[Well, then. DH is thinking about moving. Not sure if I'm on board.]

Moving is difficult, but I think in a situation like this where one person is miserable and the option of moving is on the table, it should definitely be considered.  I think you can find a place where the needs (social, educational, financial) of both you and your husband are met.  

 

When we decided on our last move, my husband and I both had a list of things we were looking for, things that were non-negotiable for us.  We put together a list of cities that we thought could be a good fit for both of us, then went through that list, circling the places we knew there were openings for him in his line of work.  That was our starting point. Interviews, visits, etc., and the rest sort of fell into place.

 

 

[Remind me how to potty train]

I wait until they are old enough that all I have to do is say "you're too big for diapers, time to start using the potty" and they can make the transition without much help. That was somewhere between ages 3 and 4 for my older four kids.

 

I'm just too lazy to do it any other way ;)

 

This, and we're doing it right now with The Baby, 3y, 3m old.  On Monday, I just said, "Hey, no more diapers, let's put on some big boy pants."  Day 1 was a rousing success.  Yesterday was not quite as good, but he was dry this morning, and has peed in the potty all morning, even coming to me twice to ask to go. We'll get there!

[Wwyd]

There's no doubt what the guy did was disrespectful toward you, and I'm sorry you experienced that.  I'd be angry, too.

 

That said, I think my response would depend on the overall relationship with the friend.  

If you're not likely to see this guy regularly, especially in a family setting, and your son is not upset about it, I would probably discuss with my son how we didn't feel his behavior was appropriate and then move on.  

 

A close family friend, i.e., someone whom you would be spending time with regularly with children present, and this would have to be dealt with.  Like you, I don't have a problem with other adults calling my kids out, but if I'v said the situation is under control, then it's under control, and they don't need to worry about it again.  Anyway, I would ask my dh to talk with him, since our general rule is that we deal with people we are close with in terms of setting boundaries for our family (i.e., if something needs to be done about MY sister, I handle it.  If something needs to be done about HIS co-worker, HE handles it).  

[Is AAR a full year, or 1/2 year?]

I am doing AAR 3 right now with my dd8.  She doesn't really *need* it per se, but I just want to do my due diligence where reading is concerned.  We usually spend 1 day per lesson unless we come across something I see we need to work on. 

 

I've also just started AAR 1 with my dd6.  We're using it to learn to read.  So we take our time, stretching a lesson out with plenty of review.  One thing I like about AAR is that it can work in both situations -- it has the ability to slow down (with review, re-visiting fluency sheets, doing the crafty activities, re-reading stories, etc.) or to speed up (skip the review, go straight to the difficult words in the fluency sheets, skipping the crafty things, etc.) according to the needs of the child.  

 

I guess "it depends" is not much help for planning, though!  

[What's included in your Language Arts course?]

Up next for my 3rd grader...

 

Grammar:  Finishing up CLE 2, moving on to MCT Island (this is my MCT guinea pig -- if we don't like it, we'll go back to CLE and probably never leave!)

Spelling: AAS 3

Reading:  AAR 3 & 4, plus a "daily reading" list which includes some quality lit, history, poetry, etc.

Handwriting: Her writing is very nice, so nothing more than writing in her commonplace journal (i.e., copywork).  We'll take on cursive in a year or so.

Oh, and WWE 2. :)

[Must brag on my son!]

How exciting!  :party:

[I Think I May Have Saved A Life Tonight]

Strong work!

[Starting a foreign language in a speech-delayed child]

Thanks for the input, Rosie & Classical Katherine!  I have never heard of RPR, but I'll definitely have a look into that!  

 

And you know, I hadn't linked the musicality of Chinese with her interest in music. That's a great connection.  :)

 

The more I've thought about it, the more excited I am for her to start.  I am excited to encourage her in a worthwhile academic pursuit, and I think it will also perhaps be one baby step towards independent learning.  And, I also think in a large family, it's good for her to have something that's *her* special thing.  I'm hopeful this will be a positive, confidence-building experience for her!

[s/o- how many children- Managing multiple children with independent time]

My kiddos are right there with yours -- 5th, 3rd, 1st & K.  My 7th grader is also in the mix this summer.  We've already started school, but I can't say for sure if this is working because everyone's been in and out with camps, visits to grandparents, etc.  5th & 3rd graders have their work printed out ahead of time.  Anyway, the plan is...

 

6:45-7:30: 5th grader with me (math & reading)  (he's a natural early-riser, may as well use that to our advantage!)

7:30-9:30: Morning Time (all), then snack/break

10-11:  K & 1: work with me (math, phonics, ELTL) / 3rd & 5th begin their work

11-12: K & 1: play/ 3rd work with me (AAR, WWE, etc.) / 5th continues independent work

12-1: lunch/spend some time outside

1-2: art project/nature journal/whatever (all)

2-3: K&1: work with me (math, read alouds, 1st does AAR with me)/3rd & 5th do independent work until finished

3: rest time :)

 

 

[Starting a foreign language in a speech-delayed child]

Thanks so much for the replies!  They are very helpful in sorting through the pros and cons.  

 

DD is not left-handed, but she is very musically inclined.  'Born with a song in her heart' is how one of her teachers described her.  Like one of my older sons, her issues aren't linear, more like there are just areas that are 'blocked' or something.  When my son was tested, almost across the board they would hit a spot where he would miss three or whatever, and the test was supposed to stop, but the therapist kept going and he would then pick up and be able to do more.  Some of the lower skills aren't there but the higher ones can still be.  It's like their development isn't according to the typical sequence, 'out of order' like barefoot mommy mentioned.      

 

My husband suggested I contact my son's old speech therapist.  She actually recommended using the interest in Chinese as a way to sneakily work on her English.  So, talking about a word in Chinese can lead to talking about the word in English, when you'd use it, how you'd use it in an English sentence, etc.  She felt that we could basically exploit her interest in Chinese to develop her English skills!  So something like watching Kai Lin would be perfect.  I think we'll start there. :)

 

Again, thanks!

 

[Starting a foreign language in a speech-delayed child]

This is just what happened to us, so please don't take it for gospel. :)

 

DS is speech delayed. When he was younger, he actually stopped speaking beyond a few grunts and weird little half words. DH started studying Japanese and German. For some reason, DS suddenly took an interest. Now, he wants to learn Latin and German, still knows some phrases in Japanese and German. And I don't know why, but if, for example, he knows how to say "How are you today?" in German, he says it clearly in English. We worked for ages on it in English over the last 2 years - he learned it in German and boom, could do it. I don't know if it spurred something in his little brain or what. It's strange. Maybe it just got him more interested in trying. Take from that what you will, but I wouldn't necessarily say now - maybe with the phrases in both English and Chinese she'd be encouraged to try just a little harder.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience! :)  

[3rd grade planning thread]

For my 3rd grader, it's looking like:

 

Morning Time: Composer Study, Worship, Poetry, Memory Work, Cultural Studies, Vocabulary, Shakespeare, Read Alouds And Added SCM's Laying Down the Rails.  We're loving that!

 

Latin: Finish Prima Latina, then move onto...Getting Started with Latin

 

Math: Finish Singapore 2B --> BA 3; Finish Horizons 3 --> Horizons 4 (won't start that until next spring)

 

Reading Instruction:  Finish CLE Reading 2, move into Mosdos Ruby; Read through McGuffey 3 with me Moving on with CLE Reading 3

 

LA: WWE, AAR 3/AAS 3; Finish CLE LA 2, move into [not sure, either CLE LA 3 or MCT] Going to give MCT a whirl!

 

Science: Exploring the Building Blocks 3

 

History: My Own History hodge-podge based on a chronological ordering of CC's memory sentences

 

Independent Reading: America First, My Book House 3, Burgess Animal Book with note booking pages, Pinocchio with comprehension guide, The Fairy Ring, Fifty Famous Stories, Viking Tales, Redwall, plus several novels of own choosing, Went on and chose some myself Ha!

 

Tea Time:Let's face it, Tea Time was a great idea but just never got done for us. Artist & Folk songs moved to MT. Artist Study, Folk Songs, Geography (Using Charlotte Mason's Geography) Lazy Mama chose Daily Geography and now she says Geography is her favorite subject?  

 

Piano

 

​...and she wants to learn Russian.  

 

[Starting a foreign language in a speech-delayed child]

So my daughter is 6, and she has a language processing disorder.  No need to rehash her history blow by blow, but suffice it to say, although she's gaining ground, her receptive and expressive language are both delayed about 12-18 months.  She'd rather be outside or mommying the dogs than doing anything academic. :)

 

She is very, very interested in learning Chinese.   I don't know why Chinese, it's not a language we have any ties to or that anyone else in our house (homeschooled or not) is working on.  But for several months she's been quite insistent upon it.  Downloading a few kids songs in Chinese was absolutely not going to cut it:  "Mama, I need to *speak* Chinese, not sing it!"    

 

My inclination is to table the Chinese until we're a little more solid in English, so I've been stalling.  Yet at the same time, I'm not sure it's a good idea to tell her no on the one academic-ish thing she's really wanting to do.  

 

Does anyone know if there is a consensus view on starting a foreign language with a speech-delayed child?  Or, just in general, what would you do?

 

 

[Do you get fully dressed each day?]

I figure yoga pants and a ponytail are perks of the job. 

 

And a bra.  Always a bra. Unless I am changing into another bra or in the shower.  After 12 years of nursing...   :scared:

[Your teen crush?]

My big crushes were David Cassidy and Andy Gibb.

 

 

Maybe Bob Crane from reruns of Hogan's Heroes, but in general, if I looked at a guy, it's because he was on a cool horse.  The most notable was Ian Miller on Big Ben (who did some shows I was at in his pre-Olympics days).  That horse could jump(!).  I drooled watching them.

 

(Most of you will probably have to google if you want more specifics.  ;)  )

 

What is it about a man on a horse?  There's a King Arthur movie where Clive Owen goes riding into battle on a horse and he does this sword flipping move and honestly, it about took my breath away!  

[Should clergy members actually be worried about the supreme court ruling?]

Not remotely, in any way, a minority position.  Having children out of wedlock isn't really related to the question, either.  We are not talking about childbirth, we are talking about marriage. Having a kid without a husband doesn't mean you will never get married. 80%+ of women get married in their lifetime.

 

And yes, the opinion of a vast majority of people matters in a representative democracy. 

 

Trends towards marriage are decreasing in developed countries.  I can pull up some links if you're interested.  I don't know how old you are, but I am old enough to remember when the main counter-cultural argument about marriage was that it was 'just a piece of paper.'  There's been a little flurry over the value of marriage with the SSM issue, but I fully expect that to die down within 5 years and we'll be back to the 'just a piece of paper' concept.  

 

Anyway, if out of wedlock births don't interest you, maybe this will make the point a little better.  Pew Research    Attitudes change, are changing, will change, which brings me to my point that the opinion of a vast majority of people matters in one sense, but really not at all in terms of telling us if something is fair, true, or right. History is replete with examples of vast majorities being A-OK with something that was quite wrong. 

[Should clergy members actually be worried about the supreme court ruling?]

We have state involvement in marriage because the vast majority of people like it that way.  It is the cornerstone of family- the licenses and the many legal and financial ties that come with it.  That one is very very simple, honestly.

 

The vast majority of people liking something tells us really nothing about its propriety or usefulness.  As for the cornerstone of family, this is also looking increasingly like a minority position.  Here is an article that might interest you. 

[Should clergy members actually be worried about the supreme court ruling?]

What bothers me about the debate is that no one started it from square one:  why do we have state involvement in marriage?  Consensus was never built upon that very basic point.  Instead, people started the debate at something that should not have even been considered until we had figured out why the state was involved in marriage, why houses of worship were acting with state authority, and whether the state does/does not have a vested interested in privileging certain kinds of relationships over others.  Rather, everyone just went into melee mode on the question of why can't everyone be given state recognition for their sexual relationships.  Cart, here, go right on ahead of the horse.  And then, lickety-split, folks determined that if you didn't think one way or the other (let's face it, if you don't agree with ME) then you're the worst sort of person whom I'm justified in hating, demonizing, and blaming for the ills of the world.  

 

When people call this kind of mental laziness and emoting 'public discourse,' I fear for the direction our country is heading in.

 

(Note: I haven't been around this particular corner of the internet long enough to know if this is typical of here.  I'm speaking more generally of what I've seen in the culture at large, particularly the internet at large, where folks, intoxicated with their anonymity, tend to speak more bluntly and with less regard for the way their words may fall on others.  Mea culpa here, too.)

 

 

[I'd scream but everyone else is asleep.]

Google foods containing serotonin and you'll come up with plenty to read.

 

I keep dates in my bedside table drawer if I'm going through an insomnia phase. Often they'll help. 

 

Wow, I had no idea. Thanks :)

[Should clergy members actually be worried about the supreme court ruling?]

How does it trump your belief?

You are free to engage in marriage according to what you consider marriage, and nobody squashes that.

It simply gives others the same option.

 

Your belief what marriage is is relevant to your marriage. Demanding that it should be forced on another person's marriage means that you want to force your own beliefs on that other person.

 

Your beliefs and freedoms end where they affect another human's.

 

This just isn't true.  Prior to the SC ruling, the law of our land defined  marriage as 1 man + 1 woman.  Now, the law says that marriage = 2 people.  I can believe that my marriage should be between myself, another woman, and two men, but the state and our culture does not recognize that as such. Even if I find a religious official to call me 'married,' the state will not recognize it, or give me the rights of marriage.  Beliefs are still being forced on others, it's just that supporters of SSM prefer this definition better to the old one.

 

When people began to feel that marriage was an exclusive, privileged institution, the intellectually consistent position would be to end state licensing of marriage, not make it so just a handful more people get to participate in the exclusive, privileged institution while leaving everyone else whose beliefs are different out in the cold, without their rights. 

[I'd scream but everyone else is asleep.]

Do you sleep better if you nap in the mornings?

 

You might read up on serotonin deficiency, because serotonin converts to melatonin at the end of the day. If you have any left, that is. Assuming we've eaten the ingredients, we make most of our serotonin between dawn and two hours after, which means most women will feel better going to bed later and waking up later. That "early to bed, early to rise" proverb really applies to male biochemistry. They are more prone to dopamine deficiency and most of that is made between about 10pm and midnight.

 

Which ingredients are we supposed to be eating?  

[S/O church tax status]

nm 

 

[Big families--any bitter kids??]

I have a large family.  I've only got one into adulthood and one on the cusp so far.  Neither one has expressed bitterness about our family size.  About other things, yes... mostly about being required to have quiet time every afternoon. :)  

 

Anyway, there is a book I read many years ago, The Wonder of Boys.  In it, the author talks about moving from childhood to adulthood and how to handle those moments where the child expresses frustration, bitterness, even anger about their childhood.  Paraphrasing, he said something like, "I want you to know that I did what I thought was best at the time, but I am not perfect and I am sorry that I hurt you.  This is part of your journey now, and coming to terms with their childhood is something every adult must do.  I will help you as much as I can in that journey, and I will always be here for you if you need to talk about it."  So that's the attitude I want to bring to it.  

[On the flag of treason flying at the South Carolina Capitol]

Oh definitely. The founding Fathers weren't seceding though :) They recognized their actions as treasonous (from a British viewpoint). And firing on your government is treason, no doubt about it.

 

I'm just talking about secession as a concept here, and whether it is treasonous for any state to decide they no longer want to be a part of the union. I could easily see certain states deciding, for example, that the protections of the 2nd amendment are unreasonably expansive and that they want to begin proceedings to withdraw from the union for that reason. Would that be treason? At what point?

[On the flag of treason flying at the South Carolina Capitol]

I think treason is such a strong word, approproliate for something like betraying your country by selling arms to the USSR in the Cold War, or serving as a President's chief of staff while feeding the countries' enemies classified information.

 

Take slavery out of the equation; there are surely other reasons a state might wish to assert it's sovereignty. Secession seems more to me like divorce. The states originally agreed to join the union. Why wouldn't they have the right to separate from it? It's not like the US is some immutable, eternal thing. Countries' borders can and have changed throughout history.