I've been thinking about this more and it would make sense for me to list our realtor information instead of my information. That would help me feel better about this.

We are moving and are interested in purchasing a house in a certain neighborhood. Right now there are zero houses for sale in that neighborhood and I'm feeling a little discouraged. A friend of mine said that she once passed out flyers in a neighborhood they wanted to buy and was able to successfully find a house this way. I'm getting a little desperate and I'm thinking of doing this. Has anyone ever done this? Would I list my phone number? Email? Would I knock on doors and just talk to people? The neighborhood isn't particularly large and it is in a relatively small town with friendly and neighborly people. Any advice? Is this totally weird?

My two older are jealous that their little brother (now age 4) will get to do level 2. They will anxiously wait for the release to read themselves, though. We have also speculated on what the color will be. My vote is on pink!

Just a perspective from a person hunting for a house right now.... I've noticed that some people have done recent updates but I just don't like them. The color is wrong, the tile is weird, the cabinets are ugly, the granite counter tops color/pattern is wrong, etc. Even reading through this thread there are several opinions about what needs to be replaced and what doesn't. I say give it a good cleaning and declutter and then let it go! I wouldn't waste money on it. Those pictures look good enough to me.

Was the test unusually easy this year? My kids both scored way higher than usual. Is it the test? Or is it their way awesome teacher? ;)

Ear plugs. All of my babies were so colicky no matter what I did that I just had to get used to screaming. I wished I had learned the ear plug trick before my 3rd kid.

My DD8 just finished SM5 and is almost finished with Beast 4. I'm going to continue through Beast 5 and start her in AOPS PreA some time this fall. I already purchased the AOPS book and looking at it I feel that we will be fine to start right away. I'm like dmmetler in that I feel nervous about starting too early. In reality probably the only thing holding DD back is me! This thread is helping me to feel more confident in moving along. The main reason I want to move along is that DD is getting tired of doing basic arithmetic. She is anxious to start into algebra. I did buy the exponent Key to Algebra book and she is loving it. I think we will be fine to move on. Good luck in your choice.

We've been doing the Beast + Singapore combo and love it. I plan to skip Singapore 6. We may get lucky and finish the Beast grade 5 books. If 5C and D aren't out in time, I plan to start in on AOPS PreAlgebra. I'm not too worried about the transition for my particular kids.

Thanks for the replies. I tried starting a free chess club this year for kids to meet up and play chess twice a month at our local library. There was a lot of initial excitement but things died down rather quickly. I imagine this would be the same. I hoped that if parents had made a financial commitment that they would feel more obligated to participate but we'll see. Thanks for your experience dmmetler.

I would love to sign my DD up for MOEMS next year but there are no homeschool teams in our area. I wouldn't mind starting a group myself I just don't know how to deal with the financial part of it. I would be responsible for the initial fee which is $99-$109 dollars per team as well as providing copies of all the practice tests and any other supplies. It will also take time and preparation for me to put together activities for a weekly math meeting as well as host the meetings. It seems like a lot of work for a volunteer coach. When I taught math many years ago, I coached the MATHCOUNTS team at our school but I was paid for my extra hour of work a week. For those who have joined a MOEMS team, did you have to pay to participate? Would it be unreasonable for me to charge above what would be required to cover the basic team entry fee? Has anyone ever hosted a team themselves? Any other advice for me as I consider this idea?

If the extra practice isn't needed then skip it. We do. It gets a little tedious. I like Crimson Wife's idea of doing it a semester behind.

We are on our 4th year of the cycle and we did OT, NT, BoM, D&C. I just read 1 chapter a day from the reader maybe 3 times a week. We usually get through it twice in a year. For the Book of Mormon last year, my DD was old enough and ready to read the full book independently so I had her on a schedule to finish it by the end of the year. I read the BoM reader with DS. I haven't found it to be too much work to plan at this point. I'm not doing intensive study, though, and my kids are still young. I also choose memory work scriptures from the book we are studying that year and I get most of them from scripture mastery. I usually choose about 5-8 scriptures per year. We do family scripture study separately.

Good advice. It is hard for me to be patient and take things one day a time.

Wow! We are lucky that 5D will be released close to when we will need it so I think we will be able to finish the series before moving on to AOPS PreAlgebra. (Assuming they are published on schedule.)

Thank you dmmetler and Gil for you thoughts and input. I know that DD is ready to move on from SM. I think Key to Algebra will be a good fit, especially after reading dmmetler's comments. Her experience describes my daughter exactly. DS is another question. He doesn't have the "burnout" that DD has with SM. I think I would strongly consider putting him in SM6 but it is really hard to do that when his big sister has an algebra book. Still not sure what to do with him.

DD8 is doing SM 5B standards edition. She is also in book 4A of Beast Academy. I expect to finish up SM around May. Beast I'm not so sure how fast it will go. The plan is to continue on with Beast 5. I know I want to finish Beast before starting with AOPS Pre-Algebra. I'm beginning to think that I would like to do a little something more before AOPS. Key to Algebra seems like a basic and simple algebra course that DD would love. She would work on it along with BA5. Has anyone used this program with a younger child? Would this work as a pre-pre-algebra course? Any other pre AOPS PreAlgebra recommendations? DD has all the basic concepts of arithmetic down so I'm not sure I want to do SM6. I used to teach pre-algebra and algebra and I think a student at her level would have done just fine in my pre-algebra class. I'm a little nervous about the jump to AOPS pre-algebra, though. Any words of advice? I know it sounds nuts but DS6 is only 50 pages or so behind DD8 in both SM and BA. He works completely independently and usually gets about 90% (or more) of the problems correct. In many ways his math understanding is deeper than hers. I'm even more nervous about jumping to AOPS with him because he is so immature but I know it is inevitable. He needs a rigorous course. No clue what to do with this kid. Again, any advice would be great. By the way, we have tons of other math supplements: CWP, Life of Fred, Zaccarro, etc. I'm actually ready to start paring down and just focus on AOPS in the next year or two if possible.

BTDT. The struggle is real. Good news, sounds like you are doing just fine. As they get a little older you'll see that you have caused no damage. My kids finally came out of their shells when they learned to read at age 3. It made the world come alive for them. It was awesome for me to see that transformation. Why would I take that away from them?

Yes, the numbers can be used more than once on the magic square. It is the easiest section of the test IMO. On the mental math section, they can look at the problem on the page but can't make any mark of any kind anywhere on the paper except the final answer on the answer line.

Yes, the test is broken into three parts, 15 minutes each, so they get a little break in between. Not too painful.

Our center had about 10 kids in each grade and DD won a medal. The atmosphere was fun and lighthearted and the kids seemed to enjoy themselves. The practice tests on the website are exactly like the real exam. http://www.mathnasiumtrimathlon.com/practice-tests

It looks like the TriMathlon will be held on October 17th this year and you can sign up now. My DD enjoyed doing this last year and DS is excited to participate this year, too! http://www.mathnasiumtrimathlon.com/

I received an email from Scripps today with more details for anyone who is interested: Thank you for your interest. Although (your city) does not currently have an official Bee-authorized sponsor, you may still enroll your home school in the Bee at www.spellingbee.com. · If you enroll a home school association/group/co-op on or before October 15, 2015, the cost is $136 per association/group/co-op. · If you enroll an individual home school family on or before October 15, 2015, the cost is $94 per individual home school family. A Bee-authorized sponsor is a business, community organization, college or university that signs a contract with our office agreeing to coordinate and pay for a spelling bee program for all schools within an area (a city, county or group of counties). The responsibilities of an official sponsor include: Organizing a final local spelling bee for the entire sponsored area Serving as the principal spelling bee contact for schools within the sponsored area Recruiting a pronouncer, judges, officials and other volunteers for the final local spelling bee Securing a venue for the final local spelling bee Paying for (and making the arrangements for) the local champion’s trip to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in National Harbor, Maryland Paying an annual sponsorship fee If no Scripps National Spelling Bee-authorized sponsor’s program is in place in your community by December 4, 2015, and your home school is enrolled, our office will email you details regarding the application process for sponsoring your home school champion’s participation in the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee in National Harbor, Maryland. The cost of school self-sponsorship for 2016 is $3,450.

Thanks for your help!

We are in Michigan. According to the website we don't have a sponsor. I know we have had a sponsor in the past because one of the children in the documentary "Spellbound" was from our county.

I have hunted the website and I don't see a phone number. I emailed them with the questions I have but I would much rather talk to a person on the phone. Can anyone help me find it?