This looks amazing! Thank you for sharing! We recently got Hiya for our cell phones, which I LOVE - spam calls ring once, and then are rejected. If one gets through, I report it, which helps out people down the line. And it looks like this will work the same for our landline. I'm so excited! :hurray:

Yup, I've been ranting about this to my husband for a few years now. And even if they're not actually see-through, that super thin material that clings to every lump and bump? No thank you! This is the exact reason I finally pulled out my sewing machine and learned to sew. Since good knit fabric can be hard to find, I go to the thrift store and buy very large men's shirts that made of f a nice fabric, and then use a t-shirt pattern I bought to cut it down to my size.

I love Craftsy for learning new skills! Last year I took Foundations of Spinning and Drafting from Worsted to Woolen, and they were both great. I just finished Amigurumi: Woodland Animals, and it was a really good introduction to crocheting amigurumi. I enjoyed it so much I took finished the class (and all 4 projects associated with it) in just 8 days! And it gave me the confidence to move on to more complicated stuff on my own (just finished a Minecraft Creeper for DS, and am making DH a Baby Groot now :)) The Sewing with Knits class was just so-so. The instructor talked way too slowly and seemed unsure of herself, so it felt like it took forever. But the information was good, and gave me the confidence to give it a go. I agree with pp - they go on sale quite often, so wait for a deal. I've never paid more than $20 for a class (and you can get quite a few for $15 pretty frequently).

We ran across this list a while back, and tried several of the suggestions. In particular you might try The Thrilling Adventure Hour.

I knit lots of socks (they're my favorite mindless, on-the-go project), and I agree with pp who said superwash wool with some nylon content - they last longer. Also, wearing them with shoes actually makes them last longer- there's less rubbing on them than wearing them with slippers or on their own. DH has several pairs that are years and years old, and they're still going strong because he wears them with shoes all day. I rarely wear shoes, and this year I had to learn how to darn the multiple holes I developed on my (much newer) socks. :/ I throw all of our handknit socks through the laundry (with the rest of our clothes) in a mesh bag- not because they need the bag, but because it makes it easier to pull them out before I throw the rest of the laundry in the dryer. I hang them up to dry- just flung over a drying rack (although pretty much all of them have been through the dryer a time or two). I agree that Knit Picks makes remarkable good, cheap, sock yarn. But my new favorite sock yarn is Fish Knits Yarn- so soft, and gorgeous colors, and I love the big stripes of her self-striping yarn. Just a joy to knit with :) And one ball is enough to make a pair of socks for my husband.

We have a 12 year old Australian Shepherd who weighs about 50-55 pounds (that's him in my profile picture :)). His arthritis started really bothering his this last weekend, and we're reluctant to do non-steroidal anti-inflammatory stuff because he has the beginnings of kidney disease. So we tried Cosequin, and it didn't do a thing for him- absolutely no difference. Then a dog-savvy friend recommended Glycoflex, and that stuff is MAGIC! After about 3 weeks on it, he was back to wrestling and playing with our other dog again, which he'd stopped doing months before. It's so clear he feels so much better on it. We buy it from 1800PetMeds (but I can't say that I did any real comparison shopping - I just wanted quick and easy).

My DS is 9, and has had his palate expander for 15 months. He just moved to wearing it at night only. Our orthodontist's office is pretty amazing (he was recommended by our dentist). I, too, had worried about impressions, and tried to prep DS for it. Imagine my surprise when it came time for them, and the office didn't use goop to make an impression! Instead, they had this wand with a laser (I think?) on it that they used to take pictures of his mouth. The pictures were used to make a 3-D model of his teeth, and they used that to make his retainer. Amazing! And so, so much less traumatic! This article seems to be about the same kind of machine our dentist used. If you have a sensitive kid (like I do), finding an orthodontist with one of these machines is completely worthwhile. (Where were these things when I was a kid??)

I think I read that same forum! :) Yeah, I've tried that, but it requires me to remember what my categories are, what, exactly, I tagged them as, and to spell correctly every time. I used to keep a list next to the computer, but ended up stopping because I lost the list, or forgot. I discovered exactly how much I cared about that information: enough to tag it if there was an auto complete or drop down or something, but not enough to type it out by hand and keep a list. :lol:

We also use Zoobuh. I can pick who DS can send and receive emails to, I get copies of all emails he sends and receives, and you have the option of it requiring your approval before any email goes in or out of their account (you can turn these last two options off or on). Even if you have it set not to send you copies of everything, if your child receives an email the system thinks might be questionable (might contain bullying, or asking for their address or other information), you get an email about it and you have to okay it before your child sees it. It's $12 a year, but I used a coupon code for half off when we first signed up, and when it renewed this year, it was still half off. Right now it looks like you can use buhsneb to get half off.

DS also potty trained super quickly (just a couple of days), but, um, it was the week after he turned 4. We tried earlier, and he just wasn't interested and didn't care if he was wet. So I picked my battles and waited. I think it was easier for me to wait, because I just have the one, so it wasn't like I was changing a huge number of diapers every day. Lazy parenting FTW! I'm also really, really glad that spring seems to have finally come to New England!

We've been using YNAB for about 5.5 years now, and I really like it. We'd used Quicken before, and I was really unhappy with the way it handled (or rather didn't handle) budgeting, and setting aside money for stuff. I like that YNAB is easy to use, and fairly visual. Over the years I've adjusted how I keep track of things, and I've moved from having individual categories for every little thing to having categories for the main fixed (more or less) expenses each month (gas, groceries, individual bills, etc.), and then one big category that's just "miscellaneous." That's where our new couch went, and also movie rentals, rather than categories for "furnishings" and "entertainment." That's helped keep things simpler. One thing I dislike is that there isn't an easy way to tag things. I don't necessarily want a separate budgeted category for, say, when DH buys lunch, but I would like to be able to easily tag it, so I can later pull it up and see how much we spent on it. I like the information, but don't need a budget category for it, because I would just go in after the effect and set the budget for how much he spent. Which kind of defeats the purpose :laugh:

We are using BYL 3rd grade this year, and really enjoying it. We have previously used BookShark, which is quite similar (it's a secularized Sonlight). BYL is cheaper, and we, personally, like the books better :) We use the history, and literature portion, most of the copywork, most of the readers, and the art appreciation (reading from an Usborne book that lines up with the history time period). We don't use their art projects (we're happy with Home Art Studio), or the science (DS really likes Quark Chronicles, and I really like not doing science experiments :)). We use different programs for language arts, math, and Latin because they aren't covered in the program. So our day looks like this: Read the literature selection (all of which we've really enjoyed so far, btw) Do spelling Read the history chapter (if there is one) Do math Read science Do Latin (If there's reading from the art book, do it here) Do language arts Altogether this takes about 2 hours. Then I let DS have a break, and then he does his math review problems, copywork, and 10-15 minutes of nonfiction reading (usually relating to our current science subject, sometimes the readers from BYL, which relate to the current history topic). We do art projects in the afternoon. Most of our days are pretty similar, schedule wise, just some days don't have a history reading, or do include art. DS likes knowing what to expect, day to day. Like I said, we've really enjoyed it this year, and I've already bought 4th grade for next year. There are Facebook groups for each level, and the 3rd grade one at least has been mildly active, with other parents posting great additional videos/books you might want to check out, and warnings for books that made them cry, :) etc. Did that answer what you were looking for?

We're on chapter 3 or 4 of the Zoology book, and so far it looks like silver is right- it's more classification than evolution. The kids are in space, and they run across different species that remind them of species they know from home, and they make comments about how they're similar to those species. They talk about characteristics of different groups, but not how those groups got that way. I just checked out the notebooking pages for Zoology (which is where you'll find her suggested readings to go along with the book), and "The Magic Schoolbus in the time of Dinosaurs" is one of the optional books. But there doesn't appear to be anything specifically on evolution.

We don't use all of the LA (really just the copywork) or the science, either. I'd really suggest trying a couple of the books from each curriculum, to see which work better for your family. The programs are very similar in layout and use, and it's really the book choice (along with secular vs not) that differentiate them, IMO. Yeah, I've heard mixed reviews of BYL's kindergarten level, but only good ones about the higher levels. I wonder why that is? (We started with 3rd, so never used K ourselves.)

Will you not be using the literature books then? And for which grades? If you're just using it for history, in the lower grades the big difference between the two is using Story of the World (BYL) vs Child's History of the World (Sonlight). I'd recommend reading excerpts of both, and seeing which one you prefer. We've used both, and while I personally prefer the style of CHOW, I prefer the modernity and more secular worldview of SOTW (CHOW has things like "they weren't Christians like us" scattered throughout, which may or may not be an issue for you). (I feel like I should mention: there have also been some pretty heated discussions on here about Sonlight's history, and in particular the viewpoint of the people running the company. (If you search the board for Sarita's name, I'm sure you can come up with them.)) If you'll be using the literature books, too, I'd recommend getting a couple from each program out of the library and reading them, to see which ones you prefer. (Again, we've used both, and I've found I much prefer BYL's books. But many people love Sonlight's booklists, so it's a matter of personal preference.) Our personal experience has been that we love BYL (currently doing 3rd grade, have already bought 4th grade for next year), and we were not fans of Sonlight (mainly due to not loving the literature books). We use the history, lit, poetry, and art appreciation from BYL, and have found them all to be excellent.

Okay, but only because you asked so nicely :) The Yahoo group is Barefoot Ragamuffins.

I'm in the Yahoo group, and I'm almost positive the author has said she has her own kids do it independently, so yes, it can be done. I believe the way it would work is the child listens to the literature chapters via Librivox, and then reads the day's assignment and does it themselves. The parent looks over their copywork, listens to narrations (every other week) and leads pictures study (on weeks where there aren't narrations). So as long as you're checking in periodically to make sure they're actually doing and understanding the grammar bits, I don't see why they couldn't do it on their own.

I'm guessing something like a French press will probably be what you want, but I did want to throw out a mention for a Senseo coffee maker. It's an alternative to a Keurig- put in a pod, press a button, awesome coffee comes out. I bought one for my husband 10-ish years ago, and it's still going strong. It has a smaller footprint than a Keurig, and (my favorite part) the pods it uses are completely compostable! (The pods are wrapped in essentially coffee filter material, so they can get thrown in the compost bin, as opposed to Keurig pods which are plastic and have to be thrown out.)

Is there a particular reason you'd prefer not to have the bread machine do the mixing? Or that you'd rather have it do the baking? I do this in the opposite direction: I put bread through the machine on the dough cycle, then take it out and put it in a pan and bake it in the oven. I do this because I hate the holes the bread machine paddles leave, and I prefer the pretty shape of an oven-baked loaf. I'd check your machine and see if there's just a "bake" cycle.

My DS is also a good natural speller, and Sequential Spelling is working wonderfully for us. From what I can tell it's quite different from AAS, in that it doesn't use phonograms. But it teaches a child to break down words into base words and build up from there, and to see the patterns of words. We do it orally, so it only take us 5 minutes. But if you wanted something for your child to do independently, and he's fine with writing all of the words, they make DVDs which he could use all by himself.

We used BookShark 2nd grade last year, and didn't care for it. The layout was fine, and we actually really enjoyed Child's History of the World (I actually prefer it to SoTW), but didn't care for the literature selections. I know many, many people LOVE BkSh/Sonlight's books, but we found them actually kind of dull. (I got to the end of Red Sails to Capri - which again, many people love- and went "wait, that's it??") We switched over to BYL this year, and it is a much better fit for us. The two programs are, frankly, pretty similar in layout, and the way your days are arranged. But we like the literature books much, much more. BYL includes science (for BkSh it's an extra package), and art history and art projects in their base curriculum. We're using the art history (basically it lines up an Usborne Intro to Art book with the time period you're studying, which I find helpful and a fun extra). For anyone comparing the two, I'd really recommend getting a few books from each list, reading them through, and seeing which you prefer.

We're doing a 6 weeks on, 1 week off schedule, so next week we're ditching letting DS go spend a week with my parents. Which coincidentally means I get a whole week to myself! Crazy talk :) I plan to sew, and read, and spin, and knit, and not think about improper fractions or linking verbs or the American Revolution at all.

At this point, most of our fourth grade plans are just continuing on with the next level of what we're doing this year- it's the first time that has happened! Finishing up 3rd Grade Math: Continuing on with Math on the Level History/Lit: BYL Grade 3 Science: Quark Chronicles Zoology Language Arts: Finish Sequential Spelling 1, start 2; finish ELTL Level 2 Latin: Lively Latin 1 Art: Home Art Studio 3rd grade Summer Playground, playdates, and golf. A little handwriting and the Math on the Level 5-a-days, so he doesn't forget how to write or add. :001_rolleyes: We basically take the summers off, because nothing gets done anyway. :) 4th Grade Math: Continuing on with Math on the Level History/Lit: BYL Grade 4 Science: Quark Chronicles- Anatomy and... something else? Either work through the Snap Circuits guide, or try out EEME, I think Language Arts: Finish Sequential Spelling 2, start 3; ELTL 3 / Treasured Conversations / Bravewriter's Kidswriter class (one of these or some combination) Latin: Finish Lively Latin 1, start 2 Art: Home Art Studio 4th grade (or, if I'm being honest, probably finishing up 3rd grade- I'm not great about getting to art!)

I suppose it would depend on whether you'd be teaching those subjects together or separately? For instance, in 2nd grade we used Classical House of Learning Literature, so our literature books were pretty much all also history book, so I used the history/literature heading. But this year we're using BYL, so literature and history have separate headings. I separated out the books in a "package," because it made it easier for me to go back and look at later and see what specifically we used for each subject. (In my homeschool OneNote notebook, I have sections for each subject: Math, Literature, Language Arts (spelling/grammar/writing), History, Science, Art, Art appreciation, Music, Latin, and Comp Sci, plus sections for general organization, educational philosophy, and misc. These are where I put general ideas of things that I might want to use "someday", or that catch my eye, or quotes from this board that I want to save. But I also have sections for Plans and Records, and in each of those sections I have a page for each grade. It's in these tabs that I record particular books I used or want to use. The headings on those pages are generally the same as for my subject sections, but change a little depending on curriculum.)

We're on the last chapter of the Botany book right now. We did one chapter a week, and since each book is 18 chapters, that will work out to two Quark books a year. We also split each chapter up into two pieces, and read them on different days. I bought the experiment book, but we never did any of them - they didn't particularly line up with the chapter we were reading (you just do the experiments in the order they show up in the experiment book), and I kind of hate experiments, so we skipped them. :blushing: I have a copy of The Green Kingdom, which is the plant volume of the old Childcraft Annual encyclopedia, so I lined up readings from that to go along with the Quark Chronicles chapters. It was nice to have a little reinforcement for the concepts we were covering, and some pictures to go along with them. We're starting Zoology next week, and for that our extra reading will be a Sam Campbell book, because I loved them as a child, and because we can. :)