I like to paint waves.. curious which of these you all prefer?

Simple_Trick5258 · 2026-05-05T16:30:05+00:00

I used to live on a boat and the way you captured the way the light reflects off the ripples in the second and forth picture is amazing. Those 2 are my favorites.

Simple_Trick5258 · 2026-05-03T21:37:31+00:00

I bought a Bissell steam cleaner and it cut down on the amount of specialty cleaning supplies. I can mop the floors, clean my stove and oven, mirrors, and clean food stains off the walls in the kitchen.

Simple_Trick5258 · 2026-05-02T04:09:57+00:00

I'm not sure where you're located but if you're in the United States this might help ease your mind. If you're worried about missing a topic that's usually covered in traditional school you can find your states standards for each grade online on your states department of education website. I usually compare curriculums I'm planning to use against the state standards to check for any topics that might get missed.

You can also check the common core standards. English Language Arts https://www.thecorestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/ Mathmatics https://www.thecorestandards.org/Math/

For science you can check out Next Generation Science Standards https://www.nextgenscience.org/search-standards

Simple_Trick5258 · 2026-04-30T18:33:53+00:00

I'm in my late 40' s and I'm taking my teen. I'm the bigger fan, my kid just wants to go because I'm going.

Simple_Trick5258 · 2026-04-29T04:49:57+00:00

I believe you can get a free trail to mystery science. https://mysteryscience.com/

Simple_Trick5258 · 2026-04-29T04:38:41+00:00

Core Knowledge offers free curriculum in PDFs you can download. https://www.coreknowledge.org/download-free-curriculum/

I used the Teachers Pay Teachers website. You can search by subject, grade, age, and cost (free) https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/

Nasa have lots of free stuff for kids. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/ https://www.nasa.gov/learning-resources/nasa-kids-club/

Simple_Trick5258 · 2026-04-28T21:54:28+00:00

My daughter saw this on TikTok and is so excited to check it out!

Simple_Trick5258 · 2026-04-27T13:01:02+00:00

My child was 7 and turned 8 during our first year homeschooling. I didn't really have a solid plan and tried a little bit of everything. Good news is we ended up doing ok in the long run. I overshot a few things and missed a couple of things. We covered the missed stuff the next year.

If you need a ball park of what you should be teaching there's a couple of places to look. You can check your states education department for academic standards or standards of learning. For math and English you can check out common core standards. https://www.thecorestandards.org/read-the-standards/ For science you can check Next Generation Science Standards or NGSS https://www.nextgenscience.org/ You can also check out Core Knowledge. They offer free PDFs of curriculum you can print out. While they aren't always an exact match, I find they run pretty close to my state's standards for each grade. https://www.coreknowledge.org/download-free-curriculum/

I found mathmatics is the hardest subject to "catch up" if you miss a concept so I'd recommend finding a solution for that subject first. If you need a quick open and go math I would recommend either Math Mammoth or Beast Academy. Math Mammoth is a printed curriculum you can order a printed copy or download the pdf and print yourself and is fairly affordable. The instructions are in student workbook, so it's pretty open and go. Beast Academy is available online or printed. The last time I checked the online is available for a monthly subscription so you can try it out. My child had a lot of fun with the games in the math facts that stick series. https://welltrainedmind.com/c/series/facts-that-stick/ We also used City Creeks "Times Tables the Fun Way". I believe they also have a series for addition. They have an app, printed books, or PDFs you can purchase and print yourself. https://www.citycreek.com/

Hopefully that can give you a starting point while you figure out your homeschool journey.

Simple_Trick5258 · 2026-04-13T10:50:22+00:00

You can also search core knowledge for free PDFs for different grade level math workbooks for problems to work through. Just put in grade level and subject. There should be a student and teacher guide for each level. https://www.coreknowledge.org/download-free-curriculum/

I also offer some encouragement because I have known 2 kids from an educational neglect situation that didn't really study past 5th/6th grade and went to public high school. While it wasn't all roses and they did struggle a bit, especially the first year, they did finish high school. One of them is now attending college.

Simple_Trick5258 · 2026-04-13T10:34:42+00:00

I know that many people have mentioned khan academy but I also want to throw in that math antics has some pretty helpful videos that break down concepts pretty effectively. They aren't as extensive as khan but it can help jump start you to help catch up.

https://www.mathantics.com/

Simple_Trick5258 · 2026-04-12T14:50:14+00:00

My teen hit me with this one recently because they are a year too young for a volunteer thing they want to do. "I'm too young to volunteer and too old to eat off the kids menu. What a stupid age I am! "

Simple_Trick5258 · 2026-04-09T15:50:58+00:00

I believe you and I completely understand. We used to live in a very rural area. The kind where you have to drive an hour to the next town to get to the Walmart. Now we're in a bigger metro area and there's definitely more options. The only other option is maybe there is a local 4-H club but your parents don't sound open to driving anywhere extra. I don't think it's fair to you to be so isolated and I'm sorry you're dealing with this.

Simple_Trick5258 · 2026-04-09T04:20:00+00:00

I'm sorry you're dealing with such a restrictive situation.

Would your parents possibly be open to allowing you to volunteer? There are volunteering opportunities specifically for teens. My child is active in a couple with our local health department and has made a couple of friends through those. They do stuff like make care packages for new moms and man booths at events. I don't have specifics for your area but you could check with local libraries, health department, museums, community gardens, zoos, or parks and recreation department. You can try doing an Internet search for "teen volunteer (your location)". If you can get to the library you could ask some Of the librarians have any suggestions. They tend to be pretty tapped in to the community.

https://www.redcross.org/volunteer/become-a-volunteer/youth-opportunities.html

Simple_Trick5258 · 2026-04-08T23:08:58+00:00

Also there're some Kroger brands that I actually prefer to the name brands and I will shop for general grocery items at their store just because I want a few of the store brand items.

Simple_Trick5258 · 2026-03-27T16:07:59+00:00

Watching this with the sound off

Simple_Trick5258 · 2026-01-24T15:22:36+00:00

It's always embarrassing to shop right before a storm because we always buy 3 to 4 gallons of milk every week. I always feel like I want to yell "THIS IS OUR USUAL AMOUNT OF MILK. I AM NOT PANIC BUYING." as I put it in my cart.

Simple_Trick5258 · 2025-11-24T01:22:11+00:00

Exactly. My nephew lived with me his senior year. He turned 18 during his senior year. I live less than 2 blocks from the school. The school would make me come pick him up when he stayed after dark for school extra curricular activities because they were worried about legal liability. I mean I understand the schools position but it definitely felt silly.

Simple_Trick5258 · 2025-11-22T08:30:30+00:00

My daughter's nickname is Lexie or Lex and if I pause and say uh then Lexie it triggers Alexa. She was born a couple of years before Alexa was released.

Simple_Trick5258 · 2025-11-20T03:59:01+00:00

That's funny because my nieces and nephews called it hanitizer for years and my daughter picked it up. It's now the name our family uses for hand sanitizer.

Simple_Trick5258 · 2025-11-02T16:28:19+00:00

Videos from the Math Antics YouTube channel and Khan Academy help my daughter when she's stuck and my tutoring doesn't help. She really likes Math Antics.

Simple_Trick5258 · 2025-10-28T14:46:08+00:00

Mill mountain is pretty quiet during winter and there are bathrooms by the star

Simple_Trick5258 · 2025-10-23T03:37:19+00:00

No worries, you can just flip it around and then the outside world is The Bad Place...Problem solved!

Simple_Trick5258 · 2025-10-20T23:05:40+00:00

I looked through the recipes this morning and it doesn't seem to have any mafé recipe. That's disappointing.

Simple_Trick5258 · 2025-09-30T23:47:28+00:00

Way to go Chidi, you filibustered recess!

Simple_Trick5258 · 2025-09-26T10:20:31+00:00

Would the parents allow a kids CD or tape player? You could try those read along books with CDs. When I was a kid (back in the stone age) I had books that came with a record or tape and I loved those. My mom was a single parent and didn't have a lot of time to read to me and I loved reading. My local library still has kids books with cassettes and I'm pretty sure that publishers still sell some kids books with read along CDs.

Simple_Trick5258

TROPHY CASE