I don't find the term offensive. There are somewhat would call us school-at-home people. We use some boxed curriculum. In high school, we will almost exclusively use Kolbe's lesson plans. I stand at a black-board to "lecture" (really, demonstrate and teach concepts). I also sit on a couch next to my kids, read numerous books out loud to them that don't come from a box, and allow them to waste too much time. ;) I feel the term is yet another way one group can try to make themselves feel like they are doing things right but insinuating others are doing it wrong. When it is used derisively, I see it more of an issue with the one saying it - they are not confident in what they are doing so they must try to make another feel inferior.

I would love to hear/see how it works for you after you have it. I would love a premade, pretty planner!

They look wonderful but to me, they are way too geared towards classroom teachers and I feel I'd be paying for parts that do not apply to a four-student homeschool setting. Now, being able to change things up, add/subtract sections? That would be great. But the customizable options don't seem to be that involved. Too bad because I use a pencil/paper planner and would love something so pretty!

Marinate them over night in Italian dressing and then put them in the crock pot in the morning. We've done this and they come out with a nice flavor and are nice and tender too.

I've always lived in an "any snow" area according to the map. But for sake of perspective, drizzle here brings out "Storm Watch Central" on the local news and inevitably there are car accidents attributed to the damp roads. I don't think we'd know what to do if snow fell out of the sky based on how we act if simple drops of rain fall. :rolleyes:

My name is next to impossible to mispronounce, but in America it has become the nickname for a longer name. In Norway, it is a perfectly fine name all by itself. I get very tired of having to answer the, "Oh, is that short for longer name?" Though my neighbor calls me by the longer name and I let him. For some reason I don't mind it from him. I remember the class ring company arguing with my mom when I was high school because they refused to put a nickname on my class ring. Um, I'd think my mom would know better than they if it was a nickname or not. My Norwegian last name (maiden) is actually very easy to pronounce if you know syllabication rules. I think people would see if and get all confused. Once I would pronounce it, the light bulb would go on and it'd all make sense. My married last name is often mispronounced with a Spanish pronunciation. I correct people if it's someone who needs to know (I just tell cold callers that no one with that name lives here ;) ).

We want to go back and stay longer to see Bryce and Arches, preferably in the fall (my ILs went this past fall on our recommendation and said it was amazing).

I'm not a huge desert anything fan, but there is something unbelievably majestic about Zion. It doesn't feel desert like at all. There is really no other way to explain it. The next time we go, we plan on going in the fall (we were there this past summer, thankfully about three days before the insane heat wave hit).

Yosemite is probably my favorite place to be; Zion is my second. But given that, I agree that this year is not a good year. The drought conditions are horrible and are not supposed to get any better any time soon. If/when you decide to visit, I'd try to see if you can get there off-season. Dh teaches and we really can only go in the summer. I'll take Yosemite in the summer to no Yosemite at all but would rather not deal with all the people.

Lands End Starfish pants can go from totally casual (I wear them to physical therapy) to nice with a sweater/shirt and flats. http://www.landsend.com/products/womens-starfish-refined-stretch-pants/id_219545

We have a 2011 Honda Odyssey (the first year of their new design) and we absolutely love it. We have used the eight seats a few times, always with at least a car seat and a booster seat comprising two of them. Though I've never sat in the 3rd row, I have sat in the middle of the 2nd row (the "jump seat") and it was just fine. The only complaint with it is the seatbelt had a bit of an odd angle because it comes off the ceiling of the car rather than behind the shoulder. But it is doable, even for long stretches of driving. It is definitely wide, but also has a lower profile, and hugs the road well. (We have traveled cross country twice in it, driven the I-70 into Denver (oh that was scary!), and have been very impressed in how it has handled all the driving. I kind of wish dh wants one (we need to eventually replace his Civic); it's just a great car for us.

IEW works well for my boys (not natural writers - somewhat writing phobic). I do not use it as scripted though. I have the TWSS videos, which I watched, and then we use theme books to practice various styles and skills. I don't make them follow a check-list nor are they required to use all dress-ups as instructed; we practice the "dress-ups" separately, and then together, see where we might fit it in. We also use Killgallon's books and MCT books to give us more practice with writing strong sentences and paragraphs (and for my eldest, moving slowly towards essays). I love WWE and believe copywork, narrations, and dictation are incredibly important, but mine needed much more structure for actually putting pencil to paper. I tried WWS, twice, with my eldest and it was not going to get us anywhere. My oldest needed a lot of help tightening his writing; IEW forces him to really focus in on the most important points without squelching his creativity. My middle son loves learning the "dress-ups" as he loves playing with language and words. At the end of the day, it's a tool (a major one) that is working for them the way we are using it. Next year I'm going to take my eldest through LToW 1; in high school we will work through IEW's rhetoric book and MP's rhetoric course. IEW is helping them learn how to write, how to organize their thoughts/organize information, and how to put it together. It's been a fantastic program so far for mine, but I think part of that is because I don't let the curriculum dictate how we use it. Once I let go of the idea that I had to use it exactly as written, it's been good for us.

We were there this past summer. Dh and I really liked it. The boys (12, 9, and 7) at the time were mostly bored. I think the 9 year old liked it the most (he's my music lover). With them, it would have been better to go to the science center next door, but we only had the morning free and I really wanted to see the R&R museum. I'd love to go back but don't foresee us in Cleveland again, at least not for a long while.

Let me ask and I'll let you know. :)

I have to say I am actually glad I didn't know because the waiting would have been so hard. The upside to knowing there's a possibility prenataly is you can check for heart issues and such ahead of time (dd thankfully didn't have any heart issues; I just had a standard u/s and then she had a cardio appointment at about six weeks old). If you are open for diet/nutrition ideas, there are some things that might help prenataly, for instance choline and such that is good for brain development and health. Somehow my body knew because I ate more eggs and drank more coconut milk while pregnant with dd than I ever did with any of my boys. I will keep you in my prayers. Try not to let your thoughts run away from you.

Oh, and she was our fourth and a bit of a surprise herself. It took me two months to admit I was pregnant (God and I had many chats) and I think dh's jaw hit the ground when I told him. I actually think our dealing with just me being pregnant made the Ds diagnosis so easy to roll with; if we could muster the faith that having a fourth was a *good* thing, then we could face any other obstacles that came. (She was a post-natal diagnosis, not that it would have matter one bit.)

I did very little prenatal testing with any of my four, and am not familiar with the NT screening, but I have an amazing three year old girl with Down syndrome sleeping next to me right now and if you ever want to chat, please feel free to message me.

Also not phonics related but I had a King David in my classroom for a few days (a few days too many; he was apparently treated much like a king in his house and didn't understand it wouldn't be that way in my classroom). I called him simply David. I couldn't bring myself to calling a seven year old King anything.

I ended up having knee surgery the day after Christmas, so we got delayed as a family (we were reading a chapter from Matthew at dinner each night but I couldn't sit at the table for a while). We need to restart now that we are eating together as a family again. I've also been hit and miss with my morning readings but at least for now am more consistent than our year-log Gospel readings as a family.

I still remember years ago on a different board someone talking about a relative (IIRC) wanted the name Charlotte but had a 'K' name streak going, so she spelling the /ch/ with a 'Kh'. Oy.

I read our daily Mass readings or the morning prayers, which are also full of Scripture, but as a family, we stared at Advent reading through the Gospels this year. The hope it to get through each Gospel three times. The first time through eh is reading out loud to us all. I think the next two times through we will each read individually, though the same section, and then discuss or read commentary on the section.

We have this hardback edition illustrated by Alan Lee. It is beautiful and seems pretty sturdy. http://www.amazon.com/The-Hobbit-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/0395873460/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388431490&sr=1-2&keywords=the+hobbit+illustrated+alan+lee

i just watched it the other day and feel the same way.

We use magnesium (Natural Calm), Epsom salt baths with lavender oil, and homeopathic coffea cruda (it helps slow the body down; works well with restless leg too).

Here's the link: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/forum/184-crossing-the-tiber/