Boxcar Children & Magic School Bus chapter books

I bought a couple from Walmart.com when we moved this summer. The quality isn't the best, but the price more than reflected that. And I liked the fact that I could get free shipping and still be able to return in-store with no $ penalty if they didn't work out.

I have no ideas, but I'd love to know as well!

I'm hoping to convince my boys that they want to be Darth Vader, a pirate, & a chicken or a ninja since those are the costumes we have available, but we'll see.

We very rarely pay with cash anymore, so we always just add the tip to our card when we pay. My mother, who worked a second job as a waitress at another breakfast place for many years, never leaves a cash tip on the table. She always hands it directly to the waitress or waiter even if she has to wait around to get their attention again. And if it's a joint tip she'll collect the money and do the same thing with handing it over personally. She wants to make sure the money gets into the right pocket and after years of being on the other side of things, she just doesn't trust people. I'm sure it depends on the area, but things could be pretty sketchy where she worked. I know she also had her arthritis meds stolen out of her locker. How low do you have to be to steal arthritis meds from a middle age lady serving pancakes at 1am?!

We've never used it but in looking at previews of Draw & Write Through History I noticed that it's young earth and has longer, cursive copywork passages when compared to DWN. We have used and liked Draw 123 that's linked above. Its a little harder than DWN and there's no copywork though.

Wondering this too.

I haven't had the time to implement anything yet, but I've been looking at this site: http://www.calvarycurriculum.com/curriculum.php It says it's free.

We just do the "bed" with your hands (thumbs up on both hands, pushed together).

This site has some good, organized links. I'm not sure if they're all to YouTube, but the ones we've used have been. http://www.neok12.com/

Big trips every 2 weeks with additional trips in between for produce & dairy.

I don't know about parties, but around here kids are allowed 1 lunch visitor per week and that person has to be in the student's file on their "approved to check them out, etc." list. That seems reasonable to me. I can't imagine how disruptive it must be to have parents come everyday to eat with their kids or have birthday parties in the middle of a lunch period. I would think if for some reason you needed to see your child NOW, you could always check them out and take them somewhere else. Why should the school be reasonable for hosting parents on a daily basis?

Here's a link to the fabulous blog with the tile printable: http://tendingourlordsgarden.blogspot.com/2012/05/all-about-spelling-tiles.html

I didn't buy either of the kits. I just bought the teachers manual, the student materials, and made my own tiles. I don't regret it. If I had the funds to add to what we have now, I might add the box (which doesn't come in a kit anyway) and the divider cards, but both are so expensive for what they are that I just can't justify it. I'm hoping to find a plastic box in about the same size at some point. So far our cards are stored in an old recipe card box and it works fine for now. I have no idea when or what we would have used the CD for if I'd bought it.

I remove the casings, crumble, cook, and add to potato & kale soup. So good!

Or were you looking for them used?

I'm not sure about substituting, but I'm pretty sure Rainbow Resources has both the Usborne & Child's History of the World books.

Our Target still has them I think. I loved their nursing camis.

We do some of both. It just depends on what's for dinner, my energy level, and how many dishes are already in the sink.

Yes! I forgot about tangrams. We have Tangoes Jr and it's great for preschoolers.

Those are really cute, but I bet my youngest guy wouldn't be able to resist pulling them out.

The M&D cutting set & pizza set were both huge hits in our house. And I second the Kumon workbooks.

Are you doing science, art, or logic? I know many don't at that age, but I swear mixing in more hands on subjects and things that my son likes is what keeps him going through all the rest.

Glad you're feeling a bit better about it. I have boys with high energy levels too, but unless someone is very obviously rude, I just let any *comments* roll off my back. I prefer to think that people are just not always as thoughtful with their wording as they could be and that every person who acknowledges my children isn't necessarily passing judgement on them. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I tell myself. :)

I use page protectors, black expo markers and erase right away. I've never had a problem.