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Lucy the Valiant

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Everything posted by Lucy the Valiant

  1. Lucy the Valiant
    Eggs! (assuming no allergies) For convenience food, you can keep a bunch of hard-boiled ones in the fridge. Even if they're eating 3-4 of them, they're still cheaper than a candy bar.
  2. Lucy the Valiant
    I ordered a few of the audio sale items from Alcazar Audioworks - we're a family that's addicted to audio stories, so those are bargain prices for us. I'm listening to the Abraham Lincoln one right now - one of their freebies. :)
  3. Lucy the Valiant
    Trick: Line your casserole pan w/foil; freeze the dish; pop it out and wrap it in a freezer bag, so that you then have use of your pan while the casserole is "box-shaped" in your freezer. I do cook ahead, often, but I'm not organized enough to do OAMC. When I'm whipping up a batch of something we eat often, I make double / triple the recipe, and then toss the other half in the freezer. We do a lot of casseroles, so having pre-cooked pre-shredded chicken / turkey / ground beef in little ziplock bags is HANDY.
  4. Lucy the Valiant
    Yes, a thousand times, yes! And I thought I'd share a better picture of a little snake cake - I'm snake-o-phobic, and still liked this one. :D
  5. Lucy the Valiant
    Echoing that YES, it does get easier and easier as they get older. (Our identical girls are 8, almost 9. :) ) I promise.
  6. Lucy the Valiant
    The first time someone tried to get my kids to stand in a line, we had 2 problems - one, they didn't even know what a line WAS (the standing kind), and two, she was asking them to "Queue up!" :lol: They were looking around confused . . . knowing they were supposed to be doing SOMETHING, but unable to pinpoint exactly WHAT she wanted them to do. Several years later, it still makes me chuckle.
  7. Lucy the Valiant
    We found out about our twins via the 22 week ultrasound, too! Never in my life will I forget that moment. I'm not gonna lie - twins are hard work, but - the extra work is TOTALLY WORTH the sweetness of having 2 who have always known each other, and who relate to each other like nobody else on earth. It's an amazing and beautiful privilege. CONGRATULATIONS!
  8. Lucy the Valiant
    I was thinking more for a 6yo boy - wondering if there were books about cheetahs / lizards / monkeys / etc. - like the non-fiction readers he loves so much from the library. Hmm. Thank you for the list above!
  9. Lucy the Valiant
    I was a private school teacher before having children, and this is the reason I *VOWED* I would never, EVER home school any future children! :lol: Then a bunch of home schoolers in New England hired me to teach a small class, and I did a complete 180, right there at my kitchen table. (Sorry, I realize that contributes nothing to the original question. I don't think regulation of home schooling improves educational standards AT. ALL., but then - I don't think that's their intent, either.)
  10. Lucy the Valiant
    any ideas?
  11. Lucy the Valiant
    I think this issue is directly related to thread about what has changed in our society . . . when my parents were in school, high school kids drove to school with loaded shotguns in the car, and nobody even locked their vehicles.
  12. Lucy the Valiant
    Another thing is that many laws have changed - I was a relatively peaceful, happy kid, though technically a latchkey kid. If I allowed my children today the "free range" that my parents allowed me, I'd probably be arrested. (Example A: When I was 8-10-ish years old, if my mom needed butter, she'd give me $2, and I'd ride my bike down the street to the grocery, buy it, and ride home. This was in a large city, with average crime rates, and we lived downtown. My own children are growing up in a small town, mostly middle-class, and if I sent my 8yo daughter in to the grocery store by herself to buy butter while i waited in the parking lot, I am certain that some well-meaning individual would call either CPS or the cops or both, though my daughter is perfectly capable of buying butter on her own. Example B: My parents signed up for tennis lessons every summer; we rode our bikes (alone) several blocks to the big city park, paid the college age kid, took the lessons, hung out for a couple of hours, and then rode home. We had free range of a very large neighborhood on our bikes - something my kids could NEVER do now.) Crime rates notwithstanding, the world does seem to have changed significantly, at least from my (albeit limited) perspective.
  13. Lucy the Valiant
    It's traditionally 9th grade in PS.
  14. Lucy the Valiant
    I think I'd like to do something more formal with him, but I've never done anything formal, and I'm trying to decide if it's worth the effort. (I didn't with my olders for penmanship, and it came back to bite me, so I'm nervous now.) What benefits will a formal program give him that just reading won't? We do talk about basic phonics rules - should those be more organized, more structured? What are some good reading programs for a kid who's semi-reading? Should I get a basic one and make him sit through the beginner lessons or jump in half-way? (And why is this so hard for me?)
  15. Lucy the Valiant
    I'm leading a co-op class this year for math games for 1st graders - our list includes: math bingo (both number recognition as well as addition / subtraction) money games (with real coins) Rack-O Uno (surprisingly educational, IMO, for the younger set) Sequence math flashcards with random activity-cards tossed in (i.e., 2+6, 8+1, do 12 jumping jacks, 3+4, touch your 3rd toe with your 4th finger, etc.) ----> sounds really dumb all typed out, but is very funny and popular w/DS6 & friends, LOL time games with clocks dice games (we modify Yahtzee by playing only the top half or the bottom half, usually) Monopoly memory match / concentration
  16. Lucy the Valiant
    I did this with my twin DD8's clothing, and it helped a TON! I was hesitant to get rid of things we might need later in the season, so I stored extras in a bin in the basement, but if they took something out of there, something else had to go back in. I prefer to do laundry every day or two, so they were allowed 4 pants, 5 tops, 2 sweatshirts, 3 pajamas. It was a HUGE improvement, both for me (not having to struggle w/their room being a mess) and for them (easier job finding / choosing clothes). I need to do it again.
  17. Lucy the Valiant
    Or do I need some sort of curriculum? He's 6, reads about average for a 6yo (short books, needs help with bigger words), very resistant to "curricula" but likes REAL books. My plan for 1st grade reading was to check out a tall stack of reading books, hire my 8 year old to play with the 2 year old, and just sit there and have him read to me, every day. Yes, no? Pros, cons? Will I ruin him for life? (He's also going to do 1st grade math, WWE, and whatever else he picks up from his older sisters' classes; my main question is about "reading class.")
  18. Lucy the Valiant
    Oh, I'm going to try that link, too! We have "free" TV w/an antenna, and it never occurred to me that I wouldn't be able to watch the olympics! :( Sad surprise tonight as I snuggled down on the couch with the kids . . . apparently we are not near to any NBC station at all.
  19. Lucy the Valiant
    I just visited Plimoth Plantation last week w/my mom and sister (visiting from out of state), and our family is planning a trip this fall, coinciding with our study in history (I'm VERY excited). I definitely think it's worth it (especially the combo ticket that includes the Mayflower II), but not every year or anything. FWIW, I got free tickets using mycokerewards.com - they are out for this year, but they have had them the last 2 years, so if you're cheap (er, frugal) like me and live in the area, that's a pretty good way to get in, especially if you have friends and family save Coke caps for you (the ticket is a combo ticket for 1 adult and 1 child - pretty good deal). I'm hacking together a mini-unit study on Plimoth right now, and I'm collecting resources - I just love the story of a small band of determined pilgrims doing the near-impossible. Gets me charged up every time, and - in my loftier moments, serves as a metaphor for what I feel like I'm doing with my own children by home schooling them. :tongue_smilie:
  20. Lucy the Valiant
    So because they contribute to perfectly legal organizations that the mayor doesn't like, he should be allowed to block their business from opening in his city? Would that extend to say, a Christian mayor, blocking a LGBT-friendly chicken restaurant?
  21. Lucy the Valiant
    My 2 disclaimers before I'm outta here - 1. I hope my comments have come across as a thoughtful discussion, not a hateful rampage; I have gay friends who discuss this with me all the time, but I realize that that camaraderie may not translate to the internet. I disagree with them, but I don't think they hate me, and they know I don't hate them. 2. It's 3:00am. I must. go. to. sleep. I have such a huge respect for all the home schooling gurus on this site, and I'm tremendously thankful for the advice and tips and links shared here. I don't often enter the political-debate threads (and maybe shouldn't have tonight), but I love WTM and the interesting perspectives shared here. So - good night all. If I have offended you personally, that was not my intention, and I'm sorry for it.
  22. Lucy the Valiant
    No, my argument was that Chik-fil-a has done nothing at all illegal, and is a company that gives millions of dollars to people who are hurting and need the help. To paint them as "rabidly anti-gay" is laughable, when you look at the numbers and the types of people they are helping. (If it's ok for our taxes to fund Planned Parenthood even though they perform abortions, then it should also be ok for a PRIVATE COMPANY to fund organizations that "you" (generic you) find reprehensible, especially because you don't have to participate (unlike the Christians who HAVE to support PP through taxes.) But if the government can force religious organizations to insure people for birth control that they consider immoral, what is to stop the government from forcing those same religious organizations to marry gays? I'd hardly call that a "scare tactic" when the power-grab and enforced-political-correctness is already happening.
  23. Lucy the Valiant
    Except for the health care requirement that the Catholic and Lutheran organizations be required to provide birth control that they believe is un-biblical, right?
  24. Lucy the Valiant
    :)
  25. Lucy the Valiant
    Why do you say that? Here is an LGBT site accusing them of giving $1.9 million dollars in 2010 to charitable organizations that support traditional marriage. Here is Chik-fil-a's own charitable list of giving, identifying a $5 million dollar donation to the College Football Hall of Fame, for a total of charitable giving greater than $6 million in 2010. Consider this: Some Christians oppose funding Planned Parenthood because it funds abortions, which they consider immoral; the argument to justify the tax-funded donations is that Planned Parenthood *also* provides contraception and counseling for women. So those Christians who object to the funding of abortion are told "well, some of the money goes to things you like, so you HAVE TO pay the funding because we said so (gov-funded)." But most of these targeted "anti-gay" charitable organizations that Chik-fil-a supports *primarily* serve to help sick and disabled kids (Children's Healthcare of Atlanta), provide foster homes for kids (WinShape Homes), help hurricane victims (Louisiana State Hurricane Fund), etc. So shouldn't the answer be, "well, it's a private organization, so you DON'T HAVE TO pay the funding, and even then - most of the money is going to things you like!"
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