She's 4, so we'll be getting the slate and the wood letters. Thanks!

All the extra hands on materials? If not- which would you choose over the other: Mat books, or the wood pieces, or something else?

My daughter will be 4 and 4 months when we start preschool in the fall. She's taking a literature class based on NOAH and FIAR, a science class, and an art class at the local co-op. At home we're going to start a phonics program (I'm looking at 100EZ and Phonics Pathways). Additionally, I'm going to do Bob Books. I think you might find her need for "work" with Explode the Code and Handwriting without Tears. Ada is the same, and I think she will enjoy both. I'm also going to order McRuffy Math but the bulk of our math is going to be magna-tiles, tangrams, and this book- Games for Math. I also have the Rod and Staff preschool books that I never used last year. I too am a Christian, but I have no interest in teaching 180 days of creation- which is what most boxed products are. I am at this point undecided what we will learn for Bible. I keep going back to My Father's World. I've heard that it stays in the book of Genesis, but has more focus on character traits.

I wouldn't do it. I would also get into a Financial Peace Course and stop the cycle. Being debt free is just the 2nd in the baby steps. Once you go onto step 3- (3-6 months in savings for EMERGENCY use only) you and your hubby won't need to get back into debt. Oh- and step 1 is 1000 cash baby emergency fund in case you need a new fridge, while you work on becoming debt free. Start there and you'll be fine. At least you know what it takes to get there.

Debt free is everything but the mortgage. Once you pay off your mortgage- you're in what Dave calls Financial Peace! Congratulations!

You don't include your mortgage in your debt snowball. You get your 1000 in the bank, do your debt snowball- then fully fund your emergency fund (3 - 6 months in savings). Once you have that cushion, you start working on paying off your mortgage, funding your retirement, and building college funds all around the same time. My DH and I could have our house paid off in 10 years if we put it in our snowball, but we would miss out on all that compound interest in retirement and college funds. We've actually taken a break from our snowball now that we just have the student loans. He's been laid off 4 times in 2 years so we're going to fully fund our emergency fund and go back to our snowball. Houses aren't necessarily debt, that's why we have things like equity. My house is worth more than I owe, even in this horrible housing economy. You always have to pay for a place to live- of course, unless you own your home, and you're not going to own your home if you aren't paying on a mortgage. (Unless you're living in your parents basement mooching off of them to save for your own home). So, that's what it is- if it's not debt.

I agree, but I am a Dave Ramsey follower. On Debt Free Friday's, you may call in and scream "we're debt free" if you've paid everything but the house. I guess this is because paying rent, and paying a mortgage is all the same thing. We've been doing Dave for 2 years and we're to a point where we've started using one of his financial coaches. The only debt I still have is massive student loan debt, so I guess I'm better in my own mind than people who are slaves to credit cards and furniture companies. Jokes on me of course, because that debt can be bankrupted. Student Loan debt can not!

I love this forum! I came her to search for PP and EZ, and find the exact topic I would've started. I'm trying to decide which to use. I checked out OPGTTR about a year ago and remember it boring me (will lightening strike?). I have it on my list again to look at now with a more mature homeschool eye. I have the library's copy of 100EZ in hand and PP on hold. When I read the intro to 100EZ I'm sold and ready to do it, but when it comes time to sit down and do it, I have doubts, and I can't keep my daughter from flipping the pages. She is quite distracted and bored. I haven't looked at PP, but I appreciate some of the comments that have been made. Such as that PP is a complete program. DD is a natural reader and I think she may be reading (thanks to Mr. Leap Frog and World World) before I've settled on her formal program.

Bumping. Still hoping to make it! Some circumstances (hubby's job loss) might prevent me from coming. I've been SO excited about this!

I have a terrier/American Eskimo mix that looks a lot like this one. We can her an Eskie Terror. She looks a lot like this dog in the face. I'd guess: I'd guess some sort of terrier (JR or Rat), and maybe a chihuahua, perhaps a beagle?

I've had three. #1- My twins had TTTS and it is the preferred method of delivery due to the risk of acute transfusion. They were 10 weeks early. I was up and walking around that night despite being on restrictive bedrest for 16 weeks. #2- Another c-section- again, I healed fine but the baby swallowed some blood coming out. She had a sore throat from being suctioned so much and so deeply. Breast feeding was an issue because of this and I had to pump until she was ready to give it a try. #3- 13 weeks ago. I had it planned on Wednesday and went into labor on Monday. The surgery went fine, but since I wasn't nervous this time I really was aware that I was butt ass naked past the sheet they hang at your neck. I could see my reflection in the light. Although my baby was full term at 38 weeks and 3 days, he had some fluid on his lungs- common for c-section babies (and one of the section risks) and had to go to the NICU for observation for 4 hours instead of staying with me in recovery. I had talked to the administration about doing his check-in, first bath, etc... with me. So, yet again, I ended up using a pump for my first nursing session. The recoveries for each of mine were easy but I do have a high pain tolerance. The 2nd time I did have AWFUL constipation (common for abdominal surgery) and nearly went to the ER I was in so much pain. Third time I around, I knew to avoid it and took preventative measures. I would have preferred to have vaginal births, and sometimes I wish I had had a VBAC, but I have the same thoughts you expressed. It isn't my life's disappointment not to have had the experience. I am not less of a woman or mother. Having had lived through a 6 month NICU nightmare with my micropreemie who did die at 9 months old, I know that in reality, the goal is a healthy baby. Ditto to the pain meds and getting up and moving. With my first I was going down to the NICU to see my babies and just didn't take the pain meds like I should've. Late that 2nd night I was in alot of pain once my overdoing it caught up with me.

I love y'all! I tried to get into scrapbooking because my friends are addicts. I just couldn't do it. I did get into digiscrapping for a while and I found the while I was busy "recording their lives"- I was ignoring my children. Each picture I took had an alterior motive. I stopped cold turkey one day and never regretted it.

I'm a librarian, so it's a bit different for me. Reading is reading to me. If the library checked out cereal boxes and my children wanted to check them out, I'd do it gladly and read it to them myself before bed.

I love Fringe! I can't wait to see who it was, but I had had the thought that it was Walternate. I also wonder the roll of the "man". Remember they saved Peter after Walter brought him over because they botched it up the first time. Why did Peter need to be saved? I didn't realize that Walternate knew about the other universe, so I'm interested in learning how he found out, or who is helping him get to this side. We know that the other universe is more technologically advanced than this one because they had cell phones in the 1960's. Oh, I just don't know. I think that Peter is probably mad at Olivia, and that he just hasn't had a chance to talk to her yet. He left the hospital. He didn't come running to her. I hadn't really thought about his Mom's role in the show, but I know it's coming up or why would it have been mentioned.

I had a difficult time feeding after my 1st pregnancy, but they were 10 weeks early and had extended stays in the NICU. I started supplementing my healthy twin at 3 months and switched her to formula at 6 months old when her sister came home from the hospital. With my 3rd I struggled the first two months with supply, but I kept at it as long as she had wet diapers. I have a supportive ped who doesn't go by weight gain. She had wet diapers and rolls so he was happy. She was EBP until 9 months old and weaned at 13. I had my son 12 weeks ago and it's been a cinch. I wanted to clarify- I did have issues with his latch but none with supply. But, I learned from my previous time. My issues were related to not drinking enough water and not eating enough. Also- I am anemic and that's been an issue for me. You might want to consider having your iron level checked after delivery. I agree that breastmilk is the bestmilk, but having had struggled with the stress of not producing enough, and the social pressure to keep going, I felt utterly (no pun intended) relieved when I gave myself permission to stop- but it took 6 months for me to do it. I was pumping several times a day for one twin, and nursing the other. Consider your motivations. When I started 2nd time around, I'd already given myself permission to stop if I felt the need, and just taking that stress off myself was enough to boost my success.

I don't regret my student loans. However, I am a stay at home mom that won't make any $ of my MA anytime soon. If I had to do it over again, I'd take one class at a time and pay for them as I went. I didn't take out all the loans I could have taken- but I did take out loans to help buy a new laptop, and honestly more than I should've. I wasn't a teenager either and I didn't make decisions I was proud of. I am opposed to student loans for teenagers who will start their lives out owing several thousand dollars in student loans. For some degree programs and for professional degrees, student loans is necessary. My husband has just an Associate's and he makes more money than I ever could've made. I'd like for my children to make more thought out decisions of what they want to do with their lives. I'd like them to go to community college first and we'll pay for those first two years. If they don't want to work and go to college and instead choose to take out loans, I'll insist that they only take out enough to pay for their tuition.

I went to an all female college. There was a shirt that read "____ College, where women are women and men are guest".

I am a professional librarian who worked in ILL at a few libraries. I just wanted to point out that shipping is not the only cost incurred in ILL departments. Some lender libraries charge recipient libraries "handling" fees if there is no reciprocal borrowing agreement. It's been a few years since I've worked, but there is also the licensing fees and membership costs for OCLC in addition to staff time. If all libraries now use ILLiad, there would be additional costs for that. Additionally, there are copyright fees to be considered, although this would be for articles only. I read once on the ILL listserv that one library had estimated its total cost to be about $20 per request.

I'm surprised at a lot of the responses. I must be one of the Mama's whose kid can be "childish" and not always on her best behavior. I would never, as an example to my own children, and as a golden rule- (as someone else said), say anything passive aggressive or disparaging to a child, no matter how "bratty". Kids have bad days too. I did have a child a couple of weeks ago being really awful and physical to my 4 year old. He was probably 7 or 8. I've taught her to walk away and she was trying, but he'd follow her. At one point, while she was on top of one of the structures inside of a moon bounce, he yanked her legs out from underneath her pulling her to the ground. His buddy sat on her. I had them stop immediately. He tried to argue with me "but she...". I told him I didn't argue with children and to stop. He was surprised. His response "You aren't my mama, you can't tell me what to do." I told him that no, I wasn't his mama, but that I was her mama, I didn't care why he was doing what he was doing, and that he would stop. He said "Oh" and his challenge to my authority ceased. He didn't apologize, and I didn't suggest he should, but it worked out in the end with relatively little drama. The Mom was oblivious to the situation, as I too have been at times with a 2 year old in tow and nursing a newborn. It happens. I trust (most) parents to behave as adults and treat all children with kindness and respect, and hope that the day their child is the problem on the playground that they run into the same type parent. Parents who hover and insist on making playground play "fair" are annoying. Kids need the opportunities to work out their own conflicts. I've seen too many moms chase down a kid and take a toy from him because her kid "had it first". The most annoying thing to me at playgrounds are the kids that run up and tattle, expecting me to react to their every whim and reprimand my child because they say so. These are the kids of those parents. I refused to listen to one child one day and she followed me around screaming at me. She was trying to tell me that my kid hit her (she didn't). She'd done the same thing with another child earlier and the parent had the child apologize. This girl had obviously developed this attention seeking behavior. When I told her that I didn't listen to tattling she was close to a meltdown. She'd obviously never had the experience of being dismissed. If I had to do it over I would tell her that I wasn't interested in hearing her story, but that she was welcome to play a game with us. Now when a child interrupts what I am doing to tattle I just say "thank you for your concern" and continue on with what I was doing without any other acknowledgement.

I have two girls that I buy for. I get their clothes at consignment sales and from friends. I rarely buy new, but when I do buy new, or used for that matter, it gets passed to the little sister. When I had Willa, she had a ton of girly clothes to wear from my older twins. When I did get new stuff for her- it was gender neutral stuff. I knew I wanted at least one more child and could pass it on. I'm not using it with my infant.

I railed against gender roles for the longest time, and now that I am a mother to girls, I appreciate them. I came from a rural Southern family, and to me, to be a girl meant that I had to miss out on the fun stuff. I couldn't have a BB gun, or play sports, or go out into the "woods". I have a much different view now. I stay at home with my babies while my husband works. I have a Masters, he has an associates. He has offered to stay at home while I go and "get some use" out of my degree, but my children would be feral after the 1st week.

I am only an hour from Richmond. As a librarian, I am more then interested in attending the lecture "Teaching Reading from Birth on". I'll be at the HEAV conference (it's free for parents of preschoolers), and will head over to sit in on that specific lecture. The other ones interest me, but aren't really applicable to me at this time.

I went to elementary school in the 80s. I never memorized basic arithmetic. I counted on my fingers. No one bothered to tell me otherwise, or to show me otherwise. When I taught 4th grade about 10 years ago, the school was using something called "Touch Math". It was awful, just like counting on your fingers- but with dots and this cute little template taped to your desk. Had I just been encouraged to memorize it, I would've been better served. Thankfully, my 3rd grade teacher insisted I learned my multiplication tables. Speaking of the open classroom, I toured the most expensive preschool that people just gush about, stand in line in order to ensure their child gets into the program, and was horrified to see these short walls all over the place. When I asked about it (it was LOUD in there) I was told "they get used to it".

I went to private school and started using Saxon for pre-A in the 6th grade and used it until I graduated. We did every other problem most of the time. In fact, I never remember doing all of the problems- ever. In high school one of my teachers would select a handful of problems for us to complete.

Our school only has a name for purpose of our blog. Tater Tot School. My daughter's nickname is... Tater, and she is a Tot, therefore Tater Tot School.... get it, yeah... I'm sure we'll change it one day to Lastname Classical