Good morning! I'm still at my desk, doing schoolwork. coffee get ds off to school schoolwork laundry schoolwork have a Moment with my child, who managed to be bold enough to write one of the few words he is forbidden to ever say, write, or communicate unless it is for an academic paper. He is just about pooping himself right now knowing that I know. tutor schoolwork dinner schoolwork 4.5/11 assignments done. Ugh.

I've used both MUS and CLE with different kids. You can absolutely use a supplement with MUS. We used Bedtime Math (young years), printouts from online, and I keep Singapore Challenging Math Problems on my shelf to use with any kid for extra work. One of the reasons why I like MUS so much for kids is it is one of the few that uses arrays and visual math all the way through AND has a 4-part lesson set up: demonstrate, do, write, teach back. The material is demonstrated satisfactorily for a parent to be able to understand exactly what their child needs to do and also teach themselves as well. As you get further in, it has been revamped to add more word problems - but the early years still do not, partly due to the literacy limitations of the younger children. CLE fills a niche as well, but it's not my first choice with kids, especially young ones. The work spirals, the pages are slightly more cluttered, and parents have a tendency to ignore the teacher's guide until their kid is overwhelmed/lost trying to be independent. Math is an interactive subject. It needs willing participants and consistent feedback. I'll use CLE for an older student who wants to do something alone, but I'm more reluctant to remove all assistance (direct teaching, manipulatives, instant feedback) from younger children in a quest to get them to do something alone. It's a good way to get a child to be an adult who doesn't have a firm grasp on mathematics. You can split the difference between the two and go for Math With Confidence, which is gentle, spiral-ish, and has direct teaching with manipulatives so everyone is confident in the lesson material and how the math works. Every kid has a program that works well for them, and that's really what a parent should consider: Is this working for my kid? How can I help myself so that it works best for them?

4/11 assignments done. The rest are: scavenger hunt/video to prove I learned poster (with selfie) read a chapter watch the sky/make a video to prove I learned answer two sets of questions midterm I have two more days to finish, so I'm taking a break for now. I'll read the second chapter tonight, make the videos and answer the questions tomorrow (when the house is quieter), and do the poster and midterm on Friday.

1 of 11 assignments done. I'm taking a break before going back in to finish the second.

I'm happy it worked out so well!! The journals were a lovely idea!

Good morning! After a week of sunshine and 70-90F, coming back to the overcast 30s-low 50s is a bit dreary. So is the day's agenda: laundry schoolwork meal plan schoolwork touch base with families schoolwork grocery shop (or maybe dh will tackle this one) schoolwork *sigh* I should have made more time this past week.

I actually was glad to move years ago. Youngest ds had a slight speech impediment for a long time. It was more pronounced in the middle of the country, but as soon as we moved to where the 'R's are dropped, he fit right in. 😄 My own accent varies between a non-descript flat nothingness that fits in most places to "remembering speech therapy tight clip on all consonants" after one drink.

This is a hard one. I think the nature trails are good. We have done trips to national parks that are just filled with trails. Acadia is actually one of our favorites because it also has a very decent bus system to get people around to different areas on the island. I don't know about your area, but around here more 'sensory' walks are popping up. They weren't around when ds would have benefited from them, so we ended up investing in ninja tension lines(?) for our trees, where he could walk on one while holding on to another, swing from rings, climb ladders...as he got older, we could adjust them. And then we added a swinging chair and eventually a hammock. Course, the child has ugly allergies so all that and he can only use it 2 months a year. LOL But he did love it, especially during the pandemic. You might also look toward sports. Apparently it's a well kept secret here that there are leagues for those with different needs. They're more relaxed and mostly just a chance to get into the pitch or field to have fun each week.

Exhausting. 🤣 No, really, it was good. A lot of sweet moments. We are now home. Dinner is in the oven. We're unpacked (mostly), picked up the mail, and are getting ourselves ready to go back to the grind tomorrow.

I hope the dental work goes well, @mom31257! We are finally done with vacation. pack up the hotel room head to the airport fly home find our car grab dinner from the grocery store on the way. (Ours makes a huge pizza for $7) Plus we need milk, maybe. It's not often used unless oldest ds is home and he has another short trip. unpack the necessities make the beds shower make sure ds charges his chromebook and is set up for school tomorrow.

Boredom and downtime are good, but also....... We found that ds14 does best here when he discovered his own "holding pattern" with a bit of help. Early morning is completing whatever has been set for him to accomplish (exercise, chores, holiday school work set by his teachers). Daytime is for lounging around and hanging out. Nobody will make anyone do anything. In the evening/early night he gets together with friends, does outside stuff with us, or we have family together time. Rinse, repeat the next day.

My question, too. They're pretty expensive here. I know more YAs who vape and use CBD oils in different forms than those who smoke. I'm not even sure I know more than one adult who smokes cigarettes now.

One of the things I would keep in mind is that there are few astronomy texts for high school, and fewer that are secular. Pearson is one of the few available, so if it is endorsed, that might be why. Pearson also has a reputation of being money-grubby and offering way more pieces than necessary, but with a high price tag for each one. Secondhand books with codes don't work, because the code is a finite item that once used, is gone. If it is available to you, you might try OpenStax.com to see what they have available for astronomy. I just found a rather decent ebook there that is better than the free one my college class is using this semester. I have no idea where mine is from since it's integrated into our classroom platform, but I would much rather use the OpenStax one instead.

Super basic: PAC (Paradigm) makes series like CLE for different subjects. Rainbow Resource sells them decently cheap. They're religious, at least the history ones are, but they fill a niche. https://pacworks.com/ If you can swing online, maybe Derek Owens for math to still keep the budget low.

A full day here, too! clean out the fridge/bread cupboard tidy the house strip the beds go to the dump stop by the grocery store for lunch/snacks sweep double check the "last minute" part of the packing list (toiletries, meds, chargers, sunglasses) lower the heat pack the car FLY find the bus late "dinner" at the hotel (we have ample snacks for the plane. Dinner may just be something small) watch the water parade

That's one of those things that is lovely for portable cooking or extending your range during holidays. I think you should give it a go once or twice with two different types of dishes (wet and dry), and then put it aside once you have the hang of it. Or, gift it to someone who entertains often/does demonstration cooking. If we had the cabinet room something like that would get a lot of use here during larger breakfasts or complex birthday meals.

Maybe add in some turmeric?

I'd be concerned about the person willing to share all this information with me. You're getting it secondhand, and that's not always an honest situation.

I think it would depend on their current age range. If I was in your shoes, I'd probably bring a small gift that connected me to them - a book I enjoyed at their age, an age-appropriate version of a craft I do, a kit to make friendship bracelets with each other, a game we could play together. I want to try to build a deeper connection into the gift so they felt more like they knew me.

I did remember one: The Girl With The Silver Eyes. It's a short chapter book. It's not exactly horror (medical malpractice), but it is unsettling and the age is right. I think the protagonist is 13 or so. I ended up mulling that one over for a few years before moving on to Stephen King's Firestarter. Same sort of theme, different audience. Also, loved by my kids: Invasion of the Lawn Weenies/In The Land of the Lawn Weenies And Other Creepy Tales. They're fun, but definitely weird. If she's ready for anything longer, Caroline B Cooney's books are...something. The Face On The Milk Carton and sequels are unsettling with the what-if's. What if you were stolen? What if you had bonded with your new family? What if your old family wants you back? Her other books are just as good.

I find The Yellow Wallpaper and Jane Eyre to both be horrifying, but that may not be your style. Perhaps something local? Our Barnes & Noble sells anthologies of ghost stories for our state and region. They range from pretty detailed to light sketches. Nothing as deep as like, In Cold Blood by Capote, but enough to light the mind. I'm trying to remember what I read in high school, but I think a lot of that was thrill, not horror.

Homework done. I have a professor who is enamored with TikTok, and requests 90% of the homework to be short videos. I'm not amused. Aside from the fact that TikTok is not welcome in my house, I don't feel like astronomy is the right class for this. But at least the grading scale is either getting a "like" or not in the class website/dojo/whatever it is. I *think* I have an A? Who knows. I have 12 likes. Envelopes are not happening this trip. Not today. The back up plan is scavenger hunts. Dh and I tidied some, enjoyed the poor weather inside, and I'm about to cook dinner: pork meatballs and sesame noodles.

Spring has come in fiercely, with a lot of wind and rain. Today: finish my homework violin pack for vacation find the duffel. How it went missing, I don't know, but it's bright yellow. Mysteries abound, and will probably be solved with the help of children checking their rooms. finish the surprises tidy half the house (the rest is tomorrow)

I know nothing about the sourcing.We live in cold weather and I spend quite a bit of time in ice rinks, so merino wool is my friend. I don't have many pieces but I buy whenever I find base layers on sale.

The "got your nose!" ? 😂