Have you ever watched the comedian Mike Birbiglia’s standup routines? He has a condition called Rem sleep behavior disorder and he talks about it a lot during his comedy shows. Some of what you describe sounds similar to his descriptions, but it’s an actual medical diagnosis and not a phenomenon like sleep paralysis that can be self-diagnosed.

It seems to almost be homeschool lore that any hs math program is so advanced that it should be used a year behind. I just don't see it most of the time. BA covers the topics usually covered in third grade, but breezes past some and goes deep in others. We love BA here, but I see levels 2 and 3, at least, as being firmly on grade level. When we need extra practice or review with a particular topic, I usually pull a few pages from MEP to fill in.

We had to stalk Craigslist and Facebook marketplace to get bikes. Bikes were selling within minutes of being listed. The local bike repair guys are busy too.

I like Love It or List It. “I need the renovation to add three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a mudroom, two home offices, reconfigure the kitchen, and lift up the entire house to add a basement. You don’t know it now, but you’re going to come across a leak that has caused mold to grow throughout the crawl space, the electrical will have to be completely replaced because it’s knob and tube and you’re adding half of a house’s worth of service, and there will be a tornado during the reno that will cause you to have to start over halfway through. We’re having a baby in six weeks so we need it done before then. And you have $35,000 to do it all!”

It's a back-saver--I can pull a whole yard of dandelion and hairy cat's ear without bending over once!

This works well for me. It's a bit of work though. lol

It's hard to think of mystery books that are a step up from kiddie mysteries, but where no harm comes to anyone. My kids liked the Chasing Vermeer series by Blue Balliett, and I would usually have no problem recommending it for a 12-year old, but there is a sense that some harm might come to kids who meddle too much, and a child is kidnapped in the last book. Has he read From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg? That was one of my favorites as a child, and I don't remember any violence. We liked The Matchstick Castle by Keir Graff--it has missing people but nobody is killed or seriously injured. The Mysterious Benedict society is a favorite here too, and the protagonists have a strict moral code of not being like the bad guys and injuring or killing their opponants, but the bad guys are really bad and cause a lot of injuries and near-fatal close calls. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin is a modern classic, and starts as a murder mystery but spoilers spoilers spoilers the murder victim isn't actually dead but living under an alias.

I think that sometimes hs publishers get rights or license or whatever to print certain books with some changes. A few years ago I accidentally ordered two copies of an animal book used by MP and the two copies differed significantly in content--one was printed by one of the young earth hs companies, and in all places where the original book talked about evolution, the HS company-printed book talked about God's design.

Not Katie, but her description sounds a lot like some flashcards we have used from a company called I See, I Spell, I Learn. I have never used AAS, but my dyslexic ds has found some success with Apples and Pears. It doesn't require a lot of memorizing rules, but has lots and lots of practice with word patterns. If you go to the Foundations in Sound website, the entire book is available to view, so there's no buying it and it being entirely different than what you expected. lol

My favorite place in non-quarantine times is Tuesday Morning, but that's really hit or miss. Lots of people like Knitpicks, and Webs has a lot of variety. (I think that Webs usually has a spring sale-that might be going on now.) Knitpicks is all their own brand, and Webs has all the brands. Many people knit with big box store yarn their whole lives and are perfectly happy with it. Of the yarn brands that are available at Joann or Michaels, I like Patons or Lion. For a step up I like Cascade brand. I'd say that for a worsted weight wool yarn, you can't go wrong with Cascade 220.

My firefighter brother is still waiting in line. He tried it once, but the amount of stink-eye he received while walking past all of the people waiting in line has convinced him that it's not worth it.

I was expecting some more interesting meat sources in the recipe. 🐎

Ick! We had that happen once. A quart of heavy whipping cream spilled in the fridge. I briefly wondered why I wasn't wiping up much cream, but figured there was less in the bottle than I had thought. Nope! It was congealing and putrefying in the evaporation pan. By far the grossest cleaning job I've ever done!

My kids liked Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin. We read it a while ago and my memory isn’t perfect, but I don’t remember any animal deaths as a major story line.

Yes. I think that our connection is even more important in times of stress.

I almost never comment when someone on FB posts something like this. Among the homeschoolers in my corner of the county I'm already viewed with suspicion, and if I chime in I'll just cement myself as the draconian mother who makes her children slave over schoolwork for hours. I think that it's too little for all ages. There, I said it. Not because I think kids should be doing busywork for hours, but because I absolutely "count" read-aloud and free reading time, and as far as I'm concerned, the more reading, the better. 🙂

Our main source of income hasn't changed, and isn't likely to, but we have a rental house and I don't know how the tenants' jobs will fare in the current uncertainty. The money that we aren't spending is sitting in our account to help if we have an interruption in rental income.

Have you had good luck with peat pots actually decomposing after planting? I have had issues with plants actually getting rootbound in the ground because the peat pots didn't decompose. I went from planting intact peat pots (not right--I was supposed to remove the bottom--oops) to planting the pots with the bottom ripped off, to just ripping off the entire pots. At that point I decided the peat pots were pointless and just planted in plastic. I wonder if it's something with my soil in particular--maybe it's not rich enough in bacteria to decompose the pots? We're working with the trucked in "topsoil" dumped in suburban areas and trying to improve the soil with compost and other amendments.

I've used cardboard egg cartons, but noticed that I had to water more frequently than I did with a non-absorbent container. Also, they will need transplanting soon, and I'm too lazy to transplant unless absolutely necessary. I've gone to using small plastic pots or yogurt cartons with drainage holes added. Most things can go directly to the garden from their starting container, and I only have to transplant the more tender plants like tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers into bigger pots.

Right now I'm wishing that I hadn't gotten rid of all of my handbell gloves, thinking I'd never use them again.

WA Gov. Inslee's press briefing last night seemed more off-the-cuff than usual. He suggested threatening teen who are congregating with being written out of the will, and encouraged old ladies to stop going to sewing needle clubs (or something similar. DH and I were actually giggling at this point and missed some of the particulars.)

Last night we walked/biked around the neighborhood. I'm usually the killjoy when it comes to things like riding bikes with no hands, but last night DH was on the kids for everything. "I'm not taking you to the emergency room!" was said more than once. But back on topic, I would RV camp no problem, and I'm kind of in the paranoid camp about COVID19. Isolation is isolation, whether at home or in an RV. And while camping, you'd at least have a different slice of nature to enjoy.

No, I don't see a realistic way of doing this. My kids are 12, 9, and 7, and their world already feels unsafe with all of the things going on. I want our house to be a refuge of love, affection, hugs, snuggling on the couch with a book and a cup of cocoa. If we had a grandparent living with us, we'd find a way to make it work. But knowing my parents/in-laws, they wouldn't isolate anyway.

Thanks! I don't seem to have any referral options, but maybe someone who is a longtime customer will. 🙂

Schwans is having a deal atm--50% off. We'd never used them before, but are taking advantage of the discount.