I bought mine used from a friend. I did need the activation code. I believe that my friend had to call Rosetta Stone and deactivate it from her computer first before I could use the same code on my computer.

Thanks again for all of your kind words and ideals. My husband and I have already started to implement a reward system. We really are trying to focus on her good behavior. She can be so good, and then one little thing will set her off and she is a completely different kid. It's really tough, but I know it will take a lot of love, time, and patience. I'm learning that I need to take things one tiny step at a time. That's much easier said than done.

Thank you all for your responses. I definitely plan to add more structure and time together. I'm really hoping that we will get into a groove now that it's been a month since the girls came. I also know that I need to make sure she is getting a healthy diet. I have not been good about my family eating well lately either. The book suggestions were great. Both my husband and I like the looks of Transforming Your Difficult Child. That one will be purchased tomorrow.

I am having such a difficult time with my 4 year old dd lately. She has a history of being stubborn and throwing tantrums, but now it's just out of control. I think I understand why she's acting out, but I just don't know how to handle her. To help you all understand this more I need to back up and share what's happening in our family. My nieces were taken from my sister by DCF and my husband and I offered to take them in. We have had them for just about 5 weeks now. All of our lives have been completely turned upside down. It's hard for me to get through the day at times, so I can only imagine that it's hard and confusing for my dd. We went from being a family of 5 to a family of 7 in such a short time. My oldest niece is very close in age, and her and dd fight constantly over everything! My youngest niece is almost 3 months old and gets a lot of my attention for feedings, changings, etc. We have DCF over the house a lot and are constantly busy with doctor appointments for the girls now. To say that things are crazy right now would be an understatement. All I can seem to do is just cry about this. I don't know how to reason with a 4 year old. I don't know what to do to stop these tantrums. I feel like I'm always second guessing my ability to handle dd because DCF is involved in our lives, and I don't want to do anything that would make them think we aren't good parents. I also sometimes wonder if we made the right choice. I love my nieces and want to help them, but I'm scared that this is going to cause permanent issues in our kids' lives. Ok, so now that you know the story, what can I do to help my dd and not lose my sanity? How can I help a stubborn child who has a lot to deal with? I'm open to any suggestions. I would also love if you all could pray for our family during this time. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Have you looked at these? My kids love them. http://www.knowitall.org/instantreplay/content/LanguageIndex.cfm

Here are a couple of other sites too. http://www.hwtears.com/hwt/online-tools/APLUS It looks like you need to have an account, but it says it's free. http://www.worksheetworks.com/english/writing/handwriting.html Hope one of these will help. Maureen

Would this be something that works? http://www.zaner-bloser.com/zaner-bloser-handwriting/zaner-bloser-handwriting-zb-fontsonline You can change the font and the grade levels. Maureen

We do not live too far from each other. My husband's father and grandfather were members of this club for a long time too.

I actually have a classroom on the 2nd floor now, but I have been rethinking that for pretty much all the same reasons you posted as cons. I do like the ideal of a classroom that is seperate from our everyday living area, but then I find that we always end up doing our school work in the living areas anyway. What if you kept all of their school books, games, supplies organized in their playroom, and then had them do school downstairs with you during the day. When they are done with all of there work, they can put all of their school stuff away. You could also do art/crafts, educational games, etc. throughout the day in the playroom when you have time to devout to just being upstairs. Just a thought.

I am not sure if they would be up for subtitles, but I just watched Life is Beautiful. It was amazing! It takes place in Italy(the movie is in Italian)during the time of Nazi control. The love story between the main character and the women he eventually marries is a beautiful story. The love that this man has for his son is incredible! This man uses his gift of humor to protect his son from all that is going on around them. I think it would do a good job of covering both requirements. Here is a link so you can see more. I can not even begin to give this movie justice. Hope this helps. :001_smile: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118799/

Just wanted to agree with the posts about Jim Weiss, and also say that if you have a Rhapsody account, you can listen to quite a bit of his CD's. I believe that there are several from the Ancients time period. You could also check out Librivox too.

They said that they would eventually come out with more if there were enough people interested in the ones they already have out.

My son used to slam his head into walls and floors all the time when he was younger. I have so many nice pictures that I took of my kids, and there he is with his bruises on his forehead. He was just a miserable child until he started walking and talking. I mean literally from the day he was born until about the age of 3 he was terrible. He has always been a passionate kid, and because he couldn't express himself, he would hurt himself. He will be 7 in a couple of months, and he is a very active, normal boy. To this day he is just as passionate, but it comes out in much more positive ways. :001_smile:

We use them as a family read aloud. We just discuss what we read after we are done. If they come across an experiment they like, they can do it themselves or with my husband. I definitely do not make a fuss about it. We just enjoy it as a great resource on that particular subject. Maureen

Simply Charlotte Mason has a great list of living science books too. Here's the link. http://simplycharlottemason.com/planning/scmguide/science/