I prefer cold. This heat just saps every bit of energy I have. I can accomplish a lot in the morning, but it gets over 100 degrees in the afternoon and the best I can do is lay on the bed and watch Dr. Who on my iPad all afternoon. And we have air conditioning. This is never the case in the winter. I sleep better in the winter, too. I hate summer.

Seriously? We loved this book. The kids still talk about Uncle Benny. I think the bee-bite was a bee sting. When ds was a toddler he put a dead wasp in his mouth and it stung him. I don't recall it hurt him too badly, but his lip about quadrupled in size for a few hours.

My ds has cva. It is triggered by allergies, generally late fall and early spring for some reason. He coughs and coughs, ESP. At night. It sounds like he's going to cough up a lung and it is almost continual. It ramps up fast, too. One spring he was on 8 different meds for it. He takes Zyrtec and q-var and has Albuterol as a rescue inhaler. Fortunately, he hasn't had a real problem in about 2 years, so we think he's outgrowing it. See a doctor that specialized in allergies and asthma.

We're not hard-core, but Dh did a lot of backpacking before we were married and after we met we used to do a lot of day hiking (we live at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains). For kids your age, I'd suggest starting out slow do some day hikes and try to always have a destination, not just a loop. When we hike we either hike to a lake and one of our favorite easy day hikes is one called Big Baldy and it's a hike to a huge rocky outcropping with a fantastic 360 degree view, sometimes we can even see all the way to the coast if the day is clear. A good destination is essential. It's your reward. Last week dh and I took a day hike (without the kids) and it was a pretty good hike (8.2 miles, couple thousand feet climb) and on our way up (to a gorgeous glacial lake) we passed a father and young son backpacking. So, we passed them, made our destination, ate lunch and headed down and they were still trudging up and had quite a ways to go. The dad seemed pretty patient, but I can't imagine that poor kid was having much fun. Your kids are pretty young, I'd suggest day hikes, or one night stays, if you can, to get them to really enjoy the sport first.

Well, it was pretty surprising to me. Tis boy is my boys' age and they've had a lot of contact with him, he's been over to our house to play before and I've never heard of this sort of behaviour from him. Now, he can be a bit of a stinker, so when ds told me this I wasn't shocked beyond belief, but I think this is a little out of the ordinary. I will be talking to a couple other moms tomorrow of boys in that cabin. Hopefully I'll get more info.

Ever since my 2.5 year old has been doing things with her hands it's been obvious that she's left hand dominant.

Thanks for the advice. It's along the lines of what I was thinking, too. Don't think going to the parents would do much good.

So, ds comes home from camp Friday afternoon, says he had a great time except that J (a boy his age, a friend, I thought, who is also in our hs group) was picking on DS's friend D. It was even getting physical. Ds said he and the rest of the boys stuck up for D, though. Ds was pretty mad. Then I get to church today and talked to D's mom found out that J (the bully) was not only picking on her son, but on my ds and using racial slurs (ds is bi/racial). Apparently the rest of the cabin defended my ds as well, so that's a good thing. I haven't talked to other moms to find out if their kids were picked on, too. I'm just very disturbed by what went on and I'm not sure what to do. We go to a different church than the group that our boys went to camp with, but we are very affiliated with this church (I grew up in it) and our boys attend Awanas there, so our boys knew the kids, weren't really outsiders, etc. and I know J's family. I grew up with his parents. They seem like a really solid family. I'm not sure where this anger and bullying ugliness could be coming from. I think I should talk to the youth pastor at that church, I know the mom quite well from just life, and she's on leadership at our homeschool group. Do I talk to her? What do I say? Right now I'm so angry and disturbed I'm not going to do anything, but when I calm down.... then what? Dh isn't sure how it should be handled either. And I just realized that I posted on the wrong board and have no idea how to move this to the other board. Sorry about that.

I would love to go to a conference like that. I wouldn't mind some sort of video conference, but for me, part of it is the "convention experience!" Trying to find a minute to watch a webinar or listen to a cd or podcast here at home.... ugh! Not gonna work. I'm going to a convention in a couple of weeks and am just looking forward to getting away for a night. Although I do get what a lot of people are saying about the content of the seminars. At the last convention I went to several years ago, I felt like I could be the one teaching the seminar. I didn't need another lecture on how to "Homeschool on a Shoestring." and I about walked out on the sweet girls trying to extol the virtues of sea-salt and how to grind your own wheat and make your own bread, but I'm too nice to walk out of seminars unless it's something just downright offensive to me.

There's a bit of nudity and the page on the Assyrians is a bit... uh... fascinating for young boys (lots of heads chopped off, but it's not gory. Let's face it, the Assyrians were not nice people), but I don't think it's inappropriate. I like the idea of having a history encyclopedia on hand because there are not always good library books to be gotten for the subject at hand and sometimes, you just can't make it to the library.

I skimmed the article. Sounded like a lot of noise to me. But.... I guess I thought she summed it up in the second to last paragraph. Motherhood shouold be a normal, natural part of life, not a competition.

We are beginning our foray into the logic stage this year. I'm a little apprehensive, but here it is.... Grammar - R&S Spelling - Spelling Workout Reading - A Beka 5th Grade Math - Singapore Bible - God's Great Covenant Logic - Mind Benders History - History Odessey (very tweaked version) Science - Earth Science (I created a curriculum based on TWTM's recs for earth science using How the Earth Works as a spine) Latin - First Form 1 Greek - Greek Alphabet Code Crackers Spanish - Rosetta Stone Fine Arts - Artistic Pursuits and composer studies

I, too, think the Kingfisher is a bit advanced. We enjoyed the Usborne Book of World History as a supplement.

We have a cheap Walmart tablecloth on it, but I do try to have a bouquet of fresh picked flowers on it most times.

No, I don't. I don't write down my educational philosophy because JW and SWB have done such a good job for me. Goals? Educational goals ... finish the curriculum by the end of the school year with relative mastery. My attitude toward goals in life really changed in my mid to late 20's when I realized I have relatively little control of my own life. I wasn't married when I finished college, I didn't have 2 kids by the time I was 30. All the goals I had previously were quite unattainable, really, and by the time I was 30 I was pretty disillusioned by life. Then, I just gave up on goals and lived my life on day at a time. I like my life and the journey it took to get here was not tragic or anything, but definitely not something I really had a lot of control over (in the grand scheme of things) and wasn't a route I would have chosen. So, I stopped making goals and just live my life. It's more interesting that way. And I guess that Attitude has spilled over in the way I live my life day to day with everything. And it's not that I am not future oriented. We plan for the future, we just don't plan where we want to be.

Yes, it drives me crazy. It is gross.

He's 3 months my senior.

Our morning schedule is as such: Flag salute Calendar Recitations Bible Language arts Math Science/history Latin I guess with all that it kind of bleeds into the afternoon

My sil, who has been involved in children's ministries for years and years and is very good with children, but she does expect them to listen respectfully and be nice to each other, has been reprimanded several times in the past year or so from the uppers at her church because they have a very high view of "outreach" and if these little monsters (especially the children from families who do not attend the church) are expected to behave themselves then they might not like church and might not come and so how can we minister to them and get them saved? She has been very frustrated with this whole "new attitude" toward children's ministry.

My sister-in-law is part of a charter that is like that and she loves it. She's got a lot of freedom. She has a teacher who checks in periodically and they have a good working relationship. Her charter accepts students from neighboring counties, and she keeps bugging me to join, but it's just too much of a distance for me.

Ok, I'm just gonna throw out a comment here, maybe I'm the only weirdo, or maybe it's just been too long since I read the series, but I did read it and loved it, devoured it. However, I have no desire to see a movies or tv series. It would ruin it for me. I think I identify myself too much with Claire or create my own visualization of what the book is about and anything else would just wreck the whole thing. I've got too much of an imagination. With those books, especially. i remember reading them for hours and then i'd have to quit and i'd just look around the room and have to get my bearings. Anyone out there like that?

My pronounciation rhymes with store.

My 7 year old dd doesn't have temper (as in anger) tantrums, but if she's not getting her way, etc. she'll throw a big ol' fit. Totally controllable. She can throw the off switch pretty fast if she wants. I'll just walk away from her. She follows me around screaming sometimes, so I'll just go outside to the garden and start pulling weeds, so if she follows me the whole neighborhood can hear her shrieking. She doesn't like that too much. :)

I love mine. But for me, it's a toy. It's for Internet, kindle, videos, maps, etc. and I don't have nearly the apps most people have.

I'd just call or e- mail and say, "hey, the party's Wed. And I need to get a firm count. Is Susie going to be able to make it." And completely ignore the lack of manners. Any sort of sarcasm, chastisement, etc. will be completely lost on people who don't bother to RSVP anyway. And then come to an anonymous forum and vent away.