I'm a light sleeper too, but I never know what time it is when I wake up. The alarm clock is across the room, and I can't read it without standing up and putting on my glasses. (So I usually don't.) I wish I had your ability!

How on earth do you do that? I don't doubt you; I know others who do the same. It just doesn't make any sense at all to me. When I'm asleep I don't have any awareness of the time (when I'm awake it's not much better LOL), nor do I have control over waking myself up.

Interesting to see how you divided NEM! I thought about doing that, but so far we've followed the integrated sequence. Did you run into any problems by skipping around? DS did Miquon and Singapore through PM6. Then we moved straight into NEM. I don't have a complete plan, but I really like NEM so I have no intentions of changing right now. We supplement with contest problems.

This is an animated map showing the changes over time It's fascinating to watch! Non Native American Nations Territorial Claims over NAFTA Countries

I don't think it's weird or unhealthy for an 8yo to be interested in the idea of crushes or be trying to figure them out. Some kids are, some aren't. He clearly doesn't get it all yet. So I would tolerate lots of conversations *at home* about what's a crush, what isn't a crush, etc. Where he's going wrong is telling these stories to other people. That's an invasion of privacy. Don't overthink it because of the romance connection. It's not wrong to have a crush (though I wouldn't encourage it), but that doesn't mean we talk about other people's. Just like it wouldn't be right to talk about your sibling's reading level or super hero underwear or special family nickname. Other people have the right to tell their own stories if and when they want to. That's an important lesson for any number of situations. "Outing" someone, whatever the circumstance, robs them of their dignity. That's not how we treat people we care about.

I don't remember exactly when my ds got that concept, but I'm fairly certain it was not at age two. I know he first went through a stage where he understood 1 and 2, but anything larger was "much". "How many strawberries are there?" "Much." I had almost forgotten about that. :)

No, I never have, but I loved reading the journal entries interspersed in Rebecca Rupp's The Complete Home Learning Source Book. I always planned to do something similar, but never have yet!

Anyone else shocked when you do the math and find that the first Harry Potter book came out fifteen years ago?! I didn't hear of them until a couple of years later, though, and read the first couple while pregnant with ds. I like everything else on your list, so I'm definitely going to look for this one, which I haven't heard of before.

We lock our doors when we leave and when we go to bed at night but not when we're at home during the day. Kids want to play outside and come back in, you know? I want to go get the mail without taking my key. It might sometimes be locked when we're home during the day, but I don't make a point of it. I live in a small town now, but we did the same when we lived in Minneapolis.

Same here. I don't defrost dinner -- I cook it. Or slap it together, depending on the day. :lol:

"Bake" doesn't end in a d or t sound.

We have hoppin' john every New Year's, but ours is not very authentic. It's vegetarian (no ham) and we put sour cream and cheese on top. We also serve greens separately, usually kale or collards, depending on what looks good at the store. I also make spoonbread to go with it. It's one of my ds' favorite meals!

We make sushi every year for New Year's Eve, so we're in the midst of planning for this year. We mostly do nori rolls and inari. We haven't ventured into preparing raw fish sushi yet. My dh is in charge, so I just show up to eat and enjoy!

Certainly not. Just noting that a cow, sacred or otherwise, can trample a garden, you know? :lol: Of course people might be offended if you call them on their sacred cows. That doesn't make the term inherently offensive, though.

Yes, exactly. Not being very familiar with Hindu culture, I cannot say whether the origin of this phrase is based in accuracy. The idea, however, is that the literal sacred cow is allowed to run rampant over the countryside. No one may touch it or push it out of the way or, most importantly, criticize or punish it when it destroys property and causes inconvenience to others. The cow itself is beyond reproach. When we call an idea a sacred cow, we are comparing the idea itself to a literal sacred cow. That idea or story or belief is allowed to run rampant over the landscape of everything else. No matter how inconvenient or damaging or in the wrong that idea may become, it is allowed to continue unchecked. A figurative sacred cow is allowed to roam unchallenged. It's a very apt and colorful metaphor, in my view.

Try Thornton Burgess. Very gentle animal stories.

:iagree: So glad to see someone else who feels this way. I find it astonishing how many people find it acceptable to comment on what a child eats when they would never make such comments to an adult. "Aren't you going to drink your milk?" "You didn't eat any strawberries!" Etc. Irritating, especially when you're trying to teach your child that analogous comments like "Grandma, you ate a LOT of cake" are rude. My rule of thumb, unless you're talking about a parent and child: it's rude to comment on what anyone else eats or doesn't eat. Of course, that has nothing to do with the OP's question about talking to her own dd. It just reminded me of situations that we've encountered.

We do one present on Christmas Eve. It's usually something warm and cozy. Often pajamas. This year, ds has enough warm pjs already, so he's getting a bathrobe.

It looks like mine was $9.18. That was for printing and binding two volumes, but now I'm wondering if they forgot to charge me for something because that seems kind of low! But the receipt says $9.18. I had mine done at Staples.

I got the pdfs. I had the student book printed and spiral bound in two volumes. I think it's divided at Week 16 or so. They didn't have a spiral large enough to do it in one volume, but I like having it a little less unwieldy anyway. I'm not printing the teacher book at this time. So far it's working fine to read it on the computer, so I'll see how that goes.

My mom always put in beer. Cooking it long enough is important too. Last month I made the best chili I've ever had with some leftover smoked brisket. It was to die for, but smoked brisket isn't something we'll have on hand very often!

This sounds good. Does it have a name? What are the package sizes of the spinach and cottage cheese?

I'm glad to see someone else recommend these! I didn't see your post before I replied, but I agree. These are wonderful books.

Is he 9 this year or next? We're reading Mara right now, and it's a little more mature than some of the others. Romantic love is an important theme. My 11yo ds is really enjoying it, but he likes almost everything. I would compare it to Witch of Blackbird Pond in terms of maturity and difficulty level. Hittite Warrior, Golden Goblet, and God King are all really good. I had ds read those on his own. We also really enjoyed reading the story of Gilgamesh. There are a number of re-tellings and translations. We liked these stories by Ludmila Zeman Gilgamesh the King The Revenge of Ishtar The Last Quest of Gilgamesh Goodness, that last one is expensive! I got them through ILL at the library. They are picture books, but not too young at all. Lovely illustrations and a great retelling.