Same situation here. I wore glasses for about 12 years, starting when I was 12 or 13. I switched to contacts and wore them with no problems from the time I was in my mid-20s until I was in my late 40s. Then all of a sudden, I couldn't wear them any more. My eyes burned and ached and turned red, but we never figured out what I'm allergic to. So I switched to glasses. I think glasses make me look older, and they're cumbersome too, but they are cheaper in the long run. :-/

Yep. :D I had to type it to figure it out. I use my 3rd finger to type "c", I use my ring finger to type "x", and my pinky to type "z".

Happy 18th birthday, EK!

My dh & I waited too, and our parents also waited, as did all of our siblings except one of mine. (Dh is the oldest of 4, and I am the oldest of 3.) Interesingly, the ONLY one who did NOT wait until marriage is the ONLY one of the bunch who has ever been divorced. That one is now on marriage #3. My parents married when Mama was 15 and Daddy was 19; they had been married 42 years when he died in 2001. MIL was 19 and FIL was 21 when they got married, and they will celebrate their 53rd anniversary this week. Dh & I were both 19 when we married 32 years ago (1980).

There are no problems that I know of; I just don't now what's out there for this age group any more, especially for science and reading, but also for Bible, so those would be my priorities. My youngest is in 12th grade, and the youngest student I currently have didn't come to me until 6th grade, so it's been 9 years since I had a 3rd grader! :)

I haven't looked Positive Action for Christ or Adventures in Phonics before, so I'll look at those. I tend to agree about the Apologia. I love the high school series, but I'm not sold on the elementary books. I bought the Anatomy to use this year for a "light" middle school & high school health & physiology course, but I've been disappointed. It seems to be written in such a way that it's too "babyish" for older kids while at the same time too "meaty" to hold the attention of younger kids. So far, I'm not impressed. I hear this is the most difficult of the elementary books though. Maybe the others are better.

I had not realized this. I was thinking it was Christian. Thanks.

This is very helpful. Thanks!

Thanks for the great suggestions! I did buy the Dear America Teaching Guide when it was on sale. However, I just LOVE the American Girls. I have all the books already, and I have access to the teaching guides and other materials, so I thnk I'm set for that. I had forgotten about Spalding, but I have Writing Road to Reading also, if needed for phonics. The school my girls will be coming from teaches cursive first, so they'll already know that. I will check into Evan-Moor Daily Science. I like a lot of their materials. I've heard of the Stick Figuring program, but haven't looked at it closely. Thanks!

Thank you all so much! Please keep the suggestions coming for Science, Reading/Phonics, and Bible, grades 2-4. I think I forgot to mention that I'll have girls only.

Well, I made the mistake of listening to the TT naysayers and opted not to use TT Algebra 1 when EK was in 8th grade. For K-7, we had used only one company's math materials (and loved them) but their Algebra 1 program just wasn't clicking with EK. I really wanted to switch to TT, but 1) I had heard many negative things about it on the boards, and 2) we really couldn't afford it at the time. So for an entire year, we slogged on with the other program. That year we covered only half of the book because EK would fail the test after each chapter and I would have to reteach and she would repeat the test. The next year, I found TT Algebra 1 used for a good price, and we just started over with Algebra. A lot of it was a review of the previous two years' worth of work, but TT explained the WHY in a way that EK could grasp so much more easily. I just wish now that I had made the switch sooner. She gained confidence in math, and no longer fears it--even word problems! She completed Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2 with A averages in each. She is doing College Algebra from another publisher (and I'm crossing my fingers!) with plans of taking the CLEP test when she's finished with it. Her score on the math portion of the SAT was in the mid-500s last year on her first SAT attempt, and I expect she will score in the 600s when she takes it again this year. I do realize that this is not a stellar score (her strengths definitely lie in the verbal sections, where her scores were considerably higher), but it's pretty respectable for a kid who was so math-phobic that she cried over math every single day before we switched to TT.

Anyone?? I need suggestions for Reading & Phonics, Science, and Bible for grades 2-4.

:iagree:

That's exactly what we did when EK once found a folded $100 bill on the floor at Walmart. We reported to the service desk that we had found some cash (we didn't say how much), and gave them our contact info in case anyone came to report missing money. Just a short time later, a lady called us and said she had gotten our phone number from Walmart customer service. Dh spoke with her and asked her to describe what she had lost. She said she had lost a $100 bill, and she went on to describe the way it was folded. Then we met her in the parking lot at McDonald's and returned her money. She was so happy to get back her $100 bill that she gave EK $25!

I think it's a novel idea. At least they're up-front about it: they tell you exactly what your money is going for. :D

This year, my youngest is a high school senior, and I am teaching 3 other girls, grades 8 & 10, in addition to my 12th grader. There is a good possibility that when EK goes to college, the 3 other girls will be going to PS, and next year I will be teaching 2nd/3rd or 3rd/4th instead. It's been quite awhile since my kids were that age, so I'm having to go back and research what's out there for the younger grades, and for some subjects, I need more input. I know what I want to do for history and language arts, and I've narrowed math down to 3 choices, but I need suggestions for Reading & Phonics, Science, and Bible. History - American Girls study, which will incorporate Art & Music also Math - probably BJU, but considering CLE or maybe TT, depending on learning styles Language Arts - CLE Reading & Phonics - ?? I do not want a basal reader, but I do want to cover literary elements and figurative language systematically, and I want worksheets/workbook and projects, so... Help! Science - ?? I love lapbooking/notebooking, so maybe Apologia? I also want to do experiments, so maybe R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey? Noeo? Christian Kids Explore __? Again, help! Bible - ?? I want to do either a Bible survey (OT or NT or both), character development, or maybe some combination of these. Do you have suggestions for me?

:iagree:

:iagree: Dh is our church's (seminary-trained) pastor, and he teaches that every man is to act as the "pastor" of his family, Sunday School teachers act as the "pastors" of their classes, and so on. The word "pastor" simply means "shepherd", and that term can be applied to anyone who guides and teaches others. Of course, implied in this is the expectation that these "pastors" have a responsibility to pray and study their Bibles so that they can properly teach their charges. This is precisely what dh means when he refers to them as "pastors"; he wants each one to realize that holding a position as leader of a family, class, or other group is a very serious responsibility. People's eternal lives are at stake. I would assume that the senior pastor of the OP's church is trying to get the people to see that they have a duty to minister to others and not just expect him to do it all. I would have no problem with that as long as there's nothing deceitful happening on the part of the people who are claiming the title of pastor.

:iagree: I hate to throw away things that might be useful somebody, so I either donate it to Goodwill or I set it out on the "free materials" table at our local used book sale.

:iagree: :grouphug: from me too.

:iagree: Similar wackiness here. :glare:

I voted "pealed; eaten with hands", but we actually eat them "peeled". ;) Sorry! I couldn't resist. :D Pretty much the ONLY time we eat boiled eggs by themselves is at Easter, after the annual family egg hunt at MIL & FIL's house. Everyone who wants eggs gets a paper plate and a boiled egg, and some sprinkle salt and pepper onto their plates for seasoning their eggs. We each peel and eat our eggs with our fingers, dipping them into the salt and pepper as desired. As for me, I only eat the white, and SIL only eats the yolk, so we sometimes share our eggs. I will, however, eat the egg yolk too if it's mixed into something like potato salad or tuna salad, and I also like deviled eggs. We eat eggs this way much more often than we eat plain boiled eggs.

Wow. Just wow. It was 91 degrees here today. And we only get snow about once every 5 years.

How about these? http://stock-image.mediafocus.com/images/previews/laptop-computer-clipart-53092006.jpg http://cdn.dailyclipart.net/wp-content/uploads/medium/clipart0252.jpg

:iagree: In my mind, class is more determined by one's family's social position--parents & grandparents & great-grandparents plus various aunts & uncles--than by the individual's education or employment situation. IOW, I think that one's class is determined more by his family's social class than by his economic status, although the two are usually related (i.e. a wealthy "old money" family usually has a high social position). Does this make sense at all? I am new world, btw.