This thread is actually giving me a little piece of mind. I commend mom's who don't lock the cupboards and fridge. My mom grew up that way, and she was always parranoid about being hungry and used to hide food. SHe was a STICK growing up. I actually have the opposite. I have a boy, who would definitely be "overweight" by pediatrician standard, but we don't see one. Our family care provider is fantastic. DS has very broad shoulders just like dad, and my dad (we are Polish), and he is only ever so slightly chubby in the tummy. He is 4'4" 7.5 yrs old, so very high on the chart for height. He is VERY active, works a TON outside, is helpful in mowing the yard and any laborous activity that he thinks will help mom :D. He's not really a snacker, but eats big balanced meals and drinks only water, or homeade soda water. What am I supposed to do when HE tells me he's starving? FEed him boneless skinless chicken and dry toast? No way. I stopped worrying about it. We eat super healthy, whole foods, and I DO give him the well deserved bowl of ice cream on friday nights and what not. He always thins out big time around summer, which is what happens to me. I am usually super super skinny, but I gain up to a size 2 every winter. Feed the children when they are hungry!! BTW, one thing I do is keep a bowl of dried fruit and nuts on the table. Sometimes I notice kids just feel like constantly chewing food LOL. Or a big bowl of popcorn. That takes a while to eat.

Actually the 32 ounce pitcher is the smaller one, the one it usually is advertised wtih is the 64 ounce. I don't likle to really store them, but one thing I do is make ahead yogurt drink for the kids. Kind of like those rip off organize yogurt drinks.... Puree a bunch of berries with a bit of honey, store in a mason jar in fridge for up to a week. If we are on the go, dump half that, and half yogurt and shake it up. If you add frozen stuff to a smoothie sometimes storing doeson't turn out so well.

I use my Vitamix SEVERAL times a day. I bought the extra 32 ounce pitcher also. I only have a sec right now but search for vegan blogs. SOme things I eat daily are: Green smoothies homemade veg/bean burgers Raw salads of chopped veggies and roasted nuts I'm not a juicer because I prefer the whole food approach, but that's just me. My favorite hot meal is quinoa or brown rice and beans, with roasted veg puree. I roast a butternut, carrot, sweet potatoes with EVOO salt and pepper. Then puree wtih a little broth and pour over. I even make a mac n "cheese" for the kids with this and a little parmesan. And my favorite seasoning is Vogue Veg base, which I add to the above recipe and just about anything savory! I also love black bean and sweet potato wraps. I go through phases with those and eat them like 3 times a day ETA: Also, I find a lot of good veggie inspiration in the Moosewood cookbooks.

This. We are coffee snoots, but live where EVERYONE drinks espresso. You can't throw a rock without hitting a coffee shop. You can get a cheap grinder, or something like a Capresso that has a bean hopper and you turn a dial and grind only what you need.

Well, I know many like GWG, but I'm not too impressed. It's kinda...too much busy work. I need something that is very to the point and nothing more, because we are using more extensive writing curriculum now. DS and I are finishing FLL3, which I think helped with retention a great deal. I plan to use Easy grammar, as it is independent and I think he can do it after one year of good instruction with me. BTW, I HAVE GWG. We started out with it but were literally not retaining a thing LOL! Now, granted we had no formal grammar until then (begining of 2nd this year), but I still don't like the books. I guess it's a matter preference. You can view samples from each online. I DO think there is a benefit of using something that is more teacher intensive the first year of formal grammar though. It probably depends at what age you are starting.

Is she past a size 16 plus? Lands end goes to 16 plus in many of their super cute girls swim suit. Is it here height or weight? My mom is petite, on the slightly plumper side. I seriously don't know the right word. She's lovely, just a bit overweight.....she gets the lansd end petite sizes. A neigbhor whom I know is a teenager and same height as my mom, and similarly shaped minus the big boobs and wears the same size in lands end!

WTF IS that? I think I'm going to be sick. I haven't been this disturbed since I mistakenly watched an episode of Criminal Minds with DH late at night. I slept with my kids for a week!

well, I know you said no printing, but my solution was to by a dirt cheap laser black and white during black friday sale, and download Startwrite. My kids each need a different size lined paper. This was easier and cheaper in the long run. I also print out our narrations for copywork!

I suffered from horrible skin after child bearing and here is what I do: Probably the thing that made THE biggest difference is my Nutrasonic facial brush. I use it in the shower. I use Clinique foaming makeup remover/cleanser, then a dab of mild cleanser all over and the facial brush. Witch hazel on a cotton swab to wipe face once dry moisturize by rubbing a very very thin layer of coconut oil. Wash pillow cases every other day. I made a bunch from super cheap remnant fabric. I am also dairy and sugar free. If I ever exercise or sweat I rinse my face as soon as possible. No amount of dermatological therapy has EVER done me a lick of good. I take zinc and a good omega fatty acid oil. Acne sucks. Mine is completely managed now, but i have to very, very careful to stick to my skin care regime or I go back to the beginning

I stop using it once correct letter formation happens. And I ONLY do letters. I don't use a handwriting book like HWOT because after copying a whole page of that there is no stamina left for actual writing. We stopped doing penmanship for a while, then DS started doing something weird with p and b, and having some issues making s without going under the line, so I went back to a very quick letter practice. What I do is print out his copywork in Startwrite, and pick a few letters to make 2 lines at the top of the page to practice FIRST. I do not write his narrations, but rather type them to print. This is very effective for us!

quinoa or brown rice and chickpeas with roasted veggie puree! I use butternut squash, carrots, and sweet potatoes, subbing more/less of whatever I have. roast with w EVOO then puree with a little salt/pepper and broth to make a sauce. Fresh thyme is a bonus. My kids love it with parmesan poured over pasta. Kind of like mac n cheese.

Muscle. You need muscles and low fat to not jiggle. I lunge with weights twice a week and I seriously went from like 200 pounds post baby 5 years ago, to tight and toned. I do squats and lunges wtih weights, that's about it for lower body, aside from yoga for stretching purposes. I absolutely hate running. I would only run occasionally to make sure I COULD if someone was chasing me :lol:

I think this is a kind of reading comprehension thing. I encountered the same problems with DS this year. I know he is capable of reading on his own, and remember some of the information, but it takes practice. What I do, is read the material, and then underline key words in a sentence that may help finding the answer easier. Eventually the goal is to not have to do this, but it really helps with having to research back through the text. I started recently having DS do this as he is reading on his own, if he thinks it is a sentence that is very important and will help him answer questions. This seems to solve the problem!

What is HOD?

I totally agree with you. We will finish up FLL3 and WWE2 soon. I just know we both don't want to do it again next year. I feel like I need something between WWE and just letting him loose to write about whatever.....and *I* am a TERRIBLE writing teacher. It's just not in me. We do the same thing day after day in WWE, and he definitely wants to do something different. He is to the point where he can read anything, give me a great narration, and write it down. His writing has improved a great deal, just from being able to physically handle more, and with more speed. I am *so* lost as to what to do. I can't just wing it anymore. I am totally burnt out from hand tailoring every single subject we use. I spend every waking minute writing and planning lessons, and it is just wearing me out :( I'm usually not a whiner LOL!

All I can think of is it is just hinting to imply to use the addition/subtraction connection to find the difference. "Think of adding more," meaning, what do you have to add to get to that number.

I just looked it up. I think she means, adding more to find the difference. SO in 32-28, think of adding more to 28 to make 32. add 2 to get to the next whole ten which is 30, then 2 more, 2+2=4.

I make something similar, but use jack cheese, and add chopped, SQUEEZED very dry frozen spinach to the topping. I also make kind of a home made version of the "cream of" soup

I see hake grammar starts at 5. It looks like this is grammar AND writing though, no?

I have come to realize next year I cannot have a very teacher intensive writing,and grammar, and everything else. Especially with DD coming in to more formal schooling next year being in 1st (and I sense she will need more of my time, especially being more accelerated in the language arts area already). DS picks up on grammar with ease. We will finish FLL3 this year. I asked about Voyages in English, and it seems the consensus and advice from TWTM to use it only for grammar and skip the writing portion. I can see there to be value in that advice. I definitely think it would be better for me to let him do grammar on his own, and spend the one on one for writing. With studying grammar this year together, I think he has a strong foundation to continue with some independent study. I know IEW is very different from the WWE approach, so I'm wondering what IEW users do for grammar?

Jim, FLL3 actually IS working for us. We have retention and it is quick/thorough, however DS and I have just collectively decided we do not want to continue next year wtih the same type of thing. He is taking initiative to tell me he would like to try something he can mainly do on his own so I really want to nurture that. AND, I have a DD in 1st next year requiring more of my time than this year. I actually am grateful for FLL because doing it together in this short, repetitive manner has been helpful. Ok, so skip the writing portion of VIE, got it. I looked through the (quite extensive) samples online and I really like it. So now I just have to figure out where to go with writing.

We actually WILL be finishing FLL3 t his year. I just don't want to do FLL4, and I'm trying to figure out where to go from here.

Well RATS. I officially detest the thought of language arts next year. The problem is we BOTH want something that is not scripted by me, but everything is either Christian or totally busy work. I know there are many WWW and GWG users, heck I actually have them, but I am just not impressed with them at all.

I just looked up Hake, but we will be in grade 4 next year and they start at 5th. I'm not concerned with the cost, I just can't figure out why there are not many users of VIE

Well, we are working through FLL3, and we have both decided we just do not want to use it again next year.