BTDT :grouphug:

Thank you for sharing your family's experience--dd was really pumped after reading your post.

Great advice--thanks for the tips!

:auto: Just hop in the car and come on over . . . it's just a couple hours to Chicago. :D

:lurk5:

:party:

Aw Joanne . . . camping is one of my favorite things to do. The more remote, the rougher, the better. :D Have a lovely weekend--read lots, play with fire, enjoy the bonding. :auto:

Hi-- My 13yo dd wants to organize a Spanish camp for early elementary aged kids. Dd has been taking Spanish for years, and dd is very, very good both with the language and with caring for young children. I think this is a great idea for her summer and for using her specific gifts/talents. She was thinking of offering two-week sessions this summer. Each session will have two-hour classes, twice per week. In that time she will play games, teach basic vocabulary, teach about Hispanic culture, provide snacks, and read stories. The goals will be both vocabulary acquisition AND cultural exposure. So, for the first session the cultural emphasis will be on Guatemala since we have visited there. I would also be there helping with crowd control (I have directed such things in the past with success). --Advice in general? --How much should she charge? We were thinking of $20 per kid for the two week session???? --Do you think people will actually sign up? They usually do with classes I provide, though dd is 13yo and will need to prove herself. She has had some experience babysitting in people's homes and helping at church--I think folks view her in a positive light. Thanks!

I have not read Man in the Iron Mask. However, I did do Ivanhoe with my Lit class this year. The pace is very, very slow. I do not consider it to be the highest quality literature either.

Six years on SOTW was a better fit for us. Dd will do one year of Am History focus, then do a four-year rotation of world history in high school. I had originally wanted her to do 5 years on world history in high school, but our involvement with a co-op this year upset our history schedule.

:iagree:

I really, really love this book. I studied it in high school, but have re-read it since for enjoyment. It's wonderfully read-able. Church History in Plain Language, by Bruce Shelley http://www.amazon.com/Church-History-Plain-Language-3rd/dp/0718025539/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274995753&sr=8-1

I live in a 110yo fixer-upper. We have had lots and lots and lots of work done on this house in the last eleven years--more than I want to think about. I always offer water and ice, and often iced tea. If I know someone really likes something specific, like Gatorade, I might get that as an occasional bonus. I have never been asked to do so though--on the occasions that I have offered a "special" drink it's been when I overheard something or just noticed that someone always brought a certain drink. Every now and then I bake something (brownies, cookies, whatever) for the workers. I would never offer alcohol, though having read your second post I understand why you did and think that's fine. I would NOT stock beer for them regularly though, and they should not expect it. Don't say anything about it (your stress over their comments), and don't worry any more about it. Just cheerfully let them know each day that they can put stuff in the fridge, and let them know where the water and ice or iced tea are. Then go about your day.

:grouphug:

:grouphug:

:)

No you're not over-reacting. I'd say under-reacting. This goes far beyond secret candy or a questionable TV show. I would never, ever leave my kids alone with these people again. Truly. I don't care how nice they are or how much they love the kids. Their choices are so unbelievably dangerous as to defy reason. Do not ever leave your children alone with them.

I have been homeschooling for eight years, and in the course of that time have taught in many, many group settings as well. Timeliness and deadlines HAVE been a concern, with each. and. every. group of homeschoolers I have taught, and it has become my personal pet peeve. For kids of any age, I would start by saying that in any outside commitments (co-op or Scouts or whatever), treat the deadlines and expectations of that group as absolutely concrete. All too often homeschoolers expect to exert the same kind of control in outside programs that they do for their own, private homeschool. Obviously there are exceptions for emergencies or illness, but generally speaking start by training the kids to meet their outside obligations in a timely fashion, without complaint. In the younger years (and even now with my 7th grader to some extent) deadlines are not a part of our homeschool--we just do the next thing, and do it until we're done. It all seems to work out in the end. However, I have found as dd gets older that exerting deadlines for larger projects has been really helpful for her. She loves writing, so I might assign her to finish a story over the course of a week. Because she loves doing this, she is great about planning time to do it every day. I wouldn't worry about it too much with your second grader, except to carefully meet your outside deadlines in a responsible way. However, as your kids get into the logic stage, you might just start by giving a few projects with specific deadlines. Also as your child gets older, put more responsibility for completing the daily checklist on his/her shoulders. For me, there has been a time or two that my checklist was unrealistic--most of the time I hold to the deadline (finishing the checklist) but tell dd something like, "I can see this was a bit heavy of a workload for today. I'll revise tomorrow's list so that it's not quite so much time." Yes, it was a hard day, but as long as those days don't happen frequently it can be a good training tool for life. The balance to that is that yes, I have also given mercy if the workload I assigned was waaaaay too much or if a concept or project ends up being more complicated/difficult/confusing than I thought it would be.

Many happy returns of the day, Peela! You've always been one of my favorites here. :cheers2:

:party:

I would not worry at all about one late or missed period. It can happen from time to time for a variety of reasons, so I would also not worry about it if it happens again at some vague point in the future. The time to worry is if it is happening frequently, repetitively, or if there is a concern about pregnancy.

:seeya: Hi Dayle! We read your updates about Clinton and your soup ministry with interest and have been praying for you. It's good to see you here too! strider

Bless you for your kindness. I have seen this dynamic play out as well, with many people over many years. Right now there is a difficult person in my life--I am convinced he either has ADHD or some other hidden diagnosis. He is very, very difficult to deal with BUT he is a really good-hearted person who is putting ALL his energy into being a good father. I have seen this difficult person marginalized and condescended to time after time. So thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for your compassion and kindness. Treating people as though they are human beings brings remarkable results with even the most difficult people.

:party:

This actually happened to me a number of years ago. I was eating a salad with friends and their children, and there was broken glass in my salad. I showed my friends the glass. The husband/father shrugged and kept eating, and the mother/wife also kept eating. I was horrified and suggested that they might not want to eat any further salad due to the glass I had just found. Not only did they continue eating their salad, they required their children to also eat their portion of the salad. I was really shocked. I begged them to please not eat the salad--they said their portions looked fine. I offered to buy them entirely new salad fixings and they became very, very angry with me. They perceived this as me fussing needlessly (their salad looked fine, after all) and undermining their authority in front of their children. The whole incident badly damaged our relationship--I lost a lot of respect for them. Not that any of that is relevant to you, really--your post just transported me back to that rather bizarre incident. I would not eat anymore of the salad. I'm sorry. It's all too easy for me to picture the damage and pain that would come from ingesting broken glass. I would discard everything related to the salad and just start fresh.