Thames in England.

We love York. They also have a museum built on Roman ruins and an attraction called the Dig where you participate in archaeological digs through history. I thought my kids were too old but they love it. Best of all the train goes into York direct with a really easy walk to several nice hotels. You should get a Historic Palace pass for your stay in London. That will give you the Tower, Kensington, and Hampton Court which are all great. It also does Kew Palace, where "mad" George was exiled to, which we found fascinating. You still need to pay for Kew garden admission and the underground is slightly farther away then the others--but walkable. Kew is great but not sure about in January for the amount of time the outing will take. Windsor can also be reached out of London fairly easily by train. Great castle and lovely town. Easy day trip. Leeds Castle can be done by train out of London also. We went on our honeymoon. It remains my personal favorite anywhere. You do need to arrange transprtation on the other end. Someone at the castle, if you email, might be able to help with that. It takes about 10 minutes from the train station. You could look into a private hire car for that. They are like taxis except must be prebooked. Price and times agreed upfront. The museums in London are fabulous. Our favorite is the Natural History Museum. When my ds was 8 we went to the British Library and British Museum in one afternoon. He was really proud of the fact that he had seen a Guttenburg(??) Bible and the Rosetta Stone all in one hour! I think you can have a great time in January as long as you don't expect too much from our weather. The tourist sites should be slow. In reality probably a good time if you are based in London and dress appropriately. I cannot stress enough the need for warm waterproof jackets. If you stay reasonably warm and dry between destinations you will enjoy yourselves.

The gardens are also at their best from March to June. I love all the daffodils in March and April. They are planted all over -- even beside the road. The weather here is unpredictable at best. This year our area had two weeks of sun and seventy plus. It was at the beganning of March and we were visiting the US. :lol: This has been the worst (rainy) year in a really long time. I think someone said 55 years. We are all feeling a bit negative about the weather right now. Really grateful that we home ed. We tend to cancil class for sunny days.;)

Thanks for sharing what the test was like. It sounds like a huge change to the exam.

The Harry Potter Studio tour in Watford is fabulous for the serious fan. If you haven't seen the movies not nearly as great. The kids and I loved it. Dh loved us seeing it all. We love the zoos and animal parks here. Really different creatures frequently from the US. Depending on what part of the country you are in that might be a fun option. Remember it is damp and rainy year around. Waterproof jackets are needed. If it snows pretty much everything stops. Off the beaten path historical attractions close for January and February frequently so plan your itinerary to avoid disappointment. Also at Christmas it is dark at 3:30. We gain a minute or two each day after. Make sure to make the most of the attractions during daylight hours. In our village the shops even tend to close early. The door may say 5 but I know to be there by 4 if I need something.

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

Great news!:001_smile:

You can be born in a smallish town and never really be accepted too. I was born where my family still lives my older brother was not. A few months ago someone asked us how long it would take to belong there, my older brother, who is a big part of tons of social groups , responded that he still did not belong and felt it because he was born elsewhere. I started laughing and said I sure did not belong but was born there. He had to agree--he had forgotten that I was born there! I left for college and have never lived there since. I even had my wedding somewhere else. Now I live in a large(5000) village in the UK. We have been here 5 years. While I will never really completely belong-- no British accent-- I probably have a better social life then I would back in my hometown. But we have had to work really hard at it. The people are kind and friendly. Great to my kids. Since we are the home ed population here our school friends live elsewhere!

Really odd -- I kept logging in, accepted, then way back with updates and not logged in!:001_huh:

DS12 loves it. After downloaded no need to be on line. There seem to be a lot of levels and approaches. DS seems to be having a different experience then his bf. They love discussing their game. We used to do tokens. DS earned them for completing his work. We gradually grew out of that reward system. He must ask permission. Only plays while dd14 and I are watching tv shows which he is not a fan of. Complete relaxation time not school. Maybe 5 hours a week in his ideal world.

Pam, Thank you for explaining the fictive kin term. I had never heard of it before. I also totally agree that your situation with your first kids is a perfect example of it working really well. But you stepped forward at the beginning and gave your kids a really smooth transition. I do feel so badly for monkey with her rad issues being moved after she has bonded amazingly well with you. I have a close friend who fosters. It always amazes me that so many of her quite little ones remember her years later. They do bond and clearly do remember. Hopefully your visit today goes much better than expected. I pray that you discover that monkey's new family have huge and very loving hearts and are able to help her transition to her new life. Something that makes this easier for you to accept. My issue now is "relocating" her via planes etc with a stranger in charge. Lately I always have issues with the foster care system.:lol: It makes me so sad that children miss forever family opportunities because of paperwork etc. Anyway It seems like it would cost the same to have one of the fictive parents come for her. Also better for her.:001_huh Anyway :grouphug: Thinking of you today.

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: I hope you feel better tomorrow.

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: Just wanted to say how sorry I am that you and monkey are going through this. It is very difficult to believe that this is a good solution for her. Do I understand correctly....they are actually going to send her out of state to live with "friends" of the family not actual family members? I really can't see how this is in her benifit. I didn't even know it could be done.

:iagree: This is a great book. It should be much more inexpensive then the price on amazon. I think I paid $5.

I got chicken pox from someone with shingles. No huge contact I just sat by him at school. So maybe I corrected his papers? I was the only case in a big school district (they checked) so definately from him.

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: I spent 100 days in the hospital before ds12 was born. I would use the time to curriculum plan way in advance. Pick really fabulous read alouds and activities to round things out. Search lots of old threads etc. I hope you manage to keep the baby in a few more weeks.

I only use Clinique products. Lots of allergies and seems to work best. I love All about eyes and have used it for at least 15 years sporadically. I mix it with repairwear now. Honestly I use my bonus products up. The one I spend money on is repairwear. Considering the huge amount of sun bathing I have done I have decent skin for 49.

Since it appears both mini and regular work with the cards I vote for mini. We had every regular set available 7 or so years ago. We loved them. My only complaint would be bulky to store and heavy boxes when stored. I think we have 2 large rubbermaid bins full. Stored for grandkids now. So obviously some of our best toys ever. I would have loved the small size of the minis for storage reasons. Looking at amazon makes me want them now!;)

Not sure what brand I had but they were plastic. I had to stop using them because thet were damaging my towels. Also we thought they were noisy.

I would defnately get the cd. We used just the book for Physical Science. We are now doing Biology with the complete cd rom. All in one. Absolutely love being able to watch instantly. We must have missed a lot not watching.

:grouphug:

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: I know this is really hard. I would meet the woman and give her a chance. You probably have more influance with BIL then you realise-it sounds like he wants you to meet her first for approval. I think she is the one I feel the sorry for other than you. BIL is getting what he wants companionship. She will always be in your sister's shadow and know it. A family friend did exactly the same thing a couple of years ago. New wife constantly is telling everyone that she is a better cook, housekeeper, etc. Her husband says privately that it may be true but he was very happy with number one. ;) He is happy now -- did not want to be alone.

My kids were both like that. The logic puzzles were great supplements but I never could find enough of them. Another great supplement is an old fashioned cardboard puzzle. Dd went through stacks of them at that age. We bought big ones. We went to garage sales and bought colorful puzzles-- piece number did not matter. There never are many in stores.

Our election night tradition is a crock pot filled with super meaty spaghetti sauce served with lots of bread sticks(fresh soft and fat hard) for dipping. I boil pasta as requested and we feast all night long. Not sure what to do this year. Being in the uk will certainly effect the timing--first returns starting at midnight.:lol: Popcorn???? Probably will let them stay up and watch the map for a while.

I downloaded a book called "lessons for a Young Economist" for free off the internet. Very good stuff. Definately not the typical econ course book with supply and demand graphs but many great concepts are presented extremely well. There is a study guide on amazon but I have not purchased it. The book is great intro material. Definately good solid microeconomics topics being covered. We are about a third of the way through and I haven't read ahead to be honest. They have done a great job illustrating a very basic economy and are now building brilliantly on that. I would use this in conjuction with some of the other material mentioned. Kahn academy has some good economics material also. I am combining it with some GCSE/A level business studies coursework and a basic accounting course. So probably not exactly what you are aiming for. I plan to do micro and macro in depth next year. This is my comfort zone because I have econ and accounting degrees. We always have a business type course because we all enjoy them. There is also an IEW book concentrates on Economic topics. I watched the youtube about it.;) I will probably order it soon as a supplement. I am a bit unsure what level their topic books are supposed to be. But maybe that could be combined with something like Lessons for the Young economist to make a more complete couse.