My son is in a photography 4-H club and he likes Scott Kelby's books. Kelby has a four part series of books on digital photography. They are actually called The Digital Photography Book 1, 2 etc. My son says it is best to read them in order. Scott Kelby also has a website that looks pretty helpful, although we haven't used it. Good luck! I have been getting into photography due to my son's interest and it is fun!

My son and I both have asthma. When I was a kid, I remember that the doctor suggested that playing a wind instrument could help asthma. I never ended up playing one, but lately my asthma has gotten worse and I have trying to come up with ideas to help it naturally (while continuing my steroids etc). I have noticed a couple of references on the forum regarding asthma and wind instruments and I was curious if anyone else has had any positive experience with this.

I bought my globe from National Geographic. It was pricey but I wanted a nice one. It broke off of the base almost immediately. My husband repaired it but I am still disappointed in the overall quality and the company was not particularly helpfu when I contacted them. My Target globe (I imagine wlmart etc would be comparable) was better

My mom is from England so we have been watching all of the Jubilee celebration and we have wondered the same thing. When the RAF did the flyover at Buckingham Palace, we thought it should be the Queen with all of her children and their families on the balcony. We figured it must have something to do with the succession rules.

Never would have thought of that! I wonder if it is "food grade" or whatever the expression would be.

Dh just asked me about buying molasses, so I decided to ask the ever-resourceful hive! I use molasses quite frequently in cooking but have never found a cheap place to buy it. I have never seen it in Costco, Walmart only sells small jars and so I end up buying it at Safeway. Anybody have a great place to buy molasses? Thanks!

So exciting! Have a great time!

Thanks for the additional ideas. My husband has been leaning towards not going at this point because of the cost/benefit but I am still undecided. I am excited to read the Year in France blog. Also, I hadn't thought of Catholic schools as an option -- I am just afraid that it might be overwhelming to my kids since they won't have a lot of French going in and they are both fairly cautious. Not shy exactly but not outgoing either.

Thanks so much for your comment. I wondered if this might be the case. I appreciate hearing about your experience.:grouphug:

Thank you! I will tell her -- I know that she will appreciate it!

Thanks for the input. I am struggling right now wondering if it is worth the time and money to make the trip. In some ways I feel like how could it NOT be worth it, but on the other hand it is a big commitment. Luvinhs, I may take you up on your offer to pm -- thanks! I also have a post on the Rick Steves board and have received helpful comments there as well, including a suggestion to go in the fall, so that they can sign up for sports. I thought about trying to volunteer while we were there, but have heard that it is mostly English speaking groups that do that and it isn't really part of the culture in France? Well, I will keep thinking about it-- hard decision!

The doctor is very pleased with her results, but she continues to have loss of appetite and is diabetic and is having trouble with highs and lows with her blood sugar. Her oncologist says that this neither of these are side effects of the chemo. Has anyone else heard of this -- just wondering what I can do to help. She is too nervous to see her regular doctor, but I think that she is going to go later this week. Any ideas to help her in the meantime? Thanks.

Or are you just using whatever you used before? I am not even sure if the MSP is an option for homeschoolers but I wondered if it might be better than the ITBS (for example) which is what we use. Thanks!

I am working on learning French with my two ds, both turning 12 this summer. We are planning to go to France next spring for 2-3 months and have been researching long-term rentals throughout the country. Our primary goal in going is for the two ds to learn French. I feel that we are under some time pressure, because if we can go to France next spring versus when they are older it will be better for learning the language. My husband and I would also like to learn French but I feel like it is more of a priority for my kids due to their age. In the meantime, I am trying to decide what will be the best option to maximize language learning opportunities while we are there. Some of the things that we have thought of are: 1- Immersion school for a couple of weeks. We would go as a family and they could have breakout sessions for portions of it -- this is per an initial email discussion with a school. This would be pricey. 2- They could attend public school in France -- my husband likes this idea but we don't know anyone there so we wouldn't be able to do this as a visitor, I don't think. My kids aren't crazy about this option. 3. Hire a private tutor -- have someone come in (or we could meet them) for a couple times per week. We are thinking of staying in a village, which then might also give us a bit of a local connection. Not quite sure what the best route would be for finding one. We are still in the planning stages but right now are hoping to find a place in a village where we can go to the farmer's market, church, concerts without renting a car long-term I would love to hear any ideas that you might have. I think our fears are that we won't get much chance to practice the language while we are there, since it will be a temporary stay.

I have started using them for math vocabulary. Sum, product, factor, mean, median, range, etc. I am not always great about using the terms when teaching math and I want to make sure that they remember the vocabulary for standardized testing and also as they progress through math. I think that it is a good idea because if those terms (and measurements) etc become second nature it is very helpful in math as well as life.

Maybe I should check around and put up some "found" posters. We just guessed he was dumped because of the location. But he is definitely speedy and wants to get out of whatever we put him in, so I can see how he could have escaped from someone. It would be great if we could find his owner. We live in a semi-rural area so we are taking him to the vet to check for parasites as well as seeing if they might have an idea regarding the owners.

That is what we thought too, otherwise he would have just moved him off of the road. He is calling the vet today, so they should be able to confirm that. If he is wild, we will definitely take him back, otherwise we won't because he can't survive the weather here. I suppose he could be an escaped pet but I am guessing not due to his location.

Not from an oncoming train or anything but the tortoise was sitting in the middle of the road on the tracks. Anyway, we think that he is a Russian tortoise. He seems to be in good condition and we are going to take him to the vet this week to get him checked out. In the meantime he seems to be eating and drinking but when we put him down in the yard for a little freedom, he races (quite amazing how quick he is -- I have no experience with tortoises) for the neighbor's yard. My husband is worried that he isn't happy or that he(she) wants to lay eggs and that is why he keeps trying to get away. Any thoughts? I have been quite amazed to see that he really seems to have a personality, which has been fun.

When I grew up, we had various periods of time without television. As an adult, I have also lived without television at times, but I have not done so since I have had kids. I have always enjoyed the time without TV and am planning on cutting of our cable TV and internet for the summer. We have internet in our office nearby, so we will still be able to use it if we want. I am looking forward to no television this summer! It makes for a much more peaceful home and for me (especially as a kid) more motivated to "do" things.

The disorganization in this area could be a sign of disorganization in other areas, particularly financial, since this relates to that area. If you are wondering whether you should be concerned about this issue, I would say yes, it would be worth examining at least from a financial reporting/stewardship perspective. Is your church leadership open with the congregation or members regarding income and expenditures? I recently discovered that churches (unlike other nonprofits) are not required to prepare informational returns for the IRS and as far as I have been able to discover, are not required to report to anyone, unless they elect to do so or their denomination requires it.

I think that the Hobbit is great for a read aloud. I found that Lord of the Rings was better as a silent read for older kids. Just our experience. Lots and lots of detail in the trilogy. More dialogue typically makes for a better read aloud (per Jim Trelease in Read Aloud Handbook)

Got it! Thanks!

When my boys were four, they had bunk beds so that helped to separate them. If they didn't quiet down to read/look at books or sleep, I would take a pillow and something to read (for myself) and lay down on the floor in their room so that they would have to settle down. I would read or nap during that time. I could have gotten up after they settled down, but oftentimes I just stayed there and read or snoozed!! We lived in a dinky apt so there wasn't much housework etc to do back then! When they were three, they still had naps and had beds next to each other, so they went to sleep. Oddly enough I don't remember there being much of an issue getting them to settle down at that age.

Loved these! Laughed ourselves silly--thanks!

Thanks for the recommendation! For some reason, I never realized that Jim Weiss did unabridged audiobooks (except for SOTW). I thought that he only did the condensed versions. Thanks for the info!