I really like tacos. One good thing about my short stint in southern CA was all the yummy authentic Mexican food that was affordable. I would love taco carts to be in more areas. ;) I like both hard and soft Mexican and American style as well as eclectic. I like the way the people I knew who are from Mexico make hard tacos and I made it as close as I could get to that but it was not quite as good but my kiddos prefer soft or store brought hard shells.

It has given my kids a second CODY score recently. Both kids improved their scores. My one child who was the lower performer mostly improved big time in core markers. Her two weak areas calculation and number processing only improved 2 percent. My other child improved a little in all areas but more in the areas he was weaker in. It will be interesting to see if they improve more over time. I also wonder if their overall math ability improved or just the stuff on the game.

How is this a helpful reply when many parents here mention having intense emotional kids who do that and that the typically responses to that do not work for those kids. Ok you did not have kids who threw themselves on the ground. There is no need to make that face about the more intense kids and make other parents feel bad. It certainly does not help them.

I love my toaster oven. Anything I can fit in there instead of the big oven I make in my toaster oven. I love that you do not have to wait for it to heat up and how it cooks things nice and fast. It also is more energy efficient and does not heat up the whole house on warm days. I did not have a microwave until recently but it was fine because I just reheated things in there. I still prefer how a lot things reheat in the toaster oven.

If he already is decoding something like Owl at Home you could try Webster's or ElizabethB's videos to work more on the multi syllable words. They have it online or you can get it in workbook form put together by Don Potter on Amazon. It helped my child but I wish it had a little bit of instruction with it. I like it for reading more for spelling though.

I have a similar kid who did not do well with Spalding at all for spelling or reading and I had to use other things to see improvement.

All kids are different but if you have a kid that throws meltdowns then this is normal. It really is nothing the parent can do if you have a more emotional kid who has meltdowns. A lot of people say that they had to leave a place once when there kid throws a tantrum and it never happens again or they are rare. That definitely is not true for all kids. It also can still happen at 5 in public for the more intense kids who behave similarly in public to how they do at home.

That is what I got. The left and right handed fiskars. ;)

I am getting into way too much explanation but I saw those but they are an add on item and I did not need anything else plus they are pointed tip and I needed blunt. They now have an option for blunt from the left handed store on there but the extra cost adds up when I needed to get lots of supplies. There would have been color issues since you have to buy a two pack with the same color. The scissors I did get that are ambi are fiskars and the handles are not the same or uncomfortable looking they look like the handles on all their scissors. They had more color options because they like certain colors. I guess they must actually be right handed scissors. I can try switching the blade around.

I had a hard time finding lefty scissors for my lefties. They are not carried in any stores and even online I had a hard time finding ones. I ended up just getting ambi scissors.

I read my ds them when he was almost 7. I told him the later books were darker and had deaths in it and he said that he still wanted to listen to them. He enjoyed all of the books and was on edge waiting to see what happen next. On the other hand my dd who was older then him could not make it past the middle of book two because it was too suspenseful and the first movie scared her. It depends on the kid more then the age.

My one kid who took one the scores do not reflect what I see. People who get yo know this child say they are brilliant. I guess I will never know if it is accurate or not. There was a huge spread in scores from the highest and lowest areas. If I had subsection scores I think the spread would be even higher. I notice the scores got lower as the testing went on. Maybe focus was gone by then. Who knows.

I hate listening to myself in recordings. I cringe thinking that is what I sound like.

That reminds me of my dd. She does have inactive ADHD and I think that contributed. She is good at decoding, a natural speller and good at writing and grammar but she especially has difficulty with listening comprehension and reading comprehension too. She can describe high interest things but otherwise does have some struggles with comprehension. I did Reading Decective this summer and it took to nearly the end to start noticing a difference but she is finally improving but it is more strategies for answering questions. We listen to audiobooks a lot in the car. It used to be background noise to her and hard to follow but she gotten better over time from exposure. I also have one that struggles in other ways but is outstanding at listening and comprehending.

I think the thread is skewed because there are a lot more INTJ and similar types on a forum like this then in the general population where it is a rare type. Also the title and post itself probably probably attracted the people who do not like surprise parties.

I tried MM this summer with my one who struggles and it was not a good fit. Saxon is not a good fit either though.

I do not like them. But I would not be mad or angry or expect that people should know that. For me it is less about the surprise but I do not like gatherings with lots of people as it is and I hate being the center of attention. I do prefer to know plans. I really am bad at faking my feelings and I would hate everyone looking at me for a reaction. I know I could not be giddy and excited about it. I would try to be polite but it would be very awkward. I had a friend a long time ago throw one for my graduation and one for a birthday. They were at least low key with a few people I knew well and who know how I am. I think people do have good intentions when they plan them. I have a it common personality type and I am an extreme introvert. A lot of people just do not get why things like that are hard.

A light auburn or a dark strawberry blond. It is like a sandy blond mixed with red. My youngest is hard to place too.

Ignoring a child screaming is not a bad way to handle the situation. Leaving may be what the child wants and will show them if they scream they get their way. Special needs or not kids act up. Some are harder then others. Some errands must be done because that adult is the only one that can do them. Sometimes you cannot control a child's reaction. I think acting calm is a good way to manage the situation. What is yelling at a child in a meltdown going to do?

I have been the mom with a child losing it on a plane once. I did all I could do to stop the toddler from crying but nothing helped. I only got looks but the way the other women acted made the situation worse and was not a good way to handle it. On one leg a guy who was a grandfather who sat by us was so nice about it and made me feel better. You cannot leave on a plane and people who have motion sickness, mental health issues, anxiety, sensory issues etc etc may be on a plane and cry, scream or pace the aisles or some other annoying habit. It may be annoying but it is just temporary and there is nothing you can do besides move your seat. You can buy earplugs or noise blocking earphones if you really cannot handle crying or other noises on a plane. With lots of other people on a plane you should prepare that you may have to deal with it.

I used Don Potter's version of Webster's Spelling Book for Reading and Spelling. I gave them an assessment online from the A to Z website and Elizabeth B's version too. It does have the reading level of the passages listed in the back of Webster's but that is not what I used.

I just gave dd the post assessment now too. She was at instructional for 6th and could not read past 6th at all before doing Webster's. Now she is instructional for 7th, 8th and 9 and independent for 6th. Both of them seem to be able to handle more multi syllable words but still cannot handle all big words correctly. It is good to see the improvement though in both of them.

I tried that once a while ago and he complained he could not watch it was too boring. He is older now so maybe he could tolerate it better and him and dd could watch it.

Yes. Spanish was my high school language class.

Ds made a lot of improvement in reading but still was on the slow side and made mistakes. I tested him on decoding before and after doing Webster's this summer. Before doing Webster's he got instructional in 3rd, 5th and 6th and could not read any words after the 6th grade list. I tested him again and he got independent for up to the 6th grade level and instructional for 7th and he can read some of the words on the higher lists. He still is on the slow side but I think I have seen progress in the last week. He still does not chose to read on his own but hopefully now that he is getting closer to tackle the books he likes and will hopefully make slow and steady fluency gains he will start to. Webster's was not my favorite. I wish there was more instruction with it. He still makes a lot of mistakes in a Webster's lesson but it did help get improvement in his reading level. We did the lessons with 3 or more syllables and got pretty far. I think he should do two syllable lessons too. I think if I work on it next summer I would chose something else.