I loathe software with ads; the trial Microsoft Office with ads in the sidebar on my laptop almost drove me insane! I bought Office just to get rid of the ads, LOL! We recently bought our just turned 9 year old the Kindle with WiFi. I think it was $139. He is our voracious reader. Since he received it (May 9th), he's downloaded over 120 free books from Project Gutenberg, Internet Archive, and Open Library. I love that we can download all of these out of print books *for free* --- we have spent a small fortune in the past few years tracking down used printed copies of his favorite series from the early 1900s. We tallied and found that if we had purchased paper versions of his new ebooks, we would have spent well over $2,000!!! :)

E-Bay. I unloaded a ton recently and made decent money back. I sold everything using flat rate shipping boxes from USPS so that I didn't have to find boxes and worry about losing money on shipping.

:grouphug: I'm sorry this happened. It was not rude to ask! Gosh! This made me :lol: You absolutely get my sympathy, but, nope, no encouragement in staying home. :) It took us a couple painful, awkward years to find our church home. It was definitely worth the process. Please, don't give up. :grouphug:

:lol:

Hi! I loved your post. Hooray for de-lurking and welcome to the boards as a poster! :)

:lol::rofl::lol: Oh my! From AFA to USNA to USMA to Active Duty enlisted and officers? LOLOLOLOL! The poor guy!

Very interesting stats, Stacy! :iagree: Maybe it's just me, but it feels like there has been an increase in over-the-top TMI-type posts and venting about {fill-in-the-blank} posts. I don't share most of that information IRL, I can't imagine sharing it here. But, obviously, that's just me. :D Maybe because there are so many people here posters feel a certain amount of anonymity? I had that notion shattered when I linked to an acquaintance's web page (nothing bad, just providing information!). It didn't occur to me that they would click back through their referrals to my post and see my recommendation. It was rather startling when they called me "Heather in WI"!

It's linked on the wall -- posted 8 hours ago. :-)

When we first started homeschooling we used the kitchen table, but now we have a designated space. I love it! We have the three rows of bookshelves on the eastern wall. There are two more bookshelves plus a science countertop and shelving on the northern wall. There are four desks with chairs in the middle of the room. I like that the desks have shelves for each of the boys' books and supplies in them. Right next to the doorway, there is a teacher's desk with shelves and filing cabinet. ETA: Angela, I love your space! I want to come over and create art at the table while dreamily looking out the window. :-)

We just watched Some Kind of Wonderful. {gasp!} Dh had NEVER seen it!!! I'll agree with the others ... Some Kind of Wonderful, Sixteen Candles, and Top Gun are some of my favorite 80s movies!!! :D

My current third grader learned to read when he was 5. He is reading The Fellowship of the Ring; I marked that he's reading above 3rd grade level. I assume that's the case with others, too. :)

Our boys started at age 4 with the "Music for Little Mozarts" series. They've all enjoyed it immensely! I'd "carry on with academics, ignoring the fact that he's so young and going with his ability". :) ETA: As far as language goes, my boys really enjoyed informal French through music cds and videos from the library around preschool age. My oldest started Latin in K with Prima Latina. I have never heard the recommendation to wait until third grade to begin a foreign language. If we had the resources, I would've increased their exposure at an earlier age. :)

That was wonderful! :)

We downloaded about 50 free books for ds from http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page Amazon also has a ton of free classics available.

Thank you for posting this. We're going through such rough financial times right now, I could only dream about getting any gift much less diamond earrings. I think my post might have been too harsh. I'm sorry, Jane. :grouphug:

:iagree: Sorry, but this seems like a violation of: I'm sorry you don't like your present. I've gotten many presents in the past that I haven't felt were ... the most wonderful, perfect present ever. I wouldn't dream of going online to tell everyone how horrible my thoughtless gift giver was.

I want to cry every time I think of that poor baby who was healthy one minute and dead the next. :crying: The midwife was unlicensed in this state. She chose to deliver a first time mother of advanced age whose baby was in a breech position. She didn't call 911 when the baby was stuck for 20 minutes or for 13 minutes after birth. She plead guilty to two felonies. I think that sounds about right, but I personally think the punishment (5 days in jail, $5,000 fine and repay the family $3,200) is extremely lenient.

Honestly, I avoid almost all of the drama posts here since being suckered in years and years ago. Susan had a great post at the time about how most of us don't really *know* each other in spite of feeling like we do. This. I've seen this happen recently and I felt :glare:

Anyone?

We're surprising our soon-to-be 9 year old with a Kindle for his birthday next week. I'd like to load it up for him. He is a voracious reader and easily reads lengthy novels in one-two days. He enjoys everything from the Little House on the Prairie Series to the "heroic boy" genre of the early 1900s, e.g., every book by H. Irving Hancock. :) Any recommendations? We're especially interested in free books from Google/Internet Archive/Project Gutenberg/etc. because we spent all of our extra money on this Kindle for him. :D

21. Halloween babies should be termed Reformation Day babies 22. Pitocin-induced labors of convenience 23. PB&J Crustables 24. Using curricula written by middle-school students with fake degrees and lousy editors for your high school student

:iagree: This made me think of of poem that changed the way I related to men after reading it: Infatuation I longed last night to make her know the truth That none of them has told her. Flushed with youth, Dazed with a half-hour triumph, she held the crowd. She loved the boys that buzzed on her like flies, She loved the envy in the women's eyes, Faster she talked. I longed to cry aloud, "What, has no brother told you yet, with whom, With what, you share the power that makes you proud?" C.S. Lewis When I first came across this, it struck me to the quick. It's very embarrassing to admit, but I wasn't flirting with a particular man, but men in general. I have learned to not sparkle at other people (great term! LOL!), and keep that special smile just for him.

We're a musical family, too. I don't see it as either/or. The two older boys have baseball practice next Saturday from 10-12:00 and then the three older boys have a piano recital at 1:00. :) The boys have required, scheduled piano practice every morning. They play catch with each other and/or dh almost every afternoon/evening. I absolutely would get out there with your son for at least 15 minutes every day to start. Hey, if you start with him now, you'll get better, too. :) And, yes, I think if you want ds to get better at track, you need more than just going to the track a few times in a year. :) We're total nerds and check out books/videos on EVERYTHING. We checked out books on track/running exercises a few years ago, too. My sons loved them and went out to practice the drills right after reading. :)

This, separate from his athletic abilities, would be a concern for me. One of the biggest criticisms my m-i-l, a private school teacher for many years, had before we began homeschooling, was that in her experience homeschooled kids lacked the ability to follow directions in a group setting. (She had many prior homeschooled kids attend her school.) While I don't think this is a problem only in homeschooled kids, I don't want others to see this behavior in my boys and attribute it to homeschooling, iykwim. We've really worked to address this with our boys (who are active in church, Little League, Cub and Boy Scouts, Track & Field, etc.). I think you would do well to address this and nip it in the bud sooner rather than later. There are boys in my boys' scouts program who act this way and they are not liked at all by the other boys. I would hate for your son to become that kid. To address this, I would role play extensively, especially having him be the adult and you pretend to be him doing all the things you mentioned. My boys seem to pick up their own inappropriate behaviors more by thinking about it through others' eyes. Also, maybe set up a signal that you can send him to remind him to stay on task. You don't want to be shouting his name from the back of the room or sidelines to get his attention, but something he knows means "Watch the coach!" or "Listen" or "Pay Attention!". I think it is way too early to say that he isn't athletically inclined. He's only had one practice and he's two behind the other kids. My oldest is very gifted athletically and can easily do most activities well. My second oldest has been almost the opposite, LOL! BUT, we've practiced, practiced, practiced with him for the past two years and WOW! He's actually up for pitcher this year on his new team. This would have been unthinkable even a year ago (where he was the one chewing on his glove staring out into space in the outfield!!) Our library has tons of videos and books on baseball drills/skills. I encourage you to check them out, watch them with your son, and then practice with him. We've found LL to be a wonderful family bonding experience. :)

I ordered this thread and when I opened it it was completely different than described! DO NOT BUY FROM THIS THREAD PEDDLER!!!!!!