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flyingmommy

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Everything posted by flyingmommy

  1. Man, do I know how you feel! About ten years ago, I was driving my pregnant (8 months along) babysitter home when my clunker decided it was time to throw a rod. I pull into a gas station that has a little eatery in it. It's eleven o'clock at night. Two women alone, one very pregnant, trying to figure out what's wrong with the car. Hood's up, we're poking around....four deputy sheriffs sit inside drinking coffee and watching us through the window. Thirty minutes later, two leave and two more come in. They buy their coffee and snacks, sit down with the first two, and continue to drink and eat and watch us. During the hour we were out there, right outside the window, not one of those six deputy sheriffs came out to even ask if we needed a ride home, or to see if they could help or call someone for us. Not one. I cannot tell you how disappointed I was. You kinda expect the cops to help you out. And these were older guys, old enough to have not completely missed out on the whole chivalry concept. J
  2. When your husband wants you to smell a new scent of aftershave at Wal Mart, NEVER bend close enough to the bottle in case he squeezes it (to circulate the scent you know) because it will shoot up your nose and clean out your sinuses in the most unpleasant way possible! OUCH!! Never joke about spitting in someone's drink in front of your DD7. She might take it as a suggestion. (Yep! And confessed after her brother had consumed the drink). J
  3. I have one nobody's mentioned (I don't think). It was called Goodnight, Sweetheart. We used to love that one. I haven't seen it in a long time, though. We love Are You Being Served?, Red Dwarf, Mulberry, Last of the Summer Wine, Fawlty Towers, the Vicar of Dibley, As Time Goes By, A Fine Romance, Monty Python, Keeping Up Appearances...the list goes on and on and on..... I love British Comedy! And I'm embarrassed, yet proud, to say that my entire family can pretty much quote any scene from Holy Grail. Yes, we're a family of nerds. But we're happy nerds. J
  4. I bought a little paperback booklet at Lifeway called From Heart to Page--Journaling Through the Year for Young Writers. The author is Michelle Van Loon. Often, the empty page is quite intimidating, especially to young writers. This book has a starter topic for every day of the year, broken up into seasons. It is Christian in content, but could easily be used if you prefer secular topics. It has simple topics like "What sorts of things make you laugh?" or "Look out your window. What do you see? Be as descriptive as possible!" I am using it for journaling ideas for both my 2nd grader and my 7th grader. It is working out very well. And, it's an inexpensive little book! Always a plus! J
  5. Oh, Lucky you! My advice.....don't speak to anyone! Scrap scrap scrap! LOL Just kidding. I have noticed when attending crops that there is often more chatting than scrapping going on. Any page "kits" you can make up in advance will help you maximize your time. Also, if you are working on one album (for example: Christmas album, birthday album,....) you'll probably get more done because you'll get in the groove with that theme. You won't have to "switch gears." Have fun! I'm jealous! J
  6. OOOoohhhhh...Swellmama.....My son positively reveres Jarome Iginla! Not too many Calgary Flames fans down here in Louisiana. He got some looks last year at a Flames/Stars game (Flames won--Dallas fans were not liking my son's red jersey in the midst of their green ones!). I am distantly (and I mean distantly) related to the Judds, and Kenny Chesney (I think-my dad says we are). I rang up Burton Gilliam (the Pace picante sauce guy-also from Blazing Saddles) last year on Valentine's day. I met Aaron Tippin many years ago when he shopped in my store in the mall. Those are my small claims to fame! J
  7. Just so y'all know....Louisiana is the mosquito capital of the world! I'm pretty sure the mosquito is our state bird. J
  8. My personal opinion on the easiest to understand....David Copperfield. I loved A Tale of Two Cities, but it does tend to get verbose in some spots and if your child is likely to get lost between the beginning and end of a sentence, as mine would, then there's not going to be much enjoyment. J
  9. I'm Elrond! That's pretty cool. Of course, in the movie, I just kept waiting for him to sprout sunglasses and say "Mister Anderson." Still, he's like the big cheese of the elves, so I'll take it. J
  10. When my son was four, the store I ran was being remodeled. One of the contractors gave him a box full of random washers, screws, metal bits, etc. that they had left over from the construction. He played with this box of junk for months and months. Mostly he built "mechs". My husband's game at the time was Mechwarrior (old game, I know. My son's 20 now). My son would have line after line of little "bots" that he built with these spare parts. Both my daughters love playing spies and can turn absolutely anything into "spy gear." Anything. Pencils, notebooks, mirrors, rubber bands, you name it. J
  11. You might try taking a look at Flylady.net. I know it looks like a "house cleaning" site but it's so much more than that. The founder, Marla Cilley (a.k.a. Flylady) basically decided to finally "get organized" and ended up creating a program (totally free BTW) that now has almost a half a million subscribers. She gives great advice on how to start small and build routines, then build on those routines. She's also really good at helping you change the way you think about yourself and your abilities. J
  12. Maybe you could ask each person to bring their plastic bottles out of the fair to drop at your house for recycling. Not everybody will remember, but some will. I know my children would remind me (endlessly, no doubt) to recycle the bottle. And I probably would, anyway. If you could put a big bin, or cardboard box out with a nice sign (project for the kiddies) on it advertising that you are willing to recycle all plastic bottles brought out of the fair, surely you would have some takers. I don't buy water bottles for my home-ever-but I do buy them when I am out somewhere, like the zoo or the fair. I am always happy to find a recycling container to put them in when I'm done. Just my thought J
  13. One thing to remind yourself about--you can only win an argument if the other party actually is willing to change their mind about the topic. If not, arguing is pretty much pointless. Of course, you could throw in things like....."When you've lived a bit longer, as I have, you'll see there's more than one side to that subject." Might not earn you any brownie points, but maybe the counter-condescension will make him stop and think before he starts to spout off. I have an uncle like your SIL. He's a great guy but he pretty much knows everything about everything and is only too happy to expound on his superior knowledge at great length. I don't see him often, but I kind of just walk away or turn to someone else and change the subject when he gets going. This is a trick I learned from my late grandma. It's hard to pontificate when there's no audience to appreciate it. J
  14. I would recommend David Copperfield. I read it much later in life than your child will be reading it but I think of all the Dickens novels I have read, it is the quicker paced novel. I wouldn't try A Tale of Two Cities unless you're going to go through it with her (or him). I loved AToTC and had read it, voluntarily, about four times before my freshman hs class read it. But, I realized while my husband was trying to listen to it as an audio book (yay, hubby! He made it through!), it is a really wordy book. Remember, Dickens was paid by the word--LOL. It can be difficult at times to follow the sentence from beginning to end, especially for a reluctant reader. Just my opinion. I really love English literature, so I tend to ramble sometimes. J
  15. Wow! The Lively Art of Writing! I still have my copy from my junior year in high school. That was, um.......23 years ago. Is it still blue? I learned so much from that book and it really stuck with me. I plan to pull it out when it's time for my dd's to use it. J
  16. And don't forget "Can't-close-anything-without-slamming-itis"!!!!! On the odd occasion that they do manage to close a cabinet door, or any door really, they absolutely are incapable of doing it without slamming it. I can't figure out if they think I need the extra adrenalin that having the bejeebers scared out of me gives me--or maybe they just like noise. :bigear: J
  17. I can really "hear" the pain that you are in. It sounds like your children have made more progress since homeschooling than they were making in public school where all those programs that could "help" them are located. Often, you can have your child tested through the evaluation centers that the school board runs. You might check with your pediatrician as well for referrals to have testing done. I have a friend with a very difficult child. The little girl is a joy, really, but she is the epitome of ADHD. In fact, I almost never really believed in ADHD until I met this child. There are lots of intervention programs available at the school that could help her. Unfortunately, they won't help her unless she is TWO grade levels behind in every subject. They have let this child down left and right regarding testing and help through the school. Testing was ordered and never got done. Then, nobody realized till the next school year that the testing was never done. Then her parents have been blocked at every turn trying to get the school to do something for this child. The only reason that she passed second grade last year is because her teacher took it upon herself to give this child the special attention she would have been getting if the school had authorized it. The teacher was actually in danger of losing her job if she was found out. She just cared so much about this child that she risked it and it paid off. At the end of the year, the principal basically told her that she wasted her time, none of the extra help she gave the child made any difference, that her "test scores" showed she could do the work, therefore the teacher should have made her do the work. This child has actually suffered undue stress and hardship because of being in the public school system and her parents trying to get her help from all those "wonderful programs" your shrink is beating you up about. Just because these things are available through the schools does not mean your children would benefit from them, or even have access to them. The red tape is ridiculous! Meanwhile, they are at home with a mother who loves them and cares far more for them than any school board could possibly care. Focus on what they have achieved, explore your options, and remember why you chose homeschooling in the first place. It honestly sounds to me like they are better off with you. Just my opinion. J
  18. Try the My Father's World website. They sell PLL and ILL. I actually bought PLL from Barnes & Noble. I had my local store order it for me so I could save with my 20% homeschooler discount. They are out of stock on ILL so they couldn't order it. I won't need it for two years anyway so I'll probably just order it from MFW later this year. J
  19. Why do I homeschool? Mostly because I'm not a good cog (as my friend M once said). I just cannot blindly follow the herd like cattle. There is more focus on stupid stuff in public school than there is on education. I have found that year after year, I got more and more annoyed with all the insanity that seems to be par for the public school course. I cannot deal with anymore PTA Politics, or idiotic pointless policies that everyone just does because that's what you're supposed to do. Now, I know that my children will be learning, getting a much better education than before, and will have a chance to be kids. And they'll never have to spend another MONTH learning about penguins for the third year in a row! Good grief! J
  20. Are you in any of the local groups around here? Just curious. How long have you been home schooling? I just started last year at Thanksgiving. Pulled my older DD out, then pulled younger DD out in February. We were in TX then, NE of Dallas. Moved back here June 1st. J
  21. Don't feel alone. I'm new, too, this week and I'm from the NW corner of LA. Actually, Tammie, I'm in Haughton, too. How weird is that? Not a big place. I've been trying to get a feel for this board this week. This is my first post. J
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