:lol: Me either....

AAAAAAAAAAAA.... my oldest just announced she is budding. My time to buy trainers is right around the corner and now I have to contend with padded trainers???? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA:w00t::willy_nilly:

When my dd had hers at 7, we played the American Girl 300 Wishes game. I had one and borrowed one from a friend. The girls enjoyed learning fun things about each other. Decorate your own cupcake is a hit at any girls birthday. And your ideas sound like more than enough, btw! :)

In light of WHAT recent events? Apparently I've been living under a rock?

I agree. The manager may not have even thought of it from your point of view. I would politely speak with the manager... maybe even have that particular book in the shelf the way you noticed it and point it out. It wouldn't take much for them to do a little rearranging. If you don't get the results you would like, I'd contact B&N corporate. I am rather certain they would help you achieve the desired results.

My ds is 6.5yo and is JUST NOW coming out of this. Sorry to give you bad news. I did some reading and read that boys' estrogen levels are particularly high when they are young and then taper off as they enter adolescence. Girls are opposite. We are all well aware of how weepy and tween and teen girl can be. Boys get it early and it wares off. This is what I've done (for better or worse but a PP asked how others delt with it): If he cried for a valid reason, I let him and gave him appropriate consolation. If he cried for a illogical reason, I tried to help him see the flaw in the logic (this was fruitless btw, but I tried). If it was a tantrum because he didn't get his way, I found creative solutions. For example, one day he pitched a fit because a section of math was hard. I gave him a choice, calm down and do it or I would assign more because if it was that hard, he needed more practice. I did this with a couple of subjects consistently and I haven't had a school meltdown in 2 months. When he would cry because it was time to stop watching tv he was given a choice: calm down or lose tv for the rest of the day and the next. Chores? I gave more. Tantrums have ceased and now we talk through our emotions. It takes time. Good luck!

From post-op complications from my hysterectomy, I found out a week ago that my left kidney has to come out ASAP. Surgery is scheduled for 3/31. After reading another post, it dawned on me that the fact I will only have 1 kidney might be a good thing to tell someone in an emergency? Should I look into a MedicAlert bracelet or something similar?

I have a friend who has NEVER left her kids with anyone except her parents, her husband's parents, and nursery at church. Sure I was shocked but I completely respect her for it. Her oldest is about to turn 9. IMHO, there is NOTHING to be sorry for and you don't owe anyone an explanation. Frankly, after a bunch of BAD play dates where we used to live and a mediocre one in our new location, I have become quite picky as well. YOU are mom. YOU will know when you are ready to branch out. Relax and enjoy your children. :grouphug:

Try one of those Topsy Turvy planters for tomatoes and a few others. You can hang them easily on your patio and the critters can't get to them easily.

We don't file. We HST+ and I print off weekly assignment calendars (think SL or WP weekly calendars). MOST of our subjects I can create very quickly. History is another story... but worth every minute I spend entering in HST+. Rescheduling is a BREEZE in HST+ (life happens). HST+ allows me to easily create the school calendar with a powerful little tool. Planning happens once and I don't blow a brain cell doing it. :lol: Okay, so SOTW is the exception - it starts in excel and migrates over to HST+ once it is laid out but that is the only "double" planning I do. I print off assignment sheets every Monday morning for the entire week. I don't print more than this because... did I mention, life happens? :D This is SO much faster for me because I only plan once rather than plan, rip, file, etc and it keeps the paper clutter down because the workbooks remain contained. Assignment calendar is our favorite form of assignment sheets for the kids and it has worked great for my 1st and 3rd grader for 3 years. In fact, they love coloring in the box for an assignment when it is complete. I hope this gives ideas to others who haven't had success with folders or aren't ready to venture down the road of slicing workbooks. Above all - find a system that works for your family and celebrate! :party:

Us too. If my olders are painting - she gets to paint. If my olders are drawing with pastels, she gets crayons. My youngest is 22 months and has used markers, crayons, colored pencils. We play with plastic food and talk about what the food is, what color it is, etc. We play baby doll to teach nurturing and caring for others. We roll play doh. We play in the sandbox and in a water table (use a rubbermaid tub for under your bed is a cheap alternative to sand and or water tables). She is learning to ride a big wheel for motor development (busy keeping up with the olders on their scooters). We read and read and read. We talk. If I'm cooking, she has stirs a pot with a wooden spoon. 2 years olds just need to be present in your life. Involve them where you can and talk to them while you do things and they will be more than fine.

I actually read that book. I remember it being eerie - but good. thanks for the reminder! It has been a long time!

Gone with the wind? Does the movie count? ha ha. Great suggestion. I have half a mind to brave Pride and Prejudice, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Wuthering Heights as well. I knocked out Jane Eyre in less than 2 days. I should get quite a bit read over 3 weeks. :D BTW, thank you for your well wishes and the cyberhug. I have a ton of wonderful support around me so it helps a TON.

Recovering from a LAVH (hysterectomy) only to find out I have to have my left kidney removed next week because of a tumor (suspected benign). Ugh. I am not well read (techie geek here). I just read Jane Eyre for the first time and fell in love with it. Can anyone suggest a few great books, classics, that might keep me entertained and take me to another enjoyable world while I recover from my next surgery? Nothing like 1984 or Animal Farm type stuff, please. And I could not get past page 250 in Don Quixote... goodness knows I tried. :D Thanks for the suggestions!

:iagree: We actually left BJU English after 2nd grade because it wasn't the best experience - too much, too soon, especially for my kid. I did pull out the TM a LOT that year. You can get them used on Amazon for pretty cheap - I rarely pay full dollar for a TM. Overall, we really like BJU, but 2nd grammar was a bit of a stretch and with the flipping back and forth, my dd didn't truly learn what she needed to. We had to redo a lot the following year. HTH.

I'm a quilter so I used a 12" square quilting ruler and a rotary cutter I have dedicated to paper. It worked pretty well and all of the pages are the same size since I could line up a line of the quilting ruler with the outer page edge. There were a few paper hairs here and there (had to double cut and the second cut was a mm off from the original in a part kind of thing) but all in all, it worked well for home cutting. HTH.

My friend is planning to get the lt.blue to supplement a program, even though it isn't designed to work that way. Her thoughts are as follows: 1. The material in lt.blue, since it is leveled, will tend to be along the lines of what the student is learning in the base program. 2. If the kid enjoys the MM more, she has a program she can move to full time without having to buy it again. If you like the lt.blue better, get the lt.blue. YOU have to like and feel comfortable with it too.

:iagree: It isn't that I thought SL LA was bad it just wasn't the best choice for OUR family. My oldest struggles with all things language so to do creative writing at such a young age was out of the question. Following TWTM's suggested path has been a much better fit for her (R&S, copywork, dictation, narration). We dabble in creative writing here and there but I don't force the issue and when I do, she tends to freeze. She simply isn't ready. There are plenty of families out there who love SL LA because they have budding writers on their hands, super creative kids. We simply don't have *that* kid. If you have a budding writer, go for it, but if your kid tends to be more science/mathy/black and white/structured type kid, I don't know if SL LA would be the best fit. Like PP said, download the samples, try them and go from there. Good luck!

Bump.... any others? Only 33 more to go and we ALL get 50% off our order!!

I have a friend on the board who cut off her spine, 3 hole punched, and when finished used tie wraps to put it back together. Maybe create a tag with the book title that you can put in the top tie wrap? Maybe sharpie the title on the edge where the spine used to be?

I graduated at 17 from a good size high school, was responsible, had a part time job, didn't party, involved with tons at school, overall good student. I went to Virginia Tech, a large state school, for engineering. Honestly? I don't know if my experience would have changed any by being 18 or not. I was NOT ready for college, to spite being a seemingly mature and well balanced kid. I don't know what triggered the change around junior year; it could have been a multitude of things. In short, college does require some maturity to handle the endless challenges. It is a chicken or the egg type of question with many kids - does college bring maturity or does age and responsibility bring maturity? I wish I had a better answer for you. Some kids do great and others really need that extra time, regardless of how great they seem in high school. I wish you luck in your decision.

MorganClassicalPrep... your time is coming too. Lol. Your daughter is darling. :)

Here is what I do: 1st, I didn't start the classical cycle this year. My oldest is off cycle being in 3rd grade and my youngest is on cycle being in 1st. I group both kids together for history and science. I use the following model for both subjects: Read assignment to both kids at the same time and discuss it. I use narration questions out of SOTW and randomly choose which kid will answer which forces both of them to pay attention. My youngest has better language skills than my older so in our house, it is a fair playing field. Time for the writing part. They take turns coming up with the main idea of the day's reading (one day my youngest has to come up with it and another day my oldest has to come up with it). This is tough for both. Once the main idea sentence is verbalized, I write it on the white board. My 1st grader copies the sentence and is finished. My 3rd grader may copy the sentence but then must come up with 2 more supporting sentences of her own. I use the guideline of 1 sentence per grade level because, according to TWTM, they are to be writing short paragraph summaries (or 3-4 sentences bulleted) in both subjects every day in 4th grade. By doing it this way, both kids are following TWTM model, my youngest is learning high level info and my oldest is being forced to dive deeper. Some days we do have to find another resource to get a juicy tidbit, but that is only occassionally. This model has worked INCREDIBLY well for us. Now that we are in second semester, OCCASSIONALLY, I raise the stakes and make the 1st grader write 2 sentences and the 3rd grader write 4 - but only on days where summarizing to 1 sentence is near impossible. :) We will follow the same model next year. I picked up, per Paige's suggestion, the Usborne Science Encyclopedia and a few other suggested books to help supplement my oldest. This works very well for us, as it has for other families on other boards. Good luck and I hope a few of my ideas help.

Well since I don't have my car keys back yet (recovering from surgery), I have to do it with my precious rotary cutters and quilting rulers. A tad tedious but it should work... here goes nothing.... big inhale...cuuuuuuuuuuut. I did it!

Fresh air! I live in Connecticut and the house has been closed up with the heat on since October - that is 6 months, people! I have a few windows open today and will again tomorrow inhaling lots and lots of fresh air. Cold front returns early next week.... sigh. :) Yea oxygen!