I've been struggling with this also. One of my friends gives her daughter a list of things she wants done for the week, and she works independently. She's been doing this since her daughter was in the 3rd grade. I've always been in awe of this. I tend to "hover" more, I read aloud assignments, and hang around and answer questions when they do math, etc. Now that my daughter is in 5th grade, she does just about everything on her own, but I tell her what to do when. Sometimes I'll say, "Do you want to do math first, or science?" and she'll choose, but I've never given a week's worth of work and said that it all needs to be done by Friday, because frankly, I know it won't get done. I'm putting together a small binder for her so she can start checking off assignments that she finishes and keep track of her flute practicing. I think after she gets the hang of that, I might try giving her a couple of days assignments at a time and see if she can finish them on her own time. If it doesn't work, we can try again next year. :001_smile:

Jon Stewart has conservatives on his show all of the time, but that doesn't make the Daily Show any less left-winged. (Not that I'm saying that the Daily Show is a news program....I'm just saying that just because you have a person from a different political party on your show to argue with for 10 minutes, that doesn't mean you are being fair and balanced.) And I'm not saying that just about every other news channel isn't biased (left-winged, usually) in some way or another. But isn't Fox News pretty blatant about their views? I watch it at my parents' house a couple of times a week (it's pretty much their news source). I thought it was sort of a joke that they say "fair and balanced". Even my dad jokes about it and he's a Republican. Is it really supposed to be a non-partisan news channel? I guess they do watch a lot of O'Reilly and Hannity and Colmes but I thought regular newscasts were slanted too. As a registered Independent (leaning toward Libertarian), I have to say that Fox News and MSNBC both irritate me, but Fox News does a little bit more for a completely superficial reason: the lighting. I don't know what kind of lights they are aiming at their newscasters, but it makes their eyes look really shiny. I mean really shiny. I also think their newscasters seem kind of plastic looking and fake. (Like I said, it's a superficial reason.) Brian Williams is just a lot more pleasant to look at, in my opinion, and, biased or not, he seems trustworthy at least. :001_smile: I guess I could quit watching both channels and listen to NPR, but then I'd just fall asleep. :lol:

Anyone else find it funny that FOX News put that photoshopped picture above the story? Their sensationalism won out over their right-wing bias. :lol:

:iagree: Although both VP candidates give me the creeps this time around. Maybe because they have to be the "bad guys" so the presidential candidates look better? I don't know...but I genuinely like both Obama and McCain.

I feel the same way. Neither party fits all of my views. Every four years when I watch footage of the conventions and I see all the people in the audience jumping up and down waving their signs, it just bothers me. I don't see how anyone can agree with every single thing their political party says/does. I do have to say that health care is my number one concern right now. We can't afford insurance right now (we pay our doctor and our hospital monthly payments). And when we did have private health insurance (we're self-employed) they raised our rates three times in six months, AND they didn't ever cover any of the things we needed (check-ups, test for my daughter, etc.). It just infuriated me that we were paying high monthly premiums AND we still owed a ton to our doctor and the hospital. I'm almost to the point now that even if we could afford health insurance I wouldn't get it just out of principle. I have no idea what can be done about the health insurance problem in our country, but in my opinion it couldn't get any worse. I'm going to vote for the candidate that sounds like they might actually do something about this situation.

I let my kids pick out whatever they want to read, and I never really force them to read anything they don't want to. When I do suggest a book I say "Hey, this looks like something you might like" and leave it at that. Usually they'll check it out. Most of the time they'll read it. But whenever I "assign" reading it turns it into a chore. Yes, sometimes we leave the library with Garfield and Calvin and Hobbes books, but they also read a lot of good quality fiction and non-fiction at home. They also check out a lot of audio books. Sometimes they'll go through phases where it seems like they are reading only "twaddle" (like the time they found my old Archie comic book collection and read every single one) but I don't think that they're wasting their time. My son's love of comic books has sparked an interest in drawing and writing his own comics, which is great because he's getting extra writing practice on his own (which he needs). I've also noticed how much my kids' vocabularies have expanded. I don't think their love of twaddle has dampened their love of "real" books at all. My daughter reads at least five books a day, mostly non-fiction, but also novels. My son actually started reading short novels after a long phase of reading Garfield books. Interestingly, neither one of my older kids have ever gotten into any of the formula series fiction (Saddle Club, Goosebumps, etc.) although they do enjoy the Andrew Lost series (which is in a different category in my opinion because they are learning about science). I actually prefer them to read Garfield, Calvin and Hobbes, etc. to the series fiction...I'm not sure why. I guess the series stuff seems more commercialized, (like those books that are based on TV shows and movies) and they are all written by ghostwriters. I'm glad they don't read those because I don't think I could hide my distaste for them! :lol:

My 5th grader is doing her first "formal" cursive workbook. She'd done bits and pieces over the years but that's it. She's learning it now because she wants to. My 3rd grader is struggles with handwriting, and he's still learning to print neatly. I don't know when he'll start cursive. I don't require cursive for their assignments. To me, even the neatest cursive handwriting is harder to read than printing. I never understood why we had to learn it. I don't buy that it's faster to write that way...there's so many extra loops and lines. The only reason I'm teaching it to my kids is so they can read their great-grandma's birthday cards. :lol:

We quit Trail Guide to World Geography too (I thought it was just us that hated it :lol: ). I don't know if it's because we have too many other "structured" curriculums or what....I just didn't have time for another "by the book" program. We are now using The Ultimate Geography and Timeline Guide, Geography Through Art, plus another book called Geography for Fun Projects. In short, we do geography once or twice a week, but it's not a huge thing. I'm thinking (hoping) that they are getting a nice overview through their history curriuclums (we do the maps, point out the places on the globe, etc), and that doing a fun project a week will keep them interested in it. We also play Scrambled States of America, Quick Pix Geography, and other geography games.

I didn't like the pictures at first either, but I think they really are less distracting then a lot of other beginning readers. Also, my kids found them hilarious...they pack a lot of humor into a few words. :001_smile:

My son is in third grade this year but last year we used Write Source for 2nd Grade (Write Away). We ended up doing half of the book last year, and we're continuing it this year. I didn't do a whole lot of written work with him because struggles with handwriting (he's in occupational therapy for this) so we've done a lot of things verbally. I would have liked to have used FFL with him (I used it for 1st and 2nd grade for my daughter) but it just didn't work for him. This year he's "taken" to grammar a lot more than he did last year, so maybe he just wasn't ready for it then. I like Write Source because they cover a lot of the same topics over again so it's not a huge deal if you're using a grade down (like we are).

I'm getting R.E.A.L. Science (Life) to use with my 8 year old, but I'd like to adapt it to use with my 11 yr old also. Has anyone done this successfully? I was thinking I could just add some more difficult reading along with it, but is the writing going to be too easy for her? Any suggestions would be great!

We finally switched all of our bulbs over, and then we found out you can't just throw them away when they burn out, because they contain mercury. We have to take them to a Hazardous Waste Collection facility in the next town. So does the hazardous material they contain outweigh the energy they save?:confused1:

My son does occupational therapy for mild/moderate dyspraxia through the Easter Seals. Our school district had the information, but we contacted Easter Seals ourselves (I found a Children's Therapy Center through their website http://mi.easterseals.com/site/PageServer?pagename=MISE_locations&s_esLocation=loc_ if you look to the right there's a place you can type in your zip code and find the nearest center). He had an evaluation first, and we qualified for a grant that reduced his therapy costs (we are without health insurance right now). His occupational therapist works with him on handwriting, tying his shoes, and things like that, but also hand-eye coordination, bilateral exercises (doing things with both sides of the body at the same time), and obstacle courses (they have a gym with lots of different swings, mats, etc.) My son absolutely loves therapy! His therapist also gives us things for us to do with him at home. I recommend reading the books "The Out-of Sync Child" and "The Out of Sync Child Has Fun", which talk mainly about Sensory Processing Disorder but also has specific sections on Dyspraxia, and activities to do with kids who have problems with motor-skills. All of the activities are things you can do at home, and they are mostly games and exercises that are fun for kids. If you have any questions, I'd be glad to answer them. My son's only been in therapy for a couple of months, but I've been reading a lot of books about it :001_smile:. I was so glad when Daniel Radcliffe mentioned he had the same thing...my kids love Harry Potter, and it was nice to be able to tell my son he's not the only one out there!

I have a question about rep squares. (Sorry, I really did read the sticky about it, it just didn't answer my particular question!) From what I understand, because I don't have 50 posts yet, if I give someone a positive rep, it won't really count. I had a great experience buying from someone on the Sale/Swap Board, and I want to give them a good review...should I do it now, or wait until I've posted 50 times? Any help would be appreciated! :001_smile:

Is it really official? The article I read says: "As for the prospect of her being vice president, Palin told Kudlow that she could not answer the question of whether she wanted the job “until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day. I’m used to being very productive and working real hard in an administration. We want to make sure that that VP slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans and for the things that we’re trying to accomplish up here….†" http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25970882/?GT1=43001 Does she still need to accept the nomination? If she does, this really will be an exciting race!

We've been without commercial television for 3 years now, and when I watch it at other people's houses it drives me crazy! I forget how often the shows are interrupted. It's not just the questionable commercials, either...I guess when you're not around them as much you start to really notice them when they are on. We do watch TV shows (a lot actually), but we just get the DVDs from Netflix or from friends. I don't think our family could ever go back to regular TV.

Does anyone know what topics are covered? My 11 yr old *hates* math, but I'm wondering if it might be too hard for her, as she is behind in some concepts (multiplication especially). Andrea