I do not teach it. Nobody around here has one at all. I have briefly touched of course on how to find books in the library (the shelving systems, numbers). I need to go more in depth about the online catalog, how to use it, what all the abbreviations mean. Good reminder to me to do that.

I'm with you. I love how much they carry. I hate their shipping. And if something is backordered, they hold your order for however many business days and then days on that to get the rest of your order together, plus the actual shipping time .... yeah, not impressed, but I'm spoiled too by Amazon. I really really want to shop RR more - independent, good prices, so many choices. But that shipping during some times of the year is a deal breaker for me.

To be very honest, I'm not entirely sure. I know I did not receive varicella or any hepatitis shots. I was moved around a lot (divorced parents, shuffled from relative to relative some), so my medical/dental/vaccines were somewhat spotty and I don't have the record. As an adult I have gotten the flu shot once or twice but not routinely or recently. I have received tetanus in whatever combo it comes as now. I never had chickenpox so eventually need to have a titer drawn again (in pregnancy it showed not immune) and may very well get the vaccine as I'm terrified of getting that while pregnant or just a bad case as an adult.

Behind Rebel Lines by Seymour Reit Abraham Lincoln by D'Aulaire I found the "If you Lived ..." series for the Civil War/Underground railroad to be on the dull side. The kids were so-so on them. We have read other ones we liked better of that series. This is a picture book but I thought it was beautiful, and both my boys liked it (9 and 6). It is religious but about her being religious not preachy religious. Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom

I would be iffy personally. If the fit was right with no danger of her top falling down I suppose, and if the daughter felt confident wearing it.

$4.19/gal here and I hear their are going up this weekend. Southern California.

We are one of the oddballs who don't drive our sitter, but I do pay her $15-20/hour and book at least a week or two in advance. For those prices for a homeschooled teen, she makes very good money as it is daytime hours besides, leaving her those prime evening hours for more babysitting. :D She watches them sometimes even when I'm home for a break so is not primary. Or some of them for a medical appointment for the others.

The parents of the sitter, but I make that clear on hiring that I won't be able to do much transporting of the sitter. I have 4 kids ranging from 9 to 1. When I hire a sitter it is because DH cannot watch them for whatever it is so picking up or returning a sitter would require packing up all the kids also back and forth.

I'm thinking so but will know more Monday. I know the partial hospitalization program has parents go in some number of days in the evenings as well. Knowing my DH that will be me and not him at all, but there is indeed something for families at least. I'm crossing my fingers it is not only support but some techniques and helps that I can use in the household to really make a difference, in conjunction with what he is of course working on in his behavioral therapy. The partial hospitalization program includes the social worker I have already talked to, psychologists, psychiatrist, OT and other therapies and a teacher who will teach the kids 2-1/2 hours a day from the PS system while they are hospitalized. They already know we homeschool which they did not know what to do with but that is what it is.

Just an update - He goes Monday for pre-admission evaluation. DH isn't responding at all to whether he can watch the other kids, just "too busy" at work to deal with this whole problem at this point. :001_huh: I'm going to get there somehow, some way. I'm worried too, but sticking my head in the sand and avoiding it won't get him the help he needs. It will be decided after eval whether inpatient or outpatient is more appropriate. I'm praying, praying this is what he needs and won't make any of our existing problems any darn worse.

This is very true. Even if the kids wanted to do more lapbooking, I think *I* could only handle a lapbook every month at the very most, even simpler ones. We too notebook as well. That is a great alternative to full on lapbooks. They still get the pictures/visual, cutting, gluing, coloring and a little writing, but not so overwhelming. In our home a lapbooking session for my 6yo 1st grader may be 20-45 minutes even for his one activity (keep in mind he struggles fine motor). A notebooking page on the other hand takes him probably 10-30 minutes, less cuts, less hard angles to cut out, less glue that needs 24 hours to dry because he used half a bottle on one cutout. :D

She did a BEAUTIFUL job. Wow, wow. So nice. :)

That Beavers thing was a packaged one from Hands of a Child. I often do the packaged ones, collecting them up when they go on sale at Currclick or wherever. I rarely do ones from scratch - too much prep for this mama unless it is something that just doesn't seem to exist. My DC all like them (ages 9, 6 and 4). I only had them cut what is needed for the day. I use workboxes anyway so I put all the supplies in their box for the day (instructions, cutouts, anything we are reading along with it). They do their piece for the day (readings, coloring, cutting, glueing, all of that piece), then put everything back into the workbox until the next day.

A few weeks as we only did one cutout/activity per day. We read about the teeth for instance and did the teeth cutout one day, then about the homes and did the home craft.

I blogged today with pictures of a lapbook from my 1st grader: http://tmlf.blogspot.com/2012/02/lapbooking-with-first-grader.html Hope others will share as well!

:bigear: I do have a 1st grader who does lapbooks. I'll snap some photos later if I get a chance, but don't often blog those. He is fine motor challenged, so his are .... interesting. I don't believe in doing it for him, so these are truly his own.

As of lesson 76, most of the time. There were a few lessons where the first one was drawn and they had to draw the next ones, but they were in the same format, so I don't feel it was challenging at all.

I don't text at all while driving. I do use the GPS/maps on my phone. And a police officer screamed at me from across the intersection on his speaker system of his car to "get off my phone." :confused: It wasn't at my ear obviously and I was checking my driving directions while stopped at the stop light. :001_huh:

I found FLL4 quite a step up in the pacing with my DS. More complex diagramming and terms are learned at a pretty brisk pace now (we are at lesson 76 in FLL4). He has been diagramming compound subjects and predicates, conjunctions with comma and semicolon joining for compound sentences. FLL3 for us seemed to be constant review (definition of a noun seemed to be drilled every week from FLL1 through FLL3!!), but I have been more pleased with FLL4. It seems IMHO to be gearing up from its very gentle pacing to what is going to be required in middle school/logic stage.

I have an ADHD/bipolar son. People already mentioned good books. We avoided meds for quite a while. My personal change came about because my son could not achieve and keep friendships. How is your DD's social functioning? If you think meds could help her there, I personally would do it. I watched what it did to my son to have his disorder ruin friendship after friendship (he is hyperactive type). There are so many good things you can do academically to help an ADHD child succeed. Mine is hyperactive, so if yours isn't my advice may not apply. We use a lot of exercise, short lessons, rewards. If you don't want meds, there are a lot of books out there to address supplements to try, elimination diets, other methods. I did take my son to a naturopath and for acupressure first to try, along with diet and supplements. They, unfortunately, did not have enough of an impact, but I will say I think any approach needs to be multifaceted. For my own son, I realized that he needed medication to calm enough to learn and react. He was so incredibly hyper and impulsive that he could not see and respond to other's social cues at all. Medication simply brought him to nearer to "normal" to then start the process of learning. Medication did not "cure" him, just allowed him to better be able to learn and respond to stimuli in a more normal way. We then had to do the behavioral therapy/training other kids already had done from toddlerhood onward.

No but if they are close to my house I tell them where the local service agency is (very close). There they can get linked into resources with a social worker. I used to volunteer there. They also give out homeless kits (food with pop tops, soap, toothbrushes, razors, etc). And I do my donations to that agency.

15-30 min a day. I'm reading through on the schedule in the Motivated Moms app. Plus the readings on Sunday in mass, but I do the 15-30 min myself at night.

The goal would be medication optimization as well as behavioral therapy with him and also family therapy to give us more techniques. I got the call back from the social worker and actually the partial outpatient program won't take him because of his rages and wants inpatient intensive followed by outpatient. I'm okay with whatever will help him. My husband hates me right now pretty much. I'm okay with that too. This mama bear wants her son all he can possibly be, and right now he is pretty miserable as well as causing misery for others.

Thanks to you both. Yes, he has been on Risperdal in the past but with not as great of a result as we have had with Trileptal. He also takes Tenex for hyperactivity and impulsivity and a stimulant (old one, dextroamphetamine) for ADHD. We went him to a research university for full workup between this psychiatrist and the last. They didn't feel Aspergers or autism. They did a lot of testing I know but I wasn't in the room the whole time. They used all kinds of computerized tests of attention, emotional results to situations, interaction with the clinician, etc. So I'm relatively confident on ADHD, but of course things can be mixed so much that who really knows.

Thanks for the info. I called them today. Now I just have to deal with an angry husband and MIL that I'm doing this. Yes, he takes Trileptal for rages/possible bipolar. He has for about a year, and the rages seem a little bit less intense at least. DH insists his meds are the reason he has no conscious/ethics. Could this be true? I'm doubtful. DH feels the meds dull his affect and thus he doesn't feel anything and shows lack of consideration of others, is cruel, lies to get himself off the hook and others in trouble. I see no research showing this could be the case. Anyone have links that I'm wrong?