We drove from Florida to Indiana to see it. We saw the one in 2017 (very close to my parents' house so we visited them and then drove into totality on the day of), but the kids were too little to remember much/anything. They are 15, 12, and 10 now, so this one will stick with them. And it was amazing - a marvelous display of our Creator's power and glory. All three kids were just wowed. As soon as totality ended, DD#2 said, "I NEED TO GO TALK TO SOMEBODY I DON’T KNOW ABOUT THIS!" 🤣 We're very glad we made the trip. 🙂 Here's a picture my DH got - somebody just handed him a filter thing to put over the lens on his phone camera, and he got some good ones!

Glasses are just for looking at the sun during the partial eclipse. During the few minutes of totality, no glasses. (I think I remember someone on these boards posting that they missed totality in 2017 because they thought they had to wear the glasses during it.) And it's absolutely amazing. The moment totality is over and you're back to partial, it's back to a state where one could very easily not even notice that it's happening.

I have only ever used shredded sharp cheddar in my grits (I grew up in Georgia). The thought of American cheese in grits makes me shudder. 😄 But I hope you can find what you're looking for!

The Latin club my girls are in sometimes writes this on Honda Odysseys (parents' or friends' parents' cars, with permission of course) for publicity. I do not drive an Odyssey, so I opted to let the kids write "Carthago delenda est" (Carthage must be destroyed) on mine. But then it rained, and now it reads "Car est," which still works because "it is a car."

"I'm just not sure how well this plan was thought through." -Meet the Robinsons "We don't talk about [substitute whatever else besides Bruno]." -Encanto Princess Bride, Emperor's New Groove - soooo many quotes from both of those And a ton from various Star Trek shows, Psych, Buffy, Angel, as well as the Harry Potter books.

I have looked that up in the past - when I learned the Latin word "formica" and wondered why in the world the company would choose "ant" as its name! 😄

Can anyone recommend a provider for AP CS A? My oldest is interested in taking it next year (10th grade). She has some experience with Python, but Java will be new to her. Her preference would be something with live instruction (once a week, maybe), assignments in between course meetings, and good feedback on her work. Also, if anyone has experience with this course through Florida Virtual School, I'd love to hear how it's structured. The only thing she's done through FLVS is driver's ed, and I don't know if that's a typical structure or if some of the classes have actual live instruction components or what.

Some of the ones we rewatch, no particular order... Buffy / Angel Firefly Once Upon a Time Star Trek: DS9 Stargate SG-1 Monk Psych Veronica Mars Chuck

Last year I was called back for diagnostic mammogram on one side and ultrasound on the other side. It's based on what they think will let them see what they need a closer look at.

Yeah, I knew the "not knowing Spanish" was a limiting factor! 😄 Thank you!

Thank you both so much! I will take a look at those. Amazon was only giving me "Latin American Spanish/English" dictionaries when I was searching.

...a Latin/Spanish dictionary? All of my kids study Latin. My 12yo has added Spanish this year. We own a Latin/English dictionary and a Spanish/English dictionary, but she keeps asking me for a Latin/Spanish one. I have had zero luck finding such a thing; not knowing Spanish myself is not helping here, I'm sure. But surely there are people whose first language is Spanish who also study Latin, so these dictionaries must exist, right? Anyway, if you know and can tell me where I can find a Latin/Spanish dictionary, I would be most appreciative. 😊 (Regarding online sources - Google Translate doesn't have a great track record with Latin, and the other translation sites popping up in my searches seem rather scammy. She wants a physical book.)

No experience with those particular classes, but my oldest has been doing Latin III with Lukeion this year. In her class, there are strict deadlines (though we were able to communicate with her teacher and get a test opened early when DD was going to be traveling) and high standards. But her teacher has been very encouraging and not at all harsh or sarcastic. When DD has had questions, the teacher is responsive and helpful. She does list the top 3 scorers on each test but that is just in an email sent to the class and I don't get the impression that it feels competitive to them. The class is VERY well organized. We will be traveling for the eclipse, and DD knew from the beginning of the semester exactly what the assignment would be that week so she could work on it ahead of time. I can't say for sure about other courses, but that's what we've observed with this one. Also, the Lukeion folks are very communicative and were happy to answer questions for me before we signed her up. So definitely contact them if you want more info about the workload and such (if you don't get what you need from responses here).

Facebook decides all sorts of things about me. One of my favorites was when it decided I was afraid to teach my children math. I have a master's in mathematics education. 😄 And it decided at one point that what I wanted my feed to be full of was AI-generated pictures of various types of bread shaped like cats. 🤷‍♀️

I hadn't seen one for 5th grade yet, either! My youngest will be in 5th next year. Here's what I have so far... * Math: Finish Beast Academy 5, then some prealgebra. I don't know that AOPS will be a good fit for him. We'll see. Regardless of what we use, I do want to start teaching him LaTeX at that point. * Science: it will be a life science year, but that's all I know. I haven't even started looking for resources. I used Elemental Science's Biology for the Logic Stage with my girls, but I don't think that will work for him. * History: From Adam to Us (Notgrass). We'll probably spread it over two years. He's been doing Our Star-Spangled Story and that has worked well, so hopefully this will too. * Reading: mom-selected books. * Writing: mom-designed writing assignments. * Latin: continuing Lively Latin 2. * Bible: continuing Bible Study Guide for All Ages. * Possibly some coding? Right now he just does that for fun from time to time, so I'm not sure about the wisdom of making it a School Subject for this kid. * Homeschool Orchestra (violin). Maybe private lessons as well...not sure about that. *Taekwondo (private lessons).

How we observed this holiday at our house today:

My middle one will be in 7th next year. Math: AOPS Intermediate Algebra - she's already started this, so she should finish it about halfway through next school year. Then probably the Intermediate C&P book. Science: most likely meteorology. I need to find a decent text. Social Studies: I'm really not sure. I should start thinking about that. Latin: Latin II using Wheelock's. English: mom-selected literature, writing assignments to go along with that. Bible: Koine Greek using Mounce's Basics of Biblical Greek. Coding: if she does this, it will be Codecademy courses on her own. Spanish: she'll have finished maybe 2/3 of a Spanish 1 book by the end of this year, so if she wants to continue it (it's up to her) she can finish that book and then move on to a Spanish 2 book. What we have now is some old text that had her learning vocab like floppy disk, lol. But it's fine for a lot of the basics. If she wants to continue beyond that I'll look for a tutor or an online course she can take. Extracurriculars: Latin Club, flute, taekwondo, plus church stuff.

I regularly wear Ravenclaw t-shirts, lol. And it's very common for my family to have discussions about which Hogwarts house various characters from other books or shows would be in.

Like others have said, denominational affiliation is something I want to be able to find easily. When we were looking for a new church a couple of years ago, I found it really helpful when a church (the one we ended up at) expressed clearly that they have a special needs ministry and a little explanation of what that includes. A church that doesn't have anything about that may still be supportive and caring toward families with special needs, but it was really helpful to see that this is important enough to the church that it warrants a spot on the website. I really wish staff email addresses were easier to find on our church's website, though. It takes some doing to figure them out. Make sure that whatever you go with works and looks decent in both desktop and mobile views. Oh - and wherever you list things like location and time of services, PLEASE update that on the actual website if you have a change, like just one service instead of two because of a holiday or something like that. It's maddening to be out of town, look up a church to visit, go at the time they say their service is...and then have it not be at that time because it's New Year's (or whatever). Posting it on social media is great too, but updates like that need to show up on the regular website for visitors who may not look for the social media accounts.

My oldest will be in 10th. Here's what I have in mind so far... * Science: Physics - local lady offers science classes to homeschoolers from her home, and DD has done biology and chemistry with her. *Math: she'll be halfway through precalc (an old Glencoe book I already had) so she'll finish that up. I want her to wait until the following fall to start calculus, so for spring of 10th grade we're thinking number theory. The text I'm looking at is A Friendly Introduction to Number Theory. * Social Studies: I'm thinking world history. I have ordered a world history textbook that I'll use as a spine, but I'll probably have her read a variety of sources and write based on those rather than relying on the textbook much. So I need to get reading because that's a lot of prep for me. 😬 * English: this year I have her reading ancient lit and using some of the Old Western Culture resources (skipping around so she gets some Greece and some Rome). We'll probably continue with that, moving on to some of the Year 3 lit. * Latin: AP Latin with Lukeion. * Bible: Koine Greek using Mounce. * Computer Science: continue exploring various things on Codecademy, probably. I think the following year she can do AP CS A. * She's also interested in learning linguistics, so I may make a credit or half-credit course on that for her. * Extracurriculars: she'll continue doing Latin Club and voice lessons, presumably. I am hoping I can talk her into trying taekwondo as well, but we'll see. She's also begun some Latin tutoring and I know she hopes to continue with that.

@Hannah I hope he is able to be home by Christmas! ❤️ I have one more gift to buy/wrap - food item so I didn't want to get it too early. I also need to get candy for the kids' stockings (candy is the only thing that goes in stockings at our house). Other than that, just a few things to cook/bake next weekend. I do still need a couple more gift ideas for oldest's birthday (late January). I like to get all the gifts at once for Christmas and both girls' birthdays (DD#2's was earlier this month), but DD#1 wants very little, so it's a challenge.

I was going to mention Harry & David pears - that's what we always gave DH's grandmother and she loved them.

Oh - one of my kids just finished reading A Wrinkle in Time, and that also has characters worth looking into. Meg would be particularly good for seeing how "giftedness" doesn't always look like we might expect it to, and how a kid can be gifted in some ways but struggle in others.

My first thought is Mysterious Benedict Society characters. One of my kids mentioned the characters in Meet the Robinsons.

No Christmas sweaters at our house. My 14yo has a youth group Christmas party next week where they said to wear ugly Christmas sweaters, and I think that's the first time any of us have had an event that requests them! 14yo has zero interest in wearing one, so I don't have to worry about it.