How do you all usually pay for curriculum? For large, planned expenses (which I consider homeschooling to be), we usually make a total estimate, then divide that by the number of months we have to save for it. My son is only 4, so we're not saving a ton every month, but I'd like to have a majority of our curriculum money saved up before I need to purchase it next year. (Which also means I need to figure out what I want to use soon! So weird!) So! Just curious what y'all do. :) Edited to complete post, stupid iPod.

I'll take that as a "no"? ;)

Does anyone have any experience with Affinity Cellular from AAA? It's a members only discount cell phone program that DH and I are looking into. We currently have the LOWEST plan with Verizon and don't even use half of our minutes. Switching would save us about half our monthly bill. We only use our phones for making calls and occasional texting (10ish texts a month). Nothing against Verizon. We just hate paying for minutes we don't use. ETA: I have searched for reviews, but there aren't many. And the company hasn't paid for BBB accreditation.

I had a 2pm wedding. I'm pretty sure I had no idea what any of the guests we wearing. Well, scratch that, one of my college friends had jeans on which I thought was odd since it was a church wedding. I think dressy pants are completely appropriate.

FWB is not as bad as this description. I grew up in Niceville about 20 min from FWB, and the military presence makes for a much more stable community and economy. The rest of the panhandle is indeed full of rednecks though we call them boggies. :) The area is sometimes referred to as Boggy Bayou. I prefer the term Emerald Coast.

As a former OMer, I'd like to point out that it does have some adult direction. Yes, the end result is entirely up to the kids, but the adult can still supervise and teach. For example, when I was in 7th grade, we needed to make costumes for our OM skit. My friend's mom could not sew them for us, but she taught me how to use a sewing machine and I took it from there. No advice on your actual problem, sorry.

I heart YNAB!!

Ditto. As for background, both my mom and his mom were SAHMs and did the bill paying. And I enjoy a bit of math now and then. So while I do the bills, he's in charge of our retirement accounts, though I can look them up whenever I want to since we have online access. We also have pretty traditional husband/wife roles otherwise.

My dad got both my sister and I pearls for our 16 birthdays. We both loved them! (Of course, my sis and I are 11 years apart, so we didn't have the OP's issue.)

When my babies were more than about 4 mo, I took them to the car to nurse because they would otherwise be too distracted to get a good meal. Same thing with using a cover - it helped the "oh what's that shiny thing" baby to focus. The distractability also applies to my toddlers. They'd rather be going down the slide at the park than nursing at the park. I do understand your desire for breast feeding to be normalized RIGHT NOW, and starting with your own family is an appropriate place to start. But I also see the other commenters' POV that it's ultimately up to the mom and what she's capable of/comfortable with. I will bf in public without hesitating, but I do cover myself with my clothing because I tend to be on the modest side.

Agreed. My 21 mo is way too into whatever it is that we're doing when outside the house to care about nursing. But she nurses all the time at home, and DS4 sees ALL of it. Lol!

This is what I've just started doing with DS4. Most of our materials are open and go, but sometimes there is a review game I'd like to do. So I write a short lesson plan on a sticky note and put it in that book. Then I record what we did on an Excel spreadsheet. I'm really glad I thought of using Excel since it doesn't cost anything and I seem to get excited about paper notebooks/planners (even for myself) but then never use them... :)

If you go to the Peace Hill Press site and look up the first book of WWE, it has a sample that includes the introduction that explains the copywork+narration>>writing process very well. ETA link: http://peacehillpress.com/media/downloads/pdfsamples/wwesample.pdf

I have a light completion with dirty blonde hair/eyebrows and I too would suggest a black-brown mascara. My lashes look so fake when I use black. In addition to mascara, I usually put in a tinted lip gloss. If I wear lipstick, I have to put on some foundation too as the darker color brings out the red splotches in my face. Now I just need someone to show me how to color in my eyebrows. :)

We're doing a K4 year, so obviously it will be child-paced. All my stuff is open and go, so I will not make a detailed plan to stick to. Though, the mathy person in me will probably make some sort of estimate just to seem more schooly. :) I do plan on having a routine schedule, though.

It would be up to the bride (or main wedding planner) to schedule the rehearsal itself, then the rehearsal dinner would be after. So, the OP asking for a date is appropriate. To OP, I'm so sorry. I have no clue how this could have happened unintentionally. I'd try to push your feelings aside for the next 24 hours and enjoy your son's wedding day! There's plenty of time to hash this out later.

I was a scab-picker. When I was about 8, I was at my best friend's house. Her mother kept telling me to quit just as my own had. One time my friend's dad was home. He showed me a scar he had on his ankle and said that if I kept scratching, I would have scars like that wherever I had scratched. I don't know that I stopped completely, but he obviously left an impression on me. Thinking on it now, I don't believe his scar was from childhood insect bites. :)

IMO, if you're so concerned about people might wear when swimming, don't invite them over.

Just read it and loved it! Couldn't put it down. Never read Twilight.

This is what my MIL says, and she's a clean freak.

Planning an impulsive day trip to Savannah tomorrow. Not sure we'll go, but the prospect is exciting.

Just a thought, as I have no experience with this at all. I agree that discussion is a form of output and a way to gauge your DD's knowledge. If you don't always have the time to discuss things to her satisfaction, perhaps consider having her record her thoughts on the computer if you have a microphone. Or have her answer the worksheet/ discussion questions out loud in the same way.

I just found out that our library system owns a dozen or so kayaks and canoes that they store and rent out at a local state park.

This site has a DIY undated planner, and I know Donna Young has blank pages also. http://newbeehomeschooler.com Beyond that, I don't know where you would find a planner with alternate weeks. You might just have to write in the dates for what you want your week to be.

I've had two different OBs tell me that nursing while pregnant is fine. I did ask one of them specifically about miscarriage, and he looked at me like I was crazy, recovered, then said he had never read any articles even considering a coorelation.