The book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell has such an interesting discussion of the canadian birthdate system and how it affects kids choices there. I believe his examples are related to hockey. I have 2 summer birthday boys that we "red shirted" although I don't tend to use that phrase as I believe it has judgmental / negative connotations. I primarily hear it used by people that disapprove of the practice. :) I'm glad to have the option of deciding what school year my kiddos are.

The only thing that stand out in my mind is that their 2nd child (a son) dies as an infant.

I have never heard the idea of protestants wearing orange on St. Patrick's Day.

I soak mine overnight, then rinse and put them in the crockpot with fresh water and seasonings (salt,pepper, a lot of cumin, coriander, a little cayenne pepper plus either fresh onion and garlic or onion and garlic powder if I'm rushed ). We eat them in wraps as burritos essentially - add cheese and onion, diced tomatoes and avocado (if we have it). A couple of the kids douse theirs in Red Hot sauce. This is kind of a basic meal at our house, the kids love it and will eat it for lunch or whenever. Sometimes as a snack. Oh - and I'm referring to pinto beans.

I would ask human resources. Say something like, I know many tech companies are casual, what's typical to be worn for interviews? Do your candidates usually wear a suit? I know the tech companies that my dh has worked for would find a suit way over the top, but they do let candidates know that before they come.

I'm curious about this as well. I see young people that use facebook and twitter to post every thought or emotion they have - which is NOT a good idea - and I see young people that use it appropriately in the same manner that I use it. Obviously the former group is not ok with me as a parent, but I do think facebook (and twitter and texting) can be just fine for teenagers. I see kids from our youth group keeping in touch with friends that are off to college or FBing or texting to meet up for stuff - even our youth ministers are very active on there. How do we know that college admissions officers do this? I'm not being argumentative, just curious. Is this established fact?

I would have said something like, "Wow, that was really rude....and weird that you notice what I wear", and then walked away.

In my state it is allowable and I know several people that have had another mom homeschool their child (for compensation). We are considered private schools in Illinois, so it's just one more student in that family's (tiny) private school. I would think it would differ depending on state laws.

We have ice cream to celebrate when we finish a book. It doesn't just happen at the end of the year for us and I like to acknowledge the accomplishment. I wouldn't buy a toy or anything but ice cream makes it special. When my kids finish a book mid-year, we move on to the next book - we don't wait until the start of the next school year to move on.

It's Robb Wolf. I'd checkout the blog everydaypaleo.com - she has a lot of great recipes.

Rose - if the subject you are grading is clear cut (like math) you can simply assign grade letters based on the percentage of correct answers. A common grading plan would be: 90% and above = A 80% - 89% = B 70% - 79% = C 60% - 69% = D In some classes that I took in high school or college, the teacher would grader on a harder scale. Something like this: 94% and above = A 86% - 93% = B 78% - 84% = C 70% - 77% = D Personally, I'm more comfortable with the latter scale, but I think the former is more common. HTH

I have digital copies. I use the teacher's manual straight from the ipad. So far I am printing the assignments for my son, but I'm contemplating having him work from the ipad as well and just writing his work on notebook paper.

:grouphug: I have no advice but I offer my prayers and good thoughts - I have always enjoyed your posts and am sorry to hear of such a stressful situation. Take care!

I would pay the $5 and just roll my eyes as I was doing it. $5 is not worth 15 minutes of fretting or emotional attention. ETA: your sister sounds like a case, the whole history with her must be tough to take. My sympathies.

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I would do WWW3 because the assignments will be more single paragraph than multiple paragraph. In general I tend toward the side of choosing the level the child will be successful at, just fyi, so YMMV.

My 7yo is using WWW level 2 (he is in 2nd grade) and it's just right for him. He's not ready to write a paragraph but does great with writing his own sentences and the various other types of exercises the book includes. My 9yo is using WWW level 4 (he is in 4th grade). In some ways I wish I had put him in the level 3 book because that is the level where they teach how to write a good paragraph (so says their website). In the level 4 book they are having the kids write multiple paragraphs. Although if I had put him in level 3 it probably would have been too easy otherwise - what I'm doing now is we're taking a break from WWW4 to do a month of an outlining workbook and then Paragraph writing made easy, then we'll go back to WWW4. He is about 12 weeks into it I think. My 11yo is using WWW level 5 and it's a pretty good fit for him. He's also doing WWS though.

Typically when my parents come we've done it at 1 because my mom doesn't like the afternoon meal thing, but this year I told her we are doing it at 2 - that just works much better for me in getting so many dishes ready. To me, it's just the one meal for that day - the kids can have a late breakfast and then hold out for the big meal at 2 and then in the evening everyone can have leftovers or just another serving of dessert.

I'm surprised how many people are commenting that the Catholic church fits the bill despite point #5.

I think googling is only going to take you so far and your best bet of finding some help is going to be on the phone. Start with churches. Call and ask if they know of any local programs to help with your children's christmas - tell them you missed the salvation army deadline for your kids to get toys for tots and that you find yourself unable to provide anything for the kids. It won't be fun having to make those calls but I think you will be more successful than searching just online.

No worries, Nakia! I friended you back in January when you were starting the whole photo thing, but I petered out after only a couple weeks. I think most people understand when someone whittles their friend list.

I think it's very good! I would particularly be pleased with his punctuation on the possessive form of savages and on his spelling. The information he included is very good. Combining those shorter sentences into compound sentences will come over time. Really, this looks fantastic, I think he's doing quite well.

WWS is Writing with Skill, SWB's new logic stage writing program that would follow WWE.

I really thought I had read *somewhere* here on the board that some students just won't get through WWE4 in terms of dictation; that completing WWE3's dictation is enough and WWE4 just continues to hone the skill for those that can. I am not necessarily even planning on doing WWE4. Right now my oldest (5th grade) is using WWS (and didn't complete WWE4) and my second son (4th grade) is doing WWE3. If he is doing well with the narration side, I would just continue doing what you are doing but shorten / adapt / break into pieces those dictation pieces. They are very long and perhaps a tad unrealistic imho.