My husband agreed to serve our church by leading one of these for 3 years. After complaining, complaining, complaining from the group members, I asked him to step down. I couldn't take the stress.

My 7yo does this. I think in his case it's bc after he finished SSRW1, I let him silent read Magic Tree House books over the summer. He told me in detail what the story was about, so I thought his reading was "taking off". When we started school this year, I had him reading aloud to me from CLP, CLE and Pathway readers (the 1rst grade ones are plenty hard right now). He was skipping parts and making words up to fit the meaning. He was really hurrying through. I was horrified! Just encouraging him to slow down and insisting on accuracy with him reading aloud to me from these readers 20 minutes EVERY day has made an incredible difference already! He is really conscious of reading accurately aloud. I know I kind of skim and read quickly silently - I think that's part of reading quickly. But reading aloud is a different skill and needs to be accurate. IMO.

My husband works out of our home. He travels throughout the state on day trips most mornings, but works on paperwork & emails in his home office during the afternoons and some evenings. His office is attached to our bonus room/playroom. Many times he's up working on paperwork/email while our children are quietly playing with legos and playmobil right next to him. I'm cooking dinner downstairs or cleaning up. He could stay home with a napping baby-preschooler while I went to a dr appt. Now, I can run to the dr. while they can finish up their school and he works upstairs. Many of my friends say that he "helps" me all of the time and their husbands have to work more, but it's just the blessing of telecommuting! Another benefit is that he feels he is more productive than his co workers who have to deal with all of the chatting and complaining that goes on in the offices. I have had to train our children to be very quiet in our home, but the blessings far outweigh any challenges.

I love Beth Streeter Aldrich of A Lantern in Her Hand fame - not idealistic but old-fashioned.

Does anyone have a book to recommend why budget deficits and trade deficits are healthy for our economy? Or even neutral? I do want to understand this. Thanks!

I'm not saying raise taxes. I support tax cuts, just want to see our budget balanced by decreased spending also. Commentaries on trade policy - like this one - make sense to me: http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_viewpoints_pause_free_trade

My husband and I have been discussing our "credit" culture - from the federal gov't down to our population's personal finances. To balance the budget we need to drastically reduce spending, and no more additional tax cuts until we have a surplus. Only then give the people back their money. The notion of continually lowering the interest rate so more people will borrow, borrow, borrow is part of what got us into this debacle. The fix of giving extra tax cuts so people will spend spend spend - go spend money! - is starting to irritate me! We need a pay as you go culture - from the Fed on down to personal finances. Teach Dave Ramsey's course in every public high school in the nation. We need to have a national mission, like in WW2, to buy American only. To buy less cheap crud from 3rd world countries and only buy quality American made goods. I would even like to see a law like the Tariff Act of 1789 (that some call the 2nd American Revolution), to cause industry to flourish here again. We could fill up the treasury with these other countries monies. These countries that are robbing us blind with these unfair trade agreements. Am I naive?

Truthquest! http://www.truthquesthistory.com/

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,424303,00.html I can't believe the news isn't covering this. Why is no one asking the obvious? Many people have to have died. A huge number are still missing. I've been so sad since Saturday - and it's just not "newsworthy". :confused:

Yellow cheddar has food coloring doesn't it? I would buy white cheddar or monterey jack. Nice meal!!

Cathy Quickcurl! I want to buy one off Ebay for my daughter!

I would recommend the Grade 2 book of Adventures in Phonics by Christian Liberty Press. My 7yo son is doing that this year after finishing SSRW1 last year. He is also reading out of readers (CLE, CLP and Pathway) to me every day for 15-20 minutes. He also is in Christian Liberty Press Spelling workbooks - which is very phonetically based. My daughter did Explode the Code after SSRW 1- I much prefer the CLP workbook!! It reviews the rules - even more rules than SSRW covers. Really cements everything. HTH!

1. To love the Lord with all their hearts, soul, mind and strength. This has to be caught more than taught - I believe! So, lots of praying for this one! 2. Mental, physical and emotional rigor: i.e deep thinkers, self-discipline, perseverance & fortitude.

When my boys were those ages (they are now 10 & 7 - one with mild mr and pdd-nos), they were ACTIVE! I read about Playmobil on the boards and bought tons of it for presents. They would crash into the large knights castle and destroy it. Everything they did was gross motor, crashing, & banging, etc. I mostly had them outside if we weren't doing structured school or reading to them. I thought those days would never end. Now, they play for hours w/ pretend play. They talk quietly with their little playmobil guys, stuffed toys, & legos for hours on end. They act out all of their history lessons and read a louds! It's a quiet, fine-motor sort of playtime these days. So, be encouraged that the quiet pretend play years are coming! They are blissful! They also help out with housework a lot now - which makes everything soooo much easier! At least you have a very lovely home - when you do have a few minutes to catch your breath!

Yes! I chose CLE Language Arts this year. R&S grammar was overkill for us. CLE Lang. Arts is supposed to be complete - but I add additional workbooks for spelling, vocabulary and WWE!!

We have 4 children (3 boys and a girl). Ages 7-14. We spend about $200 per year on everyone! - Hand me downs for the boys: My oldest 14yo is handicapped and wears out his clothes very little - so he is the source of hand me downs or the other 2 boys. My oldest also gets Old Navy gift cards for Christmas and birthdays from Grandparents - $20 cards but they add up, especially with clearance purchases! - Goodwill: Then, I shop at Goodwill for extras and for my daughter. Winter coats even! Everything is $2.49. - Few clothes for everyone & laundry every day!: i.e. My boys wear the same wrinkle free khackis and short sleeved polo (a long sleeved one in winter) - every single Sunday. My daughter has a long denim skirt (also Goodwill) she wears with various shirts and sweaters every Sunday. They each have only 2 pairs of jeans, 2 windpants for boys, 2-3 denim shorts, 2 denim capris for daughter. I find sticking to denim makes matching effortless, which keeps costs down. About 6 tops for each of the two seasons. Again - most of these are hand me downs for the boys and for my daughter I buy clearance at Target, Old Navy and Goodwill. Each child has 1 pair of brown shoes for church and everyday! My daughter also has New Balance sneakers we recently found at Goodwill. My boys brown shoes are sneaker/shoes combos they play in and wear to church. They each have only 1 pair of pajamas and a nightgown for my daughter. So, through these tips we keep clothing costs way down. They look great though - nice and clean clothes. We throw out any with holes or stains, and God always provides more through these means I've described!! ETA; Of course you, the original poster, are not crazy for spending what you did! We have a modest income and lots of medical expenses - so we have to cut costs wherever we possibly can!

The NWS warns of certain death to those who stay. I read 1/2 of the 58,000 residents are staying. Look at this prediction of what will happen with a 20 ft. storm surge. Click on the graphic for the simulation to start... http://3dnature.com/anim/Galveston_TX-20ft-high.mp4 Praying for those people!

I forgot to mention what made my husband & I crack up several times. The random, floating, bubble font to let the audience know the geographical locations. That was the weirdest thing I have ever seen!!

I just finished Breaking Dawn - the last of the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. I did NOT like it!! Anyone else? I didn't like the emphasis on Bella's bruises which she SO didn't mind:001_huh:. This series is hugely popular with young teens, I just think that was TMI and not a good message for girls. At all. I skimmed the rest to see how it all ended up. It was ok plot wise, not what I thought would happen to everyone.

I'll keep watching. It's Lost mixed with a little 24 and Pacey is a main character!!! That's all I need to know :)

Crying! The boy had to tread water for 14 hours! The perseverance our children on the spectrum have can be such a good thing!

http://www.eatcleandiet.com/Default.aspx Anyone tried this? I've been doing Eat to Live for multiple sclerosis. My neuro thinks I need more low sat. fat meats (chicken breast & fish). I think this diet sounds great. I perused it in the hospital gift shop today after my doc appt. It has inspiring photos of success stories and meal ideas. She even wrote a cookbook for kids & families. I have never successfully lifted free weights and she has a book about that also. It looks great for a beginner. I may invest in several of her books, but I wanted to check and see if anyone here has them?

I have MS, but have never had a vision problem. Scary! Steroids aren't so bad, and they will help a LOT! I'll be praying for you!!

I've seen this recipe on some vegan blogs and really want to try it. Where do you all get the nutritional yeast? Does it have a brand name? Does Trader Joe's have it? Thanks for the info!!

never mind