:iagree: I've got to agree with you there. I had expected that our library was bad because we live in a rural area. I was so surprised to see the library in Exeter, a small city, was not much better than our library. Sad.

Too funny! :lol:

Friday morning, while I was enjoying an early quiet time, I spotted a little furry creature skittering through my house. So it's that season again, when the furry creatures start to feel that the great outdoors is getting a touch cold for their liking, and they try to take refuge in my home. I mentioned said creature to dh and let him know that he needs to set the trap out again. Of course nothing gets done about it until dh, ds's and I are watching a movie on Sunday night and again see the precious little rodent. So dh sets out the trap. Monday morning, again up early for a relaxing quiet time, I find a not-so-little furry creature has been caught in dh's trap. After dh wakes up I let him know that he'll need to clear out the trap and re-set it because the mouse we caught is much bigger than the vole that we saw the night before. I think that dh thinks I'm totally clueless because when he saw the trap he was astonished to realize that, yes, the mouse that was trapped was not the vole that we had seen. Hello! I already told him that! So dh resets the trap. No activity Tuesday morning. This morning the cheese is missing, but the trap is empty. The vole isn't heavy enough to cause the trap to spring. Lovely. This morning, in the middle of school time, the vole appears, skittering along the skirting boards. Of course everyone screams and lifts their feet up. Dh comes running from his office (this is one occasion that I'm actually glad that he has his office in the house), and he begins the elaborate process of trying to set an old fasioned trap - string attached to pencil which is holding up an inverted box. 12yo is standing on a chair with his airsoft gun. The 4yo is causing general havoc. 10yo ds is trying to get his Typing Instructor Deluxe finished. I'm trying to read about Egyptian hieroglyphics to dd. Dh finally gives up on the trap and sets up a barrier system to try to force the vole, once it leaves the schoolroom, to go out the front door, by blocking the stairs and hallway. Unfortunately what I had feared would happen did, and the vole ended up under the shoe shelf, the only hiding place on the front porch. We left him there on the porch, hoping that he would go out the open front door and leave us alone, but I don't really think we've seen the last of the vermin. Isn't country living fun?

Another vote for holding him back to 2nd grade. My dd was 6yo in July and I'm calling her 1st grade, but really her work load is more of a glorified K curriculum... OPGTR, HWOT, finishing Sing K, then moving into 1a, reading through CHOW for history, studying countries of the world, One Small Square books for science. I'm taking it very easy with her. I think I expected too much of my older ds and they've pretty much lost their love of learning. I don't want to make the same mistake with the littles. Hold him back.

I switched from PL to LL and am very glad that I did. I didn't think that PL explained things very well and we found it extremely boring. We didn't use the dvd's, though, just the student book and teacher's manual. LL is soooo much more engaging. All the exercises are different so there's lots of variety from day to day. The Roman history is a good addition, but it could be skipped if you wanted. I've read posts here about people who switched back to PL because their dc loved it. I guess it works for some people, but I just couldn't keep on through LC with a second child. I was far to bored with it and didn't feel like it gave my oldest a very good understanding of Latin. I wish LL had been out when he was young.

Congratulations! Great news. We've had to live without a car at times, but never for that long. It's such a freeing feeling to be able to get around at will. So happy for you.

Okay, thanks.

Well, I asked ds and he wants to stick with LL. I'd rather not cough up the money and print all those pages, but I do think it's probably best. LP would probably cause way too much frustration for him. Thanks.

Here's a question... how do the squares thing work? How did you get three squares?

Wonderful news! I've been checking for updates all evening. I'm so glad that things went so well. I'll continue praying for her recovery.

Great site! Thanks. :001_smile:

Praying here - for peace for you and for the appt. to go well. :grouphug:

I'm so sorry. I'll be praying for the family. :grouphug:

Another vote for Detectives in Togas and Mystery of the Roman Ransom

I voted for Benjamin David because I like the way it sounds. Something to keep in mind, though, is the initials. B.D. is neutral, B.J. are fun initials, but B.M. could go very wrong.;)

10yo ds will be finishing LLI in about a month. I can't decide if we should switch to LP because I already have all the books (other than a workbook that I can get for about $12) or move on to LL II, which would cost $55 plus all that printing. I've really enjoyed LL the past year. I find it to be very gentle, but effective. I've used LP I with my 12yo for the past year and it is very good, but intense. What do you think?

Praying here. :grouphug:

Well, my home page is Fox News. I don't love it, but it's better than CNN. I also sometimes read The Times (from London, not NY), but that's only because I'm here in England. BBC is extremely biased, so I don't read their site. I found The Economist on line and it's good, but very heavy. I hope you get more responses, because I'd love to find a good, unbiased source for news.

I think if your dh hadn't already made plans to stay home, I would have said 'no' because of the new baby. But seeing as how your dh is home anyway, and he is willing to keep the child outside, I think it was right for you all to say 'yes'. You are doing a great kindness to her, and it will only be for an hour and a half.

Glad to know I'm not alone. Hope the workbooks work for your dc. I tried letting ds use the multiplication grid, but he didn't really like it. Grrr.

Thanks! :001_smile:

Oh, I thought of one more thing - an essential, especially at this time of year - canned pumpkin. They will love you forever.

Our schedule for my 5th grader: 9am Bible study 9:30 I go over all his math, Latin, language arts, logic with him 10:15 he does his math, Latin, language arts assignments and typing 11:30 we do science together 12:00 lunch 1:00 I do his Sonlight read aloud with him and go over his assignment for Sonlight, then he does the assignment on his own, though he does need my help finding the info he needs on World Book 2:00 school is finished He does his Sonlight reader whenever he can fit it in. This is our 'ideal'. We rarely are actually running on time because I have 3 other dc who need my attention. Today we took a long lunch break to bring a picnic to the beach and let the kids run around, so he didn't finish until about 3:30.

(((unsinkable))) I'm so sorry. My heart aches for you. But how lucky you are that you have such happy memories of her. Cherish those. :grouphug:

I haven't read all the other responses, so I may be repeating, but some ideas that we appreciate... Twizzlers Sweet Tarts Reeses Peanut Butter Cups Goldfish crackers Graham crackers dry onion soup mix dry ranch dressing mix dry italian dressing mix We can get chocolate chips here, but if they can't get that in France, they would probably love it. Also, dvd's are great. I had a friend who spent a few weeks taping Arthur shows for us and gave us the video. The kids loved it. There are lots of great old shows available on dvd now - Andy Griffith Show, Leave it to Beaver, etc. Also current shows that they can't see over there. My kids keep checking USA network web site to see Monk. Unfortunately a lot of them we can't access because of being in England. I expect they would have the same problem in France. Really, any gifts are appreciated. Years ago my oldest two received beach towels from a Christian school. A classroom had 'adopted' us and each student signed the towel. My boys have been using those towels as bath towels for 8 years. I'm sure they'll love anything you send. In addition to the package, try to write to them often. E-mails are great, but letters are wonderful. It's wonderful that you're doing this for the family. It can get really lonely and depressing on the mission field and your love and attention can go a long way to keep them on the mission field.