I'm in Bartow County (outside of Cartersville).

Both of these are wonderful stories. :) I am a former public school teacher, and I can truly say that the special education teachers whom I know truly care about their students. I'm so glad that your children have made friends, and I feel that going to school will be good for them.

I totally agreed. I truly am sickened by some of the comments that I have read on this thread.

That's awful. Did she have that much homework, or does she work slowly?

I would do it! Ds takes piano lessons at a rate of $65/month for 1/2 hour once a week (for most months, that works out to be $16.25 for 1/2 hour). While he uses a real piano during lessons, he uses a full-size keyboard to practice at home. He has been taking lessons for 3.5 years, but only recently has he started saying that he needs a real piano at home.

Thanks so much!

Thanks so much! :)

I truly appreciate your trying not to offend; I say that sincerely. However, what you said here may not be true, either. While I can't know what goes on in Obama's mind, I know what goes on in my own mind, and I personally am against abortion. However, I recognize that it isn't my right to make that choice for someone else; therefore, I am pro-choice.

Michael Savage is a disgusting hate mongerer. He is one of the heroes of the killer in the recent Tennessee church shooting.

Obama is pro-choice. Pro-choice does not equal pro-abortion.

The military generally has more conservatives in it. However, many have become disgruntled because they realize that they were lied to about this war. They no longer trust their commander-in-chief, and, thus, they are leery of supporting a candidate who aligns himself with the current one.

I will be voting for Obama. First, we need to be out of Iraq. This so-called "war on terror" will never be won just as the "war on drugs" will never be won. Also, I support candidates who don't talk out of both sides of their mouths. I can't support candidates who claim to be concerned about an unborn child, yet once the child is born, they don't care at all whether or not the child has healthcare, food, clothing, or shelter. I support candidates who fight against poverty and want to make sure that everyone is insured. The health of people should not depend on how much money they have. I also support Obama because he is backed by Sam Nunn, a man for whom I have great respect. Sam Nunn is working with Obama on defense and foreign policy, and that means a lot to me. Sam Nunn has tremendous experience and is considered to be one of the nation’s preeminent experts in defense. I support candidates for whom "family" means something. While McCain's treatment of his first wife after she was disfigured most likely wouldn't prevent me from voting for him if I agreed with him on other issues, I have no respect whatsoever for him after knowing what happened in that situation. This speaks for the kind of person he is and doesn't exactly support "family" like the Republican party claims to favor. I support candidates who truly care about veterans and will work to help them. Obama has shown that he is more likely to help veterans than the other candidates will. McCain, while a veteran himself, doesn't have a good voting record in this area. I support candidates who believe in humane treatment of others. Obama is in favor of closing Guantanamo, which is something I support. I am totally against NAFTA and CAFTA. McCain is in favor of both and even supports extending free trade agreements even further, which would hurt our country even more. Obama is against both NAFTA and CAFTA. Both Obama and McCain claim to support homeschooling, which is one of my biggest concerns. Good public schools are also important to me, though. I'm a former (recent) public school teacher, so I've read the views of various candidates in regards to education reform. It's obvious that neither of the major candidates has a clue in this area, so this area is not an area where I can make a decision in voting. However, I'm 100% against vouchers, so that is another strike against McCain. Another area of concern for me is religious freedom. Bush has shown that he is dangerous in this area, and since McCain and he seem so closely aligned, McCain scares me in this area. I believe that Obama would be more likely not to be harmful in this area.

I'd buy all the science equipment I could possibly ever need as well as a piano. Right now ds, who is 9.5 years old and has taken lessons for 3.5 years, is using a full-size keyboard, but he recently informed dh and me that he really needs a real piano with a real foot pedal. :p

I ordered this, but I haven't yet received it. Dh is a native Spanish speaker, and he was impressed with the samples, so I hope it's going to work out for us.

This doesn't sound right at all. First, if you're showing to be borderline (and I'd love to know what she is calling "borderline"), she shouldn't wait six months to test you again. That's a long time to go with a low thyroid. As for having to get the pharmacist to call every month for a prescription, I had one doctor who did that, and since the pharmacist could seldom even get in touch with anyone in the doctor's office, I decided that I needed to find another doctor. The other doctors I've seen have always written prescription refills for no less than six months; the only exceptions were when my levels were off and the doctor had changed my meds and was retesting me again soon. Do you know what was tested? Did you have only your TSH checked, or did you have a complete thyroid profile? Looking at one number, which is what some doctors and NPs do, is often not enough.

I totally agree that starting from the beginning is best.

I'm so sorry you're feeling this way. Can you give examples of what makes you feel like you've lost touch with him?

It looks great! :)

I think you're doing the right thing by moving on to 4A and continuing to drill the facts. However, I agree with Mandamom that, while oral can be good, he also needs to see them written. I would consider using flash cards and/or timed quizzes for him. In my experience, when this happens, I need to back off. This usually means that my child is either too exhausted or too stressed to continue. I've had times where I've just stopped something and picked it back up the next day and found that he really did know the material. I found the same thing to be work when I taught in public schools. I know a lot of people won't agree with me on this, but if I had it to do over again, I would get my son to memorize his multiplication tables before teaching him what they even mean. Then he would have them in his head and would later have that "Aha" moment when he realized how the answers were derived. However, as it stands, even though he knows his multiplication tables, sometimes out of habit he'll start taking the time to figure up the answer to a simple multiplication problem instead of just giving the answer. I don't think he'd do that if he had memorized his multiplication tables first.

I think it depends on how good you are in math. If you're good in math, I don't think you need them at all. My son is in 4A, and I've used neither a teacher's guide nor a home instructor's guide at any time. I know how I want my son to be taught math, and that's how I teach him. However, I taught math in public schools for 5.5 years and did private tutoring for many, many years.