More suggestions: We watch a lot of Nature on PBS. Netflix has a few. My older loved the Walking with Dinosaurs series. --Walking with Dinosaurs --Chased by Dinosaurs --Allosaurus --Walking with Beasts --Walking with Monsters

A Picture Book of .....series. (biography story books, can be read in one sitting)

1) Bill Nye -- Our PBS channel used to show them, but at odd times. We had to TIVO them. Our library also has a ton of them. 2) Nova Science Now-- Shorter stories, more modern topics. Hunting the Elements (about the Periodic Table) is a favorite. 3) Nova-- Yeah, yeah, yeah. Your kid loses interest after 5 minutes. Mine, too, depending on the subject. I tell dd that this is her time to do her latch hook or her crocheting. Is there something your son can do while halfway watching the show? Legos? Drawing? Threading pony beads? Perler beads? 4)DK Eyewitness Video: I find these shallow in their information compared to Nova or Nature, but they are better than nothing. And, I don't think there is any killing. Netflix has Eyewitness for Amphibians, Human Machine, and Arctic and Antarctic. Our library also carries a lot of these, so check your local library, too.

Rosie explained it very well! I consider this as storytelling we do together, guided by the limits of our abilities (see below) and a little luck (the dice). The Game Master (aka GM) starts by introducing an adventure. In this game, I read a script for most of it. The adventure we started today (a Hero Kids module) began after the kids' characters were returning from the local swimming hole. They encountered a runaway wagon being driven by a young girl. First task: Stop the wagon. The kids jump into the wagon. This takes "Agility." Each character has a different agility level. In our current game, if you are a higher level, you roll more dice. Here are the number of dice my kids rolled. H: 1 G: 4 E: 1 C: 3 To land in the wagon without getting hurt, you had to roll a 6 (on a 6-sided die). Otherwise, your character was considered injured (bruised). Two of my kids made it, and two got hurt. The hurt ones "X"ed off one of their three health boxes. (We play with M&Ms, so they got to eat one of their three M&Ms). The next test was Strength to stop the wagon. For the size of our group, the kids had to roll a 6 to avoid injury. H: 3 G: 1 E: 1 C: 1 Two succeeded at this task, and two were injured by stones and pebbles that were kicked up by the horses. Now that the wagon was stopped, the kids learned that the girl was taking her brother to the healer in town. He was injured by wolves attacking last night. She asks the characters to go to her home to help her parents fight off the wolves if the wolves return tonight. After resting a bit, the injured kids healed enough to receive one replacement M&M. E had double injuries, so she drank a "Healing Potion" (She ate a chocolate covered raisin) and received full healing. And so the adventure begins.... ----------------------------------- When fighting the wolves, Everyone has an "Attack" level. Everyone has a "Defense" level. H: 2 G: 3 E: 2 C: 2 The wolves they were attacking had a Defense level of 2. When G attacked, he rolled 3 6-sided dice. I (the GM) rolled only 2 dice because my wolves each had a defense level of 2. H: 6 was highest of the two dice H rolled. Wolves: 5 was highest of the two dice I rolled. H won, and the wolf was injured. ----------------------------------------- There is also conversation during this game. (Our group is not very good at this. I'm glad we practice it!). The kids had to talk to the girl in the wagon. They had to talk to her parents. They had to knock on the door and talk to the Wise-Woman, who advised them about werewolves. -------------------------------------------- Strategy, too. My gamers came up with a plan to first destroy the egg sacks in the spider nest. They decided the person with the best abilities with a bow-and-arrow should do this, rather than risking a miss that would alert the spiders before necessary.

I'd use it for my family, but not depend on it for a camp. Loverboy made agar with his niece using knox box for her science fair. A year later, they banned "live animals" from the science fair....probably because they were worried someone would show up with a major biological hazard. Disclaimer: I don't know if any of this will work: Loverboy says to use chicken broth in Knox blox. Here is one website that talks about it. ETA: Loverboy also says the tough part is keeping the plates the right temperature (warm enough).

Many, many, many apologies for this unrelated post that does not answer your question about wizard books. I have started table-top gaming (think Dungeons and Dragons) with my kids. They are age 4 & 8. Some of our nerd friends (age 6 & 8) join us. The older 3 kids are heavily invested; they are good for ~2 hours of play. The lag between playing over Christmas Break and waiting until Spring Break about did in one of my players. My 4yo is good for about an hour of rolling dice and attacking monsters, and then we send her home from the gaming store with dad. The gaming store provides play space on large tables for us. We play on Friday afternoons, which is not a very busy time for them. And I don't have to clean my house. :) During play, the kids hurl magic spells, wield swords, climb walls, solve problems, and rescue friends. Tomorrow, there will be werewolves. *evil grin* It is also my first foray into DungeonMastering, but the kids have been very forgiving so far. The materials come with everything but dice, although I did make a gold crown to put on a plastic rat for "the Rat King" last week. Currently, we are playing Hero Kids. I bought the download bundle of 8 adventures for $15. We have also played Mertwig's Maze. I adjusted the story for two sons and two daughters of the king that were lost a couple of decades ago so my nascent group of gamers would work together and everyone could win together. There are other sources of RPGs for kids. Just do a search for "roleplaying games for young kids."

Dragon Slayers Academy may not be exactly what you are looking for. (DSA is training knights, whereas Hogwarts is training wizards). The writing and characters are hilarious. There is a mixed up wizard, a pig that speaks Latin (Pig Latin), a miserly school headmaster, eels for breakfast/lunch/and dinner, and the best knight in the school is a girl. All these wacky characters surround our hero as he bests dragons and tries to complete his education at DSA. Each book is ~100 pages. Beast Quest: Mythical Beasts within the realm have been enchanted/enslaved by a wizard. The hero must free them one by one, book by book. Each book is ~ 90 pages. The Girl, the Dragon, and the Wild Magic is OOP and a higher reading level than the first two series I have posted. Dd8 has enjoyed the series so far. (We popcorn read it). There are 3 total in the series. ETA: The Narnia series.

And the answer is: "Sometimes questions are just poorly worded. And sometimes even adults don't know what is wanted in a question. And sometimes even the adults (your mom) need to look in the back of the book." With thousands of questions in the question bank, a few are going to be bone-headed. It's the law of averages. Dd8 is also in 2nd grade, and we have had to cover this "topic" a handful of times already. I am hoping that --This teaches her to be resilient with poorly asked questions, so she can say, "THAT was stupid!" and move on. --I can teach her to not use this as an excuse when the questions ARE well written, but she misses the point of the exercise. This one I would fight the teacher on. Both of them ARE closed shapes. Is this a math test, or is it a test on telepathy?

--I plan to keep, for now, things that are irreplaceable. (Curriculum that are oop or that I cannot find anywhere else). I do not know if I will need them to teach other peoples' kids or my own grandkids one day. --I donate for free to friends who may use them WITH THE CAVEAT that "when you are done with it, if it has any value left, you donate it FOR FREE to someone else who may need it." Pay it forward! --I donate to our local Homeschool program (supported financially through the state). They have a bin for donations. If it is not needed for the Homeschool library, it is put on a table outside the room for anyone to take, free of charge. I have benefited greatly as both a donor and as a "taker" with this system, not to mention the resources available at the library.

I have been teaching dd8 piano lessons for `4 years. I have just started teaching her 4yo sister. We topped out at 30 minutes a little over a year ago. I would never do more than that for a child preteen. (The exception would be if you believe your child will be the next Beethoven). Our goals are similar to yours: I'm not planning on my children playing at Carnegie Hall, majoring in music, or becoming the next Beethoven. And if it comes down to time/resources for music vs. time/resources for math/science....STEM is going to win in our household. Keeping lesson/practice time to 30 minutes in our household eliminates us having to make a choice. I would like to know: --What does the teacher want to do in the extra time that she is unable to do now? --Why is he/she unable to manage this in a 30 minute lesson? --Does the teacher feel strongly enough about this to give you a 45minute lesson for the price of a 30minute lesson? Normally, I feel that music teachers need to be compensated for their time, but this seems like poor time management on her part. If your son is not being challenged at his current level, here is what I would do (if I was teaching him): 1) Add extra music pieces. Religious music, Christmas music, Pop music, Classics. Our local music store has a ton of leveled books. It's not hard to find something that will take him all week to master. 2) Tell your son to work ahead independently. Even if it was not assigned, if he can figure out the song on his own and play it for me with 3 or fewer errors at the next lesson, I will pass him out of it. If there are technical lessons for the piece, I will teach them quickly, and add the song as an afterthought (along with something totally new in that book) for one more week. (I have never yet met a music teacher willing to work with students on this; you may need to stand up to the teacher on this one). I have fought with teachers on this last issue. Currently, dd regularly comes across songs/exercises that she can play perfectly (notes, rhythm, tempo) the first time through. She is near the end of her current level of books, so this happens more often. Our former piano teacher wouldn't pass dd out in this sort of situation. She would make dd practice the perfectly executed song all week long with no new songs. This is why I teach her at home now.

One wakes me in the night whenever he is hungry by laying on my head and purring as loudly as he can. Then I get up and feed him to get some peace. I think I am just training him to wake me up. (Or he is training me). Another comes and sits next to me whenever I sit down to knit. He isn't a friendly cat otherwise, but when the knitting bag comes out, he promptly comes over and hops up on the arm of the couch. He may even lay halfway on my lap. Maybe he knows that I won't pet him because both of my hands are busy. He is my Knitty-Kitty. The third wanders around the house crying midmorning. I think he is lonely and can't find someone to play with. He likes to be cozy under my blankets at night. He likes to be warm.

More ideas: 10) Apple or Berry picking, or a visit to a farm "open house" like this one. I know the farm we get our buffalo meat from has an open house with a bouncy house and hay rides in September, too. 11) College tour.if you have a number of middle schoolers or high schoolers. Even if these kids are not going to go to local college X, they can gain experience about what is available out there and what questions to ask. Plus, we want these kids to be comfortable on a college campus. Warning: I have been on MANY college tours over the years. Most are blah. Two have been very good: (Listen up to anyone who runs a college tours program!) a) College Weekend at St. Paul Bible College (now known as Crown College) gave every student a card with 10 squares on it. Each square was labelled with a department (education, religion, business, etc) or college activity (like sports, band). For a two hour block in the morning, all the high schoolers were self-directed to visit as many departments as possible. They listened to a 5-minute spiel from the department, asked questions, and got an ink stamp on their card. When 8 of your squares are filled, take the card to the gift shop, and get 10% off any piece of clothing that has the college's advertizing on it. Who knows if they still do this, but I think that it was brilliant. Students could focus on the departments that interested them....but also learned about things they may not have been aware of about the college. They met and talked with faculty and students in their potential major. The students went home with apparel to "advertise" the college at their local high school. b) Iowa State University Tours For starters, these tour guides don't waste your time. They ask what your intended major is, and they take you through the buildings that would interest you. For example, if you are majoring in Biochemistry, they lead you through Molecular Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Math, and Engineering buildings. Why would they take you through the Art building or the Business building? They walk backwards, so we can hear them. They are full of ISU trivia and traditions: --Kiss your true love under the Campanile at the midnight chimes. --The building with the green (copper dome) is green because that is where all our money goes! (It's where one pays one's U-bill.) --The library has over 2 Million volumes in it. --The location of the building with the hinges on the roof (now torn down). A lot of the work for the Manhattan Project was done at ISU. It was believed that "if something went wrong, it would just blow the roof off the building." Little did we know at the time, if something had gone wrong, half of Ames would have been flattened! --Friley Hall is one of the largest dorm residences in the nation.

1) Seasonal Hike at a local state park. Encourage individuals to bring binoculars if they are into birdwatching, or field guides if they want to identify birds, wildflowers, trees. IF you want something more "educational" or "organized," you could have some sort of scavenger hunt. Here are some ideas. You could do trees, seasonal, animals, etc. Warning: if you have many families with young (stroller) children, this may not be a good choice. Or you may choose to go to a local "play park" with paved trails. I would love an excuse to go hiking once a season at our local state park. **If you don't have a state park nearby, see what is available for county parks. We have many hidden jewels like this in our state. 2) A day/evening to all go to the local pool. 3) Roller Skating Not my favorite, but you could poll your group. 4) Disc Golf. I purchase my discs locally for ~$5. Walmart, etc, carries them, but I prefer to buy mine from Parks &Rec. Picnic or go for ice cream at the end. You can find disc golf courses here. ***May not be stroller friendly.*** Be prepared: some discs will get lost. It just happens. The foliage eats them! 5) A trip to a local art museum. At the beginning of the trip, send everyone into the gift shop to buy a postcard of a piece of art that is currently on display at the museum. Cost: usually less than $1. (Telephone the museum ahead of time to see if they can help you with this). Now play "scavenger hunt" in the museum. See who can find their piece first. Help one other find their pieces (if they want help). Everyone has a postcard of artwork they like as a souvenir to take home to post on their bulletin board or to use as a bookmark. 6) Is there a movie everyone wants to see? Go to a matinee. Our local theater has kids shows at 10am once a week in the summer for a reduced price. Our library has kids movies screened during school vacations and summer). 7) Library tour. Who wants to see where the books disappear when they go in the book drop? Our library has a homeschool "liaison." Make sure everyone in the group gets to meet him or her. Maybe the librarian can organize a Dewey Decimal System activity (or let you). (For example, I would discuss the different categories of the Dewey Decimal System and have my kids pick one book from each category to check out. Not all parents want to check out that many books 8) Board Game Day/Night. Everyone brings board games to play. Would the library, a local church, or a local gaming store have a room for you to play? 9) Annual "Speech" event. Anyone who has something to present may do so. Do we know any homeschoolers who memorize bible verses or poetry? Lincoln's Gettysburg Address or the Preamble to the Constitution? Two students doing a scene from Shakespeare? Play a piece on the clarinet? Reserve a room at the library or at a local church or in someones home, and have your kids take turns reciting stuff. Make it very informal and low stress on you. Have parents email you beforehand if their kids are going to present so you know how many to plan for (and how much time it will be). Don't waste time printing programs. Encourage the youngest (PreK or Kindergarteners) to go first, then get up and ask for 2nd graders, then 3rd graders. If more than one person recites the same poem, so what? We are proud of ALL our kids!!! If you want to get really fancy, you can ask two parents to bring bars, one to bring juice/water, one to bring cups, one to bring napkins, and one to bring wipes (for sticky little fingers!) Just my opinion: As a homeschooling parent, I would prefer a speech event like this more than once a year to give my daughters extra practice in front of an audience.

Disclaimer: I am an secular atheist that doesn't believe in supernatural powers, good or evil. And I DO love HP! Frechesmaedl: If this is so worrysome to you, then this math curriculum may not be for you. I encourage you to borrow a copy, if possible, before making a final judgment, but you I wonder if there would still be nagging worry in the back of your mind if you spend money Beast Academy. There are plenty of other Math Curriculum out there. I am confident that you will be able to find something that is a good fit for you and your world view.

I don't know if my story counts or not. My background: I have babysat and/or nannied for a LOT of kids since my teens. One of my last jobs before pregnancy was to babysit 2X/week for a local woman. She knew I was "academically inclined" when working with her kids (teaching alphabet, counting, lots of reading, educational games). After the first year, she invited me to help her homeschool her kids (on the days that she worked outside the home). Her kids were 5yo (entering kindergarten) and 2yo. I stayed through the end of 4th and 2nd grade respectively for the two girls. At that time, I became pregnant with my oldest dd. ***I am grateful for this opportunity to experience the "big picture" of homeschooling and be exposed to many, many different types of curriculum.*** During this pregnancy, and in the months afterwards, I babysat for the downstairs neighbor girl. M. She was 6yo and in First Grade. Her mom worked a lot of crazy hours (as low-income, low education, single parents often do), so sometimes I would have M at 5am (before school) or as late as 9pm. We spent a lot of this time reading reading reading, doing math facts and exploring math ideas, swimming at the pool, and learning about nature. She was BRILLIANT; she was blessed with the deep intelligence that I only needed to teach her something for her to demonstrate competence. She easily mastered concepts that were far beyond of what was considered "First Grade Material." M's mental acumen has only been beat out by the 7yo I babysat once as a nanny...the one who went to the "gifted school" and could beat me at chess. M attended the local public school, and we both LOVED her First Grade Teacher. I had planned to homeschool my own baby daughter (because of my own socially traumatic public school experiences), but we live in a community with an exceptional academic record. Mrs. Spalding was so wonderful; and my children will have their own paths and experiences through public school (and I will advocate for them if needed). Then, M came home one day and shared that she had been spat on while riding the school bus. Her mom had to work crazy hours the next day, but we both agreed that this needed to be handled sooner rather than later. The mom gave me permission to go talk to the school about it. I dropped M. at her class the next morning, and I went to the principal's office. The principal was out, but the secretary was in. **Disclaimer: I never laid specific blame on the other little boy. I was not there. My position was, "Something is happening between these two children, and we need to address it." First, the secretary was irritated that I was advocating for a child that was not my own. How dare I do that!?! She seemed to miss the point that a child had been spat on. She refused to help. The incident happened on the bus, not at school. Ipso facto: not the school's problem, not her problem. I walked out of her office and very gingerly removed a poster from the wall (a child's creation) with the caption, "Bullying is not cool." I laid it on her desk. She realized that I was not going to leave. She maintained that it was not the school's problem, but she did give me the number for the bus company, and she let me use the phone in the nurse's office to call them. Same issue from the bus company: How dare you advocate for a child that is not your own!!! The bus company assured me that they would handle the situation, but they gave no assurances of if, how, or when they would do so. They said that, if they felt like it, they would send me a letter recording what actions were taken. (I am still waiting for that letter; it's been 8 years. Nothing in the mail today from them.) A day later, M was harassed for being "fat" on the bus. :( So, I have not sent my children to public school. That doesn't mean I won't send them when they are older; I just don't want to send them when they are so young and vulnerable. Within a year, M and her mom moved to her mom's hometown to be closer to the support of extended family. I had heard that M's Second Grade teacher was mean to her, and I was happy that I had worked so hard with M in the time I had her. 1) If she had a bad year because of the teacher for Second Grade, she would not be behind academically. 2) Because she knew so much of the higher-level material, I hoped that her natural brilliance would shine through and impress others in the school of her special talents. I hoped that would find teachers or adults to shield her from the cruelties of her peers, and to give her a path out of poverty in the decades to come.

No Knuckle Push-Ups. We have mats on the floor. The instructor has, on one occasion, challenged the kids to "Alligator Pushups": like a regular push up, but the hand and leg on one side are moved closer together for the down-up motion, then returned to normal position; then the hand an leg on the other side are are moved closer together.

Mini Cadbury Eggs should also be called, "Happy Pills."

We have been successful with spelling in two ways: 1) I have been extremely happy with Sequential Spelling. Dd8 (just turned 8yo, 2nd grade) has had many tears over spelling until we transitioned to this system. --Sequential Spelling presents words in "word families." Words this week: show low blow blower stove rove Jove grove Each day for the rest of the week, different versions of these words and word families will be used. showing lowly blowing slowly droves roving strove clover Disclaimer #1: Sequential Spelling has 25 words/day. However, there is no law that says you cannot divide the lists in half according the amount of writing your child can do. --In Sequential Spelling, you correct each word as you go along. DO NOT wait to the end of the test to correct the words. In this way, you can say, "You know how to spell 'show.' 'Low' is from the same word family. Can you write it?" From the Teacher's Manual: The most common mistake made in teaching Sequential Spelling is to give the entire test and then correct it. Students must self correct after each word, not at the end of the test.\ 2) Kids are not going to learn to spell unless they do un-spelling-oriented writing. <-----my opinion Dd writes 3 sentences in a spiral notebook every day using these Journal Prompts. Disclaimer #2 You can also get this book from Amazon. Disclaimer #3 There are many choices for Journal prompt books. When she writes, I go away from her. She sounds out the words as well as she can. Yes, this is "inventive spelling." *gak* It forces her to apply the phonics she has learned, right or wrong. Once the page is full, I mark the words that need to be fixed. On a separate day (with no writing and no emotional attachments), we look them up in either a children's word book like this one or this one. We also discuss punctuation, capitalization, and other grammar as it applies to the sentences. If it is in neither of those, I find the page in the big dictionary that it will be on, and she finds the word. Disclaimer #4: You don't need to purchase these specific dictionary books; You probably have easy/beginner dictionaries already on your bookshelf. If the word is in neither of those, I find the page in the big dictionary that it will be on, and she finds the word.

No one system will work for everybody. (That's why we homeschool! :) ) ****1) But to try this, what are you out? At worst, you are out a few spiral notebooks, and a couple of weeks of trying something crazy that doesn't work. How many of us have paid $$$ for a curriculum that wasn't what we thought is was, or wasn't a good fit? This seems like a low-risk project to try. 2) Be realistic about what it will and will not do for your household. It may work for one child, but not the other (which would still be a victory IMO). It may work for two years, but then not be a good fit after that (which would also still be a victory IMO). You and your children may or may not hear the Hallelujah Chorus as the schedule gets checked off, and the dishes still may not get done before 8pm. 3) Personally, I am very excited about this system. Thank you so much for posting it! We will be trying it soon, I hope. *Duckens wanders off, humming the Hallelujah Chorus.*

No advice, but congratulations on your new baby (puppy)!

Congratulations! May you have a safe and uneventful pregnancy! Your two olders (9th and 7th) should be pretty independent. 1) Give them the "heads up" that mom may not feel well, so they will need to work independently (if not already doing so). You don't have to give them any extra details until you are ready to share with them about the pregnancy. Can they be trusted with a secret if you don't feel like telling everyone else yet? 2) Write out curriculum plans for them, and teach them to be independent about "doing the next thing." Teach them to read the schedule so they know they should do lesson 49 today, lesson 50 tomorrow, and lesson 51 on Monday. Check that they are on schedule at least once a week. You don't want to get 12 weeks down the road and learn that only two lessons in algebra have been done! 3) Teach them to find alternative sources of information if their curriculum is not answering their questions. (Khan Academy is a great resource; library books, too!) 4) Encourage them to use good judgment at skipping some things if they are too difficult. "Sometimes half a loaf is better than no loaf at all." Make sure they tell you if they skip something/are stuck on something/didn't get to something. You don't want any surprises down the road. 5) Warn them that schooling may occur at different hours of the day than your traditional schedule. If you feel better in the evening, your "check in" time with them may be at that time. =============================================== Your two youngers should just do lots of reading and playing. If you prioritize something for the first grader, make it math. ============================================== Your 5th grader is the conundrum. Too young to be fully independent; too old to have too much of a slacker year. 1) Prioritize math and spelling. If you really cannot teach this lesson or the first grader's, pay the older children to do the lesson with them, but don't eat more than 1 hour of the older kids' time. Set a timer and fire them at the end of the hour! ***Do not put the older children in charge of the full education of the youngers. They have their own educations to prioritize, and if you are that sick, they will probably be pitching in extra with laundry, cooking, and general childcare already.*** 2) Make two lists: what your 5th grader can do independently and what they cannot. Write out a daily plan (similar to the older boys) for the things the 5th grader can do independently. Tell her to do these things whether you are able to work with her or not. Teach her to read the schedule and know what lessons are expected for this week. 3) Are there grammar workbooks she can do? Science documentaries on Netflix, PBS, or from the library? A strictly drawing curriculum that doesn't take more than a pencil and paper? It may not be the specific curriculum you wanted, but, again, sometimes half-a-loaf is better than no loaf at all.

First, :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: Second, your kids are old enough. Tell them if they want a change, they have to write a grant for it. They must put forth in full sentences (typed, double spaced) --a specific opportunity that will make them happy. There are local woodworking clubs/classes. There are online educational opportunities. Even if they want a different math curriculum, they must find the one that must make them happy. --Why would this activity benefit them more than their current educational opportunity/opportunities? Why would Mom and Dad support it? Does it result in better SAT scores? Is it more challenging? Less work for Mom with the same educational outcome? Offer support for the child's long-term goals? --Demonstrate and document proof that that they are capable of learning in such a situation. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. For example, if your son wants the electronics class, he must successfully work through >50% of his Snap Circuits projects. He will document what he has learned for each experiment. (Dd8 is doing this currently; it really only takes one sentence/lesson). In this way, he proves his commitment and ability to learn electronics. --Outline financial and time costs for this opportunity, and how this would be met. Will your dc pay half the cost? Will it be part of a birthday present? If there is a time commitment for mom to drive dc to and from the opportunity, which chores will dc accept to free up Mom to do the driving? Will dc work on math worksheets or reading Lit assignments to and from to make good use of the time? If they want change, they have to do the footwork themselves and make a persuasive argument of how and why this would benefit everyone involved. Likewise, make it clear that just because they write a grant, it doesn't mean that it is a good grant. Mom and Dad have to be convinced by their words, arguments, and actions. If they don't want to write a grant, then it's time to stop complaining. --From Duckens, the Mean Mom

Beware of your Astronomy studies!!! Constellations are like potato chips! You can't learn just one! They are addictive!!! Loverboy bought two sets of binoculars from Sam's club for under $50 (for the pair). I think it was a sale. We keep one set in each car, because then they are handy for if we see something cool like a Bald Eagle at the local hardware store; or to grab if we go hiking. For your first telescope, I would check out Craig's List. You can probably get more bang for your buck, and if it's a dud, you're not out much. You'll know what to look for next time. Our telescope was purchased secondhand from parents of a childhood friend of Loverboy's. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other astronomy stuff: 1) Shower cap. Yep. A disposable shower cap. If you have a larger telescope (like ours), put a shower cap at each end of the telescope during storage to keep the dust out. 2) 365 Starry Nights by Chet Raymo. This book has an entry for every night of the year. It teaches you how to find the constellations one-by-one. It teaches you mythology. It teaches star brightness. Advice: you don't have to start at January 1st, but I would begin at the beginning of any given month because some entries build on what was taught before. 3) Star Gazers This weekly show is a 5-minute lesson of what one can see in the night sky this week. Set your TIVO to record it on PBS. 4) Local Astronomy Clubs are a good resource BUT email them beforehand to see when actual stargazing will occur. Our local club has a business meeting (boring for kids), an informational presentation (over the heads for anyone below 6th grade), and then may or may not have stargazing if the weather cooperates. That's a lot for little kids to sit through for a "maybe we'll see some stars." Email the club and explain the ages of your kids. Explain that you are a beginner, and you just want to come for the group stargazing experience. Hopefully they will say, "Stargazing begins after 9pm if the skies are clear. Dress warmly!" 5) Constellation activity book 6) Astronomy cards from Usborne. I bought a second set for Grandpa to use with the Scout troop he mentors. Amazon link. 7) Night Sky: A Field Guide to the Constellations. I like this reference because it discusses --brightest stars in each constellation --where to find it along the horizon and how high in the sky 8) Green Laser pointer-- MUST HAVE!!!!!! This will help to point out constellations in the sky. If you find it, you can teach it to your younger children. Expect to pay at least $25.

This is a good point. Loverboy's two nieces and two nephews flew with their grandma to visit their dad in another state. Grandma found seats for herself and the two little girls, but she couldn't get seats together for the two older boys (ages 9 and 7). She stood in the aisle and refused to sit down. They closed the door, made the takeoff announcements, threatened grandma, and finally gave in to her. She just refused to sit down and kept repeating over and over again, "You need to seat those boys together. They haven't done a lot of flying." Go, Grandma!!!

How to get what you want from complaining: 1) Keep VERY good records. Documentation is your friend. Keep ONE notebook or sheet of paper of --who you are talking to --their title --date/time --any promises or information given like, "The check is in the mail," or " You need to talk to _______ in _________ about that." 2) Keep moving up the chain of command. DO NOT get stuck at one level, wasting 5 phone calls talking to the 5 customer service reps when you need to be talking to a customer service rep, and his boss, and the boss' boss, and the boss' boss' boss, etc. 3) When you get on the phone with a new person, recap who and when you have spoken to in the past. "On January 15th, I spoke with Julie in Customer Service about compensation for our trip. Then I spoke with Arthur in Claims on January 23rd....." It lets them know that YOU AREN'T GOING AWAY. It scares them because their name will be the next one on that list. 4) Be unafraid of social media. Do they have a FB page? Post that --you paid an extra fee to be seated with your disabled husband on your flight, but that financial contract was not honored. --you spoken with 3+ of their customer service employees, and this has "not been settled to your satisfaction." ETA: I'm sure that you know to not post employee names on FB, but you could say, "On January 15, at 1:14pm, I spoke with a customer service rep......on January 23, I spoke with a Managing Representative at 10:47am....." --you are concerned that this is standard practice for their airline to treat families with disabled members. --you are disappointed that paying for guaranteed seats together was a contract that the airline felt was unimportant to honor. What other contracts do they fail to honor? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Don't take any %$@& about "you should have told them when you checked in at the airport." --You didn't know. Was there a big, flashing neon sign at check in? To get your boarding pass, did you have to tap a screen that asked if you had paid for seats together? --If the failing was that the tickets were booked through a 3rd party, then ask what the airline is going to do to improve communication with this third party so this doesn't happen to anyone else. The airline makes $$$ from through sales from this 3rd party entity. There is no excuse for a lack of communication. The airline made extra $$ when you reserved the "seats together." This should be a flag to them for "seats together" when they receive this order (and the accompanying $$$). They can't say they didn't know. A third grader could look at the ticket prices and say, "See, these tickets have an extra fee paid. It must be the 'seats together' fee!" --It is the job of the airline staff to help you through this process of flying. They are the professionals. They will direct you to your gate or the nearest bathroom. They will make it clear what is unacceptable for storage in the overhead bins, and they will help you find alternative storage. They will let you know when the right time to board is. They know first aid, and they have dealt with all sorts of emergencies. They are the professionals. You paid for extra help to be seated together. It is the airline employee's job to fix these problems on the ground and in short notice. (And, quite honestly, they often solve amazing problems with grace and agility! They must have very stressful jobs!) In this case, they did not, and they don't really have a good reason for not doing so.