Which level and components are you using? We are using the Island series with our 3rd grader. So far we have finished Grammar Island and he's been working on Practice Island since the end of Grammar Island. We are almost finished with Music of the Hemispheres, are about 1/4 of the way through Building Language, and will start Sentence Island when we finish it. We will also be doing a poem a day once we finish all the practice poems in Music of the Hemispheres. How's it going? We love it! My son really enjoys it and now that we have finished the poetry book he is enjoying the poetic styling of the other books. He is very into Greek history right now so the theme of the vocabulary book is perfect timing. Are you supplementing, with what? We don't really supplement but he also does extra writing assignments (from me) several times of week, he does weekly essay editing, and some copywork. Is this your first experience with MCT? Yes.

I think it is appropriate enough for a 2nd grader but not a 5yr old and I probably wouldn't push it for a 1st grader either. I'm surprised the teacher is pushing it. You could try playing Great States or Scrambled States to review the basic states and capitals stuff. I think that stuff is usually covered in 3rd or 4th grade.

I haven't read all the posts so I'm sorry if this has been said before, but if I had a choice my twins would have been singletons. This has nothing to do with how much work it is or how much harder the pregnancy is on the mom but because of the health risks to the children. Twins are wonderful. Mine are identical and it constantly fills me with awe and gratitude to have them when I see them. There is just something so special and fun about twins that is not the same with singletons. I really get that, and I understand why people on the outside would want twins. IMO, however, to intentionally put yourself at risk for carrying multiples is selfish. The risks of premature birth and death are much, much higher with twins. I have no doubt that my twins would have been carried to term if they had been singletons- just like my other kids. And if they had been carried to term, one of them would not have CP. She would not have a lifetime of extra struggles and pain. Her CP is mild and does not impact me as a parent much. We can totally handle it and she does really well. But to her?? It matters a lot and she feels the pain and feels different every day and everywhere she goes. I can forget about it most of the time but she can't. Also, the girls both have horrible reflux-even at 6- due to being premature that has caused a lot of feeding problems. They struggled for years to be able to eat a normal diet and deal with heartburn daily. They also have breathing problems. It's nothing bad, but something they will be dealing with forever. Similarly, I have friends with multiples whose children need multiple eye surgeries, who have had babies in the hospital for months subjected to IVs and the lack of family life that people treasure with newborns at home. Children with heart surgeries, greater rates of sensory problems, asthma, immune problems, CP much worse than my child's, etc. The risks to the babies in multiple births is very real and even if it looks like everything turned out ok, there is often subtle, hidden disabilities that you just don't know about. I also know many people with multiples who really haven't had any problems and carried to term, but because my outcome was not 100% positive, I tend to see the risks differently. As for caring for them- it's not that bad. With twins, I could breastfeed easily. You get used to caring for 2 but it isn't twice the work. Sometimes it is 3 times the work and sometimes it is half the work. It's just different. You won't sleep half as much the first year but you get used to it. Going to the store or somewhere else isn't so bad because of the babies but because of the strangers wanting to see the babies making everything take 10 times longer. All babies get attention but multiples get way more attention. Sometimes it is nice but more often it is a pain. There is also a lot of guilt and worries about not giving them as much care and attention as a single baby would get. The relationship you have with them is different than with a singleton too. It's not necessarily worse, but it won't be as intense. I'm not really sure how to describe it. Maybe imagine you are trying to make 2 best friends at the same time. You probably won't be as close to either one of them as you would to a friend you only spent one on one time with, but the 3 of you may have more fun sometimes than would be had with just 2 people. I also want to add, that IVF increases your risks for identical twinning by a lot. SO, if you implant 2, you could easily end up with 4.

Have you asked her if there's anything she would like to do? Maybe music or something crafty?

I understand where you are coming from. I was terrified to drive in Atlanta when we first got here. Just the thought made me sick and my head light. After 5 years here, I still get a little queasy in some areas, but even I would rather drive myself through Atlanta in rush hour to somewhere I have never been before than to take Marta. It's not even an option to us. The other posters are right- it is usually so slow that you won't have any trouble and with a GPS you'll be fine. My recommendations would be the Fernbank, Botanical Gardens, and High. The High has a children's area that my kids loved at 1, 4, and 7! I've never been to Stone Mt so I can't recommend it but I have it on my list of things to do before we move. The zoo and aquarium are ok, but not much different than any other ones you will see unless you are into pandas and beluga whales which not everyone has. I was not impressed with the Children's Museum.

We start at 8am and usually finish at 12:00. Then he reads for an hour, and may have another hour of extracurriculars. So that's about 6hrs but we have a 4day schedule. Now that his sisters are home too, we start later and end later but we also have more breaks because they can play while they wait their turn.

I would talk with her privately before making a firm decision. I had a teacher accuse me of plagiarizing once and I was so upset and offended because that had not been my intention at all. It really hurt me that the teacher had assumed that I had cheated when I had actually spent an enormous amount of time and effort on it. We had not been taught how to do a real works cited page with internal citations and I had done my best. I did cite the sources in a reference page but that was not enough. The paper was on some very scientific and technical things and I had no idea how to translate that into my own words. I even looked up if I needed to site it and decided I didn't need to do more because I was giving a "definition" and definitions didn't need to be cited according to my misinterpretation of what I had read. I was about 14 or 15 too- so presumably old enough to know better, but really- I didn't know better. If it were me, I would pull her aside and talk with her first. Then, decide whether she should redo it for partial credit or get a 0 depending on how that conversation goes, and then do a very in depth lesson on proper citation. I think kids today have it even harder than we do because of websites and online journal sources and how fluid information on the internet is.

My oldest is 9 and my youngest is 3 and their relationship is wonderful!! When she was a baby, she was "his" baby and he really wanted to and thought I'd let him get up with her at night and sleep in his room so he could care for her. Now, he will willingly play babies with her and she will play bakugan with him, and he reads stories to her, and they are so sweet and cute together. Their relationship is much different than the one they share with their middle siblings but it is no less special or close.

I joined the registry about 2yrs ago and it was very simple. This article tells about one person's donation. It sounds uncomfortable but not horrible. I wouldn't hesitate if I ever come up as a match.

I really agree with this. My son entered K doing second grade math. And he left 2nd grade doing 2nd grade math. What a waste.

Has she seen the Belville sets? My little girls like those. They are very pink and girly and have some really cute details. It may seem too girly for her, however, if she is older or isn't really into pink. We also like the Lego Creator sets like the Apple Tree House and some other houses, Lego City, and some of the architecture ones. We have a couple of the pink girls' brick sets-just a bunch of bricks- and they play with them more than any of the predesigned sets we have.

My son is interested and likes most of them. We watched one on dragons today and one on Stonehenge a couple of weeks ago after we studied Stonehenge and he still talks about it. Thanks for your thoughts. I'll probably just tell the girls to play somewhere else from the start if they aren't into it and are disturbing the rest of us. Or maybe I'll let my son watch 1 every once in a while during their quiet reading/nap time.

Do you think there is a learning curve or a training period before children are able to watch documentaries and get something out of it, and hopefully enjoy it, or is it more of an age and maturity thing? My son is 9 and he does pretty well watching them and he is actually interested in a few. We've been watching them occasionally- about 1 every week and a half or so- for the past 8 weeks. He hated them at first but I'm not sure if he's just getting better because of exposure or he simply likes these better than the first ones but lately he's been interested and it is sparking good conversations and he's definitely been learning some from them. I do try to pick kid friendly topics. I just pulled my 6yr olds out of school and they were (not) watching their first documentary this afternoon. I spent the whole time with it today telling them to be quiet and pay attention. I finally told them to just go away and play somewhere else because they were getting so disruptive and my son was having a hard time listening. We didn't try to watch it all at once- maybe 30min at a time. Is it unreasonable to expect them to be able to watch a documentary at this age or is it something that they just need more exposure to? I wouldn't mind sending them to play somewhere else if they aren't going to get anything out of it but I don't want to give up on them too easily either. If I had let my son quit watching at the beginning of the year we wouldn't be having these good conversations now. On the other hand, I would never expect my 3yr old to sit and watch, so I'm unsure whether the 6yr olds should be grouped more with the 9yr old or the 3yr old. :bigear:

Thanks. We would be moving to the west coast. We won't know for at least a few weeks if we're moving and depending on the timing I might stay here with the kids for a while first. I feel better about Washington as a choice than I did this afternoon. It seems like a really nice area and I have always wanted to live at the beach. Of course, my hypothetical beach was warm with white sands...

We unexpectedly may be moving to Washington State next year. I was looking on the HSLDA page and the legal requirements are confusing me, coming from a low regulation state. Am I correct that people with college degrees only need to give the state a declaration of intent and do annual testing? Do I need to send them my college transcript to prove it or do they take my word? I don't want to have to prove to a superintendent that I am competent and I am not so sure about working with a private school. Around here, those options are fairly expensive and we have to follow their curriculum. I am a little overwhelmed with the idea of moving there because it is on the other side of the country from us.

That's weird. My son just turned 9 and there's no way he'd have the skills or opportunity to break into anyone's house at night. Is there some other reason he's blaming your kids? I would be angry if I called the police and they started pointing fingers at my children with nothing more than a cut toaster cord. I'd still be concerned about letting my kids over there when you don't know who is going into the house. Have you checked the bedrooms? My thought is that it is neighborhood teens who need a spot to hook up and know your neighbors are gone.

My girls are using Climbing to Good English and it reminds me a lot of ETC. We have several unused ETC workbooks because the pictures were too hard to decipher but the girls really like the Climbing to Good English one.

I've just started drinking it this week and feel the same way. I got a keurig for my birthday and had to use it! I've definitely found it puts me in a better mood. I had been drinking caffeinated sodas in the morning and thought it was the same as coffee but I had no idea. Coffee works much better. I don't usually like the taste much but I've found some flavored ones that are pretty yummy with milk and sugar. I've been giving it to my DS who has a little bit of ADD tendencies and he loves it.

I would take something cheerful and normal like you would for any other friend of yours who had recently had a baby. As a mom with babies born early and in the NICU for 3 weeks, please tell her congratulations when you see her.

My DH is active reserves and I'm really surprised to hear this. Maybe if your DH volunteers for a deployment or recruiting they would take him. Also, maybe he could apply for a position with the active reserves. I'm not positive, but I doubt the regular army even knows what positions the active reserves needs filled. You have to submit a separate packet for that so the fact that there wasn't a spot in the regular army doesn't necessarily mean that he couldn't be active with the reserves. And the active reserves is usually a more family friendly environment than regular army.

Have you considered Singapore? I just ordered Singapore's Earlybird Start-Up Science for my first graders. I haven't received it yet but it looked like a really good program for the price. They can't join in their brother's science and I didn't want a big involved program for them at this point. This seems like it won't take up too much time but will still get them thinking and give them a good foundation. And the price is really nice. :thumbup1:

Have you stretched him to see if his muscles are actually tighter than they should be? I would seek a 2nd opinion too.

I like Ann Taylor petites.

We are doing Human Anatomy and Forensics for younger students. I think because it is combining two subjects it is less routine than other programs. It uses about 8 book sources and also has some online sources and a game/detective kit. We only use about 3-5 of the sources a week and within each day there's a section of expected activities and optional activities so you can really mix it up. We usually do everything because the optional activities are usually fun and my son likes it. If I were to do it again, I would have gotten an easier program so I could include my little kids in it but I really like the WP science format I've seen.

We are really liking our Winter Promise science. It includes so many different books and things to do that it is never the same thing. Some days we do readings and worksheets, other days we are doing experiments or making models, sometimes we watch a video, and sometimes we play a game, sometimes he's writing journal entries and summaries. It's always a mix of those types of things but never the exact same mix for very long. I think I'm going to have to add in some testing and review so he doesn't forget things because it moves quickly but it is interesting, challenging, and I don't see us getting bored. But we're only 4 weeks into it.