...and I thought teaching a kid to READ was bad! Uff! LOL

Option 3 if you can afford it and keep looking for something you want in the living room. P.S. I can't believe you found it, bought it, moved it in, and started hating it in less than 24 hours. That has to be some kind of record!

yep! lol. Now I am just proud to be a homeschooling momma. The "terrified" totally went away for me. The "elated" kind of did too! LOL

Oh...I should have added to my earlier post, "ask me again next year!" I bought HOD this year for both kids. My oldest is doing Beyond and youngest is doing Bigger. Next year...my youngest will do Bigger...so....I won't have to spend much for him at all! YAY!!!! Just buy the CTC from HOD for my older...but I can sell Beyond for a great price, I am sure. :)

I throw in a plug for Ashley furniture. Our whole living room set is Ashley and is faux leather (my favorite word for it is "pleather" LOL). I got it 10 years ago and just this last year (after my stupid dog peed on it and I had a fit and WASHED the cushions by hand and hung them to dry for 3 days) it started "peeling" where you sit. I really think it was the washing action (or the pee...EEEEWWWW!) but now it is pretty well ruined. The other couch that we sit on much less often is still in top condition after 10 years and this is with 2 kids, 2 cats, and 1 dog.

I will remember to be more thankful for the fertile soil here in the mountains on our farm. I am sorry your luck has not been so good with your garden. It definitely takes practice and we are still perfecting ours after YEARS of work. :) One year, we had so many squash that we couldn't pick them fast enough. The next year, 1 stinkin plant grew and the others died. LOL This year, not one bit of the spinach came up, but the baby greens got too big to eat before we could get it all picked. Oh but the corn is growing......

I tend to explode when my oldest son loses things and realized he needs them just before we leave the house. It happens about once a month. I am not proud of it...but some things just hit us wrong. It is part of raising kids...no parent is perfect. :grouphug:

Wow. I am so sorry to hear this about your dad. I know that you think you are prepared, but I want to caution you to be prepared...to NOT be as prepared as you thought you were. My grandfather died in 1991 after 9 months battling with staph infection that he got from the hospital after surgery for pancretitis. We thought we were ready. When they gave him 48 hours, we really thought we were ready. We weren't. Please, allow yourself to grieve - I held it in for a long time and have struggled with the entire situation for the majority of the rest of my life. Pappy was 65 when he died too. That is so young in todays world. My heart breaks for your mom. I know what you mean about her losing her very best friend. My other set of grandparents died within 6 days of each other. Mamaw had dementia and when she passed, papaw had a heart attack from the stress of losing her. We lost them both in just a matter of days. I am not sure if you are a Christian or not, but I will be praying for your family and for peace for your mom.

Ahh...you should live in my part of TN. :) It is humid less than a month out of the year (and usually that is late July, early August). Up here on the mountain, the humidity is so low that, at night, it is downright chilly...even in the middle of summer. We are surrounded by mountains on all sides that tower higher than we are (even though we are at least 2500 ft), so, to look out my window, it is the blue and green mountain view all summer long - fireflies in the fields, the babbling of the creek that flows past our house, the deer that graze the rows of corn (gotta love 'em). This life isn't for everyone, but I sure do love it here!

I can relate in having a child that is all attitude, all the time. My issues with him go much deeper than the state of his room, unfortunately. I am sure that yours do too with this child. If you are set on taking away everything, the only way to do it is to box it up and take it somewhere else - grandma's house, the attic, the garage - whatever. It needs to be totally out of sight. My son also has issues with taking care of his things. He breaks everything, scratches DVDs until they are not playable - just today he informed me that his Nintendo DS is no longer working...this after he already had one replacement ds (not his fault persay), and had complained that the bottom screen wasn't working either. Now the ds card slot doesn't work, so he can only play gameboy games. OH WELL. He is mad, but we will not be replacing it this time. He should have shown more care for his things all along!

I am not sure...it would require two different types of doctors and I am not sure how they would coordinate those procedures. However, it would definitely be worth asking your doctor(s) about. Tell your dh and mine they can get together in the old chicken coop. :glare:

I would be more inclined to trust the DOCTOR over the pharmacist...especially since the doctor is trained in this and likely uses this medication on lots of patients. Your daughter has some serious sleep issues and this medicine may help her overall physical AND emotional well-being by enabling her to get some true rest. I would discuss the side effects with her doctor tomorrow, but I would not necessarily veto the meds just because a pharmacist doesn't agree with the prescription.

:iagree:

:001_huh: LOL

My dad gave me a lifetime of hurt in my early years by missing everything...including my highschool graduation (mom and dad are divorced). When I had my oldest ds, my dad became all involved. The day before ds's 1st birthday, I called my dad and told him to be sure and bring X thing for the party...to which he responded, "I am tired...I worked this weekend...I think we are going to skip it." He said it like it was NOTHING. The NIGHT before! I said not nice things to him and told him that, while he managed to stomp on my childhood, he would NOT do that to my kids!!! And I meant it. Since then, he has seen my oldest son 5 times, my youngest 3 times. ETA: Oldest son is now almost TEN if that says anything...

It is preschool! LOL Not a life altering event and she is not even going all that often. 8 hours a week is nothin'! :) My youngest ds did preschool from age 4-5 at a Christian preschool and he loved it. As soon as he showed more interest in academics, we started formally homechooling (he was 5) - but a lot of the "social" type skills, like sharing, being kind to others, realizing that sometimes other kids don't want to play (and mom is not there to MAKE them like with brother! LOL) with you and that is OKAY...he developed at preschool .

The workbox system might just work for us afterall. :) My 9 year old does well with the check list, but he may do even better with workboxes - especially since HOD has SO MUCH to do. :) I would love to see pics of the workbox system in use with HOD specifically...if anyone wants to share. :)

I like the emerging readers from Heart of Dakota. That is what my almost 6 year old will be using this year and they are perfect for him. They are read in the order listed below, because it increases in difficulty as you go. I would be more inclined to start "easier" with your ds since he is reluctant to read aloud. This may give him the confidence to really get started...and the DITHR mentioned above would be wonderful for read alouds. Or you could even pull from the books used in Beyond as your read alouds. Again, that is what we are doing (we are using HOD) The emerging readers (i.e. he reads to you) include: The Early Reader's Bible by V. Gilbert Beers, 1995 Zonderkidz (Revised), ISBN 0310701392 Owl at Home by Arnold Lobel, 1982 Harper Trophy, ISBN 0064440346 Frog and Toad All Year by Arnold Lobel, 1984 Harper Trophy Reprint Edition, ISBN 0064440591 Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel, 1979 Harper Trophy, ISBN 0064440206 Wagon Wheels by Barbara Brenner, 1993 Harper Collins Reprint Edition, ISBN 0064440524 Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish, 1992 Harper Trophy, ISBN 0064441555 Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express by Eleanor Coerr, 1996 Harper Trophy, ISBN 0064442209 Prairie School by Avi, 2003 Harper Trophy, ISBN 0060513187 First Flight: The Story of Tom Tate and The Wright Brothers by George Shea, 1997 Harper Trophy, ISBN 0064442152 Christian Liberty Nature Reader: Book 1 (Second Edition) by Julia Wright et al, 1996 Christian Liberty Press (2nd revised edition), ISBN 1930092512 Tornado by Betsy Byars, 1997 Harper Trophy Reprint Edition, ISBN 0064420639 Animal Adventures (Little House Chapter Book) by Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1997 Harper Trophy ISBN 0064420507 The Bears on Hemlock Mountain by Alice Dalgliesh, 1992 Aladdin Reissue edition,ISBN 0689716044 The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh, 1991 Aladdin 2nd edition, ISBN 0689715404 Here is the list with cover pages shown http://www.heartofdakota.com/emerging-reader.php The list of books for HOD read alouds for his age group (you read to him) are: http://www.heartofdakota.com/boys-pack.php (boy pack) or http://www.heartofdakota.com/classic-titles.php (classics) We are using both lists and choosing depending on interest. :)

I would always choose the park with more to do. What ages will be going off by themselves? I am not sure I would let mine wander unless they were 16 or older...especially in a big, crowded park.

Yep...I read all 4 in 3 days. My poor family. :(

Reading this thread has been interesting to me. When I was just 21, I had an episode that the ER told me was vertigo. It lasted ONE day and it was definitely positional because I could not stand up at all. I could lay down...but not stand. I got it after going over a very curvy mountain road with my ex-h. However, I have NOT continued to have these episodes. I have been dizzy since then, but never like that one was. I was so dizzy that if I stood for 2 seconds, I would throw up. Since then, any dizziness I have had is just small stuff. Reading all this makes me wonder if mine was really vertigo back then and if so, WHY. Hmmm

Depends on the subject and the grade, really. We did not need the TG for 3rd grade LA, we have definitely not needed the TG for 4th grade math. However, 1st grade LA and Math, we totally needed the TG.

Also, which program(s) are you using and with what age child? Also, have you done any scheduling of all the subjects? Care to share? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is our first time using HOD and we will be doing Beyond with Emerging Readers for my 6 year old son and Bigger Hearts with Extensions for my 10 year old son. We are using CLE for LA, Math, and Bible right now (though my older will use the HOD Bible once he finishes his CLE this year). :) I have played with the scheduling some...here is what I am coming up with thus far (but I have a feeling it is really going to change for my older ds...too teacher intensive the way it is). Obviously, ? will be filled in after summer. :) Older ds - Bigger: Younger ds - Beyond

We use CLE Bible right now for both. Once my oldest finishes his current lesson, we are going to give the HOD Bible a shot since we are using the rest of the HOD curriculum this year. :)

Oh how tragic! Prayers for them both!