You can block the endless Mafia Wars and Farmville ones, BUT the "if you have a terrific mother or wonderful sister or care about the mentally handicapped....." ones DRIVE ME NUTS!!!!!!! I hate them and if this is the only thing someone posts, they get ignored very, very fast!

I developed a "webinar" on time management for my college freshmen this fall. Someone in the hive recommended a blog called "Study Hacks" and I purchased his book and adapted it to an 18 minute presentation. This link is to a beta form of the presentation. I wanted to share it with the hive since you are the ones who pointed me in such a good direction. Please feel free to show it to your teens. I'd love any feedback, both good and bad. Also, the "attachments" button isn't working, so that's a known bug. Enjoy! http://www.cord.edu/dept/its/training/TimeManagement/player.html

In 13 years of homeschooling, we've taken exactly TWO nature walks. We've studied in parks exactly 4 times. We've schlepped books from home to church to hospital to work and back more times than you can imagine, though.:lol:

Delightful read, guys! I so wish I was punny and quick-minded and could come up with some of the zingers I've read today. I'm glad that I got to read about all of last night's excitement (notice the correct use of an apostrophe). Usually, I log on to find deleted threads and always wonder about the excitement.

Mom to 4 here, two in high school. My older two spend a minimum of 4 hours per day on school, probably more like 6 hours per day. I help them for 15-30 minutes on math each day (child #2 is always at 30 minutes SIGH!!!!). The two younger ones need me for 5 minutes a day for math. I do some kind of writing instruction or grading for language arts with all four each try (or try to). That can take an hour or an hour and 15 minutes. Everything else is on an "as needed" basis. I work part-time or I think I would do more direct instruction and follow-up on the rest of the subject, however, the kids are very good now at learning on their own and being independent. That will pay off in the future.

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

I live three houses from ND. I'd recommend tea or cocoa mixes snow shovel stretchy mittens ice scrapers travel, insulated coffee mugs cookbook for soups slipper socks bird watching books for the northern plains gardening books for cold climates mitten or book dryers HTH!! I tried to think of a range of prices, too! But, honestly, encourage them to embrace the cold and get out and do things in it. Otherwise, it's a very, very long winter up here:001_smile: What a kind and thoughtful friend you are!

:lol::lol::lol:

Three girls with long hair here! My kids whined more when they were younger, so you are just in that stage, probably. Here's what we found that helped. First, when you brush, do you start on the bottle few inches and work toward the scalp or do you start on the scalp? Start on the bottom!! Much less painful. When you brush, grab the bulk of the hair at the nape of her neck with your fist, like your fist in the ponytail holder. If you are holding her hair with your thumb down, then rotate your fist so that the thumb is up. Now, start brushing. Any pulling and tugging will be against your fist, not their scalp. We love a leave-in conditioner. Paul Mitchell makes a really nice one. We shampoo and even condition in the shower and then put the leave-in conditioner in as soon as the hair is towel dried. But, we don't comb it wet; it is too easy to break when wet. Trim the bottom inch or two off each couple of months. This make brushing the hair so much easier. I get tons of compliments about their hair, but it is extra work. And, when my dh is in charge of tub time, he never gets enough conditioner in. Good luck, dear. "Princess Hair" is fun for little girls.

Maybe you guys can help me figure out my two teens. I've never made a big deal about nude art and have always emphasized that it's not nudity or porn, but art. HA! My kids are having none of it! They call "Sister Wendy's Story of Art" the porn book...and are truly mortified that I have them study out of it! I'm not sure whether to wonder how I gave birth to a a couple of prude or to rejoice in their innate modesty!

What's "Prime"? I feel like I'm missing out on the greatest Amazon secret of all time!!!

This northern plains mom, read this as practically living in North Dakota, is sweltering in this heat! The humidity is truly awful and so many places up here are inadequately air-conditioned. Two of my kids are working at camp this week with no air-conditioning at all and have to be outside all day. I'm trying to appreciate the heat for what it is; soon the snow will fly and I'll be talking about temps below zero Fahrenheit! LOL

NO!!:001_smile:

I think you are wise to nip this habit/sin now, but I don't think that having the younger child set the punishment is a way to engender warmer feelings between the children. I think that I would go to my son and admit that you'd had a bad idea and ask his forgiveness. Then, explain what you will do when he acts bossy again. Give him some examples of when he as acted bossy. Let him know that this conversation is all of the warning he will receive ever. Hug him and tell him you love him and are committee to helping him adjust his attitude toward others since it is not healthy for you home and not good for his future friendships. If, in the future, he refuses to obey you, then you must outlast him. I don't think that withholding food for a meal with a 12yo is unreasonable. Frankly, for growing boys, it will be highly motivating. But, electronics is probably a better choice and easier to enforce. Hugs for standing strong in the discipline department.....

:iagree:

I found this blog post today. http://www.encouragingheartsathome.com/2011/04/20/the-bad-news-about-homeschooling-part-three/ After 12 years homeschooling, I can say that I agree with all of this. This was a SUPER encouraging read today and maybe also for others on this board who are gearing up, will less than great enthusiasm, for another year, like I am. Thanks be to God for supplying a boost when I needed it today!

Pony-O

I guess North Dakota and was right! Of course, I live 3 houses from the ND state line, so it wasn't a big surprise. We have been spared the economic woes of much of the US largely because of the oil boom. Who would have guessed little ol' ND would beat out Texas and Oklahoma?

Shocking!! I'm stunned. Her child died under her care and she's not guilty. Wow....just wow!!

I just looked! Voyager IS available for instant streaming. I'm so excited. I'm going to be planning my lessons for next year and listening to this at the same time today. Woohoo!!!

Woohoo!! I found the instant streaming of Star Trek this weekend, too! I'm so excited. I watched Amok Time and Journey to Babble. Just love Sarek, the character! Now, if Voyager was on instant, I'd be in heaven.

THANK YOU!! I'll add these books to our schedule. This will be perfect for us!

My dd used this last year. She is a very motivated writer and is editing her first novel and writing her second. She loves the program and I'm sending her to Kansas next summer. She just turned 15. IMHO, I think 5th grade is young for this. I can't imagine my 5th grader doing this much writing and I'd hate to see her burn out on writing. Your 5th grader might love it; you'll need to make the call. Yes, use the forum. My dd has grown so much from that. She's Spark on the forums, btw. The program is excellent! I'd give it 5 stars!

Bravo! That took courage and outrage to speak up like that. I'm glad you did! I would have, I hope! But, none of my children have had private exams until my son was 12. My three dd will have me in the room. I want to hear the questions and answers and protect them. Yes, the ped takes a quick peek at labia, but a peek, not a touch and it is fast. But, my girls are still very embarrassed. They are in gowns and underwear. Our ped just retired. He and I and the kids all cried at the last exam. A good ped is worth the searching. KUDOS to you!

This may sound weird, but we have having our kids memorize hymns. I think that it works on rhythm and poetry nicely, pushes them on vocabulary, and will lead to lifetime enjoyment of worship services. I think that so many teens dislike traditional worship because they don't recognize the hymns.