Another vote for "just reading," and a handwriting book if he has the dexterity and patience to do it at this point. We are in the third book of HWT and I think it's a good choice for younger/fine-motor-challenged students.

In my area, CC teaches that the earth is 6,000 years old and that "tremendous pressure" makes rocks seem older than they really are. And this was in a "Science" tutorial!!!! It's appalling. BUT, I know people who are doing CC in other areas of the country, and they've dealt with no such craziness and really love what the pedagogical approach is doing for their kids. I think it very much depends on the outlook and worldview of the people running the individual franchise.

I only have one first grader, so I'm using a simplified by-subject filing system (copies stored in the front of each file folder, completed work in chronological order in the back). I LOVE it, my documentation worries are erased, the flow of our schoolday is much improved over last year, etc. etc. Love it love it love it.

We've had no confusion between Latin and Hebrew script here. But they are pretty darn different.

If you want a large and active religious community in South Florida that is socially/politically liberal - look for your nearest Reform Jewish congregation. :tongue_smilie: I'm not 100 percent kidding. I'm in SC, and there are many gentile spouses of Jewish people who are very involved in my community, have their kids in all the activities etc., for years and years without pressure to convert. It's worth looking into. However, my town also has an active UU (often a great place for interfaith families), and several Methodist congregations that don't seem scary at all. Really, it's best to attend services at several places and get a feel for what fits.

All you need is the student book - but I'm so happy to hear about these online games, my DS loves Latin and will be so glad to play them! Thanks!

David Tennant. I could watch that man do nothing but breathe for hours on end. :001_wub: My husband is mystified, since the guy is not, you, good-looking or well-built or a captain of industry or a genius or anything like that. I read romance novels, etc. as well, but I'm not embarrassed about those vices because they don't involve another actual person. :D

I am very much looking for retention. My ds is six years old and in first grade. We read the SOTW chapter, do the map work and the coloring page, tie-in historical and/or fiction readings, and maybe some online videos or small-scale educational games. We read the corresponding Usbourne spread and he does his narration off of that for our history notebook. We do history every day that we're not at co-op - it's our central subject this year. I am finding that if I want him to answer the study guide questions easily and well, we need to read the SOTW chapter twice. So far, this is no big deal. With a kid who needed to hear it more than twice to retain, I might invest in the audiobook.

I was a CC instructor for several years. I would have really appreciated being told, in a non-attacking way, if my colloquialisms were distracting a very conservative student from the content of my lectures. Just my .02...

Wow. This thread is huge, and I am not able to read it all right now. I did want to clarify that I don't think a birth center birth is traumatic - I had a great one! Not asking for pain medication in labor even though you want it because you are worried about the cost? Traumatic. Torture, in fact. Obviously, feelings run high on this issue, but my personal take on it as that my right to life is more important that my property rights, and my NEIGHBOR'S right to life is ALSO more important that my property rights. Our health care system is in such dire straits that I believe the right to life is being grossly abrogated, and I cast my vote in favor of universal health care as often as I can. Health care may be a human right, but I tend to think in terms of the social contract I'm actually a part of (the American citizenry), rather than my generalized sense of compassion for all of my fellow beings. I try to speak for the group in which my voice means something. Everybody else in the world, including the undocumented residents who grow and harvest the majority of the food my family eats, are for better or worse outside my sphere of undisputed political influence. But as an American and the mother of three little Americans, I have a very clear vision of what "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" should be construed to mean in the 21st century. Part of what it means is "not being abandoned by your fellow citizens to suffer and die from a curable ailment."

"I, who had babies while married, could not afford the type of health care given to unwed teens. I had my babies at a birthing center, and dared not ask for anesthesia, because I only had enough money to pay for the basic package. I refused suggested ultrasound because I didn't have the money." :grouphug: That must have been horribly traumatic for you. This is why I cast my vote for politicians who believe that adequate health care is the right of EVERY American citizen. You. Me. The pregnant teenager. I'm not interested in whatever moral distinctions some may see between us - a healer's job is to heal, and it would be my pleasure and my privilege as a taxpayer to stop funding wars and start funding a functional public health system.

:party:

The word on the street over here is that all of the righteous have a share in the world to come. :D If there is one. Who can know? (Jews may not fear hellfire, but we can angst it up with the best of them.)

1. Emotionally and mentally stable. 2. Deeply in love with whichever of my children they are marrying. 3. Not tied to any strong moral or religious beliefs that would cause my children pain and worry (not sure what those would be yet, as I don't know what my kids' OWN moral and religious stances will be when they are adults). ... 1,000th. It would also be really nice if nothing this future spouse believes causes ME pain. I do not want to hear from my grandchildren's mouths that I am going to burn in the fiery pit or that the Earth is 6,000 years old. But ultimately, that's about me and dh, not about my child and their spouse and the happiness that exists in their relationship.

My advice depends on age. A ten-year-old? You control the charger. A fifteen-year-old? You enforce appropriate social manners (no texting at the table, no hiding in your room with the iPod when Grandma is visiting, no skipping out on regular family activities), but other than that it's hands-off as he learns to manage his screen time.

I tossed my three in the minivan and drove from SC to ME (with a stop in PA to see my BFF from grad school). I thought it was great. The kids, however, have told me that they prefer to fly :)

I hear "evolutionist" a lot in these here parts, generally from people who are about to tell me that I have a religious belief in science, which I so do not. I think the REAL definition of "evolutionist" or "evolutionalist" should be "term used by Creationists to indicate that they have an unshakable religious conviction about the origins of life on earth and they are quite sure that you do, too!" :D But in that case, your BIL would be using the term incorrectly. It sounds like he is a person who thinks that the scientific evidence for evolution is strong. Unless he is totally unwilling to consider future scientific discoveries that cast doubt on the current evolutionary model, then evolution is not a religious-style conviction for him.

Hopping on the prayer bandwagon here, too. I love moving, but I get that you don't. Honesty is inherently supportive. If doing this would put you over the edge into an emotional collapse, then you need to tell your husband that, because he's going to be the one left high and dry in a new town with 4 kids when you completely lose it and are locked in the bedroom crying. It's not cutting him down, to explain that you are not fit to meet this challenge at this time in your life. :grouphug:

"Do you remember that thread about servants a few months ago? I remember thinking that the people who said they'd like some just had never had any, because if they had, they would know what a challenge it can be to manage them, at least in the developing world. The standards of cleanliness are not the same, and the language is usually a problem. You can show them how many times what you want done, but they may still not do it the way you want, or really slowly, or something like that. You find yourself wondering if you should just do it yourself." I have only ever been happy with hiring successful self-employed people, enjoying a thoroughly middle-class American standard of living, to work for me. Lawn guy, cleaning lady (or guy - we had a guy once!), babysitter - if they aren't coming from the same place lifestyle-wise, then they're not happy with my standards and I'm not happy with their work. When we are on the same page with how a house/yard should look and how a child should be treated, then it's easy-peasy. If I were an expat, I think I'd have to drastically alter my expectations if I wanted help around the house. Of course, with no lawn and a tiny apartment and older kids, I might find that I didn't need or want such help anymore.

I have a nice skirted two-piece suit this year. It throughly obscures my genitalia. It's easy to pee in. It's cute. I love it. I do not care what people think of my suit (or my shorts, or my miniskirts, or my sports bra that I go powerwalking in). It is HOT here in the summer. I wear as little as I can get away with, and if somebody is having such a serious failure of grace and Godliness that they openly sitting in judgement upon my outfit, well then, I feel a passing sense of pity for that person, wish them well in their struggle against their yetzer hara (evil impulse, "sin nature," it's hard to translate but you get the idea), and then I dismiss them from my mind and go my merry way.

We have a biweekly yard guy and a weekly cleaner, and a babysitter whenever I have meetings and a date maybe 1 time a month. I am married to somebody who works 100-plus hours a week. He always has, and I think he always will. It took me a few years to realize that converting some of his hard-earned money into household help was the best way to make sure that the time he did spend with us was fun, happy, no-pressure time. Once he switched to being WOH, he spent drastically more time with us but he still does not want to mow the lawn :D Long-term, I'd like an au pair. I want to enable a young woman to take college classes in this country and/or travel with us to lots of great places, and I want a consistent backup caregiver who is living in my house and thoroughly understands how I like my children to be treated and can be left overnight with no worries. And I want a lifestyle that includes no privately owned lawn, and thus no lawn guy.

It's my ILs that I live close to, but I spend at least a month of every year with my mom (vsiting her, or she's visiting me, or we're traveling together). After basic financial security, Grandma time is #2 on the budget priority list. Most people (though not on this board, heh heh) would be shocked to know that this travel ranks even above preschool. We can afford both this year, but if we couldn't, I'd cut the preschool first. My dad's there, too. :)

Here!

I do not think that public school students should be expected to bring in one. single. solitary. item. to be used in the completion of their academic work. I pay taxes for the purpose of offering a free and appropriate public education to all of the children in my school district. Free. FREE. If the budget can't cover markers and glue sticks, redo the budget and/or raise the taxes. But since things are as they are, I think it is appropriate for all kinds of external organizations (religious or otherwise) to step up and try to fill the gap. Because NOTHING is more inappropriate than hitting up low-income families for a cartload of consumable school supplies.

"I find this such an odd question... I can't envision a scenario in which either Yitzchak or I were trying 'lead' the other, in any way shape or form, but especially not spiritually. (A corny kids' song is now running through my head: "Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow; dont' walk behind me, I may not lead. Just walk beside me and be my friend and together we will walk in the ways of Hashem. V'Ahavta L'rayacha Kamocha, zeh klal gadol baTorah (Love your fellow as yourself, this is a great/major [fundamental] principle in the Torah.)) Leadership in a marriage doesn't make any sense to me - it seems to go against the ideal of becoming one flesh - and it certainly has never been applicable for us, in any context. All of our decisions are made by genuine consensus (and we've been happily married for a long time now & never had any significant conflict). We work on our individual spiritual growth, we talk and study together... and talk some more to decide what choices would best fit with our shared values and goals for our family, we consult our Rav for guidance as appropriate, and try to keep growing in our Torah study, middos, and mitzvah observance. Sometimes one of us has an inspiration and the momentum to help us in a certain area or direction... sometimes its the other one... always it is implemented together. :iagree: