Isn't there some way that you can track when someone is logged on to a computer? Just set it to log off automatically after a short time of non-use so that she has to keep logging in (that way time just sitting idle doesn't count). You could also use a program that monitors usage & only allows it at specific times & for specific periods. For instance - I already had Norton, so when I decided I needed to become stricter with computer time I just went to their family security section & set up each computer the kids used to only allow them on between 7am and 8pm, 2 hours max on weekends & 1 hour max on weekdays. They are required to log in to their own accounts when accessing the computer. I don't have to fuss or bother with it - if they hit their time limit, the system automatically boots them out & that is that. I also don't have to worry as much about where they are visiting either, since I can limit what sort of sites they are allowed to visit (they are much younger, so are very limited in where they can visit). Also, I would never allow a computer with full internet access into a private room for a child. That is just inviting "secret" issues, IMO. All of our computers are used in open, observable areas. If you can't do it in public, you shouldn't be doing it at all. An Ipod is basically just a music player, right? I have no idea how you would track that - kind of like trying to track radio usage, isn't it? I guess if you are concerned about it, you could just allow it at specific times of day and take it away at other times...

nm :)

I think that a lot of what we do today would have been perceived as "magic & sorcery" long ago - therefore, it stands to reason that a long time in the future they might do things that today we would consider "magic & sorcery". I also agree with a PP about people casting "spells" - that can often be the sort of thing that you can be convinced actually happened because person A & person B both think that it did, IYKWIM. Just like squash can magically make my 8yo throw up just because it is squash, a result it magically does NOT have if he doesn't know it is squash... Yum - chocolate!! :D

Good idea about getting a trainer in ASAP - that sounds like it could get dangerous fast, even if she didn't actually bite (she could scare the wrong person & end up in huge trouble!). I was on a walk with my son when he was about 6 & we stopped to chat with a neighbor near a yard with a St. Bernard & another big dog out front. We weren't in the yard at all, weren't approaching or otherwise interacting with the dogs at all, and I had seen them out there numerous times before in walks/bike rides around the block. That day, however, St. Bernard felt it necessary to come up about 5-10 feet away from us - totally casually, NO bad body language - and then lunged at my son & grab his shoulder in his jaws. I was able to kick him off & we got out of there, but my son had puncture marks on both sides of his shoulder. Anyhow, I raised a ruckus (cops, animal control, etc) & it later turned out that this dog had given numerous indications in the past about having attitude issues (snarling & snapping at neighbors through fences, getting out on occasion & killing neighborhood cats, etc) that they had done nothing about. He came VERY close, completely out of the blue, to grabbing a 6yo boy's throat in his very large jaws - that was truly as scared of a dog as I have ever been (and I like dogs, and don't scare easily). I can only wish that they had gotten this dog some help when the first indication of problems arose. It was completely out of the blue, and the dog only cared about my little boy (not the teenage boy we were with or me) - we didn't do anything that I know of to trigger it, but obviously something did!

Oh, I almost forgot!! Bed Bath & Beyond has EXCELLENT selection (and will generally order almost anything for you). They also send almost-constant coupons in to be used on 1 item in the store, so I've taken to using those for "fancy" kcups (my dh LOVES the Starbucks ones). I can get a reasonable deal if I get it 20% off.

:iagree: I completely agree with this - a 10yo would be fairly easy to deal with, assuming they were co-operative & could sit & get their own work done without much assistance (or joined in on things that my family was dong). A 2yo is a completely different deal, requiring almost-constant entertainment & watching. If I was already homeschooling my own kids & added someone's 10yo into the mix - that would be do-able. Adding a 2yo into the mix, though? NO WAY. I would offer a minimum of $50 per day & would expect for that price that it would be someone either who knew my ds & was fully willing to incorporate him or someone anxious to find a way to make some money from home & still be able to do what they usually do (as in, not a professional teacher who has your son's educational experience as their over-riding goal & will bend over backwards to get things done exactly as you, the payer, desire). I currently pay $60 a day for an 8yo & 6yo to stay at our home with a sitter for 7 hours a couple times a week. I consider this basically babysitting & therefore don't expect them to get very much schoolwork done (a few worksheets & some Spanish). I think I started at $50 a day but gave a raise after a couple of years. If the day were longer or the youngest younger, I would definitely pay more. I would pay about the same if it were only the older for a longer day & I expected him just to blend into the other person's day. I would pay more if I expected my educational desires to be catered to. I would pay a TON more if I were also asking someone to watch a 2yo, and I would expect them not to get much school done.

Every day! I usually only use it 1-3 times a day (1 definitely for a cup of coffee in the am, sometimes a 2nd cup mid-am, sometimes tea at night) but my dh uses it a gazillion... lol! We use super-filtered tap water; our water from the well isn't very good, so it is all filtered coming out of the well to make it "ok" and then there is an RO filter on the kitchen sink to make it "definitely drinkable" - that is the water we use, but it isn't special for the Keurig/Cuisnart. I buy Caribou from Sams Club in bulk right now. When I first started with this machine, I was a flavored coffee drinker and I spent AGES testing flavors trying to find the one I liked best... only to find that I actually was totally happy with regular coffee with just creamer & stevia in it (not even flavored creamer!) as long as the coffee was good. :) We've had our since before Thanksgiving last year, but I can't remember exacty when I got it. So far it has only had one problem, and that was one that I knew was potentially going to be a problem (based on reviews) when I bought it. Once in a blue moon, it will short your cup of coffee (ask for 8oz, get 4oz for instance) & keep doing it until fixed; reviews indicated that this was a pump problem & required replacing pump, but further research found a different & much more reasonable fix. First, I rarely take off the water reservoir - instead, I just keep a container of water next to it (big machine) and fill it up from the top. That seems to keep the problem at bay for the most part. Second, on the rare occasions that it does short a cup I immediately "burp the keurig". Seriously!! It is hilarious, but COMPLETELY works! I just unplug it & let the water cool off, take off the reservoir & drip catcher, turn it over the sink and give it a few solid thwacks on the bum with my hand. When I set it all back up it works perfectly. :D You need to do it right away - otherwise you may truly burn the pump out without enough water.

If I felt it was an addiction that he & I couldn't control, together, and that it led him into "bad" areas of sneaking around & stealing time/ds back, then I would get rid of it altogether. Neither of my boys have a ds, but we are otherwise very lenient with screen time (as pp said - I love that!). We have a wii, directv & computers - and my boys know that all of them are a PRIVILEGE and not a RIGHT... and that they are the first privilege to go when misbehavior strikes. I have had to cut them off on rare occasions from various things when I have felt that they are getting too carried away, and on other occasions as direct issues arise, but in general they don't abuse the privilege of having such things. If I did allow them to have a DS, I would probably confiscate it every evening as a matter of course (since it is too difficult to monitor use when I am not present!). Trying to steal it back, IMO, would lead to some pretty massive consequences - at a minimum, I wouldn't allow ANY use of the device for some period of time (depending on how out of control he was). I wouldn't make it a secret where the ds was kept - it isn't a game where you can use it if you can sneak around and find it, but rather a teaching moment where you know exactly where it is an aren't allowed to access it. If he found himself unable to keep his hands off it in that situation (knowing where it is & knowing that mom knows he knows & knowing that the firm expectation is that he will be able to control himself in staying away from it) then I would consider it a genuine addiction. A genuine addiction needs to be controlled, and needs to be monitored as a potential ongoing issue, and I would start looking into what the "experts" have to say about dealing with addictions in life. In my house, the DS would be gone (as would any item, electronic or other, that caused me such problems).

I teach with RightStart and supplement with Math Mammoth & it has done very well for us. We just finished up with a 1st grader doing RSA & MM1a/b and a 2nd grader doing RSB & MM2a/b. I love RS for teaching! However, it doesn't have enough repetition for my oldest & my youngest likes worksheets. I don't like MM for teaching, but it follows along well with the general ideas of RS & is great for supplemental worksheets. Next year I plan to do RSC but supplement with ALEKS online (for a variety of reasons, but mainly because my oldest still needs some repetition & it needs to be fairly independent but he is getting very unhappy with worksheets).

Does your daughter have any particularly beloved extracurricular activity? I was firmly devoted to horses & martial arts in high school & the best way to get me to be "on board" with homeschooling would have been to be 110% behind letting me pursue those activities to the fullest. I didn't have that many close friends in my high school (public) anyway - most of them were from online groups & either in college or in different schools.

We just started Sonlight Core B this year, with Grade 2 & 3 readers - the kids (and I) were all SUPER excited when the books came in!! The kids were so interested in checking them out, and I was so interested in making sure that they were excited about our upcoming school year, that I let them flip through the books with me while I was setting them out to organize. I then read 1 book with them & let them each read 1 book on their own, with the caveat that these were part of school work & would need to be read again later on in the course of our school year. They were both VERY happy to be allowed to read a bit - and are excited to read the rest this year! :) So, I think it was a win. However, after that first mad dash of excitement day the books were put up & away - I won't bring them out again until we are actually ready to use them in the program (otherwise they will devour them before we get that far!). I think they will be fine reading them again - my 2nd grader especially LOVES to re-read books!! :)

I used it for a couple of months and REALLY liked it, but my science-loving 7yo just wasn't getting enough out of it to make it worth the (very great, to me) cost. I think in a couple of years I will definitely try it again - I thought the program itself was great! The videos are good, and the video's that walk through experiments even better (even *I* can figure out an experiment if I see someone doing it!). The reading was excessive for him at that time (last year) and probably for awhile to come. The supplies were ridiculously expensive, IMO - I'd have to buy large quantities of something I didn't have on hand to get just 1 or 2, then have the rest sitting around. Maybe if you do it long enough most of those get used later as well, but only going through the first few units we easily spent $50+ per unit (on top of the price of the program). Of course, you can choose to do only a small selection of the experiments & do only the ones you have supplies for (which is what she actually recommends) - but I wanted to get off to a big bang! :) The other thing is that I found her website difficult to navigate (particularly for my ds) and it was difficult to track where you were and where you should go from there. I wish it were set up to be more user-friendly in terms of a parent stepping in and seeing what you were doing & had done. I very VERY much want to buy the fully 3-5 year mastery kit, which comes complete with DVDs & supplies for experiments, but it will take some saving up! When I did it, the whole thing was open as soon as I registered - so I guess that is a new thing, limiting it.

:iagree: lol Seriously, though - I wore makeup on my wedding day and that was basically it. I don't wear it anywhere - to work, on errands, on dates...

Personally, I would make sure that any photos she has showing kids on her back show those kids with helmets. Not to put to fine a point on it (and coming from someone who religiously did NOT wear a helmet from as soon as I was over 18 and allowed to choose until I had kids that I insisted wear a helmet) - it detracts from the goal of the ad (to sell a horse, presumably to someone with kids!). Also, is there any way to change the background color to something easier to read on? The purple makes it really hard for me to easily read the wording - I had to lean in fairly close & if I was just flipping through ads I'd probably skip it (unless the pics right up front dragged me in!). Finally, the paragraph at the top talking about what a great horse she is could be re-worded a bit. It has a lot of very short sentences that make it seem abrupt and could be blended together well (the very first paragraph also has this problem). I would also put some information about her broodmare status up towards the top, in case someone is looking for her more as a quality broodmare than a kids riding horse (otherwise they have to dig down very far to reach that info). "Shiloh is a 12 yr old AQHA mare and stands around 15 hands. She is 89% foundation bred, with Jackie Bee top and bottom, and is also registered with NFQHA. Bloodlines can be seen here: xxx Shiloh is an exceptionally well-mannered mare with solid training. Her latest job has been as a 4H mount, where she has been shown in pleasure and halter and has done very well for her young handlers. Before that, she was a trail horse that occasionally helped gather cattle. She ties, bathes, clips and loads easily, and is very respectful on the ground. She is even trained to swing her body around for you on cue for easy mounting out on the trail from a log or rock. Shiloh has performed well carrying riders of all ages and is comfortable in the round pen, in the yard, and out on the trails. Shiloh is also a great broodmare and has had three beautiful fillies for us. She is a good mother who has needed no help foaling or taking care of her foals, and she lets you handle her babies right away. She passes on her good looks to all of them!" Nice looking horse, btw!! Seems like a great find, if the price is right... :)

Very little direct knowledge about this, but I know my ex-neighbor's daughter was diagnosed with aspergers and she was SUPER affectionate & very talkative to anyone & everyone about anything that popped in her head.

Employees can quit. Taxpayers can't. Except by quitting being employees - or making any taxable money at all. The best way to get the government & society to collapse is to make it more beneficial for people NOT to work than it is for people to work - that is not a sustainable position.

:iagree::iagree::iagree: I normally stay away from this topic with people because I have strong opinions about it & don't want to get into a battle - but I cannot agree more!! The welfare system as it is must end... :( ETA: I have a relative who was unemployed for awhile & was SO ready to just "sit back & take in the money after years of working so hard & then being cut" (with the state paying unemployment and his parents providing any additional needed to, say, pay for the house he owns) that he constantly applied for jobs in the $300k + range with the spoken intent to not land a job, period.

You can totally go across state lines!! I live in one state and have always gone to the pack across state lines (very close) in state 2. My friend lives in state 2 and started off going to a pack in my state! lol. Then they switched to the one I go to in state 2. :)

Sounds like normal behavior to me (from out here - lol!), and it sounds like it is being addressed while it happens. How else are kids supposed to learn how to treat nicely with other kids, even if they don't get along so well? It is sad you lost a member over it, but maybe you can meet with her on other days. As far as how to deal directly with the kids, I would make sure that the other mom is comfortable with you intervening as necessary when you spy trouble. In our very small co-op group, I am just as likely to hiss a reprimand for talking or messing around at A, B, or C's child as my own (although really, it is more often my own that need it!), and I am totally fine with them having to speak sternly to mine about what needs talking about.

I read it & enjoyed it, but I didn't actually CHANGE because of it. I will probably re-read it again in a year or two & see what else I can get out of it. There are some things going through that I wrote down and planned to do but never got back to, I'm afraid! lol I honestly don't want to have either myself or my kids be so driven that it consumes us, though, as he appears to be (to the neglect of his family, from the sound of it). I did like his approach to classroom "rules", though! :)

:iagree: Especially with the "shouldn't have to choose" (at least not exclusively). I know many young people who SHOULD choose a more limited number of activities so that they can focus better on the ones they are doing, but I refuse to be involved in a group that requires exclusive focus. As a teenager, I was forced to choose between 2 passions - Karate and horse riding. I had done both, and well enough to be satisfied personally, for some 8 years (and basically ONLY those 2 things). One year, my Karate instructor decided that I needed to choose to either be more involved in Karate & ditch riding or drop it. With an ultimatum like that, it became easy to decide that I would focus on horses instead (and to this day I still have horses & have only occasionally gone back to martial arts). I just plain will NOT be pushed...

I agree in theory with above poster, but I would have said that before he asked her to change his start date. Since she already agreed to move the start date by 1 week, I would just call her and say something like "Mrs. So'n'so, since I'm not starting until the 26th is correct that I can just disregard this notice? As we discussed earlier, I had a prior commitment for the 19th." In the future, he should be personally advised that when you apply for a job you should be prepared to start on their schedule immediately. That is part of having a job, I'm afraid! Even when you are self-employed, you need to learn that if you don't accommodate the people paying you, you are likely to lose out...

:iagree::iagree: I can see maybe after 10 years or so, if it is a strong & sturdy business that is NOT directly based on your own services & knowledge, that you might be able to have eventually found a manager that is basically running it anyway... but it is so hard to get a small business running & making money that doing it without you present would be very unrealistic, I would say.

I love love LOVE my black lab/golden retriever cross!! :) He is 90+ pounds, 12 years old (but unfortunately going downhill fast at this point), and the sweetest, most loving boy you've ever met. He adores my little dog and gets along well with the cats. He has always been perfect with the kids - we had him 4 years or so (from puppy-hood) before we had kids and we were mildly concerned from all the stories of dogs learning how to get along with littles, but from the first he was ideal.

I started taking melatonin a couple years ago & that really helped with my sleeping problems. I also started taking St. John's Wort with Passion Flower mix a year or more ago, and that helped a lot with mild down-in-the-dumps feelings & over-irritation during the day. I also went on the Atkins diet a couple years ago & lost some 25 pounds (basically cutting out carbs) and it was great! However, I didn't feel that much more energy from it (go figure) and eventually stopped doing as well keeping track of my carbs & now I'm almost back up to the old weight again. sigh...