u/Active_Atmosphere264

I have a D/B/J troop, and this is our fifth year. There are 15 girls total and 6 of them currently are brand new Kindergarteners.

I'm going to be honest, I've never enjoyed it. My co-leader dropped out pretty early in our first year due to some family issues. My service unit was thoroughly unhelpful and has never been very helpful. They told me to just get a couple of parents to do background checks and attend meetings/activities so we're in ratio. Some of my girls have spent entire meetings crying because their parents have left them there. Some do whatever they can to get through the activity as quickly as possible, then are disruptive for the rest of the meeting. Some act like they are completely bored and won't engage in anything.

My parents are nice, but also not super engaged. I've asked for help, and I get middling, half-hearted assistance. I've asked for them to step in and plan a meeting or outing a few times a year, and nothing happens. I planned a camping trip, and everyone backed out about an hour before we left. For cookie season we barely make $1000 and about $400-$600 of that was earned by the one girl who was consistently engaged and left our troop due to a move.

I've casually tossed out the idea of needing to move on from leading, and I'm typically met with a ton of resistance, along with feedback that they enjoy it so much. And I guess they must, because despite seeming like they don't, everyone does return year after year.

I just don't know what to do. ​I'm so tired of planning these meetings and activities. My creative brain is tapped. I can't do separate activities for each level because I don't have the ability to do that, but there's only so many creative activities I can come up with and differentiate between ages for things like coding, outdoor art, etc.

What do I do? I feel terrible just dipping. My oldest left the troop, but my youngest just joined and would be disappointed. How do I get the will and desire to continue doing this? How do I make this easier on myself? And how do I find enjoyment in it?

I'm not even sure I know how to ask this question, but here goes.

As a teacher which book or series of books would you pick as an example of books a completely average child should be able to pick up to read and understand comfortably?

My newly 9 year old child can and has read books like The Phantom Toolbooth, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and The Mysterious Benedict Society. Her fluency lags a bit and it's effortful, but she can do it and understand what she's reading. We save those books for shared reading.

If she's reading independently she gravitates toward the wide array of Beverly Cleary books, Just Add Magic, The One and Only Ivan series, etc.

For context, my child's pediatrician recently made her feel bad about the books she was reading. I don't think that was the intent, but that's what was internalized. My daughter has mild dyslexia, which I've realized the pediatrician doesn't know about. She's worked really hard with her tutor, at school, and at home and has made grear progress. She mostly does well in school because she's clever and well-mannered enough to not get as much teacher attention in her chaotic class. So sometimes issues get lost in the shuffle.

I'm proud of her progress and I've been content to let her read anything that sparks her interests. I assumed any reading was good and the more practice she gets, the better.

Am I wrong? Should I be pushing slightly harder books?

I thought teachers might be the appropriate people to ask.

We're in the car quite a bit between pick ups, activities, trips out of town, etc. We listen to a ton of audiobooks and read for awhile before bed.

I try to find the balance between books my kids can understand/enjoy and books I can enjoy. My six year old tends to be the one who doesn't follow the complex stories quite as strongly, obviously. She still enjoys them, though. My 9 year old consumes books in all forms like it's a full time job and has strong listening comprehension.

Anyway, our most recent listens were to The Magicians Nephew, Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, Inkheart, Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, Gregor the Overlander. We're open to all genres and the books can be from any time period. I'm just looking for something that isn't the typical read aloud for the age because my 9 year old reads those independently( think Matilda, Because of Winn Dixie, Harriet the Spy, etc.) but I also don't want something that has a ton of swearing, super graphic depictions of violence, or tons of romance.

We're in the car quite a bit so we listen to a ton of audiobooks. I try to find the balance between books my kids can understand/enjoy and books I can enjoy. My six year old tends to be the one who doesn't follow the stories quite as strongly, obviously. She still enjoys them,though. My 9 year old consumes books like it's a full time job and has strong listening comprehension.

Anyway, recently we've listened to The Magicians Nephew, Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, Inkheart, Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, Gregor the Overlander. We're open to all genres, just looking for something that isn't the typical read aloud for the age because my 9 year old reads those independently( think Matilda, Because of Winn Dixie, etc.) but also something that doesn't have a ton of swearing, super graphic depictions of violence, and tons of romance.

I know there are a bunch of accessory posts, but I'm wondering if anyone with kids has any accessories they absolutely love? I have a backseat garbage can and wipes holder but I don't absolutely love it. I plan on getting some seat covers because as much as I love the leather I want to protect the integrity of it so I still love it when my kids are much older.

Also which boosters are you using if your kids are in boosters? I have one in a highback and one in a backless. They're both those massive Graco 4ever carseats so​ they eat up every bit of bench space. I'd actually like to move them over to my MIL's car and grab some smaller ones.

This is the first time I've purchased a vehicle in 15 years. I was young and inexperienced last time, but I'm trying to be smarter about this process this time around.

The dealership has been communicating with me by email and has accommodated me with everything I've requested so far(video walk around of vehicle, dealership inspection paper work, service paperwork, etc)

I already have pre-approval through my credit union and a rate I don't think the dealer can beat, though they are welcome to try. I am taking the car to my personal mechanic for a pre-purchase inspection. If he gives me the go ahead I plan on moving forward with the purchasing process.

It's a 2024 Mazda CX-5 Carbon Edition with 45k miles. Their listing price is $24,300. It was purchased in July of 2024 and used as a fleet vehicle for about 18ish months. The Carfax report is clean and it appears to have been well maintained. It was bounced between a couple of auto auctions before going to the sister dealership of the one I'm planning to purchase through. This happened in May. After being on their lot for a few weeks they sent it to the dealer by me in June.

Given all of this, what do you all think would be a good out the door price to submit to them? I have some ideas, but I'd like some input.

I have a beater. It's a 2012 Hyundai Accent with about 140k miles. The sides of the bumpers are loose(clips broke) and a hub cap is broken from a punk smashing it. It recently started having some shaking issues and the check engine light came on but is not currently on.

I've decided it's time to finally buy a new car but I'm wondering if it's even worth taking this car and trying to trade it in.​

I know dealerships are generally kind of pushy and try to scam you, but does anyone have a solid dealership they recommend? I'm open to driving a bit for a reasonable price tag and respectable place.

I just don't have time to play games. I need to finance a solidly reliable family vehicle with moderate miles and is preferably well below 25k. I don't care about all the bells and whistles. I've been driving a base model Hyundai Accent for around 15 years, so I can tolerate not having all the gadgets. I just want the best, longest running car for my money.

I have a 9 year old who has always done well in school. She enjoys reading. Her lexile range is always above where it's expected. She reads a lot at home and we read to her.

Something I've noticed is when going over her tests(or sometimes when reading) is she'll simply skip over words that I know she can read. It's almost like she's too efficient or maybe just being careless. I don't know. She will read something on a test like "Which is in column c" as "Which column is c?" These subtle changes significantly alter what is being asked and sometimes that will trip her up on a test question she would otherwise know.

We've tried to work on slowing down, rereading the question/sentence, putting her finger under the words to make sure she is reading what is there, etc. It's almost like her brain sees what is there and quickly determines it's irrelevant. Or sometimes it's like she sees a word that might only be vaguely familiar and even though she knows how to sound it out she'll just substitute it with something familiar. For instance, she saw the name Carlotta on a book and told me it was Charlotte until I prompted her to really look at it for a moment. After she looked she said, "Oh my fault. That says Carlotta, not Charlotte."

For context, she was taught to read with UFLI in K-2. In 3rd they were doing a lot of morphology work. She did well with both of those things. I don't feel like it's due to a la​ck of understanding or because she was taught to memorize words, but maybe I'm wrong. I'm just wondering if you all have any thoughts or suggestions on working on this at home. I'm concerned it's going to continue in 4th grade and she will only become more frustrated when taking tests.

I like to keep some light work at home for the summer. It helps with the routine and brain dump they do in the summer before going back to school.

My 8 year old is pretty good at math and has decent fact fluency. Subtraction and division are definitely weaker. She's often unsure of herself overall on top of being hard on herself. We talked about working on math facts and decided this is a good area for us to focus on over the summer. I'd like to incorporate some games to really make sure her addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts are strong before she dives into much harder work in the fall.

I was wondering if you all have some math fluency games you recommend? I'd prefer games that don't require screen time, but I'm not outright opposed to them.

We were planning on schooling through the summer as we typically do, but I think we need to lighten the load for a bit.

I'm looking for math fact fluency games. Not just your typical drill skills like of worksheets but fun activities to work on when your child already knows the hows and whys of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division and you just want to continue practicing those skills. I just want something fun that can be played together or independently for practice.

I'm looking for affordable youth activities or activities that offer financial assistance. I'm looking for options for 5-10 year olds and open to really any activity I can consistently get my kids involved in. My preference is for physical activity and outdoor oriented options but open to things like chess, art, etc. ​

We've done things with Parks and Rec as well as various community centers. Just looking to see if there are other options I've missed.

Thanks a bunch!