Life of Fred, MEP and some singapore challenging word problems.

I was when my kids were younger. My academic preference is classical. I still have my playstands and silkies!

I had the same worries when I started to homeschool. I have two kids and we have always homeschooled. Those first years are the hardest for those reasons. Listen, your children will NOT suffer if you don't make cinnamon-apple sauce christmas ornaments etc, etc. Every school looks great, wonderful, tulips and daisies in kindergarten and first grade. All my friends were telling me all this great stuff that was happening. I was so worried my son was missing out. yeah, well that was then and this is now. Here I am with a 5th grader and all my friends wish they could do what I do. Very often they are not happy with the education their kids get as they get older, they REALLY aren't happy with the culture of the school. They might be interested in homeschooling but now their kid is so invested in the social scene that they could 'never' pull them out (they think). Or, the school work now looks so difficult that they think they could never teach it. I am SO GLAD I didn't put him during those early years. You know what? Those same kids who went to the expensive preschool and the nice kindergarten, they don't remember anything they did in those years. So, they made a bunch of macaroni necklaces and handprint turkeys. Big deal. FWIW, I did one year of 'pre-school and one year kindy with my kids. I did weekly 'themes' and arts and crafts along with reading instruction. I did that because I was so worried they would miss out on all that stuff. I did rainforest week, transportation week, snow week, ocean week, farm week, bug week, etc etc. It was mostly linked to the seasons and I had books and crafts and cooking etc all linked to the themes. It was very preschool like and we had a great time. I also did reading, math and science and handwriting. When we were done, both boys were totally ready for first grade and TWTM. I realize now they didn't miss a thing.

I did not need braces, my teeth are very straight. My husband did have them. My oldest does have them now. My goodness, his teeth were a mess and I am glad he has them. Not so happy about the cost but he would have been in pain as he grew up with his jaw all out of wack. Given our class and educational expectations for our kids, we don't see braces as optional. I have every reason to think he will go on to some 'professional' sort of job/life and he will be judged poorly in interviews if his teeth are a mess. My BIL is in the Air Force and when he started at the academy, many, many of the freshmen had braces. It really stood out. He explained that the Air Force doesn't want officers having crooked teeth. With our second kid it is too soon to tell. My guess is that just as one finishes his braces the second will start.

I have mine here. THere are 5 circle time 'themes' for the winter. I think the idea is that each one last two weeks. There are 5 stories to be told. THere are something called story extensions, fingerplays, songs, watercolour stories, baking etc. It is great for the littles. I don't think my almost 6 year old would be that interested in doing only that I liked the ideas. I did. But most of it is stuff that you already know. For example, the recipes are for things like cocoa and corn muffins and many of the games are common childhood games like simon says. But, it is nice to have it all in one place and it is only 15$. Some of the crafts were beyond poor me, lol. I am not making a doorway puppet theater any time soon. I was on her yahoo group years ago but I think she stopped homeschooling and the group peetered out.

I let both my boys wear and play with anything they like. If they want their nails painted etc then go for it. Both went through a pink skirt phase. FWIW, my brother has three older sisters and wore his fair share of nightgowns and other pink clothes. We used to do his hair and 'make up' when we were teenagers and he was a little kid. Well, this must have been good for him because he has attracted only the best female companions. He dated a bit in college and every time I was impressed by his choice. He settled down young and expecting his first, a daughter, in a month or so. His wife is an amazing woman. I think all that training by his big sisters taught him how to talk to women. He certainly figured out how to pick the wheat from the chaff. I will never forget his prom. His walked up to his date, looked into her eyes and said "I really like your shoes. They look great with your dress." :lol: She just melted, lol.

I don't do lights outside the house. That is a pain. On the tree I only use gold. I used to use only clear/white but decided that was cold looking. I switched last year to gold and it looks beautiful. It is very warm looking and it makes everyone look great, lol.

well, many, many years before I had kids, I was a babysitter. I was sitting for a friend while she was at work late. When the kids were asleep and I was reading on the couch out walked a hampster. I should mention that I DO NOT LIKE rodents. I made a good attempt to catch the fuzzy thing but it got away. I told my friend, all in a panic, as soon as she walked in the door. She informed me that they allowed the hampster to walk around for days at a time because it seemed to like it. She isn't even the first person who has told me this! Other people have told me that they routinely allow their hampster or gerbil or whatever weekend furloughs! EWWW! So, now, if I see a hampster walking around in a house I just figure, to each her own.

We are using WWE4 and hoping that writing with skill comes out by next year! I am also doing a lot of 'writing across the curriculum' a la SWB lectures. I have found the writing lectures from Peace Hill Press to be invaluable. I have listened to both the elementary and middle school lectures many times.

We are vegetarian. I have been since my teenage years. My husband has been veg ever since he left the family farm. Helping to slaughter those animals had something to do with that, lol. Our kids have been veg since birth. Tonight for dinner we are having.. what we call toastadas but aren't really. I spread refried beans on a corn tortilla and fold it in half. Then I sort of pan fry it in a bit of oil until it is crisp. I serve it with salsa for dipping, a salad, some fruit and call it dinner. Tues: Lentil soup Wed: pasta Thursday: oatmeal (super busy day) Friday: omlettes

Useborne internet linked is also recomended for this age. I am in year 1, ancient history, and we are finding the Kingfisher book "The Kingfisher Book of the Ancient world" to be a great resource. It has chapters that correspond to SOTW almost every week. We use it for the "list of facts' part of the week. Might there be a middle ages only type of book? Even by a different publisher? It is nice that it corresponds to SOTW because we also have little brother in year 1. So, big brother might listen in on the SOTW and then have his own work to do on the same subject. My boys are very close and they enjoy doing the same thing in school. It's a bit of a challenge because they are 5 years apart in age. For outlinine we use K12 Human Odyssey or a book from the library on a related topic. I also use those Oxford history books from our public library. They are great for outlining. I know they have a "Medieval and Early Modern World" series.

I have a five year old boy like that. He is getting the old 'pile of PVC pipes and connectors' as well as clothes pins, rubber bands, and PINK masking tape. He adores pink and masking tape. He will be in heaven! Oh, I will toss some magnets and twist ties and pipe cleaners into the mix.

you shower? Well aren't you little miss fancy pants!

I would start with the social workers. An MSW person does therapy day in and day out. From there, you want someone who specializes in marriage/family couseling and from there, narrow it down to who works for the two of you. If any of the MD or PhD people see couples then by all means, include them in your process...they often charge more though. At least they do around here. It is a very personal decision. It is not uncommon for people to see a couple different therapists until someone 'clicks'. Of course, every now and then people hit the jackpot with their first person. If it doesn't click, the instinct is to blame therapy. Really, most of the time, it is just a bad fit. I am amazed at how really good therapy can be when people find the person that works for them. Best wishes to you both on this journey. I hope you can find your way back to each other.

I always get all waldorf-y in the autumn/winter as well, lol. It passes when it comes down to actually doing the crafts. I am not so crafty. I was heavily influenced by waldorf for the infant/toddler/preschool years but that was about it. My kids really responded to the airy-fairy, dreamy quality. Both boys are still very cuddly, artistic people. However, when it came to academics I did not want to delay at all. Again,my kids responded very well to academics at a young age so I went with it. But, they do love their silkies, playstands and fairy tales even at 5 and 10 years old.

Snort. two weeks notice or they'll...what? suspend him? Put a letter in his Permanent Record? Is that a state policy or is your school making stuff up? You have to obey state educational rules, not school rules.

See, now I don't think it is hard to put on my roots etc at all. It does make it hard if the dye is very thin or runny. I create my own 'recipe' from hair stuff at Sally's and it is always nice and thick. I'm not totally certain about box kits. I start with the part and then around my face and then behind my ears and along the nape of my neck. Neatness isn't a big deal. Just run the applicator around your hairline squeezing out dye and use your gloved hands to sort of scrub it into your hair at the root level. Then move to the rest of your head, squeezing the dye out along the scalp and using your hands to rub it in. There is no need to use a comb to make those nice straight lines. In the end, all your scalp should be well covered. I used to get it done in a salon, many, many years ago, and she would spend all this time making these nice straight parts and brushing on the dye. When she was done she would rub my scalp, like she was washing my hair, to make sure the dye was well distributed all over my roots. It made me realize there is no reason to be so darn careful with the dye. One good thing about doing it this way is that you can overlap the new dye a bit over the old dye. It blends it in so there is no harsh line if the colours aren't exact. It also makes it really hard to miss a spot. If you are running your fingers all over your scalp, in a hair washing manner, then you are much more likely to hit everything. I do have my DH pop in to give a once over to make sure I didn't miss a spot. He is much more likely to find a spot either behind my ear or along the neck than on the back of my head. Now, I would only use this method with a single process. If you were using a bleach first before colouring then you would need to be much more careful. I have also tried 'reverse highlights' and it has been great. Garnier made a product called 'colourbreaks' for highlighting coloured hair and I tried it a couple times. It wasn't that impressive. have fun! Once you get used to doing it yourself, you will never go back to paying so darn much. It does feel good to be pampered and have someone else deal with the clean up though, lol.

Do a test strip if you don't know what colour it will be. Hair colouring is easy peasy. There have been big improvements in the last 15 years or so with home kits. Make sure to use shampoo for coloured hair or it will fade like crazy. Stay out of chlorine water as well. Google a bit for hair colour at home. It's really not a big deal. No, 45 mins won't fry your hair. Not at all. If you are nervous maybe start with a semi-permanent or a demi-perm hair colour? I am not sure if that works for 50% grey...it might. Again, google is your friend. There is SO MUCH information out there on hair dying at home.

My son had a front tooth that took over a year to come in. We were just taking him in for an exam by the dentist when..what came peeping through? My husband also had a front tooth that also took a long time when he was a boy. He had x-rays and it was right there. The dentist trimmed a bit of the gum off (Owie!) and the tooth came right in. The dentist told him either the gum was 'too tough' and trimming make it easier or the stimulation from the trimming would get the tooth to come in. Either way, it worked and the tooth came right in.

another vote for MEP Reception and Miquon. Two great programs that work great together!

Do these particular problems call for the pupil to do every one? I know in MEP year 5 it was clear that the problems were meant to be done by 5 or 6 students. I would have my son do 4 or 5 of a list and call it good. I also remember the MEP teaching videos on their site discuss not expecting students to do do all of the problems. They tell the teacher to call 'time' and move on. That was obviously for a classroom situation but it made me comfortable telling my son that he only had to do half or whatever. I appologize if this suggestion makes no sense given the expectations given in year 1. I guess I will find out soon, we finish reception some time next month.

Both my kids have done just fine with SOTW as their first grade history program. History is their favorite subject.

Well the first year is hard. It's hard because the whole time you are thinking you are doing a terrible job and what were you thinking and this is a joke. THen, you finish the year, you look at what you accomplished. You realize how far you have both come. Yes, you made some mistakes but the sky didn't fall. You had some major succeses as well. THe second year starts. You feel like you aren't totally unprepared all the time. You stop worrying so much about WHAT WILL HAPPEN because it hasn't happened yet. You get comfortable. You find your groove together. You have your groove and your kids have theirs and everything is .. groovy! Really. And if he likes to do history and math and science but doesn't like writing, then have his writing be part of doing history, science and math! You can do that. It is allowed. In fact, it is the rare middle schooler who will tolerate meaningless work. Give his writing a point, a purpose, and he might not fight you...as much.

What they said.

change your email. Just get a new one and don't tell him. I have one just for good friends and family and one for shopping and people who don't know my new one. If you have told him not to contact you and he continues, it is harrassment.