lynda. It's well worth the money, especially when you consider what an investment the Cloud is. I was able to get a working knowledge of PS and ID using library books, so that might be a good free option.

DP

We love this yogurt maker. I've used it for about two years and it has more than paid for itself. You can either use store bought yogurt or freeze dried starter. I've used both with success, although I'm always very careful about checking the expiration date of the store bought yogurt (the fresher the better). It includes very specific directions for making the yogurt and it also includes a cheesecloth bag if you want to make greek yogurt or yogurt cheese, which is what you get after you strain the yogurt even longer. While it does take some time (biggest time commitment is standing at the stove to heat the milk to 180 degrees), the cost is definitely cheaper. In our area it's about $6.50 for a quart of organic Greek yogurt, while a half gallon of organic milk is around $4.50. At one time I was getting non homogonized, low pasteurized milk, which made it more of a wash, but I felt it was worth it because the quality of the milk was better.

I'm guessing that I'm expecting too much from a free app, but I figured it couldnt hurt to ask. I just downloaded Evernote and thought that I would try it out for a few days to see if it would work for us. I know that you can take a picture of a PDF and attach it to a note but I'm wondering if there is a way to attach a PDF (or even a link to the PDF) so that once I click on it I can begin writing on it. I've downloaded Notability but I guess I'm wondering if there is a way to tie these two functions together somehow. I'd love to cut down on our paper usage but I have a feeling that if I'm constantly having to search for a PDF I need, rather than having a direct link, I'll just revert to printing it or using the workbook directly.