I can't think of any titles but I know there's a bunch of young adult level books out there about Annie Oakley.

Cook some egg noodles in chicken broth, add chicken, add frozen peas. Worlds easiest chicken noodle soup and my people love it on cold days! Of course, it's probably not cold yet but it's still good and really easy and even better - I usually have everything I need!

This is my answer too.

Oh my. How cute! LOL. Good idea. The kid might be a natural matchmaker ... you never know.

How sad. Prayers being said.

I *heart* Dave Ramsey. About two months into dating my now husband he had DR on in the truck. I listened to it when he ran into a store real quick on an errand and we talked about the guy for the rest of the drive. I remember talking about how I was going to buy DR's book, Kevin told me that DR would say I should get the book from the library. It just clicked with me! I read the book, got on a budget, and was totally committed to being debt-free. It took Kevin a little bit longer to get on board but now we're both living frugal and happy! It's great to have financial peace. I recommend checking out LLNOE.com for some great DR forums.

I would have been outraged also. Talk to the mom and then don't let them hang around with your kids at all. Cruelty to animals is a big warning sign for serious problems later in life.

This sounds awesome. Can I make this the night before, leave it in the fridge, and then bake it in the morning? I have to work so mornings are kind of busy and I love things that I can get ready the night before.

Good for you! We need more people that can eloquently stand up for homeschoolers. She sounds like a huge jerk. :glare:

Sounds like a fantastic time. ;) Well, at least you've got good stories. We went camping this summer and learned a valuable lesson. If you're going on a hike with two little girls in the heat of the summer, turn around and start hiking back way earlier than you think you need too. We turned around when they started getting tired and the second half of the trip was horrible. DH ended up carrying one towards the end and I was half dragging the second one. I suggested we go for a hike the other day and I thought the kids were going to mutiny.

I like this podcasts about history at dancarlin.com. He's intense but it's incredibly interesting.

Great info, thanks. That game looks fun. Now I'm glad I bought 3x5 cards in bulk during the back to school sales.

Good job. I really want to do this but I'm not the TV watcher of the family. We already don't have cable (too frugal) but the kids like to watch a few cartoons on DVD occasionally. I was reading The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease and he mentioned that their family doesn't have allow TV on school nights. I'm thinking I'm might implement this in our home and then limit TV to weekends only. Maybe I'll start with a TV free week too to kick it off.

We're a pop and caffiene free house too. In your situation what about getting those Crystal light add ins. They've got stuff I wouldn't want kids drinking in them but if it was a grown up making their own decision to drink them that would be okay. I suspect they're really cheap. Otherwise he could have his own secret stash of Kool-aid or something. And let him make it himself so there isn't extra sitting around for the kids to drink.

Is it possible for me to teach the girls to sound those words out and still use HoP? I'm thinking I could teach them to read all the site words phonetically since I'm not using the tapes. Don't know if that works though.

In our unknowing parent wisdom (before I found this board) we went out and bought HoP K-2nd. We’re working with our girls now on the K box and one is doing great (half-way through K) and the other is doing okay (about a third of the way through K). I don’t use the CD’s for the lessons - instead we use the workbooks, little reader books, and then I sound out the words with them and help them with the reading. The problem is that I just finished reading The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease and he doesn’t have much good to say about HoP. I understand that it’s a pretty boring program compared to other learning to read programs out there and given the chance to do something different I would but we’ve invested a bit of money in this system now. What should I do? Should I consider just trashing HoP and start with something else? Keep plugging away with it as long as we’re making progress? Are there any other pitfalls to HoP, besides being a little boring, that I don't realize. I don’t want to turn my kids off of reading early on and I don't want to teach them a way that won't be a good foundation for reading later on. Right now they love reading and having me read to them. They aren’t super excited about HoP but they do it without willingly. Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks.

I'm only an afterschooler but what about a free reading day. That would appeal to me if I was in high school. And for a quick math lesson - the kids could fix dinner. Hope you get feeling better!

Oh I wouldn't worry about her dying any time soon. I had an great-great-aunt like that and she lived into her late 90's. My grandmother always figured she did that just to spite her poor family. Good luck with your MIL. Sounds like Wolf really appreciates all the help and interference he can get. And sorry about his Grandpa ... grandparents are so special. I know you guys will miss him.

Great question. We are struggling with this too right now and I'll be interested to see what tips the Hive has.

I've read 22 of them ... a few of them I bet I've read 10 times, like Sherlock Holmes. A couple are even sitting on my nightstand to be read this weekend.

I have a huge sweet tooth and now the little girls are expecting dessert after dinner. Here a few of my recent concotions: Real pudding served in a fancy martini glass (for fun) Rice pudding Smores (graham crackers, chocolate, marshmellow in microwave) Bread (sweet stuff like zucchini or banana bread, toasted with a bit of butter) Already cooked rice served warm with a bit of milk and sugar Cookies (bake a big batch and then freeze them - only take out a few when you need them) Sounds like we're big junk food eaters but we try not to be. We just like a bite or two of sweets in the evening.

As far as cable cartoon shows go - we love Ben 10. Entertaining even for adults, the kids are good kids, and it's not overly violent. We allow it when we're at my grandma's. (No cable at our house.)

Thanks for posting that Heather. I agree with you completely. I wouldn't leave my infant in the car with the keys in the ignition and the doors unlocked. However, I feel perfectly fine leaving my five year old in my locked, difficult to steal vehicle with out any keys for two minutes. If someone really wanted to take her then they'd be able to get her. They'd have to break the window in a well lit area, reach in, unbuckle her, all while she's probably making a scene. Of course, if they wanted her that badly they could wait until I got back to the car with the keys, knock my 115 pound self down and carjack me too. There's some real creeps out there and I do my best to protect my kids but sometimes you also have to be practical. Yeah, I understand the argument that you wouldn't leave a laptop on the seat of your car why leave a kid? There are way more people out there that would steal a laptop than would take a kid.

That is so hard to know what to do! Wow. I'll be interested to hear what you did. I've left a kid in a car for a few minutes before though. The kid was four and I was running into the gas station to pay and she asked to not have to go in because she was playing with her horses. I left her, double checked that the doors were locked (it was spring so it wasn't hot), and kept an eagle eye on her while I was paying. I was gone maybe a minute and she wasn't out of my sight even for a second. I know a lot of people wouldn't have done that but I evaluated the situation and did what I felt was okay. I guess that's what parenting is about. If the kid was closer to two and the parents couldn't see them ... I probably wouldn't have left a kid in that situation.

I love Linda Bailey's books! They are full of information but laid out in a fun way. The girls and I both really enjoyed reading them and they're even on my books-to-buy list. These are the books she has out that I know about ... hopefully there are more: Adventures in Ancient Greece (Good Times Travel Agency) by Linda Bailey Adventures in Ancient Egypt (Good Times Travel Agency) by Linda Bailey Adventures with the Vikings (Good Times Travel Agency) by Linda Bailey Adventures in the Ice Age (Good Times Travel Agency) by Linda Bailey Adventures in Ancient China (Good Times Travel Agency) by Linda Bailey