Hello! I haven't been active on the board in a while, but some old-timers may still be around who remember me. We are finally taking the leap and moving back east. I'm taking leave for a year, putting our household goods in storage, and we are going to devote that time to searching for our "forever home" while staying with our parents--my folks in Arlington and Delaware (they split their time between two homes), and my inlaws in Williamsburg, VA. We aren't planning on finding a place of our own until next spring--we are seriously thinking about the Charlottesville area. We'll be alternating weeks or months from one location to the other, as well as travelling all around the mid-atlantic finding a great place to live. Question: Since we are going to have no fixed address, and divide our time in two different states, what should we do homeschooling-wise? Less paperwork is better, as far as I'm concerned. Thanks!

I was one of those who started homeschooling when my first was 2 years old. We were lucky enough to find a "young homeschooler" group that included many families with a range of children, and a few like us with only one youngster (my second son was born during that time). I loved having a supportive community of homeschoolers, even though we weren't "official" yet. I'm sure some of those families have left the homeschooling fold... but we're still here. Of course, our group didn't have a cost, nor was it drop-off... I can see how that might attract bargain-hunters. But I think it would be a shame to exclude people considering homeschooling because of cost.

Hmmm... my dh would wear it, he lives in tshirts. But he only wears black tshirts, so I'll have to rework the design... hmmm... --Kay

I would ask... though since I just ordered a bunch of stuff today for my family (Yeah! Amazon Prime!) it may still legitimately be on the way.

Winnie The Pooh -- 2 or 3 years old Mr. Popper's Penguins -- 3 My Father's Dragon -- 4 Moomintrolls -- 4 Wind In The Willows -- 4 Alice in Wonderland -- 5 Treasure Island -- 5 A Christmas Carol -- 6 The Hobbit -- 7 Tom Sawyer -- 7 Both my husband and I have done read alouds since our boys were very young, these are the ones I can think of right now. They pay attention surprisingly well and love to hear more. I think good reading skills (on the part of the adult, that is) make a huge difference. We do voices and read dramatically. My kids will stop me occasionally for a definition if they need, or I will insert one if I think a word is challenging. I averaged the ages of my two boys to get my estimate. We're currently reading "A Christmas Carol" aloud for the second year running.

I really need some input here. We are considering sending my 9 year old son to a weight loss camp. The reviews online for many camps range from glowing to absolute hatred. Has anyone done this before? What was your experience? How did your child like it? Did it help with exercise/eating issues? Please PM me with info... thanks!

Hmmm... from us, we probably spend about $200 per child at Christmas time. My dh also buys gifts throughout the year and stashes them in our closet--so the number grows. I'd say we come out with about 20 or so gifts per child, a couple of big ones, lots of books and media, plus stocking stuffers. We don't do "practical" gifts--ie, no socks, underwear, things that would have to be purchased anyhow. Grandparents also send us gifts--with three sets (my parents are divorced), they end up giving far more than we do, expense wise. I would guess there are $500 of additional gifts for each of us from extended family, most of which dh and I get to choose on thier behalf since they don't always know what would be good gifts. They don't live near, so everything goes under the tree all together. We do emphasize the religious aspect of Christmas in many ways (advent devotions, church activities, bible reading, Christmas Eve services), but my husband really likes giftopalooza on Christmas morning.

Play kitchen was a hit when my boys were little, too. We bought a wooden one designed for pre-schools from Lakeshore. It was in primary colors, and got a lot of use! I was never a "girly-girl" as a child--I preferred Legos and Hot Wheels cars myself. Never had dolls. I did once buy a Barbie because all my friends seemed to like them, but she quickly was forgotten. I loved Playmobile! As an adult I'm still not a "girly-girl", though I do love a day at the spa and have developed a fondness for pink--it helps me find my stuff in a house with all males. Honestly, I think cheap toys are marketed to the lowest common denominator, and that the average parent spends no time at all thinking about the social implications of pink pots and pans with girl pictures. But I would also guess that most of us on this board are far more intentional about purchases, gifts, etc. Almost all of our purchases are online anymore.

On the Library thread, Amira talked about having only 100 books on paper, the rest digital. Has anyone else moved so drastically to digital successfully? I'm curious, because we have so many books. Less than we used to, but still 4000 or so. I loved when we finally got all the hundreds of old CDs scanned onto iPods. But books... would each family member need an e-reader? Can kids be trusted with them? My boys have had iPod nanos since they were 4, but those things are pretty hardy. Pretty much we all go to bed reading, and carry around a book to read during the day. I usually just have my Kindle--I have 275 books or so on my Kindle, but I'm still buying books---most recently have gone on a Viking history kick, and bought a bunch which aren't available digitally yet. For example, my son is reading Johnny Tremaine, but I couldn't find it digitally. So now I want my own copy so I can read along with him. What about scanning books you have? Am I just destined to live in a house full of shelves of books, even though we move every few years? Arrrrgh!

We've had several major purges, usually associated with major moves. Still... right now we have about 20 bookshelves full, floor to ceiling (I counted 2 half-height shelves as one full). The good news is, I think that's down about 6 bays from several years ago. I finally got rid of lots of old paperbacks, even though I do reread books. All the years worth of mysteries, romance novels, whatever... it all has been given away. We have kept mostly non-fiction, reference, hardcover fiction, and fiction books that we love that are old and out of print. Plus school books. I like having easy reference to old favorites, and we all seem to have some subject we like. I tend to have lots of history--ancient, Vikings, and English history are favorites. My dh has quite a collection (2 bays) on world mythology. In theory, less is definately better. We still always need to devote one full room in our house to a library--the one we have now is cool. It has IKEA Billy shelves all around the room (13 thus far, we need 2 more), plus a little "island" of four low shelves arranged in a square in the middle of the room. My dh's desk is there, plus the board game closet. The rest of the books are in the school room or in our bedrooms. OK, it may seem somewhat unlikely, but I have come to believe that less is more. I did one whole year of "book fasting", didn't buy a book for 12 months, and that helped break the cycle. I got a Kindle when the 2nd edition came out, and now I try to buy what I can on that. I love having virtual access to books... and I don't feel like I have to keep every single classic on hand just in case. I've only got a few hundred on my Kindle, so lots of room until it fills up. Still, for birthdays, Christmas, etc, it is not unusual for each family member to receive several new books. Oh yes, plus 50,000 or so comic books in the garage. But that's my dh's problem.:glare:

Blink The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances The Girl in the Fireplace The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords The Beast Below Wow! That was really hard to answer. I keep thinking there are so many good ones I left off.

We bought a couple of sets on sale as the mandatory "toy" gifts. Glad to know they were a good choice!

I do want to have a dialog about security and privacy... I think privacy has been thrown out the window. I do believe that a pat-down that uses the flat of the hand to feel someone's genitals and between the buttocks is indeed agressively sexual in nature. That doesn't mean that the TSA agent is enjoying it. In fact, I would guess most of them find it intrinsically distasteful. But I stand by the accuracy of "grope". I don't think this debate is necessarily polarizing, or all smoke and mirrors. I think most people *who fly frequently* believe that the security is both invasive and probably not good enough to screen out many types of real threats. There have been polls showing very different reactions from people in general vs. those who fly more than once a year (a small minority). I have flown multiple times a year every year since I was 12, including many international flights. And the change has been awful. Flying with two small children just makes it worse. There are multiple approaches to security, some of which are less invasive and are more effective. My mother, for instance, flies frequently to various countries in the middle east on business. She has flown El-Al many times on trips to Israel. There are no body-scanners, no pat downs, and they have awesome security. What they do is have you show up veeeery early, watch you, and... profile. Again, that raises issues of freedom and rights. But she sure feels secure on those flights.

:iagree: 10, 9, 11 definately I've seen a few of the older shows, but not enough to have opinions about the doctors... though I kind of like the weird brown curly-haired guy. Now, who are your favorite companions? And I'd like to get a shout-out for Captain Jack Harkness...

Not all airports have them in place yet, or have them for every lane yet... some still use just metal detectors for some lanes. There is a thread at the link of where they have the scanners: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-safety-security/1138014-complete-list-airports-whole-body-imaging-advanced-imaging-technology-scanner.html

My DH had a bad TSA experience on our last family trip, this would have been in July so it was before the "aggressive" pat-downs. He was pulled out of the normal line randomly, I guess, and asked to go through the scanner in the Richmond, VA airport. I personally would have a problem with strangers seeing my naked body, even virtually, and was quite nervous that I would be chosen for the scanner. I had already decided to ask to "opt out", but that was before the new "super-grope" pat downs. Of course, I wasn't selected. It was my husband who was scanned. He stepped into the scanner, and they told him he had to take off his belt. Then, put his hands in the air. He had lost a lot of weight just before this (in and out of the hospital all spring, had just had major abdominal surgery 3 weeks before). So when he takes his belt off and puts his hands in the air... his pants start to fall down. He was trying to stand so that they wouldn't fall off, and the TSA agent kept telling him to put his feet closer together. I could not see the two agents faces from my vantage point, dh said that they were snickering and obviously telling him to move his legs to see how long it would take for his pants to fall off. He was very upset, and has now decided that we no longer fly. Usually we fly 2-3 times a year cross country, but we are going to take the extra week and drive it. So, in response to post above, just because I want to opt out of strangers seeing me naked, or groping me, or whatever does not show a lack of logical thinking.

Microscopes are also on super sale already... we're going to finally jump in and get the Ultimate Home Microscope, just in time for us to start Biology again next school year. But after some searching, I also found a 10% off coupon code which worked for me today (12-1-2010): WGIFT10 Any other favorites from Home Science Tools? I'm really looking forward to having a microscope... does that make me a crazy woman? I think my husband is baffled.:D

Oh yes. Start there with the new series... but David Tennant will still be my favorite Doctor forever. :drool: IMHO, the older series are an acquired taste. I can watch them but only in small quantity--very campy.

I love the Sinterklaas stories! When I was growing up we lived in Germany for a while, and we had St. Nicholas day... he'd leave toys and presents in your shoes, tucked in a bundle of sticks. The gifts were for the times you were good, the "switches" for when you had been bad. I also lived in Norway, and my carry over from then has been leaving out a bowl of porridge for the JuleNisse on the kitchen floor on Christmas eve.

I forgot the "trash as we go"... we do that too (no wrapping paper lying around), and we also have a Pickle Gift. It gets opened before regular gifts, but after stockings.

We have a very elaborate Christmas unwrapping tradition. After the stockings are opened (lots of little stuff to play with during the rest of the unwrapping), then opening the real gifts begins. First the gifts are distributed into piles next to each recipient--this allows us to balance the turn taking. Then we take turns: one person holds up a gift and announces who it is from (mom takes notes for thank you's later), then everyone in turn guesses what it might be (a tradition that goes back to an elderly aunt on my dh's side who has down syndrome and loves guessing games... we guess silly/creative things, not real guesses), then the gift is unwrapped by the recipient, who must spend an appropriate amount of time exclaiming about how wonderful/perfect/special the gift is. Then the next person picks one gift, announces who it is from, we all guess in turn... you get the idea. If we wake up at 7am, we are usually done with gift opening by about 11am. Of course, we do eat cinnamon rolls and have hot cocoa and all that sort of thing during gift opening time. I knew we were elaborate, but both dh and I were raised in taking turns and admiring gifts households--then I discover that some people just all dig in together! I'm mostly thinking about Christmas, but really this could apply to any sort of gift giving holiday, so feel free to join in if it applies to you.

I voted wrapped... though I think they are wrapped by the elves, not Santa personally. The only unwrapped gifts are in the stockings, which the kids are welcome to dig into first before we start the slow process of unwrapping gifts. Now I'm going to post another poll...

No fried chicken here either. Or most anything actually deep fried.

:blush: Ummm... yeah... ummm... how 'bout them Chargers?? We just decided a couple of weeks ago (though it isn't "public" IRL), and of course some people have been too busy going to cool conventions and doing fabulous shows and stuff so haven't been able to haul their kids to my house to play D&D..... It's still a long time away, right? Plus, don't you need another place you can vacation on the East Coast?

Fantasy Flight Games, a wonderful boardgame company, has a bunch of games on holiday sale. http://store.fantasyflightgames.com These are not really toy-store type games, but games that you would find at a "hobby games" store--many of which are history based. If you haven't ever played a serious board game, you might want to follow the links below to see what I mean. Some game gift suggestions from the sale: Beowulf, The Legend --- Fun game, follows the story of Beowulf exactly, usually $40, now $5 This is one of our favorite board games to play with our sons. They REALLY know the story of Beowulf. We have stocked up at this sale to give as gifts to our gamer friends. Not a review, but lots of info about the game and how it works. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/17449/beowulf-the-legend Tribune -- Another wonderful game about political machinations to be elected Tribune in Rome. We play this with our kids as well, but it is probably best for ages 12 and up if you aren't hard core gamers. Lots of great details about the various faction in ancient rome. Retails for $60, now $15 A very thorough review is here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/248383/popularity-contest-in-ancient-rome