Yes, John Denver and the Muppets hit my classroom just this morning!!

It's just me and three kids here, so I voted as a medium-sized family. Since I work full time, I am only home Monday thru Friday between the hours of 6 pm and 6:45 am. I'm busy doing homework, dinner, baths, etc... Saturday is for sports and hanging with friends. Sunday morning we do church and religious ed classes until noonish, then I spend the entire afternoon/evening cleaning and doing laundry. I do not want to spend my life doing laundry, so I just get it all done in one afternoon. Works for me.

You were just trying to be extra helpful I figured :)

Great! That is good to know. That kind of information I can print off. Thank you!

I remember topics about this earlier, and my 9 year old son is finally enjoying Greek mythology thanks to Percy Jackson and a that one great book I can't spell (D'laires or something). He is interested in taking the exam. I looked it up and saw he needs to learn Roman mythology as well. Is there a great book out there for that? I can't but too many, so I want to find one or two good ones. Thank you.

I am so glad I teach at a private school. Since the tuition is paid no matter how many days you attend, I don't have to harass parents about their students' attendance. Any kind of travel for kids is an awesome experience, so I encourage it. I send work for travel time and ask students to keep a journal for the longer trips. Oh, and I also "require" a postcard. I have a collection now from all over the world! When it comes down to it, education comes from a lot of different places, not just from me, the teacher.

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I was all ready to share my favorite shake, but then saw you're trying to gain. I've used it successfully to lose. Still, it's got protein and is very tasty. I blend up ice with unsweetened almond milk, peanut butter, and blueberries. I suppose you could add some protein powder.

My son is 9, and he's been using the men's room since about age six. For the first year I stood outside and waited, and now he is fine on his own. I never held the door open to the men's room, and I don't think I am the only one who would be very upset if a man held open the women's room door. Officially, I would feel uncomfortable if an eight year old boy or older was in the women's room or a locker room, barring obvious developmental issues that necessitated otherwise.

Coming from a teacher's point of view, YES, those are the best pencils. They sharpen the easiest by far, even making far less noise in every electric sharpener I have owned. Like, kids could sharpen their own pencils and it would happen quickly. Off brand pencils would be crooked or not sharpen at all. Too much trouble. But, I have found that since I bought the Carl Angel 5 pencil sharpener it doesn't matter what kind of pencils I use. They all work perfectly, well, except for those with very soft wood/lead. Those lose their tips too easily.

I completed my experiment. It went from 72 to 73 degrees outside during the 20 minutes. My car temperature read 90 degrees with 5 minutes of the start and didn't increase at all for the next 15 minutes. So, 20 minutes in 70 degree weather does not lead to a 120 degree vehicle. I think it's a terrible thing when children have died when left by accident in cars on hot days. But I don't think agencies should lie to get an important message out. It makes everything they have to say seem far less credible.

Okay, I read that site with an open mind, prepared to learn something useful and important, but the information just doesn't make any sense to me. I don't believe that a car parked in the sun in 70 or even 80 degree weather gets to be 120 degrees in 20 minutes or 150 degrees in 40 minutes. I call bs. Really. Because how many times in that kind of weather have we tried to get into the car and felt it was too hot, to be in there, to buckle up, to grasp the steering wheel. My kids tell me when it's too hot to touch the buckles, and those are the days where it is 95 degrees and more, not in the 70's and 80's. One summer I was working at a camp in Northridge, CA, which is in the San Fernando Valley and hot as H377 in the summer. At the peak the temps hit 118, and the days when it was well above 100 I could not touch the steering wheel until I had turned on the engine and run my AC for at least five minutes to cool down the car. Since I was teaching science camp I had a thermometer with me, and was able to see that it was 145 degrees in my car at 4:30 pm, after sitting there for 8 hours in 100+ degree weather. I think that site is trying scare tactics so that stupid people with no common sense will not even leave their kids in the car at all, even when it is perfectly safe and reasonable to leave school-aged children in a car for 5 minutes in evening temperatures. Just to be sure, though, I am going to go sit in my car right now for 20 minutes and see how hot it gets. It's 72 and sunny outside, so I may not survive this experiment if I try to stay any longer than that.

I really can't believe that many 7 year old children die every single year when locked in a car for 3 minutes in the late evening.

They were in a locked car, and if a person wanted to do that, they could pull that off with your kids standing three feet away from you.

OP - I am so sorry the police were involved, and I hope there is no call to CPS to follow up. I might have done the same thing in your situation. I can't leave my 5 year old, because she wouldn't sit patiently at all. She would find a way to get in trouble for sure. Now I just send in my 9 year old by himself to run quick errands like that. In California the law would have been on your side, so that's good to know. Although our preschool sent out a similar form. Last year the school director threatened to call the police if I left my 9 year old son in the car on front of the school while picking up the 5 year old. I ignored her and nothing came of it. As a single mother, I understand your reaction. In the last 3 weeks my kids were interviewed by CPS and LAPD for false allegations their father called on. I did nothing wrong, but I was still stressed over the situation. I tried not to let the kids see that, and talked with them about always telling the truth during these interviews and trusting in the police to keep them safe.

Well, I'm not altogether sure. How much larger? I am going to be in my classroom tomorrow and I can check. It opens up and pinches the pencils to hold them in place during sharpening, so I believe that allows it to handle slightly thicker pencils. Are you talking "My First Ticonderoga" thickness, or something in between that and a regular pencil?

I sliced off a chunk of my thumb with box cutters once and got eight stitches. For about a year or so I had a numb spot near the area, but it slowly came back to life. Now, six years later, only the actual scar is numb. Your numb area sounds quite a bit larger than mine. I would call the nurse advice line, if you have one, or get an appointment real soon. And I really agree with a PP to watch for signs of infection.

It isn't electric, but it is the best sharpener I've ever had. It stands up to kids using it all day long, and if something does go wrong with the sharpening mechanism, you can order just that part for less than half the price of a new one and install it in ten seconds (literally) without any tools. We LOVE it! http://www.amazon.com/Pencil-Sharpener-Green-Classroom-Angel-5/dp/B005D7S9J4/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1375574513&sr=8-12&keywords=manual+pencil+sharpener

Most mornings I just have two eggs, but two or three times a week I will make a blueberry and peanut butter smoothie with almond milk. It's very tasty, but doesn't hold me as long as two eggs.

Scary! Stay away from the windows.

Yes, that one! Thank you for getting it here. I have three buttons above-an open book, a cloud, and an arrow coming out of a box to share/print. No picture. My goal if the weekend is to figure this out.

I don't know if I can share the picture properly, but I bought a large print of Jasper Johns' painting of the USA. We hang it in the dining room, where we do our homework and art projects. Okay, so I have no clue how to paste an image with my iPad. Google it. My kids love it!

Have you tried looking for a different Catholic parish? It could be worth driving a little for a group you have more in common with. Also, have you spoken with your priest about some of the issues you brought up, like the lack of opportunities for youth? That is important for a lot of families, and could be the reason the number of families is dwindling. Maybe he's looking for some volunteers. I'm not sure what to do about the un inspirational preaching... does your parish have a Bible study group for adults? Ask if he'll lead one, and then you could use the time to let the priest get to know you all better, get a better feel for what you might be looking for. I do understand what you mean, though. After eleven years away from the church (spent in a Lutheran church instead) I finally came back "home." Still, though, we go to three different parishes, having not yet decided on a permenant home. I am lucky to have so many options. I hope you do, too.

For me, I think the boys are old enough to not need that level of supervision. My friends and I were taking the city buses to group outings by 13/14, no longer needing, or even desiring, a parent driver. By 16 many kids have a job and are on the verge of adulthood, kind of past the time for moms arranging a play date for them. My oldest is only 9, but I am going off my own experiences growing up.

I had mine done ten hours after a vaginal birth. I experienced a lot of internal gas and swelling in my body cavities that was extremely painful and caused me to stay a few extra days at the hospital. Since then, all of my lady bits have been working as they always were before the surgery. I do not regret it. That was a surprise baby, and I already knew I was going to end up a single mom.