Good grief, since everyone is up in arms about Lysol, then my second recommendation is to politely ask the individual to move on, and if they don't, get out your push lawn mower, remove the bag, aim the chute at the sidewalk and start mowing. Preferably over rocks.

The OP hasn't been back yet to clarify her post, so we're all just working on assumptions. However, as a smoker, I've yet to see a legal smoking area that has a sign saying Lysol isn't allowed, so I'm going to stick with my Lysol if they don't move on when asked. Though, I can't imagine someone not moving if politely asked/told the smoke is bothering someone (well, I can imagine it, but I personally would put my cigarette out post-haste and move along) (ananemone, my step-father quit smoking in his 30s or 40s...until he died in his late 70s, he absolutely adored the smell of smoke. He would literally beg my sister or I to smoke in his truck as often as possible so he could smell it. Drove my mother absolutely insane. We also don't like people, which is why we bought our home where there are no sidewalks!)

To be fair, I did not say spray it at the smoker, I said spray it at the sidewalk.

I am a smoker, and I make every effort not to pollute others' airspace with my bad habit. Personally, I would move if asked, but if not, a can of Lysol would definitely get rid of me.

You could very politely ask them not to smoke there, explain it bothers you. If they don't comply, well, a can of Lysol might get rid of them. Or you could just spray the Lysol at the sidewalk anytime someone smokes there.

Independently. We've been in most months of the year, January and September visits were our best. I believe we started our week there on January 12th when we went. September was right after Labor Day. We went on rides over and over with no wait.

Seconding the Odoban, amazing stuff.

We did this to cover all that crap. https://smile.amazon.com/Health-Safety-Manners-Reader-Beka/dp/B001FVAOSG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472933786&sr=8-1&keywords=a+beka+health Has bike safety and all that other verbose garbage in it.

Almost sounds like you're in NY. We're doing SOTW and Liberty Kids to get in the American History

A free solution for now: https://allinonehomeschool.com/ She only has to provide a brief outline of intended curriculum and list of books and other supplies. She could skim through the lessons in Easy Peasy, get the books used, and send in her notification. She can intend to use Easy Peasy temporarily until she finds the perfect fit for them.

I think DS is slowly getting into it, but I cant get the darn book to sync between my phone for the car and Alexa, so we're constantly trying to guess where we left off. I saw a recommendation on Amazon to use a cheap phone (without cell service) as a player, and that would work great for the car (going to test Overdrive and Audible on the iPhone I use for music). I was going to buy a phone for DS' room but....that's a bad idea, because the munchkin totally knows how to use the play store and he'll be downloading and playing apps (hmmm, maybe if I put it on top of his bookshelf?) DH isn't totally against using it at bedtime,, I saw somewhere that you can set a timer for it to stop. Will have to figure out the sync issue for that, though. (I don't have room in my vehicle to charge a tablet, because I have to keep my phone plugged in (horrible battery) and my splitter won't charge two devices at once for some reason.)

(Tell me more about the Great Courses, please!) I really want audio to be part of our lives. I haven't been to a library in YEARS (thank you Amazon, grrr lol), but I have registered online for a card locally if I can just find the time to go get it. They do use Overdrive at that library, as well. I am NOT in love (after a couple of hours of on/off listening today) with Stockard Channing reading Ramona. At all. I really like her as an actress, but the voices she uses for Ramona, Beezus, and Henry really grate my nerves. Also, my son learns *really* well from songs, he had the Presidents down cold 10 minutes after I handed him the CC app (meanwhile, an hour of perusing it, I hadn't even *found* the President song...) I want to incorporate CC into our lives, as well, which, reading WTM4, I think is perfect for the grammar stage, but I need to learn more about that, too. With both teens having jobs (neither drives yet), plus co-op classes, sports, and other things, we will be in the car a lot, so I'd like to make wiser use of that time than Angry Birds on the iPad :blushing:

For now, he's tucked into the couch, happily listening to Alexa/Audible. Daddy should be home tomorrow, though, so we will see what he has to say LOL.

The Ramona series is read by Stockard Channing. Last night, I downloaded a few of Robert Munsch "reading" his books, and when DS was having a moment today, I pulled him on my lap at the computer, grabbed a copy of "Love You Forever" and put on Robert Munsch's reading of it. We both sat enthralled, with me, of course, in tears at the end. (My very favorite book to read to my babies and I have been crying at the end since I first read it in 1992 lol) I put on another of the Munsch books, and DS stayed in my lap and grabbed some colored pencils and started drawing. When that book finished, I decided to go peek at Audible and see what might grab his attention. I've seen elsewhere that Neil Patrick Harris is a favorite narrator, so we listened to the preview of "Socks" for a bit and then I got up and left DS drawing and listening. I found both Munsch and Harris to be "better" than Channing, but we did have progress with the Ramona later in the van. I will look into the recordings of Cricket and Trumpet, actually just came across my copy of Cricket in Times Square this evening, yay! The one I was playing isn't one I've read aloud. The house is mostly going to be quiet after this week, and actually, it's mostly quiet anyway. The teens hang out in their rooms and DS is outside a lot. Anyway, I'll think on having a set quiet time, that would be a good way to "make" him listen to them. Totally forgot until you said Jim Weiss...I ordered SOTW1 on CD, which is why I started looking at audiobooks lol. I was hoping to that during breakfast while he eats and I clean up. My mornings consist of rolling out of bed and taking teens to work. Some mornings DH does it, but usually it's me. If I can, I leave DS sleeping and have the other teen watch him, but some days I put him in the carseat and that usually wakes him up. Can't wait til SOTW gets here so I can hear Jim Weiss and see how we like that! Totally me. Also like shawthorne's DH, I'm a fast reader. When we refinanced our house a few years ago, a mobile notary came to do the paperwork with us. For whatever reason, she insisted on reading the documents to me. She'd get a paragraph in and I'd already be done with the page...so I'd zone out. After about the third time of her realizing she was reading it to herself, she finally just let me read it on my own. Bedtime is a really good idea. I'll discuss that with DH because we have been so lucky with this kiddo, he's a wonderful sleeper and easy to put to bed, not sure if DH will like the idea of adding a distraction to keep him awake, but that's a fantastic idea. So, just a little update, we listened to the Munsch books today, and then he had to go with me to pick up a teen from work. I couldn't figure out how to sync the Audible app on my phone to where Alexa was when we paused, so I just started Beezus and Ramona on chapter 2 in the car. DS said that was about right. He listened for a good 30 minutes. When we got home I realized I had forgotten to stop at a friend's house to drop something off, so I told the teen to take DS in and get him food. DS asked where I was going, told him, he wanted to come. I said ok, but all you're going to do is sit in the car and listen, you will not be getting out to talk to Joey, I'm just dropped this off." He liked that idea...until I said he had to get buckled again, then he decided he was going to stay home. I get home about 25 minutes later...he'd made his brother put "Beezus and Ramona" the movie on the TV. So, maybe with some set times and in the car, he'll come to enjoy them. Thank you all for the suggestions! Now for the next question, what do you all use to play your Audible and Overdrive books? I do not want to use my phone (I get texts and calls nonstop, which interrupts the audiobook over the car stereo). I have an iPhone 4S that I use for music in the car, it may work, but I can't get iTunes to recognize the books I've downloaded from Libriovox. (At all, not as music or audiobooks) None of our tablets have enough battery life, so I need to purchase something cheap, as that's all it will be used for.

Robinson Curriculum list Ambleside Online (look at the appropriate grade level booklists) 1000 Good Books List These are some lists from classical eras (there may be some modern books, but you can easily find the classics/living books for the right age), there are many more if you Google for CM, classical, etc.

You can buy the hard copy on Amazon now. I bought it last night. (Bought the Kindle version the night before and decided I really need a physical copy)

When we read together, he sits *near* me, but he is definitely NOT a cuddly kid...never has been :crying: A lot of times when we read, it's at the table or sitting on barstools. Sometimes he can see the book and read along, sometimes not. I haven't read this book to him, we've only read one, and he really surprised me that he enjoyed it, and actually asked me to keep reading, or would ask to go sit and read it. The only one of the series we've read is Ramona the Pest, the audio I started with was Beezus and Ramona. (In general, he doesn't like reading, he acts like he's being tortured, but I really want to do a literature based curriculum for him (was planning to use the Robinson booklist mixed with other similar booklists, but I just bought the latest edition of WTM and I'm totally leaning toward SWB's methods. Anyway, despite not *liking* reading, he's a very good reader, so I was hoping to be able to use audiobooks to get some reading in, while he does Legos or puzzles or something (that was going to be another post another day lol, what to do while listening to an audiobook) When we read together, I ask HIM questions, but he rarely asks me questions. (He's 6, maybe it's a maturity thing, but he's totally different than my other 4 so I'm a bit lost here) He can always answer the questions, and before we start again after a break (the next day, or even a week later) he can tell me what happened previously. Sometimes he will talk about it after we read, too. We've read several of the Magic Tree House, and he loves them while I'm reading them, but suggesting we sit down and read one (that we haven't started) usually means I have to TELL him we're going to do it, not because he wants to. Once we start, though, he'd be content to sit and listen to the whole book. I'll try it in the car soon, just found out DH got stranded because of the incident in Frankfurt this morning, so I'll have a couple hour drive to pick him up whenever he makes his way back to this side of the pond. Any suggestions of a really fun book he might like for me to try at home? (The only chapter books we've read so far are MTH and that Ramona, we've mostly been in leveled readers prior to that) As a side note, I despise being read to, and totally zone out if someone reads to me. I was mostly able to follow along with the audiobook today, though, perhaps it was more engaging? I was in and out of the room a little bit so I didn't hear all of it.

I signed up for a trial of Audible and used the credit to buy the Ramona series by Beverly Cleary. My son LOVES Ramona when I read it to him. I started playing it this morning (on Alexa) while I was cleaning the kitchen. I did give him the book to follow along in if he wanted. He HATED it, like, told me never do it again. I'm going to try it in the car and see if he thinks any different, but has anyone else had a reluctant audiobook listener and turned them into a lover? (I personally have never listened to an audiobook, except as a young kid)

My DS18 has no volume control. When he's driving us crazy, we pretend to aim a remote at him and click the mute button. He knows that means to turn it down...usually lasts maybe 30 seconds, sigh.

Darn it, you seem to be correct, I checked the older versions on Amazon. I ordered a hardback :crying: Well, for anyone who hasn't read it, I'm several chapters in on the Kindle and it's really good!

Yeah...except the rest don't get kicked off the plane.

Not sure exactly where to ask this. Does anyone know if the new WTM (4th edition) will be issued in paperback, and if so, when? I bought it on Kindle, and have decided I REALLY need it on my bookshelf, but I hate hardbacks soooooo much.

Maybe with Spryte's explanation, people can understand why allergic families, that rely on a shot that lasts all of 15 minutes to keep them alive, get a little pissy at the thought that allergies can't possibly be as disabling as mental illness.

We had chicken tortilla soup. It was pretty darn good, and a lot easier/faster to make than the one I made a few years ago.

I purposely bought white Corelle plates about 18 years ago just so I wouldn't ever have to worry about it. When we start getting low on a piece, I pick more up at Walmart.