Not that I am aware of. If you're talking about the elementary series, I just used them as read-aloud books and edited on the fly.

:grouphug: :grouphug:

I took a look at your blog, I like the candid way you write. I'll pass along the link. Thanks! I do my best to commiserate, but I'm in a different phase of life now. I try to tell her things get better in time. Children grow, they learn to play together and don't demand mom's attention all the time. I never had two as close as she does, though. And I'm a naturally cheerful, easy-going person so wasn't dealing with the "I'm going out of my mind" anxiety she's faced with.

Their budget is stretched already. She has a church but she is new in the area and doesn't feel comfortable asking for help. I did wonder if she could find a MOPS group--at least to make some friends. I've never been involved with MOPS--would there be a chance for her to visit with other moms while someone else watches the kids?

I think all the is being said is that there may be two victims in the situation--with Julie as the unfortunate second casualty. That doesn't make her pain any less real or her various options any less valid. It's just sad all around whatever the primary cause might be.

I know a mother with two young children (baby and young toddler) who is really struggling--doing her best to be a good mother but completely overwhelmed. Unfortunately she recently moved and is far from any established support network, her husband is not home a lot and is not always helpful when he is. She struggles with anxiety and depression (is receiving professional help). She's not getting much sleep. Is there any support available for people in this situation? The house is a mess, the babies cry and she can't handle it so she puts them in a room and closes the door (better than other options). I'm not judging her on any of this--like I said, she's doing the best she can but desperately needs (nonjudgmental) help. Any ideas? Where is the support for people who are trying their best but sinking fast? I'm worried but too far away to step in myself.

I have wondered about this. Your description of your husband's decline both personality-wise and in cognitive function actually reminded me of what happened to a friend's husband when he had a brain tumor. He was there physically, but his personality was completely changed and he was not in any way the warm loving person he had been.

So I guess people with only one or two kids are not kid lovers? Honestly I think people put their foot in their mouth when they see a large family just because they are surprised.

As others have said, morbidly obese is just a medical term meaning weight at least 100% over normal healthy weight for height. It's not a criticism or a negative label or a sign that your child is doomed to poor health.

Ah, Paul...we've been reading through the epistles of Paul in our morning devotionals. I find myself wishing for a good commentary to help me through. Can anyone recommend one? Sometimes Paul seems to be saying the same things Alma says--only Alma says them so much more clearly.

We're super careful around here but even my kids have been exposed. Yes I think most kids will come across it, and I believe there needs to be open communication within the family from very early on so the kids aren't left to navigate the issue alone.

This Conference talk from a few years back has become one of the guiding principles of my life. I feel that choosing the "best" among the numerous "good" ways to use our time and energy is one of our critical daily challenges. What is best? To me this means the things with the most eternal impact. People are what matter. "Best" things to focus on include our personal spiritual growth and improving our talents, our relationship with our family and community members and efforts to care for and teach and support those who fall under our stewardship, family history work, sharing the gospel, and our efforts to lift heavy burdens and comfort those who bear them. Sometimes it is hard to discern when a particular effort is fulfilling a "best" or only a "good" thing. I really love working on family history puzzles, but if that is taking me away from needed care and teaching of my children it is not a "best" for me. Creating a pleasant home for our family can powerfully impact our opportunity for peace at home--but if I spend too many hours trying to find the perfect decor, or too much money building a perfect home, that is not a "best" for my family. Or my worst personal downfall--it is good to teach my children to the best of my ability, but if I spend countless hours seeking out and reviewing new curricula at the expense of actual teaching--that is not a "best". It seems to me that any of the "good" things--truly good things--we give our time and attention to have the potential to push aside the "best" things if we are not careful and do not exercise discipline and discernment. Sometimes it would be easier to cut out an activity altogether, but that too is not always possible. Some of my siblings interact primarily on facebook; if I want any relationship with them I need to use the tools they use. But since I am using facebook as a relationship tool I need to remember that I am in charge of the tool and the tool is not in charge of me: I can't allow the tool to take over my life. What is "best" will clearly look different depending on the individual and the family. We have different needs, different callings and talents, and different challenges to face. The universal principle is, I think, that we need to choose our activities mindfully for our own circumstances. We can't make our choices by default and feel comfortable just because our life is full of good things.

:grouphug: :grouphug:

How did everyone's day go? I don't like the switch to Daylight Savings Time (wish we would just keep the same time year-round) but otherwise we have had a nice day. It was warm enough to walk to church, which helps immensely with the kids ability to sit through Sacrament Meeting. I actually got to attend Sunday School and enjoyed the lesson on the organization of the church in 1830. We had nice talks in Sacrament meeting too, about repentance and faith. And one child's primary teacher made a point of telling me after church how well-behaved she was today :svengo: Actually, she hasn't had a major meltdown in over 3 weeks. Ever since we started a gluten free diet...looks like we'll be sticking with that.

I've considered having my oldest take this next year. Are there sample test questions somewhere I could take a look at?

Here's an article the discusses the development of selective speech sound discrimination in monolingual and bilingual babies. I suspect that what happens with words is different-but-related. Obviously native English speakers are capable of hearing both the short i and long e sounds, but when we hear familiar words we really don't process the individual sounds--rather, we process the word as a single unit, and so in most cases we will not discriminate between different pronunciations but will simply hear the word the way it is encoded in our brains; at least, that is what we do when the person we are listening to speaks with an accent that is fairly similar to our own. If the accent is significantly different, I would guess that we engage more analytical parts of our brain to help out. I know when I am listening to someone with what I perceive as a strong accent I have to work harder to understand what they are saying. I had this experience recently during a phone conversation with a man from Scotland--I could make out what he was saying, but the mental effort required was significantly higher than that required in a conversation with someone whose accent is more familiar.

Absolutely this happens, and plays a significant role in young children's ability to pick up a native-sounding accent in a foreign language where many adults cannot. Our brains actually lose the ability to hear and differentiate between speech sounds that they are not exposed to. We end up processing the foreign sound as something more familiar, so when we try ti imitate we may be able to perfectly imitate the sound we "heard" but have it be a far cry from the original sound. Native Japanese speakers find it difficult to differentiate between our English L and R sounds-- to them, the words "right" and "light" sound the same. I'm sure we all do this on a word-by-word (rather than sound by sound) basis in normal speech--so whether your pink has a long e or short i sound, my brain will "hear" it as the long e sound I am familiar with.

It sounds like she will be getting what she needs.

I've always used a long e sound, as do most people I hear. Same for ink, sink, etc. The vowel in sink is exactly the same as that in sea, and has nothing in common with that in sin :)

Does she sing Soprano or Alto? If she is singing Alto could she be struggling with reading and singing her part amidst all the other parts? The middle parts (Alto and Tenor) can be particularly difficult to hear.

I just read through the talk you referenced, Amira. I think your idea is a good one--much of what is talked about are things we should all be doing, and we all have room to improve. You could definitely frame a good lesson around that. I also agree with gardenmom that a discussion of the culture of male-bashing/denigration and its negative impact on ourselves as women, and on our husbands/brothers/fathers/sons/daughters/current or future sons-in-law could be very beneficial. This paragraph from the conference talk struck me: "In their zeal to promote opportunity for women, something we applaud, there are those who denigrate men and their contributions. They seem to think of life as a competition between male and female—that one must dominate the other, and now it’s the women’s turn. Some argue that a career is everything and marriage and children should be entirely optional—therefore, why do we need men?2 In too many Hollywood films, TV and cable shows, and even commercials, men are portrayed as incompetent, immature, or self-absorbed. This cultural emasculation of males is having a damaging effect." As women, we need to be aware of our own attitudes and their impact on others. Cultural shifts that have given women a broader scope in life seem to have simultaneously robbed men of a sense of purpose and worth. It is as if we have come to view men as flawed women, and as a society are quick to belittle characteristically male traits. Men are not empathetic enough, don't communicate well enough, are too focused on technology or on sports, they have too much sex drive; when we tell them about a problem we are experiencing they try to fix the problem instead of giving us the hug we really wanted. Men are, oddly enough, male, and behave in characteristically male ways--which in modern female society is usually taken as an indication that they are broken. Men hear that message throughout their lives. Combine that with the fact that women have shown they can do whatever men can do--from operating excavators to flying fighter jets--and that our society sends the message that men are not needed as providers and protectors for women and children, the women can do all that themselves too--and boys grow up to be men without knowing really what a man is or should be, without feeling that they have an essential and unique role to play. I am blessed to have many good men in my life, including a husband, a father, and brothers. I am grateful for their support in many ways. I am grateful for their companionship. I understand that many women are lacking such support, but surely it is not wrong for those women to discuss the loss that such a lack is in their life, and the hope that their support and encouragement can help some of the men and boys around them understand how vital their role is and live up to their true potential as men.

My mom swears by following the recommendations of this book; primarily eating naturally fermented foods (home-made sauerkraut and kefir) and soaking grains and seeds before using them. I know she is able to eat bread without problems for the first time in many, many years. Does your water have chlorine in it? I wonder if that is part of the shower problem? Chlorine is a problem for me.

I'm sure we aren't the only ones who have been waiting. I just saw the announcement on their facebook page.

Have you folks seen this--the church is creating 58 new missions. Hastening the work, indeed.

I have a 5 year old who sounds like your 6 year old. Things I know help: keeping life as consistent as possible. She turns into a wreck and acts out for months anytime life is disrupted--we move to a new place, a new baby is born, etc. OK, we can't avoid the big disruptions, but it helps to avoid smaller disruptions and be aware that when there is a big disruption she is going to take a long time to adjust. Things I think help or hope will help: dietary changes and supplementation. We're on week two of a gluten free trial right now, and have had surprisingly few meltdowns. Also avoiding all artificial colors and flavors. Supplementing with omega-3/DHA and lots of probiotics. For gluten intolerance, the only way to really know is to do a trial--remove all gluten from your diet for several weeks and watch behavior. Might be good to journal behavior/diet for a week or two beforehand so you have something solid for comparison. Oh, the other thing that helps around here is regulating blood sugar by making sure there is plenty of protein in meals and snacks. Good luck!