You could also just say that the numbers are the order for the books to be done in. Like the Sukuki books. If you and your son both started learning X instrument that neither of you knew, then you would both use Book 1. Even though you are a lot older than him. If he worked hard at it, he could be on Book 2 before you were.

OK, out of sight they go.

I heard this when looking into German cooking, and I think it is equally true of America. Until recently, the idea was to "Cook vegetables until they can't hurt you." So, basically over-cooked. Then maybe in the 80's (90's) the idea was to eat vegetables raw. I started on Medifast, and discovering properly cooked vegetables. Truly amazing! Mashed Cauliflower. Roasted Radishes. Roasted Broccoli. slightly steamed Asparagus. Yum! I remember reading that they think there is a reason toddlers are picky eaters. Basically, in a hunter/gatherer society when toddlers started to be able to toddle out of sight of their parents, there might be plants with things_to_eat, and plants with things_that_kill_you. Being only willing to eat the familiar foods was a VERY good thing in that situation. The tone of the book put me off.

My DH is an Eagle Scout, gold award. It doesn't seem to have helped him. He doesn't regret getting it, but I don't think he would have regretted skipping it. He would have had entrance to any of the service academies (in fact the two big ones approached him), but his father was a Marine Sergeant, with all that went with it, so he probably still have had easy access regardless. Because of his father, he was also totally uninterested in the military. He was kicked out of Scouts when he was 22 because he was seen drinking beer at a festival with a friend who was younger than 21. The friend was not drinking. Something about drinking in the presence of a minor being a morality problem. The woman who caused the fuss was a ... strident troublemaker. DH said he could have fought it, but by that point he really didn't care.

I have a math minor with my Physics B.S. There were so many hidden requirements that if I'd known I could have taken slightly different classes and gotten a second major. The classes were hidden by requiring an advanced class that had a prerequisite that wasn't required.

I like to be prepared. CVC words is beyond her. But, when she's ready I want to be prepared. I bought "Animal Antics" from "Now I'm Reading". It is basically a BOB book, but reported to be a better story. DD always goes with my husband to get the mail. She always carries something back. Particularly light packages like books. Animal Antics came and she told me that a book came "But it had the wrong name on it". It didn't say her name or "Mom" or "Dad" on it. But, she was still convinced that it was a book for her. So, since it was for her she wanted me to read the book right then. I read the first book. Then I told her that they were there for when she was ready to read. She told me she couldn't read yet. I told her that was fine, but that I was going to set aside the books until she was ready. But, she wanted me to read the second book to her. I really can't resist "Read to Me", so I read the second. Now she wants the third. So, what do I do? Do I read them to her? I worry she'll memorize them, and I'm trying to avoid whole-word learning.

Oh,if I had been picking a Forever name it definitely would have been H~~~~~~ Academy. I think part of it was that I was overjoyed to get 10%off at the bookstore off anything. I was nervous about the clerk saying to me, "Who are you kidding? Velveteen Rabbit for an Academy?" Although, now that I think of it most of the preschools around me have Academy in their name.

That is sad to hear the camps are closing. Whew! I did a quick google and discovered that one I loved is still open. The camps are the reason I am thinking of sticking with Girl Scouts for DD. That Admin gets a vast majority of the cookie money annoys me. When I was a kid, if I sold 400 boxes of cookies the prize was 2 weeks of summer resident camp for free. I'm told that prize isn't offered anymore for any count.

I used to work in the semiconductor industry in Class 10 cleanrooms. One of the rules is "No makeup in the cleanrooms". At first it seems weird, and the other women seem washed out. Within a few days it seems perfectly normal. So, my theory is that women have been wearing makeup for so long that it now seems normal. I find it amusing to watch TV/movies made in the 80's. Particularly Matlock. The women all have those obvious lines of blush on their cheeks. It seemed perfectly natural back then.

There is a company (I lost the link) that will create a stuffed animal to match your kid's drawing. It was reasonably priced, too. $20-ish. The website had photos of some of their favorites that they had created, and they were generally Monster-ish, but cute.

Our last name is the name of a famous author whose name starts with an H. So, I use our last name with "House" added to the end. Only place we have needed it so far is to get the education discount at the the used bookstore. For high school we'll maybe change it to H~~~~ Academy or something more official sounding. But, at the moment that seems a little pretentious because she's so young.

Have you ever heard the story behind The Happy Little Toaster? The author was giving a presentation at a writer's conference basically saying that all these books follow a formula. He laid out the formula. He was sort of calling them , and himself, Hacks. The audience was quite upset. He bet them that he could publish and be successful with a book about a toaster following the formula before the next conference in a year. Not only was it published, but they made a movie out of it.

The stories of the clueless teachers reminded me of one in college. I never cheated in college, but this one was a gray area. I took a summer course on Russian translation. Only the language-dunces like me took the summer language classes. Every day we were assigned a pretty long text to translate. As in 7 hours to just look up all the words in the dictionary. So, people quickly formed groups that was roughly divided into left side of class/ right side of class. Everyone got one sentence to translate and you had to make it neat and make enough copies that everyone in your group got one. Then we met ahead of class and passed them out. Then during class she was call to us to verbally say our translation. What I remember was that the teacher knew precisely what we were doing. Sometimes one person wouldn't do their work, and she would pick someone from the other side of the class. We weren't precisely left/right so she had to learn who was in which group.

We had a fancy baby bathtub that did not get used once. After reading the books in the library about babies "swimming", I tried out taking her into the bath with me. I put her in a back float with her head cupped in mine and she immediately went into a relaxed happy state. I swear I could read her mind, and she was saying "Finally!". It was amazing. After I saw that relaxed happy state, I didn't want to use the baby bathtun and have her miss out on that. I looked up the best bath temps for babies and it was a little cooler than I would prefer. But, I needed a bath so bad by that point that I didn't really care. When she got out, I would heat up the water, and then finish off with a quick hot shower/rinse.

Definitely safety in numbers. Although, even then there are still places you shouldn't go. But, I've ridden that train many times and never been the slightest bit worried. I've been on high-alert other places, but not the train. If she goes to UTD, there will be just the normal dangers of on-campus college life.

I never understood that "stick around for the common good." I mean, really, what kind of lowlife sacrifices their children?

Another idea might be change the "You must eat half" rule to "Food complained about is immediately taken away". Because, really, complaining about food to the cook as unacceptable by anyone over toddler age. You might also look into this book, "Cleaning House: A Mom's Twelve-Month Experiment to Rid Her Home of Youth Entitlement". One of the months was on food/cooking. Each kid was given a day and a budget to shop/cook/serve dinner for the entire family. One of the things I remember was how hurt the biggest complainers were to hear complaints from their siblings.

I've bought two houses. Well, the first on my own and the second with DH. I really knew they were THE house both times. Although it took some looking both times. For the first house, I saw it about 6 months before I bought it. It was a HUD house in HUD shape. It was one of the first houses I looked at and the HUD-ness of it sent me running. Someone bought it and then wasn't able to complete the purchase. When I saw it the second time, I was able to see that it was exactly what I was looking for. With the second house, it was really love. Some homes give off such a happy loving vibe. This one really did. Fortunately, it met our criteria too.

I liked that you told him not to make the dinner. The fact that cleaning up after his messes is worse than cooking AND cleaning is an important point. I would definately stop picking up anything he drops on the floor that isn't yours. Particularly the workout clothes. Even if it stinks. Honestly, if it stinks that bad, he should take them off while standing in front of the washer so that they can be thrown straight in. The kitchen mess is probably harder to deal with because you need those pans. Although, think about it, so does he. You might wash the pans you need, use them and put them back where he left them. Then before the next daddy breaskfast, he will either have to clean some pans or make a simpler breakfast. My personal opinion is that each person should get equal "Butt Time". Basically, the chance to do what you want to do, for you, without worrying about others. So, if you want to sit on your butt, that is fine. In a given day, how much Butt Time do you get, and how much does he get? I would count his exercise as Butt Time. Do you even get half as much?

If you do decide to go with Empires and include the U.S., I would recommend "Empire of Trust". He makes a comparisons between the American and Roman empires. I know that has been done before, but I know enough Roman history that my B.S. goes off for the others. Not with this one. He made a lot of connections that I've never thought of before. The author is known mostly as a favorite History channel expert on the Crusades.

DD born in July 2010, absolutely loves the family counting bears. There are 3 sizes (dad, mom and baby) and four colors. Mom is 2x the weight of baby and Dad is 4x the weight of baby. Sometimes she sorts by color or size. Sometimes she puts all the babies to bed (on their side). She likes to put them in a circle for some reason. Moves them around with tongs or a trainer set of chopsticks. and other stuff

I am the bread-winner, and I love my job. I work with really good people. I have interesting mysteries to solve. My boss is great. I love Mondays.

I am a bit on the fence about this. On one hand I think Math is a common way that people internalize logic. Also, I used to work in a tiny but international industry (and I travelled), among the superior engineers that I worked with the Scots were a weirdly large percentage. Once, while talking to many of them I told them that and I asked if they knew the reason. They thought and discussed a bit and came up with that they'd all had a rigorous math education when they were young. (They might have gone to schools superior then the norm for the area) Even the engineers in this industry didn't truly need math. I remember being tickled pink when I found a use for the Quadratic equation. I even told my co-workers. But I still think that the problem-solving skills have been essential to me. On the other hand, I don't even remember if I took Algebra 2. I had been on the average track, and I didn't like any of the electives. So I took both Geometry and Algebra the same year, which put me on the smart track. But, I don't remember any math before that. It was just "The Next" math. Switching tracks, I remember being shocked that kids actually did their homework, and I buckled down. I guess if they brought back tracking, I would be OK with getting rid of the Algebra requirement. But, I suspect it will just mean more people in remedial math classes in college.

Late in college I had a friend who was recently introduced to the concept of "Finite Infinity". Think of it more as "Beyond comprehension". He was having trouble with the concept. I got it right away. How I explained it to him this way, If you take one Finite Infinity number and divide it another Finite Infinity number you might get 3 as an answer. If you do that with Infinate Infinate numbers, you get an error.

Thanks for the Education Unboxed mention. We already checked it out, and it looks interesting