We got married in a picturesque little church. The only problem was a giant ,and I mean 3x the actual size, cross hanging at an angle over the alter area. And my side of the family that filled more than half the church think that it's a (bad) pagan symbol. (No offence ment to the pegans on here. That's just how they see it.) Other than that it was pretty, I got the right size aisle to walk down, and dh's dad was the minister which meant we got the church for free.

I like the book weight idea, but these are too flat.

Dh (a lefty) writes the majority of his letters starting at the bottom, including his 'e's, and his handwriting is very difficult to read. Because of that I am very strict about how ds forms his letters, and I make sure he does it the "right" way when we are doing school.

My first thought was "imagine the drama potential now that she has something real to complain about." :leaving:

We love LeapFrog over here. My friend has the LeapFrog Chat and Count Cell Phone. It's rated as 18 months and up, and it kind of looks like the type of electronics that you're planning on getting your other kids so your littlest one has one of their own.

This summer a group of the parents on this board with blogs had a blog tour, writing specifically about gifted issues. Here is the link for my blog post listing (with links) the participants. There is also Watch Out for Gifted People and Homeschool Ninjas. I would love to learn about more, though. It seems like most of these don't post very often, and I'd really like to read more from parents of gifted kids. And the link in your signature says I have to be invited to read you blog. Is that a mistake in the settings?

Amazon reviews are very important to dh and I don't buy him anything on there without a 3.5 or better review. He won't look at anything without reviews.

Do you have room for a PVC pipe building set? (I store mine in a (bought new for this purpose) garbage can.)

Cute! Embroidering the "m" on both side will "clean" up the messy. Or you could double the scarf and sew on an extra circle on the "back" after the embroidery. Or on the back you could try to embroider over the white, but I'm not sure how that would turn out.

From what I have read on here, Right Start and Singapore focus a lot more on mental math than other programs do. They also (it seems) to have a stonger base and understanding of place values to facilitate mental math. We are doing RIght Start and I have learned a lot and mental math is now easier for me. My son also loves it.

There is an assessment/placement test you can print out from their website. I would try that first.

Are you going to regret later it if he dies without saying anything else to him? I had a bad (not necessarily abusive, but more emotionally neglectful) relationship with my Papa (grandfather/legal guardian for most of my life.) I was able to talk to him when he was dying and tell him I was sorry for being horrible back (which I was) and that I had forgiven him. He never said he did anything wrong or apologized for anything, but he told me he loved me. I'm glad that happened before he died. I would have regretted not saying anything if he died before I could forgive him.

The point of that lesson was not to teach the words but for the student to hear the sounds and find the "ph" making it in the word. The instructions say: "Instructor: There are plenty of other words that contain the letter pair ph, and you will learn how to read those words in later lessons. For now, I will read the words to you, using my finger to move under a word as I read it. When you see ph and hear me make the sound /f/, circle the ph in the word." (Underline added by me.)

I kind of like the idea of secretly giving stars to people I like without them thinking I'm kissing up to them.

It's pronounced the same as yours, the same as the show.

Dh and I dream of visiting Italy and taking a few cooking classes there.

Do they stay in the cloud or do they expire? Can anyone give me a link on Amazon to where they explain all of this, please?

Fun! How did you get your pictures like that?

When you call Zaner-Bloser customer service you actually get a real person! I was kind of thrown when a real person answered at my second ring instead of a "press * for _____" situation. And you know how you can tell if someone is smiling by how they sound? That's what she sounded like. A year before I had called about a question about their handwriting curriculum and the customer service lady I talked to then had no clue. But when I posted on my blog about my positive customer service experience a ZB representative contacted me we e-mailed back and forth and the result was a guest post by one of their experts for my blog that answered the question I had had a year ago. Also, I don't remember the company, but we bought bookshelves to put together from Walmart over two years ago. We got several and we ended up losing the hardware for one. It just stood in the box in a closet for over 2 years before I remembered about it and called. They weren't making that model anymore but she found a set of the hardware for it and sent it free of charge.

:blush: Here's the Pin for it.

Nope. Dh's breakfast is the Carnation instant breakfasts with milk and his lunch is the leftovers from the night before, already in the plastic container. (There is no reason that I can think of for lunch not to be possible to prepare the night before.) I am NOT a morning person. I would like to be the person who gets up early and prepares wonderful meals for my family, but that's just not going to happen. But there are things you can prepare ahead the night before (there are a LOT of muffin recipes out there) and I've even seen some overnight-crock pot breakfast casseroles that I've been meaning to try.

:grouphug: :grouphug: Just remember that your kids are probably going to have the opposite opinion because they're the ones who see you every day and they are the ones who are benefiting from it. I can't imagine a kid (or even a grown up offspring) say to their parent "you should have used your degree and worked outside our home instead of teaching us at home."

My experience is using it myself in 7th and 8th grade at a half day private school / teach yourself in the same room as other kids and a teacher to answer questions situation. It required more self discipline than I had. I tested in at 4th grade grammar and spelling and caught up 3 grade in 2 years. I'm glad I did it, although I don't know if I would have liked high school to be like that.

I'm printing information from Pinterest or blogs in brochure format. For my FIL I'm making a brochure about how throw a knife without it spinning. :D Today the kids made tissue paper ornaments /sun catchers for the relatives that we will be spending Christmas day with. (I blogged about it but I can't link because I'm on dh's phone so check out the link in my signature.) Ds6 is also "sewing " bookmarks using yarn and plastic canvas. ETA: http://sceleratusclassicalacademy.blogspot.com/2012/12/tissue-paper-ornaments-sun-catchers.html

I'd read to them (or heavily quote) the Well Trained Mind on teaching how to read. (Chapter 4, Unlocking the Doors: The Preschool Years, sub chapter Kindergarten Years: Four and Five, section: Reading.)