My ds is going to be a Best Buy employee :lol: We already have the perfect color blue polo shirt and khaki shorts (we live in a hot climate, too). I'm going to print out a best buy tag to tape to his shirt. You could do Target employee if you only have red. The easiest costume ever!

Please add me, thanks! This is just what I need because DS is going to be in 7th next year.

I'm not sure, amsunshine, about your question, but I did talk to both Best Buy and Verizon. They're very helpful! I did the online chat with BB and called Verizon. There is no increase in line access fees. The only way you'd start paying more on your monthly bill is if you sign up for the payment plan instead of the 2-year contract renewal. That's the answer to my question. I hope you find the answer to yours!

Sorry, I'm one of the lurkers who only comes out once in a blue moon with a random question or comment. :001_rolleyes: Anyways, here's my question: Did they change your line access fee at all through Verizon when you got the phone? We're paying $40 per line right now. Would that stay the same or would it increase? Thanks for any help, y'all!

Chiming in with another option altogether: coconut oil. Warm a tablespoon of coconut oil, massage it into scalp, wash out (with shampoo) after an hour. You can put a shower cap or towel around your head during the hour wait. Bonus: the smell is tropical instead of salad-like! I think it does a good job. I do need to do it more often…I'm not sure what's suggested, but I only manage to do it once a month or so. I would benefit more doing it weekly, however.

Lol, I have no idea. I admit, I just posted the song because it's funny. I'm not committed in any way to a specific definition of barbecue. But yeah, the mayonnaise sauce does sound terrible! :D

I feel this video explains the differences in BBQ within the US of A quite nicely:

On the other hand, I'm on my third time through Right Start and am loving it and can't wait to take all four kiddos through levels A all the way through G. I enjoy the challenge. It's gratifying to "get" something that I didn't get last time around. Oh yeah, the kids learn stuff, too…that's always good.

I did jig a bit with Gus at the end of this. Too bad I'm on kid #3 and have one more to go... I can make it. Gus did help. Gus will help. Thank the pink pig. AN-TI-ES-TAB-LISH-MEN-TAR-I-AN-ISM!!!!! :willy_nilly: :willy_nilly: :willy_nilly:

This year I'm having DS read a chapter a day from a good book and copy two sentences from the chapter into his reading notebook. He's done this with Black Stallion and is working on Farmer Boy. We're starting out with copy work. I'm hoping to lengthen the copy work, and then eventually move into written narration. I guess you could start a notebook, then introduce literary terms that way. You could assign something like: read this short quality picture book and identify the protagonist and the antagonist. And move up and in! I keep it really low-key because he's aspie and doesn't like work! I don't judge what he chooses (he started out by finding the shortest sentences in the given chapter, but just today's choice of copy work was meaningful and a complete idea! Yay!) With the structure in place (read a bit each day and do an entry in the reading notebook), you could address all sorts of things!

I'm very, very sorry for resurrecting an old thread, but I'm on the hunt for a Sumo-type bag, too! What did you end up getting??? I was thinking about the Sumo bag, but couldn't make myself become friends with the Sumo himself, decorating the entire interior of the tote! Also, I don't want black or red. Have you seen these overly-expensive totes? http://www.loandsons.com/the-omg They look like they could hold a ton and not stress the shoulders as much as this: http://www.backcountry.com/dakine-valet-womens?CMP_SKU=DAK1298&MER=0406&skid=DAK1298-VIS-ONESIZ&CMP_ID=PLA_GOc001&mv_pc=r101&mr:trackingCode=A2610D1E-CCB3-E211-AFFE-BC305BF82376&mr:referralID=NA&mr:device=c&mr:adType=pla&mr:ad=48668486557&mr:keyword=&mr:match=&mr:filter=76847417221&CMP_ID=PD_GOc001&mkwid=s9UjTa2h3_dc%7Cpcrid%7C48668486557&mv_pc=r101&gclid=CLOe-57UoMECFVBffgodyioAQA I know this bag stresses the shoulder because I just got one today and after I added a laptop, a Bible, two other books, a wallet and a phone, it was hurting!!! The tote straps are very stiff. It might loosen up? The cross-body strap (what is it called?) helps…but I don't know if I'm going to keep it... I was also thinking of maybe the Haiku Commuter Tote... http://www.haikubags.com/commuter-tote.html Ahhhh!!!! Decisions, decisions!!! Does anyone else have a fabulous all-in-one miracle bag? Wah. I don't want to carry a backpack. Wah.

If you had access to a few gallons of blackberries but had to transport them 4 +/- hours... you'd probably arrive at your destination with only one gallon of blackberries and a bad case of diarrhea.

We do those ideas! :iagree: To teach which place value each card represents, when you introduce the cards, you point to the 0 on the tens cards and say "ten" (one syllable). Take a hundreds card and point to the two zeroes, saying "hun-dred", one zero for each syllable. Take a thousands card and say "th-ou-sand" for the three zeroes. (A little awkward, but it works!) Have DC also take turns picking up a card and reading it by pointing to the digits. 200 would be "two (point) hun (point) dred (point)" I was also thinking that having either base-ten cards or those 100-tiles and 1000-cubes would work well in conjunction with the abacus. The tiles and cubes can be printed on card stock, cut out, and folded. When you say a number to DC, they can 1. find the correct place-value cards to create the number, then 2. build the correct number with the tiles, cubes, and abacus or with just the base-ten cards. Then you can build a number with the manipulatives and have DC 1. find the correct place-value cards, then 2. read the number out loud. Oh and wait! You can also use the second side of the abacus (if you have one), too! So you can use the abacus to do numbers higher than 100. If you don't have these manipulatives or similar ones, then maybe you could bring them out when you're doing your regular math lessons and pause to build the numbers you're working with. When you're introducing the cards, RS suggests using dates that are meaningful to the family, like birth years or street address. They are fantastic on their own!!!

If you have a bulletin board and index cards, you could label index cards with a subject/time expected, like DC1's Math - 30 min, or your work hours, like Mom's work - 5 hours. Down one side of the bulletin board you could staple index cards with times, 7:00am, 7:30am, 8am, etc. Then daily you could pin the subject/work cards next to the corresponding hour for the day. It'd probably have to be made with either small index cards (cut them in half?) or a veeerrrry large bulletin board :)

I agree with the above! It's very useful in learning the math facts! For example, to learn how to add 9 to a number less than 10, say 7, you can use RS's 2-Fives strategy. To teach this strategy, you enter 9 beads on the top wire and 7 on the second wire. You already know from previous lessons that the 9 is made up of 5 blue beads and 4 yellow beads, without counting them. The 7, below the 9, is made up of 5 blue beads and 2 yellow beads. From just glancing at the abacus, you can see that the two sets of 5 blue beads (one set on top of the other) make up 10 and the 4 + 2 yellow beads make 6. 10 + 6 = 16 This is the method DD prefers. Even when adding without an abacus, she will verbalize the process, stating that the 9 has one five; the 7 has another five and that leaves 6, so 10 + 6 = 16. It sounds so complicated, but it isn't, if the student learns first to visualize quickly what a 10 looks like. The way RS teaches 10 starts with (in RS A) training the student to see 1 object and identifying it automatically as 1. 2 objects, as 2. 3 objects, as 3. Up to 5. You practice seeing 5 and identifying it as 5, as well as the other lower numbers using different objects: fingers, tally sticks, beads. You teach the student to internalize what 5 looks like by flashing 2 fingers or showing 3 tally sticks quickly, then covering them. Then once 5 is learned, you teach them through a cheesy but oh, so special song, Yellow is the Sun. We love it in our house! 6 is 5 and 1. 7 is 5 and 2. 8 is 5 and 3. 9 is 5 and 4. 10 is 5 and 5. Once these are internalized, you have taught your child that numbers are 3-dimensional. They have meaning; they're flexible, to be manipulated in different ways. Also, you have taught your child (without even meaning to!) that 9 is not only 5 blue beads and 4 yellow ones, but it's also 10 beads entered with one yellow bead left all by its lonesome on the other end of the wire. 8 is not only 5 and 3; it is also 10 minus 2! They learn this before they ever learn the word subtraction! When my kids are first learning all this, they do better when I personalize it. If I ask, what is 5 + 1, they may or may not get it (when they're first learning!) But if I say, you have 5 candies and I give you 1 more, how many do you have now? Instantly, they can visualize it and say 6. To me, this tells me (a stay-at-home housewife, who hasn't been a student for over a decade! IOW take this all with a grain-o of salt-o!) that kids learn well when numbers have meaning, depth. Why is being able to visualize amounts/numbers better than counting? Hmmm…counting is 2-dimensional…it's a flat number line taped to the student's desk that goes all the way to the left and all the way to the right. Which is cool. So I can learn that 9 + 7 = 9 (9+0), 10 (9+1), 11 (9+2), 12 (9+3), 13 (9+4), 14 (9+5), 15 (9+6), 16 (9+7)! It's not necessarily worse. It might be quicker to visualize than to count. But it might just come down to how the child thinks. As you can tell, I love RS. I am sure other programs do this, but I've only bought this one :)

Hi, Kristi! I'm going to put another plug in for RightStart, though it does look intimidating at first :) I've used it from the start with the 4th, soon to be 5th grader. Next year will be my third round with RS B. I did not understand math until I started using RS. I mean, I got high grades in math in school, but it's only because I could find the formula needed and plug in the numbers. But math is a way of seeing things, a way of thinking. It's not 2-dimensional: just chicken-scratch-like numbers written on a page, but it's 3-dimensional: numbers represent something and can be manipulated to solve problems. I think math is important because it develops problem-solving skills using logical, step-by-step thinking. To add double digits, a child needs to see that each digit has a different value based on place value. So the digit 4 in the number 42 does not represent 4 objects, but 40 objects. The 2 in 42 represents 2 objects. If you're adding 42 and 31, then it makes sense to group the ones together (2+1=3), then the tens (40+30=70). The final step is to put the two groups together: 70+3=73. You can apply that process to any life problem, like paperwork (which slays me!) First you identify similar papers and group them together: bills over here, account statements over here, personal letters over there. Then you need to figure out how to keep them all in order: a file cabinet, maybe, with all banking documents in this drawer and all personal documents in the second drawer. It doesn't sound like math, but it is using the same skills learned in math! If nothing else, consider getting the abacus from Right Start! I think you can order a book to use with it? It's great for teaching multiple strategies for adding 8 and 9 to other single digit numbers (the higher math facts). That's another real-life application: learning to see a problem and choosing from among several strategies a way of attack. You know that feeling you get when your child learns something under your tutelage? It feels doubly awesome when you learn the same thing at the same time! After our math lessons, sometimes I wish I had a tattoo on my forehead or a bright orange neon shirt that says "I know how to add numbers in my head" or "We love abaci" or "I'm just as smart as my elementary student." :lol:

Misuse of quotation marks! UGH!!! I know, right? I "hate" it when that happens!!!

This! Here, I'll link for you! http://www.underarmour.com/shop/us/en/dominate-24-oz-vacuum-insulated-ss-bottle-with-flip-top-lid/pid1232013-404 We each have one, too! It's great for the driver, too, because it can be opened one-handed and the lid doesn't flop down on your face when you tip it up. :001_smile:

Lol, I almost came out of lurkdom to post this in this thread! Living books - where do you keep them? In the hamster cage with water, food pellets, and shredded newspaper. But it was these three thread titles in a row that caused me to log in: I learned something today If you take a B12 supplement... Effects of head injuries are not instant

DC 1, 2, and 3 were spaced close together (less than 2 years between 1 and 2, and between 2 and 3), and #3 was unexpected, so that made the dynamic feel really different when she arrived! #3 was 4 yo when #4 was born and it was a fairly smooth transition. I agree with whomever brought up personality, because #4 has a personality that is so vibrant and cute and peppery that she doesn't get lost in the fray and yet she's not a burden because she's always making us laugh! #2 had such a high-strung personality that when she was a toddler and #3 came along, I was beside myself! On the other hand, four kids (#4 is a toddler now) all herded into grocery stores, onto planes or other tight places does feel crowded! So there's that :) We were at a children's museum over the weekend and I was pushing my toddler in the stroller (dc were with DH in another area) and came up to a family with 5 or 6 kids. I just smiled as I made my way through the toddlers, pre-schoolers, and elementary students. The two parents were off to the side, holding the baby, but the kids were just sprawled through the doorway. That's my family!!! They look like there's more than there are!

I can't find the book on amazon, but I received as a gift a collection of writings by Korean adoptees. It was encouraging to read about others' experiences and how they processed it all. I wonder if you could find something similar for Chinese adoptees? Maybe your dc can find blogs or vlogs made by Chinese adoptees, too! I know there was a conference when I was a young adult in Washington, DC for Korean adoptees and probably other interested Koreans. I don't know if there is one for Chinese adoptees? The best counsel and comfort tend to come from people who have been there, done that, I think. It's just so encouraging to feel that someone has experienced what I experienced and if they made it through, so can I! I'm not doing this alone! But counsel and comfort mean nothing if not offered in love and that is what is offered by you, the parent! By providing a safe place for a teen to figure stuff out you give your dc a great gift! I'm sorry I don't have anything more specific :( Maybe someone else has good resources? Anger is a secondary emotion that stems from hurt and rejection. So to address the anger completely, you'd need to get to the heart of the issue, which is rejection. You are right, most if not all teens (just people in general!) experience rejection in some form or another in their lives. So perhaps you could bring up adoption and being transracial in a gentle way to see if it resonates with any of your dc. It might resonate with one and not at all with another. I hope that this helps, though it's feeling so vague-ish!

Wow, this thread is from May! How time flies! I have been thinking on this since you posted this question, believe it or not... I met another Korean adoptee recently. She also was adopted as an infant, grew up in a farm community (not racially diverse) and experienced the same thing I did from the Koreans she met: racism. When I was with my parents, when I am with my mom, I think I am treated differently by the Koreans I meet: they just treat me as they do my mom...which is...uh...nice, polite! They tend to be nice to me when I'm on my own, but they also shame me in other ways. I can't remember if I told this story upthread, but when DH (who is Korean American) and I were first married and still living over there, a Korean man who had married a friend of ours, a sweet Hungarian lady (love her!) invited us over for dinner. He told us he was mad at us for a while because we were obviously denying our Korean culture. My DH was, sure, but I wasn't. At the time, I didn't react because I was like, "Oh yeah, I totally understand, that's okay." I'm a conflict-avoider and always naively believe the best about people. But years later as I was processing this whole thingy, it occurred to me that that was painful, because I was judged on the color of my skin and not on my cultural upbringing. Not that I can blame them, but that's why I try to explain up front to the baggers at the commissary that I'm adopted so they can know right away (theoretically) that what I look like outside is not who I am on the inside. I try to give them an opportunity not to judge me based on where my DNA comes from. I do not mind that most people's first reaction when they meet me is "ah, she's Asian" because I look like it! (That's what I thought when I first met my new friend! We eyeballed each other warily, I'm sure because we'd been burned by so many Koreans, ha! When I found out she was adopted and we had parallel lives, I was like, "Koreans! So racist!" and she was like, "Right?" ETA: that's an extremely over simplified version of our conversation. We were much more circumspect than that. Please know it was an emotion-driven conversation; we were just so surprised to be validated by each other's life experiences.) Most people when I tell them I do not consider myself an Asian, they nod, like "Yeah, that's cool." But when I am judged and shamed because of how I look, then that's not cool. And I don't experience that from folk from any other culture but Korean. I can't remember if I told this story either, but my mom's husband's mother and his daughter were chatting with me once and as I was speed-talking (my specialty!) through my stories, I mentioned that I'm white and kept on going. His mom, who is an amazing older lady, full of life and very straight-forward, was like, "excuse me? Did you just say you were white?" And I was like, "Yes, look at my parents, my sister, my family. Look at my community!" Her college-aged granddaughter looked at me with understanding and respect. She nodded slowly and I could tell she was accepting it. It was cool :) I hope that the black community is more accepting of your babies! I am starting to think that each culture reacts differently to its adoptees. Regardless, I hope these stories help you guide your babies as they grow and shape their identities!

Ok, how's this for practical? :) Get a bunch of boxes, go through your house room by room and pack stuff you don't need until after the move, including stuff in closets (like out-of-season clothing), stuff that you don't want out for showings (like personal framed pictures), and stuff that clutters your surfaces but are unnecessary (for me that's like the vase from Mother's Day that I cleaned out shortly after the flowers died but I haven't put away...yet! Also includes taking pics and papers off fridge, for example). Then put the boxes in storage until the move. Take pictures of your spaces and critique them from a buyer's viewpoint. Do I need to wipe down that wall? Do I need to pack that extra knick knack? When you are satisfied with the room, then you just need to guard the clean space :) It will take extra effort to go through the room daily, more often if it's a high traffic area, but it'll be worth it! At least, it was worth it for me when I did that when we sold our house! What was good about this was that half my house was already packed before the move! Ok, maybe more like a third, or a fourth...still...worth it :)

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Third person loving the card containers! I want!!!