What type of science is she into? There are tons of science kits available in stores or in Amazon. We were at our science museum today and my son pointed out a physics workshop he wanted and several robotics kits. But there are also kits that revolve around biology, chemistry and geology as well. We also love some of the games Think Fun makes like Circuit Maze, Lazer Maze and Gravity Maze.

Just wanted to say that I love this idea and I'm stealing it.

My son is going to be Dipper as well. I share your concern about him not looking dressed up as well. But I'm glad it's settled and we have his costume together.

We have done a bit of copywork, but I'm not sure how helpful it is. He hates it so much that I'm not sure it doesn't do more harm than good. I do write down his stories for him sometimes. We've been doing a word of the day and he writes something about it. Well, he tells me what to write and I write it. Some stories have gone on for 10 or 15 sentences, which has been great. I'm happy to hear you like All About Spelling. I'm still trying to decide which way to proceed, but if I do buy another spelling program, that will be the one. I also agree with your last sentence in that each kid learns differently, so there really isn't an "across the board" solution. I guess I just need to take a good look at my kid make my best guess as to the way forward.

It seems like language arts is the one subject were we just can't stick to one program. I'll start something, think we like it and then it ends up not working for us. I really don't like jumping around so much and want to find something that works for us. I was reading through Writing Strands and found this in the FAQ: Does Writing Strands teach grammar, punctuation and spelling? Yes, but only on a need-to-know basis. Research shows that the skills learned in abstract grammar exercises, such as those found in grammar workbooks, do not carry over into the production of written work. Children can underline nouns and verbs or diagram perfectly without learning to write an effective sentence. Similarly, research shows that spelling tests teach students to learn words only using their short-term memory, and that the spelling skills demonstrated on such a test do not help students after the tests are taken. Writing Strands believes that students, instead of doing these abstract exercises, should learn a rule of writing at the point when they need to understand it in order to do a composition exercise. The Writing Strands student books and the parents’ manual, Evaluating Writing, show how to improve grammar, punctuation and spelling as students are writing. What do you guys think about this philosophy? Part of me thinks it makes sense. I was terrible at both spelling and grammar (and still am not great at it). I don't know if it was a poor foundation in school, or just something that I had a harder time than most learning. It wasn't until I had to start writing and editing for my job that I finally learned enough to at least be competent. I still rely on spell check more than I should. So, I guess my question is, how much good does studying grammar and spelling independently of writing do our kids? My kid is eight, in third grade and a very reluctant writer. He is on the high functioning end of the autism spectrum and has ADHD. He hates to write, though will do some writing. We have had more success with typing and I actually got him to type five sentences yesterday (a major victory for us). What have people used for language arts that they found successful? I haven't used a formal writing program yet, since my son is so against writing. We've used ETC, Sequential Spelling, MCT, LLtL, HWT, Time 4 Learning and probably a few more things I'm not thinking of. I think that LLtL was the most successful so far, we just hit a couple books in a row that we couldn't stand (the Blue Fairy book and Peter Pan) and got off track with it. Any suggestions?

This about sums up my feelings on the matter. I think if my husband came home complaining about the cleanliness of the house, that would be the day I knew there was something seriously wrong with him and it was time to explore the possibility of mental illness. I am not a maid or a housekeeper. I was a journalist. There are many other careers I'd consider as well. But maid isn't one of them (unless things became truly desperate, financially speaking). I've always said I'd rather work full time and pay a housekeeper, than do all the housework myself. Well, it turns out I can't work full time right now. My son needs me at home homeschooling him. But that still doesn't make me a housekeeper. I do the best I can. We all have clean clothes to wear, clean sheets to sleep on, food to eat and clean dishes to eat that food off of. Beyond that, I do what I can, when I can. I wouldn't tolerate complaints about that, period. And, I'll step off my soap box now. I don't know why, but this topic always upsets me. I just hate it when women feel like they're are doing something wrong if their house isn't kept spotless.

I said no, I wouldn't like a surprise party in my honor, but I just remembered I had a surprise baby shower and I was actually really touched. I was uncomfortable for about 15 minutes, because I get embarrassed easily and usually don't like to be the center of attention. But then I relaxed and enjoyed it. It still makes me happy to think about it, knowing I had that many people cared enough to throw a surprise party for me. I mean I was definitely taken aback at first and felt weird about it, but it was all my closest friends at the time, so I ended up enjoying it.

I don't know what you consider young. We met when we were 18, started dating when we were 20 and married at 22. We did however wait until we were 30 to have a child. I don't regret our timing at all. If we hadn't gotten married when we did, my grandmother wouldn't have been alive to see us married. I also don't know if we would have gotten married at all, because I doubt I would have moved to West Virginia with my husband when he went to medical school if we weren't married. As much as I didn't like West Virginia, I really love my husband, and I can't imagine not being married to him. So I'm really glad things worked out the way they did. I don't think we were too young at all. We were poor, but I think we would have been poor whether we were married or apart. I may have been able to do a bit better financially if I had been able to move to where I could find a better job. But I was so bad with money, it's hard to say how much of a difference it would have made. There is no way we would have been able to afford having a baby any younger than we did. It was still a bit of a struggle financially, but if we'd had a child any sooner, the financial stress would have been huge. So, no regrets here.

I finally got around to watching the episode tonight. Wow, was it amazing. I agree with those who said the opening music, and just the way they filmed it, really built up the suspense. I kept thinking during episode 9, that it kind of felt like a finale, with that huge battle. But they didn't disappoint with episode 10. I was sad that Marjorie and her brother died. I was pulling for them. I kept wondering why Cersei was being so passive for most of this season. It was so out of character for her to just allow herself to be walked all over. As much as I hate Cersei, it was nice to see her make a move. I know she's always hated Marjorie, but I feel like killing Marjorie and her brother along with the High Sparrow and his crew just made an unnecessary enemy of a powerful woman - Olenna Tyrell. We had this exact conversation at our house. I like that Arya is getting on with her plan. I was worried she was losing her way with Jaqen. Becoming an assassin, although suits her skill set, didn't really seem to fit with her personality. She cares too much about people. And in the end, she wouldn't kill an innocent person just because she was told to. Every major character on the show that I can think of has killed before. Some of them have a good reason. Arya has a good reason to kill everyone on her list. Danerys has killed way more people.

I've visited 47 states. 12 of those I've only driven through once and just spent a few hours in them. The others I've spent more time in. We've moved around some. So I've lived in Oregon, California, New Mexico, Missouri and West Virginia. I've had family or good friends living in several other states including Washington and Massachusetts. So in the states I've lived in, I know the whole states fairly well. In the ones where I've visited friends and family, I tend to just know the city or region they live in. Other states I'v visited, I just know the popular tourist destinations.

In Santa Fe, there is this quirky, weird museum called Meow Wolf. I'd definitely recommend spending a few hours there if you have the time. The most unusual, yet cool, museum I have ever been to. I'd also take some time to explore the Plaza when you are in Santa Fe. It definitely gives you that southwest feel. I was going to suggest this hike as well. One of my all time favorite hikes. I take everyone who visits me on this one. If you are coming from Mesa Verde into Santa Fe/Albuquerque, you are probably driving by Aztec, NM. If you are, I would suggest stopping the Aztec Ruins National Monument and having a look around. If you have the time while in the Santa Fe/ Albuquerque area, I would also try to visit one of the pueblos, either in Taos or in Acoma. Both are great.

Portland has Powell's bookstore, the largest independent used book store in the world. Room after room after room of books, if he likes to read. I love driving east up the Columbia River gorge from Portland. Many beautiful views and lots of waterfalls if you like hiking/exploring nature. My favorite beach town in Oregon was always Florence because we loved a little campground nearby called Honeyman State Park. So much of the Oregon coast is great. I second Cannon Beach mentioned earlier as a nice beach town. In Seattle, the Fremont Troll is a quirky thing to visit. Pike Street Market is great and there is always the Space Needle if you want to hit the tourist spots. One of my favorite National Parks is Mount Rainier in Washington. If you live exploring caves, Ape Caves near Mount St. Helens are cool. What type of stuff does your family like? Indoor or outdoor? Food, cultural experiences? Beaches, forests, mountains?

I know you've probably already made a decision about this topic, but I just saw this thread and it reminded me of an article I read the other day.

My son and I just had a very similar conversation about the various ways to say butt. level one: bottom level two: butt level three: ass He still giggles every time he hears most swear words, especially if they pertain to butts or bodily functions. It's really too bad that no swear words are a bad word for broccoli or eggplant. Then I guarantee you no kid would want to say them any more.

I absolutely have those moments were I can't believe I just said something as stupid as I did. Thankfully, these days most of them are when I am talking to my husband. It's still embarrassing, but I feel like if you can't make a fool of yourself in front of your husband then who can you be a fool in front of? But yes, I have a few moments of stupidity that still haunt me. I imagine most people do.

You said it! I feel badly for my husband, the only man at my family gatherings. At least on his side of the family he only has brothers, no sisters, so he gets his testosterone fill there.

Thanks for all the different perspectives and the feedback. It's good to hear how people think this should be handled. In my mom's defense it was genuine obliviousness to my sister's expectations, not malice, that drove her thinking and actions. She had no idea what my sister was thinking until my sister was already upset and laying down ultimatums. What seems obvious to some was not obvious to my mom. And unfortunately I think there are enough hurt feelings on all sides that it is going to take a while for this situation to get better.

This I totally agree with. I feel like my mom's disagreement is with my sister and the kids are the ones getting hurt. Although it was a huge scramble for me to buy gifts for four extra kids last Christmas (my mom begrudgingly bought them each something and my mom's friend flat out refused. Since we always buy 4-5 things for each person, I couldn't let it stand with just getting them one thing each. I ended up buying them each four things, so I bought 16 gifts in one week for kids I had never met - thank got for Amazon 2-day shipping) and I was upset with my sister, I couldn't see punishing the kids for it. It's certainly in no way their fault.

You may be right. I hadn't thought about it like that.

My mom didn't want to return gifts. She actually put a lot of thought into what to get my sister's girlfriend. My sister said that they wouldn't be coming over for Christmas. Mom didn't want to be stuck with a bunch of stuff she had no use for so she was double checking with my sister to be sure they weren't coming before she started returning things. I think the understanding on both sides was there wasn't going to be another time they got together to exchange gifts. I completely agree with you that my mom needs to put in a much bigger effort. I think she is upset by how things went in the beginning and is being stubborn by refusing to budge. She also has her friend discouraging her from making more of an effort because she is still angry at my sister. It's one of the reasons I made the plans for Fourth of July. My mom wouldn't have invited all of the girlfriend's family. But she will go with me over to their house. I'm hoping if they spend more time together things will start to get a little better. I am losing hope though. As much as I don't want to get caught in the middle, my relationship with my sister is suffering as well if they refuse to spend time together. Usually we all hang out together. Now it seems like I have to schedule separate time with each of them. I want to try to fix this if I can.

As I read back over my post, I realize it is quite long and rambling. Sorry about that. I'm just looking for honest opinions about this situation. If I'm in the wrong, don't worry about hurting my feelings. I want to know both what you would do and what you think is reasonable to expect in this situation. My parents divorced when I was young, and my mom, sister and I have been always had a good relationship. I live in a different city, several states away from my mom and sister (they live in the same city) and go home twice a year for a visit. Last January (as in January 2015) my sister left her wife. It was a big surprise to us. My sister hadn't mentioned any problems to either my mom or I. In fact, up until the time my sister left, she and her wife were actively trying to buy a house together. Apparently she and her wife had been having problems for a long time, they tried counseling the summer before and it wasn't successful. My sister wasn't in love any more and wanted out. They have one son together. My sister's ex is the biological mother, though my sister legally adopted her son shortly after he was born. A very angry and drawn-out custody battle ensued and my sister has been understandably very stressed out by the situation. It took over a year for the custody ruling to be made and my sister ended up only getting her son for five nights every two weeks instead of the 50/50 custody she was seeking. She was crushed by the outcome. The financial stuff was just recently resolved and the divorce was just finalized last month. So that is the back story, now onto the issue at hand. A week after she left her wife, my sister told us she was dating someone new. We were once again very surprised. One week we thought she was happily married and now she is dating someone else. She says that she wasn't cheating on her wife, but I don't see how that's possible at least in thought if not in action. I guess it depends on how you define cheating. Last spring (a couple months after my sister left her wife) my sister, mom, mom's best friend (in reality more than a best friend, but no one has every said anything official), and I made plans to go to the beach during my summer visit with my sister's son and my son. We rented a cabin for two nights. A couple weeks before the trip, my sister asked if her girlfriend and her girlfriend's youngest daughter could come along on the trip. We said we'd rather just keep this trip for family. My sister sent us a long email about how she hadn't been expressing herself clearly, but new girlfriend was the woman she planned to spend the rest of her life with and she would really like new girlfriend to be included on this trip so we could get to know her. Once again we were all shocked. They'd been dating for six months, the divorce wasn't even close to finalized yet and my mom had only met the girlfriend once. We still said no but said we'd love to meet the girlfriend and get to know her better at another point during my visit. I did end up meeting the new girlfriend one afternoon last summer. My sister and I made plans to go hiking and she brought the new girlfriend along. She is a very nice woman and easy to get along with. Girlfriend actually has four children ranging in age from 5-14, though I didn't meet them that trip. She shares custody with her ex-husband. The older two children are actually his with a previous girlfriend, but my sister's girlfriend was their mother from the time they were young. I have no idea what happened to the biological mother, but she is not in the picture. Sometime last fall my sister moved in with her girlfriend. They live in a four bedroom house, so her son, when he is with my sister, shares a room with the girlfriend's youngest daughter who is the same age as my nephew (both 4 years old at the time). Up until then she was living with my mom, but spent most of her time at her girlfriend's house. Fast forward to last Christmas. I posted about this situation last Christmas when there was a bunch of last minute changes to our Christmas celebration. We had planned on celebrating an early Christmas with my mom and her friend (she has been included in family Christmas for the past 10 or 12 years. She has been a part of my mom's life for at least 20 years), my sister, her girlfriend and my sister's son, me, my husband and our son. This is when were were going to do our main gift exchange. A day or two later we planned another day for girlfriend and her four kids to come over and meet everyone. We planned dinner, games and a small gift exchange for that day as well. My mom is a big planner. She buys gifts many months ahead of time and had the celebrations lined up moths in advance. A couple weeks before Christmas my sister says that she does't want separate celebrations, but instead wants to do them all together. My mom says she doesn't want to do that. My sister says if that is the case, the second celebration with the girlfriend's kids is cancelled, girlfriend isn't coming to the first celebration either. My sister says she isn't sure if she and her son are going to come either. Mom asks if she is sure and if so should she go ahead and start returning gifts. My sister says yes, she is sure. Then a week before our Christmas celebration my sister says it is back on and that her girlfriend and all her kids are coming. Even though my mom already said no to this, she didn't want to keep fighting about Christmas, and just agreed. We all had to scramble to buy presents last minute. My sister thought Christmas went great, but my mom and her friend are still very upset by the way everything went down. That was the only day my sister came over to visit for the entire two weeks I was in town. In the past she always made time to comes over every day she was free and brought her son too so the cousins can hang out. My son kept asking when his cousin was coming over to play. My sister and I have talked in the mean time and she has told me how she doesn't understand what my mom is thinking and that she had hoped and expected my mom to become another grandmother to her girlfriend's kids. I told her that I don't think mom is thinking along those lines and that she needs to decide if that is a deal breaker and that if it is then she needs to clearly communicate that and give my mom a chance to respond. My sister also complained that my mom wasn't making an effort to get to know them. I told my sister if she wanted my mom to get to know them she needs to invite my mom over to make that happen. My sister invited my mom over once this spring. She declined my mom's invitation when my mom wanted to take my sister out for her birthday (this is something they have done every year). This summer is my mom's 70th birthday party. My mom has been planning a party for a year. Only adults are invited to my mom's party. Both my sister and her girlfriend were invited though girlfriend declined the invitation. I will be home for two weeks both for the party and to visit with the family. This trip I made plans with my sister ahead of time so that I was sure I would get to see her more than just at my mom's birthday party. We are going over to her house for the Fourth of July then again for my nephew's birthday party. We also planned a day at the pool. A couple days ago my sister texted my mom and told her that if she wasn't going to buy birthday presents for her girlfriend's kids on their birthdays, then she couldn't bring a present for my nephew at his party either. My mom has of course already bought several presents. My mom wrote back asking why events that were suppose to be happy (Christmas and birthdays) were being turned into such contentious events. Because she didn't know the girlfriends kids very well yet and didn't have a close relationship with them, she was't planning to get them gifts. She did send each one who has had a birthday since Christmas a birthday card. She agreed to not give her grandson any gifts if that is what my sister wants and to not attend the party if that is what my sister wants. I just got the invitation to my nephew's birthday party today. My mom and her friend are both invited. My mom's friend and I had not been told whether we can bring gifts or not. My sister has been very clear that her priority is to make sure her son feels stable in their new family with her girlfriend and children. She wants stability in his life and feels this is the best way to provide it. My mom and her friend feel very strongly that moving out of her old house and moving in with someone new so quickly after leaving her wife was a strong contributing factor in my sister not getting 50/50 custody. It's hard to say what motivated the decision. These things aren't explained when the decision is made. It could be that the man evaluating my sister and her ex as parents was always going to side with the biological mother or it could be that my sister's living situation made a big difference. We will never know. So here we are. My mom's friend is very angry with my sister as she's the shoulder my mom has been crying on every time my sister hurts her with a new email or phone call. My mom is a bit angry but more sad and confused than anything else. She is really close with her grandson (and until recently my sister). The situation is bad enough with my sister that my mom has made a deliberate effort to keep communication open with my sister's ex, even though they were never close, because she is afraid my sister is going to cut off contact and she still wants to be able to see her grandson if that hapens. The ex recently contacted my mom saying that my sister told her not to talk to my mom anymore. When my mom talked to my sister, she told my mom she didn't want her talking with her ex. I'm caught somewhere in the middle. Honestly, I'm clueless about these type of situations and I don't know what is expected of me. My sister is not mad at me and we are still talking. I'm trying to make an effort to get to know the girlfriend and her kids, but I'm only in town a couple weeks a year. And with my sister just not coming over to my mom's house at all last Christmas it's hard to get to know everyone. The girlfriend's birthday is close to my sister's so this last spring I sent them a joint gift. It didn't occur to me to ask when the kids' birthdays were. If you've made it through this, thank you. What do you think? What is expected in these circumstances? I always kind of assumed that each family figured it out on their own, but my mom and sister both seem to have definite ideas of how things are suppose to go. I think my sister has this picture in her head of how things should be, but hasn't communicated that picture to everyone else. She just gets mad after the fact when that picture doesn't come to fruition. But maybe I'm not being fair. Maybe her expectations are realistic and we've been dropping the ball by not meeting them. I honestly don't know. Thoughts? Only adults are invited to my mom's birthday party. Both my sister and her girlfriend were invited though girlfriend declined the invitation.

Love, love, love this show. It's my favorite thing on TV right now. I agree, I wish I had someone to invite over to watch it with me. It's the perfect show to start conversations or just use as a starting point to get more informed about certain issues. He brings to light so many issues I had never even thought about. I have too many favorite episodes to count. Both the first Trump episode and the Trump wall episodes were good. Loved the Church of Perpetual Exemption, the debt collection, the one on municipal violations, sex ed (though he does take a stab at homeshoolers on this one) and the Snowden interview. It's really just a fabulous show.

I was interested in traveling to this, as I love visiting the northwest, until I read the description and realized it was a religious event. Attending something like this sounds wonderful. If it was secular it would be right up my alley.

This was an issue at my mom's church as well, and after enough people voiced concerns, the entire church went fragrance free. My mom gets terrible migraines around most strong scents. A policy like this is the difference between her being able to attend church and her having to stay home. You will probably not be able to talk to each and every person who wears the oils. Unless it is really just one or two people, I think it's better to just talk to a church official. And if it's bothering you, chances are it's bothering others as well.

I can so relate this this. This is something I think about a lot, how mobile we are as a society when we didn't use to be as much a generation ago. I think more people go away to college and then move again for their first job, so they just don't put down roots. Often times, the best way to get a promotion or a raise, is to keep moving. We have been both the one who moved and the ones who have had people move away. It's hard every time. And it seems like each time we move it's harder. I had really close friends in high school, in college and in the first city we lived in after college (we lived there 10 years). But since then we haven't been any where as long and the circumstances haven't been as ideal to make friends. In our last city it seems like we were right on the cusp of both my son and myself making some really close friends and then we moved. And since we've been in our new city, we've really tried, but no one has quite clicked yet here. I mean we've both made friends, but not as close of friends as we've had in the past. I feel like I'm doing everything in my power to help cultivate friends. It's just really hard and I think about all of the people I've had to move away from and really just wish I could have them back. It's so isolating when you don't have close friends to spend time with. And I look at my son and really want that for him as well. This increased mobility also means fewer people live near family, which is also really important when you start your own family. I really needed my mom when my son was a baby and toddler, especially when I was still working, but she was on the other side of the country. I think on a whole having a more mobile society is harmful for most people, especially families. It may not be as big a deal for college students or young professionals who are just starting out. But by the time you are ready for starting a family, having close reliable friends and family nearby is so important. It makes things just that much more stressful when you are missing those people in your life. Sorry to ramble on, but this is something I think about quite a bit. I wish there was a good solution, but there doesn't seem to be.