Before starting a drawing program, I would focus on hand strengthening. - Playdoh EVERY SINGLE DAY. (One of my kids' favs is finding stuff I have hidden in there - marbles, buttons, etc.) - Cutting is another great strengthening activity - be sure to show him how to do it properly. Thumb "high to the sky", and other than opening & closing the scissors, the hand with the scissors in it should stay still. The other hand should be moving the paper to the appropriate place in the scissors, not the scissors moving around the paper. - Legos - tearing paper - squirt bottles or water guns - tongs, tweezers, holepunches, clothespins, etc.

Any baptized Christian is welcome to take communion in the Episcopal church.

I sort of understand the difference, thanks for explaining. I am naturally mathy, and mental math strategies are something that I came up with as a child. I assumed everyone did that, until it started being discussed on this forum and I asked my DH, and he acted like I was crazy when I started describing some of my shortcuts. My brain is tired from trying to follow you intellectual types! Would I be a total loser to just throw my hands up on really understanding what makes different programs better or worse, and follow the leaders' curriculum choices (as I know they have fully researched & tried out all this stuff)? :) At the moment, we have RS & Miquon going, and MEP every now and then. I think I am giving up on reading every math thread and trying to wrap my brain around it all, and just moving forward using the curriculum as intended and calling it good enough!

Can you expand on this thought?

Episcopal! You aren't just "allowed", you are encouraged to wrestle with issues and figure it out for yourself. Warning - it is a great church to really work and grow, and you have room for a lot of growth in a way that is harder in some of the other denominations, but it is also very easy to just sit and warm the pew if you prefer. Nobody will call you out if you miss a few Sundays, or look down on you if you admit that you don't "do" Bible studies. They just aren't into guilt in that way. If you need that kind of accountability, you may not get as much out of that type of environment.

I really like the schedules that are in the FIRST edition, even though SWB didn't want to put them in! The black & white nitty gritty details helped me to "get it" - it gave me a framework to set up my daily schedule. I'm not sure I could have really wrapped my head around the whole homeschooling thing without that. The THIRD edition has the most recent curricula recommendations, and more details about writing.

At newly-turned 3, my youngest decided she wanted to learn to write. Everyone told me it was developmentally inappropriate, and told me just to let her play with it, and so I did. She figured out on her own how to make all her letters. Unfortunately, though, they were approximations. A capital R looked like a bird - a circle with legs, and so on. *I* knew what they were, but no one else did. Then, once she knew how to do them her way, she saw no need to learn them the correct way and has bucked me every step of the way. This child is now 5, and I am STILL fighting to get her to make her letters correctly. Doing it again, I would get the Handwriting without Tears preschool stuff, and teach her from that starting as soon as she asked. It would have saved both of us a LOT of heartache!

To start, FORGET the other books. Pull out your kid's orange book (or better yet your own copy), and the Lab Annotations. Look at the bottom of the Orange book page A-1 for the page reference in the Lab Annotations book. Flip to that page in Lab Annotations. Read the instructions for worksheet A-1, and write the instructions in a bullet list on the top of page A-1. Do the first 10 or so pages - copy instructions from Lab Annotations book to the Orange book. Work the pages using C-rods. THEN, and only then, go read First Grade Diary. If you don't play with the rods some first, First Grade Diary is just overwhelming!

I know this is old, but thought for anyone else like me who is investigating writing options and was concerned about the flipping I'd post. When I grew up, my mom had us go through workbooks every summer to be sure we didn't forget everything. After she checked a page, she would fold the bottom right corner up toward the top left corner, aligning what was originally the right side with the left side (sort of like dogearing a page, but a really big triangle instead of a little one). Then for the next page, she would do the opposite - top right corner folded down toward the bottom left. Made it very easy to find your place, and it looked nice & neat. You could easily do the same with a top-bound workbook, folding bottom right up, then for the next page folding bottom left up toward the top right.

Nesting gift boxes - easy to use, easy to save, store & use the following year! These aren't the cutest I've ever seen, but you get the idea! http://www.dollartree.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=315144

I couldn't make huge quantities of reading aloud time when I was picturing me and the children snuggled up on the sofa for several hours a day. Children gazing up at me adoringly, etc. etc. That just wasn't realistic for my kids. They are BUSY, and WIGGLY. It's all about choosing the time when you have a captive audience. Now, I do non-history readalouds while they eat meals. If I don't get it done then, I do it while they are in the tub. I know it sounds nuts, but it works for us. History reading is short & sweet, after "recess", and they have playdough while I am reading. That's a good hand warmup before handwriting! But seriously, the history is like 5 minutes, not much more!

I'm not expert, but here's what I can tell you. Yes, it is definitely worth it. Prevents dry turkey - the whole cooking business is a lot less tricky when the meat is guarateed moist! Just skip the stuff you can't find. Truly, the kosher salt & liquid are the only vital things. Every year, I just empty the bottom drawer of my fridge & clean really well, and just brine in that. Put the turkey in first, pour the brine on top, then jiggle/"burp" the turkey to get the liquid in the middle. 8 hours is for a smaller bird - 24 hours is for one of those mongo big ones.

I HATE the tile in our kitchen. It is hard on the feet, and cold, and the grout is hard to keep clean, and when you drop things, they shatter. We had hardwood in our last kitchen, and it was awesome! I could stand on it barefoot for hours and my feet didn't get tired, and it was so easy to keep clean, and glasses literally bounced when they got dropped. We bought that laminate that looks like hardwood for the family room in our old house. In Lowe's, it looked just like real hardwood, but for some reason didn't look as nice at home. Hated that too. It just felt.... cheap isn't quite the word I'm looking for. Plasticy maybe? Just felt wrong under the feet. Also, it scratched easily. Didn't look nice for long at all. I wished we had just invested in the real thing.

From my friend: My name is CR Weathers and i have worked with trafficked children abroad thru http://www.facebook.com/l/_AQE5ESdSAQFXJ5YHnSB9fbjI9uEAK1vppNUv-lNUl8R47g/www.stopthetraffik.org/language.aspx I heard about this book from a seminar on domestic trafficking here in the USA held this past weekend in Louisville at http://www.facebook.com/l/6AQGMJtK8AQHkHuiZgzC9KLI738OB8BDl7F2biJaTvVY5Fw/www.medicalmissions.com/. The particular session was on how much more wide spread trafficking is becoming here and how general social workers and medical personnel [who are the ones in the hospitals and clinics when young trafficked prostitutes are brought in pregnant or with STDs etc] can recognize pimps. Large portions of this book were quoted as an example of training material for pimps. It was very explicit and disgusting. One thing i have learned from this [WTM] website and Susan is that Amazon reviews are far from accurate and after having read 'enough' of this book would disagree with the reviews that it is just a 'look' at 'behavior'. It doesn't describe how pimps act in a removed/ intellectual manner. It TELLS them what to do to make a woman or child serve them and sell themselves FOR them. My letter to Amazon is not dependent on if anyone agrees. I have seen enough child slaves in person to know I don't want to associate with a company that has anything remotely like this. OF COURSE other companies do similar things. That doesn't mean i sit on my hands and do nothing. or just keep sending them my money. When i was in highschool the 'grunge' era began where it was 'cool' to be critical / find fault with EVERYTHING while offering no real solution. I resolved not to JUST find fault/ tear down unless i could ALSO offer a positive idea. Mere opinion: I think people who mostly critique others little efforts at shedding light on dark things should go DO justice. Not just snuff out the little lights that are burning. My last home office window looked out on several caged verandahs. In several i would daily see little girls who were house slaves and NEVER allowed to leave the homes they worked in. They would never be given education or pay, most are sexually abused, and they get meager food and ample beatings. [see research by Thérèse Blanchet on Bangladesh] With encouragement we were able to start a small center for girls like them who were tricked/ lured, trafficked [in the SAME ways explained in "Pimpology"] and then used in the brothels of the country. Some people in the USA (people who were NOT friends of the poor or SEEing oppression daily) said "What can you do?? Provide some LITTLE relief?? Then what they are back on the street!?" Why do people talk that way?? What huge, societal change has EVER happened all at once?? As if everyone just woke up one day in colonial England and said 'you know what? That William Wilberforce is RIGHT - let's go end ALL slavery TODAY!' No. That is not how large scale evil if gotten rid of. Thankfully others had faith to say "Start! Start what you can, where you can." And so we did. And now many have been helped, we added skills training so they can leave prostitution and have a job. And now their blankets have even been picked up and are being sold here! http://www.facebook.com/l/IAQGFrjHnAQHwLnoPJP2kBhSU5dhBh9EgwGqSxZpPiiT_Fw/www.handandcloth.org/ So moan about how little difference my letter makes. Support Amazon if you feel so led. If I KNOW they are helping share information on how to take power over women and children I will write them and say 'no thanks' on their services. The price of their convenience is too high for me. I will light my small candle. And I will use the gift of NOT being voiceless to speak for those without a voice.

Definitely. My kids are working on the same material, but one is lightening fast to come up with any answer in any subject, one is normal, and one is slow as molasses. I think that if I didn't make them raise their hands before answering, only one kid would ever answer and the others would quit paying attention!

And how many editions! I know SWB wasn't happy about putting the schedules in, but it really helped me in that it gave me a concrete starting point. So I have the 1st & the 3rd, and have read both multiple times!

I have to imagine that is what happened with my mom, given that she is called dyslexic, but has the exact same issues that my kids do, and their therapy seems to be helping them. Makes me think my kids would eventually be called dyslexic if we didn't do this therapy.

There is no reason for a typical child to do VT, and I can't see that it would do much. I have seen huge differences though in my kids, but their conditions are included in the list that has proven.

My mom has dyslexia (not formally diagnosed, so she may have other issues that just show up in a similar way). I have 4 kids. For 2 of them, it was VERY clear VERY early that they had vision issues. - Consistently coloring out of the lines by equal amount all the way around. (So it looked almost like a really thick border around the black line.) - Tripping everytime they came to a change in flooring, like where carpet meets hardwood. - Mastering stairs was a nightmare as they constantly misjudged where the edge of the step was. I could name 15 more things if I wasn't hurrying! As the issues they have are genetic (looks JUST like some of my mom's problems), we went ahead & had the other 2 tested just to check. After working with Elise for maybe 45 minutes, he told me that he would go ahead and finish his testing, but that she was doing better than average on every single measure, so she would definitely not be needing VT. Meredith scored below average in the same areas that the two in VT were struggling with, though not nearly as low as they did. The doctor was on the line as to whether she needed therapy or not. He ended up recommending that she participate in all the VT homework with the other two, and that she be retested in 6 months. All 4 of these kids have been seen by a highly-respected opthamologist every 6 months for several years. (I knew something was wrong with the 2, and might as well get all 4 checked if you are going.) The opthamologist patched one, and put the two in glasses, and basically said that was all she could do. We found that they were able to focus for short periods of time to get through her eyetest, but that wasn't a reflection of what they actually see most of the time. They can't hold that focus. Of the two in VT, one has made amazing progress. He went from falling down the stairs several times a day to now maybe once a week. (It was such a problem that I have bean bags that live at the bottom of my stairs even though he wasn't supposed to go up and down without holding my hand b/c he did it all the time anyway!) He has also gone from non-reading at all to reading everything with very very little instruction. (I did tons of instruction before starting VT, and then was told to put it on hold, so I guess what I did previously is "taking".) My daughter has also started reading, though not as proficiently as my son. I can see definite improvements in her (coloring & handwriting). But the differences aren't nearly as obvious as they are in my son. The third child who may or may not be getting VT is not reading at all. The fourth child who has great vision & has had a lot less reading instruction & is 17 months younger is reading CVC words plus a few more. Much better than child #3.

My friend has actually seen it, and she said that the primary point of the book was how to gain mind control/ powerful influence over others, specifically women & children. It is explained from the point of view of a pimp, though apparently he does try to give examples of how these principles could be applied to other situations. I do not think my title is misleading based on my conversations with my friend.

Copied from a good friend's Facebook post. I am horrified that not just this, but several similar books are being sold. I love Amazon.com, and spend a lot of money there, but will be looking elsewhere for Christmas this year. Will you help by contacting Amazon.com, posting this on your Facebook page, and telling your friends? If they get enough complaints, they will probably pull it. ---------------------------------------------- Dear Amazon, I am a big fan of the convenience of your store and normally use your site a lot around the holidays. ... Today I, as a fan of your site, a mother and a consumer with a voice, am writing you to ask you to remove "Pimpology" by Pimpin' Ken from your website. It is definitely Ken's 'right' to write such things but it is unnecessary for you to sell such a book that details how to coerce, subdue and OWN another human being. It encourages grotesque, unlawful behavior and your average consumer has NO desire to support your company in disseminating such information. Are you aware of the rising problem of child and human trafficking in this country?? Are you aware how much of human trafficking is DOMESTIC?? ie. little AMERICAN girls being subdued AS THIS BOOK DESCRIBES and sold and traded around the United States. In an age when Bill Gates and Bono are our general heroes your philanthropy isn't exactly shining. I almost left your site for good after the disgusting fiasco last year surrounding "The Pedophile's Guide..." that brought about national outrage and MUCH negative PR. I was hoping that was an isolated case, a misstep in judgment, but apparently supporting and giving voice to modern day slave traders is your 'normal'. I am unwilling to be part of a 'new' normal where a company I support allows people to share how to brutalize, hurt, and traffic women and children. Until this book is removed and policy corrected at your company to stop selling such unlawful, pro-slavery books and information you will not have any more of our business. With Conviction, Name

THANKS!!

Thanks so much for all the book suggestions - I'm off to Amazon!!!

I have 4 kids total - 2 in VT, one on the VT waiting list. This is the 4th child - she has been thoroughly tested by the VT doctor (as the issues the other 3 have are genetic and we needed to check her just to be safe). Her scores were above average in every single area. Above all her older siblings' in most cases! So that's not it. This kid is just my drama queen - classic baby of the family, times about a thousand. Doesn't seem to matter how much love & attention she gets, she always needs MORE.

Core Knowledge - click on each grade for details http://books.coreknowledge.org/home.php?cat=329