I require that they learn it. I write in cursive all the time and figure they might want to as well. It's certainly easy enough to do so I figure why not learn it, yk?

We don't test. I know what my kids know. It would only serve to make me feel proud if they did well or defeated if they did poorly.

My kids were taught with this style in ps before I pulled them out, so I don't have a recommendation for you, but I will say that I like it a lot and it has been easy to transition them from denelian print to HWT cursive. hth!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HeartofReading/ My suggestion is to join this Yahoo group immediately. These are homeschooling moms dealing with dyslexic (and other LD problems) kids and are the single best group I've found in helping sort through all of the different treatments, curriculums, therapies, etc... My dd is dyslexic and this group saved me from insanity. Trying to figure it all out was a nightmare at first, but they helped by telling me their experiences and what worked and didn't work, not only based on their personal experiences, but what the research says as well. hth!

I ripped off one of the smaller ones a few years back, not the big toe. Ouch! Sorry you have to deal with this. :crying: I went to the Dr. and he had me get a tetanus shot. It wasn't infected (it had just happened the night before) but it was more of a procaution b/c I hadn't had one in over 10 years. He washed it, bandaged it, and basically said to be careful with it for a few weeks until the skin healed. He said it was a 50-50 chance that it could grow back normal or be deformed in some way, depending on whether or not the nail bed had gotten damaged. In my case it grew back just fine, but took about 6 or 7 months. hth!

Sewing, painting, cake decorating, gardening, crafting, & anything that requires creativity.

Oh sister, let me commiserate with you for a moment. My darling dear son recently wrote, WITH INK, on my $2,000 leather sofa. We've had that thing since he was a baby, and all these years we've managed to dodge that bullet, but at the ripe ole age of 7, he went wild. And I'll add another. He also cut off my dd's oh-so-darling curly Q by her temple. Why? His response, "I don't know!" :glare: He's gonna be lucky to make it to 8 at this rate.

I'll admit I'd been lukewarm about McCain, and then got much more jazzed when he put Palin on board. But tonight, I really liked what I saw in him, & how he represents himself. As a vet myself (and my dh too) I have a lot of respect for what he's been through. I'll be proudly casting my vote for him in Nov.

At first I found his voice a little strange, but it has grown on me and both of my kids love him. And I started my kids last year for 1st & 2nd. I write out each poem in a Word doc. and print one for each of them so they can read along as we listen to the CD. Then they each draw a picture on the page when we're done and put it into a 3 ring binder. Think of how fun they're poetry binder will be to look back on when they get older.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/resolve.asp I remember this from another message board I used to be a part of of.

My kids once claimed a entire box of clementine oranges (ok, so they're really a cousin of the tangerine ;) ) while I was upstairs cleaning. By the time I came back down they had used permanent marker to give them different faces and were playing army with them. :glare:

I'd say no. We took on a bit too much with some homeschool friends last year and our friendship took a hit b/c of it. Not saying that we're not speaking or anything, but it's not warm and fuzzy like it used to be. I wouldn't do it again. hth!

Funny enough, we have this strange little room on the main floor off the dining room. We've been here almost 10 years and could never figure out what the room was originally intended to be. We live in an old Victorian house, and they didn't have things like "bonus rooms" or "play rooms" so we never could figure it out. When we started hsing last year, we finally figured out what it was meant for. :D

Mine comes from two different parts of my life. The first is that I paint silk (like for baby blankets) and the second is that I live in a Victorian house that would like to grow up to be a painted lady someday. Fun thread!

No experience with that particular situation, but we just did a beef coop within our homeschool coop and got organic beef. It's so good and the ground beef so lean. Enjoy!

that I make home made salsa today? :glare: Seriously, I've been at this for 3 hours now and I'm not done yet. Between blanching, peeling, and de-seeding the tomatoes, to chopping all the peppers & onions, to squeezing all the limes, I'm exhausted. If I ever get this bright idea again, will someone please smack me? :blink: Anyone else doing canning or making things from the garden?

I used to sell furniture, so I may be able to help a bit. You should, but don't absolutely have to moisturize your leather. I own two leather sofas but rarely moisturize them. I do wipe them down with a damp cloth occasionally though. The moisturizer is more to keep the leather soft and supple. Leather is going to be, by far, the easiest to maintain and the most durable, over any fabric. You want to look for a protected leather, which has a polyeurethane (sp?) coating on it. That way, if something spills, it's easy to clean up. Avoid unprotected leather unless it's strickly an adults only/no food or drink kind of room. You'll probably replace a leather sofa b/c the base falls apart long before the leather ever gives out. Do watch out for sharp items though. It's harder to repair leather if someone cuts it. Microfiber would be my second choice to leather if you're looking for a fabric. There are tons of new microfibers on the market now, so don't settle for ones you don't like. Really shop around and find one you like. The reason microfiber is so popular is b/c the threads are so tiny and so tightly woven together, that it's almost impossible for liquids to penetrate between the fibers, thus leaving a stain. If stain resistance is your goal, you can't do better with fabric. hth!

My kids were both adopted here in the US as infants, and they're both bi-racial. We've had some very hurtful remarks over the years, some from well meaning friends and family and some from outright rude strangers. Things like, "Do you know her REAL mom/dad?" are hurtful, as are any questions that allude to how much we paid for them. Grrrr! Anything overly personal, like wanting to know why the birthparents gave up their parental rights, are a big no for me. Most people wouldn't think to grill people on very personal parts of their lives, but think nothing of it with us for some reason. Like a previous poster mentioned, I forget that they're adopted. We're a regular family dealing with some unusual circumstances. The only time I really think about how different we look is when I see pictures of us. We just want to treated like every other family, b/c we are like every other family, in all the ways that matter. hth!

Oh, I feel your pain! I got that same kit last Christmas to make one for my sister. I'm a sewer, and it was still a lot of work. I couldn't believe how much work it was to make a stupid sock monkey! He did turn out cute though. I'm sure your dd will love it!

I'd vote no to an another curriculum in addition to AAS. It is a very thorough program, and I think the beauty of it is that it does not teach spelling via the list. Why not just add in some spelling words from whatever they're reading? At least then you can apply the words to something they're already studying. hth!

That's just weird. Course, if I were not a Christian who doesn't believe in revenge, I'd wait until my parents were old and infirm and change their names via power of attorney. I bet they wouldn't like the name Mom Who Needs Her Diapers Changed, or Dad Has Stinky Feet. :001_tt2:

http://www.homeschoolreviews.com/forums/default.aspx It's a much smaller forum(s) and is more like a little family. I like it there for totally different reasons than here. I'd say it's my home board and I just visit occasionally here.

I don't have the energy to fight them. Every year they destroy my roses :mad: and this year they're eating my sunflower leaves. They seem much worse this year than past years too.

Maybe she's bored b/c she's entertained too much? I'd try cutting her schedule waaay back and force her to spend some quiet time with a mop or a toilet scrubber. If my kids start with the "I'm bored" routine, they find themselves working. But I'm mean like that. :D

That's darling! A keeper for the scrap book for sure. Reminds of the time I bought a small crate of oranges. My kids started taking them out and drawing all kinds of faces on them and playing games with them. I think they ruined over half of them b/c they played with them for about 3 days. Bunch of weirdos! :lol: