Those balance bikes are great. We just used training wheels with our kids until we could see that they didn't need them. If training wheels are put on so that they don't both touch the ground at the same time, they are forced to learn to balance the bike in order to ride it. The training wheels just catch them if they lean too far. You can keep moving them as they get better. It worked great for all of ours who are old enough to ride.

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Wise words!

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It sounds like you are doing great! I have been told I am too hard on my kids, but then I hear how wonderful they are. I am getting the results I want - I have wonderful well behaved kids (most of the time) who are a joy to be around for dh and I and anyone else who spends time with them. I like how you rescinded when you realized that you weren't clear. I also like that you grounded him from something - video games and didn't send him off to his room. I don't think a day is enough or at least around here because they don't play every day. I , personally, don't ground my kids by sending them to their room for a long period of time (more than one day) because I feel like that can lead to bitterness. They have nothing to do but sulk and think about being mad at you. I will ground them from things like you did - video games, computer, TV etc. Or I'll to add work or something else like that esp for my teen. You didn't do that job or you didn't do it correctly then you can do another one instead. I could be wrong on this, but I don't like encouraging teens to close themselves up in their room. I think most parents are too easy on their kids. It's easy to forget what having little ones is like. A friend of mine was recently being critical (in her own mind - she didn't say anything until later) of both my handling of my toddler and his behavior until she watched him for a couple hours. And she said apologetically - I forgot what that stage is like! Generally, people who think I am too hard either have kids who I don't enjoy being around or they have older kids, so I take it with a grain of salt!

I am sorry - it's hard when friendships go in different directions. We had a dog that needed a lot of exercise. We were struggling to get him tired, and we were told that we shouldn't let him stop and sniff, greet other dogs etc. A social stroll wasn't enough of a workout for him. We were told that in order to get him what he needs that he should walk without stopping to pee on everything or sniff at everything. It really made a difference in his energy level and behavior.

While I don't want my kids to have cell phones now, we do have an extra phone they can use just for things like this.

What I would pay depends on what you are offering.... For $15 or more it needs to be a nice large indoor space with a table/chair if you are doing it yard sale style. A percentage is better than a flat fee. If it's consignment where I drop off and you do all the work of setting it out and sort, I would pay up to 30% of the selling/sold price. Otherwise $10 or a same % not more than 5%, is the most I would pay for either inside floor space or parking lot space where I set up, man and clean up.

:iagree: The sellers should pay a fee not the buyers.

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:iagree: We are part of a non-Catholic church, but our children stay in the service from birth - we go 2 hours. They will get used to it, and it will be easier now than when they are older. I think people tend to resist being in church more when they are used to seeing it as play time. It will take time for them to move beyond the past, but they will.

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I always found it most effective with my one like that to get it from the get go instead of letting it go until waiting until it gets bad or I have had enough. I stop it from the first glare or eye roll or sigh or ugh or whatever she throws at me. Otherwise, she is going to just keep doing it until I stop her. So for my sake and everyone around us, she gets a consequence for the first time. Consequences are things that speak to her - missing social events and such. Whatever is appropriate for the offense. Each child is different so through trial and error I have found the things that are effective with her specially.

This actually surprises me that people would think it was a homeschool because it has the street name. Where I grew up the school always had the name of the street they were one. And many of the kids lived on that street. The high school got the city name. When a second one was added, it got a street name. The middle schools and the elementary schools either got the street name or the neighborhood name. The kids lived in the city/neighborhood the school was in. Here the there aren't as many schools so they all have the town name. I have no ideas - our school needs a name too....

I am 100% happy with what we are doing. We have been homeschooling for awhile, and we did change things completely after the first year. We spent a whole year figuring out our homeschooling approach and deciding what direction we wanted to go. We changed up a few things the next 2 years. Now we are just doing the same things. I don't change curriculum to fit each child - I simply modify as needed. Sometimes I will bring in some reinforcement but mostly our materials are the same year to year. I am familiar with them and how they work. I am confident in them. And I think that leads me being happy and content in our choices.

And you are all going be in trouble! :001_tt2:

Umm, I am not sure I understand the bold part. You are your child's teacher. If you choose to not have her use the IEW format for science, that's up to you... If the paper is okay with you, it is okay with the tutor. You just need to tell her that. That's the way CC is designed. A tutor telling her her paper needs to be redone is overstepping her role as tutor. One issue may be the presentation.... They do prefer the kids present using a key word outline instead of reading the paper. It's a better skill - presenting with just an outline. If that's the case, simply have her key word outline her paper after it's written. As my dd moved away from needing to KWO, I just had her KWO her paper and tack on a few dress ups. You stop following those when they are writing a better paper without them - according to Andrew himself! Just tell the tutor how you feel. With the Bible based writing, it's tough to do without using IEW.... But I really dislike that book. It is my least favorite IEW resource. IEW does go all through Challenge, but Challenge A is the only level it's emphasized like that. You don't notice it's IEW unless you are looking for it. I second the person who said IEW isn't for natural writers. But not all our kids are natural writers. It's a great program. But for someone who writing comes intuitively to this seems so crazy!

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I wouldn't be picky with him because it's not a good way to start things. This is what I would do. I would even walk through with him. He needs to understand that the condition that it's in now will be the condition he should expect when you move out.

I haven't been to the bistro only the cafe - the cafe food was wonderful every visit! The Bistro desserts sounds amazing! We may have to visit one.

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Thanks for clarifying.

Question - was this the entire text of the email or did you edit it before you posted it? Maybe it's just me but there seems to be a disconnect or something missing. Did you quote his entire original email? Are we getting the whole picture of what is going on? It's hard on these forums sometimes. But there seems to be something missing....

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