Exactly! Coming home to a dirty house just serves to undo the relaxing effect of a vacation.

I can relate on all points.

We're somewhere between the 2nd & 3rd stages, apparently. :tongue_smilie: And I agree with the poster who said stress levels pay a huge role.

:iagree: Dh & I do not buy video games or systems. ER & EK buy their own systems & games, and they frequently shop at GameStop. They've bought quite a few things there, and only once or twice have they had a game that didn't work. GameStop allowed them to return the game and exchange it for another one. When they get tired of a game, they trade it in at GameStop. They rarely buy games anywhere else.

Thanks!

My children have the Canon Powershot A590--the same camera you have. Last Christmas, dh got me the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7 (also sold as the TZ10), and I love it! I researched forever, it seems, and this is the one I chose. I like that it is small & lightweight, it has a rechargeable battery so that I don't have to buy batteries, it has 12x optical zoom, and shoots video in HD Lite. One GREAT feature with this camera is that you can zoom while shooting video--something that is lacking in most similar cameras. Since I got my camera last year, Panasonic has released the ZS8 & ZS10, but I don't really know anything about those except that the newer ones have 16x optical zoom, full HD, and touch screen. Dh ordered mine from http://www.bhphotovideo.com; they had the best price and great service.

I used an old ABeka workbook to review parts of speech with a group of high schoolers a few years ago.

It's the same in the PS around here. They read novels & write papers.

bumping again... ANYBODY???

:iagree:

bump :001_smile:

Same here. We don't do clothes for Christmas. Clothes are necessities, and in our family, Christmas is for luxuries. Now, in their stockings, they might get pencils, disposable shavers, toothpaste, toothbrushes, even underwear & t-shirts (we have HUGE stockings), etc. But also in their stockings, Santa leaves candy, gum, CD's, DVD's, small craft kits, make-up, cologne, etc.

:iagree: :grouphug: EK was moody & weepy at age 11, but since the hormones have leveled out, she is a JOY! I pray the same outcome for you.

Same here! Thanks!

Streaming is preferred, but Netflix DVD recommendations are welcomed too. Thanks!

:iagree: This has always been my impression of super-large families. The older kids wind up doing the parenting, and that's just wrong, IMO.

Pretty much the same thing happened with ER! He loved, loved, loved the LOTR books and also the Inheritance Cycle. He's requested the Inheritance books for Christmas. He also enjoys reading books by Ted Dekker, Frank Peretti, and Michael Crichton. Some of the Dekker books that he liked were the CIRCLE series, and some of the Peretti books that he enjoyed include This Present Darkness (one of my favorite books as well) & Piercing the Darkness, The Oath, The Visitation, and House (co-authored with Dekker). Although Crichton's works tend to be "R-rated", ER enjoyed the Jurassic Park books, Sphere, and Timeline.

:iagree:

We have found that the older they get, the more we spend. It used to be that we could spend $50 per child and get plenty of stuff. Now that they're older and their wish lists include iPods and other electronic gadgets, it costs a lot more.

I've seen some at Walmart for about $1 each. They're with the gift boxes and gift tins; they're sold flat, but with fold lines, and you fold them up yourself.

These little vegetable peelers are probably my favorite kitchen gadget. I also love my immersion blender, but it was more than $20.

:iagree:

:iagree:

I am teaching the 12 yo dd of a friend, and this is her first-ever attempt at an essay. She has progressed by leaps and bounds over where she was when I first started teaching her last year. When she came to me as a 6th grader, she HATED to read (very poor comprehension) and could barely write a coherent paragraph. We used R&S English 5 last year, including the writing portions. This year, we are using Easy Grammar 5/6 to keep grammar fresh, but we are concentrating more on writing. She has been doing Writing Strands 3 for composition, and she has also been doing daily journal writing. I am slowly helping her learn to enjoy reading, and we have just finished the novel Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, using the Novel Thinking Lesson Guide from Critical Thinking. Then she watched the movie Shiloh on DVD. For this assignment, she was to write 4 paragraphs: 1) an introductory paragraph, 2) a paragraph comparing the book and the movie, 3) a paragraph contrasting the book and the movie, and 4) a paragraph stating whether she preferred the book or the movie and why. Anyway, now that you have the background, please take a look at this essay and give me some gentle feedback for her. She typed her paper and saved it as a Word document, and I have simply copied & pasted it here without changing anything. Please note that the first sentence was suggested in the lesson plan as a way to start the paper. I don't normally teach that the student should state the purpose of the essay because I think the essay should speak for itself. Also, the in the last paragraph, the student is instructed to give her opinion of the book. Thanks so much for any feedback. This paper will explain the differences and similarities between the novel Shiloh and the movie Shiloh. Shiloh is about a dog who was mistreated then later found by a boy named Marty. Marty is a poor, 11 year old boy who lives in West Virginia and who adopts Shiloh. The book and the movie have some similarities. Judd Travers was mean to his hunting dogs and everyone else. One of his dogs, Shiloh, followed Marty home one day. When Judd found out, he wanted Shiloh back, but Marty made a bargain with Judd so that he could keep Shiloh. Marty had to work for Judd to pay for Shiloh. In some ways the book and the movie are different. In the book, Marty’s best friend was a boy named David, but in the movie his best friend was a girl named Sam. Also, in the book Marty’s family was poor. They had three rooms in their house. In the movie they didn’t seem that poor because they had a big, two story house. In the book, Judd said he would not keep the deal to sell Shiloh, while in the movie, he said he wouldn’t keep his deal and he also fought to get Shiloh back from Marty. I prefer the book over the movie, even though I do like movies better because I am more visual. In this story, however, the book had much more detail and was more interesting.

I got a pair of these a couple of years ago at Christmas and they were incredibly soft inside. I wanted to love them, but they wouldn't stay up, and they slipped around so much I thought I was going to fall down. I donated them to the thrift store after I wore them maybe twice. :(