I assume these are all Sonlight cores? I'm wondering a couple of things here ... (1) Are you doing extra history readings, or is the history that you do during Circle time the only history you do? If you're doing separate history + all of the SL readings, you're doubling up on history, which is not necessary. Unless you're pulling out the SL history readings to do during circle time, or you're skipping the history readings in SL, you're doing twice as much history as you really need to do. (2) Would it be possible to combine children into one core? They aren't spread out too far age-wise ... it theoretically would be possible to combine DD9 and DS7, or DS7 and DD5, into one core, so you're doing 2 cores instead of 3. That may not be possible because of characteristics unique to your kids, but in most cases, it should be possible to combine children who are only 2 years apart, especially since you already have them doing separate LA. This would save you some time and maybe allow you to get it all done in the morning. My other thought ... Rather than doing "fun," extra stuff (like music, art, French, Apologia--though I'm not sure science would be considered an extra) first thing when the kids are fresh, and then feeling crunched for time for the basics (math, LA), why not do the essentials first? Have circle time, but make it Bible, memory work, maybe history. Then move straight into individual essentials--math, LA, phonics for the youngest. See how much time you have left in the morning. Have another circle time for whatever extra you're going to do that day, including science readings and maybe history. Or if there isn't enough time to do it comfortably before lunch and you don't want to rush it, save it for after lunch. Or if it really isn't essential, and you don't want to do it after lunch, just don't do it. This way your best, most focused, least rushed time is saved for the subjects that really require that, with other subjects getting the less optimal time. Clarify what is truly essential, and give that your and your children's most alert, least rushed times. If you're going to rush through anything, make sure it is not the stuff that's foundational--math, phonics/reading for the youngest, grammar/writing for the older ones. Just my $0.02. :) Good luck.

For how much to give--look at the packaging. The suggested amount per day is based on the weight of the cat, and sometimes on whether you need the cat to maintain or lose weight (or gain, usually in the case of kittens). You can feed the cat just once a day, but our formerly free-feeders do much better with twice a day, half the daily amount each time.

We transitioned our cats from free feeding to scheduled feeding for weight management (we have one slightly fat cat and one extremely fat one, so we're trying to get them both to lose some weight and one to lose a lot). We still feed them together, though we keep saying we'll try separating them to make sure the obese one isn't eating too much of the overweight one's food, but we haven't done it yet. Something you may want to consider--leave the plethora of food down all the time, since you've been free feeding, as long as there are no weight issues. The one who will eat it will continue free feeding. The other will either learn to eat it or will be fed the preferred food at set times. (Twice a day, as close to 12 hours apart as you can get it works well.) When you give the preferred food to the picky one, put the food and cat in a room without the other cat (to prevent "theft" of the preferred food), close the door, and leave them for however long you think reasonable, maybe 15-20 minutes. Either way, you'll use up the non-preferred food, and the picky cat will get the necessary nourishment ... though you may be subject to begging for a few days until the cat figures out the new routine.

Oh my. That would freak me right out, knowing the context--at least of the first one. I don't think I've seen the episode with the second, though if it's anywhere near as creepy as the first, I'm not sure I could handle hearing my child say it.

It depends on the child. From the bedroom perspective, it's fine, as far as I can recall--with the caveat that I've only watched the first couple of seasons. However, if the child is sensitive to spooky/paranormal/scary things, then you may want to hold off. I myself am particularly sensitive to that type of thing--I get nightmares. Most of Dr. Who has been fine for me, but there have been a few things that kind of freaked me out.

Yep, use the vegetable broth

I'm 35. When I was a child,I knew a girl a couple of years older than me whose given name was Emily. I don't know where she is now, but wherever she is, she's an adult named Emily. What does this person think happens to all the little girls named Emily? They start going by their middle names? It's not like it's a nickname for anything ...

No ideas for you, but following because this is something I may well try in a year or so ...

I was familiar with 25 (I only counted myself as familiar if I was familiar with their faces--so, for example, even though I know who Margaret Thatcher is, I haven't seen many pictures of her, so I'm not familiar with her face). Of those, I got 16 correct. Although if the researchers actually read my responses, they'll probably get a laugh, as my responses often were things like "funny guy, on Mrs. Doubtfire .. I'm so bad with names" or "guy on Grease, whose name I should know, but I don't recall it." (And, yes, I counted those as correct for Robin Williams and John Travolta.) So that's 64% for me. If the real average is 85%, that fits with my perception of myself--a little worse than average, but not horribly so. I'm always announcing to my husband that the actress on TV is the same one who played so-and-so, and he cocks his head and says, "well, I guess I can see a resemblance, but no," and I'm good with people I see often, but if I only see you once every month or two and you change your hair, I'm liable to introduce myself to you.

My "other" vote was because I'm in process of reading it now. I've finished the grammar section and the first couple of chapters of the logic section. For future polls, after I've finished reading the book--I'll probably read it multiple times, though probably only this first time straight through; it'll be used for reference after that--I won't be sure whether to say "before I started homeschooling" or "after I already was homeschooling." I know many on these boards think that you shouldn't do preschool and don't count it as homeschooling, but we've been doing it for a year now and are about to move into preK. So according to that crowd, I will have finished the book before I start homeschooling, for K or 1st grade--one or two years from now--but for those who count preschool and preK as school, I'll have read it after I started homeschooling. Tolerance for ambiguity is a good thing. The overwhelming need to be literal and precise in the language I use ... well, sometimes that's a good thing :)

Sonlight and Tapestry of Grace both are designed to combine kids--SL only kids close in age, like yours, and TOG kids of any age. Sonlight Core A may work--it would be read alouds, more world cultures than history in that core--or Core B or B+C (B is the first in a 2-year series of world history, B+C is a condensed 1-year version). Core A is labeled for K, but many use it for 1st grade. B is labeled for 2nd, B+C for 2nd or 3rd. It wouldn't be too difficult to go with the lower core and supplement if necessary for your older, or an older core and not expect your younger to follow the more advanced books. LA would be ordered at the kids' individual levels. Science A should be fine for both of them, from what I understand--no personal experience using it. You'd order whatever math you wanted at whatever levels are appropriate. For TOG, your kids both would be LG, so they could do it all together, with grade level differences being mostly your different expectations for them. You'd need to add in another science, which they could do together, and phonics/LA and math at their own levels.

:bigear: Thanks for asking--I'm curious too!

Check out this recipe: http://www.thepaleomom.com/2012/01/recipe-paleo-chicken-fingers.html . Pair it with homemade honey mustard ... yum! To the OP, I didn't see if you mentioned the brand of the almond flour you bought. I will say this: If it's Bob's Red Mill, plan to use it primarily as breading. When I first started limiting grains, I saw a lot of comments about how BRM almond flour wasn't very good for baking, and I disregarded them--I thought the commenters were just being snobs because BRM is cheap. So when I ran out of the more expensive brand I'd been using, I switched to BRM because it was cheaper. Suddenly ... NONE of my almond flour baking was turning out right anymore, even the recipes that had been great with the other brand. I used up the BRM with this chicken fingers recipe and went back to the more expensive brand.

Personally, neither my husband nor I take baths, and I would just as soon not have one in the master bathroom to clean, as long as there are tubs elsewhere for the kids (as you said there are). But I know that many people do want tubs--and huge ones--in the master bath, so I'd accept that it would be viewed as a limitation by some potential buyers. But if I were buying a home or remodeling a home I intended to stay in for several years, I'd prefer no tub in the master bath.

I'd wear it with a flesh-toned bra--preferably a convertible one where I could use the clear plastic straps. Or if that were too obvious and I were feeling daring, I'd try it with a backless bra: http://smile.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=backless%20bra&sprefix=backles%2Caps&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Abackless%20bra . But I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable with it, physically, because I assume the backless bras have adhesive, and my skin reacts to that, sometimes badly. If I couldn't figure a way to wear a bra with it, I'd take it back. ETA: Yes, a cami would work well, too--Sheldon posted as I was typing :) Oh, and I also meant to say--depending on what's see through, it may go back anyway, unless I wore a cami under it. See through on the shoulders and down the middle of the back because of the lace, I'm ok with. If it's see through in other places because the material is just too thin, it would require a cami.

Well, princesses sing ... and dance (maybe a style other than ballet?) ... and ride horses (though that's an expensive hobby to develop). If they do martial arts, maybe they do a style that looks more like dancing--like aikido. Or fencing. (I've always wanted to learn martial arts, though, so I'd sit her down in front of Mulan and say "See?! Princesses *do* learn martial arts!" But that's probably counterproducive ;) ) Of course the problem with all of these is that attention *would* be on her, so if that's a big turnoff for her ... :confused: Princesses also do needlework/cross-stitch/knitting/crochet ... Of course, I'm not a very nice mama. If I throw out three or four ideas, and DD (or anyone else) doesn't go for it, I tend to shrug and say, "Well, when you know what you want to do, come talk to me."

:bigear: ETA: Curious George is very popular around here! Also Paddington, as Whitehawk suggested below. Oh, and Frances ... as in "Bedtime for Frances" (though in that one, Frances imagines lions and monsters) and "A Baby Sister for Frances."

We are covered by USPS, with some assistance from our military friends :) Thanks for the suggestions! Those look great. To everyone, thank you for your advice and encouragement. It sounds like I should be able to do this if we decide to go this route. Part of me longs for the convenience of a one-box stop (or at least one-box-per-subject), but part of me really likes this idea of picking resources that I particularly think my daughter will enjoy. I have some thinking and some discussing with my husband to do.

We started using Charlie's Soap when we were cloth diapering our daughter (you have to be extremely careful what you use with cloth diapers, so as not to mess up the absorbency). At some point, I decided to just try it on our regular clothes and see if it would work, because who wants to buy more than one detergent if it isn't necessary? I'd also done the math and seen that when ordering Charlie's off Amazon, it was less expensive than what I could order the more mainstream detergents for, as long as you do the math per load--you only use a tablespoon of Charlie's, and less if you have a HE machine. It worked really well to get the stink out of our clothes. I usually put my towels through an extra cycle to make sure they rinse extra well, but everything else has been fine with one load. I did notice, however, that when I was staying with my mom temporarily and using Charlie's Soap for my laundry in her machine--where she uses regular detergent most of the time--that I started having a bit more trouble. It turns out that Charlie's is formulated to rinse clean, but if you use it in a machine that still has residue from other detergents, that residue from other detergents can cause problems. With each order of Charlie's I've received, there also has been an insert with instructions about how to rid your machine of those residues, or if you simply use Charlie's consistently without using other detergents, the machine eventually will lose the residues through natural use.

I've never washed my child's sneakers, but I remember mine being washed and dried. They made an awful racket in the dryer, and the toes curled up a little when they came out, at least until I'd worn them a time or two, but they seemed just fine afterwards. Now when my husband washes his, he leaves them to air dry. His don't get the curled up toes I remember :)

She should go to the shelter. Allow them to help her get legal custody of the kids. Press charges against her husband in hopes of buying herself some time to breathe while he is in jail. While he is in jail, she should move somewhere else--possibly with the boardee if he doesn't know where the boardie lives and it doesn't come out in the court proceedings--and not tell him or anyone who knows him where she and the kids are unless she is legally required to do so. If she is legally required to notify him of the children's location, she should look into all available options for self-defense and develop a plan for how she will protect herself and her children if he attacks her again. But the first step is to go to the shelter. They have the expertise. She needs their help.

Those take time. Even if they could and would do it same day, she doesn't want to be waiting around. Better to get away, then check with a lawyer later about how to get those records without them being traced back to her--maybe sign something so a lawyer can request them for her. She won't need them immediately if she goes to a shelter; surely they're accustomed to lack of paperwork. Another phrase I hear in my head constantly ... "Off the X! Off the X!" The point of that one: the X is the target. Until you get to a safe place, you're on the X. That's not where you want to be. She needs to get off the X first, then deal with everything else once she's safe.

I don't think it matters much about the quotes--you said you made some edits. The brackets make it clear that something about the children was edited, but without knowing what, it doesn't matter ... I watch too many AFN commercials--I hear the phrase "op sec" go through my mind way too often, possibly about way too trivial things, but in this case, it may be a good thing to be a little paranoid :) My first thought was to have her give the note to the librarian, or leave it with the boardie's friend to deliver, but I don't think we want any bystanders getting involved with this guy directly. If she's fairly certain she'll be at least two hours gone (or absolutely certain she'll be at least an hour gone) before he gets home, then I'd say leave the note, but leave it somewhere where he wouldn't see it immediately. Not on the kitchen table or wherever he'd leave his jacket, for example, but on his pillow or on the bathroom counter. Or fold it up and put it in an envelope, write his name on the front and leave it mixed in with the mail. Somewhere he'll definitely see it, just not within the first two minutes of being home unless he starts looking for it. But if he may drop in at any time, and possibly catch up to her before she gets to or departs from the meeting place ... I don't know. Maybe the local shelter can tell her what to do--they may be able to provide some kind of liaise service after she's gone. I'd rather fight a kidnapping charge than have my escape thwarted because he got home early and saw the note too soon. If this attempt fails, he won't let her get another one. In any case, she needs to document, to the extent possible, that she's left a note, so he can't say she didn't. Take a picture of it. Maybe also leave one with someone else to send certified mail after she's gone--no sending it herself; postmarks provide information.

I made a couple other edits to edit out little clues that could be put together with others to add up to information about the child--you may want to make similar edits to the post I quoted. I'm concerned about her having to leave a note--can she be absolutely certain that she'll be long gone before he gets home to see the note? If not, it could be dangerous for her to leave one.

I'm pretty sure the one we use most of the time when we're in the States doesn't have an attendant. I may be wrong, though. It's been a while since I was there :)