Thanks, I can always put them on the wishlist for the second or third time through the middle ages! (Just like I did with the ancients games...)

I've been getting the holes the past few years. I tend to wear jeans a lot, so yes there are metal buttons. I also don't lean against the countertops. I always just thought it was friction from my jeans in that area combined with the thinness of the shirts... there are rough/hard corners there, the waistband rolls down, my shirt gets caught/stretched, I have to rearrange everything when I stand up, etc.

Does anyone know of any games (board games, card games) that might go with SOTW2? I saw the post for the games that would go along with Ancients, but we're not doing Ancients this year, hence the inquiry about about the Middle Ages!

Those look fun! My wishlist just got longer.

Yes, for a little while. We'll at least do math, and then maybe writing or spelling and whatever else we have time for. We'll stop when DH gets back from his morning walk.

As I am a leftie, :iagree: with this whole post. As far as the smudging, it happens sometimes. It's not a big deal, and I wouldn't bother with the handwashing all the time, but I did learn to slant my paper to avoid it. I just tested it, and I slant my paper about 60 degrees to the right, and then my hand is below everything I write, and I do not cover up what I just wrote. I think anywhere from a 60 to 90 degree slant to the right would work. I think this is what is meant by the post that mentions "extreme slanting." I also think you should let him stick with the vertical letters. I *can* slant my writing to the right, but I mostly don't. As long as they aren't slanting to the left, it will look fine. As far as pens, regular cheap ball point pens such as Bic or Papermate work just fine for me, but if something says "roller ball" on it, I don't know why, but they just don't work for me. It seems I have to hold those exactly straight up and down to get them to write. Papermate was always my favorite for school while I was growing up, and now I have a bunch of Zebra pens which work well too.

Good Earth Original (not decaf). It's the only tea I can drink without adding sweetener, because it's naturally sweet. Otherwise, I like Earl Grey and other black teas, as well as a bunch of herbal teas. To all those I add one spoonful of honey.

I do think we are staying in that range most days. Some days it is only 1 or 2 sentences of copywork or narration. Days that we do AAS dictation it does add a few more, but we usually take one week (5 days) to do one step in AAS, and sometimes even 6 or 7 days, so it is spread out. I do think AAS has helped build up his stamina, and strangely enough he grumbles least about spelling, possibly because it's so routine? I just want to point out that for the narrations in history and WWE, I am currently writing them all, except for Day 4 in WWE where it's a narration/dictation day, so I write his whole narration, and then dictate one of his sentences for him. I am just trying to figure out when I can add maybe a sentence of copywork or dictation to the history narrations. I don't see how WWE and SOTW can be too much narration when I'm doing the writing. I can't imagine only ever writing the narrations from the WWE workbook and never writing SOTW narrations himself? (Not this year, but future years.) I have seen many cautions about boys and fine motor skills on this board, so I understand, but I really do not think it is an issue of fine motor skills for him, since I have always tried to stay within the guidelines for boys. His have always been decent, he uses scissors any chance he gets, and never really had trouble learning to form letters. His has not complained about his hand hurting since kindergarten, as I have always been conscious about having a break after each time he has to write. His issue is that any writing, even one sentence is *too much* because "it takes too long" according to him. In fact, he'd rather not do school at all, because it takes too long and he'd rather play. (It's at this point where I usually point out that if he went to a school building, he'd be there all day, and he should be happy it only takes a couple hours to do school here and has the rest of the time to play.) Okay, this is long, but I am just trying to point out that I really am not trying to be an ogre about this writing thing. It's why I chose WWE, because I liked how they *didn't* have to write so much. I also do think writing words and sentences for spelling is important, because that's when a person needs spelling, when they have to write. I also know that whenever we do move toward him writing part or all of his history narration, that it is going to be a struggle, no matter how old he is, because of his personality, not necessarily because of his fine motor skills. That is why I am asking this question about the history narrations. I want to know what is appropriate for a second (or third, or fourth) grader, because I know that whenever this is introduced, no matter how old he is, he will resist. It's a personality thing. He does not like to work, he does not like to use his brain (he's said this several times), he HATES the words "practice" and "try" because he does not like to do either, he just wants to be able to do things without having to practice, thus he has a tendancy to just give up without even trying. He is also fiercely against growing up, and has been since the age of 2 when he could verbalize it, and more than once has wished he was still a toddler so he wouldn't have to do school. He hates being challenged.

Yeah, I'm all about the writing-related threads today. If he's doing narration at least twice a week in SOTW2 (more if the chapter has more sections) and twice a week through WWE2, is that enough? Am I remiss if I don't have him narrate from supplemental history books, or science books, or literature? Should I endeavor to add perhaps one more narration a week from something else? We are just starting to get into the world of "assigned" reading, and already he doesn't like to be told what to read. I put that in quotes because other than one history picture book, his "assigned" reading so far is picking an approved book from the book basket. I sort of dread telling him to read something *and* give me a narration on it. I tried to give him assigned reading last year and dropped that idea because I wanted him to enjoy reading for fun, which he does. Edit: I forgot to add that right now I am currently writing all of his narrations for him, except for Day 4 in WWE2 where it's a narration/dictation day.

So I was looking over the history section of TWTM again for info on when to start the transition to writing their own narrations, and for second grade it says to write half for him and have him write or copy the other half, moving to having them write the whole thing by the end of the year. That seems like a lot! Then in third it says the narrations should start to resemble one to two paragraph compositions, and in fourth, two to three paragraph compositions. I can't see any of this happening, and doesn't seem to line up with WWE expectations, which we are also doing, either. DS (7.5 years, second grade, doing SOTW2, WWE2, and vehemently opposed to putting pencil to paper) does long history narrations now while I write them (though probably too long sometimes), and I can't see him writing the whole thing down for a long time. There was a Major Writing Freakout last week in regards to possibly writing his own history narrations in the future. (See my thread on the writing stations in AAS for details.) I looked at the writing section in TWTM and it says to have them write down the first sentence of the narration in second grade, and finish the rest for them. This does seem more possible for second grade, if done through copyword or dictation. But when to move onto having them write more of it? I looked at the WWE text and it doesn't seem to have them fully writing their own narrations until the end of Year 4. I am trying to figure out when, and how much, writing to introduce into the history narrations this year for my writing-hating DS (he says it takes too long), and whether it should be by copywork or dictation.

Thanks for the feedback and for reading my long post containing all the thoughts that have been swirling around in my head about this issue. It would be easier if he did like creative writing, then I wouldn't worry, but since he doesn't like writing at all, I might feel like I am forcing him to be creative. (I do think he might like making up silly sentences, though. Maybe.) Although I do like the suggestion that it's not really creative writing, but I'm still not sure. Basically, if the writing station is appropriate, then I want permission to go ahead and make him do it. And if it's not appropriate, then I want someone to tell me that, and give me permission not to do it. *sigh* :tongue_smilie:

I'm trying to figure out if doing the writing station in AAS is appropriate if you generally subscribe to WWE style of writing (meaning, only doing narration, copywork, and dictation at these ages, not original writing). For those who don't know, there is a section called Writing Station that appears after the Dictation Sentences starting about halfway through AAS3 (Step 14). The writing station has five related words, and you're supposed to make up sentences using those words. It does not specify a specific number of sentences, so they could put them into two or three sentences, or even just one sentence if they wanted. We're on Step 12 now, so I need to deal with this soon. It seems that this would fall under creative writing, and might be too frustrating for a 7.5 year old, second grade boy who is just over halfway through WWE2? Then again, I think that they're already given the words, and they just need to make a sentence around them, maybe it wouldn't be so hard. I thought that perhaps he could narrate the sentences to me, and I could dictate them back to him while he writes them down? Hopefully this wouldn't defeat the purpose of the writing station. Some more background is needed: He is not exactly a reluctant writer, but more like Vehemently-Opposed-to-Putting-a-Pencil-to-Paper - Ever! When I asked why, he only says that it takes too long. (He, of course, would rather be playing or playing video games.) For what it's worth, he does not have trouble with forming print letters (he is working through HWT cursive this year, so I am still letting him print for dictation, etc), so the "taking too long" bit really isn't related to the mechanics of forming letters, and he has not complained of his hand hurting in well over a year either. We started school again last week, and on Day 2, he had a Major Writing Freakout. Note, I was not asking him to write anything at the time, I was just getting out some lined paper to write his history narration down, when he said he wanted me to use blank paper. I mentioned to him that he would need lined paper when he started to write part of his narration, and this is when the Major Writing Freakout happened. (He hates writing, it takes too long, and what jobs are there that don't need writing because he's not going to get a job where he needs to write, in fact he is never going to get a job at all, and is going to live at home forever!) I said that he wasn't going to have to write his narration for a while yet, but when he did it would probably only be the first sentence and I would write the rest for him. This information did not quell the Major Writing Freakout. I eventually calmed him down, but you see my hesitation in making him do the writing station, even though I think it would be beneficial in some ways. He does do rather well with dictation, however, and doesn't have much trouble remembering the dictation (he does dictation in AAS and WWE), which is why I thought maybe we could do the writing station narration/dictation style. I just hate to skip part of the program, especially as I don't know if that part is going to evolve over the course of the levels (such as when the dictation phrases evolved into dictation sentences). He, of course, hated when he had to do dictation sentences instead of just phrases, but I do think it has been very beneficial, not only for spelling, but also for stamina, as well as making the dictation in WWE fairly easy for him, since by then he had already been doing it in AAS for a while. I think part of the problem is that he expects everything to be easy and not take very long, so actually having everything be easy and not taking very long sort of backfires for him. He needs to be stretched, even if he hates it, because he will not stretch himself. I must also add, that he picks up on things fairly easily, so it's not so much a matter of competence. He just hates having to use his brain (he has said this) and hates having school time interfere with his playing. He does have to learn to deal with writing sometime though, right? So I am left wondering whether the writing station is appropriate right now regardless of his dislikes. Edit: I wanted to add one more thing. Earlier this year, when doing his history narrations, he started trying to make up details that were *not* in the original passages, to make his narrations funny. This makes me think that maybe he would not mind the writing station so much, if I let him make up goofy sentences, which I would.

My DH was at the hardware store (ACE) and I asked him to pick up some grass seed. He came home with a couple scoops of it in a brown paper bag; I guess they sell it by weight.

Yeah, I wish someone had warned me about that. The whining started at the beginning, when I had the audacity to make him do a full math lesson. (He thought we were going to stop after the first problem?) And then, constant whining/whimpering/crying WHILE I am trying to explain the lesson. He was *not* *listening*. It is NOT okay to make noise constantly when I am trying to explain things. Last Tuesday was no better. It was Day 2, and there was a major writing freakout. (Mind you, I wasn't actually asking him to write anything at the time.) A big bowl of ice cream was consumed. I feel like I need another.

Yep, another month of vacation sounds good. We're starting tomorrow though. I've frantically been reading threads here the past week to try to drum up some motivation. It's worked a tiny bit, but not nearly enough. Summer was just way too short.

We're starting tomorrow too. Second grade. I wish I could say I'm excited...okay, I'm a tiny bit excited, but we just had company here for a week and a half and I want more time off first to relax. (Company stresses me out.) Summer just went too fast! However, I think I'd feel like we were wasting time if we sat around for another week, so tomorrow it is. It doesn't help that DS isn't looking forward to it either. I'm pretty sure that he thinks being required to put pencil to paper (no matter how short the copywork, etc. is) is pretty much the worst thing in the world (aside from having to pick up toys). (Ok, I'm being a little melodramatic, but it's not far off!) (I like parentheses.)

I've crocheted quite a few afghans. I've found that it helps to crochet the initial chain really loosely, but I also like the above suggestion. The afghan doesn't really seem finished without a crocheted edging, to me, anyway. However, what I like to do when I crochet that first row into the chain, is I crochet into the back of the chain, and that makes a nice, neat looking bottom row. It also makes it really easy to crochet into if/when you work the edging.

My 7 year old gets to stay up later if he reads in bed. He would definitely rather read than have lights out earlier! Obviously, the child would have to have a desire to stay up later if this incentive were to work. I also told myself that just looking at the pictures counts too. When he was learning to read, he would do his lesson with me during the day, but for other reading (I would "let" him read in the car, another motivator), he could do whatever he wanted. Looking at pictures eventually became reading a few sentences here and there on interesting pages, which lead to reading the whole book. Science books in subjects he was interested in were a hit. Now, he still prefers picture books or things like Calvin and Hobbes to chapter books, but he has read a few chapter books on occasion. I'm still trying to figure out how to get him more interested in longer chapter books though.

So, I would have answered this post earlier, but I've been too busy with SWTOR since early access to check these boards much. :tongue_smilie: I also still technically play WoW, although I only log on for raids. Also, I find Dragon Soul to be terribly boring and disappointing, so I'm not too thrilled with the game at the moment. Someone here mentioned they play on Scarlet Crusade... I used to play there until I transfered off there with my guild a few years ago. I've played or at least tried quite a lengthy list of MMORPGs since EQ; I won't bother to list them all. Before MMORPGs existed, I played MUDs.

You would think so, but I've been asking this question for years, and I've gotten quite a few different answers!

:iagree:

This is my Very Important Question for this time of year: Which end of the candy cane do you eat first, the straight part or the curved part?

At the end of my knotted rope. Take the knots out. It'll be longer.

*I* played Pokemon when the first Red and Blue versions came out. It's a good (well done) game. We also tried a couple subsequent versions, but it's just more of the same. I have not seen the cartoon in a long time, but I watched it when it first came out and it was cute. If they're going to play a game, it might as well be Pokemon.

I go out with wet hair all the time. I have long hair and trying to blowdry it is a futile effort anyway (it used to take an hour to blowdry in high school, which is a waste of time), so I always let it air dry.