My 12yo just finished Redwall this past week and loved it!

Our CC has a minimum age of 16 also, but made an exception for my 2nd son who was 14. He had scored really high on their English/Math placement tests.

Oh my! I was planning on using Anderson, Grimm, and Perrault as our read-alouds next year. Kind of "read the real fairy-tale thing." I'm going to go get this off the shelf now and see if I need to nix it. To answer the OP's question, I have always finished books I start in the past (a little OCD about it), not so much any more. Life is too short.

:iagree: I don't think I've heard it pronounced any other way.

I haven't been on here much the last few days and just saw this. I hope things went well for you, Molly!

Mine is manual. I don't have a lot of counter space and can't see the point of taking it up with something I use once or twice a week.

I'm stir-frying sirloin tips with peppers and onions. I'm also making mashed potatos because the kids begged, and will probably make a salad.

This is my 15th year, and I still want to quit every February.

The elementary school got an 8, middle school an 8, and the high school a 7.

I have 100 dates that I required my kids to memorize. When we were first learning them, I typed up 10 at a time to learn in our regular a.m. memory time. Once those were learned well, they got 10 more. The ones already learned are put in our review rotation (with our poetry, scripture, etc.). This method has worked well for us.

Praying.

:grouphug: Praying for you and your family.

I will have my fifth go-round with Apologia General Science next fall. I have used their science sequence all the way through high school with all my kids so far. I don't love it or hate it, but it gets the job done. My oldest ones have told me that they felt well prepared for college level science when they got there, so we are sticking with it.

I have a ds that is 17yo ds who is very mature and responsible. I would not let hiim go until he was a bit older for some of the same reasons already mentioned - age limitations on renting cars/hotel rooms, things are iffy for Americans everywhere these days, and if problems did arise I would be too far away to be of any help to him.

:grouphug: Praying for you, Christine.

I have been going back forth on this one myself. I love the look of MFW, but we are supposed to be going into early modern next year when my dd starts 9th grade. Right now I am leaning toward MFW anyway. I have a sneaky feeling that I will wish I had if I don't! BTW, I will be at the Greenville convention too!! I am excited about getting a chance to really look at it in real life.

My 11yo dd is also a competitive gymnast. She is at a very competitive gym 25 hours per week. The head coach, who has coached at the Olympic level, is very hard on the girls - but in a loving way. I don't know if that makes sense or not. All the girls love him and want to work hard to please him. I would not let my daughter be coached by someone she was afraid of. That is not the right incentive to work hard IMO.

We used to have one family at a time over on Sundays, but now it seems I have a house full of teenagers on Sunday! I have to cook a LOT not knowing how many kids will show up. With our own kids, my oldest and his wife, and a bunch of teens, we usually have 10-15 people for lunch on Sundays. It's different from the way we used to do it, and my dh and I don't really have any adults (other than my son and his wife) to visit with, but I like that the teenagers feel comfortable to gather at my house.

:grouphug: Praying.

As far as educational games go, my 12yo ds and I have been enjoying Leonardo and Co. I don't think they make that particular game anymore, but the company (Sophisticated Games Ltd.) have lots of good games based on LOTR, Horrible Histories, etc.

Wow, that sounds like fun! I used to worry about what other people would think of how I looked, but now I only care about how I feel about how I look (and maybe dh!) and that I am comfortable. One of the advantages of being older. Have fun!!

My answers are in red above. They are for my 8th grade dd who works on level in some areas and ahead in others. I have had to be consistent with consequences for her to make working hard a habit. She goes to dance three days a week and she missed a couple of times before she realized I meant what I said - "You don't finish, you don't go."

Good for you. I guess I am full of pride because that is one of the hardest things for me to do. It is so much easier to just hold a grudge (but it eats at you - doesn't it?).

Yes, it works fine in HE machines. I've been using it in mine since I bought the machines - a couple of years ago.

:grouphug: Praying here.