Don't know what Red is like but I like "First" by Van Cleef and Arpel

Will be praying for you all.

My dd has done the Explore test twice and has not used a calculator either time. I don't think any of the kids in the group used a calculator. I think the rules may say you can use one, but is by no means essential.

Don't have any real math manipulatives here. We just use coins. I have a jar of pennies, nickles, dimes etc and they work great for just about anything. For borrowing etc I'll take a dime and give dd 10 pennies instead.

This was my dd"s from last year, she was 11. The Neuschwanstein Castle has several slender towers that soar above its roof. It rests upon the summit of a hill which is covered by a pine forest. The hill is surrounded by forests, lakes and fields. The many windows allow occupants to see for miles around. It's been a while but I think she was able to get the space and distance words ok but I do remember she struggled with trying to express how spectacular it was. She got a few good words etc for that but, looking at it again, I would say she did not do that part so well. HTH Trenna

Thanks, I'll have a look at those. I should probably go with level 6 then.

Thanks. Any ideas about which level would be appropriate to start with? I looked at the S&S and thought that there wasn't too much difference between level 6 and 7 but wasn't sure. Thanks, Trenna

Can someone tell me a bit more about Daily Grammar Practice? DD12 did MCT Grammar Town last year and really learned alot. Before that we did a couple of years of Abeka. I really liked the fact that MCT gave the whole picture really quickly and so did dd. This year we are trying KISS and I LOVE it and HATE it all at once. There is just so much of the whole picture to wade through right from the get go. My main ?s are - How much does a level of DGP cost, I've looked at samples but can't find any cost info. Also - Which level should we start with. Dd does have a pretty good understanding of grammar, is studying Latin, likes (really likes) diagramming and picks things up pretty easily. But she was in PS until 4th grade and so has only done consistent grammar study for a couple of years. Thanks for any information you can give me. Trenna

I used to have at least 10 really good friends but then I moved to a different country. I tried really hard, for the first 2 or 3 years but didn't really find any new friends and now I've sort of given up. I have quite a number of people I know superficially, but not really a good friend I could call up ( unless I call my old friends overseas - not always good with the time change). I always thought I was good at making friends - guess I'm not as good as I thought. I've kind of gotten in the habit of keeping things to myself now - probably a good thing. Hope you can find some good friends soon OP.

Glad to hear you had a good visit. I've been praying for you and your son and will continue to do so.

I just wanted to suggest having him have cool baths rather than too warm and having him pat dry rather than rubbing at all - those things help reduce irritation to already irritated skin. Hope he feels better soon.

I said at age 4 because, when mine were babies, the information I had was that risk was still possible until age 4, although it did decline as the baby grew. We can all only act on the best information we have at the time. I certainly do not want to seem to condemn someone (I don't want to condemn anyone at all) for not acting on advice that was not available at the time their children were babies. But I thought we were talking about advice available now, and what evidence there is or is not to support it.

I guess I think somethings are so huge that only well informed advice should be given. I don't think I said that people are taking SIDS lightly, I apologize if I did. Maybe the advice was well informed - if so I guess my point was that posters were not posting evidence of that - up to them but seems to be a topic that would benefit from hard evidence, that can be reviewed by us readers. JMO

Just wanted to add that I realise, fortunately, it is very rare. I would just so much hate to be the one it happened to. I realise you can't guarantee that anything you do will prevent it but I would just like to know that I had done everything I could, with the information available at the time.

And maybe the OP finds that helpful. For me, personally, it is a very serious decision and someone's personal experience of their family and friends is not all that reassuring. But I have already said that it is an issue that raises very strong emotions for me, as you may have been able to tell, and I certainly can't answer for the OP. In response to the reply that some did provide evidence - I agree, they did - it just seemed like a lot of people were saying only - "my baby slept on tummy and is fine" - to me not so helpful (I guess I missed the part where they mentioned the research they had done). But just my opinion.:)

No I was not suggesting that. I was merely pointing out, probably rather badly, that many people on this forum seem very safety concious so it was very surprising to see this thread where people were supporting an action, against recommended advice, without giving any evidence, other than anecdotal, to support their position. I could say the same thing about car seats - both my kids were only rear-facing until 1 year - they survived, does that make me right to recommend forward facing?

QUOTE=SKL;4319493]There are risks to back sleeping as well. For example, a child who sleeps on his/her back will be more likely to die of crib death once she flips, because back sleeping leads to weaker lungs. Please do the research before you condemn so many well-meaning moms. First of all I am not saying they are not well meaning. My point was that people are saying it's ok to do this because "my baby did and they survived". I can not imagine advising someone to go against a recommended action - especially one with so much at stake - without having some credible evidence to support them, not just their own personal anecdotal finding. I said in my post above that I have not researched this other than knowing what the recommendations are - but I'm also not giving advise against those recommendations. Others are.

I find it absolutely shocking that so many of you can recommend a position that is stated to be higher risk by anecdotally (?sp) claiming it's OK because my baby did it and survived!! Now, I have not reviewed the evidence closely myself, and maybe it isn't conclusive. But so many of you, who are implying it's ok to tummy sleep, don't sound like you have either. I find this hard to believe. By all means provide evidence that shows you're right and then make a recommendation, but don't just say it's OK because my child survived. I just read a thread recently about keeping your child rear facing in the car for a very long time. Many people thought this a good thing to do, yet without providing evidence, people in this thread are recommending something potentially very, very dangerous. It's almost like someone saying it's not dangerous to smoke because I know someone who did and lived to be 93! Now I have to say I was very worried about SIDS and breathed a sigh of relief when my kids reached 4. I am very sorry for those of you who have lost precious babies to SIDS. I have not had this happen to me or my family, but have worked in an ER and seen how absolutely devastating it is. My heart really goes out to those who experience this.

I thought that the whole sleeping on back thing was recommended because of the link with overheating and SIDS. My understanding was that there was quite a lot of evidence behind these recommendations. Personally I would not like to advise someone to go against evidence based recommendations for something so serious. As far as side sleeping goes - I think you can buy a special holder to put them in that looks like a little rolled towel at front and back. Don't know what it's called. I never laid my baby with reflux down completely flat at all - even when changing a diaper I propped up the changing mat and put one end of the crib up on some books.

That's a good idea to let them do it their way and then show them another. I'll have to try that.

Just thought of another question. If the child, at age 8, is getting the answer instinctively is it necessary to make them go through the steps anyway? I know that at some point they need to learn how to go through necessary steps as problems get more difficult, but it's hard to enforce when the problems are easy. Is it OK to let them solve it their own way until they get hard to do and then teach them the steps or is this going to cause difficulties in the future?

Thanks for the replies. Sorry for the delay in my response - I work 12 hour shifts and don't get back for a while sometimes but really appreciate the help with this. I'm going to try the whiteboard suggestion - may help not to have a book. She does prefer doing the exercises in the PB rather than the TB where she writes in a separate notebook. She only says "I'm dumb" about Math, but does get frustrated, quite easily, with other things too. She does not enjoy writing much, can do it fine, but does not enjoy it. She loves science and likes history. She does not seem too much of a perfectionist, oldest dd definitely is, but she does have a low threshold for frustration. It seems maybe I should give it another try using some other methods before moving on to something completely different.

I wondered about that, but then she says she's dumb so seems to feel it is too hard. She does get really annoyed when she thinks you are talking to her like a little kid - when you over explain things for her. I have wondered if she might be a candidate for Beast Academy but I think she needs to get through at least SM 2B before starting that. It's really making me feel like tearing my hair out and making this year much less enjoyable than previous years. Maybe it's partly just the 4 year blues on my part, this is our 4th year, is that a common occurrence do you think?

I'm not sure - she can't really explain it. Recently she has said that she is dumb - so it seems she feels like she can't do it, even though she actually does it quite quickly.

I tried to do a search for relevant threads but couldn't find any. If anyone could point me in the direction of some I would be very grateful.