Argsmommy, I see you have a 12-year-old daughter. Is this typical of a project you would expect of her or from her school [i see she goes to a classical school part time]? I know my daughter is somewhat behind her peers in regards to writing as we've chosen to take a slower journey than others might. We truly believe, however, that this is what she needs, and that in the long run going slow will pay off for her. We may have to reconsider online classes for her [other than her writing:tongue_smilie:] until she reaches that point if this is par for the course. We were caught off guard though, as it never occured to us that a beginniner level foreign language course would have a project such as this thrown in! Thanks for any input!

Is this a biography or a historical fiction? Do you think that it would provide enough information for a 5-minute presentation? I just looked at Amazon and only saw it used, which may run into time issues - i.e. will we have enough time to get it, read it, and prepare a presentation. I will have to look around to see if we can get expedited shipping without paying a small fortune. Thank you!

That is a valid question. There are several reasons for books versus online. First, as Kates stated: This is where my daughter is right now. She just turned 12 and is just now learning these skills. Sorting through websites, deciding which are reliable, keeping track of which websites she got which information from, knowing which websites are safe, etc is a lot for her at this age to handle. Also, even though "for children" was entered as one of the search terms, it does not mean that all is appropriate for children. [i actually did that same search prior to my original post as I know that is something that bothers some people :tongue_smilie:] Links from that search take me to sources that broach such subjects as abortion, homosexuality, lust, etc. I'm not saying that no children should ever see these things, but it is not right for my daughter at this time in her life. Some links over her head, as well as inappropriate. Others are links simply to blogs; short biographies of a paragraph or so [hardly enough to fill a 5 minute presentation]; or to pages that are not for children, but simply have the word children on the page somewhere. Anyway, that is the reason we were looking for books geared toward children :001_smile:.

Kates, thank you for responding. I have no intentions of ignoring that part of history. My ds13 is actually using TOG Year 1 for history this year, online through Lampstand Learning Center. That has huge amounts of religious content because it is weaved through history, and I have no problems with it at all. We are both enjoying it immensely. I definitely feel it is important to have that knowledge because that is what caused things to happen as they did. You can't truly study history without it. I guess it just seemed so advanced in topic for that age level, and that is what is bugging me. Without a better religious background, it is a rather overwhelming undertaking for someone that age. I think you are right about the project's purpose. Unfortunately, we are in a major "tailspin"! Materials are a problem definitely, as well as the depth and scope [5 minutes seems like it would require a LOT of material]. I just didn't want to contact the teacher and make a fuss if I'm way out of line with my thinking. Thanks again for responding!

Thanks, Laura. That is the one I found [that's when I realized there were actually 2 Augustine's :blushing: ]. Unfortunately, we found out it is the "other" Augustine she is to present on. I don't suppose you can come to my rescue with some resources for that one too :D ? [i hope that comes across right. I'm never certain when I type something online if it will be taken the way I intended and am always afraid I will offend. :)]

Okay, here goes. For some reason this assignment is really bugging me. Of course, I may very well be completely wrong, and it is in fact a perfectly reasonable assignment. My dd12 informed me she has a 5 minute powerpoint presentation on St. Augustine due in 2 weeks. It is for her online latin class. Just so you know, the class is using Latin for Children B. I understood this to be for younger children than my dd, which is why we choose it. We wanted a nice gentle class. She took LfC A online last year with the same teacher and it was great. When she told me, I didn't really think much of it. I just made a note to look for books. [embarassing confession here - I've heard of St. Augustine, but couldn't really tell you anything about him :blushing:] Of course our library has nothing. Library interloan here is unreliable and takes at least a week to get a book, almost always longer. Since she only has two weeks to do the project, I didn't even try getting anything that way. I went straight to Amazon. So I'm looking for books, and I'm not entirely certain the content is appropriate. I was searching for Augustine of Hippo. There are none that I could find for children. Today, while searching these boards, I discovered there are actually two St. Augustine's ... another embarassing moment :blushing:. Augustine of Kent sounds much better, so off I go to search for books again. I found ONE book for children (young adults) on this subject. I did some web searches for both of them, but nothing for children jumped out at me. [While typing this post, we've figured out that the project is indeed on Augustine of Hippo, so now I have zero books located.] So after typing all of this, I guess what is bothering me is: 1. The fact that a latin class for younger children has a presentation such as this for 25% of the class grade. 2. I think the subject matter is over her head, and not all of its subject matter (upon my admittedly very brief review) is appropriate for her (specifically, my dd). 3. Annoyance with the fact that I have two weeks to: locate books, purchase them, have them delivered, have dd read them, and teach her how to use powerpoint. [and still keep up with teaching all of my other children - our reason for taking an online class was to make life easier!] 4. Annoyance with the fact that there really aren't enough resources [or any at all] at her level to prepare a 5 minute powerpoint presentation without basically copying. 5. The fact that a latin class at this level has a project of this type in the first place. Has anyone else with younger children had projects of this type assigned in a foreign language class? 6. It seems to me, this is will be a fairly religious topic. The class was not represented as such though. I really see no need to have my daughter put in hours of work for that. [Yes, I'm aware LfC has some religious content, but I think it is extremely minimal.] So...am I way off base? I am feeling particularly grumpy and irritable today for some reason. Maybe this just pushed me right over the edge. Right now, however, I am fighting the barely resistable urge to email the teacher. Please set me straight!

House temperature was probably 68.

I'm going to ask dh if he wants to give it a try ... I'm guessing the answer will be yes. (He's eaten three-week-old leftovers before with no ill effects. His choosing, not mine; I strongly advised against it.) If he wants to, I'll reheat it thoroughly. Hopefully you won't find a post from me in the morning saying that dh is in the hospital from food poisoning ... lol. If he feels okay, I think I'll turn it into all of dh's favorite chicken dishes and freeze them for lunches to take to work. He would be thrilled ... hot lunches everyday! I just don't think I want to take a chance on giving it to the children, even if it doesn't bother him. Thanks.

I cooked two crockpots of chicken yesterday - 6 pounds each. I turned one into shredded taco filling and put it away. The other I was going to stick in the refrigerator and package in the morning. I was letting it cool a bit before putting it away, while I cleaned up the kitchen. Ds then needed some help with his online geography class, so I stepped away to do that. Unfortunately, I forgot to step BACK! The chicken sat out, cooked and sitting in its juices, uncovered, from 9:00 last night until 6:30 this morning. I stuck it in the refrigerator at 6:30, but I'm thinking it needs to be pitched. What do you think? [if it makes a difference, my husband can seemingly eat ANYTHING without a problem. On the other hand, I have two little girls (youngest has rather bad reflux) and my ds8 and ds7 have rather sensitive stomachs] Thanks.

Do you have the divider in the soap dispenser set to "powder"? I have been using the powdered detergent that Sears sells for a few years now. Have you tried that? I've been very pleased. It is for HE washers. I've never had a problem with it not dissolving. Also, I never get that awful "sud" message anymore that I would sometimes get with liquids (I was always too cheap to pay the extra for the HE version though :D !) It comes in a regular variety and an "oxi clean" variety which I use for my lights and any whites that I'm not bleaching. It does a much better job than other detergents I've used - I don't even have to add non-chlorine bleach to get things out, and I rarely even use stain remover. I have four VERY rough and dirty boys so their things get pretty dirty. It used to come in a giant bucket (and a smaller one for the oxyclean type detergent). Last time I bought it, it came in a box. I transfer it to empty buckets that I keep under my laundry room sink because it's easier. I don't know how it is packaged currently, since it has been about a year since I've had to restock (I buy enough for the year since the nearest Sears is a 3 hour round trip.) You don't need a whole lot of it to get the job done. I've found I don't need as much as it calls for. We usually use approximately 2 of the regular and 2 of the "oxi clean" per year (sometimes I run out a little before the year is up). I always buy it on sale for $19.99, so that's $80 for a year's worth of detergent. We have 2 adults and 7 children in the household and generate a rather amazing amount of laundry. "I" think that's quite reasonable. It's called Advance Formula Ultra Plus Laundry Detergent. I believe it's specific to Sears.

Hi Lisa, I don't mean to get offtrack from your adoption question (sorry, I don't know anything about that), but I did want to tell you about my experience with lyme disease and pregnancy. I had lyme disease prior to getting pregnant with my first dc, but didn't know it at the time. I had the bullseye rash a few months before getting pregnant but didn't know about lyme disease. During my pregnancy I was miserable with all sorts of ailments. I just thought it was part of being pregnant and assumed that I was just a major wimp! I got pregnant with second dc 3 months later, so still attributed my worsening health to the pregnancy. After birth of second dc, however, I continued to get worse, rather than improve as I had hoped. It got really, really bad. I was SO scared. I saw so many doctors. They kept telling me it was in my head (nevermind the test results, or physical proof; one dr did test me for lyme - it came back positive, but he told me it was probably just a false positive!) or that I was just "severely depressed" (dh still laughs about that one!). Finally, I found a dr who took me seriously, diagnosed me with lyme disease, and began me on antibiotic treatment. [i should mention here that my first 2 dc do have problems.] When I was being treated, I became pregnant (unplanned). My doctor had me continue with antibiotics throughout the pregnancy; he did change them, though, to ones that were "safer" for use in pregnancy. I had a boy who has absolutely no problems, other than some hyperactivity. I had another pregnancy while still being treated for lyme. Again, he kept me on meds, but switched to "safer" ones. I had another boy who has absolutely no problems. While I was on the antibiotics, I improved. Not immediately - it was more like "one step forward, two steps back", "three steps forward, two steps back", etc. There were a couple times we thought I had finally beaten it, only to start feeling worse again during attempts to stop the meds. After my fourth dc, my dr was going to attempt to stop the meds again, but I got pregnant again :D, and he kept me on the antibiotics (he switched me to the "safer" ones again) "just to be sure". After baby #5 I finally was able to stop the meds! I still have some lasting problems that I will probably be stuck with forever, but it's NOTHING compared to what I had gone through. I have been off my meds for almost 6 years now (and I have had two more healthy babies!) Even though I had lyme disease, I had three children while being treated - all perfectly healthy. The only ones who have problems are the first two who were conceived and carried while I was sick, but before I knew what was wrong. I don't know the particulars of your illness obviously, so it's very possible my story is irrelevant. I just wanted to let you know that I have been in a similar situation, and possibly all hope is not lost. You might want to talk to a different doctor (yes, I realize that's a lot easier said than done with lyme disease :)). I was lucky I guess. My doctor's wife had a very similar situation, and he treated me just as he treated her. :grouphug: and best wishes,

Math Saxon 5/4; Singapore CWP3 Language Arts Shurley English 3; Daily Grams 3; Sequential Spelling; Wordly Wise; WWE; SRA Cursive; Outlining; VP literature Latin Lively Latin Greek Greek Alphabet Code Cracker Science Mr. Q's Life Science; WP AW (assisting me w/his younger brothers) History HO1 Ancients Logic Building Thinking SKills Level 1; Brainware Safari U.S. Geography Star-Spangled State Book Art & Music Handle on the Arts Memory Work IEW Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization Extracurriculars Dance (tap and jazz); Chess; Soccer; Baseball

I don't make milk. I know that most of you out there disagree that this is a possibility, but it actually is true for some of us. I've had 7 babies. I've attempted to breastfeed each and every one. I do NOT produce enough milk. I actually made it to six months with baby #7 - that's my record and I was THRILLED that I was able to make it that far! To get there, though, I had to work REALLY hard. I've worked with lactation consultants with almost all of the babies. I've used mother's milk tea, fenugreek, thistle, oatmeal, lots of good food and water, rest, kept baby in bed and nursed on demand, used hospital grade breast pumps, pumped right after baby's feeding, made sure to pump throughout the night as well once baby was sleeping longer, AND even tried prescription medication; all at the same time, all to no avail. I never did produce enough and what I did simply dried up. The fact that I can't provide enough food for my babies is definitely not due to lack of effort on my part. I truly GRIEVE every time I have to make the decision to stop even that last tiny bit or so they are still getting - not only because bf'ing is best for baby, but because of the great sense of loss both from not being able to provide the best for them and from the loss of that special connection bf'ing seems to form. Nursing was important to ME too; that's why I put forth such effort. Not being able to continue was hard enough without people implying that it simply wasn't important enough to me. In my situation, giving my baby formula WAS the best choice for baby. I looked at the labels, and while I didn't particularly care for what was in the formula, it certainly was better than the alternative of nothing. If you do decide to stop, please do not let others make you feel as though you are being selfish or that you are simply not willing to try hard enough. It is a hard enough position to be in as it is; you don't need to feel any worse than you probably already do. Only you can make the decision that is right for you and your baby. Best wishes for you both. I know what an agonizing decision it is (and just to warn you, even though you say you will just "decide not to be sad", you still will be). :grouphug:

But should riding in the car with someone count as actually driving the car (for hours of experience required to get your license)? You can learn about how to drive by observing someone else, but the driving itself is an entirely different skill. Reading and listening are BOTH important skills. I make certain my children do both - they read books, they listen to books. I also have them read along while they listen. Whether or not listening counts as "reading" a book really depends on what you are trying to achieve.

I voted 8 - 10. That is what dh works from mid-April through mid-December. However, during his busy season, from mid-December through mid-April, he works about 15 hours a day Monday through Friday plus another 12 hours on the weekend.

My shopping cart and 12 pages of saved items are back!!!!! I had given up all hope. I had just added something to my barren cart. After all, I couldn't just leave it empty like that ... lol. Then, I added a second item, and right before my very eyes, MY CART REAPPEARED!! Everything exactly as I left it!! I must have inadvertantly let out a little squeal because a couple dc came running in to see what was going on :blush:. (I must admit though, I am just a tad bit disappointed. I think I had almost convinced myself that this was a good thing - a fresh start - and now that's been taken away from me too! lol :tongue_smilie:) Good luck to those out their whose carts are still missing! (Or am I the last one to get theirs back?)

I used these 2 years ago. Grades 1, 2, and 4 and the maps WERE included at that time. They were at the back of the book behind the daily worksheet section.

Write over top of it with a dry-erase marker and both should come right off with a damp cloth.

Dd11's skin gets extremely red and itchy whenever it comes in contact with grass. She's had the problem since she was an infant. It's really bad. She wears long pants and long sleeve shirts whenever possible. We keep one of those chairs in a bag (I have no idea what they are really called) in each of our vehicles for things like soccer games, a trip to the park, etc. She also usually takes a jacket with her when she is wearing shorts. That way, if something comes up unexpectedly and everyone ends up sitting in the grass (you'd be amazed at how often that comes up), she can sit on the jacket and not be left out. She also showers immediately when she comes in from such activities. We are putting in a swingset/play area in our backyard this summer and she requested that we put mulch or stone in the area so that she will be able to play freely with the other dc.

THIS is what it is like in our area. These Boy Scout troops and Cub Scout packs do still exist. I hope you can find one.

This must vary by pack/district/council as well. Our organization encourages parents to participate as well. They don't hang on every thing the boys do, but the parents are there, encouraging. It's somewhat like an extended family. All of our pack's parents attend pretty much every meeting, participate with the scouts in the various community projects, and take part in special activities together. The boys are encouraged to work on their own, but it's also seen as a bonding experience.

Our school room is currently a pleasant yellow, but I am sick of it. The yellow is nice, it's just too much for the main color for us. I'm hoping to repaint this summer...maybe a pear green. Something, cool, bright (not blinding), and refreshing. I was also thinking of painting the ceiling blue and sponge-painting it with clouds. I ordinarily don't care for this, but I recently saw it done nicely and it looked really good. Our woodwork is cherry. We also have lots of natural light in the room. I'm hoping that this combination will have a nice calming effect by making us feel as though we're out in nature.

We've been in scouts for many years. Our pack and district REQUIRED parents to be present until they reached Webelos level, and even then it was still strongly encouraged. "Drop and runs" as they called them were NOT allowed. If you couldn't remain with your child you needed to find another one of the parents that would. In addition, each parent was allowed to be responsible for no more than 5 boys. At most events "tag-alongs" were allowed at a reduced cost which made it possible for a parent to attend even if there were non-scout siblings. And WOW on the cost! Our twilight and day camps never ran more than $50.

Hi, me again! Can you stand some more questions? Before I posted originally, we had taken care of most of the mess. What happened during the cleaning is what led me to ask what others “would doâ€. I think I was trying to separate the "actions". Unfortunately I am still having difficulty. Some additional information follows ... if you are willing to go on that is :) ! When I discovered the situation, I admit I did let out a rather large groan while putting my hands to my head and exclaiming “Oh no!†in horror. LOL...is there a smilie for that? To my credit though, next, I simply took a deep breath and said, “Okay, let’s get to work.†At the time I wasn’t thinking about “what to do†or about “consequencesâ€. I simply wanted to get the mess taken care of. I sorted the items into "still good", "bad", and "eat/prepare immediately" (we’re going to have some very interesting meals for a while :tongue_smilie:!) I cleaned up the mess mostly myself with him watching and working as my assistant because we were short on time and obviously couldn’t just leave this be; there was melted ice cream, raw chicken and shrimp "juice", etc. all over everything, and I couldn’t simply refreeze it since I wouldn’t know what was still safe. I did not yell. I did not lecture. I worked. I did request him to stay with me and assist so that we could get it taken care of faster. He was asked to do things like bring boxes and bags for me to put things into, bring down hot soapy water for me to wash out the freezer and clean the floor around the freezer (shrimp “juice†pooled on concrete does NOT smell good), and carry things upstairs for us to deal with there. During this time he grumbled, his moaned, he complained, and even yelled at me once about having to do these things, and about the mere fact that he actually had to stand there watching me clean up the mess “just in case†I needed something else. When we came back upstairs to deal with the mess that had been brought up, he actually told me “NO†at one point when I requested for him to do something. I had to repeat my request 4 times before he complied. (Just so you know, doing this entire event I remained completely calm; not so much as a raised voice, just simple calm requests. I am quite proud of myself because he was truly trying my patience :glare:.) I can deal with the lost food; that is really a minor issue in the grand scheme of things. In fact, while the lying was wrong and I still think it should be dealt with I can sort of understand it (that still doesn’t make it right). My biggest issue though is with his attitude. This is an ongoing issue lately. Ds complains about picking up his own dirty underwear off the bathroom/bedroom floor. He refuses to put any more than the absolute minimum amount of effort into anything. He actually aims for doing the least amount of work that he can to get by with. When he takes his laundry down, I may very well find that he's shoved it in the hall closet or under the couch instead of walking it the extra 6 feet to the laundry room. He will then pretend he’s surprised, as in “How on earth did that get there?â€, when we find it and ask him to put it away properly. When he does his school work, he aims for 60% because that's what the public school required of him – never mind the fact that he's been home for 5 years now and that excuse hasn't worked once yet. That is what upsets me about the freezer incident. It could be a true mistake and he simply forgot; I don’t have a problem with that. As everyone has said, mistakes happen. However, based on past history it's also possible he didn't want to expend the extra energy to push that box in the extra inch. Or perhaps the reason he forgot was that he was so caught up in his own attitude about the injustice of being requested to bring something up for dinner. (Do you expect your children to help out other than with regularly chores?) I like what everyone has said about separating it into separate events but how do you actually do that when his past actions have given you pause as to what actually happened. Would what you did about the freezer being left open change based on these other factors? Would you still separate out the events? How do you do that when what you “think†is a reasonable response on your part to the situation, is reacted to with attitude and defiance? Everything just seems so intertwined. Dh thinks that not only should ds have to skip going to Boy Scout camp with his troop next week, but that he should also have to quit Boy Scouts altogether. This is based on the whole event: carelessness, lying, and attitude. His reasoning is if ds is going to have attitude and not being willing to do things for us, why should we go to the extra effort and expense to do special things for him. I think this is rather extreme and dh is willing to defer to my judgment on the matter. On the other hand, you (or at least I) frequently hear people say that what is wrong with kids these days is that there are no consequences for their actions and that parents are slacking by not stepping up and doing what needs to be done. Where is that line between being a pushover and being too tough? Don’t get me wrong; I realize this all sounds so negative. He is truly a wonderful boy. I love him dearly. He has always struggled with his emotions, so I know that at this age he must be having an especially tough time. The reason I am asking these questions is because I DO cherish him so much and want the best for him. I don’t want to mess this up. P.S. For anyone still with me, wow! Thanks! As you can see by my measly 60-some post count since 2008 (and never in the 3 years I spent on the old boards) I don’t post very often. Usually I just have these conversations in my head where I imagine what various posters will say :D . This is sooo much better!! (Now I have a list of about 20 different threads to start :tongue_smilie:!)

I would like to say that I wasn't looking to "punish" him for leaving the freezer door open. I'm not quite certain why so many people had the idea that I was (maybe my word choice wasn't right?). I was simply trying to get an idea about what others would do in that particular situation. Sort of like seeing what others use and do for their schooling - more of an encouragement that you're not totally off track. Was the way it was handled the first time excessive as someone has suggested? I've been thinking and thinking about this since yesterday. What would YOU (any of you) have done differently. Would you have done any of those steps, none of them? I "thought" it seemed reasonable at the time. I AM open to the possibility that it was, in fact, excessive though. Please help me see this from a different perspective. If it helps, here is the logic behind our apparent madness: We had only had the freezer a few months when it happened the first time and hadn't actually discussed the importance of checking the freezer or using the key to be certain the door was completely shut. That is why we explained these things to him when it happened. If we don't tell them why something should be done and how to do it, how can we expect them to know? We told him to come to us if he had any problems. I just can't see how that could possibly be wrong to do. We discussed food safety and why we had to throw some things away and others could be kept. We hadn't really covered this before and, in my mind, it seemed like an appropriate time to do so. We talked about the cost of the food and converted the value of it into a couple examples he could understand more readily. Value of money can sometimes be somewhat abstract to a child, it is to this dc. Therefore, we converted it into the number of nintendo/wii games he could buy or the number of candy bars. Not that he'd ever buy that quantity of those items, but he knows how much he needs to save to buy a game and how long that takes. He knows that 300 candy bars is A LOT. We saw it more as an "economics" lesson. The "freezer probation" was simply an attempt to help him form a habit. He wasn't actually told "You're on freezer probation now, Kid!" At first, we took over freezer duty (we don't keep ready to eat items in that freezer, it's just the storage freezer) and just asked him to come down with us and "give us a hand". After a time we started sending him down again, but when he came up we'd say something like "Oh, hang on, let's go double check that door." After that we still checked without him knowing, for our own peace of mind (and that's where we probably slacked by not continuing to do so) Shucks, I have a hard time forming new habits and sometimes ask the others in the house to remind me of things. It takes time to form habits, but once you do we've all found it makes life SO much easier! The children remind me of things all the time, and I remind them. I see it not as a punishment, but as helping one another and working together. Also, I did not make him clean up the mess. I did this myself, as I felt responsible. Thanks in advance as I try to grow as a parent!