A friend of mine has a large homemade blanket made out of pieces of denim cut from jeans, with a back layer of something else. It feels incredibly heavy to pick up. I always wondered if that would be adequate for someone younger that needs less weight. Erica in OR

I just sent requests to the people in this thread that I'm not friends with on Plan To Eat already. You'll see a request from a three-letter username, starting with E (would rather not post username). Erica in OR

I did some paper embroidery a couple Christmases ago. It was easy to start/finish, and I liked the results. There are some free Christmas patterns out there to try. I started with this one: https://www.pinbroidery.net//product.php/107/free_merry_christmas_baubles using metallic thread. I found a hole punching tool at a local store and used pieces of watercolor paper that I attached to the fronts of cardstock cards after stitching. Erica in OR

We actually cram two home offices into our bedroom. Not ideal, but it works. We share the printer and each have a small desk. DH's has filing cabinets as the supports underneath it, so that doubles as storage. My computer is a laptop, so I sometimes take it elsewhere in the house to work. Erica in OR

I had some similar experiences that went away after an adjustment period (a couple weeks?) when I first went on Lexapro. Waking bolt upright during the night, with an awful feeling that something wasn't right, either a specific thought "I feel like I heard someone choking upstairs," which I then felt compelled to go check, or just generalized.This was even with starting at a very low dose (5 mg) and stepping it up gradually. Like your daughter, this was not my usual type of anxiety. I continued with the medication and it did go away after that adjustment period. I do agree with a previous poster that I wouldn't hesitate to bring up these symptoms with the doctor. Erica in OR

Here's a twist. I had a couple boxes of chicken scheduled to arrive today. In the morning, my driver sent an email reminder re: date/time/location. A couple hours later, the Zaycon system sent out emails notifying me that all my orders were cancelled, including the one for today. I planned on going anyway, to see if the truck came. Before I left, the driver actually called me to let me know that even though the Zaycon emails said it was cancelled, he was going to be there with the truck, with chicken. It took care of my oldest orders. With those cancellation emails, I'll now dispute the remaining ones. Great customer service by the driver! I hope he is getting the wages and such that he is due. Also found an American Genius article about Zaycon that discusses why their business model is/was "a good weird." Erica in OR

Crap. I'm supposed to pick up an order this Wednesday, with several more scheduled between now and the fall. Glad to know, anyway! Erica in OR

I've used cottage cheese, sometimes with a bit of cream cheese. Erica in OR

I ordered the Shark Navigator Professional Liftaway from costco.com and have really, really liked it. Lightweight, powerful enough for our carpet, but also reasonable for our hardwood floor. Canister lifts off to do our stairwell, with the canister small enough to sit on a stair tread. Link: https://www.costco.com/Shark-Navigator-Professional-Lift-Away-Upright-Vacuum.product.100300326.html Erica in OR

I like the sugar-free mango for making Italian sodas. Erica in OR

Consider other sources too. A chunk of our down payment when we bought our first house was for cashing out a whole life insurance policy. We had decided to move to term insurance only (a la Dave Ramsey) and after getting those policies in place, we had the cash value of the whole life ones we got rid of, plus then a lower life insurance cost per month to pay. Erica in OR

Also hoping like a previous poster that you have a local place that turns out to be wonderful. I was so pleased when I went in for my first—the tech was so good at what she did, and open and helpful about the process and what it showed. She brought me over to look at the digital scans and explained what I was seeing. Erica in OR

I don't think there's any problem in that curriculum with skipping ahead to other topics. It's a great time to do botany anyway, with spring on the horizon. In the past, I have skipped lessons if I didn't have the materials on hand and didn't want to purchase special supplies, plus not doing a lot of the bonus lessons (the ones with the red-colored headers), or replacing a regular lesson with a bonus lesson instead. I say go for it—mix and match. Erica in OR

Went through the list with my dd. She is basing this on her memory of it last year, so... Guacamole and salsa were workable, but were not as good as the recipes that we normally use for them. Death by Chocolate cookies were a disaster. Tasted terrible, crumbly. Pancakes were okay, but recipe title mentions a blueberry compote, but there are no ingredients or directions for it. Steps say to serve pancakes with butter and syrup. Challah bread was reasonable, but a little sweet. Scones were really good (Although she thinks she had to put in extra liquid because it seemed really dry. Recipe ratio of milk to flour is 1 c. milk to 4-6 c. flour.) Meringue tarts tasted pretty good (I ate quite a few of them. :) ), although we both remember it being a bit sweet. Didn't do jams/jellies, since had made rose hip jam recently. Three-Bean Chili was meatless, so different than we usually eat. Tons of large chunks of peppers, plus diced peppers on top, so it wasn't a huge hit with most of our family. It says cornbread in the syllabus, but there is no recipe for it. She used a different one. Lemon cheese was good. Didn't do the molecular gastronomy. Looked at a lot of videos online instead. Wacky Cake was good. Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream—just made ice cream in an ice cream maker. As a past high school chemistry teacher, I would not feel comfortable or safe doing this in a home setting. It's unlikely you'd have proper equipment to transport liquid nitrogen, if you were even able to find a source. Pasta sauce and meatballs were good. Can't remember the creme brulee. Many recipes had typos and such, so I sort of wonder at the accuracy of some of the ingredient amounts. Erica in OR

The recipes wouldn't have to be done in order, but just along with the reading sections that go with that recipe/topic. Some of the recipes were disappointing, in that they didn't work very well, or were a bit ambiguous with some of the directions, or just weren't a good representative choice. It would have been nice to have some context for why that particular recipe version was chosen. Some of the articles were behind paywalls, from what I remember. We just used the ones we found and skipped the rest. There was some overlap in the McGee readings—more than one recipe might cover the same topic there. Erica in OR

Which book are you doing this year / next year? I guess I wasn't even aware RR did a supply pack. Erica in OR

Agree with you that it's overkill, based on your dd's work and background. I looked at 9/10 when my oldest hit high school age, after doing books 3 through 8. She also had a strong feel for grammar, and I decided not to continue. She's graduating this year, and I don't regret it a bit. It makes time for other pursuits. Erica in OR

For me, depends partly on the lab, partly on the student ages, partly on what I have around the house, partly if the materials are non-consumable. I have two classes, one K-3 and the other 4-6. I tend to do more of an interactive demo with some of the activities with the younger group, rather than let them all loose on an entire set of the materials. For example, I'll ask a student to come up to help do one part of the activity, then a different student for the next part, etc., while we discuss what's going on. Whenever possible, I like everyone to be able to have their own set of materials, but that's not always feasible. So that's basically not a lot of help to you. :tongue_smilie: Erica in OR

Thanks for the tips! Right now I'm putting materials together for an online portal where you apply for multiple Oregon-based scholarships with a single application. I upload a transcript and then list her activities on a separate online form using their categories (activities, volunteering, and paid work). It only allows a certain number of items total in the categories, so I'll see how it all balances out. Erica in OR

My dd took the NLE her sophomore and junior years and will take it next month. She did well the first two years, and I'd like to use her scores in some way on her transcript to give support to the in her homeschool Latin courses. I did a bit of searching on the forum, but can't find what I'm looking for. Tips for how you've done it? Erica in OR

A recent video with additional sources from the American Chemical Society: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/reactions/videos/2018/chemtrails.html Erica in OR

What about one of the "All Lab, No Lecture" book series? I have the forensics one, but bought it for reference in my writing, rather than using it as a full-blown course. Forensics http://www.thehomescientist.com/forensics/Illustrated_Guide_to_Home_Forensic_Science_Experiments.pdf Chemistry https://zookeepersblog.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/illustrated-guide-to-home-chemistry-experiments.pdf Biology http://www.thehomescientist.com/manuals/Illustrated_Guide_to_Home_Biology_Experiments.pdf Erica in OR

I took our leftover church ones to a science class. We pulled off any bracts that were red, tore them into pieces, then poured hot water over them in a bowl and let it steep for 10–15 minutes. We used the resulting liquid as an acid-base indicator. We compared the original color with a sample that we added vinegar to, and a sample that we added a baking soda solution to. Erica in OR

We bought the bare bones LaCrosse one that Costco had out during the holiday season last year. We've been happy with it, but its main use is as a clock for us, plus knowing inside/outside temperatures, so no frills needed. I do sometimes wish it had a larger display to look at across the room. The outdoor temp sensor also goes a little haywire occasionally, I think if it gets overheated during a short time in the summer when it gets more sunlight than at other times. Erica in OR

Michael Crichton's book Disclosure (published in 1994) comes to mind. Erica in OR ETA: Yes, fully aware it's fiction, but still interested in some of the topic connections, from over 20 yrs ago.