When considering Kindles last year a I talked to a friend who's boys had gotten them. I asked if they used them. He told me this "they have read more than ever and things they would have never read before, but the thing I love about it is all they can do is read. They can't play games, surf th web etc." My MIL wanted to get my kids Fires last year and I told her no. I got them each a Kindle Touch and they love them. It pushed my 10 yo to read big books that he wouldn't have touched before simply because he thought they were too long. My kids each have a touch (purchased by grandma instead of the Fire) and use those all the time. They also use their Kmdles daily. I still feel with the fire (especially for my boy) it would have been a gaming device and not a reading device.

Don't be frightened by big babies. My 9 pounder was my easiest delivery. By far. My other two were 7.12 &7.13. Also your size really has nothing to do with babies size. My family is short, except for me, they all come in at 5.2 or shorter. 10 pound babies are normal in my family.

I have a boy with sensory issues. I'd buy the boots and let him exchange them. Actually I'd buy the boots and let dad take him exchange them. (I hate shoe shopping with my boy.)

Forget the plush toys. Not only do they destroy them in an instant they confuse their toys with the kids stuffed animals. My lab mix does the Kong, tennis balls. The Tuff ball is good too. I get the biggest one I can find. Also there is a tire toy that is indestructible that my dog loves.

My daughter had the flu last month. It was brutal. 104 temp for 3 days. Two of her teachers had it and both ended up in the ER or urgent care. I made everyone keep at least 6 feet away from her (no joke). I had my kids wipe down doorknobs, toilets, light switches, keyboards, phones, remotes etc with Lysol wipes at least every couple of days. No one in the house got sick but her. Good luck! (Excuse the underline, for some reason it will only type that way, along with no line spaces. Ugh).

With my son it is do your work or do chores. If you aren't going to get educated you at least need janitorial skills. If your school work isn't done you don't get to do anything but chores. At 8 he did a lot of chores at 9 he did even more chores, now at 10 he doesn't have to do chores very often. (And the chores weren't the "fun" ones like dusting or windows. They were the hard labor, mop floors with a rag, clean bathtubs, etc.)

I have a 4 year old that eats like this. It's scary. My 12 yo (girl) eats like this too. My 10 yo doesn't eat at all, so maybe I'll be able to keep the house, maybe.

Of course. Enquiring minds want to know.

Yeah, regular price. I never, ever pay full price. The absolute most I will pay is $2.50 and that is only if we are totally out of cereal for DD. when it goes on sale for $2 I will buy 10-20 boxes. I find this price at least once a month if I am watching. If I were a cereal slut and fed my kids the sugary goodness I could find that price almost every single week on something. It is more expensive to feed my family eggs. We do the Added Omega 3 eggs at $2.79 a dozen. My family of 5 easily eats 12 eggs, plus my daughter and I don't like plain eggs so I add veggies and chicken if I have any leftover.

This is where the student needs to research what is required. I would never think either of those would not require higher level math. But, say, a history major, why would they need calculus? Or an English major? Nowhere have I ever said that a kid should stop taking math in 10th grade. (I had to stop as there were no alternatives for me.) If a child is able to take and get an A in algebra in 7th grade, there shouldn't be any reason not to be taking AP math classes in 11th/12th grade. I've as I said above, I never said they should stop taking math. The way I look at it, my daughter will have 6 years of HS math on her transcript. I don't see how this could be a bad thing. Our high schools are now requiring 4 years of math and 2 years of foreign language. Their goal is that every student graduating will have the requirements needed to go to college. I don't agree with this, but that is what they at doing.

Well, I can't buy the junky cereals even if I wanted as DD can't eat them. But for $1.50 a box she can eat the entire box for all I care. My boys aren't big cereal eaters. They only eat it under duress. So it's my daughter and husband eating the cereal. She has to be out of the house at 7 and she doesn't want to cook breakfast that early (and neither do I), so she eats cereal.

I never understand when People say cereal is expensive? I pay no more than $2 a box. I don't buy sugar cereals or generic.I only buy GF cereals, so I'm limited to what I can buy. I just bought large boxes of Chex for $1.50 a box. Without a coupon it would have only been $2/ box. I will buy 10-20 boxes and it lasts me until the next time it goes in sale.

But wouldn't this really depend on the child's major? If they aren't going into a math centered career, I don't feel it matters so much. I finished math in 10th grade (Trig). That was the highest my school allowed and they did not have running start back then. I went to college, (computer science major) and I had no problem with math & science when I got there. That being said, all of my children are very math/science oriented and looking to go to the local STEM school (that gives Univ. of Wash credit). So my 7th grader that is taking Alg 1 now (for credit) with be able to take at least 2 AP math classes before graduation. IMO if a child is capable of doing HS work in Middle School (especially math) why hold them back? Speaking from personal experience that is the quickest way to make them uninterested in learning. I can’t tell you how many times I had to repeat a class in school (k-12), simply because they had let me work ahead, but then when I reached the end of that school they couldn’t accommodate me and wouldn’t let me go to the next school for the classes I needed.

Prime Time is one of our favorite restaurants in DW. I WOULD NOT do counter service at HS. There are no edible options, unless you like gross pizza. W are not picky people but Counter service in HS is the worst. All the other parks have great CS options. Our favorit character meal is chef Mickeys @ the Contemporary. So you could come back and do that. I wouldn't waste time doing a character meal in the parks.

Why can't you give her credit? My Dd is in public middle school and she is in 7th grade taking Algebra 1. She will get HS credit.

I left my last practice because, after following another Dr.s orders to return in 3 days if there was any pain (after a near ear burst), the Dr I saw 5 days layer told me I wad wasting her time. I walked out of that office and told them to mark my records we never wanted to see her again. The practice we go to now, I love our Dr. She is awesome. I have another one In the practice that I will see if I can get into the other. Those are the only two I will see unless it is a simple matter. In that practice there is a Dr. I refuse to see. I haven't told th office, but My primary Dr. Knows and agrees with me. ( I took my son in for a sinus infection. The dr. Refused to give him anything said. Didn't know what I was talking about. We had a major power outage, entire town closed for a week. We went out of town etc. A month later we saw regular dr when my son wasn't getting better. She was alarmed at his symptoms took him for an immediate ct scan. She was thinking tumor or some thing. She called me personally that evening saying his sinus cavities were completely stuffed with gunk. Took 6 weeks to get him cleared up. If the orig. Dr had listened to me i would have been 2 weeks, not to mention saved my son 3 months of pain and a CT Scan.

I'm hearing the opposite about the shot. Lots of people I know ad the shot and got sick. On the other hand the flu going around here is horrible. My daughter was out for a week with a 104 fever (didn't get shot). She as neve missed a week of school. Two of her teachers ended up in the urgent care or ER and they were both out for a week as well. My daughter is asthmatic and normall gets hit hard. She didn't really have any respitory issues with this one.

I don't know what ages we are talking, but I was n a similar boat last year with my older boy. After all was said and dome we weren't starting until 10 (or later). Finally I said he had to be up by 8, school at 9. I still let him mak his own breakfast, but we start a 9 whether he's "done" or not. Lunch is at 11:30 and you have an hour to eat.

Last year it took us about 1.5 hours. (We didn't do spelling.) Writing 1 hour Grammar 20-30 minutes Editing 10 minutes ( once a week) This year I'd say 45 minutes. Writing 15-30 minutes Grammar 15 minutes Editing 5 minutes (Daily)

My son HATED the journal. We switched to A Journey Thru Learning's lap book mid year last year and my son (then 9, loved it). Last year we did The Human Anatomy. This year we are on track to finish 2 books. We will finish Botony next week and star Astronomy after Christmas.

I love STOW audio CDs. I have never used STOW as a spine but I own all 4 sets of CDs and we just loop thru them in the car. My 10 yo loves them. (My 4 yo, not so much.)

We NEVER use a car at Disney, never. Sometimes we fly into Ft. lauderdale and drive MIL's car up. It just sits in the lot for the entire trip.

It is on the Cd. Everything on the CD is on CC connected as well. Since OP is overseas it might be cheaper for her to sign up for CC Connected for a month and download whatever she wants and then cancel.

I don't care what I call it, he just needs to learn this stuff somehow! Today we ran into a few words that he didn't know. Child being one of them and I was able to look up the rule and explain it to him. Then a few words later we got to another word with the same rule, which he misspelled again but I told him it was the same rule as Child and he repeated the rule and corrected the word. Then we came to school. So that was an opportunity to go over the sounds of ch. I don't know how long this will last, but he now can spell 3 words he couldn't before. That's progress, right?

Ellie, can I just hire you to come teach this to my kids? LOL. I've been trying for the last month to read the Writing Road to Reading and my eyes just glaze over. I tried teaching my 5th grader about phonograms and he looked at me like I have two heads. I decided we are just going thru the ayres word list and when he gets one wrong I will explaine the rule. I am considering a coop class next year that teaches TWRTR for my 5yo. My brain just doesn't work this way. Sigh.