Raq, I homeschooled Nick for a year here in Ohio and a year in Florida, when I couldn't keep him in school because of the gluten allergy. In some (maybe all, I'm unsure) states you do have to make sure they take the standarized tests, either by getting the children to the public school when other children their age are taking the tests, or paying for them yourself. Arizona requires homeschooling parents take part of the teacher examination test, or used to, Florida requires nothing but a note to the board of education and Ohio requires that you file a teaching plan for the year with the local school board, so it varies by state.

I don't know if it's entirely too late to mention this, but t's favorite color is purple and her favorite stone is amethyst.

And good timely greetings. In an hour and a half we meet Aidan's new teacher. I'm nervous.

Gud, a suggestion--get Rubbermaid lidded bins, and trash bags. Take a weekend to throw out the stuff you know you can, and for the stuff you don't know what to do with, put it in bins, and put them in the attic, cellar, or garage, then just have the cleaners in. No matter how bad your house is, they will have seen much worse.

After it's all sparkly, you'll be more inclined to put stuff where it belongs, or get rid of clutter you've just been unready to toss. That would be a terrific use of that $700 and you'd probably have plenty of money left over.

That might be something to look into, but it's almost like we have to get the place clean enough to clean.

Our experience was, the first cleaning was more expensive ($125 compared to $75 for the regular every-other-week for a townhouse) and more thorough.

Though it sounds like a lot of your problem is clutter as opposed to mess. In which case, I second Cindy, at least for a first step on getting things under control.

I was asking about the homeschooling in part because if the States go ID, we'll be considering it...but I was also asking to see how big a workload that was adding to your family, Gud. Seems like you guys have a lot to deal with, and a couple of rampantly smart kids, which also complicates things (although it's usually a good complication).

Interesting tips, Deena. Good luck with Aidan's new teacher!

And yeah, what Cindy said. They'll have seen worse. And they are getting paid to deal with it.

{{{Gud}}}

but t's favorite color is purple and her favorite stone is amethyst.

This makes me very excited to hear. I've been making a prayer shawl [link] I was going to keep it for myself, but went through all of the ritualistic stuff in case I decided to give it away. It's purble, blue and black, and beautiful, if I do say so myself. When we decided to do the care package for t last night, I decided that that's who was meant to get the shawl.

I think I'll call it the "~ma shawl". She won't be offended that I was praying for the her while making it, will she? I mean, mostly it's the same thing as thinking good things for her.

Deena, good luck meeting the new teacher! Yay!

Timelies!!!

vw, I'm sure she'll be touched.

for further inspiration, t is allergic to almonds; likes spice scents (cinnamon, frankincense, cardamom), dark chocolate, silver, lady grey tea, and her favorite animal is the penguin.

I'm going to drink my coffee and then vacuum, assuming my vacuum works this morning.

When we were selling our old house, we had clutter. It wasn't the sort that you'd likely notice if you visited. It was the normal, mostly manageable a-family-of-5-live-here type of clutter. However, houses show much better if the surfaces are relatively free from stuff (this means sticking your toaster and blender away, stuff like that, and your paperwork, and whatnot). It makes the space look better. We decided we'd just pack the non-essentials that cluttered up the joint, early in anticipation of eventually moving, and it was amazing how much better the house looked, and how much easier it was to keep it clean, without so much stuff.

We're a family of pack-rats by nature, but fortunately, Scott (who is the master clutterer--you can track him thanks to the clutter he leaves in his wake) and I both have a ruthless streak, when we finally get around to tossing out stuff. So a lot of what we intended to store, we decided to toss, which is why I recommended trash bags, as well as the bins. Once you get moving, you might find you're happier without all the stuff. If not, you can store it, and find a proper place for it, after the cleaning is done.

Also, if you can get the kids out of the house, it never hurts to ditch old toys they don't even care about any more (at least until they know you're going to ditch them).

We're lucky. Christopher HATES stuff. In general. Anything non-essential, he'd rather not have out. Me, I don't collect. I'm strictly into usable things. So the worst clutter we have is magazines and books.

But even that is kept minimal. Our biggest issue in the future will be the large number of tiny, brightly colored caltrops toys around but I suspect this is part of having a kid.

I just checked my library fines online. It's only $6.60. If we go this morning, we can hit the coffee joint directly across the street from the library. Mmmm...latte. And BOOKS!

One of the things about moving every two years, with a weight limit, is it does limit the STUFF. I was stunned at how much junk we'd accumulated while in Fairfax for a triple tour.

Of course, my stepmom sending a full-size moving truck of all my parents' stuff after my dad died didn't help.

On another topic, does anyone know a good English -> Latin translator that will do whole phrases?

Who is collecting the stuff for -t?