My son has a traveling lemonade stand. We have two two-gallon jugs that we make lemonade in (and make lemonade ice cubes to keep it cold and undiluted), and I make cookies for him. He loads up our garden cart with napkins and cups, and walks around downtown for big events, like the Fourth of July and our town's annual spring festival. It's not steady income, but he can easily make $40-50 in one day.

I used it with my son until about lesson 75. Then we switched to Explode the Code and regular readers. When I pulled out 100EZ Lessons for my daughter, my son said, "Oh, I absolutely hated that book!" I knew he wasn't thrilled with it, but didn't know he despised it! My daughter loved it, until about lesson 50. Then she started dreading it, so we switched to readers and ETC for her. It works, but I am glad my children are spread out a bit, because I have to mentally prepare myself for using it again!

We start right after Independence Day, do a schedule with six weeks on and one week off, and "finish" around the beginning of May. This allows us to play outside more during the months when the weather is the best for it. But we still continue math, reading, science, and some fun projects over their summer break.

I put the baby behind the driver's seat, toddler (who was still rear facing) behind the passenger's seat, and the kindergartener in the middle (who could buckle himself). I'm one who functions best on a schedule. When I had little littles as well as babysitting kiddos, I had four under four many days. Everyone got a diaper change or went potty at the same time. That way I never had to remember who was changed at what time. Everyone (even those who were early elementary) went potty before we left the house for anything. It minimized the "I have to go potty NOW!" emergencies when we were out and about. Anytime we needed to be somewhere at a specific time, I would start "getting ready to go" an hour before, first with feeding the baby and making sure no one else would be hungry, then potty and shoes/coats. It usually did take just about an hour to get out the door. I learned how to nurse sitting cross-legged on the playroom rug. Baby would eat, toddler(s) would sit next to me and I would read books, play matching games, build block towers, etc. Babywearing made things so much easier. All my children have intense personalities, and my oldest was by far my neediest baby. The only way he was content was either nursing or strapped to me. You can choose to alternate who you wear, so the toddler can feel close as well. I also made a big deal about needing "big brother/big sister" help. They folded a lot of wash cloths and diapers, and matched a lot of socks. They stirred things while sitting on my kitchen counter. They ran and fetched things I needed (and often things I didn't necessarily need!). We put on a lot of music and just danced, since that helped relieve a lot of stress for everyone - not just children's music, lots of oldies too! For my own sanity, we got out of the house often: library, grocery store, playgrounds, community center gym. Even just a quick walk around the block helped. My children don't typically sleep through the night until about three and a half YEARS of age. Sleep deprivation just became a way of life, and you learn to function even when extremely tired. I wrote down many things in notebooks, simply because I couldn't trust myself not to get distracted or simply forget. Simple, quick meals. Things that aren't done at a certain time are great: crockpot meals, pot roast, stew that can simmer for a while. You can start the meal when you have a free five minutes earlier in the day, and you don't have to stress about what's for dinner at 4:00 p.m. Meal planning is also helpful. I don't always plan each meal, but in our house we have a general schedule. Mondays are soup nights, Tuesdays are meat and potatoes, Wednesdays are some form of chicken and rice, etc. It will go by so fast. And you will survive! Someone said to look at your day as "just twenty minutes". When the baby is hungry, the toddler is screaming, the cat just had a hairball, and someone left the bathroom faucet running..in twenty minutes, you can get all of that dealt with and things will be calmer.

It does happen here, sometimes. I think it depends on how much news coverage it gets. We had about two inches of snow overnight earlier this week, but it was gentle and slow, and nobody freaked out. Coincidentally, my husband was comparing "winter" states with "nonwinter" states - how our city doesn't even bother plowing if it's only one or two inches of snow. But south of here, an inch or two of snow will shut down schools and businesses because they don't have the equipment to plow it.

For high school cores, you can purchase just history or just literature from Sonlight. It comes with an instructor's guide and a student guide (same guide, but the student's doesn't have the answers to discussion questions!). You can buy just the guides, and purchase the books elsewhere. Some are published by Sonlight though, so you'd have to get them directly (or find used copies elsewhere).

I didn't know that doctors/clinics could do that. I'm so glad we go to the family doctor I've seen since I was five years old. He's made house calls when needed. Sometimes we even discuss a sibling's medical need at someone's appointment, and he just writes a prescription or sends a referral, etc. I have no clue what we'll do once he retires.

I have a wallet/organizer thing that holds all plastic cards, cash, a few band-aids, stamps, etc. That's what I take with me everywhere. I keep keys and chapstick in my pockets, and mittens in my coat pockets. If I am taking children with me, I grab the backpack. It's a slimline backpack, but it IS mostly full. I've learned that it's just better to keep the "emergency" stuff with me because I have needed it sometimes when I haven't brought the backpack. I have three containers in the backpack: -a small lunch cooler full of medical needs for the whole family (inhaler and spacer, Epi-pens, Benadryl, Tums, Excedrin, Sudaphed, bandaids, anti-itch cream, contact solution and case) -a pencil box with "emergency children" supplies: a few Hotwheels, granola bars, a baggie of crayons, mini playdough, deck of cards, and a little tin that I've filled with random mini animals, dice, paperclips and other such things that keep young children busy while waiting in a restaurant or waiting room -a zippered pencil bag with my own emergency supplies: nail clippers, pocket knife. sunglasses, mini super glue, menstrual cup, hair holder and hair stick, extra phone charger I've learned that it's worth it, hauling extra "stuff" around, just to be prepared in those situations where you unexpectedly DO need something. A quick trip to the doctor ended up with a long wait for x-rays, and I had to keep three kiddos entertained. My son was breaking out in a rash and needed anti-itch cream and Benedryl - and none of the available first aid kits stocked Benedryl. I'd rather just be prepared, but I do keep it very organized and know exactly what's in there. Anything "extra" gets taken out as soon as we get home.

Yes! That's it! I could see in my head "dine" but was thinking Claudine instead of Celandine, but knew that wasn't quite right. Thank you, thank you! Now off to see what I can find on Amazon...

I'm looking for a series (trilogy?) of books about miniature people, but I can't remember a whole lot of specific details. There was a girl who found and helped an injured miniature flying horse, and crawled through a tunnel into an isolated forest protected by stinging nettles/lots of overgrowth where these knee-high people lived. There was some magic in the book, and I think it went back and forth between present time and stories from long ago (maybe a great aunt of the girl, who also found this hidden world, and was deemed crazy because of the fairy tale stories she told and insisted they were true). I remember there was a picture taken of the long-ago girl holding the bridle for the miniature horse. The present-day girl was spending a summer on her uncle's farm. I think I read them in 2006 or 2007, but don't know how old they were at that point. I've not found much through Google, and even called the library where I checked them out, and they had no idea. I did find that someone else has been looking for these books too though: http://w1.loganberrybooks.com/stumpthebookseller/?p=3236 Any suggestions? I would love to share these books with my children, if only I could locate them!

A prickle of hedgehogs!

http://www.amazon.com/Making-Choices-Friends-Social-Competencies/dp/1575422018/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1452893448&sr=1-6&keywords=dude+thats+rude We've used a few of the books in this series, not this one specifically though. It might give you a good starting point.