I do really like this How _____ Works series for this age range. . . One of the best is OOP but readily avail used http://www.amazon.com/How-Nature-Works-Parents-Secrets/dp/0895773910

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: I do think this is a personality thing. My youngest has that tendency, while my olders are much more gowiththeflow kids. I don't have any magic answers. I think you are on the right track. Sometimes with these kind of things, I think I let them get out of hand b/c I am too patient and understanding. . . Y'know you don't want to "punish" the kid for "just expressing a feeling". . . but then when I finally just treat the behavior like I would some other undesirable thing and discipline for it, magically it goes away (or at least improves) I think you have to tell yourself "I'm not telling my kid how to FEEL. I'm telling him how to ACT." . . . he can feel as whiny and unhappy as he wants to. . . but he has to ACT happy and friendly and appreciative if he wants to be around other people! So, perhaps after a couple weeks of no-kid time, you can begin again with SHORT highly supervised playtimes. . . And have clear rules such as: ++ you may NOT complain about any other child's behaviors AT ALL except for to come to ME and PRIVATELY complain. I will then PRIVATELY tell you what your options are (go home, sit by me, whack your friend with a stick, etc.) If you break said rule(s). . . There will be a consequence when we get home. (Tell ds that You/mom won't discipline there in front of the other kids b/c that will just draw further attention to the complaints and thus further injure the feelings of the other kids. . .This not only gets you off the hook from being the bad guy in public, but buys you time to think!) I think 10 is old enough for both delayed and mysterious consequences. You should probably have something good/bad in mind, but not necc. spell it out to ds in advance (so you can adapt it if the consequence would mess up YOUR plans). I'd do sth pretty severe. . . With my ds, it might be 2 days w/o Wii for every complaint. . . or one hour early bedtime for every complaint. . . or sth like that. HTH

transitory = short-lived, emphemeral, temporary. . . Perhaps you could agree with it afterall. . . I am sure your sister's relationship is not expected to be short-lived. . . but rather is a serious long-term commitment. . . So, I think, grammatically, you could likely agree with the statement in that you probably do reject SHORT-TERM living together with a child. . . (They might have intended to describe ALL cohabitation as transitory. . . but I don't think that grammatically that is necc. what they have actually done, lol) :tongue_smilie:

I wish I'd made them hold their pencils correctly early on! I also wish I'd started my oldest in SWO earlier, so she'd have been done already, instead of needing to finish out H in 8th grade. It'd be nice to be able to focus on vocab only instead of also having to spend a few minutes on spelling each day.

Bahamas. Xanax. :)

Loved & Used: + big bin of spare change + set of wood geometric solids (10 or so shapes) + bin of counters (flattenned marbles of a couple colors. Poker chips or similar would also work) + sorting bears (along with pattern cards) + tangrams (& tangrammables book) + pattern blocks (& patternables book) + judy clock! + kitchen (spring style) scale + measuring implements (can use kitchen stuff -- need cups, liter bottle w/ ml markings, etc.) + also loved cuisinaire rods for use with Miquon, but wouldn't need them for other curricula

A page a day (4 days a week or so) seems to last us nearly a year. Seems like maybe 120 pages or so? I tried to make the books last as my dc tended to zzzoooommmm, and I felt that was wasteful, so I tried to limit it to one page a day. Each book reteaches all the letters, so surely "reviews" sufficiently. But, the 4th grade book might not include manuscript any longer, so if you need manuscript review, double check the book descriptions or ask again and someone (me?) will go to the basement and check the completed workbooks for you! HTH

#1) MCT (for sure) #2) Rod & Staff (gets the job done, but not as fun or as deep as MCT)

My fave so far was SL Science 4. We haven't used any other SL Science b/c of the creationist slant (not my cup of tea). . . but if I were a creationist, I'd be all over SL Science from day 1! I like Elemental Science pretty well so far. . . but we've just been doing it for a couple months. I'll likely stick with that for the rest of the early years w/ my youngest, until we get to SL 4!

Know that you have a good bit of control in fb to limit what you see and who can post/see what on your fb! I have one very old acquaintance (elem school) who friended me and then kept posting obnoxious things on my wall. This girl was the ONE person I was actually pretty mean to as a kid, so I feel eternally guilty and have been overly nice to her since then. Thing is, I realize that I didn't like her back then b/c she has no social skills and says inappropriate things. Like, there was a thread on my wall where several friends said really nice things about me. . . and this girl posted "wow, sounds like you've changed a lot". :001_huh: A couple weeks ago, I posted that dh and I were off for Guana Cay (Bahamas). She posted "that sounds nice but hope there isn't a lot of guano there" or sth like that. . . There were many intervening obnoxious posts over the last year since she friended me. She is the ONLY person whose comments I have ever felt inclined to delete. I kept wanting to defriend her but my guilt over my childhood unkindness prevents me from doing it. After the guano comment, I finally figured out that I can 1) create a friend "group" for her. 2) then limit what that group can see and do on my wall (I had long ago figured out how to "hide" her from my newsfeed so I don't see her posts unless I go to her wall on purpose.) So, her special group can no longer 1) see my wall posts 2) post anything to my wall I am happy, happy, happy. A few days after I did that she actually PMed me a link to some video (she'd never done that before) so I am guessing she has figured out that suddenly my wall is blank and she can't post there. LOL. Well, she has many other fb friends and I assume she'll forget about me now that she doesn't see my stuff. HTH someone.

My kids are doing very well with Galore Park's So You Really Want to Learn Spanish.

Be aware that SL 6 & 7 use SOTW, so you'll repeat it later if you do that. (I don't see that as a big problem as 4 years is a long time between uses!)

I don't know about ADHD & TS relationships, as my dd is very much not ADHD, lol. My understanding of TS is that it is defined as having BOTH gross motor (as in using muscle GROUPS, not just a single eye twitch (which is a fine motor tic) but things like a shoulder shrug, a grimace, etc) AND vocal tics (humming, uhuh-ing, throat clearing, etc.) for MORE THAN 12 MONTHS continuously. Before 12 months of duration, these symptoms would just be called a "temporary tic disorder". If the child has other tics (fine motor or whatever) but NOT BOTH the GROSS & VOCAL, then it is some other tic disorder or some other thing, but not TS. And, honestly, if the tics don't cause the child distress, then there is not neccessarily any advantage to diagnosing him, as there is not much to do about them w/o fairly extreme measures. Stress reduction and magnesium, etc *may* be helpful. . . but stress reduction is sth everyone benefits from, lol. HTH

Our 13 year old does have her own bank account, but it is savings only. We opened it for her at 12 yo when she had over $1000 saved. She earns quite a bit of $$ regularly playing harp, and frankly we *wanted* her money separate b/c seeing it in our regular accounts would be confusing for me, lol. For our other kids who don't have so much $$ of their "own", I'd still want them to have their own account by age 15 or so, just so they'll get good practice using it before college. I'd say I'd like them to have a debit card and checking account by age 16 to get in the habit of being responsible with it and keeping it balanced. I'll want them to have a paypal account and credit card for a year or so before leaving home as well.

p.s. the funnest thing ever in our SLing was that for Core 5 we had country feasts every 3-4 weeks. It was a BLAST. Fortunately, I had a friend who was also doing Core 5, so it was just super fun. The foods are great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My ds did Core 5 as a nine year old, in 4th grade. (Turned 9 in June, started Core 5 in August.) He did fine. The explorer paperwork stuff got a bit tiresome for him, and I helped him a bit, but it wasn't too bad. The reading, etc seemed fine. (He is a strong reader.) I'd say it wasn't IDEAL for him at 9, was better for my then-11 yo. . . but it was OK.

Well, I would stay out of it. They'll never listen to you and if you pay attention to THEIR business, it will drive you insane and cause great disharmony. So, don't think about it. Now, if you were asking me for advice about whether YOU should spend $$ that way -- I'd say maybe on the steak if you get a good price, and NO on eating out unless it's a crazy cheap coupon deal, and of course not on the $15 hair products and new outfits. But, you're not asking about YOU. . . You're asking about the inlaws, which is very dangerous territory. IMHO, you aren't responsible for subsidizing their lifestyle beyond perhaps assisting with essentials (food, shelter, health care) IF they truly need help with those things and you are able to do so w/o endangering your selves and your dc. . . BUT, it sounds to me like you're living with them? I assume that means you're sharing household expenses fairly and paying appropriate rent? IMHO, if you aren't doing your fair share w/ those things, then the very last thing on earth you should be doing is questioning how they spend their $$$. Honestly, I would not want anything to do financially with inlaws who are so obviously irresponsible financially. If you are thinking you are going to own that house someday, I am thinking you may be very disappointed someday when it gets foreclosed on or has equity lines in excess of value, etc. . . Don't be foolish with mingling your $$ with theirs! If you will be purchasing the home, keep your cash separate until the closing papers are signed so you are not surprised in a very bad way with the mess they are making of their finances! If I were you, I'd definitely make OTHER plans for my future that are not dependent on them AT ALL!

Don't freak out about the Tourette's. I know I DID. I totally freaked. It is OK! Many people w/Tourette's have it very mild. Many are never even diagnosed. It is not a problem unless the tics themselves cause the child a problem. If the tics are mild enough to be ignored, then no worries at all. . . 1) Tourette's can't be DXed until 12 mos have passed w/ the tics. . . So, if you are still shy of that, it may just be a temporary "tic disorder." 2) Even if it is Tourette's, it will wax, wane, and may disappear altogether at any time. 3) You don't medicate unless the tics are so severe as to cause real physical or mental distress, as the meds are serious business. + My dd's tics were pretty bad for 18-24 mos around age 10-11. . . But are 95% gone now (and have been for the past year or more) at age 13 after having petered out over a year or so (age 12ish). Occasionally she'll tic a bit, but very mildly and occasionall. I think this is actually fairly common. Honestly, I was so fearful of the DX, but it turned out to be almost nothing. You hear about Tourette's being so scary/bad but that is the extreme case -- many/most cases are so very mild. Noone noticed dd's tics, even when they were really bad, except my bff who is a pediatrician. :) Kids that age are just twitchy and weird, lol. ;) So, don't freak out. With a little luck, your son will be just totally fine! PM me if you want more details. Hang in there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

p.s. I know there are public schools which offer some traditional year-long courses in a single semester via "block scheduling" in which they have double periods of fewer courses. . . A friend's dd had to take Algebra that way! 4 months!! For a kid who struggled with math. I thought it was nuts, but it was the only way it was offerred in her school!

I agree about being creative in assigning dates. I.e., Physics I (2009), Physics II (2010), Chem I (2010), Chem II (2011) or something like that. Definitely include the 9th grade physical sciece course as well. Then you have 5 science credits, in three topic areas, so there is no doubt about making the 3 credit minimum. I haven't done a transcript yet, but don't some people do topic transcripts for the entire 4 years. . . I.e., a Science section of the transcript would have the 5 courses listed (with general dates/years if you feel the need, but not so much detail as to draw attention to the doubling up. . .)

Are there any materials available that help educate kids (say 4th - 10th gr level) re: advertising. . . with the aim of being a responsible & skeptical consumer? TIA

http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/ I like this site!

Too funny!! I have a table nearly just like that . . . which I convinced dh to make b/c of the one in the Land of Nod catalog!! We've had it about 4-5 years and it is AWESOME! Too funny! ETA: My only complaint is that sometimes the kids drive me nuts by shelving half the books w/ the binding towards one side and half the other way so you can't find things easily. Train the kids to always face the bindings ONE direction for your sanity!

"duck boots" are what you want, IMHO http://www.llbean.com/llb/search?page=duck-boots&init=1&ft=duck+boots The 8" version is the classic and very versatile, but other heights would be fine.

I guess these things vary so much by community. . . As a teen in the DC burbs, I got abt $7-10/hr for sitting 2-4 kids back in the 1980s. . . Never less than minimum wage ($5/hr), for sure, and the kids were sleeping half the time and my bf was allowed to come hang out with me, and my cooking/cleaning duties were limited. . . Sooooo, I guess I see minimum wage as the minimum for mom-gone babysitting for anyone who I feel is competent enough to sit for my kids. Now, if it is a "mother's helper" deal with a younger teen and mom is home, then I can see under that. . . Or, if it is an insanely easy sitting job (say one kid, late evening, kid sleeping most of the time while the teen is watching movies on HBO. . .), then maybe a bit lower hourly rate. But, to me, daytime sitting is the hardest b/c the kids are active and the sitter is WORKING most/all the time. . . FWIW, I pay $10-11/hr for adult babysitters and that is very good for my area, so I guess I don't see a very big diff between paying a teen and an adult. . . Are they really *doing* something diff?