Thrift stores? I have found many new coloring books for my kids and a few for myself as well. I almost donated a dozen today but put them aside for a travel bag instead.

.

I used to wear lululemon workout leggings under my suits and sometimes long sleeve seamless active tops. Any well fitting active layers would work though! Even in winter the office was kept cold so I always had a stash of layers in my drawer, a portable heater, and an electric kettle in my office year round. I always told myself it was one less step to changing for a quick work out after work, but that never ended up happening. :)

Sorry now I see at the top of your original post. I'm in AZ. THANK YOU SO MUCH for sharing!

This is so exciting to hear as I just learned my sisters moving her family there this summer! They go next week for a week to check it out and make sure they wanna live there so I hope they didn't pay much more than this. What site did you use to find cheap rates?

I remember trying flylady back in 2007 as a new mom and I was SO committed to it. I printed off her whole system at work and told myself I was going to be the most clean and organized mom. I did good for a while but every time I try and go back to it I really get annoyed. I am really liking the clean slob recommendation, it's even kid friendly. Realizing I have to do dishes everyday is big because before I'd get grumpy that I just unloaded dishes only to load and unload and like it never ends. That's probably why I hate cleaning, it never ends! I guess the same goes for eating well and daily exercise. Some things we don't want to do but learn that really it's just easier if we start and find ways to make it work for your lifestyle goals.

95% used. I don't have an exact break down of profit but since it's all paid for it's all money in my eyes. I could have donated like Marie Kondo preaches but I was not after instant gratification and have some space to store things. After fees and shipping as of now I' have a little over $8800 in my own account.I did buy a few things here and there at gw to resell that were too great to pass up as well. Last 2 months I picked up a few things like uggs, boxers and jackets and they all sold. It's more of a hobby so I don't really keep up on book keeping like I should. I did this sort of thing back in hs and college but never at this level. My kids are in elementary full time now :/ and I did NOT want to go look for work! I am truly so thankful for the money I am able to make while still being available to my family.

Take the job, you can always quit if it doesn't end up working. Have you thought of selling on ebay? You'd be shocked how much you can make off stuff laying around the house. I grossed a little over 14k from selling nothing but clothing on ebay. It's pretty basic and fun in a way. I'm happier knowing I am making some money now even if it's not much.

Rick Riordan is my 10yo sons absolute favorite author and last year his teacher read one of his books to his 4th grade class. I don't imagine she would do that if there was very graphic mature content. Also my son goes "eww blah blah" if anyone starts kissing in a movie and would not read the books if it was overly like that so I think your good. My sons also is a fan of Brandon Mull and enjoyed the Fablehaven series, you son may enjoy that as well. We too found the series while thrifting and I am so thankful! He's read all the books and is currently reading Battle of the Labrynth. Check out the Percy Jackson series too, I know my son and many of his friends also enjoy that series. On top of reading the books he's listened to all the audio books as well and I never noticed anything alarming.

He had an iep from prek that carried over to the new school. They did their own evaluation too but did not revise the plan much at all. I happened to come in to volunteer and was able to sit in on the speech therapy once. I was not impressed when I saw it was basically playing bingo and looking at a chart and saying the sound. In prek he worked with the speech therapist on ipads and did much more language based games. I asked in second quarter if we'd meet to go over the iep and was told sure you can come in whenever, which was never the case in the other school. It was always these are the 2 days you can meet with us and then we'd meet every quarter. I will fail my son if I keep him at this school. My older son was just tested and as I suspected, he's gifted. I pushed that school to have him tested and it never happened. The moment I enrolled into the public, he was tested. Now with them both qualifying for services on different ends, this public school is already going above and beyond what the charter did for us. The school they were at was a for profit charter which now I realize is not such a good thing. Parents were asked almost weekly to contribute supplies for this and that. I'm ready to move on. My oldest son had been at the school since K so this coming school year will be his first time at a new school, whereas for my 6yo this will be his 3rd. I already feel like I failed the older one since he was bored all these years and made up for it by coming up with my own enrichment plans when the school did nothing for him. If he my 6yo needs to repeat 1st after this school year we will absolutely switch schools again. I know in the long run it's not the best fit for him, but for now I think it's the better option for now. However I did choose this new school thinking we'd keep him back in . His teacher really did not think he needed to be held back despite his struggles with writing. She swore she's held kids back and if she really felt he needed to be she would advocate for that. I think she may have said that though because they were introducing a "transitional first grade" for the coming school year and he would be placed in that class with kids who need extra help. Sounded good but I'm not willing to risk it, especially with it being "new". I will check into all these links and get the books requested.

His gross motor skills are great. He loves to mountain bike, rock climb, swim, and is always running it seems. Incorporating some movement is something we haven't tried so thank you for that tip!

He turned 6 in Jan so he's basically in the middle age wise for his grade. I will contact the school district and find out what the process is to submit a letter to request further testing. They know we are coming from a charter and when I told them I never met with anyone in person to go over the iep last school year they were shocked. The speech pathologist told me at the end of the year, that we'll meet in OCT to update the iep. I really wanted to hold him back but the more we discussed it the more we came to realize that if anything, it would be better to hold back in 1st. Kindergarten would bore him,but he'd have more time to develop his fine motor skills without as much pressure. I have cousins who were held back for other reasons (sports) in Kindergarten and my aunt said it was the best decision she ever made. We're not doing that though but if the next school year tanks we will. He did good in K, don't get me wrong, but the lack of being able to get letters formed on paper was a hinder. I'm still learning how to navigate this whole iep thing and I just want to make sure he gets the support he needs.

The school is known for being very good and is ranked in the top 20 for test scores. When I enrolled them they gave us some spalding cards and recommended the spalding app. I feel this method will be so much better for him. We have neighbors who go there and the turnover is low, unlike where we just were so I think that speaks volumes. We got a stack of the Mercy Meyer books today at the library and he liked the first one but refused to try and read, just wanted to listen. He can't read any books on his own yet. His kinder teacher said to keep using those sam books I linked above but they are so dry. I think he's annoyed because they don't even really make sense. I have explode the code but sadly it's not the level I need, it's for 2nd grade. I will see what I can find at the thrift shops though, sometimes I find great stuff but it would be helpful to at least know what I am looking for and what has been a success for others. Thanks for all the advice so far, I really appreciate it.

I did not realize there was a gifted area. I will poke around in there. To clarify, what I meant was my son tested gifted in the non-verbal (visual spatial) area. He is very verbal and not on the spectrum, just a normal kid who is a whiz at things like puzzles. Thanks for the suggestions! Beast academy looks good but what is aops?

This last school year my 6yo was in Kindergarten and although he grew tremendously, his writing if anything seems to have gotten worse. We bought the pencil grips, did hand strength activities and worked with him after school but nothing helped. I worry that next year he will struggle because he can't write 1 legible sentence. For reading they did "sam books" http://www.marriottmd.com/sam/index.html and he didn't enjoy them. His teacher said they are the best though so I found them online free after she suggested we buy a set on ebay for summer study. He made it to 7 during the school year, it was really frustrating for him so I did not push him as hard as I maybe could have. I feel like I need to push him even more now. We have books galore and go to the library many times a week and he loves to hear stories, but not read them. Meanwhile my older son was reading chapter books at 5, and though I don't compare, I do notice the vast difference. I need so much help because next school year he will be transferring to a different school, it's traditional based and very heavy on writing. They teach spalding and saxon math. He really enjoys busy work and doesn't mind practicing writing but despite that it's not improving. His teacher last school year chalked it up to the fact that he has a speech issue (iep for it) and that is what is making it difficult for him. If anyone has any advice, please share!