Finished: Charlie Bone and the Red King by Jenny Nimmo Currently Working On: Downstairs: Marriage and Family Relations by BYU Upstairs: Time Capsule by Lurlene McDaniel Kindle: Forgotten: Seventeen and Homeless by Melody Carlson IPhone: A Flower Blooms in Charlotte by Milam McGraw Propst Sweet Boy Read Aloud: The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh and the World of Christopher Robin by A. A. Milne Angel Girl Read Aloud: The Wind In The Willows WTM: Don Quixote IPad: The Purple Land by W. H. Hudson (South America) Total Finished in 2013: 40

I know you said little snow...but Manchester NH is a great area. It can be rural or cityish depending on where you live. You would also be about 2 hours from downtown Boston or the NH coast. Yes there is snow...but they do a good job of keeping it clear. NH is a pretty easy state to homeschool in from what I have heard (we are considering crossing state lines so have checked a bit). Good luck ETA: NH has no income tax and no sales tax.

I think it is an incredible option for some people. Sadly the number of adoptable (meaning free for adoption in the us and abroad, not number of orphans) babies is very low and for someone who really desperately wants to do the baby thing it may be one of the few ways for it to happen.

Finished: Molly Moon, Minky Minus and the Mind Machine by Georgia Byng, The Sari Shop Widow by Shobhan Bantwal, and The Yellow Fairy Book by Andrew Lang Currently Working On: Downstairs: Marriage and Family Relations by BYU Upstairs: Charlie Bone and the Red King by Jenny Nimmo Kindle: Forgotten: Seventeen and Homeless by Melody Carlson IPhone: A Flower Blooms in Charlotte by Milam McGraw Propst Sweet Boy Read Aloud: The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh and the World of Christopher Robin by A. A. Milne Angel Girl Read Aloud: The Wind In The Willows WTM: Don Quixote IPad: The Purple Land by W. H. Hudson (South America) Total Finished in 2013: 39

Does she understand what she is reading? Sense and meaning making are important parts of reading along with the visual cues. Sense can be described as grammar within reading for example I am swinging....a child not making sense may say I man swinging. In English we don't say things like that. Or I com bee to park. (for I come to the park). Meaning is understanding what is happening in the story. Example from I am swinging (with a picture of a boy swinging on a swing). A child not making meaning may say I am standing. The ultimate goal would be to have a child that is able to grasp the grammatical structure of the English language, makes meaning from the story and uses phonics (visual) information first to last all at the same time. This is what we as good readers do thus how we can read stories that have typos because we use the meaning and structure to fix the visual. I hope this makes sense but it may be a way to help her get over the hump while still helping her understand that ultimately the visual sounds of a word are what we need to go to when structure and meaning break down (which tends to happen about 4th grade for 100 sight word readers with no phonic instruction).

Personal opinion....I think they wanted fame and infamy...they wanted to be identified because then the world would know who they are and what they did. They would have news articles written about them and the horrible things they did. Whether they had other reasons for what they did I don't know but I think they wanted to be identified and glorified (even if negatively) in the media.

I just finished the Yellow Fairy book (preceded by the blue and red ones) with my 3 year old. I do it before nap time everyday and he doesn't seem to have any problems from having heard it.

Finished: Charlie Bone and the Shadow by Jenny Nimmo, The Man Who Loved Jane Austen by Sally Smith O'Rourke, Daughters in My Kingdom, and Science Play by Jill Franker Hauser Currently Working On: Downstairs: Marriage and Family Relations by BYU Upstairs: Molly Moon, Minky Minus and the Mind Machine by Georgia Byng Kindle: The Sari Shop Widow by Shobhan Bantwal IPhone: A Flower Blooms in Charlotte by Milam McGraw Propst Sweet Boy Read Aloud: The Yellow Fairy Book Angel Girl Read Aloud: The Wind In The Willows WTM: Don Quixote IPad: The Purple Land by W. H. Hudson (South America) Total Finished in 2013: 36

It sounds like a great idea, getting all the states on the "same" page so that students can move around the country freely without worry of missing things. Which as a child who moved often I remember getting multiple years of physical science but no biology in Jr. High lol because the age tracks were different between the 3 jr. high's I attended. BUT the people putting together the core are not the ones in the trenches seeing what the children are doing or paying attention to the developmental research. The common core is a rigid set of rules that do not allow for natural development difference or the needs of non "typical" learners. I would prefer to see a set of common bands of knowledge that take into account developmental differences. IE the new commmon core requires end of year kindergarteners to be reading at a Guided Reading level D...but not all kindergarteners are ready to be reading at a level D but if instead it could be acknowledged that a child showing progress in reading by being somewhere between a B and G (a common level for high functioning Kinders to get to) would still be considered progressing assuming that they have progressed during the year. To extend the idea now a 2nd grader could be within the band of K - O instead of the current level N. Thus there is still a way to see children who are in need of help (they would be lower than the lowest level of the band) and those that are truly accelerated. Rather than a be all end all point.

GIMP is free.

Finished: The Connected Child by Karen Purvis, David Cross, and Wendy Sunshine, Trapped by Arthur Roth, Breathless by Lurlene McDaniel, and Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town by Stephen Leacock Currently Working On: Downstairs: Daughters in My Kingdom Upstairs: Charlie Bone and the Shadow by Jenny Nimmo Kindle: The Man Who Loved Jane Austen by Sally Smith O'Rourke IPhone: A Flower Blooms in Charlotte by Milam McGraw Propst Sweet Boy Read Aloud: The Yellow Fairy Book Angel Girl Read Aloud: The Wind In The Willows WTM: Don Quixote IPad: The Purple Land by W. H. Hudson (South America) Total Finished in 2013: 32

The statistics say that "shotgun" weddings don't work out....BUT that is a statistic and it is more a question of if the couple is going to work at their marriage...as a famous celebrity said of his celebrity wife " I want to thank you for working on our marriage for 10 Christmases. It’s good. It is work but the best kind of work and there’s no one I’d rather work with" I think less than the issue of being pregnant at the time of the wedding it is more a matter of being very young at the time of the wedding and one or both parties feeling reluctant at having to be married which make it harder to work on it and make it stay. Sadly a marriage cannot be a one sided endeavor there are 2 parties that need to be invested to make it work happily (most of the time).

gymnastics!

Also many of the doctors being trained have never been trained in how to vaginal birth a feet first breech baby or multiples with baby b breech ect. They just don't know how to do it but they do know how to do a c-section which probably makes it safer to do the c-section. I think one of the things that needs to happen is training these doctors in these more common complications.

Slightly off topic...I have a child who has natural rock climbing ability. I know nothing about doing it as sport rather have only known about it as something fun to do at amusement places. How do I find out about rock climbing as a sport and how do I find a team or coach?

Facebook! I know it sounds crazy but that is how we talk to both of my children's birthparents. I know that at least one of her birth siblings has a facebook page. Also there are the facebook I am looking for pictures that seem to help. Also you could have her register on her states adoption registry then if there is a matching family member they could register too and information may be exchanged, but I think she has to 18 I believe and that is in the state of birth. Perhaps the adoption agency would be willing to help out especially if it has gotten more open. Good luck.

It is real! It is used as an excuse by some people but as someone who has lived with a child who has ADHD it can be debilitating. That said I think the biggest problem is that people think that medication is the be all and end all of ADHD. It is not these children need more help than just medicate and go. Medication allows things to get in but there needs to be a well rounded treatment plan. That said the other issue is that people stop looking at problems as soon as the ADHD label gets put on which leaves some children left hanging when they have other issues.

My dd was in for an overnight EEG...she has a milk allergy on her charts...when I called down for her food they told me she could have the cheese pizza...I hung up right then and called my husband to bring her food. Hospitals are not the place to eat for sure.

When my son hurt his finger black and blue lots of pain...the doctor asked him to make a fist and then open it and declared it fine. So if you want an x-ray you may have to really push for it because some doctors seem to be of the opinion if you can move it at all it can't be broken.

Finished: Teaching Montessori in the Home The Preschool Years by Elizabeth G. Hainstock, Maggie Adams, Dancer by Karen Strickler Dean, and Curious Folks Ask by Sherry Seethaler. Currently Working On: Downstairs: The Connected Child by Karen Purvis, David Cross, and Wendy Sunshine Upstairs: Trapped by Arthur Roth Kindle: The Man Who Loved Jane Austen by Sally Smith O'Rourke IPhone: A Flower Blooms in Charlotte by Milam McGraw Propst Sweet Boy Read Aloud: The Yellow Fairy Book Angel Girl Read Aloud: The Wind In The Willows WTM: Don Quixote IPad: Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town by Stephen Leacock (for Canada) Total Finished in 2013: 28

how about those metal balls and magnets? I know they have kept me busy for a while whilst trying to get them to stack in a tower and what not.

You could have the child do special things for the younger sibling that they hurt.

Dairy free due to child with allergies...I make almost everything we eat from "scratch" (basic ingredients) except sandwich bread. I typically only shop the perimeter and got into about 2 aisle when I shop (baking for flour/sugar ext) and bread for sandwich bread. I shop off a list and a preplanned menu. I double recipes for muffins/snacks and freeze them. I would say our most expensive thing is getting soy yogurt from the specialty health store...but it is my dd favorite treat to eat.

Disney does so much to make it a place that EVERYONE can go. We make Disney a part of our vacation planning because my special daughter can be a "normal" child at Disney. She can eat good safe food there, she can enjoy fast rides but can also enjoy down time. It's the one place were I feel like they have already planned out for my all the contingency plans needed to make it a true family vacation as opposed to the kids having fun and me trying to negate all the possible problems that said special child may have occur.

The ideas you have are GREAT and reasonable...but some schools are not. So I would push for whatever they call the meetings before they do a IEP referral. If they won't do that I would push for a 504 plan and make sure it includes that recess should never be taken away for work not done.