our oldest is 15 (not pictured) then 11 (2 stepdaughters) then we have 4 boys who are 6, 3, 2 and 3 months old. Our girls are like little mothers to them <3 our oldest isn't as interested as the 11 year old is but she will still watch them and play with them. Our 11 year old though as you can see is very attached and will hold and cuddle her little brothers all the time. So I would say they will probably be pretty close as they grow up. I also had a friend growing up whose brother was 18 when we were 7 and they were always very close too.

:iagree: shoyu ramen is more difficult to make!

I am so sorry for your loss :grouphug:

Iron man or thor!

my kids are only allowed to drink sprite and on a very (less then once a month) limited basis. We do have sparkling juice though for special occasions at home

I am on #4 in CDs and wouldn't switch it at all! I also have had a front loader since #2 was born so this is the 3rd baby in CDs with a front loader and I have no trouble getting them nice clean and stink free. I can share my tricks or routine if that helps anyone. I do it mainly cause well I love it and also because my littles have horribly sensitive skin and get bad rashes in every disposable we've ever tried. I mainly use pockets and AIOs

just wanted to say as an adult with AS that also has a HFA child, ASD has nothing to do with this....... I would hate to see AS painted as a disease that causes one to go mental and slaughter innocent people. My HFA is a sweet caring young man that would never intentionally hurt anyone.

this they look just like the potholders my mom had when I was little!

I am 39 weeks with my 4th and I can totally sympathize :lol: I do mainly montessori so a lot of what we do is independent from a young age minus the initial presentations and me hanging out observing while he works. My second son is only 3.5 and he is "ready" mentally for some work like learning letter sounds and beginning mathematics but for the sake of sanity I have out it more to the side right now because I do not want to put too much onto my plate or his plate with all that comes with a new baby in the house. I think the best advice I can give is do as much as YOU can handle and then fill the rest with fun learning that can be more independent. With your 4yo you could try reading eggs for days when mama needs to nap or dreambox math. Try getting run workbooks like the school zone mazes that are fun for kiddos and can be done independently. That way they are working on academic type things but you are getting a break at the same time. Then when baby comes and you catch up on your sleep you can work on getting back into a grove more because it is WAY easier to homeschool with a newborn around then being preggo :tongue_smilie: newborns kind of just chill out or can be worn while you work. HTH!

nope it has never been misheard or mispronounced before :D

being that my second son's name is Ronan I am kind of partial to it :lol: my other 3 boys are : Tristan Liam Desmond we go with unusual but not unheard of names here too :D Our Ronan's middle name is Kian which is also Irish and an awesome name :tongue_smilie: other names I love are: Dorian Duncan

my son will be 2 next week and we got him: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0070A9OUA/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i01 some felt board sets a few anamalz

I use AIOs and maybe I am a weirdo but I find them heck of a lot easier then sposies :lol: I am about to have 3 in cloth within the next 2 weeks :D I only ever used sposies with my first until he was 2 months old and I learned about cloth but one thing I vividly remembered that no matter the brand of sposies every single poo would be out the gussets and up his back so I was constantly washing poopy baby items anyway well and my clothes and whatever he was laying on. :lol: But from mom to mom don't ever be ashamed what you need to do to keep your sanity. Happy mom equals happy baby and there is no shame in sposies!

JUmping in late here is our new room! http://rivendelacademy.blogspot.com/

I am not worrying about it unless the far off unlikely chance they'd have to go to a B&M school otherwise I would have a 5yo in 2nd grade which is insane with him being so small and socially immature

With DS1 (ASD) Montessori math has been our life saver! Even on bad bad days when he is less then cooperative or on weeks like we are going through right now where his meds are off and we are waiting to get into the neuro for adjustments it really has been a saving grace. One thing to keep in mind about Montessori is she developed the base of her methods with special needs children many of whom during her time were probably ASD in institutions. Montessori for the most part is self correcting which is a big part of why is works so well with ASD kids. There is less correcting them or stepping in to have to say anything was done incorrectly. For instance on a bad day I can sit him down with addition slips and say the addition strip board or stamp game and he can work through it independently and not only that he comes away from the activities with a great understanding of the concept because he is doing it in many ways. I might also add that you don't have to run out and buy super expensive montessori materials if it is not in your budget. Many can be made or in the case of montessoriprintshop.com just printed on cardstock and cut out. montessori print shop even has free downloads like a free printable stamp game! If you do some searches on youtube for "montessori math" you will get a TON of hits and you can watch video explanations of how most of the materials are used and how to give demos to your DC. I have had so many AHA moments just watching videos on youtube. I fell in love with Montessori so deeply that I have gone back to school and am currently in training for my 6-9 certificate :lol:

rightstart is Montessori based with asian influence. You could go the pure montessori route which may work better for you and your DC. W are a lil different here we use RS along with pure Montessori along with MiF ( singapore math ) We LOVE Montessori and honestly if I had to pick just 1 I would drop the RS and MiF in a heartbeat :lol: Montessori math just makes so much sense to both me and my DC. If you hate manipulatives though it would not be for your LOL It is definitely mastery based although it does introduce young children to pretty advanced topics in a very easy to understand way. I love this because down the line when you come back to for example the binomial cube in it's algebraic uses the kids connect back to that early exposure and lightbulbs go off. For homeschoolers you could take a look at Brilliant minds montessori or just find some online albums ( I have some linked in my blog) and go from there. Just another option cause well I love Montessori :lol: I love singapore math too but I am an oddball and I do find it lacking in things that you find in Montessori and RS so if you went full SM I would still advise adding in elements from RS or Montessori.

we are on the book as K this year in WV. I figured it really wouldn't hurt anything and would cover my bases in case there were ever trouble. :tongue_smilie:

I just laminated about 200 sheets tonight and am halfway through cutting it out :lol: I still have a stack of printed stuff to be laminated but I need to make a trip to sams club tomorrow for more laminating sheets and more cardstock to print more out so yeah I feel your pain :tongue_smilie:

I already am up to 4 kiddos that will go through it so I am good :D too bad I already bought enough copies of the A and B workbooks otherwise I would have bought ebooks for those as well :tongue_smilie:

:party: Finally and right before I need to order some! Sorry you ordered yours already but thanks for the heads up for sure!

I would pick up authentic Montessori materials here and there as you can or make some yourself. I have lots of links in my blog on my Montessori page for sites to buy, DIY and other free resources.

5.5 and on the books as kindy but about halfway done with our first grade level stuff so we are all over the place :tongue_smilie: I went back and forth with calling him 1st grade but ultimately decided to stick with his age.

I technically do three :tongue_smilie: Rightstart is our spine. We also use MIF alongside for more workbook pages as DS seems to like and do well with workbook pages :lol: I also do a LOT of Montessori work. I will align the topics to the best I can so we are working on the same topic. This has worked very very well for us and it really helps DS to get a really good understanding of the topics from different angles. If I had to pick only 2 though it would be rightstart and Montessori as they really compliment each other well being rightstart is Montessori based.

morning bump thanks for the ideas so far!