:iagree: You sound like a great mom.

..."Hmmm? How can you say someone is great who's never had his picture on bubblegum cards"

:iagree:I don't like anything that Obama has done so far, but wow I actually feel somewhat sorry for him too. He must know how odd this looks. He would gain an ounce or two of respect from me if he refused it.

I don't know whether you have any experience with French yourself, so I'm not sure how this suggestion would work for you but I've been looking into what is called TPR. (Total Physical Response) You would be able to teach it if you have a basic understanding of French, and can read and pronounce it. It is basically teaching foreign language by using commands that you first act out with the student and then keep giving commands while gradually adding recombinations with new vocabulary. Its strengths are that you can use it for ALL ages because it is not about reading and writing, it apparently has a very high success rate and it is a lot of fun because you (and the students when they are ready to speak) can give silly commands as you recombine the vocabulary. e.g. Put the pencil on your nose and hop. One teachers guide, (there are a few by different authors) which has a full teachers script is Total Physical Response in First Year French by Francisco Cabello. Good luck. :)

I would highly recommend The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis. It is a Caldecott Honor book. The author grew up in Czechoslovakia and just happened to be friends with some of the youth who were instrumental in the Prague Spring of '68. Sis is an artist and this is written as an artists journal of his youth. I thought it was fabulous.

This is the same kind of answer I would give. I used to teach tennis and just in case you would like to stay with just tennis, I would encourage you start them with volleys. Volleys are the small shots from the net that have no backswing, it's just a small punch. (I'm assuming you don't know all this. so sorry if this is talking down to you.) This is a proper way to start because it gives them great immediate success and teaches them that swinging isn't the most important part of tennis, rather it's control. All you do is have them stand a few feet away from the net, keeping their racket up and toss the ball close to the center of their racket. After that you move on to mini-tennis, which is just hitting back and forth but standing at the service line so, again, you are not taking a big backswing, just a follow-through, it's all about control and usually kids love it because they can see they are keeping the ball in play, having an actual rally. When I taught tennis, we started them this way and then gradually moved them further and further back until they were hitting groundstrokes from the baseline. Feel free to pm me if I can be of any help. Good luck.

Wow, your "tone" sounded to me like "hey, let's have a little humility around here." I thought you very accurately pointed out the insulting nature of the first post and finished with just a proper admonition.

Fabulous news. :hurray:I remember a while back that you posted that you were close to this. You must be so proud. I can't help but wonder/fantasize about how this can change your life.:party:

Great game - thanks for sharing!

What a great school!! So glad for you. I don't suppose you will be inviting us all to visit?.. in rotation of course, we wouldn't want to overwhelm you. :001_smile:

OK first... WOW! You're a great writer, every time I see articles like that they are filled with nothing yet they somehow take up two pages and make me feel a few days older. Your article was succinct and actually full of information. Sincerely, I thought it was a nice read. Glad you shared it. :) Aside, I thought your blog name was a description of you, "lively," not your last name. I got it now.

I'll be praying for you. I'm so sorry this has happened. :grouphug:

:seeya: Hi Kate, glad to have you.

I've been wondering to myself if you'd arrived yet. How exciting! How nice of you to send an update. Hope you enjoyed all your flights... except the lack of sleep part of course. :lurk5:

Smith College then finished at Colorado State University. Smith College had some wonderful traditions, Friday afternoon tea and Thursday night candlelight suppers. CSU was weird. They called me a non-traditional student just because I was married already and yet they still wanted to know my parent's income to consider for financial aid! Huh?!

Um........ no, I'm the same. (Except for the Mac & Cheese thing, I got that down.) I bought the book for the same reason, (listed in WTM) and although everything seemed way too advanced for my ds, what I really liked was that they told you what. to. do. for. each. exact. week. And yes, searching on the internet is a big black whole for me too! This list idea is very well done. My most hated books are those that are titled, "1001 Ideas For How to..."

Congratulations! :party:What an exciting adventure! :thumbup:

Thanks for the list. Here are two more. Planning/Forms/Papers/Worksheets: Home School Incorporated - Free Web-Based Planner http://www.home-school-inc.com/ Homeschool Tracker Basic Edition - Free Downloadable Planner http://www.homeschooltracker.com/tracker_basic.aspx

I don't know if this is quite what you mean, but we used a series called Muzzy from Early-Advantage and the BBC. They have German, Spanish and many other languages. We purchased all our sets pretty reasonably on ebay but then our library also bought them so you might check yours. HTH

I say "go" too. I cannot imagine a MIL, who has a son about to be deployed, who wouldn't want to help her DIL get ready for all that. If she isn't that kind of MIL, I think you should still do it and rely on hubby. As far as social norms, trying to get relaxed before having to take on all the parenting duties by yourself sounds like a very normal thing to do. You sound smarter than me.

That is incredible, what a future you're building!! :hurray: :cheers2: I know it is hard, but please try not to think about the lack of affirmation, YOU KNOW that that is a great accomplishment. What in the world is all the economy mess about anyway, but people not having a responsible handle on their finances?! Anyway, if you had a huge house, perhaps your dad might be lamenting how you'd sunk yourself in too deep. I have a small house as well, sometimes I wish it were bigger and then I think about how much time it would take to clean it! :001_smile:

About five years ago I stumbled upon The French Diet by Michel Montignac. I lost the weight I needed (I had also lost weight because of extended nursing so I can't give you an exact figure but with the two it was about 35 pounds.) I have been able to keep it off during this time. The French Diet is, of course, how the French eat. The book teaches about the glycemic index, (M. Montignac is in the forefront about this and many sources don't seem to get this information correct.) and this helps you how to understand which foods are good for you/good for weight loss, which are not and how to prepare them so that will be best for your body and taste fabulous. There is a losing weight period where there are foods that you avoid entirely but in the maintenance section you can then introduce most foods back and learn how to manage the really obvious "bad for you foods" that you want periodically. Once I understood the method, I could see how previously I had just had all the wrong information about which foods were good for my body and weight and which were not. The best part has been the food, I really LOVE what I eat. I also love that I am doing real cooking and I've learned a lot about why we all love French food, they know how to bring out the best flavors and combinations. A side benefit has been that my kid eats things that I think most his age, five, do not, like brussel sprouts and asparagus, and that is probably because he thinks of them as normal because he sees us eating them all the time. Funny though, we make great sauces to go on them and he just eats them plain. (OK maybe he is just odd, I don't know!) I hope you find a plan that works for you. If you or anyone has any questions about The French Diet feel free to pm me. :)

:iagree: We co-sleep and so did my sister's family. I think it just makes kids into cuddly sleepers who prefer the presence of someone while they sleep. My nephews are 16 and 13, fabulous boys, and they still sleep with her whenever they feel like it. Your daughter sounds wonderful. I think it sounds like a great plan, they won't get to do this when they're adults.

Congratulations!!:hurray:

My dh works at a golf course and he found a cool idea - steppable herbs that smell great when you walk over them. They are great for planting around stepping stones.