His daughter was one of my college roommates and my best friends!!!!! He is AMAZING!

I loooove Math Mammoth and I am a big fan of not switching around math curriculum. But my 2nd grader HATES it. It's too incremental for her. She is very math-y and MM just isn't working. She has zero interest in Beast Academy. Of course, because I already have that, too!!! She does have ADHD, emphasis on the Hyperactive! (ETA: She does take meds for the ADHD as well as Anxiety. She is a complicated kid.) She needs something straightforward and preferably with not a ton of reading. We are still working on her reading skills. Help!!!

I think that next year, I would like to do an in-depth World Geography year, instead of a history year. Kind of like MFW Exploring Countries and Cultures, but I was hoping to find something a bit cheaper. My kids will be 3rd, 5th, and 7th grades. We have things that are working well for Writing, Grammar, Math, etc. I'd like the geography study to include maps, culture, cooking, etc. I would LOVE to have something already planned out. Any ideas?

My friend uses this Mac and Cheese recipe, but I have not tried it. INSTANT POT MAC AND CHEESE INGREDIENTS 16 oz pasta I used elbow 3 cups water sharp cheese (16 oz) Few drops of hot sauce-optional 1 tbs dijon mustard 1/2 cup milk (I usually use more milk adding more as needed) 3 tbs butter 2 tsp of salt 1/2 tsp pepper INSTRUCTIONS 1. Place pasta in your Instant Pot with chicken broth. Push manual (high pressure) and set the timer to 4 minutes. Do a quick release. Place your Instant Pot on saute. Stir in milk, butter, mustard and hot sauce. Stir in cheese and stir until melted about 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and serve.

I am still in the skeptical phase. I think the next time it goes on sale, I will probably give in and get one. But I need the 8 quart one.

We are having our best year of homeschool yet (knock on wood!!!) The thing that I have discovered is the key for us - curriculum that is planned out or is a do-the-next-thing. I have ADHD and planning my own things just doesn't happen. Things that are working really well: DS - 6th grade Apologia General Science w/ Notebooking Journal WWS1 Easy Grammar 6 Foerster's Algebra 1 DD - 4th grade Writers in Residence 1 Math Mammoth 4 RSO Chemistry DD - 2nd grade RSO Chemistry w/ older sister Math Mammoth 2 Growing w/ Grammar 2

Maybe Costochondritis? Inflammation of the cartilage. Maybe try some ibuprofen?

Really good thoughts, everyone. Thank you so much!!! We are currently away - on a little history trip, in fact. We are in Richmond - we saw the Terracotta Army exhibit and visited some Civil War battle sites. I will read over everything again when we get home.

That may be what I was thinking ......... Thank you for your thoughts!

Does anyone do only interest-led History in the elementary years? I am so unhappy with every history curriculum we've tried. I'm seriously considering ditching the actual curriculum and just following rabbit trails. Then, in the Middle School years, use curriculum. I'd love some thoughts or links that explore this concept.

I just started reading Understanding Girls With ADHD. Fascinating, so far. I have it, but was just diagnosed in the last few years. My (adopted) DD has it, but we present very differently. My DS has it, very similar to me.

I'm in SE Virginia and this is the coldest it's been in a looooong time here. I don't mind cold weather, but this is crazy!!!!

:grouphug: You are so right about the smell of your grandparents' house. I can still remember both of "my" smells so well.

I am so sad. I love the alphabet series.

Thank you for all the information. This curriculum has always appealed to me, but we've never tried it. I now have kids that are 11, 10, and 7 and all 3 are reading independently. We also have solid math programs for everyone. Long-term users - how do you feel the grammar and writing is? Did you supplement?

We've done OK here. Some overstimulation, but I have worked REALLY hard to limit our activities this month.

I am so sorry. It's never easy to lose a furry family member.

Christmas at the IL's house, with MIL, FIL, BIL and his family. That will take most of the afternoon. Then tomorrow evening, we will come home and have make your own pizzas for dinner - that's our random Christmas Eve tradition. Then we will all get to unwrap our new pajamas, and then the hardest part - getting the kids to go to sleep so we can set up the new Xbox!!!!!

Amazon has been using their drivers for a lot of holiday deliveries. What's driving me crazy is that they aren't ringing doorbells!!!!!!! I happened to look out the window and see the driver, so I was able to get my package. But we have had some porch pirates around here lately.

To answer some question ...... He has always had difficulties with the actual fine motor part of handwriting (although, he has trouble with most fine motor tasks) and he also has problems with getting his thoughts onto paper. I was only considering ASD because the Psychologist brought it up as one of the things she assesses for. The checklists she ran were: Autism Spectrum Rating Scale, Personality Inventory for Children, and Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist. He definitely has rigid thinking, and emotional regulation issues!!! No achievement test. If he has Dysgraphia, I'm sure he has both - fine motor issues and difficulty getting thoughts onto paper. But maybe I've been reading too much into everything and it's the ADHD causing these issues. Thank you everyone for your thoughts!!!! I agree that these can be tricky diagnoses and there is so much overlap!!! I think the accommodations he needs - and what we've already been doing are: quiet place for doing work (this is very difficult in our house!!!!), using a computer to type assignments, and he will probably need to be able to use an electronic device for notetaking in the future.

DS is 11, fairly bright, and was diagnosed with SPD back when he was 5. I also suspect that he has Dysgraphia, but we've never had him fully evaluated. He is very easily distracted and he can hyper focus on something he wants to. We finally had him see a Psychologist and she ran some tests. I knew that she wouldn't diagnose Dysgraphia or anything like that, but figured it was a good starting point. My main purpose for doing this now was to get a formal diagnosis (if there was one) and start documenting a history of accommodations in case he needs them in college. Conner's Continuous Performance Test II - 79.92 WISC-V Full Scale 113 Verbal Comprehension 106 Visual Spatial 119 Fluid Reasoning 118 Working Memory 125 Processing Speed 98 Also, various behavior, Autism, and personality checklists. Based on all of that, she diagnosed DS with ADHD - Primarily Inattentive and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. She said her opinion was that he is not on the ASD spectrum. The anxiety diagnosis was a bit of a surprise to me, but I know all of these things can overlap. Her recommendations are to start therapy with him to work on Executive Functioning skills, social skills, and coping skills in general. She also said she'd refer us to a Psychiatrist if we wanted to discuss meds, which we don't at this point. At this point, I'm thinking we don't need to pursue a Dysgraphia diagnosis - we can get him accommodations with the ADHD diagnosis. And I know that ADHD can cause issues with handwriting and schoolwork in general. I guess my question is - Does this all seem reasonable? Do any of you see anything in those WISC scores that need further investigation? She did say that she thought the Full Scale IQ score wasn't accurate because the processing speed one was so much lower than she would expect. I'd appreciate any input anyone has! Thank you!!! ETA: Psychologist IS supportive of homeschooling. She said we'd be able to accommodate him much easier than being in school. Pretty much why we homeschooled in the first place.

*raises hand* I have finally admitted that I need to stick to boxed mixes. I have ADHD and I tend to not be very exact with measuring things, which of course, doesn't work for baking! Also, I eat gluten-free, and GF baking is extra-finicky. I also tend to get distracted and let things get crispy. Although, our new Alexa is helping with that situation!!!!! Now I just have to tell her to set a timer - I don't have to remember to actually set one.

My feet aren't ruined. I was on pointe for a couple of years in middle/high school.

When I was in my early 20s, I lived in an apartment, but I went to my parents’ house for Easter dinner. When I walked in the house, my mom was nowhere to be found, the turkey was on top of the stove cooling and one of the cats was feasting. We still laugh about that!!!!

Yes, one day of parking is good at all 4 parks for that same day. We just went to Orlando and stayed off prpoerty, but we only did 1 park per day. We got there as soon as each park opened and stayed the entire day. Disney Outlets - Our favorites are called Disney Character Outlets. There are 2 of them - both at Premium Outlet Centers. One is really close to Disney. The other is about 20 minutes into Orlando.