But he does want to be someone who doesn't do one. At that age, I'd let him decide, not someone else or what people feel is expected. How would anyone there know he didn't do one? Is it a small group? Will it be an empty table that somebody labels with his name? Just don't put up a table for him. If he does have a sarcastic streak and was forced to do the display, I'd print out "This space intentionally left blank" for the board and leave it at that. Erica in OR

Forensics lab. Erica in OR

Two favorites of mine at that age were House of Stairs by William Sleator and Locked in Time by Lois Duncan. Erica in OR

This is me, too. The OP's description of that it makes her more irritable later in the day was spot-on. I *can* do a lot in a day, but if I do, it tends to result in increased irritability, less patience with everyone around me, and less energy overall. Also, I changed multi-vitamins last year and also noticed a dip in afternoon energy—feeling like I needed to go to bed. I changed back to my original brand and felt as though it helped. Erica in OR

Yes—at the link I shared she shares two recipes, one for areas that you still want to use for planting, another for not. The no-replant recipe uses salt. Erica in OR

The Everyday Cheapskate column had some weed killer recipes using vinegar, table salt, and dish detergent. I haven't tried them so can't speak to their effectiveness, but here's a link http://www.everydaycheapskate.com/home-and-family/hands-down-the-best-way-to-kill-weeds-and-its-not-roundup/. Erica in OR

Bumping. :lurk5: Erica in OR

Same here. I think we're fairly low COL and my DDs have been pet sitting at $20 a day (two dogs, not puppies), just stopping by as needed, not staying over. They vacuum on the final day for the collected pet hair. Erica in OR

For me, having a typewritten paper is not really about keyboarding practice. It is hugely about the ease of being able to go back and revise the paper itself. A timed, handwritten essay is going to be more about getting your thoughts organized beforehand, putting it down on paper, and making minimal revisions afterward. My expectation is that a regular paper would go through additional drafts before the final version. Having to deal with that in a handwritten paper would be unnecessarily laborious, IMO. Erica in OR

That would be my question—how would baby get there? I wouldn't want to be exposed to parents during this stage. What do guidelines of their daycare say? They're usually pretty specific about illness. Erica in OR

Not finding it either. I'm following her board about it on Pinterest, though. https://www.pinterest.com/jen_naughton/middle-earth-summer/. It lists her as Jen @ Viking Academy and the board is named "middle earth summer." Could maybe get some searching clues there? Erica in OR

When we lived in the midwest, we bought a Mosquito Magnet for the yard. It burns propane, the mosquitoes are attracted to the carbon dioxide as well as a mosquito attractant chemical you place in the machine, and they enter the machine's net and dehydrate/die. From what I remember, it takes about 6 weeks for it to have a noticeable effect on the population, with the life cycle of the mosquito. It was a huge help to us. When we moved to a much drier location with rare mosquitoes, we passed it along to my parents, also in the midwest—still going strong after many years. You do need to refill the propane several times in a season, since it burns all the time. Erica in OR

Some threads just stick with you! This situation has been on my mind here and there lately, and I'm hoping it got resolved with as little fuss as possible for the OP. Erica in OR

However it gets sorted, a huge benefit for me would be a way to search for titles or terms digitally. That might be too much for the start of the project if it doesn't exist already, but a future goal? It helps to know if a location has a specific title I'm looking for, rather than going and physically browsing books. Erica in OR

Agree. Oldest is in 10th grade, and several years ago, I gave up on Vocabulary from Classical Roots with her and went with just Latin and her habit of voracious reading. I have not used separate vocab with the next children either and don't plan to. Erica in OR

Dead Poet's Society. Then we went to Denny's because my date wanted his free birthday meal. Erica in OR

My "other" is the organ. Erica in OR

One suggestion is for her to take a look at the topics listed at the ACS ChemClub Activities page (http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/students/highschool/chemistryclubs/activities.html) and see what interests her, like art or jewelry or food or forensics or the Olympics or... Then, go into that link and look at the curated resources it offers and use it as a guide to decide on a project to do. It might mean doing an art project that relates to chemistry, or designing an experiment that tests a particular food (like different gluten-free recipes), or... Disclaimer: I am connected with the ChemClub program, but recommend the page because I believe it is a useful resource as a jumping off point for students to connect chemistry with the world around us. Erica in OR

This is one of the recommended books in TWTM (second edition is the one I have), for sixth grade readers. It suggests Cantos I–V, using either the translation by Allen Mandelbaum or Robert Pinsky. I purchased a copy, but we haven't gotten there yet. Ditch and move on to the next? Erica in OR

It doesn't help you much now, but I'd keep an eye out for their online sales. They used to do a big one toward the end of the year. They'd gradually move the percentage off up and up gradually, until it was some crazy amount off everything on the site. It was a balance of waiting until the percentage was what you wanted, but there was enough merchandise left, since they'd sell out of certain sizes. I did a big purchase once a year a couple of times with those sales. Erica in OR

I have the same hair type. A shorter cut (above the shoulders) and a daily hairwash are what it takes for me. Erica in OR

I was using an SAT Question of the Day app on my tablet for awhile. It rotates through reading, writing, and math questions. Erica in OR

We purchased a multi-foot length of white rope lights from a local store to attach to our patio. A search online looks like they have them in incandescent and LED versions. I like that they provide enough light for a nighttime activity, but still have a party-like vibe. Erica in OR

Original owners of a 2004 Sienna. It has worked well for us. It does have the problems mentioned by others—issues with the doors have been the main irritation. There have been several warranty notices sent to us the past few years, with new fixes they're offering (for free). The latest was for seat belts starting to not retract. If you aren't maxing out the number of passengers, it would be much more comfortable on long drives. We do cross-country drives often and when you put someone in every seat, plus the snack box and everyone's bag of things to do, it gets crowded. The cargo area is roomier than it looks (very deep), although we eventually purchased a cartop carrier. As someone also mentioned, it really does turn on a dime. The salesman who took us out on our test drive noted it specially and had us do a Y turn on a narrow country backroad to show us. Erica in OR

Are you an Austen fan? I liked Longbourn by Jo Baker. Erica in OR