Ds will be doing BookShark "5th grade" (Eastern Hemisphere) Reading with History with dd. He is almost finished with his first 4 year history cycle (we started homeschooling his 3rd grade year) and it will be nice to have a year with a totally different focus. We received our big box a week or so ago, and the kids have already been enjoying the books. I can NOT decide on science. I want to do earth science. I keep buying supplemental books, but I have yet to buy a program. I just don't like any of them. We did Elemental Science Biology for the Logic Stage this year in 6th, and I'm just kind of over it at this point. If we have to, we'll do either ES Earth Science or possibly ClassiQuest, but I don't love either of them. Everything else looks either too expensive or too easy. So, with those explanations given, here's my list: Math: MM 7A/Come on and get that 7B out, Maria! Language Arts: BookShark Eastern Hemisphere Reading, Vocabulary from Classical Roots A, Writing With Skill (finish I, begin II) History/Geography/Religion: BookShark Eastern Hemisphere History with mom-added religious text readings Science: Earth Science TBD Logic: CAP's The Art of Argument Co-Op: Art & Civics

Frontline doesn't work well here either. We use NexGuard.

If you have a Costco, their beef hotdogs are just about as good as Nathan's (another good brand, but more expensive.) We have cookouts pretty often and I buy the Costco brand. I think they are $12.99 for 3 packs of 10. ETA: Just checked, and it's 3 12-packs of bun-length beef hot dogs, not 10-packs.

Successfully? Nothing, ever! I have been doing this for years and have never successfully reused curriculum. It does not seem possible that two children with the same parents could be SO completely different. Everything I originally purchased for ds ended up flopping for dd.

Dh drinks soda, but we don't keep it at home. He just buys it at work. At home, he drinks coffee. I drink black coffee, iced Nescafe & almond milk, water, hot tea, ginger water (just pieces of ginger boiled in water,) and ACV water (for health reasons, not because it tastes awesome or anything.) ;) Kids drink water, one glass of milk a day, and a smoothie or hot cocoa (depending on the season) nearly every day. I used to make iced tea, but no one really drinks it. Ds will drink Chai or sun tea when I make it. I do buy ginger ale or root beer for birthdays and holiday parties, and once in the summer for root beer floats. They are 11 and almost 10, so I don't really care what they drink when they're at events with friends as long as they are spending their own money. Neither kid really drinks while eating a meal, which I find odd but is the standard in dh's family. They always drink after the meal. o.O Obviously, I'm not doing much to limit their sugar intake!

Also following and also considering Reading with History Grade 5 for 2015-16.

Mathematical Reasoning and You Decide! by Critical Thinking Company

One picture of Cookie Monster from 2011 has now been removed. That's all I had. You're welcome, SWB. You may now tell all those bothersome public television lawyers to step OFF. ;)

It sure did. Start small, just in case. What helps one person's IC can hurt another. Good luck!

I drink it every day by adding a tablespoon of Bragg's to a glass of water. It helps my interstitial cystitis, which is weird because balsamic vinegar is a huge trigger for my IC flares. I have no idea why ACV has the opposite effect, but I'm not complaining! ETA: Whoops, I guess this is a zombie thread. Oh, well. I still love ACV. :)

It could certainly be Ehlers-Danlos. I would recommend scheduling an appointment with a pediatric geneticist. He or she will be able to refer you to the proper specialists if that is the diagnosis. Children with EDS can be helped by OT and PT, but they also need to be evaluated by pediatric cardiology, ophthalmology, and neurology to check for other complications that can sometimes come with EDS. PT should help a little with the dislocation issue. Good luck to you. I hope you find some answers. My dd was about that age when we noticed something was not quite right with her. It took 3 or 4 years to get a diagnosis (because we didn't know to ask a geneticist) but everything made sense once she finally had one.

My dd9 has femoral anteversion and internal tibial torsion. She can't run quickly, but she's okay. She can roller skate but not blade because blades extend beyond the foot and there really is no avoiding tripping. I think it was good for her to grow up in a house with stairs because her PT said that can be an issue for kids with in-toeing. She does fine on stairs, though she never runs up or down as fast as some kids do. Basically, she was fine once she learned to slow down. She fell quite often until she started PT a couple of years ago. My dh had braces as a child but he is still noticeably bow-legged with in-toeing. ETA: She had pain occasionally, but we later found out the pain was from a connective tissue disorder rather than being bone- or muscle-related. Perhaps consider taking your dd to a geneticist at some point. We found seeing one to be immensely helpful.

I agree with Moxie. They need to be doing an air quality test, not taking things apart. I don't know how it is in your state, but where I am, the sellers did not have to allow a mold test at all unless it was specifically requested in the purchase offer. We requested mold tests both times we went through the inspection process. Had we not done that, we would not have been able to use mold as a reason to back out of an offer. (FTR, we didn't use mold as a reason to back out of the first house. We backed out due to severely unsafe wiring throughout the entire home.) So, you may want to ask your seller's Realtor if you could just say "no" without putting the offer in jeopardy?

I only missed Tony Blair, which was surprising to me as I really struggle to remember faces in real life. Typically, I forget what someone looks like when they change their clothes. I can remember names, phone numbers, birthdays, anniversaries, but very little about what a person actually looks like. Apparently my problem goes away when the person is a celebrity! ETA: For me, personally, it is much easier to recognize a 2D photo version of someone once I've seen a 2d version of them. If I see them in real life (so, 3D) I can't really remember their features in 3D or 2D. However, once I see them in a photograph, I can usually recognize them in another photograph. No guarantees I'll recognize them again in real life though. (If any of that makes any sense. :) )

I have been looking at this thread for days and thinking of you & your family many times each day but I still don't know what to say. "I'm sorry for your loss" is probably the appropriate thing, but it feels wholly inadequate once typed out. Sending you love and support and wishing you peace, whether that peace comes in brief or lasting moments. Sara

I am familiar with Marfan Syndrome only because it came up for a brief moment before my dd was diagnosed with EDS (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome) so take my advice with a grain of sand. I would follow up with the doctor and get a dx. Speak to a geneticist if you can. If Marfans is like EDS (and I have no idea whether or not this is the case) the heart and eye complications can develop at any point, so she will want to be rechecked again regularly. My dd is supposed to have an heart function test every 2-3 years and see a pediatric ophthalmologist twice a year, despite the fact that we have yet to see any heart or eye problems related to the EDS. I don't think insurance would cover her specialist checkups if she didn't have a dx. However, I realize EDS is not Marfans. I wish I had more helpful or specific advice to offer you.

Yes. I have made no decisions regarding next year. Nor do I know when (ahem, *if*) we will finish this year. It has been a monumentally weird year here, due to both external events (moving, tornado) and internal (hello, puberty!)

I just painted about 50% of the interior walls of our house this past winter. I used Dutch Boy Platinum and was very happy with the application and results. Other than a junky paneled room downstairs, it was all done with one smooth coat (eggshell finish.) However, I went darker in every room I painted. I don't know how well it would cover if you were going lighter.

I love it! I absolutely do. My dd's name (one of the names rejected by your dh) was very "old lady" when we chose it for her. Our families were horrified. That same name is now in the Social Security baby name database's top 100. Choose what you love. (Also, I have an Eliot too! It's a middle name for mine, but spelled the same.)

I've enjoyed trying everything we've purchased, but I'd have to say the biggest let-downs would probably be MCT (we started with Town) and LoF. I thought they were great, but my kids just don't seem to like silly story stuff in their school work. Oh! There was my 2.5 days spent with JAG. I bought it used and immediately turned around and resold it. I don't remember why, I just remember thinking it was not impressive for the price.

:grouphug: Yes. Mine manifest a little differently, but I can certainly relate. I third/fourth/whatever the medication recommendation. I try so hard to be pharma-free, but I (just speaking for myself, personally) have yet to find a natural alternative that can help me cope with the "out of the blue" anxiety attacks.

Have you tried PRID? It's a cheap, easily-available drawing salve. It will burn a bit, but it should do the job.

My kids can hypnotize a frog and ignore the smell of rotting fish like nobody's business. Woohoo, sweet river life!

My dh likes his job. He chose to study accounting in college and, near the end of the program, decided he really did not want to work in accounting. He wanted to be in management. Fortunately, he stuck it out, got his accounting degree, and now works in office management for a large home-improvement business. The majority of his time is spent auditing other people's work, so the accounting knowledge comes in handy. The rest of his time is spent being around power tools. He's pretty happy with the setup, I think. :)

I have sensitive skin and have found the Venus Breeze + coconut oil (instead of shaving cream) to be foolproof and easy on skin. I'll probably start my dd on that combination when she's ready to shave. The coconut oil makes the tub slippery, so that might be an issue for some.