I'm interested in this idea too and hope you get some replies/reviews. The closest thing I have tried (for my 4 year old) is Highlights Puzzle Club. It is magazine with different kinds of puzzles;it's a lot of fun but doesn't take too long to go through. It is perfect for waiting rooms :).

First, Congratulations :). Second, I agree with a previous poster, see if you can get an earlier appointment. We had several miscarriages and the truth is I just needed my hand held more after that. When I was last pregmant (with my now 4 year old) I went to the doctor's as soon as I knew I was pregnant. I had an ultrasound at like 5 weeks and it was good to know things were progressing as they should be. If I were you, I'd call the doctor's office and tell them what you posted here. (When I was pregnant, I surely would have been crying when I did it, but I think they are probably used to that). I wish you the best. Pregnancy after a loss is just really emotional and sometimes scary.

My younger son had reflux and there was lots of vomiting-some of it seemed pretty projectile to me...He was on medication (ranitidine?) from age 2 weeks to age 9 months. Your friend should definitely take the baby in to the doctors as soon as possible. In the meantime, hold him upright after feeding. It might help if the problem is reflux. For us, this meant having his head on our shoulder as we sat in the rocking chair. Hope the baby does not need surgery.

I don't have too much help to offer, but we did have the experience with my older son of testing positive for a soy allergy on both skin and blood tests, but he never seemed to have a true allergy to soy. Our allergist told us a peanut allergy could result in a false positive test to soy (since they are both legumes). Maybe see if you can do a soy challenge in the office? Many, many things do have soy bean oil-it's hard to avoid. We took the approach of avoiding things like tofu, soy flour, and soy milk but allowed foods with soy lecithin, soybean oil, and things that were may contain for soy. Ten years later, he does not test positive for soy (no idea why).

I am on a "young adult" kick. I read Where Things Come Back and Jasper Jones. The first one was the Printz Award winner and I really liked it. The second one was a Printz Honor book and it was too dark and sad for me (there was incest and suicide), but it was well written. It was by an Australian writer and had a lot of cricket coverage in it. I had no idea what he was talking about for those parts. I hope to move on to lighter fare for the next week.

I haven't used it yet, (we are doing geography this year) but Oak Meadow uses a Glencoe World History text book. There is a syllabus. They don't offer traditional tests though.

My younger child is 4 and not very gracious about losing. We love the co-operative games from http://www.peaceablekingdom.com/. We especially like "Hoot, Owl, Hoot" and "Lost Puppies". Qwirkle is great fun. I'm not sure about Bananagrams but it might work best as a co-operative game for younger kids. (use the tiles and find words together-maybe with some hints until they get the hang of it).

I recommend trying abebooks.com for the TM. They usually have much better prices than Amazon for text books and teacher's editions. We also use the Dragonfly book. We use Kolbe's course plans and tests with it.

Count us in the "others" who do it to make sure things are allergy-free. Especially when it comes to baked goods, it is just much less stressful to take the time and make it at home rather than worry about cross-contamination issues. I do think that we usually end up with a higher quality end result :).

I would just ignore him :)

I am using Oak Meadow curriculum for only a few high school courses. We are using "World Geography" and "The Story of Art/Integrated Drawing". The geography course uses a Glencoe textbook. I like it and find it comprehensive. I like that each week, there are comprehension questions as well as some options for essays or hands on projects. The text for art is a great read. I am learning a lot right along with my son :).

This week I am reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. It is possible I'll finish it tomorrow. Someone mentioned The Book Thief. Have to say I loved it. The "young adult" section is hit or miss for me, but that one was great.

I have 2 boys, 14 and 4. They really don't have any sibling rivalry because they are in such totally different places. The older one is usually very giving and patient. Of course, they can still annoy each other at times :). Right now, they are very close. Be interesting to see what their relationship is like over time.

I finally finished week 3's book, Ahab's Wife. I enjoyed the story and the writing, but I can't say it made me want to read Moby Dick. Still undecided about whether I'll join y'all for that challenge or not. I did like the author enough that I'd like to read something else she wrote. Any recommendations? :) For wwek 4, I am reading the much shorter Slam by Nick Hornby. It is a young adult book.

We used this as part of Noeo Science one year. It was a little dry, but overall kind of neat. I recommend trying it since you can get it from the library. (Not sure I would recommend buying it though-I can't see re-reading it)

My 9th grade son is doing SWI-C this year. It is a good fit for him, but he is definitely not a natural writer. If my child were already a strong writer, I don't think I would have them do the SWI in high school. It really does cover basics well, but I do feel that it is covering topics that my son really should have already mastered.(but sadly did not).

In week 2, I read Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami. It did take most of the week to read. The plot was weird, but interesting. I liked it enough that I'll try some of the author's other works. I am going to give Ahab's Wife a try. Just started it yesterday.

We got my son a cell phone when he was 11. It just seemed like right around then, we started dropping him off at more activities. He has food allergies and it took me until he was 10/11 to feel safe leaving him at activities without a parent staying. It made me feel much better knowing he could call me if something came up-even if it was just that he was getting out a few minutes early. He did not (and still does not) have a data plan but he is on our Verizon plan and does have a lot of minutes.

Week 1 I read Shatter Me, a young adult sci-fi book, and The Girl Who Played With Fire. I'm not sure why it took me so long to get to the Steig Larson books, but I am enjoying them. I have started Kafka on the Shore for week 2. So far, so good.

That's a hard question. It might depend on where you live. I live in a suburb and it would be really unusual to see a child that young in a store alone. I can definitely see someone calling the police. I did not let my child go to a store or even be in a different section of a big store like Target alone until he was around 10. I am a worrier by nature though.

I have been excused twice in NC. You have to send in a form 10 days (I think) before the date you are summoned for. I didn't use homeschooling as my reason;I stated that I had a young child and no family in the area for childcare. I do have an older child who will babysit, but I can't imagine leaving my kids alone for a whole day (much less multiple days or weeks if you get picked for something complex). You get a notice back in the mail if your request is approved.

We recycle them (sometime in January). I save photo cards from family but put the rest in recycling. I do really love seeing everyone's photo cards but I don't feel the need to keep them all :).

Our kids open their gifts from each other on Christmas Eve. We usually receive packages in the mail from family in Washington and Massachusetts and we save those for Christmas Eve too.

There are so many good games :). Lately, we have been playing 7 Wonders. It is an interesting and fairly short card-driven game. I like to look at Board Game Geek for review and ideas. It is a good site.

We like Qwirkle-good for both kids and grown-ups. It has elements of Scrabble and Set. It is a fun game and doesn't take long to play.