I did Galloping the Globe with my dc’s in a way that combined science many years ago. It was great fun and I managed to use many resources that I had sitting around my house in the process. 😊 I did add in the projects from Considering Gods Creation http://www.eagleswingsed.com/product/considering-gods-creation/which were recommended in my original copy of Galloping the Globe but I didn’t have the other recommended resources as I remember. Basically I had a sheet of paper for each continent and sorted through my boxes listing various resources that might be useful for each continent. We used Zoobooks ( beyond the great info on individual animals there were some puzzles that the kids enjoyed) and the geography portions of Draw Write Nowhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/400545.Draw_Write_Now_Book_1_8. We also did Geography Songs which were great fun. Even more interesting is the fact that former WtMer Pioneer Woman had it on her blog and google just listed it first https://thepioneerwoman.com/homeschooling/geography-songs-you-never-forget-what-you-sing/. Pretty much played if I am honest with each continent until we ran out of the good stuff and moved to the next. We did the Holling books separately but could have easily wrapped them up in this.....Beautiful Feet’s Maps are incredible if you want to splurge but my kids didn’t want to draw on them because they were so nice thus really underused. If I had to do it again I would just design my own.

I finished spelling Rabbi David Small 😀 So I am moving on to next month’s detective...........😂 R.........Friday the Rabbi Slept Late by Harry Kemelman .........planning to continue this series A.......Arm of the Sphinx by Josiah Bancroft B.......Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey B.......The Bride Test by Helen Hoang I........Magic Shifts by Ilona Andrews D......The Scholar by Dervla McTiernan A......The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz V.......The Decorator Who Knew Too Much by Diane Vallere I........The Shadow Killer by Arnaldur Indridson D........The Elusive Mrs Polifax by Dorothy Gilman........more planned for this month😊 S........The Stone Circle by Ella Griffiths M.......Death of a Hollow Man by Caroline Graham.........not great, I think I am done with this series A.......Miss Julia Meets Her Match by Ann B. Ross.......Overall good listen, a couple of topics irritated me in this one so 3*, continuing series L.......Good Luck Charm by Helena Hunting L........Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse.......not as good as the first in series I started reading a new book this morning that I picked out without any research. I am halfway through so I really like it........a young business man who travels constantly for work meets an intriguing woman while on Layover in Atlanta. He can’t forget her and starts what I am classing at this point as a rather mad road trip (Bingo) to find her. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3083348-layover?ac=1&from_search=true

Both my kids would love to work in some way for NASA and are actually casually at this point aiming in that direction. Both are fascinated........both are problem solvers and not likely to ever be the astronaut......one of my childhood best friend’s was an astronaut in the shuttle program. It’s hard work and she never got her ride .........

I think Father Brown is read for pleasure in the U.K. both by tweens and adults. Not sure if it’s seen much differently by teens than the Sidney Chambers books as both are popular tv series.......I have noticed both being read by the YA audience in general when I worked at the library. That said here is a link to the gcse exam board curriculumhttps://www.educationumbrella.com/curriculum-vital/gcse-english-literature-set-texts-for-teaching-from-2015#AQA. A school only tests one maybe two boards normally....one of these is probably scaled to be easier but I no longer know which. Quick thought on Hitchiker’s, for my Ds it was honestly the only book being talked about that he LOVED. The inappropriate comments are few and unless really conservative.........Dr. Who seems so universally super popular these days and Adams wrote for that show. I would be tempted to include it just to reach that one kid like mine......

Pretty much what I was starting to write! Not sure if my family will be willing to wait.......

@Violet Crown Thank you for the fascinating post! @tuesdayschild At the start of this reading year I decided to spell the character names as Robin posted them in her planning (which I copied to my planning 😉) and have been trying to stick with it knowing I can shortened and still play at any time. So I included Rabbi which wasn’t an issue with the stack I had going in. Next month the detective’s name is really long, John Baptiste Adamsberg, so I am planning to allow myself extra time to finish it. So I am going to go right into the spelling challenge after Rabbi David Small is done instead of waiting for the new month to officially start and perhaps i will still be reading when September starts.........

I always love to read your ComicCon posts even if you came home bookless this year.😉 Totally allowed as I dislike carrying things when I am out so probably would always come home bookless! Millennials and movies etc are so fascinating........to me the Marvel movies are entertaining and it doesn’t really seem to matter if I take the order seriously or simply sit down and watch a bit when they are being watched.......the don’t stick in my brain order wise particularly so I am good with whatever. But my kids and their friends were obsessing over backstory 😂, since some are missing backstory on the latest release they plan to go to Toy Story 4 as soon as they are all free! 😉 I haven’t watched The Expanse but wonder if we would both like it better if we read the prequel, The Butcher of Anderson Station first. I read through the episode descriptions for the first series and remember thinking that the series was apparently going back to that novella. Mozart’s Starling just went on my list........I love pet birds and find starlings particularly fascinating. Does the book talk about murmurations? We went at dusk several evenings a few years ago to watch at a local nature preserve. At first glance I thought the book was going to be about Mozart’s music somehow being connected to murmuration........going to leave the youtube big for now......

I just finished The Shadow Killer https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39208415-the-shadow-killer by Arnaldur Indridson last night and haven’t had the chance to open another book. This is the second book in the series that features Iceland during WWII and I have to admit this series fascinates me because my father sailed all over the world during WWII as a merchant marine and never mentioned docking in Iceland although after reading this book I suspect he must have...Dh might be able to figure it out as he has my dad's documents. I finished two shortish audiobooks The Shallowshttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46366104-the-shallows which was very good and The Decorator Who Knew Too Much https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34503995-the-decorator-who-knew-too-much which was fun but had a few bits that didn’t connect well. I have two letters to go in order to spell Rabbi David Small and am planning to read The Almost Sisters for my A and Death of a Hollow Man for the needed M. My audiobook Miss Julia Meets her Match by Ann Ross covers both letters so it all depends on what I finish first!😂 @Robin M Thanks for the Lucy Parker review......my library has one in the recently purchased that I have been thinking about putting a hold on. The world of Twitter, just .......oh my! eta: @Liz CA I hope you enjoy Miss Julia!

Is there a Medical Explorer’s group sponsored by the local hospital. It’s part of Boy Scouts but open equally to girls. I used to be a member and just googled and it definitely still exists. If that doesn’t work I would contact that department at the hospital.

It’s Saturday so I will post some pictures.........this week has been busy so I ended up at Brodsworth Hall (local) looking for an interesting topic for Brit Tripping as I believe I have shared photos from there in the past. When we walked into the main garden even Dh realized something was missing........when our dc’s were little we went there weekly as they have a playground and some large area to play football etc. We looked around and finally figured out the Monkey puzzles https://www.edenproject.com/learn/for-everyone/plant-profiles/monkey-puzzlehad been removed. Monkey Puzzle trees are a bit of a statement in our area. They are both expensive and believed to really show you have a green thumb. 😉. They seem to grow quite slowly as one of my friends bought a tiny one when first married and planted in a deep wheelbarrow so she could easily move it until they purchased their forever home. The needles on these trees are sharp and quite painful to run into. So the Monkey Trees at Brodsworth we’re huge! Both trees suffered from the drought last year and were looking noticeably brown in spots when the picture with Dd in the pink was taken last summer. The Monkey Puzzle is the large tree in the background. I am including one of my favorite pictures from when my kids were little in the same garden....can’t find it so I just took a picture of the one on the mantel. Surprisingly many somewhat tropical trees thrive in Yorkshire. If you look at the last two photos they have replanted with palm trees and monkey puzzles. I may end up wanting to delete some of these so please don’t copy.

The reality is most math curriculum can be self teaching to the right student if the plan is for the student to do everything and have to convince you when they just want to do odds, or skip something. My Dd ended up begging to have the number of problems reduced for one of the upper NEM courses because it was a huge number of repetitive problems. My dc’s basically self taught from 10ish by their own choice, we really didn’t factor in that they needed to self teach so we would get x curriculum..........mainly used what we knew NEM, Abeka, LoF until the MOOCs. Personally I would have him continue for a year at least with the program you both know simply because that will be the easiest way for you to offer a bit of direction when needed and do spot checks. Btw, Alek’s is a subscription based online system that is adaptive to the learner. We had it via a free trial and my kids enjoyed it, we even paid so they could run through most of the classes as a review......end of high school timeframe.

Woot! 🥳

You could check a prep book out of the library over the summer and do one practice exam before signing up. You might be really surprised at the results. I checked a number of different subjects prep books out the year prior to sitting for the exams and Dd did one out of each book casually........actually on a long boring car trip😂 so we knew which exams to plan on in terms of her knowledge already. Literature was one of the best practices. We did the Literature SAT with minimum preparation. I had the review book but Dd sandwiched it between two languages on exam day so only did one practice for timing and called it good. I believe she read through the recommended list of terms at some point. She had fun on the exam in terms of it was a good low stress palette cleanser than let her clear Latin from the brain before doing the German exam. I would sign him up and let him walk in with minimum prep as long as he is comfortable......he did great on Latin so the format and timing appears to work for your son. Back when we were preparing my searches here indicated this is the SAT subject that dc’s tend to just show up for, add on to others etc.

Another FWIW because my ruptures were L3 and L4 with significant issues from the nerve damage........the exercises are all about core stabilization for the back so I worked pretty much all the back muscles, shoulders down. There were several for my legs but those were for the nerve issues. Obviously this was years before Obama care but because of the prescription from the Dr, my insurance ended up paying so you never know.

We didn’t. Answers to exercises are in the back of the book. Dd just wrote in a notebook. I can’t remember how the online worked but it graded or gave Dd the answers.

I had a car phone in 1988.......it was dh’s and when he gave me his car I got the phone too. I intentionally used it maybe a dozen times.......his clients used to call me to get me to find my husband. I disliked that phone so much!

Just read your post and decided to comment knowing I never even considered a chiro for my back. So I totally get that I am a bit anti. That said my PT worked wonders after the surgery and my recovery went well. My ruptures were so bad I hadn’t been able to feel my legs for 3 months so lots of issues. I think you need to move on to the PT but via a knowledgeable recommendation. My PT was recommended by my Ortho and he thought about it.....I remember him going through the ones he usually used and saying that my PT location was the best one for my back......he actually didn’t use them often. I actually had a team not just one and I felt really well cared for and they made me feel safe. I was also able to buy a membership to their exercise area after my treatment was over and continue my exercises with the equipment I was familiar with.......they also kept an eye on my progress. It was great. I would skip the Chiro and go to a respected Ortho in your area and have a consultation and learn what everything on your report means for sure. Get a recommendation into a good PT for your back from the Ortho.

Another vote for Wheelocks. Lots of free or cheap resources and she should be able to go through it pretty quickly. This was DD’s favorite online resource https://web.uvic.ca/hrd/latin/wheelock/.

Sounds like fun after you finish the move at least. I know I enjoy having my kids around still. I will admit to hating moving and promised myself never again..........pretty confident it’s in my future. 😉. I hope all goes smoothly and you love your new home. I finished Friday the Rabbi Slept Late and totally loved this month’s detective. This book was one of those mysteries that just comfortably rolls along. Personally I would class it as a cozy and am wondering if @aggieamy has tried these. There are definitely more of these books in my future. I have started listening to audiobooks again and have to admit to being relieved to be able to sit without too much discomfort again. I haven’t finished any but checked a couple more out in my enthusiasm 😂 so have a couple new ideas for @Liz CA...........The Miss Julia series https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77520.Miss_Julia_Speaks_Her_Mind. I linked book one and think it’s probably foundational to really appreciate the relationship between the main characters. I have no idea about the narrator as my library just bought the audio version............I also discovered that the third book in the Nils Shapiro series was out. The first book in the series whttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31702740-gone-to-dustwas one of my best books of the year a couple of years ago because I found the murder evidence to be very clever. I listened to about half of The Shallows yesterday and am enjoying it.

My kids are all grown up so it’s been awhile. That said we used A Beka and I can’t compare beyond they are both colorful which was a requirement for my kids. Not sure that you have to go back a year if you are willing to work hard on the first 30 or so lessons which should mainly be review. We actually combined the A Beka with Singapore and my kids did both......

I was curious because of the pre existing condition and asked Dh who has been involved in the benefits field for years. He advised the biggest company you can find for the benefit package that will be the most accommodating in your situation.....Good luck on the job search.

Just wanted to send some hugs your way. While I didn’t enjoy the MRI it was worth it as I was able to go directly to surgery as physical therapy was not working. Someone told me to count minutes to make my mind be engaged. The technician would tell my how long the next set of images would take and I would lay there and count. It helped so much......it was sort of active.

I agree with you regarding Horowitz characterizing him self as far more stupid than anyone that successful should be. I actually found him irritating while reading the first part of both books. Somehow he makes me like him in the end.......maybe that explains his success. I have been listening to these books which I also think makes a difference. I am so glad you like Leviathan Wakes. 😉 I listened to most of the series too! I have one more in the series to read before I allow myself to watch the show. I actually downloaded the first season unto my iPad when I had access and am looking forward to it when Tiamat’s Wrath is completed! My library recently bought more Overdrive copies and my wait is now 3 weeks....I was months away.

I hope he moves to the top of the list quickly for the extra lessons. My dc’s still haven’t driven on the freeway right by our house because it is part of a massive construction project where exit entrances and lanes seem to change constantly. Only Dh is willing to use it on a regular basis. We actually took them about an hour away to a far safer and quieter expressway to practice on. Expressway driving was not part of the exam.

Not sure if this helps but my experience.... We hired a professional and put both dc’s through at the same time because they needed to learn and we didn’t feel up to the challenge. We still spent a lot of time in empty parking lots etc. but felt like we had direction. I had to relearn and test 10 years ago in England and that experience made me convinced at the value of a good professional instructor. I do wonder if you could schedule a scattering of professional lessons with you practicing in between. Mainly because the dc’s instructor seemed to get how my very numerical kids brains worked ( she was an accountant in a previous life) and was good about quantifying things like your speeds for maneuvers etc. in a way that I never could. Lots of experience with learners gave her answers to questions that never occurred to me.🤔 I think the instructors have to be really good at meeting the needs of the student and some at large schools have specialities of sorts........mine sort of specialized in working with widows who hadn’t driven before\ or in many years 😎😂. Yeah, I hate roundabouts but no longer fear them. I had issues and since I was an older student..... Since I was paying to bill for the dc’s we had a few minutes after each lesson where I was given a summery and what to practice on for each kid. She was good about sharing her tips and had me do some quick ride alongs to see where the issues were. I do want to add that neither kid ever showed a serious interest in learning and neither enjoys driving now......they seem to consider exhausting. But as neither of them ever wants to live in a city where public transportation is super convenient they had to learn. For now we still give generally them rides but they can drive which we are all grateful for. Also they are proud of the fact that they passed, as you said it’s an adulting skill.