The Indian in the Cupboard Gregor the Overlander

We have a pretty decent library set up. There are 5 in the area, and two are pretty good sized. I "order" them online to be placed on hold, I almost never go there looking for specific books as the ones I need are usually coming from 2-3 different libraries. I can pick up from any library and return to any library. The biggest one has a drive up window so I don't even have to get out of my car. I have a 50-75% success rate for random titles. If I read a blog or article that says "you should be able to get this at your library", there's a pretty good chance they have or can get it. I don't have much problem getting the book I need for scheduled times. We're doing BFIAR with my preschooler this year and will just switch when we do which book if I can't get a particular one in.

The biggest danger would be a "helpful" person calling the police about unatte.nded children.

We get the most use out of our Montessori supplies for Math. We have it for other subjects as well, but math is by far the most used. The stamp game, skip counting, place value. We are always pulling something out.

Got it, thank you!

Would someone be willing to send me the files for SOTW vol1 and 2? I found vol 3 in drop box but it seems every link i find through google is now broken. What happened to the original blogger, why did she shut it down? Such a great resource!

I'll have a 1st grader and 2nd grader this fall. Can anyone recommend a beginning Spanish curriculum, preferably one I can do with both? The extent of my Spanish knowledge is words overheard on Dora.

If it is a problem, then can't you just ask mom politely to shut it? Seems extreme to me to exclude parents out of the room completely because the medical staff feels Mom answers for Jr. too quickly. In my personal opinion, parents (generally) know best. And sometimes parents are wrong, but hey they are the parents after all and I feel that it should be their call. It's also a pet peeve of mine when people say "they were just fine!". I'll be the judge of that, thanks. My kids are rule followers sometimes to a fault and have excellent manners, thus professionals we come in to contact with are quick to label them as "doing fine" when in reality I (or my husband) can easily see by their demeanor or facial expressions that they are not. They won't be the kids who are screaming, resisting, or uncooperative, it simply isn't in their nature to do so in public. They save all of that for us:glare: As an example, we tried public school for the first time this year. Both dd's teachers (kindy and 1st grade) told me how well they were doing, how much they enjoyed having them in class, how cooperative they were. Dd2's gym teacher even called me personally to tell me this. What did I hear at home? "I hate school." "I don't like p.e." "Do I have to go back on Monday?" "I just want to do homeschool again!" Every single hour of every single day for weeks. I observed a couple of times since what they were telling me was so different from what I was hearing from their teachers. Dd1 was stone faced, her perfectionist self was afraid to make any mistake for fear of being (gently, verbally) corrected by the teacher. Dd2 spent copious amounts of her free time in a corner by herself reading books, which is her coping mechanism. It was easy to see why everyone at school assumed they were fine. I would have thought the same had I been in their position. But I am their parent and I know what is normal vs what is not. It is not normal for my 6 year old to throw massive tantrums lasting hours. Daily. Which is what was happening the second we walked in the door coming home from school. But she was doing just fine, the teachers would say. /vent So, if a dentist or hygenist came back proudly telling me that my dd's "did fine" I could not take their word for it. I would know they put on an act of being ok, but I would not know that until we got into the van.

Taking it one year at a time, but I hope to continue through the highschool years.

Yes, I constantly find myself doing this as an adult. I had never reaized until this post that its likely a result of all the bullying and excluding I had to deal with. If they really didn't like me, my friends wouldn't do this or that. I'm at the stage where I had good friends in my moms group but my kids are older, other kids are off to school and it's time I start devoting my energy into knowing the homeschooling community here as opposed to moms of toddlers. I find myself saying, well if they are really my friends then we will still get together but if we don't, do they not like me/my kids as much as they used to or is life just making everyone too busy?

I'm confused by your signature then, it says your 17 yo dd is in public school:confused: My kids were begging to try public school. With a new baby at home and a dh who was not against homeschooling but not terribly supportive either I caved. It was a matter of days before they realized public school was not for them. And as far as I know, there was no bullying. It was just the regular school stuff they hated. 15 minutes to eat lunch, the ridiculous amounts of time wasted, the monotony of it all. And what was ironic is that they received very good remarks from their teachers. Dd2's gym teacher even personally called me to tell me what a joy it was to have her in her class. How well she listens, how much effort she gives everything and on and on. Meanwhile my kids were miserable. After a couple weeks we pulled them out and they still talk about how they are never going back to public school.

I think this is just par for the course then with your living situation. I wouldn't expect to live so close to somebody where I could hear soft voices from inside my house with windows closed and expect to not get woken up:confused: Now if they were playing loud music, banging on drums or something of that sort, then 10 pm is as late as my patience would last. But hanging out on a patio? I don't see an issue. Of course that means you're also welcome to send the kids out at 7 am to play when they're on your last nerve as long as they aren't yelling.

Before we bought our current house we lived in a duplex with a shared yard. On the other side was a young childless couple who entertained a lot. They sat out on their patio until all ours of the night when they entertained. I don't know that they ever brought the party inside. It never bothered me, it's a part of living in close quarters plus we shared a wall so I'm sure they heard my screaming children. Sorry but I think it's par for the course when living in houses close together.

*shrug* I don't see the issue. Honestly, 90 isn't THAT hot. It's been over 100 for several days now with no break in sight with high humidity. 90 would feel a bit chilly. If the rest of the family is all sick from the same cold, it's probably better baby be out in the fresh air rather than cooped up in a germ factory, uh I mean house, particularly if they do not have central air. At 2 weeks old, they sleep most of the time anyways.

Don't be too hard on yourself, cockers are one of the most difficult styles to groom! I worked as an assistant groomer and cockers are notoriously difficult. There is definitely a learning curve, especially for the face but then it gets much easier.

I would be using the beads in place of the blocks. The beads work in a similar fashion as a base ten system. I'm not trying to skip out on manipulatives for MUS, just using the bead system in it's place to cut down on cost.

We have primarily used the montessori method for the past few years however I am wanting something a bit more step by step so I have looked into math u see and really like the concept behind it. It is similar to montessori in the way it teaches the decimal system. We already have a pretty extensive Montessori bead collection. Could I skip buying the math u see blocks and just use the beads we have currently?

This just came up in our house as well. I've been called THREE times in the last 9 years since I have turned 18. The first time I got lucky and they didn't need me. The 2nd and 3rd time I had an infant who was solely breastfed. The first time I used that excuse they said fine, I was excused. The most recent time they said that there would be a private room available and the time to pump but I would need proof in order to be excused. I asked my son's pediatrician for a note, cited the state law which says nursing mothers are automatically exempt when provided with proof and they excused me as well. Any chance you have a nursing infant? I feel for you though, a friend of mine was asked to serve on jury duty the same week they were to leave for vacation and was told it was not an excuse. No idea what happened after that. Another thought is to bring in financial statements showing that you are unable to afford to hire a caregiver or for your dh to take off work for an extended period of time. However, I would presume if you have "extras" like cable, smart phones, etc they would argue that you do not need those and if you did not have them would otherwise be able to afford a babysitter.

Can you hire a mothers helper? Perhaps a home schooled preteen or teen? She could come in and play with your younger one while you homeschool, do minor housework and prepare simple meals for lucnch. If you could swing a few hours a day two days a week, that would probably help you out a lot. Like you, I doubt a cleaning service would help me out much at all. What really would help me is someone to come in and help with dishes, general picking up, and laundry. I wouldn't mind cleaning the house top to bottom if I didn't have to pick up a single thing.

Unrestricted, unsupervised access to the internet? Probably not until late teens, if even then. They would need to pay for the phone and service themselves.

I don't think you are entitled to a refund, but I would - calmly - call him back and say that you were not aware his services were going to cost $500. And while you'll be sure to ask next time, it might be a good idea for him to let his clients know what it would cost and the prognosis of the animal before treatment. The one time I had to take my cat in for serious illness, and then leave him there, I made them aware that while I loved and cared for my cat very much we did not have a lot of excess and to please notify me of expected costs before doing them. As it turns out he had urinary crystals in his bladder causing a UTI. It "only" cost around $250, plus $50 for the new rx cat food he was put on. But they called me every step of the way and explained what they needed to do, how much it would be, and what would happen if they did not do that. Come to think of it, there was another time my cat needed to be groomed and they called me to let me know he had fleas, and they would need to give him a dose of frontline. It wasn't even optional that I pay it, but they did at least call so I wasn't in shock when I went to pick him up.

He really is very respectable about it. Typically this behavior also includes, pushing, shoving, accidentally running into people, etc. But his mom is HUGE on manners so he would never dare. But, being one of the oldest and also the biggest he pretty much always is the first. It would probably be the most helpful to have someone who was bigger/faster/older/more advanced than him but that isn't likely to happen (there are only about 11 kids total). Having him do another worksheet might work, I'd have to ask his mom how she feels about it.

Boys are harder on clothes, and also most people tend to buy more for their girls than their boys.

I hesitate to call it a behavioral problem because it makes it sound like it's something terrible when really I think it's a common thing for his age/development. Backstory: We are in a homeschool co-op. This is our 1st year in a co-op, and it's also the first year for this particular co-op. The target age range is 4-6. The issue is with a 6 year old boy. He is overly concerned with being first/fastest. Everything from being first to line up, to finishing his craft/art project, to answering questions. We are trying to get him to understand that it really just does.not.matter and there is something to be said about taking your time. When it's time to line up, he rushes to be first. When working on any sort of project, worksheet, craft, what have you, he scribbles it out as fast as possible and announced "Done! I got done first!". We have been doing the obvious, pointing out why it doesn't matter, it isn't a race, blah blah blah, but it hasn't made a difference. A few of the other kids have caught on to this, and now they too rush their work to be done first. Any ideas on how to curb this behavior?

If you have decent credit, add him as an authorized user on your cc. I will say there is no reason a 20 year old with family support should need credit. Yes, you do need established credit if you're shopping for a mortgage but that's likely a few years off at least.