That's the Rice University Cheer! And the only reason I know five digits...

I can't speak from experience, but I have two books that look really interesting: S is for Story and R is for Rhyme (elements in poetry) They are beautiful picture books that discuss elements of lit/poetry for each letter of the alphabet.

My daughter, who will be 3 tomorrow, just scribbles still! These are great! I will clarify that I have never shown my kids how to draw (ex, I have never shown them that two dots are eyes, or a curve is a smile). My son figured out how to draw recognizable things around age 4 or 4.5.

We have been using both, but only for about a month now. My son was a hesitant early reader prior to both, so we have moved quickly and are just finishing up the short vowels. RP is great for helping with fluency. My son can zoom through the pyramid and read the last line fluently, and that has really built his confidence! I am excited to see how the pyramids will help when we get to multi syllable words. We have tried a number of reading programs, and I really, really like this one for it's "no frills".

Just wanted to :bigear:. My son is five and enjoys his logic game Catle Logix, but it isn't enough. I'd love to do more with him as well.

Has anyone tried their homeschool kits? What do you think? Would you say the pre-k/K kit is necessary, or to just start with level 1?

I love Karina's Chocolate Truffle Cake from Gluten Free Goddess. It's a naturally gluten free flourless cake, super easy to make, and DELICIOUS. It is very rich so it serves quite a few - 12 sices or so. I never put the maca powder because I don't have any.

:bigear: What an interesting question. The people that pop into my mind immediately would be Ma Ingalls and Josephine March... what characteristics link these two??? I'd say women with self-confidence and spirit, who do what needs to be done, which, depending on the time and place of the plot, may be as basic as getting the laundry done while traveling by covered wagon, or publishing her first book in a male-dominated society. I think like you said, it is rare to find a "weak" femaile character when she is the focus of the plot. But in a book like Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth is clearly strong, but her younger sisters are weak.

We went through 100 EZ and while my kid could do the lessons up until about 70, he didn't *get* it when we stopped with the bolded letters and little hints in the book and switched to plain text. We are now doing Phonics Pathways along with Rreading Pathways, and it is really rebuilding his confidence.

If it were up to me, I would have a dozen. But it takes two to make a baby! My dh is older than I am and really wants to stop at three. I'm at peace with that, though I know I'll probably never stop wanting another. Sigh. I just love the new baby smell. And being pregnant. And (call me crazy) labor and birth.

I don't even watch Dr. Who, but I still find this hilarious. Now I suppose I should watch it!!!

My son just turned five and is doing the same thing. Yesterday, he drew me a picture of a spider and wrote "Blac Widoz" for black widows. It's so amazing to see this sudden developmental jump!

Spaghetti with meat sauce. Easy weekday meal! Here's my list for next week, since I Just made it and it's sitting in front of me... breakfast burritos pizza (haha!) balsamic glazed crockpot ribs roast chicken tacos terriyaki poached salmon potato gratin

Thank you to everyone! Now I have lots to choose from!

I am looking for a soft doll (no plastic) for my soon-to-be three year old, with some outfits. I really like the HABA dolls, but she can't dress and undress them herself, so maybe something slightly bigger with looser fitting clothes. I've tried googling, but it's really hard to find a doll without a plastic head. Any ideas? Thanks!

My son is about to turn 5 and has just in the last two weeks or so started wanting to write words on his drawings, and is sort of "inventing" each letter as he goes- as in, they look like what they are supposed to, more or less, but he is doing them with incorrect strokes. So, I've photocopied pages from the GDI workbooks I had planned on using starting this fall, and am letting him fill them out under my supervision, but I'm not really doing the letters in any systematic way, just the letter he'd like to do that day. He is going a pretty good job and I hover over him for the worksheet to make sure he is doing them right. Do I need to be more systematic about this, or will this be ok? I do understand he needs to learn a before he learns g, q, and d, for example.

I, too, recently gave up coke. I also got raging caffeine headaches for a few days. Hang in there!

My son was recently diagnosed with gluten intolerance. I do suggest getting the blood test. You can wait and see on the endoscopy. If the blood test is negative, but you can't figure out what is causing the issues, you can still try cutting gluten, but cutting gluten is very difficult, so that's why I recommend at least trying the blood test first- if you get a solid positive, it'll make it easier for you and your dd to be enthusiastic about the diet restrictions. We are eating a lot more rice and potatoes, gf oatmeal (make sure it's gf), corn tortillas, etc. Once you get the hang of it, it's not too bad. But with a large family, you need to be very careful about cross contamination- your dd needs her own peanut butter, jelly, butter, etc, because even crumbs from gluten bread are enough to continue the inflammation of the gut. It's hard to distinguish between milk product intolerance and gluten intolerance (lots of people are intolerant to BOTH) which is why a blood test to start narrowing things down is a good idea. So far we have tried gf pasta, but not bread yet. The gf pasta is definitely edible with a good sauce!

Thanks for all the thoughtful comments. I realize that bad things can happen, blogging or not, and I don't want to be paranoid if the risk is really negligible. But like someone mentioned, I am not really sure how or where this personal information might be used in the future, and so I'm starting to wonder if maintaining my blog is imprudent. Still thinking on it.

I have a family blog because we live in another country from my family and I want to keep them up to date. Through blogging, I have met a ton of wonderful moms with lots of common interests. However, recently I've become pretty concerned about internet safety. I don't use our full name in posts, but it really wouldn't be that hard to figure that kind of thing out I think. I got an inappropriate comment yesterday on a post that is over two years old about my son getting potty trained. Now I'm all weirded out. Looking for some perspective...

I had to laugh at this post, as I am now 1 day past due date with baby number 3!!! My first was born on due date Second was 5 days past Third... We'll see (hopefully very soon!)

I only read through the first page of responses, so I'm sorry if I'm repeating anything... I would suggest The Handbook of Catholic Apologetics for yourself, so that these questions don't catch you too much off guard. It goes over many theological points, starting with the simple belief in a God, and moves to specifically Catholic beliefs with multiple types of evidence summed up from the great Church philosophers. I also disagree with the idea that a person cannot force themselves to believe. Let me explain: I just converted to the Church about a year ago. I have a VERY hard time with faith. However, after my research on many levels, I feel that there is no greater Truth than that held by the Church. I do have to work on faith, and it takes work, but one of the beautiful things about the Catholic Church is the emphasis on our Will. We were given wills for when emotion is either not present, or when it is present and inappropriate. Our will is stronger than our emotion, and we must let will guide us. I would think of faith and religious belief like a long marriage. There are days or even months when you "fall out of love" with your spouse, days, months and years when you are head-over-heels in love with your spouse, and many phases in between. But what sustains the marriage is willpower and respect. IMHO, I would let her know that it's normal for faith to ebb and flow, and that when it's in ebb, it's a good time to start looking at Catechism and Church philosophy to fill up her intellectual need for understanding and sense. It is one of the most beautiful things about the Church- this allowance for both faith AND reason- in fact, the INSISTENCE for both. Not every faithful Catholic is going to be a mystic- some of us require a lot more in terms of explanation and proof, and find great comfort in seeing the incredible extent and depth of Catholic philosophy. And finally, a good (non Catholic) book you could read together might be Mere Christianity. You could read this alongside Chronicles of Narnia and do a study of CS Lewis. MC is probably a lot for an independent reading for a 10yo, but as a read-aloud and discuss, I think it would work. I don't think you need to shove anything down her throat, but I do think it's important to let her know that there are differences between Martin Luther's "faith alone" protestantism and the depth of Catholic philosophy, theology, and Tradition. Teach her not only that belief is reasonable, but also why Catholic belief specifically is reasonable.

No tv either. lol.

We've got a desktop computer and simple cell phones. We have a Little People tractor that still has batteries in it. That's it. I can't stand electronic toy/game noise, and I fight hard to stop myself from buying small electronics. Sooooo peaceful!

This is such an interesting post. My DH will probably be taking a significant pay cut next year, so I admit I went a little bit overboard this year- in my opinion. I spent about 200 per kid, for two kids, and got some essential baby items which I will let my kids give to the new baby as Christmas presents. I am so glad to see everyone giving their kids nice holidays through experiences and not necessarily gifts! Very inspiring, I'm going to take some notes!