I usually just pick the cheapest bottle of shampoo I see. I don't use conditioner. I have quite short fine hair. I tried some more expensive things and didn't see a difference in anything but my wallet.

String cheese sticks Yoghurt if you're not on low-low-carb

Slowly decreasing is still better than gaining ... I am currently asymptomatic (except for the hair) but I have PCOS -- exercise was tremendously beneficial as far as stabilizing my blood sugars.

Did you give her the placement test? Given her struggles I'd look at a pre-algebra program instead.

sigh People never stop looking for the easy way out. It is a shame. But she's not going to listen to you at this point. If it's upsetting you, honestly, I'd temporarily block her and write yourself a note to unblock her in a month. This is something she has to work through on her own.

Frozen is also a lot better if you don't want to go shopping frequently or if you have a horrible habit of forgetting about them in the back of the fridge, not that I would know anyone guilty of that.

Schaum's outline of Precalculus. 50 bajillion (ok, really 700+) worked examples to show you the steps. Cheap. Quite possibly available in your local library if you want it immediately.

Actually, if you look at it, it says: serving size, .5 cup, servings per can, 3.5 (at least on my cans)

It really isn't that much. Like, a regular size (14.5 oz) can of green beans is 3.5 servings.

Get rid of the canned veggies, for starters -- they're not nice. :P Try steamed vegetables, roasted vegetables, or sauteed vegetables. I like broccoli because it's cheap, packed with antioxidants, fiber, and protein. I usually steam it because I'm lazy, but it's better roasted. You might eat more if it tasted better. Also, you can mash a fair amount of cauliflower into mashed potatoes without appreciably changing the texture. I use frozen vegetables because they store easily and I hate going to the store. For the cereal, add a piece of fruit like a banana, orange, or apple -- something that's finger food and easy to handle. I wouldn't focus on five a day for right now -- I think that will seem like an insurmountable goal. I would try to make it through a cup of veggies at dinner and a single piece of fruit at breakfast. That will get you a lot closer than you have now, and once you get used to it you can work on increasing it. We are just about at the first of the month -- I'd recommend setting it as your goal for April.

http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/vegetables-counts.html (the usda recommends 2.5 cups of vegetables rather than 5 servings, but all else is equivalent)

I just do large sides and/or eat a large plate of vegetables before dinner. I have a veggie steamer that makes it really easy and cheaper than the steam-in-the-bag ones. I also dump large quantities of frozen vegetables into soups.

Even on a daily or weekly basis I'd still want to get reading and math in. I could easily see writing working on an alternating-day block.

Are you thinking of every-other-day blocks or semester blocks? I would be extremely reluctant to block reading, writing, or math, as these are skills that really require distributed practice. Subjects such as science or history block very well, and for students who are already fluent readers, literature blocks very well as well.

You don't need to do all the problems. There are 50 bajillion problems in there. I think every fourth one is plenty although for a few topics where the answers are very quick if you get it (such as simple evaluation of arcsin 1) I would just do them all. Skipping in the early part is going to depend on how well your student remembers/did in intermediate algebra. Many college classes skip lots of it because part of it is covered in college algebra, which if I am reading correctly your son has not done. I'm assuming that you covered all the chapters in intermediate algebra. I don't have this edition of the textbook -- mine is the 5th -- so I'm going off this -- http://www.barnesandnoble.com/listing/2670701072545?r=1&kpid=2670701072545&cm_mmc=GooglePLA-_-TextBook_NotInStock_75Up-_-Q000000633-_-2670701072545 -- so if I've gotten the wrong ISBN, match it to the chapters you have. Chapter 1 is review of linear equations. I'd be very surprised if much of it was new. I would do the chapter review and then focus on anything he didn't understand. Chapter 2 is not really covered systematically in intermediate algebra and is foundational for the rest of the course. I would cover it carefully. The first half of chapter 3 was covered in intermediate algebra but the second half was not really and is important for calculus. I would skim the first half looking for unfamiliar material and then work carefully through the second half. Chapters 4-6 were covered in intermediate but much more slowly and many students are still a bit shaky on these topics. I'd go for the chapter review but if something looks unfamiliar drop back to doing the problems in the sections. Chapter 5 is especially difficult material for many students. Chapter 7 was partially covered and chapters 8-10 were not covered in intermediate so I'd do the whole chapter without bothering with a pre-test. If time is getting short you can easily postpone chapter 7 (these topics do not rely on each other) and work selected sections towards the end of the class. I would make sure to do the sections on systems of equations, echelon method, and partial fractions -- the others will be re-taught in multivariable calculus or linear algebra if your ds gets that far. They are nice to have some prior exposure but not as necessary if time is getting short. Chapters 11-12 are frequently omitted because these topics are covered in calculus as if the student had never seen them before. If you *can* get to them prior to calculus I would highly recommend them (these topics are challenging for many) but I would have no issue with calling a course that omitted them pre-calculus.

I really don't think it's necessary to choose the same publisher for pre-algebra to calculus. The differences in scope and sequence are far more minor among high school publishers, so as long as you are not trying a drastic jump in difficulty level most will suffice. There are a very few (videotext, for example) where the scope and sequence is nonstandard enough that if you are doing their algebra, you really need to do it all the way through, but most are not that way. If you like math mammoth and she is learning from it and doing very well, I would highly recommend continuing through their pre-algebra and then choosing a program beginning with algebra instead.

Yes. If the idea of gaining 1 lb is freaking you out, this is not healthy, getting towards eating disorder territory, and you probably need to see a professional about this. It is great that you are getting a handle on this now while you are still in a healthy weight range rather than when it has started to seriously affect your health.

The internet is full of trolls and jackasses. :(

Combination of stuff that just works better for me and psychological tricks. Seconds -- if I am genuinely still hungry after I have put all the food away and washed up and had a drink, I will reheat a small serving. It is important to be able to distinguish hunger from "man that was delicious". I feel this works better for me than a blanket ban on seconds, because when I was not eating seconds I was serving extra large firsts in case I got hungry. Putting the food away and having a drink seems to add closure and most of the time I do not need seconds. Sweets/Snacks -- I only buy my favorite sweets and snacks in single-size servings on S-days. That way I am not trying to do some crap like eat one handful of potato chips and seal the bag back up. It is never going to happen and I have given up pretending it will. I buy the 50 cent 1-ounce bag of potato chips on the day I am going to eat it, and it is delicious. Fake sugar -- I do still drink diet soda. It hasn't hurt me so far. It would be better to give it up, I am sure, but every time I tried I ended up backsliding. I'm going to make another effort this summer -- we'll see. Meals -- I do eat two meals a day because it just works better for me. I feel happier and fuller with two large meals and no breakfast. I like to go to bed on a full stomach because I sleep better. YMMV. I do eat breakfast on S-days but that's because S-days are either family holidays or heavy exercise days. I will warn that weight loss is much slower on this. You are not going to see an "Oh my gosh I lost 10 lbs in a week". I am gently drifting downwards -- but this is something that I can genuinely live with for the rest of my life, and I feel it is much better to be gently drifting downwards than to be crashing off 40 lbs and gaining back 60.

Busymama, especially if you haven't yo-yo'd a lot before, you may end up being one of the more fortunate few. It is at least worth a shot. For me I found that a minor variation of no-S along with daily weigh-ins allowed me to maintain weight loss without feeling constantly deprived and miserable. I realize I haven't hit the 5-year mark yet, but I've been out of obese for 3 and still slightly dropping, although very slowly now. If you've already tried everything and nothing has worked, feel free to ignore me.

Before calculators, tables were used -- these (and the calculators) can get their values by using several terms of the Taylor series for sin x, or by using a more complicated algorithm involving complex numbers -- http://www.homeschoolmath.net/teaching/sine_calculator.php

??? How are you going to get sine of 1.43 degrees without a calculator or tables? It's easy if it's in a triangle where you know the sides, or of an angle that has a nice answer like 60 degrees, but the calculator will give you values for anything.

Yep. Most other travel cooking appliances, if I don't have, I could get.

Since we appear to be on a food advice kick ... I spend a fair amount of time driving. I'm looking for new ideas for food to eat on the trip. Here's what I'm looking for: Inexpensive Filling Non-messy finger food Doesn't require refrigeration for a day or two Doesn't require cooking (pre-cooking is fine but painstaking assembly such as deviled eggs doesn't happen) Not too sweet, not too carby Currently I've been doing a lot of cheese + ham, baby carrots, and peeled boiled eggs, along with smaller amounts of cheese + crackers, grapes, raisins, dried pineapple, and peanuts. However, I'm really wanting to cut back on my consumption of processed meat which is pretty much all of the hams out there barring a few unaffordable ones. This is also complicated by the fact that I don't care for any nuts except peanuts. If anyone has any unorthodox foods they like to eat on long trips, I'd love to hear about them. Edit: The reason I don't have common sandwiches such as PB + J etc. is because I like the bread too much and eat it all within 2 hours. Maybe I should just experiment with storing it in the back of the car so I have to pull over and stop to get each sandwich. :P

This might sound silly, but I would recommend that they say "five times x" instead of "five-x" for some time.