There is a fantastic National Geographic documentary about the Wolong Perserve in China and Giant Pandas that outlines these very questions. The babies are so small and helpless, and it is difficult for the mother to position them properly for feeding. Sometimes one just fails, but more often the mother will simply devote her resources to one to increase chances of survival. Panda mothers often don't eat or drink much while nursing and ration their resources as well:( At least in the documentary it did not seem to stress mother to have the babies rotated...and the keepers went to elaborate steps, even dressing as Giant Pandas for some of the interactions! Highly recommend watching the documentary.

I wondered how that worked because if you simply register your homeschool name with, as in our case, a single student, the results would be severely skewed! It looks like they take an average to generate the score? So if the total points is 2500 and there are 25 students the school has a 100 points. But with one student...not really fair:)

Not to mention 90-150 day gestation😄 I do hope these little cubs survive. It is tricky business with twins and they will have to rotate them in and out to get her to feed and bond with them. Very exciting!

My dd5 got a pair of jeans as a gift and loved them so much I ended up getting more. They are from Justice, and have a 2 in wide soft elastic-y band at the top. They fit her so much better and keep her from mooning everyone in the room when she wears them:) They are similar to these: https://m.shopjustice.com/girls-clothing/knit-waist-denim-jeggings/4673118/606?pageSort=W3sidHlwZSI6ImZlYXR1cmVkIiwidmFsIjoiIn1d&productOrigin=category%20page&productGridPlacement=1-1&originalCatId=3191 ETA: if you google 'knit waist jeans' there are several companies that make them, including Gap, Children's Place, Justice, and more...

They are returning in October, and have started registration for those interested: http://www.3plearning.com/worldeducationgames/

We were once camping out in the middle of nowhere, at City of Rocks in Idaho. There was nobody else camping anywhere we could see. Incredibly beautiful and peaceful...until midnight when a huge loud truck came barreling up and a booming voice shouted "Hey!!! You in the tent. Ya got any weed?!" We opted to ignore for awhile but they just kept at it, driving in circles and 'mud-bogging' for a bit before circling back to us to shout for weed. Finally my father-in-law shouted back "No! Do you?" They even asked if they could come sleep in our tent😠They finally left after a couple of hours. The next morning we ended up cleaning up after them and their beer, chip, and burger gorge. The landscape was a disaster, so torn up. I think that infuriated me the most. I THINK it was college kids out for a laugh, but it terrifies me to be in that situation in the middle of nowhere.

My hubby and I are vegetarian, closer to vegan. My dd5 has never had meat and has always eaten a vegetarian diet. She is also allergic to dairy. That being said, we consider her to be the child of vegetarian parents rather than vegetarian. Preschool was actually really good for her in that area as eating snacks and lunch with the other kids allowed her to see what the other kids were eating. We always left it up to her: the teacher knew it was up to her if she suddenly wanted to exchange her lunch for that other kid's chicken nugget or processed meat-like substance. She never did, but autonomy over her body has to start somewhere. I did always include a snack in her bag as she often couldn't eat what was offered. So yes, shared snacks like that are very annoying. But can you look at it as a chance for your kiddo to make choices? Grow and learn? He isn't suddenly going to develop a taste for just junk and start shunning your snacks:) and in the same way, he will be proud to show how his family eats by bringing the group snack. Also, you won't be building up those other snacks that 'all' the other kids are eating, making it the forbidden. That works when they are young, but you are encouraging life-long choices, right?😄And btw, don't bother buying more expensive organic options for kiddie snacks to take in-most of the preschoolers won't eat them:(. It 'tastes funny' to them and gets thrown away. Ask me how I know:). Apple slices, orange slices, even popcorn have gone over very well. I once made a huge Hungry Caterpillar out of fruit and veggies on a tray and the kids ate every bit of it, things many of the kids professed to have never tried at home:) One other thing: the preschool teacher will more than likely be invested in keeping the group snack. Many preschoolers cannot do things like reliably open plastic containers or snack bags. The teacher spends way too much time going round helping each child, and she is trying to police each individual snack for possible allergens in many cases. With a group snack, everyone gets served the same thing. Then she has the reverse issue of getting all the kid's containers back in their bags efficiently. This doesn't make it any less annoying, but just a thought when you are talking to her about your concerns. I know how frustrating this is. I hope you find something that works for you.

My sister had kids very young, four of them. She has a very absent and unsupportive hubby, and a ton of financial issues. Just about anything that could induce serious stress in life is her daily reality. I think Yelling was just a release for her, but it became verbal abuse. When you are that angry and yelling, you are not always able to monitor the words coming out of your mouth:( She hated herself for it and would call in tears. She wanted to stop but didn't even know where or how to begin. Honestly, most of the stress relievers and options were simply out of her reach. She didn't have a car, couldn't get away, no support, you can imagine the stress. So it came down to 'just stop yelling.' That was just too much of a task:(. She would wake up vowing not to yell, but by the mid-morning had lost the battle. It really was a cycle of yelling/shame/self-loathing...which made everything worse. What finally worked was this: she set a timer for one hour. In her mind she just had to make it without yelling for an hour. Then she would feel great, and reset the timer. Tackling it in smaller blocks made the whole thing more reasonable. She also wore a rubber band on her wrist and would snap it if she felt herself start to get that angry, just to remind herself to breath and look at the timer.

Oh wow. I am totally feeling like dd5 does too much. She can easily push 2 hours per day, not including math reading books she picks up on her own. Never will she want to stop before 45 min-1 hour. And I am ALWAYS ready to stop before she does. But she toggles back and forth between books, so maybe in her mind it is different? She might do some Beast and then want some in the Key to Series, then want to do some on computer, then back to Singapore. I encourage this to slow her down a bit. I don't know how I could change this though, or if I should as she enjoys it...maybe next week she will decide not to do math and devote herself to something else:)

When I was eight my mom specifically told me how very much trouble I would get into it I cut my own hair. It was down to my butt and SHE loved it. One day she made the mistake of dropping me off to get my hair trimmed at one of her friend's houses (who happened to cut hair at a local salon). My hair was in a braid and I somehow convinced the poor woman that my mother finally said it was okay to cut it all off. When my mom turned up 20 minutes later I had the cutest, shortest pixie cut😄 Needless to say mom was not amused.at.all. She got her revenge however by inflicting the most horrid home perm on my very short hair to make me 'look like a girl.' She also got me plastic eyeglasses with the pink plastic bow perched jauntily above the right eye😥 I can't even look at pictures from that time period without shuddering.

Hey! I just found them on Amazon for under $15 with free Prime shipping. Too late for me, but might save you a few $$!http://www.amazon.com/Nuop-Feed-World-Cookie-Cutters/dp/B00863CHE0/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1439728701&sr=1-1-fkmr1&keywords=Montessori+continent+cookie+cutters

I couldn't even like this😠Ewww.

I know, right?! Here you go... http://montessori-n-such.com/p-4148-continent-cookie-cutter-set-with-control-mat.aspx

That's an excellent idea...we always do Christmas around the world. We can make them into ornaments to keep:)

The Royal Society of Chemistry has an online game to learn some great chemistry: http://www.rsc.org/learn-chemistry/resource/res00001113/interactive-periodic-table-game

Definitely both. It has been enlightening to see the benefit of dd knowing both, and how she uses the knowledge. A couple of great examples as to how she does it: when doing long division she frequently jockeys back and forth between rapid skip counting (faster than me!) and multiplication. And being so comfortable with skip counting made things like finding Least Common Denominators a breeze.

I thought of this thread when I ordered a set of continent-shaped cookie cutters today😄 The plan is to let her cut out salt dough, bake them, and paint in major landmarks as part of our geography exploration. For me, some of the planning and researching those 'extras' is an attempt to give her the fun, cute stuff she would have had at a B&M school. I don't actually want our homeschool to resemble a B&M school...but I want it to be fun as well!

Walgreens.com Inquiries: 1-877-250-5823; -Store Inquiries:1-800-WALGREENS or 1-800-925-4733; -Corporate Inquiries: 1-847-914-2500; -Customer Relations: 1-800-925-4733, option 4. The email is a contact form: https://www.walgreens.com/mktg/contactus/contact-us-landing.jsp Hope you get a resolution!

I love browsing the store. Often I find ideas for things but use stuff I already have at home. I also don't ever pay full price for things there. If you sign up on their webpage for email alerts and text alerts you will always have a coupon. It seems to alternate between a BOGO 1/2 off and a 20% off coupon. The one I recieved yesterday is BOGO 1/2 off with code 9930. And do sign up for the Teachers discount card for additional savings:) One other thing: for some reason I have found their shipping costs to be higher. Just be aware of that when you are looking for the best prices!

Not really books, but the anatomy coloring book might be something to look at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0762440732/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1439525691&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SY200_QL40&keywords=anatomy+coloring+book&dpPl=1&dpID=51k4tIi1P9L&ref=plSrch And just because I happened to be on the Hickory Grove Press site today and saw a fun set of math problems based upon life and the body: https://www.hickorygrovepress.com/products.cfm?ID=22&cat=8

Thanks for adding to my mental misery:) No, really, thanks. This is a good idea. Baby is on probiotics now. I am waiting on a call from the Dr. The nurse did say it is complicated because I am allergic to some of the other contenders:( I just want it to go.away.now. Failing that, right now I would settle for the huge aching spot on my butt where they gave me the most painful of painful antibiotic injections yesterday. It happens to be RIGHT where I sit in the wheelchair:(. It's always the little things that tip me over the edge, lol.

Oh wow, how frightening for you! I hope he has recovered. I have a call in to the Dr.'s office to see if they can reexamine the situation.

Yes. In fact I had to feed my son (he is still so new I get a thrill just typing those words!) while I was having the breathing treatment in the office.

I am not fond of giving him antibiotics either. Dd5 has a history of ear infections and we typically let it go unless she is in a lot of pain. Especially since she is allergic to the common antibiotics used to treat them. However, in this case they KNOW my illness is bacterial in nature and he hasn't left the house or been around anyone for nearly 2 weeks. Also, there are some physical anomalies in his tubes which make treating now a better bet, according to his pediatrician. Oh, and he is really miserable. His little tubes won't even allow the drops for pain to get through:(