The deleted threads contain personal information, are breaking forum rules or are really offensive to be left on the site. Anyone googling for a person's name, say Jane Smith, could land on the threads with that name and read things that Jane Smith may not want to talk about IRL. I have seen things like that affect people's careers and friendships. So, when Jane Smith's thread goes viral, Jane Smith might ask the moderators to delete her thread. When I see people posting heated responses in threads I usually stay away.

I use Jarrodophilus - the problem is that if he is going to be on IV antibiotics, the antibiotics will also kill the good bacteria in the probiotics. So, it is recommended that anyone taking antibiotics also take a probiotic yeast so that the antibiotics will not affect it and the patient gets a full dose of antibiotics. I use the probiotic yeast saccharomyces boulardii from Jarrow in addition to another probiotic from Jarrow that has many strains of good bacteria. You can find all of them on amazon if you cannot find it locally. And Kefir is great - the lifesource brand is what I drin and it has upto 12 strains of good bacteris. http://www.jarrow.com/product/265/Saccharomyces_Boulardii_MOS

I get this all the time with my DS - he simply wants me with him when he does the task. He is 6 years old. My understanding is that it is boring for him to deal with a chore or task by himself and would like someone else to do it with him - and also that he is unable (worried about consequenses?) to refuse and uses his "inability" to do a task as a way to get out of doing it. In these cases, I go back to him, start on the task with him, verbally go through the sequence of what needs to be done, make him repeat to me in full sentences what needs to be done and then tell him that now he knows how to do it and then leave. He also tries to walk away and play with a toy because the work he is currently doing is "too hard" or "cannot understand" and he needs help. I make him go back and stay seated and tell him to skip the part that is too hard for him and carry on with the parts that he can handle. I later go through the parts he pretended was difficult and then ask him if it was easy this time around or not. I also give him endless lectures on being independent, self-reliant etc (though they don't seem to help, it makes me feel better!) I get you when you say this sends you over the edge. Mine comes knocking claiming the work is too hard if I have to go to the bathroom. I cannot even walk away to get a glass of water because I will see him following me saying he does not understand something.

I am a germophobe and use my elbow to open door handles in public places and use a disposable paper napkin to hold doors open (yes, people think I am weird, including my own family members). I ask my child to wash his hands after reading library books. I also give him probiotics all through the flu season as my doctor said that it helps to keep the immune system in an alert state. Germs do not live beyond a few hours on books. Maybe bringing the books home, saving them for a couple of days before reading them would be a good idea? Or, get ebooks from your library?

Thank you all! These are such great recommendations. I went and showed him all the books you all recommended - there are some in our library and we will order a couple of the others.

another vote for Kale chips. Hummus with carrots or cucumbers or baked wholewheat pita chips. Nonfat yoghurt. Craisins, raisins, dried blueberries mixed with pumpkin seed or sunflower seed - either buy this trail mix premade or make it yourself. If I think of anything else, I will post back here. I loved how your post ended like a poem :) In my case, I just eat my next meal earlier if I was hungry for a snack and I drink a cup of coffee sometimes (with skim milk).

I was caught in such a situation attending playdates with my husband's friend's kid - I don't know the mother of this child. But, she was overeager and desperate and I did not know how to say no. It turned out that the friend told his wife how well mannered my child was and that they should send their child (who was spoilt, had temper meltdowns, indisciplined and surviving on eating only junk food) over to my house as often as possible so that he could learn to socialize in a healthy way from my son. After a few disastrous playdates, I got out of the arrangement using the excuse that DS had too many afterschool activities. When people are desperate, there is something behind the desperation, usually. Because invitation to each other's homes and sleepovers are not the norm amongst people who don't know each other. If I were you, I would go to the park to meet them. I would also let a few of my firends know that we will be at the park on that day meeting someone that I met online and they are welcome to attend too. If they show up, then you need not meet this family alone and if that person was just nice and desperate, they could meet more people. If she had small babies, it is entirely possible that she is desperate and cannot travel a lot and she is grasping at straws to find friends for he son.

My 6 year old is crazy about Greek mythology. He cannot handle the D'aulaire greek myths book yet and he told me that he would prefer an easier book. I got him the Mary Pope Osbourne's Odyssey series to read for now. What I would like is a recommendation for a book on Greek mythology (a book with a few pictures for illustration would be great) for a 6 year old who is a strong reader. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

See, this was my first thought as well. Because, Dr Chua (and Dr Jed - too lazy to look up his last name) have included a whole range of races in her "awesome" list. How could that be called racist - their list includes everyone from dark to medium to light toned skin coloration and a mind boggling variety of cultures with origins in a variety of civilizations across the world. I still think that they are using race to sell books, though I find it hard to believe that she in particular is racist.

In addition to all the above great advise, look at some online programs for math and LA as supplements. Dreambox, EPGY, xtramath, ixl etc. They could give you and your DH a break and keep the child absorbed in learning at the same time. I would also temporarily drop the FLL, latin, BFSU, history etc. I would suggest getting SOTW audio cds and letting your children listen every day (mine uses an ipod and goes over parts that he wants to understand better on his own). here are some ideas for most of the next few months when you are so busy: - keep the children learning and being creative by assigning them 2 or 3 long term projects that they can work on simultaneously. For e.g. for LA, pick a literature classic and ask them to read it and write a book report with illustrations. - For science, choose a topic and get a dozen books on that topic from the library and some DVDs and some experiments that they can work on - ask them to document their observations in a science report. - Get some poetry memory work going with a schedule and they need to memorize a weekly poem and recite it on a saturday with that week's copywork and spelling coming from that poem. - Get some logic workbooks from Critical thinking company and Prufrock press - assign a few sheets a day as part of seatwork - Get some educational board games and let them play for a short while a day When life gets busy, these are some of the strategies that have worked for us. Good luck.

In K there were 3 packets - a weekly packet, a "challenging" weekly packet which was optional and which we did anyway and a monthly packet where we had to pick any number of activities and do them - to us, they seemed pointless because they asked the child to count how many candies were in the house, measure the distance between the bathroom and the kitchen, pick a dozen leaves and glue them kind of thing. This year in 1st grade we are in a highly academic school where they focus only on academics - so thankfully, there is no counting candy and polling for everyone's favorite food type. We get a daily packet with 2 Saxon worksheets for math and a spelling sheet or grammar sheet for LA - takes us less than 10 minutes to finish. There is a monthly book report that we need to work on all month long and read for 20 minutes every evening which we are slacking on these days because of multiple evening activities.

I have been in a blizzard, hurricane and a full blown monsoon in a part of the world where it is vicious. I did not acclimate - just stayed home. So did everyone else around us.

About the battle hymn book: I did not understand all the ill feeling about her first book (battle hymn). I read all the bashing and bad reviews about her as a mean mother and then a year later read her book. I found myself laughing out loud a lot when I read her book. She did not come across as a mean, cold woman with no warm and fuzzy feelings for her children to me. She came across as a very caring, very focused and very loving mom - what I also figured out was that she is tongue in cheek, uses gallows humor (not very familiar to those that are unused to it) and deliberately uses stereotypes to drive home a point. Have any of you watched minority comedians on late night cable channels? They do the exact same thing that Tiger Mom does in her book - their mainstay is racial stereotypes and they humorously talk about the atrocious treatment of people (no exceptions - they range from the disabled to old ladies to Presidents to babies to God) and get away with that because it is "comedy" and they have poetic license. I do not believe that all the mean incidents that are related in that book are 100% true - though she may have been strict and hyper focused, I believe that she may have made up some of the extreme stories there to sell books. Because, above and beyond all else, she is a very smart, very successful woman intent on creating controversies to sell books. Which leads me to the new book: I belong to one of the "chosen" groups in that book. There are no homeless people or anyone hovering on the poverty line or parents with failing students in my "chosen" community that I know of in my neighborhood. We tend to expect great things from our kids - not excluding good manners, kindness, good character, superior work ethic and also a well balanced life. So, again, what she has done is that she has taken a small part of this story and the stereotypes that go with it and spun a money making book out of it yet again. As a result, she stays relevant, she gets media coverage, she recycles her old message (of superiority of certain group/groups), she becomes more of an "expert" on successful communities and her family makes enough money to send the next 10 generations to the Ivies. So, I will treat this book as I treat all other sensationalist books. And I will do the same as I did for her previous book - read all the reviews, analysis, bashings etc first and read the book a year later when the hype is gone.

Thanks for posting this. I tend to get carried away with my frustrations when I see my child not doing the best that he can. What I really want from my child is to be a healthy, happy, helpful, productive human being - I hope that I can keep that in perspective.

Me too! I am thrilled to even be remotely associated with the trendy crowd! Ha Ha. My 8 year old north face jacket bought at the North Face factory outlet store in Berkeley is working hard this winter :)

My 6 year old says "literally", "perhaps" and ends sentences with "after all" - e.g. It is not raining today "after all". What cracked me up was DS playing with his bath toys and making up a story where 2 bad guys who were bath toys "paired up to wreak havoc on the planet".

I don't buy stuff like that at all in the normal course of things. Since I need to do 100% of the grocery shopping, there is no junk if I don't buy it. I throw all the junk I buy after halloween and New year's parties. I don't buy junk for other occasions.

My whole family has diet limitations and I need to make 3 varieties of food at dinner. So, I cook all the food the exact same way, plate 2 portions before I salt/spice/add sauces to my portion - I have lived a lifetime with people with several dietary issues and special diets that I am a pro at cooking, plating their food and carrying on cooking mine as per my taste. I do not blame your husband at all - because, I live with people who will have major digestive problems when they are made to eat anything even slightly spiced or seasoned - they seem to know instinctively that these plain foods are the best for their systems and frankly, I am so glad that they are able to tell me that fact because it is hell to watch someone suffering after eating a meal that I cooked :( In your case, why not buy a rotisserie chicken or cook a bunch of white chicken meat and steam carrots, peas etc and store in ziplocs for him? You can either microwave his food or steam them again in a steamer before serving. Or, why not cook chicken, pull out his plain chicken and then cook another dish with cheese or mexican seasonings etc for the rest of you?

I eat a lot of rice and beans. In my case, it is brown rice and different beans. Most beans are healthier when sprouted - you don't have to fully sprout them if you are not inclined to do so. You can soak them overnight and that starts the germination process. When soaked, the insoluble sugars in the beans (which cause most of the "gastric distress") are transformed by the germination process into easily digestible simple starches. And be sure to pour away and wash off thoroughly the water used for soaking - these contain those insolubel sugars too and need to be washed away. I cook beans in my pressure cooker. I make a lot of Indian inspired bean dishes and Mexican dishes (soaking is not advisable for those red kidney beans used in mexican dishes - they get a toxin in them when soaked, so be sure to cook them by boiling them in hot water and then draining them and then boiling again.) When I make a bean dish, I soak a lot, cook them and bag them and freeze them for later. I pull out a bag of cooked beans and make a dish for dinner. We eat them with brown rice which I mix with quinoa and cook. Other tips for avoiding "gastric distress" are: start with less beans initially and then build up - one way to do this is to mix in a lot of veggies like carrots, squash etc into your bean dish. Another way to increase digestibility of the dish is to add sauteed minced ginger and garlic to these dishes - they act as a digestive aid. I sprout or soak the following beans - dry green or yellow peas, garbanzo, black eyed peas, moong beans, pinto beans and black beans. Another advantage to sprouting beans is that I have a ziploc bag full of fresh, healthy veggies (which the sprouted beans are) without any prep work of cutting, dicing etc - and they are extremely healthy too. Sometimes, I steam the sprouted beans and add them to my green salad. I also make an easy Hummus when I cook a big batch of garbanzo beans. I also cook a lot of Indian lentils in my pressure cooker in addition to beans to make soups and dals and stews. If you have a warehouse club near you, they have great deals for huge bags of beans, brown rice and quinoa. Good luck.

My biggest hope is to be able to wake up earlier in the morning - so that more can be accomplished before school than piling it all up for afterschool. Which means earlier bed times for all. Right now, DS is required to practice piano for a longer period of time every day and that eats up into all his extracurricular sports which he loves. So, my plan is to wake up earlier and get the piano and some math done in the mornings (easier said than done). And add in some "fun" stuff for afterschooling - I bought a bundle of books from Critical Thinking Company and we have been doing them together - we will do them more consitently for 2014.

I don't go every year. Maybe every other year or so.

Thanks for all the recommendations. I am going to research them all and maybe try out a few of them.

Are you familiar with Challenger schools? They are in several states, are secular and are very rigorous academically (and have a classical bent). I don't think that they offer German or Latin, though.

I have been taking Calcim suplements for over 10 years and Vitamin D for over 1 year due to a high deficiency. I usually grab the huge Costco bottles (Naturemade, Kirkland or whatever) and just keep taking them until it is time to buy another bottle. But, recently I have been feeling that I need to get a better quality supplement as the ones I am taking may not be that efffective - wondering if all supplements get absorbed by the body in the same way. So, if you guys take a Calcium supplement or Vitamin D supplement, could you please recommend a good quality one?

Santa ordered our main gift late and it will be delivered after christmas. Santa is going to leave an IOU letter with an apology in our house.