My grandparents are that age and have enjoyed crocs (easy to slip on) and warm throw blankets to put over their legs if they are in a chair most of the time. Other ideas are nice lotion, earphones to help them watch TV with if they are hard of hearing, DVD's of old radio or TV shows. My grandparents are 94, 88 and 84, so we have had a few years of experience buying things for this age group. Good luck!

I don't know what was meant exactly by the comment in the OP, but I would like to share an observation I have made teaching in a 2 day/week homeschool tutorial. First of all, the children are really polite, kind and well-behaved. I have noticed that it does not seem as if they listen quite as attentively to classroom instructions as do children who are used to learning exclusively in a classroom environment. I certainly don't think they do it intentionally, but I don't think most of them have caught onto the same urgency of that schoolers have of "I should listen very carefully to what the teachers says because she might say something that I need to know to complete an assignment or to do well on a test." In other words, it is not that they aren't as good at listening, but just that a home environment where learning is going on a lot of the time and the teacher is always available has not created that same sense of panic, for lack of a better word. Not that panic is a good thing, but I do have to be extra intentional with them about saying "Listen up! This is important and if you don't hear it now, you may not hear it again." I don't know if that makes sense. It is kind of hard to explain and I am sure not something many people would notice, unless you had the experience of teaching both like I have. Has anyone else noticed anything similar?

Virginina Dawn, How interesting that your husband works at Colonial Williamsburg. The lady I talked with was very kind and helpful. She asked the writers that were available and then called me back. Such a refreshing experience!

The answer I received from Colonial Williamsburg was that "pregnancy" was used uncommonly as a medical term, but the more common ways of saying the same thing would have been "with child" or "in an increasing way" which I thought was very descriptive both of the woman and her family. I feel like I should give a prize for those who guessed correctly! Thanks anyway!

I called the Education Center at Colonial Williamsburg and lady who answered is going to do some asking around and call me back. I'll let you know what I find out. Thanks for that suggestion and all the others!

Does anyone know a word or phrase commonly used for "pregnancy" during colonial times in America? I would assume "with child" or "expecting" but I can't find a good source to back me up. We are doing a colonial apothecary for a colonial day at our tutorial tomorrow, so I am quickly trying to do some research. Thanks!

Wow! Thanks for the comments and good information. I just need to make the reservations and recognize that more than likely we will have fun with it. I think the interactive type restaurants sound pretty fun and unusual, so we will probably try a couple of those. It will be interesting! Thanks again for the comments!

Hi! We have been blessed with an opportunity to travel to Orlando in March. While not usually easily overwhelmed, I am finding that I am pretty much in awe of all that there is to do and Disney and how much people put into planning it as a vacation. I hope my lack of knowledge doesn't prevent us from having a good time! I would appreciate a little input from someone familiar with the area. We have a ds6 and a dd8. Do these sound like good choices for us? Yak and Yeti Captain's Grille at Yacht Club Resort Sci Fi Dine In Theater San Angel Inn Coral Reef at Epcot Tony's Town Square at MK Fairytale ? at MK It looks like a cheaper option than just going day by day and seeing what we can find, which surprised me. Last question, do we have to be visiting the parks to go to the restaurants in that park? We haven't decided which parks we are buying passes to yet. Thanks so much!

I recently used a decorator to help me out some with my living room and den. As a decorating challenged person, it was worth every penny I paid her (less than $100) for the two hours she was here. I would recommend doing that before buying any big pieces of furniture so that you can make sure you get something that you will really like and fits your room. One thing she did was to turn all of the living room furniture so all of the chairs were more in a circle than in the corners of the room where I had placed them. It was a small thing that made a big difference in the warmth of the room. I would think that this would mean an L-shaped couch would be good for the room you have, but like I said, I am challenged in this dept.

Oops! I already posted but I forgot two short stories that I read as a result of recommendations on this forum. I read these in October. Turning of the Screw by Henry James The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde

Enter Jeeves: 15 Early Stories (my first intro to Wodehouse) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society The Bruised Reed

Deconstructing Penguins - a book about reading books and discussing them with children.

I made this recipe a couple of weeks ago when it was posted, as well. I should have said thanks earlier because we all really enjoyed it. Even my husband who is a very particular "foodie". Thank you so much for sharing.

For SOTW 4 The Rosa Parks Story

For SOTW 1 The Vikings: Nova

For 16th century Britian: God's Outlaw: The Story of William Tyndale

DD8 big gift is going to be a wooden dollhouse to collect miniatures in, if I don't decide I am getting it more for me than for her. DS6 big gift is a set of sticks and balls that you can put together to build large structures. For both: Blokus, clothes, books

I second the Frank Grisanti's recommendation.

I am trying to decide whether to get my children Adventures in Odyssey For God and Country CD's for Christmas or the Your Story Hour CD's also about American History. I know my kids would enjoy both, but is either one preferable for better historical content? Thanks so much!

The connectagons were at our local art museum when we visited there last week and my 6yods LOVED them! It was a larger set than what I have seen in a store, but I think he will love the smaller ones too. It is definitely on his Christmas list.

I just thought, that may not be enough of a logical consequence if you were looking for logical consequences. I guess I was just thinking of what I would do in that situation.

How old is your daughter? If I was expecting those things from my daughter who is 8, I would make a written list of what she needs and ask her to refer to it to keep from getting sidetracked. I would also be reminding her once when she needs to get started, but after that leave it up to her. Then, we have a list of 10 rewards that range from having a friend over (big deal) to getting to work with a stuffed animal sitting with you (not so big of a deal). As we go throughout the week as we have problems they move down the chart of rewards. So, for instance, if she wasn't prepared she would move once down the chart. If it happened the next day, she would move down again and so on. Do you think something like that would work? These are skills that kids have to learn, and I don't have a problem tying learning to be responsible to a tangible reward.

I will check out the Greenleaf and Duracraft websites. Thank you for those suggestions. I guess it will say whether the walls are pre-milled or not? Maybe I can call and talk to their customer service dept to determine the level of skill required to make one. I hadn't thought about all of that Calico Critter furniture we have! This house will be fully decorated as soon as she gets it! Does dollhouse furniture stores have things you can buy to look like wallpaper and flooring?

I am interested in buying a dollhouse kit to assemble for my dd8 for Christmas. I would love to hear from someone who has done one about how long it will take and what the difficulty level is. My parents got one for me to collect miniature furniture in, but I was a little too old for it by the time they got it. I am hoping she will really enjoy this for several years. Also, does anyone have a company they would recommend buying a dollhouse kit from? Thanks so much!

I am teaching science at a tutorial this year and recently looked for something similar to what you are talking about, but to no avail. The neatest thing I did find was the different types of animals divided into groups arranged in a semicircle. So, imagine a semicircle with the 5 groups of vertebrates on the left and invertebrates on the right in sections shaped like pie pieces. In the center were the names of the groups, then as it got larger the characteristics of the group and finally pictures of animals in that group. It was on scribd.com and looked like it had been copied from a textbook. You might be able to make something on your own that looks like it, or maybe that gives you an idea of something else. I have found the simpler the better, for you and the student! HTH!