:lurk5:

:iagree: and I am a huge Obama supporter. I don't see what he's done to merit this *yet*.

This is a very familiar story. Organizing homeschoolers can be so stressful. I hate the wishy-washyness, when families express interest in a class or activity all the way up to the final commitment, and the bail, leaving the organizer with spots to fill. Don't own the lab partner thing. Let the teacher handle it, it is part of her job. :grouphug:

tex mex is very wise. Your daughter sounds like a textbook case of a profoundly gifted child. Got to hoagiesgifted.com and do some reading about gifted children and social skills. Your daughter probably has an entirely different way of thinking than other girls her age. As long as she is happy and has friends on her own terms, I would not worry about it. My experience with ps in relation to my gifted children was that they really did not know how to handle them or what to expect. :grouphug:

After I explain the concept, DS10 and DD7 are expected to do their problem sets on their own. (To clarify, they are in separate levels in Singapore Math, so they are working separately). I don't sit with them or anything, but I am available for questions. Does that help?

:grouphug:

These are all great! Thank you!!!

Does anyone have a cute trick to help DD remember which lower case letter is which? TIA!

I am in WA and I've never had to show proof of anything - not my own college transcripts or teaching certificates, not my kids' tests scores, nothing. I file a DOI and the only one s who ever ask for it are stores that will give a discount.

I hope you have a great time tomorrow! 5Ks are my favorite distance for sure.

It sounds like all of your kids are in the same pe class. Can you explain how that works, and how many other kids are in there? That is a very large age, size, and skill range. That kind of sets up a crazy situation, imho. My oldest DS had trouble in homeschool pe last year because he felt a little too comfortable opting out if he wasn't interested in what the teacher had planned. I had to speak frankly with him that when he takes a class, he participates in what the teacher has organized regardless of how he personally feels about that activity in that moment. He needs to stay positive and do his best. Obviously a hurt child is a different matter, but otherwise the kids in the class should be making an attempt to follow the teacher's directions along with the other kids. I think if I were you I'd observe the next pe class and see what is going on. I'm glad you have already e-mailed the teacher.

Fast Forward is great! I have also been watching The Good Wife, but I find it hard to suspend disbelief.

Arrggh. I hate it when a piece of curriculum requires a craft/experiment that is never going to work as intended. 7yo DD and I just made an anemometer out of a paper plate, screwdriver, and 4 plastic cups. The thing is so rickety that it is never going to measure wind speed, yet we're supposed to track it and chart it for a week and of course DD is all for it. Arrgh. It was a pain to make and now we'll be revisiting the pain every day when it won't revolve properly. Sigh.

I buy at j jill too.

:grouphug: I have not been in your particular situation, BUT, when my mom lived with us, her dementia caused delusions. She believed that I wasn't feeding my baby and she tried to sneak the baby chunks of food. She tried to slip my 5 month old baby chunks of cheddar cheese and bananas. The baby could have choked to death. We had to move my mom as soon as possible. It took several weeks of constant supervision before we found the right place, and it was traumatic, but the baby is a happy, healthy 7yo now. In her right mind, my mother would have told me to do exactly what I did. I think you need to move out your BIL. His disease is unmanageable at this point and your innocent children, you, or Dh could be hurt. Do it NOW before anything terrible happens. Your gut is telling you he is unsafe or you would not have posted what you did. Go with your gut. He may be institutionalized, and that is sad, but not as sad as your child getting hurt. What a terrible disease. I applaud your care and support of him and send you strength.

Heck yes, all my kids do/did preschool. If my 4yo did not go to preschool we would get a lot less done.

We live in WA. Although we have a testing requirement, there are many ways to fulfill it and I have not heard of anyone who was actually asked for the scores. I BEG you to do some research into what resources are available to kids with LD, including which community colleges have programs. That will end up being more important to your child, not avoiding testing reqs.

The Warriors (a series about cats in the wild; not classic, but very engaging, and my son read them at your son's age)

I do believe that sight words have a place. Many very common words do not sound like they look to a very early reader, but are critical for understanding - words like "the", "you", "was" etc, really can't be sounded out. I believe in memorizing these type of words. That way, the child can focus on sounding out the words with easily applicable phonic rules. It makes the early phase of acquisition of reading skills a lot easier, in my experience. I am a true believer in a thorough knowledge of phonics, btw.

I always ask my same-grade ps friends what their kids are working on. We are always ahead of ps, but it's interesting to hear what is prioritized in ps. Yesterday I learned that our neighborhood school does science once every other week in 2nd grade. We are doing it at least twice a week. I know they don't have time as they are mandated to do an hour of reading and an hour of math everyday. Add in writing, computers, library, pe or music, recess, and lunch and there is your whole day.

Also, I get very jealous of people who have a lot of family to help them and don't understand the gift that it is.

First, Mariann, I just wanted to say how sorry I am about your water disaster. I can't imagine walking into that. My parents are now dead, my sisters live thousands of miles away. One of my sisters has come out a few times when we had a crisis with my mother (who had Alzheimer's) and she helped with my kids as well as my mom. My inlaws have not come out to help, even the time we specifically asked them to come to help when I was going to have a C-section. It's part of this weird thing they do, pretending nothing bad ever happens. They came a month afterward to see the baby, though. We rely on our friends quite a bit. Chosen relationships can be far more powerful than blood ones.

Congratulations! I find running races very motivating. I'm no expert, but I usually give myself at least 2 days off before a race. Good luck!

I'd go to Disney. What good will the test do her if she's not going to do well anyway? You can do practice tests for the SAT/ACT or whatever another time.

Elizabeth Edwards and Jenny Sanford seem to be doing an amazing job handling these weak and damaged men that they are married to. We can't know what their private situation is, but if I were Elizabeth Edwards, I would keep doing whatever would be best for my kids long-term. I would try to teach those children grace, maturity, and strength of character, because they will need those attributes when dealing with their father for the rest of their lives. I would not acknowledge any marriage intentions for the future, since it may never come to pass anyway. I wish Elizabeth could acknowledge the baby and let this innocent child meet her siblings and father, but I can't judge her on her position knowing all the other grief she is dealing with. Thank God the child is too young to know what she is missing right now. Could John Edwards and Rielle Hunter have any kind of public relationship even after Elizabeth is gone? I would think they would be absolutely reviled.