I'm currently giving my Kindergarten son the CAT5 complete battery level 10 test and it seems too hard for his grade. I've used the CAT test for both of my older children from K-8 grades and always found the test very easy. There are sections of this test that my youngest is finding very difficult to answer. At the end of K, he reads CVC words and some 4 letter words well, but the test words are quite a bit more difficult. He is unable to read words on this test like please, people, white, picture, afraid, would. It also asks the child to read senteces like, "Mother Bear is waiting for Baby Bear." Do these seem difficult, or have 6 year olds become much smarter in the 10 years that I last administered this test?

What is the simplest, free app or website for help in solving algebra problems. My eldest is in public school, and with no textbook to help, I'm stumped at how to do the problems.

I just ordered the Key to Algebra series for my daughter but have yet to receive it. She's a 9th grader in public school this year and is not doing well at all in algebra and I'm hoping this will help her. They have no text book, only handouts, and that method is not working for her. She has a strong foundation in math and used many years of CLE, but as soon as a problem has a letter in it, she assumes she can't solve it. - How long does it take to get through the series, assuming it's worked on daily (including weekends)? I'd really love for her to get ahead of where they are teaching in school so that what the teacher goes over is just review or more in depth on a topic she at least has some familiarity with. She does not seem to grasp ANY of the math when it is gone over in class. Only when she comes home and then works on it with me does she seem to understand it at all. It's almost like she wasn't even in class. I think she figures it's too hard, and just zones out. - Can they be used out of order? I have a college Algebra book that I'm using to catch myself up on Algebra, but her teacher seems to have a very scattered approach to what topics he teaches. One week they are doing what I'd expect for the beginning of algebra, and the next they are on topics not touched on until the end of the book I'm using. Right now they are doing radicals and it looks like that isn't until a later Key to Algebra book. Can I skip around, or they build on one another? I'm hoping she'll want to homeschool again next year, because I feel like I still am.

When you recieve a birth announcement, do you feel like you have to send a gift? Does it appear that your fishing for presents when sending one? I'm due in a couple of weeks and thought it might be nice to send out announcements. Especially since we moved a couple years ago and friends and family are further away. I don't need any baby presents and I don't want to look greedy by sending them out. I loving receiving birth announcements, but I recently heard that some find them tacky. I've not received many myself, but I've never sent a gift as a result. Mostly because I attended the shower as well and thought it redundant to give another.

Ah, this has been my fervent hope as well! Every time I see a baby sitting in a stroller or car seat looking around, babbling, and happy, I get jealous. Mine never babbled or cooed. I adore my kids, but they were the most contrary infants. I keep hearing about these rock and plays. Maybe I'll start with that and save the crib for later if the baby seems to be transferrable. I did have luck getting my first two transferred to a swing once nursed, shushed, and swaddled.

I need some crib alternative ideas. I'm on my third baby, due in Oct., and I can't decide whether or not to buy a crib. With my first two, I rarely used the crib. I have no clue how people get a baby in the crib without them waking up and crying. After trying hundreds of times with the two of them, I think it's safe to say I lack this skill. What I did for them, was put the crib mattress on the floor next to my queen mattress that was also on the floor. Then I could nurse the baby to sleep and slide away (usually). This time around, however, I don't want to sleep on the floor. Maybe I just had bad luck with the first two and this one will sleep in the crib? I've considered attaching the crib like a side-car. But with the crib attached to the left side of the bed, what do I do when she nurses on my other side? I could put a bed rail up on the other side, but that doesn't seem the safest with a young baby. I'm all for co-sleeping, but I worry about baby sleeping in the bed when I'm not in there. How do co-sleepers handle naps? What if he wakes without me hearing and crawls or rolls over the edge? I know this all seems stupid coming from someone expecting their 3rd baby, but I really don't know how to get a baby to sleep. The ONLY way I ever got my first two to sleep was by nursing or bouncing on the birthing ball. They NEVER feel asleep on their own and spent the first year of life crying unless they were nursing. I have the babies that are never content and nobody ever asks to hold. Maybe I ought to be asking for book recommendations instead? Any books on how to transfer sleeping babies to cribs? Or how to get an awake baby to fall asleep in a crib? I won't let the baby cry, so don't recommend any that suggest it. I already read The Happiest Baby on the Block and it's the only way I survived the first year. Thanks!

I too have a sleepwalker that had opened the door in a hotel room and started walking down the hall. He's also opened the front door of house and walked out. The simplest thing we found was to install a simple hook and eye bolt high up on the door. The type that you have to slide a little metal piece over before lifting the hook (sorry I'm not describing it well). It's tricky even for adults and there's no way my son could open it. We have found the sleepwalking to be much less frequent as he has gotten older and going to bed with an empty bladder seems to help a great deal in his case.

Thank you all!! That's just the kind of thing I needed to hear! I'm so glad to hear not everyone has a terrible time adjusting.

I have a 13 year old and a 10 year old and am expecting a new baby. After talking to another mother today at the park with kids a similar age, and hearing how terrible it was to have a new baby, I need to hear some good things about starting back over with another baby at this point. When I was expecting my first two kids, I heard mostly positive comments. Now that I'm old (38) and have much older kids, I hear so much negative! Everyone feels the need to share the horrible things that happened to their friends and relatives when they had kids at my age. You'd think I was nearly in the grave. Here I was thinking it would be great to have a little one again, and everyone keeps trying to burst my bubble. Surely it can't be all bad?

Where is the best place to get a safe email account for a 12 year old? I want to make sure she doesn't get the kind of lewd spam I get?

Another option would be get a used college textbook. I don't have a specific one to recommend, but when I went to community college, I had to take the remedial class. I think it covered everything, starting from a pretty basic level. It didn't do much about my lack of elementary concepts, but it did help with later concepts.

I am right there with you! There are things in my son's 2nd and 3rd grade math that have been new to me! I don't know what I was doing during 12 + years of math education, but I obviously wasn't paying attention. I didn't even have my math facts memorized until I had to drill my dd on them. Like you, I'd be embarrassed and try to hide my inability to do simple mental calculations. I always do math lessons with my kids because a lot of it, I'm learning, too. If I sent them off to do it alone, I would get left behind. When my dd started 3rd grade, I used Strayer-Upton for her. I was sick of feeling stupid and having her come up with the answers faster than me, so I went ahead and worked through the book myself at night. Being an adult, I was able to finish up the book fairly quickly, and have learned more than I ever learned in school. When we reached the second Strayer-Upton book, I again started to work through it, but didn't finish it. I regretted that and am now working through it and then plan on starting the third book. Next, I have an algebra book on deck that I am quickly running out of time to finish before she gets there. I really love the Strayer-Upton books because they are 3 compact and inexpensive little books that cover all you need to know about arithmetic. It focuses quite a bit on mental math, and I no longer feel like a fool figuring out a tip, or how best to divide a group of kids into groups.

Is it possible to sprain your ankle after a fall, walk on it with little to no pain for several hours, and then have it begin hurting? At noon, I looked out the window and saw chicken feathers strewn across the yard. Knowing a chicken was at risk or dead, I rushed outside in slippers, slipping down the deck stairs. I got right up and began inspecting the yard. Finding no sign of the chicken, I searched the woods, feed the chickens, cleaned the coop, and took the compost out with no problems. One toe on the other foot did hurt and is bruised, but I still walked easily on it. In an attempt to cheer my son up (it was his chicken), I took the kids out shopping to 2 stores. After the drive home (25min), my ankle had stiffened up. By dinner time it hurt pretty bad, but I could walk on it. Now I can't put weight on it all. I don't understand, it's barely swollen with no bruising. Can a sprained ankle do that?

Now that's just confusing! I think our high school may have something similar, though. It's nice that it differentiates between a high A and low A, but the 4.3 thing is a little odd. Back in the old days, we only could get greater than 4.0 on honors or AP classes. It doesn't seem right to be getting 4.3 for PE or typing. It's all becoming clear now how so many kids graduate with such high GPA's. I was thinking maybe there was just an increased focus on academics. But it looks like changes in grading may have more to do with it. On television you often see funny clips where they interview students at some well-known schools, and the kids don't know who the vice-president is or some other basic facts. Now I'm catching on.

Wow, I'm surprised some of you had 10 point scales back when you went to school! I feel cheated!