I've been doing WW point system since March of last year. I made goal this fall but haven't been able to get to meetings for a few months. I'm getting back into the meetings next month and looking forward to it. The meetings really help me stay accountable and I like the support. The Zero point veggie soup is Soooooo Good! It is a keeper! Make a double batch and freeze some. Progresso also has zero point soup. It is good too but if you have the time, making it fresh tastes better. :)

How many lapbooks do your kids complete in one school year? 2 to 3 How many lapbooks are your kids working on simultaneously? We do one at a time. When do you work on them? As part of the lesson? At night as an extra project? On the weekend? After regular school or during the allotted class time. If you had time to only work on a lapbook for one subject, what would it be? History? Science? Literature? I guess I am asking...Which subject do you find them most beneficial? Science or History mostly. We've done some lit lapbooks for books we're reading too.

1-2-3 Magic user here too. Easy and fast to implement. Consistency is Key.

We're doing this right now! It is awesome! The girls are 10 and 11 and doing the Bookstore. They love it. We do it daily and they don't want to stop. It is worth every penny! The curriculum is a mock start-up business that covers a business year. The children begin with 10,000. With that they purchase original inventory. Then every month they process customer orders with sales tax, update and order inventory, pay bills (have to write the checks too), pay for advertising and complete a ledger and figure profit or loss. Each month the child draws a card from a stack of AISS (additional in store sales) cards and a card from a 'Chance' stack. These cards can help or hinder. For example, one of my girls drew a chance card that gave her 1/2 off her inventory restocking order. My other one got one that increased her sales by 10%. The program is a great way for children to see what running a business really entails.

I totally agree! We tried the BARF diet with one of our dogs and she got ill from it. The vet explained that the big problem is that store meat is subject to all kinds of bacterial contamination that is removed with cooking. Buying a packaged frozen BARF meal at the pet food store also resulted in illness. During the dog food scare I made our own pet food but it was primarily cooked muscle meats. Our old dog also loved bones but was a bone wrecking machine and would not just eat the meat but the bone too....again, making her quite ill. If you want to do a homemade diet, there are some very good cooked pet food recipes on the net.

My core plans for my 7th grader next year are: Math: A Beka 7th Mathematics & Singapore and some Bright Minds add-ons Language Arts: FLVS (Florida Virtual) Language Arts 2 & Hake Grammar Science: FLVS Comprehensive Science 3 & Critical Thinking through Science Art: YMCA Drawing Class & Manga Drawing and maybe a co-op class. PE: Taekwondo 3x a week & weekly Ice Skating class. Geography: FLVS World Geography Foreign Language: Irasshai Japanese Lessons History: History of US and Unit Studies

When mine did the 5th and 6th grade books they were between 8-10 so I would think your 9 yr old would enjoy them. :)

I did Soft Paws for awhile and when you get them on, they work....for about 3 days. There are diff sizes so you have to be very careful about measuring to the chart. My biggest issue with them is that they do not allow the claw to retract naturally and that can lead to the cat chewing on them. Also,cat nails grow quickly and in our case at different rates so I was continually trying to keep all the claws covered at once. I kept finding little cast off Soft Paw shells around the house. And the best part....trying to superglue (yup-Soft Paws glue is the equivalent of superglue) onto a squirming, angry cat is a logistical nightmare. We gave up the Soft-Paws and bought some spray concoction that discourages cats from clawing. You can get that stuff at any pet store. Between the spray stuff and reprimmanding the cat, they eventually learned not to claw the furniture.

Mine wasn't crazy about math but never complained either. We did Saxon then switched to Teaching Textbooks mostly because I didn't like Saxon for Alg II. After that, he went to dual-enrolled college and took trig and did just fine. He never complained about that either. I probably won't get that lucky with my girls. ;)

This is my approach too.

You probably won't be very happy reading my response. :( I just had a HUGE medical issue with my kitty (a black shorthair but we also have a purebred Ragdoll). He had a urinary obstruction due mostly to crystals in the urine. It is really important to feed a good canned food that discourages crystal formation and consider not using clumping litter. My posting concerns the use of clumping litter. There are health complications associated with litters containing the clumping agent sodium bentonite. It absorbs water and if ingested can lead to digestive blockages and dehydration. It has also been linked to respiratory problems. Alternatives to clumping litters containing sodium bentonite are the corn or wheat based litters. They still clump but are safe. We used to have the Mega-litter Maid too. More bad news... The Litter-Maid machine is picky and like a premium clumping litter. Unfortunately the best ones contain sodium bentonite. We ditched the Litter-Maid and got a large plastic storage tray and use it with a thin layer of clay litter. It is actually less work than the devil Litter-Maid which was a horrible ordeal to take apart and clean. The scooper tines used to be metal and now they are made of plastic that is harder to clean. The tray part is not all that much bigger than a large cat box once you assemble the monster. My advice from one Ragdoll owner to another... Return the Litter-Maid Get a large (cheap) plastic storage box (like the ones for storing under a bed). Get a bag of clay litter and a pancake spatula. The spatula makes it easy to scoop just wet areas of clay to throw away. Not much different from scooping really. We scoop into a gal size ziplock bag throughout the day and toss at the end of the day. Keeps odors down just fine.

http://www.coreknowledge.org/bookstore/index.php?main_page=document_general_info&cPath=15&products_id=26 We used the Core Knowledge/Pearson Learning History & Geography and enjoyed them. My dh read to the girls nightly from these books and they liked the way they were written and the books are colorful. They have multiple grade levels.

Vomiting and the other symptoms you've described could be a cold but also sound like a potential urinary infection. We just nursed our kitty through a urinary obstruction. It is more common in male cats and can be very dangerous. Check to see if kitty is urinating normally. Signs of urinary problems are: straining in the box, spending increased time in a squat , passing small amounts, urinating in places other than the box (they will try to use tile floors and the sink and soft places because they associate the pain of urination with the box and the surfaces are cool). They will be restless and pace, lick their privates and keep trying to squat. Crystals that form in the urine are painful and if kitty is crying this is a sign too. Passing crystals (only seen with microscope) can lead to blockage and serious problems can develop within 36 hrs. My kitty ended up in emergency one night and had to have a catheter. He was lucky because he came close to surgery. He is on a special diet now and meds. We know what to look for now and have to monitor the little guy. The good news is that he is back to his frisky self...but on a diet and eating better these days. :)

I don't think it is too much if he is able to handle it. I personally think at that age it might be easier to focus more on reading and less on math. Everything else comes easier after they are proficient readers. It also lets him focus on one thing. I'd also reinforce the fun of learning to read by LOTs of read alouds.

It went pretty well. We started review math today since the kids finished their math for the year before the holidays. We started Charlotte Mason's 'Your Business Math'. It was so much fun! The girls had a blast getting started on setting up their 'bookstore'. So far, I'd recommend it! The day was a bit longer than usual but I think as we get back into it things will move along more efficiently.

I agree with this! When I first started hsing, I tended to see things very good vs. bad...the bad being the ps. Now I've mellowed over many years of hsing and I can see that there are pros and cons to either choice depending mostly on the parents (as either simply parents or as both parent and educator). Now, I make my judgements based on what would work for each individual family unit instead of automatically assuming hsing is best or that ps is inferior somehow. I've seen some pretty awful hsing examples in my experiences and some pretty good ps outcomes...which just proves to my own satisfaction that keeping a very open mind is probably the safest route and to each his own. ;) But while I would like to see everyone be able to post freely, that comes with the risk that people will comment..good or bad and will be potentially critical or defensive.

This is so incredibly sad. I feel so bad for the family. :(

I'm a Black Belt and I started TKD with my son when he was 9. We both had our Black Belts by the time he was 11. That is pretty fast but we were at the studio about 4x a week (had a great unlimited attendance deal). I have seen very young children 3 and 4 yrs old and honestly don't think the skill is very meaningful for that age. Some studios have tot classes that only stress working together and the dicipline aspect without learning the forms and meanings. This is IMO more age appropriate and a good intro to learning the rest when they are older. I think a good age to start is IMO no earlier than a mature 5 yr old or better 6. At those ages they also have the coordination to handle some of the precise moves and the height is also a factor in sparring. I also urge anyone who can take the class with their children to think about it. It is a great bonding activity and something you'll always be proud you did together. :)

I'd sell it on Ebay then use that money to help support a cause that represents your views. A 'making lemonade out of lemons' kinda thing. :)

Dunedin is a nice area. There are lots of homeschoolers, co-ops and Dunedin Fine Arts Academy is right there and they offer a lot of good classes. Pinellas county (Dunedin is in Pinellas) is very homeschool friendly and the homeschoolers are very welcoming. :)

I don't like to be redundant so I would just enroll in the college class and not worry about a prep class at home. Chances are, the college class will not be as hard as you would expect it to be.

:hurray: I'm so glad you took a stand and told that gal what she needed to hear! Bravo!

Mine are all indoor only but one in particular seems intent on escaping. She never gets far because it startles her when she gets in the front yard and comes right back but I worry. I think the collars and tags are a good precaution in case of emergencies that could cause them to get out or when they go to the vet. I don't worry about the collars being caught on something because we only use cat safe break-away collars. I know they work because occasionally we'll find one in the house minus a cat. It is good to test them though before you purchase.

Ahhh...she is cute. Looks like one of mine except mine is gray/brown. I have 4 kitties and they all have collars, bells and tags. They get used to the collars pretty quickly and it is good to have that ID on them even if you microchip too.

We have spent the last 2 weeks dealing with urine crystals and infection in one of our kitties. He ended up in the emergency animal hospital late one night and it was scary. He is doing very well now but is on meds and we are syringe feeding him a special diet for now. The behavior your kitty is exhibiting sounds a lot like urinary issue behavior. If your kitty looks like she is straining to urinate, it takes a long time, the output is reduced or if she is licking down there a lot, you need to get her to a vet ASAP. An obstructed kitty can become critically ill within 36 hours. If she is still passing urine that is good and she isn't obstructed yet, but an infection or urine crystals can lead to obstruction. Fortunately, female cats obstruct less than males.