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. :)

When we adopted our border collie and our son was almost 4, it just happened naturally. While playing with the dog at the shelter he made a sound kinda like "Aaarh," and my son joked that he was a pirate dog. Next thing you know we were doing paperwork and his name was officially Pirate. When we got our pug about 9 months ago, it was a completely different process. Our just turned 9 year old started making a list of potential names. Many of them were long, pretentious, and british sounding. Then my husband and I sat around the table with him and we added more names to the list. We talked about it till we all settled on something. The main points being a simple short name (even if part of a longer name) with clear sounds that the dog could recognize well, something none of us hated, and something that seemed like it would fit the dog well. I think we decided the night before he came home with us. We each picked our top 3 from the list, and went with the name on everyones top 3. My husband had never even met the dog, but we all agreed on Kirby and now we can't imagine him being anything else. I know a group decision with that many people can be hard, but I'd try to get everyone involved. I'd still maintain veto power though.

We're slowing transitioning from our old dishes to fiesta ware. Already have the gusto bowls, the salad plates, and a mix of the java mugs, and the huge 18 oz mugs. Mostly in plum, and a couple bowls in black before we decided we wanted all purple/plum. I had to buy new towels, and kohl's was having a sale and giving back kohl's cash. So now I not only have new towels coming for the bathroom, but I also have a set of 4 demitasse cups which should be here later this week. The kohl's cash will probably go to the stacking 8 oz cereal bowls. I ordered one to make sure we like the shape, and if we do, I'll order as many as I can with the credit. Just happens that I also have a Gift card to Macy's, who also have fiesta on sale. So it's time to start buying plates! My problem is, the dinner plate doesn't seem to fit my dishwasher well. So I'm wondering, for those of you that have them, are the luncheon plates big enough to use as everyday plates? If so, I'll order some this week, as many as I can with the gift card while they're on sale and offering free shipping.

What about less involved games. There are a lot of dice and card games that won't take an hour to play, but will still give you that family time. Pass the Pigs, Cinqo, Dweebies, Gubs, No Thanks, Martian Dice, Zombie Dice, Timeline, In a Pickle, Swish, Set, and Fluxx (available in several versions) are a few that come to mind. Or Qwirkle is a good game that can be about strategy, but you don't have to think about it too much if you don't want to. How do you feel about cooperative game? They're still strategy based, but since they're cooperative you can let someone else do the strategic planning if you want.

Dweebies is a good simple yet fun game. We pull it out when we're playing with younger kids or when we want a game that doesn't take an hour to play. Most of the Gamewright games are pretty good for younger kids. We started with Hiss when our son was probably 2. We also have Gubs, Castle Keep, and Forbidden Island. Forbidden Island can be good because it's cooperative. It led us to a bunch of other cooperative games. We like swish (played it today) but it can be hard for kids without good spacial awareness, I know a lot of 3 year olds who would have trouble with it, and only a couple who would have been cool with it. Qwirkle is great. Dice games are good, there are a lot of different themed press your luck games. As long as an older player is willing to help with the counting and scoring they work well. There's Pass the Pigs, zombie dice, martian dice, cthulu dice, and a bunch of others I can't think of off the top of my head. Most of the lego games are good for younger kids, but get repetitive and boring for the parents. :) I'd usually rather play a more involved cooperative game than these, but my son likes that they're lego. We also have a game called Honey Bee Tree, that we bought when our son was about three, at lakeshore learning. It's like Kerplunk, except instead of glass marbles it uses plastic bees. Less breakable and still works on fine motor skills. Don't break the ice is another one we used to play, as well as Guess Who.

Thanks everyone! I think we'll try continuing with the composition books. In part because the sewn binding on them holds everything together better than the spiral notebooks, but also I hadn't thought of the spiral itself getting in the way. We have a stamp we use to add a grid when we need it for plotting points or graphing things, so we can always add a small graph if we need it for a problem. That's what we've been doing so far with saxon 7/6 and it's worked ok. The folding and drawing a line for columns sounds like it's probably a good idea, assuming the problems aren't long enough to need the whole line. That was the one advantage of the spiral notebooks, larger page size. There are usually a lot more pages in the composition books though. So it's not a big deal if we use more pages, and they're cheap at the beginning of the school year with back to school sales. Which is always a bonus. The idea about boxing in the problems and the answers seems helpful. As does the different colored date and lesson number, especially if you're not starting at the top of the page. We'll be starting AoPS the week after Thanksgiving. I'm both excited and a little scared, but at least now we'll have everything ready.

He's been using wide ruled composition books I bought when they were on sale before school started. He barely writes anything down though, does almost all the problems in his head, and is only writing down answers for me to check. I'm assuming he'll finally have to start doing problems on paper when we start AoPS.

This is kind of an odd question, but I'm trying to decide what kind of paper/notebook my 9 year old should use for AoPS pre-algebra. I saw a suggestion of blank paper, but my son has a tendency of enlarging his writing if there are no lines. So blank paper isn't the best option for him, at least not currently. The options that I have on hand are: wide ruled composition book, wide ruled spiral bound notebook, spiral bound graph paper, or a binder with wide ruled paper or graph paper. I'm assuming the wide ruled would be better than the graph paper, but that might not be an accurate assumption. :) What have you guys used? I know several of you have used or are using AoPS, and it looks like a few of you have done so with kids in the 8-10 range. What worked or didn't work for you? Would there be a reason we'd want to add pages as we go that a binder would be better than a self-contained book? I feel silly asking about this, but I don't want to be 20 pages in and then think, "This would have worked so much better if we'd used (fill in the blank). " Thanks!

What about a family gift like a board game. There are a lot a really cool board games.

We have the tinybop The Human Body app. Also picked it up while it was the app of the week. It's a good app, but definitely for younger kids. I figured we'd check it out since it was free. My son still plays with it once in a while, usually to show other people the app. He's 9, and we've already done some biology. He's also really into science. He hasn't learned anything from this app, but has still had a little fun. It would have been great for him when he was 2-4, maybe 5. Or for a less science obsessed kid probably closer to the suggested age.

It really depends what you're planning on doing with it. If you want to use it as a tablet, then you might want the fire. If you're only using it for reading, I'd go with the paperwhite. We use an iPad for most things, but have a kindle from before we had the iPad, that we still use for reading because it's easier on your eyes than a tablet screen is. Especially if you're reading for a long time.