We have an electric Bostitch that worked great for about a year but I've about decided I hate it. It only sharpens one side of the pencil and is kind of finicky. I'm planning to try either the one that was mentioned in the first comment or this one next: UNI KH-20 Hand Crank Pencil Sharpener

I say go with B. I started my oldest in RS B in kindergarten and the pace did not get particularly challenging until about halfway through.

My kids liked it for a couple of weeks and then got bored with it. It's very, very basic. Are they doing the free trial offer?

Okay, that's good to know about Level E! I might have found my motivation, then. I've been going back and forth between a "Here, you have your screen time [or whatever] while we do math" one-at-a-time rotation method and trying to run everybody at the same time. With the timed practice sheets, it does buy a bit of time to focus on somebody else moreso than the A and B lessons do, but still somebody usually ends up twiddling their thumbs waiting on me to be ready for the next thing OR they see it as an opportunity to dawdle even when they know there's a timer running. Maybe I need to just plan for needing Mom-cave recovery time. My husband's idea was the possibility of slightly slowing the pace for my 9-year-old while accelerating it for my 8-year-old until they are on the same level so I'd only be doing two separate math lessons a day instead of one. My 8-year-old "gets it" pretty easily and also we've found that some of the exercises intended for discovery are overkill because she already understands the concept from having overheard it when I did the lesson with the 9-year-old before. The perimeter and fraction lessons at the end of C felt like busywork and sometimes we'd cut out the warm-up and do two in a sitting to keep from getting bored. I haven't decided yet whether I'm on board with that. It sounds good in theory but I'd rather not slow down the 9 y.o. if it's not an academic need.

If you have multiple children doing RightStart math on different levels, how do you keep the plates spinning so that you get it done without feeling like you spend most of your (the parent's) time every day teaching math? We love Right Start, methodology-wise. I feel like my kids are better at and more confident with arithmetic than I was at their ages, but by the time I get through doing everyone's individual math lessons, particularly if the lessons have extra games, I feel drained and want to go hibernate in my Mom cave for a while. I have a 9 y.o. who is about to start level E, an 8 y.o. who is about to start level D, and a 5 y.o. who has been working through MEP Reception, but skill-wise is probably actually ready for RS level B. I thought maybe I could make it happen by switching the 9 y.o. to something a little more independent and we tried Beast Academy for a month or so, but she hated Beast Academy (I suspect because she doesn't like being corrected after she tries to fly through without reading the directions closely). We're in a holding pattern at the moment doing some review to keep fresh while I work up the motivation to order the level E materials. RightStart is the only math program that we've used long-term, so maybe this is an issue with math in general and I just don't realize it, but I have found that I tend to gravitate toward scripted/parent-intensive curriculum in general so I'm never sure if it's the curriculum or if it's me.

Level A of Right Start isn't 100% necessary. I started my oldest with level B without having had any formal math prior. It is parent intensive, though. You can't plop her down in front of a video lesson like MUS. I'd do the placement test for the programs you're interested in and go from there.

Apparently I'm the only person on this thread whose pantry has einkorn flour. It makes lovely pancakes.

I've done Harvest Moon henna twice before and liked the result. The first time I did it, I came down with a really, really bad headache afterward. Seriously bad, as in, I've never had a migraine but it was like what I've heard people describe migraines to be like. I've since learned that indigo can do that to some people. The next time I used it, I used the same brand, but a different henna/indigo ratio and I also used a different application process. I did get a slight headache after, but it was nowhere near as bad as the first time. Henna does add reddish tones to the hair (basically the grays end up as reddish or even golden highlights), so if that's not the look you're after, you might try something else. The next time I do it, I plan to try Morocco Method brand with amla powder added to it. Allegedly the amla cools down the color so it is not as red. I've also heard of a product called Hairprint that is made from some kind of bean extract, but I haven't tried it to tell you whether it works well.

A couple of things: The "covering up poaching" was a theory that the prosecutor put forth during the trial. However, the jury finding the Hammonds guilty of arson does not necessarily mean that the jury believed that aspect of the prosecutor's case. It just means that they believed the Hammonds let the BLM land catch fire on purpose The poaching theory of the prosecution's case relied on testimony from Dusty Hammond, an estranged relative who had been thirteen years old at the time of the fire. Dusty's testimony also contradicted public hunting records. As a result, the judge believed his testimony was biased The Hammonds were not charged with illegal hunting Evidence at the trial included the phone call the Hammonds placed in which they got permission to set the fire A range conservationist testified that the fire improved the conditions on the BLM land (juniper is invasive and drinks up a lot of water) A transcript of the original sentencing can be found here The Hammond's Supreme Court brief is here

I see now. LOE does have a spelling notebook/student-created reference pages, but it's a little more basic than I'd like. It didn't take me that long to map it out; maybe an hour while I was also watching HGTV. LOE has more rules for silent e and handles the schwa sound differently so I planned extra pages for those; most of the rest of it lines up similarly.

This should be a straightforward question, but I'm feeling like a dunce at the moment. I'm mapping out a Writing Road to Reading style spelling notebook, but using the LOE spelling rules (most of which are the same). I have the 4th edition of WRTR, and I noticed that the examples for the spelling notebook have the rules typed at the top of the page, but it doesn't seem like there would be room on the page itself to write down the rule. I've flipped through some later versions of WRTR and it seems like I remember some of the words showing a rule number beside certain words. So are the students supposed to write out the actual rules on any of the pages or in a section of the notebook, or does the spelling notebook only contain organized illustrations of the spelling rules?

I live in a relatively conservative area, and our county health department does all of those things (except abortion) at three different locations. Here's the quote off the health department website: "Our clinics provide confidential services to county residents regardless of age, sex, income, race, disability or marital status. Fees are based on income and family size, but no one will be denied services because of inability to pay. [Medicaid and insurance plans] are accepted for services, and payment plan schedules are available...Proof of income is required at each visit to qualify for discounted services." They do everything except prenatal care, and they used to do that, too (a friend of mine who has since moved away was a nurse at the main branch). Pap smears, birth control (all types, including vasectomies), breast cancer screenings... They do it. I've gone there for a couple of things, and the facilities are not dumpy at all. But the PP branch in our county still uses the "women don't have anywhere else to go for these things" line, even though it isn't exactly true here.

Well, then I guess I shouldn't mention that I have several friends who heard it before they saw the video, and they thought the chorus was "What the F***" instead of "What the Fox" Their Intelevator videos are mostly clean. A couple of them have crude language uttered by the people being pranked.

Why does almost everything in the grocery store or at the chemist come in blackcurrant flavor?

Yeah, it's not that it directly does something to your cholesterol; it's because it has anti-inflammatory properties. Cholesterol actually does perform positive functions in the body--it's used in the production of bile, vitamin D, production of steroid hormones... It's also used in the repair of damage caused by inflammation. So the theory is that if you lower the inflammation levels in your body, then your liver will not produce as much cholesterol. We take turmeric and magnesium.