Do they just teach the lesson or do they also include the problems from the lesson? If I understand correctly, Saxon Teacher DVDs include both lesson and solutions, just like TT. Do Art Reeds DVDs do the same? Thanks.

I second this. Lots of docs order tests to cover themselves for liability issues. If it isn't really neccessary, I'd pass for now. But then again, I'm pretty conservative about health issues. I'll probably already be dead by the time I go to a doctor.

I find myself getting defensive because the rice cooker seems to be causing problems. I do have pans and water of course. The lids don't fit the pans since they've been dropped a million times so I use foil to make a tight seal. Which is fine. But I'm not purchasing a rice cooker - I'm asking for one for Christmas. My mother asked what I wanted and that was my answer. I don't feel like that's too much to ask. I've been single 11 years (you see their ages), I work, homeschool, have one in college, one almost in college, two out of braces, two about in braces, my parent's old age, my retirement, EVERYTHING completely on my own. I promise that I've done without for years. My house looks just like a garage sale vomited all into it. I have NOTHING to my name except for my 1999 Nissan Altima with 183K miles on it. The only vacations I've taken since I was a child living at home is driving four hours to visit my older sister for a few days. My mother and sister asked how they can help. I asked for a rice cooker. I realize that I'm not active here, so y'all couldn't know much about me. But I promise I'm not materialistic and my priorities are straight. This response sounds as if I'm angry - I'm really not. But I don't want y'all thinking wrong about me. I've been very excited planning all this out and honestly, the stories here are very encouraging. Thank you so much!

My regular job is weekend nights - I work Sat night and Sun night. At our hospital, that's considered full time so I get full time pay and full time benefits. My extra shift will be in our hospital's float pool, so I will decide ahead of time which night it will be. I'll work around activites that way, plus my oldest two are still at home and help with transportation if needed. It's easy to type that all out - hope real life is as smooth. I haven't had a credit card since the divorce, 11 years ago. I use my debit card and have never had a problem. I know that others have strong opinions about that (I've been around here long enough to know :001_smile:) but that's how I do it. No, my Christmas list is for my mom and sister. They've asked how they can help. My Christmas is bare bones as usual. I've been single for 11 years - my kids know frugal very well. My debt is only my student loans and my mortgage. Unfortunately, my loans were on hardship deferral for several years after the divorce (as was the rest of my life), so interest really added up. I've been paying on them regularly for about 5 years now and the balance goes up every year. I have to get drastic. I owe a total of 60K between the two of them. Ugh. Loving the stories - thank you!!

If so, and if you'd like to, I'd love to hear your story. I'm starting this in January. I've listened to Dave Ramsey for YEARS but just never believed that I could do it. I have two massive student loans that just keep growing, even though I pay on them every month. I have to do something drastic, or they will never go away. So I've picked up an extra job working one shift (I'm an RN) each week, I'll keep my weekend job and we're cutting back to nothing. Kids are reluctantly on board. They understand, but aren't looking forward to it. I'm also working on my Christmas list. I want a new fancy rice cooker - I'll use it a LOT!! I also want one of those water filter pitchers and reusable bottles so we don't have to buy bottled water. I also need another set of scrubs for work. My extended family is very supportive of my doing this - yeah!! Anyway, any tips, encouragement, BTDT stories - I'd love to hear them all!! Thanks - -Anne

Mine is the best....:D Crustless Cheese Quiche A friend brought this to work the other night and I can honestly say that it was the best quiche I've ever eaten - and I've eaten a LOT of quiche!! Hope you enjoy it too. Thanks, Sherri! 2 Cups small curd cottage cheese 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese 4 eggs, lightly beaten 2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chiles 2 tablespoons chopped black olives ( I left out of mine) 1/2 cup flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt Preheat oven to 400 F. In bowl, combine cottage cheese, Monterey jack cheese, cheddar cheese, eggs, butter, chiles and 2 tablespoons olives. (This can be prepared ahead & refrigerated.) Combine flour, baking powder and salt; add to cheese mixture and mix well. Transfer to greased 9 inch pie plate. Bake 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 F; bake 30 minutes longer or until knife inserted near the center comes out clean. PS: I didn't say it was healthy.....but it is incredible. It's the green chiles that really do it. YUMMY

Oh, that makes me sad. I love the way she teaches.

He's still so young! Boys start reading fluently at all different ages. As long as he's reading and enjoying it - that's MORE than half the battle. Be patient...in other words. My youngest is 11. NOW he's reading fluently. Glad I didn't push because he loves to read.

Does anyone here know if Maria Miller plans to add any more levels to her math? I've searched around her site but can't find anything about her plans.

Potato soup, carefully saving the skins for breakfasts (fill with scrambled eggs, leftover meat, cheese, heat lightly) Quiche dishes using leftover meat and/or veggies Homemade pizza crusts with leftover meat and/or veggies Baked potatoes Anything from my More With Less cookbook - this book has been a lifesaver as I've been trying to cut back on groceries.

Here's a HUGE helpful list: http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/lunchboxfood2.htm

My youngest really needs the structure and review of AAS. But our relationship needs a workbook. Any suggestions? My oldest is using Spelling Workout - which I like. Is that possibly the closest to what I'm looking for? Thanks

If it were me, I'd remove "and a breadth" and write "defines" and leave it that.

Good job!! And welcome to the forums. You'll fit right in!

Have you checked out the books in Sonlight's core 5? It's all eastern hemisphere and middle school ages. And very boy friendly.

My biggest forum pet peave is NO ONE. It isn't NOONE.

We used to do half a can of diet mt dew in the morning and the other half with lunch. It was really a beautiful thing - a new kid. Now he loves coffee so he drinks a cup with me in the morning and after lunch. I hope you get good results.

Even just changing up the bread helps. My boys liked lunch meat wraps, with tortillas - same insides as sandwiches. Also the same insides in a hot dog bun - that was a favorite. Tomato soup in a thermos with chicken nuggets - cooked in the morning, room temp by lunch time. Breakfast pigs in a blanket (little sausages wrapped in pancakes) with a little thing of syrup for dipping. Someone else mentioned frozen yogurt. That was one of my best realizations - we kept individual sized yogurts in the freezer, tossed it in the lunch container, it was thawed by lunch and kept everything else cool. Leftover pizza was also a hit - refrigerated overnight, room temp by lunch, with ranch dressing for dipping (? - don't ask!!)

This may seem silly, but could you work in an Italian restaurant? I'd imagine that most are owned/run by Italians and they probably only speak it unless to customers. If you were going to look for a job anyway.....might as well enjoy the food, I mean, the environment.

I think that schedule looks fine, though I understand why it wouldn't be ideal. The 10th gr year of MFW isn't just midieval - it's all of world history from Rome on. Your child would have ancients down pretty well, but that's just fine. I also like the looks of MFW for high school and if we're still homeschooling then, that's our plan.

I'm certainly agreeing with borrowing The Total Money Makeover from a library. Also, someone upthread briefly mentioned his podcast - well, they are AWESOME!! Go to his site, find his podcast, and subscribe for free. They will show up everyday on your iTunes, then you can download them and listen to all his shows without commercials at your convenience. These shows are inspirtional and educational - lots of bang for NO dollars!

The boys and I are going to take up Arabic. I'm toying seriously with the idea of moving to the UAE in two years, so we're pretty motivated. I'm loving the Pimsleur CDs so far; not sure if we'll add anything else or just work our way through all of those.

I'm out of town for a few days and don't have the book to look through. But on the Apologia website, there's a Table of Contents, or somewhere else. Sorry, maybe someone else can help with that one.

I think SL5 would be great for 7th grade. We did the 4-day schedule, thus leaving out a couple of books. It sounds like yours could do the entire program as written. My only concern would be the fact that he isn't interested in anatomy. We'll either grow interested in anatomy, or be miserable the entire year! And depending on your state's requirements, and your goals for science, are you ok with skipping with General? Is there stuff in the first half of the book (apart from anatomy) that you NEED to cover? If not, I'd be completely fine with skipping the entire book. But again, that's just my opinion and I'm pretty laid back. But we just loved SL5 science - it's definately more than Apologia's General science would offer, re: anatomy.

We did SL Science 5 and plan to skip Apologia's General Science. Not because it's too much body, but because it just looked blah to me. Please do not skip SL 5 science - it is an incredible study. I'm an RN and looked forward for years to that science and it did not disappoint. That's just my opinion, of course.