To understand why she ignores Wolf, you can read Harpy's Child.

Read The Wizard of Oz and Other Narcissists!

Well I got together with my friend and we pow-wowed about what might be a solid approach I can stick with since it's still early in the year (even though we've been doing stuff since July, technically it's the start of a new year). She loves all about spelling herself and uses it with her children. She's also used Saxon phonics and used Ordinary Parents Guide to, in her words, condense the wordiness of Saxon for the scripting. We talked about where my son is now (her son struggled to read too) and her suggestion is to start with Saxon Phonics 2 (since he knows the basics that make up the first section review before going into the learning material) and keep doing all about spelling since it's working for him. She has all the books and materials and said all I need to do is replace the two workbooks and return the cards/teacher's manual, since she won't need them for about two years (her next child will use it). What do you all think of Saxon Phonics? When I was looking through it, it does look like starting my son on 2 would work. It looks pretty teacher intensive. Does anyone have any experience with this? I think I do need to find something (besides all about spelling) that I'm going to be able to stick with, that has a good pace for the lessons and that has practice, Saxon seems to have that, but is there anything else out there to consider if I'm going to wipe the slate clean and do a full phonics program?

A host of things, from very scary (brain tumor) to less scary (endocrine), to lifelong (mental health disorder) to treatable (chemical imbalance), to it being just a phase too. I wasn't going to post this as it's personal in nature, but unfortunately you also can't rule out that she's been abused and this is her way of crying out for help. Not that I think that would be your family members, but our cousins daughter did almost the same thing and had been abused (sexually) at 4 by a family friend. She started acting out (lies, manipulation, etc.) at 5, and it took two years to get it out of her what happened and it was devastating to the family. She's been in therapy now for five years and is doing much better.

I hate to say this, but are you sure she wasn't lying? She's obviously keenly aware of how the adults around her are responding, so is she remorseful or is she aware she needs to show you something that seems remorseful? What a sticky situation your family is in, so sorry!

"best by April 2011" It's fine, as long as the can and seams are intact and there are no dents. The "best by" doesn't mean it's spoiled, expired or bad, just that it was "best by" the date, but after the date it should still be totally okay to eat.

I hear ya! When I had him read it first, never seen before, he was upset. I assured him it's okay, just take your time, sound the words out, and we'll then read it together if he wanted. He really didn't want to read it on his own first, but he did it and struggled a bit, but did it. So at least I know that he's not just memorizing and can't read or sound out the words. I can see though that while he can read, we need to slow down so he can gain some fluency. With my reading to him first, I think I artificially inflated his speed, but certainly not the fluency. I'm hoping if we slow down a bit, that will help and he'll become more confident. I was looking at some options online today and found a program that looks interesting. Has anyone used Recipe for Reading? What do you think?

Last night I sat down with the All About Spelling books (I have level 1 and level 2 in hand) and realized much of what we have gotten through takes us to Level 2, Step 12, so I think I'm going to continue with All About Spelling and concentrate on that with him, adding readers to match the lessons and take it slowly to give him a lot of reading practice. A friend is going to loan me her Ordinary Parents Guide, so I'll look that over. She suggested that I line that up with the spelling, use the chapters as they match instead of going through from start to finish, to reinforce and explain more each rule. If it looks like that might help, I'll order a copy of that too. I so wish that there was a step-by-step guide to help parents figure out how to teach reading. Something like, this concept usually takes this long, then this concept takes that long on average. I have no idea how fast or slow he should be learning or how fast or slow we should move through the material!

Except that if you're not at or very near 10 (as I was with my first) and start pushing, you can run into some serious complications! I had serious urge to push and was only at 6, if I'd "listened" to my body and pushed, pushed, pushed it would have been a nightmare!

...shhhh Don't tell the Roman Catholic Church that Latin is dead!

I'll play devil's advocate, but will first say I do think 50 push-ups is excessive, especially for a 5-year old. My son just turned seven and has, on occasion, been late to karate. His sensei, on the first class explained to all the importance of being on time and that when you're late, you will do "overtime" for the time late, and in that time do push-ups, jumping jacks, etc. for the time you owe him. My son started karate when he was six, and for weeks was not late. Then, one afternoon, he was dilly-dallying and wound up 10-minutes late to the class. I'm pretty sure I looked harried walking in, but he was not late because I made him late, he made himself late. So, not all instances of late are the adults fault. And on that occasion, yes, he did 20 push-ups, 30 jumping jacks, 10 squats and some other stuff that took ten minutes. The second time he dilly-dallied and was six minutes late, same thing, he did his overtime. It only took his sensei two times to reinforce the rule to be on time, my son has never been late since from his own actions. The one time since that he was late and it was my fault, he was five minutes late and I let his sensei know it was my fault and guess what? His sensei wanted me to do push-ups and jumping jacks...and, ya know what? I did do it, to show my son why, barring an emergency, it is important to plan in advance and manage time so you're not late. That's just me though.

People tend to be more receptive to direction when you tell them what they can do, instead of what they can't do and when you explain things rather than make demands; does that make sense? Here is what I'd do instead, if it were me: Do not offer any kind of drugs (epidural, pitocin,etc...) If I need pain medication, please be assured I will say so; you may offer suggestions for position and movement that may help if I appear in pain; and if I ask, then provide suggestions for pain relief medication options. No IV, but willing to have it prepared You may place a hep-lock in case of an emergency; please do not administer any IV fluids and/or antibiotics before we discuss and agree first; unless I or the baby are in distress, I would like to have access to clear fluids orally, ad libitum (side note: if you're colonized with Group B strep, they will want you to have IV antibiotics during labor to avoid transmission to the baby) No "helping along" the birthing process (no breaking water, etc...) If you feel I need to have anything to help the process along, like stripping or rupturing membranes, let's discuss and agree first; I would prefer to avoid the use of labor stimulants like pitocin. Ask me if I want to be checked instead of telling me to be checked. You may check progression on our agreed to time line, which we'll discuss and agree to when I am admitted for labor and delivery I want to be able to move around as I feel the need to. You may monitor when needed, then remove the equipment so that I may move around as needed. No controlled pushing. I want to push when I feel the need to. Please let me know when I have reached 10-centimeters so that I may begin pushing as I feel the need to push; I would prefer to avoid controlled pushing if I can. After birth: Daddy will cut umbilical cord When the baby has emerged, I would like my husband to cut the cord. Hold baby right away for at least an hour Once baby is cleaned off on the OHIO, please allow me to hold her for at least the first hour to initiate breastfeeding. No bath for baby (why? do you want to do this or...?) No Hep B vaccine As I am and my husband is negative for HepB, the baby will not receive the HepB vaccination following birth or before release from the hospital. Baby will be breastfed ONLY, do not give pacifiers, formula, sugar water, etc... Breastfeeding is very important for me, so please do not give the baby a pacifier, formula, sugar water or any other fluids orally unless we discuss and agree beforehand. Baby will be with me at all times I would like the baby to room in with me, so please ask before taking to the nursery. If the baby needs to go to the nursery, I or my husband would like to accompany her there and back.

Fat cells remain as they expand and contract depending on whether you're burning fat or storing fat. When you're "burning fat" for energy, you're liberating "free fatty acids" (FFA) from within the fat cell to use as energy. When you're "storing fat", you're pushing free fatty acids (FAA) into the fat cell for storage.

Jews & Christians = People of the Book Non-believers = other people (religions) who haven't learned of Islam Kaffir = those who reject Islam, a disbeliever (Jews & Christians are not kaffir since they're people of the book) The term "infidel" is from the latin "infidelis" (‘not’ + ‘faithful’), and originally denoted a person of a religion other than one's own, specifically a Christian of a Muslim (believed to originate as a term/word during the Crusades).

Yes, it is the same God, Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, in the same line as Judaism and Christianity. Muslims believe in Adam & Eve, Moses, Abraham, Noah, Salomon, and all the others in the Old Testament, the believe Jesus was a prophet and is the Messiah (that he will return, just like a Christian does), and the believe that Muhammad is a prophet who came after Jesus. They also believe in the angels, satan (shatan), heaven and hell and that Mary was a virgin and Jesus was born miraculously. They also believe in the miracles of Jesus throughout his life. They do not baptize children and do not baptize themselves as adults. They do not believe in original sin, and Eve is not held as responsible for their banishment from the Garden, they share the blame equally. They do not believe Jesus died at the crucifixion, but Jesus was taken up by God, to heaven and will return again. The quran does say that his disciples saw him, in flesh and blood, before he rose to heaven. Any of our Muslim posters can correct if I got anything wrong!

Okay, so today I had him read one of the books he'd not seen/read before and he struggled, skipped some words, guessed a few, but overall was sounding out and moving along at a pace that wasn't horribly slow. So, at least I can assume he's learning to read? Given that he didn't breeze through the book, I think maybe it's a good idea to slow down a bit and let him fully digest all the material we've covered the last couple of weeks, reading each day within the blends and long vowels to build some better fluency, then move on. Or should I continue along to get through all the material and then work to build fluency? With the spelling, I'm totally sure he's really spelling now and not just memorizing the word cards and such. I dictated a sentence to him and he wrote it out and there were no spelling errors. He does segment words as he spells and sounds out as he spells, so this isn't something I think I need to worry about. And I think I should probably skip all about spelling at this point until we get the reading more steady and fluent?

Now I'm totally stumped. My son (just turned 7) has been plugging along for a couple of weeks now with moving ahead in his phonics and we're doing reading everyday. We're playing a lot of games, and mixing things up to keep it interesting. I've been really pretty amazed at how well things have been going since it seemed like we were working on CVC words forever and now we've managed to get the blends down and the long vowels too! Or so it seems.... Here is what we've been doing: We're up to Lesson (Step?) 19 on All About Spelling. The boy can spell, really! Has not once gotten anything wrong on the board with the tiles or written on paper. I've even added words from the lists that follow the ten in the unit. I've been making flash cards with the blends (final and initial), the long vowels, CVC's, etc. He picks 15 a day and reads the word on the cards, never skips a beat now. Yeah, right? We've been doing three Nora Gaydos readers a day. Yes, three! And I started doing a suggestion I read in Reading Rescue 1-2-3; that is, To-With-By. I read the book to him, he reads it with me, then after we've done the three, he reads them to me, by himself, on his own. Again, we're now up to the last books in Level 1, so they're still pretty simple, but have enough challenging words that I feel like he's been making progress. So, what's the problem? Well, tonight my son says, after reading the last of his books to me, "Mommy, you know I know all the books by heart, right?" Huh? So, I pulled Bed Bugs (book 6), one we did last week, and challenged him to tell me the whole thing, from memory. He recited the whole thing, word for word, not one mistake! So then I said, "Okay, we just did Stuck Duck, what was that one?" He again recited it, word for word, not one mistake. So I pulled The Fox Begs and asked him about that one. Again, he recited it, in full, no mistakes! What the.....Is he just memorizing these books and not really making any progress with reading? Is he just memorizing the words with All About Spelling but not really learning to read and spell? Is there a way I can test him to see if he can really read, or if he's just memorizing every last thing?And goodness, if he's memorizing it all, what the heck does that mean?

Missouri requires a minimum of 1,000 hours a year; 600 minimum for core subjects and 400 additional hours for electives or more core time. Looking at where we are now, since starting in July, we'll easily exceed 1,000 hours.

I feel pretty much the same way, no way I want to do counter service meals daily; I don't even eat fast food at home, so why would I on vacation? That's why we do the deluxe dining plan. It works well for us since we usually do two meals a day instead of three, with a late breakfast or early lunch at a table service restaurant (Tutto Italia, Wave, Coral Reef, etc) and then a signature for dinner (Jiko, Artist Point, etc.). But some don't like to do table service either, they prefer to do quick meals. We go for 10-14 days at a time, so we don't need to rush, so table service for us is great!

If you consider vaccinating your son, who was a baby, do titers first, he may actually be immune from the exposure and just didn't get blisters.

In MO kindergarten is optional and we don't have to maintain records (we don't register unless the child was already in PS and don't report or test) until the child is 7 before the school year starts due to compulsory age being 7.

We do lessons five days a week (M-F) and reading is daily, seven days a week with only a few exceptions. My son also goes to CCD on Sunday mornings, so that counts, but isn't me teaching. So my son really does something everyday. Definitely helps with the 1000 hours we have to log in a year!

Smithsonian National Geographic Scientific American Wired The Economist Atlantic My son gets: Boy's Life (cub scouts) Kids Discover Magazine Top Secret Adventures (Highlights world geography subscription)

There are a couple of rental agencies, the one I've heard a lot about is David's I think (something like David's DVC?). I go over to the mouseowners forum though, where they have a section that's for rentals and look to see what's available, see who has points they want to rent, and then once we figure out a price per point (I usually try to stay in the $10 range, but have paid as little as $7 on distressed points that were in holding for the owner) the owner then calls to find out if dates are available. A few things I've learned doing this: If the owner has points at the resort you want, you can reserve up to 11-months in advance, if not, just seven months in advance. The earlier you book though, the more you'll pay for points since they can get a premium for the points while they still have exclusive reservation ability. An owner can booked you into any resort you want as long as there is availability for your dates. Doing the rental through an owner, I've found has a couple of advantages. One is the dining plan, you don't have to start it the night you arrive, nor do you have to have the same plan every day you stay. The owner we rented from explained how it worked and we wanted the deluxe plan anyway, but liked we could start it the first full day instead of the first night when we'll arrive later than able to use it that night. The other advantage is that if you only wanted the dining plan on a couple of nights, you can do that too. Once the reservation is made, the owner would take care of adding the dining plan if you wanted it. You have to pay for the dining plan the day it is added, so you can do it right away, or you can wait until, I think, up to 72 hours before you're going to check in? When you rent from an owner, you can book magical express (it's still free) and you can use all the transportation and the extra magic hours. You can also get your tickets at a discounter, like undercover tourist, and save a little bit there instead of paying at the gate prices. You can also check-in online, which saves some time when you arrive. I just checked online. If we'd booked directly through Disney, the same exact nights, with the deluxe dining plan and 10-day park hoppers, it would cost us $9516, so renting privately with a DVC owner saved us $4500. ETA: I also just played around a bit and instead of staying in a 1-bedroom with a private rental, I could stay in a hotel room on-site at a value (Pop) with same things, 10-day park hoppers and deluxe dining and it would cost $4200, so for about $800 more we get a larger unit instead and just go through an owner to do it.

We stay on site, typically 10-days, and don't do the mental gymnastics above to come in under $5000 for a family of four, staying on-site, deluxe villa 1-bedroom, 10-day park hoppers and the deluxe dining plan. Since we rented the points, we can decide which days to do the dining plan and don't have to do it the entire stay, so we don't start the dining plan until the first day (not the first night), so that cuts one night off, so we only pay for nine nights, which works well for us. We're going next month - Boardwalk Villas (private DVC rental) in a 1-bedroom unit cost us $2000; 10-day park hoppers $1042 (undercover tourist with mouse savers discount); deluxe dining plan $1593 - total $4635. One of our four is under 3, but if he wasn't and we paid for one more kid, that adds $530 for dining plan and park hopper ticket, so just over $5000 for the ten days. I don't think that's too bad when you consider it's all meals, all snacks, all beverages, all parks, we're on site (walking distance to Epcot, boat to DHS) and it's just over $100 a day per person; if both kids were paying, we'd be at $125 day per person.