Congratulations! What a gift and example for your boys.

The MP3s are divided by section of each chapter. They are clearly labeled, for example "Chapter 12: The Middle Kingdom of Egypt" and "Chapter 12: The Hyksos Invade Egypt". I think it would be pretty easy to skip the sections you don't wish to cover.

Do you have walking paths or hiking trails? I've gotten to know my friends best when we met regularly to walk or run together.

I attend an independent church with about 400 members so our elders and church staff determine the rules with input from parents. All volunteers have to have background and child abuse checks yearly. We have a yearly parents/volunteer meeting that includes safety. Our children's minister also is very open to talking to parents and wants our feedback both positive and negative. We pretty much all know each other though. For instance of the 8 kids in my daughter's class, 7 of us were in college together. The mother of the 8th child was in the youth group when I was a volunteer and grew up attending our church.

You may want to cross post this on the chat board.

My kids love it to. I'm with you that I thought it sounded boring at first, but my son had been doing copy work for two years now and it's one of his favorite things.

Walmart carries a Danskin line that I like, I prefer the pants that have a drawstring in the waist. They are a cotton blend so they aren't good for workouts where you will get really sweaty, but they are good for walking, hiking, or running on cooler days. I also really like Old Navy's compression pants, maybe they will have them again soon. If you don't mind spending a bit, I have Adidas and Brooks compression capris that don't roll down. I found them at Dicks Sporting Goods a few years ago. They do have a website if you don't have a store in your area. Eta I think mine are 2xl so that may not be helpful.

Are you preparing the food yourself?

Our recycling bin. I'm amazed at what my kids come up with. My son loves his tools as well. We bought him a couple pine boards at Christmas and he has made all kinds of things out of those and scraps.

I've done it online. Some things are handled almost instantly, some take a few days. It probably depends on the error though.

Oh man I would have a hard time with that. Fortunately we can utilize the larger library system in the neighboring county. It's not the same, but it's still nice.

I think it looks great and maybe it wouldn't show all the handprints little kids leave on doors. I may copy you!

That's a great idea! This would be wonderful for my younger children.

I can't find the graduation rate. We are ranked in the 94th percentile in the state and our rating indicates a 60% or higher graduation rate. What concerns me is that only 40% of graduates are considered prepared for college. We live in the wealthiest county in our state, but the major industry really skews that number.

This is great! I'm going to check it out and possibly work it in over this summer.

My brother had one that did like to go sledding with him. It followed him around like a dog all the time.

I haven't flipped through it, but have you seen "Desk Atlas of the United States"? It's put out by Geography Matters, I'm not sure if there is a world atlas as well.

In our first year I had a kindergartener, a 3 year old and a 1 year old. I have found that I have to be flexible. The schedule of our school day changed as the baby got older and napped less. At first we only schooled while he napped. My 3 year old would sit in on many lessons. Sometimes she worked puzzles or colored at table. Now my 2 and 5 year old play in the room while I do lessons with my 1st grader. We usually start our day reading books the younger two picked out. They often sit in on Latin and memory work but I don't require it. When we head upstairs I start with the most time consuming subjects and try to finish them first. Some days we do have to stop work before I've accomplished everything I our plan, but now that we are in a routine it's rare. I have a pretty active 2 year old son and it can be challenging to school with him running around, but it isn't impossible. You will find your groove.

Rest and nap time. Clean, play (Legos, dolls, cars, etc), art projects, play dough. We do read alouds and my older two read and look at books. They also play outside. We don't go somewhere every day but we do frequently visit the library, go to bible study, go to the park, go hiking. In the summer we go swimming. I think with younger kids who no longer nap it can be hard to fill the time, but with older children there never seem to be enough hours in the day.

I was there last night too. I wasn't planning on buying much so 3 hours was just about right but it went quickly! I think the whole convention is worth it especially when you are starting out. This year I couldn't work out childcare but I do intend to go next year.

What a week! Hang in there.

I have a recipe but not handy. If you pm me, I can send it to you in the next day or so. I think it's from the Betty Crocker cookbook but we've modified it for our family.

It's been stormy all week here. I'm ready for it to pass, my sinuses are killing me.

I've only worked on local houses, but the project or site managers are really good at working with people who are not experienced construction workers. If she did happen to have plumbing skills, they would want her to use those instead of having her hang drywall. Since she doesn't, they will teach her how to drive a nail or paint. There is always site clean up too.

That is confusing.