It could mean people are waiting to watch the drama unfold, but that's usually on the General Board. The K-8 boards are mostly drama free. When it's not about the drama, it just means people are anxious to hear the replies. The latter applies to this thread since it is drama free. Now if you could answer a question for me: What does LOE stand for?

To me, the good things about the book are that parents need to set the example of self-education for their children. I think it's a good thing that my son sees me try to work my way through some Life Of Fred books (I'm trying to brush up on my math skills so that I'm not hopelessly lost when my kids are ready for high school). Parents do need to model a love of learning. Also, I think reading classics are a great idea. They are classic for a reason. The reasons people don't like it: DeMille has been called a con artist and a charlatan. His "doctorate" degree came from a diploma mill and he says he didn't know it was a diploma mill. The university he set up is unaccredited, so people are paying thousands of dollars and not getting a credentialed degree. Plus the methodology is whackadoodle. DeMille's process is not how any of his great leaders received their education. Yes, Thomas Jefferson was mentored by George Wythe, but that was as an adult. As a child and teen, he had more of a classical education. All that is a summary of what other people have said about it (I think). For me, I think it's a method of unschooling. I don't think that just reading Newton will give someone a good grasp of physics. There's so much more out there now.

What I would have done: "DD5, she asked you politely to stop pestering her. You need to listen and respect people's boundaries. DD11, we don't talk to people like that. It's good that you asked nicely the first time, but next time please come get me to help if she's annoying you. DD5, what do you say?" DD5: "Sorry DD12 for annoying you, I won't do it again." Me: "DD12, what do you say?" DD12: "Sorry DD5 for being rude, I won't do it again." Granted, mine are only 6 and 2, and I really know nothing:lol:, but they constantly get on each other's nerves and this is the only way to keep it civil. As for her attitude, yes that seems pretty normal to me. But I've seen too many sibling interactions to have one party go undisciplined. However unintentional it was on DD5's part, she needs to start learning when to stop. Otherwise she will start learning that she can quietly pester older sister until sister explodes and gets in trouble. It's a classic sibling move. Not saying she's doing that yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if eventually she did.

It's kind of hard to say unless I know what kinds of things you are eating now. "Healthy" food means different things to different people. To me healthy eating is more fruits and vegetables, whole grains instead of white, and real food as opposed to processed stuff. We do still have some processed stuff, but I'm trying to wheedle it down as we go. Here are some of my suggestions for meals based on this ideology. ~Roast chicken with roasted carrots, onions and potatoes. We don't eat much of the chicken at the first meal, but after we're done, we'll pick off the rest of the meat and save it. I boil the carcass and use that broth for chicken noodle soup. For the soup I use TONS of carrots, onion and celery. It's more of a stew than a soup. ~Chicken tacos with lots of red pepper and onions. I use a little season salt for spice. Mine says there's no msg in it, but I don't know how much I believe that. ~Turkey Broccoli slaw stuff- I take some ground turkey from Costco, brown it with a chopped onion and garlic. Add in some chopped water chestnuts and bamboo shoots and a bag of broccoli slaw and cook for another 3ish minutes. Add 1/2 cup of teriyaki sauce. Can be served over brown rice or chopped spinach. Oh and green smoothies. I'm trying to eat one a day. The amount of veggies you can hide in with the fruit is amazing.

If you live in a state that does Bountiful Baskets and Azure Standard you can save a lot right there.

:grouphug: I hope this puts an end to all the bullying.

:grouphug: That is a lot for one mama to take. :grouphug: I hope you get to see them often and Skype even more.

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: So sorry for your loss. She was a cute little rat.

It is mostly a continuation of what we are doing now in Kindergarten. We'll move up to the next level in things when he finishes the book. That's why there will be multiple levels in one year. Writing With Ease 1 & 2 FLL 1 & 2 AAS 2 & 3 Startwrite cursive practice Geography (right now we're just going through the most important countries in each continent. When we're done we'll move onto SOTW) Elemental Science Biology and Astronomy/Earth Science MUS Alpha and Beta plus Singapore CWP

It looks good to me, but I am no expert and don't know much about the programs you picked so......... Does she need handwriting instruction? If she already knows how to form her letters, I would skip the HWOT and add in WWE or some other copywork or writing instruction program. Unless the MCT is the writing instruction, in which case ignore me. Also ignore me if she does need handwriting instruction. :D I'm mostly here to give you a big, "HAVE FUN!!!!" :grouphug:

Yes, that's it. I see so many fun, shiny, new things and they all look fun to me, so I want them all. Whittling them down to the best options is sometimes hard when there's so much I wish I had when I was in school. Plus last night when I posted, I had hit my tiredness limit about 20 minutes before. So I was a little slap happy and think how hilarious I was. After a night of sleep and then a nap, I'm feeling a little more calm about everything.

(I am just being mostly facetious. I wouldn't ever really buy all of these things :tongue_smilie::D Well at least, I wouldn't USE them all at once :lol:)

Brilliant idea, thank you! :lol: Exactly! Why does DH not see it this way?!?! I told him, "You know, we could have a little genius on our hands if you just let me buy everything I want!" He wasn't buying :boxing_smiley: Thanks Boscopup, you always give such great advice. The things you suggested are what I will probably end up doing. I did download all of Pandia Press's Try Before You Buy samples and was reading through the History Odyssey one last night. I know there's nothing in it that I couldn't do myself if I wanted. Maybe I'm just a shopping addict and curricula fits the bill to give me a high :001_huh: Hee, I had my RR wishlist at over $1200 and DH and I whittled it down to less than $200. I was feeling so good about myself that I went and started looking at other things. Now it's back up to who knows what.

That is the exact reaction I get from my DH! Eyes start glossing over and I know he starts zoning out and not paying attention at all. Punk! And yes, it all sounds so good and so easy on paper! We should not yet worry about what it means for real life :lol:

I'm not really sure. I'd probably build an awesome house though. That sounds good right about now. Pigby would probably like me to build him some rocket shoes. He took it pretty hard when I told them they don't really exist in real life and that if he wants them, he's going to have to learn a lot of math and science so he can grow up and invent them. That's turned into him telling me to invent them for him. :lol:

Oh really? That sounds like fun. Which ones do you have picked out? Is this considered me enabling you? Nope? Good :auto:

I am insane. I must be insane. Apparently I have a need to buy multiple programs for each subject. I already posted about my desire for FIVE math programs here. Ya know, because 1 or even 2 programs aren't going to teach him enough math :smash: Want to hear what I want to order now? Math-still the five programs (MUS, Miquon, MEP, Singapore, LOF) Science-Elemental Science (because we're using it now and it seems to be working so why fix it?), RSO (because it seems better than ES), and BFSU (because I love the explanations and demonstrations even if I'm an open and go type of person). History-I have SOTW and the AG, but apparently it's not enough and I totally want History Odyssey. That way he'll learn everything in more depth. Art-I have Drawing with Children and have never even done a lesson with it (see above about being an open and go type of person), yet I want Artistic Pursuits, Meet the Masters and Mark Kistler. French-*grumbles grumbles grumbles* Language Arts-I'm happy, for now, with what we've got: FLL1, WWE 1, Startwrite, and AAS1. But NOBODY talk about how wonderful WWW, GWG, and Apples & Pears are. Music Appreciation-I have a lot of the Classical Kids CDs that my mom passed down to me. But I'm not even sure what to do with them. I need a program to tell me what to do with them!!!! :willy_nilly: Have I mentioned he'll only be in the first grade next year? :svengo: Pretty sure he won't need 22 programs :glare: Somebody please tell me how to get over this. (And if there are any others just as indecisive as me, please tell me all the things you want to get. Just so I don't get lonely here in Crazyville :toetap05:)

Your boys are adorable! And the new room looks fabulous. So well organized and clutter free. :hurray: Way to go Mr. Tuzor! (and you too. But I wanted him to have some congratulations since you posted about how much work he did. That was so sweet)

This is me. I don't consider myself very creative at all, but have dabbled in enough hobbies to know how to copycat.

A lot of times it just depends on the show. For example, Psych has seasons 1-4, skips 5 and has the last 4 or 5 episodes of season 6. Even if you don't have hulu+ you can still see which ones require it. If you hover over an episode or see the list of them a green H+ will be on the picture for the ones that require it. I have only ever used the trial version of Hulu+ to catch up on episodes I've missed. I've never paid for the service. We don't have a TV, so I just watch the shows when they pop up on regular Hulu. If the money is not an issue, you can always try it for a month and see how much you use it.

Some thoughts (honesty, but none brutal. I know how you feel)- ~I had wanted to reply to the one about your daughter leaving, but I'm only on the computer in the morning while I'm nursing my daughter. She only takes about five minutes and there was so much I wanted to say, but knew I couldn't get to with one handed typing. When I came on later, I had completely forgotten about it. ~I generally lurk without signing in until I reply to a post. So signing in to give a :grouphug: usually only happens when something is a life or death type of scenario. I still like to send good thoughts though. ~Unless it is life or death, prayer threads tend to only get about 5-6 responses anyway. Yes, I do know how vulnerable you felt and how much it hurts to see so many views, but so few responses. ~In a saddened/hurting state of mind, people tend to be more self oriented. It's easy to take a lot of things more personally while in that frame of mind than they really are. I think it's normal and as soon as your pain subsides you will see that it wasn't personal at all. And again :grouphug: because I totally get it.

I'm another who will tell you to jump in the laser printer Kool Aid line. I got mine for $60 at an Office Depot sale. And gosh darn it, I wish I had gotten an auto-duplex one for $20 more. Thanks a lot Boscopup, where were ya when I need you last year? :tongue_smilie: I once did the math and figured it cost about 1 cent per page (included paper not bought on sale) to print. And the cartridges last for freaking ever.

Lucky! DH and I finally agreed on our RR order. He runs the other direction when I talk about Amazon though :glare: Punk!

Bah! I can't be bothered with details. My ADD brain can't handle that much information. If you held a gun to my head, I would say about $3. Give or take $5 :tongue_smilie: (but seriously, I think about $3)

Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding Oh and I take my stuff to Office Depot. Office Max once did shoddy work on some books and one of the local copy places ruined some of my index cards on the laminating machine. I wished I had noticed in the store. I don't think I should have paid for the opportunity for them to ruin my possessions.