I have a Forester, too, and they're just as common here. DS25 tried to follow me one day across town and lost my car as 3 other Foresters joined us on the road - all the same color and within a year of each other. 😂 It took me a while to convince dh that we needed a Subaru, but once I did he has been thrilled with it. No real issues, though the windshield wipers threw me for a loop when I first tried to replace them. They have a distinct connector that not all wipers come with. It's roomy inside and has enough cargo space for a large hockey bag, a goalie bag, and a Box o' Crap (containing extra gear, water, etc), though I will put down one side of the bench if I only have two players in the car. The seatbelts do NOT overlap on the bench seat, which is a problem with several newer cars. It means that I can absolutely put three people (or 3 car seats) in the back and not sacrifice safety. My one pet peeve is that the coin tray doesn't sit nicely in the center console. It fits and has a home, yes, but it's too easy to knock the darn thing in when looking for something in the console.

Full disclaimer, we don't buy a lot of bread. I just threw out half a loaf of what my family calls "normie bread" (sandwich bread) because nobody was touching it. But a loaf is about $3 at the grocery store. However, I found out that our grocery store sells cut baguettes for $1. They slice them in half to fit into a smaller bag at the end of the night. I can buy one of those each week for a few meals with garlic bread, toast, or a quick sandwich, and then we can buy other kinds of bread for something more tailored to the meal (like grilled cheese on sourdough or na'an with curry). I miss being able to buy sourdough in bulk. We used to get Bountiful Baskets and one option for an add on was a bulk order of boules. It was pretty good and great even after being frozen.

Good morning! Good luck to any and all taking the National Latin Exam this week! take ds to school print out materials for tonight clean out my car violin 10,000 steps get ds started on his homework pack up the car first dinner: guac burgers grab an extra kid round of activities second dinner? Possibly the McD's that is nearby since last night was a bust finish activities collapse

Grocery shopping done, sheets washed, helping ds accomplished. I remembered that we were getting a meal box today so I stuck to my short list at the store. Well that was a mistake! The box arrived, but one of the meals was planned for Wednesday night (soup) since it's lighter, and one was a mistake. That left the third, which sent the ingredients but not the card. I gave in and took ds to McD's. We arrived to find it shuttered, dumpsters out front, and giant "closed" signs. So, uh, that didn't work out. We turned around and hit up the grocery store, only to walk in and also see dh! He had taken his food to work but forgot a prep bowl and utensils. He also threw in the towel, went to McD's, and, well, followed the same plan we did. So, dinner tonight? A mix of things from the grab and go section from the grocery deli area and frozen food. Probably healthier than McD's and ds still got to eat int he car, lol.

Same. I think about the vloggers like American Road Trip Family that has something like 8 kids in an RV. They have no real home and the only personal space the children have is their bunk. It's just not sustainable as toddlers become teens and need more room just for their bodies, let alone any sense of privacy. We lived in what I used to call The Shoebox due to its size and lay out. It worked because it was never meant to be long term. We lived in it for a little over a year, and then moved on. It was well laid out and functional, but we didn't have many personal things with us when we lived there. It would not have worked nearly as well if we were there for 5 years or so.

Good morning! 10,000 steps grocery run. We need yogurt, oatmeal, and olive oil. If I don't write that down I will forget one. wash the sheets turn in notes for tomorrow respond to emails normal afterschool stuff with ds: sit down, organize, go through the steps... dinner: no clue. Might pick that up at the store, too. violin

I do. Family of 4, living in what can be described as the size of a vacation cabin, the kind at like National parks to rent for the weekend. There's a loft, small kitchen area, living area, bathroom, and tiny bedroom. It is tight, but for them, doable. It's on the grandparents' property and they live in the main house. They're willing to have their home act as an extension as the kids get older. There is more privacy there to escape to, more room to store the kids' sports equipment and toys. I think it only works for them because they have that flexibility. I knew another who stuffed 5 into about 700sq ft. No loft, two small bedrooms. The kids had no escape and nowhere to store things, so they just didn't. You can only cut down so much, and even trying to be minimalist there's just too much that five separate people need to fit in a small location.

I remember hearing something about this, and thank you for the longer list. We very occasionally buy Pop Tarts. I will say every company now seems to be run by the unsavory. Trader Joe's is anti-union to a high degree. Kellogg's is out of touch. Goya is straight up in Trump's rear end. It's hard to find ethical corporations. I really wish there was a short list of those instead of an increasing list of people I don't want to give money to.

Happy Sunday! Already took ds to his game. It was as good as it could be under the circumstances. One player got kicked out 30 seconds in because the ref thought he might have seen that he was getting ready to punch (even the other ref questioned it as did the coaches from both teams), and then a kid from the opposite team was kicked out at the end for repeated boarding/attempt to injure. Score: tie. Grocery shopped made coffee helped ds with homework violin 10,000 steps get ds to do a practice NLE talk to the adult children and explain, again, why trash day is Thur-Sat morning. Tell them how to get their own damn dump access sticker if they continue to fill the bins Saturday afternoon. sort through pictures dinner: honey mustard chicken, roasted potatoes and carrots. get everything ready for the week. I have a few things to make sure are lined up by day or in the car/ready to go.

Once ds learned to read, I dropped the reading curriculum and added some spelling. In second, though, I did add a reading program back in - not for phonics, but I wanted him to get into the habit of reading and discussing. We had finished the learn-to-read phase and he was firmly in the read-to-learn. Plus, it worked as a sort of speech training for him, helping him to remember how to form certain sounds he struggled with. I got the second grade Elson Reader. It was easy and had a variety of pieces along with discussion questions. We did one piece each day, even if was only a 5 line poem, and kept it nice and relaxed. He ended up going through the series, one a year, until the end of 6th grade. I don't regret it. By the end he was reading pieces from Teddy Roosevelt, Washington Irving, and several others that we were able to expand upon and add in some longer books if he liked the short pieces. That said, we did end up going through the first few Elson readers a second time toward the end. I set him up with Reading & Spelling Through Literature, ignored the reading lessons, and focused on just the spelling. Each level has a corresponding Elson reader making up half of it, so he was able to revisit some stories he had liked well enough the first time through.

Begin where his skills are. Look at where the WTM suggests logic stage should be/what skills they should be working on. If your child has had no or very little experience, get something that has a slightly slower pace. FWIW, I would do Writing With Skill 1 at that age. It's well tailored to the student and easy to use/understand. For history and science, I'm not sure. I'm sure a Montessori student could get plenty of use out of Creek Edge Press task cards, but that would require more from you. You might consider something like Wayfarers or Layers of Learning, where students of different ages have a common subject of study, but different work according to ability. Whatever you do, begin slightly below their level and build up to slightly above over time. You have several skills you are teaching in addition to academics: self discipline, how to study, organization, connections....and you want to be able to center your lessons on which is most important at the moment, but touching on all of them.

In your case it might be best to do a shared expense account based on percentages of income, covering things like groceries, utilities, etc and a shared savings for larger goals. Personal expense accounts for personal debt, spending money, and things you come into the relationship with. I would not suggest fully combing income or doing it in a way that makes it difficult to untangle later.

Lovely, rainy Saturday here! Dh and I stepped out this morning to get coffee and donuts. Our afternoon is consisting of watching Yesterday, musing dinner options, and probably settling on frozen pizza because neither of us wants to do much today.

We didn't have any issues the whole time we lived there, but if he would like to blend in, he might wear the crossbody bag @Toocrazy!! posted or just go with a light jacket with an inner pocket. We saw many wearing them. I went with a Camelbak backpack and kept my valuables in the bladder pocket when we went on longer trips.

We did this once and had the opportunity to do it twice. The first time ds was 14. It was hard plugging him into the homeschool community and there was a significant culture shock (Italy to Texas). DS ended up spending time volunteering and getting plugged in with adults, but we learned to avoid the homeschool community there when it came to his needs. He ended up going to the public high school the next year and had a pretty good experience. The second time ds was between his junior and senior year. We had the opportunity to move, but due to the differences in state high school requirements, he would have gone from being a senior with a light schedule and 26 dual enrollment credits, to being a 5 year high schooler due to a single class difference that they couldn't double up on. We stayed behind while dh moved and didn't disrupt his last year of school. It was rough, but the best situation for all involved. We had friends that moved the same time we did with teens, and their children were not okay. The first thing they did after turning 18 was leaving and not looking back. They didn't want to be in that state, they didn't want to deal with a new culture...they holed up at home and kept to themselves until they got out. We worried about that with ds because the homeschool community was so awful for him, but keeping him engaged in volunteering and meeting with mentors really helped a ton. He continued even after he went to school. Meanwhile, our other friends had to move their daughter's junior/senior summer. She was doing a program through a private school who agreed to turn it into a homeschool program for her. It was a creative solution, where she would fly back once a quarter for a week to meet with teachers, take exams, and ask questions about upcoming coursework.

You might check out Mr.Q's Classical Science. Advanced Chem uses around the home items, but the text and material is very sound for a high schooler. Oldest ds did it in 8th, took chem at his high school, and the teacher would just use his papers to grade everyone else's. Mr. Q stuck with him that long. It's fast moving, and a student needs to know how to study and get the most out of the information. The one draw back: it's a pdf. It's actually two LARGE pdfs, and you really need to print the teacher's manual at the beginning in one swoop. It has all the tests, labs and extra info. The student pdf can be kept on an ereader, but you need to print the worksheets within each chapter.

Little things we have let creep in: monthly car washes in the warmer months meal service kits video subscriptions craft beer lunch meat from the "good" grocery store dinner out for ds every Wednesday We could cut these all out and save about $200/month, replacing the food with lower priced items. We can make bigger cuts if necessary, but these are the most significant creeps into our budget. What's funny is we thought coffee would be on the list. We buy ours in bulk, whole bean, from a local roaster. When we went to compare prices, most of the lower priced coffees in the grocery store were similar/the same per pound, and were worse quality. Only one definitely beat the price. So we could, in theory, cut down our coffee but it would be one of the last things to go.

Isn't it amazing how that works? 😄 I convinced ds to go to school yesterday when he had a cough first thing. Knowing he wouldn't get to play video games with his friends at esports was suddenly an antidote. And today? Definitely not sick at all.

Because I swim so rarely I don't really want to invest more than I have to, if that makes sense. DS's schedule as he gets older makes family trips harder, so we don't do as many things like kayaking or hanging out at the beach anymore. I did find a top and bottom at Target. They'll work for this upcoming vacation.

Good morning! I have bathing suit shopping today. I'm looking for a tankini with boy shorts I will wear twice over the next 4 years, or less if I continue to grow in girth. Wish me luck. 🤣 Today: shower shopping email notes because it's the first of the month help ds prep for NLE violin 10,000 steps? It's still cold out there check ds's skates to see if they need to be sharpened, throw them in the car if so sign up the kid for all the auditions and tryouts he decided on. We threw out one based on location: a place notorious for black mold and hazards. DS might have to go there to compete, but we don't need to go there every week for hours. dinner: meatloaf, mashed potatoes, carrots. A crowd pleaser. Forced Family Fun night was last night. I lost at Disney Jeopardy. If you guys have any family that loves the films/parks, you should check it out on Youtube. We use white boards to keep score/write responses (and don't subtract points for wrong answers).

I know teachers deal with new students all the time, but it seems heavily disrespectful to disrupt lessons, seating, and organization so that your daughter can play at going to school because you don't want to wait for an appropriate time to join into a new term. Your expectation is this: -the teachers will do the appropriate initial testing, gathering materials, reiterating expectations that were done at the beginning of the year -the teachers will take time to introduce a student to a new system of classes and make sure they are up to speed in every expectation that the students have worked on all year. What you are asking, due to a whim of yours and your daughters, is that someone else picks up the pieces of a decision and then your daughter "tries out" school without having to make a commitment. Your posts read that this is something you are going to do anyway, without regards to the negatives, but it feels very "I am the main character" and you need to be aware of the negatives for everyone and understand that this is not a positive experience for the school or the teachers as your daughter tries out school at the end of the year. At the best, it will be a mild irritant. It is best to do these things when there is an appropriate break in classes and your child can move in seamlessly. Even military families will do their best to get on a June or December rotation when their kids are in school to minimize this sort of disruption to education. Also, on the social front, be aware that friends in ballet doesn't always translate to "friends in a new setting within established social groups that are functioning". DS had neighborhood friends and sports friends. When he went to school, they were there, in established social groups that functioned in the school setting. DS curated a group of friends based on his class placement and interests.

Happy Leap Day! DS had a cough this morning and groaned about going to school. I told him he should try (morning coughs are normal here with allergy season starting) but if he felt that bad, he didn't have to. If anything, he didn't have to go to e-sports after school. Go figure, he opted for the full day. Today: head to the town dump pay the annual vehicle tax at town hall drop off a computer cord violin maybe 10,000 steps dinner: pork chops? Possibly. I'll take a poll DS's hockey practice has been cancelled. I'm a little excited about that. He is not. But it means we have a night to do stuff together at home.

Whatever you do, just please factor in teacher consideration and the established classroom culture at that late point in the year.

In many states these are testing months. DS14 is taking the NLE next week, and in 3 weeks or so begins state testing for core subjects (I think he has math, English, science, and civics this year to be tested on). After testing time is wind down time. DS is currently in the middle of a build of a Roman road that his class will be doing experiments with at the end of the month. His engineering class is in the middle of bridge building. His English class will be moving to a fun pick (student choice) for a novel after a year of heavier study..maths will just be starting to hit a few concepts from next year but the kids will all be divided so they're not really going to go deep into things. Science is beginning to gather materials for a final fun project and civics is switching to community involvement. It's really not a great time for them to have someone jump in and try school. I'd also consider the boot she's wearing and getting around from class to class. Mostly all your daughter is going to get is testing, relax time, and possibly a field day.

Done from watching the skills class. Or, rather, doing a puzzle book for 2 hours while they did skill work. DS opted for KFC on the way home (yuck) and oldest ds asked me what was for dinner when I walked in. Um...the dinner no one ate yesterday? That one. Violin didn't happen today. It could now, but I don't go in the basement after dark. Bad juujuu. And I'm only at 4,600 steps. That goal isn't being met either. Oh, well. House is clean, my body is enjoying the warmth of a blanket in a cozy room while listening to the wind/rain outside. I think it'll be an early bedtime for all tonight.