Thought of some lol! go to the zoo go to the botanical garden get chickens get ducks plant some herbs & veggies plant flowers tear out some alien plants get a rug for our entryway get family pics taken plant 1 houseplant do monthly decor on my one shelf I've set aside for that purpose (did most months this year) blog 6 posts make a new dessert study herbalism some more (informally) So that's 14 so far.

... just because I haven't been here since... 2018? After we moved to the house we're in now we were without internet for a couple weeks and I just fell out of the habit. I'm hopping back on now though, mostly just to join in on next year's BAW threads because I enjoyed those in the past. Anyway, my oldest graduated and is a freshman in college, majoring in history. He was on campus first semester but will be doing online for second semester for a few reasons, which I'm not going to go into atm. My middle child is junior this year and has no idea still what he wants to do, which I think is fine - he still has time. DD is 13, the youngest, and in 8th grade. I'm still married to DH, 21 years this past August. We have 3 dogs now (!) and one cat, and until recently we had chickens. I plan on getting more come spring. Probably the biggest change in my own life is that I was diagnosed with breast cancer in September of 2020. I went through treatment - chemo, radiation, double mastectomy - and thought it would be many years before I dealt with cancer again (if ever), but we found a tumor in my brain in April of this year. I had radiation again, it grew by the end of the summer, and I had brain surgery in October to have it removed. Right now I do have mets on my liver which are triple negative breast cancer. I am stage 4, so this is life now. I get an immunotherapy infusion every 3 weeks and am hoping to make it for many years yet despite the prognosis not being quite so great. DD wants me to move her into college her freshman year so that's the current goal. Anyway! For a short period of time this year I had found a job I really enjoyed at a vet's office, but have had to stop that for now. I'm not sure at what point I'll go back - years probably. So yeah! Seems like kind of a depressing update lol, but seriously life is pretty good other than that one thing. 😄 Looking forward to being on here and 'seeing' everyone again!

Just popping in to say hi - I haven't been around on the boards in a few years and I am planning on joining BAW for 2023. Thought I'd go ahead and start lurking. 😉 😄

I feel like every year I try to make a list of goals, I fall off the wagon by the end of January. So. Idk. I do like the idea, though. I'll have to think on it.

I got him some jerky from the man crate website, some random popcorn seasonings, a back massager, and he'll get a new smoker but he's picking it, not me lol

The youngest is in 5th! YAY! Mind Benders (not exactly logic, so I didn't label it as such lol) - because they're fun Math: MUS Epsilon. She's giving Beast Academy a try right now and hates it, so we'll keep moving forward with MUS. History: WTM style (Kingfisher history encyclopedia as a spine this year), ancients LA: Fix It Grammar CAP Writing & Rhetoric Diagramming Level 1 from Critical thinking co Science: Focus on Middle School Biology Foreign Language: I'm thinking Duolingo for Spanish Reading lists from TWTM, history and LA sections

Math: Algebra 1. Either AoPS or Foerster. I'm not sure yet! History: WTM style (NatGeo almanac of World History as a spine), modern LA: Diagramming workbook from Critical Thinking Co Fix It Grammar or Basic, Not Boring Wordsmith maybe, for writing? Vocab from Classical Roots C-D Science: a hodgepodge of all the things we haven't covered yet in the Logic stage: some bio, some astronomy, some chemistry, a little physics and engineering Foreign Language: I'm thinking Duolingo for Mandarin, if that's a thing Reading lists from TWTM, both language arts and history sections Plus co-op. I'm thinking about offering a critical thinking class at co-op, so he'd get some logic in... if not i'll get him something simple for that.

My oldest will be in 10th this fall. Math: I was originally planning on Foerster Algebra 2, but I'm not 100% sure. He's pretty stuck on Geometry right now, so we may just work our way through MUS Geometry and use MUS from there on out. It wasn't the original plan, but it may be the best plan for him. History: History of the Medieval World/History of the Renaissance World + study guides LA: Writing: A couple classes online with Lantern English + Classical Composition 1 (Memoria) Grammar: Analytical Grammar Science: Chemistry. I was leaning toward Apologia but again, thinking about changing it up. Foreign Language: Greek. Is it ancient Greek? I'm not sure off the top of my head... but considering Lukeion, Koine, Athenaze.... Work through the list for this time period in WEM (not necessarily all of them) Lastly, he always picks a couple electives from Great Courses. And we are a part of a co-op, but it's mainly extracurricular.

Link has done a couple years of basic Japanese, but doesn't have much under his belt yet. He doesn't want to continue with the same program he currently uses because it's harder for him, not having someone speaking to him except in a once a week lesson (which is just a video, not interactive at all). So I'm on the lookout for good places to find tutors for foreign languages, especially Japanese at this time! I looked on Outschool.com and they had a couple, but was just wondering what other possibilities are out there. TIA!

Thanks! I remember doing a fetal pig in high school and it taking awhile - I feel like it was a couple weeks (so five class periods). But maybe my memory is off!

Hey all! Ill be teaching a dissection class for our high schoolers in co-op next year and I am looking for an idea on how many class periods different dissections may take. classes are roughly 1 hour long. The animals I’m considering at present are: frog, starfish, crayfish, squid, perch, shark, earthworm, and fetal pig. We will probably end up doing a couple smaller animals taking 1-2 class periods and a larger one taking more? As well as a couple standalone organs. The kids will be getting the final vote on which animals we are doing - I just need to know about how long these things usually take so I can have a good plan in place and know how many to offer/order. we have a total of 12 class periods, 1 hour each. There will be 4-6 students only. TIA!!

I'm back! So truthfully, we got internet hooked up at the new house right around the end of April, but I hadn't had a chance to hop on here. I've been trying to continue logging my progress with Goodreads, though I haven't read a ton since moving... busy unpacking and all, plus Pink turned 9 the beginning of May. I know there's no way I'll be able to go back through all the older posts (I did go through this thread) so I'm just going to pick up here! I think I've added these since I was last on here: The Progeny by Tosca Lee - ugh. I couldn't get past the fact that for some reason, this entire book is based off of people wanting to kill someone because their ancestor was a serial killer. That just didn't make sense to begin with, and then the story was just meh. The dialogue was a little painful. I've read other Tosca Lee but don't remember it being this bad. I only stuck it out because I borrowed it from my SIL, who really liked it. The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh - I just loved this one. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson - This was really good, too. It had me thinking about 'what if this were really possible?' which is always fun. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman - I liked this more than I expected to. Eleanor grows a lot, and though in the beginning I found her character off-putting, in the end I understood her better. Currently, I'm reading The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, which is fun so far. I also checked out Candide, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and The Red House Mystery from the library recently, so they're all in the TBR pile! Glad to be back! :)

Popping in quickly tonight - I'll be offline for awhile! We're moving tomorrow and haven't heard yet when our (unfortunately slower) internet will be getting connected at the new house. Hopefully it won't be more than a week or (gasp!) ....two? *insert passing out emoji here*

I had to go get more books today. I picked up a couple random books on Overdrive but wasn't feeling them, so then I abandoned them. :P Oh well, life is too short for books I don't like. So here is where I stand right now: C: The Crucible H: Harry Potter & the Cursed Child R: The Residence Y: You Shall Know Our Velocity S: The Secret Keeper A: Just picked up today - The Adoration of Jenna Fox N: Never Let Me Go T: Too Small to Ignore H: Hyperbole and a Half E: The Expatriates M: Men Without Women U: Still working on it - Uncle Tom's Cabin M: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd R: Rosemary's Baby O: The Ocean at the End of the Lane S: Silence E: Started today - Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine C: Crazy Rich Asians L: The Little Book of Hygge O: Over Sea, Under Stone V: Venus Plus X E: R: Currently Reading - The Radium Girls I haven't gotten started on Aven yet, but I've decided to do authors for that one! :) But overall I'm doing okay! :D I think the only one I've finished lately is Over Sea, Under Stone, which I ended up really liking. As for life in general, packing is blech but getting done. Closed on the house this morning, going to do some painting tomorrow. Yay!

Well... I have one in my drawer, just in case I ever need it. Which I probably won't, but then at least I know I have it just in case.

Q: How many new to you authors have you read so far this year? 1 - Kate Andersen Brower (The Residence) 2 - Arthur Miller (The Crucible) 3 - Kazuo Ishiguro (Never Let Me Go) 4 - Ying Chang Compestine (Revolution is not a Dinner Party) 5 - Kate Morton (The Secret Keeper) 6 - Yangsze Choo (The Ghost Bride) 7 - Dave Eggers (You Shall Know Our Velocity) 8 - The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Agatha Christie) 9 - Natasha Preston (Silence) 10 - Ira Levin (Rosemary's Baby) 11 - Meik Wiking (The Little Book of Hygge) 12 - Kevin Kwan (Crazy Rich Asians) 13 - Theodore Sturgeon (Venus Plus X) 14 - Janice Y.K. Lee (The Expatriates) 15 - Gabriel Tallent (My Absolute Darling) So far. :P

Whew. The forum forgot me so I just got that straightened out... I think! I'm so glad the forums are back! Since I was last here, I finished The Expatriates, which was a pretty good read. I also read My Absolute Darling, which was a less good read. I'm not someone who is generally bothered by violence in books, but this one really did bother me. I didn't like that part of it at all, and almost abandoned it a couple times; but the little part of me that was just curious enough to see what was going to happen would come back the next day to see how it ended. And it ended fine. But I guess I'll be on the lookout in the future for books that may have similar content of as graphic nature as this had, and not read them. So I learned something new about myself, I guess, with that? Other than reading, last week we introduced our kids to someone very important - Indiana Jones! I used to have all 3 (originals, obviously) movies on VHS but never got them on DVD and they aren't on Netflix, so they'd never seen them. At the library last week I perused the DVD section (which is surprisingly well stocked!) and found them there! So that was a happy day lol. And lastly, inspection/loan/all that has gone through and been approved for the house, and we close Tuesday the 10th. So packing. UGH PACKING!! o.O

See you all on the other side!!!

Let's see... this week: I've been working on Too Small to Ignore, which is so good. Granted, it's right up my alley, being Compassion International and all, but goodness. I :wub: it. I just got The Expatriates on Overdrive, which will finally be my E in Chrysanthemum :lol: ... I finished Crazy Rich Asians, which was okay, funny, overall entertaining, but not awesome or perfect. I am interested in seeing the movie, though. I worked some more on Uncle Tom's Cabin. I know it will take me a little while. Sometimes such good things happen that I'm just so glad; but most of the time, I'm disgusted by the attitudes of the slave seller and others who make excuses for why slavery is a 'good' thing. I also finished Venus Plus X, which was a super easy read; I started it in bed on Friday night (weekends are the only time of week I can read in bed at night; on weeknights DH always goes to sleep too early for me to do so) and I was wide awake at 6:30 Saturday morning for some strange reason (seriously, I NEVER wake up that early unless I have to!) so I just took it out to the living room and ended up finishing it lol. :P I really enjoyed that one. Last night I started Over Sea, Under Stone. Only a couple chapters in, so far it hasn't completely snagged me, but it's good, so I know I'll get hooked at some point. At least I probably will! I'm going to see what my library has for Air. :D Just for kicks!

I hope to implement some, too. One thing I absolutely can't do, though... the candles. The overwhelming number of CANDLES. :lol: I guess I could buy those fake ones lol.

All right, I have my A and E for Chrysanthemum, as well as my E for Rose, on hold through Overdrive. :hurray: :party: And so far I've read L (The Little Book of Hygge) for Clover, and am currently reading C (Crazy Rich Asians) and V (Venus Plus X); O (Over Sea, Under Stone) is sitting on the side table. In order to really complete Chrysanthemum, I do still have to finish Uncle Tom's Cabin and Too Small to Ignore. But now I'm much closer! :lol:

I finished up The Little Book of Hygge this week as well as The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Last night I started Crazy Rich Asians, which is quite entertaining so far. I'm also still reading Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Composting book lol.