And at this point I will trot out Harold McGee again: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/dining/bending-the-rules-on-bacteria-and-food-safety.html?_r=0

Miele. I would buy it again in a heartbeat (though I don't have to because it is still under its 7 year warranty).

I remember reading the newspaper "like a grownup" in first grade and being outraged that a man was going to jail for laughing. My dad had a good laugh himself explaining that that was not quite what manslaughter meant.

Good for her. We started prealgebra (AoPS) this year (4th) too, and DS really likes it. Here's to making the curriculum fit the child and not the other way around.

Contact the company and ask them.

Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone is a very good cookbook and you will find many recipes for the whole family, not just your vegetarian. Here we eat lots of soups at this time of year, lots of legumes, lots of vegetables, lots of salads. I avoid soy-based meat substitutes because I don't think they are particularly healthy but for a meatcentric household I can see how they would come in handy. :) She might like making seitan, which is easy and fun to make at home and is a good meat substitute. Warn her about the meatmares: I stopped eating meat at her age and I think I had meatmares (you're in a restaurant and are served a steak, you put your fork in and blood spurts up to the ceiling...) for several years. Most vegetarians that I know who were raised eating meat have had them.

Well, woolly mammoths were herbivores, so no danger of the babies being eaten by them. Now certain carnivorous *dinosaurs* on the other hand... :lol: :smilielol5:

"J'apprends à lire" is a great magazine that you might like to subscribe to. It comes with a cd so children can read along while listening to the main story. http://www.japprendsalire-magazine.com/ Toupie is also a very nice magazine for younger children (no cd though).

There are lots on YouTube and dailymotion. Usually when you find one there will be suggestions on the side that match the level. Try Peppa Pig, Sam le pompier, Tracteur Tom, Roary, Sam-sam. DS still enjoys Les freres Kratt and les Schtroumpfs. And the old series (not a cartoon) of Fifi Brindacier dubbed in French.

Could you get her sewing lessons for her birthday and then move on from there?

Yes, but I think this is different because the children do not already know how to read. I posted a link earlier that points out difficulties encountered by children when learning to first read in a language that is not their own. When I was younger I visited my brother who was living in a Russian speaking country and he taught me the alphabet. It was fun sounding out words (though not for my brother, who had to wait for me while I tried my new skill on every sign I encountered), but most of the time I had no idea what the words I sounded out meant, so after a while I stopped bothering. To my mind, it would likewise be an exercise in frustration for a child to learn to read in a language in which he or she was not already proficient or at least fully immersed. I didn't want to go out and read and read and read the way a child does when he first learns to decode his own language and I can't imagine a small child would either. For me, it doesn't seem like a good way to promote a love of reading. But of course, the OP's children are not mine and so if it works for her family, more power to her. :)

We have Rakks (hate the name!) shelving that we love. It can be reconfigured, so even though the initial price is a bit high (but can be much lower than their site indicates if you use your own boards), it is worth it for us because we know that it will never turn into excess furniture that does not fit whenever we move. Ours are tension pole mounted shelves. http://rakks.com/ Other companies make similar shelving. ISS, I think, is the name of another company.

I would be inclined to get a heavier duty model than the Hello Kitty you linked (probably the 15822, but who knows how much I am influenced by cuteness factor?), but it depends on what you want. Here is a link to some reviews: http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/topsearch.pl?search=hello+kitty&st=m&Submit=Search

The nine year old here has an old Singer 99 converted to a hand crank and he loves it. If I were to buy him a new machine I would probably look at Janome's "Hello Kitty" machines - they get very good reviews. Once you have it narrowed down you can have a look at sewing machine reviews on patter review.com. eta if there is an Ikea near you, they now sell a very inexpensive machine that actually gets decent reviews. Eta2 and your best bet might be a used/refurbished model at a trustworthy sewing machine repair store. You'll get a lot more bang for your buck.

I'm sorry, but this is absolutely not true. I have several friends who currently teach at Harvard, Brown, etc. who did not attend your handful of schools, at least not in undergrad (and some not for their PhDs). I think you mean well, and I am glad your choice worked out for your family, but IMO you are mistaken in many of your pronouncements.

For OP: a quick search found this. http://www.heinemann.com/shared/onlineresources/e00366/chapter5.pdf It discusses a bit the disadvantages and challenges of learning to read in a language that is not one's mother tongue based on ESL observations. HTH

Don't get me wrong, I think it is great that you want your children to be bilingual, I just question the wisdom of teaching them to read in a language in which they are not proficient. It seems a little like putting the cart before the horse. There must be research somewhere on teaching children to read in a language that they dont speak well - maybe in ESL literature? But in those situations the children would also be in immersion with English as the dominant language... Eta I don't know if this will be helpful to you at all but maybe! It doesn't address reading, but how to encourage bilingualism. :) http://naitreetgrandir.com/fr/etape/1_3_ans/langage/fiche.aspx?doc=ik-naitre-grandir-parole-langage-enfant-apprentissage-plusieurs-langue-bilinguisme

You might try the Larousse series (though I am not sure where they are available in the US). The books are quite good and geared toward native speakers, not language learners, so maybe more what you have in mind. If your children aren't native speakers you could just go with a lower level. http://www.larousse.com.mx/Producto/VerDetalle/828

I think if you got a basic French reader you would have the basic vocabulary necessary for the words found in well, the basic French reader. ;). If the goal is just teaching reading I don't see why it wouldn't work. We used L'imagerie de la lecture and liked it. But DS's first language is French; I don't know if it would be more challenging if it had not been. Do you read a lot in French? Oh, and FYI, once they learn to read in French you won't really need to teach them to read in English - the skill transfers. :) I do wonder if it might be frustrating for them, however, to learn to read in a language that is not strong. I mean, they might be able to decipher words, but what good does that do them when they pick up a book and don't recognize many of the words they have deciphered?

Riding the gluten-intolerant wave, I'd say.

Thanks. So childbirth can break the coccyx for the first time. That's exactly what I wanted to know. A friend of mine - a doctor- had never heard of this and suggested it was due to a previous fracture. I'll share this with him. Thanks again!

Has anyone else broken her coccyx during childbirth? My mother and I both did. I used to think that it was a hereditary defect, but my coccyx had previously been broken in a car accident so now I am wondering if it just fractured again at that break point. I am not sure if my mother broke hers before childbirth. So if your coccyx was broken during childbirth, was it the first break or had you previously broken it?

Rabbit with mustard sauce is a classic.

We have a Bellicon and it is worth every penny. A friend and I both ordered one so we got a discount and combined shipping. Still, it was pricey but we have never regretted the purchase. It gets used every day.

I have a couple Fagor pressure cookers, though not that model (I prefer to avoid things made in China) and I like them a lot. I have read that Fagors use a little more energy to stay at pressure than some of the more expensive brands, but overall I think they are a great thing to have in the kitchen. I use my pressure cooker pretty near daily. They are especially great to have for cooking beans, rice, and soups. Hippressurecooking.com is a good site to check out for recipes and reviews.