Thank you to everyone for the ideas! Lots of good suggestions for our group to consider. Love those plush brain cells! Erica in OR

Seinfeld. And that was before Netflix existed. Erica in OR

I was gifted a skull to use in my science classes. I will admit that at first, even with a science background, I was a bit skeezed out at handling it. When I first brought it out in my elementary age class, some students were very uneasy about being around it. I treated it all matter-of-factly, offering anyone a chance to touch it if they wished, but not forcing or even strongly encouraging anyone. There are a few who also react that way to some of the images in the text, such as a computer generated image of a human brain. So, yes, even with young adults, I would say there's a chance of an aversion, and that's reasonable. Erica in OR

No, not a requirement, but typical of the event. The event is completely funded by a marketing grant from our church body and was written with the doorprize line item included. The school is promoted in multiple different ways throughout the year, with all other events specifically geared to families with school-age children. This event is the only non-family-oriented event that we will have done. So we're not worried about shifting money for other purposes. Our goal is for the school to appear professional in front of other community professionals, so that we are seen as a legitimate educational option in the community. But, we'd also like to show the classical flavor with the baskets. I realize it's a tall order, but I appreciate the suggestions offered so far. If it were an ideal audience situation, I'd give out four copies of either The Well-Trained Mind or The Well-Educated Mind and call it done. :) Erica in OR

A classical school I'm connected with is holding a Chamber of Commerce breakfast event at the school. One of the Chamber requirements is to offer doorprizes that are awarded by drawing business cards of attendees. Attendees are business owners or employees from the community who gather to network at a different Chamber member business monthly. Usual items from other breakfasts have been company sweatshirts and hats, food baskets, floral centerpieces, etc. We'd like to give away doorprizes related to what makes classical education unique and beneficial, since the school is still fairly new and not many in our community are aware of what classical education is. We'd like them to be items that adults would find interesting and/or useful in their own lives, since they may or may not have children. We're considering four baskets, with a budget of ~$50 each. Possible themes we're thinking about are logic, Latin, history, music, literature. Any ideas on what we could put in the baskets? Erica in OR

Hank the Cowdog series Erica in OR

Huh. Ours has never had a brisket sandwich, but does have chili. I'm not a huge fan of it. Erica in OR

I wouldn't cram it in. Each book can stand alone. I'm teaching the third in the series this year in a classroom. I mention things that relate to our previous lessons when they crop up, but students who didn't do the other books aren't at a disadvantage. Erica in OR

When I taught high school physics, a few of the challenges that I used were: 1) Egg Walk. Teams designed a pair of shoes that will allow one team member to walk across multiple dozen eggs in their cartons without breaking them. A grocery store donated the eggs that we used. 2) Fan-powered paper. Students were allowed a sheet or two of printer paper, a few toothpicks, and a length of tape. They needed to make something that they thought would travel the furthest when placed in front of a box fan. 3) Windmill. Students brought materials from home to build a structure that would use the wind to lift a particular weight (can't remember - 1 kg?). We brought the structures outside on a windy day to determine if it would lift it, and how quickly it did so. 4) Solar oven. Students brought materials from home to build a solar oven. We spent a sunny class period outside, with a certain amount of water in each oven, to see whose water reached the highest temperature. 5) Rube Goldberg machine. A university had a contest where they had a challenge for high school teams to build a Rube Goldberg machine with as many steps as possible to complete an ordinary task, such as opening an envelope, or turning on a light switch. The machine had to be contained on a sheet of plywood. Erica in OR

Honestly? Rummage sales and thrift stores. For the reduced cost, I'm able to buy decent clothes, but have enough additional items to just toss something if it gets stained beyond saving or torn. I also check the clearance in the children's section at JC Penney whenever I'm there. Erica in OR

I've had good results with a bar of Zote laundry soap. Erica in OR

The Great British Baking Show is on Netflix with a couple more seasons. Watching it makes me happy. And hungry. :) Erica in OR

It's happened to us once. My child was invited to one at a bounce house type place. He did go. The birthday child was a good friend, and the mom extended the invitation as gracefully as possible. They said no gifts. We did make a card to bring. I think we paid half the entrance fee. Erica in OR

Wherever there's floor space out of the way. Or anywhere in the kitchen for the time being--very easy to move elsewhere. I too prefer a built in but in the two places we lived where we purchased one, it was not our house (church parsonages). Erica in OR

We did that for awhile, and eventually decided for us, a portable dishwasher was what we wanted. Found one in good shape used that hooks up to the sink for water. It had a fake butcher block type top, so it was useful as extra prep space when we moved it off to the side when we weren't running it. Erica in OR

You could see if there's a disc golf course near you. Our Park and Rec loans out disc sets to use on the course. We enjoyed playing it with the borrowed sets, so bought some discs for the kids for Christmas last year. Erica in OR

Just finished Dark Matter. I've also been rewatching all my favorite parts of Sing Street. Erica in OR

Rod and Staff grammar could be used more independently, but it would involve a lot of writing on the students' part. You would also miss out on one of the strengths of the program, which is the use of review questions at the start of each lesson from the teacher's guide. Doing the oral problems with the student also helps show if they understood the lesson or not before they start on the class problems (saving frustrating re-dos later). I also think it would be difficult for an 8th grader to jump in to the program at that level—it was the peak of grammar for us, building on previous Rod and Staff books, adding in some very fine points of grammar. Erica in OR

From your list, you're doing what can be done, with the exception of the light therapy Tanaqui mentions. I was using it last year and didn't notice any difference, so did not continue this winter. So it might / might not help, but is worth a try. Being on the verge of tears was me as well several days this week. I too wish it would just stop. This week was the first time that I mentioned to my DH that it might be time to see someone, so I agree with Tanaqui's suggestion. I did wonder if the worst days are perhaps tied with a specific time of the monthly menstrual cycle, but haven't tracked it. The social life portion can be complex, though. Friends can help, but for me as an introvert, heading out into the community and doing general activities with groups of people can be somewhat enjoyable while I'm doing the activity, but drain more energy out of me than I gain from participating in them. Hugs from a fellow SAD. I'll be following the thread to see if there's something else out there for me too and to see how your journey is going, if you have more to share in the future. Erica in OR

We only did FLL 1 & 2, since that's all that existed when my children were that age, and after that, went into Rod & Staff 3, continuing through 8. I haven't tried any of the other programs you mention, so can't compare. It is very easy to tweak for homeschooling and to leave the writing out. From the teacher book, from the suggested classroom plan, I only used the review question portion to start out each lesson. These questions are one of the strengths of the curriculum. The writing-related lessons have a star in the table of contents, so it's easy to identify skippable lessons and to see how many are left for planning purposes. It can be independent if your child writes out the answers to the exercises, but I chose to do most of it orally to save them writing and to correct any errors immediately. The lessons are reasonable for a student to read and understand without reading through it with them, IMO. Erica in OR

Not that I've seen on his website. It has a phrase for it in the download list for that text, but no link? I did a quick google search and see one for purchase on Teachers Pay Teachers. Erica in OR

I've taught from the first three books in a classroom setting (small classical school with homeschoolers joining in the class), typically covering a lesson in a 45-minute period. This includes a review of the previous lesson, intro to the new material, experiment, and any in-class work on notebooking. We meet twice a week. We do it all in class, with no homework. I usually cover the main lesson information myself in class with student discussion, rather than the students reading the lessons—we sometimes read excerpts out loud in class together. What ages/grade levels will you be working with? Ages will make a big difference on how you may wish to cover it. I did Science in the Beginning with kindergarteners through fourth graders all together, but now split up K through 3rd and 4th through 6th. The younger group needs more time and/or adaptations for how we discuss a particular experiment. How many students? The materials you have available to do a particular experiment can be a limiting factor, along with how much guidance and supervision the students need. I also adapted a SITB notebooking resource that Wile has for download on his site (https://www.bereanbuilders.com/mkt/res/nb/9780989042406nb.pdf). It has pages that are useful for recording experiment observations. Erica in OR

We use Rod & Staff for grammar, and from what I remember, it teaches this. That's the way I do it, but I will also say that it is a common mistake that I would see when I used to do proofreading for others. Erica in OR

Never used any formal program. Our Latin studies plus voracious reading pretty much take care of it. Erica in OR

Yes. This got my oldest daughter over the dreaded decimal mind block. Some students just need a different approach sometimes, it's not a failing for either of you. :) Erica in OR