I can't say I was actually taught with them, but I did play with C-rods for hours at a time along with my siblings. I have no idea how much impact that did or did not have, though I had a very solid understanding of basic math concepts.

I agree with almost everything here, especially the part about addressing underlying issues. I find that both children and parents most often act out when they are tired, hungry, etc.. Also be aware of how a child is responding to particular foods--I have one child who needs to eat a gluten free diet or her behavior becomes unmanageable. Obviously this is not the child's fault. I don't quite agree with the above poster that is always better to control the structure of a situation rather than spank. I do not spank often, but I have occasionally found this to be a useful tool in teaching a young child. Here's an example: I once had a toddler who hated, hated, hated being constrained--would scream if buckled into a stroller, and would fight hand-holding. This child went through a phase of running out into the street when we were on family walks--he thought this was a fun game. I tried many times and ways to teach him to stop what was obviously unsafe behavior, with no effect. Finally after an incident I looked him in the eye and said: :"if you run into the street you will get a spanking." He of course promptly ran off into the street. I picked him up and spanked him sharply (once) on the backside. He wailed for 30 seconds, I told him again that if he ran into the road he would be spanked, and I put him down. He never once ran into the road after that, and we were able to enjoy our family walks again. Of course I can't guarantee that this procedure would work with every child--in fact I will guarantee it would NOT work with many children. But for this particular child in this particular circumstance I cannot think of a more effective NOR a kinder way to proceed. Having freedom to walk freely was extremely important to him, to restrain him (in a stroller etc.) would not have been better from his perspective than a spanking. And unfortunately it would not have taught the lesson he needed to learn--not to run into the road. A spanking given immediately has the advantage of being connected directly to the behavior needing correction, it is immediate and also quickly over. Some methods of discipline (such as time out) don't always work with young children exactly because they occur over a longer period of time--minutes rather than an instant--and in that time the child becomes upset about the consequence and forgets the connection to prior behavior. As children get older their ability to reason and to understand the concept of consequences increases, and we have more options for teaching and for discipline. I don't recall ever spanking a child over age 4-5. I would also not spank an infant. Most of my children have never been spanked more than a handful of times, some may never have been spanked. I have however found this to be a useful tool in my parenting toolbelt when I couldn't make other tools work. If you are in tune with your children you will probably have a sense of whether or not spanking is a useful tool or would traumatize a particular child; this really varies from child to child (as your own and your husbands' experiences indicate). I got spanked quite a bit as a child--it rolled off my back and doesn't even register among the traumatic bits of childhood. My younger sister was never spanked because, as my parents said, all they had to do was give her a disapproving look and she would dissolve into tears. Be aware of your child and their needs and responses, and let that guide your parenting decisions. Discipline in my opinion should not be punitive in nature--it should be used to teach, and you will want to pick the methods that help your particular child learn most easily (which will usually be methods that the child understands and that don't cause excessive stress for that child; stress inhibits learning). Some general thoughts regarding parenting: Expect that some of the things you think you have all planned out will change. You don't yet know the temperament and personality of your child(ren), nor do you know how you and your husband will respond to the challenges of raising children. You may, for example, decide to co-sleep, only to find that you are not able to sleep with a baby in your bed. Or you may decide to have your child sleep in a crib, only to discover that Baby has other plans and cries all night unless snuggled next to you. Be skeptical of parenting advice--there really is no method of parenting that will work with every set of parents and every child. Be particularly skeptical of black and white sounding advice from people who have either no children or one or two children (these seem to be the ones who are most convinced they know all the answers). Just because method x worked for child y does not mean it will work for every child. I like to talk about parenting with mothers who have raised six or more children--not because they having it all figured out but because they have enough experience to realize that they don't have it all figured out! The only hard and fast rule I would give regarding discipline is to discipline yourself. If you (or your spouse) are agitated and angry you are not capable of effectively teaching and disciplining children. Obviously you must respond to a situation where someone is in immediate danger, but beyond that it is perfectly OK to take a time out for yourself before addressing a discipline issue with a child. "Discipline" delivered in anger will only activate your child's self-preservation instincts, and will not teach them better self-control or decision making skills. Beyond that, I try to build strong positive relationships with my children, they lay a foundation for teaching when necessary. This is a good book: http://www.amazon.co...itive parenting Congratulations to you and your husband! You are starting an exciting and challenging adventure. You are clearly off to a good start as you are considering and discussing parenting choices together. Keep studying and discussing and adapting as needed, I am sure you will be great parents. --Sarah (edited because I realized I left one paragraph unfinished)

I keep looking at this as well, I would love to hear more reviews.

I sometimes take notes as a way of helping myself focus on what is being said, and to help me remember any personal impressions or thoughts that come to mind during the service. Encouraging children to take notes--or even draw relevant pictures for younger ones--is also a good way to help them pay attention to what is being said during church.

Randy Miller of Miller Pads and Paper passed away unexpectedly while setting up for a convention in Florida this morning. I thought it would be nice to support his family through donations or making purchases from their business: http://hedua.com/in-memory-of-randy-miller/

My kids narrate like this; I love listening in. Some of them also narrate their games in song--it's like living in a musical.

No help here. My kids stop napping before age 3, but I do put them to bed early.

Welcome to the community! We have a fair number of people homeschooling internationally, if you post your question about umbrella schools on the General Education board you might get more responses. I've never been to Romania, but my brother lived there for a couple of years and truly loved the country.

OK, I considered posting this in the LDS Beehive, but I thought it was funny enough to share with a larger group. "The Word of Wisdom" in LDS-speak refers to a revelation outlining principles of health (including abstaining from alcohol, tobacco, etc.). Someone has taken that document and made up a "Word of Internet Wisdom" following the same general outline --well worth consideration in our modern times :D http://bycommonconsent.com/2013/05/20/the-word-of-internet-wisdom/

Well, my experience in French schools is two decades old, but I remember a boy in my class who had definite ADHD tendencies--he was constantly getting yelled at and even slapped in school. I don't think that solved any underlying issues.

Don't have one (yet) but wish I did...

Thanks for sharing.

I think it would be fine to wait and teach long division in 4th grade. You wouldn't necessarily need to switch curriculum--just skip over the long division bits and come back to them when you are ready. If it helps, I used base 10 blocks to explain the algorithm: http://growingwisely.com/2013/04/06/long-division-with-manipulatives/

Generally agree. Unfortunately something else that has changed in the culture of litigation. In the past, if a child was injured while trespassing on someone else's property (especially after being warned against such behavior) the property owner would not likely be hauled into court in a lawsuit. In our day that is all too likely. I detest that aspect of our culture but it is all too real and needs to be taken into account. I don't think I would jump to involve the authorities, I would first make every attempt to deal directly with the family, and probably put up no-trespassing signs. If such efforts were unsuccessful I would call the police. There is another aspect to this situation: if these children are not being taught to respect the property and rights of other people, there is a good chance they will eventually get in a lot more trouble--the kind where police involvement is inevitable. Better to teach them (hopefully with their parents' reinforcement) now. We had a situation once where neighbor children (preteens) broke into our home when we were out of town and caused significant damage that could have been a lot worse (among other things, they were playing with matches and lighting paper on fire in the house). We were friendly with the families involved and chose to deal with the situation ourselves (with complete support from the children's parents). After serious discussions and appropriate consequences had been meted out I felt confident those kids had learned to respect the property of others--a lesson that badly needed to be learned, and none too soon.

Hi Amira, I just came across this post. I attended similar schools in two Latin American countries, and have siblings who attended school in a third. In two of those cases my parents ended up pulling most or all of the children out of the school within a year. Generally, the education was sub-par and the social atmosphere was caustic. Arriving after the school year starts makes things worse. High school wasn't as bad as middle school (socially). Honestly, if homeschooling has been working for your family I would stick with it. Please PM me if you would like to discuss more of my family's experiences.

This may very well happen--I just tested several Google queries including the words "antonym" and "strawberries" and this thread showed up on the first page (and sometimes at the top of the page) in all of them... Here's a letter drafted by the parent of a 6th grader whose child was given a similar assignment to come up with antonyms for words which have none. Just in case this teacher is open to being educated, here is a nice explanation of types of antonyms that would actually benefit her students: http://www.k12reader.com/synonyms-and-antonyms/ Adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions commonly have antonyms, nouns most often do not.

That was awesome! (The rest of his talk was great, too.)

:iagree: Though I wouldn't personally want the job of designing performance outfits that could look decent on every different body type.

Thanks for the encouragement :) I haven't made much time for blogging lately, but it would be fun to do more posts about hands' on math. A few that I have done in the past are linked here.

I voted cats, but only because they are easier to take care of. I love dogs as well, but right now my baby/toddler/preschooler make all the puppy-style mayhem I can handle. I think it really comes down to what pets you are most yearning for.

I loved every talk this morning. I can't wait to listen to them all again.

I just posted a demonstration of the long division using base ten blocks on my blog. I thought I'd post over here in case anyone else has a child who is struggling to understand what they are actually doing when they go through the long division algorithm. The sample I posted was a pretty easy one, but the same procedure could be used with any long division problem (well, it would be harder with more than three digits unless you have a much more sophisticated manipulative set than I do).

Your way looks familiar to me--I think that's how they did it in France? I never learned that way as I was in 6th grade when we moved to France and math in school was beyond long division. I just remember seeing it and being confused because I was used to the American way.

If she's going to wear the shirt over could she wear a sports bra or something underneath whatever suit she likes?

Yes, but not today because my toddler fell asleep with his head on my right arm. I was sustaining mentally though :)