You generally mirror them. Whatever handed person you are, that will be your dominant hand. Practice signing infront of a mirror to see how others will see you. It's the same as watching a video. :001_smile: I know lefty signers, and righty signers. It's all good. The Deaf person won't have a problem understanding you. So, do what you feel most comfortable with, and stick with it. As an adult, the Signing Naturally series is awesome. It's what I used in college. Signing Time is awesome too. Hands down the best I've seen for children (and their parents).

Oh, and a neat site to visit dealing with allergies is http://www.gaps.me This dr. is great! It all starts in the gut. The gut education you get from her is just amazing. I learned things that blew my mind about how our body works. And, her stuff doesn't apply only to autistic/adhd children. Once she got into her research she found that what she learned was linked to tons and tons of various illnesses/diseases.

Here is the US we consume so much processed food, and it almost all has wheat in it. Two of my dd's have 'leaky guts.' Both are gluten/casien free. I just recently went gluten-free and my dh thinks I've crossed over to Celiac. I've very, very sensitive to things that didn't bother me a year ago. With our girls being gf/cf, my diet was 75-90% like that as well. When I started having a hefty dose of gluten at once, the problems started creeping in. I didn't realize what was happening for 6 months when it got really bad for a bit. I immediately pulled gluten and the change has been awesome. I did take a supplement for 'hidden gluten' in meals when we went out. It use to work. After a month or so it no longer works. I went over to a gluten digestive enzyme. Taking one at first was fine. Within a month I needed to take 3, and all that did was delay my reaction by 12-18 hours. It's not worth it to digest gluten. I can't use gf oats. And, I recently started not being able to use distilled white vinegar (it was the Kroger brand, but the reaction was bad enough that I won't use any brand of it from now on). I eat healthy. I have for years. Growing up my parents had lots of processed stuff. Watching Food, Inc. was a real eye opener. You walk away from that seeing why we have such a sick nation here. Wheat, soybeans, corn...all modified. Sad.

:iagree:

Ack - no one has used both things? Any suggestions would be helpful. Those who did Saxon and moved over to this level of TT, your input would be helpful as well. I was hoping to order these today. Hoping, anyway. :001_smile: * * * * * later in the afternoon, editing to add: I found an awesome post on the HOD boards from 2007. Carrie gave nice details on these levels and said TT7 reviews TT6 for 1/2 the year. We will be doing Pre-Algebra. That sealed it for me.

We need to pick things back up. In May/June we went to VA to help my parents for 2 weeks, and it killed us trying to get back into things then. So, we did what we could through the end of June and stopped. We still have some to finish up. I am doing the last 10 lessons at half-speed in Bigger for my 9yo. She'll start Preparing around Jan. Preparing would be too much writing for her right now. My oldest will be wrapping up CTC and going into RTR. My 1st will be in Little Hearts fully. We did part Little Hands and part Little Hearts for K. We love HOD here! I am soooooooooooo glad they are going through high school now. I was stressing and was gonna switch over to Bob Jones for high school, and wanting to do something for a transition between the 2 curriculum types for 1-2 years. Now we don't have to worry about switching anything, outside of our normal subs for math, etc.

Last night I had my dd take placement tests for TT. We used TT5 2 years ago. She did fine, and admitted it was easy. Since she dislikes mult. and div. and struggled some with it, we went back to Saxon. I put her in Saxon 6/5 with the intent of her doing this AND moving into 7/6 afterwards. She HATES Saxon. Plans did not pan out. For the TT7 test, she got the first 15 right. 2nd half, she got over 8 right and the others were only wrong due to miswriting numbers and not paying attention. Once that was pointed out, she did them correctly. For Pre-Alg., she got 14/15 right. 2nd half, 5 right and she left things blank since she was unsure what to do. I started to explain, and she took off getting others right. Some I had to fully explain and then she could do them (new info). Where is best to place her? I don't want the expense of both, having her only use 1/3 of TT7. Does the Pre-Alg. do enough of a review in the beginning that she would be fine just starting there? I don't want to overwhelm her. She liked that she got all of the TT7 test correct. She did a Pre-Alg. lesson and all the problems and thought it was fun. Listened to a second lesson and was fine with the material. I'll be buying these new and saving them for my now 4th grader to use when the time is right for her. So I'll end up with both here anyway at some point. Suggestions?

I second trying the baking soda. My sister drinks 1/2 tsp baking soda dissolved in a glass of water daily. It keeps her yeast infections away. Something you might like to try is ph strips. Test your urine and the eat accordingly using a acid/alkaline diet chart. PHion strips are awesome! And The Wolf Clinic has a great food chart (you can google them). This also helped me get things under control. It was nice to be able to see where I was and learn how to eat to keep myself balanced.

I had some issues and my osteopath helped me get it under control. I was on CIPRO twice within 5 weeks. It was NOT fun. Alongside CIPRO I took a detoxing probiotic, and a balancing one. Both of these are designed to be resistant to antibiotics, so that is when you take them. Then I took them for 3 weeks after the CIPRO was done, and added in a natural antibiotic. After this, I am daily on a theraputic probiotic. Detoxing probiotic: here Balancing probiotic: here Natural Antibiotic: here Theraputic Probiotic: here Bottom line though is that you need to figure out what is causing this. It stems from bad bacteria overgrowths in your body. I am off gluten. That has helped immensly. I have had little things to happen and they all fall in line with being a Celiac. That is how I am treating myself, and I'm staying fine. Haven't had any more infections. I also did intestinal testing to find out what the heck was going on inside me. I did have low levels of bad bacteria overgrowth which just solidified all the treatment the osteopath was doing. I will be on the theraputic probiotic from here on out. My body doesn't produce any lactobacillius on it's own. :-( CIPRO kills bacteria, both good and bad. You need to have the good bacteria taking root in your guy immediately following antibiotic treatment. If you don't, the bad bacteria grow back faster and take over, leading to more infections.

I have used Arbonne for years. I love their cleansing gel, perfect for shaving the legs without any razor burn and I DO NOT need aloe afterwards. There are many things I like. They may be pricey, but a little goes a very long way. Many people use way too much product and need to learn to cut back a little. I react to many products, and nothing in Arbonne has bothered me. Love that! I am a consultant just because I used so much. Nice to save the money on my personal stuff. And, consultants can access ingredient lists online for most of the items (not sure if all products are on there). It should not have taken that long to get one to you. That's bad on the consultants part.

Been married almost 17 1/2 years. I was 123 at marriage. I am 133 now. Have had 3 pregnancies, where I gained 44-55 lbs each. 133 was my pre-preg. weight after 5 years of marriage. I lost 22 lbs last summer which I held for 2 years (I packed on 28 lbs in one single summer from some mega stress). I've been able to keep the weight off and maintain for over a year now. I weigh myself daily. I might flux 2-3 lbs pending cycle and what-not, but do get back down to 133 after a little more careful diet monitoring. I have adrenal fatigue and my body can't regulate it's adrenaline and cortisol levels. Exercising is limited, due to that. I maintain through diet. Which, I am not thrilled with. I'd love more exercise. I am currently saving for a bike so the girls and I can go for rides. I gave my FIL my college bike 6-8 years ago. He's tinkered with it and done some things where I am not gonna risk my life riding it. :glare: So, new bike it is. Can't wait.

Nice article. I checked out her minimalist knitting info as well. I need help in both areas! :tongue_smilie: I am just now doing my first big curriculum/homeschooling book destash. There were things I just couldn't let go of. I finally just took the plunge, and it's amazing how taking them off the shelves and then straightening up the shelves lead to a nice stress release. Now, to find new homes for all of them. That will take some time, but until then I have them set aside and OFF the shelves, and it feels great. I have many, many more books I need to do this with. Baby steps. I need to tame my yarn and fiber stash too. I have already started knitting Christmas gifts. I am hoping this gets me off to a nice start in that minimalist dept. as well. I feel stressed seeing so many things around. Having less feels better.

We don't. My oldest reacted to the MMR at age 1 with head to toe hives. At age 12, she still has skin issues. We have not vaxed our other 2 girls. They happen to have a medical condition called a 'leaky gut' and their immune systems overreact. Ain't no way I'm vaxing them. They are both on gluten/casein free diets. They aren't autistic, but that treatment realm works for them. My middle dd...lots of autistic tendencies. Vaccines could be the trigger that sets her off. I am not willing to find out. When they are 18, if they want them, they can do it themselves. Under my roof, no. And with our family history of health issues, it's unwise for us to do them. Our Ped and us talk about it all the time. He isn't worried that we don't vax.

Done. I like it that your review pops up first. On your comment about yeast infections, the author might be right. Since I have not read the book I don't know what else she says in regards to that. I have 2 dd's with a 'leaky gut.' One dd, her cause was from a candida overgrowth in her intestines. If you look at http://www.gaps.me to learn more about this condition, you'll see that yeast infections are a sign of a bad bacteria overgrowth. They can happen during detoxing as well. Bacteria leaves the body through stool and urine, and on it way out it can cause yeasties that way. If anyone suffers from yeast infections, treat the gut with some good probiotics to get the gut flora in balance (proper balance between the good and bad bacteria found in the intestines) and watch what happens. Don't be surprised if the yeast infections go away. So, yeast infections are a sign of bacteria issues.

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts. K12 I had not thought of. I looked at the BJU sujects, and she would be right on par with everything for 5th grade. I didn't see a need to move her up or down in anything. About the hard drive, what we are thinking of doing is getting her one of those non-memory computers from Costo that you just plug in a device and go from there. Then she could take it on the go if we travelled anywhere....work in the car, etc. Would it be able to work that way? I'll look into K12. And, I'll look more at the BJU dvd's. I hadn't thought of some of those other math programs...even teaching textbooks might be better for her. There is a meeting near me on at both the beginning and end of June. I plan to take dd with me to the first, and dh with me to the second. That gives me about 3 weeks inbetween to make a decision. Saxon has been nice and she doesn't doodle then....just history and science reading. I hadn't thought that doodling might be helping her retain. My middle dd, yes, she is hands on. But my oldest typically hasn't been that way. Could be she is changing. Thanks again.

no one?

We're planning 5th grade out, and I need some pointers. Who is familiar with all these curricula? We are heavily leaning towards the Bob Jones HD thingy for grade 5. Here's my deal. Dd is using Heart Of Dakota (HOD) Bigger now, Saxon 5/4 for Math. We're happy with it, but it requires so much one on one with me reading to her, etc., and it's tiring juggling that and teaching the 1st grader alongside with all her HOD stuff. I have a 7 yo now in 1st, and a 4 yo who will start preschool in the fall. I don't have the time for THAT much one on one for all of them. Dd is using Saxon 5/4 for math and had some hang-ups, so we took a break to do drills for a few weeks. We have the DIVE cd but I've had to stop that. She was guessing at answers. Now we spend 2 hrs almost doing her math lesson together. Between this and her HOD stuff, school is 4 hrs for her (or close to it), then I have the others to school. We do things side by side, but reading to one while the other is trying to work on math...gets distracting for the one trying to concentrate. We are thinking my oldest has some processing issues. She is smart, but her short term memory stinks. If we baby step her through her math, she does awesome. If after 15 problems we have her go solo to figure things out on her own, she locks up. She can't even look back through a long division problem when she loses her place to figure out where she is and what is next. Knowing all that...here are my questions... Do we: 1. Go with Bob Jones, portable HD. I don't want online and I don't want DVD. I don't know how intensive it would be for my involvement...just looking into it now. I think the break from me and having her own "teacher" may help her, keep her accountable and more on track. Plus, we only have it for 13 months...she has got to do her stuff and not play around (doodling while being read to). 2. Stay with HOD, using Saxon still for math...or use another math. 3. Other I need something to free up my time, something to be a bit more appealing to dd for schoolwork. She likes to doodle when I do reading with her, and it bugs me. I can't get her to stop no matter what discipline method we use. I see her being busy and entertained a bit going with Bob Jones. Money is a concern with the Bob Jones cost, but we are making it a non-issue. Even though we like HOD, I feel she needs more. We do everything, but I don't know what all she is retaining. I feel she needs something that is a bit more visually stimulating to pull her in, someone other than mommy that she hears all the time. One friend suggested CLASS, but I want something with more than just textbooks. I want at least 1-2 subjects on the computer or dvd if I went that route. I thought of SOS, but don't want it JUST on the computer (and I've heard too many complaints about AOP from friends that I just haven't looked any farther...I didn't like their LifePacs before...and we ditched Horizons Math after 4 years of it for Saxon - Saxon is better for us). If ya have any other suggestions for me, I'm all ears. My thoughts are no matter what we do for 5th grade, from 6th grade up I want to use something like Bob Jones...start getting transcripts, etc. Michigan doesn't require any record keeping, testing, but I want to start going down that road and having our bases covered. Thanks!

:bump: Same here...couldn't find my Focus On The Family catalog either....

LOL Glad they won...I can't believe I'm right here and didn't even watch a single game this year. Where does the time go? :blush:

We're in SE Michigan, and right down the road from Greenfield Village. We've been using TWTM off and on for about 4 years. I take bits and pieces and use what I can. There are a few of us from my local Dearborn homeschooling/bible study group that are planning outings and trips over the summer. I'm not sure how often we'll meet, but getting together is always fun! One group meets once a month but is on hold for a bit, and another small group of us meets weekly. If we can fit things in, we'd love meeting up with people. I just found out from a neighbor that there is another homeschooling family half way down our street (across an intersection so we just never venture that way with the littles), so we're hoping to meet them this summer.

Yes, we try to. If we go 2 weeks without it, they are miserable and fighting. As soon as we start schoolwork, they stop. I would like to try for 2-3 days a week, but we're having a gal from Germany to spend the summer with us and I don't know what we'll have time for.

Just remember if you aren't sure...wait and don't buy stuff just yet. Wait until you are sure. Deals can be nice at the conferences but you can always find things on forums as well, also for a nice price. Make sure you are ready, with no doubts, and then go for it. There are so many nice programs out there...it would be great if we could do them all. Best of luck with deciding what to do, and do let ya know what you figure out!

We did MFW Adventures for 2nd grade in 2006-2007. We enjoyed it, and we enjoyed the readings. The state portion was just coloring sheets, and the science was okay. This year we are redoing American History with Heart of Dakota www.heartofdakota.com in their Bigger program for 4th (we just started last week). I've heard lots who have used Adventures and then this, and most (if not all) prefer HOD due to it having more Biblical content in all subjects and also for it building up more character traits vs. what MFW does. If you aren't set on MFW, you might be interested in HOD. I do think it would be good to look closely at both of them before buying one or the other. See what books they both use that interests you, etc. We just used MFW ECC this past school year, and while the info was nice we got bored with the same line up day in and day out. One thing I had a hard time with in MFW is all the copying needed to be done. If I couldn't get out to make copies, we got behind. I also found it hard to do the library...so opted to buy the books we wanted to use. Just food for thought, if you want something a bit more hands on and with more varied actitives you might want to consider HOD, too.

Oh yeah - that's my all time favorite combo...crushed oreos in milk, and dig in with a spoon. We might need some shovels for this one!

Oh, this is just too fun! Thx!