All of mine napped until they were almost 4 yrs old. My current 4 yr old still occasionally gets a nap. I think it's likely that most kids would benefit from a nap until they are about 4 or so. However, not all kids fit into that mold. I think it also depends on what's going on with older siblings. My DS just wants to play with them instead of taking a nap. If I had a quiet time for everyone, he would probably still nap every day.

This week it's mainly just pics of the kids having summer fun..... Barefoot in the Park

My DS will be 6 yrs old tomorrow, and he still has this problem. It's partly because he doesn't particularly care about it, but mostly it's because he has constipation issues. I recently put him back on miralax and spoke with his doctor today about it.

I found out about them years ago from my sister-in-law. She has two adopted girls from China.

:grouphug: I feel your pain. We do soccer and basketball here, and the practices are always 5:30 or later. (Although, the Hoopsters class at the YMCA for my 6 yr old has a 4:30 class. We're all over that!) We have purposely chosen leagues that play games on Saturday rather than during the week. I don't mind giving a Saturday morning to games, but those weeknight evenings can be hectic with four children. We don't want practices AND games during the week, especially when more than one child is playing. I can't stand being on the go all the time. This coming fall we'll have three playing soccer. I really hope the practices will be streamlined.

:lurk5:

For kids that age, I would recommend Judy Roger's Go to the Ant.

In the past six months: The Soul of Science: Christian Faith and Natural Philosphy Courage and Conviction: Chronicles of the Reformation Church Crime and Punishment A Study in Scarlet The Sign of the Four The Hound of the Baskervilles The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (I obviously had Sherlock tunnel vision for a while.) Don Quixote (finished it...I plodded through it over the course of a year) Gulliver's Travels Feminine Threads: Women in the Tapestry of Church History Currently, I'm reading Oliver Twist. As far as what I plan to read, I'm working through the novels list in The Well-Educated Mind. I also want to be reading a non-fiction book at the same time. I'm currently waiting on my copy of Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy.

My DD hasn't wet the bed since she was 3 years old. MY DS, who's almost 6, wets the bed every night. It is not helpful to compare your kids. Strangely, my DS didn't wet the bed at all for 6 months, from the time he was 3.5 until he was 4. At age 4 he gave up his naps, and then the bedwetting began and hasn't stopped. It drove me crazy. He would even wet his pants during any occasional naps he might happen to take. I even had him tested for diabetes (negative). I eventually decided to get over it. We switched to GoodNites pullups and rarely have a problem with leakage unless he drinks a lot of water before going to bed. My 4 yr old DS also wets the bed. As a matter of fact, a couple of weeks ago he fell asleep in my lap. During the 20 minutes he was sleeping, he peed all over me. I had to wake him up. He was clueless..... I'm not going to stress about it.... I would put her in a different pullup and then maybe start looking into some of the suggestions mentioned in this thread. Above all, be patient and by no means be angry with her.

You'll be fine with ETC 1, although the writing may be too much. Since my oldest two were young when they started the ETC series, I only had them do a little of the writing. My 6 yr old is on book 5, and I usually tell him to "pick 3 to write" on the pages that ask them to write the words.

I chug through everything. And now since I'm about to add a 1st grader to the mix, I'll chug through the exact same stuff with him, and Lord willing, I'll do the same for my youngest two. I'm about to go through Sonlight's p4/5 core for the third time. I put a lot of research into our curriculum choices, and thankfully everything has worked out so far. I would only consider switching a curriculum if it wasn't getting the job done or if it was causing undue frustration. I, personally, would never change curriculum just because I was bored with it. Not only do I want consistency, but curriculum hopping increases the chances of information falling through the cracks.

Take a look at Harmony Fine Arts for 2nd grade.

No, we wouldn't. We don't do handheld gaming systems either, if that matters....

Unlike the Kindle Keyboard, the Kindle Touch doesn't do screen rotation, which is a feature you may want to have for reading pdfs.

Barefoot in the Park

I would go by word of mouth and recommendations from people you know. How are their children progressing? Do they enjoy their lessons? Does the teacher give them a practice routine? Does the teacher place importance on learning their notes? Is the teacher patient? Does the teacher try to challenge them a bit? How are the recitals/performances? The bottom line is that a top-notch classical pianist does not automatically make a top-notch teacher.

We're starting CLE Reading next year to cover these holes.

Albert Mohler published an article today on this very issue. He is, of course, not Catholic, but he is sympathetic to the reasoning behind the Catholic position, even though he doesn't agree with it.

In short, practice is hard work--reward him for it. I think it also helps to have a set time for practice, preferably first thing in the morning if possible.

We have 3 bedrooms and 4 children. The oldest two share a room (bunkbeds), and the younger two share a room (toddler bed and crib). Sometime next year we will probably regroup into boys and girls.

I voted 8:30-9:00, but sometimes the kids are in bed by 8:00. Usually it's closer to 8:30....

Last year when my DD was taking the Woodcock-Johnson, I was sitting at the table while the administrator was doing the testing. On one math section, she was supposed to keep working until she didn't know how to do the math. Well, she stopped long before she should have and said, "I don't know how to do this." Yes, I wanted to jump across the table, but I just sat there. She scored "average" on that part of the test. Now this year I told her beforehand that she had better work until she saw something that looked Greek to her! Needless to say, she had great improvements in her math score this year.

We're done with school, but I wrote about what we've been up to. Barefoot in the Park

We use R&S Math and love it! However, I agree that it is lacking in the conceptual area, so we supplement with Singapore. My oldest works almost a grade level ahead in R&S and at grade level with Singapore. When we got to multiplication in R&S, I actually stopped using it for a few weeks and went with strictly Singapore to thoroughly cover the concept of multiplication & division. I'm sure other conceptual programs would help you do the same thing. I wonder if there aren't some Kahn Academy videos that you would find helpful?

Love it!