Spot on! Excellent explanation. I don't think I can add anything more. Well, may be, run as far as you can from those automated translation machines! Unless you want to have a good laugh!

Someone here suggested magnesium and calcium supplements for this issue. My 11 dd sometimes has growing pains. I used a magnesium and calcium with zinc supplement and it worked the last couple of times.

I am just letting you know that I will be following this thread. I can see my doing that with my 11 yo dd in the future. How much would I be willing to give? I would have to give it some thought first and any feedback you get will help me.

I watched the Italian movie about the soldiers stranded in a Greek island. I think it was called "Mediterraneo". I really liked it, but then again I enjoy Italian movies for the language alone. I love Italian!

If you liked those you will also like one already mentioned, The Namesake, and an oldie, East is East, along the same lines. We love these. We can relate to a lot of the things in them since my dh is Sri Lankan.

Oh my goodness! I didn't know Oldboy was part of a trilogy. I watched it with dh and I couldn't not go to sleep for hours afterwards! I found it really disturbing and confusing. Maybe watching the first one first would have helped? We also are fans of the British series you mentioned, although we watched them mostly while in the UK. We find Fawlty Towers especially funny because I am Spanish like Manuel (but NOT from Barcelona)!

Would she be into playing Dance Dance Revolution? I have an 11 yo dd who is the bookworm type and not particularly physically active by choice. There are a couple of things that work for her. One is DDR with the PlayStation 2. Another one is doing some exercise/dance videos. She also does workouts with Fitness Yourself, a program for the PC: a virtual trainer evaluates you and sets a customized exercise program. Something else my dd sometimes does is jump roping. Very effective and simple. The last thing she does is yoga, for flexibility. I hope someone gives you more ideas.

Right now, both countries are expensive. Both the Sterling pound and the Euro are very strong against the dollar. Where in Spain would it be? I was born and bred in Madrid. My family are still there, and we visit every now and then. As far as common things between UK and Spain. Radiator heating is the norm. Much smaller housing is the norm too. You just have to think small. One car families are very common. Many young people don't have a car. You can walk to many places or take public transport. In Madrid it is very efficient and inexpensive. Off street parking is also very common unless you live outside the cities. Housing prices are high, although not as high as they were a couple of years ago. The real estate market has slowed down just like it has over here. Gas prices will make you gasp for air. It's a fact of life. I think overall things are actually more expensive over there, but there are a couple of areas where the reverse is true. Public transport is one. Another one is medical services. The Spanish medical system is very good and also very inexpensive. The NHS used to be excellent but I have heard standards have gone down in recent years due to budget cuts. The last thing is that Europeans still rely on their governments to provide them with a retirement pension and benefits that will see them through their latter years. This might not be true for younger generations, but right now that's how things work. This, of course, might be of no interest to you if you are just planning to stay for a couple of years, but it is an area where taxes go.

I am cheering right back at you! What I did last summer was to sign up at the President's Challenge website for the Active Lifestyle option and form a family group. That way we could log in and check how many points each of us had racked up so far. It was a bit of competition and a little bit of an incentive to keep going even if I didn't really feel like it! Just keep going!

I am still resting. I thought I was Ok and looking forward to starting gentle stretches and this morning I felt something again. I am back to ice packs and ibuprofen for 48 hours. I really want to start exercising again!

Your list is simply impressive! I really appreciate it.

I have to disagree here. There is no "universal" easiest language to learn unless you include, for example, Esperanto which was created with simplicity and ease of learning in mind. The level of difficulty of a language depends on many factors, one of which is the learner's native language and knowledge of any other languages. Spanish grammar and pronunciation rules are like I said on the same level of complexity as other languages such as Italian. French grammar is also comparable in terms of complexity, but French pronunciation and spelling rules are harder, it is not as phonetic as Italian and Spanish. On the other hand, many latin based terms came into English via Norman French, so that is something that would make French easier than Spanish even though both are Latin based languages. I believe for a native English speaker there are in fact easier languages than Spanish, such as Dutch, and possibly German.

Spanish speaking countries, particularly if focusing on children and families? Fact or fiction, books, DVDs etc. Thank you in advance. Mabelen

Hoping third time is really lucky!

Phonetically speaking Spanish will be definitely easier than French. In terms of level of difficulty in this area, Italian and Spanish are on par. They are not perfectly phonetic by any means, but close enough for this not to be a challenge. One question I have is why can't your daughter keep on taking Italian at College at a more advanced level, say equivalent to Italian 3 or 4 or whichever level is suitable? Please bear with me. Neither my dh or I are US educated and we are still in the process of becoming familiar with the education system here. I just think it would be better to become proficient at a language rather than to just end up knowing a little of two. If you are proficient at Italian, Spanish will be extremely easy to learn later on if necessary. As a native Spanish speaker I found Italian to be very easy to learn.

I am sorry, and I understand. I also dream of my mom and end up crying sometimes. She died in January last year. It was so sudden and I had so little time to say good bye being overseas and all of that, I think that plays a part. I usually don't tell my children about my dreams either, but they know that I still feel sad and miss her. I don't hide it.

I don't have this program, but I'd like to point out a couple of things regarding the question. One is that even if you were a native Spanish speaker, you would want to have your dc listen to as many different speakers with as many different accents and voices as possible. The CDs of any program can help you achieve that. The second one is regarding the differences between Spanish from Spain and Spanish from Latin America. As Hillary pointed out, the differences in educated speech are minimal. I lived in England for 12 years before relocating to the US and I had no problem communicating here. The same applies to Spanish from Spain versus any other kind of Spanish variety. I find this Spanish from Spain versus Spanish from Latin America division rather misleading. Many of the so called differences are found in Spain as regional varieties (e.g. the pronunciation of the letters "c and z" as an "s", the loss of the informal plural form of you "vosotros", etc). Regarding vocabulary, you will find just as many differences between Latin American countries themselves. There is no unified "Latin American Spanish" per se, but many regional varieties within this area, such as Caribbean, Central American, South American, Mexican, etc.

As far as good pumps go, the Ameda Purely Yours is as good as the pricey Medela, but it is around $150.00 only. I used it with my now 4 yo dd and my experience was very good. I did a lot of research at the time and it had very good reviews. I definitely agree that the best stimulation is your own baby. If your baby has any issues that prevent him or her from nursing, then you will need a hospital grade pump. For what I needed (working very part time) the Ameda worked great.

Renai, thank you so much for your suggestions. I have a new question about teaching reading and spelling in Spanish. My 11 yo dd is a natural for languages. She learned to read and spell very early on both in English and Spanish by herself, so I have no experience teaching to read and spell. My 4 yo dd is proving to be totally normal in this area. She is recognizing some letters and asking a lot of "What does this read, mom?" questions, but so far she is not reading herself. I am guessing I will have to teach her to read in Spanish. What did you use for teaching reading? How about spelling? Thank you again for those links, I will explore them at leisure. Mabelen

Thank you all for replying and sharing your experience with me. The AP website is a mine of information. I am planning to get my dd to do some of the sample tests to see where she would place at this point. I really am grateful for all of you who replied and gave such good advice.

Is there a minimum age/grade to take these? Are there any advantages or disadvantages to taking them early? I am thinking of AP Spanish. My 11 yo dd is bilingual. I am trying to think things through regarding foreign language(s) in High School for her. Would it be possible for her to take the exam in 10th grade, for example? Would there be an emotional maturity issue regarding the materials required? If she could have the AP under her belt by the end of 10th grade, then she would have two more years to start a new foreign language before college. This is all hypothetical. I still don't even know if this would be the way my dd would be inclined to go, but I just would like to find out if it is feasible. Thank you so much for your insight.

I thought I'd posted a message yesterday, but I don't see it anywhere. Anyway, I agree with the others. You have to take homework into account. My 11 dd in 6th grade some days gets quite a bit, some not so much. I usually just support her school curriculum during the school year. During the summer I focus on Spanish, her second language; this year for the first time she is doing a formal program in this area to cover grammar systematically. She also does Alex to keep her math skills going. She has always been an avid reader, so she does that without any prompting. Exercise is one area I have to push: swimming, cardio, specific skills. This summer we will also be doing some geography, I still have not decided what to use, but I already gathered some excellent ideas from these boards. During this Easter Break she is doing Spanish, math and P.E.

Jason Castro, Syesha Mercado and Chikezie were the bottom three. Chikezie is the one out. I did not see it tonight but I just read it on Yahoo.

Unfortunately the American way of life regarding fast foods is spreading around the globe. European youngsters are becoming increasingly overweight too. Too much junk food too little exercise. More two income families with unfriendly working hours mean fewer dinners are home cooked. Even if the children walk to and from school, when they get home they play the computer or videogames instead of going to the park like in the past.

Thank you, Renai. You are right about not giving the English equivalent. I am doing that for the most part, but I have to be more mindful and not jump to the English equivalent too soon. Yesterday there were two words she didn't know, "desovar" and "juncos". I defined "desovar" for her in Spanish and she got it, but for "juncos" I gave her the English term as soon as I realized she couldn't guess it even by looking at the illustration in the book. Thank you again for the reminder.