We switched DD to Latin's Not So Tough after GSWL, and so far, we like it a lot. She's ony fifth grade, though, and we started with Level 3; it is easy, but I thought easy would be a good way to review, learn more vocabulary, and get used to a slightly different setup. I don't know if it would be good for a dyslexic or not, but it does seem to introduce things slowly, and it does ask for a fair amount of English to Latin translation (which I like, because DD is the kind of kid who can guess the right answer from a bunch given, but having to come up with the answer on her own makes her think more).

I voted 30-45 minutes for my second grade son, but it depends on the day. Usually, it's a lesson in Singapore, plus some other activities (the extra stuff from the teacher book, and/or the mental math exercises), plus a practice exercise or two that he does on his own. Or, it's about four pages from Miquon. (We do about two days a week of Singapore and about two of Miquon.) At this point, he's in Singapore 2A, and I think it's actually a little easy for him, but I'm sticking with it to make sure we don't miss anything. He's in the blue Miquon book, and it's had him doing a lot of mental exercises with multiplication and patterns; those take longer to do, but they're also helping him learn his multiplication facts (which aren't 100% solid yet). Otoh, I think tomorrow there is some fraction work, and that should be pretty quick. And a lot of days it depends on whether his mind is on planet Earth or somewhere in a Galaxy Far, Far Away (which his speech therapist tells me is common with 7yo boys). :) But 30-45 minutes sounds about right. ETA: DS1 is not exactly a dawdler, per se. His sister is, but he tends to be more spacey than dawdly, if that makes sense. He goes off on side tangents a lot. Like, he'll give me the answer to a math problem and then give me a long, detailed explanation of why he came up with that answer (which is good, but sometimes I just want to get it done, y'know?). Or he gets distracted by his little brothers, whom he completely and utterly adores (especially if the 3yo comes in, looking for his playtime buddy).

LOL! True, though, even without any drugs, my newborns have all been pretty sleepy for the first day or so. They do wake to nurse, but it's not much. A couple of them have slept 6 hours straight the first night. After a couple of days, they wake up a bit more and are hungry a lot -- which is when my milk comes in. I do think I've had relatively easy labors, which probably makes it easier to go drug-free. I don't really think someone can quantify someone else's pain; I think sometimes some people just get lucky, and labor/birth is relatively easy. I do think there are some things that you can do to help stack the deck in your favor, but in the end, I really think it's luck of the draw, and there's just not a whole lot you can do about the kind of labor you have.

Yes, this. I lean heavily toward the unschooly side for the early years, gradually easing into more formal schooling. So while I would consider that I started homeschooling DD the day she did not go to kindergarten at the local public school, I also didn't do a whole lot that looked at all schooly then. Now she is in fifth grade, and we are more formal, though not still what one might consider to be a replica of a public school. Before kindergarten age, I might have said, "We intend to homeschool; she's not in preschool," but I don't know if I would have considered it actually homeschooling then -- it was just parenting, and doing normal early learning activities like reading and coloring and playing with playdough and taking walks and all of that is just what I consider to be normal parenting of little ones. My current 3yo does some schooly stuff, and I may teach him to read this year, but that is all optional; he can decline or participate as he chooses, whereas my older two children do not have that option any longer, especially DD, who is old enough that I have to report for her. (DS1 does most of the same subjects as DD, aside from Latin, French, spelling, and logic, and I will need to report to the school district for him starting next fall. He's a second-grader this year.)

All of my births were vaginal births, first at a freestanding birth center, other three at home, no drugs or induction at all. Two were attended by midwives; two were unassisted. One was a waterbirth. DH and I caught two of them together; he caught the third on his own, and I caught the fourth. It's been a glorious, wonderful experience every single time. :)

Nuts and beef jerky. If you can ship it easily, maybe homemade bread/muffins made to WAP specifications?

DD is required to clean up her room every morning before breakfast. That really cuts down on the mess that can pile up -- it can only get so bad every day. It's still not clean to the way *I* would like, but it's tolerable, more "lived-in and slightly cluttery" than "messy." Every so often, I'll go in there and help her clear out the books and such that accumulate in there. We do have limits on what toys are allowed in the bedrooms, but with DD, it's books, sketch books, and projects, mostly. But the trick seems to have been to do a little bit every day so she can stay on top of it, and then my help for the rest.

Zyrtec works for me, and it also works for my 7yo son, but my 7yo also has a nasal steroid that he takes, during the cooler months. It seems to help him not be so congested, and it definitely helps keep down the post-nasal drip cough.

Back when I worked in the campus child care facility in college in the mid-90s, the lead caregivers did refer to themselves as teachers, and they did refer to it as "school." I think they felt that one, the children with older siblings liked going to school and feeling big, and two, they did do preschool and early learning activities with the children. I've seen daycares where the children just sit in front of the TV all day, and while they're certainly not all that way, I think the place where I worked wanted to distinguish themselves as a place that actively promoted (in age-appropriate ways) learning. I do think there is a more negative connotation with "daycare" than with "school" in general. As for "natural birth," I think the term is ridiculous. Were aliens involved? No. Then it's probably not an unnatural birth, regardless of whether the baby came via the birth canal or the abdomen, with an epidural or not. I generally use the term "drug-free," because that should be fairly obvious that it was a) vaginal and b) without an epidural/other pain meds.

I just cram 'em all in. :) Our family doctor has really tiny exam rooms with only two chairs, so the kids squeeze into those, and someone usually sits on the step that pulls out from the exam table. At one dental office, DD sat in the waiting room with her book, and the dentist pulled two chairs into the exam area for my boys and offered to put cartoons on the TV for them. At the other dental office, there is, no kidding, an indoor climbing area and several computer consoles with video games, so the kids are completely happy there. I go out to check on them between steps, but they've always been fine. (Granted, I went there before the baby was born, so yes, it would be a little trickier with him, but we'd manage if we had to.) For frequent long appointments, I'd probably look into some sort of electronic something that could do movies/games, and I'd keep it only for those appointments so that it was new and fresh.

Honestly? I take everyone with me, all four of them. None of my friends are really close enough to watch my crew. Once in a while, we're able to arrange it so that DH takes off a bit early, or I'll schedule for the evening, but that would be hard for frequent appointments. I just bring stuff for them to do, and I have them step aside for things like pap smears. It's not ideal, but that's the way it is.

Our first day went pretty well this year, but I think a large part of it was that we eased into things. We only did a few subjects for the first few weeks, and we've added another subject every week or so. This is our seventh week (though we did take a week, plus a few days, off, because of company), and we're just this week at all subjects. Much better than jumping right in!

Third trimester for sure. I can't sleep well when very pregnant, and there's still always the "what if" worries about the actual birth and delivery. I've gone to almost 41 weeks twice and just over 41 weeks once, and man, that gets so old! Give me a snuggly newborn any day! And that's from someone who has had generally easy pregnancies, births, and newborns. I like being pregnant; it just gets tiresome at the end, and the insomnia is the worst. And the having to pee every twenty-two seconds. (Then again, this last time, I missed about 2.5 weeks of pregnancy, because he came at 38w3d, and I actually missed those hugely overdue feelings! It was weird.)

Yeah, I think I'd better not tell my husband about that. . . He'd love it, even being in the middle of nowhere (actually, he prefers that). Me, eh, I don't know. It wouldn't bother me so much for myself, but it would grate on my nerves to have a lengthy drive to do anything, ever.

Thank you so much! Downloading from there did get Edu-Track to work. I really appreciate that! Now, every time I load the program, it asks me to log in, which I do (as the user ID I set up for myself, with the password I set up), and then it tells me, every time, that there is a potential security issue. Why? I do tell it okay, and then it says that Edu-Track reconnected successfully. Does that mean it's connecting to a website every single time, or what? I also attempted to register my product, but we'll see if I'm able to get a new log-in code or not.

It would depend on the child. For DD, I wouldn't buy with the intention of handing down; the ones following her are all boys. She also tends to be hard on clothes. My oldest son is not hard on clothes, and he's got two little brothers, so it might be worth buying clothes to hand down for him. My middle son tends to get much dirtier than his big brother, so if I buy new for him, I probably wouldn't spend a lot. I rarely buy new clothing for my children; I usually buy from the thrift store, and we have some good ones around, where we've gotten nice-looking clothing. My MIL often buys clothes for the children on big sales (her Peebles often has great sales); she has liked Lands' End stuff, especially shirts and pants for the boys, in the past, and they usually hold up pretty well to multiple washings and boys. Almost everything that DS1 has passed on to DS2 still looks good enough; some things don't survive DS2. I would have no problem with taking a few outfits out of their closets/drawers to set aside for church and other times when I wanted them to look nice. In fact, I'll often tell them if I'd prefer them not to wear something that has a small hole or stain on it, if we're going or something. I do hang on to things with small stains or holes sometimes, for wearing around the house/getting dirty. If I buy new, it's usually Target or WalMart, so if something happens to it, it's not a huge loss.

I was just given Edu-Track (Version 1.4, so I suppose it's a few years old) and thought I'd see how I like it. My computer runs Win XP and should be able to run Edu-Track, but it's stuck, saying that it needs MSAccess. I don't have that; I have OpenOffice and its programs instead (I think OpenOffice Base is the equivalent of MSAccess). Does anyone know if I can run Edu-Track somehow using that (and how?), or if it really won't work unless I have MSAccess?

My 13mo has played with them a little. He likes holding the figures in his hands and chewing on them, and he likes pushing the little cars around, and he likes putting the animals in and out of the ark. I think we have every set made between 2002 and 2006, approximately 300 figures, animals, and accessories. They have been a HUGE hit with my other three children as toddlers/preschoolers. I think the 13mo is just a little young for them yet, but if there were sets that we didn't have, they would be a good gift for him at this age. They wash up nicely too, so used would be a good deal. Just make sure they're the modern ones, not the ones from the 70s-80s that are skinnier and therefore more of a choking hazard for little guys.

Well, we managed to have a rollover accident that totaled our Expedition while driving it on ice. So then when we needed a vehicle to hold six people, we opted for a minivan rather than another SUV. There are things I like better about the van and things I liked better about the SUV. SUV -- I *did* feel a bit better driving it in wet/snowy weather, but I also think that's because its tires were relatively new, and the van needs new ones. It did have 4WD, though if I used it, it was rare. It was a great vehicle, and I liked driving it. It actually could hold eight people, whereas the van only holds seven, and all rows had good foot room. (At the time the Expedition was wrecked, we were not regularly using the third row, whereas we've never not used the third row in the van, but I think the third row's foot room was comparable, if not better, in the Expedition.) Van -- gas mileage. That's the main reason we opted for a van. (Plus purchase cost was far less for the same vintage of vehicle.) I get closer to 20 mpg in the van, and I was getting only about 13 in the Expedition; when you live minimum of 10 miles from anything, that difference adds up quickly. The van is comfortable to drive, and I do like the sliding doors (and if you're getting a newer one that has the automatic sliding doors, even better!). I had a fancy options package on the Expedition, so I had heated seats, leather, multi-CD changer, and movable pedals -- none of which I have in the van, so it's a little hard to compare those little details. But I'm pretty sure the van is quieter than the Expedition, and the rear row has headrests, which is important for the head safety of the boostered/seatbelt-only children; I can't remember if the rear row of the Expedition had those or not, but I don't think it did. The rear row of the van is wider, I think, than the Expedition's rear row too, I believe. The van wins on cargo space, compared to the Expedition with the third row in use, but with an Excursion, that might not be an issue. But an Excursion is a lot of vehicle to haul around on a regular basis if you don't need its special capabilities. Oh, and my DH wasn't thrilled about getting a minivan. But he's the one who wrecked the Expedition, and in the end, it was a financial decision. It just didn't make sense to pay much more money for another SUV when we just did not need its abilities on a regular basis. (I don't love that we no longer have any 4WD vehicle, but we've made it through a couple of winters without one so far, and since I don't need to go out every day, if the weather is iffy, I just stay home.)

I actually post very little on FB (because I don't really figure anyone wants to hear about the burned toast!), and I don't generally post when it's my own birthday, but I will generally post on my children's birthdays and on our wedding anniversary. I generally at least "like" other people's birthday/anniversary posts and will often wish them a happy birthday/anniversary. I'm with Tibbie -- let's celebrate the good times!

We love our Sansa Clip and our Sansa Fuze; I think the Clip would be easier for a child to use, though it's smaller and easier to lose. I really don't know much about the earbuds, as I only ever use it in the car, attached to a CD player, or with small speakers.

I've noticed that this tends to happen with my third child; he's sandwiched between the two big kids and the baby, and he's an easygoing, happy little guy, so he tends to get skipped. He also is begging to "do schoolwork" like the big kids. So I've been making a point to sit down and read picture books with him for at least a little while most days, and he is thriving. He also likes to be involved with whatever I'm doing, so I have him keep me company while I cook or fold laundry or whatever.

Yes, this. Sometimes my children miss out on things because they wouldn't work for the siblings, and that's just the way it is. OP, I am sorry that has happened to you several times. I think that's really rude! It's one thing to say, "yes, we can accommodate younger children accompanying their siblings if the younger children would be able to keep up," but that should apply to all younger children, siblings or not! How frustrating for you!

Yuck, that is disgusting. I would not have thought it a big deal if she'd used the toilet, either as a realtor or a prospective buyer, but ew, she really should have done *something* to clean up the mess.

I bought my van via Craigslist and have been completely pleased with it. We bought our Focus several years ago from a dealer, and honestly, we've seen no differences between the vehicles, nor were the transactions any more complicated either way. The only thing I would suggest is that you look heavily into recalls, because a private seller might not know about those. After I bought my van, I found out that there was a recall on it, a pretty major one, but I'm not sure the sellers knew about it; it wasn't obvious, and it did seem like the small issues could be attributed to a dying battery and the usual quirks of a ten-year-old vehicle. It wasn't until I started googling that I found the recall; I contacted the company, and they fixed it all under the recall, and the vehicle works just fine now. So that worked out quite well for me (and I absolutely feel that it was all divine intervention, no question), but I'd definitely do better homework about recalls in the future. (I'd done my homework in other areas, just not that particular one.)