I started with a seriously easy read, Carousel Tides by Sharon Lee, which I grabbed almost at random from the "Staff Picks" shelf at the library on Sunday. I'm already done, but I found it a bit disappointing. The theme and plot both had a shallowness, as if the author didn't really know where she was going. Also, the main character was fairly featureless -- the traits the author decided to feature didn't actually have any bearing on the story -- and she had some punctuational idiosyncracies (and a lie/lay deficiency) that I found distracting. Better luck to me next week! I'm also slowly working my way through Cheryl Mendelson's Home Comforts: The Art & Science of Keeping a Home, but I'm sort of chewing it one chapter at a time. Right now I'm reading about housework schedules, and the why and how of them. I really think my kids' education would benefit greatly if we actually had a housework schedule. It's a thought-provoking book, written by a professional philosopher who happens to love keeping house. Nealy mama to Thales, 12/02; Lydia, 2/06; and Odin, 12/08

Heh. Yeah, that doc is a real winner! I gained 39 the first time (at a fairly textbook rate), 9 the second time (all of which I added on between 14 and 24 weeks, though the baby seemed to grow quite normally), and 29 the third time (over half of which I acquired during the first trimester). I guess I had no real pattern to my pregnancy weight gain. Nealy

Amen to all. I have this doubt too. I have a just-turned-7, an almost-4, and a 12-months. I live in the far end of the county and I still try to take the kids to activities during the day. Between the driving and the laundry, I just have the hardest time getting it all done! I would seriously be overwhelmed right now even if I wasn't trying to teach any kids. I don't know how I'm supposed to do this. How on Earth am I going to do this when my second kid is getting daily lessons too? Some people would probably feel I should be teaching her right now already. She asks for "school" all the time, but I rarely get to her because I'm so challenged by getting everything done with her brother's schoolwork. Aaaaaaaa!!! Nealy

Hi, ladies! I'm in the gray and drizzly Northwest (about half an hour east of Seattle, actually), and it looks like there's a better-than-average chance we'll be moving to Austin within the next year, for several reasons. Does anyone have any advice on... really anything about living and homeschooling in Austin? If we do this, we're going to have to find a whole new set of friends for the kids. I haven't done a co-op up here, because I haven't found it necessary, but maybe that would help them make some friends. Any suggestions for good co-ops? I don't mind a Christian-oriented one, but it would need to be one that doesn't require a statement of faith, because we're not Christian ourselves. And who among you has opinions about the different neighborhoods within Austin itself? I'm open to suggestions. Thanks! Nealy mama to Thales (12/02), 1st grade; Lydia (2/06), pre-K; and Odin (12/08), toddlebeast

Actually, infants (and, indeed, anyone) can develop a temporary lactose intolerance secondary to a lower-digestive infection or, more commonly, infant milk-protein intolerance. (This happened to my second baby. It was wretched and miserable for all of us.) The lactase-producing structures in the lining of the gut can easily be stripped by those and other unpleasantnesses, and as a result, the person can't digest lactose well until their gut heals. More permanent forms of lactose intolerance in infants are indeed very rare, because they aren't really compatible with life, and have thus been selected against for our entire evolution. Nealy mama to Thales, 6; Lydia, 3; and Odin, 10 months

Maybe I'm a fool for jumping into a thread of this sort, but it seems to me that a primary reason for wearing low necklines is that they're slimming. The downward plunge of the v or the scoop or the unbuttoned top button or two draws the eye downward, visually lengthening the silhouette. Also, covering the breasts entirely makes them look bigger than they are, because their line is unbroken. For busty women, that's not a desirable thing. As to the OP's implied question, though, there are always going to be people who dress or behave inappropriately for the context in which they find themselves. They are socially inept and/or their goals differ from yours. Nealy mama to Thales, 6; Lydia, 3; and Odin, 9 months

It takes a lot of repetition. When I catch my kid guessing at a word (and at 6 1/2, he'll still do it sometimes, especially when his little sister is at the table distracting him), I just say, "Look at the word. Sound it out. Don't guess. Read it!" I'm sure he's so tired of hearing me say some subset of those four admonitions, but it's the only way I know of to train their eyes and brain to do what they need to to make reading happen. Keep fighting the good fight! Nealy mama to Thales, 6; Lydia, 3; and Odin, 12/12/08

Jump right in! She'll love it. I've been reading the series to my 6 1/2-year-old boy and 3 1/2-year-old girl, and they love it! They can easily follow it and answer questions about it. I'm sure yours will love it too. :) Nealy mama to Thales, 6 1/2; Lydia, 3 1/2; and Odin, 8 months

Yes, and I will have to admit that I actually started my son's first-grade year by (really uncharacteristically for me -- I'm not terrifically emotional) bursting into melodramatic tears, sobbing loudly, and begging my husband to just let me send the boy to the completely inadequate public school. :glare: He provoked me. Seriously. I suppose the school year can't go downhill much from there. In fact, the day has gotten much better so far. Nealy mama to Thales, 6; Lydia, 3; and Odin, 8 months

I've got a kid who's about halfway through the OPGTTR right now, and I think he needs some more review exercises. Right now I'm constantly making up new phonics games to help him, but it would be really convenient if there were some workbooks or something that I could use to drill him on the stuff we're working on. Any suggestions? Thanks! Nealy

There are some films, however, that have improved on the books on which they were based. I thought the movie Last of the Mohicans (1992-ish, with Daniel Day-Lewis) was actually better than the book. I'll admit that the score may have had a lot to do with my perception, but the script, leaving out a lot of the author's commentary on the situation, worked a good deal better, in my eyes. Parts of The Princess Bride (the scenes in the Pit of Despair, for instance, and the charming interplay between Fred Savage and Peter Falk)were better than the corresponding part of the book. On the whole, the movie is less wandering and incoherent, though the scriptwriter did have to leave out some very witty bits. I'm ashamed to admit I've both read the book and watched the movie Twilight. The book was a hideous caricature of a novel. Weak, dull characters who stand for nothing; pathetically amateurish plotting with "twists" you can see from miles away; a vague, quotidian setting that does nothing special for the torrid-vampire-novel genre. As much as I disliked the novel, however, I thought the scriptwriter for the movie fixed a lot of the story's problems. I'm not urging anyone to run out and rent it; it's nothing out of the ordinary, but it's far less incompetently written than the novel on which it's based. Nealy Mama to 2 little-bitties and one schooligan.

Ballerina flats are nice with sundresses. Also non-flip-flop sandals. Everyone wears gladiators now; those are nice for classical educators. :-) Nealy

The main thing I've been doing that I got from going to the Wmsburg conference is in reading -- my oldest is still finishing up the OPGTTR. JW said not to stress about reading comprehension while teaching reading, and to focus instead on listening comprehension. This had previously been a source of major stress to my little boy. I'd make him sound out a sentence, and he'd get derailed in the middle when he found a word that was a homonym or was new to him or something, and I had been insisting that he show me, no matter how many times it took, that he understood what he was reading. He already whines less when I say, "Time for your reading lesson!" And, paradoxically, his reading comprehension has already improved now that I've eased up on it. Also, we've been having him hold his questions about words in what he's reading until he's finished reading a sentence, and he's gotten derailed a lot less as a result. I've been afraid to implement the afternoon rest-time, because I have a 5-month-old baby, and I'm pretty sure if I do this I'll nurse the baby to sleep, and in the process I'll fall asleep too. Then, in my dystopic vision of this afternoon ritual, my big kids, unaccustomed to self-imposed captivity, run rampant through the house, wreaking havoc where they will, taking full advantage of my exhausted unconsciousness, and I awake to an expensive plumbing disaster and bleeding, chocolate-syrup-covered kids. Maybe we should start with half an hour, and I should set an alarm. :tongue_smilie: Seriously, though, has anyone who wasn't doing the rest time at all tried implementing it? How did it go? Edited to add that I've also started whacking my son with any book I have to find for him. Very satisfying! It makes him laugh and lowers my stress level considerably. Thanks, SWB! Nealy mama to kindergarten T :biggrinjester: preschool L :willy_nilly:and baby O :drool5:

Yep. We had a great conversation! (I got the impression your MIL helps with the teaching. How cool is that?) Nealy

Yep! That was me. :) Getting to meet so many people who put so much thought into their kids' education was a wonderful experience. I'm really hoping they'll put on another conference soon. And you should have asked to hold the baby! I'm happy to share the 4-month-old love. :D Nealy mama to T, 12/9/02 L, 2/26/06 O, 12/12/08

I wasn't sure the conference was going to be worth it for me, as a just-starting out homeschooler with my oldest only in kindergarten, but it was worth every penny. What's more, I flew in from Seattle, so it was a fair number of pennies! I was able to corner Mrs. Wise at one point and ask her my questions about teaching reading, and she answered them very helpfully. In the week I've been back, my son has already been much happier about his reading lesson because I've been implementing her suggestions. Before the conference, I felt his learning progress was slowing down; now I see him picking up momentum again. I was able to meet many other practitioners of classical education, which was more valuable to me than I would have thought. My oldest son's name is Thales (as in Thales of Miletus), and in talking about him with some homeschooling mamas there I didn't have to explain his name to blank stares, for once! Even though I'm a long way from any progress in this department, because my children are still so young, I got a lot out of SWB's talk on teaching independent learning. I'm a bit of a reluctant homeschooler -- I would prefer to be working on my writing -- so that gave me hope that one day I'll have more time for my own work than I do now. Having read this thread, I'm now very sad that I missed SWB's final session. It sounds as if it was very valuable and inspirational. My baby was getting irritable at that point, so I had to take him upstairs to our room for a nap, since he wasn't able to be quiet any more. (For those who were there, I was the one who had the little bald baby boy who was often falling asleep on the floor at the back of the auditorium. I'm really glad I brought him with me, because his over-the-top friendliness helped me to meet so many interesting people!) If this conference were to happen again, we would shell out to bring my husband and older kids too. I know they'd enjoy both the conference and the town of Williamsburg. Nealy mama to Thales, 12/9/02 Lydia, 2/26/06 Odin, 12/12/08

My husband gave me an iPhone for Christmas a couple of years ago and it's my favorite toy! I have the smallest data plan available in my area. It's $60-ish a month. Nealy mama to Thales, 6; Lydia, almost 3; and Odin, 2 months

My DH is a competitive swimmer and has studied this issue pretty carefully. He eats an ounce or two of cheese before leaving to work out in the morning (because it keeps his blood sugar from crashing better than something more carb-intensive), and then has something with both carb and protein right after, like a Fiber One bar. He's a really speedy swimmer, so I guess it works for him. Nealy mama to Thales, 6 (kindergarten work); Lydia, almost 3 (co-op preschool); and Odin, 2 months

Ditto to what everyone said. I had these during a severe bout of postpartum anxiety about three years ago, and I got it checked out pretty thoroughly, and the cardiologist said it was not a sign of anything bad. I find mild exercise helps a bit with them. I understand it is possible for those to be a sign of something bad, but they can tell pretty easily with a few simple tests. Most of the time it's just hormonal, it seems. Nealy

Unfortunately, there was no option for "Yes. Now! Gimmegimmegimme," so I had to just mark "Yes." Nealy

Thanks, y'all! I tried the trick with practicing initial sounds with short vowels, and it seemed to do some good. It helps me to know that other kids have grown out of this, too. I don't remember learning to read, so I have no idea how long I did it. We do have the first three sets of Bob books, and he does the stuttering sounding-out thing when he reads those, too, but he does it with a bigger grin on his face. :tongue_smilie: I find he's happier with doing the reading drill from OPGTTR if I have him illustrate the story from the lesson when he's done. Also, it motivates him to work at reading comprehension. Nealy mama to Thales, recently 6; Lydia, almost 3; and Odin, almost 2 months

Hi, all! I'm using The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading with my oldest kid, who just turned six. He's in the unit on long vowels now. This is my first experience teaching reading, and I have a couple of questions. I hope all you experienced homeschooling mamas can help me! First, he seems almost completely addicted to that stuttering way they read at first ("c -- aaaa -- t.") When I have him read aloud, he'll always sound out the word that way first, unless a) he's just read the word in a previous sentence, or b) it's a sight word. I suspect it's a habit for him and he doesn't need to do it anymore, at least for short-vowel words. How on earth do I train him to move on to more fluent reading, without encouraging him to cut corners and guess rather than actually examining the entire word? Second, I have a hard time keeping him looking at the page. He keeps looking up at me, even in mid-sentence, for reassurance. (Or looking at his noisy little sister, or leaning over and poking the baby on my lap, or some other similar way of losing focus.) This distracts him and weakens his reading comprehension. Any advice? Nealy mama to Thales, 12/9/02, in kindergarten; Lydia, 2/26/06, in preschool co-op; and Odin, 12/12/08, in a babywearing device of some sort

With that in mind, consider this blog entry concerning the art of the Facebook status update: http://www.good.is/?p=15011 For the record, I always cleave to the third person in my Facebook status. Since it begins with my name, I feel it's awkward and unclear to use the first person. As a Latin teacher, I can rarely bring myself to willfully violate subject-verb agreement rules. Nealy mama to Thales, 6; Lydia, almost 3; and Odin, 7 weeks

Wow -- I guess it would be smart to start thinking about this soon! I have a six-week-old baby, though, and have been distracted lately. I guess I've got a while, though -- my oldest is doing kindergarten work, by which I mean The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Reading, and he's only a little past halfway through, so there's not a huge rush for me to assemble first-grade materials. Nealy Mama to Thales, 6; Lydia, almost 3; and Odin, 6 weeks.

Vettech -- Are you wanting the number to go up or down? :lol: I have three, and am sincerely hoping we're done. We were done after two, but the universe had other plans for us. This time, I'm really hoping the universe doesn't need to supply us with any more surprises. I'm really pleased with my three, though! (I have a recently-6, and almost-3, and a 6 weeks.) Nealy