I am pretty sure it's not legal in my state, but if it was and if I was a SAHM, and if we were talking about a well behaved child that got along well with my son and was at the same place academically.... I'd *consider* it. Because what are the chances of THAT happening :p

My son always panics and throws up all over the bed, walls, and floor :(

I'm on a new computer and this just happened to me for the first time. Argh.

It's very possible that she's brought it up to others and they wanted to be nice and suggested he would grow out of it. That happened quite a bit to me! If you can't bring yourself to suggest the child be evaluated, then a subtle way to talk about it would be to notice when you CAN understand the child. I remember when a children's church ministry perkily said to me that my 3yo had a "first" when he sat for circle time for a whole minute that day. I was like, wait, he never normally sits for circle time? :/

I told my son from the very beginning but he asked to pretend this year LOL So, it's completely up to the kids how long they want to "believe." Or play at believing. I was 11 or 12 and way too old.

I tell my son the truth and explain that other people like to pretend. AMAZINGLY he has not spoiled Santa for anyone yet.

The baskets my kids get aren't any bigger than the ones I got, but they have more nontraditional stuff in an effort to not buy candy that I'll just throw out in two days. Why more "stuff?" Well, as a child I received one Easter basket from my parents and that was it. My children receive a Fed Ex from the grandparents in Florida (candy), a basket from their Grandma who lives a few miles south (candy) and a huge basket from my parents (also candy). Insane. I basically put stuff in their baskets that I would buy them anyway. Books. Fruit. Crayons.

I remember my boss walking around the office with his bag of peas after the big V. Yeahhhh.

Arts and crafts, a new bible, some of those Cuties if I can find them (both boys LOVE fruit) and of course some chocolate! I'm not anti-candy but I hardly buy any because they get it from so many other places, and I throw most of it out.

I homeschool in NY and it all begins with an easy peasy LOI, addressed to the superintendent and stating "I am going to homeschool ___________ for the ___________ school year" My hands down, favorite resource is NYHEN.org - the mailing list is full of knowledgeable people who seem to enjoy helping other homeschoolers deal with contentious school districts. ;) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NYHEN-Support/ I can't even believe that nonsense about "religious reasons." What a load of garbage!

All services are free for me (except when I accrue fines). It is one of the reasons I am such a huge fan of our local library system.

"Yes, that's the correct police department to call. Have a nice day!" Some wackadoo accusing us of stealing his information.

:( I had something similar happen and it forever affected my relationship with the person. In a good way, I think, because I avoided future manipulation and drama. *sigh* I will say that I have had an experience/dream involving an angel and he did not bring up the actions of other people. He challenged me about my own heart.

10 pairs of dress pants 1 pair that I work out in 4-5 pairs of jeans/cargo pants. I also have a dozen or more skirts and dresses, but they're very summery so not in the rotation right now. The only thing I don't wear is shorts.

I have been looking all over the internet. I won't be at home for hours and hours and was trying to plan a museum trip, with the hope that we might be able to fit in some of the paintings etc that we studied in Artistic Pursuits. Is anybody blogging about it, or have a list for some reason?

My 6yo goes to bed around 8-830 and is up at 630. I've tried putting him to bed earlier, but then he gets up way too early. My 1 yo sleeps from 10-8 and naps from 1-3 hrs/day. I'm hoping he doesn't drop naps for a good year or so - my oldest dropped them by 18mos and, combined with his nighttime habits, it was rough.

I divided up the sections by the number of weeks and we did sections instead of chapters.

One thing that was suggested to me once was to get a large ziploc bag, fill it with shaving cream/toothpaste and use that as a finger-writing medium. A dry erase board on an easel might be great as well.

Thanks, that's exactly the sort of thing we need. I bet Staples will have that. There is a lot going on in the summer, except when there isn't.

It's very hard to google! But that's what I'm doing for second grade. Elemental History Adventures in America. I'm doing the Elemental Science biology program as well. It seems like there are so many American history books, movies, etc designed for kids that I feel like even if it's a bust we'll use their basic outline to do something educational :)

My son has been fine wearing regular glasses. Zenni sells cheap plastic glasses as well, if you're worried. I bought my son prescription sunglasses from them just for that purpose. He broke them and wore his regular glasses from then on.

Yes! I have checked out the SOTW CDs and I know they have at least some of the volumes in print. They also have purchased Life of Fred (the first 8) and have homeschooler "kits" that can be checked out, as well as museum passes etc.

Not my tiny local branch, but my library system has 10 of the 2009, 9 of the 1999, 3 of the 2004, and most of them are currently available. I have never looked because I own two copies... I have a used 2004 and the 2009 on Kindle (which is kind of stupid because I like to use post its and write in margins and it's a physical thing for me).

I agree! I can't imagine applying the term morbidly obese to the boy in the picture.

Phooey. I've been hoodwinked again!