http://aturntolearn.blogspot.com/2012/08/fight-against-fidgeting.html# My 5 and almost 3 yr olds LOVE this! (It's a blog post with a ton of links to motion songs for littles.)

Thanks! Lots of fun ideas to explore this weekend!

DS is dying to learn real Spanish. His invisible (NOT imaginary! There is a difference!!:D) friends are Spanish cowboys named Ocho and Dos. All I can remember is how to ask if I can use the restroom, so obviously 4 years of high school Spanish did nothing for me. Online or not, iPad apps or workbook- it doesn't matter. But I need very cheap, preferably free. What's out there that you recommend? I've done a bit of Googling, but am just not sure what to do. ¡Gracias!

Thanks! I'm looking into that now! We also have an old plan, so I will also look into this. Thanks!

I'm wondering if there is a way to do this. We are a cell phone only family, mine is the home phone/my cell and DH's is his cell. Younger DS's birthmom wants to call sometime to catch up, which is fine. She is constantly losing my number, so every time I just give it to her again. However, she is just the type of person I don't really want having our phone number. (Not adoption related at all, just...legal issues, drug issues, fraud issues, etc.) Without getting a separate phone, is there a cheap way to get some sort of alternative phone number that still rings to my phone? She also doesn't have her own phone currently and uses friends' phones when needed - and I don't want our phone number being readily available like that. Any ideas besides a separate pay as you go phone?

If I can hear you chewing your food (I swear my family has hollow heads!) then it is all I can do to politely stay in the same room. CAN. NOT. STAND. IT.

Haha. Me too! Yep, what she said. I don't defend our decisions, and I don't care where you send your kids to school. And you survived your first day, that's a big step!

We are a few months into k right now. The reality has been way different than what I planned. ;) I am just starting Wee Folk Art today, but there's no way it can last a week for us unless I come up with other activities. It has been easy to google a book and find more things to do with it, though. We are using that sometimes and also using Scholastic's Creating Curriculum Using Children's Picture Books. I kind of pick and choose from both and it works out for us.

Thanks, I'll just keep trucking right along, maybe give undies a try in another few weeks!

My first kid was a breeze to train. He was very sensory avoidant, so peed his pants once, never did again. Messed his pants once, never did it again. Ds2 is the same age ds1 was when he trained and i need to kow where to go from here. If he is nakey, he will realize that he needs to potty, stop what he's doing, and go potty every single time. He's spent the vast majority of our home time nakey the last month. If we try undies, a diaper, or just shorts with nothing underneath, it all falls apart. Peeing his pants doesn't even phase him, he doesn't notice and it doesn't bother him. So...do we just keep going as is and trying undies again in a few months? Winter is coming and I don't want him to be nakey in the cold! :) Also, he's afraid of pooping in the potty. Terrified. I know it's pretty common, I just haven't had to deal with it before. Tips?

Full time homeschooler to a K'er and a preschooler. And I am exhausted! :)

AN that's the reason I don't go there unless I have money to spend!

We worked for MONTHS on just learning to blend sounds. There were days I wanted to bang my head on the wall, for sure. It was also maddening for him because by the time he got to the end of a sentence he would have no clue what it said. We aren't using AAR, but I startd with OPGTR then changed to ETC. I am not an expert at all, but I say just keep working on basic blending over and over and over and over. Eventually it will click. My DS is pretty good at it now, but still needs help sometimes.

I like TMs, I really do. I have them for handwriting, ETC, and science. I feel like I don't know what I'm doing or how to teach, so I like that I have those guidelines. We are also using EM this year, and from a TM person, I'm telling you - skip it. We're in book A and it's easy enough that I come up with real life examples and use the guides on the bottom of the pages. We're just starting to use C-Rods, but I'm not really sure what I'm doing with them...still haven't watched the Education Unboxed videos yet. (I know plenty of other people replied, but I wanted to add my thoughts as a TM loving person!)

We dated for 6 weeks before we were engaged, then were engaged from Sept that year to December the next year, so 15 months. But DH didnt turn 18 until a few months before the weeding, he went through his entire senior year of hs engaged while I did some college and worked my tail off. 2 weeks after our wedding we moved across the country for him to go to school. That was all nearly 15 years ago!

This is a great reminder! My oldest is a international adoptee, and my youngest was a straight up matched before birth domestic adoption, so I totally get and understand all the different points of view, I really do. Sometimes, it just bugs me.

Just a vent, warning... I'm one too, my little one we adopted domestically will be 3 next month. His first mom's life is a wreck - legal problems, domestic violence problems, drug problems, you name it. She is parenting other kids and she lives a long (multiple states) way away. At one time, she had our address, but I'm certain she doesn't any more...although it's not hard to find people on the internet when you know names. Anyway...I've always been of the mindset that my kids each have 2 moms, a first mom and an adoptive mom, and each play a part. So, why does it bug me so much when she responds to a picture by saying "My sweet baby! Give him hugs from me, oh how I miss him!" It's because I want to say look here, if you would have been smart enough to not snort a rock of crack the day before he was born...yadda yadda yadda. I just need to reconcile my feelings with my words, I guess. It's hard for me to acknowledge her as any mother figure to him because of the issues, and hello, I'm the mama 'round these parts! Just a vent. Continue on.

Netflix is streaming, which means that you have to be online to watch it at all (unless you also subscribe to the DVDs, that's a different ballgame). If you are online, either on the iPad or computer, watching a program and stop, when you restart later it will pick up at where you left off. You can't upload them, you have to be online to actually watch anything. You can use it with both the iPad and computer interchangeably, and even both at once (as long as both are online). Clear as mud?

Woah. I had NO idea, I didn't even think to check the date. It looks like I maybe was the one who brought it back to life?? But I was on the first page, which means it would have had to have a recent post, but I don't see one now. I am hanging my head in shame. I am sorry!

I've blogged since 2007 and recently shut it down, making it visible to no one. I have started a new one, but haven't made it public yet. No names, no location, no pictures of us or kids. Last year my little mommy blog was found by a anti adoption, anti Christian group based in the middle east. They left a weird enough comment that I backtracked them to their website and found where they had ripped me, and other adoptive pants, apart. It freaked me out enough where I yanked it all. To each their own. I follow a blogger who lives in another state. I know her profession, her husband's, the names and ages of her kids, and where they live.

Yep. My K'er earned himself the privilege of extra chores because of his mouth this afternoon.

I just found those on pinterest!

My oldest is K age also and we love the Jesus Storybook Bible. It is a paraphrase of the Bible. But is a great big picture view of God's love, man, and redemption. I do edit slightly as I read occasionally just because of your point #2, it is paraphrased and in story form, but it is FABULOUS. Oh, and I love the pictures in it, so it truly is a YMMV thing.

I know that not everyone is of that thinking, but I tend to be. Thanks!

Posting here because I don't want my FB to blow up and I just want to share. We've been hitting the books pretty hard the last few weeks doing ETC, math, and handwriting every day, plus BOB books and read alouds. We have a nice rhythm going that serves us well, but today I wanted something different. We spent the morning reading about bald eagles and making a lapbook, then this afternoon we went on a color hunt nature walk at our local state park. We came home and watched eagle videos on youtube (there's some great ones!) and now both boys (5 and 2) have made a nest on the living room rug from clothes and are "flying" in dropping fish and snakes for the invisible eaglets. I suppose we will eventually do our calendar today, but nothing else! :001_smile:Lovely, warm fuzzy school day!:001_smile: