Any other fashion advice? Please? :bigear:

My goal is to have at least one or two fun/new ideas to offer to the kids each day--I've gathered ideas in different categories (such as arts & crafts, cooking & baking, outside water play, physical, science experiements, alone time, games together, etc) and what I'm trying to do is make sure I have the supplies on hand so that this is easier for me to do. In my ideal world, I'd have a time set apart for each of these categories, plan by the week, and have everything ready. I checked out a few books from the library for fun 'TV-free' activities to do with the kids. Here are a few ideas: My lists include-- Arts & Crafts--clay, playdoh, scrapbook, jewelry, cross-stitch, rug hooking, card making, paint rocks, make potholders, origami, sewing, build structures with gumdrops & toothpicks, edible necklaces, collage/diorama, illustrate a story, thread-spool puppets, create a city with boxes/road/cars/little people, create a zoo, create a marble raceway (using cardboard, paper towel tubes, etc). Cooking & Baking--rice krispie treats, fruit kabobs, fruit pizza, smoothies, jello cups, mini pizzas, pretzels, ice cube popsicles Water Play--sprinklers, hose on playset slide into little pool, water balloons, kickball w/little pools as bases, water balloon volleyball, watergun fight, water relay races, sponge tag, bike wash Physical--dance to music, aerobic video, walk, bike ride, rollerblades, hike on trail, croquet at the park, frisbee golf, treasure hunt, crab soccer, hopscotch, relay races, tag, jumprope Creative Together Play--store, bank, circus, library, restaurant, zoo, veterinary clinic, garage sale, space ship, fire station--but these kinds of things always end up making the house a disaster! :) Hope some of these ideas help.

So my 20 yr HS reunion is next month and it has me stressed out. I shouldn't be feeling this way, but I am! I haven't seen anybody from HS in years, and only recently got in touch with a few on facebook. I am looking forward to seeing a handful of people (which is why I really do want to go), but I find myself feeling nervous to go! And as lame as it sounds, I want to look good...I recently got a fun new haircut & highlights, which helps some. I know I can't get rid of the twenty pounds in a month, but I've been exercising & eating better, trying to at least feel a little better about myself. But here's where I really need some help...what should I wear?!? There is an evening at a club (okay...I've never even been in a club!), a family picnic at the park, and an evening dinner & dance. I'm planning on going shopping--but I'd love some general ideas/advice, I'm not the most fashionable person & really quite conservative, but yet I want to be a little stylish & not look too hokey. :D Anyone have a minute to share any advice for me? :bigear:

For afternoon naps, I put my little one down in a pack-n-play in my bedroom--that way dd10 can still play in her room (especially if a friend is over). I think it's been good that this one is used to sleeping in a pack-n-play so when we go on trips, it's not so unusual to her. :-)

With canned fruit As a topping on a baked potato (especially with tomatoes, too) In one of two salads that I make: "Gooey Salad' (I'm sure there's a real name somewhere, but that's what my kids call it): 1 large container cottage cheese, 1 small packet of orange jello (can be sugar free), 1 can mandarin oranges, a few dollops of whip cream. Yummy. You can also make it with lime jello & canned pineapple chunks. Also, cottage cheese with chopped apples, celery, & crushed pineapple, and some pepper. It's a nice light side dish!

Babs--I want our house to be the house that all the kids want to come to...it doesn't come naturally to me and it does stress me out (like other posters I feel like the house is never clean enough)...but I sincerely do want to be more willing & inviting to my kids' friends. What are some of the fun things you have for kids to do at your house? I'd love some new ideas! Thanks!

39 Clues--this is a newer series of books that my dd10 and ds11 are really enjoying. The books aren't too big and are a very fun read! None of us can put them down once we start. My ds11 started getting into the Hardy Boys books awhile ago--that was nice because there are a ton of them! Another thought, perhaps using a book on CD while reading would be a good way to transition into longer books...my son first did this with Harry Potter a few years back. He really wanted to read it, but it was a bit too difficult for him to read independently...and he ended up really enjoying this. Of course, you could also read aloud & alternate pages between you. I'll second the suggestion to find a magazine about something he likes--Sports Illustrated for Kids, National Geographic for Kids, Highlights, Cricket--my kids *love* when 'their' magazine comes in the mail and spend the next few hours devouring it. Even acquiring past issues or checking them out from the library is fun.

I haven't had one done to poster size, but I have had a few done to 11x14 and 8x10 at walmart.com. I remember seeing that they do posters, although I don't remember the prices; but the ones I had done were quite reasonably priced and turned out well. It's worth checking out.

Okay, so if you check out www.utah.com/stgeorge/ I think you'll find links to a lot of fun things to do with your family. For Zion's, it is very family-friendly--you ride a shuttle in & out and then get off and go on the various trails. There are easy ones that you could do with a little one and others that are more challenging. If you've never been to the area, you shouldn't miss it! Kolob Canyons is not far away--we've only driven through, but there are beautiful views. I think we paid $25 to get the family into Zion's & we could use that pass at other parks in the area, too, for a week, if I remember correctly. Sand Hollow Aquatic Center is the indoor pool w/slides I was referring to. If I remember correctly the cost was about $4/5 per person. My kids (ages 1-11) had a lot of fun there and I loved not worrying about sunscreen. St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site is where we went to view discovered dinosaur tracks. It was around $4/5 per person--although it was a lot smaller than we had anticipated and we kind of felt like it wasn't worth that much money! :-) The Fiesta Fun Family Center is the one my children saw and wanted to go to--go-carts, miniature golf, etc. There is also a new Jumpin' Jacks--we've been to one where we live--basically a big warehouse with lots of those huge air-blown jumping castles, slides, etc. Usually around $6/8 per person--but it's indoors & out of the sun. I also saw that there is a laser-tag/miniature golf place. The Rosenbruch Wildlife Museum & the St. George Art Museum were the two that I was referring to in my above post. We didn't make it to these, but had wanted to. And check out www.tuachan.org to see what shows will be on while you're out here. Okay...happy planning! We had such a fun time when we went--now after looking at the websites, I think we need to go again! :-)

We were there for spring break a few years ago. We hiked Zion's for a few days. There is a fun indoor swimming pool (with water slides), a dinosaur dig site (not very big, we were only there an hour max). There is also a natural history-type museum and an art museum, although we didn't have enough time to do these. My kids were dying to go to the go-cart place we drove by. There is also a visitor's center for the LDS temple that is free and open to the public, as well as Brigham Young's home to tour. There is a little historic downtown--with a fun candy/ice cream shop to go to. And I have a friend who goes twice a year just for the Tuacahn (outdoor theater) plays. I think these are separate from the Shakespeare Festival. At any rate, there are always various plays/shows being put on and everyone raves about them. Hmm, it seems I had found a helpful website that listed all of these things. I'll do a little searching and see if I can find it again. Have fun!

I started on a pawn shop purchased Bundy ($40), when I was about 13-14, I moved to an intermediate flute--Gemeinhardt (sp???), silver head piece, open holes (about $500 24 years ago!). The difference between the two was amazing--suddenly I sounded so much better! When I was a senior in high school I moved up to a better (much pricier) Pearl which was around $2500. I'm sure prices have changed a lot since then--but that can give you an idea of what the different levels are like. In my opinion, you want to get as much silver as you can (you can get just silver head piece, or entire body of silver--more $$$), open holes, & a b-foot (which actually has an extra key on the flute than most student models). Hands down, my Pearl is a much superior instrument to the Gemeinhardt--I absolutely love Pearls--but one might not want to pay that much until it's evident she's going to continue on into college. Hope it helps some--

I'd also have to say that I was not impressed with History of Our World (People, Places, and Ideas). I purchased volume 2, because from the website (Rainbow Resources), it looked and sounded like exactly what I was looking for. Then it arrived and I almost cried. (This was my first homeschool curriculum purchase as we only started a few months ago--and I was so looking forward to that first package!). Actually, I think the book would be great for a 4th-5th grader. Maybe even a 3rd grader. But it is most certainly not meaty enough for a middle schooler as they supposedly intend it to be. We ended up using SOTW and Kingfisher and library books, so I have no additional recommendations for you...but I wanted to help you save your money before you purchased that book. :tongue_smilie:

So we just went to Disneyland a few weeks ago and a friend had recommended that we check out ridemax.com. Oh, my...this is amazing! It costs $15 for 3 months...and they have a separate one for Disney World and Disneyland/California Adventure. Basically these people have done tons of research to figure out how busy certain rides are at various times of day. You enter the dates you'll be there, enter the rides you want to go on...and it spits out an itinerary for you. You can make all kinds of changes and get it down to exactly what you want. Now, we were a little skeptical, but we printed out schedules for two of our three days at the park--and it was absolutely amazing. Those two days were by far much better than our third. I wish I could get a commission for advertising or something--because it made such a difference. We did so many things within such a short amount of time. My friend went last week, when it was super crowded and she said the same thing about her ridemax schedules. I'm totally convinced. On a similar note, just in case anyone is interested, ridemax taught us a little secret about the fastpasses. Maybe you all already know this, but the fastpasses don't expire at the ending time. In other words, when you grab a fastpass for say, Splash Mountain, and it says that you need to come back between 10:00 and 11:00, you just have to come back anytime AFTER 10:00...even up until the park closes. And the beauty of it, is you can grab another fastpass for another ride as soon as the starting time passes. (Did you get all that?). It makes such a difference! Oh, and just for the record, I actually asked several employees if this was okay before we tried it (I'm a letter of the law type of person...I wasn't going to do it if it was against the rules)...they all said it wasn't a problem. Happy planning...

We put on fun music and dance together--our favorite is a kids' Cd called "Fun to be Fit". The songs have the kids skipping, hopping, tossing bean bags, galloping, marching in a marching band, etc. My little one's other favorite is bubbles--jumping to pop them, dancing around to music while chasing them. And one other idea--my older kids love to make an indoor obstacle course for the little one and then go through it over & over with her. It's hard being cooped up with lots of 'little' energy, isn't it? I can't wait for spring to actually arrive & stay!

Can I ask what the benefits are of doing this type of testing? I'm not asking in a snarky way, at all...just trying to find out if it is something I should do with my son. Thanks for any info.

Ah, yes, the challenges of having a gifted child. I agree with the posts that say that quite often in gifted children, these types of characteristics are simply 'more' than others. If you haven't had one with these types of challenges, it's hard to understand how frustrating & completely exhausting it is. If you have one like this, you just wish you could find someone who says, "Oh, my goodness...I'm right there with ya!" I have found various articles at the seng website to be extremely helpful. Seng stands for Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted. In my case, I could figure out how to meet my son's advanced academic needs, but the emotional side of it has been by far the most challenging thing I've ever done.

I used to use one of those safety nets with one of mine who climbed out of the crib at 18 months. I found it at a second-hand store so bought it to try it out--it looked kind of like a tent on top of the crib--but with netting that you could open by zipping. At first I felt weird like I was putting him in a cage--but I really needed to know that he was safe in that crib for a little bit longer.

We love it! I love the clear explanations written directly to the student and the way things are broken down into small steps. My son hasn't always enjoyed writing, but he is now. And he feels a lot more confident in his own ability to write.

Out here in Utah, people pronounce the 'ing' very distinctly...I guess I'm used to the 'eveneen' and 'raineen' rather than 'eveninG' and 'raininG' (with a hard g). It drives my husband crazy. I've just assumed it's a regional thing and not necessarily a correct/incorrect pronunciation, but maybe I'm wrong.

My dd9 *loves* her karaoke machine...her brother, however, wishes we never got it for her!:)

I agree that it is asking a lot of these kids to pile on more things after they've spent the whole day already--I want them to be able to just play after-school! However, I also feel a little frustrated that in some areas they are not learning as much as I think they need to. Mostly I use summers as my time to homeschool them, although I do small things during the school year to try to 'beef' things up a bit. (add a few spelling words to their lists, selecting reading books *I* want them to read, music practice, math-facts games, etc). It is harder to get the older kids to 'want' to do more work...but to be honest, I typically tie it to a privilege. In other words, I bribe them...or encourage them to get the work done before play...1 book from my basket = a friend over to play; 3 days of math games = 1 hour of Wii. Yes, I always hear that at the Browns' or Jones' house, they don't have to do school in the summer. But then I say, but you don't live there, you live here! :001_smile: Good luck!

Have you tried letting her color or draw while you read? Or play with playdoh or legos? Just an idea.

was it the Bloom's Taxonomy flip-chart? I saw it on one of the threads one time and checked it out at Rainbow Resource...just search for Bloom's Taxonomy and see if it comes up...and see if that's what you're looking for!

I say attorney. :001_smile: My dh is one...and for some reason it just sounds better. Maybe because most of the lawyer jokes are about lawyers and not attorneys. But I do say loy-yer rather than law-yer.

I used a glue gun to put the fairies together--it wasn't a craft at the party, I made them ahead of time and had them hanging (just setting, really) on a little tree I had set up. Then when the girls got ready to leave, they got to choose one to take home. Have fun! It looks like you've gotten some great ideas on here!