Ooh ~ those cheeks! She's beautiful, and her big brothers are so adorably proud! Congratulations!

I accepted that it might be necessary a couple weeks ago, and bought the Dancing Bears curriculum for struggling/dyslexic readers for my 8yo; it arrived a few days ago, and I we dove right in. For one who seemed to start reading (well, sounding out CVC words) before age 3, I'd have thought that reading would have come easily to her. Alas, it appears not to be the case. My 11yo is also dyslexic (and I suspect dyscalculia and dysgraphia), but after giving her space, she's become an adept reader with only a few minor hiccups. DD2 is showing so many of the same signs as DD1. I also decided to get DD1 formally tested; I imagine I'll have DD2 tested as well.

:iagree: I have two Bissell Healthy Home vacs (one for the basement - I've had this one for over five years, and a newer one for upstairs). LOVE them - my sister, who owns a Dyson (the one for pet owners), said my vac easily does as well as hers. I've loaned my older Bissell HH to several friends, who returned it to me with lots of compliments about how well it got everything vacuumed up. Two notes: I'd have preferred a bagged vac, although I'm sure I'd be groaning at the cost. Because we have four dogs and three indoor cats, my vacs pull up a lot of dirt; I'm sure I'd go through 2-4 bags a week. Also, if money is less of a concern, I'd definitely consider a Miele, although honestly, I'm very, very pleased with my Bissells.

My 13yo ds claims not to want anything, but it's not true - he'd love an ipad or ipad mini, and he'd also like an airsoft rifle and related paraphernalia, a bow for archery, and noise-canceling headphones, in approximately that order. Unfortunately, most of those are budget-busters. One thing I'm considering? Stock shares in a company. But what company, I do not yet know.

Thanks! Is Winston often used for kids with dyslexia? I also have Logic of English (just unpacked it - finally found it in a box marked for the garage!) and MCT's Town and Voyage levels, but the former seems more for spelling, and the latter - well, I admit I've not tried it yet.

Nope, but I'll look into it later this evening. :)

DD11 seems flummoxed by KISS grammar (I'm using the 3rd grade level for her). Just like when she started reading, when she knew the letters and their sounds, and could piece them together but not recognize that those pieced-together sounds were words, she seems to understand noun and verb but doesn't seem to recognize them in the sentence. If I break it down for her, it seems to help for that example, but she isn't understanding the concept broadly enough to apply it to the next question. DD's kindy teacher thought she was bright enough that she should be moved to 2nd grade (and skip 1st). She's very bright and very bored by schoolwork, but then, her kindy was more like preschool, and didn't require the kids to read or write much. It was in first grade (at home) that I realized she had dyslexia, but...I'm wondering if there's more to it - if she has other LDs, too. She resents anything resembling schoolwork, and additionally, says reading makes her sleepy (but not if it's something she wants to read). Reading something that isn't interesting makes me sleepy, too (one of the reasons *I* was dx'd as an adult with ADD). Using earlier-grade items for remedial work puts her on the defensive; she seems to take them as confirmation that she is dumb (her word, not mine). Is there a workbook or program that wouldn't seem to be overtly remedial for kids like her? I strongly prefer secular/non-religious material, but may consider religious options if the religion is very, very limited.

This is fantastic, along with strider's suggestion to have each sentence start on a new line. Now, the McD's suggestion won't work with my kids because they've essentially sworn off most fast food, so I will need to find another 'treat'. Hmmm.

Just before my first dd was born, my dad's reaction to the name we'd planned to use (for a girl) was SO strong that I did change it, and I have regretted ever since. (FWIW, my father was dying of ALS, and I so wanted to please him. He loved the name we did choose, but he died 12 short days later.) Go with Persephone. It's awesome!

It seems to be dropping by a penny or two/gallon lately; today, in the far northern 'burbs of Atlanta, it was $3.19/gallon.

Ooh, that must've been fun! Woot!

I'm no good for decorating advice, though I know exactly how hard it is to be somewhere that seems or feels dreary, whatever the reason. My only suggestions are joining your local freecycle group(s), and "shopping" thrift stores and even Craigslist for lower cost amenities. If you've got an active freecycle group, you'll likely find that people give away lots of things, including paint. Also, as I think someone else may already have mentioned, perhaps your landlord will pay (let you deduct the cost from your rent) for the paint if you offer to do the painting. I'd get that agreement in writing, though.

We are hoping to replace our kitchen flooring (currently linoleum) and the carpet in the other open areas of our house with wood-look tile. Best of both worlds!

Dd read it at age 10 but that was after hearing ds and I (and later, ds and his friends) discuss it, so she knew what to expect. She's very sensitive, but moreso to the plight of animals: if they'd been fighting animals to their deaths in the arena, she would not have read it, I'm sure.

I voted for "school" because that's my official voting site, but I actually voted last week at one of the local libraries. In CA, I voted by absentee ballot, so could either mail it in or drop it off at the local voting site, which was a community center.

bumping ~ leaning toward K12, but would welcome other suggestions.

Press I (or E).

Dd says the later books had less action and more kissing, and cursing in all of them. She was 9 when she started reading them (oops, mom!). I know she loved the first couple, but now says she regrets reading (the rest of) them. Ds probably read them starting around age 10, but again, I had not pre-read so I didn't know. One of my mom friends had read them and let her son (ds's friend) read them, so that's what I based it on. Several other kids in our playgroup read them, too, but now that I think about it, there was less enthusiasm for the later books all around. Thanks for the link; I think I'll need to bookmark that one.

Ohmigoodness, me, too!

Dd says that red stone is usually found far down in caves, but she recommends only going in caves on "peaceful" because there are zombies, creepers, skeletons, and spiders in caves (unless you have an iron sword or you're very brave); you need a pick-ax to get the red stone. She doesn't know about brewing a crafting table, but you build one by putting a log into one of the four little building blocks above your inventory. The log becomes four wooden planks; you spread the four planks using right-click and put them in the four boxes, and it becomes a crafting table. From there you put it in the hot bar below your inventory, and then you can place it on the ground and use it. My head hurts now. Ha.

I haven't read them, but if I recall correctly - after letting my older two read them, they told me that there is some language and some mature/sensual references in them. My two loved the series initially, but seemed to be put off by the latter books.

That's awesome! And you probably know this already, but if it's too early for an u/s to show anything, that causes its own (unnecessary) stress. I don't understand why she'd want to withhold those numbers from you in the first place, though; good grief.

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: One of my favorite pages on Facebook is the Tiny Homes page. It always puts things in perspective for me. I have second-hand furniture, too, and a home with a long list of maintenance and improvement projects that we won't likely be able to do anytime soon. It's a small, simple ranch with a basement, but it had the one thing my kids wanted the most: zoning that would allow us to have chickens. :lol: I love our little home, but sometimes, I look at those really tiny homes and think how liberating they would be (especially if we could still have chickens, lol)! :grouphug: I understand how you feel; my sister and her husband's home is much as you've described, but, you know, they can't have chickens, so I still feel a little sorry for them. Chickens are just...awesome. :001_smile: /random post for tonight

There's this page on the LOE site, which has an image of their cursive upper and lower case letters. I just copied the image into a word file and printed it, though I wish that there was also an option to see the lower case cursive letters without their all being attached, like one big word.

Although I've been on this forum for over a year, I've had a rather eclectic, unschooly approach. I wouldn't say I'm the worst homeschooler, but I could have done better! So.much.regret...now I'm trying to aright the ship, so to speak. My ds LOVES history and science; he watches documentaries, inhales fiction and non-fiction, and I've never felt like I needed to do much with him formally WRT history and science (that's changing as he prepares for high school work, but it's his writing that needs work). DD11 doesn't like history, and the only science she likes is anything to do with wolves. I've been waffling between trying to kind of push through SOTW 1 and 2 quickly - over a couple of months, say - and then start on 3 and 4 more carefully. OTOH, I have K12's Human Odyssey, so we could just start with that. Or I could go a little more slowly with SOTW 1 and 2, using CHOL for Logic stage. She's a very bright kid, but has a serious aversion to anything that looks like schoolwork; she's doing better this year, thankfully, so I know it's time to get to work. She is also dyslexic and writing is still a struggle; we're beginning to work on that, too. I need to make a decision, and I'd really welcome input from those of you who are familiar with any piece of this sort of situation - late coming to classical ed, moving from unschooling to classical/rigorous schooling, working with schoolwork-averse kids, dyslexic kids, etc. - or anyone who just has enough experience to give some seasoned advice regarding the whole scenario. I'm also looking for science ideas for her; I thought she might need a some gentle approach, but she thinks that the Museum of Science's Education is Elementary series is too babyish. I think we need to find something that is fairly well laid-out; she will work if it's in front of her, but she's not going to do something if she doesn't need to do it.