I also have a Sansa Clip and love it. Very easy to use! This is the first MP3 player I've had so I can't really compare it to anything. My dh did a lot of research for me before we bought it. Kelly

I had my dd do it today. I used a different worksheet but had the same number of problems. It took her 20 minutes but she got all of them right. I was never fast at math and had a teacher humiliate me in 5th grade because of it. I'm not sure how to help her become faster. She is on seizure medication which I've heard can hurt concentration so I'm not sure if that is part of it or not. She also has a tendency to break down if she knows I'm timing her. I really shouldn't tell her what I'm doing. I wanted her to know that I needed her to focus today and not doodle or walk away and come back. Kelly

Honestly I think it has everything to do with the original title. As soon as someone says "I don't mean to be..." a lot of people will take it exactly that way. I cringe when I hear someone start off a sentence that way. I think the post would have come off much less offensive for some if the title had been different. I don't think being intellectual means someone is snobby it is in the way they pull it off. I knew a lot of really smart kids in school but they had 0 social skills. They were the kids who could recite the dictionary at 9 but could not relate to other kids. I think that is where people get their bias agains smart kids/adults from. Its like the bias against homeschooling because they saw one weird family. Kelly

Thank you! Kelly

I think maybe the way the op was worded made it sound a bit snobby. I try to never start a conversation with the words "Not to be "snobby", "mean", "a bword", etc... Because whenever we start a sentence like that we are about to prove it wrong. It is probably better also to not compare to others in a post like that. Just stating that your kids like this literature and you are excited is enough. Everyone's kids are different and you post sounded as if you were saying that if we have kids who don't like it then we aren't as good as you. I'm glad your kids are so into Greek myths. We haven't done too many yet but I'm sure my kids would like them too. They also love Power Rangers. We read Magic Tree house, lots of children's classics but also Junie B Jones. Kelly

How fast should my dd (7 yrs old) be able to do her 1-10 addition and subtraction facts? She knows them but I'm not sure if she is fast enough. Maybe this is a silly question. Is there a range of how long it should take her? Kelly

We do meals on wheels and nursing home visits. Kelly

I love this idea. I wrote to one of my siblings to see what she thought. Kelly

Here is what we have been doing for the past 2 years. I have felt very anxious and agitated at Christmas time since my kids were born and after starting our new tradition 2 year ago I feel so much more at peace. We seperate the holiday into two days. On Christmas Eve we celebrate Christ and his birth. I'm trying to find ways of celebrating this all year through volunteering with my kids but on the 24th and the week leading up to it we talk about his birth and what it means. We talk about the fact that it is HIS birthday and we need to give Christ presents. So, for two years we've gone to the Long Term care unit at the hospital and visited with the residents. This year we are going to collect food through December and take it to the food pantry. It is a great time of learning and trying to find ways of saying happy birthday to Jesus instead of gifts for each other. The next day we celebrate as a fun gift giving day. I don't tie it into Christ at all. I feel our gift giving to each other does not celebrate Christ. It is his birthday. On my birthday people don't give each other gifts. So that day we just give gifts and have a fun family time with games, dinner at a chinese restaruant, christmas tree, fun chirstmas movies and songs. I tell my kids that its just a fun part of the year with gifts. We only spend $20 on each child so it isn't too bad. My mom on the other hand goes nuts. I have yet to tame her gift giving ways. She is sending pre Christmas presents this week. If I tell her we don't need so much she is hurt and thinks we don't love her. :banghead: The way we do things probably isn't for everyone. We can all make this holiday special in our own way. This has brought a lot of peace for me. I would love to someday get away from presents completly but I'm not strong enough yet to go against the tide. We do something similar at Easter. The week leading up to Easter we do a unit study. On Saturday we do the fun eastery things like egg coloring and hunting. We don't tie it into Jesus at all. On Sunday we call it the Resurrection instead of Easter and we celebrate his death and resurrection. I would love to celebrate this day also without the extra eggs and such but again I'm not strong enough to stand up to the opposition. My dh would be opposed to doing away with all of it anyway. Kelly

No, I hate them! JMHO :001_smile: Kelly

Bummer. I was hoping to see Saturn's rings. We have a telescope and I just learned that you can see it's rings. I had read when it is tilted you can't see them. Kelly

:iagree:When we drive to Florida (from Iowa) with our kids we usually stop at McDonalds to let the kids play. I wish there were better restaurants with playlands. We have found parks before but we usually travel in the winter or early spring when its cold for half our drive. I think you have a good list. We didn't have a dvd player and our kids were occupied for 2 days each of 15 hours of driving. They were 9mos, 2 and 4 the last time we went. Good luck! Kelly

We watched the Bill Nye solar system. They made a scale model of the solar system along a highway and he rode his bike between each planet to show how far it was. We are going to Minnesota for thanksgiving and plan on doing something similar on our drive. I want to find a map so my dd can put the planets on the map along the way. We'll tell her when we've gotten to another planet and then she can mark it on the map. I thought it sounded like fun. I just need to remember to tell her. I have to check mileage and drive at the same time. I'm really not good at multitasking. Our house will be the sun and our inlaws house will be Pluto. Kelly

I love going out early in the morning and watching all the crazy people fighting over deals. We usually find something too but we don't care if we get it or not. I just love to people watch. Kelly

:smilielol5:I thought the same thing about this title. Then I read the message and understood. kelly

It was 46 degrees today and we went without coats because it was so beautiful. It is now cold again. Brrr. Kelly

He talks about it on the radio every once in a while. I have heard it too. kelly

We had to pay for our seminar through crown ministries and for our money matters software (also crown ministries). These are businesses that want and need to make money to keep going. Kelly

Larry Burkett and Crown Ministries materials are more bible focused. It gives biblical teaching for finances. Dave Ramsey's materials are more action oriented. I hope that makes sense. We went through a Crown Ministires seminar and had all the verses from the bible but when we came out of Dave's seminars we had a plan. Kelly

My children are all sort of animals. Cats, dogs, horses, mice, etc... It is normal. I also don't allow it in public and i don't let them eat like animals. kelly

:iagree: Not only some good history there but also some great wine :cheers2: Kelly

One thing that we do is not have a lot of variety in our menu planning. Some day we can have all the variety we want but while paying off debt we are a little boring but we can plan out how much money it takes and we keep it there each month. We love tacos and spaghetti. Those are the big two. And homemade pizza. Kelly

My son wants to change his name to Caleb. That was one of the names by dh vetoed. I love that name. I always wanted to be Jessica or Jennifer. Kelly

I think it depends on what field you are going into. Why pay $100,000 or more to make $20,000 a year. The only time I'd say go for it is if your education is paid for and you have no debt after graduation. Kelly