Thanks so much, Jessica! :001_smile: Glad to know ya and to be able to benefit from all you organizational skills! The Lord knows I need all the help I can get.

She'll need closure, and you just don't get closure from a phone call. You need to be able to look someone in the eye. Even if he does have an initial "we need to talk" conversation over the phone, he will still need to quickly follow up with a face-to-face talk. In fact, if they were this serious there will probably be many more discussions. Doing the right thing is rarely easy, and the "easy" thing is rarely right. I'm not saying breaking up over the phone would be easy for him, but we all know handing over that kind of news without having to look at a person is definitely easier than the alternative.

I, too, am contemplating doing this. My question is also more of a logistical one. I am trying to decide a couple of things: do I want to organize by subject or week and exactly what materials will work best in putting the binder together? I had thought about pocketed dividers (slash pockets) holding a week's worth of work on each side. Do you three hole punch the papers and put them in the binder or do you use page protectors. Ultimately, I know I will have to just go with what works best for us, but I am curious as to how you guys will be assembling the work. Thanks :001_smile:

Van Morrison music in the background...who could ask for more? :001_smile: I voted several days for her last video, but didn't realize they'd redone the contest until today. Hope she wins!

Mine is up. Link in sig line. I don't see why not. Link away!

We are all so different! Wouldn't it be rather boring if all our answers were the same? I took Dh's last name without a second thought. In fact, I'd begun doodling my first name with his soon after I fell in love. :D I never saw it as a loss of myself, just a new beginning of sorts. I had no problem with my old last name, and we've given it to ds as a middle name.

Each child is so different regarding which works best for them. For us, my dd never enjoyed FLL. She's been that way with anything scripted. OPGTR also didn't work for us. That's not to say, though, that they haven't worked wonderfully for the right children. I agree with all that Brittney said. GWG has worked beautifully here as well. The lessons have just enough repetition to solidify the point but not so much that it gets old. We like the workbook aspect too. Dd enjoys the lessons and can do a lot of the work independently. It's not so much that she gets overwhelmed. In fact, we started this later on in the year, and, since we are finished with all but this and math, she has been doing several lessons a day to complete the first grade section. I will admit that I purchased Shurley this year to look into it. I saw a friend's book and got a little panicked because it seemed so much more involved than GWG. I have now calmed down :001_smile: and concluded that GWG is not too remedial considering children really don't have to start formal grammar until later elementary anyway. However, I am thinking of adding some of the things from Shurley that I do like--parsing, jingles, vocabulary. That being said, GWG is complete and doesn't need anything added to it. I just figure I should get my moneys' worth out of the used Shurley set I purchased. :D I believe that diagramming begins in GWG 3.

Well, some might think we named ds after a favorite character on a favorite show with a plane crash, polar bears and time travel or that we are big Mark Twain fans. However, we chose the name Sawyer because its literal meaning is "one who works with trees." This was a way to honor both my dh's father and grandfather who were loggers. His middle name is my maiden name. Since both my father and grandfather are/were military men, they went by their last name most of their lives. My grandmother even called my grandfather by this name. :001_smile: We named dd based on the meaning of the name. Her first and middle name together mean "valiant defender of mankind." When she was two, people would ask her name and her response would be: Riley, Defender of Mankind. A true little superhero. We all got a big kick out of that.

I was just about to ask if anyone had favorite living books for an animal study. Would you mind sharing your list? You do have such wonderful lists. I tried to give you good rep for your post in my BF Character thread, but apparently I have to spread it around before I can rep you again. :001_smile: I, too, am second guessing my science choices. I was going to do the earth science/astronomy route also, but we didn't spend as much time on animals this year as we should have. We focused mainly on the human body. So, I've been debating on doing an nature/animal study this summer or next year. I love the idea of reading lots of living books, but am concerned I might need a lesson plan of sorts to make sure I cover everything. I only hear great things about Apologia, but agree in wishing it covered more categories in one year.

Yes, I am still confused about just who she blames. She spoke to her father while she was still pregnant, so it was not terribly long after returning from the island. If she had said it at the four years later point, I would speculate that although we didn't hear mention of it, Bentham had visited her and told her of Ben's role in the explosion. Of course, it was also Widmore's men that built the bomb. So, this is just yet another mystery to be solved. I think Hurley does think Michael is dead, but didn't want to say that to Walt. Also, though, in his present state, he is pretty confused about what dead really means since he seems to be playing chess with and having conversations with "dead" folks on a regular basis. Who knows, maybe he and Libby have even rekindled their budding romance. :001_smile: Nah, he's too gloomy for that to have happened.

I have really enjoyed Mineral foundation. I use Mary Kay. I was not blessed with good skin, and would never have imagined this would be an option for me. But, so far, it has worked beautifully. So easy, so natural. I love it!

ooooh...how exciting. So many questions, so few answers. Unlike the closer of last season, this one left me very excited about the direction they are going. I still believe the two people she holds ultimately responsible for Jin's death are her father and Ben, though I wondered if she is joining with Widmore because he is the 2nd person she blames. I am sure that there are hurt feelings between her and both Jack and Kate for not getting Jin off the boat, but I don't thing her vendetta is with either of them. I think that they have done such an excellent job with character development in this show. Locke for instance is such a great character. He is so full of faith in the island and in his pursuit to save it, yet still so flawed and clueless as a leader. It is not hard to believe that things went horribly wrong with him left in charge. Also, Ben is extremely fascinating. I still don't trust anything he says, but I'm finding myself perplexed regarding his true nature. I've changed my mind about Michael. Perhaps Christian's words did signal that he was free to die now as he wanted in the first place. I still believe there is hope for Jin. And, yes, death is a very relative term on this island. We are likely to see many "dead" again.

I don't think that Michael or Jin died on the boat. I do believe that we will see them again. Christian appeared after Michael heard those whispery sounds. I don't know what those sounds mean exactly, though people seem to appear from nowhere after them. I think Christian took Michael wherever he took Claire. As far as Jin goes, I just refuse to believe that he is dead. If I refuse to believe it, that means it isn't so, right? :001_smile:

Sun approached Charles Widmore. He and Ben are in some sort of battle. He's also the father of Desmond's girlfriend, Penny. Supposedly he is responsible for the plane full of people in the fake Oceanic liner found under the water. He also sent the militia guys from the boat after Ben. When she said, "We weren't the only ones who left the island," she was referring to Ben. She blames Ben for Jin's--her husband--death, and probably means to lead Widmore to him.

Some days, to be honest, I get neither. :D But, on topic, I have never been able to make the night time showers work for me. My hair isn't curly, but it does have natural waves--not beautiful waves, but wacky ones that go every which way. Consequently, I would have to blow it completely dry before going to bed and, since it is very thick, that would take a long time. I also think showers help me start the day. Unfortunately, I rarely get a shower before noon these days, so that doesn't really work in my favor anymore.

I haven't noticed too many problems; however, I was chatting with dh through it today and just after I entered a message it added in bright red something like: "(DH) did not receive your message." This has never happened before...and at first I thought my dh had somehow texted that to get me to stop bothering him at work :001_smile:. It cleared up shortly after, but was definitely weird.

Mine is up, too, and for the first time in a while I actually posted between Wordless Wednesdays! Link below.

If you have used this, could you please share your thoughts about the material. It looks interesting, but I've never used anything from Beautiful Feet before. Thanks, Dawn

Well...:001_smile:I'm still figuring it out. This year we used the Bible materials of MFW 1st grade(Bible reader, Student notebook, stories from TM), and I loved the combination of me reading with her narrating, reading, drawing a picture from the reading and then doing some copywork from the reading. As I looked for something for next year, I just couldn't find anything that compared in my mind. So, I decided to try to put something together on my own. So far I have purchased the Bible Scribe pages for Old Testament Stories. We will continue to follow the pattern of MFW, just she will be using her NrIV Bible instead of the reader and Bible Scribe instead of the Student notebook. I am hoping to learn more about the process of notebooking in order to see more ideas to add, but this is all I have planned so far.

I think that I am finally set with my major items, but I'm still gathering some supplemental things. I haven't been able to find a good used copy of Modern Rhymes for Ancient Times: Greece. I'm also thinking about Wee Sing cds for a fun music time and finding a copy of the Keepers at Home handbook to have more ideas for handicraft times. I, too, never found a Bible program I really liked, so I am thinking of just doing a combination of reading aloud, independent reading, narration and notebooking using her NrIV Bible and Bible Scribe.

I actually posted this last week but didn't link it here. I need to get blogging! :001_smile: (Link in signature)

What a delightful girl! She did an excellent job, and it's no wonder her video has made it this far. She's got my vote, too! :001_smile:

I am 34 and my mother is 53. Since I was in high school people have asked if we were sisters. They still ask. I am just waiting until someone mistakes me for her mother. :001_smile:

Anything by Kate DiCamillo! We recently read The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. I was hanging on every word just as much as dd was. :001_smile: We couldn't stop when the chapters ended.

:iagree:I placed a WTB for the level I needed and found a great set, almost new. I paid $85 plus shipping, but got all three modules, the parent guide and the art prints.