I'm starting with 2-3 dress ups with my 2nd grader. I had him do just the KWO for 5 papers and then took those papers one week and worked on "ly" adverb and another week on the "who/which". I choose sentences for him from his papers and add a blank where the ly or who/which should go. Then I help him with the ly chart or make suggestions for the who/which. Eventually, he'll be able to pick his own sentence and be able to know where to add it, but for now, I just give him the sentence and add a blank. I may try a strong verb next. I'll pick the sentence out, ask him where the verb is and we'll work on suggestions of better verbs together or I'll just show him a thesaurus. So far, it's worked well and he's not frustrated with the process. Beth

I did a year with CC and now am doing my own thing. I am having my kids learn information within context of what they are learning. For example, in science, I had my son learn a definition of rotation with regards to a planet. When that term came up again in the text, I was able to ask him what rotation was and he could recall it. This, in my opinion, gives him a stronger peg. I am also having them learn geography(current countries - not contextualized within history), poems, and Bible memory. But, there is even some value in learning things out of context. Last year, my ds 8 learned to skip count. In first grade, he had no use for it, but guess what? He still remembered those songs well enough to apply them to learning multiplication this year so that his multiplication tables are fairly easy for him - not fast, but easy. There is real scientific results out there that memorization does increase your brain potential. You could memorize anything and your brain would still grow, but why not put it in context with something else? Beth

There is an index in the back with an explanation of everything you are required to find. I like having my children learn to diagram because it can give them a "why" in reasons that a sentence may sound awkward. It's a brain activity. So, we do analytical grammar for 10 weeks with a reinforcement once every other week and IEW fix it the rest of the year. Beth

We use it. If you don't use IEW, some of it won't make sense since you are supposed to identify IEW dress ups. On the other hand, if you look at the language arts section in the SAT test, it's all about editing. We use it in conjunction with analytical grammar because I want my kids to be able to identify and diagram sentences. Beth

It does seem a little lite for my ds also. He's already done many of the experiments with other science curriculums through the years. We're on module 6 and I have used it to teach study skills for tests and the next thing on the plate is how to take notes from a textbook. There's good arguments out there for using an easier program to teach a new skill. Beth

Anybody do Kinetic books conceptual physics? Beth

My dh voted no on Annika. I thought it was a pretty name. Pretty name, but not for a Chinese little girl. My sister also liked Brooke for a name until they realized pairing it with their last name of Trout would give their daughter the name Brooke Trout. Needless to say, they put the stop on that one! Beth

I've only got one teen and one almost there. I look for recipes that say they feed 10-12 (or just triple the serves 4 ones) because then I have a decent chance of having food for my husband to take to work. I have been considering basing our dinner meals on soups because they can adjust easier for leftovers for lunch. Now, I am having to warn my 12 year old on Fridays when I grocery shop, "I expect that this (insert food item here) will last more than the weekend because once this is done, that's it for the week!" Beth

I just went for a cousult on this very thing with my 8 year old. He is going to have an expander that sits behind his front teeth and is cranked my the ortho. He will also have upper braces because he said the front teeth tend to move backward when the jaw is expanded. The main reason you do it is because the lower jaw will shift to accommodate the narrow upper jaw. If you don't correct it well, you get problems with jaw popping when you're an adult (yup- its me!). The palate also starts to solidify more past age 9 so you've got to start early. Beth

I'm guessing it's hormones also, but what does one do about it? Beth

South/North of Minneapolis/St. Paul MN? There are GREAT children's hospitals in the area. The hospital/clinic my son goes to for his orthopedic surgeries has some surgeons that go around the world teaching others. I live 45 minutes south of the twin cities and there are rural areas along with sport opportunities. There are also other benefits to living in MN with a child with special needs if you want to PM me. Also know that there is a reason MN has a reputation for being cold. It's not so much the intensity - just the length. Beth

Anyone else feel like they're getting the flu when they ovulate? Right now, I've got a decent headache and feel nauseous. Every month it is the same. For a few months, I thought I was getting the flu until I realized that it was happening every month when I ovulate. It's been going on for about a year. I'm 42 if that matters. What is the cause? Beth

Ds went from Singapore 5b to Saxon pre-algebra. The thing that bugs me about Saxon is the lack of challenging word problems. The thing I like about Saxon is the constant review that my son needs and the teacher helps if I should need them. There are a bunch of different options out there for DVD learning. Now, if you want the challenging word problems, art of problem solving has an online word problem program called alcumus. It has word problems from math competitions. The nice thing is that you type your answer in and you get two tries to get it right. If you don't, it explains how to do the problem. It has given ds the word problems he was missing with Saxon. I'm loving this combination. Beth

My oldest was born with a hole in his heart. Usually kids who need surgery right away fail to thrive so just that your son made it through the first year means that it isn't a huge huge deal. On the other hand, in some instances, people with significant murmers do need to have antibiotics prior to dental procedures to rule out bacteria attaching itself to the inner walls of the heart. I think just that the doctor has given you a vague recommendation and that you are listening to his heart, you should see a specialist to know what you are really dealing with. It's most likely not a huge deal, but like other posters have said, you don't want to mess around with heart stuff. Beth

I guess I am mostly unaware of the "Christian controversy" with people saying that in order to join our group, you need to be a "certain" Christian. We have a group with 30 or so families and I have no idea where most of them attend church. I have no idea if they are patriarchal, how they vote, or what curriculum they use. The only thing we require is that in order to be in a leadership position, you need to agree to a basic statement of Christian faith. You don't have to sign it to be a member. Maybe it's due to the fact that we mostly live in a fairly liberal, "go public schools - aren't they great" kind of town. We are very fringe and maybe that leads us to not be concerned about trivial things. It is sad that SWB who obviously has much wisdom to share wouldn't feel welcome. It's sad that we can't be grown-ups and know enough about what we believe to get gems from great speakers even if we don't agree with everything they say. Beth

Ds is one of those kids who has always done well with math. He likes Saxon. He does better with the little bits and pieces and needs the constant review. I do not like the word problems and want him to be able to think through complex problems. Enter art of problem solvings alcumus. I've added that to his daily work-10 minutes of great word problems. Instant feedback and explanation for problems he gets wrong. Just thinking this may be helpful for someone! Beth

Thanks all! I may try the Kumon workbooks and maybe get out the big decimal street poster I made for ds and try to explain numbers with that and the blocks. Thanks! Beth

I'm one of those people who does well with a set curriculum. I'm not so great with follow through on "random". Yes, I know I don't need a curriculum, but it keeps me on task. I've tried going the no curriculum route many a time with different things through the years, but I have no follow through. Beth

My 5 year old has gotten to lesson 9 in Math U see. All of a sudden, it feels like a huge jump from number recognition and counting to place value. She barely understands numbers up to 20 and we're just working on counting up to 20. I'm thinking about switching to Saxon or something that spirals and is a little more basic at this point. Her level is really more preschool. She's barely writing her numbers. I'm just not sure she's really ready for place value when she is still just grasping the idea that numbers have symbols attached to them. She can learn - due to a bunch of issues, she's catching up on all of those preschool years still. I'm not concerned. I just am trying to get her where she's at. Beth

My dd is much like that. I did put her on the Diane Craft vitamin program and I can definitely see a difference. She is still quite strong willed, but it is toned down a LOT. For example, I ask her to clean her room. No vitamins? I get a "NO!" with a screaming fit and she runs away from me. Vitamins? I get a piff of annoyance coming out of her mouth and she will clean up. Yes, there is still stuff she needs to work on with her behavior, but at least it's more manageable. With school, I've stopped anything that is frustrating for her which is reading in this instance. I just need to wait until she's more mature and reading can come easier. She is the same way in that she will refuse until I say, "fine, we can try again another day" - her response is to say, "I want to do it! I want to do it!" But, even though she wants to read (after I've told her we'll wait), I'm still waiting. She'll learn, but I don't want school to be a battle. I've also thought about putting her in school, but she's a kid with no discernment. She'll have the neighbor kids tell her to do something naughty. She'll do it with gusto because it looks like fun. So, she'll wait until she's more mature to really get started. She'll learn and she won't be behind. Beth

There are plenty of ways to teach reading. I used Alpha Phonics with my two boys but with my dd, I really needed something that went slower and did wind up buying AAR for dd. I didn't buy the books that go with the program because I have enough graduated readers laying around that I could use which did cut back on the cost quite a bit. AAR is a fun program, but you can get alpha phonics or something similar for less than $25. Beth

Not to mention that Franklin is a TURTLE - of the cold blooded variety! He would so be going into a sleepy time anytime he got near cold weather. Also something that's always bugged me about Franklin - he can take off his shell. Now, why would you carry around that heavy thing if you can take it off? Beth

In earlier books, they used to look more like aardvarks, but lets just say they got an extreme makeover because as a family group, they just weren't that attractive. Beth

I am 42 and it has become obvious I am needing some help seeing those words close up. Sigh...I've heard that you can put a near sighted contact in one eye and a far sighted contact in the other eye. I'm pretty nearsighted - now I just can't see any which way without help! Will this mess up my depth perception or anything else? Can my brain adjust? Any body do this? Beth

My 12 year old is doing it independently. The only way to do it totally hands off is to enroll on a TOG online class. You would have to spend at least one to two hours in weekly discussion. Otherwise, ds has a workbook that I formatted with the questions he is supposed to answer, timelines figures he needs to place, and maps for him to complete. He sets up his own schedule and does it on his own. I've done this with him for upper grammar readings also when he was younger.