My 15-year old freezer isn't keeping things cold (think mushy, defrosted meat), and my fridge is sometimes freezing the milk. So, I went to buy a new one this morning, and I was told they *hope* to have the one I want in-stock mid-august. Awesome. I called and searched everywhere - no luck. Will cross my fingers that we can make it that long.

Our schools around here are all k-8. They break them into Lower School (k-4) and Upper School (5-8) because the older kids are literally upstairs from the younger kids in each building.

YES! When he says, 'I'm on my way" I was like, WHOA, Moana!

DS11 is taking prealgebra2 right now online, and the class is 4-5:15pm. The later classes would have been too late for us, too. It's too bad if they don't continue to offer the earlier classes!

This was me, too. I'm halfway through so far, because my BFF was horrified that I knew nothing of it. Will finish the rest after the boys go to bed.

I have kids like this, too. I think I'll try to keep the math and science together, the history and lit together, etc. My kids love manipulatives to use on their own, so I want to keep them out and easy to get at, but not so easy that they end up everywhere. The Legos are the only toys that live in bedrooms upstairs. I just took the art supplies *out* of the Ikea cart! We have so little storage in the kitchen, I moved it in there to hold mixing bowls and such.

That is quite the piece of furniture!

I desperately need to sort/organize/purge my homeschool books, manipulatives, art supplies, games, etc. The majority of our stuff is in two bookshelves and one built-in cabinet in my tiny dining room, along with the too-small table, seven chairs, and the rolling art cart...and my cookbooks...and my dutch ovens...and DS8's typewriter...and a metric ton of playdough... ACK! We have too much stuff! Can you tell me about your homeschool organizational scheme? (Bonus points if you can post pictures, pretty please.) Do you organize by subject? By grade level? By wherever it fits? Do you only keep out what you are currently using, or is everything out all the time? Please, inspire and motivate me to make some sense out of this chaos!

That's a good idea, thanks. Thank you!

DS8 is a voracious reader. He prefers nonfiction books, and reads (and discusses with us) many math and science books well above his age/grade level. His current bedtime book is the fourth Harry Potter, he recently finished both Greek Gods and Greek Heroes by Rick Riordan, and he routinely reads whatever middle-grade graphic novels DS11 leaves around the house. This is all to say that he has shown himself to be a very good reader, with excellent comprehension and a large vocabulary. We've been working through the Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading since starting in 1st grade (he showed no desire to learn to read in K, and I didn't push it). He's never, not once, had trouble with any of the lessons, but since I've heard SWB mention that students who are natural readers sometimes have trouble in the upper grades because they abandoned the later phonics lessons, I've been determined to just finish the lessons. However, we recently hit lesson 221 (out of 231), and suddenly DS8 is having all sorts of trouble. Most of the words are ones that he *uses* in everyday conversations, (e.g., charade, mechanic, maneuver, unique, etc.), but he can't seem to pronounce them when he reads out loud. I can't tell if he's guessing, or looking at them like sight words, or what. He reads the word "unique" as "unquite," the word "chandelier" with a hard /CHa/ instead of a soft /SHa/, the word "plaque" is "playkee." I asked him to read the sentence (from lesson 228), "I do not need all of that repetitious information in order to plan my trip," and he got all of the words except "repetitious" which he wouldn't even attempt. He dislikes breaking down words into syllables to sound them out. I think it's because he's never had trouble reading before, so he doesn't think he should have to do it? I am going to just repeat and repeat and repeat these last lessons until they stick, but what else can I do? I was thinking maybe we could make flash cards of the words that give him trouble, with the word on one side and the rule on the other. I also have Wise Owl Polysyllables on the shelf, I can add that in, a page or two a day. What else would you recommend?

Yes! DS6 demanded I check Audible every day for *weeks*, even before the book was released, to see if it was out yet.

I am working through AoPS Introduction to Algebra and Introduction to Geometry books, because 1) DS11 will start the Algebra book this fall, and 2) I'm looking for interesting problems to use in the developmental math college courses I will be teaching this fall. I am also listening to SWB's History of the Medieval World to review for our history cycle this fall. I'll start History of the Renaissance next.

I'm in the position that my adult child doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes yet. It's frustrating.

Yes. I started 16/8 fasting April 2109. It slowly morphed into 16/8 combined with 5/2 or 4/3 total fasting without much effort. I lost about 30 pounds in nine months, and it really helped curb my sweet tooth. I still dabble in 16/8 and 5/2, but it's been a very hard few months and I am a very good baker. 😉 I'm maintaining the weight loss, +/-5lbs.

I store flours in these buckets, both small and medium. They also have a large size, but I don't have that one. When we started ordering from the restaurant supply company, I bought one of these to hold my 50lb bag of all-purpose flour: 50lb bag rolling storage. I put the entire bag inside it and then cut open the top.

DS11 has mild underlying anxiety that flares drastically when he has any level of inflammation - getting a cold, losing a tooth, having an ingrown/infected fingernail, etc. He had a dental cleaning yesterday with the hygienist who is known to be a bit rough and today he is noticeably more anxious and edgy. I will give him both a daily antihistamine (generic claritin works well for him) and regular 200mg doses of advil to keep it under control for the next few days.

***UPDATE*** I walked cookies over to Ida's house this morning, and spoke to her sister. Ida fractured her wrist when she fell, and required surgery to insert a plate. She will be discharged from the hospital this afternoon, and is doing well. She has many nieces and nephews who have been calling to check on her, and should be well cared for when she gets home. Also, she likes snickerdoodles, which is a happy coincidence, as that is what I baked for her! I also brought cookies to Ida's neighbor, who was the driver of the car that hit Ida. She is doing well, and is anxious to visit Ida after she gets home to make sure that she is okay and to express her sorrow for what happened (and for what *almost* happened). She was surprised that I would come check in on her. I can only imagine how she is feeling. Please keep Ida and her neighbor in your thoughts and prayers. Thanks!

Yeah. I keep breaking out in tears. I'm so glad she's okay, but I'm horrified by the fact that I might not have been there - I walk a different route each morning.

I came home and immediately showered and put my clothes into the wash. Ida's niece just called me, looking for some more information about the accident, as apparently Ida is suffering from dementia. She will need stitches in her face and surgery on her hand, but is otherwise doing well. They also gave her a rapid COVID test, and it came back negative. Thank you all for your responses. As you can imagine, I am still a bit shaken myself. I am also having flashbacks to when my DS8 had a bicycling accident in April and required emergency care. I've seen too much blood this spring, THANKYOUVERYMUCH. I think I'll go eat some carbs...

***UPDATE*** I walked cookies over to Ida's house this morning, and spoke to her sister. Ida fractured her wrist when she fell, and required surgery to insert a plate. She will be discharged from the hospital this afternoon, and is doing well. She has many nieces and nephews who have been calling to check on her, and should be well cared for when she gets home. Also, she likes snickerdoodles, which is a happy coincidence, as that is what I baked for her! I also brought cookies to Ida's neighbor, who was the driver of the car that hit Ida. She is doing well, and is anxious to visit Ida after she gets home to make sure that she is okay and to express her sorrow for what happened (and for what *almost* happened). She was surprised that I would come check in on her. I can only imagine how she is feeling. Please keep Ida and her neighbor in your thoughts and prayers. Thanks! *********************************** tl;dr: I came in close contact with four strangers, none of which were wearing masks, and about a dozen masked first responders this morning. Should I quarantine myself away from my family? I live in MA, which was hard hit but has been seeing infection rates drop. What would you do? I was out for a walk this morning and looked up to see an elderly woman across the street had been knocked down by a car backing out of a driveway, and it was very slowly driving over her. I ran across the street and stopped the driver, and cared for the woman on the ground until help arrived. Thankfully, the wheels had not yet touched her but another moment or two and she would likely have been killed. She had hit her head, and had a very large cut across the side of her face from her glasses. The driver ran back into her house to have her daughter call 911, and within minutes there was a fire truck, an ambulance, and several police cars. All of the first responders were wearing masks, but the lady on the ground (I learned that her name is Ida), the driver, the driver's daughter, Ida's sister (who came out of their house, which was next door), and someone else who briefly stopped to help, were all not wearing masks. I spent +/-20 minutes with Ida, and then several minutes talking to the driver (who was very shaken up) and her daughter. My question is, with respect to COVID precautions, should I now be quarantining myself away from my family? Seven people live in this house! What do I do now? What would you do?

Errata found here: https://www.singaporemath.com/errata/ "Change first sentence to: In the rectangular tank shown below, the volume of the water and the iron ball is 19.2 L."

I make this recipe often - and I ALWAYS use King Arthur Flour flours. They are just better. https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/easy-self-rising-biscuits-recipe I use my food processor to cut in the flour if I'm being lazy, then I dump it into a bowl to add the milk. Sometimes, I throw in a cup of shredded cheddar and a sprinkle of garlic powder. I pat it into a rectangle and cut it into rectangle-ish pieces. They always come out yummy!

I dream of having a basketball hoop for the boys (and myself!) in the driveway. Sadly, our driveway is a hill that leads to a street which is a steep hill, so it's not going to happen. Boo!

When the library announced that it would be closing (due to covid) in March, we had a 24 hour heads-up from one of the children's librarians. That night, I went through their online catalog and put every single book that I knew my kids liked/would reread/had previously mentioned/looked interesting/was science- or math-related/had a complete series available/was illustrated by Ben Hatke or David Shannon on hold. They called the next morning, and I picked up ALL THE BOOKS. We spent our lockdown with just under 200 library books. They reopened on Monday, curbside pick-up and by appointment only, and all of our books are due back next week. I love my library! Also, I owe them cookies...

I have 100 books on hold/request/in transit right now. This makes me love my local library even more...