Disclaimer: We have not yet done a lot of French. Everything here has been experienced through Russian, Spanish, or Chinese. If you are teaching a young child a foreign language, --you will want to limit the amount of writing. Workbooks may or may not be a good choice, depending upon whether you want to be the one filling it in. --play many, many games. Resources (all of these have a French choice): --DinoLingo (for Russian): We've mostly used only the videos at this stage. It's expensive, but my kids liked it. It will not teach sentences, but it will teach a lot of vocabulary. Dd4 enjoys them, too. --PetraLingua (for Chinese): Effective, and I got a great deal last May through one of the buyer's coops. I'll be watching for it again. There are videos online for the kids to watch, and online quizzes for my older dd (just turned 8yo). The quizzes may or may not be more than what a 5yo can do. Dd4 enjoys the videos, too. --FlipFlopSpanish (workbook): A very basic beginner workbook. Very low key. Games: I have posted games on this forum before. Whatever your language, nearly all curriculum cover the same material in the first year: numbers, colors, family members, animals, greetings, etc. The games listed are for Spanish, but you can easily change them for French. Games from Duckens. It's Entry #8.

What does autonomy and providing choices look like in our home? 1) Clear information and expectations for everyone. Twice a year, in the autumn and after New Year's, I assess where we are and what we want to accomplish. I pull all the books/workbooks out and discuss with dd8 how many lessons we need to accomplish and how we plan to do this. I am specific about how many lessons we have left and when we want to be done with them. I organize this ahead of time, so dd8 only gets the 15 minute rundown. She is reminded what the priorities are, and she is aware of the timeline to get as much done as possible. Our nearly daily mantra is, "We want to be done by summer. We don't want to be doing schoolwork in the summer." 2) Not all curriculum are created equal. . I put different classes on different tiers of priority. Your priorities may be different. Dd8 may do any of the Tier 1 classes in any order of her choice, but they should be done before we do Tier 2 classes. Tier 1 (Core Skills) : Piano, Chinese (we pay for the class, and I know no Chinese, so we don't dare fall behind), Math/Math Enrichment ("meeting time for Saxon Math"), and Phonics Tier 2 (Secondary Skills): Spelling, Writing, Science, History, 10 Terrific Weeks (Unit Studies). Tier 3 (Things dd can do mostly independently, or is only a page or two of work): Wordly Wise, Explode the Code, Maps workbook, Comprehension, Geography, Spectrum Test Practice, Art. If this rolls over to the next autumn, I will not be devastated. **We don't do everything every day. **I need to put computer skills somewhere, but I'm not sure where. 3) How choice manifests itself in our homeschool for dd8: --what order to practice her Chinese: reading aloud, vocabulary, or workbook first. --how to practice her math facts from a cornucopia of choices (games, online, handhelds, apps). --math, math enrichment, or phonics first? The same for the other tiers. Any Tier 1 work not completed by the end of the week must be done on Saturday. --if dd delays working, when she comes later she must promise to "skip joyously" to the table or the piano. :laugh: Of course, no actual "joyous skipping" yet. Just scowls at the suggestion. (This is more of a reminder that if I let dd delay her work to finish something, she will come joyously and work hard at the table when it IS work time). 4) How autonomy manifests itself in our homeschool for dd8. ***We don't have a lot of true "autonomy" because of dd's age. She is such a good worker, but she is also only 8.*** --On weekends or more flexible days (with a shorter list of what needs to be done), dd is told what is on her list, and we ask her, "What is your plan? How can we help you get your things done?" She often says, "I will do piano at 10am," or "I will do piano after this episode." We set a timer for her or remind her at that time. --When dd4 wakes and needs me, I send dd8 to do computer work: math facts or her choice or typing for 20 minutes. --This year, I separated Science and History into semesters rather that year-long events. Dd chose to do a year's worth of Science in the autumn (which she just finished), and we will begin history as soon as I get everything together.

I can't give any advice for the OP's specific choices or situation. I know nothing about horses. Our priorities (in no particular order) for extra curricular activities: 1) Something for exercise. I come from a long line of short, round, German women. I want my girls to be exposed to as many types of sports as possible, and to have several regular favorites by the time they become adults. 2) Something for art. This may be dance, visual arts (painting, drawing, etc), disciplined writing, or music. 3) Something that can be used as a second income when my child is grown. This may be woodworking or teaching piano or teaching swim lessons. 4) Something that is a support for my child's current career/college direction. (This will be more apparent as my children age). Since older dd is Nature-oriented (and wants to be a Paleontologist), this may include: --Hiking trips through our local Nature Center and the local University Rec Club --Geode and fossil trips with her dad --Rock tumbling, rock collecting --Climbing --Classes that teach plant and animal identification --Canoeing/Kayaking --Gun use and safety. (There are Polar Bears where some fossils are found!)

1) Grandma may not realize that she is not at work anymore. There are lots of people this way. (My sister used to nanny for a high-powered lawyer who would behave that way at home sometimes). 2) Grandma loves her job. It provides her respect and a role she is comfortable in. --she is needed --she is appreciated by her co-workers --she is good at her job --people (students and their parents) benefit from what she says She may want to re-create that at home. In another age with better opportunities for women, she may have earned a teaching degree and become everyone's favorite 5th grade teacher. 3) Being in a teacher/adviser role also gives her a framework for how to interact with you. Homeschooling is a big part of your life right now; she has worked in education for years, so she is confident discussing "education topics" with you. My opinion ===> Otherwise she feels anxiety over other subjects or doesn't know what subjects to talk about with you with confidence. Of course, her interactions with you in this manner have not been handled appropriately. You are not interested in her advice or her style of help at this time.

I have not read the other replies. Why, yes! It is! It is the only way that Loverboy and I remember that we need to upgrade our daughters' underwear. :blushing: (We do socks for Easter!) :laugh: And, of course, you know, the Aliens Love Pantaclaus. This year's underwear presents had tags "from the Aliens".

--Have you considered taking lessons yourself? If it is tough to do so during the week (if you have multiple littles at home), could you find a high school student to give you a 45minute lesson every other Saturday morning? (As a beginner, you don't need someone with a Master's in Music education to give you a start). You would have the added benefit of modeling that "Mommy practices piano every day, too." Or..... --Sit in on your child's lesson, and then YOU go home and sit at the piano and try it, too. I don't know if this will work or not, if you are not sitting at the keyboard WITH a teacher, but you are out very little to try. Or.... --Do a Google search for "learn piano online." There ARE free lessons available.

We don't specifically start after lunch. However, we do have the philosophy: "When is the best time to do schoolwork?" I ask. "When the baby is sleeping!" is the proper answer. It's a double win: the baby is not ignored, and older dd gets the help she needs for schoolwork without having to wait for me. I don't care whether that is morning, noon, or night. Traditionally in our household, this has been that I wake older dd earlier and we work until the baby wakes. She can watch tv when the little one calls me for wake-up breastfeeding. Likewise, nap has always been school time. At this point my little one is 4yo. She doesn't sleep a lot later than her sister, and naps are a rare occurrence. However, we try to use the time my little one is down for things that are "high intensity" for the older dd: Piano lesson, spelling lists, Chinese, some parts of math. ETA: These are things that dd can't do by herself (like giving herself a spelling test).

I was raised with: "Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child." "Children are commanded to obey their parents, or they will not have a long life." --I was a compliant child who was naturally a follower, wanted to be be good and helpful, and didn't want to be spanked. --My parent's style of parenting was a poor fit for me. There was no understanding for my sensitive pov. I never saw my parents as people I could go to for help: whether it was needing food to eat (for school lunch), school supplies in the middle of the year, extra blankets for my bed (to be warm), or support and advocacy in the case of school bullying from students and a few bad teachers. Even when I was physically harmed by others, my parents reinforced that it was my fault. --My brother was definitely spanked the most, even beyond the age where it made a difference. He was a very normal little boy. Looking back and knowing the statistical link between spanking and violence, it is not surprising how violent my brother was with me: giving me a couple of black eyes and a broken tooth when we were children. He has been violent with his friends, and sometimes I fear for his wife, although my brother had no role model of domestic violence growing up. My father was kind and gentle with my mother. It's amazing that I'm not more messed up than I am. ----------------------------------------- How I try to parent my children: --I bristle at the idea of "obedience" (other than situations of immediate safety). I like the idea of "listening" better. And that means that the parents "listen" to the kids, too, and consider things from the kids' pov. Also, I want my kids to be thinkers and freethinkers, and to question if something doesn't sound right. I make mistakes and miss or forget things as a parent. --We set forth expectations, and our catch-phrases are, "What is your plan?" and "How can I help you to get done what you need to/want to?" --Gratefulness: "Thank you everyone for getting up and getting ready this morning. We're running a little late, but we won't be too late." "Thank you for sharing with your sister. I appreciate how gracious you were about it. You didn't have to do that, but I appreciate it." "Thank you everyone for helping to clean the living room." "I'm glad you came to me when you needed help. It's my job to help you."

Gender story: It was a thrill on Christmas to see my two little girls decked out in their Elsa dresses (from Frozen): one playing with her new crane, the other putting together her legos. They are modern women!!!! --------------------------------------------------- I used to feel bad about how beat I was at the end of the day when Loverboy came home and helped with the house and our little one(s). But whenever I took a rare day off away from the family, and I left him with the kids, he would have no energy to do anything but sit on the couch after 5:30pm. He was exhausted. I was full of energy and ideas by that time of day. I don't feel bad anymore.

Not a resource, but here's a funny little video made by our local college Geology Club. The first part is, "First Geology Outing." The second part is, "What are parents think we do; what our friends think we do; what our professors think we do; what we think the grad students do....." Keep in mind these are geology students, not playwrights or professional actors.

When we clean the living room (toys, clothes, craft supplies, shoes, dishes, etc,etc), every child is assigned to pick up the same number of things as their age. One thing = one category Examples: --Fold all the throw blankets and put them on the back of the couch. Pillows go there, too. --Legos --Crayons and markers --All games and their pieces picked up and put on the shelf --Puzzles, too --All pieces of laundry in appropriate hampers --All shoes put in the shoes place --Little Cars in their bin --Toy Food in its bin --Dirty dishes returned to the kitchen sink --Books put in their appropriate place (dd's bed, bookshelf, Mom's bed, or library box) --Stuffed animals returned to beds or the stuffed animal box --Blocks picked up --School supplies returned to mom's desk (scissors, pens, pencils, glue, etc) If an individual is responsible for the legos, and picks them up, but more legos are found during the "cleaning up time," the child is still responsible for those legos as one of his categories. The categories change from week to week, depending upon what the kids play with and what I work on that week. The 4yo knows that she is responsible for 4 items, and I help her with that. The 8yo needs some direction to choose categories, but once she has a specific goal, she works very independently. I am responsible for 10 things, but, sincerely, by the time the girls have picked up their stuff, there isn't much left except my stuff (my knitting, my magazines, my lists) and vacuuming. I plan that by the time my oldest hits 10yo, she will max out on assigned categories (no more than 10). Eventually my girls will have equal responsibility for cleaning the living room.

Rocky Bingo Dig Into Rocks (a little book with a lot of information; less intimidating that big field guides). Or you can get the book included with this set. I'd also spurge on a Gemstones set. We also buy rock samples one or two at a time from the Science Center for a buck or so each. The samples are an inch in diameter; this is not the "rocks in a little velvet bag" that you can buy. These are individual, identified samples. I put them in individual little baggies and label the bag with a permanent marker. You can also purchase the baggies from the jewelry-making section of your local Craft store (JoAnn's). We have this poster on the wall of our hallway this year. We have referred to it as we have learned about geology this year. This set of posters, too. We have used Real Science Odyssey: Earth and Space 1 for Science this year (2nd Grade). There have been some great geology experiments this year! Buy the Rock Kit that goes with the curriculum. It will make your life so much easier. I have heard good things about the Happy Scientist Geology resources, but we have not yet used them. If you are interested, pose a question of the Hive. Surely someone has used them and can give you a review. Look online for local places you can go Geode Hunting (for a price). Do a search of "Geode hunting [your state]". Loverboy took our older dd (aged 7 at the time) for an overnight trip to dig for geodes this past spring. She loved it, and when she got bored, she found the biggest mud puddle she could find, and took a mud bath up to her neck. :eek: If you want to get seriously into rock tumbling, PM me. I'll put you in touch with Loverboy. Every few months, I come home to a heavy box of something he ordered. Yep. He thinks we don't have enough rocks in the house already, so he'll order another 80 lbs. of "rock stuff." During non-freezing weather, he has two tumblers and a vibrator running at any given time. The Rock Shed has nice specimens for purchase that my daughters have both appreciated. Check out their clearance/sale page. ETA: Bill Nye the Science Guy has an episode on Rocks or Geology or such. See if your library has a copy.

:grouphug: With a mom like you, he's going to be just fine. He is very lucky to have you as his mom and his cheerleader! History IS thrilling, if presented in the right way. I've found that the more history I read, the more it all connects and makes sense to me. As I tell my daughters, "You can't make this stuff up!" when we talk about some of the crazy, amazing, and inspiring stories from the past. Thank goodness he's homeschooled. Can you find him mentors/peers outside his age range? 1) Join SCA or another re-enactment group. Send him to be a drummer boy or waterboy for Civil War re-enactments. 2) Is there a local college of any sort nearby? --Seek out the professors. --Find younger adjunct instructors (because they are closer to your son's age and closer to their age 10 selves) and ask how they explored history as a tween/teen. --Crash the "History Club"' weekly or monthly meetings to find someone who can talk as a peer with your son about history. 3) Is there a local Historical Society? Our local group has recently become MUCH more active with talks about "the 8th Grade test" to "the Local Connection with the Manhattan Project" to a holiday afternoon of stringing popcorn and cranberries and other Christmas activities. He may need to read about local or state history to become conversant with them (check the local library!), but I suspect if these people are interested in local history, they may be interested in other periods of history, too. 4) Genealogy. The value of this as an activity is that it teaches how to search through documentation (a handy skill to have in this field). A good beginning resource is: your local Mormon church. :scared: Either your local church, or the closest "stake center" (regional center) will have a "Genealogy Library," and these genealogy libraries are used by a LOT of non-members, so don't feel awkward. The volunteer at the church library used 1920 census records to find my grandmother's birth family in about 5 minutes with only a location and a common family last name of Lee. (My grandmother was adopted out after her parents died). We identified the family because all of her brothers were listed; and we found the birthplace of her father, which was previously unknown. Oh, and I'm not a member of the Mormon Church. One thing I see again and again about people: if you find a subject they are passionate about, they WANT to talk about it and share it. And MOST want to share it with the next generation. This doesn't matter whether it is knitting, family farming dynamics, solving the Rubiks Cube, trains, or history. ------------------------------------------------- Not mentors, but there are great history shows on PBS. --Some Nova. Topics this autumn have been: First Air War (WWI), Ben Franklin's Balloons, China's Terra Cotta Warriors, and Neil Armstrong --Finding Your Roots --addicting! --Reality TV meets History: the house series Manor House Frontier House 1940s House Colonial House

How serious about history is your ds? (You don't have to answer here; it's none of our business). I see that he is only 10, but, as we all know, they grow fast! I don't have a book or novel suggestion, but I have stumbled upon a wonderful archive of BBC Radio called, "In Our Time." I would definitely put its level at High School Plus. The host, Melvyn Bragg interviews intellectuals, professors, and researchers that have a lifetime of work and research to share on topics like Chivalry and Robin Hood (and all other aspects of history, science, philosophy, etc). Put it under your hat until he hits high school, in case he is still enthusiastic about history. Here's the part of the archive on the Medieval Time Period. There's a different section on the Renaissance and the Dark Ages, if he wants topics in that area. (Some topics overlap).

Have you contacted Amazon to see if there is anything they can do, or what they recommend to do when their merchandise is seized at the American border? Have you contacted the sender to see what they know? If it is counterfeit, they may want to know. ------------------------------------------------- Conspiracy theory time: Is there any chance this is an unlawful seizure (and someone wanted to take home Asterix)? I know that missionaries abroad have asked that we send them tennis shoes one at a time in subsequent packages. Any pair of brand new Reeboks just disappears from 3rd world custom houses. And I want to believe that would not be a problem within U.S. Customs and law enforcement, but DHS had a HUGE increase in the number of people employed by DHS a few years back. If I had a private company that doubled its size within 1-2 years, it would be doubtful that every. single. one. of those employees would be well suited to my company's dynamic.

Does your library have someone who specializes in the graphic novels? We have one librarian in the children's section that is known for her knowledge of the graphic novels (among her other duties). I was thrilled when she was working on an rare evening we went to the library. (We are normally bookmobile people). I dragged dd7 over to the librarian and sent the two of them off to the Graphic Novel shelves to discuss recommendations that dd7 has not read yet.

:iagree: :iagree: :iagree: I can't like this enough. I wish I was eloquent enough to have written it!

Middle child. Far more of a Type A than either of my siblings have ever been. I'm also uber-organized. I believe if a task is not getting done satisfactorily, then it's the system that needs to be changed. It's not the person. -------------------------------------------------------- :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: We love you!!! --------------------------------------- In my situation, there may be other things that contribute to my (and my children's) success. 1) Loverboy is awesome in his support. --helps with homeschooling if I need extra hands --makes sure I have the resources (books, kits) I would like to use --gives me a break by helping a lot with the kids in the evening --helps with driving to outside activities if I need help 2) I have done this before. I "nannied" two days a week for a homeschooing mom in the years before I became pregnant. I got to see LOTS of different types of curriculum. When I see 140 lessons, I know how to get to the end of it...because I have done it before again and again. I worked with this family for six years. I will always be grateful for the experience this mother gave to me. Loverboy recently shared with me that the only reason he was supportive of the homeschooling initially was because he knew I had done it before. It IS true: practice makes perfect. 3) I don't work outside the home. Homeschooling is a full time job. Parents who both work outside (or inside) the home AND homeschooling are more incredible than I will ever be. 4) I homeschool in a state with good support. We have state-supported (optional) coop classes to fill in the blanks of my teaching. We have visiting teachers (either state-paid or privately paid, our choice) that check on us. We have organized field trips with other homeschoolers. My visiting teacher (also a homeschooler) brings me curriculum supports and steers me toward free online resources. She advises me on on activities available in our community for my children (spelling bee, geography bee, Odyssey of the Mind, tech fair, Science Olympics, etc). Two of the visiting teachers have organized an IEW crash course discussion group for parents that meets once a month. 5) I have a homeschooling cabinet to keep all of our supplies organized. Loverboy cut me extra shelves. It's the next best thing to having a homeschooling room.

He's already been put off reading of this sort. However, mastery of a skill in an age-appropriate and level-appropriate way rarely puts someone off of it. Usually it creates confidence and the desire to do more of it. -------------------------- Is the desire to have the child LOVE reading? Or is the desire to have the child attaining the skills his parent feels he needs to succeed in his school work both at home and beyond home?

Cat #1 is part dog. When there is a knock on the door, he runs TO the door to see who has come to visit him. Cat #2 is our "normal cat." Whenever there is a knock at the door, he can't get to his hiding spot fast enough! He slides on the kitchen floor as he takes the corners. He likes to be petted, but with one hand only. Don't you dare pick him up. When older dd was a toddler, he was smart enough to only attack her when Loverboy and I were out of the room. Otherwise, he would just slink away from her if he felt threatened. He still attacks older dd (age 7) more than he does younger dd (age 4). He just has it in for her. Cat #3 was that way, too, when we had stairs in our last apartment. Loverboy would toss his mouse down the stairs, and chubby, non-athletic Cat #3 would bound down the stairs:KaThunk-KaThunk-KaThunk-KaThunk-Kathunk. Then back up the stairs: KaThunk-KaThunk-KaThunk-KaThunk-Kathunk. He would cry at the bottom when he wanted to play. I would complain that Loverboy was trying to turn my cat into a dog, and the next think he would do was teach the cat to bark! But, he is my non-athletic child. He has wiped out when trying to jump onto an 18" tall table. He is also a polite cat. He has a special meow he uses just before he yarps up a hairball. I know I have exactly 5 seconds to grab him and run him to a sink or the kitchen floor (where there is no carpet). The girls imitate him for fun, and it stresses me out because I panic that I need to find the yarping cat. He is smart enough that he can climb the ladder to dd's top bunk.

Wow! Book 4 ETC in 1st grade! I don't think we got to that after completing Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons AND Saxon Phonics K + most of Saxon Phonics 1. It sounds as if your child is working at the top level of her current capacity. What a hard worker she must be!!! Right now, she needs practice. LOTS AND LOTS of practice. Explain to her that she is in the practice phase, and she will need to do a certain amount of practicing before moving on to the next level. Here's what helped us: 1) We used Bob books and the little readers that came with the Phonics curriculum we were using. You can do that, or pick random easy reader books from the library she can read (anything at her level) or is half a step up from where she is at. 2) Put a post-it in the back cover of each book. List the following names*: 1) Mom 2) Dad 3) sibling's name** 4) pet's name 5) Grandma or Grandpa's name *Feel free to fill these five slots with people who are easily accessible in your circle. Perhaps a babysitter, friend, neighbor, or church member are easier to access than some whom I have listed above. **The sibling should be a younger sibling who cannot read, or an older sibling who has been instructed to NOT correct the reader's reading unless the reader is absolutely struggling. The point of reading to a younger sibling or a pet is that practice is done, but there is no judgment or stress; only positive support. 3) You child will read the story to a different person every day. She is only allowed to read the book once/day. She can juggle several books at once if she chooses. Checkmark off the names in the back as she reads them. By the time your child has read the book 5x to 5 different people on 5 different days, she should be comfortable with this book. 4) Reward your child. I gave my child 25c for each book she completed in this way. You may reward her with a PBS kids show, a mini Hershey bar, time on the ipad playing games, or something else that motivates her.

1) We have had good luck with scheduling a non-class activity for one child while the other is in a class. Non-scheduled activities (with parental tag-along) have included: --shooting --hitting a few golf balls --walk around the neighborhood or at the local public gardens --hiking at the state park --weeding the flower garden --tossing some tennis balls For you, it may be a short bike ride, tossing a football around, a few holes of disc golf, or walking the dog. 2) One local school system gave all the kids heart-rate monitors. As long as the kids logged 20+minutes/day of having their heart rate elevated, they met the gym requirement. This could encourage your children to be responsible for their own fitness goals (with some mentoring at this time). 3) Do you have a game system in the house? We are stodgy and unhip people with just a Wii. I query the guy at the game store for recommendations on good exercise games to buy used. (He's lost 40+ pounds using one of the Gold's Gym games, so he's my unofficial personal trainer).

I think your dc would get more out of the book if he put more into it. Yes, this is free reading, but it is also 'for school" as the 45 minutes is mandatory and the selection of books is preselected. I had AT LEAST one teacher that handled "book reports" with a list of pre-selected books. Ask each child to stop at the end of every chapter and tell you two things that happened in that chapter. If he doesn't know, then you can prompt him with questions. This will help your child to: 1) Read for content. 2) Quit excessively skimming. Skimming has its place; excessive skimming in this case is the wrong skill to develop. 3 ) Follow what is happening in the book; and get guidance from you early on if key facts are missed early on (which happens to me even now as an adult sometimes). 4) Prep for book reports as he grows older. Remember all the book reports we did as kids? We read the book, then we sat down and wrote the summary. Wouldn't it have been handy to have a self-written list of Chapters 1-15 with 2-3 sentences of a summary of what happened in each chapter? The book report would write itself! And wouldn't that list also be easy for reference if you wanted to check a detail, but weren't sure which chapter it was in? This also works for nonfiction, and is a precursor to taking notes while reading a science text.

Disposables for older dd. We were new to parenting. I was interested in it, but we were new parents with no mentors...and no washer on-site. When younger dd was ~6 months old, I made an impulse buy of cloth diapers at the homeschooling convention. Loverboy really shouldn't let me out to those things with $$$ in my pocket. :laugh: Yes, it was a lot of work to cloth diaper and wash and dry them, but every time I hung one on the clothes line, I repeated the mantra: Ka-ching! Ka-ching! Ka-ching! ($$$$$$) Disposables for vacation (flying out of state) and for one memorable week when everyone was sick sick sick. ------------------------------------------------- *apologies in advance if this is an inappropriate topic* I never did figure out the "washing out in the toilet" thing. Drippy and messy. And we have carpet in our bathrooms! :eek: I dedicated a kitchen scraper (a little square of plastic) for scraping poop off of diapers. The last of the poop would be wiped off the scraper with a piece of toilet paper. The scraper was then washed in the sink. My washer was tough enough to handle any residual poop on the diapers. With most of the poop gone, the diapers would dry out and not stink. As diapers occurred, I laid them out over the side of the tub to dry out. Once pee and poop dry out, they are much less pungent. Then they were dropped into a plastic crate with a plexiglass bottom that Loverboy had cut. (We didn't want the stink to get into the carpet permanently). With the sides open on the crate, the diapers were able to stay dry. We were able to avoid the worst of the stereotypical diaper smells.

I let my daughters read whatever they want for pleasure. Dd7 (almost 8!) has been reading tons of Graphic novels since the beginning of summer. I was stunned by how much her reading fluency and vocabulary has grown in that time! Apparently graphic novels use fewer word, but they need to make the words count...so they use more challenging words. In the meantime, I do "shared reading" with dd7. I use this time to nudge her to "the next level" of reading for her. Together we read chapter books, Usborne versions of Shakespeare and Dickens, challenging science books, and age-appropriate magazines (Ask, Click, Ranger Rick, etc). We read 20+ minutes/day. We list main characters. She narrates two things that happen in each chapter, or two things she learned from each article. It's tough to be patient because she CAN read chapter books, she just doesn't CHOOSE to do so on her own at this time. Would she transition chapter books on her own if she was in public school and her best friend sitting next to her was reading Junie B. Jones, Rainbow Fairies, or Captain Underpants? (or the Boxcar Children, Narnia, or Little House?) I enlist Loverboy to read aloud with the dd4 at the time that I read to dd7. This ensures that dd4 is exposed to plenty of books on her level.