Oops - It is two hours after she wakes, so sometime between 8:30/9:00. I typically plop her in the Ergo after breakfast and go about the morning routine. She falls asleep when she is ready and it is pretty much two hours after she wakes up on the dot. Shy typically sleeps about an hour and 10-minutes for this nap, wakes up extremely happy and smiling. I have never been able to get her to sleep longer than this. The only day of the week this was trouble was Friday when I had to get my older to a 9am class. But the last few weeks she has started falling asleep in the car right at the 2-hour mark.

Nope - she's never had any, and I had none while pregnant.

I'm trying to figure this girl of mine out My first sucked his thumb, wanted nothing to do with us at all come bed or nap time, and was a rock star sleeper. My second was an absolutely horrible sleeper. Night terrors since he was about 6-months old. For his first 12-14 months he needed to be touching someone to sleep. He just now, at almost 4, has finally become a good sleeper. And now my third. She is six months. I wear her for naps at 1, noon, and 3/4. The first one is about an hour, second about 90-minutes, third just 30-minutes. She needs to be asleep for the night by 7pm or she is a total bear the next day. I've tried other times and this just seems to be her sweet spot, even if her naps are wonky during the day. BUT she wakes up after 20-minutes of sleep and then needs to pretty much nurse nonstop until about 11ish. I can usually snag 15-minutes away from her about 3-4 times during this time. If she was my first I'd be totally fine, just read or watch tv and let her do her thing. But I have two older ones and I feel our relationships are starting to suffer.Everything I've read says she is overtired, but she doesn't show any signs. She is happy all day long. We already co-sleep, she falls asleep nursing on the bed and I am able to unlatch her when she is drowsy and she moves around a bit, get comfortable, and sleep. For about 20-30 minutes.She has no underlying medical conditions. I'm just pretty much her pacifier. I don't want to let her cry, but I need to figure something out so I can have some time with my older two before bed, especially my oldest. I'm all ears for ideas. My oldest is gone next week and it would be an ideal time to rip off the bandaid and make changes.

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In the past no. This year yes. I had hopes my son would branch out beyond fantasy on his own. I love fantasy and I definitely think it has a place in his reading. But it shouldn't be the only source. Luckily he will read anything I ask him to so it won't be a struggle. I'm still working on a list but I am trying to get a good mix in there. My husband had a few ideas, and I've got some too. The question now is how many to put on the list? Should it be a list of choices rather than a list of must reads? One idea I had was to request that he reads x number of books from each category over the summer, offer up some choices, and maybe let him have a chance to search for some himself. Decisions, decisions!

I didn't read the responses, but I wanted to chime in that we study art, but I've never bought an art curriculum. I made a list of artists to study, checked to see if there were any books we could read at the library or an interesting on-line biography for kids. We looked at art by the artists. Sometimes we were then inspired to make art, sometimes that was enough. I did the same for composers. We've also studied illustrators of some of our favorite picture books. We've gone to plays, musicals, symphonies, etc. to - all other forms of art. As for doing art, I always had supplies available and let them take the lead on that one.

My son know multiplication no problem, but he gets hung up when it comes to other problems because it takes him too long. Can anyone point me to any games or apps that will help increase his speeds and confidence? thanks!

I'm kind of in denial that my oldest is going to be in 6th grade (and cheering that my younger two are almost 4 and 6 months and I get to do this all over again one day!!!). Anyway, this being a baby year for us we scaled things way, way back and things have been awesome. I don't really want to change things since our rhythm is excellent. So my plan is to keep on keepin' on with the following: Life of Fred - plus extra math practice/review as needed with apps and other sources Bravewriter - finishing up Partnership Writing now and will move onto Faltering Ownership - I sprinkle other writing projects so it should actually last us a couple years Latin - I don't require it, but he chose to study Latin so I provided the resources Reading Aloud - I read aloud across content subjects and lots of excellent literature - we discuss, look things up, watch documentaries, etc. from things that interest him as we read Non-Fiction Reading/Research - I have him read/research non-fiction for about 45-minutes a day - this often leads to rabbit trails and projects Project Time - I have him work on projects for an hour or so each day, which tends to become 2-3 hours each day - he writes books, works on art, creates plays for his younger brother, works through science kits, etc. - my goal is productivity and being proud of your work

My 5th grader works for about 30-40 minutes depending on the lesson.

Great thread :) We plan to tackle California history this year and then plan a road trip around the state as a grand finale. These ideas will help me out!!!

With my oldest we are reading this version of Don Quixote: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0763640816/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 At lunch we are reading Reddy Fox and will likely go on to read several other Thorton Burgess books after this one. I'm also getting ready to start reading My Father's Dragon with my middle one for the first time - so excited!!!

Thanks for getting me started. Any more ideas are welcome!!!

My husband has a business trip to Nashville in May and we will be tagging along to road trip for 10-14 days afterwards. I am trying to figure out just what I want to do! Here are some details: I will have 4 days in Nashville to spend occupying my kids (11, 4, infant) - any ideas??? Our road trip after will be 10-14 days. We want to go east of Nashville heading toward the coast. Maybe Charleston? We prefer nature/hiking type things, but will definitely see museums if they are must see type of thing We love to one neat & interesting thing to do in the area we are traveling - for example in Moab we took a hummer tour on the slick rock, we took a ride on a steamboat when in NOLA, a swamp boat tour in Florida - that type of thing So...if you live in this area toss me some ideas!!!

I've been using spiral notebooks all year. They have transformed from a daily checklist to a weekly one and I am finding I far prefer the weekly. I make a list and we work down the list throughout the week - the list is kind of looped a bit so we just work in order and everything eventually gets accomplished this way. With a baby, this has really helped. Math is listed at the top and is a must do each day, but is a blank list that I fill in after I check through that days math. My 5th grader is independent for the most part, coming to me from time to time for help and clarification, but I check in with him daily to see how he is doing. This is the only thing I write in daily based on how he is doing. If he needs more practice on a skill I give him more practice. If he is ready to move on, I put the next lesson. Some weeks we barely scrape by and I feel like only math gets done. Others are so awesome that we finish the entire list with plenty of time to spare. Most fall somewhere in the middle of this. On Friday I write up the list for the following week. The first thing on the list is whatever we didn't accomplish this week. Then I add to it from there. Oh, I should note I have two lists. One for my 5th grader and one for my preschooler. My preschooler doesn't have official school of course, but I've found that if I don't have a running list for him I'd never make time to cook up a batch of play doh or pull out the rice tub or have a messy art day or whatever. So I list a bunch of fun things to do with him and work through the list the same way.

I'm juggling a baby this year with a 5th grader & a 3-year-old (who, honestly, I feel is the one suffering right now - not formal schooling obviously, but he really needs me to get some more mom time in the mix for him - so I've momentarily pushed my 5th grader into a relaxed, Math, Latin, and read as much as you can mode so I can focus more attention here). Anyway... I use a spiral notebook to write up all the things I'd like my 5th grader to accomplish that day. He does what he can independently, then I do what I can with him. Whatever doesn't get finished goes to the top of the list the next day, and I add to it. Kind of like a loop schedule, but I am more in control. If I feel the basics are needed I make sure they are at the top of the list every day. If I feel extras are in order they hit the top of the list. Math stays at the top of the every list each day no matter what though - he does this 90% independently so it works well. Some days we get to just 1-2 things, others are so awesome we get through everything with plenty of time leftover.

For breakfast I eat, then read, because my meal is simple at this time and they are SLOW breakfast eaters. We stay at the table about an hour total here. This is our most productive hour of the day actually! For lunch I read, then eat after they are done. I like to send the kids outside to burn a bit of energy and I enjoy a nice quiet lunch by myself. Lunch last about 30ish minutes.

Okay, I'm not doing school with my almost 4-year-old, but with an 11-year-old busy with a checklist my preschooler doesn't want to be left out. I have a shelf of goodies that he and I pull from during school time but it needs a refresh as he & I are getting bored with the rotation. So...what fun things do your preschoolers enjoy? I'm really looking for things he and I can do together. Also, I have a new baby so I really want/need to purchase, not make up activity bag type things (they look fun, but I'm trying to be realistic with my time right now and I just don't have any to spare to at the moment). Just to note, we do the usual plenty - art, water table, play dough, rice table, time outside, legos, blocks, etc. What I am looking for is not how to entertain and keep him busy - that he is excellent at. I am looking specifically for things I can do with him for about 20-30 minutes that will make him feel like he is doing a bit of school too. I will be with him the whole time.

Thanks - I'll check these out. We love Mo Willems around here but I've never heard of these. My middle will be reading soon so this may be perfect.

Ha ha! No, not all by Boynton, but plenty that I'm ready for something different. Thanks for the list too. We have most, but not all, of those books. Thank you!!!

I'm wrapping up presents and realizing that I only have two things for my baby girl. While I don't really care, her siblings will recognize that she didn't get the traditional four gifts from us. I have a pair of jammies they haven't seen so I'll wrap that. Now I just need a book, since one of the four gifts is always a stack of books. I'm scratching my head trying to come up with a book that isn't on our shelf already. Can anyone think of a book that I might have overlooked when I had boys???

That is awesome! My husband & I had saved to go out to a really nice dinner for our anniversary with the kids. When we asked for the check we were told the family seated behind us paid the bill because our children were so well behaved in a very nice restaurant. We were floored because the total was over $200!!! We are planning to pay it forward over the holidays somehow.

I'm looking for a nice stuffed doll to put in my baby girls stocking. I actually had one in mind but can't for the life of me figure out where I saw it. So, I'm wondering if anyone can point me in a good direction. This will be pretty much all she gets so I want to make sure and get my hands on something nice :)

Yep. So I quit. I'm not good with being the glue when I know they are reaching out to other people, just leaving us out. That hurts.

My older two are 7-years apart - not by choice - we tried hard to have another the entire time. They are extremely close. My newborn is 3-years younger than my middle. Can't really speak for that gap given it has been just a few weeks now. I'm on the fence about a 4th, but if so I hope to have the next one a touch closer than 3-years.

Thank you everyone! I am 90% sure I'm going with Lila at this point (my two boys will be thrilled since both of them voted for this name weeks ago!), but now I keep wondering if I want Brooke to be the middle name. It is our last baby, so I don't need to save Brooke for the future. Naming babies is hard work :)