We have several we enjoy: St. Nicholas: The Real Story of the Christmas Legend http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0758613415/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1289000536&sr=8-1 The Legend of Saint Nicholas http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0689846819/ref=mp_s_a_5?qid=1289000715&sr=8-5 This isn't about St. Nicholas himself, but it's a wonderful seasonal story that takes place around St. Nicholas day: The Baker's Dozen http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0152056874/ref=mp_s_a_7?qid=1289000960&sr=8-7 I just ordered this one for this year: Santa Who? http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0439206855/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1289000835&sr=8-1

Let me try and remember...I think he doesn't come back because of his awkwardness. He barely interacted with his family even before he learned about his "talent." I think that living in the world was just too much for Joseph. I don't know if Rose doesn't know he won't come back and maybe that's why she keeps the chair with her and asked him to always choose the chair she marked. I think she asked Joseph why that chair the last time he came back, but I can't remember his response. It's been a month or two since I read it, and I was very puzzled too, but I find myself thinking about the ending now and again.

My understanding is that Joseph is able to become the chair, or be one with the chair so to speak. Rose says he told her at different times he'd been the bed and some other furniture as well. It's his special "thing" like Rose's is the food and their father's has something to do with the hospital.

We did too! It's my son's nameday. We typically do harvest-y activities like apple picking, but today we had company and didn't. We did make bannock and a blackberry cobbler. We've been reading St. George and the Dragon lately (my other DS is named for St. George) and we spent time reading about all the archangels. DS's gift was a marble run, so the boys had fun with that to end the day.

Here are all the books we used last year: http://zuzusperch.blogspot.com/2009/11/fall-reading-list.html This year we've added Story of the Wind Children and my older son absolutely adores it. He has declared himself to be a Wind Child several times. All of Sibylle von Olfers' seasonal books are wonderfully sweet.

I have a cream cheese potato soup recipe that's delicious! It's for the crockpot, but can easily be adapted for the stove top. Five potatoes, peeled and diced Onion, diced One cup cooked ham (optional) One package cream cheese, cubed Three cups hot water Garlic powder, salt, pepper to taste All in the crockpot and cook on high for about four hours. As the cream cheese melts, stir it to incorporate and the results are a very creamy soup! For the stove top, boil the potatoes and water until the potatoes are done to your liking then add everything else. This is a Sunday dinner staple in the fall and winter in our house. We're having it today!

There is a Yahoo Group called Montessori Swap you might find helpful for locating gently used materials. I also really like Montessori for Everyone. She has a good selection of free materials.

Beyond soreness and engorgement for a few days (which I would say is normal), nothing. My boys latched within minutes of birth and that was pretty much it! I'm praying that #3 is the same.

This is interesting. I've always read that nighttime bladder control is the last developmental piece of the potty training puzzle. My boys both easily trained before they were two, but neither are perfect overnight. Iirc, it's typically nighttime bowel control, daytime bowel control, daytime bladder control, nighttime bladder control. Of course, there are always variations.

Plan Toys! Made with renewable rubberwood and very sturdy. There are also road sets that link to the railway. We love it, and I think it's Thomas-compatible if relatives ever gave you any of that. It's available through many online toy-sellers or Amazon. Otherwise, the Brio recommendation is a good one.

This is my first post, but this thread seemed like a good jumping off point! I was an elementary school librarian and also spent a little time working in a high school library. I'm definitely planning on teaching library/research skills. Because of the integrated nature of the work I did in public schools with the teachers, I've almost come to see them as one and the same. For example, the teachers sent the kids to me when they had any kind of research to do so I was teaching parts of a book, how to use an index, table of contents, find a resource on the shelf, cite sources (both book and electronic), take notes. I also worked in conjunction with the technology teacher to teach Word, PowerPoint, etc. Between the two of us, we'd take the kids from idea to final project. Teaching effective online searching techniques is pretty important. Oh, and the "big thing" I taught was evaluating online sources...not all websites are created equal (as I'm sure all of you know), so we taught the kids how to determine if they were looking at valid sources. I'll be teaching my kids how to search the library catalog, the basics of the Dewey Decimal System to locate materials independently and once we're near university age, the same for Library of Congress. I have so many fun resources for library scavenger hunts, internet scavenger hunts, and library games that I can't wait to use! Now truth be told, a LOT of this stuff comes up naturally in a family (homeschooling or otherwise) that uses the library on a regular basis. For many of the kids I taught, it didn't. Their only exposure to the library was a few minutes once a week for a few school years.