Would a blue Icee or snow cone charm work? You might be able to make them out of shrinky dinks or polymer clay. Though the shrinky dink plastic might look more ice like. I saw some blue ice cream cones when I was googling to see if blue snow cone charms were a thing you could buy, but ice cream feels less like ice than snow cones or an Icee.

Financing through a dealership isn't always a bad idea. If you're buying a used car, a credit union is probably cheaper. However, if you're buying new, dealerships often have both incentives and financing affiliated with the car company at really low rates. My truck was financed with 0% interest and a $500 incentive for financing. It would have literally cost me $500 more to pay cash for my truck than to finance it, and I have the option of paying it off early if I want to. My husband's car we financed a few years ago with 1.9% interest. Even if you have the cash upfront, if you can secure financing at a low enough rate, it's worth considering. You can always invest the money elsewhere while paying off the loan. Or if you don't have the money upfront, paying a few percent to have a new car that you don't have to worry about breaking down on the side of the road might be worth the peace of mind. If you're paying 15-20% interest on a car loan, then you might want to wait or buy something cheaper while you save up. If you have a good credit score, you most likely won't be paying that kind of interest on a new vehicle. If you are financing through a dealership I'd wait until there's a good promotional offer on the vehicle you want. Waiting a month or two might make the difference of a percent or two on the loan for the car you want. Or an extra $500 or more in incentives when financing the car you want.

We've used (are still using) them. My son is finishing the 4th volume now. We didn't use them our first time through while using the activity book when he was younger, but decided to go through the series a second time as a refresher before we moved on to United States History. Our second time through has been much faster, several chapters a week in the audiobook format filling in the test sheet while listening.

Celiac can present with a lot of other symptoms that are not at all related to the digestive system. If you think you have family members with it, it might be worth checking into. Given that malabsorption is one thing it can/does cause. Also, I've seen some recent info suggesting that non-celiac gluten intolerance can also cause some of the same symptoms. Not to say it's gluten related at all. Just wanted to put that out there.

For us, the first 3 chapters took forever. There is no way we could have done a chapter in two weeks. There where some days where we'd only get a couple problems done. We're moving quicker now, but probably still not quite up to a chapter every two weeks. My son is younger though, and our experience might have been different if he were in 7th when we started instead of 4th. I'd assume his math facts would be faster by then. Although most of the slowness wasn't the speed of his math facts but the idea of not brute force working the problems and thinking about how to play with the numbers to make it easier. That was drastically different than how he was used to doing math.

Have you looked at Junior Analytical Grammar? I'll admit there's a bit of review after completing FLL, but it's much faster and without all the "talking parts" as my son called them. I'm not sure if it's as challenging as you'd like. There is also Analytical Grammar, which is more advanced.

I'm just gonna throw this out there, but if she's going to be transferring to a public school and you have to finish on a specific timeline, maybe consider using something more in line with what she'll be using in the school system. That being said, we are currently using AoPS PreA and are in the middle of chapter 3. It has been taking us forever to get through the beginning of the book. I think we're finally starting to move a little quicker. It's been a huge adjustment for my son, after using saxon, where everything was really easy for him. He has to think now, and it seems that's not something he's used to doing. At least not in math.

We have two at the moment. An old HP laserjet that only prints in black and white. It's a 1300 I think, we bought it about 10 years ago. Before that I'd only had inkjet printers and I was having horrible problems because I printed (at the time) infrequently and the printer heads kept having issues if I didn't print for a couple weeks. So we made the switch to the laser printer. This year for my birthday my husband bought me a new HP all in one color laser printer with wireless that does duplexing. It's a LaserJet Pro 400 color MFP model M475DW for anyone interested. It's everything I could want in a printer/scanner. Ok, I'm sure I could want something else, like cheaper ink or someone to do the copying for me, but I really am very happy with it. We'll get rid of the old black and white one as soon as we use up the ink cartridge. I'm slowing using it up on stuff that is only one sided printing. To anyone buying a printer, I would really encourage the duplexing, it is awesome.

I would suggest you not have their posts on your feed, but to check their walls occasionally so you still know what's going on. Seeing the content that bothers you all at once on your terms, when you're prepared to view it might be easier than having it show up on a regular basis on your feed throughout the day. I hope you find a way to stay connected without it frustrating you too much. :)

Now I'm curious. We're in CA and are about to file our PSA. I'd been a little nervous about it, but after reading info online decided it's really not that big of a deal. We've notified our current charter and next Friday will be out last day with them. The following Monday will be the first official day as our own private school. I was under the impression that I'd most likely never see or hear from anyone regarding the school. Then I saw this... Of course it's still morning, and there's no way you'll get your mail for hours. If they even decide to bring it today. :)

I saw a coupon for the etiquette factory on homeschool buyers co-op and I'm really considering it. I'm not worried about table manners, but the mention of awareness of how your words and actions impact others is something we could stand to work on. I could easily have my son read a book, but right now he's a lot more engaged in computer based lessons for topics he wouldn't otherwise like. While I can't get him to sit down and talk or read about art, he loved doing creativity express online. So this might be a good option for us. Would you mind posting a link to the review you were reading? I'd also be interested in comments from anyone who's actually used the etiquette factory lessons before.

I know this is a really old thread, but I have a question about MindUp and hopefully someone will notice this. :) They make 3 versions of this curriculum, based on grade level. I'm looking at the 3-5 and/or the 6-8 versions. Is this the kind of program you'd work through one level then go on to do the next, or would you only do one? They both say they have 15 lessons, and sound similar. It's hard to tell without looking at them if they cover the same material or if one is significantly more in-depth. I don't mind buying both if they will be helpful, but my son tends to check out if things are too easy or become repetitive without noticeable advancement. Any info would be appreciated.

If we were starting from scratch and building- a great room with a large corner kitchen. An island, snack bar area, double electric ovens, a 48" gas cooktop with griddle, lots of cupboards and counter space, Corian counter tops with a large single basin sink and a smaller prep/bar sink, a french door freezer on the bottom fridge, and 3 rack dishwasher. I'd probably also try to work on either a panty or an inside laundry room, maybe both. If we were building from scratch. :)

The Key to series has measurement books. There are two sets, one for english and one for metric measurements. There a bit repetitive, especially if you do both sets, but sometimes a bit of repetition helps it sink in. Otherwise you can skip half the problems and it's not so bad. https://www.keycurriculum.com/products/key-to

When I looked this afternoon to spend my kohl's cash, everything I wanted to buy was sold out, and they don't sell my color in the local store. Then I Checked Macy's to spend my gift card and they're sold out of the luncheon plate in the color I want. All around fiesta fail! Luckily my macy's gift cards will be good forever, I'll try to catch the next sale. I need to figure out what to buy at Kohl's in the next week though. Yep, first world problems. :)