I'd be nervous about getting a wii game, just because there haven't been a lot of US 2015 releases for the original wii that I can even name... and he might have some of the earlier releases already (since you mentioned the parent recently lost their job). I don't know, I'm just not sure I would be picking something he didn't already have. For a 3ds, he probably doesn't have yo-kai watch, but it might be too young for a 13yo. Think pokemon except you capture pokemon by taking pictures of your friends and family to find their inner pokemon. I think you can never have too many legos. There are some awesome hobbit lego sets -- barrel escape & the battle of the five armies both look really neat.

I don't think this would cover everything she needs since it's not spot on despite discussing the origin of most of the "major" words in it, but my daughter enjoyed "Building a Better Vocabulary." I think it is 1 credit on audible and there are other great courses that are similar. Regarding the writing, this one has a coursebook with some review questions, but the actual definitions and everything are written in the PDF coursebook so she would not have to write much.

My favorite for these types of things is winter skin stuff, either a kit (that you put together, with good lotions) or if the budget is small I've seen those eos lip balms wrapped up either as candy (in a piece of cellophane, labelled something like "You're so sweet!") or as a bomb (usually in black tissue paper, labelled "You're the bomb!"). Not super creative, but my hands sometimes HURT during the winter it's so cold and that stuff gets used. That doesn't work if you live somewhere without a real winter though. :p

I was wondering about this. Does your insurance cover your fence, and have any of the other neighbors made claims for their fences? It's often hard to get and keep insurance for reasonable rates if you have certain dog breeds. I wonder if their insurance company (if the house is insured) even knows about the dogs.

Any idea what they use for phonics? My daughters go to a Montessori that uses primary phonics, and the 6 yo is a good speller who uses AAS 5 at home -- they only have her do specific phonograms. I think they suggest she do spelling on specific phonograms when she makes a mistake in her writing. As far as word lists, my daughter pretty much never spells a word wrong from the word list in AAS, because it is in that pattern (e.g., if you just spelled 9 words using the 1-1-1 rule, you aren't going to get the 10th wrong). However, when the word appears in a different context, she can spell it wrong sometimes. To me, it really just depends. If your list is unconnected random words (e.g., not all "final blends" but just totally different spelling patterns) and she's getting them all correct at the start of the week, that's different than getting words correct when they all follow the same pattern (infection, objection, etc.)

We are in love with the frixion ones because they are truly erasable, keep in mind that you can't expose them to extreme heat or the writing disappears.

Other alternate history: *The Man in the High Castle *Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus (my husband despised this book, I enjoyed it in terms of just noodling over it; good when served with Guns, Germs, & Steel) *Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell I'd screen the following first before recommending them to a 15 year old, for sure: *The Plot Against America

A couple of science fiction ones I didn't see above: 1. Philip K. Dick stuff -- like Ubik, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep; interesting to contrast with the movies 2. Post-apocalyptic that wasn't mentioned: Earth Abides -- I still reread this years later

Yeah, as someone whose kids go to public school, I feel this sometimes. Really, I'm a good mom. Or at least, a decent one. However, I've never really thought of it as something homeschoolers do to give homeschoolers a bad name, more just something humans do that gives humans a bad name. It's an unfortunate aspect of our species that people will often bolster their own self-esteem by thinking more poorly of other groups than is actually true.

It happens around this time of year. My brother is a UPS driver and it's always crazy.

I think what some previous posters have suggested -- think in terms of individual parents and students rather than the school system as a whole -- is probably a good approach. In a way, some might say this is counterproductive because you are putting off the day of reckoning for public education as a whole by making the problems less obvious... but I don't really think that day is coming. No matter how bad it gets we'll just move on to some other variant of the "new" thing. My daughter goes to public school in a very well-regarded district. What I hear most from parents is that they need some kind of resource for the "new" math (a variant of Singapore). If you are strong in these methods and know the curriculum used in your school system, maybe just a facebook page where you answered questions would be helpful. I guess it depends on your school system though, they may not like it, especially if they *think* they already have mechanisms in place to handle those questions. Ours thinks you should just email the teacher, but the time lag before they get back to you is so long and the explanations don't always help. Really people just post a picture of their child's confusing math assignment on their personal facebook page and hope that some kind soul will help them out.

I'm slightly embarrassed to actually admit this was a relative who said this, but upon seeing the baby of a mom of mostly Irish descent (another relative) and a dad who was everything NOT Irish, she said: "Well it's nice to see the baby's skin is so light." First of all... most people darken with age. Second, who even thinks something like that? It really thew me for a loop and still bothers me!

Can you do Christmas herbs? Maybe a potted herb each with some of your ideas of how to use that herb. Thyme, mint, basil, rosemary, and cilantro come to mind.... if they have dietary restrictions they probably don't have an herb restriction! It's not possible to have too many pots of those. Well, except for the cilantro... because I don't really use coriander and mine always gets leggy sooner or later.

Partnership writing is the name of one of the stages that is outlined in the Bravewriter... curriculum? I'm not even sure what to call it, but if you scroll down it is described here: http://www.bravewriter.com/getting-started-with-brave-writer. The PDF called "Partnership Writing" is mostly focused on 10 1-month projects for that stage. I find my daughter needs a lot of help with these, but they are good jumping off points... like the island chain / continent one reminds me a bit of creating the backstory for a fantasy world -- what are the different countries, how did they get their borders, where would the cities be. It's good for talking about (e.g., you put your city away from all the rivers, how do they get their water?). My daughter is just starting on this one now.

Depends. If it's something like a dye sensitivity or gluten intolerance, I think the host should make sure there is something for that person to eat and I do. I usually have a folder with all the ingredients for everything in it so people can read it themselves and choose what to eat. If it's something like a serious nut allergy, where the person can die if the kitchen was not properly sanitized, then I never have nuts on the table but I would ALSO like them to bring their own if it's potluck (I know so many people who just don't understand how sensitive these can be! Like if you cut almonds on your cutting board yesterday, it's going to take more than a normal wash...).

Maybe some of the ideas in Partnership Writing (bravewriter) would work for you. A couple that come to mind are the imaginary continent/island chain and the imaginary catalog projects.

I had them all out at 27, they came slightly up and never came in -- then got cavities!

I'd take it, just make it even (an even square) and put the serving utensil there. Honestly, when I see someone has already taken a piece, I'm more likely to eat it! I know it makes no sense but I am always reluctant to be the first person to cut into a nice new crust.

I know some divorced couples who vacation together with the kids, i.e., even if one or both has a new boyfriend/girlfriend and things aren't that amicable. It always sounded like a trip to purgatory to me... Imagine a week at Disney with just you, the kids, and your cheating ex + 1. I do get that in some rare cases it works. I also knew a couple who divorced and went on as housemates (with the kids) for ages, and they honestly seemed fine. I think they were in that house for over 5 years after the divorce. I think it's really rare that it can work that way.

I love them! Too cute! I haven't seen anyone wearing them around here yet, but I'm not against being the person to poison the well when it's something that cute. :p

I haven't really thought about the college experience much, but I don't want my children's choices in later education (and then life) to be as determined by money as mine and my husband's were. I chose both schools (undergrad and grad) because they offered me what would let me attend. My husband and I chose our house coming out from under the end of his student loans. If we hadn't felt we should pay off those loans before buying the house, we would have had more children (probably 1 more). As it was, by the time we were financially "on our feet," I was considered "high risk" due to my age... and that was when college costs were much lower. I'm not saying I want them to be able to choose anything and pay for nothing, but I would like for things to be not totally driven by cost.

You are fine -- that's what I would have done... put a little money there in case your son ran through his tokens (assuming included in the party) a bit too quickly! When I invite people I always make it crystal clear though, e.g., "We have XX number of tokens for each child so there's plenty for all!" but I'm known for being way overdetailed.

For a long time I tortured myself with the thoughts of, "How is this saving for college thing possibly going to work out?" The only way for us to cover the whole thing is to eat ramen all the time, and that seems like a particularly bad plan. :p Then a friend gave me the advice to just accept that it wasn't going to work out. :p So now I accept if my kids want to go to a private 4-year college the whole way, they need to get scholarships, financial aid, jobs, and/or loans. At the rate we are saving they are each going to have 75% or less of what they might need, and that's with a lot of sacrifice. It terrifies me that they might need loans for graduate school on top of undergrad.

Hehe, I have a friend who KNOWS she has this problem, and tells people to "Kick me out when the time comes, I don't have the ability to know when I should leave on my own."

Yes, my younger daughter liked this and the first few lessons are free on their website. http://media.wix.com/ugd/fb055d_79baca3cdee542e48b90da057b17f1fb.pdf I do have to say, though, that you may want to go back and choose something afterward, like AAS or AAR or even both afterward, if you use The Reading Lesson. It will take them to a mid second grade reading level pretty painlessly (at least for us it was painless), but not everything is covered.