Yes, free! All the reading assignments are on the web. I believe there are usually multiple options for each section. My kids have found Saylor really useful.

My Dd needed proof also and did the C++ at Saylor. You receive a free certificate. I think you may be able to pay for a ptoctured final and receive ACE credit. https://learn.saylor.org/course/index.php?categoryid=9

Ds never showed any interest until 9 months and then he wanted everything and fed himself. It was actually really easy because he went right to soft foods....as in mushed with a fork. He first reached for the pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving and still loves pretty much anything pumpkin. I’ll be honest and say I skipped the slow introduction for allergies because he never reacted to anything I ate in breast milk and Dd had reacted to the same foods in breast milk as in solids.

When I read your post I thought green would be nice. Not sure what style the mailbox is but I like the shade of green on this metal mail box. https://www.jossandmain.com/One-Allium-Way--Lacordaire-Wall-Mounted-Mailbox-W000774980-L565-K~J000124600.html?refid=GX266174033404-1413317644_337LB&device=t&ptid=555134635587&targetid=pla-555134635587&network=g&ireid=28294181&PiID[]=226489237&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIr53V5uKY4gIVoxx9Ch1QjAAaEAQYCyABEgJ33fD_BwE If your house number isn’t right by the mailbox you need the number on it.

We tend to book at the very last moment because Dh likes to watch the weather before we commit which is strange. Everything must align at our house! So in my world your reasons are totally valid.

I was thinking a treat after you get home for good car behavior. We used to just forbid talking for the rest of the trip when the bicker twins started at it.....bring books if you plan to bicker!😂. For the record our drive to church was almost 2 hours for years........

Regarding the gut issues.......the program I volunteered for had frequent Saturday lunch lectures for the moms who worked for them. This was 19 years ago, so no notes, but we had a specialist on gut issues in infants speaking and what I took away was how important waiting to introduce any sort of solid was. Full term baby’s gut was probably developmentally ready at five months which was the standard recommendation at that time. When my nieces (40ish, 2 out of 3 with gut issues) were little the recommendation was three months which the specialist was very clear was not old enough for solids in most. My mom gave me baby cereal as soon as she could and was thrilled to be able to buy proper formula. And yes, I have some gut issues, so does hubby whose mom also fed cereal ASAP. The specialist did advocate BF in general. At that time I wondered if it was because in meant you wouldn’t feed your baby that magic formula with just a bit of cereal mixed in so your baby sleeps.......I know everyone told me that I was totally missing out. It was the big mom tip among my friends. Hubby actually came home from a client meeting carrying a can of the “magic” formula that he wondered if we should try just once. No!!!!! At the time I listened to this lecture my preemie Ds hadn’t started solids yet and I held off as long as I could (til 9 months) just to be safe with the full support of my pediatrician. My supply was huge so it wasn’t a big deal except in terms of sleep for me. I have no idea what research on this topic recommends currently but it is something your daughters should look into when they are preparing to feed their babies.

Last week I read all of the Machiavelli links that Robin provided and decided to go ahead and read or listen to The Prince. Now you have me wondering if I should read the Michael Scott series which my daughter loved. She has always wanted me to read it and for some unknown reason I never got around to it. I need a Machiavelli for my Bingo square. So thank you 😉..........you probably have made my Dd very happy.

I used to love Danielle Steel back in my teens and twenties. I remember buying several one summer and binge reading. This was one I remember liking https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59887.The_Promise. I always pictured her heroines looking like ballerinas with a tragic past. Glamorous, and San Fran was frequently a location. Injured, secretive hero. I used to really like Sidney Sheldon too, and I may have them intertwined. I read the post and have to say I thought she was much older. I probably read most of her books until I had kids but gave up because they are very similar. Glad you enjoyed it......I binge read the whole series! This week I have been busy abandoning books......I gave up on both Gingerbread and Girl with a Dragon Tattoo. I was avoiding reading because of them. Still listening to The Expanse which is still entertaining me. I am working on Thea Harrison’s Spellbinderhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33980043-spellbinder and I have actually started the second Peter Zak book.

Sending prayers and selling thoughts.........I hate selling houses while living in them!

Hugs, I still don’t believe your children’s problems are related to your decision to BF, the odds are just too remote. I have to agree that there must be varying degrees in quality etc and the potential for chemical contamination. That potential exists for formula too in part because most of it comes from mammals. I hold a firm belief that quality control is not perfect ever because every single bit cannot be tested. Recalls happen.....problems like this existhttps://www.foodsafetynews.com/2016/04/125714/ for example. Totally agree.

I think your family is an argument for genetics! 😉 ETA. I personally think I can see the trend in some children where I happen to know the breast verses bottle. My Ds was an incredibly fat baby until toddlerhood. My fil used to beg me to diet him as he glared at my breasts! 😂Ds slimmed right down and has stayed that way......my niece on the other hand was also a fat baby(bottle fed ) has struggled with her weight since age five.....in her thirties now. My son got his off button firmly in place and she has no idea where off is naturally. Lots of other observed examples.......I believe this is a potential side benefit not a guarantee! 😉

It is my understanding that the “less likely” is tied more with the act of nursing and the infant being able to eat at a more leisurely pace, control the intake, to stop when full. Breasts naturally feed the nutrition rich fore milk first and somewhat quickly, the hind milk comes slower so babies work a bit more and is less satisfying. The child learns from the start what full is and the tenancy to overeat does not really follow them to adulthood. With bottles it is possible to consume a huge amount very quickly in comparison and that is thought to actually promote overeating throughout life.

You did exactly what I would have advised when I was working with my moms. You did a great job pumping for 6 months. While all moms may not want to BF, many who do want to BF lack the support they need to make it through the first couple of weeks. I feel deeply for those women and haven’t lost my desire to help. While I don’t walk through the mall soliciting new moms I have on occasion offered my phone number to a few pregnant woman to whom my connection is pretty marginal (normally via church and home ed groups) in case they need support after the baby arrives. I still receive an occasional call but did go into forced retirement when we moved to England....nothing similar to the program I worked with exists there. I suspect I am also being seen as passing judgement but imo one of the great wonders of BF is that mom is making the food for the baby that grew within her body. Mom can adjust the contents of her milk in a way that appears to me to be easier on an allergic baby then running the gauntlet of formulas to sometimes land on one where the cost is huge. I have heard of cases where dilution because of cost occurs. I have helped a lot of gals go through the allergy lists and referred them to others in my program. We always solved it.

No! Just plain no!!! Your children’s special needs are not your fault. Please don’t ever think that. Sending hugs and prayers...... A bit of trivia that goes against everything we were taught and believe......in a rural part of the Midwest breast feeding moms in the 1960’s were actually given beer to bring in their milk supplies......very large glasses of beer per my friend delivered right to her hospital bed. I think she was there for 10 days. She didn’t normally drink alcohol and had the nurses after her to drink it all. I would never advise alcohol (and neither would she) but it was obviously custom. Friend’s children and grandchildren are heathy btw. She was cracking up at my no water bottles, no nuts (Dd got a rash), no alcohol, no several other things.....I was obsessed.

I have a whole lot of thoughts on breast feeding and am not sure that I can organize them into a post. I spent almost a decade working as a volunteer for a large hospital’s outreach to all new parents, the parents signed up to be contacted btw. Because I had BF , had done the training for .......and was willing, my calls were directed to those moms who had checked the box on our form that they planned to BF. My purpose was basically to make any decision re BF postpartum comfortable for the mom and to attempt to verify both baby and mom were doing well. I worked with hundreds of moms over the years and truly do not consider myself to be a BF nazi. I would use whatever program resources I had available to help moms and babies in many different circumstances. I helped a lot of moms......some breast fed and some didn’t, I didn’t drop a mom who wanted to continue contact ever........btw we all admitted it may hurt at first, part of the reason we got in touch early was to make sure mom knew about safe creams and to help with supply issues. Regarding the cost of pumping supplies........BF did not come easy for me. I went in to the decision expecting to pump and feed. Before opening the box the accountant in me ran the numbers and by starting to pump as opposed to buying formula I was committing to roughly 18 weeks of milk coming from me to break even.......I simply was going off the cost of the pump and the cost of formula. I had called a friend who pumped and bottle fed to get ounce information for number of ounces a day as the baby grew.😂 We actually did convert to breast after a couple of weeks and the pump still got a lot of use over the years. Medical considerations......I have taken Synthoid since I was 21. I had a whole lot of concerns that I voiced with many medical professionals over rather my breast milk would be safe for my baby.....I had never expected to BF because of the Synthroid. Along the way a female ob ( I was high risk so many doctors) pulled out her research because she had had that same concern for her own baby.......converted me. Another respected doctor regarding my severe endometriosis reminded me when he stopped to see my baby in the hospital how great breast feeding would be in terms of preserving my fertility .......I had been considering pumping and dumping for months before the other doctor convinced me to let my baby have my milk. Personally no regrets....... Breast feeding isn’t right for every mother and baby but I firmly believe that the baby benefits hugely from even a few days of the experience. The skin on skin, the colostrum ......... Going to be honest and say my first few weeks with bottles was so much work that I loved the ease of being able to just feed my baby with no special prep. Yes, I had to be the one but most of the time it was going to be me anyway.

I am so sorry. Sending hugs and prayers.

I would be happy to participate with pretty much any of those choices, including the modern classics (fun ideas Robin). I sort of hate to pick a couple out somewhat randomly and perhaps pick something that prevents someone else from joining in. I think we need the people who would like to participate but have serious preferences to narrow things down a bit for the rest of us. So please speak up guys! 😉 I am still lost in my audiobook listen of The Expanse. I have to say the series is really good and I find the story development fascinating because the author has managed to keep major events down to perhaps a dozen characters so the main story is incredibly easy to follow. I am getting near the end and will be sad to finish! In other reading I have been trying to read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo but can’t seem to like it. It doesn’t strike me as my typical Nordic Noir. I am not far, less than 50 pages, and am wondering if I should continue..........Somewhat irritated because this was one of the planned books for this year!

Junie, Sending hugs and prayers to you and your family.

First, I finished my very first Peter Zak mystery Amnesia https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/415186.Amnesiawhich had an excellent ending. Like most mystery readers I have read my fair share of books that centered around a victim who has amnesia with this being the first in memory with the psychiatrist as the detective. Bingo .......medical thriller btw. Interesting info about memory which I have to assume is accurate since one of the authors is a psychiatrist who teaches at Harvard. I stopped at the library and picked up a couple more in this series this morning. I am also going to admit to reading a fluffy romance or chic lit with an embarrassing title because it was pretty good. This is a genre I am trying to find my way back to, for most of my life my mom handed me Harlequins she had enjoyed and I need to find my own now and think maybe I want them to be a bit different then her Harlequins. Knocked Up Cinderella https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41392889-knocked-up-cinderella put a modern spin on the Harlequin Romances I grew up reading.......a 40 yo principal has an one night stand with an ad executive and finds herself pregnant......so no 19 yo secretary with a Greek Tycoon. Some swearing (but not nearly as much as many of the modern romances I have been trying to read) and adult content but it had older characters who used Lyft and watched Killing Eve. This book is by an indie publisher and I plan to look for more by that publisher as this was about the level I like to keep on my kindle for light, middle of the night and a couple of pages when I have to wait someplace. I totally think the title could be better but the story was pretty good. 😉

Regarding just plain mean teachers, my childhood neighbor also found herself mentoring another person from our growing up elementary school. We had all been treated to frequent public ridicule by the same fourth grade teacher and Mrs. X was one of the many reasons why we all had decided on homeschooling. We all sat in that teacher’s classroom different years......apparently she needed a couple of punching bags each year. Oddly she was considered wonderful by all her contemporaries, as in award winning.

Thank you! 😀

Great improvement and an interesting experience so far, thanks for the update. I have never heard real scores from kids educated in the English GCSE type government system so have no idea how they would really do in the SAT language section. I wouldn’t be surprised if the results weren’t similar. The couple that I have heard the study results from have had private educations.......lots of foreign language which might help the grammar. Out of curiosity what is your students foreign language background? We never actually took the SAT because we needed the test dates for the subject exams and the ACT went well first time out. I believe Kahn will have the largest online question bank but no real experience. FWIW, We managed to accumulate a pretty large stack of old test prep books off the used market in England.....many were under £5 with postage. No idea how many are floating around your part of the world but it’s an easy way to get the practice exams.

Hugs! I hope he stays healthy.

@Quill sending hugs today.