Lots of changes in the past few months with my job (outside of homeschooling my 3 kiddos) and some out side of family, friend stress so would love accountability and reading everyone's ideas for 2018 has kicked my butt into gear, THANK YOU! 1. Back to Counting Calories --- but with a twist instead of losing 20 lbs in 3-6 months, I am going to go for 10 months = Slow and Steady. I need to build in the habit of counting calories which I haven't for about 2.5 years. I also want to be Carb Conscious so I have decided to reactive my old spark people account with the app on my phone :) I hope in a few months I am consistently staying in my calorie and carb daily range! 2. Focus on Feeling Energized/Moment & Not Exercising. -- The last few years, my whole week was structured around when I was going to go to the gym, but with some office changes I decided to drop my gym membership. I also found that going to the gym and focusing so much on exercising became a negative in my life, like I was just checking off a box. I lost no more then 5 lbs the whole year because my eating was all over the place. So I want to focus on FEELING good and doing movement in everyday life...when I take my youngest to the library, don't rush home after picking books out, take a stroll around the pond with him or play ping pong at the rec center or going hiking with my teens instead of sending them with their dad and trying to catch up on laundry or work. I know a lot of this one will be ME having a different mindset and being Intentional (which is my word for 2018). 3. Drink more WATER --- I have been a big water drinker forever but the last 2 years it's gone to the wayside. I want to get back to carrying my water bottle around with me while doing housework, homeschooling, and computer work. Drinking as much water as I can during the day!

Praying for you and your family! *HUGS*

Welcome! Homeschooling 2 of my kiddos through High School too!

Capital One

I 2nd Jer2911. Here is some info I got from their email today. If you are not a member you can become one for free and then look for their sale. Just an idea! We are pleased to welcome Veritas Press Self-Paced Omnibus Courses from Veritas Press, award-winning, online, self-paced courses for grades 7-12, to the Co-op! Combining history, theology and literature, these courses help students grow in their appreciation of the unity of all knowledge. Learn from experts in each subject area. Tour the locations where history occurred. Be challenged by interactive exercises that require thinking, not just learning facts. Interact with the Great Books, all from a Christian worldview. Veritas Press self-paced courses are a popular way for your child to learn history. By joining our GroupBuy, Members can get any Veritas Press Self-Paced Omnibus course for $195 -- that's $100 off the list price of $295 -- PLUS get 500 Bonus SmartPoints for each course purchased. Hurry as this offer is only available at the Co-op through Monday, June 26th!

I have a good friend that moved from England to the States about a year ago and she found a place on Craigslist. She did say she had to go through a lot of ads to find a great place to live. It was a house with 3 other people. Just an idea.

Congrats! I only have 3-4 pages of K Math left for my youngest. We'll finish it this week. My older teens had so much going on in the spring with activities and finishing up other subjects we ended up getting behind in Algebra. Thankfully, it's only a couple of chapters, so we are set to finish it up in June.

Not much here. Hot dogs with buns, chips, and fruit. Busy night for us and we had a HUGE lunch.

My youngest was like that except we just had him leave the door open. After a year or so we started slowly shutting it more and more until now he will have it closed. Sometimes he does forgets but he is only 6.

Following...I will have only one in 3 years...so not too far away

Sometimes direct selling is TOO direct. I agree with you, as a regular poster of her wrap biz on facebook, if you wanted one you know she sells them. Why reach out and make you feel like you need one. I don't unfriend people but I have learned to unfollow ( I would suggest doing that) so I don't have to see them in my news feed. I am not sure I would respond back to her, it might be better just to delete the pvt message from her. :grouphug: Btw, I love reading your journey on your blog don't let people bring you down!

Typically in May.

I know where I live (Metro Atlanta), it's consider a university for adult learners, entrepreneurs, a stepping stone to a graduate degree, or necessary for a job promotion. Recruiters and HR folks don't look favorably on it, I know several in the industry of hiring that say they don't even look at resumes with Strayer on it, unless they have graduate degrees from someone where else. They say this is because its a for-profit school. This might just be my area...

It's been a really hard couple of months. I can't wait until it's over!

Yes, I would just do the textbook & workbook. I think it would give the overview of government, elections, voting etc that you are looking for your son. Since you are considering the AGS Government book too. I just wanted to share my experience using AGS textbooks. I have tried to use several AGS textbooks with my son but we found them to be too traditional for us. The textbooks were overwhelming distracting for him, filled with assignments and chapter reviews that were to be completed on separate notebook paper. The companion workbooks I found to be very plain and not very creative.The biggest plus is they are written at a 4-5 reading level. We ended up going with textbooks that were created for home schoolers and written in a more narrative style, colorfully but not textual busy, and very open and go for the parent with zero to no lesson prep/planning. Notgrass has fit the bill for us. No matter what you settle on, just remember you can always tweak it :)

I agree with others, Honey is a great tea sweeter. My husband has used raw cane sugar in tea and liked it.

Notgrass is definitely easy to adapt for children with learning challenges. Uncle Sam and You could be a good choice, we did the first book and counted it as a semester worth of work. My oldest was a strong reader but struggled with writing at the time so the student workbook was a major plus for us along with multiple choice question tests. We did not use the lesson review book nor the literature books (so we skipped the "Literate" activity after each lesson. After each lesson in the main textbooks they have lesson activities, we didn't do all of the them. A lot of times for the "Thinking Biblically & Vocabulary" we would just discuss orally. On the "Creative Writing" I would have him pick 1 to do each unit. I felt spending time on drafts, editing, and preparing a good final copy was better then overwhelm him with it each lesson. I allowed the "Picture This!" activities to be completely optional. I counted it as a Middle School Social Studies/History course.

We just started it a few weeks ago because of the election year. My son is doing it for 9th grade credit. I love it especially because it's all planned out and easy to use! He does 1 lesson a day. He reads the lesson in the main book "Exploring Government" and any sections it refers in "We Hold These Truths". Using the "Quiz and Exam Book" he reads and reviews each question listed on the lesson by himself. I do not require him to write the answers. Instead before we put our school books away for the day we come together and I read the questions to him. He tells me the answers orally. If he gets one wrong, we discuss the question and why he got it wrong. Sometimes we search for the answer in the readings. I use the "Answer Key" as a guide to know what the correct answer should be. After wards, we discuss what has he learned from the lesson. A lot of times we end up talking about current issues in government such as the election debates, policy, etc. He does answer all the multiple choice exams in the "Quiz and Exam Book" with a pencil and then I grade them. Overall, I have been very pleased. I don't think it would be a difficult course, unless you wanted all the questions in the "Quiz and Exam Book" written out. In that case I could see it being a more challenging course & taking a lot more time just depends on if you allowed short answers or wanted complete sentences. Currently, my son spends about a hour on each lesson. It breaks down to about 35-45 mins of independent work (reading, reviewing answers, completing multiple choice exam after several lessons) and then about 15-20 mins together (going over questions orally, discussion of lesson, and current events).

I made good money on a Latin DVD with them a while back. I was amazed how easy it was!

I second JodiSue on hotpads. Zillow's rental search can be good. What about checking the local newspaper (online edition), where I live people still put "For Rent" ads in the paper. Does the realtor you worked with to look for homes to buy, willing to show you homes for rent? If not, consider finding a realtor that will. Alot of people I know also drive around the area they want to live in and look for "Rent" signs. My suggestion is when you set up a time to see a property, let the agent or landlord know up front about your pets. In our area some charge a pet fee or deposit and others simply do not what any kind of pets in their home. This can save you time on viewing places that will not allow pets or ask for too much in fees to have your pets in the house. Good Luck :)

Thank you so much for sharing! My son loves United States, this looks like so much fun!

http://lifekids.tv/ They have short video lessons. They range from 10-20 mins depending on age/video. My children have watched them over the years and enjoyed them.

I second Farrar. We love the history channel series!

How old is your ds? I would go along with your friend. If he makes mistakes on the test you can go back and have him to the lessons.

I would say 50% if she does all the going through, set up, pricing, and mans the garage sale along with cleanup.