Oh yeah and we have a million Walmarts in my state so when I go anywhere I know I can *usually* find a Family bathroom inside a Walmart. I will lug ds and dd in there if necessary and just have him look the other direction lol. I have been known to awkwardly pull my whole shopping cart into the family restroom with dd in the front seat and ds standing next to her to make sure she doesn't try to tip it or anything. My father has the same type of issue because he has to assist my mother in the restroom. So they generally just go to places like Walmart and Target to use family bathrooms.

Haven't read all the responses. I have a 9 yr old boy. I have this problem everytime we go out in public. Sometimes I let him stand outside and sometimes I make him come inside. When he comes inside I try to get him to stay out of the way and if there's room to stand away from the stalls. Yesterday we went to a restroom in the mall. He came inside the restroom with me which was empty. I was in the stall and then a whole family came in. Boys and girls, younger children. I thought I heard a girl comment on a boy being in the bathroom (ds). When I came out of the stall I saw that one of the moms was using the changing table to change a girl (older than I would use a changing table for). I instructed ds to leave the restroom and wait outside while I washed my hands. I discussed it with him when we left. To be honest I might have made them more uncomfortable than ds did because I peered around the corner to see if the girl was strapped to the changing table when her mom walked away to grab a paper towel or something. I wasn't trying to leer, but I was worried about a child being left on the table. So yeah, we deal with this often and I never know what the "right" thing to do is. I guess I just try to follow my gut. Sometimes that means choosing a different place. Like we were in the mall but instead of using the overcrowded food court restroom where ds would be standing there and having people maybe wonder what he's doing alone or potentially being approached I chose a restroom in a different part of the mall inside a dept. store.

I'm all over the place. I haven't tried everything. No box set. I am happy with our Math Mammoth but I don't doubt that the others are good. We use secular materials in the Bible belt so I think a lot of homeschoolers here don't use the same stuff as me. Some items I never tried simply because of price.

My dad will only eat beef ribs. If I have a choice I ask for beef. I like some pork, but don't care for pork roast. Gotta be beef for me.

For the books maybe there is a learning center or poor public school or somewhere that would appreciate donations. I know in my state some of the public school libraries are pitiful. As for hospital, last time we took dd to a doctor (pediatric ophthalmologist) the waiting room was pretty sparse. We wondered if that was intentional or not. I don't know if they would appreciate donations for a waiting room.

wings I don't like meat on the bone. Plus it looks like so much work for so little lol

Alexa can get really loud (imo) but I wouldn't get it just for that. The price has gone up since we got ours and we don't plan to replace it right now (dd broke it after enough throws). If you do get an echo, it's probably better to operate with the remote than the way I did it... "Alexa! Alexa! Alexa! Volume 3!" when I wanted to turn it down. :lol:

I might just be practical about it and just pick the main food as whatever the guest of honor and/or friends would eat. If this is a child's party I don't think a lot of veggies may go over well as a main dish. Well, even as an adult I don't think it would exactly curb my appetite. I'd just use decorations and dessert to help with the colors/theme. I did go to a party for a little girl once with that theme. The kids played pin the tail (or horn?) on the unicorn. There might have been a colorful piñata, too? I think fruit and veggies are good colorful items. I just think of them more as sides.

I feel behind because maybe I'm wanting to do X and we don't finish it and then I want to start it later, but now we've "outgrown" that grade level. Like, we didn't finish Elementary History. It's geared for K-2 or something. I still want us to finish it. I don't even think I care anymore what grade level it has on it. But I also want ds to do something with world history this year. So I don't know how that'll work. I just know that at some point I want us to finish it. It's not like he remembered everything we did when we were on schedule. He went to brick & mortar last year (3rd) and learned about some of the same people but didn't remember that it was something we had covered. Sigh. Off and on I've felt "behind" because my family doesn't do the read alouds. I tried. I really did. But ds would be right there next to me and I'd have to summarize or repeat what I said every few minutes. It was torture. He'll be tested soon for APD. So I'm just like okay, whatever, this is my kid and my family and we'll just have to go with the flow. What works for some just doesn't apply to everyone. If I did everything just right and on time and he didn't retain it, what's the point? I try so hard to get a jump start in the summer, but dh is like, "he doesn't need to do school today" or ds is like, "I need a break" and I don't even ask much! Get on board, people. I'm trying to enjoy our winter vacation later, not make us do school work while visiting family. :glare: I just wish my family was more in sync. I'm debating when to reactivate our time4learning.com account. They added a summer program! But we have other things we can do this summer (we were given a summer book, we have math we're reviewing and ds is finishing up his summer reading for the library program). All this to say yeah, I get it. I think I need to spread our schooling out over a longer period of time, closer to a year round schedule maybe? I don't know. Once fall is here we'll be trying to participate in events and things that will definitely throw us off. It's like pulling teeth to get anyone to do school when we visit family "oh the cousins are here" "but it's vacation" etc. etc. I did buy two planners (recommended in the planner thread) so I can more easily see how much we're covering in each subject. That might help me to see where we are lacking. Mostly I tell myself if we're doing well in Language Arts and Math we're not too bad off. I do feel badly when I neglect other subjects, though.

not at middle school level yet. This year will be our first year trying Wordly Wise 3000. I think it looks good.

This is the most active group I'm in. I have posted a few times on a time4learning forum and secular homeschooler forum. I'm in a few facebook groups as well.

Today Siri heard me correctly because it spelled my address (different place) correctly as I spoke, but when Siri repeated it back to me it was all wrong!! Right on the screen you could see it typed right and wrong. How do you teach Siri??

We have to make conscious choices in the grocery store. Once it gets in the house all bets are off. I don't do much cooking. I can eat healthish without prep, but healthy is relative. Is it organic? Often not. Is it from my own yard? Nope. I will make parfaits for myself (plain Greek yogurt or a mix of plain yogurts), fruit, possibly a little granola, some sliced almonds. The fruit can be sliced myself or come from those Dole containers with presliced peaches, pineapples and/or tropical mix. We try to buy strawberries when they are cheaper (compare stores). We might eat frozen stir fry with riced cauliflower (also from the freezer section). Is it great? No. But I feel a bit better about eating that than some meals. If it's not full of veggies I add my own. If it is, I still might add more. I started eating bread from Sam's of all places that is multi-grain, organic, GMO-free. It's affordable. It's thick so it's more filling. I struggle with salads. Bagged salad goes bad too fast most of the time. The huge bags from Sam's can't be eaten fast enough. But when dh buys romaine lettuce and we wrap it up separately and cut when ready to eat it seems to last. I'm lazy so I hate the extra work but we should do it again because it does stretch. Keeping less drinks in the house is one of the only ways I drink more water. We have a ways to go with our eating habits. There's always the rotisserie chicken you buy and add to something to make a meal. I like to do that with the bagged soups sometimes and then toss in extra veggies.

For K we did time4learning.com math. You can do it at your own pace. It's a pay per month program so if you don't want to keep it you could just use it long enough to get through their math section. They have online lessons and printables (optional). For first grade we did MM. Back then I think I would scribe for ds a lot.

I can usually find a coupon code for Math Mammoth. I didn't use the homeschool buyer's co-op sales because they wanted me to buy in sets (ie. grades 1-6. Not sure if that is always the case). Directly on the site you can usually find a Thanksgiving sale in Nov. Sometimes they have a sale through another seller like CurrClick. I believe Kagi is no longer an option. I clicked through my old emails and I got sales in January and August. So maybe something in August will be the next sale.

On the iphone I have a picture of a microphone in my chat box for both regular texting and facebook messenger. But if you don't have the icon you have to enable it. It's not totally accurate. It's kind of hit and miss. As for Siri, well, it took me literally about ten tries to get him (I have the male) to understand the name of a city I wanted to navigate to. I don't think it's my fault. It's a weird city name. You can say, "Siri, send a text to so and so" and Siri will say, "what do you want to say?" and then you can talk. But I don't know how well that works for longer messages. She might think you are done before you are done. She will say, "ready to send?" though. When something messes up in a text (not the siri mode) I just delete. Sometimes the feature freezes up and says loading but when I hit done no text appears. I don't know why that happens. I tend to skip punctuation but I guess I can try saying, "period" next time lol.

Does this mean he will be on a bus with other students he will see at the picnic? Maybe they won't be strangers by the time of the picnic if they have spoken on the bus.

Your approach sounds like mine... just anticipate and avoid lol. I don't like to wash clothes around my in-laws because I'd get a speech about the "right" way to use the washing machine settings (I've never chosen casual/permanent press in my life but that's how they wash a lot of stuff). So I'd do laundry when they weren't in the house. This kind of backfired last visit. They got a brand new washing machine and I didn't know how to do anything!! The door even locks. I had to ask for help lol. Packing enough to not need to wash is maybe best.

are they living at home? I'd have a low tolerance for any smoking (regular cigs, cloves, etc.) I don't know if I'd say zero, but definitely low. When smokers visit our home they have to smoke outside, but I would rather them not smoke at all because when people smoke it wafts indoors or clings to their clothing and hair. Living at home I think I might tougher. If they want to live at home then they have rules to follow. If it makes them feel shunned, then, well, it isn't any different than some other house rules people have. I guess if they weren't doing anything after smoking, I might prefer the marijuana. I used to spend a lot of time around potheads and I know in general I didn't consider it a danger but if say someone has to drive they might drive really slowly. So I might question their soberness for lack of a better word.

I don't know where you live but dh sometimes buys shoes for the kids at Shoe Carnival. They seem to always have buy one get one 1/2 off when we go. We have bought Sketchers a few times, but I can't remember their lifespan. I prefer not to buy him two pairs at once because he tends to outgrow them before wearing both pairs enough, but you could buy two styles (dressy, casual) or get for mult. children.

If I could have done things differently I would have sent ds with a notebook/planner from day one for homework assignments. We tried some variations of this. I have a feeling your 4th grader will do fine, though. Find out how the meal plan stuff works if they will ever eat in a cafeteria. The school allowed parents to order in advance or not. Sometimes ds would order junk we didn't want him to (like I don't know, just fries and a drink lol). I never did the meal prep but we did have a discussion about ordering a main dish or whatever. The school expected us to pack a snack each day and sometimes that threw me off because I was not used to that. We left snack or lunch at home a few times by mistake. For me personally I needed to ask things like, "do you have enough notebook paper? Enough sharpened pencils?" because things would disappear or he'd run out and tell me after he'd been borrowing paper from classmates for a couple days. So just keep on top of that stuff lol.

I was given a crossbody bag for Christmas. I like that the strap is adjustable. The fabric is probably faux leather. It feels sturdy. The label inside is Scarleton. I have a small frame. there are probably smaller crossbody bags, but I'm pretty content with the size. I use it on a regular basis. You can find them on Amazon. It would be in your price range, actually cheaper based on the results I got.

Oh and if you do want to get a baby carrier... I would suggest you try some on first. See if there's a lending library in your area or maybe a store that will let you try on. Every person is different. I own a Lillebaby All Seasons (no infant insert required) and a Kinderpack (standard toddler). Both are part mesh. I tried an Ergo knockoff and did not like the back panel was so low. I only knew it was a knockoff because of the stitching. The one I tried was also all canvas which is really hot. The ones I own are also ergonomic. If you have a maternity jacket, hang onto it for babywearing. I bundled us up over the carrier. (LOL). http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v88/gothicpunker/public/ergoknockoff_zpskyucchw3.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v88/gothicpunker/public/lillebaby_necksupport_zpslryymrvl.jpg (this one had a neck support feature I liked) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v88/gothicpunker/public/toddlercarry_zpsg0dqzcjk.jpg

pumping bra if applicable: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00295MQLU/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 This is the one I own but it has two zippers, not one like pictured. Baby bottle brush/nipple brush I like these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007I6WOLM/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/Simba-Sponge-Nipple-Brush-Orange/dp/B00LMM9BMS/ref=sr_1_1_s_it?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1498350666&sr=1-1&keywords=simba+nipple+brush Drying rack. I like this one because it was good for both pumping parts and bottles: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002A9JCVW/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I bought it twice! lol One for my house, one for my parents' house Baby bathtub. We got this one. Mainly liked that we could hang it. One bathroom and no storage: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JBYNKWG/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Cushion for knees at bathtub. We found a very plush one on clearance at Target. (not a NEED now but came in handy a lot. I use a cheaper thinner one at my parents' home). If you choose to use a pack n play, for either sleep or naps, I highly recommend a sheet for it. Can just toss sheet in washer that way. I like this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001KZH692/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I like these swaddles: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016LSUE6O/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Keep an eye on them, the prices seem to change. They also make a premie size. Obviously, you don't need all these items, but might remind you of something you need/want. :)

Wow, I didn't know you could do slaw like that. And I am not a fan of the cole slaw from KFC which was the only idea I had on quick prep. lol. Let us know how it went. Hope it worked out!