That we have a hard time naming our children? I like traditional names and family names, my husband likes newer, trendy names. We have a hard time agreeing on baby names. Victoria Nicole (Nicole for my husband Nick, Victoria because it's all we could agree on) Noelle Christina (Christina for me, Noelle because she was due on Christmas) Malcolm Alexander (my MIL picked Alexander - it's a family name on both sides- and we both liked Malcolm) We had such a hard time agreeing on a name for Malcolm that we were telling our families that we were going to name him Three.

I've read them all and enjoy re-reading them (about once a year). I'm not crazy about the last one, but I'm looking forward to the next book.

That is so neat! I love the movie and he did a great job explaining how he made it.

I've found that a light lunch low in carbs helps to keep me awake after lunch. A longer lunch break helps, too. I let the kids have their tv time after lunch while I read. An hour of down time and we're ready to go with our afternoon schedule.

Thank you for all the ideas and tips. :) I've been using Ultra Swim shampoo, but it's so expensive and I have to order it (which can nearly double the price, depending on who has it in stock). I can find both Nexxus and Paul Mitchell here, so I'll give those a try. I'll also try wetting her hair, putting a leave in conditioner on, putting a swim cap on, then washing her hair right away. And I'll have a bit more trimmed at her next appointment. *fingers crossed that this helps* Thanks!

My four year old boy likes to smell me. First thing in the morning, he'll come up, give me a big hug and sniff me. He'll sniff me while I'm reading to him or when he's snuggling on my lap. Sometimes he'll get up from what he's doing to come over and hug and sniff me. He still puts things in his mouth, too. We were out for a walk one weekend and walked past a dandelion that had gone to see. He picked it up and brought it up to his face as if he was going to sniff it, but ate it instead!

My daughter started swimming lessons in September and she loves it. But I hate what it's doing to her hair. Her hair is nearly waist length and is slowly becoming a dried out, tangled mess. I've tried wetting her hair before letting her get in the pool, putting some conditioner on it before she gets in the water and using a chlorine-removing shampoo. I've bought heavier conditioners and deep conditioners. I bought her a swim cap, but her hair still got wet under the cap! I don't know what else to do. It seems fine when it's wet, but once it dries, it's knotty, tangly, and dry. Leave-in conditioners don't make a difference, either. I can brush it in the morning and an hour later it's a knotty mess. She loves swimming and wants to continue (and since this is pretty much all the physical activity she's willing to do, I don't want to pull her out of lessons). She doesn't want to cut her hair (and I'd hate to see it cut, too) but I'm afraid that it's going to come to that. Is there anything else I can try before I make an appointment with the stylist?

Our family fun night is similar to everyone else's. We make pizza (everyone helps) and watch movies. Or we'll have a board game night. One Sunday a month, our local Y has a family fun night. We play ball in the gym and go swimming.

I was looking for something for Elle to memorize with a holiday theme; she will love this. Thanks!

I've found two things that aren't working for us. Real Science 4 Kids WP American Story 1 With WP, she loves the literature, but detests the texts. Also, the spelling work and the games are too easy. My husband is a patient man and doesn't say much. I did see him reading the Usborne World History encyclopedia this morning, though. :)

I'm Run-a-muk on Ravelry but didn't know there was a WTM group. *off to join right now* I don't post much over there, but I use it to find patterns. I'm at a bit of an impasse, too, and I enjoy looking for projects that will challenge me but won't frustrate me to tears.

Elle and I are reading Desperaux right now and are almost finished with it. We're both enjoying it.

I found WTM in the spring of 2008. I decided to homeschool our daughter and came here through a link on another board.

My daughter is using it independently (she just started Gamma). I do watch the dvd with her occasionally to stay on top of Mr. Demme's teaching method, but she's picking it up on her own right now.

I will bring some roasted garlic, red pepper and feta dip with homemade pita chips. And some Mike's (lime). Oh, and some of the oatmeal toffee chocolate chip cookies the kids and I made this afternoon.

The link sent me to the photobucket home page.

I just bought WP's Animals & their World second hand and the schedule page for the first week is missing. If anyone else has this, would you be willing to give me an overview of the week, please? Thanks!

One of my kid's favorite lunches is what they call a Finger Lunch. It's easy to make, uses up leftovers and doesn't require any silverware. I include some of the following: artisan bread or bagel with goat cheese or cream cheese leftover biscuit or cornbread with butter sliced apples or pears a banana mandarin or regular orange slices melon slices grapes or berries hard-boiled eggs leftover chicken, roast pork or beef cut into strips or chuncks carrot sticks broccoli florets cherry tomatoes cauliflower celery with peanut butter olives chunks of different cheese They love it and are guaranteed to clean their plates. We also make mini-pizzas. I buy refridgerated biscuit dough, let Elle roll it out and then offer different toppings for them to put on their pizzas. I'm always surprised at the amount of veggies they will eat on a pizza.

My food bill for a family of four for a month runs about $500 a month, including toiletries and household goods. I recently started planning each meal, even lunch, for each day of the week. I also include meals that can be used as leftovers for another meal (double batch of soup, roast chicken). I cut out most of the processed and convenience foods and started making more things from scratch. The effect on our grocery bill was amazing! It dropped by nearly $50 a week.

In the past several months, I've been exhausted during that time of my cycle. I have no energy during the day and can easily sleep 10-11 hours a night. I mentioned it at my last check-up and the doctor said it's most likely part of getting older, along with the change in my cycles. She ran a ton of tests and everything came back fine. I'm not anemic and my thyroid meds are working the other days of the month, so I'm not sure where it's coming from. Oh, and I'm 40 years old and 3 months.

Thank you both for the perspective and all the ideas. :) The different book titles are a huge help and I really like the idea of using audio books/recordings. I'm very encouraged to hear that other children my daughter's age are using this curriculum and are enjoying it. I'm just worried about her losing her love of learning - that's why we decided to homeschool in the first place - and am nervous about making the switch to a different history program.

I'm starting SOTW with my 8yo 3rd grader. I have SOTW 1, the Activity Guide, Usbourne Encyclopedia of World Histoy (Internet Linked) and the Kingfisher Book of the Ancient World. I've looked through these books, because they're written for younger children, are much to easy for my daughter. What can I do/use/add to make these lessons more on her level? Are there other books I can use to add some challenge and interest to the subjects? She doesn't want coloring books, but would enjoy drawing, painting or crafting. She also enjoys reading. For Language Arts, grammar and spelling, I was planning on continuing to use Wordly Wise 3000 and our Just Write book we bought from Winter Promise. Is there something else I could add? We have the Spellwell books (B & Bb) but they are much too easy for her (she's currently reading and spelling on a 6th grade level). I was thinking of taking misspelled words from her narrations and using those as her spelling words. Would that be enough? My biggest concern is keeping her challenged and happy. She gets bored and angry when she does work that's too easy for her, and she loves learning. I want to keep it that way. :)

Our Christmas spending is down a bit this year. We won't be doing a gift exchange with my husband's family this year (finances are tight there, too), but I'm knitting a lap blanket for his dad. My family exchanges small gifts, no more than $25, and there's just our family, my sister's family and my mom. For the kids, I'm spending a bit less, but getting things I know they'll play with versus the things they've seen on commercials and insist they can't live without. My husband and I rarely exchange gifts, usually opting to buy something we both want or need. He's been hinting at buying separate gifts this year, so this may be the first time in 15 years I've had a present from him under the tree. :D

Congratulations! And Happy Birthday, Owen!

You didn't say why you switched from MUS, but if it was working and she was enjoying it, I'd say go back to it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. :)