Spell to Write and Read focuses on phonograms and 28 rules for spelling. http://swrtraining.com/id23.html

We recently had a pipe burst under our house. Within 1 day the mold had exploded under there. It just takes a little moisture to activate it, because as the clean up crew told me, mold is everywhere all the time. We live in the desert area of southern California, there is almost nowhere with less humidity than here. We're talking 6% during the summer months. Mold is a pain. Do you have mold coverage on your homeowner's policy? Cleanup might be covered, as ours was just minus the deductible. Mold is nothing to mess around with.

Oh we love The Secret Life of Bees! Love! We just watched Nebraska on dvd from Netflix. It has some bad language, but it is an excellent character-driven movie. Even my 14 year old daughter liked it. I also just watched Becket on Netflix streaming. I recently read a biography about Eleanor of Aquitane and wanted to learn more about that period. It was really slow moving.

You can look at Spell to Write and Read. It is very systematic. We used it starting in 2nd grade through 5th. http://www.christianbook.com/spell-to-write-and-read/wanda-sanseri/9781880045244/pd/145249?kw=spell%20to%20write%20and%20read&mt=b&dv=c&event=PPCSRC&p=1018818&gclid=CILt7e-oyL8CFZSEfgodqVwA0g

This reminds me that Pink's hot dogs is a Los Angeles icon. We went there for the first time about 3 months ago and it was fun and delicious. It's located on N. La Brea Ave and Melrose. If you are in to music, we recently went to the Ringo Starr exhibit at the Grammy Museum. That's located on Olympic Blvd not far from Staples Center.

The Huntington has a separate children's garden with all kinds of neat things "hidden" into the gardens. It also has a tropical conservatory right next to it. Part of that is a room with all kinds of carnivorous plants, like venus fly traps, etc. Boys like that kind of stuff, right? lol! The Chinese garden is stunning and has a great little tea/snack shop all its own.

They do have the free day, but it's by on-line reservation a month in advance. It's first come-first served and I have never been able to get it quickly enough before all the tickets are gone. It's so popular.

>Wells Fargo has a FREE museum that tells all about the Wells Fargo wagons and California's gold history. It's 1 block from <Walt Disney's Concert Hall, which also offers self guided tours. <If you want to drive a little bit, my favorite place is The Huntington Library and Gardens in San Marino (next to Pasadena) We try to go about 3-4 times a year. The gardens are fantastic, especially the desert garden. The museums there are world class. You can easily spend an entire day there. >The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is another favorite place. .TheLos Angeles Zoo is fun and not so large that it feels overwhelming. >Across the way from the zoo is the Autry National Center which is all about western art and culture, including old western movies and cowboys. <The Santa Monica Pier has a fun little amusement park right on the beach. <The California Science Center in Exposition Park is fun and free, you just have to pay (cash) for parking. ETA: If your boys are interested in space, the space shuttle Endeavour is on permanent display there, but I notice that during the summer you must make a reservation time. If I think of more I'll add another post. Have Fun!

Maybe she just prefers the time you are spending reading to her over listening to a book alone? I don't know, I never used audio books. I'm sure we could have goe through a lot more books, but my daughter and I just liked it when I read out loud to her.

Of the homeschool families I'm closest with, about 10 probably, there are 2 moms who were public school teachers.

LOL, I love all the science-y stuff in his books! I've learned more science from him than any other author, book, or video because I think he's so entertaining!

I've laughed out loud at some of Bill Bryson's books. They aren't for everyone, as there is usually a little bit of foul language, and if you're a Christian you have to know he's an atheist. But some of his observations about people and life are so witty and funny. A Walk in the Woods and In a Sunburned Country are two favorites.

You can try looking for local homeschool groups on a site called MEETUP. The group I belong to uses that site exclusively for all its field trip, park day and coop dates, plus messages and conversations.

It's really easy to homeschool in CA. You can start any time, just make sure you file your paperwork (PSA) in October. It's done on-line and you just print a copy to keep for your records. I, too, am wondering which South Bay you are referring to. As a native San Diegan I assumed you meant San Diego. It makes a difference when you are looking for groups to check out.

I like my kitchen to be organized in a manner that makes it easy to grab the correct ingredient or utensil. It saves me time and keeps me from making mistakes. It also makes it easier on the rest of the family if they know where everything is without having to ask or rifle through the cupboards. Having an organized system is practical, not OCD. So, yes, if I already had jars labeled for a specific item it would bother me if they weren't used properly.

Yes, these are wonderful. Basically, anything Cynthia Rylant writes is gold. ;-)

I taught both of my daughters to read by reading to them a lot, spelling simple words as we read while underlining the word with my finger, looking at and reading our colorful children's dictionary (it was a favorite of both my girls), and spell-and-say words everywhere we went, such as the grocery store. We read Dr. Seuss, P.D. Eastman, Robert Lopshire, Beatrix Potter and other simple books. My oldest went to public school K-12, but my youngest was homeschooled starting in 2nd. When my youngest was in K her teacher was conducting the routine weekly testing and was shocked that her reading tested at +6th grade, which she said was as high as she could be tested. I only got a formal phonics program when we began homeschooling because her spelling was terrible. It was Spell to Write and Read. For my girls, at least, this method worked beautifully, and in fact I never set out to formally teach them to read, I just wanted learning to read to be natural and fun.

You're correct in that it is a natural part of life. It will happen to all of us. But, indigestion happens. Headaches happen. Toothaches happen. We have medication and treatment for all of those things. Does that mean just because menopause is "natural" we don't find a way to alleviate the suffering and interference with our quality of life? I believe it has always been difficult to manage, from the dawn of man. It's just that in those days women didn't live as long so there were fewer women who made it to that "time" of life, and it was considered a taboo subject until just recently. So many women suffered in silence and thought they were going crazy or had a life threatening illness. Thankfully we have modern medicine, and yes also ancient herbal treatments, too, that can help us through this season of a woman's life.

Cobblestreet Cousins by Cynthia Rylant Nancy Drew maybe?

(I'm about to get descriptive, sorry in advance if it bothers anyone.) I take estradiol in the form of a vaginal tablet. I had a hysterectomy 12 years ago. For the first few years I didn't need anything, but after a while I noticed vaginal dryness and pain during intimacy, so I went to the doctor and was prescribed Vagifem. It works great! It is a very low dosage twice a week, and since it is concentrated to the specific area, very little of the hormone is absorbed into the body's other organs. I actually stopped using it for almost 2 years, just to get off the hormones, but went back to using it again about 6 months ago and notice a big difference in my body. When I first started taking it the dosage was 25mcg per tablet, but some governing agency (NIH or FDA, maybe?) decided 10 mcg works just as well and lowers any risks of the possibility of cancer, and I find it does work just as well. Anyway, that's what I've been using.

We live in southern California, where it reaches 100 during the day all throughout much of July and all of August, most of September. We lived in our home without air conditioning for 10 years before being able to afford a whole house system and someone who could instal it in our weird house. When I leave the house I do turn the air up to about 78, and down to 75-74 when we are home. I wouldn't turn ours off because it would take too much to cool down the house if we were gone for any length of time at all. And, we paid good money to be able to be cool and by golly we are going to be cool after suffering through all those years without it.

Set, Rummikub

Bed in Summer by Robert Louis Stevenson Who has seen the wind? by Christina Rossetti Second Fig by Edna St. Vincent Millay The Swing by Robert Louis Stevenson editing to add: I found a couple more that I like: The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams Afternoon on a Hill by Edna St. Vincent Millay We have a wonderful book called A Family of Poems: My Favorite Poetry for Children by Caroline Kennedy. My daughter has memorized many of the poems in it over the years. I highly recommend it!

We moved over to Teaching Textbooks after Singapore 6B. I needed a program that would teach math to my daughter and that's what works for us.

I just finished a book by Gail Tsukiyama, A Hundred Flowers. I've read almost all of her books, which take place in Japan or China. I love all of Bill Bryson's books. They are all funny and I always learn lots of interesting tidbits. Finally, I'm just beginning A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. As much as I read I cannot believe I haven't read this until now. It is fantastic. None of these are sci-fi or fantasy, but they are all good.