That is extremely weird, I have to say. In particular, I find the dentist's comment that he has a "right" to have his staff with him just .... weird. What do rights have to do with anything? You're not deposing the man, you're paying him to fix your teeth. IME, medical professionals *always* ask before having extra people around for some random reason; I almost always say yes, because generally I don't care, but on the off chance I were to say, "Actually, sorry, but I'd prefer not," I would fully expect the answer to be, "Of course, not a problem." and then that would be the end of that. I would have no patience whatsoever with being pressured further, but that's not everyone' style, I know. How stuck are you with this dentist?

Oh, no problem, just wanted to make sure that I hadn't missed anything! I did have to supply pretty much all that info, but it was fairly painless, if you don't count the hour I spent digging through boxes in the garage in 100 degree heat looking for my high school diploma. The form itself was very short, and I filled it out minimally. The home school office folks were surprisingly on the ball (I'm in Davidson County). I just assumed that my forms were going directly into a black hole, but I got an official letter back within a few days, which surprised me no end. Who knew Tennessee would be so efficient! Anyway, sorry for pulling the discussion off topic. :001_smile:

Funny you should ask this -- I was just looking through my box of math and science books and found my own copy of The I Hate Mathematics Book, copyright 1975. How I loved that book! I also have three others by Marilyn Burns, all put out by the same publisher -- Brown Paper School Book -- and all with copyrights in the 1970s: This Book is About Time The Book of Think (Or How to Solve a Problem Half Your Size) Good For me: All About Food in 32 Bites. No idea which of these are still in print, but they're all quite tattered so I must have gotten a lot of use out of them. I plan to read them through to see if they'd be good for my oldest. (I might need to put book covers or something on them first, though.)

Mandy, are you sure that the state requires grades? We recently moved to TN and I registered with our LEA. My understanding was that all I had to file was the Notice of Intent (or whatever that letter is called), which I sent in back in August, and I have right here the Home School Attendance form, and there is nothing on it about grades, just days and hours. I didn't think there was anything else I had to file, but perhaps there is ....?!! Absent any requirements, no grades here. They don't seem to serve any purpose in our homeschool environment. As for the high school level, that's a long way away, but I find it so strange that colleges actually want to see homeschooler transcripts with parent-generated grades. The only reasonable explanation I can think of is that they make their decisions using other information but need some sort of data to give to U.S. News and World Report.

You will have to google this to check, but a friend of mine swears by a combination of Maalox and Benadryl (I think), mixed and then dabbed on.

I get this a lot (three boys) and while I usually just smile and say, "Yes, we have a great time," more often than not my 6yo will pipe up, "There are all boys in our family! I'm X ,I'm six, this is my brother Y, who is 3, and this is our baby. His name is Z and he is 14 months old." And so on. In the meantime, my 3yo will be trying to shout over him, "Three boys! One, two, three! All boys! Only Mommy is a girl!" I'm sure that people are always sorry they even tried to talk to us, sigh.

Not to hijack the thread, but I was just thinking more or less the same thing this morning -- I think that my 6.5 yo would really benefit from having a sense of what we should get done that day before we start doing it. But on the other hand, with some things, like math, I work much more on a time basis -- as in, we work until I see him start to fade and then move on. So I don't know. I keep wondering if maybe something like workboxes might be useful -- I think my 3.5yo would really like that, too.

Nothing, because I don't want the extra sugar, but if I were to put something on my pancakes it would be Grade B maple syrup, thank you very much. I bought some sorghum syrup at a fair recently and tried it on a pancake. Interesting flavor.

Of all the things I got from the Curly Hair book, this was the most helpful. Over the years I tried every anti-frizz product on the market and the results were inevitably a disaster. Keeping the silicones far, far away from the top of my head has done more to improve my hair than anything else, I think.

I have very wavy, long, messy hair and when I follow the whole Curly Girl routine my hair looks amazing, far better than I ever dreamed possible. However, I am also a dedicated swimmer, which complicates matters, and with a grabby toddler running amok I can't usually just leave my hair down to dry thoroughly (never mind the whole clipping thing) so it's usually pulled back anyway. But the method itself (I use Devacurl no-poo 'shampoo' after swimming and then lots of product -- Jane Carter Solutions is my favorite -- and squeeze dry with a old cloth diaper) has been just wonderful for my hair. I can't believe how much less dry and frizzy it is now than it used to be. I actually got my hair cut at Devachan over the summer and it was such a great cut that I have so far refused to look for a salon here in TN and am instead waiting until we go back to visit family before getting another haircut.

LOL. No advice on the costume, but my 6yo wants to be a Greek hoplite, and just as in your household, the 3yo of course wants to be the same thing, too (which is making the 6yo rather upset, but that's another story). DH is going to be Sisyphus and baby will be the rock. I bought some inexpensive white fabric to make chitons and a sort of rope trim for belts. DS6 is adamant that his knight's helmet is All Wrong for a Greek hoplite, but I think I've managed to convince him to cover it with tinfoil and attach some kind of cardboard face thingie. He has already made the shield and sword himself out of old amazon.com boxes. The 3yo is fortunately rather less of a stickler for authenticity, so I think I can get away with just covering his construction worker's helmet with tinfoil and calling it good. Gotta love those ancients!

And those of us who shamelessly steal your ideas are grateful for your hard work. :D

I have considerable affection for the great state of NJ, where both DH and I grew up and where our parents still live, and for NYC, where our extended families live and where we spent most of our married life so far. We moved to TN this summer -- neither one of us had ever lived in the South before -- and while it's perfectly nice, it's hard to imagine it ever truly feeling like home. Even DH, who could not stand living in NYC and love love loves pretty much everything about our life here, admits this. I often have these moments when I look around and think, "Wow, I'm in Tennessee." There are a lot of good things about living here, though, and it's so interesting to experience a different slice of the country. And since apparently we're going to be here for a while, just this past week I ordered non-diastatic malt powder online so I can make my own bagels. :D

This book came out a few years ago, but I highly recommend: http://www.amazon.com/Kingdom-Children-Controversy-Homeschooling-Princeton/dp/0691114684/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319310914&sr=8-1

I have no idea. The person to whom I was referring was in his late 50, in Colorado, when he developed Creutzfeld-Jakob disease or some variant thereof, and the working theory among his doctors was that it may have been connected with his eating elk over the years. Or, presumably, not. I know nothing more than that.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. We also know someone who died of it (or some variant); the theory was that he contracted the disease from eating elk. It is very rare but a truly awful way to go. I voted that I would want to know what I was eating.

LOL. I also spend a lot of time in McKay's and while I frequently pick up children's books there -- especially science and history -- I find the Home Education section largely useless because it is so overwhelmingly Christian. They can't win!

I grew up in NJ and the convention was not to cut into a funeral procession, but I never even heard of the pulling-over thing until these boards. Way too much traffic, I'd think. I was in a funeral procession from lower Manhattan to Westchester when DH's grandmother died a few years ago and some people from my husband's family's business came out and stood on the sidewalk while we went by. My MIL still gets choked up when she remembers that. I'm so sorry about your grandmother. :grouphug::grouphug:

Love this. I'm glad that you were able to talk to your DH about the real issues going on.

Wow, that is one musical family you've got! But the logistics of managing all of those lessons, classes, and instruments must have been a bear ....

DS6 has played the cello for two years.

You know, now that I think about it, I was about 10 when I put a screw with four bolts on it in my mouth during a family Monopoly game and SWALLOWED it. I have no idea why I did it. Fortunately the screw did not have a pointy end and I was just fine, but wow was my mom Not Happy, especially when the doctor subsequently tasked her with um, finding the thing on the way out. And I had to eat so many bananas -- to provide bulk, I guess? --that now I cannot even stand the smell of bananas. Children are just so weird sometimes. Anyway, to the OP, I'm really sorry about your check. I would be beyond furious, too, but I suspect that those who are advocating a moderated response are probably right.

A few months ago I read that NYC is considering moving the age of testing for their G&T schools and classes down from four (the current age) to three due to concerns about prepping.

Wow. I don't have a high schooler, but this program looks amazing. Thanks for the link.

I have a big KA -- bought last year -- and it does small amounts of egg whites and/or cream just fine. Agree with those who say you probably have to adjust the beater level.