From my experience, the two dresses I've bought have ran a bit large. I'm considered petite (5'3") and of normal weight, but when I've ordered my regular department store size dresses from JCrew I needed them to be taken in. I wonder if the special occassion dresses have some "give" in their sizing assuming that they'll need alterations like a bridesmaid dress?? Just my experience :)

WHOOPS!! Sorry, I read the OP too quickly. I guess I was too excited about sharing about my own wonderful pup. :)

We *LOVE LOVE LOVE* our Newfoundland. They might be a little extreme for some, because they are one of, if not the biggest breeds of dogs. For us, we picked a Newfie because: 1). They are totally non-agressive. 2). Their gentle temperament is the "hallmark characteristic" of the breed. 3). No jumping 4). Little no *no* barking. 5). Loyal, calm, only wants to please and make you happy :-) 6) Easy to train, easy on a lead, loves to be close to people Negatives: 1) Slobber. Lots of slobber. Of course, with two little boys, I'm dirty all.the.time, so the slobber doesn't bother me. However, DH gets irritated with the dog slobbering on his work pants when he gets home. 2). Size. Newfies are always over 100lbs, most of them reaching 130-180lbs. 3). Fur. They have a thick double-coat. Our Newfie is the calmest, most gentle dog I've ever been around. That alone outweighs all of his gross-out qualities. He is our first family dog, and he has been a huge success!

I'm going through this *right now* with my toddler son. He's been Failure to Thrive (FTT) since he was 8 months old (with gastro problems...) His primary doctor is fantastic and has ran all of the bloodwork, sent him to a pediatric allergist, and to a pediatric gastroenterologist. We are now awaiting results from a second workup (blood, urine, stool). They are trying to rule out malabsorption/autoimmune problems, with celiac being the most likely cause. Even though he was tested once six months ago, celiac can be tricky, and a certain amount of damage must be done before a test will indiciate a positive. One thing that the gastroenterologist told me is that celiac is quite common, especially in the typical North American population (I'm assuming he meant of white/european origin). One in every 150 people are affected. When we told him that neither DH nor I have celiac, he said it absolutely didn't matter, that it pops up everywhere. I would find it alarming that a doctor wouldn't at least do a workup on you child to see if there were *any* red flags. Often just a CBC will show something (i.e., DS had high WBC...which has led us down this rabbit hole...)

:grouphug: I have this problem, too. I lose enormous amounts of hair for the entirety of breastfeeding. I take a vitamin called "Optivite," which states it's for "Pre-menstrual Tension," and is loaded w/ B6 & B12. I take it as my multivitamin. My hair loss have slowed down considerably after taking this vitamin, but I can't be sure if it's from the process of weaning (DS is 15 mos), or from the vitamin. Either way, I swear the vitamin has improved my energy and mood. I hope that you find what you're looking for!!

FWIW, I have never heard anyone regret holding their son back a year.

:iagree:

Old Yeller, and The Sandlot are favorites of my boys. For musicals, we LOVE The Music Man and Oklahoma. Also, kids don't watch the movies of these, but I have the music on my iPod for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Jesus Christ Superstar.

I have taught reading intervention in public schools before, and right after having children. I do not teach anymore. I am a Classical Education LOVER. Both DH and having gone through K-12 in the public school, and then a more Humanities-based, liberal arts university, I think we felt "jipped" about our lack of classical education. We wanted more for our children, specifically the ability to reason, use logic, and to read literature on a high level. These were not skills we acquired until college and after using self-study. I always wanted to be a teacher, and I love reading, phonics and tutoring, thus the intervention specialty. Now I teach my kids, and I'm happy with that. I'm thankful that the public school is in place, but at this point in my life, I'm not sure if I could stomach the politics of it. Perhaps again once my children are grown and gone.

I'm new, but I've been reading the boards for about 2 years. I read TWTM three years ago, and that's how I found the forums. This might be creepy, but this forum is really interesting. For me, at least. There's a woman who's a huge role model to me--she left her medical practice to raise and homeschool her kids. She told me recently that she finds SAHMs and homeschooling parents to be much more interesting to talk to than other people. Why, I asked? She said they(parents) were always learning something and self-educating, so in conversation they always had something to ask, contribute or expand on. Maybe that's why I like the boards--all of the intelligent and thought-provoking threads. Also, there is SO SO SO much curriculum out there, and trying to find the "right" one is quite daunting. I take a pen and paper to the curriculum board and take notes so I can make good decisions the first time around and hopefully save some time, money and frustration.

Thank you!!! Happy to be one of the gang. ;)

No, I'm not afraid in that sense, but I am afraid of sending my DC off into the world (PS) when they are not yet equipped for the experiences they will likely deal with. This is a very good point and something I agree with. Yes, yes, "unsuitable for their developement," I like the way that sounds.

I'm a long time reader of the boards, a recent member, and an infrequent poster. My dc are little, so in many ways I'm a "baby bee" in this hive, and am on the "being schooled" end of homeschooling and have a lot to learn. My background is in reading education/intervention and I've taught in public and private schools, and have tutored. Now, I'm a stay-at-home-(most of the time) mom of two DS (almost 4 and 1). I ordered my first curriculum information packet when I was 10wks pregnant with my first son, so I've had the "itch" to homeschool for a long time. Now, I am so excited to be entering such a teachable age with my little ones! I love the WTM philosophy as well as learning through Living Books. Um...we're Catholics, musical, and are MN sports fans. There is a great deal of homeschooling support in our area and many "successful" homeschooling families, so I feel very fortunate to have little such little opposition for our family's decisions. *Phew! Now that I got that out of the way I feel like less of a stalker. Seriously, I love this forum. On top of everything else, it's my go-to when I need a good book to read--there's always someone posting about some great novel they read ;) .

I'm new here and don't contribute often because *gulp* I don't have much to contribute! I want to homeschool, and I do homeschool, but since my dc are too young still to have to officially register with our district, I don't feel I'm quite legit ;-) . I read a lot of the threads and soak it all in. No advice to share yet ;-) . Anyway, reading through this thread, sometimes I feel like other than wanting the very best for my dc, that the reason I homeschool is because of fear. Is that a bad a reason? I'm afriad of teachers who don't have common sense, of students who tease and scandalize, and I fear an environment that will suffocate the creativity and imagination from my dc. I'm just really afriad of giving the school system a joint role in forming my children. Of course, I have visions of us learning much more than I ever did wasting time in PS, but all in all, I just have a lot of fear. How far will fear get me? Is it a good enough reason, or is that the "smothering mother" response? Ho hum.

This sounds like EXACTLY what I want to do. A little instruction, a little less structure, but a lot of learning! From my experience so far, at age four we're going to be ready to do *something* and can't push reading back any longer. An environment immersed in literacy and learning has produced a young boy who WANTS to learn! Again, I only plan on doing minutes a day. I can't imagine making my wiggle worm do much more. This system has worked well so far, as as soon as the ants get in his pants we're done for the day.

I know exactly what you're saying, and I really appreciate your perspective. I can't guarantee that I wouldn't fall into the category of forming expectations too early or getting irritated that my four year old is acting like a four year old instead of the age of the curriculum is set for, but I'm not a pushy parent. The reality is that I'm super busy and involved in our community and church, have an infant to care for, and a house that is way too big for me to maintain. I don't have the time to push, push, push. That said, I make read-alouds a priority, and DS loves to sit at the table with crayons and paper, making learning fun and natural at our house. My real intention with wanting to do something formal is that DS is always asking me questions about how things are spelled, what word something is, and then asking me to do dotted letters of our address, names, sentences (Happy Valentine's Day, I love you mom, etc.) so that he can trace them, read them, etc. Everything is so "muddled," which is why I describe myself as flying by the seat of my pants, and there is no cohesion between what he's learning from day to day. I only want a bit more structure so that he can apply what he's learning to his natural development and curiosity. I really, honestly have no intention to push him faster than he's willing to go. For better or worse, both DH and I are hard-working, driven people who value education to an extreme (sound familiar?) but we both have enough sense to understand that flashcards and drills mean absolutely nothing without the richness of experience that creative play and hours of read alouds provide. I'm willing to argue even that tower building, track tracks and puzzles are more educationally enriching than book work at this age, but from where DS is right now, I absolutely want to follow his lead, I just want to make the path a bit straighter.

How was HOP K? Did you need to do both Explode the Code and HOP? Did you use supplemental readers. Is DD reading after HOPK? Sorry so many questions...but I haven't actually had Explode the Code or HOP physically to look through, so I'm really curious.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! You have all been SUPER helpful. I find that the only reason that I hesitate to do a formal curriculum is because many Hs'ers discourage it b/c "we have so much time." I understand this point and wouldn't push my four year old to do school work, but when I say "formal curriculum" I just mean that I don't want to fly by the seat of my pants for the next three years! Also, I don't see us doing anything more formal than an hour of work a day, maybe less, and definitely divided into two or three sections of time. I went back and read parts of TWTM last night and it seems that what I *want* to do (reading readiness, school preparation, taking advantage of a child's love for information) is very in tune with Classical Education, no? I am eager to teach, and DS is eager to learn, I just want some structure to help me out, so that I'm not leaving anything out. I think we're going to go for it :) .

I have planned on HSing DS from birth, so while I definitely have the "bug" to start, I've really taken a laid back WTM approach and have instead immersed our home life in literacy and learning. The result has been a very bright little guy! He'll be just over 4 in the fall, and while I keep getting the warnings to *stop* and avoid any set curriculum, he really needs something to keep his mind going. He's quite close to reading, loves to do worksheets, easily does 100+ jigsaw puzzles, and has a great vocabulary. My plan (when he is ready) is to start with the 3R's, specifically Right Start and Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading. We'll also read a lot of dinosaur books :) . My question is that I don't know WHEN to start the curriculum. I look at preschool curriculums and I'm totally unimpressed and know that DS will be bored out of his mind, and yet when I look at the scope and sequence for the K curriculum I like, midway through the year it seems that concepts will be too difficult for DS to grasp developmentally. I'm really not in a hurry to start him, and even if we did start a K curriculum at 4 I wouldn't mind if it took two years to get through, I just know that I'll bore DS to tears if we have have PreK year of tracing letters and one-to-one correspondence.

This is my FIRST post on TWTM! After spending hours in past months stalking the site pouring over all of this wonderful information, I need to ask a question specific to my situation. My 3.5 old boy is ALL boy. He's bright, but busy. Super busy. He can read handfuls of words, knows all letter sounds, etc. and watches Leap Frog Talking Words Factory. My dilemma is that if I let him get bored he gets naughty, so I try to teach him, and we've so far done no curriculum other than picture books and the magna doodle. The problem is that with the attention span of a fruit fly, after three minutes of learning he's off again, uninterested. He likes being read to, and I make sure to sit down with him and read, but I have other children to care for (and teach!!) so I can't drop everything and read to him just because he's the most demanding. :glare: I'm really tempted to start a reading curriculum with him that is 1. Engaging 2. Has Quick Lessons 3. Has a minimal writing component. He shows all the signs of reading readiness, and yet, he's soooo developmentally three, so it needs to be interesting, colorful and quick. Thank you!!