Just need to add my few: Neighbor's cousins (not twins) are Daniel and Danielle (Poppa's name is Dan). I knew an oldest of 5 named Lavoris (wasn't this a mouthwash?) Sat next to a Destiny Dull, back when roll was called surname first - and her's was a dull one.

Here's another, just in case it has something the others do not.

Thanks all! This is just what I needed - now I can spend my time eating cookies! :D

We've been doing the WTM approach to logic-stage history for the first half of this year, and my son is bored and has lost interest in history. I recently realized that until now, history has a been a time to cuddle on the couch and listen to mom read historical fiction -- so back to what works! I've found some great lists of historical fiction both for ds to read and as read alouds. I'd love to find a site that gives a summary, and discusses when the book takes place, so that I can co-ordinate our reading with our history. Without something like this, I think I'll be stuck reading historical fiction all Christmas break. :glare: Anyone know of such a resource??

Thanks Mama Bear I think it must be outdoor exercise related too, as it doesn't happen during the summer. Ah well.

Ever since my 3rd child (at 38), I almost self-destruct every cycle (every 21 days :glare:). It's not that I'm grumpy or moody (well maybe a little :D). It's that my immune system just stops working. I feel like I'm coming down with the flu for a couple of days, and if there are any nasty germs around I get them (at least when it's winter). Seriously, getting sick every 21 days.... And I exercise and am at the right weight... What's going on, can I change this?

We (k3 - 6th grade) did 8 weeks of geology this fall. I bought the cheapest rock collection, but we didn't use it that much. I bought Geology Rocks! and Finding Nature in the Rocks used, and got other stuff out of the library. Here's our 8 week course: wk1: Plate tectonics - Read about continental drift (The Island That Moved, Geology Rocks k3 and 1st, Nature in the Rocks & How the Earth Works and bio of A. Wegner - 6th, looked at online resources about Pangaea) Did an experiment from Geo. Rocks using graham crackers and peanut butter for k&1, Expt. from HTEW about convention currents for 6th. Also demonstrated friction and played with continent puzzles. Wk2: Structure of the Earth - reading in Geo Rocks and How the earth works. Made lollipop earth models out of Geology Rocks, featuring a peppermint core, marshmallow mantle and chocolate crust. Very satisfying. Wk3&4: Earthquakes and volcanoes - reading from many sources (lots of specific volcano and earthquake stories). Discussion with 6th bringing together plate tectonics, friction, magma and heat expansion causing V&E. Demonstrated S and P waves with slinky (Nature in the rocks). Paper maché volcanoes, volcano diagrams, Ring of Fire maps. Wk5: Minerals and Igneous rocks - Defined minerals as the building blocks of rocks, looked at the different colors in some rocks we had found and broke up the rocks (How the Earth Works) to see if we could get the flecks to separate. Ig rock - Rock candy and sugar glass expts. from Geology Rocks! to demonstrate difference in crystal sizes. Looked at igneous rocks from rock collection. Read about ex. in Eyewitness book Wk6: Sedimentary rocks - Discussion of water and wind erosion and where sedimentary rocks form (How the Earth works). Expt. with different sized rocks (soil to sand to gravel to pebbles) in water - shake and let settle. Larger denser rocks settle first. Made sedimentary rice crispy treats (mixed chocolate chips into one layer, peanut butter into another). Looked at S. rocks in our collection. Looked at fossils and discussed how they form in sediments. Wk7: Metamorphic Rocks and the Rock Cycle - Read about how M rocks form (heat and pressure) in Geology Rocks and Eyewitness. Looked at rock collection. Discussed where heat and pressure would occur. Expt. was adapted from a book I forgot... Make sedimentary rock out of layers of different colored plasticene (roll balls of clay and layer them). Then gently heat the clay "rock" (we used a 175 degree oven for 5 - 10 minutes - this part wasn't recommended in the guide, but our clay was too hard to work otherwise) After the heat, apply pressure; downward, and from the side mostly. Don't try to blend the colors, just meld and mash them. We didn't read about the rock cycle, we just discussed how it could occur. Wk8: Visit to Natural History Museum - We took our (abbreviated :D) rock collections and a member of the geology dept. identified the rocks for us. He talked about methods for identification, and demonstrated some of the methods with our rocks (6th grader had read about ID methods and Moh's scale of hardness). Gave kids Usbourne Rock and Mineral sticker books. Currently (5 weeks later), dd6 is making a "Rock Book" for her 8 IDed rocks. Once a week she gives a narration about where she found a certain rock, why it's special to her, and anything else she wants to note. She's put these rocks in a specially decorated egg carton.

My girls love the Schylling tea set that Kelli linked. We have bought two through TJ Maxx. The cups hold about 2.5 - 3 oz.

Both my ds who is dyslexic and my dd6 who is not, really enjoy AAS. We progress at our own pace, and we read what we write. When my dd was 5 she loved to write short nonsense stories with the AAS words, and those were her 1st readers. With dd we have recently started having her read non-phonetic books (Dr. Seuss is a fave). I'm not having her do a whole-word approach, rather, letting her use her phonics knowledge and pictures/ context to decipher new words. This is also helping her with sight words, which are introduced much later in AAS. She's just tickled to be reading real books now. May I suggest that if dyslexia is a possibility you might want to try letting her sculpt her letters or her sight words (or both). This was a suggestion from a book called The Gift of Dyslexia, by Ron Davis. Evidently, when this sculpting technique has been implemented in regular K and 1st classrooms, there are fewer cases of dyslexia (reported in 2nd and 3rd grade, when testing can begin) than one would expect. It was the first step in helping my ds overcome his dyslexia, and I now have all my kids do this as play.

Oh My Gosh!!! This is fantastic! Thank you all!!! Capt., Thanks for a very detailed comparison :hurray: Hscherger - What incredible resources :) Luna - HSing on the cheap is always good ;) So now I'm going into hibernation to review and begin to prepare for after Christmas. I love it that I'm learning what I never learned in school! Thanks again!

We're beginning to deal with this. Right now, I'm trying to draw attention to it (ei. "Do you realize how you sound? Even though you didn't say the word, you made me feel like I'm stupid. That's disrespectful"), and if it's happening frequently (more than once daily), asking him to go up to his room and think about why he's lashing out. I let him sit for a while, then I go and talk to him. Generally, he gets annoyed and is disrespectful when I tell him something he already knows, or remind him of something in a way that he feels is nagging. Our conversations have made me aware that he's growing up and I need to try to understand his perspective (not to infer that you are not - it sounds like we are on the same path). Good luck, I'd love to read some other responses.

This is making me feel better about the interests of my 11 yo. For a while we did child-led learning, and every time I asked him what he wanted to study, he'd answer, "Fire!" (Even after we had done a unit on it two years in a row :D). I still give him matches in his stocking, and this year he's getting flint and steel... What about other Legos sets? My ds and all his friends are into the Star Wars sets. Other thoughts: sports equipment, camping equipment, biking gear (panniers, computer), Keva planks, board games, pirate/knight playmobil stuff, wood working tools... This year my son is getting a basket ball hoop, and bike tools. Grandma is giving him Mastermind, Abalone and Stratego. For his b-day (12.17), he's mostly getting Magic the Gathering cards (and a b-day party with capture the flag, then pizza and the new Harry Potter movie with all his buddies).

The place from which we got our newest pup had us remove shoes and wash hands before handling the pup. We were also asked not to visit any other dog facilities before visiting theirs. We were specifically told not to toilet the dog at rest stops or other places where folks would normally let a dog take a potty break. I didn't check any of this out, I just went on the recommendations of the adoption people - they said they had lost pups from parvo before, and treated it with the utmost caution.

We did a tiny bit of Easy Grammar (4) and then started on AG. My ds is a bit slow with LA due to dyslexia, and he had had next to no grammar experience before AG. AG is very concise in its explanations, and the sentences aren't easy. Ds doesn't do every sentence of every exercise because this would burn him out, and he wouldn't finish in our time frame (45 minutes for grammar). Those are the cons... The pros are that he is really learning, the sentences are realistic (they don't have the feel of "specific for grammar" exercises), and that he is getting better as he progresses. Another pro for me is the "only part of the year" format. I wasn't totally sold on grammar until I realized that it was a necessary tool. I love that he learns to use the tool, but he doesn't have to make it an actual daily subject. It leaves use free to do something else part of the year.

Thanks, What Fun! I should have asked sooner.:)

Perspective here: Dyslexic son (finally reading at grade level now at 11 years old). Two youngers. Feels like we did almost nothing but fret about ds's reading issues for years, but looking back, we did do math. Our lessons took about 40 minutes to an hour when I did them by the book. :glare: I think you could use "Activities." You have a huge advantage in that she gets concepts (Is she a spatial thinker like some dyslexics? The abacus really works for this type of kid, in my experience). I'd let her know that for a while you're going to do easy math until she no longer has to count. (Remember that the patterns she learns while playing "Go to the Dump" are the same patterns she will use with larger numbers. Now that I'm starting with dd, I find that I'm probably keeping more to the "Activities" than to the actual lessons. Often I will familiarize myself with the objectives and have us do active math - jumping, tossing beanbags, using number lines, telling stories (The Man Who Counted). As to the basics and progressing, I often just keep in mind our next objective and just play the games with that in mind. Ds (and now dd6) absolutely memorized "Yellow is the sun." with and without the abacus. I think because of his dyslexia, ds really sees the abacus. He totally understands why it's laid out how it is. I won't let dd progress until she automatically moves the beads in groups of multiples (ei. for 9, she moves 5 and then 7, 9) NO COUNTING. We tend to repeat concepts until they are simple and then jump a bunch of lessons. We especially made sure that place value is totally "pat" before moving on. This made trading and borrowing a breeze. Hope this helps, good luck!

I'd love to find a good free typing program online. We currently use one that just has us repeatedly type out four characters. It's boring and I can't even make it to the next level (I type about 40-50 wpm). I read about one in Rainbow Resource that incorporated games and levels (like a video game), but it was only available for PCs (we have a Mac). That's what I'd love to find, but can accept that I might not find that level for free... Anyone use anything that worked for their kids that the kids actually liked? Thanks!

My first is dyslexic and this stage lasted until age 10... sigh. With my second, I was determined not to push (as I thought that I might have caused some of the problems with my first :confused:). Anyhow, I started her last year at age five. She did well and was able to sound out most CVC words (slowly). At one point she obviously plateaued and asked if we could have a reading break. We came back to it this fall, combining phonetic instruction with me reading easy readers to her while pointing to the words (to work on sight words and contextual understanding). She has blossomed and loves it.

Hello Capt., it's Kirsten again...:D I didn't realize that you also had Reading Strands. It seems obvious that you prefer Teaching the Classics, but of course, I'm still stuck with money issues. I had considered Reading Strands, but got the feeling that possibly it doesn't give as many examples, or isn't as complete. Can I trouble you by asking for a brief comparison? Could I get more out of just the Teaching the Classics syllabus book or the Reading Strands book? (Of course if I got TTC, I'd look for the DVDs resale, and download the MP3s you suggested.) About MCT, Is this Suppose the Wolf was an Octopus? Anyone use this? Can it be carried over to books outside their suggestions? Thanks again... Yes, it takes me a long time to make these decisions...

Oh Congrats! We just got our 2nd pup of the year last week :D. Our first, Chuba, is 6 months old (jack-russell, pit, lab mix), and we now have 8 wk. old Osita (collie-shepherd ball of fluff). I've loved Caesar Millan's books and I've rented his Dog Whisperer videos. The books are not training books, but they do give tons of info on all sorts of dog behaviors and good routines to get into. One of the best pieces of info regarding our Chuba, was not to praise/comfort a frightened dog. Chuba is a very docile/submissive boy with a heart murmur and was terribly frightened by the planes flying overhead (we're in the landing pattern :glare:), other dogs barking, and a million other things. It was super hard not to comfort a tiny little frightened pup, but Caesar's rational is that it "OKs" that behavior and so it will be repeated (to the point that the dog can become neurotic) If you just project an authoritative (not mean) attitude that all that noise is A-OK, the dog accepts that and overcomes the fear (Chuba's a confident adolescent now and a great big brother!) You can also look at the The Monk's of New Skete. Good old fashion dog discipline. I loved the alternative to crate training presented - leash the pup to your bed (with pup's bed right there). The pup will resist soiling its bed and will wake you to go out. Worked great for us. (Although our dogs both love their crate to escape from our kids :D). Enjoy!

Didn't read all the posts, so I hope this is not terribly redundant... We love our Schleich horses. I was just patrolling the backyard for dog doo and found a horse that had been lost in a hosta plant all summer - looked as good as new after a bath. We also get Safari horses. They are not quite as sturdy, but they are good and about the same size as the Schleich. The Schleich horses fit into the Melissa and Doug folding barn nicely - this is a favorite toy of both my girls. We also have a great folding fence - I think it originally came from Tractor Supply Center as part of a cheapo barn that fell apart. Anytime girls come to play, this is the first toy that's pulled out.

Yes, this helps! I think this might be the step that we need to take - First knowing how to do something and then knowing why later. We've not done math this way yet, but I think that it might help ds to just do some work in which he can just concentrate on getting the correct answer, and then later go back and understand why. Thanks!

That has got to be just the Best Feeling! Congrats on sticking to your schedule despite so many issues - you're giving me new resolve to continue with our schedule (I've packed the house and made a bunch of repairs in anticipation of a move that never happened - thank goodness for that, as we love our community here. Now I get to unpack and enjoy a repaired house, but what a traumatic autumn it's been...)

Momma2Many, I'm not certain on the recommended ages, although picture books are used as examples (because they are briefer and easier to explain, I'm sure). Another resource for doing Socratic method for literature analysis called "Suppose the Wolf were an Octopus", can be used for kindergarten kids. I'm guessing that one could start asking questions about read-aloud books at any age. I think I read that Teaching the Classics has graded the list of questions that it provides, so that you would know what to expect. I know that up until logic stage, we have just talked about books very informally.

Capt, thanks so much for taking the time to post back with this review. It's really making me think about my learning style, and how I want to spend my $. Of course, my plans for literature study are totally last minute (we're doing AG, and after Christmas, ds will be done with grammar for the year. I want to make certain to have something to fill this void - too bad I didn't start thinking a bit sooner!) I love to read, but I have never done much analysis. In fact, I'm rather clueless about double meanings and such. For me, the cigar is generally just a cigar... I would never think of the parallel described about Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. Probably the DVD's would be useful (and it sounds like the resale value would be high). One more question; what source (if any) are you using to find out biographical information about authors you are studying? Thanks again!