Ugh. This is the most terrible thing. I just went through a year long cycle of insomnia that turned into the same sleep phobia. I wish I had an easy fix for you, but I ended up on a low dose anti-depressant (only because its main side effect was sleepiness), anti-anxiety medication, and Ambien for when the other two didn't work. I eventually ended up in therapy because I thought I was going to go crazy. Mine had to do with an issue that was within my control, so once I removed that issue from my life I have been able to sleep soundly again. But it has been hard, hard, hard. I know exactly what you mean by the dread when night is on the way. Mine would start after dinner and slowly build-up to where I would be in tears by bedtime. My best advice would be to see a doctor, pronto. Once it gets into a cycle it is so difficult to break free. Best of luck to you in getting past all of this quickly.

It is my understanding (which could be very wrong) that PlayOn scripts just work to bring streaming content available online into one handy spot. So instead of having to visit multiple sites, you can instead hit PlayOn and find everything there. I'm not 100% on this because I didn't really go to individual sites before. We mainly installed PlayOn so we could more easily stream our Hulu content to the tv without having to plug/unplug my laptop. Now we've gone back to doing that anyway. You should be able to get a free 1 or 2 week trial of PlayOn to see if you like it. I think they now charge monthly (you used to be able to buy the license for life for $20)- so if you don't end up using it, you could cancel after the trial or your first month and only be out a little.

Roku does have a PlayOn channel now, but I haven't been impressed with how well it works. When watching shows from our Hulu queue they will often times freeze completely and have to be restarted. Which is a pain. The Roku itself is a dream. We tried PlayOn initially with our Wii, but trying to select with a Wii remote was not fun. We really don't use our PlayOn at all anymore, and when it expires we will not renew. A lot of people seem to really love it but that wasn't our experience.

If it is as easy as an HDMI cable, make sure to check out the ones on Amazon- they should be a fraction of the price of a Best Buy or the like. HDMI cables have huge mark-ups. Here's the one we've been using for a few years: http://www.amazon.com/HDMI-Cable-2M-6-Feet/dp/B0002L5R78/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297200505&sr=8-1 There are others if you search "HDMI". You can check the reviews to make sure you aren't buying a dud.

My Fitness Pal (tracking calories and exercise), Overdrive media (checking out ebooks from the library), NPR app & New York Times app, Tune In Radio (local stations and what they are playing), Jorte calendar app.

That does help. Thanks!

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but those who ordered the Houghton Mifflin dvds along with the books- are you satisfied? Did it work well for your child? I'm considering the Pre-Algebra and Elementary Algebra in particular. Thanks!

I take time to just sit every day. I welcome idleness- it is my opportunity to be creative in my mind, process issues I've been thinking about, and just be present in the moments of my life. I think it would be ideal to sit and watch your children play in the yard and just be 100% present in that moment of their life without distraction. It is a place in time that will never repeat itself again. For the record, I do try to live simply. I focus my time and energy (for the most part) on things that are important to me (my family, friends, home, faith) and give meaning to my life. Once you get rid of all of the busy work that didn't positively impact life and family, it frees up time to just live in the moment.

Another happy Virgin Mobile user. I have a three year old Marbl (I think it was $12), and a calling plan that tops up $20 every 90 days- and the money rolls over with every top up. I have over $100 in credit right now. I don't use it very often.

It was suicide: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34130128/ Still a tragedy.

No Hulu on Roku. :( I only use the Mediafly and Pandora channels. I love, love Mediafly. I can program my favorite podcasts on my Mediafly account, and then use my tv as a radio. It also plays video podcasts, but the quality isn't that great with my broadband connection (15/5). It is nice to have Pandora going while I'm cleaning the house. Our Roku has paid for itself many times over. The only negative effect has been our family's new-found love of tv. We had been without cable for many years, and having on-demand programming has definitely increased our tv viewing habits. But Hulu can take some of the blame, too.

The new catalog has grade guidelines on pg. 3- http://www.rfwp.com/home-schooler-online-catalog.pdf Grade Grammar Practice Vocabulary Poetics Writing 3 & up Grammar Island Practice Island Building Language The Music of the Hemispheres Sentence Island 4 & up Grammar Town Practice Town Caesar’s English 1 Building Poems Paragraph Town 5 & up Grammar Voyage Practice Voyage Caesar’s English 2 A World of Poetry Essay Voyage 6 & up Magic Lens 1 4 Practice 1 The Word Within the Word 1 Poetry and Humanity Advanced Academic Writing 1 7 & up Magic Lens 2 4 Practice 2 The Word Within the Word 2 Poetry, Plato and the Problem of Beauty Advanced Academic Writing 2 8 & up Magic Lens 3 4 Practice 3 The Word Within the Word 3 Poetry, Plato and the Problem of Truth Advanced Academic Writing 3 My cut-and-paste job ends up with wonky formatting, but I think I separated it all in the right spots.

A canister vacuum. But if I do get it I will be disappointed. I'd really like season subscriptions to my favorite theater companies, but that seems greedy.

I'm thinking of creating a t-shirt to commemorate the event. Anyone have a good catch-phrase? Dh thinks there should be something about the poles on the buses being too hot to hold onto.

Taco Time! Waaaay too expensive for fast food, but so delicious.

I don't know if this will help you, but I start doing projects myself. Nothing gets dh running in the room faster than the sound of me rummaging in the toolbox. There is good reason for this, though. If you are fairly handy it probably won't work.

This is very close to what I was trying to say. Will you be my translator?

:grouphug: He probably felt helpful doing the dishes which makes it even more difficult. I've always wanted a pizza stone, but not-dishwasher safe items are a huge commitment in my house. Everything ends up in the dishwasher. Dh tried to help with laundry once, not knowing everything in the washing machine was to be hung- not put in the dryer. He shrunk 3 of my favorite Dave Matthews concert t-shirts to toddler size. Now I get posters when I go to concerts. It's working so far.

Hang in there, everybody. It looks like one more day and we'll be back in the cool 90's once again. Yay!

I have a very lame theory, because this seems to come up every so often. As a society, we have it relatively easy. Most of our needs are taken care of and most of our struggles are ones of comfort and not survival. But aren't we hard-wired for survival? I think those genes or inclinations for survival (whatever it may be) are more active for some and there really isn't an outlet the way we live today. In the past these people could be pioneers, or adventurers, or trailblazers, but the opportunity doesn't really exist in today's society. When situations arise (I'm thinking Y2K, the recession, etc...) it presents the opportunity to exercise those survival (and I can't think of the word because it is so darn hot) urges? Every day life can become a life or death scenario and stockpiling food, weapons, whatever can feed that survival mode. I'm sure I'm not articulating this the right way, and I do *not* mean for it to be offensive in any way. I believe there are people who just have a stronger instinct for this, but no outlet for it in the way we live today.

"Stop eating your skin.":ack2:

This is crazy sick. I am waking up at 5a to run the dishwasher and do laundry so I can get a bit of cool (70+ degree:confused:) air in the house before everything becomes an oven again. Is it just my imagination, or does each summer seem to be increasing in 90+ days? I'm cranky. I hope everyone finds a way to stay cool and safe. Take care of yourselves!

My previous post won't allow editing- I wanted to add: work on transitions and flow, as well. I'm sure I'll think of more.

Expository writing/research writing. Everything from: how to pick a topic, to writing a thesis statement, outlining, to citing sources, researching, drafting, revising, and editing. I would love a program that would have grade-level rubrics for the teacher showing what skills need to be mastered at each grade level. Something that would be year-long starting with baby steps until the final project (a multi-page research paper). Persuasive/Opinion writing would be next on my list. I find there is quite a bit of narrative/descriptive writing help available in classical, but I am lost at finding a single source that would teach strong expository writing. Our local public school has 5th graders writing multiple page research reports with thesis statements. I am trying to piece together my own and I know I am falling woefully short.

Changed my mind.