You can raise your intelligence by using your mind and challenging it.

I think nature is more important for IQ but I think the right environment and training is worth a couple of IQ points but not enough to significantly change someone. I know that having younger siblings affects someone's IQ scores by a few points in a negative way. I think my IQ has gone down a few points since staying home with children, not using my brain as much and getting a lot less sleep. I think that precise training can give kids a little boost but not significantly affect their IQ.

I don't know that I would consider any of the books I like to read in childhood books I would disallow completely but I am actually seeing that a lot of it is what I consider twaddle now. I read stuff like Goosebumps, The Babysitters Club, Judy Blume. I am trying to only select quality material and weed out the twaddle but if my kids really wanted to read something I didn't really think was quality I would let them if it didn't have something I really found objectionable. I do have some Judy Blume books and I have read those to dd because she really likes them. As a preteen I did read some pretty heavy stuff like V.C. Andrews the Flower in the Attic Series and Steven King etc. I was on the mature side of my age and did understand the books and was not harmed by reading it. I didn't have disturbing thoughts or act out sexually after reading them. They didn't influence me at all but I enjoyed the stories at the time. I even did a book report on Flowers in the Attic in 6th grade hoping they wouldn't know about the sex stuff. I don't know what I would allow with my own kids. I guess it depends on their maturity level. It is hard to imagine my kids reading that at age 11 or 12 when I did but it is still quite a few years off so who knows.

Reading has been hard work for dd who is 6 but she has made progress lately. Recently dd was getting really good at straight phonics stuff and Dr Seuss type stuff but she struggled with regular books. Recently dd has been able to do step into reading books and picture books without a lot of sentences. I have noticed she does well with most 1st grade stuff but she has picked books that I later looked up and were on the 2 or 3rd grade level but she struggles with more of the words in those books. http://homeschooling...tm#.UOyNHW9X0TY I just did the reading level assessment on the above link On the first test it has her at the 4th grade 1 month level which I don't agree with. On the second it has her level as the first and that grade 2 books are too difficult. That is obviously quite a difference. I having trouble knowing what books to pick for her. She is doing fine with first grade stuff and it seems she can do 2nd and 3rd grade stuff but there are a lot more words she needs help with. I know I should mostly focus on what she reads well and to sometimes give her stuff she needs to work at but I am having a harder time knowing what is too hard and will be discouraging and how many errors are OK for the stuff she is working on. She doesn't seem to mind when a book is harder. She picks books based on how much text there is. So she won't read a book with lots of lines that has words she is fully capable of reading pretty well but she will read a book that has words she struggles with but doesn't have a lot of lines on the page. She would be capable of decoding the words in frog and toad looking at it but she would take one look at all the words and not want to read it. She has 5 more lessons left in reading bear and I also do the Blend Phonics Decodable storybooks and have her spell the words at the end and will continue with that once we finish reading bear. Once she finishes reading bear I really think reading books is going to help her the most to get lots of exposure to words and rules. It takes a lot for something to stick as a word that she instantly recognizes but she has made a lot of progress in that area recently and is turning things in words she recognizes right away faster. I know I ask a lot of questions about reading but she my first and I am trying to figure this out. I'm happy to see her be able to transition to picture books and I want to help her keep making progress.

A big dog bone present holder for the holidays I know it wasn't a scarf but could it be a doggie scarf I don't know but I am curious. I just saw this and I was thinking yea it is the 7th I get to find out the answer but then they didn't announce it today. How cruel.

This video taught my kids with no rhyming skills how too rhyme. I don't that it would work for everyone but I thought I throw it out there because that is all it took for my kids. It is good and funny.

I do reading bear with my 4 year old. Once he knew his letter sounds I started doing reading bear with him. He can now sound out simple words. I will continue doing AAR and some Reading Bear but only 1 of the 2 a day. I do sometimes do a starfall reading with reading bear. I am doing some funnix math with him for the time being but I want to start working with c-rods and doing a kindergarten curriculum with him soon instead. I also want to add in handwriting soon if he seems ready for it. He loves watching Brain Pop and the Magic School Bus dvds. He can watch 1 or 2 Peter Weatherall science or math segments before he had enough. He loves doing snap circuits but I have to do them with him now. He spends most of his day running in circles, crashing into things playing with his castle toy, tools or various blocks or playing along with dd's imaginative adventures.

Same here.

I know there is miquon and the education unboxed videos but I do better with something in writing with step by step directions. I heard miquon isn't open and go at all. Is there anything out there that has activities to do with the cuisenaire rods rods in writing with good directions on how to use them?

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Some of my staples are Crushed garlic Olive Oil Vegetable Oil Rice Beans Quinoa Chili powder Diced Tomatoes Whole tomatoes in can Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Milk Nuts Granola Bars Raisins Frozen Fruit Frozen Vegetables Tortillas Chips Cereal Sea Weed Dog Food Cat Food

Things regularly take a month or just over a month to get here by media mail. Around Christmas it can be longer. If something is taking a while I usually ask how it was sent and if it was media mail I don't panic when it has't arrived right away. I made the mistake though of thinking something was sent through the post office media mail and it was just taking a while to get to Alaska when it actually was supposedly shipped through Fed Ex which doesn't take long at all. It was actually never shipped and was a scam.

I find this conversation very interesting. I never really thought about the perspective of an extroverted child that needs lots of interaction but who doesn't get a lot. I wouldn't use the term socially aggressive because it makes it a negative term about his extroversion which like a pp mentioned just is. You didn't come off to me like you were bragging or only seeing the positive in your son. I try to teach my kids to respond but I don't force it. I don't use the word shy in front of them if someone asks if they are shy or why they are not talking I say they need time to warm up. They are called shy and asked why they are not responding and that just makes things worse. I have had conversations with them about how nervous is a feeling that can be overcome and conversations about how we can respond to different situations. I encourage them to say hi to people or thank you if they receive a compliment but I don't force it. I respond for them if I tell them to say hi and they can't. I do all I can but they still have difficulty. They don't always respond so I guess I never taught them manners. (I know OP didn't imply that but some people did) I don't know if I always respond the perfect way every time. I'm sure there are times when it has been one of those days and I need adult interaction and a break from the kids and could come off as not even teaching my kids. I would give the mom the benefit of the doubt. It is not always an easy job. I don't find it odd that a parent wants time to spend with adults and is taking that as an opportunity to get a little break. I don't get the comment shy to socialize with two kids that are shy? They are her kids so I am assuming she spends lots of time interacting with them and that they do not act shy around her and interact with her. I don't think she acts shy around her kids but she could be an introvert and her kids can be like most kids and be pretty noisy at home and maybe she just wanted a chance to talk to adults.

My kids are a little shy but at parties they can be really shy. My older 2 are very sensitive to noise and just get a little overwhelmed when there are a lot of people they don't know ad noise. I do encourage them to say hi but I don't force it or make them feel bad. My oldest is getting much better with time and warms up much faster but she doesn't like being put on the spot. My 4 year old is especially sensitive to noise and crowds and he acts very different depending on where we are at and how loud it is and how many people are there.

I think because he was yelling. He has an articulation delay and can be hard to understand now so I doubt she understood he was saying airplane toy as a toddler. I was obviously making my way out of the store pretty fast and I was staying calm.

That is what I thought too. I thought 2(1+2) was one expression.

I haven't had many instances at thrift stores. Most of the time I haven't experienced the craziness you describe. One time my ds who was a toddler at the time was throwing a fit because he wanted a toy but I was not going to buy it for him. I left the store since he was screaming airplane toy airplane toy. I wasn't going to give in to his screaming and I was leaving so he no longer would be a disturbance in the store. This older lady gave me the nastiest look ever and said something about terrible parenting. That is the only incident I can think of. There is one cashier that seems a little grumpy but it isn't too bad.

I live in Alaska. I try to buy as much local food as I can and will eventually transition to eating mostly local food but I am not there yet. I mostly think local food is within 100 miles but with a lot of options that isn't possible so I expand to within the state for certain choices. It really depends on what it is or where it is from for prices. Some things are cheaper. Some are more expensive I have a garden every year. This year we finally have a lot so I will hopefully be able to grow more this year. Gardening is cheaper but it is a lot of work. We also have a U Pick farm I hit up and stock up for the winter. The prices there are cheaper than in the grocery store. If I go to the farmer's market though to pick things up it is more expensive. It is cheaper to get wheat berries from the state then to buy bread products but it takes a lot of work. I am not sure how the local flour compares to whole grain flour that isn't local in price. In some instances getting local food isn't hard at all but it does take more planning and sometimes it can be hard to judge how much I will need or hard to preserve things for the winter. It is harder with protein because there is no local beans, nuts or quinoa and the eggs and milk are expensive. We don't eat a lot of meat but I would be ok with hunting and that is more work than buying meat at the store. It is harder to have to catch all our fish then it is to buy it but it is cheaper to catch it. There isn't much fruit that grows here so that is also hard. Things like berries grow and can be foraged for and apples grow but they do not grow as big as other places. I don't think it is super hard to get local choices but it does take some work. If it was easier I would be on a mostly local diet already and we are not. There is a local food challenge in my area and I do know people who ate the majority of their food from local sources for an entire year and they ate good food and didn't sacrifice.

I have grind grain in a blendtech but I also don't love doing it because it adds extra time to prepping dinner and it takes enough time as it is. When the wheat berries run out I will be buying the local whole grain flour instead. If you can't grind it getting whole grain is better than processed and it is a bonus if you can find local flour.

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I am ok with a social safety net and people who don't make enough to get by relying on government help so they do. People in progressive countries have less poverty and better results. The cost of the social safety net isn't astronomical and is worth it. I think all people no matter of income deserve to determine their family size just like anyone else. There are children born in much worse circumstances than children in the US. It is natural for people to want to procreate regardless of income. If you look at things in terms of worldwide resources people who have more and don't depend on the government cause strain in other ways in a world of limited resources.

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I think it is a pretty name. I met a little baby with that name when my oldest was a baby and I thought it was a nice name. It isn't my naming style but it is a name I really like and would think positively of if I saw a child with that name. Any of those middle names are fine except Leigh. I don't like Haven Leigh or Lea. I don't like the style of a first and middle name making a word or something that is close to a word but not quite. I like Hope too.

I used to babysit at age 13. I wouldn't be shocked if there wasn't anything more to the story. There are cases of where they get overzealous taking kids away. A friend of mine is going through that right now.