:iagree: Thank you, thank you, for saying this. What is truly important? One of the reasons more people even in our own country don't nurse, thereby increasing their baby's health risks and lowering the general health of our society, is fear of nursing in public and dealing with the ridiculous, ongoing societal taboo of breastfeeding. People need to get over their squeamishness. When I'm in public and have a nursing shirt, a sling, and my hand right on the top of my shirt ready to cover up anything "Just in case" and still have women hovering around me trying to usher me into a room, or turning their chairs around so they can't see me, it makes me feel...well, like they think I"m doing something shameful or wrong. And I have nursed several children already and am more immune to these things than I was as a new mom. It's horrible, really. The OP mentioned consideration for others, and then mentioned it is different if someone is trying to "better society", or something like that. Well, breastfeeding in public IS bettering society. It doesn't mean we need to flash anyone, but the more women continue living their lives and breastfeeding whereever they happen to be, the more breastfeeding will seem normal and maybe we can finally have a generation of babies who are mostly fed the way nature intended.

I would send out an email saying that it will be Thursday because that is the only weeknight that can accomodate the most people. You can't please everyone.

I'm not familiar with that book but it sounds like Parent Effectiveness Training. I have read the bookb Non-Violent Communication and it is similar, but it goes one step further. You would make the I statement, but then make a request of the other person. "When I see you using my things without asking, I feel angry. Would you be willing to ask permission/not use that next time?" I have found it helpful in disagreements with DH because phrasing it this way shows I am owning my own feelings; he has a tendency to take some comments or requests as criticism and this has helped us. However, in some cases I think this kind of language 1)feels stilted 2)fails to set firm boundaries when needed and 3) I think with younger children it can be manipulative to phrase things in terms of feelings no matter if it is an I statement or not. I agree that it is better to say "I expect you will do ____" in the case of absolutes, than to talk about feelings, which makes things more about ME than about them and what they did wrong.

We will avoid sugars, white flours, etc. even more stringently than usual, get plenty of exercise, and take probiotics. Recent study showing effectiveness of probiotics in preschoolers: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/short/124/2/e172

I never do unless it pertains to filing for insurance. So for the dc I give DH's, but not theirs or mine. For my doctor I give mine because it is required for billing, and DH's. The dentist has none of ours because we pay out of pocket. The other day when I signed up for music lessons for dc they wanted my ssn. Whaaat? Everyone asks for it now. I just leave it blank.

Normal can be anywhere from 97-99 depending on time of day. 97 isn't low according to my doctor. Lower than 97 can be hypothyroid. That was one of the clues when I was diagnosed. I was charting my temps to try to conceive and it would be 96 in the morning. I found out that the ranges for thyroid have been changed and what some doctors still call normal really is out of range and on the way to hypothyroid.

I have the degree but I also have the fear. Even with a degree, once you are out of the workplace for so long while at home with the kids, it isn't always easy to jump back in. With my degree I would be able to get a teaching credential and perhaps teach, or at least sub for a while. My goal would be to have work hours such that my kids would not need a lot of afterschool care, so that is one of the options I thought of. I agree that having a plan helps with the anxiety. We have known quite a few families where one of the parents either lost his job or became ill, so it does happen and is something to think about.

Mine are younger but they seem to need a mid-morning snack. That is usually fruit or veggie and then something with nuts or nut butter, for protein. I have one that seems to eat all day long, but the rule is, unless it is designated snack or meal time, they can only have veggies or fruit. And if they eat all the fruit in two days, they know it will be a few days before there is more in the house. I *think* they are learning to pace themselves with the fruit. I believe it is best to eat when one is hungry, but I can't be cleaning up cracker crumbs and yogurt mess all day long, plus those things are not healthy in unlimited quantities, so the fruit/veggie only rule has worked well.

I don't know, I never practiced dictations that long in school. I don't think it is necessary for good writing, either. As far as taking good notes, I think that comes from lots and lots of practice taking notes. In middle school, the teacher can go more slowly for practice. I still remember my 7th grade history teacher forcing us to outline chapter after chapter, and take notes from her lectures (that she would check). College efficiency in note-taking comes from a good abbreviation system and ability to organize/outline IME. ;) This is something I will have to plan for if we hs through middle and high school. I don't see myself lecturing at the dining table while my kids take notes, lol.

My son is beginning second grade and I agree. He reads well but I think there are so many foundational skills. Now is the time to shore up the reading, writing, and basic math understanding, rather than spending too much time on history and science and having to remediate the basics later on. We do mostly reading for history and science. We do very few projects. We read lots about all kinds of topics. And when we hit a tough spot in math, or with spelling, we spend a little more time on those things, and the "extra" subjects get pushed aside.

I felt so great a week after my third baby that I decided not to listen to my midwife and start exercising again. I thought I would start out lightly, just walk a couple of miles around the neighborhood. I paid for it by being stuck in bed for a few days afterward, because I started bleeding more heavily. There will be plenty of time to exercise. I also agree about being careful with your ligaments. I got a mild pubic symphisis sprain/strain by pushing things too much, jumping around and stretching further than I should, AT 6-7 months postpartum.

I'm one that didn't care for this book. A lot of what I've read about learning styles seems too simplified for me, and maybe too much like "educationese" type of nonsense that is in the typical elementary classroom. My son is a "wiggly willy", but he learns well by reading, writing and listening. Incorporating lots of hands-on doesn't seem to result in greater learning. I'd be interested in reading a more updated version of her book because I do like her curriculum reviews, but unlike some I haven't felt that the book is a must-have or that it helped at all in choosing curriculum.

How Great Thou Art is stirring. I also like a few already mentioned-- Be Still My Soul, It is Well With My Soul, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing Others not mentioned: O Sacred Head Now Wounded Praise Him, Praise Him, Jesus Our Blessed Redeemer O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus This reminds me, maybe I am just getting older, but I don't like the trend towards more contemporary music in the worship services. Some of it is powerful and beautiful, but I prefer the old hymns I grew up on.

We did a lot of the literature read alouds from ambleside, including the free reading. http://amblesideonline.org/01bks.shtml We also read Dr. Dolittle, Mr. Popper's Penguins, many of the Sonlight core 1 read alouds, a few of the Narnia series, and all of E.B. White's books.

I tried to read both of these at 5.5 or so and it was beyond his interest after a couple of chapters. We are going to read both of these together, this year.

This is a great reminder for me to make sure my boys know things like this. In my dating days I was so impressed when a guy would open the door for me, or pull out the chair for me first in a restaurant. Of course that was a while ago, but I hope chivalry stays alive, at least a little bit, for the next generation!

Well, so far my oldest is 7, so we have done basics. We are going through "Little Book of Manners For Boys" which I saw recommended here, I think. It's okay for a start. Other than that I teach them things as they come up-- thank you notes, RSVPs, hostess gifts, making guests feel comfortable, practicing table manners. I think these things are best learned by exposure and modelling, and I am not perfect in that regard, so I will be using more resources as they get older. Hopefully we will be able to provide plenty of opportunities to practice, too. When I was a girl it was common to attend "Charm school" around age 11-12, and I may be looking into classes like this for the kids later on. ETA: I realized you might be asking about resources for formal table manners since that is what I mentioned in my post--don't have a book for that but am just teaching from my own knowledge so far. When they get a little older I will use a reference book plus practice.

Whew! I feel better. Thank you to everyone who replied. I have posted some of the words. He gets so engrossed he forgets to look at them, I guess. He does try very hard. I don't want to discourage him so I usually only choose misspelled words using rules we have already covered, to correct, and then work on the other words separately. Thank you for al of the good ideas and encouragement. :) Especially this: This made me smile. I want to enjoy this time with my still-sometimes-cuddly second grader and not be stressed over skills. This really helped. :)

I teach formal manners. Whether my kids retain them or not, is a different thing. ;) I want them to feel comfortable going to restaurants, weddings, dinner parties (or dinners with their future in-laws!) that have formal place settings. It can be embarrassing to not know which bread plate is yours, or which glass to use (and if you choose the wrong one then the people around you have to rearrange their place settings). And I want my sons to be gentlemanly, and sons and daughters to know what a situation requires (gift giving, RSVPing, invitations, thank yous). These things are easy to learn, and good manners can contribute to good first impressions of someone. Whether that should matter or not, is debatable, but there are times it can and does. Besides, I think life is nicer when everyone uses good manners. I would rather my kids not be ignorant of expected conventions, because they are not obsolete from what I can see.

My oldest is now in second grade. He reads at grade 5+ level, probably higher but I think grade 4-5 is about the comprehension level for his independent reading and interest level. We are mid-way through AAS2 and I don't know whether I should continue with it. I'm getting frustrated, because he is doing a lot more writing, but his spelling is not so good. He has beenwriting out his own narrations (the ones we do aside from WWE) even when I tell him I will write it for him to copy. He also likes to write stories, lists, etc. I wonder if writing a lot with bad spelling is just reinforcing the misspelled words in his mind. I am looking for some confirmation of, or reassurance about this. The main issue I have had with AAS is that it takes so long to get to the rules/phonograms for some of the most commonly used words. Words that he misspells include they (thay), were (where), once (wuns), could/would/should (usually spells using oo), there/their, and lots of similar examples I can't think of right now. He has seenthese words in copywork before, so that doesn't seem to help. I do think he benefits from AAS, as he has internalized most of what we have covered so far. ***So, my question: Those that use AAS or other step-wise phonics-based spelling-how do you approach the more common words with the trickier rules? I tried to teach him some of these words as sight words by using copywork--but they don't seem to stick. The next day, or next week, he will spell it wrong again. Which is why I'm concerned that things are getting stuck in his head the wrong way. :confused: He is very auditory so maybe I will try the method mentioned in another thread around here. But I was wondering what others here do if they have kids who struggle with spelling. I have trouble with the concept of phonics-based spelling, because at some level you still have to know visually which letter combinations to use. and rules don't always help. DH was taught phonics-based spelling, and he is a poor speller. I learned phonics at age 33 and I was a good speller. :confused: Ack! So confusing.

Thank you, everyone, for the other ideas and links! I really appreciate it. I should clarify that I'm not necessarily wanted to replicate the public school. I just want to familiarize myself with some of the assignments they might be doing at a given grade level, and some of the teaching ideas. Like many here, I have mainly been of the mindset that public school methods= bad= poor writers. I guess I just want to see and compare up close, for myself, and see the differences in technique.

Thank you. I hear you on public schools generally not producing good writers. In high school I was cloistered with the honors students so it wasn't until college when I looked over friends' papers that I saw how many college students could not form grammatical sentences and coherent paragraphs. I do understand the classical philosophy, I think. I just don't know if I agree with it completely. I agree with the foundational ideas, but when I see that fourth graders in WWE are still only just writing narrations and taking dictation with no other independent writing, I feel concerned. Maybe my issue is that I do want to build the foundational skills, but I am not sure my son needs to go through all 4 years of WWE at that pace. Maybe I need to spend more time looking at other classical writing programs that move ahead a little sooner.

I'm curious if anyone knows of and/or uses a more typical curriculum rather than WWE, CW, IEW, and the other ones that are popular here. Reading over the 2nd grade standards for my state was quite an eye-opener. Informational writing using research from several sources, charts and graphs, rough drafts and then publishing a final? :001_huh: Persuasive writing? I know narration, copywork, dictation are building valuable skills, but it seems there are other skills (not only creative writing which I have no problem not requiring) that are not being addressed. I have read WWE hardcover, and TWTM, and CM. I don't know why I have trouble letting this go. Anyone know of an inexpensive, more traditional writing resource that I could look over? I don't necessarily mean the creative writing prompts, I mean skills that are taught in typical schools that are not covered at this age with the classical approach.

There are some pretty good IMAX movies available from Netflix. We just saw one about the space station.

Also for another piece of my perspective-- it is only in the past few years that states have pushed the cut-off ages back so far. My parents and in-laws in the 50's started first grade (no kinder) at 5-- and a couple of them had Jan. and Feb. birthdays! In the 70's there were loads of kids who started K at 4, because the cut-offs were late fall or winter. I don't think children are somehow les mature than in years past, I see more of a trend over the past 100+ years to prolong adolescence more and more.