I took ballet when I was 7 and there were 2 brothers in my class. As a kid I thought it was kinda weird, but I never said anything. I realized someone had to play the prince and do the lifting, and I figured they got to be around a lot of pretty girls with little competition. Your ds might not appreciate the second point, but I think he might like being the prince in all the stories :001_smile:

This is very interesting to me because what I got out of WTM is that the high school years are when your dc begin to specialize and figure out what they want (though keeping a solid base of English and math.) I am excited about the fact that homeschooling makes it possible for my dc to intern at companies at hours where other kids would be in school, making more opportunities available to them. I had hoped that this would lead to them having a better idea of what they want to do with their lives, unlike the average collage student who changes their major 3 times a year (or was it 6?)

:iagree: Ds4's friend (age 5) who did preschool (she will be public schooled) taught him that "school" means playing play-dough and coloring...and nothing else :glare: I might not mind as much, except he's learning to read and I don't want that to be de-railed.

:D That's cool you got to meet her! Did you know they have a screenwriter for doing a Dragonriders of Pern movie that is scheduled to start filming in 2012? Though I've hated just about every book-turned-into-a-movie. (Ella Enchanted was a horrible mangling of a wonderful book! And I refuse to watch the new Pride and Prejudice.) I was looking at a list of all the books she's written yesterday. I knew there were a lot (and I've read most of them) but it was breathtaking to see the whole list! When did she have time for anything else?!

I love that :D

Are you also an Anne McCaffrey fan?

Yea! Another Anya! I got asked about Enya, too, even though I was born quite a while before she became popular. After the Disney movie Anastasia came out more people read my name correctly. For a few years, anyway... Wait, did you really name her after that Anya?

I would have loved to be Alexandria and go by Alex. I was named after my Russian immigrant great-grandmother and while my name might be common in Russia, 2/5 people here who read it say it wrong, and 1/3 people I introduce myself to say it wrong. And a jerk guy in high school turned my name into a crude joke :glare:

:iagree: :iagree: We chose the beautiful name "Gabriel" for our son. People immediately started calling him "Gabe." Why on earth would you change "Gabriel" to "Gabe?" Is it really so hard to say the extra "i-el?" Sorry to anyone out there who has "Gabe," but it's so blah and hard :glare: I'm his parent, I spent a lot of time choosing a beautiful name for my child, who are you to usurp that?! :cursing: :chillpill: I corrected people kindly and promptly, and thankfully it didn't catch on, except with our pastor's wife who sometimes watches him in the nursery. I told her, kindly, that he doesn't know himself as that and it would only confuse him. She doesn't call him that anymore...at least not around me... My name is Anya. Pronounced "on-yah." In high school, there was a guy in math class who's favorite joke was to shout out "I wanna be An-ya." (Get it? like "I want to be on you." :glare:) I would have loved a longer, different name that made a nicer nickname possible.

I disagree. I would still have had a problem with if the mom was in a full burka and the father was there with a turban!

My 2yo has to have his nap starting at 2:30 and goes until 6:00 (if we let him) but I try to wake him by 5:00. But when I do that, I have to hold him for about 30 minutes. So I am very rigid about when we leave the house and when we'll be back. We have to plan our visits with my in-laws (the live 5 minutes away) around that. Sorry, I don't think that was helpful, but you're not alone :grouphug:

A sink or close proximity to a bathroom!

I am adamantly against flying ever again, either myself or my children. My dear husband on the other hand has no problem with me or our children being ether "scanned" or "patted." :glare: He wanted us to go on a company sponsored weekend which would have required us to go through that. I said "no," and he...didn't like that. Thankfully the company decided that the 5 year employees weren't going to be included this year, so we didn't go (driving was not an option.) I chose the middle option because I would go through it for a funeral if there was absolutely no way we could get there in time by driving. And even then I would be very uncooperative :glare:

I went to public school (mostly.) And I did a lot of "screwing around." Mostly reading books instead of doing homework :001_rolleyes: I depeneded on the inclass work and the tests that I passed with A's and B's to be enough to pass the class. But I failed enough classes my freshman year to still be considered a freshman the next year, and I had to re-take the classes with younger kids (the shame of it!) And I had to do extra periods for the rest of high school so that I could catch up and graduate with my class. It was a wake up call! I got serious after that. I didn't fail another class after that, and I steadily improved until my senior year I got all A's. This could be the wake-up she needs. I am reminded of the Laura Ingels Wilder story when she was teaching in the one-room school with 5 kids. The oldest guy just messed around, didn't do his stuff. So she slowed down his pace, had him doing 1/2 the work the younger kids were doing, asking "Is this too much for you?" After about a week of that, he told her that she could quiz him at the same level as the others his age. He caught up on his own.

My mother has had all 12 of her births at "home" (the last one was actually in a hotel room.) Long story short: I didn't grow up with my parents after I was 4, so I was never present at any of her births. She has had bad bleeding after a lot of her deliveries. Accoding to my father (who is clinically crazy) after one of her deliveries she "died" and he laid hands on her and she came back to life (NOT joking. He still stands by that story.) The last time I actually was in the hotel (we were all there for my Papa's funeral. They didn't let anyone in to help until after the baby was born.) She sat up, showed off the baby and nursed him, and after people left she went gray and collapsed and took a while to wake up. But as far as I know, none of the babies were born with problems themselves.

We're doing Right Start math, OPGTR and HOP, Zaner-Blouser handwriting, and history and animal encyclopedias for history and science. I've also picked up some pre-school workbooks at the dollar store (we did those at age 3), and I've picked up some other workbooks to cover some things that I didn't know kids who go to preschool/kindergarten know. I also want to get back to doing "Slow and Stead, Get Me Ready."

That's funny to me considering I started re-watching the show on Netflix last night :D I HATE they canceled it :glare:

I probably would have called her on it right then and there.

There is something called "natural revelation," seeing God in His creation, and there is the belief/verse that says God writes His law in our hearts. A consistent moral code (killing is bad, etc.) through history and civilizations (or at least in most...) is an example of this. There is also the anecdotal point that no one ever discovered a tribe of atheists. At a basic level, before we "intellectualize" it away, I believe people can feel the part of themselves that is missing God. (Atheists, feel free to ignore. It's my own opinion and observation. Everyone I know personally had a bad experience with "religion" before they stopped believing in God.)

Starfall's -an and -at play helped my ds get it. http://www.starfall.com/n/level-a/learn-to-read/load.htm?f

I once answered the door in one of my husband's shirts that I made for him that said "Hands off, Ladies. I'm taken." The UPS guy said "I'm guessing that shirt is for your husband?" :lol:

Not questioning your parenting choices, but that attitude from my grandmother/guardian got me to the point that when I was finally alone in my house when I got married at 18 I had panic attacks and ended up locking myself in the bathroom until someone got home. (I'm sure my own issues contributed to this.) :iagree:Ideally... Umm...a mother of teenage daughters is less likely to be the offenders...um..."type," so the mom is likely in less danger than a younger girl, who would be considered to be more vulnerable and less likely to be able to fight back...

:eek::ack2:

We found slugs heading for under our washing machine lots of nights (I hate to think of how many we missed!) Always in the same spot. Perhaps they are following a slime trail, in which I probably should have been washing the floor more often :glare: Ours were coming under the crack under our door, but we got a draft guard and we haven't seen any since.

:iagree:All I have to do is change my 2yo's shirt and he asks if we're going to church or to 'Apa's house :D