Today is not a holiday, but yesterday was, since it was one child's birthday. Birthdays are holidays here. :)

I love her excuse! Hang in there -- I hope she gets done soon!

Based on the recommendations from this board, we just got the SnapCircuits Jr. set for our eight-year-old, figuring that we didn't want to invest a lot if it turned out not to be his thing. We quickly found that we need to upgrade -- he really loves them, and as a parent, I am super impressed with the set, its directions, clear layout, etc. So I went looking to see about upgrades vs. buying the full larger sets, and right now, the 750 set is on a really great sale at amazon. So is the 750 set that comes with the educational guides and nicer case. Just thought I'd pass that along for anyone who might be interested. (Yes, I'm aware that we'll have duplicates of the basic set, but with five children, I don't think that's a big problem.)

Yes to the above poster. We've only read the first two but liked them. They're a bit coarser than the Little House books, in multiple ways, including some sad parts about animals. If your kids are really sensitive to that sort of thing, I'd wait on them.

The Pennsylvania Grand Canyon IS really pretty! So is Wellsboro, right nearby -- adorable little town. We spent a four-day weekend traveling from Wellsboro west to Erie, stopping at Kinzua in the middle, and it was all gorgeous! (I love this thread! I've lived in four areas of the state in my lifetime, so we've been privileged to see a lot of the places listed. But now I'm all infused with new excitement about trying the places we haven't seen yet!)

My second grader does the following: At breakfast: -listens to poetry and Bible story or hymn story with the family During schooltime: -reads on his own, from a book of his choosing, or of mine -- how much depends on the level of the book; he just made a jump in level, so it's taking him longer to read a page, so he reads fewer pages a day, but it's usually about 30 minutes of reading. -listens to SOTW or supplemental books when I read them aloud (sometimes we do the supplemental books at breakfast); does the map and other projects. -4 pages (approximately) from Miquon or a lesson (sometimes two lessons) from Singapore (depends on how difficult it is for him; I usually have him do 3-4 pages in the Singapore workbook). -2-4 pages in the BrainQuest workbook for Grade 2. -a lesson from Writing With Ease Level 2 -Bible memory work -other special activities -- art, religious biography, etc. -I need to get back to typing with them. Fridays -science -music -co-op (he's taking a literature class and a gym class this spring; they cover picture study too). Dinner (sometimes) -picture study (We did this before Christmas, based on Nativity art, and it was a huge success; the kids want more.) -English from the Roots Up cards Evenings and in the car -read-alouds -sometimes music study in the car

Part of the reason I start looking around February is because there are some big conferences around here in May, with used curriculum sales and/or vendor booths where they have great deals (and no shipping), so if I plan to buy at any of those sales, I want to know in plenty of time (and March and April are usually very busy at our house, with birthdays/company, co-op, spring events, etc.). We usually finish up our school year around mid-May as well, so then I have a good six weeks or so to look through the new materials, plan anything that's not open-and-go (and even get a feel for how many times a week we do want to do open-and-go materials), so that I feel prepared and ready to hit the road running, come July 1 when our new year starts. I've got some of next year's materials already and am looking at how many days some of them will take, so that I can get an idea for how many pages I should expect each day for the grammar, etc. You might check about when the used curriculum sales are in your area.

Yeah, this I know very well. Yesterday, DD whipped through her math and got every single problem right (which never happens; even when she knows the material, she forgets to do half of the problem, or copies something wrong, or something). And the difference was that it was early in the day, because she hadn't dawdled, and also it was because we were waiting for DS to finish his speech therapy session, so I was standing over her shoulder and rocking the baby, and I had nothing else to do besides keep after her. My DD will be 11 in a couple of weeks. My version of help is usually something like, "What is the next step" or "What is the verb [Latin sentences]?" Organizational help, breaking things down into steps, making her think through the steps -- that is my main focus for her right now. Hints more than direct "this is the answer" sort of help, I suppose.

We live in the country and have pretty long drives everywhere, so we listen to a lot of audio books in the car. My children also enjoy falling asleep to audio books (usually repeats of things we've read to them, revisiting old favorites). I do read aloud to them as well, and while my kids like audio books, they prefer me (or DH). :) We're going through the Percy Jackson series right now as a family, and I was able to get both the print form and the audio form from our library. My kids like the audio book okay, and if we listen in the car, we can find out what happens next faster, but they told me that they really prefer that I read to them. I do pause the audio as needed to explain anything.

I would move on. First of all, your older son is at prime age to be really into the knights of the Middle Ages -- my son was 5-6 two years ago when we did MA, and he LOVED it! Capitalize on that! But also, with multiple children, unless they're all four years apart, and/or unless you do separate things for each child, someone isn't going to get the perfect four-year rotation. In fact, we've skipped around quite a bit (like, one year we did US history from the first discovery to the Revolution, then we did the Middle Ages, then we did more US history through the Civil War, and this year we're doing Ancients; some of that has been because of the children's interests, and next year, we'll be doing more modern history before DD hits seventh grade), and somehow, my kids still have learned a lot and have retained plenty.

We use CDs sometimes, but we really prefer our Sansa Clip, either attached to speakers (amazon sells a decent set for about $12) or to a CD player via a connecting cord. DD does have headphones to use with it when she wants to drown out commotion around her too. We have noticed that sometimes when CDs get a bit scratched, if we upload them to the computer and play them on the Sansa Clip, sometimes the scratched areas don't come through, so that's nice. We looked into a lot of MP3 players, and the Sansa Clip was the best bang for the buck (except that it's tiny). The Sansa Fuze is also very nice (and a larger size).

Four hours, including readalouds -- IF she's staying on task and not dawdling. Math might take 30 minutes, or it might take a couple of hours. Latin depends -- some lessons are a lot of translating, which takes a while, and other lessons are easier and faster because they're matching or simply introducing new vocabulary. And so on.

8yo has not yet outgrown toys, especially Legos. (Almost 11yo DD has not yet outgrown toys either.)

Around here, it absolutely would be more universally useful! Lots of people hunt and/or shoot for fun. I don't see it as any worse than raffling off a really nice set of kitchen knives if you live in an area with a lot of foodies (someone could commit a crime with those too), or a fur coat, or a boat, or a cord of firewood, or a gift certificate to a fancy restaurant, or whatever -- whatever appeals to the people who are buying raffle tickets. Until/unless an item is used to commit a crime, it's just an object. If it's legal to raffle it, and people are interested -- more power to the school!

I entered a guess -- that was fun! I'm going to set one of those up for our baby. :)

I would like my kids to learn at least some basic piano, and I wondered if anyone could recommend a book, DVD, or other decent way to teach them at home (either alongside me, though I don't know any piano either, or independently). I realize that lessons with a qualified teacher would be the best thing, but I cannot afford them at all (and simply do not have the ability to attempt any sort of barter, not with 2.3 little ones and a DH who works very long hours), so they're just not going to happen, and I would like *something* for them, even it's not the ideal. Suggestions?

Stabby, definitely. Starts as a dull ache for a few days, and then it's very stabby uncomfortable one day. And then completely gone the next (sometimes even after a few hours, but it disappears suddenly and completely). Usually more on one side than the other, but middle-ish.

I got that with our last baby -- "oh, I hope you have another girl; two of each would be perfect!" And now when people see me, they're like, "wow, three boys, eh?" It's even worse this time -- *everyone* wants us to have another girl. I happen to think (since this is likely our last baby) that bookend girls would be very nice, and I want to use all of DD's pink clothes again (and she wants a sister so badly), but that doesn't mean a fourth boy would be any less perfect. A fourth boy would be loved and welcomed just as much as a second girl, and people can stuff it. (And no, we didn't decide to have another baby in hopes of getting a girl; we had another baby because we wanted another child.)

I'd get a special water bottle (we're partial to Klean Kanteens around here) and just have it available all the time, like sitting on the table or something. I would not offer anything else. I might even refrain from giving milk at all for a while, but at the very least, I'd limit it to meals. She might be mad for a while, but she'll get used to water between meals. (That's what we do -- milk at some meals, but they drink water between meals.) I'd keep the water bottle ready so that she doesn't even have to ask and have you say no to milk -- you can just point to the water bottle or hand it to her.

Great article! I, for one, am really grateful to have had the chance to raise both boys and a girl (so far). There are unique challenges to both, and unique concerns for both, and unique bonds as well. But really, I'm grateful, above all, for the chance to have raised/be raising *children.* Of any gender and description. That is a blessing beyond compare.

I would do coffee with liquid stevia, rather than sugar, any artificial sweeteners, honey, etc. Liquid stevia seems to be the sweetener with the least side effects. If I really wanted to try out this effect, that's what I would do. I agree with the other posters who said that the sugar, artificial colors, etc. in soda may make the experiment unreliable.

We have a set of footstools that my kids use for floor seating. When they sit on them, they're sitting about a foot off of the ground, and the stools are maybe not quite two feet square. The best thing is that they stack nicely, so when they're not in use, they don't take up a lot of floor space. They look very much like these: http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?p=stackable+footstools&back=http%3A%2F%2Fus.yhs4.search.yahoo.com%2Fyhs%2Fsearch%3Fei%3DUTF-8%26p%3Dstackable%2Bfootstools%26fr%3Dgoodsearch-yhsif&w=320&h=277&imgurl=3.bp.blogspot.com%2F_DLZbqK2QyQA%2FSjuQTO5xSdI%2FAAAAAAAAAUc%2F1cilGpQ52XQ%2Fs320%2Fstackable%2Bfootstool.jpg&size=27KB&name=stackable%2Bfootstool.jpg&rcurl=http%3A%2F%2Fredneckchic.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F06%2Ffootstool-or-ottoman.html&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fredneckchic.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F06%2Ffootstool-or-ottoman.html&type=&no=1&tt=115&oid=95a88fdffbd7d8b4dc0c6d1d33ea8695&tit=stackable%2Bfootstool.jpg&sigr=121iiu36u&sigi=12vtqrkpu&sigb=12urdp294&fr=goodsearch-yhsif

I'd probably go for #1 as well. The woodstove thing -- do you have cheap and easy access to the wood? Does someone mind hauling and chopping it often? We heat part of our house with wood (outdoor furnace), and it does take some dedication. (And there are some hidden costs, namely that we have to keep a truck that we otherwise could sell, so that we can haul firewood with it.) Worth it, especially since our other option is oil, but it's definitely not as low-maintenance as calling the oil company and writing a check.

Yep, I have sent kids outside to run a few laps around the house. I've also removed them for extreme silliness (some I will tolerate, but too much is too much), or unpleasant attitudes. I also assign extra work for attitude problems, including excessive dawdling or whining -- if you can't do your work with a pleasant attitude, you will be given the chance to practice doing more.

Pumpkin pie, made with coconut or almond milk.