My oldest was largely self taught - learned at age 4 mainly from learning letter sounds (remember that annoying Leapfrog letter sound fridge magnet set?) and following along when I ran my finger under the text I read aloud. My other three kids were not this way! She did eventually need to learn phonics for spelling, which she found incredibly tedious.

White Bean Chili https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/white_chili/ Tortilla Soup https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/tortilla_soup/ Good basic Chili https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/simple-perfect-chili-recipe-2107099

We have been using TOG this year. I bought one quarter online (it was Year 2 Unit 4 - to correspond to where we were in history) as well as Year 3 used print version. I have 7th, 6th, 4th and 2nd graders. Previously we have used Sonlight or Story of the World (with activity guide for lit / further history, maps and activities. After one semester I am basically done with TOG. I do not like the middle school (dialectic) book selections at all. I found them to be unnecessarily long and/ or repetitive. The lower and upper grammar were fine, but I think the real value of the program is being able to use it over a large range of ages. The overall cost of the program seems very high for what is provided. Most of the teacher notes are take from the World Book Encyclopedia - not vastly different from reading the wikipedia for the subject covered. My hope was that we could seamlessly synch the younger and older kids with TOG, but it ended up making my oldest kid hate history (she was doing dialectic). The activities are not much different from the SOTW activities. The online version was irritating to use. Overall I have decided to go back to SOTW for history - just adapting for each age range.

I have a family of 6 and live in a HCLA (Central Coastal CA) - we have lived in several houses, the smallest being 1100 sq feet. I think a lot of it is how the house is laid out, how you utilize space, rough storage (like garages and attics) and general personalities. Out of my four kids, I have two extroverts (and sensory seeking) and two introverts (one sensory avoiding, plus two introvert/sensory sensitive parents. 1100 sq feet was a bit too small for us - we were just too on top of each other, even with extreme organization / minimalism. When we moved my priority was 4 bedroom and more space - a tall order - but it has been a huge help. We don't live in a large house by most standard - our current house is 1700 sq feet but with lots of rough and built in storage and that is working well for us.

We are working on buying a house now, so doing lots of house shopping. Its true that many people like to put their own touches on a house, but if you can paint the entire house a neutral, warm tone, that goes a long way with not much money. I can see how it might not pay in some respects to redo a kitchen, but from my perspective, I would much prefer to buy a house that has a fairly new / nice kitchen. I like dark wood or white cabinets, butcher board/ quartz/ light granite counters, and black or stainless appliances. I prefer wood throughout, although newer carpet in the bedrooms would be fine with me.

I started Writing With Skill I with my sixth grader this fall, but she was so reluctant with it that I switched to just doing written narrations across the curriculum. Next year I was planning on trying again with WWS, but a friend gave me her set of Lost Tools of Writing 1 (she was ditching CC). The books look well structured, and I'm thinking I could combine next year with her sister, who will be in 6th next year. Could anyone speak to their experiences with these? Both of these kids have been doing narrations (heavily CM overall) and I'm looking for the transition into writing longer essays. TIA!

History! I love the discussions we have.

I have a two kids like this, and we have settled on CLE and Saxon. The younger kid does CLE (8 yrs, 3d grade) and the older does Saxon 6/5 (12).

We are reading Hakim's US series right now, and I wouldn't do it with a Sonlight Core.

Yep, we did it a while back (6 years ago), and while we weren't the best at getting out salicylates (in oranges, berries), we cut out everything else for a time. My kid's main sensitivity is artificial coloring, but artificial flavors are also an issue (including vanillin, which is often listed as natural). Knowing what to look for is huge. It hasn't solved all our problems, but it was one piece of the puzzle. We later found out that the same kid is also gluten intolerant (stomach and mood issues).

Probably she was distracted or possibly very new / untrained. I was a cashier in high school, and I didn't last long. It was a rude awakening at how nasty people can be. People routinely do not acknowledge you, getting angry/abusive because their expired coupons don't work, or that they picked up the wrong item that they thought was on sale and its not ringing up as such. I was also sexually harassed on the daily (although I didn't know what to call it at the time) by both customers (Are you over 18? Do you have a boyfriend who satisfies you? I could take you home with me right now... etc etc) and a couple of my managers (I can't even repeat what was said to me here). The whole experience has made me incredibly nice to and sympathetic of cashiers in any capacity, even if they seem nutty or are very slow. I will also would not allow my daughters to work in such a position, at least until college age. I also worked at Starbucks in college, and that seared into my brain the moral necessity to put away a phone when interacting with a service industry worker. Its so demoralizing.

I don't go on facebook and tend to look to fringe or international news sources.

This is what I usually make: http://adelightfulhome.com/diy-brown-sugar-vanilla-body-scrub/ I don't have a problem with residue. But I would think you could adjust the oil ratio if sensitive to that, or use a less "oily" oil - I use olive but maybe melted coconut (since it will re-solidify) would be better for that?

My 11 year old is in her room / reading in bed by 8 and lights out by 9pm. Usually she's actually asleep before then, but her sister (9) is still reading until actual lights out. Different kids are different, but in our house everyone is always up between 6-7 - and since we have a small house and loud little kids, the big kids don't really have the option to sleep in. :glare:

I am really close to my siblings; for me that means I live on the other side of the country so that means I text or talk on the phone with one of (four) of them about once a week. I would love to live in the same city or coast that most of them live, but my husband's job doesn't allow that at the moment. We are a lucky family, we had good parents and several intense medical traumas brought us close and kept us there. My husband is not like this at all. He has a brother that he never speaks to - I talk to him more than he does. So its really not a moral thing, its just how your family is,