Nuts and dried fruits travel well, are cheap (by comparison) and are good. Sometimes you can get walnut or almond meal. My favorite use for this is as a "breading", but I also add it to oatmeal and baked goods. My favorite nut butters are the cashew-macadamia and the straight cashew butters. I think they may be in glass jars, so he may want to skip them or hand carry them. Another thing to hand carry this season is CHOCOLATE! It's not Godiva, but they have huge bars for baking, chocolate covered this and that and my favorite, chocolate raspberry or orange sticks. TJ's also has sugar free chocolate bars in both dark and milk chocolate. They have good pastas, but there's only one I'd consider worth your dh's luggage space -- organic Sprouted wheat Pappardelle Pasta. It's actually a noodle and is great for chicken ad noodles. It holds up under longer cooking times tha other noodles. My dh hates overcooked noodles. If any one in your family has gluten allergies, TJ's carries rice pasta. Now if he travels back in Dec, TJ's carries some of my favorite German Christmas treats :D

My ds's Montessori school had cards with pictures of the animal on one side and details on the other. The student was to sort the animal into mammal, amphibean etc. I don't know why you could't do something similar at home. Maybe you wouldn't have the animal details on the back side, but your dc could look up the info before sorting.

For my ds when he was younger? Shorts and short sleeved polo shirts with sneakers. Only if there was snow on the ground would he add gloves. If I yelled enough, he'd add a windbreaker or a winter coat. For most people and your older dc, long pants, long sleeves, gloves and a cheap, water and wind resistant winter jacket. Get rain boots instead of snow boots and wear warm socks. If your dc play in windy areas, you might want to layer more or have wind and water resistant overpants. If there is snow on the ground, run the kids inside frequently to change into dry clothes. Unless you're away from home or skiing, you won't need much more. I used to buy warm, heavy clothes for ds, and it was a waste of money. But for your 1 year old, I'd spend the money for warm clothes. BTW, how YOU react to the cold is no indication of how your dc will. We have a neighbor from the deep south who never could adapt. She'd keep her dc inside because she was cold, even though I'd be comfortable in a winter jacket, long pants and a bare head.

Try tossing your vegetables in a seasoned olive oil (good) or just spraying with olive oil before roasting them. You're using a better fat for you in small amounts and the vegetables are GOOD! You can also saute your vegetables (at least onions) over low heat using no or very little fat. I like salads and some soups, too. And you can control the amounts and types of fats when you make them. My favorite is a broccoli-cauliflower salad followed by a carrot salad dressed in a tomato soup-based dressing. Pasta salads and hot pasta dishes are also good ways to slide in vegetables. For green beans, do this if you have access to "shell outs", older, almost mature green beans. Cook them forever with ham or bacon. You can do this with less mature beans, but you lose the good meaty flavor. A crock pot is good.

Have you considered renting a self contained RV and hanging out at a national or state park? CA has some nice state campgrounds that overlook the ocean. And I love watching the stars at the national parks further inland. If you go to a larger park, there'll even be a restaurants and stores so you don't need to cook.

There are times that I really wonder about some people. Are they afraid that the special paint will cost a lot more? That's the only possible excuse I could begin to understand.

Dr. Mosley will show several ways to solve a problem. It sounds as if your dd either isn't used learning how to solve a problem several ways or she just wants to learn one method and go on. She may need some hand holding to get used to learning to think in multiple ways. I think Dr. Mosley does make it clear when he's showing an alternative method, so you shouldn't have any problems pointing it out to her. Personally, I think it's important for students to learn multiple ways to solve a problem. Not all problems can be solved, at least efficiently, the exact same way. It also teaches mental flexibility.

I have a new twist on cell phone usage. :tongue_smilie: We were walking on a bike/hiking path and we passed by a bicyclist talking on a hand held cell phone. As she wobbled down the path, I was sure she was going to hit the walker in front of us. sheeesh! We're walking about 2-3 mph and cell phone usage is still a threat!

I've never known anyone who stockpiled the other stuff. All I can think of is that they're use to thinking in terms of the needs for the upcoming year and buy everything that's not home grown.

Unfortunately I can't find my recipe, so you may need to play with my instructions. Using quick cooking organic oats (minute oats), grind about 1 third of the oats in your blender. Add any flavorings you want to. When your ready to fix your oatmeal, boil your water or milk, add any additional flavorings or toppings, add the water, stir and let sit for a minute or 2. ETA Ooops. I just realized that it's not that you don't have instant oatmeal, but you don't have quick cooking either. If you have a Whole Foods store, look there for quick cooking organic oatmeal. If not, try grinding a higher % of your oats in the blender.

I wonder how much of the year's stockpiling is based on the farming cycle? Most of the garden matures in summer and needs to be preserved. Slaughtering used to be strictly a fall affair. And of course, if you have a bad year the following summer, a year's stockpile will feed you till the next harvest season.

Not CC, or even marriage advice, but a hand written recipe book of all the family's favorite and traditional recipes. Include cooking hints and maybe favorite sayings. You might also contact her future in-laws for their suggestions. This can save a lot of frantic calls of "Mom. how do you make.........?" Plus it's a great remembrance of the family.

Make up your own stories. One person starts with the first line, and everyone takes turns adding 1 sentence to the story. Or work on memory and alphabetical order. You start with "I'm going on a picnic and I'm taking an apple. The next individual needs to recite your story and add a b item. This keeps going until someone forgets. Another game we used to love was Mad Libs, but that may still be a year or two away unless you have another adult with you.

I used one of the prepackaged IEW programs this year. In addition to what the previous poster said, we found the excercises to come up with more descriptive words and phrases helpful. The ban on a few overused words also helped. At the end of the year I did drop the formulas of required sentece openers, etc.

My bil often gets steak, baked potatoes and a lettuce salad with oil and CIDER vinegar. Vinegars made from grains can give him problems.

I just use my George Foreman Grill. Saves storing aother thing in my kitchen.

I've only seen it at CPO. The board, being 3-D, would be difficult to make. There are also cards for 2 of the 3 games that would make a do-it-your-self game difficult.

CPO has The Atom Game, which consists of at least 3 different games. I didn't buy the supplemetal teacher's guide to the game. It may have a few more. The game focuses on how atoms are constructed. It's good, but NOT inexpensive. CPO also has periodic table tiles to play with in many ways, inncluding building molecules. I didn't buy those.

A store I haven't ordered from, but I used to LOVE when they had a store in our local mall is Northern Reflections. I loved their screened tee with nature themes. They also had nice embroidered sweatshirts and sweaters. Best of all, I just found their web site! I think I'll be buying their clothes again. :001_smile:

What happens if she changes her major to a non-health field? Or if she decides against a career in a health field? Does she have to pay back the tuition? How will she be able to do this? Or will she feel constrained to stay in a field she decides she doesn't want for financial reasons. What will happen if whe decides to trasfer to another university and program? Will she be rejected without a high school diploma? Or if she doesn't get her AA or BS? She won't have a college degree or a high school diploma. You might want to have her college classes apply toward a homeschool diploma to prevent that snafu. From your post, it doesn't sound like either you or she is sure of what she wants to major in. The free tuition is tempting, very tempting, but is it worth it in the long run? It might be worth it, if that's the only way she can get to college. Or if she has a real interest in the health fields. If she does, then I would consider the previous poster's concerns. I was offered the chance to skip my senior year in high school, but my mother refused to let me consider it for the social reasons. She had me skip KINDERGARTEN and regetted it my entire schooling career. And college brings socialization to a whole different level, especially if you're away from home.

I second Laurie4B's post. Please get your dc evaluated for both your sakes. And often, with a good evaluation, you can determine the best way to teach your child without going through so many trial and errors. Not that you won't still have trials and errors, just that you can reduce the number of them.

Banana nut bread for the bananas. DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT make banana wine from your bananas. Dh's friend had a semi load of bad bananas and wine's what he tried. It wasn't pretty. :D For the strawberries, you must get your annual quota of strwberry shortcake first. Then have you ever tried strawberry-rhubarb crisp? Or strawberry-rhubarb pie? Or strwberry-rhubarb jam? Do you think we like rhubarb? :D

My neighbor asks the nurses. They typically have more time with the patients to observe minor things and get a lot of minor gripes the doctors don't hear.

A great thing my df did do in teaching me was to start to teach me BEFORE I got behind the wheel. It probably would still help your dc. As he drove, with me in the front passenger seat, he would remind me to keep my eyes roving between the road in front, the road behind me, the istrument clusters, etc. He'd also quiz me if I could make a safe emergency lane change, what should I do if the car in front had a blow out, and how to pass semis. That meant that I could focus more on how to keep the car between the lines when I was behind the wheel at first.

My first bit of advice is DO NOTHAVE HER FATHER DO IT! :lol: Now my perspective is from that of a student and not a teacher. My big finale with my father ended when I pulled over to the side of the road, crying (and I don't cry) refusing to drive anymore with him. The funny thing was he was a great driving teacher BEFORE I sat behind the wheel and he was a great passenger after the state blessed my skills with a license, but, oh, was he a horror when I had a permit! I'm afraid I take after my father. :tongue_smilie: My poor son! :auto: