It's great to read everyone's experiences! A lot more people have had them than I expected! I told dh the price and he nearly fainted. I wisely let the matter drop for a couple days-he will prbly bring it up at some point in that time so we can discuss. I just hate to put more burden on him. I will say I was concerned with people on here who said they didn't have adult coverage for insurance, or it changed, which makes me want to jump on this while insurance is helping! I'm in prayer mode about it all now-praying for wisdom, guidance, etc. Keep the stories coming-it's so helpful to read them! Thanks!

I'm considering getting braces (age 45) and wondered if you could please share your experiences? Be detailed, please! -why did you need them -did you have clear (ceramic) or stainless steel-and how did you like the type you got?-if you got clear, did they stain-did you get the white wire-and how did you like it? -how was it emotionally to wear them as an adult, was it worth the expense, etc.-anything you'd like to share! -Or if you decided *against* getting them-why? Also, if you'd like to read and comment on my situation below: I had them when I was younger and my top teeth are straight. The bottom teeth are the problem-I am missing one molar that didn't have an adult tooth, and there is another with the same problem on the other side-with that baby molar soon to fall out and leaning on the other teeth. So the bottom front teeth have shifted due to the hole and the leaning, and are getting crooked. And one of the teeth that the baby tooth is leaning on is getting cracked from the pressure! Also my bite is getting so that the fronts of the tops and bottoms will eventually rub on each other and cause chipping. I will eventually (when we can afford it) get implants in the holes. In the meantime, our orthodontist can fix the bite and straighten the bottom teeth (none of that is possible once the implants are in.) I would only have to wear the braces SIX months! Then the retainers (which I would be so happy to have them so I could wear them *forever* and keep my teeth nice!) That will all then "hold the place" until we can get the implants, and prevent further damage/shifting. We love our ortho (he has done both kids-totally awesome, trust him 100%), and he said he would throw in the top teeth (which only need minor little tweaks) for the price of the bottom (it would normally be $5500 for the whole thing; he would give it to me for $2800, and insurance would pay $700 of that). It would end up costing us $2100-about $100/month for 24 months, can finance it interest free. We have a VERY tight budget, so I just don't know if I can justify it. We are on one small income, haven't been on vacation for many years, are extremely frugal, my car is 10 yrs old, etc. I can't get a job to help due to chronic illness. Plus it is weird, but the emotional part of wearing braces at this age! It is a tiny bit more for the clear ones, so I'd prbly do that. I feel guilty when there are so many other things we could do with the money (not that we even HAVE the money!) But it just seems to make sense to do this now, before it causes further problems/expense, especially since he's giving me a great deal. Anyway, I just hoped to hear others' experiences!

Some sites say 30 minutes before eating, some say on an empty stomach, some say 30 minutes after eating...which is correct? Also does it depend on the type of probiotic? thanks :)

I will watch that video-it looks great; thanks to both of you that suggested it!

Thanks-we do use coconut oil and olive oil as our primary fats. I think we'll stick with what we've been doing, and add in the meat type dishes occasionally. We have tried diet (very strict) in the past and it had NO effect on lowering the cholesterol-only the meds worked for that. I agree with stress management too, thanks!

Oh, I'm totally convinced on the non-corn fed meat. We haven't eaten anything BUT grass fed (and local, as often as possible, so I know what the conditions are) for a few years. We get free range eggs, etc., too-and organic raw milk from pastured cows-our eggs are so yummy/healthy due to the biodynamic co-pasturing; the chickens eat the bugs out of the pasture that the cows graze! :) This keeps the bugs down for the cows too. You are so lucky that you have hunters! Grass fed organic is so $$$.

Ellie-I agree with you-I'm not even 100% on board that cholesterol is the "cause" of heart issues! I think there is more involved than that. I'm glad you've had such great results! We've cut our carbs back quite a bit too, for various reasons. We do have the occasional pasta meal, etc.

By the way, I meant to add that I think the "caveman" science stuff behind Paleo is mostly hogwash-I just like the recipes in this book and want to try some, so that's what has me wondering how people with high cholesterol, heart issues, etc., that are following Paleo are doing. I have read on Mark's Daily Apple before-I guess it's just hard for me to get past the "caveman" link with this diet. I also realize it is a fad diet. I think what I'll do is just incorporate one of these meals from the cookbook as our once every couple of weeks meat meal. I don't feel quite right doing more than that-his numbers have been excellent, so we'll just keep doing what we're doing. Thanks, everyone!

We've been all organic/no processed foods for years, and after dh's heart attack (mild-due to undiagnosed high cholesterol) 5 yrs ago, we eat mainly chicken or bean type meals. (examples of dinners might be: chicken/veggie stir fry, black bean and yam with cilantro in tortillas w/ salsa and greek yogurt, turkey chili, stuffed peppers-stuffed with a ground turkey/tomato mix, lentil soup, whole wheat pasta with greens or pesto, etc. We might have a hamburger tortilla type thing or pork chops or something about every other week-so it's not like we never have meat. But he really likes to stay away from it quite a bit.) I don't use cheese or butter or fatty sauces in my cooking either. (the kids and I might add cheese or sour cream to our tacos, etc.) Basically it is heart healthy whole foods. I read Nourishing Traditions years ago, and it kind of reminds me of Paleo in some respects. I agreed with a lot of what I read there, so we don't necessarily do super low fat or anything. I get the basic concept behind Paleo, but I don't want to go all Paleo-I believe in a nice balance. But I got the book Well Fed and the meals look yummy! I just CAN'T wrap my head around it though that these types of dinners are ok for dh's heart! I understand that the meat is organic and grass fed and so on, and therefore better for you cholesterol-wise. But all that beef and fat and so on-yikes! Please help me to understand so I can educate dh too!

What is everyone doing about it?

I hear you about TOG. VP is very streamlined :) Good luck!

It was just the history, I think-we never did anything w/ the lit because she had a full lit course she was doing separately already. Hopefully someone else can answer that! If you want lit/history tied in, with the questions all there for you, Tapestry of Grace is great too! If we had had more time and needed to add in lit, I would have done that, but I needed a standalone history and needed it to be a "git 'er done" subject last yr.

My dd, who is actually very advanced, did the 1815-Present last yr in 7th grade, and for us, it was a good fit. Basically I needed her to cover that time period quickly and efficiently, and I needed one subject to NOT be taught by me. Her other subjects were extremely challenging, so we were fine with history being easier. Some of the lessons were too easy (below her level), especially if she had studied it before (ie-the Wild West stuff). But even within that, I thought it still had challenging content. She enjoyed it a lot too. This yr I have 5th grade ds doing the same one and loving it. We are huge fans of the program! Also, they had previously done the 30-day trial of the Middle Ages one, and what I saw of that was great and meaty-they went into a ton of detail about Augustine and I think it was Benedictine and so on. It was a lot of stuff I didn't even know! The levels on the Self-Paced seem weird to me-not exactly sure who their market is because the MARR one would definitely be too hard for, say, a 3rd grader. We love it so we make it work for us. The retention is through the roof with this program! Also, I was going to say that you can EASILY add extra to this to beef it up for a 7th grader if you want, but it makes a great base that definitely gets done and they love it!

I have NO fear of her CC version-I totally trust her, and I believe it's not dumbed down, just shifted around. I also love that when she changed it, she made improvements to clarity and so on, which would be a big bonus. But I do like that with the old version, I can essentially get done in 2 yrs (5-6) what will now take 3 with the new (5-7). I actually like that she made the new like that-it's prbly better for most people. Ds is mathy, so stretching it out that third yr prbly won't be necessary, and we could move on to something like AOPS Pre-Alg in 7th. Maria just sent me the new this morning, so I'll check it out and decide. It's interesting to read what others have chosen to do, and why, so thanks for sharing, and please continue to add your comments!

Specifically for levels 5 and 6. I have the old version, and hear that it is the best year of the whole series, so I'm not sure if I want to mess with that and do the Common Core version! (I have read the whole detailed comparison of the two on her website, but wondered what people here have chosen to do and why.)

Thanks, Elladarcy, for taking the time to write that out-I didn't realize that each section's review questions were only from the past couple sections! I thought they might be a cumulative review-like a question or two from several previous sections, all the way back to the beginning (ie- the review questions for section 6-2 might be one from section 2-4, one from section 3-3, one from section 4-1, etc.)-that's what I was envisioning. This helps solidify my decision not to get the TE, thanks! I can easily grab review questions for the past couple sections myself; the other way might have been worth it though! My plan is to do all the odds of every section, and then 3-5 days on all the word problems, as recommended by 8Fill and Sue in St. Pete. I guess I'll daily just randomly assign review work, like in my example above. Thanks-that helped a lot!

Thanks-that's what I thought!

Thanks, everyone-this helps a lot!

Thanks so much, Sue-cheapest copy is over $80, even on addall.com-I guess I won't be able to buy it! I don't actually think I'll really need it-I can just make it up myself which prior work to assign to review.

Thanks, everyone-this helps-since during algebra she will still be using things like fractions/decimals, etc., I guess that should stay fresh, and I won't worry about the geometry formulas. I had intended to pull from Saxon for review, but she has such a negative connotation with it, I think it would be counterproductive. She understands the algebra concepts far better than she did with regular arithmetic, and she can definitely do fractions and so on, so I think we're ok to go on, especially since she will get continuing review of it in algebra, but as Regentrude said, she needs to be solid on the middle school stuff, so I need to continue to scaffold/reinforce that. I will use some of the recommended review sheets (from my other thread) for convenience, and I also like the idea of making up some review sheets too. Thanks! It's a relief to know I'm not the only one with this problem!

I know I can't be the only one with this problem! Here is an example-dd14 (middle of 8th grade) learned volume of a cylinder (volume of a prism, etc.) toward the end of pre-algebra. So that meant not a ton of practice on it. Now we're in Algebra-and there is no sign of that, or any of the things she learned in middle school arithmetic! She is rapidly forgetting things like division by a 3-digit divisor, complex fractions, etc. Do you have this problem, and what do you do about it? Most of the review type math worksheets I'm looking at are very simplistic and nowhere near the level of problems she was used to working in Saxon 8/7. (note: she is NOT strong in math and I don't feel she really mastered all of middle school math enough that it will "stick" forever without plenty of review! Do I do another 8th grade curriculum to reinforce/review it, along with Algebra? She's definitely ready for Algebra, according to the placement tests she has done (I tried a few, just to make sure.)-we're just starting Algebra-trying some of both TT Alg 1 and Foerster's to see which one is a better fit for her.)

Sebastian-thank you so much for the detailed step-by-step; really helpful! RootAnn-thanks-good to know!

Oh, great, now I prbly need to get it, just for that review. Thanks for the info! Where is the best place to buy it? (note: I already have the Solutions Manual)

Agreeing with Lori. And Iprstn has a great idea about the blog. I have seen some sites with a "donate" button on it-not sure how that would work with copyrights, etc., but I would assume if you had a "donate" button, it could just be a general donation thing and not necessarily to do with the curriculum.

Thinking of skipping ds (good at math) right from mid-5th grade math into Saxon 7/6. I didn't have him take it yet (tomorrow), but I think he can pass the 7/6 placement test, mainly just from being math intuitive, not that he has learned all the concepts in it! Anyway, I looked at the scope and sequence for both 6/5 and 7/6, and it looks like there is a ton of overlap! He doesn't need in depth explanations, so even if they cover it quicker in 7/6, that's prbly ok. Did you think there was a lot of overlap?