I took the comment to be about people who are legally married and say that they aren't or people who aren't legally married and say that they are in order to obtain benefits that they otherwise wouldn't be entitled to based on their LEGAL status.

:bigear: I have an almost 7 yo boy who is behaving similarly...

:bigear: I am trying to pace myself.

How do you do this? Short of writing down every item's price at the store, I am not sure how I would figure out the total amount. Our store flyers aren't very helpful. And I am afraid that trying to do a "price book" while in the store with my kids would cost me the last of my sanity. :tongue_smilie:

I think that is WAY better than "Thank God school has started again! I can't wait to have my days back!" :glare:

Ummm, no. They didn't like the jungle decor, but didn't have the guts to tell you or figured that you wouldn't agree to take it down. So they did it without asking. They hoped that you might like it, but they really just figured that once it was done you probably wouldn't hate it so much that they would have to change it. The "gift" aspect is just a way to, after the fact, attempt to not look so jerky. I'd go with this approach. :lol:

I think that students should be responsible for their OWN supplies on a list. A BASIC list. For example "one box Crayola crayons, 24 colors". All items should be labeled with the student's name. If a student runs out, loses, dries out their supplies they are responsible for replacing their own supplies. Any students who cannot afford a box of crayons, a box of pencils, a glue stick, and other BASIC supplies should have those provided for them. (I am guessing that in most schools a few parents or the PTA would be willing to pick up the extras since they weren't already being fleeced for extra supplies.) There is NO need for "twistable crayons"! And if the teacher feels that she cannot live without post-its or whatever she may buy them from her salary, just like the rest of the world.

When I recently bought a mattress the guy warned me how firm it was going to be when it arrives. The mattresses take (according to him) about two months to get to their stated firmness level. His exact words were "This mattress is pretty firm, so when it shows up at your house it is going to feel like a rock!" :glare: It is getting better.

There is also a free booklist here: http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/free-downloads I love listening to Andrew Pudewa. :001_wub:

:ack2: I would be marching right back in there to ask if they had read *this* book. And I would be asking them to define "freshman honors" and explain how *this* book supported *that* definition.

Here is a link to an article about bringing your special needs kiddo home: http://www.hsc.org/snhome.php There are other special needs specific articles along with that one. HSC is a non-profit homeschooling group in California. They have a legal department that has always been very helpful.

It is VERY easy to homeschool in California. There are plenty of groups (some free) who would help her. If she wants to join HSLDA that is great, but she doesn't need to do so! To homeschool in CA you basically register yourself as a private school and you are done.

I would love to apply this to breakfast. How would you do the hashbrowns?

I am confused... does she want to homeschool her? Or does she want the school to do what it is supposed to while her daughter attends PS?

:iagree: I have ordered these for me and I love them. I LOVE having someone "speak" to me like an adult. :D

If you shop in one of their brick and mortar stores you can also get/use a teacher discount card. :D

We would be interested in a snail mail game. My son is almost 7, and we are still learning. But we could study up! :D

I like all of Andrew Pudewa's downloads.

Does anyone know how long this sale typically lasts? And when the current promotion started? I can't find an end date anywhere, so I am trying to guess. :tongue_smilie:

I used this a lot in college anatomy: http://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Coloring-Book-Wynn-Kapit/dp/0805350861/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279677392&sr=8-1

Something else that you might be interested in (much cooler IMO) are the Yolo Basin Foundation Bat Walks. You go and listen to a talk about bats, and get to see a bat (that is being rehabilitated) up close. Then you drive out into the fields by the causeway and wait for the bats to fly out from under the causeway at dusk. I am merely tolerant of bats, but it was AMAZING to watch them stream out.

This from Wikipedia: Specifically about agriculture, also Wikipedia: From the Yolo Basin Foundation: The Yolo Basin Foundation runs a lot of educational programs in that area. We toured a rice farm as part of the Yolo Basin's "Duck Days" last year. It was not as interesting as it sounds. :lol: *** This is off of the sheet they gave us from the California Rice Growers: There is a diverse group of several hundred family farms Up to 2 million tons of rice each year, 1 million exported Annual $500 million rice crop and habitat that would cost $800 million to replace through wetland restoration efforts. *** So basically there is a symbiotic relationship between the rice growers and the wetlands animals. The rice fields are flooded in order to prevent weed growth. The various stages of the rice growing - fallow fields, flooding, plants, etc... - all provide different habitats and resources that the animals need. The fields are flooded during the summer growing season, many are also flooded following harvest to break down the rice straw. Many fields are flooded for up to 8 mos of the year. 230 species are known to use the wetlands - 27 species of mammals, 16 of amphibians and reptiles, and 187 species of birds. 31 of the species are considered "special status species" The farmers benefit by getting to use the land, pest management from the birds, water rights, birds cleaning up waste grain after the harvest. The rice seed is dropped by airplane.

What is it that you want to know?

Now I see that this is really old....

We are more of an activity family, so if you go that direction you can talk about what you want to do since it needs to be planned in advance. This would work even for your birthday because you would say "I've been thinking that on my birthday - this friday - I would like to do something outside. Does anyone have any ideas?" Then once you had agreed to an activity you would say "Okay, so it sounds like we are going to have a picnic. That means DS will need to go to the deli and buy food. Should we make a list now? Do you need a ride?" I also think that if you model gift giving - cards, notes, special surprises, your children will have the tendency to be more thoughtful in those regards. Perhaps you would like to have a perpetual calendar? One of those that isn't dated to a year, but has the dates. So that you write "Mom's Birthday" or "Wedding Anniversary" on whatever day it falls on. You could review as a family what was coming up for the month so that your kids would have time to prepare. "Oh, Grandma's birthday is on the 15th. What do you guys think that we should do? Do you want me to remind you when you have one week left to get ready?" We (adults) have lists of items that we want - ranging from $5 to if we win the lottery. This way the other can buy us a "surprise" but know that it is something we want. Most often we are surprised because we forgot that it was on the list! With DH's family, ie the bad gift givers, we limit all Christmas purchases outgoing and incoming to books, music, or homemade. So basically they buy us a bunch of books off of our Amazon list. :lol: You could also each get a mason jar and a bunch of slips of paper. Each person would fill their jar with ideas of things that would make them happy. Daisies, a golf hour, lunch out, weeding in the garden... and then if others were have a hard time thinking of something they could draw out of the jar for ideas. Do something like this when you aren't right up against your birthday and it seems fun and not contrived. But then the ideas are there when your kids need them. ;) Tell a close friend that you are working on gift giving and have them take out your kids to pick something. They could call and say "Hey, next week is your mom's birthday, do you want to go to the bookstore with me and we can pick out some gifts?" Also, my husband, raised by only his mom remembers his mother driving him to the florist, handing him money, and saying "Someday you are going to need to be able to buy your wife flowers for her birthday. So you are going to practice on me. Now go buy me something that you think I would enjoy."