I'm curious about the reading with audio... Are these "special" books - as in, can you buy a set of them? I'm thinking it would be useful, and am getting DD to read while I'm reading to her, so that's the same idea, I guess. She picked up when I made a mistake the other day, so I think that's useful. We also did "smooth reading" and I thought that was helpful. Min

CS, I'd love to see what you come up with. Min

Glad you got it sorted out. We have one iTunes library, one Audible account, one iTunes account, and sync four iPods happily. As an experiment yesterday I put one Audible freebie onto all four iPods and it worked. Min

I just put one into my cart for $1... Min

Sponges that get washed and line-dried in the sun for an extra dose of germ-killing. Min

I should say, I live in Australia, and we're having a long, hot summer. :( Food scraps (and I compost meat as well) starts to smell if it doesn't go into the compost fairly fast, so I am motivated more by that than by minimising trips to the compost tumbler! Min

I use a 2 litre bucket from some yoghurt. I empty it a couple of times a day, usually. Min

I'm working - slowly! - through Analytical Grammar. Min

Lovedtodeath, do you know which books would correspond with levels 2 and 3 of AAS? Thanks! Min

I'm using AAS as an afterschooler. I showed it to the teachers at the kids' school and they thought it was fantastic. We tended to do one 15-20 minute session (or maybe two, depending on the week), and just do as much as we reasonably could in that time. Both kids zipped through level 1 in a month, and then slowed down at different rates after that. I've recently downloaded an app for the iPod Touch called something like "Homework". You can input the words, and a short audio, and they have to type in the word. I'm planning to use it as a backup/review for lessons, and have them use it a few times for a few minutes over the rest of the week. Min

I've just dowloaded it from audible! Looking forward to it! Min

Thanks for sharing! Min

What's a mudroom? We're planning to build a bit later in the year. We're in Australia, though, and housing seems somewhat different here. We're planning a home that will work with our climate, and the designer is a very practical person whose ideas seem very liveable. I like the idea of dark grout! We've got light grout in our current house and it looks awful. (Well, it *was* light...) Min

Well done Mariann! I'm also decluttering, in anticipation of a move. I did the family room/playroom yesterday. Isn't it a good feeling! Min

My "sewing room" also contains the piano, computer and printer, bookshelf and the deep freeze, as well as a large-ish Ikea desk for my sewing. It also has a cupboard (an Ikea wardrobe) for all of the "stuff" other than machines. (Oh, the desk has two shallow drawers for the machine feet, tape measures, scissors etc.) If it doesn't fit, I can't keep it! I cut out on our large dining table. I know people with lovely airy sewing rooms and am envious! But, still, it works for the moment. Min

I like Audible, but you have to buy them. iTunesU has a lot of titles available for free through Lit2Go. They're well worth a look. Min

Apparently "natural" spellers visualize. One of my kids does it naturally, one certainly doesn't. We're trying to teaching visualizing, and it is helping. Personally, if I have to remember a pattern - say a bunch of mixed up squares, triangles and stars, I firstly convert it into sound (square, triangle, star, square, triangle, star) - DH can just remember the shapes. Min

We did an elimination diet a while back, and it was interesting. We did the failsafe diet (virtually no additives, low in salicylates, amines and glutamates): http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/ and it was interesting. We're no longer eating the full failsafe diet (the idea is to do the elimination diet and then to challenge individual issues), but we're still very low additive and try to avoid large amounts of amine-containing foods as that seemed to be our sensitivity. I have to say though, that it was the additives that seemed to be the big culprit. Somewhere on that page is an "additives to avoid" list which I still try to use. Miranda

Well, I'm a good speller, but I was at a loss how to help my kids - two of whom are not good spellers - because I'm a natural speller. I don't know the rules, or I didn't, I'm learning them now! AAS has been wonderful. If you can read, you can teach spelling with this method. (One caveat - I've had to adapt it for our more British spelling, but I've posted all that over at the Chatterbee and others have chipped in.) If your kid asks a curly question, you can always post it over at the Chatterbee and get a response there. Min

I remember the toddler years as when they *would* pick things up... It was a game... Min

I grew up with Dr Who, but I agree with those who say start with the "new" ones - the Eccleston ones. They're very circular, though, in that something will be mentioned early in one season, then come up again a bit later, and then finally come up and be concluded in the next season. Or so. So, I'd start at the start with Eccleston, and watch in order. Min

I voted messy, but it isn't very messy. I'm spring cleaning and somehow that involves making a complete mess before it gets better. Not sure how that works. The laundry is up to date and put away, the bathrooms are clean and most of the house is presentable, but I've got a pile of stuff on my desk that needs further processing before it can be tossed (like cutting buttons off etc), and a pile of paperwork on the sofa that I'm currently sorting. Min

We did an elimination diet a few years ago and dark chocolate was how you challenged for a sensitivity to amines. Several of us failed that challenge. :( Min

Thank you, thank you, thank you! This has largely solved my carschooling issues for later in the year! Min

The full version of Acrobat combined the nicely and quickly and I could then go in and insert blank pages where I needed to in order to make the pagination/printing work out the way I wanted it to. I don't know the cost, though, I've just downloaded the trial version to try it out. So far it looks like it does what I want it to do. Min (DD dares me to insert a smiley: :001_smile:)