I will let them win a new game, but even at 2&3, I let them lose. It is important that they learn to lose gracefully at a young age. DS hates to lose. I make sure he has many opportunities to practice losing ;) He beats me some now in his own though.

This has been plenty of practice for us, and it keeps us at a good pace.

My parents have a pool at their house, we are around the water all the time! My cousin had a b-day party for her son at a hotel pool in January. DD needed to go to the bathroom. My mom and aunt and cousins were all watching DS, I took DD to the bathroom. We took off her water wings and walked out of the pool area to the bathroom. When we came out my mom and aunt were in the door way talking. They asked me a question, dd ducked between their legs and walked into the stairs of the pool....no water wings. She walked one step to far and went under. I watched it happen...it was all slow motion. My mom and aunt were looking the other way and did not see it. But I could not get in the pool room because they were still talking to me and blocking the door! I pushed through them and walled into the water but by the time I got there, she had thrashed her way out further in the water. My cousin's 9 year old grabbed her and walked her to me. It was scary!

We have finished three weeks...although today was a sick day and DS only did math. He tried to do more, but he could not focus and was cranky, so I sent him back to bed and he woke up with a fever :( feeling great now though! We have the kitchen and laundry under control. We have hampers in the bathroom and all bedrooms and the kids (and mom and dad ;)) are using them! The kitchen is clean every night for the most part (thanks to dh!). I have decluttered one large cabinet in the kitchen, one bookshelf and the tv area. The living room is clean...except for DH's seed packets all over the floor!! (he has been planting fall stuff for a couple of weeks). My room is clean, and has been for a month!! DD and baby's room is cleanish...she has pulled some toys out and we cannot find the hardware to put the changing table together, to it is in pieces by the crib. DS's room needs work and the front room has become a disaster...again...but we added a piano to the room and have not found a new home for other furniture. I have about two weeks to get it in order to have DS's 7th birthday party here...3-4 boys spending the night after a family cookout and party. School is going well. DS has the schedule down and is good about doing his independent work while I clean a little bit, or feed the baby. Plus, we are really enjoying our new addition! The kids love their baby brother so much and he is starting to respond to them. He is entertained by their craziness! I start back teaching dance in a week. Then, the house will fall apart I am sure!

Homemade lasagne is always better on the second or third day....like chili :) do I all today and repeat it on Sunday.

I wear one or two ponytail or braids to work all the time. I do however teach dance. If I worked in an office, I would style it differently.

Have you tried the lime juice, baking soda, and water...I think that is what it was. I did that for two days and my no was normal. I can't remember what it was....it is in am old post somewhere...

The list some one linked had it as two grade levels per book. Book two is third and fourth grade, I believe. DS can decode at a 7-8th grade level, but his comprehension was not that high. I picked some random passages in higher level books amd he struggled. I finally decided to start in book two. He reads a lesson a day to me, then I ask the questions, we discuss and review any words he struggled with. We also look at words in conyext for definitions

I have a basket with towels rolled up in it in my bathroom. Mine does not hold all of my towels, but neither does my linen cabinet. You could store excess towels in a rubbermaid under bed box, or a nice trunk. I like the way.the basket of rolled towels looks :)

Craigslist has been my best friend! If my mom had not married my dad....she would be a hoarder! My dad likes to get rid ofeverything! She passed the need to keep everything on to me. I am working on cleaning out. I fight against DH on somethings. I set things on my curb, put an add on Craigslist and wait an hour....then it is gone!

Don't push it. The more I push the less my son wamts to read. When I don't push, I find that he Is reading on his own. He reads aloud to me for 5 minutes a day, one lesson from the mcguffey reader. He must read on his own in the morning to earn video game time. I stopped requiring a specific time and he is now reading longer. 30 minutes reading aloud is a lot for me to do. That has to be exhausting for a 6 year old.

Forget the pack n play, baby sleeps with you at your destination? This is what we have done if hotels don't have one, or if we can't borrow one.

Aidan: Sept 2005, 2nd grade, will graduate at 17 Lilly: Feb 2008, pre-k, will graduate at 18

Honors English, 15 years ago: Heart of Darkness Crime and Punishment Three others that I cannot remember.... eta: I remember one more...As I lay dying Hamlet MacBeth Merchant of Venice Richard III Oedipus and one other, it runs together with college and masters work.. Death of a Salesman Crucible Song of Solomon- just me, we each had to pick from a list for our analysis paper. Excerpts or Canterbury Tales, a lot of poetry that I don't remember.

A police officer rang our doorbell at 11:30 one night last week. They were looking for a man and asked if he lived here or was staying here. DH said no, but the police asked to see his id, just to be sure. He showed the id and they left. It was weird amd a little scary!

Congrats!!

Thanks!! It was still free this morning!

Worst recovery was my first - 8 lbs 9 oz, c-section Second was 8lbs 13 oz, Vbac, recovery was not bad. Third 9lbs 11, Vbac, I was definately sore for longer after him!

Congrats!!!

I am so glad I know how to cook and sew. I wish I knew how to read music better. I can play yhe piano, buy my sign reading skills are awful!!! It takes a long time to learn a new song above the advanced beginner level :) but, I am teaching my kids and I hope the review of notes, scales, keys signatures and other basic theory will help me play better :)

Not the books I read and I have ead over half of them. She has a long-term boyfriend who is at college. I don't recall much beyond a kiss. I definitely don't recall her being "boy crazy." I like to pick one up every now and then as an adult for a very light quick read. I can finish one in a few hours. I read the first 6-7 as a fifth grader I think. I got bored with the formula of the books and did.not read one for a few years. I will let my DD read them when.she is older.....and knows how to read ;)

DS was very cooperative today, and motivated. We finished school in record time!

We are. It is just our third week and we start co-op on Thursday. We have to do 4 days a week during coop weeks to finish Latin and Bible weekly lessons. We only do math and reading on co-op days.

DD 4.5 wants to read. She has begged for school for two years. Last year we did a letter a week, made a lap book for her alphabet and colored a lot. This year,we are using a bunch of dollar workbooks now, when we finish we will use the r&s ABC books. She is currently using a sequencing.book and she does great with that. It is Curtis.g and pasting pictures in order. She is getting better at counting and associates numbers with a group of objects. By sight up to five, counts 6-10 but does.confuse numbers some. She seems to struggle with letters. I say.seems, because she "seemed" to struggle with colors, but I realized she was just playing MC showing he personality! I asked her to point to the red block in a bunch.of blocks. Her finger hovered across the.blocks stopped over red, she turned her head to look at me, smiled, and without looking pointed to a different block! So with reading.....we are using 100ez lessons, she get excited when we get it out. We will do the.same lesson three days in a row. One day she will get all the letter sounds, the next, she will co.fuse them all. With words, she will sound out the words perfectly, but when it comes time to blend, she will just say a random word. We will do it slowly together and she will get it. Yesterday, I tried.the book in a different position. She said It was "too close" I moved it back and.then she struggled less. I have not noticed squinting or struggling to see anything. I thought I might try and get her eyes checked, bit how do they do that of she cannot id all the letters on the chart yet? Do they have a way to test.non-readers? Right now she still mixes up b, d, F, P, B,D, and other similar letters even when she.can.see them. So...do I het her eyes checked, or is this just her being silly again??

I dont spend near the amount of time suggested for grammar stage. I have curriculum that is working.g well for us. DS is retaining g a lot, I am very pleased with his progress. We do 1 lesson a day generally. If that takes 10 minutes, it takes 10 minutes. Our day is Lo.her than it was last year because we added three subjects. I do not required time, just conplete. Best, and correct work. If he can do the math quickly and correctly, he gets to be done.