My older DD will be 11.5 at Christmas. I'm thinking about getting her a new laptop, but may just get her a Kindle Fire instead. She may get an iPod Touch too. Other than that, she'll probably get some Breyer horses and things for her real horse. Plus little things like books, DVDs, etc.

Personally, I would call and check with her parents first. I seem to be in the minority, but I would NOT want anyone but my parents, spouse, and children (and I actually even hate the thought of these few individuals) to see me like that.

I think both are probably good programs. However, I have MC sitting on my shelf collecting dust, but we're actually doing IEW. I think it all depends on which one you feel more comfortable with. :001_smile:

CLE-- We tried several other math programs before "finding" CLE. I'm SO glad that we did. Math isn't a dreaded subject now. It is extremely thorough and effective, but with no "dread" factor. I'm so pleased with my girls' understanding and retention as well.

Oh, WP is scheduled by civilization instead of chronologically? I think I'll like that MUCH better!! Thanks for sharing that. I think that WP QAW might be the best choice for us. :001_smile:

Of course! Ours is named Emily. I'm not as friendly with Emily as I used to be with our old GPS, Karen. Karen seemed a bit more helpful than Emily. :glare:

I haven't used it yet, but I am pretty sure that we'll use it next year. I've looked at some other programs, but WP is what we know and I feel more comfortable sticking with them for history. We've used several WP programs and I've been happy with them overall. Of course, I tweak things, but I would do that with anything.

We usually put up our artificial tree on Thanksgiving weekend. We also buy a real tree and put it up the second weekend of December.

I've switched from MUS to CLE and am SOOOO grateful that I did. My older DD did Primer through the beginning of Delta. My younger DD did Primer through half of Beta. We switched to CLE when I realized that they were doing "okay" with MUS but were having some problems with retention, and they also seemed "behind" on so many topics because of the mastery nature of MUS (it didn't bother me at first, but did after a while). I wish we had switched to CLE earlier. My girls like math so much better now. The lessons are so thorough, but gentle as well. We are very pleased with CLE math. :001_smile: ** We do supplement with other things, however I would do that with any program. I like to mix it up to let them see different types of problems and problems that are written differently than they are used to. So, I also add in Life of Fred, Math Detective, Challenging Word Problems, Key to Fractions, Mathematical Reasoning, and sometimes Math Mammoth. CLE is very thorough on its own though. ;)

Mine knows every last bit. :D

I'm fortunate to have a kitchen very close to my ultimate dream kitchen. :001_smile: Things I love about it: --Tons of cabinet space, including some unique cabinets that address some of the issues I had in my old house --A large center island --6 burner gas stove --2 ovens --2 dishwashers --A very large refrigerator and a separate very large freezer --Cabinet fronts on the dishwashers, refrigerator, and freezer so that the appliances blend in with the cabinets Things I would change about my kitchen: --I would prefer my center island to be flat --I would prefer that the cooktop not be in the center island --I would like an extra sink in the kitchen (probably in the large flat, cooktop-less center island of my dreams ;)) Overall, I love my kitchen though, and it has inspired me to cook a lot more than I used to. :thumbup:

4 weekdays for us. Friday is the ONLY day of the entire week that we aren't required to be somewhere (although DD11 often goes to the barn to ride her horse). Monday through Thursday and Saturday and Sunday we have activities that we must leave the house for. It is exhausting but the girls love their activities, and they broaden their lives so much. :001_smile: Monday-- DD8-- Ballet, Tap, Jazz DD11-- Jazz Tuesday-- DD8-- Cheer Dance DD11-- Modern Dance Wednesday-- DD8-- Hip Hop, Ballet DD11-- Horseback riding lesson Thursday-- DD8-- Art DD11-- Art Saturday-- DD8-- Ballet DD11-- Horseback riding Sunday-- DD8-- Gymnastics DD11-- Gymnastics

My 8 year old really wants an iPod Touch. I planned to get her one until I saw the new Amazon Fire. I pre-ordered it for her, but I'm not sure if I should go with the Fire or the iPod Touch or if there would be justification for both. :confused: So, I need to figure that out. She was looking at the big AG Christmas catalog the other day and pointing out some things, but I doubt we'll get her any AG this year. She already has several dolls and a bunch of accessories and clothing. She just doesn't need anymore AG stuff.

My third grader loves CLE. :001_smile:

My DD11 does 2 (or sometimes 3, if the pages are relatively simple) of Key to Fractions a night as "homework" four nights a week. This is in addition to her main math program of CLE (although we supplement with other things regularly as well).

No idea about Singapore, but we used several programs before switching to CLE. We are thrilled with CLE! I have no interest in looking at anything else until I have to (level 800 or so).

My girls both have those. They are very comfy. :001_smile:

I think they fit pretty true-to-size although I don't think that I've ever ordered pants from them before. I have ordered skirts, dresses, and tons of shirts though. I usually order my regular U.S. size unless I read in the review section that something is running large or small. In the past, many of the shirts seemed to run shorter than I like, but I haven't noticed that as much recently. The fabrics and quality usually are very good. The kids' clothing is fun, colorful, and fairly sturdy. The girls' shirts used to seem to run a bit small, but I think they fixed that as well. I'm generally very happy with Boden. :001_smile:

What about CLE? It is very thorough, yet very gentle. My DD11 is thriving with it. She isn't math phobic, but she definitely doesn't love math. We tried a few programs before CLE, and it is definitely the one she likes best. Her confidence level has gone way up with CLE. She is doing the Key to Fractions series too, and it compliments CLE well. We do CLE as part of our regular curriculum, and I assign Key to Fractions as homework. ETA: Her math scores went WAY up once we started CLE. Her assessor was amazed. I feel that she would be completely prepared if she were to go to school.

:lol: It is so funny how we all have different tastes. DH and I have Blackberries and we LOVE them. He had an iPhone for a short time and he hated it. When I upgraded my Blackberry a couple of months ago, the Verizon rep tried her best to get me to switch to an iPhone, but I wasn't having any part of it. ;) I love, love, love my Blackberry. I love Apple too. We have Apple computers, 2 iPads, 4 or 5 iPods, etc., but I just don't have any interest in the iPhone. There is absolutely NO way that I could deal with not having an actual keyboard. I email and text super-fast on my Blackberry. Plus, I don't "do" apps or games, so there is no appeal to that aspect. My sister has a Droid and really likes it. I played with it, but still like my Blackberry better. :001_smile:

With children the age of yours, I would choose HotH, so I think you chose wisely. :) HotH seems to be "gentler" and more focused on horse-themed literature. There are some other aspects to the program (drawing, discussing periods of history, etc.), but the main focus is the wonderful horse books. WP's Equine Science is much more focused on learning horse structure, gaits, care, breeds, etc. It says it is for grades 3-7, but I think I read somewhere that it is really recommended for grades 4 and up. Maybe if your children want to learn more about horses, you could use it in a future year?

It says it is for grades 3-7, so it sounds like it will be too young for your daughter. I think it looks pretty meaty for kids in the 3-7 grade age range though.

you might want to consider Winterpromise's new Equine Science curriculum. :001_smile: I just received it, and I am very pleased with the look of it. I think my daughter is going to love it. I just ordered the IG and the exclusive Horse Study Notebook (which is a must!). We already had all of the other books with the exception of two of them, so we just ordered them from amazon.com. We're already doing BF's History of the Horse (which is much more literature-based) this year and there is some overlap between the books they use, so I'm going to integrate the two together. Hope this helps someone!

I think the engorgement varies from person to person. Mine was HORRIBLE both times. Truly, it was the worst thing I experienced during pregnancy, labor, and afterward. :( I was completely miserable and in agony for about a week. I really, really hope that it isn't as bad for you. :grouphug: I did everything that they tell you to do. I wore a super-tight bra 24/7. I used cabbage leaves. I didn't express any milk (because you are supposed to dry up more quickly if you don't). None of it seemed to help. :glare: If I were to have another baby now, I think that I would express some of the milk just to relieve the pressure.

Both of my girls use CLE as their main math programs. We absolutely love CLE. After trying several math programs, we are finally happy. :001_smile: However, I do add a few things. DD11 is doing the Key to Fractions series and DD8 is doing Mathematical Reasoning from CTC as "homework" after hours. We are also adding in Life of Fred Fractions for DD11 and Cats for DD8 (it is much too easy for her but she wanted to do Fred ;)) once a week or so. We also do Math Detective from CTC approximately once a week as well. Finally, I have them do word problems from Singapore's Challenging Word Problems periodically.