Thank you all for your responses! I remember now, reading or hearing somewhere, that SWB wrote writing exercises into FLL because WWE not yet been written yet. So, if doing both, omit the writing lessons in FLL. So I'll do that and take dictation and copywork from WWE only (probably shortening the dictation a bit). I had forgotten about the possibility of doing spelling rotating lists instead of a set number of words every week - that would make doing spelling 3 times a week more successful, I think. I'm starting to get a clearer picture in my head now, thank you all. :) Any additional examples or suggestions would be appreciated!

I don't know why I can't figure this out. If you have your child/ren do all of WWE and FLL, do you have them do any writing or narrating beyond those? Right now, I have DS8 doing FLL3 3 times a week, doing copywork and dictation as included. I was trying to do narration through other subjects, but it's Not. Getting. Done. so I was considering jumping back in mid way through WWE 2 (we did some last year). I could use the WWE rotation with his lit reading to reduce the amount of time across subjects.. but I think I really need a try open-and-go resource right now (see: 1 year old) But then what about spelling? Copywork/penmanship? I started having him do "animal reports" recently too, because I felt like he wasn't doing enough writing. He'll read one page of a kids animal encyclopedia, then write 3 sentences about that animal twice a week. He's doing well with that, but I'm concerned about him learning things like how to summarize a passage or find the main point (like WWE focuses on). And we're not doing any other copywork or dictation beyond what FLL requires, and I want that to change. But when you add spelling words into the mix, I get a little jumbled as to how much work that all is. Of course spelling isnt getting done much now either... Which is why part of me wants to get a cursive workbook and just say "do 10 minutes" everyday to make sure something gets done. But then possibly do dictation and spelling on top of that? I feel like the answer is just within my reach, but can't tease out the details. Help, pretty please?

This is me too. I would also be thankful that we wouldn't need to make any large purchases to accomidate one more. I'd also change up our homeschool to a public-school-prep school cause I can hardly make it as it is.

I can't speak to sodium content, but my family loves these: https://www.fivehearthome.com/oatmeal-spice-muffins/ I just spray the muffin pans with olive oil spray and they pop out fairly clean.

I would encourage the owner to charge the customer for insufficient funds. That way people can pay how they'd like and when they're able.

80s

Remember the time when we brought a house and two days later we had lots of family from FL evacuate and they stayed in our new house AND our old apartment with our stuff still split between two places? And remember how you then had to make sure you had groceries and water for everyone because that same hurricane was supposed to though your town, but you live in GA so there's very little infrastructure against hurricanes? Oh yeah, and then the baby woke up with a fever. (I'm very thankful we're able to help our family in this way. Such a fluke that we have TWO livable homes right now.)

You're singing my song. I'd say we could depend on them sleeping most of the night between 2.5-3 years old. They might get up for a drink and need to be tucked in. DS3.5 gets up every other night or so to get a drink, but tucks himself back in. The only reason why I know he's up is because I'm nursing the 18 month old.

We bought our first 7 years ago when we were married for 2 years and DS8 was 10 months old. We just sold it this spring and are closing on our next house on Wednesday!

I also immediately thought of Mystie. Love her work.

Maybe take the vacuum outside? Then dump it into a plastic grocery bag, tie it up, and toss straight into the trash can.

The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel and others by Thornton Burgess.

Thanks for all the commiseration, guys. DH was out of town for work last week, so my MIL came to help out... she took the 3 and 1 year old out for 2 hours every morning so I could do school with the 1st and 3rd graders. It was Blissful and Everything I pictured homeschooling to be. So returning to the real world thus week of 4 children was hard. I decided to skip school this morning and wait till nap time. Of course by then, the olders were not at their best. Try again tomorrow, right? ;D

Homeschooling with a toddler suuuuuuuuuuuuucks. That is all.

I have no advice about the rent problem, but re: monthly pest control - they will come out once a month to spray and check on things but if you have problems with pests that they cover in between monthly treatments, they will come back at no additional cost. We got a bi-monthly contract with a pest control company. They did all they could to get rid of the roaches and ants their first visit. We never saw roaches again. The ants still persisted (finding other ways in) but I would call the company and they would come out the same or next day each time I called. Eventually everything got under control (2-3 months for the ants because our yard was full of them), they would come to spray bi-monthly. I was confident that if anything new came up I could call (again, at no additional cost if it was covered on the contract and have them treat it. Sorry that was so long, hopefully that info was helpful!

Banana and sweet potato! I didn't use the baby cereals. The added iron really messed them up, and most of my kids had a gluten/wheat sensitivity that they all out grew by 12 months.

I'd say yes. We replaced the ac in our old house in 2015. It was $6000+ for a 1200 sq ft, also in a low cost of living area. It is a priority for us that whatever house we buy next to have a newish AC ad roof since we just replaced both in our old house.

Yeah, I've been either pregnant or nursing for the past 9 years. In that time I've had exactly 4 periods (2 of those these past 2 months). I guess it's a good problem to have!

I have Ovuview on my Android phone. It lets you pick and choose your observation inputs. But I've only every used it to track my periods since my other symptoms mean NOTHING while I'm breastfeeding. So I don't know how well it predicts phases with only some inputs.

I don't think the book itself is too hard to implement. I DO think it's hard to implement for moms with lots of kids. I would do something similar to what you have described except I have a toddler who now knows how to climb onto the table and only takes one nap a day. That said, I don't get much else done right now either. :\

My kids use the top drawer of their dresser for their "things". When it gets full, it gets cleaned out (with my help). By the time it gets to that point, many of the things that were special enough to save are no longer desired. Each child also has a 2-pocket, 3-prong folder to keep drawings in. Same with the drawer, once the folder fills up, it gets cleaned out. We also have a 6 ft long bookcase/toy shelf in my sons' room. They're allowed to keep what ever they want on top of it, be it lego creations, large projects, crafts from church, etc. But again, once it fills up and there's no space for the new thing they want to save, it gets clean out. (Yes, the shelf looks a disaster most of the time, but it's in a specific space that the kids have ownership of, which I think is important.) My kids have always had a good attitude about this. I don't know why exactly, but both DH and I are anti-clutter and the kids often see us cleaning up/cleaning out our own storage spots. HTH!

Charge a release fee? Did you already say you'd do it?

Yep. I loved doing Vol 1 with DS and DD. But I have too many kids now to keep inventing lesson plans. Makes me sad too.

And if your okay with her using pencils, get a workbook from the dollar store for her to scribble in while in a high chair.

How old are the kids? Right now my kids are 8, 5, 3, and 1 years old. I've homeschooled from the start, so I've always had at least one tag-along baby the entire time. My strategy is to divide out what can be done when baby is awake and what must be done when baby is asleep. I also do some work with the bigs while the 3 and 1 year old have a snack. We're all at the table togethet, but the 1 year old is in his high chair eating. I also currently have the benefit of one big playing with the baby while I work with the other big.