What about bribery? A four year old should be old enough to understand bribery. Something along the lines of ... We're going to the store. It will be a short trip. If you are well behaved the whole time, I will buy you a cookie to eat in the car on the ride home.

Do you want to be constantly trimming bangs, or constantly putting her hair up? It sounds like your daughter has fast-growing, wavy hair, which would need more frequent and more careful trims than slow-growing, straight hair. I hated growing out my bangs when I was a kid and have never missed them since. So, I spend a few moments every morning putting DD2's hair up in little ponytails. DD4's hair is long enough to tuck behind her ear.

I think that when you get 5th grade reading level, you *are* maxing out the test. If you read all the text on the front page it says that they are still working on 6th grade level. It is a bit deceptive because when they let you pick a grade at the beginning of the test they let you pick through high school. I think that they let you say that you are in a grade higher than 5th because some students in higher grades might still have a low reading level.

You daughter and Mommy22alyns's Becca both sound a lot like my daughter. My daughter will turn 5 this summer and will also start kindergarten in the fall, but will not be doing typical kindergarten work. My DD4 is reading way above grade level if there is such a thing for pre-K. She picks out several early readers from the library and read all of them in a row as soon as we get home from the library, then re-reads them throughout the week. I'm looking forward to when she makes the jump to chapter books so that I won't have to keep track of so many books. I feel that she is too young for assigned reading, but we do "shared reading" (you read a page, I read a page) of a book I choose so that I can monitor her reading ability. I'm going to start SWR in the fall so I don't need to worry about phonic gaps. I'm also reading aloud to to her to help build up her vocabulary and broaden her horizons. I've done lots of informal math with her, but haven't done formal math lessons. In the car today, she informs me that 9, 10, and 10 together are 29! I'm planning on using RightStart math with her in the fall. I'll start her in level A, but if it really drags, I also have level B. She has pretty decent handwriting, but I recently noticed that she has a pinched knuckle when she writes, so I am backtracking with handwriting to fix that problem. I also plan on doing FIAR with her in the fall. I'm also generally choosing to piece together curriculum, rather than an "all-in-one" curriculum. That way I can choose math, writing, reading, science, social studies, etc. which are each on her level, and progress independantly. Although HOD and Sonlight both really intrigue me, I think that they would be too hard to adapt to her various levels. However, mostly she just plays with her sister, draws, colors, plays with play-dough, builds forts, runs around, etc. This will be my first year homeschooling, and it is comforting to know that I could totally screw up things for kindergarten, but as long as she doesn't forget anything, she won't be behind for first grade.

Thank you all for your advice. I also am blown away that she is attempting this book. I've casually mentioned to her that she's making mistakes and can ask if she's unsure of something, but she was totally uninterested in corrections, so I didn't push it. I've never done audio books before. On my next library trip, I will have to try some out. I'll suggest using a bookmark to underline the text and see how that goes. When she reads books that are at her level, she doesn't make as many mistakes, and generally catches herself when she does, so I guess I'll let her do her own thing with this one book, cover my ears, and hide the sequels.

Oh, thanks for the explaination about recent holds. That makes sense. Thanks for the offer to help me get to 50 posts. I actually don't have anything to sell yet as I'm just starting this journey. However, having that requirement somehow makes me feel like I'm a second class citizen until I meet that requirement. I've only been to the Barbara Bush library a few times. I love their picture book area and how they display the kids books. I usually go to Baldwin Boetcher, which isn't nearly as nice, but it is closer, and we've developped a good relationship with the children's librarian.

I go there every week (BB). How can you tell if the holds are recent or not?

It's okay to totally ignore any mistakes my DD makes in her pleasure reading, right? No matter how bad? In general, I only correct reading mistakes when we do shared reading. When we do shared reading, I insist that she correctly reads every word in order. However, for fun reading I usually just let her go and will identify a word for her if she askes. My problem is that she picked up the "Little House on the Prairie" to read on her own, which is *far* above her reading level. She saw it in a box of books that I got from the Scholastic book club and immediately picked it up. She seems to enjoy reading it, and is several chapters into it. The only time she reads it is when she picks it up on her own. However, I noticed that she makes *many* mistakes. She'll skip whole lines, mispronounce words, subsitute words, add extra words, etc. She reads aloud, and often what she reads is so garbled that it makes no sense. Yet she reads on without stopping. Is it okay to let her continue reading the book in this garbled fashion? I think that many of her problems are because the type is small and it is hard for her to track from line to line, and some of the vocabulary is advanced for her. This is a book that I loved as a child, and I want her to like it too. I don't have the heart to take the book a way and tell her that it is too difficult for her, but I could probably make the book disappear when she isn't looking and she probably wouldn't miss it. Thoughts?

Neither of my parents wanted me to get pierced ears. Most of the time it didn't bother me, but I felt really lousy at dance recital time. All of the other girls had pierced ears and we were even told what type of earrings to wear for the performance. I was the only girl without earrings at the show. I ended up getting my ears pierced at the mall all by my lonesome when I was old enough to have them done without parental consent, at around 14 or 15, I think.

So sorry, but it's nice to know that there are other's who are also having a tough time. In my house it's a poopy two year old with explosive diapers. Two days ago the poor thing took off her diaper and walked around, leaving an oozy trail.... I've since (hopefully) convinced her to leave the diaper on until I can get her changed. No dog here, but we do have an old cat that has taken to spraying everywhere. It's gotten so bad that I hate having people over to the house. The advice from the vet is not very encouraging. Sigh.

I think that is an acceptable use of the phrase "used to" meaning in "accustomed to". http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/used%20to I suppose that some would argue that you shouldn't end a sentence with the preposition "to". However rewording it "This was the name to which I was was used" sounds ackward to me. *Edited to Add* After reading other people's posts, I noticed that in general "used to" is usually followed by a verb, but isn't in your daughter's sentence. How about something like... "This was the name I was used to hearing." "This was the name I was used to writing." "This was the name I was used to being called." or gasp, "This was the name I was used to using."

I would (and have) asked for the computer back. When I last visited my in-laws (in another state), there was only one computer and four adults plus misc. children who wanted to used the computer at various times. Sometimes we just wanted to "play" other times we had actual work to do on the computer. We all asked politely - ask for the computer when the other person was done, and then wait. If we needed the computer right away, state why, and the computer was always relinquished in a reasonable time. I think that the main difference with children is that they haven't built up the skills to consistantly ask nicely, wait patiently, and relinquish freely. I notice that my kids get along better (with each other and other friends) when I coach them to say "can I have that when you're done with it?" instead of grabbing, and "I'm using it now, but you can have it when I'm done with it." instead of "no, you can't have it." As far as sharing toys with visiting friends - I insist that my kids and visiting friends all share all available toys. If one of my kids doesn't want to share a toy, it gets put out of reach of all. If a visiting friend doesn't want to share a toy that she brought from home, it also must be put out of reach. If a visiting friend happens to get my daughter's favorite toy first, oh well, too bad, you can ask for it but the friend doesn't have to give it up. If it is a non-standard toy with a clear owner (e.g. shoes) the child must ask permission of the owner. The one thing that I don't allow is grabbing toys from other kid's hands, or repeated, whiny, insistant requests.

I have the "Hug-A-Planet" Earth globe and I love it for my 4 year old. It is basically a globe shaped pillow with all the countries and the 50 states marked. It lives on the sofa with the other pillows. When we're doing a read-aloud, it's right there for me to easily point out places without getting off the sofa. My 2 year old also likes standing on it. For more detailed stuff, we used our large wall maps.

I looked at 100EZ Lessons and The Reading Lesson (among other programs) when I started teachng my daughter to read. I chose The Reading Lesson. Here's the main differences that I found in my initial preview: Both used special typography to tell the child which sound a letter makes (for example, long e versus short e). In 100EZ lessons, the special typograph is *very* noticable. In The Reading Lesson, the special typography is more subtle. 100EZ Lessons drops the special typography all at once near the end of the book. The Reading Lesson gradually drops the special typography over the course of the book (some symbols are dropped earlier than others). 100EZ Lessons spends more time on blending and rhyming / word families. The Reading Lesson doesn't spend as much time on blending. My daughter could blend before I started formal lessons, so it wasn't a big deal to me. The pages in 100EZ Lessons include instructions to you the teacher as well as the text the child reads and some pictures. The pages in The Reading Lesson are 99.9% text for the child to read and the pictures are larger.

Hi, No cool earthquake stories here, although I used to live in Southern California. Have you looked at http://www.ready.gov? more specifically for earthquakes: http://www.ready.gov/america/beinformed/earthquakes.html

When I did this, I did half and half. I had only one kid drinking the half and half milk, so I made only a little at a time. I'd buy a gallon of whole milk, and then freeze it in one quart containers. When I needed more milk, I'd thaw out a quart of whole milk, make another quart of milk from powdered milk, and then mix the two together, giving me a half gallon of milk. I found that it worked best when I mixed up the powdered milk first before combining it with the whole milk. I started with the mixing instructions on the box, and then adjusted slightly until it tasted best. Chilling the powdered milk really helps the flavor, but it can chill after being mixed with the whole milk. Now that my daughter is older, she drinks straight powdered milk and I don't mix it with whole milk anymore.

I taught my daughter to read using "The Reading Lesson." It was inexpensive, easy to do, zero prep, and took only a few minutes per day. Just open the book to where you left off and start reading as many pages as you feel like that day. If your daughter is the cuddly, sit and read with you type, you might want to consider it. She would probably fly through the first chapters fast, which would boost her confidence. However, there are cute stories starting in the first chapter, so it wouldn't be too boring. There are cute pictures, but not so many that your child can rely on them to guess words.

Sounds like your son knows how to go, when to go, and where to go (or he wouldn't be avioding it). He just doesn't want to go in the proper place. I'd start with the older siblings (and yourself) and convince them that his peeing on the floor is not funny. If loosing the audience doesn't help, I'd put him back in diapers to contain the mess until he agrees to use the potty properly. I'd also get him used to the sensation of sitting on the potty by having him sit, if only for a moment, on the potty at diaper changes. I hope it gets better for you. I hated potty training my oldest. I'm doing it totally differently with my younger one and it's going a bit better.

I have these plastic storage drawers. Each drawer is just big enough for a stack of paper to fit nicely. Each unit has three drawers. Some drawers contain paper, others contain books and other supplies. The drawers fit nicely on a shelf in a bookcase where both kids can reach the paper. The drawers don't lock, but I imagine that locking ones would work even beter. I had to police the paper with an iron fist when I first set up the drawers, but after a few weeks, the toddler understood which paper she was and wasn't allowed to access. Now if I could just get her to take only one sheet at a time .... Paper that isn't for kids to use (unprinted copy paper, card stock, etc.) I keep upstairs in a kid-free zone.

I'm going out on a limb here. My oldest only just started reading. However, I don't think that I could list 5 specific books that I want her to read by 8th grade, except the Bible. Sure, I *want* her to read lots and lots of books, including many of those already listed. However, I can't think of any specific book (with the exception of the Bible) so essential to her education that it would gain such elite status. I think that reading a wide variety of good books is more important than reading any specific book.

Glad it's working for you! My DD recently finished the book and it was a great experience for us. Don't wait too long before ordering the book. Those early pages go fast. I started DD with a copy from the library, and then I had to return it before my copy from amazon.com showed up, so we had to take a two week break until it arrived. (Oh and I'm not the person who recommended it, just another person who really liked the book.)

I have actually had my four year old daughter "correct" me when I used an irregular verb. DD: You buyed this from the store. me: Yes, I bought it. DD: No, you buyed it, not bought it. me: uh, how do I explain this? Those kiddos are definately internalizing the "rules" even if they don't know they're doing it. Perhaps it would help to tell your son that there are rules for regular verbs, and then there are irregular verbs because English is weird. You could praise him for having figured out the rules for regular verbs, then tell him that you will help him with the tricky irregular ones, as they come up.

I make the occassional loaf, but I'm not a big bread maker. I had a bread maker once but it didn't work well for me. Now I kneed my dough in the stand mixer. For me, the trick is getting the right amount of water in the dough. I trickle the last bit of water in slowly to make sure that my dough is soft but not sticky. I've found that there is a lot of leeway in how long I let the dough rise and how much yeast I used, but at least for me, getting the right amount of water is very important.

If you liked "A Wrinkle In Time" and "A Wind In The Door" but not the fantasy part, how about Madeline L'Engle's other books, like "Meet the Austins" and "The Small Rain". Its the same author but set in the real word instead of sci-fi.

I used to pre-make my pizza crusts back before I got a stand mixer. I'd partially bake the dough and then put it in the freezer. I think the term was parbake? It worked well, except that they were bulky in the freezer. When it was time to make the pizza, I just took it out, added the toppings, and then baked as usual. I haven't frozen an uncooked pizza with toppings. I read once that you should put the cheese on between the sauce and the toppings to prevent the toppings from getting soggy. I don't see why, since the whole thing will be frozen, but maybe it makes a difference? Nowdays I don't make any pizza in advance anymore. As far as freezing cooked pizza - we never have enough pizza left over to freeze. Usually we have only one or two pieces that go into DD4's lunch the next day. Oh, and here's another pizza tip I got from another mom that I love. For a small thin-crust pizza, just used a tortilla. Cover with sauce, cheese, and other toppings and bake as usual. It's yummy and quick.