I'm trying to decide between Saxon Math and MathUSee for my kids. They're going into K and Grade 1 - I'd like to teach them both at the same level, and sicne they're both mathy I think I'd like to cover K fairly quickly with both of them to make sure they've got the basics down, and then do Grade 1 in the latter part of the year. Since MUS is a video-based program, can you even fast-track it like that? Having never used either of these programs, I have no real diea of what I'm be facing for the year with either one. Could you run through the pros & cons of them for me to help me make my choice?

Yes. We have Costco, Price Club (an earlier division of Costco, but teh stores didn't change their name), and one other whose name I forget. We used to ahve Sam's Club, but about a year ago they shut down all of the Sam's Club in Canada with NO notice. As in, "It's 5 o'clock. Don't come into work tomorrow, because the chain is shutting down. Right now." The employees were NOT amused. Neither was I - Sam's Club rocked!

I think she might be on to something, but certainly not at the expense of h/s. Any regular social situation (such as summer camp, regular groups) would have the same benefit. Do you guys currently do a lot of things with a homeschool group? If that's not enough summer camp is a great idea. Whatever you choose to do, if you choose to do anything, I'd make sure you find out what her behaviour was like every day (and encourage her leaders to be open with you about it), so that if it doesn't help or turns into another art camp you can pull her before it gets bad.

Is there a really new second one out, or are we talking about the one from 2005/2006? If the Man with the Yellow Hat ever had a REAL child, I'd call CPS on his butt so fast his head would spin. Seriously, who leaves a monkey with the mentality of a 3 year old alone to walk the streets of New York City and/or manage an apartment complex? He'll fit nicely into the padded cell I've set aside for Max & Ruby's non-existent parents... ;) Note - I have no real problem with the show (it IS just a cartoon and my kids love it), I just find myself rolling my eyes every time I hear the phrase "be a good little monkey" as he leaves. Riiiiiiight. Good luck with that.

I'd wear it - but since you're family and may be in pictures, I'd give the bride (or your brother, though he might not understand the fashion aspect of it all) a quick call and say, "I had trouble finding the right dress, and I finally found something that's PERFECT - bit it's only in black with some silver accents. I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea, so I thought I'd call you first to make sure that you don't get the wrong idea!" Odds are she won't even care and will laugh it off with an, "Of course! I wouldn't even have noticed it, you didn't have to ask!", but it's way safer than taking a chance on her seeing your dress and coming to a different conclusion or being silently upset.

Just curious as to what happened on Monday?

Whine away! But to us, never them. ;)

I went to public school. There were some morality issues with the teachers (known affairs, one teacher who was a little too friendly with the cute girls, etc), but I can honestly say that there were NO teachers that were horrible. The worst I can report was the history teacher (the one who was too friendly with the cute girls and liked to leave an extra shirt button undone) who basically only read the textbook and wasn't particularly insightful into the context of history outside of the time period he was paid to teach, etc. He just wasn't "into it". That's just my experience, though - I'm sure there are bad teachers out there. However, from the friends I know who have become teachers, getting into teacher's college isn't easy, and getting THROUGH it is even harder. It's not as simple as in the US. Looking at what my American friends were learning in the same grades, especially in high school, I think we were definitely ahead. Everything I learned for the first year of post-secondary education was a repeat of my last year of high school. Unfortunately, that gave me a skewed idea of how easy it would be to finish my degree.

Me, too! SO much cheaper than going to the gym for years to work it off.

Mine. They understand why I (plan to) do it, but they think it's a bad idea (though they have no better solution for the problems that have led us to this choice). My brother is especially adamant that we shouldn't be doing this and will screw them up for life, but he don't talk about it anymore.

Frankly, I don't understand where people are coming from here. WHY should she do this? She TOLD her daughter she couldn't do this, and now the daughter is having a temper tantrum that she won't change her mind. She has two other perfectly acceptable options - pay for a sitter, at no cost to herself, or get the father (who WANTS to be with the baby) to care for him. She won't do these because (a) she doesn't want to do the work of finding a sitter who will work the hours she needs, and (b) she's being spiteful. She doesn't NEED her mother's help - if she did, she would have gone to day school as requested. It sounds like the daughter's not even grateful for it - she's plainly taking advantage of her. Why should a grandmother sacrifice the well-being of her own family unit to allow her daughter to continue to behave like this? In addition to that, the daughter is doing what she can to disobey a court order by jumping through a loophole, and dragging her parents through with her. OP, you are NOT wrong, and you should NOT feel guilty. At all. Honestly, the fact that she is somehow managing to make you feel guilty for not allowing her to treat you like a doormat makes me wonder if she's been manipulating people into getting her way for a loooong time.

You're not wrong. This will, however, make her life more difficult, and it sounds like she's having a bit of a tantrum about it. To be fair, I know that I can get a little tantrum-y when life throws me a curveball, too, so not judging over that. Realistically - she's a newly single mom who's just gotten through what sounds like a bad split, she's going back to school to try to make life better for her & her son, she's likely REALLY short on time and money, and now she's being told that she has to find and pay for a sitter. In reality, she's also probably coming face to face with the fact that she's been taking advantage of you these past few months and that your family has been having a tough time dealing with watching her child, and is trying to deal with a little bit of guilt by lashing out. I'm not saying she SHOULD feel guilty, but she's probably angry at what she perceives is you trying to make her feel guilty, and then angry at herself for the short time she's willing to consider the possibility that she really HAS been using you. Your choice is absolutely the right one. Your daughter is an adult, and it's your responsibility to raise the children you have at home and do what's best for your family. She does need to make this change - but it WILL be a hard one for her, and I'm sure you can see why it's so difficult and why she may lash out about it. I would just talk to her and tell her that you're not angry about having to watch him so far and that you're proud of her for doing what needs to be done for herself and her son, so that she no longer feels like she's being "judged" or worries about guilt. Make it clear that you're doing this because you simply can't care for everyone indefinitely like this, and offer any other help you can, like finding a good caregiver, etc.

My son is 5 and quite mathy. He'll do things like that. To be fair, he's in SK at a private school right now and is the most advanced in his class math-wise, so I'd say that it's definitely a good thing.

I vote not burned, just crispy. ;) All English muffins that are toasted come out that way - at least all that I've encountered!

You need to file a police report and give them the evidence (ie, the plate photo). You can mention his address and that he's lying to his insurance company, and they'll track down the details on their own and determine his claim to be fraudulent. The insurance companies can NOT argue with the police, and it sounds like right now, since his company doesn't want to pay, they're making it into a case of your word vs. his. They will do their best NOT to pay out, and the only way to force the issue is to file a police report. It's really quite standard. I used to work in insurance (albeit in Canada, so it may be slightly different), and about 95% of claims were accompanied by police reports. If they weren't, we recommended the person get one, in case the other person in the accident decided to change their story. It's easy, they'll do the legwork for you, and the insurance companies can't argue with them.

It's a woodstove. It's likely in the basement. In homes with central heating, the basement is often cooler than the rest of the home, so the woodstove can be used as a little extra heat for the basement. With where you live though, it's not like you're cranking the furnace year-round, ;) Honestly, for most the year it could probably do ALL of the heating for your home with that woodstove, and not have heating bills. BIG bonus, imho.

Well, I bet you know my opinion! ;) I say go for it. You can't buy acreage like that with a huge house for an afforable price, but you CAN remodel/add on to an older home - and when you're done, it'll have more character than a brand new home in a subdivision. As a point of interest, if you want you can take a look at the pictures of our renos on FB. We added 900 sq ft, and hired someone to do the framing but did the rest (drywalling, mudding, painting, etc) ourselves. It's taking a loooong time, but since we don't NEED the space yet, we're in no hurry, so there's no stress. We've added a large living room, a new bathroom (and are reno-ing the old one), and three bedroom, all with closets, one of which is large enough to be considered a master. Total cost - about $35K. I'm not sure what the price of this place is, but I'm betting there's no way you could buy the sort of house you want on that amount of land (in that perfect area) for the current listing price of your home +35K - or even +50K if you contracted it all out. Go for it. You can change a home by renovating/adding as your money and time become available. You can't add land.

This. Although I always thought it was snakes and snails and puppy dog tails. hm... off to google. Edited to add: Hm, you were right! I need to track down my first grade teacher and have a little 'chat'. [raises eyebrows menacingly]

When we were speaking ot her, did you give any indication as to why she refused? Was it a "I don't want to trouble you" sort of refusal, or a "I want to do this on my own" type of refusal? If the latter - respect her wishes. If she wants to do this on her own, there could be any number of reasons, and though she may not be comfortable explaining them all to you, you need to respect her wishes in this.

Just wanted to bump this thread. We're doing a veggie garden for the first time this year - We've got an area about 8 by 12 feet. Can someone tell me more about square foot gardening?

No, I'm not. Thanks for the info - maybe I'll look into having them take a class instead.

As such, I would also think that he does LITERALLY think that he is God. He seems to think that he is one of those people who have managed to remove sin from their lives entirely- and that thus, he IS a god.

I've gleaned tons of info about Latin curriculum from reading other poster's questions on this board. However, I'm also interested in teaching my kids Mandarin (though not quite yet - I don't think they're quite ready). Does anyone have any curriculum recommendations? Are there even programs any out there?

I failed twice. After that, I took a "refresher" driver's ed lesson (in car) with an instructor from that area. She told me all of the specific little things that the examiners looked for along the routes they traditionally take, and the next day I passed with flying colours. And for the record, since that time (11 years ago), I've had one accident that was my fault, and that was courtesy of black ice. He'll be jsut fine. From my experience, I'd say it may be worth it to invest in a refresher in-car driver's ed course in that area - one that'll let him drive his own/your car from practice, not theirs.

Does anyone know if MUS (or anyone else that sells similar blocks) sells bright colours? Most of what I've seen from Math U See involves lighter colours. My boys can tell the difference between the primary colours, but not secondary colours or pastels.