Yes, this. My sister is the only one of the four of us kids who doesn't have a Biblical name, and she has always felt a bit left out. (Her middle name is a Biblical one, but so are the rest of our middle names.) I resolved not to do that to my own children, which is why we can never have another boy, LOL, because the pool of choices is too small. (Very long story.)

I'd have her eyes checked. I was noticing that my son was getting headaches while reading, so I had his eyes checked -- he needs some reading glasses. Hopefully when we get them, they'll make it easier for him to read comfortably.

We use the BrainQuest and Comprehensive Curriculum workbooks as part of "general skills," and they work well for my kids. Nice supplements, change of pace, reinforces things, and catches any holes (like, we don't do a formal grammar program, but the workbooks have some, so it's something to put in our portfolio to say that we did cover grammar). DS1 did about 4 pages a day (2 sets of 2 facing pages) last year in first grade, and that was a reasonable amount for him. (Last year, I used them as the writing assignment for the day, or the math assignment, etc., so there wasn't an additional math or whatever for that day.)

I just asked DH (who uses a lot of math in his work) if he could think of anything that might make this a useful skill, and he couldn't either. We did decide that sometimes you might want to do that in reverse (round everything up) if you're trying to keep your groceries under a certain budget amount or something like that.

Policeman Someone from a local nature center

Congrats to everyone who has announced a pregnancy on this thread!

Actually paying bills? About two minutes a couple of times a month. I pay all of them via my bank's online billpay, and it's very simple. (I don't like to do them via autodraft, because we don't have direct deposit, and sometimes it can be a few days before we get to the bank.) Reconciling the bank statement, downloading transactions to Quicken, actually seeing whether we're on budget or not? That takes a while longer. Mainly because it's horribly tedious, and I put it off until it's a big job.

It looks pointless to me, and I can see it confusing a non-mathy child who was already struggling with rounding.

So very true. My oldest child will also have had a decade more with DH and me, and with her grandparents, than my youngest child. I was struck by Elizabeth Foss's comment on her blog (ebeth.typepad.com) that her oldest child will have 20 years more with her than her youngest. But her youngest has so many older siblings to love on her. So they all get different opportunities and benefits.

Sometimes we bring the littles along. Sometimes DH takes the big kids to do something without me and the little(s) -- it's kind of a big deal when you're Old Enough to go off on an adventure with Daddy but not Mommy. If we could afford to do so, we'd take a vacation and just bring the little ones along. . . I lugged DS2 around Williamsburg when he was almost 1 and almost 2, so that the big kids could participate in the homeschool days there. I'm the oldest of four kids, with almost 9 years between myself and the youngest (my sister). Sometimes my sister got dragged along to things for the older three of us, and sometimes I was asked to bring a book or otherwise be patient so the younger three could enjoy an activity. It just works out that way. Also, with things like amusement parks, we went to more kid-oriented places like Sesame Place a few times, but we didn't go to things like Busch Gardens until I was a teenager, but by then, I was able to go off with my brothers or then-boyfriend to ride coasters while my sister rode the younger rides. But then once I was grown and married, I think my parents continued to go with my younger brother and my sister for a while. I got the privilege of doing things first, but my sister got the benefit of more experienced parents who let her do things at younger ages than I was allowed to do them. With our family, we went to Hersheypark a few years ago, but only DH and I could ride most of the coasters (DD could ride a couple); this year, the boys can't ride enough to make it worth the money, but DD can ride all of them, so DH took just DD, and they had a special day together. (Being the oldest child, the only girl, and the oldest grandchild on both sides has worked out well for DD, haha.)

Let's see. . . Senior year, I took English classes at a local college. One semester was a whole lot of poetry, a good survey introduction (mostly using the Norton Anthology) that prepared me well for the English class I took when I went to my main college (which was designed for English majors; I was only in it because it was the writing-intensive course for my history-related major). The other semester was Intro to Drama, and our teacher was great. Among other things, I know we read The Glass Menagerie (which I loved), Agamemnon, Lysistrata (I think), something by Moliere, Henry V, and King Lear. Junior year of high school, I took a basic composition course at the local college -- not a lot of reading, but a lot of writing. I also took Intro to Short Story -- another good survey course; I do remember "Heart of Darkness" and "Bartleby the Scrivener." I read The Scarlet Letter junior year for US history. Other things we read in 8th-10th grade (accelerated classes, designed to get us ready for college courses in 11th grade): Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Canterbury Tales, Macbeth, Ordinary People, Great Gatsby, Grapes of Wrath, Great Expectations, Romeo and Juliet, "The Necklace" (which is the only short story I remember from those years, and only because our textbook used it for a ton of examples), Oedipus Rex, the entire crazy long Les Miserables, Animal Farm (8th grade), Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Huck Finn (9th, I think), The Hobbit (8th grade), A Christmas Carol (8th, IIRC), John Updike's "A&P," I believe 1984 and Of Mice and Men were on the list of choices for one year's summer reading, but I opted for others instead of those. I know I've read Our Town but can't remember when. And Hamlet in sixth grade. To Kill a Mockingbird was somewhere in 7th or 8th, I think. I read The Light in the Forest somewhere in high school. I know I've also read some Poe, some of Beowulf, "The Gift of the Magi, "The Ransom of Red Chief," some of Sir Thomas Malory's works about Arthur, some of "Paradise Lost," and a lot of other random stuff. I feel like I've read Moby Dick, or at least part of it, and I feel like I've read something by Hemingway but can't remember what. (Clearly, these books made huge impressions on me, LOL.)

I'm not sure that's necessarily true of my boys. They do have an older sister, fwiw. DS1 -- he's shy, sweet, gentle, kind, a little spacey, very careful and deliberate, very mathematical, seems musical. I can see him developing a few very close relationships throughout his life but nurturing those carefully. "The Engineer" would fit him well, I think. He's very eager to please but often has his head in the clouds. :) DS2 -- he's hilarious, a comedian and entertainer, daring and tough. I always said he was like the Timex of babies -- he'd get bonked and just keep going. He doesn't hold a grudge and is almost always sunny. I can see him on stage, bringing joy to many people. He could easily be "the Bulldozer," except that he's very willing to help and eager to please. He has a large amount of executive function for a 3yo, LOL. (He's also my only child so far who can be bribed; DD sees through any sort of trick, and DS1 won't do anything unless it's on his timetable. However, DS2 can be cajoled with a treat or something.) DS3 -- he's the baby. He's also showing signs of being tough and rugged; he can't walk yet, but he climbs more than the other two boys did.

I think it does for the pregnant mama's insurance (some states have insurance for pregnant women), but I don't think it does for the kids' insurance right now.

With the two middle ones, I just told him I had something to show him and handed him the stick. Not so creative, LOL. (With the first one, I gave him a Father's Day card signed from me, the cat [which we had adopted a few months before, and we joked about him being our baby], and someone coming the following March.) With the fourth one, the test was kind of wonky, was only kind of positive-looking, so I waited a couple of days to tell him, until we had a chance to talk privately. I told him I was pretty sure but wanted to get another test. So I got another test the next day and couldn't wait to take it. It came back definitely positive right away, and since I don't like to call him at work, in case he's in a meeting, I took a pic of the positive test and sent it to his phone, with a message, "#4 is real." He called back right away and said, "I figured. :)"

I do extended rear-facing. My almost 4yo was rear-facing until he turned 3. My 13mo is rear-facing in a big Graco Snugride, and he'll be in it for a few more months; at that point, he'll move to rear-facing in a Graco MyRide 65, and he'll stay rear-facing until probably age 3 as well. I've read the research, but what it boils down to me as is that there's no reason to turn them around if the seat is rated for it, and if they're comfortable. DS2 was totally comfortable rear-facing, and I figure even if the benefit is small, it's still better to break legs than neck.

We have a Graco MyRide 65 that fit my oldest son until age 5. (He had, I think, pretty much outgrown it at that point, but we needed it for DS2 then anyway.) By that time, he was finally 40 pounds and able to use a high-back booster safely and comfortably. We have DS2, currently almost 4, in the MyRide in one vehicle, and an Evenflo Maestro in the other. I picked the Maestro because it's slim and fits well in the small vehicle. I haven't looked at him in it in a while (it's in DH's car), but I believe he still has a long time to go in the harness. I will, in the next few months, switch DS3 to the MyRide, and then DS2 will get the Maestro in my vehicle (the van), with the harness still, for as long as the harness fits him. Then he'll use the Maestro as a booster. (Not sure what we'll put him in in DH's car when we move the Maestro to my van. . . he'll be 4, so legally, he can use a high-back booster, but I'm not sure he's 40 pounds yet. Ugh, I don't really want to have to buy another Maestro, but maybe I will. At least the baby will get use out of it at some point too, and I think our high-back booster will have expired by then anyway, since I think we got it when DD was 4, and she's 10 now.) The Graco Nautilus is a good choice for a higher harness limit. I can't remember why I went with the Maestro over the Nautilus, but there was some reason why I did.

Mine have been 8.11, 9.10, 9.5, and 8.0. No appreciable difference in recovery or postpartum, but I've also never had any tearing, even with the one who was almost 10 pounds.

Agreed. Our district has been great, very pleasant to the homeschoolers, very friendly. The most they've commented is that they stuck a post-it note on DD's portfolio this year to commend her on her reading list. :)

Yes to all of this! My evaluator would be steaming if my school district came back at me with that garbage. I think I'd be sending them a certified letter stating that I met the requirements of the law, and inform them that they need to show me, in writing, where I did not meet the law's requirements. Beyond that, I'm not sure how the best way to proceed is, but that sounds ridiculous to me.

Yeah, we no longer give gifts to siblings and their SOs, just the nieces and nephews. (And I kind of think it's time to quit that as well; the kids don't get to see their cousins very often, and it would be just as much fun to get together, eat cookies, and play, even without all the gifts. Since we don't get to see each other often, we don't know everyone's kids' specific interests and all, and most of us have the standard kid toys by now; none of the kids needs more stuff.)

I would consider setting up an account for my child and me to use together, but I don't think I'd allow the child to go on there alone.

My kids liked Cricket in Times Square; it's not too long, but it was sweet. We've recently listened to two of the Little Britches books. The boys (3 and 7) particularly like them. I really appreciate one, the admiration and respect that the author shows for his parents, and two, the amount of hard work that Ralph does as a young boy. Very inspiring, IMO.

I'm just sending hugs to the OP and her daughter. Just, yuck to that other mom. :grouphug:

I love the idea of an evening tea that the PP mentioned -- sort of like more typical lunch foods, but in the evening. A plate of cheese, fruit, nuts, sliced veggies, pickles, olives, etc. would be easy and snackish. Smoothies too. If you really find that you don't want food, what about gathering around the table for a "show and tell" sort of thing? Everyone brings something they've worked on that day, or a story to tell about their day, or something. To make it more formal and deliberate, you might consider lighting a candle. If you're religious, you could add a song or prayer or reading. Or a family read-aloud. I think you are right -- there is something really strong and connective about gathering together, Dad included. So if you don't need a big meal, then find a different way to pull everyone together. (Honestly, it sounds lovely. There's so much else that needs to happen in the evenings that I wish I could do the big meal earlier and just light foods in the evening.)

I'm sorry. That's really lousy. I use a ton of free stuff for homeschooling. Mainlesson.com is one of my favorite sites for history and literature, as is librivox. How are your libraries? What grades are you looking for?