I had a persistent wart that nothing would seem to get rid of. Finally in desperation I started applying Tea Tree oil via a Q-tip directly to the spot...It disappeared within 2 days. (Just 2-3 drops of pure tea tree oil onto Q-tip from essential oil dropper jar) My Hubby (a type-1 diabetic) got a wart and he spent over 6 months treating via his doctor (who was adamant not to try alternative medicine) So after months of freezing and internal supplements he started the tea tree (after scoring the wart lightly with a nail file) and wrapped the whole thing in duck tape after treatment each morning. (His wart was diminished within the week and gone by the end of the 2nd week...and it was HUGE, like the size of a dime before he finally tried an alternative method) I know family members who have had success with Vinegar & Ducktape...for us it was Tea Tree Oil & Ducktape. (Roughing up the surface of the wart helps the oil/vinegar do its job while the tape prevents air from getting in)

I started to try and type them all out and realized making a listmania list would be easier.... So here it is...My top 40 picture type books (that I actually own) for lower elementary ancient history. Some of these are larger compilations, but all are illustrated. (I typed them in as I pulled the books off the shelf next to me so they are in no particular order, sorry bout that.) http://www.amazon.com/lm/R3VHQ41AEA0KE9/ref=cm_pdp_lm_title_1 **Forgot to add Temple Cat to the list....

They both have almost the same number of pages (180-190), but the Nat Geo book has a much bigger font and many more illustrations. (every page is illustrated/bordered) D'aulaires is by far more encompassing and has more stories, (much smaller font & fewer/smaller illustrations) while the Nat Geo book is more a list of the gods with stories for each/about each. (and I would agree with the reviewer on amazon that puts the book in the 4th-6th Grade range give or take a year or two) If I could only pick one, D'aulaires would probably be it for content...there is alot of information in that book. However if I chose according to which my child would actually love to read both aloud and independently it would be the Nat Geo. Treasury. Even my 6 year old sits enthralled when we read, and I've found her listening and looking at the pages while her brother was reading it....(amazing if you consider how often they don't get along) The key I think is the artwork. We also have several other books by the illustrator and they are favorites with my kids. (We use her illustrated Family Bible Treasury for World Religions study...and my kids love reading from it as well.) To put it in perspective we haven't hit the Greeks yet in study....But I think my son has pulled out the Nat Geo Book 5 times or more for independent/fun reading. My daughter has picked it for nightly family reading at least 3 or 4 times. D'aulaires is still sitting on the shelf..... Having both, I would pick the Nat Geo becuase I know my kids would read it and enjoy it with or without being told to..KWIM? YMMV.

I've got a list somewhere...but I can't seem to find it at the moment....lol Off the top of my head, so far we have read: Boy of the Painted Caves (The kids really liked this one) Mara Daughter of the Nile (My 12 yo actually reread this on his own time) Golden Goblet Tales of Ancient Egypt (Theodosia and the Serpent of Chaos was a total bomb. I tried reading it, we couldn't get into it. Then we tried listening to the audiobook, and still the kids didn't seem to be enjoying it..so we dropped it) ** 3 Part Gilgamesh series by Ludmila Zeman was a huge hit here. **Also a big hit were picture books, like Egyptian Cinderella, Temple Cat The Rick Riordan Novels...all 5 Percy Jackson (Greek), the 2 in the Kane Chronicles (Egyptian) and The Lost Hero/Son of Nepture (Extended Greek Series) 12yo inhaled these...he read all 9 in less than a month. Horrible Histories (and Horrible Science for that matter) are very popular with my 12 yo... The following are all sitting on the Bookshelf next to me waiting to be started..... Rosemary Sutcliff 's Wanderings of Odysseus & Black Ships Before Troy (Get the illustrated editions with art by Alan Lee....they are worth the extra money) Roman Mysteries series by Caroline Lawrence (We've already started these for pleasure reading) (BBC turned this into a 2 season TV series, you can buy the dvd for each season for around $10 each and though they are PAL 2 they play on MAC w/out conversion) Eagle of the Ninth/The Silver Branch/The Lantern Bearers Detectives in Togas Mystery of the Roman Ransome Tales of the Greek Heroes The Aeneid for Boys and Girls Augustus Caesar's World Mary Pope's Tales from the Odyssey volume 1 & 2 You wouldn't want to be a ...... (This series is great but pricey for 32 pages, I bought 2, but now I usually just get them from the library or ILL request) The Roman News, The Greek News, The Egyptian News Learning Through History Magazine Bronze Bow The Ch'ilin Purse Wild Orchid (Retelling of Mulan) A Single Shard D'aulaires Book of Greek Myth Geraldine McCaughrean's Greek Myth and Roman Myth Books (Great short stories perfect for my 6yo, but the 12yo enjoys listening in) Ology Series : Mythology and Egyptology and Finally: National Geographic's Treasure of Greek Mythology...This was purchased because I love the illustrator Christina Balit, but I constantly find this book in my son's hand as he pours over the art & myth.... http://www.amazon.com/Treasury-Greek-Mythology-Goddesses-Monsters/dp/1426308442/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323594516&sr=1-1 After several months of struggling with the hold/ILL system at my local library I bit the bullet and bought most of the books on my list for this year. There are still a few I can't remember off the top of my head because they are in open circulation at my local branch...now just to find that list..lol. We also use SOTW 1 & lots of picture books (combined History for 6th Grader and 1st Grader) This may seem like alot of books but much of the novel reading is done aloud. (usually audiobooks while following along with text for the 12 yo while the 6yo colors pictures/does worksheet or plays quietly) We read picture books and SOTW over breakfast or during nightly family reading...and we don't do TV in our house from M-F, so kids have no choice but to pick up a book.

My daughter has checked out the first 2 audiobooks of the Little House on the Prairie Series 3x now from the library. So I can definately recommend them. I found them on amazon for around $10 each (They will be her stocking gift for Christmas) The other books in the series run around $17 These 2 audiobooks in particular have been a huge hit for us. My DD6 doesn't even argue about bedtime if we let her put a disk in to listen to as she falls asleep. http://www.amazon.com/Little-House-Woods-Unabr-House-/dp/0061365343/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323585647&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.com/Little-House-Prairie-Ingalls-Wilder/dp/0061563056/ref=pd_sim_b_1

We used to be a family that spent a fortune at Christmas but realized after a year of "no gifts" due to a layoff several years ago that less is more. We also found behaviors changed and arguments stopped when the kids had less toys to argue over. (and they appreciated what they did have so much more.) Over the years I've also grown tired of the "plastic" backlash (Tons of little parts and broken bits, doll heads, car parts....all those little plastic pieces that seem to pile up from the large number of toys given by well meaning relatives. but which end up in the trash within the first 3 months after Christmas. This year each kid is getting 1 big item and 2 small items for their stocking, plus candy and small handmade items, like soap, lipbalm ect. DD 6 will be receiving a MDF castle dollhouse for her Waldorf type PEG dolls and she will also be getting the first 2 audiobooks from the little house on the prairie series for her stocking (she's checked these audiobooks out of the library 3x now..lol) DD12 is getting a new skateboard and pads (he's outgrown his old ones) and the 2 season DVD's of BBC Roman Mysteries Series in his stocking. I've asked all other relatives/friends to get books or provide gift cards for books. From what I've been told DS 12 will be getting some Horrible Histories/Sciences as well as a few novels in hardback from Rick Riordan he doesn't already have. DD 6 will be getting a few Fancy Nancy Books and Gift cards to go select her own books. So to sum it up, 1 toy, 2 electronic media per child from us, and lots of books from everyone else. Each of the kids also receives a "donation" in their name to Heifer International every year from us. (and they get to pick what "animal" their donation purchases....TBH, they LOVE doing this and it has become a highlight of Christmas for us. Now that we are again financially stable, we still keep Christmas small (for us anyway) and concentrate on others.

Did a quick search and couldn't find anything..... I've been eyeballing the History Channel Multimedia Classroom series. Its on sale till the 20th at HSBC. http://shop.history.com/multimedia-classroom/index.php?v=history-education_multimedia (This is link to History Channel, HSBC has video about series) We currently use K12 Human Odyssey & OUP's World in Ancient Times Set with Student Guides. I've noticed that often the monkeys retain more from just watching a documentary and talking than they do from reading textbooks. This looks like a great mix of documentary/interactive but I can't seem to find many actual Homeschool reviews on the items....(We have discovery edu streaming but won't renew it next year, its been great for Magic school bus videos but the interface is just not very user friendly for trying to locate and group lessons around a topic) This History Channel multimedia classroom appears to be a good mix of the primary source, textbook & media I'm looking for. (Which I've been trying to group together myself without much success using the Human odyssey, World in Ancient Times and Discovery Streaming...I mean it would be successful if I ever got it done, but you know how it is, best intentions and all that.) So anyway...just wondering if anyone has used this series by History Channel? Opinions? If you haven't used it have you heard anything good or bad? Thanks

For the longest time I didn't use audio books. (My son's language therapist requested we not use them so he wouldn't use them as a crutch) After hitting yet another wall with my 12 yo dyslexic/dysgraphic DS who after years of therapy can "decode" anything with regard to reading, (even college level) but couldn't comprehend it, I decided to do something different. I started assigning grade level literature and allowing him to listen to the audio book while following along with the text. (We did the same with his textbooks, utilizing Learningally.com) The key here is he can't just listen while doing something else, he has to read along with the voice. After about 2 months of all reading being done with auditory support he started picking up books to read on his own during "free time". (To encourage this we only allow TV/Video Games on the weekends, and that is limited to 2 hours each on Sat & Sun) Prior to this breakthrough Legos won, hands down, for entertainment during free time. A few months ago this changed, and now I wake up in the middle of the night to find him reading because he's so enthralled with a story. I asked him what had changed. He said he now "sees the story in his head" when he reads, its not just a jumble of words to be decoded. Reading the text while listening to audio books consistently and for several hours each day was the key to this. It created the environment for reading to "click" for him...He gets it now. (And this was a child I was sure might never get it....) He still listens to audio books for school books (textbooks), and depending on the difficulty of the assigned "great book" he may read 1 chapter, listen to 1, read 1 and so on. But for pleasure reading he now reads the whole book himself and if he really likes it he'll ask me to get a copy to listen too for fun. In the last month he discovered the Percy Jackson books we've had sitting on the shelf for over a year and read all of them, then he started in on Rick Riordan's other 2 series and read all 4 of those books. Audio book support was more successful for us than 8 years of therapy. The therapy gave him the decoding skills he needed to read, but he had that mastered by 2nd grade. Comprehension never happened with therapy. After finally stopping therapy last year and starting using audio book we had a breakthrough. YMMV

I had planned on schooling this week....Then yesterday I just threw up my hands and said...."All right, it's gonna be a FREE week" (Because I just have so much to do before Thanksgiving) So what happens today..... They spend all day reading and doing Math (TT) because its *FUN* :lol:

:iagree: Same for us. We usually do it Thanksgiving night with family and friends, but this year we'll be out of town, and Hubby will be traveling during December for work, so we did it Veterans day weekend (when he had a 4 day weekend/holiday and could help.) We also already have presents under it.....:tongue_smilie:

There is a demo here (for teacher and student) http://www.kosjourney.com/pages/demo My son has been bugging me non stop since I showed him the demo a month ago.....(and finishing brainware safari in record time..lol) If it helps, I had a friend lend me her copy of Trickomatics to see if we liked it.....she paid $50 for the program from HSBC and got a 15 min DVD and an interactive "math" CD-ROM that her kids (and mine) are not very *excited* about. Probably because our kids are at or beyond the cut-off age (9, 11, & 12) they find it too *Babyish* & repetitive. (But she assumed the DVD would be longer, as did I when I looked over the discount offer on HSBC) This (Ko's) appears to be way more age appropriate...and according to DS 12 hours of a guided role playing math game is way more interesting than a 15 min DVD......... Note to self: I must seriously create a Role Playing based Classical educational Curriculum delivered in a virtual gaming environment....Because then I KNOW he would get his work done in record time and beg for more!!!:lol:

Should I admit DH has made almost the same mistake on occasion? :tongue_smilie: (and I'm being serious here....lol) My own favorite Mother/Daughter childhood memory was the first time I ever said a "wordy dird" (as we children jokingly called dirty words) in front of my mother at the age of 17. It slipped out in the heat of the moment, and I cringed waiting to hear her usual response (as often heard with other siblings/cousins).........."a southern lady is never VULGAR") Instead, Her response, equally heated, was priceless........... "Dam**t Xan, you have a vocabulary, use it....." :001_huh: I looked at her, she looked at me and we both laughed so hard we cried....(I still chuckle thinking about it)....:lol:

o.O Thanks for the heads up...off to purchase!!! (Now to just wait for the CC to defrost....It got put on ice after last month's curriculum splurge....:lol:)

My 12 yo recently watched Crusade: A March Through Time at his Grandparents house and came home requesting to watch it again...Both he and his sister loved it. Its a story about a boy going back in time to participate in the "Children's Crusade"... Time-travel aside its takes a pretty accurate look at the middle-ages without alot of scary stuff. (Rated PG) amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Crusade-March-Through-Emily-Watson/dp/B001AUKUV8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321257215&sr=8-1 FWIW, it does have a heavy Christian bias...but that was/is appropriate for the era. (We are not Christian but I do teach the Bible as Literature so this didn't bother me in the least)

The zone 2 season 1 of this series (ordered from amazon) plays on our iMac with no conversion, adjustment or other "player" needed. ( surprised me, I had expected to have to use a freeware or convert file types to get the pal 2 to play....instead I loaded and it started playing. I ordered season 2...it's not here yet, so I can't comment on that one.

My 12 year old loves the Young Indiana Jones series. It covers the adventures of "Indy" from a child to young man. It may appear more boyish...but my 6 yr old dd loves it too, and my teenage niece has sat and watched quite a few episodes as well. I've even found myself sitting down to watch instead of finishing the laundry on occasion. As a child the character meets many "real life" figures, like Edison & Lawrence of Arabia while he travels the globe with his parents. Its available for both instant streaming & DVD. In fact I remember being a teenage girl and waiting to watch this every week as a kid (but I was a big history buff, and loved Indiana Jones movies....YMMV)

:iagree: $10 profit per bottle....and its fulfilled by AMAZON Someone is making a killer profit. It should be no more than $3-$4 a bottle (That's what I've paid over last 2 years for it)

Sorry It been a few days....no rest for the wicked:lol: Yeah I love Trader Joe's Conditioner.....and I only share my love because I spent so much darn time wasting $$$$$ on devacurl. ( I even tried WEN, but it was more expensive and wasn't as natural) My curly hair falls below my rump when wet, mid back when dry. My daughter's hair is almost the same length, and even my son has long hair. We all no~poo and it was costing me a fortune in the pricey Conditioners. Now its 2 $3 bottles a week instead of 1 $35 bottle...;) (I've even been known to make my own flaxseed hair gel when I have the time) DH couldn't be happier....:lol: As far as I know you can't order online from TJ's, but for awhile (when we were relocated for a trip overseas) my mother would go buy like 20 bottles at a time and send to me (I gave her the money for the conditioners and shipping, which wasn't that much via snail mail to a military address) We've have since moved again, and now I drive almost 45 min to get the conditioner, so I stock up when I go. Perhaps you have a friend/family member near a store who could do the same?? After almost 30 years of struggling with curly, nappy, frizzy, messy, super fine, super long, cherub/corkscrew curls I finally found a product that didn't cost a fortune and works....so I just have to share... I really wish TJ would allow online ordering for household/hygiene items!!!

I've got a 12 yo in 6th grade, who has diagnosed 2E with expressive/receptive language disorders, working memory issues and dyslexia/dysgraphia. (The doctor's thru in auditory processing at the last neuropsych eval...but I figured he had enough labels...*grin*) He left Public school for homeschool at the start of 5th grade, when we discovered he was still unable to write a sentence. Since then we've had alot of luck with working multiple programs simultaneously. He reads on the 4th-5th grade level, but has the writing/grammar/spelling abilities of a 1st/2nd grader. We do MCT (we started at the very beginning, it was easy, it built his confidence and he finally understood the difference between an ADJ and an ADV) & we do FLL 4 (He is diagramming sentences and actually likes it!!! Who knew :001_huh: ) We also do WWE for work in narration and diction to help with grammar/construction. (Doing narrations/oral dictations help build sentence structure as the parent watches the child write and corrects as mistakes happen) I've also found Writing Skills and The Paragraph Book are excellent in helping with not only writing but structure, capitals, punctuation marks and so forth. I've also heard good things about growing with grammar...but so far MCT, FLL, WWE and the 2 Writing programs are all covering the material in different ways, allowing for mastery. (We're all tortoise here though...no hare) Since your son is only in 2nd grade..The paragraph book wouldn't be a good choice (its for remedial writing help for middle schoolers)...but Writing Skills A may be helpful. (Today we did a lesson in it and learned about plural/singular nouns, tomorrow the workbook is covering verbs....) But I have to warn you, after 2 years of intensive grammar/writing/spelling help my son still struggles with applying what he knows. (this includes 2x weekly Wilson's reading therapy with a local children's hospital) He can repeat AAS rules from start to finish, but can't apply them to his own spelling. He can diagram a sentence beautifully but can't write one of his own with the proper spelling, punctuation and format without guidance. He can however rough draft a great story.....and typing/italic cursive has helped him at least make his ideas legible and editable...:001_smile: I wish you luck finding what works for you, but you may find it will take a mash-up of various curriculum to help reach a child struggling with processing issues.

Best natural I've found by far is Trader Joe's Tea Tree Tingle Conditioner. Its all natural, many ingredients organic and it has lots of "slip" for coarse hair (the marshmallow/horsetail does this) around here it is only $3 a bottle....YMMV @ your store if you have one. If not I've found VO5 and Some Suave (like the coconut) to be good alternatives. Ironically its the "cheap" conditioners that don't often have the silicones (since they are a bit pricey to include) Ingredients in Trader Joe's Tea Tree Tingle Conditioner: Purified Water, Tea Tree Oil, Peppermint Oil, Eucalyptus Oil, Nettle Oil, Thyme Oil, Birch Leaf Oil, Chamomile Oil, Clary Coltsfoot Leaf, Yarrow Oil, Mallow, Horsetail Oil, Soybean protein, Cetyl alcohol (plant derived), Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Trace Minerals, citric acid (corn), sodium hydroxymethylgycinate, Grapefruit seed (citrus derived) ** and more than 1/2 of the above have an * indicating organic. I really love this stuff!!!! Its not oily at all...but very silky and has lots of slip (from the mallow) for detangling in the shower. I love Kinky Curly Knot Today (detangling) and Curling Custard (styling) .....These are not just for ethnic hair, in fact my long super fine curls love it!!!!! These 3 items are all I use, and my hair has never been healthier. (aside from henna coloring of course...)

:iagree: At the age of 8 my son discovered a picture of his father with hair almost to his knees (Part of an Asian family tradition not to cut hair until responsibility requires it, like marriage, first job after college and so forth) DS decided at that point to grow his hair out. Today at age 12 his hair falls to the back of his thighs. He has gorgeous, super thick dark brown hair that my daughter loves to brush....:lol: He's already said if/when he cuts it that it will all be donated to locks for love....like your son, his hair truly defines him and he LOVES it.

Each of my kids has a clear rubbermaid type container they place a selection of legos in to build with and *constructed* items are placed in the same container to move from the living area to a shelf in their room....If its too big I offer to help move...If it falls apart mid move they learn an important engineering fact...:lol: Seriously though...my kids know to build where it won't interfere with living/schooling area (at least for big things) and if they do (they ask first) then they need to clean up all the remaining pieces and remove the smaller constructed items when finished. We have 4 of those 3 drawer carts filled with legos (My son inherited all his uncle's legos, plus he's been getting them for years so it has added up) All the carts are color coded (all the red pieces in one, yellow in another and so forth) When they want to build they take their clear container over, fill it with a selection and build...(After a while when their individual clear container is overflowing they have to sort back at least 1/2 into the the rolling carts) This keeps the legos organized, the kids don't argue about someone else touching their legos/builds ect....They are able to clean up after themselves and I don't have to deal with tears over me destroying one of their creations......They've learned if its left out I toss it into the *to be sorted* pile without much care for all the hard work. After happening once to each kid they've never left another creation just lying around. Playmobile is another story...Every few weeks I take out all the playmobile (they pick either egyptian or romans since those are the 2 sets we have) I set everthing up on the long formal dining room table (only table big enough for everything) and I let them play with it for a few days. (which they do almost non stop) when I see interest waning, I pack everything up....and pull it out again in 2-3 weeks. Its just too much stuff to have out all the time...there is no place for it, and when we tried the playmobile bin we lost important pieces and had parts all over the house and my vacuum cleaner...This just works better for us.

Yep ours is the biggest size.......the door isn't that much of an issue imo, since it does *chime* if left open for more than 10 sec..(or so it seems...:lol:) Inspite of the frost problems we've had with the Samsung I'm happy with it. We looked at all the french door models and Samsung seemed to have the best construction, best door shelf size, best overall layout, and we love our *inside the fridge* water dispenser. (I hate door dispensers but that is a whole other post..;)) I'm sorry you've had such problems with yours. But if ours died tomorrow I'd be buying another french door (maybe not the same brand, I'm sure over the last 2 years there have been changes to other brands I would want to check out....but I have been really happy with the Samsung and the french door layout in general)

We've had our Samsung for about 2 years....Just recently it froze up on us for the first time and we had to defrost (1st time ever I've had to defrost a fridge). I was doing OAM cooking the day before it froze and I think I just had the doors open too much...like all day in fact...:lol: Anyway afterwards we also found out that keeping the bottom freezer drawer "lite" on food (don't overfill) and making sure it is a full 6"-8" from the wall prevented any frost issues on the next OAM cooking day. This 6"- 8" seems to be key...it looks like way too much, and it is sizeable. (way more than I've ever had a fridge from the wall in fact) But I pushed it back one day because I was disgusted with seeing the wall behind the fridge and not 4 hours later the whine from the fan freezing up started again...I moved the fridge back out and it stopped....FWIW the 8" from the wall stopped our frost problem. For cleaning I use plain old vinegar/water (50/50 ratio) which is what I use to clean just about everything, including glass. (I do use a herbal vinegar I make since the herbs I use are all well known antibacterial, antiviral, anti-fungal....just plain old good for kitchen/bathroom cleaning)

In my experience a $10 GC to a local bookstore (for comics or graphic novels..is always a good choice) Or a small lego set like the one linked here (You can always usually find a 70-100 piece kit for around $10..in several themes, like the ninja, starwars, castle set, and others) http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Star-Wars-Snow-Trooper/dp/B002RL7W9W/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1320183591&sr=8-11 If all else fails I know my 10 year old loves to get cash (it is a very hard age to shop for) This year mine is getting a gift certificate for a new skateboard (professional level, customized...hence the gc) and books....that's it. (from us at least)