I am most definitely the guardian of the chocolate chips in my house! Between DS10 and DS3, they would be completely gone in an afternoon! (And I buy them in 4.5lb bags!) 😆

I learned to knit two years ago. This year, I am trying (through fits and starts) to self-teach myself Portuguese. I have also just started reading Don Quixote, alongside The Well Educated Mind. There aren't enough hours in the day!

That article says they the vaccine is a good match for H1N1, which nearly killed my DS24 in 2009 ( hello, swine flu!). My kids all get their shots in October every year, as soon as the vaccine is available. I was supposed to get my shot at my yearly checkup but that appt has been changed multiple times and I still haven't done it. I was pretty sick last week and may have had a mild flu, based on my symptoms. I'm going to CVS tonight when DH gets home to get my shot. I definitely had the flu four years ago, and it was awful.

That reminded me of the book "Eat Well on $4 a Day: Good and Cheap" (free PDF download). It's about sticking to the food stamp budget of $4/day per person. She has recipes, but also lots of good ideas on keeping a stocked pantry on a budget and other things. I reread it every once in a while, when I get into a grocery rut.

Thinking about the future here, for when DS10, currently in 5th grade, will most likely go back to the public school for high school. How do you even begin to plan for enrolling a child who will be several years/courses ahead in (at least) one subject as an incoming freshman? Has anyone had experience in this that could share?

phonics: continue Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading math and logic: Singapore Math 1A/B and MindBenders-type books handwriting: Zaner-Bloser 1 language arts: First Language Lessons 1, Writing With Ease 1, and Spelling Workout A science: (along with DS7 & DS10) earth science (library books) & astronomy (led by DH, an astronomy teacher) history: (along with DS7) medieval & early renaissance (SOTW2 & lots of library books) foreign language: I'm considering Portuguese Saturday school for DSs 5, 7, &10 misc: he's playing soccer & t-ball, weekly trips to the library, continue speech therapy weekly at the public school, maybe cub scouts

I don't believe that is realistic for most people. I feed a household of seven people and I spend nearly twice this. That doesn't take into account takeout pizza every Friday night and happy meals for 4 kids once per week. It is 'possible' to do it that cheaply, but that requires a significant amount of work (planning, prepping, coupons, multiple stores, whatever) that I don't have the time or the mental bandwidth to be able to do. I have a small chest freezer in the garage and I buy multiples of things my family likes when they are on sale (meat, fish, fish sticks, vegetables, fruit, ice cream, etc) plus flour and other baking supplies at the holidays. I make an inventory of everything in the fridge/freezer/pantry once a month and post it on my cabinet so I know what I have and what I can make this week. I have a bin in each place that holds the oldest stuff, marked EAT ME, to help cut down on food waste. I know it's probably not helpful, but my DH and I just had this discussion about our rampaging grocery budget recently and we stepped back to look at it in relation to our other discretionary spending. Factoring in the mental effort and time costs that would be required for me to cut the grocery budget a few hundred dollars, it would be significantly easier for us to cut that elsewhere. We've reevaluated our cellphone and wifi plans, or streaming services (hellooooo!$$$), our mindless ordering off of Amazon, etc... We decided that we will keep an eye on the food budget but, for now, it is what it is.

handwriting: Zaner-Bloser 3 grammar: First Language Lessons 3 writing: No idea what to do here - he *loathes* narrations and will only begrudgingly do copy work; we are getting nowhere in WWE2. It's not too hard, he just doesn't like it. So, we may try again with WWE (either 2 or 3), I have MP Intro to Composition, or we could try WWE-type methods across science/literature/history. (This kid has been known to dictate entire books to either of his grandmothers, and type his own books on the computer. He just won't do narrations for me!) spelling: Spelling Workout C math & logic: Beast Academy 3, books from LivingMath U2, MindBenders/BalanceBenders/Math Analogies/etc. history: SOTW2 / read alouds from LivingMath U2 literature: read-alouds from the WTM recommendations (to go along with SOTW2), plenty of read alouds, audiobooks science: astronomy/earth science (WTM recommendations) foreign language: Little Latin Readers. I am considering Saturday Portuguese school for DS10, DS7, and DS5. misc: This kid need plenty of unstructured time for following his own rabbit trails -- he pulls random nonfiction books off of DH's shelves and reads until he either doesn't understand anymore or gets bored; he's self-teaching Python, BBC Micro:Bit, and Raspberry Pi, etc. What he really needs is an organized physical activity, but his social anxiety won't let him join teams.

Thank you! Your response was very helpful!

Anybody?

DS10 just finished lesson 48/review 4 in the purple book of GWTM. He is doing fine with it so far (lessons take about 20-30 minutes, rarely do we have to split up a lesson, excluding reviews which we do over 2-3 days). I have read that it ramps up somewhere between weeks 18-20. I was originally thinking that if we could make it through week 18/review 6 in the next 10 weeks, that would give us last quarter to switch gears and work on some Killgallon writing, and we would start the GWTM red book next year, back at lesson 1. I just saw that there is a video explanation for how to use the program as well as a chart that shows sample progressions through the different 'colored' books. I am wondering, how many people stop at midyear and start the next book, essentially doing the same lessons over again in the second half of the year? Our midyear is technically this week - should I stop him where we are and start the next book back at week #1, even though he currently isn't having any difficulty with the material? (I already have the red books, FWIW.) How have you used GWTM with your middle schoolers?

I would call the Attorney General's office in your state and ask if that is legal. That sounds sketchy to me.

Nan, as a relative newbie here (4th year homeschooling, joined this board in 2015), I would like to thank you profusely for a this thread, as well as a few others that you started before I even knew this place existed. There are very few homeschoolers around me, so I consider you, along with SWB, Quark, and Kinsa, to be my homeschooling mentors. Thank you very, very much!

I can never get a link to work, but it's here as a PDF... WWEandWWSexplanation.pdf

I... drop them on the floor in a corner. 🤷

Our library also recently constructed on outdoor space out the back door if the children's room. It's been fenced in, with benches and flowering plants. Obviously, it's not available in winter here, but the kids love to read their books outside in good weather. Pics here:

The kitchen set at our library is in a big bin, and it goes into the back room when not in use. The kids/parents have to request it from the librarians.

The big draws in our library children's room is the train table and the Melissa & Doug kitchen set. There is also a growing collection of Little People (farm, ship, etc).

I bought some mesh produce bags, and I keep them in my bag of reusable grocery bags that I take to the market. They have drawstrings, and are washable. We have used cloth napkins for years. I buy 'bar cloths' in 4 packs from Target, and they last a long time. I have enough to make a small load of laundry themselves (there are seven of us), but I've also washed them with my towels.

Did the solution in the back provide another method to solve the problem? Often, I see/solve problems from BA and/or AoPS differently than the solutions written out in the back of the book.

This. House is <1500 sq ft and there are seven of us. My kids are loud enough already. I do feel extremely guilty, because I know that DS10 wants to learn to play all.the.things, but my nerves can't handle it. I have issues with loud noises, and my kids are loud enough on their own!

Hmmm. That gives me something to think about. My first thought would be that he would like to have more control over what goes on in the house; being the fourth out of five and not the baby is probably a tough place to be.

I don't know what you mean by 'social thinking'?

I look at these every so often, and they look good *in theory*. In practice, I would have four boys fist-fighting over who gets to use it. These kids fight over the piano, seats on the couch (we have three couches, for crying out loud!), the bottle of ketchup...you get the picture. Sadly, I'm pretty sure that it would cause more problems than it would solve.

Before the holiday break, I would work with DS5 first, then he would play with DS3 while I worked with the older two. I would switch out crafts and fine motor activities at the kitchen table for the two of them to work on without me. He would do a phonics lesson (OPGTR), a logic puzzle, a handwriting page, and as many math pages (Singapore) as he wanted. I'm going to tweak the schedule to more of a 'one room schoolhouse' type plan, where we will all do the same subjects at the same time. Maybe, if he's doing 10-15 minutes of work every hour, spread through the morning, rather than all at once, it might help.