Karen, I am so sorry that you are in so much pain with migraines. I battled them for years, though more infrequent than yours it seems. After trying lots of solutions, I'm happy to say that I haven't had ONE migraine since seeing a unique kind of upper-cervical chiropractor. All other pain is gone too, and it's been amazing. If you are still in NH as your name says, please feel free to pm me for details since it's where I go for appts. I don't get a nickel for referring you ;) but I just couldn't resist telling you since it's been remarkable for me AND for a close friend who has dealt with chronic pain that has been debilitating. And the idea that you may be nearby to this unusual approach. I can give you a website too that explains the general technique.

Debit cards. :) We don't do credit either (anymore). Debit cards make it possible to function in a "credit" society.

We have one letter that we look forward to each year...these people travel somewhere exotic every month, or at least they did til they had their first baby & then their letter changed a bit. Until then, each paragraph read like this: February found us in the tropics again, but this time we savored the sandy beaches of Jamaica...blah blah blah. ;) The "found us" phrase is what cracks me up, as if they accidently landed there on a magic carpet without a clue how it all happened so wonderfully... I don't begrudge them their hard earned vacation times, but honestly, do they know what they sound like??! Now, since having the most beautiful perfect baby EVER, their travels slowed down but their writing style did not. I expect to read of their unique potty training trials & fancy preschool waiting lists in this year's letter... or perhaps about how the baby has learned to read. :lol: I never NEVER compare myself to these letters or feel badly. I wouldn't trade most of what I read in these letters for our chaotic & busy love-filled life. But...dh and I do have a fun time racing to the mailbox about now since there are only a few days left!!

I'm so sorry to hear this is happening...and I'm honestly outraged on your behalf! This stuff just gets me. There was no collaboration on this test, nor should there be on a "test" of any kind. A test is used to evaluate what a student has learned, what needs to be re-taught, etc. so I can't imagine what kind of useless data the teacher now has...what on earth is her plan?? :glare: If you're not feeling diplomatic in your email attempt, have a friend proof it before hitting send, but waste no time in getting it sent, especially with school breaks beginning next week! Wishing you all the best,

On the site it says you can submit photos of you wearing the shirt... hmmm...hope to *not* see any WTM'ers on there! :lol:

Same thing happens to me, but only within the last year or so, which has made it quite noticeable & frustrating. Now that I know the pattern & expect it, I'm trying to get ahead of it with vitamins & other supplements and super healthy choices on the days where all I want is some chocolate. I take a specific supplement to pre-empt the cold and it has really worked and it's just a combo of some of the popular herbals. I also find that outdoor exercise in the cold is not working for me and I am getting sicker faster. Summer is less of a problem, but winter has meant a monthly illness for which I do *not* have time!

39 and 9 months here and wishing I had gotten the memo about this stuff too! Thank goodness for these boards, where I often find out I'm not alone! I go from being a completely motivated over-achieving supermom one day to an easily irritated crazy-mom the next. (sigh) The energy levels, mood swings, random sadness, etc. would be funny if it wasn't all so annoying and unrelenting!

Congratulations! I'm a recent C25K grad and ran my first race on Labor Day. I'll be out Turkey Trotting with you tomorrow for my 2nd race. Might rain here too, but truly it's refreshing. Wear a baseball cap to keep it out of your eyes a little... Just do what you know, keep the pace you're comfortable with, and enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner afterwards!

Heather--thanks for replying. I've seen you use a lot of the same materials as we do, so this is interesting to read. I do take more time with some weeks but I'm hoping to get out of that cycle of "being behind" and just enjoy history more...

Thank you Angela and others who have replied! I appreciate hearing this... I suppose I am overthinking this (not uncommon for me) and what you are telling me is kind of what I hoped...that it IS that easy. I also echo your thoughts (in your next post I think) about literature...TOG has a lot of historical fiction and I am wanting different booklists & struggling to get all that reading in which means it's not getting done well. Really, I need to just drop the historical fiction, add in other wonderful literature a I see fit, and weave in the biographies, which we all love. Reading is SO where it's at! Thanks for sharing your family reading stories!

:bigear:

I'm in my 3rd year with TOG, and we're in Y1. I use the library for my books with usual success, we are enjoying the geography, and I'm mostly satisfied with the literature. Here's the issue: My oldest is 11. She enjoys history but would like smaller doses of it and would prefer more time on other subjects, especially science. DD8 would likely agree, and I think I agree too. I'm using TOG like a "buffet" so I'm not using EVERYthing it offers, but it still takes a long time. I also have a K'er as part of the mix. Moving forward, I'm not sure TOG presents an approach I definitely want in high school, when I hope to consider a Great Books study, a year of American History, and other topics that step outside of a traditional 4 year cycle. And I'm wondering if it's best to pursue about a less-is-more approach through middle school when it comes to history? SO, would LCC solve these issues? We have & love Latin but can hardly make time for it & haven't progressed this year, perhaps because TOG can sometimes rule the schedule. We have & love CW and wish to continue with it, even though it's time consuming too--very worth it. I feel pressed for time most school days & am wondering if dropping TOG would solve some of these issues. I'm open to suggestions other than LCC as well. Thanks so much!

Deece, I posted earlier and then went out for hours, which I hate to do after commenting on someone's academic concerns! Anyway, let me first say that I do not still use IEW...there was too much "formula" to it for me, although I do still require keywording skills & occasional dress-ups, because I think it's a good exercise. I have moved to another pricey program which I love, Classical Writing, and we can weave in our favorite IEW skills however I see fit. This would be true of other programs I'm sure too, and without lots of additional expense. I've read a lot on these boards about great writing programs if you are looking to make a change. Meanwhile, I do a lot of what momof7 does in terms of double spacing, focusing on content first, then mechanics second, and I do think a student checklist of some kind gives her some ownership of the process while keeping your goals at the forefront. I am confident you can see the changes you hope for with your level of dedication to the task!

Deece, There are certainly some facts in this paragraph & it has potential here & there, but I agree with momof7 that it's hard to comment further without a clear topic sentence. I am also wondering about your IEW experience. We used that here for a few years & my oldest dd benefitted from learning to key-word outline from a non-fiction source. With just the outline in front of her, she would re-write in her own words, and then we had specific "dress-ups" to add. I'm wondering if you have gone through that process, and if you are no longer using it for a reason? It would seem to me that the conversational nature of this sample are not typical results of IEW. It also has review checklists to help the student self-edit. That said, I'm not at all familiar with your current program to know if there are completely different goals you are trying to achieve than what I am addressing. Lastly, you mentioned not wanting to discourage her attempts at writing, but I would like to gently point out that at 13, I would think it's time to expect more from her & to require the self-editing part, for example. I don't mean for that to sound harsh, but I do feel that we sometimes try to walk the Mom/Teacher tightrope to the detriment of our children. I have done it & probably still do! If I were you I would be putting on the Teacher hat & requiring more of her. Is she a bad writer? No. Does she have room to grow? Yes. Who doesn't really? That is where I place the emphasis when I am trying to get more from my own girls...effort towards improvement is always more important than perfection. I wish you all the best as you try to incorporate more writing into the year!

I have only been running since May, and thanks to some encouraging words here & elsewhere, I did run in and complete my first 5k on Labor Day weekend. I will tell you...I am slow by all standards. The field was small (and lots of high school teams!) so I was intimidated within minutes but sure that I could finish. Not "first" but "finished"...and that's what I did, and you can too. I wanted to run the whole thing, no walking. I wanted to finish & not be dead last. My exact time will be forever etched on my brain: 36:36. :) Only two people finished after me, both many years older but I ran the whole way & I was not dead last! Dh and our girls were at the finish line with signs & encourging cheers & you would have thought I broke the ribbon & came in first with all the excitement! Nearly ALL the other runners were there too at the end...what a wonderful experience of camraderie! Also, my course was an out & back style so EVERY single other runner passed me coming back. I knew exactly how far behind I was. :001_huh: BUT, many many of them passed me with encourging words & smiles, and nobody made me feel as last as I really was. I encourage you to run it for the experience. I am not delusional enough to think I could train enough to win (yet!) but rather I am now in competition with myself--to run faster than 36:36, to have someone younger (anyone!) finish behind me, to simply keep running because it turns out that I like it. ;) All the best to you!! Look forward to hearing how it goes!

:iagree:

I can do this, so count me in. :) Your posts always interest me Joanne, esp. when you respond to parenting/discipline queries. Lots of good insight...

We lived in Delaware for many years while dh was in grad school. My oldest daughter was born there actually. We lived in the southern part of the state, affectionately known as Slower Lower Delaware. During the winter, it was slow indeed until the summer tourists came. Caesar Rodney has an interesting story about arriving late to Philly for an important mtg with the Continental Congress. ;) That would be an easy story to look up and enjoy. We spent many drives west behind trucks full of chickens & read some info about the chickens outnumbering the DE residents 10 to 1. I believe it. They are everywhere. Dover AFB is active & important. I'm sure there's more...no sales tax is nice but it's not the only state with this perk. Have fun on your state study!

Wendy, I think this part is what hits home for me. You are a wise mother to constantly visit what works now, rather than always try to make last year's plan fit this year's reality. There is no single perfect curriculum choice, except to choose what is best in the season your family is in. You will be an excellent HS mom with different books, because you are dedicated, not because you have the best hands-on project in town. This year, our youngest is doing "real" kindergarten work so I'm juggling 3 students for the first time, and we too use CW at two levels, RightStart math at 3 levels now, and TOG. Yeah, I'm brain-tired and I'm not also trying to work FT like you!! Kudos to you for identifying and working to remedy what wasn't working anymore. I hope you find peace on this new path. Hugs!!

May & Pianoplayer-- Thanks for your quick and helpful replies! I guess what I was seeing on the metro page makes more sense now that you are explaining it. It said $4.15 to get from our blue line stop into the area near the Capitol, so perhaps a day pass for $7.80 would make WAY more sense. I'll be sure to keep that in mind. Food is always such a pain, isn't it? I'm hesitant to pack lunches and not be able to get in with them, but if bag check IS available, that would be awesome. I'm not opposed to some dining out (or walking to dine cheap)....just trying to minimize that. I will definitely look into the tour bus mentioned as well! THANK YOU for giving me some new things to think about! I really do appreciate it.

Hi everyone, We are being hosted by a dear friend who lives near the blue Metro line in DC. We arrive late Friday night and stay til mid-day Tuesday. I have 3 girls, ages 11, 8, and 5.5. All are easy-going and up for lots of walking. Mostly they can't wait to see the Lincoln Memorial, so I'm thinking they will be easy to please. ;) Plans are to visit major monuments, 3 museums in particular, Capitol & WH, so I'm not sure what may be different on a holiday weekend except crowds. Areas I am seeking help: Traveling in on metro...is this pricey? Do you have to pay to change lines at a junction, like from blue to yellow? That's what I sense from the website but am finding it tricky to figure out. If metro is too much $$, is parking in a city garage better? If so, which one? Lunch--museums don't have bag check, right? Can we pack a lunch or snacks? What can I take into a Smithsonian really? Websites indicate water & purse and that bag check areas are mostly unavailable these days. So, do we have to plan to eat out lunch every day? Tour bus/ duck tour -- are these worth it to see the whole city? We can only really tour so many things in 3 days, so i wonder if the expense of these options is worth it? If I don't have pre-arranged tour passes for the Capitol or White House, can we still go and see SOME portions? I am grateful for any info you can share! I have spent hours online but I kept coming back to one thought when I had questions... "I should really just ask the hive..." Thanks so much!

Kathy, we are a RS family...here's what we are doing with our oldest. After RS E (mixed reviews here as well but we stuck it out and glad we did), I was unsure. Since dd loved the RS drawing board lessons throughout, we bought RS Geo and decided to do it over two years, grade 5 & 6, alternating two weeks of RS G with two weeks of a more traditional "review" math like BJU. We tried BJU and hated every minute, so I dropped that mid-year in grade 5 and bought LoF instead. DD is in LOVE with Fred! Now, we are in grade 6 and still alternating RS G with LoF...so far, we are nearly done fractions & about to start decimals/percents. After that book is done, I anticipate some time being left in our school year. At this point, I will consider revisiting that BJU book and selecting some gap-fillers, like the dreaded estimation :tongue_smilie:and perhaps long division, and the like... Truth be told, I have no idea what I am doing for grade 7...probably more Fred, but not sure.

Tuck & roll the jeans to a peg-leg and wear 2-3 pairs of layered colored socks? How about frienship pins for sneaker laces as a quick craft... Put banana clips in their hair after curling irons make it fluffy first...buy lots of hairspray...make the bangs go UP! Have fun!!

Erica! Don't be discouraged...I have been exactly where you are...I have weight to lose (40ish lbs) that didn't drop at all throughout my couch to 5k experience. I hit the same wall you did. Stick with the intervals for a longer time until they start to feel easier and then move forward. I promised myself that I would control the program, not let it control me, which means flexibility is the ONLY way to make it to the end. Running programs aren't one-size-fits-all so use it as it works, and stay at the point you are for a week or two or more. Consider tweaking the program: change the intervals to suit what you can handle. HOw about you run for as long as you can and then walk a minute or two and then run again as long as you can & then walk. Aim for a total amount of 30 minutes of exercise, and don't worry about what the program says you are "supposed" to be doing. Work towards improving towards the week 7 workouts but do it at your pace. Remember, what you are doing out there in intervals is still better for your total health than staying home on the couch. Running non-stop will come...don't let this setback get you down, ok?? Regarding weight loss, I read lots of good ideas on coolrunning.com and their message boards for newbie runners. You might look there. I have found that I needed to be running faster & more regularly before the weight would start comng off--I was not really always running at weight-loss pace during couch to 5k, but you ARE getting stronger & healthier. I am seeing results when I look at the way my clothes fit, even though the scale doesn't show this as quickly. :) Stick with it! It's worth it! :)

Congratulations!! I am so impressed! I, too, am a newbie runner like others who have replied & I'll be running my first 5k next weekend so it's fun to see your enthusiastic post!