I posted this on Facebook too, in case you see it twice. Help with 6th grader, please! We've used MM for his entire math career and he's done well with it in the past - not always stellar, but decent. He just took the 6th grade final test and scored 73% (passing is 80%). There are of course some sections he did better in, but there are still only 2 sections he scored 90%+. So he failed 6 topics on the test. My plan was to finish out the school year with 7a, then next school year do VideoText which has a pre-algebra element as it's first module, so he would double up on some topics. Would that be enough review and reinforcement for the topics he's weak on? I feel like he did well on the daily assignments for 6th grade, but the test shows me he hasn't retained much. Or do I go back and explicitly work on the weak topics using what I have (light blue texts) or some other resource? Thank you for your help!

Take everything you just said, write it in a beautiful card, and send it to her.

We've never discussed it, but now DH helps the kids wrap the presents that are from them, including for my and my son's December birthdays. Then I'm mostly in charge of gifts from DH and me to the kids and extended family. We usually have a "wrapping party" together the last few days before Christmas to do the Santa gifts.

I've listened to different ones at different times including Scole Sisters, the Mason Jar, Pam Barnhill's stuff, Ask Andrew from CIRCE, and Memoria Press has one that just started but I haven't listened at all.

Thank you all again for your help! Mom is doing well and resting. For better for worse, I'm allowed to come and go freely so I was able to wait in my car during the surgery and recovery instead of in the waiting room (the weather here is perfect for waiting outside, sorry not sorry). There's a cafeteria with limited hours and all vending is closed, so I'm glad I can go out to get food or coffee when I want to.

The Tending List is a wonderful habit to lay out your goals into manageable steps and is easily DIY. Another major part of the planner is the Prep Work in the whole front section of the book. It has guided questions, journal prompts, and reflections to help you figure what really matters to you and what legacy you want to leave - which will help with goal creation and motivation. So if you're pretty solid on your goals, you maybe don't need the Prep Work. I do/did find it valuable to me. I did my first set of Prep Work in July 2020 and, despite all the new year excitement , I do not feel I need a brand new set of goals for 2021 since my long and short term goals haven't changed yet. So I'll be doing my lists DIY until I think I need some new prep work. There is also a 6 month version that is slightly cheaper - I dont know if those will also go on sale or not. The Prep Work is identical, but there are only planning and tracking pages for 6 months Undated (in which each "month" has tracking for 5 weeks, so you can stretch that to 30 weeks if you don't care about sticking to a hard month). There are also the Quarter Refresh pages inserted every 3 months to make sure your goals are still working for you and gives you a chance to reevaluate your next steps. I think that's easily DIY too, but it is nice to have laid out for you on paper. So, I did find it valuable to get that first set of Powersheets, but I don't think you need a new one every year, depending on life changes. There are also a TON of YouTube videos that flip through each page if you haven't found those already. I think Plan with Laken does a good thorough yet not super long video review. Hope that helps!

Thank you all for your help! I'm definitely adding some more to my list.

Hello, all! I'm coming out of lurkdom with a question. My mom is having surgery next week and I will be taking "charge" of her. It's neck surgery and she'll be in the hospital for 1-2 nights assuming all goes well. The hospital requested that I stay in the room with her so my question is... what do I bring for myself, for her, and in light of COVID? I've only stayed in a hospital postpartum and have never been there as the "helper" person. I normally use a cloth, reusable mask, but I'm gonna try to pick up some N95s to wear while at the hospital. So far I have a change of clothes or two, snacks, waterbottle?, basic toiletries, phone and charger, notebook and pen, book to read, pillow, blanket?, and hand sanitizer. Thanks for your help!

Is Germany off the Mad Cow disease list? I was born and lived there for 2 years as an American citizen in the 80s, but I just looked through the Red Cross list and it doesn't say anything about Germany anymore.

Maybe 1 box a month, on average? We keep a box in each of our two bathrooms, and one in each of our two cars - but those are rarely used. I also have a stash of lotion tissues for when someone is sick and using a bunch in a day.

I've heard of Andrew Pudewa's lecture on Teaching Boys Who Would Rather Be Building Forts and wanted to listen to it. So I searched for it and there are audios and podcasts and books and videos and and. So, which one of these is the "real" one? Or the original one? Or your favorite one?

The Peanuts Movie Christopher Robin, assuming yall have a Pooh Bear background

Chicken, potatoes, and carrots in a slow cooker, but put the slow cooker IN THE GARAGE (or on a porch) to keep the heat out.

In my family, rooms didn't change until we launched after college.

I'm using MS for 1st grade this year too! I'm not adding anything, and I think it's complete. I've used it off and on with my older kids, and we all love the videos and activities.

I don't FEEL nervous anymore, not like I did in March. I think overtime I figured out a routine for shopping, brining things into the house, and all that became normal. And while I still don't FEEL nervous, my DH and coworkers are working from home again after having gone back to the office, and we're pulling our kids out of the activities that had started up again (here in GA).

We did this 3 years ago and lived in an apartment in between houses. It was more physical work, but we could sell our house, then take our time finding a house we WANTED to buy instead of HAD to buy. We were in the apartment 3ish months and paid extra to get out of the contract, but we knew that might happen, moneywise.

My daughter was thinking about potential Halloween costumes the other day. "IF there is a Halloween," she said. Then she asked if I could just buy the candy anyway. 🙂

There's a lot of people in need right now. Ask her to pick a charity to donate to.

I use mostly Memoria Press and also Mater Amabilis for their religion and their book lists if I feel I want something different.

I used FLL with my kids. DS10 finished level 4 last year and DD8 is almost done with level 3. They also just finished Latina Christiana together. I'm glad they had FLL first, then Latin. FLL is both thorough and gentle. I feel the MP "Latin to learn grammar" teaches on a need to know basis only. I have First Form with EGR 2 lined up for next year, and after flipping through it all, I feel like both will be easier and make more sense having done FLL. FWIW, I attempted Grammar for the Well Trained Mind with DS10 this year, but dropped it. Too much too fast. I look forward to trying FFL with EGR2.

Help! Starting with which Playlist? They don't look very ordered to me. 🤔

Have you looked into VideoText? You can sample their classes as a guest, and they have a 30 day money back guarantee. The teacher is very engaging.

Disney+ 2 Kindle Paperwhites Monitor for DH's work laptop, now that he's home

I've been using USPS Click n Ship for a long time now. Yes, I use my kitchen scale to measure. I've never had anything sent back. You do the shipping label first, then request pick up as a separate "transaction". You can tell the postal worker if the box is in the mail box or front porch (or other place). They just pick it up! Saves me a lot of time.