They found bedbugs at one of the local libraries....I have not been to that branch in a while, but we get books ion inter library loan all the time.....I will be avoiding the library for a while.

I am proud do be and A Dee Pi! I pledged second semester of my freshman year. My grades did not drop, I did not become a drinker and a partier; but I had an AMAZING group of friends and lots of fun activities and opportunities for leadership. If your kids are solid in their values and beliefs before heading off to college, they will get all the benefits of the Greek System, but not go off the deep end. I am still close to my roommate and two other girls from the house (close friends), my "big" and I keep up on Facebook and at reunions. I would wholeheartedly support my daughter joining a sorority. Pros: Opportunities to gain leadership experience EXTENSIVE practice in interview and presentation skills (you can't find another experience like Rush/Recruitment to practice these skills!) Life long friendships A support system of students in all majors and years, you can generally find someone who took a class with the professor you have if you need some help. Mandatory study hall hours. Lots of fun activities - homecoming, dances/parties, Greek competitions. Amazing networking - alumni are VERY supportive of other members of their house, even from other universities. Cons: It can be time consuming There are some kids who go Greek for the parties Hazing is illegal and a Panhellenic will pull a charter if they learn about it. There was NO hazing in my house. I loved living in the house. We had an awesome house mom, a Christian, who led a morning prayer meeting and a weekly Bible study for anyone who wanted to join. She did etiquette lessons each Monday at formal dinner and made us yummy homemade meals 12 times a week. (3 days was cold breakfast). Our dues and room and board cost less than the room and board to live in the dorms. Definitely less than getting my own apartment. That paid for 12 hot meals, two cold breakfasts, a stocked snack room, a double occupancy room, dues for the house, cable in the tv room, and maintenance on the house. We paid for our own phone line if we wanted one (and you needed it to have internet at the time). So I paid about $450 per month plus I split a $20 phone line with my roommate. Dormrooms were $450ish, plus the meal plan (our food was MUCH better :D) My sisters sang to DH and I at my wedding, I cried.

I hate alcohol, but I LOVE Mud Slides!! TGIFridays has a mix, but I prefer the Kalhua (SP?) mini bottles. Sometimes I drink to, but most of the time I get a four pack and enjoy them over four days. I get some every couple of months. Yummy stuff! I also love to sip straight Ammaretto. You have to get the expensive kind - DiSarinio. The cheap stuff is exactly that - cheap!

Me too. I hope to add my vote in a few weeks....we shall see.

Here is ours. It is mainly pictures from our field trip to the fair this weekend. But we had A LOT of fun!! I will be posting at least two more times this weekend - we have the wildlife expo tomorrow and a party on Sunday. I cannot believe my boy is 6 today!!!

Phonics - I have a VERY informal workbook we use a few times a week. It is just to review some of what he knows and reinforce some harder concepts (hard and soft g and c, silent e). We have a set of flashcards with the vowel spellings. We use them occasionally. We have worked through the spellings of long a and i with these. Not a daily activity. More of a "I need to answer the phone, do this worksheet quickly" activity. Spelling - 3 days a week when we do lists, 4-5 days a week when we do dictation. We alternate weeks - list study week 1, dictation from list week 2. We use Spelling Plus and the Dictation book. Grammar - Daily, mostly oral. I make worksheet pages for him to correct sometimes. Handwriting - Dictation is his handwriting practice in those weeks, 2-3 times a week from Copywork in the spelling list weeks. We have not started cursive yet. We may start in January, then we will do handwriting worksheets more regularly. I remind him that all of his writing should be his best work. Copywork - done in spelling list weeks. But not daily. Reading - Daily, he reads 15-30 minutes silently each day. He also reads aloud from his grammar lesson daily. We do story time at bedtime regularly. Narration - Daily. He must come and tell me about what he read. And he narrates back to me after history or science readings. Sometimes it requires more questions from me, but he is getting better. **I combine a lot of things. I think any written work should be considered handwriting practice. I think narration can be practiced with content subjects and silent reading practice. Integrating LA into other subjects makes it less painful. It does not seen like an extra subject or more work to do. It becomes less busy work, too.

I start teaching MacBeth to my co-op class in a few weeks...it has been a LONG LONG LONG time since I read Dante...just ordered my copy to read and be ready for discussions! I will recommend it as supplementary reading for those taking the class for credit. Thanks :)

I was not suggesting your standards weren't or that you should test because they are so low...I am just in shock at what they deem satisfactory. Is this what the expect from the PS kids before passing them to the next grade? If so...wow! My son took the first grade test in kindergarten and scored stanine 8 or 9 on all but one area. They just don't expect much of the kids in PS. That is a big problem in the system, expectations!

A six year old is not supposed to be tough. And it is okay for boys to cry. It is okay for men to cry. This idea of being tough is ridiculous! Kids in PS aren't necessarily tough. They might be scared to show their feelings because the kid who admitted he was scared of Harry Potter got teased! Some kids don't feel that they can tell anyone how they feel. They have a different teacher every year and for some kids, they see that teacher more than any other adult in their lives. But, at the end of the year, that teacher is gone. Tough and strong are not the same. A child can be "soft" and strong. They can be open about their feelings while being a person of strong character who can stand up for what they believe. This is what I want for my children.

"Standardized Tests: Only for parents choosing Option I, and only if the child was 6 or older by Sept. 30." This looks like you don't need tests for anyone not yet 6 on that date. BUT you do have to report if they are 5, even parents who plan to use PS must report if their five year old will be starting a year late. And they only have to score in the 23rd percentile on the tests....My standards are much higher than that...

Keep everything needed to change either child in a basket by the couch. Have someone stock you up on frozen individual meals, bread, peanut butter and jelly. You lay on the couch and snuggle the new baby, let the other 3 take turns picking tv shows or movies to watch. 7 year old can start microwave meals (my 6 year old can make himself chicken nuggets and has been known to make lunch for his sister as well. He can also do PBJ. Get Twister....teach all three how to play it, you spin, they play - you get entertainment ;) Do you have a 10-12 year old neighbor who wants to learn about babysitting? Could they come be your "mother's helper" for a few days. Just have her come over after school for a few hours, or for the afternoon tomorrow so you can take a nap or just sit in another room and read/relax. You will be home, she would just be playing with the kids so you could rest.

We would travel, that would cover a nice educational trip overseas ;)

We are really enjoying RS4K. We are doing Biology this year. I am taking it slow and using the whole book for a year instead of half a year. We are supplementing a little bit. But as we take it slow I can really make sure he is remembering the highlights of each section.

I am using the US edition. I am always confused by the posts that say to ise IP and CPW a year behind, we use them all at the same time without issue. If Ibsaved level two for next year, he would be bored with them. The IP is not that much harder than the wkbk. If they say that because theubarebin standard edition....I will stick with US. I heard something about thenpics in SE being cartoon, I cannot imagine what that wpuld be, I feel like US is cartoon and my DS is not crazy about the pics in that one. I don't need the HIG, even for higher level math; I could teach through algebra without anything but am answer key. So I am fine with the hig. I think it has some good ideas for games and such. Again. I compared some hig pages and did not see much difference. I like the US edition and we will stick with it. The SE was written to match CA state math standards. The US edition matches the original standards.

I was frustrated by the comment about hsers being soft. Then he asked if they had ever failed a course....isn't that one reason to hs. Our kids LEARN the material. If we test or grade, it is to find weak spots and fix them, not to fail them and move on. My son has plenty of opportunities to fail in life. Academics should not be one of those failures. Maybe DS is "soft" he is six, why does he need to be rough and tough right now?

Some things, if well written, are worth the read even with questionable material. I would not have a 4th grader read it; but a late jr high or high school aged student should be able to handle the language and adult content. I don't use questionable language, but I don't steer clear of books that include it. My son is not allowed to use certain words, but as he gets older he will read Shakespeare and other classic pieces of literature that contain those words.

Same here. It is not incredibly sturdy, but it will last long enough to be worth the price. Target had some cool colors before school started back...but they wold out before I made it to buy one:glare:

Writing. Writing and having it proofread by someone else. I have done this for my master's and for anything that we send home with students at the studio. I make LOTS of errors in first drafts. I am, however, now really good at spotting errors. I also know a lot of rules that I did not remember from school.

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies and Cream Or, if I need a big fix (because I MUST eat the whole pint)...Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie.

EEEEK! YES!! DS thinks it looks cool, I think DH would like one :001_huh:

:lol: I have a feeling we need a review of the 10 Commandments....

Me: Go to the bathroom and brush your teeth. DS: (sits) Me: Go to the bathroom and brush your teeth. DS: (sits) Me: Go to the bathroom and brush your teeth! You don't want to be grounded for your birthday tomorrow, do you? DS: (gets up) I can't be grounded on my birthday. DH and Me: Yes, you can. DS: No! I can't....(walking to bathroom) It's one of God's rules! :svengo:

It would depend on: 1. Can I sell the house I currently live in? 2. With sale of house, can I nearly pay for the new house? 3. Is new house big enough to house family? 4. What is the difference in acreage? If I was two years from paying off a house that was a good size and on an acreage, I would need to say "yes" to all three of the above and have a significant difference in acreage. Do you farm? Garden? Keep large farm stock? Why do you need the extra land? If it is going from the city to the country, yes I would. One piece of land to another....probably not, unless I loved the house and location a lot more than my current space.

Katie - my SIL is Katherine and I have called her Katie since we met in 7th grade.

My babysitter when I was young used to blast "Joy to the World" (not the Christmas song) anytime we needed to clean...not classical, but I cannot hear that song without getting the urge to clean. I suppose I should try some Wagner tomorrow...I generally play Tchaikovsky, that does not lead to cleaning...just waltzing about the living room;)