And that would have been my 3yo son.

I made DD nap until she was 3, because I was pregnant and needed her to nap so that I could nap. She'd have been fine without it though. DS1 was still napping regularly at age 3. 4, even. Occasionally even at 5. He's 7, and if he's up late a few nights in a row/up early a few days, he'll still take a nap once in a while. DS2 is almost 3y8m and is generally fine without a nap. If we're in the car, he might fall asleep for a bit, or if he's up late one night or up early one morning, he might decide to take a nap for a while. But as a general rule, no, he does not nap and hasn't regularly done so since he was just over 2.

Our schoolroom is very simple and not really decorated, but it is a nice space, and we're grateful to have it. We don't necessarily stay in it all the time, but it is nice to have a central dedicated space where we can keep the stuff and leave out projects if need be. I bought clipboards for each of the children (and I have one too), and I also have a box that has pencils/pens or crayons, scissors, gluestick, and erasers for each child, so there's no excuse for them not having that stuff right nearby. The clipboards provide an always-smooth surface for writing and make it easy to take work to another room or in the car. I do have world and US maps on the wall, and those are helpful too, but not essential.

:lol::lol::lol: to that, and to your first post too -- soooooo funny! Mine play house, except that they have to pretend to be various Star Wars characters playing house. Sigh.

Yeah, that chart seems ridiculous and unnecessary. Otoh, I did think that the bit about money was interesting -- that homeschooled kids of lower income do just as well as those of higher income, and that the amount of money parents spent per child to homeschool doesn't affect the outcomes. That is at least encouraging to those of us who don't have lots of money to spend on educational stuff.

Oh, I forgot that one! DH and I enjoyed that (and the Drew Carey Show too). Maura Tierney before ER fame.

Crossing Jordan -- now on Netflix! Rizzoli & Isles Arrested Development The Office Parks and Recreation Raising Hope Community Lipstick Jungle Women's Murder Club X-Files

Oh, goodness, poor baby and Mommy! I have a Ben of my own, and we have narrow stairs; I was always terrified something like that would happen to him. I am praying for them.

What all do you do with your iPad 1st Generation? E-reader, electronic notepad, basic e-mail/websurfing, educational game apps, portable DVD player, any word processing? What of those things can it do? If I have a good desktop computer, can an iPad reasonably be a secondary computer (like, to check e-mail forums when DH needs the desktop for his own stuff)? Is it really portable enough to bring along all the time, like for being my grocery list and such? How is the sound quality for playing DVDs/mp3s? I see that the refurbished price on these is fairly reasonable, since they're not the newest generation, so I'm interested. I'd love to hear what you do with yours!

If you normally talk on the phone with her when you do talk, I'd call and say something like, "I hope things are going well with the new baby. What would be a good day to bring over a meal?" If email is your usual form of communication with her, I'd send an email saying the same thing.

My kids loved Treasure Island! DH read it to them a while ago, and I think that made the difference; he is good at voices and animating a book, and he stopped as needed to explain things. DS1 was about 5 at the time and requested the full audio version for his next birthday, and he's loved it.

LOL, see, now I would really like one of those family rings, preferably with DH's and my birthstones on either end (an emerald and a diamond), and I've hinted to my DH about this many times. I don't really expect one, though, partly because I'm still holding out for one more baby, and partly because of the expense. I vote for having a little chat with your husband. I'm personally not at all gifted in the gift ideas department; I need a specific list and will ask DH for one. If you have things you do like/want, I'd start telling him a while before your birthday, etc. DH and I send each other email links -- "if you need a gift idea for me" sorts of things.

I had never heard of putting money in a sympathy card, but this sounds perfect, and I can definitely imagine that it would be put to good use. For people who are far away, it seems like the long distance equivalent of bringing a meal, just a different way to show your concern. I remember when my grandmother died, my parents ended up traveling with four children, with hotels, meals, etc., and I'm sure that added up, especially since it was an unexpected death. I'm sure any small monetary gift would have been appreciated; I will remember it for the future.

Actually, despite the gap between #3 and #4 being the smallest (2y8.5m), it's been a very easy transition to having four. In many ways, it's been easier than going from two to three, and that's probably because my older two are actually able to be helpful. I'm pretty laid-back about babies, not much of a scheduler, so I have honestly felt the transition with each new baby to be fairly easy (more laundry, more carseat buckles, sure, but no big deal). I'd say going to two was probably the most difficult, though still pretty easy, and I think that was mostly because at the time, #1 was a busy 3yo but still needed me to do a lot for her, and I needed to be careful not to ignore her while cooing over the baby. She also couldn't help much with the baby, and she didn't nap, which made it hard for me to do so. By the time we had #3, #1 was able to cook simple meals, get a drink for herself or #2, etc., and she and #1 had each other for companionship. Plus, she could hold the baby for short periods of time (like when I was showering). When #4 came along, the big kids were 9, 6, and almost 3; the older two can take turns holding the baby, can get the little guys buckled/unbuckled in the car, pack lunch, etc. They are capable enough to be truly helpful. They are also able to play together nicely if I need a nap. My DS2 adores the baby. I was a little concerned that he'd be jealous, but man, he stepped right into his big brother role like he'd been born for it. It really has been much easier than I expected. The hardest thing is that sometimes it's just too noisy, too many people all wanting me at once; that is hard for a serious introvert like me. I do get more organized with each child I add, mainly because if I wasn't, I'd accomplish nothing. :)

I plan by subject, rather than by week. For history, that also encompasses geography, some writing, and some art. I plan the history first, and the other things get added as parts of history. For each subject, I plan what I want to do, and I write it in my spreadsheet as a lesson. For some things (Saxon Math, WWE), it's easy -- just the next thing in the book -- but I type it all into the spreadsheet anyway. For other things, I have to make the list up myself, based on what I think is reasonable to accomplish at one time. History lessons, for instance, look like this: Read SOTW chapter 1 and do coloring sheet (one line, so one day's worth of activities); read supplemental books to go with chapter and do map page (second line); history project (third line); history project and notebook sheet (fourth line). Every week, I'll go through our spreadsheet and copy and paste work for each specific day, printing each day's sheet. (This will also be my journal, because I'll check off what we complete and jot notes at the bottom about other things we do that day.) I can't plan well enough by week this far out, because I need to leave flexibility for family visiting, sickness, appointments we can't schedule for the afternoon, the occasional no school pajama day, really nice days when we ditch the books and head outside, etc. But I usually know about stuff a week in advance, and for unexpected things, or if we need two days to cover a subject, I'll just make notes on my printouts (one for each specific day, I know there are times when it might take us two days to finish a lesson, for whatever reason, and that's okay. I'll make notes on my daily printouts as needed, and when I plan the following week, I'll adjust as needed.

We do a lot of stuff together, and the younger ones come along for the ride, or not, as they choose. My plan is to let everyone play except my oldest; I'll start with the one-on-one stuff with her, and when we're done, she can go to work on her independent/practice work, and I'll do the one-on-one stuff with the next child in line. When I'm done with him, I can spend a few minutes reading to my preschooler, and then do the group subjects with everyone. We'll see how it goes.

Hi Lori! :seeya: Did I give you my friend's contact info, so you can ask her how she does it? If not, PM me; she'd be happy to talk with you. To other people, I think the law is, as written, pointless. It's a bunch of hoops to jump through, and I'd rather them not require any of it, because I don't feel that it's any of their business, but none of it is that big of a deal, and there is a TON of leeway and vagueness in the law. You get to pick your own evaluator from a list, pick your tests from a list, etc., and you don't even ever have to have a child in testing grades if you don't want to, since you, the parent, set the grade level based on whatever criteria *you* choose. It's pretty painless to check off days on a calendar and keep a list of books and some samples (and it does make a nice keepsake for your child). In comparison, we've looked at homeschooling laws in other states, and for instance, WV looks easy, but I saw some things that said a lot of people were having trouble with the requirements. I really would not want the PA laws changed, because they might be worse!

I tend to err on the side of following only what the law says I have to turn in, but IDK how that would work for you if you're thinking about down the line. I would probably just turn in the required paperwork and skip the sped teacher's letter; if the school complains, then you can see about getting the sped teacher's letter. If it looks like he might need help in the future, you could look into the necessary testing, IEP, etc. then. But I'm really not sure. In my case, I would ask my evaluator what she thought, but she's also a good friend of mine and sees my kids in formal and informal settings frequently, so I'd feel comfortable doing whatever she advised. I think I'd see what your evaluator says.

Please bear with me, as I know this is a bit of a silly question. I don't really speak tech. With the changes coming to Verizon, I am looking into some options, and it might be time for me to switch to some sort of smartphone. We've seen some ads for ones that look kind of like mini tablets -- you can write on them. Which phones can do that? And if you write on them and make a list, can you save that list and start a new one? If switching to a smartphone makes better financial sense for us (by letting us eliminate home DSL internet), I might go for that, but I would really be swayed if my phone can also act as a notepad. Not a typed list; it would need to be something I could write on with a stylus and make changes to, just like I do my grocery list on paper. It would just eliminate my bilion notebooks that end up everywhere. While I'm on the subject, smartphones can also have an app that lets them act like a Kindle, yes? We rarely buy books because we have great libraries around here, so a Kindle hasn't appealed to me, but if e-library books become more popular around here, I might be more interested in the Kindle app. But the notepad feature would be nice.

Please bear with me, as I know this is a bit of a silly question. I don't really speak tech. With the changes coming to Verizon, I am looking into some options, and it might be time for me to switch to some sort of smartphone. We've seen some ads for ones that look kind of like mini tablets -- you can write on them. Which phones can do that? And if you write on them and make a list, can you save that list and start a new one? If switching to a smartphone makes better financial sense for us (by letting us eliminate home DSL internet), I might go for that, but I would really be swayed if my phone can also act as a notepad. Not a typed list; it would need to be something I could write on with a stylus and make changes to, just like I do my grocery list on paper. It would just eliminate my bilion notebooks that end up everywhere. While I'm on the subject, smartphones can also have an app that lets them act like a Kindle, yes? We rarely buy books because we have great libraries around here, so a Kindle hasn't appealed to me, but if e-library books become more popular around here, I might be more interested in the Kindle app. But the notepad feature would be nice.

Hmmm. That could be a problem. I don't know how many GB we use with the DSL right now; we don't have the most expensive/fastest DSL service, but it is good enough to stream Netflix/Hulu on one desktop, or to do general net-surfing on both desktops at the same time (but not to stream on one and surf on the other at the same time). So you're saying that if I want the cell to be a hotspot, it would take more GB to do the same stuff? Like, just picking a random number, if going to gmail and checking my email via the DSL uses 100 GB, doing the same thing using the hotspot and my desktop, it would be more than 100 GB? (And I know it's nowhere near 100 GB to check email; I'm just picking that for sake of comparison.) Thanks; I am very confused. Need to figure out where I put my cell so I can call my mom and ask her about it, since we share the plan with her.

I have no idea how this is going to affect us, but can someone tell me about the mobile hotspot thing or whatever it is? Does that mean my cell phone could now be a solid basis for internet at home? Right now, I have a "dumb" phone; it only does texting but no internet, and I don't really want mobile internet. However, I also pay $65 a month for home internet DSL and landline; there's no way to get the DSL without the landline. I never use the landline and would get rid of it if I could get high speed internet any other affordable way (no cable internet in my area, and satellite is way too expensive), for our desktops (not laptops). Does this mean that if I upgraded to a smartphone for my cell, I could use it for internet at home with my desktop, somehow? I do have a little USB internet finder thingy that works like a wireless card does in a laptop; it lets my one desktop find the internet that is hooked to the other desktop. So if that would actually let me pay less, it might be worth it. Anyone know about that?

I think he sounds pretty normal. I probably do have a child who would qualify as ADHD, and sometimes it's hard, but she's also bright and curious, and when she's interested in something, she's highly self-motivated to learn more about it. I haven't had her tested, because there's no real reason to, and in my state, it could make dealing with the local school district more of a pain than I need.

IIRC, Midol's main ingredient was ibuprofen anyway, though it might have had something else in it as well. The trick for me is ibuprofen (well, I haven't had cramps bad enough to need it since before I had babies), but with everything, ibuprofen works best for me if I take it and then take a nap. When I was a teen, I used to take meds and nap on the couch.

If you've got about $10K in debt that you're trying to pay off, you might possibly call the creditors and ask about a hardship plan, whereby they close the accounts so you can't use them any more, but they lower the interest rate significantly, to make it easier to pay off. If that won't work, and you take the money out of the 401k and pay off the debt, would that then free up a few hundred dollars every month? You could then use that free money to build up an emergency fund, so as to avoid racking up credit card/line of credit debt in the future, and once your EF was well-funded, you could work toward building up the retirement savings again. Whether that makes good financial sense or not, I don't know, but it's one option.