I have mostly taught special education, so I am used to individualizing, modifying, adapting and being flexible. I'm still teaching one day a week for the benefits. In Canada, teachers pay is pretty good and the benefits are good. (ie dental coverage, and extended medical coverage for things that are not covered by medical) My children are part of a home learning program in which they get up to 2 days of optional classes. There are quite a few of these in our province and people get money to spend on classes, curriculum (which for most home learners is the only incentive to sign up)

Actually I think there are just as many PS teacher's who don't like this rule. I have read quite a few gripes about this policy from teachers too. Most PS teachers spend a bunch of their own money to buy teaching materials. They like to recoup some money if they can.

I would try just putting the clothes in with no laundry detergent. I sometimes do this and I find the clothes come out just as clean. I find the more important piece is pretreating stains. I read somewhere that it can take quite a few full cycles with no detergent to get all the built up detergent out of a machine.

I'm sorry you are having problems. I have only had problems once with an Ebay seller and learned the hard way that some sellers who sell tons of items are just crooks. They sent the item, but it was supposed to be new and it was an obviously very used demo that didn't work. I tried paypal, but because he had sent something I didn't manage to get anywhere. I happened to live an hour away and finally managed to get a replacement but it was missing parts. If the item has not been sent or received, you can go through paypal. I would contact the seller and say that if you don't hear from her you are going to post negative feedback. As a potential buyer, I would rather not buy from someone who is very slow to answer emails and takes over a month to send items. Buying items shouldn't be a lot of work.

If you go to pool lots between now and June 23, I would say yes. My 6 yr old learned to swim a length of the pool 2 years ago in a few weeks when she had lessons 4 days a week. They are both in swim club now, and we are working hard to get our youngest moved from the Baby swimmers group to the regular club.

For you 2 month old, I would try Teach Your Baby to Swim. See if you can borrow it from the library. My friend did this with his son in the bathtub and at 2, his son could swim like a fish. We starting trying to teach all of our kids to swim at a young age, and I wish I had done the Teach Your Baby to Swim. My 6 and 7 yr olds can swim now and are in swim club. We are still working on helping our 4 yr old who is also taking lessons. My husband and I both swim well and both know how to teach them, and we have tried many times over the years. None of them were interested in taking direction from us and just wanted to play in the water. We have done many different lessons in various places we have lived. The best success we found was when they had lessons 4 or 5 days a week in the summer.

Did you bid to get that price?

Does she like any of the homeschooling things you are doing? or hates all of it? Is she mad that she is no longer in school? Is she rebellious with everything? I have a very strong willed, stubborn, obstinate 6 yr old. I give her choices. Here are the things we need to do and you can choose what you want to do. I also let her know that she can earn free time to jump on the trampoline, ride bikes etc if she gets her work done in good time. I could never order her to do anything, and I can never win a power struggle with her. I try to lay things out so she feels like she is in control.

I have lived in both the US and Canada. I won't ever live in the US again because of the health care system. In the US, health care is a business. I learned this the hard way when I had a medical emergency. Medical staff are not interested in people's welfare, they are interested in selling procedures, surgeries etc that they make money from. Then I received a call from a collection agency 18 months after this hospital visit about a deductible that my insurance never paid and the hospital never sent a bill for. They had sent other bills, notices of what insurance had paid. Of course, now they have sold the debt so I can't pay the hospital. (In Canada collection agencies just collect on behalf of businesses, they don't buy debts) I have never had a problem getting access to medical care when needed in Canada. Twice I needed laparoscopy and I didn't wait long. I once waited a month for a non emergency CT scan. I have several relatives that work in the medical industry. They are paid well in Canada. Most of the doctors who leave to go work in the US come back to Canada. Malpractice insurance is very expensive in the US.

I used to keep mine on the counter in a butter bell. It was fine as long as it didn't get too hot and partially melt the butter.

When we lived in LA, we purchased a front loading washing machine that was only a few months old from someone who was moving to the South. We rented a truck from budget for $40 or something to move it.

Mathematics Made Meaningful is a math kit with cuisenaire rods, games and activity cards that are designed for PreK to 8. This is a very visual way of showing math that is fun for young children. I know a couple of moms who used this with preschoolers and were very happy with it.

Thanks for sharing this. Dh (the mathematician in our house) has always said that we should teach algebra after the basics.

Have you tried a physiotherapist who specializes in helping women with these kinds of things? I forget what they are called. There is a book Secret of the Ring Muscles which has exercises to tone all the ring muscles which helps all the organs line up where they should be. http://www.rings.net/

Did they change it? We moved shortly from CA shortly after the law came into effect. I thought it was a secondary infraction. ie they have to pull you over and ticket for something else before they can ticket for talking on a cell phone. Hearing aid users are exempt and I wear hearing aids.

I text with one hand. The piece that makes texting dangerous while operating any type of vehicle is where the eyes are, and texting requires lots of eye contact with the phone.

In Canada, the Charter of Rights guarantees each person's right to refuse vaccines on the basis that they can be potentially harmful. (The Supreme Court ruled on this) If I am ever asked for vaccine records, I just print off a copy of this. Is there anything that protects people's rights to choose?

4 1/2 hrs and I would take that any day over my last one which was 20 minutes.

Does your daughter like gymnastics specifically? Would she be happy with trampoline and tumbling? I think t&t is cheaper and not nearly as hard on the body. What about rhythmic gymnastics?

I have a student from the Phillipines who went to a good school, had good marks on his report card, and he is waaayyyy behind in math by Canadian standards. There is no way he would be able to calculus and trig. There are many basic things that he didn't learn.

Have you checked the local library? or any that you can use interlibrary loan for? When we lived in Redmond, WA Story of the World and many other home school materials were at the library. I'm not sure if you are planning to take a short break once school finishes, but I would start with fun stuff and build from there. Go with their interests. I have one child who will be Grade 3 next year. We are currently doing sees, plants, gardening, cooking and writing recipes. She wants to start writing poetry. There is a ton of stuff that is available free or cheap. For Math MEP is a free curriculum

I know a couple of people whose TMJ problems were helped with cranial sacral therapy.

I let my kids read what they want when they are reading for pleasure, although I will get books from the library that I think they will like. My 7 yr old still likes to sometimes read Rainbow Fairy books. They are a very quick 'mindless' read. Right now she is reading Little House of the Prairie. She doesn't like scary books.

We just started working with MEP, and so far I like it. I am working with Yr 1 and Yr 2 with my 4, 5 and 7 year old. We are Canadian so the metric stuff works great for us. We also use Power of Ten: The Teachable Moment.

There are not called charter schools where I live, but they sound like the same idea. They vary by school district, but many of the school districts offer them. The one we belong to offers 2 days of optional classes with field trips and gives funding to spend on classes, curriculum. As well there is teacher support. Essentially students who belong are considered enrolled and the program receives the same funding as regular PS students. As such there is competition with some school districts because they can run these types of programs more cheaply than full time classes. Our teacher is fairly new to teaching and has little teaching OR home schooling experience. I think they would be more likely to get someone with home schooling connections if they posted part time jobs. ie 2 part time teachers instead of one full time teacher. Home schooling moms who have teaching backgrounds are unlikely to want to teach full time.