How ironic! I just posted about my dd turning 8. I feel the same. When did I blink??? My oldest will be 14 next month. I'm wondering the same about her. I can't imagine them married. :grouphug: My dh told dd's that they had to stop growing. The youngest just told him she couldn't help it, God keeps making her grow:D I'm with you. They just need to stop that! I think I'd cry at the wedding anyway:grouphug:

My baby girl is 8 today. :( How DOES time travel so fast? She was such a stinker! Now she's a caring little squirt though she's still really full of life and energy. She had a unicorn party with 5 friends. She hasn't had a "big" party in years and she's was bouncing off the walls. She's playing with her new Forest House Playmobil. I'm pooped. Just stopped in to change my sig line and veg out briefly before falling into bed. 8! Unbelievable! Thanks for listening.

I was thinking about posting a similar thread. I don't watch the news and don't like to know what's happening...too much for me (plus my parents watch enough for all of us). I'm not sure WHY I keep looking at the threads. They only make me angry...hence, why I don't watch the news. Ugh! The only good thing that has come of this is the fact that I knew who Sarah Palin was when my dh told me that's who McCain picked:001_smile:

Hi my name is Angela, but everyone calls me Angel, and I'm a WTM forum addict:lol: I couldn't resist :D I'm so glad your first day went well. We are in our 2nd week and dd13's new workload is grueling...only because we are used to being done at 1:00 with everything but reading...and she's hating her 1st Sonlight reader:glare: By the way, I do LOVE your avatar. Jack would get my vote in a heartbeat. He knows how to deal with everyone!!

I may be naive, in fact, I probably am. I like to stick my head in the sand and not listen to all the bad things that are going on in the world around me. I know more about McCain and Obama than I ever really wanted to know, thanks to you all. Frankly, it is disturbing. What I am wondering is this...if we support bans only on assualt weapons (or any weapons), and word it so that we are doing the ban to keep it out of criminals hands, is this ban really for criminals or for the common public. I guess this has always confused me. Aren't criminals, well, criminals? Are they not going to find away around the laws to obtain their weapons? That is what they do for a living, is it not. I've always wondered about this and maybe you all can enlighten me. I've always assumed (I know, it's bad to assume) that bans on weapons would not protect us from those who know the back alley way of obtaining those weapons in the first place.

6 years here. I was COUNTING on a shorter labor :D Dd#1 was 22 hours (pushed for 4). Dd#2 was 17 hours (pushed for 2), so it was shorter. I was hoping for one of those 2 hour births that I have heard so much about:D I think my body is just no good at giving birth.

I totally understand. Enjoy your chocolate. I am in the same exact boat as you. I bought a Dove Dark Chocolate bar at the grocery store and even managed to save some for tomorrow!

From what I just read, remember I'm no expert, avocados are ok. Organic butter is the best. Almonds are great, if you can get them "live" or sprouted they are even better. I read that almond butter or sunflower butter (weird!) is good for you. Still no fried food:001_smile: Maybe someone else will have better info!

This gives me hope. I have about 10-15 from 3 years ago waiting to be developed. We were going through a really lean time and I didn't want to spend the $$. However, photography is my hobby and I still had to document all those special occasions. I really need to develop some. I have a roll from a year ago when my dd went to Build a Bear with her best friend who has now moved to Africa. The problem is I don't know which one that is in the pile:glare: I hope mine turn out as well!

I just read "The Great Physicians RX to Health" and am browsing through "The Maker's Diet" both by Jordan Rubin. I would agree about the controversy over healthy fats. These books are really giving me insight in that area. I am amazed at the foods that are healthy, whole foods for your body. If I remember right, you are secular, but I think that you could ignore any religious references in the books and get good information from them. I'm actually waiting to have an errand down by the Health Food store so I can try extra virgin coconut oil. :D Good luck!

Totally enough! She's five...her main job should be enjoying being five. (This from a mom who learned the hard way with #1;))

Celebrating with you! :hurray:

My dd has Asperger's. We never suspected that. What first got us going was her sensory issues. When we got her checked for that, they suspected Asperger's and sensory issues and anxiety fall under that umbrella. I can understand not wanting to label, but for us, it has made a world of difference to know that there IS a why behind her actions. The things that jump out at me from your list are -immature in a naive way...is he socially immature? -never learned to ride a bike...gross motor difficulty -writing that looks like a 2nd grader's...fine motor difficulty -get very, very distracted -feels stupid when he can't do things Does he have problems in social situations? Especially ones that are new to him? How about making friends? The others could very well be sensory issues, which could fall under a variety of things. My dd learned to ride her bike VERY late. She now loves it, but it took a while. My dd had horrible handwriting. She is beginning to improve but that's because she's older now and a girl and is finally thinking about it. But she used to get upset with herself for not being able to write nicely. Is he distracted by daydreaming or distracted by everyday noises we tune out...sibling breathing too loud, lights to bright, itching clothes, uncomfortable chair, something smells, likes to move a lot, etc? If you can say yes to any of these, then I would start at sensory issues. The book the "Out of Sync Child" talks about Sensory Issues and also about some other issues (autism spectrum, ADD, ADHD, etc) that sensory falls under. That might give you a place to start. Maybe someone else can add more. I would follow your instinct, though. For years we just thought dd was quirky and stubborn and sensitive. God was gracious in that she survived our parenting of something we had no clue we were dealing with:001_smile: Good luck.

Thanks for the :grouphug: Dd is doing work all over the grade levels. R&S English 7 (boy is this more than I had in high school, though), VideoText Algebra (by her request), Sonlight Core 7 which will use for Lit. She did Lightning Lit last year, but I thought it would be too much this year. Boy am I glad I thought right on that! Apologia Physical Science. Those are the main ones, I think. She does Vocab, Jump In, and the Painless Poetry from SL, but those won't be every day. I was adding Trail Guide to World Geography, Artistic Pursuits and Henle Latin, too. I was thinking that we could take those at a slow pace and she could get some half credits for those 3. Technically, dd could be an 8th grader. She started school early and won't be 14 until October. I have discussed this with dd and let her know that if high school gets to be too much that we DO have an extra year. It certainly wouldn't hurt her at all. She's not certain she wants to give up her "grade." She was in Christian School through 4th. But she is at least willing to consider it over the next couple years. Dh is not so sure about this. Dd is smart and he sees mostly that, not the struggle with being overwhelmed that I see. Part of the problem is dd just shuts down after so many hours of work. Dh sees that as a "tough, get used to it" problem. I see her getting frustrated if she goes past 1:30 or 2:00 in the afternoon. She is still getting done by 3 but that is a long day for her. I am praying that this is just beginning of school uncertainty and it will even out as she gets used to the routine. Plus she is getting up a lot earlier than she has ever before (on her own) so that may have something to do with it. I probably shouldn't have panicked so early, but it IS that time and it is emotionally exhausting some days. Thanks so much for listening. I really needed to get it out. Angel

Wow, that is a lot!! We usually get canvas bags but this year dd got a water bottle and a sign for the front yard that says "Library Champion Live Here." She was so excited about the sign :D

:D

Heather in MD how do you make your own???

I don't usually post over here, but I'm whooped and felt the need to whine to someone :) Today was our first official day of school. My 13dd has AS and actually has been doing very well. We had discussed our new schedule, numerous times, and had discussed her increased workload and my expectations of her work, numerous times. She likes to have her afternoons free and honestly, she's really mentally done after noon anyway. So I scheduled reading and piano after lunch. We schooled from 8:00 - 12:30. Some things took longer than I thought. She had a meltdown because the WW3000 book 9 was different than the book 7. I had jumped her up a grade because she was doing so well. I don't know WHY they changed the format. Science took her more time than expected and she did not like the schedule I printed from Donna Young. It wasn't specific enough. I explained that they assumed that she would know at what point to stop on page 7. I guess I should know by now to never assume. *sigh* Then we tried our hour quiet time after lunch. This is new and dd was ok with it. She was to do her SL reading and then have her own time. Well, she didn't like the SL book, spent her whole time reading it, didn't finish the assignment and then came the meltdown because she was supposed to unwind from school but now she wasn't relaxed. Do any of you with aspies get in a good spell and then forget about some of the special things they need? Some of this I should have known would have caused a problem, but I guess that it had been going so well lately (she attended two camps this summer...huge deal...and did well, all things considered) that I thought she could do it. And then there's the problem of deciding what is a discipline problem and what she really can't do/understand. *another sigh* Thanks for listening. I hope it's ok to share this over here. I'm not sure dh wants to be bombarded with this when he gets home:glare: and he has even more problems trying to decipher what I should just make her do and what she just can't do. Thanks!

We started Jump In last year with my 13dd and will continue with it through this year. I have been very pleased. The lessons are short, which mean that they don't overwhelm a reluctant writer. However, they do guide the student through each step of the paper that they are teaching them to write. Each assignment is broken up into "Skills" and those skills help the student set up their assignment. At the end of the assignment, the student can either use the skeleton that they have been working on to write the paper, or choose between two other options, if they are feeling more confident. By breaking the writing process up, it reinforces the steps of writing and helps the student to concentrate on that one area (say the opening paragraph). For my dd, this is much easier than getting the whole assignment and THEN having them figure out each part. It's easier to come up with a paragraph a day. Writing is still not her favorite thing, but this has made our writing times much easier than it was.

Mercy Watson by Kate DiCamillo!! There are currently five in the series. They would be on the easier side, but my dd(almost 8) has been reading them for the past year and enjoys them so much.

:grouphug:

Carmel Apple Cider from Starbucks. Yum-o!

Blokus here! It was loved by myself, dh, and both girls. Now if only we could figure out how to NOT have dh win ever time. :glare:

almost 14yo will be doing about 4.5 to 5 (at least that is what I'm thinking, school starts tomorrow) almost 8yo does 3.5 but that's because she does a lot of listening in to older sisters read alouds, which she loves. This number would probably be less if they were totally separate.

I'm not familiar with the Write Stuff, but I have been using Jump In with my 13dd. I may be a differing view here, but I don't think it is at all geared to a 4th grade student. It is an absolutely wonderful program and I love what it is teaching my dd (reluctant writer). If you did choose it then you would need to move slowly. Some of the assignments toward the mid-end of the book are long. Great, great program! Can't say enough about it. I just think 4th grade is a little young. Of course, I could just be saying this because my dd is slow in getting her writing skills:D Maybe for an advanced writer this would work great. Didn't think of that. I'm so helpful :lol: