Same here! My Asher gets called Asher-Dasher, Dasher, and Dashington.

I have a pair of Lems and I LOVE them - the most comfortable shoes straight out of the box I've ever worn. But, they are $100, so probably not the cheap option you were looking for. I recently came across Feiyue Tiger Claw, which might fit the bill for you. They're about $20 on Amazon, and Birthday Shoes has a good review of them. If you're looking for sandals, and don't mind doing a little DIY, Xero shoes has a make your own huarache kit that's about $20. (Disclaimer: I bought these and tried them, but I have picky feet, and had a hard time getting them tight but not too tight. I didn't try a different tying option, just went the instant gratification route and ordered a pair of these Sanuk sandals, which are comfy and easy and no assembly required :laugh: )

I would recommend getting her some things from Makedo (also available from Amazon)! They're a "cardboard construction system" - basically a set of specialty plastic screws for use holding cardboard together, as well as a plastic saw and specialty screw driver. Excellent accessory for making cardboard creations. Also, you might like at Steve Caney's Ultimate Building Book. It's all about this same kind of tinkering, and has lots of project ideas using various building "systems" (like toilet paper tubes, or pvc pipe, or rolled up newspaper).

If you really want him to see the fixed sentences, they are printed at the end of each week in the teacher's manual. You could just show them to him.

DS11 and I are enjoying The Mathematics of Games. We're using it for our "Friday fun math," and he gets grumpy when it's time to turn it off. We stop the video frequently and try out the different games and puzzles demonstrated, to see if we can figure out the best strategy before the teacher tells us. (And the teacher is obviously very excited about it all, and engaging to watch.) DS is getting an introduction to probability, along with learning to count cards and play craps, so he's learning a lot. :laugh: (Personally I can't wait until we get to the lesson on solving a Rubik's cube!)

Thirding this, and also mentioning that you need to get a strong light. My psychiatrist said at least 10,000 LUX. Speaking of whom... I think he's definitely the type of doctor the author of this book is talking about regarding meds. I've been seeing him for around 7 years, and have tried every drug under the sun, with varying degrees of effectiveness and ridiculous side effects. And never once did he suggest therapy to me. He suggested the light box for my suspected SAD, and sort of off-handedly mentioned exercised a few times, but that was it. He's all about the meds, and when we ran out of options, he pushed MAOIs (which would eliminate 90% of my diet, and have no guarantee), but had no other suggestions. That's when I sought out therapy on my own, and it's been helpful, and we're working on those "other things"- diet, exercise, social engagement. I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety in college. I went to a therapist for about three months, and she right away sent me to a psychiatrist who put me on meds. The meds helped immensely, and eventually I was coming into therapy going, "I have nothing to talk about really, I'm feeling good." So my therapist said that's wonderful, and sent me on my way. No talk about scaling down the meds and continuing work with her, or other life changes I should make. It was more like, "the meds are the solution, so we're done here." The therapist I'm seeing now is the first person I've seen about my mental health who seems interested in pursuing options or solutions other than meds. So reading the article the author wrote that was making the rounds recently, really resonated with me. I totally saw where he was coming from, and it was helpful/hopeful for me to read.

IIRC, you pick just one set of readings (Core Reading 1, 2, or 3) and do those. So you're not doing all three cores, and each week you just do the readings that correspond to whichever core you picked. So pick which set of readings you like the look of best, and don't worry about the rest. (That's my memory of it, but you can always contact KathyJo - she's very good about responding.) And yes, you can read the Quark as a bedtime and do notebooking at your own pace. You're right that they don't line up, so there's no need to try to keep them together.

I took a class in college about dystopian fiction, and we read both of those books. I don't remember much of Walden 2, except they had a system for carrying their tea so it wouldn't spill. (The important things, you know :laugh:) We also read Herland, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (*very* different from the movie), and We. As to your original question, I'd probably read the utopian (Walden 2) first, to see the ideal, and then Brave New World, to see how it can all go wrong.

We used to try to do once a week, but it often didn't happen that often. Which is not good, because we have a long haired dog, and I have allergies. Then a couple of weeks ago I talked DH into a robotic vacuum (not a Roomba, this one, which is so much cheaper, (and was $80 less when I bought it :huh:) and also way better reviewed!), and now we vacuum every day. And by "we" I mean "DS," who seems to take great joy in running it, and is good about running around the house and making sure everything is picked up beforehand. Now as for mopping... uh... twice a year? Maybe?

I knit these mittens for my grandmother, and I can't wait to give them to her!

Thanks for this site - my brother's Christmas gifts are now winging their way to me! And my dad's gift will now include some wafer thin mints, because he always quotes that Monty Python line.

Everyone gets: a big bag of licorice (Twizzlers or Red Vines, we're a bi-licorice family) Smart Wool socks a chocolate orange in the toe of the stocking We have enormous stockings, so that takes up some of the bulk, then smaller things get added around them.

Last week was a bit of a slog, but I'm hanging in there. I'm about 2k behind, but remain hopeful. Last night I did my first word sprint, and it was amazing! I thought I'd hate it, but it went great, took the pressure off to write something good (which I thought I'd already done, but apparently not), and I wrote over 500 words in ten minutes. I also discovered Dabble a few days in, switched over to that (from a Word document) and I'm loving it.

Thank you for this post! I just ordered: Discoveries (Lewis and Clark) $15 Jamaica $20 Chicago Express $20 Romans Go Home $5 (I'd already planned on both Discoveries and Chicago Express for "school reasons," and the other two will be for Christmas.)

I'm in! I've written about 5,000 words so far, but haven't written anything yet today. (I will just as soon as I get off the forums :laugh:) I've won twice before (in 2005 and 2015), and thought I would do it but backed out at the last minute another time or two. I write fantasy, and this year my goal (besides hitting 50,000) is to write something fun and light-hearted. I want to make myself smile, and fill my imagination with ridiculous things that amuse me. (My surfer-dude mage just pulled out his magical emery board, so so far, so good!) I downloaded Scrivener in 2015, but I do most of my typing on a laptop, and the buttons are all so tiny on Scrivener on my laptop that it just doesn't work for me. So MS Word it is! Okay, really going to write now. Honest.

MLB partnered with YouTube TV this year, so you can watch the games through that. (They've run a million ads during the series, so I'm well aware of it. I can also tell you all about T-Mobil's homerun hurricane relief thing, too :lol: ) YouTube TV costs $35/month, but there's a free trial period. So you could get it, watch the game, then cancel. You can check here to see what's available in your are, and here to sign up/get more info.

I've found that having a loud, barking dog works wonders for keeping the visits short. (It worked even better when we had two!) I make no effort to keep her back from the door, or to shush her. I should probably teach her to behave better when the doorbell rings, but frankly, I kind of like that "feature." :laugh:

Dares are (usually silly) suggestions of things to happen in your novel.There are various "dare" threads that pop up on the NaNo forums, some within genre boards, and the big main one in the Reaching 50,000! board. Great for getting past writer's block :) I just found out today that the Young Writers NaNo dashboard has a dare generator on it, so I might get DS to generate some for me. (A google search will also come up with lots of results for "writing dares," including this blog which has pages and pages of dares from past NaNos.)

I'm in! I've done it a few times before, and won twice, although it's been a few years. Like a PP said, this is a great way to get into a daily writing habit. This year I'm planning on it being pure ridiculous fun: ridiculous characters and liberal use of the "dare" boards on the NaNo forum. I need some happiness and light and silliness in my life these days, so I'm going to make some!

Well, during football season, we eat nachos in front of the TV on Sundays. Does that count? :laugh:

Using Exploration Education: science is always a source of stress for me, so I'm looking forward to being more hands off. Starting A History of US: DS may not care, but I'm excited to read it!

I just want to chime in here with a slightly different perspective. I've been on various antidepressants for a couple of decades now. I was on Mirtazapine for a couple of years, and it made me crave sugar like crazy (and apparently that's a known side effect). I'm off of it now (because it randomly stopped working for me :glare:) so the sugar cravings are gone, but my weight hasn't changed. I'm carrying about an extra 20 lbs. I was upset about it for a while, continually unhappy with how I looked in pictures, and felt, and trying (and failing) at diets and exercise. And then one day I just decided to stop caring so much. I decided I would try to eat healthily, and exercise, but not worry so much about the extra pounds. I read a lot of body positivity stuff (including "healthy at any size" things), and worked on accepting myself as I am now, and not beating myself up for not looking a certain way. I'm still trying to find a good med balance, so I just needed one less thing to worry about. Would I love to have the extra weight magically disappear? Sure! But for now, I've decided to focus on other things. Not a perfect solution, and not for everyone, but it's working for me. :001_smile:

You could definitely use BYL this way. We used BYL for grades 3 and 4, and substituted books (we used CHOW instead of SOTW for history), skipped a few books, used her art history but not art projects, etc. It's pretty easy to take what you want to use, and skip the rest.

My back has been killing me lately, and I'm not sure why (I suspect pillow/sleeping issues). The thing that has helped me the most is on Youtube. Very gentle, and my back invariably feels better afterwards. If I do it daily, the difference is amazing. She also has videos for more generic "back pain," as well as "upper back pain," but I haven't tried either of those. (I'm sure they're wonderful - all of her videos are - just no personal experience.)

I have Hiya for my cell phone. I love that if a scam number does get through, I can report it, and feel good that it will save someone down the line the annoyance of getting the call. :)