We're gamers too.. role-playing (actually got to see a preview of 4th ed D&D and it was surprisingly good) a wide variety of games and lots of board games as well. My dh is a SAHD, except on Wednesdays, when he works in a comic book store for "fun". Anyhow, I'm always excited to meet gamers around here!

I had a hard time finding someone local when I was searching... was considering buying half a cow shipped from somewhere else, but I'd rather buy local too. If you find one, let me know!!

Totally an aside, but Clwcain, what kind of gaming forums do you hang out on?

If you are looking for a "system" to help you implement, I can't recommend "Accountable Kids" enough. We bought the book only, made up our own cards, so it was inexpensive... and now the chores get done every day, they know what expectations are, and yelling is WAY down. From their site: "Accountable Kids is a unique parenting program designed to teach accountability and responsibility in the home. It is a back-to-basics system which includes essential principles and concrete parenting tips for strengthening relationships and building a foundation for success; an ideal program for ADHD natural treatment therapy. Children learn to balance choices and consequences in a fun, productive manner." http://www.accountablekids.com/ I'm sure lots of people do this naturally, but for us it was wonderful to have a system. My 6 year old is very challenging, and his behavior has significantly improved since we got this up and running.

I think water too! I don't care for soda very much, and my older ds won't drink it at all... there must be some others out there who feel the same way.

We are Academy 18/21. My dh claims it is properly pronounced "Academy 18 slash 21. I just say "Academy 18 21". Very very geeky reason for the name... can anyone guess? Knowing how I met my dh is a big hint...

Congratulations! I love the cake/dress story... and the look on your face is wonderful! Hope you have an awesome evening....

Both my dh and my oldest ds have been diagnosed with ADHD, and this sounds like typical behavior. If he is on track academically, I don't think that holding him back a year is the right thing. Kids (and adults) with ADHD require coaching to learn organizational and focus skills. Punishment, or even maturity, is not necessarily going to change that.

:iagree: Grade is an arbitrary term to begin with. I would just keep on going at whatever level she is at and not worry about grade. Kids in ps aren't all at the same "level", but they are in the same grade. It sounds like she made concerted effort, it was just a tough year situationally... holding back should only be for dire circumstances, IMHO.

Wow, that was really out of context and slap-down rude. Where did I ever say Jesus was the government? What I said was... Jesus does indeed require us to share our drinks that we take to the park if others don't have them. Whether or NOT the government requires it, Jesus requires it of Christians. You disagree?

I sent an email to another Scholastic contest that didn't say anything about homeschoolers one way or the other, and got a reply back already this morning: Dear Kay, I can only speak to the Scholastic Book Fairs' Kids Are Authors contest, but we do indeed accept entries from homeschoolers. If there book should win the contest, the $5,000 voucher in product must be awarded to a non-profit organization of their choice as we can not award prizes to individual families. Please see our website for our complete entry form, guidelines and regulations. That makes total sense to me... I'm not saying that a huge prize shouldn't go to a whole school of children (or co-op, or NPO group), but that individual children should be allowed to compete. Clearly other departments of Scholastic agree... so why the "no homeschoolers"? It isn't about "entitlement". It's about customer service!

Ahwahnee wrote "When you take your kids to a park, and bring a chest full of drinks, should you be required by law to give half of them to everyone else in the park, since you have so many? Or should you be able to choose what you do with your drinks? Would you go to the park if you were required to give away your drinks?" Worked for Jesus. The disciples weren't crazy about the idea either, btw... ‘Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?’ Matthew 15:32-39 Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, ‘I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.’ 33The disciples said to him, ‘Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?’ 34Jesus asked them, ‘How many loaves have you?’ They said, ‘Seven, and a few small fish.’ 35Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground, 36he took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 37And all of them ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 38Those who had eaten were four thousand men, besides women and children. 39After sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.

I have one dedicated bookcase in our school area.. it's a floor to ceiling Ikea IVAR bookcase. Crafts that take adult supervision with my boys (lots of collage things--eg macaroni, sequins, foam pieces, shells, etc; finger paints; big bottles of tempera paints; playdough and lots of supplies) are higher up, in large labeled bins by category. That stuff they need to ask me to hand down so they can play. Starting mid way down the shelf are smaller drawers with little items--scissors, markers, rulers, tape, glue, stickers, colored pencils, chalk, crayons, etc. All are in those small three-drawer rubbermaid type things with the drawers labelled. Then there are two shelves with paper--coloring and activity books, writing paper, construction paper, etc. The bottom shelf is "found" craft items like tubes, boxes, etc. Everything they can reach they can pull down as they like. My 4 year old is my art boy; he's in an out of the craft materials all day.

Story of the World -- history made accessible Growing With Grammar -- so easy to teach and implement EPGY Math -- my ds LOVES math now, and he's soaring

My sister in law is CFO at one of these corporations--she's a banker who handles billions, BILLIONS, in her day to day professional decision making. She is a huge Obama supporter, and has done lots of research into how his election will affect thier company, stockholders, and personal investers. She thinks Obama has fantastic economic policies. Since I hated economic in college, and all my professional budgeting experience is at a small church with an annual budget of just over $200,000, I'm willing to defer to her experience. Personally, I don't vote based on how much money I think I'm going to make, but on how the majority of people will be affected, regardless of my own situation. I'm convinced Obama has the best chance to turn this nation around in a positive direction, and not just financially.

OK, this is what I wrote: I just read online that Subway and Scholastic are not accepting contest submissions from homeschoolers? I'm truly hoping this must be an error. Our local homeschool group regularly submits Scholastic book orders, as do many others, and we have been attending your warehouse sales as homeschoolers for years. Obviously, some branches of Scholastic are very happy to embrace the pocketbooks of home educators, so I would hope our children can fully participate in your contests as well. And homeschool children certainly eat just as much as those in public or parochial schools! Both my kids love Subway... and there is great disappointment that thier writing is unworthy of your consideration. According to the US Department of Education, in 2003 (the year for which the most recent data is available) there were 1.1 million homeschoolers in the US, a 29% increase in the previous 4 years. That's over 2 percent of students in 2003, and that number has grown since. http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oii/nonpublic/statistics.html#homeschl That's a lot of current and future customers to insult and antagonize... Kay (name) (location) ________________________________ This stuff ticks me off to no end... let's not let them forget we're out here spending our money!

Wow! Go watch this link, folks!!!:thumbup1: Short form: Those families who talk to their kids MOST in the baby/preschool years see the greatest vocabularies later, higher IQs, better test scores and reading comprehension. The correlation is amazingly direct--ie, the more you talk, the better the kids did. The amazing variability got to me--the family that talked the most was 3600 words an hour addressed to their child, the one that talked the least was 150 words an hour addressed to their child. No wonder! I think this study is probably right on. We had our own little experiment in our family, because my dh (who was/is a stay at home dad) went into the hospital for 6+ months when our kids were 3 and 1. The boys were with a nanny during the day for that entire--I was at the hospital with my dh, and even when he was home he needed nursing care and was bedridden. Our kids missed out on having dad there 24/7 and Mom was busy and exhausted. I believe that's in large part why our younger son is not as verbally strong as our older son--he missed out on our family, our dynamic, during a super developmental stage. There's nothing I can do to change it, and at the time we had no choice, but I still regret that he missed out on what WE would have done and said with him. No nanny is as good... I think he's bright, and he's catching up. Still... talk talk talk! I wouldn't be surprised if our family breaks that 3600 an hour easily, as do many of you, most likely! Lol!

I think this is fundamentally untrue. Both my parents were career military, both Vietnam veterans. My dad retired the day after I graduated from High School, but I grew up on and around military bases. My mother worked at the Pentagon on 9/11--she still does, but a civilian now, she retired as an Air Force Colonel about 10 years ago. I am strongly anti-war, but would never dream of speaking "a word against" those who serve. I question this war, was one of the few who seemed to be against it before the invasion began, and I do care deeply about the American troops in harms way, some of whom I know personally, all of whom are "my" people--the military community that raised me. Part of what we do in a democracy "is" question wars. Do you think that no administration has ever made a poor decision? Or only that no poor military decision has ever been made? Do you believe that citizens have no right or responsibility to ensure that the best possible decisions are made by the government they elected? My religious convictions only add impetus for me to speak out and exercise a civic value. I guess I can understand that confusion of feelings--my father in law is still horribly insulted by anyone mentioning that we lost the Vietnam war, or that it was not worthwhile geopolitically speaking. He still is personally insulted by that statement. But there can be individual heroism even in the midst of wars that were unwise from the standpoint of the government. There are plenty of stories throughout history about individuals who were in the "wrong" war, or even on the "wrong" side, who still fought bravely and well and did their best to make some goodness in the midst of despair. I don't think there are many in the anti-war movement of today who would deny that reality.

Thanks! We do one day of historical copywork, one day from our (history cycle) literature, and one day of poetry copywork a week. Next year I'm going to add a "fun" day of copywork--from whatever ds is into at the time (right now, Pokemon). Keep 'em coming, if you have other resources!

Bump... anyone? Anyone?

I don't remember where I got this list originally... but I've used it when choosing a pediatrician in the past. Some interview questions are designed as much to give you information as to help you decide whether you are compatible and comfortable with this person. Here are some interview questions to get you started: 1. What are the office hours? Do you have evening or Saturday hours? 2. If I called for a routine visit right now, how soon could I be seen? 3. How much time is allowed for a routine visit? 4. Will you or other physicians/nurses in the practice discuss health problems over the phone? Do you charge for such "telephone time?" 5. What happens if I have an emergency outside of office hours? 6. Are you a member of the health plan I belong to? 7. Does my health plan provide you with financial incentives? 8. How must I pay for care? 9. Will my child see you each time we have an appointment, or will other physicians in the practice see him/her? 10. If my child needs hospitalization, which hospital will he/she be admitted to? 11. How do you feel about obtaining a second opinion? 12. What is your medical training and where did you go to medical school? 13. Are you board certified in your specialty? Questions of philosophy It's important to have a healthcare provider you feel comfortable with -- after all, this person will be making important decisions about your child. Here are some additional topics you might want to bring up during the interview, focusing on how he or she gels with your philosophy. What are your views on breastfeeding? What are your views on homeschoooling? When do you recommend starting solid foods? Do you recommend circumcision? What are your thoughts on vaccinations? How often do you prescribe antibiotics? Overview and assessment After the interview, it's time to take stock of what you learned. Make some notes and consider a few more topics, including: Do you have a compatible philosophy on medical care? How do your personalities and styles of handling situations mesh? Do you feel comfortable with this person making healthcare decisions for your child?

I'm sitting down to plan out copywork for next year. Last year I used a great SOTW 1 linked set of copywork--sayings, quotations, etc, that was designed by... well, someone on the old board. If you know, please tell me! Quick example: Chapter 12. The Middle Kingdom of Egypt Knowledge is not necessarily wisdom. Egyptian Proverb I belong to you like this plot of ground planted with flowers and sweet smelling herbs. Egyptian love song Chapter 25. Alexander the Great I am dying from the treatment of too many physicians. Alexander the Great A tomb now suffices him for whom the whole world was not sufficient. Alexander the Great If no one has done something similar for SOTW 2, I'll start from scratch... but does anyone have anything like this already put together? Thanks!

We use lots of direct consequences... but my ds's are 4 and 6. They DO need to be reminded of why that consequence came to be, particularly the 4 year old.

Doesn't surprise me! My "little" brother is a keeper at the Jacksonville zoo... this summer when we visited him we got a back stage tour. He mainly keeps reptiles, but we also met his roommate, the keeper in charge of the rhinos and buffalos. We walked through the barn (which he had just cleaned, thankfully), and stood just a couple of feet away from a huge male water buffalo, through a gate. His comment to my kids was, "Step back. Don't get too close. They're mean, they're dangerous, and they will kill you." This is my brother's roommate, and the buffalo.