There are some weird viruses that can cause a spotty rash like that. Hard to tell unless you take him to the doc. Has he had the booster?? I do know my pediatrician said they can get a much more mild case of chicken pox if they don't get the booster.

yay!! When I google "root buds" as you called them, then I can see pics that do look like what I'm seeing. Woo hoo! Thanks!

Any recommendations? This is one genre that doesn't interest me personally so I'm not familiar with what's out there for kids. TIA

I agree. But I didn't want to say this because I do think the OP was doing what she felt was right and that was a hard situation she was in. She gave her daughter the reigns on whether she should be homeschooled or go to school and I think her dd should not have been given that option as I think it's the parents' choice. However, the OP was obviously emotionally upset about the issue, which I think is *completely understandable* and was trying to be loving to her daughter. In the end, I think the whole conversation (though it went a bit awry) will do the family good. That heart-to-heart will not be fruitless. It was about more than "going to school" vs. "not going to school." Feelings came out in the open and the daughter apologized for making her mom upset (rightfully so! Good for her! She was being thoughtful and an apology was certainly in order if she was hurting her mother's feelings by making negative comments about homeschooling frequently. That's maturity and a step in the right direction.) What I would personally do now is what really should have been done in the first place (though, like I said, the OP was in a hard situation and was trying to do a loving thing). I would explain all the reasons you homeschool and why you feel very strongly about it. I wouldn't make it out like you "owe" a reason, per se. But you could try to explain to her gently, from your point of view, why you feel homeschooling is best for her, in hopes that she will be persuaded and feel better about it. I would now apologize for giving her the option when perhaps you shouldn't have. Tell her you think dad is right and you wish you didn't set her up for disappointment and that was not what you intended (which I'm sure she knows). If she can't be persuaded from another heart-to-heart that homeschooling is the best for her, that doesn't mean you change your mind. Explain that you are the parent and she needs to trust you and that you hope she will change her mind in the future. I think dad defending you a bit and telling your daughter to be a bit more careful about her negativity is totally appropriate in this situation, unless you think your daughter already gathered that on her own. There have been many times that my 8 & 10 yr olds have told me that they "hate school" or "hate that book" or whatever and I have started telling them that, you know what, that hurts my feelings when you say things like that. I explained that I spent hours picking out that book or that program, and that I spend a ton of time and energy trying to figure out how to make school effective and enjoyable, specifically picking programs I think they would enjoy more than others. It's still going to be work, but I always have this in mind. So when they say things like "I hate school" and "I hate that stupid book," no, it's not OK. They need to learn to respect my feelings just like anyone else. I think this is something that cakemom's daughter needs to learn. Clearly she is a thoughtful daughter but I think it's a good thing she recognized how much time and energy and care her mom takes on her behalf, to do what she believes is right for her daughter. It's good for her daughter to respect that and even for her to be told (ideally by dad, IMO) that she needs to curb what she says about hating homeschooling out of respect and love for her mother. That's what my dh told my boys recently over dinner when they were saying things like "I haaate school" and he could see me getting a little emotional. And my boys immediately understood and now when they slip and say things like that they sometimes will apologize without my saying anything. Because they love me and know there are good reasons I "make them do school." It's part of growing up and part of life that you gotta do what you gotta do and when you are kid - even a 14 yr old kid - you gotta do what you parents believe is best for you. You can realize why later. Either way, it's not ok for kids to hurt feelings, even if it's mom. And you know what, if she is gently told she needs to curb the negativity about homeschooling, I wouldn't be surprised if her feelings follow and she will feel more peace about staying home. *Hugs* I think it will be just fine.

Explode the Code Sonlight Reader Packages

I think the caption makes it seem a bit over-done. I think it's a valid point, though. In reality, judging from the picture and not the text, it's simply a mom teaching her daughter how to shoot a gun. So what, IMO. My dad helped my 9 year old shoot a rifle for the first time last summer. It's a good skill to know. It doesn't necessarily have to mean that you are scaring the ba-jeebies out of your kid all the time, or preparing for the apocalypse, or that you will turn your child loose with a gun soon, or that you are training them to take down a bad guy in the near future. In reality, parents who teach their kids how to shoot guns are teaching them a useful skill and when they are done, they put the ammo up and lock away the gun, and carry on with the day. It's not really as horrifying and gasp-worthy as people make it out to be. I do think this picture tries to capitalize on the "Bad-A"/ feminist aspect which is a bit cheesy, IMO, and just gets the anti-gun people riled up. Whatever. It's a little silly to me. In reality a kid learning to shoot a gun should not be scandalous.

WOW. :sad: I agree with the others who say no way should that woman get paid. I'm sure when your daughter agreed to the "training" she didn't have hitting her dog in the face in mind. I mean, isn't that illegal, to boot? I'm not even a dog owner, but I would be VERY upset. I would definitely take pics, not pay her, and let her know exactly why and how incredibly unimpressed I was, to say the least. Maybe a trip to the vet is also in order. I hope there is no further damage to his eyes or something! Good grief. A dog can take a lot of whacks with a hand or a newspaper and not have a swollen nose and eyes! I can't imagine how hard she was hitting that poor thing! :scared: If she takes pictures now she can always decide what to do with them in a few days. But in a few more days she may lose her chance to document the evidence, so I say take pics now.

I took a sucker off of a tree (I think it *might* be a weeping cherry) and I was hoping it had a few roots of its own, but it didn't. I stuck it in a glass of water anyway and it's been alive for over a week. Now there are little white "bumps" that are only on the part of the stem that's in the water. Is that what roots look like when they are beginning to grow? Or is it some other calcification or something from the water? Should I change the water now and then or just add to it as it evaporates? There is white-ish/clear hairy "gunk" floating around in the water from it sitting there but I don't know how much I should disturb it.

To the OP: What you're saying about hearing a lot of negative reviews about the mysterious "gaps" and "missing concepts" that TT has, but not being able to find out what they are is exactly why I'm skeptical that they really exist in any significant way. Sometimes I wonder if parents encounter a program that is well thought out and teaches a subject in such a way that it's "easy" for most kids to grasp, and in turn they conclude it's not "rigorous" enough. Not saying that's always the case, of course, but sometimes I wonder if it plays in. Zactly. And "high-horse-y folks" made me lol. :lol: I don't know about that. That's a pretty bold claim. Also, there could be other reasons than the TT curriculum itself for those particular students doing poorly on their exams after switching to TT. One reason I can think of is if a teacher got a bit too excited about the kids working independently and wasn't diligent about making sure they were getting high scores on each lesson. You could technically have your kid "use TT" and bomb every lesson, or start having a hard time and since it's a spiral program, they could gradually do worse and worse on each lesson and then they have a very poor understanding of the concepts by the end of the level. That's user error, IMO. I make sure my kids get at least a 90% on each lesson and if they don't, I go in and delete all the missed problems and they re-do them (and I may have to watch the lecture with them and help them understand the part they didn't get the first time) until they can get a 90% on each lesson. That doesn't take much effort for us at all, BUT if you don't do it and turn the kids completely loose, I can totally see it ending in epic failure, but it wouldn't be the fault of TT, IMO. I don't see how a student can possibly end up having a really hard time with math if they are getting an A on each individual lesson. That would just be bizarre. Another reason those kids might have done poorly that would have nothing primarily to do with TT is if the school was using a standardized test that covered material that TT doesn't cover until the next level. TT was not even developed for public schools. It was specifically developed for homeschoolers. So if a public school tests on material that they didn't even cover in their math class that year because they chose to use that particular level of TT, that means nothing to me. (Note: No wonder a lot of homeschool curriculum providers refuse to attach a number to their levels.) The obvious answer is to test on the material you expect your students to know. Who knows what the explanation is, but I'm just pointing out that there are definitely other possible reasons for that failure than "they used Teaching Textbooks." Just sayin. I agree. Unless they clarify, you never know if someone who claims "missing concepts" or "behind" is actually just expressing the fact that the sequence isn't the same as another curriculum, not that the concepts are never covered. If that's the case, usually it's a "So what?" for me. I wouldn't worry too much about it unless you find some actual missing concepts (not just a difference in order of presentation) that someone can name. With another subject I'd understand that it might be hard to nail down, but with math it would seem someone should be able to name exactly what it is missing. TT has been a great blessing to my family and my kids seem to be doing well. (We are using TT3 and TT4 with my 3rd and 4th graders.) As far as "surface level" versus in depth, I think that's another area where TT has a LOT to offer, but it's up to you to make sure it is utilized. What other curriculum allows you to see a blow-by-blow solution to EVERY problem as it is worked out? In upper levels I can imagine that it would be a life-safer to not only have an answer key but, instead of trying the problem over and over and lamenting "but how did they get that?", you can literally watch every solution being worked out with explanation. That is an incredible resource, IMO. I don't know of any other math curriculum that offers that. But it's up to you to make sure it gets used if your child needs it. We are using TT3 and TT4 this year with my 3rd and 4th graders and I'm no math expert, but I don't see anything that is obviously missing at all. In fact, I think it also covers the "fringe math subjects" that often get overlooked (time, dates, measurements, reading a scale on a map) more thoroughly than some other math programs do. My kids are doing well and I'm soooo glad we tried it.

If they will be interested in a computer game, try Timez Attack by BigBrainz. I happened onto it by "chance" (or providence!) and my kids memorized (and retained!!!) all the multiplication facts they have encountered in the game so far. I can't believe it, honestly. We only have the free version right now and what's nice is you can still use the entire game, though it's much more basic and repetitive. I convinced dh to buy the full version soon, though. So worth it! Multiple kids can "save their game" and it keeps track of which facts they have conquered. I highly recommend. I was about to just have them write an entire multiplication table every day (talk about tedious and I don't even know if it would have worked) when I found this. I had ds10 try the free version and he happily played for 1 hour and learned about 6 facts in that hour!!! Gah! I say give it a try. http://www.bigbrainz.com/

My kids loved this Squishy Human Body toy/kit made by SmartLab toys: http://www.smartlabtoys.com/squishy-human-body.html We got it at Walmart for them for Christmas and it was a lot more educational than I anticipated, and the kids loved it. We also have the Usborne Book of the Human Body which we like.

FWIW, my son (who I would be shocked if he is not dyslexic) hates Writing Strands. I just started it with him a few months ago and it's his absolute least favorite subject (maybe even more than Spelling, which is saying a lot). Could be a personality thing, but FYI. That's interesting that Susan Barton recommends IEW! I was planning on moving to IEW TWSS / SWI-A next year. I think my son would LOVE to write if the mechanics weren't so difficult for him since he, too, loves books and loves audio books... especially fiction. He's also very creative. I've heard Andrew Pudewa is funny/entertaining to the kids on the DVD. My son is also very visual so I'm hoping he will like learning from a dynamic teacher on DVD and then trying out the writing assignments himself. I would look into it...

I haven't used Barton. But wow!!! Talk about open and go...

That's funny, TaraTheLiberator, neither of my kids liked Frindle, lol. I haven't read it though, so I don't have an opinion. My 4th grader recently read and loved: Follow My Leader Along Came a Dog A Llama in the Family. I would look at Sonlight's Reader package for her age and see what you think of those. We have had pretty good luck with their selections. My 4th grader ds also read (on his own) and liked: Emily's Runaway Imagination Mr. Popper's Penguins Henry Huggins The House on Walenska Street Ds 10 recently read Homer Price over again even though we already read it together a year or 2 ago. He also tends to make references to that book so I know he really likes it. He thinks it's hilarious. It's one that he enjoys a lot more than I do, but power to him because there's nothing I object to. HTH

Mine are NOT picky about their cakes. They would eat it happily. Sometimes they will get leery about, say, actual cherries in the cake (maybe). And nuts anywhere on it would be a no-go. But whipped cream and jam they would definitely eat happily. I think that was just bad luck. Sounds delish to me! I'm sure you could find someone to give some cake to rather than throw it out... (My address is... :p ) They might think it was unusual for birthday cakes, but that's about it... and only because we usually do the boxed cake and canned frosting thing or else I buy a cake from the store and then embellish it (hides -heehee).

LOL That may be one of my kids in a few months. :lol:

Yikes. If you can't get ahold of the parents to talk to them in person, I would write a note and put it in their mailbox or tape it to their door. You can include your phone number and let them know you are willing to talk in person or over the phone, but a note was second-best since you hadn't been seeing them around. I would be very clear, though polite. I think it is definitely NOT OK for kids to be roaming into others' yards. Nobody is stopping them from riding bikes, playing outside, and what have you. But wandering into people's yards, ruining plants, destroying your stuff, is way over the line of "exploring." Plus, with kids 6 and under, it's very likely that at least one of them can't swim. That is pretty frightening to me if they have been unsupervised near your pond (and climbing over fences to get to it, if I remember right?! That's absurd). I would not call CPS at this point, or the police. I would contact the parents through the note if necessary, ASAP. If they respond in a way that says "screw you" or you get the idea they are not going to comply with your wishes to keep their kids out of your yard, then I would call the police. Then you can say that you made the issue known to the parents and they have not changed their ways. The pond thing is a big safety issue for those kids. How horrific would it be if one of them was face down in your pond one day? It would NOT be your fault... but horrible, and I cannot believe the parents don't know their kids are doing this. I didn't read every single post, but are you saying the parents are at work and these kids are literally unattended?? If that is the case and you are quite sure of it, I might not even bother with the note and call the police asap. That is incredibly dangerous and foolish.

I recommend MCP Math for struggling math kiddos, or for any students, especially in grades K-2. Very straight-forward, simple to teach, and cute visuals (but not flashy). It would be very easy to add manipulatives if you want, and the TM offers additional (optional) activities. My ds9 was starting to struggle with his teaching textbooks math this year so I spent 15 bucks on MCP, spent 2 weeks with it hitting the concepts I knew he was having a hard time with (and those that I know will be on his standardized test), and he is back on track and got 100% on his first day back with TT4. Great for a supplement, for hitting certain concepts, or to switch to completely. I think because it's so simple and traditional it's easier to switch to (and from again, if you decide to) than if you were to use MUS for a while, and then go to Singapore again or something else. That would be more jarring, IMO. MCP is very easy for them to pick up on intuitively. (Only thing is, like I always say, MCP provides a LOT of problems on a page. No need to have him do them all. Save some for later review, or split a page between 2 days. Better than having to make up your own problems because they ran out, though.) IMO, if he is having trouble with word problems it is probably because the operational concepts involved are not rooted in his brain enough. So I think the thing to do is slow down and work on those concepts more to make sure he really understands what he's doing (not just give him more word problems because they are word problems, ya know?). Once the concepts are firmly rooted and he knows what he's doing and how they work, the word problems won't throw him for a loop so much. HTH :)

Hmm, 105 doesn't sound too bad to me if he is also on the tall side, which I think 4' 10" is. I think I would try to put the brakes on gaining more weight, but not attempt to have him "lose" weight. My 8 yr old is probably in a similar boat. I have to buy husky pants for him now, a lot of regular elastic-waisted pants are too tight on him, but to look at him with clothes on you wouldn't think he's "fat." But the doctor did say that we need to cut out soda and junk, be careful with snacks, and if he didn't gain anything in one year, he (the doctor) will be happy. Like the pp said, at the rate he will be growing this year, as long as you try to make sure he doesn't *gain* more weight, he may be fine after some more growing. I have told my son what the doctor said and he knows he needs to be careful. His brother doesn't need to be so careful, and he knows that, too. I told him he's not allowed to drink soda except on special occasions and that in general he should not be eating any more than his brother does (who is over a year older than him). He doesn't think I'm a big meanie because he knows why. I talked to him about what it would mean if he gained more weight, how being overweight is not good for him. I didn't emphasize that he's a big fatty right now or anything, lol. I emphasized that we need to be careful and that I don't want him to gain *more* weight for a while. He totally understands. But when it comes to desserts, I don't exclude him either. I try to cut back on snacks and the calories from drinks (juice between meals, sodas, etc). I think cutting out drink calories can really help as it doesn't make them feel like they are being deprived so much, yet can cut down on hundreds of calories a day, depending on what they're used to.

Groooossss. I could possibly see if it were a pee diaper, as I can change those at warp speed and there is no smell, but I would hestitate to do that unless for some reason it was incredibly inconvenient to do anything else (like it is pouring raining and the car is across the parking lot, and the bathroom is unusually filthy). Otherwise, I would simply take the baby to the car and do it and come right back. For a poop dipe I would do the crossing-the-parking-lot-in-the-rain thing to get to the car and do it, or would throw a receiving blanket at the least on the bathroom floor and do it. I would also consider the sink counter in the bathroom which I would put my washable diaper change down on, or paper towels if I had nothing else. Definitely not be wiping a poop butt in the presence of those who are eating... not because I think I would get poop everywhere, but because it's just rude and incredibly unappetizing... especially the smell factor.

2000 Ford Windstar. I didn't want to broadcast what car I drive, but then again, nobody should know my real name, so... (right? :scared: :lol: ) OK, thank you for not thinking we are completely crazy. :tongue_smilie: Definitely not what I'd prefer (I'd prefer to go out and buy a new car, thankyouvery much!) but alas... I could crawl over that seat if I wanted to. Ditto on the top tethers. We've never had them in any vehicle since we are always driving older used cars, so I'm not too worried about it. I always get the carseats very tight and tethers are not essential, or illegal to go without. The 2 lapbelts wouldn't be an issue, I don't think. If push came to shove, I would put my oldest in the lapbelt spot because he is almost 10. NYS law says that if that's the only spot left, it is legal to have a child with just a lapbelt. But I will have 3 in carseats anyway so I would put 2 of those in the lap belt spots (the baby's carseat, my 2 yr old's 5-point harness seat, and my 4 yr old who is still in a 5 point harness carseat). Then I have one in a booster and the 2 oldest in seat-belt adjusters. There is a chance that 2 carseats won't fit side by side in one of the rows. In that case, I would consider putting my 4 yr old (he'll be 5 right before the baby's born) in a booster seat if he weighs enough. That would solve the problem. (Just thinking out loud here with the car seat thing, I guess :p ). I hope you're right that it wouldn't be hard to find a seat from a junk yard to fit!! IF all this is legal, of course. It slipped my mind today but I will definitely call the DMV soon and also scour the manual. Right. That's what I was thinking. Maybe there is a max number of passengers limit or a weight limit or something, I don't know. I did try to google this but didn't find what I was looking for. I hope so!

I'm in NY state. This was NOT my idea, by the way. :) This is dh's idea and I said from the beginning that 1) it seems unlikely that we could even find said seat, and 2) it would probably violate safety standards or insurance or something, and possibly be illegal. To boot, I would VERY much like to have a second car but I just don't know if we can afford it within the next 3 months. And as soon as baby comes, we will not be able to go to church together. And we cannot take separate cars, of course, because we have no second car. I would really like to get another car (not sure if the bank might give us a loan) and then have the minivan we currently have for dh to take to work. But this seat idea would get us through IF it's legal, etc. This birth is really creeping up on us and we have zero money saved to buy a second vehicle. There are no top tether points for carseats at all in my car. Clearly some peeps here are not understanding that our van is 13 yrs old. :lol: About the 6th seatbelt... there is actually a shoulder belt on the wall that could be used with the 6th seat, if it were there. HMMM. I didn't even think about that. So definitely a longer seat can be used there with passengers (and not just to get the seat out of the way for cargo). The question is still whether it's legal to have TWO long benches in the van at the same time, though. See, I don't think there are 4 clips on the floor to move the middle seat from side to side... there are only 3 clips in the middle row. So it's definitely for using either the shorter seat or the longer seat... not just moving the shorter seat back and forth. I did think of calling the police department. I thought they would just be scratching their heads, though. Maybe I will try the DMV. I'm not terribly worried about the kids not being able to climb over the seats. Do you guys have kids? :lol: j/k! The kids would easily step on the back seat and crawl over that seat. Not saying it wouldn't be incredibly ANNOYING, though. I have zero desire to do this other than we may not have a way to take the whole family anywhere... church, grandma's house, what have you, at the same time. I would put the biggest kids in the back, like I do now. But it would be seriously annoying to get in and out. I just don't know where to start with this one. I guess I will call the DMV and see what they say and if they say you can do it then I will... I dunno... call junk yards? In the meantime we will still think about buying a used 8 passenger+ but we only have 5-6 paychecks left until this baby is born! Thanks for all the thoughts.

We have a 7-seater minivan. There is no place to put the baby who is due in about 3 months (eek?). There are 2 bench seats in the back, and 2 captain seats up front. One of the bench seats (the one by the sliding door) is shorter and has 2 seat belts. The bench seat furthest in the back has 3 seat belts. Here's the thing. The bench seats are removable. Dh has taken them both out in order to move furniture, etc. So there are spots on the floor where the seats "clip in" (for lack of a better term). We noticed that there are 3 clip in spots where the shorter bench seats go. One clip in spot is further out (toward the door) than the other is. The obvious reason is so that we could move the longer bench seat which is usually in the back, to that middle spot if we wanted to. HOWEVER, we are wondering if it would be legal to find another long bench seat and put a long bench in the middle AND in the back. We called the dealer and he said because our van is so old (*cough* 2000...) we would have to look in junk yards. I don't know how likely it is we'd find one anyway, but IF we could find this seat that would fit in our van, would this be against safety regulations? Illegal? Invalidate our car insurance? Where the heck can I find this out? If we had 2 long benches in the back instead of one with 3 seats and one with 2 seats then we could fit the baby in there. Only problem is that the kids who sit in the very back would have to literally climb over the seat (unless we could find one of those flip-down ones? But the chances of that are even less, I'm sure. Any advice welcome. :001_smile: TIA!

Explode the Code. My kids start picking up phonics really well when they start ETC. It's usually the "first school work" my preschoolers get to do and they enjoy it. No matter what "other stuff" we use (right now we are also using CHC's Little Stories for Little Folks readers), ETC is the "given" that I use with every child (3 so far). I like that it's very simple and can be quite independent because the exercises become familiar enough that the child knows what to do. At the same time, there is enough variety to keep it relatively interesting. By the time they are really starting to get burnt out on ETC we have been able to take a break (or quit ETC altogether) and focus more on reading fluency and they are fine. We usually get to book 4 and by that point they have made great progress in phonics and reading. I also like their preschool books A, B, and C (before Level 1). A very gentle approach and the kids love it. It really does prepare them for level 1 and it's so easy to get through. It's also nice that it touches on spelling a bit, that it provides some handwriting practice, and obviously that it provides phonics and reading practice. I like really straight-forward programs that don't require lots of bells, whistles, and figuring out to use.

In case you are Catholic, there is this text: All Ye Lands: World Cultures and Geography