I have considered that too. So different ends of the spectrum! I have a friend that took that approach with her daughter (I think I mentioned her way ahead of the game daughter in this post somewhere). She didn't teach her to read at all. At 7.5 she still couldn't read. At 8, she taught herself to read and just FLEW and is now just crazy ahead. My friend tells me my daughter is just not ready. How do you make that call though? How do you decide it's a maturity thing and not a physical problem or an auditory problem? How do you just back off 100%? Gosh..being a mom AND a teacher is SO difficult!!!

I had thought of a book of short stories too and completely forgot about it. Thanks for reminding me! I'm looking up the other websites too you listed.

I guess I'm not understanding the Saddleback website. When I choose level 1-2, they give me grades 9-12 books! I can't find any elementary books.

I ordered these from the library. Thanks!!

You know, that's funny. That's how I've gotten her to read some books, by reading to her dogs, stuffed animals, dolls, and even a dying baby bird (her idea). It works beautifully. She reads picture books to them. I am sure it's helping fluency. I don't hover because I want it to be 'her' time without me correcting her, etc. I requested Catswings and the Unicorn book from the library for us to look at.

That's my daughter..she's visual so the tv, computer, and Ipad are her go to things. She does see reading as pleasure still though thankfully. I just don't want her to loose that. It's so sough. How do I find high low books?

My friend, her tutor, was doing a lot of visualizing and verbalizing activities with her actually. We will be starting back up with that next week. She had improved so much and with the move and such, I just couldn't keep my head above water and let it go. I feel badly now and we will start back up next week. We'll see where we get with this and if it doesn't step us up, we'll take the next step and see what we find.

She tried the Fairy Series and she didn't like the one she read (I'm not sure she understood it). I think she is more interested in the realistic fantasy type of stuff if that makes sense. She tried Geronimo Stilton and she couldn't understand it. Same with Flat Stanley.

Her tutor is a good friend of mine and is a reading specialist (masters in reading problems..can't remember the specific degree though..lol). She was able to specifically pinpoint where her reading problems were. I have never seen a language specialist though. After the eye thing (1 year driving 1.5 hours 1 way twice a week), I couldn't bear putting her through any more therapy's. Some of her problems though make me wonder if we are dealing with Dyslexia as well. How much do you put your kid through though, you know? I have one friend that thinks if I were to just back off she would pick it all up on her own and take off and fly with it. HER daughter taught herself to read though and is now reading 4 grades above her grade though...so I take it with a grain of salt. I couldn't bear to have her have a problem that can be fixed but I sit around and wait only to find out it DOES need fixing, you know?

She's going to be 9 in May. She is surrounded by good readers (her friends) and they are all reading well ahead of their age. They are reading things like Guardian's of Gahoole and Harry Potter, etc. She LOVES fantasy books. However, she has the hardest time reading. When she was 7, she was diagnosed with eye problems and spent a year in vision therapy. That physically got her eyes where they needed to be and now she reads beyond grade level. However, comprehension wise...not so good. She is understanding 1st grade books but nothing beyond that. I put her in tutoring and she was doing well but we are in the process of moving and pulled her. Last night we went to the bookstore and she sat in the kid's section and I found her with silent tears running down her face. She told me that it's not fair that there are SO many good books that she wants to read but she still has to read baby books. She happened to glance at the back of one and saw the suggested reading age was 7 and she was heartbroken because she couldn't understand it. I explained to her that everybody learns at different rates and she'll get there with practice. I was crushed inside though. I just don't know how to help her. I'm out of my league. I did email her tutor and set it back up again. We have tried audio books and read alouds but she has a listening comprehension problem too. We are up to 2nd grade books there. I read a ton to her...but we still can't move up to the books she is interested in. There aren't her 'type' of books available for the 1st-2nd grade level. She's interested in horses and fantasy. Just had to share. If you have book suggestions or reading comp suggestions, we are all ears. :bigear: Stephenie

My mom and dad used to live next to drug dealers. They also cooked Meth. Ugh. Anyway..they had a surveillance camera on the side of their house pointed at my parents (I'm sure I killed a kitten there but I don't much care right now..lol) house. My mom could walk to the mailbox and that thing would follow her from her house to the mailbox and back. It was remote controlled. The cops were watching them close...they often used my parent's property to do sting work to try to catch them. My parents moved away (for obvious reasons) so I'm not sure what came of that.

My mom and dad are in Rogers County (Inola) and they are expecting it tonight and tomorrow. We are about to move up there and it makes me nervous!!!

My husband is gone for 2-3 weeks at a time (works on an oil rig) and is home for 1-2 weeks at a time. We have had to adjust to him being home while schooling. Daddy comes first. We spend SO much time with him away from home that we are both starved for attention when he is home. If daddy wants to go shopping? Fine...we all go. If daddy wants to go fishing? Yep, we do that too. It all works out in the wash and she gets her schoolwork in and we get quality time with all of us. I'm only homeschooling 1 though..as compared to 4.

I'm so sorry this is what she has. I'm not familiar with it, can you explain what it means for her now and in the long term? Stephenie

Thanks! My dd is all into classical right now. How do I get this music to my ipod?

We are still 2 months out from listing, but the realtor is coming today for a walk through, talk money, etc. What are some questions that I need to ask him? Thanks! Stephenie

I always make it with Paul Newman's Raspberry vinagerette (for the life of me, I can't spell that nor does spell check pick it up!) YUM...now I'm craving it!!

Your brother was out of line...period. A very, very similar thing happened in my family. I have an uncle that always got 'a little too friendly' with me growing up. He never hurt me, but it was enough to make me uncomfortable my whole life. As I aged, I learned to handle him. When my daughter turned around 3 years old, he started getting 'a little too friendly' with her. I watched closely. It was always when he was drunk..so I kept her away in those times. One night, I got very uncomfortable. I mentioned it to my husband...that I couldn't let my daughter around him anymore because it was harder and harder to control the situation. The next time my uncle was in town, my husband quietly made an exit from my house and went to his....he had him up against the wall in a choke hold and I have no doubt he would have killed him had somebody not walked around the corner. They had words, my uncle got cocky, my dad took my husband off of my uncle (his brother) just as he was issuing the first blow. It got ugly..and rightly so. I say this all to you because now my husband and my uncle are on speaking terms again but it took about 2 years. Not to mention, the most he does with my daughter and I now are quick hugs. Nothing uncomfortable at all... Something comes out in some men when those they love are threatened or hurt. I don't think what your husband did was wrong. The words your brother used were threatening and confrontational and uncalled for. My dad has done the SAME thing when those words were said to my mom. Sometimes a 'slap in the face' is needed. I'm guessing your brother is embarrassed at how he spoke to you. I hope that you can patch things up with him soon. I think you need to get the two men together and have a face to face with both of them.

Have fun with them!!! Love baby chickies! Stephenie

You guys are scaring me...lol We are in the process right now of finishing last minute things before we list. I'm decluttering MAJORLY this next week...will paint after that. My husband has a bathroom remodel left to do (will take him 2 weeks)...after that, just little stuff. I'm thinking we'll list the first of June. I'm soooooo scared about the process. I have 2 dogs, 1 cat and 1 kid...and 7 chickens. I'm NOT getting rid of my chickens to sell...they are pets for us. They are cooped up and quiet during the day so I think it'll be fine. My dogs shed like mad and my house always FEELS dirty b/c the dog hair and the dirt from them and my daughter going in and out constantly. She plays in our garden like it's a playground and she is always full of dirt. I have NO idea how we will get this house 100% clean to show!!!

Thank you. The good thing about our area is that the market is picking back up again because of the new drilling in the gulf...we are trying to hurry and list before we miss this window of newcomers to the area.

This exactly the advice I was looking for!!! Thanks. I'm getting crazy overwhelmed and can't think through little problems at the moment. I'll probably have more 'dumb' questions as time goes on..lol Thankfully, my mom and dad are coming to help me next week. They have done this several times before. There are just times when you need your mommy and daddy..lol

We are planning on putting our house on the market in early June. I'm not 100% sure what realtor to use just yet. I'm watching who is selling what in our area and how fast they go, etc. At this point, we are trying to finish up remodeling. Right now, we have a master bath to remodel (will be done in a month), carpet to put in in 3 bedrooms, most of the house needs to be painted (before new carpet is laid..lol), and little fix it stuff here and there. At what point do we start interviewing potential realtors? I know we need to get this remodeling done, but maybe we should be doing some of the ground work now for who we are going to hire? This is our first house we have ever sold so this is all new to us and I'm scared to death..lol

I'm prepping my house to put it on the market. I'm paring everything down to the bare minimum. My problem right now is over the counter medicines. I had phenomena last month and have cough meds for that that I probably won't use again for another 6 months to a year. I had a 12 hour stomach bug yesterday and my husband went out and bought me a massive bottle of pepto. I took one dose of it. We MAY use that once every 2 months for indigestion. I have tylenol, advil (kids and adults), daily allergy meds, daily vitamins, 'maybe' allergy meds (seasonal hayfever that my daughter and I both get in about another month). It's out of control. How do I store all of this? What do I keep and what do I toss? Do I toss the cough meds and just rebuy as I need them? I'm so overwhelmed right now!

We live in a neighborhood and have a small flock of chickens. For about a month and a half around Christmas, I found hawks in my hard several times. They never got one of my girls, but they watched them closely. I saw one about 1 foot above my blind chicken...just perched there looking at her. I was able to scare it off. I ended up just leaving my chickens in the coop and not let them free range at all for a few weeks. the hawks seemed to have moved on because I haven't seen any at all lately. Maybe keep your cats picked up for a few weeks? I have heard that if they don't see them for a while, they will move on.