Oh, she is soooo stinkin' cute! I wish I could give her a good snuggle. Funny, reading your list of cat names... Lyra was on the short list and might have been my daughter's name, Kiki is one of my daughter's nicknames, and Ella on the short list of names I'd choose if I had another girl!

It makes a stellar dip for raw veggies--way better (and healthier) than ranch!

I personally didn't start testing until Grade 8 RC. I agree with the pp that the exams aren't really *necessary*, but they can be beneficial, especially for some students. They give you a very specific goal to work toward. They ensure you practice your songs to the highest levels, focusing on both technique and musicality. They offer you feedback--praise and criticism--from an impartial judge who will give you nothing but the honest truth. They offer you a score, which helps you to know where you stand and can help you focus your practice on your weaker areas. They ensure you're learning the appropriate scales, chords, arpeggios, and so on for each grade level, and that you know them up to speed. They check your ear training and sight reading. All in all, if you have the desire and the money, I think it's a great opportunity for a student who is motivated by such things, and/or for a parent who really would like to know where the student stands.

How about KISS grammar? It's good, quick, easy, painless, and free!

So fun! I love those kinds of exercises. Sometimes I have my students do a sentence that just contains a portion of the alphabet, like D to M. The whole alphabet is a challenge!

Hey, no fair! I was comparing myself to homeschooling moms on the forum, not teenage boy dancing machines! :D

I bet I'm the only one who adores Dance Dance Revolution, and can dance some of the songs on expert level.:party:

:iagree: :iagree:My favourite! Out of A and B, A is best. The comma should be used for clarity (but I also believe in the serial comma). Another option, depending on the formality of the writing, would be to use the ampersand--it may not be a traditional usage of it, but it would help to differentiate between the two ways you're using "and". Like this: The colours of the four horses were white, black, brown, and black & white.

First, what part is she having trouble with? Can she say numbers past 10, as a rote speaking exercise? Can she recognize any numbers past 10? Can she write any? Does she know what they stand for? (ie. that 15 stands for a ten and five more) Each of these could have a different approach. For learning to "count" (ie. say the numbers aloud by memory), I find walking up/down stairs and counting aloud together to be helpful, as a pp mentioned. For recognition, try the Bingo. For writing, perhaps the Kumon books or a whiteboard game. Place value activities are also extremely important. I guess I'm saying, you'll probably need to come at this from a number of different angles. :iagree: :iagree: One more idea: Count the days. Each day, tape a square of paper along the wall of her room (can be on a piece of string, like a garland). The first day's square says 1. The next day's square says 2. etc. Each day, she counts while you point at each number to review up to that point, and then hopefully she can figure out what the new square for that day should be, either by helping to write it and/or saying it. The benefit of this method is that it accumulates very slowly and there is built in review every day. To take it a step further, you could have the day's number be "Number of the Day!" and do an additional activity with it. So if the number is 13, maybe make 13 cupcakes or cut the cucumber into 13 pieces together or find 13 leaves in the yard, or draw a picture of 13 apples.

Another vote for Justin Roberts--we LOVE him here (and my dd is 10). But, he's definitely not remotely hip-hop-ish. I have to run, but I'll dig out some more suggestions later.

Awww, darn... I missed your pre-edit sassy answer! :D

Actually, I'm pretty sure that's how they do it in Quebec. (8$)

My 10yo daughter is really struggling right now with what to do about a particular friend. They have been friends for about 5 years, but it has always been the type of friendship that my daughter has periodically gotten upset about. For comparison, dd has a good handful of other very close friends, and they all treat her, and she treats them, with respect. They play together without fighting or arguing. They trust each other and feel safe sharing secrets and emotions. I feel so thankful to have these great girls in my daughter's life. But this friend is different (I'll call her B.) B is the one who has pushed the relationship along, and my dd kind of just goes along for the ride. B has always been a drama queen, and will get mad that my dd has other friends, or that dd includes B's sister in play--B will go and lock herself in the bathroom and say all kinds of dramatic things. She acts... difficult. Not always, though. Recently, things came to a head for dd. B was over and saying some manipulative things. Then they played a game and dd was winning. B was upset, and (just as she does to her sister, whom she hates) called my dd "loser" and "little piece of crap". A little while later, she bit her on the shoulder (half in "fun", but not really, IYKWIM). My dd has had it and doesn't want to see her or be friends anymore. The problem is two-fold. First, I am friends--not super close, but still friends--with her mom. And her mom is quite negative and dramatic herself. Secondly, B cannot take a hint. DD has avoided her for almost a month, but B keeps calling and asking about playing. She has always been persistent about this friendship. I don't think she has many close friends. DD is at the point she wants me to have a chat with the mom to say the friendship is over. I hesitate, because I don't want to hurt them and I think there will be fallout. Why can't B just take the hint so their friendship could die a slow, but natural death? Please help. Any suggestions?

I have a 10 year old daughter who would like to do this.

Has he mastered fractions? Decimals? Graphs? Averages? Percents? I would have him attempt a program's placement tests (Math Mammoth, Singapore, whatever you like) and see where he stands, and just go from there. What I like about MM and Singapore is the large amount of word problems, so even if a kid is good at operations, he really has to think hard to apply it to multi-step word problems. You can always skip over any operations practice pages that he already knows how to do.

I love it. You can find extensive samples on their website.

I'm pretty handy and do most assembly and fix-it jobs around the house myself, unless they involve plumbing or electrical (but I watched the toilet installation pretty carefully, and I think next time I can do it no problem :lol:). I take pride in my toolbox and I especially love my power drill. I mean, what's not to love about a power drill? I'm so DIY that I couldn't wait around for a man to take a washer and dryer up the stairs from my basement and out onto my front porch to be picked up. I did it myself. I do basics on the car like headlights, oil changes, and tire changes. I have had a LOT of tire issues with my poor old car lately, so I am now a super-speedy whiz at tire changing. Once I even rigged up my fallen muffler under the car with some wire on the side of a highway. I like to impress my daughter that way. :D

Welcome! We were just watching a couple of your videos this week, and my daughter loved them. It was pretty cute how she laughed so hard at the outtakes and then kept rewinding them. :lol:

I'm the oldest of four kids--girl, girl, girl, boy. I know that my parents kept trying for a boy, and stopped after they got him. I think that was my dad's preference. Well, the boy gave them one heck of a wild ride through his teen years and well into his twenties. :lol: When I was pregnant, I did really hope for a girl, and I really felt the baby would be a girl. I was right. I guess I just felt comfortable with females, plus I thought there would be a very special mother/daughter bond. I know it would have been just as wonderful--even if different--if I had a boy, but I am pretty thrilled to have my girl.:001_wub:

If it was still cool/cold, I might eat it. But read this: http://www.abc.net.au/health/talkinghealth/factbuster/stories/2009/01/27/2475255.htm

Homemade soft tacos with beef & black bean filling, as requested by the child and sleepover friend.

Thanks for the ideas! Please keep them coming... also any advice on the whole car-buying mess. :bigear: I'll be researching them all today.

My current car (1998) is dying. For the past year, I've been "putting bandaids" on it on an increasingly regular basis. It is to the point where I'm going crazy and starting to feel unsafe. I don't have much money to get another car, but I've got to figure something out. I want to do what's most cost-effective in the long run. I have $1000 socked away for this purpose. I'm tempted to buy a super cheap car with plans to drive it for only a year, and then get something better then. More likely, I'd like to buy a 2007ish car so that I can drive it for a number of years hopefully without worrying. I'm hoping that I could find something around the $7000 range (and get a loan, obviously). So, all that said, any advice? I don't want to lease something at $300 a month--it's just too much. My main question: What are your favourite ECONOMY cars that you've driven that are very reliable and unlikely to cause me heartache and trouble? A hatchback/wagon would be a nice touch. Please help! I feel overwhelmed!:auto:

I bought the whole shebang too, but mine was download. I'm pretty sure you're entitled to 6B!! Email Maria and check it out; I wouldn't be surprised if there was some kind of oversight.

At age 6, she may be simply having trouble holding all four sounds independently and in order in her head. Sometimes, to give her an additional strategy, I would have her blend the first two sounds and the last two sounds separately and then blend the two resulting parts together. So: /s/ /p/ becomes /sp/ /o/ /t/ become /ot/ and then you're blending /sp/ and /ot/ together. That way, there are only two sounds (or sound groupings) to hold in her head at any one time. I would definitely spend time doing oral blending practice. You say the four sounds of a CCVC word, without having her look at the word, and then she blends them for you; it's completely oral. She may find it easier and it will help her become more proficient at blending without the stress of having to produce the sounds on her own in the first place. Little by little, space out the sounds as you say them so she has to work at holding the sounds in her head for a longer period. For this child, some work on individual blends might be beneficial so she can become more familiar with the common ones and recognize them almost as a unit (even though they are indeed two separate sounds). So, play bingo, go fish, and the like using common blends. I do think it's just a normal part of learning to read. It will come with time and practice. :)