I've been watching most of the debates. I agree that they aren't the most useful forum to judge the candidates, but I do like to see how they handle themselves under pressure, etc. I will support whichever candidate is the nominee, of course, but I do have a favorite and one that is a close second.

We have two iPads at our home. :001_smile:

Both of my girls have found their passions. :001_wub: DD8 loves dance. She takes advanced-level ballet, hip hop, jazz, tap, and modern. Ballet is her main "thing" though and she is very good. She just won a "starring"/solo role in the Nutcracker for her age level. She also does gymnastics and art and enjoys those classes too, but dance is her passion. DD11 loves horseback riding. She would live at the barn if she could. We bought her a horse, so now she is really in heaven. She is the youngest person on the equestrian team. She loves showing and wants to do something equestrian-related for her career. She also takes dance and art and gymnastics, but horseback riding is what she loves. I'm so glad that both of them have found their passions. It was one of my main goals for them. I never developed much of an interest in anything and still don't have a passion. :sad: I'm glad that I could help them find theirs.

My 3rd grader turned 8.5 yesterday (April birthday).

Oh, there are so many mentioned that I agree with, but this is a big one for me. I have to admit that a loud "You're welcome" is exactly what I do. I swear that some people think that I am a paid doorman or something. :confused:

I am super-punctual so this would drive me insane. My mother has never been on time in her life and it used to drive me crazy. I hated how disorganized I appeared because she was always late (and I had to count on her to get me places). So, I am always on time, but I have learned that time is a more amorphous concept to some people. :D So, I usually expect people to be 20-30 minutes late, but two hours??? :eek: That is so rude and I wouldn't be inviting that person to much again.

I agree with all of this. I give very few people my cell phone number, and even those people are encouraged to text, not call, me on it.

Absolutely!! It is worth every penny. I would have no qualms about spending $200 for the two of you. I have taken my girls to see it twice (once on Broadway and once here in town). They LOVED it. Your DD will too. :001_wub:

We pay $185 every other week to have the entire house cleaned. We have a very large house though. I think we paid $80 or so for our old (smaller) house.

We keep our landline for various reasons: -- For emergencies -- So that the whole world isn't able to reach me by cell phone. This is a biggie for me. I *like* the fact that I mainly give out my home phone number and that all of those calls go through my Caller ID and then to my answering machine. I would absolutely HATE it if my cell phone was constantly ringing with every Tom, Dick, and Harry calling. -- There is inconclusive evidence about the safety of frequent cell phone use. My daughters are at the ages that they want to talk on the phone more often. I don't like the thought of them using a cell phone all of the time.

Thanks! And in your situation, I think I would probably go with the Fire and the Nano. It is a tough call though. I understand! ;)

I'm having the same dilemma. DD8 has asked for an iPod Touch for Christmas. I was planning to get it for her and then the Fire came out. I preordered it for her, but I'm not sure that she will like the Fire better or that she would prefer the Touch since it is small and portable. :confused: Maybe I should stick with the iPod Touch and get her a regular Kindle instead?? I'm so confused!!

Not me! Homeschooling is my only DIY project. I don't sew or garden and hate to do crafts. We hire out for home projects and car repairs (fortunately, we can afford to do so). Maybe that is why so many people are surprised that I started homeschooling and have stuck with it for 6 years. ;) I don't think I fit the mold of the typical homeschooler. :001_huh:

Science. Definitely Science. :glare:

How funny! Small world. We've used her for several years as well. We really like her a lot. She used to be closer to us when she lived in Dublin, but I have no problem driving out to Marysville to use her. I always look forward to having her do the assessments and analyzing the results.

Is your assessor named Dana by any chance? She sounds like the one that we use. :001_smile:

That is great! I wish that would happen to me, but I think I'm one of those people that is doomed to hate exercise. Don't get me wrong, I do it consistently (most of the time), but no matter what I try, I still don't enjoy it. :glare:

In our family, college is presented as the next step. We never discuss it as an option. It is just what you do next. I have every expectation that both of my daughters will attend and finish college. I think it helps that we live in an affluent area where pretty much everyone goes to college. I sincerely doubt that it will ever enter my kids' minds to not go to college. If, by some chance, the unthinkable did happen and one of them didn't want to go to college, we would be supportive of their choice. We would wish them well, but I would also make it clear that we will be there for them if (I suspect "when" is more likely) they decide to go to college after all.

Yes, we will be paying for our kids to attend college. DH and I paid for college ourselves with no help from our parents, and we want something different for our children. We can afford to pay for their college, and I can't imagine a better way to spend our money. One reason that we only had two children was to be able to give them a nice leg up in life. We will expect them to take college seriously though because we're not going to just pay for them to party. They are only 8 and 11 but we've been talking about our expectations for years. ;) We won't limit their choices of majors, but we will be involved and discuss pros and cons of things for them. For instance, my older DD will likely go to a college with a strong equestrian studies program. It is her passion and she wants to consider various careers in that field. I will absolutely support that, but I'll also encourage a double major or a minor in something more "mainstream".

I don't think we have any misses so far! However, we haven't started IEW's poetry memorization program or our typing program, and I still need to add a Spanish program (once I figure out which one to use). So, we might still have a miss or too yet. Hits: CLE Math and CLE Reading-- 2nd year that we've used them and we still love them IEW SWI-A-- My girls are really liking this; they hated WWE and Writing Tales, so I'm very pleased Sequential Spelling-- We still love this Nancy Larson Science 3-- I debated about whether or not to call this a hit because I'm a little bit disappointed in it. However, it is actually getting done and my girls don't mind it, so I guess it is a hit! Science has been my homeschooling nemesis so far. :glare: NL Science is actually getting done and my girls are learning quite a bit. Winterpromise American Story 2-- I know that WP has a bad rep (and I agree that the customer service is awful), but we have enjoyed their programs and this one is no different. Beautiful Feet History of a Horse- My little equestrienne loves it! Beautiful Feet Geography-- The girls love the stories. They aren't thrilled with all of the map work, but they tolerate it. Extras (all of these are going fairly well): Math Detective Life of Fred-- Fractions and Cats Singapore Challenging Word Problems Reading Detective Mind Benders Balance Benders Crypto Mind Benders

My girls didn't like MM either. They tolerated it for a little while, but they were pretty miserable. CLE is a much better fit for us. I never hear them complain anymore. I hope you find something that works for you!

We do grammar and spelling daily.

My DD had a similar problem when we used MUS. I always read how you should choose a math program and stick with it, so we used MUS for Primer through Gamma. At the start of Delta, I gave up because I was so disappointed at how little she was retaining. She hated math and it was always a struggle. We switched to CLE and now she doesn't mind math at all! She is retaining SO much more and her math scores went way up. The constant spiral of concepts really helps her. We love it!

Yes, we usually eat dinner at the table in our breakfast room (and rarely the one in our formal dining room). Sometimes, if DH is out of the town, the girls and I just eat at the breakfast bar in the kitchen.

We followed a similar path with DD11. We started out with a couple of years of MUS. She didn't like it and she didn't retain what she should. I ended up buying MM and CLE and originally used them both simultaneously. She didn't love MM at all, but she really loves CLE!! She is absolutely thriving with it. I would give CLE a try. Order a Light Unit or two. It is such a small investment and you can see what she thinks. :001_smile: