My daughter has a BFF. They are dance friends and are both very passionate, not only of dance but just happen to have that type of personality. Her mother and I found that they were good influences on each other, my daughter helping her friend to "live a little" and her friend helping my daughter " take things a little more seriously", so we fostered the friendship, encouraging play dates, et al. 9 months later we moved 2 hours away and they call each other about 3xs a month, write letters to each other and we have made at least 1 trip a month to see her. In grammar school I had a BFF (2 actually) and she and we grew apart in college and didn't see each other for several years. We reconnected in adulthood and we are now BFFs again. We talk multiple times a week even though we live hours away. My son on the other hand does not have a BFF and it bothers him. I keep looking for that right connection for him because I strongly feel that having that one person in your life who is outside of family, that likes you just who you are, is important. They don't have to have 100% the same interests but just enjoy spending time with each other and meeting the other where they are it. I know having a friend like this is helping my daughter expand her horizons. My daughter is math, her friend is language arts, so my daughter spends time listening to her friend about books while her friends listen to dd talk about her latest math problem. I think it has helped both of them grow and perhaps opened the other to try something they might not have otherwise tried. It's funny because other than dance, and both being pretty bright, they are very different. Dd is leaning towards atheism, her friend is staunchly catholic; we homeschool, she goes to private schools; we are loose with our schooling and discipline, her family and school life is strict and structured. Yet, somehow they have learned some sort of middle ground. I would say get the girls together. Perhaps they can build a friendship that develops into that life long respect and love for each other. The friendship my daughter has wasn't overnight. It was definitely fostered.

I would definitely take a look at food allergy issues before attempting any form of sleep training. Does baby come fully awake? If she's always been up like that, I'd highly recommend playing with food first. My son, who did not nurse due to medical issues, was up every four or so hours. Once we eliminated the dairy issue, he was sleeping through the night. Even now at 11, if he has too much milk in a week, he'll have trouble sleeping. If he doesn't have milk, he sleeps 11 hours straight.

Right now. When hubby and son have left for the day, the animals are still sleeping and the daughter hasn't woken yet. Once she's up, she doesn't stop until she's down for the count. Se even talks to the cat while reading to herself. I can't figure out how she does it.

I would also start at Town in your situation if you want to keep the, together.

I say it like your son too.

I don't know why it changed or the benefits of the first but I can tell you that the repeat three times, have child repeat than write builds working memory. That memory that helps you hold one thing while you work on a coordinating piece such as when you are remembering to hold a multiplication fact in your head while you are doing long division, or the ability to remember multiple tasks to do.

I guess we can hope that will all this dancing, that they get a scholarship for all their trouble.

Thank you for this. I had to pull out my HIG from last year to work through DS math problems tonight. They are using Math in Focus and had a dozen word problems to do. I couldn't remember how to do them and I know I'm not teaching it well. I'll have to go through these links with him this weekend before his big test next week. We both just need a refresher.

I feel ya on the money issue. Thursday I have to pluck down money for the three costumes. Then next week its the competition fees. Thankfully, the costume for the duet isn't running too expensive. Yay. :P

He's a party boy and a Bon Bon. It's only his second year in ballet and last year was a rec program. Yes, it is a special friendship but also she was unhappy with her parts. She was really hoping to be an angel. When she got the two roles she didn't want, and some of the rehearsals were butting up against her dance class times at her other school AND her bestie was going to be in the nutcracker at the same time, she decided the odds were stacked against. Your son is the prince at 9? That's really neat. I think our prince and Clara are much older.

Erika, that's wonderful! Hope they both enjoy it. My daughter officially declined her parts in the Nutcracker. Makes me sad cuz I think she'll end up regretting it someday however, her BFF will be in the nutcracker the same weekend as the one she would have been in and she would rather go see her friend than play a mouse or Bon Bon. Oh well. At least I have one in it. Rehearsals start in a couple weeks but I think he doesn't have to rehearse until Nov.

I have not used the LoE Foundations, which is what he would be using, most likely. He is still pretty young so don't stress too much. Take some time and observe him. When he's learning, does he sit back and listen, does he watch, does he jump right in to "do it"? That will help you figure out what will work. :)

Have you considered Khan Academy? It's videos and go at your own pace. My kids love it.

Chicago and many of the surrounding suburbs will have what you are looking for. My daughter dances and when we lived out there, there were plenty of options, in the city and outside the city. The city has orchestra concerts, even free ones in the park in the summer. Lots of theater and several performances of Nutcracker all over. Plenty of organic, both in regular stores and at farmer's market. Lots of museums with homeschool specific field trip/classes offered. Lots of active homeschooling co-ops and field trip groups. You don't have to file as anything in IL. Only requirement is that you keep attendance and teach the standard classes, but noone to report too. Any idea what city your husband would end up in? That would help narrow things down.

We have not used BW so I can't compare the two. How old are your kids and what is their learning styles?

We have LoE. I'm glad I have it now and not when my kids were little. Way too much writing. I love the games though and would buy those off the bat. If your kids are into card games, I'd recommend the games of LoE.

My son has a similar issue. We get so frustrated. He is in ps, partly because I was constantly getting frustrated with the no stick issue. He needs constant repetition, constant reteaching and appropriate curriculum. We use AAS and LoE. The school is doing Wilson. That's just for spelling. For math, I reteach everything the school is doing (they use math in focus). We spend 2 hours after school doing homework, reteaching and after schooling. We spend at least two hours a day on weekends and holidays reviewing, reteaching and practicing concepts. It is very hard but he is learning, just takes more work than most. It's frustrating. When we were homeschooling we just took things at a slower pace.

No, just in general. Maybe google "alternative psychology" or "wellness psychology". Or something like that. They might have wording I their websites that you like. I know a lot of "wellness centers" have therapists on staff that are more alternative in their views and practices. Pick a big city like Chicago or San Francisco or Seattle that might have more alternative therapists.

It would be a dealbreaker for me because if hubby started using, there would have to be a huge underlying cause. By dealbreaker I mean separation for the safety of the children. Again, not because cannibus in itself is bad but because if my hubby started using, it would be completely out of character and indicative of bigger problems.

My practice works with (or has experience with) families (people) from all walks of life? Work with all kinds of situations from traditional families to those in unique family situations? Why not just list examples of issues you can address? Have you looked at websites of other therapists that might do what you will be offering?

I started it with my 4th grader but we hadn't really done a lot of grammar prior. A bit here and there. We are loving it and she always has me retread the stories over and over ( or she reads them out loud).

We keep only healthy snacks in our house and they can eat as much or as little. So their snacks are not cookies, chips, etc. their snacks are plain apples, grapes, oranges, carrot sticks, fresh broccoli, etc. Our meals consist of very little white starchy foods. I usually make enough for one serving of it for each of us but they can have unlimited veggies. Stopping before you are actually full is a good skill to have actually. It takes 20 minutes from bite to feel you are full and we should all eat that conscientiously. I wouldn't worry about cutting calories but about providing good, healthy eating habits. My son is 11, with health issues, and barely at the 2% line. But our doc said, someone has to be at the 2% otherwise the 2% would be zero. Made me wonder if docs pushing the bottom of the scale to eat more is what is causing the American weight to drift up. Anyway, we feed him a variety of healthy foods and he eats until he is full. He's healthy, and growing. Don't worry so much about how much but about. Now, if your tiny twin has dietary issues, can you see a nutritionist? Have you ruled out food allergies? Is he on the weight/height scale? Or just low on it? Does tiny run in the family? Both my kids have always been slim and looking at family history you can see why. I was barely on the graphs myself. Perhaps tiny twin is just tiny or perhaps there is an underlying medical reason or the doc may be off the mark. As comparison, my 11 y o is 58 inches and 60 lbs. A year ago ( at age 9/10) he was 54 inches and 54 lbs. He hit a growth spurt and grew, grew, grew.

We eat three meals. Ds takes a snack to school and he has a snack after school. He seems to have hit the stage of the hollow leg though and is eat more and more often. We have open kitchen and they can snack as they please but that is typical.

I would do math games, flash cards lying around and cook with her whenever possible but wouldn't stress. And living math books. I would read, have audio books, and make sure to do library whenever possible. I would have the older kids read to each other or to the baby. I would have art stuff available. Crayons, markers, glue, paper, playdoh, rice bin, water/sand table, whatever. I would contain this to one room I didn't have to look at. I would have legos, maybe the new goldiblox game, puzzles and other engineering, puzzly type activities. And I would enjoy that year with a newborn and two little ones. They are only that young once and she will be fine.

I guess I didn't mean that you were more committed to the child...I think I meant that if your boy dances that it's a big deal. But many little girls dance just for fun so until they are "serious", it's not as big of a deal, maybe? I have a girl and a boy and when my boy started dancing, I knew it was a big deal. It was a big deal for him to decide to do this against everyone. He was only one of two boys in the entire park district and the other boy was a dance teacher's son! With my daughter, until she made serious time in dance, it was just another activity for her. I guess that's just what I meant. I mean, when she was 3 I was all like...oh, that's cute. It wasn't until the year she was in company that I was all like "I'm a dance mom". KWIM? I don't think this is coming out right. If I offend, just ignore. LOL