I feel like a broken record lately.... I was an orthodontic assistant for 8 years. And, I used to have a permanent lower retainer. :) So, personally, I would get the removable. You are correct that the permanent is harder to keep clean. It can also cause a little lisp when you talk. It doesn't for most people, but I know someone who had one that always had a slight lisp from it. The other thing is it doesn't work as well as the removable. It doesn't prevent all movement. One of my lower teeth moved while I had it in place. The permanent one is less visible, but once she is wearing them only at night, they won't be seen anyway. So, this is a moot point. I wouldn't worry about losing it any more than I would worry about the top retainer being lost. Meaning, whether or not she is responsible she will have a removable upper. The lower will be kept with that one. It isn't any more or less likely to get lost than the top one. So, she already has one to keep track of. She may as well have two. ;) It can come loose and have to be re-cemented...glued. That is a hassle and passed a certain time will cost you. Eventually, it will come off and someone will suggest not putting it back on and getting a removable anyway. Honestly, I don't see any real advantages to a permanent retainer on bottom. I do have one on top, but it is just for my upper front two teeth to keep a space closed. It does nothing else. I have a retainer that I wear over it. I had my lower removed long ago by the first orthodontist I worked for and I have a removable one now. As for how long to wear the retainers...here is what I always told my patients. Your teeth can shift throughout your life. You never know when it may happen. As long as you are wearing your retainers and they fit, you teeth will stay where they are. As soon as you stop, they could shift and move. You should wear your retainers every night for as long as you can...5-10 years. Then, you can start to slack off a bit and where them only a few times a week, but never throw them out or completely stop wearing them if you want your teeth to stay the way they are when your braces are removed. They are your insurance policy. :D

I was an orthodontic assistant for 8 years. Plus, I wore headgear for a while as a child...I think I was in 6th grade. First, my personal headgear experience...I hated it. I didn't wear it. It was uncomfortable, hard to sleep in and just plan embarrassing. I went from supposed to be wearing it for 12hrs a day or so to 24 because I wasn't wearing it. Then, I got made fun of for it in school. It was an awful experience overall. Personally, I would pick another orthodontist if you have the opportunity to do that. There are other ways to get the same results. I worked for 3 orthodontists. One did use a face mask a handful of times, but not often. The other 2 did not. The best orthodontist I worked for (meaning he got the best end result) NEVER used them and didn't believe in them. Yes, they serve a purpose and they can work. But there is more than one way to get there. Another thing is patient compliance is low with anything like headgear or a face mask. That makes it less effective and take longer. Anytime you can reduce the amount of patient compliance needed, you are going to get better results. Face masks are slightly more comfortable for sleeping in, still most kids don't wear it like they should. Expander, I'm totally on board with that. Headgear/face mask, I'd look elsewhere for someone who doesn't use it. That said, if there is another reason why you would prefer to go with this orthodontist, the headgear isn't necessarily a show stopper for your family. There are other things that might factor in stronger for you, like cost or personality or hours. If she ends up with an orthodontist who uses it, it would be just fine as long as she wears it. It just isn't my preference at all and I would find someone else. Good luck!

I've only bought one new car in my whole life. I really wanted to experience it and my husband decided to indulge me. We ordered exactly what we wanted in the color we wanted. It was wonderful! We did get a loan on it, but only because it was 0% financing. We actually had the money to pay cash for it. We just decided not to take it out since they were not charging us anything. We did put a good bit down so we owed less than it was worth when we drove it off the lot. I really LOVED that vehicle. I would love to buy another new car. We sold that one because we needed a 15 passenger van instead of just a 9 seater Yukon XL. LOL!! But, I still miss it. We actually came out 10K ahead when we sold that and bought our van. But, gap insurance sounds like a really good thing.

Ahh...we haven't had a car loan in a very long time. No wonder I don't know about it. They have no say. :)

I've never heard of that! It must depend on your state. I had no clue. I've never even heard of "gap coverage." Here, whoever is at fault pays 100%. Glad I don't live there. :laugh: (I'm sure there are other wonderful things about CO and equally not so wonderful things about my state. I was just kidding. ;))

She hit you?? Was she ticketed? Or did she admit it was her fault to her insurance? Her insurance should pay 100% of the repairs! There is no reason for you to be out any value if she hit you and it was her fault. You did nothing wrong and should not be on the hook for any portion of the repair value (even if you don't want it repaired). Meaning, you should not have to split the cost with them 80/20. Her fault. Her 100% responsibility. You need to either call your insurance and have them deal with it for you or call her's directly. Ask them to send an adjuster to where you car is to estimate how much the repair would cost and then ask them to mail you the check. If I was in your position, I would call your insurance now. Because it's been 2 months, you might have some issues. Let them help you navigate this since you aren't familiar with it. It is what your insurance is for. It wasn't your fault so it doesn't affect your policy at all. ETA - I'm not sure if sending you a check is the law, but it's just how it's done. It should not matter who the insurance company is. It is just how it works. Having the check sent to you is one option you have.

I have experience with MFW. I've only done through ADV, not their cycle years. But, I know they purposely leave out a lot of writing instruction because they want it to be done on the students level and their programs are for 2nd-8th grade (in the cycle years. ;)) So, they can't write it into the program as well and still have it be geared toward such a large age range. They recommend Primary Language Lessons for 2nd and 3rd and Writing Strands from 4th up. This is why we are switching from MFW. I really want a lot more writing integrated into the program and writing across the curriculum rather than something completely separate. I've researched the others a good bit. From my research, I think HOD is best for this. And, it is why we are switching to HOD next year from MFW. SL LA doesn't get very good reviews from what I've seen. I don't know much about WP or Timberdoodle though. HOD has writing instruction very well integrated and written in. It is the strength of the program and moves the student up incrementally each year. When placing a student in a guide the biggest emphasis is on where they are in LA. I'm really looking forward to trying it. :D Oh, for 1st grade though, MFW is awesome for this! But, it's only 1st grade. So, you don't really need all that it includes, KWIM. We do love it though and my son had great results!

Some insurance companies try to send the check to the repair shop, but they don't have to. You can always request the check be sent to you. I did this 15 years ago and have done it once or twice since. I didn't want to fix my car. I wanted a new one instead even though mine wasn't totaled. Other times we have had them estimate and then gone somewhere cheaper to get the work done. So, we had a net of some dollar amount they paid over what it cost us to have it repaired.

this would change it for me...because I'm like that. But, it would depend on how closely I work with them. If it is a large office and I didn't work directly with them frequently, I wouldn't worry about it. If it was someone I work closely with, I would be concerned that they would think if I didn't fix the car I shouldn't have put a ding on their insurance for it. Close working co-workers tend to think of themselves as friends even if they aren't really. You clearly are within your rights, but it might upset them even though it shouldn't. I would be concerned about that. However, I don't really think it should affect your decision. You are still well within your rights. Good luck deciding!

Thank you everyone! This has been so helpful to me. I feel so much better about going forward with it. :D I don't know, but part of me feels like this ophthalmologist my friend is seeing is doing her son a disservice. The dr. told her it would be a total waste of money and time to even try or look into it. He is saying he will need surgeries later on and not to bother with therapy, but I feel like if I were his mom, I would absolutely be at least trying therapy. I can't hurt and would be better than surgery or life long struggles. But, they struggle financially a lot more than we do and she isn't as proactive about medical stuff as I typically am. So, different strokes I guess. But, I wish she would at least give it a try. Anyway, without even knowing the dr, I have a negative impression of him. Thank you for your input!! "outgrowing" it is what I keep thinking. He really struggled to read. But, just as I was going to make him an appt, he picked it up. He doesn't read constantly, but he reads enough now that I'm not super worried about it affecting his reading. However, he was really, REALLY complaining about math even though he has a math brain...tracking issues! The bottom line is overall, he isn't having any real school issues because of this. We've been working on the math in other ways and I'm already seeing improvement without the therapy in that area. However, I think he would read more if he didn't have tracking issues. He also gets tired and starts struggling when reading for more than a few paragraphs outloud to me. Yet, his comprehension when he reads to himself is amazing. So, I just keep wondering if he would just get better and better on his own. That said, he clearly has tracking issues. The therapist showed me a test she did with him (the one and only that I missed seeing him do. Ugh!) for tracking. I took one look at it and said, "there is no way *I* could do that." Then, I took it in my hand and proceeded to score 100% on it. :blush: He did horribly, actually getting a 0! (he did okay at the top and then got tired, started to lose it and then ended up not even finishing because it was too hard to continue.) He also has some issues with his binocular vision (the two eyes working together). So, clearly he has issues. It's just hard to see it in everyday life because he compensates well. Anyway, I've had the same thought of possibly outgrowing it, but I think we need to go ahead anyway. I'm glad it worked well for you and I'm very glad to hear that even though you wondered about it you don't regret it. I figured I won't regret doing it, but I might regret not doing it. I almost cried just reading that! I think my son had a similar enlightening experience, though he didn't say it like that. He was surprised to find out that we don't all struggle to see the words on the page. Once we got the prescription for the glasses, he keep asking when we would be able to pick them up. As for getting a second opinion, they are asking for a lot, but I'm not sure it's more than is standard here. We live in a high cost of living area. The other problem is that I don't know where else we would go. We are already having to travel an hour to get there. It's going to be a struggle. Good idea to try the exercises. We are actually going to be doing most of them at home. Because it is so far away and I have 5 other children younger than him, we will be going there once a month and doing most of his therapy at home.

I'm honest to a fault. I seriously am. I think that is perfectly acceptable. The money is for the lost value of the car. If you choose not to bring the value back up, that is your choice. When you sell the car, you won't get as much for it. So, you are losing the value. If you decide to fix it at some point, the money will come from your accounts. I don't think there is anything illegal about it. I would do the same thing if it wasn't too bad and I could use the money elsewhere.

My 8 year old son has been recommended for vision therapy. He has an issue focusing on things that are close up and tracking. She gave him glasses that are supposed to help. He is supposed to be able to correct the problem with therapy and not need the glasses after 6-9 months or so. They are like a band-aid. They do seem to be helping. For some reason I'm struggling with being slightly skeptical. I had someone tell me their ophthalmologist (I think that is the spelling. MD for eyes rather than a someone who prescribes glasses.) doesn't believe in vision therapy and thinks it is a waste of money. She wasn't positive, but she thought that was a blanket statement, not just for her son. I was feeling slightly skeptical before. Now, I'm even more skeptical. I wish I wasn't. :( However, that said, we are planning to go through with it because I can't imagine not doing it and committing him to glasses for the rest of his life if he doesn't actually need them. That would be mean. It's worth a try at least. If it doesn't work, at least we did everything we could. It's expensive and I'm struggling with being skeptical, but we are going to go ahead with it. I'm looking for some positive stories to help me feel better about it. If your child had vision therapy, would you share your experience with me? Thank you!

#1 - My husband and my mom were planned. My in-laws got there before my son was born (because I was in labor for 44hrs!!!). My MIL was in the room and standing right next to me along with my husband and mom. I was fine with it because I was SO tired that I didn't care about much of anything. LOL!! #2 and 3 (twins) - My husband only. I wanted my mom. The OB would not let anyone in except my husband. I had a vaginal delivery in the OR just in case because it was twins. OB was firm and would not let anyone in except my husband. I regret that and so does my mom. #3 and 4 (twins again) - My husband and mom. New OB. ;) I still delivered in the OR even though I had a vaginal delivery because it was twins again. This dr. ignored hospital policy and let my mom in. I was SO much happier than with my 2nd delivery of babies 2 and 3. #4 - By far my best delivery. It was my husband, my mom and my doula. It was a wonderful delivery. I will do it exactly the same way if I get pregnant again. My mom and I are very close. I wouldn't have it any other way than to have her there. :)

Low - My 3.5 year old colored with black marker on my foyer walls. I screamed in shock because I had had it "up to here" with him already. (didn't scream at him, just screamed. I then calmly took him to his room while I collected myself.) :cursing: High - My mom just texted me and reminded me that today is 11/12/13. I love dates like that!! :hurray:

I hope you get a call soon. Waiting to hear back is the worst. Hugs!

Just wanted to tell you, 2 things..... 1st, my son loves the state study! He asks for it every day, first thing. ;) 2nd, the price increase will probably not be as much as you are thinking Oh and a 3rd thing, you can easily get a used Adventures set. Often including most of the student sheets. Many sell when they are done with it because they plan to use the cycle after that and not use Adv again. I might sell mine (might). If I do, I'll have almost 2 full sets of student sheets. I'll be missing a couple of maps at the beginning and the Pledge of Allegiance page. All of which are very easy to find online. My youngers didn't end up doing most of the pages. So, I have almost 2 full sets to go with my Adv package. Other than that, I got nothing. :tongue_smilie:

I always find it interesting to me to hear how different taste buds can be. Our family would say that real cheddar cheese MAKES good mac and cheese. I used to make a baked mac and cheese with Velveeta. I switched a while ago and all of my kids and hubby like it better with real cheddar over Velveeta. As I say to my kids often, "Everyone likes and dislikes different things." :D

This is exactly what I do except we do 2 of everything instead of 1 and I put it over 1lb of elbows. Oh, I use an 8oz block of cheddar, but I think that is 2 cups. I have 6 kids. The above would never feed them all. ;) You can use mild or sharp cheddar. Whatever you want. My kids love it. :)

We don't have a system. We have 8 people, 6 of whom are 8 and under including 2 3.5 year olds and a 12 month old. Two of my little people go through several outfits a day...it's frustrating! And 3 of the other can rarely rewear anything, even jeans. They are just young and they get things on themselves. We also use rags instead of paper towels. We just generate a lot of laundry. I do laundry as the hamper gets full, which is at least one load a day. I struggle to keep up with laundry. It is usually not folded. I spent all of Saturday with my MIL helping me get my laundry caught up. We were not here yesterday. Still, today, my couch has tons of clean clothes on it waiting to be folded and my hamper is full again. *sigh* (Yes, I should be doing that instead of this. ;)) I do this too. I keep the washer open and throw stuff straight in. But, there is almost always a full hamper too.

I'm a bad speller and always have. However, with more and more reading, I've gotten better and better. No spelling curriculum every helped though. I relied on (and still do) spell check and others around me. Editing my own work for spelling is pointless for me because I rarely notice a misspelled word unless it's obvious. I have gotten better, but it has taken me years of reading and writing to get better at it. I do force myself to look up spellings when I'm not 100% sure of it. And, when I use spell check. I purposely look very closely at the correct spelling and I often say it out loud. I do try to get the correct spelling in my brain. I think being purposeful about spelling things properly in my writing and using the tools needed to do that has helped tremendously. I didn't pick that up until I was an adult though because I didn't want to look silly spelling all sorts of things wrong. So, I think in order to be a good speller despite not being a natural speller, you have to purpose to learn to spell. And, yes to whoever said it is hard work and really adds to the work on writing. Everything I write takes longer because I'm thinking hard about the spelling in addition to the writing. It's annoying! LOL!

I don't require much more of my K'ers. But, we do MFW K and my kids love it. If you do the program as written including the projects, it takes 60-90 minutes. And, it's really fun. ;) My current K'ers did it with their older brother 2 years ago. So, we aren't doing all the projects. They just do the LA and math portion. I have added in Explode the Code and ZB handwriting book for them because they ask for more. But, they are learning a lot just with the MFW K program. I didn't add any more to it for my older. Oh, I agree you don't have to follow MTW to the letter. Add more if you need more. But, keep in mind, it's just K. They have many more years to learn it all. ;) The foundations of phonics/reading, writing and math are most important at this stage.

When I started reading your OP, I wondered if I had written it long ago and it got bumped. ;) I have 6 kids, 3 schooling and 3 younger. My oldest is 8 and in 2nd. I also have twin 5 year old K'ers (6 in Dec). Then, the youngers are twin 3 year olds and a 12 month old. I really struggled with the decision of HOD or MFW. For K, 1st and 2nd, we have done MFW. Schooling them all together is very appealing to me. However, we are giving HOD a try next year. I will continue with MFW for 1st with my current K'ers. Like someone else said, I'm not draw to any HOD guide before Bigger. They look too babish and I don't get it. We enjoy MFW K and LOVE MFW 1st. So, I don't intend to switch from those for any of the youngers. There are several reasons I'm switching. The biggest is because I really like the LA more integrated into the program with notebooking and written narrations. MFW does this in 1st and I really, really loved that program. My kids really loved it. 2nd and above is very different (I haven't done anything beyond Adv but researched and spoken a lot with those who have.) We are doing Adv and my kids are enjoying it, but I'm not as much. I miss the integration that 1st grade had. Though, I also completely understand why MFW can't do that...it needs to be tailored to each child's age/grade. Another reason is content. My oldest is very, VERY sensitive. He is easily upset. I know that some of the selections in the missionary bio are to much for him in ECC which would be next. (Window on the World and missionary bios) And, I'm okay with waiting to introduce them to these things for several more years. HOD saves these things to introduce a little later. HOD seems to be a bit more on my page as far as this goes. Along with this is the feeling that I don't want my younger kids being introduced to the slightly more mature material that I would like my olders to introduced to. Meaning, I am happy to do ancients with a 4th or older, but I'd prefer to save it till then and don't really want my 2nd grader listening in. Because of that, I'm okay with the idea of not combining, even though we have lots of kids. But, I do seem to have a more conservative view on that. ;) Lastly, but much less importantly, I'm not a project mom. My kids enjoy it, but with so many littles, it's very hard. You know that. So, we skip almost all of them. I know ECC has a good number of projects and they seem to be more important to the program. Oh, and one other thing, the library....I don't mind. It doesn't bother me at all to hunt for books at my library. But, I find that for Adv I really need those book basket books to fill out the program. To me, it's light without them. So, they aren't optional. The problem is without them explicitly written into the program (read pages 1-12 Monday), I struggle to get it done. So, I'm really hoping to have a more full program without adding a lot of library books with HOD. I'm looking forward to next year, but I admit, I'm not totally sure how it is going to work as we add more kids to the school mix. I will easily be able to combine my 2 sets of twins with each other. So, by the time everyone is schooling, I'll only be doing 4 guides. I suspect that because yours are close in age, you could do the same with at least 2 sets of kids. (the older two and 4 and 3 year olds). I'm just not sure. I like the idea of separating them, but I'm not sure it's going to work in practice. We may end up back at MFW for this very reason. :) So, that is where I am. We used and love MFW for K and 1st. We are using it for 2nd, but not loving it as much. I'm trying HOD next year, probably Bigger. I think going forward my plan is going to be MFW through at least 1st, maybe 2nd because Beyond is not appealing to me, then switching to HOD for 3rd and above. But, who knows...I haven't actually done HOD. I may be back to MFW much sooner than I think. :lol: Whoa long...sorry...I'm always long winded. :blush:

And here lies your problem. ;) If you want it done in a timely fashion, you tell her to go do it, follow her, hand her the clothing (or help her pick it out), then stand there and watch her get dressed. If she still isn't doing it with you watching, you physically help her...though you really should not have to do that for a 5 year old. Otherwise, she will get distracted and play instead. You are making good use of your time because you are keeping your child on task. Everything else can wait for the moment if you want to get moving. I get distracted too, but after my kids are dressed and ready for the day, which I confessed above. It bothers me, but not a lot because it's hard to work with my 3 year olds around anyway. I also struggle with dawdling and being distracted. In fact, I'm actually almost positive I have undiagnosed ADHD. I get sucked into something (cleaning, internet, whatever) and I can't pull myself away. (it's called hyper-focus) I'll intend to wipe one counter and then I'll end up scrubbing my kitchen from top to bottom for 2 hrs. Or I'll need to print one thing for school and end up on the computer for over an hour. I also get overwhelmed by the mess of my house (6 kids 8 and under ;)) and shut down very easily. It's a big problem of mine. But, it's MY problem, not my kids even if they are allowed to dawdle because I am distracted. Bottom line, if you want to start earlier, you need to prioritize getting school started/done above all else first thing in the morning. You need to focus on getting the kids ready for the day and focus on teaching them the routine of that. The clothes can wait. The bathroom can wait. The floors can wait. After you finish school, you'll have plenty of time for that stuff. On the other hand, maybe it doesn't matter what time you start because your daughter is still young. But, I do understand it being easier for her to focus if you get started early. I also do see benefit from laying that foundational routine of starting school early. At some point, it becomes somewhat needed as the workload increases. We are getting to that point. I am working on getting us started early...working on myself because it's my problem. We were done with breakfast by 8:50 this morning. I popped on here for a minute to reply to you. But, I'm getting off and we are starting by 9:30 this morning. :D

I think we all do that sometimes, even more so with the first because we just don't realize what should even be expected. It took me a long time to learn that I couldn't say to my younger kids, "go clean your room or the playroom." and expect it to be done. I have to oversee it. I can say it to my 8 year old now, but still not the 5 year olds. (though, the 8 year old is neat and I rarely have to tell him to pick up anything which is wonderful.) My husband is still learning this lesson. But, I'm with them 24/7. ;)

This is a good point. Like I said, my kids are responsible for doing these things and they do generally do them. However, I actually consider it my responsibility to make sure they get dressed and ready for the day. If they aren't, I consider it to be a failure of mine, not theirs. Although, if I hand my 5 year old their clothes and say, "get dressed." and they don't do it, they are disobeying and that needs to be addressed. But, that's not really what I'm talking about. It has taken me a lot of time and effort to get them into this routine. And, I do still have to direct them often. I am always there overseeing the morning routine even if I'm dressing the baby or whatever. Often, I'm prepping breakfast while overseeing. ;) Also, while I said it isn't mean to require these things before breakfast, I do mean that you should be supervising and making sure they happen in a timely fashion. It is not mean to say, "we'll eat after we are dressed." and then help them do that and still eat at a reasonable time. It isn't okay to do your own thing while waiting for them to do their things and then not serve breakfast till 11am because it took them that long to get their act together. However, I don't think that is what OP is planning to do. :)