"Binding Options..." Um, well, you might have just watched a bit too much 50 Shades of Gray and it is a phase, but if not you might try soft scarves first. If you go for handcuffs, make sure you put the key in a safe spot. I highly advise getting permission first, and duct tape is just plain creepy.

I recieved an email about Kohl's Volunteer Scholarship program for a chance at money for college, and immediately thought of more than a couple of the hive kids (virtual pointing at you EndofOrdinary and Dmmeter😄). Volunteers can win local and regional amounts that seem to start at $1000, and then move on to national level for a chance at $10,000. Just seemed like a great opportunity, especially since it primarily involves work already being done out of love and passion for a cause:). http://www.kohlscorporation.com/CommunityRelations/scholarship/

When I went searching last month for some fun projects on fractals I can across this list linked to another university website. It has a ton of great resources, including several options for freeware or shareware modeling programs. If you scroll to the bottom, we really liked the World of Fractals site.. http://mathforum.org/library/topics/fractals/

How about a retractable line?

ITA:) Although I don't ask my dd to do it via partial products method, I did teach it and it served a very useful tool: by having her do it and talk me through it I was absolutely positive that she fully understood not only the multiplication part, but place value/ expanded form, distributive property, and had the ability to construct/deconstruct large numbers using their properties. If they CAN do it this way they do fully understand what they are doing and which method they ultimately choose to use everyday doesn't really matter at that point.

Partial products method, I think you meant. Similar setup for division is partial quotients method. But I agree...we learned it as well as regular SM method. Always useful to have multiple tools, but it always seemed to be more work to me:)

Huh. No way:) Totally different in my mind. A snake is a reptile, an eel is a fish, and they don't resemble each other at all:) ETA: I am jealous about seeing the Sharptail eel...

If it makes you feel any better I will share my 'secret shame' story that I totally got over: We are vegetarian and dd5 was always extremely picky. She is allergic to cow's milk but could tolerate a milk-based formula with minimal issues when she was a baby. Because of my medical issues she was always bottle fed after the first 2 weeks, and had a bottle up until she was about 18 months old when we took them away with not too much trouble...although she still wanted them and refused to drink formula or milk substitutes at all after that. Two weeks later we went to the UK in holiday for 6 weeks. It was a nightmare! She would not eat hardly ANYTHING! Everything tastes differently and has different textures. She lost weight and was miserable. In desperation I gave her back a 5 oz bottle of formula with a small modification: she could have one with breakfast at the table and one at bedtime whilst reading books before brushing teeth. Really, it had all the nutrients she needed and it wasn't simply a situation of filling up in milk and then not wanting solid food. When we finally came home we tried to take them away again and had similar problems. Honestly, I was horrified, lol. I consulted the pediatrician, her dentist, and the pediatric nutritionist we see 2x per year. This drug on and on, and we tried all sorts of things. Ultimately, it came down to this: as long as she wasn't drinking anything but milk (or water) in it, wasn't carrying it around in her teeth drinking it over long periods of time (she downed it in about 5 min), and wasn't substituting it for wholesome whole foods there isn't a problem. Even the concern that it would result in years of orthodontia turns out to be a myth as their teeth if precautions are taken. And everything else she insisted on drinking from a proper cup from a very young age... It turns out that if you take those precautions, the only problem is how parents/society view it! I had to just decide I was more concerned with her comfort and nutrition than what anybody else thought. I decided it just was not a hill I was willing to die on. Of course, that didn't stop me from stashing the bottles in the pantry when company was over, and not discussing it with anyone:) I reassured myself that she would not take it to college with her, and laughed that I must have the only child that simultaneously mastered long division and gave up the bottle! And that only happened at 4 yrs 8 mo when she suffered serious milk-related issues from drinking it! The allergist believes that a cumulative effect finally made issues that were always minimal impossible to ignore. Guess what? When she realized she couldn't drink it then, she never asked for a bottle of milk again. She still won't drink any substitutes, but is at an age now where we can meet nutritional needs other ways. No stress on her at all. Ultimately, ask yourself if it comes down to feeling 'judges' if YOU don't wean her. If that is the only reason, then you can decide what you want to do:) So there you have it. My secret shame, 'failure' as a mom, my secret walk of shame in the mommy wars....except it isn't because I decided it wasn't, lol. We all make the best decisions we can for OUR kids! Do what works for you and yours and ignore the rest...

I don't often recommend this book because of the fact that it IS very detailed. It is one of our favorites, uses correct terminology with the right amount of detail and explicit language, without being too graphic. I think Alex is just a bit younger than Peter?, but from your posts think this might be more along the lines of what you are lookinng for. We also watched the PBS Miracle of Birth documentary and a couple others. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00JQTO94Y/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1424721657&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70&keywords=my+mom+is+having+a+baby I got one from the library called 'Everyone Has a Bellybutton' that was nice, but not nearly as detailed... ETA: the video we enjoyed was actually NOT the Miracle of Life one when I just checked, but rather is called 'Life's Greatest Miracle', which is a NOVA/PBS documentary.

Yeahhhhhhh! I am thrilled to see it working. It has been driving me nuts for days and this morning I could not stay logged in for two seconds, couldn't even post:) I was worried it was yet another glitch on my new phone, so thanks for posting...

For what it is worth, this has been our experience with introducing Latin to Alex at a young age...she is fascinated by word roots and common themes among words, both within English and across languages. But I would also say we have not actively tried to 'learn' Latin. Just playing with Song School Latin and earlier the Dino Lingo Latin DVDs. Lots of fun, but preference is definitely on pursuing living languages that she can see/hear spoken and work with:)

We do some with Latin vocabulary, and my dd (newly 5) has learned quite a bit since we started when she was much younger. It is very informal here:) Take a look at the Dino Lingo DVD sets for Latin, especially with a toddler! We have them in 3 languages just because they are cute and fun... http://dinolingo.com/languages/latin-for-kids-learning-products.html#link-dvd

I thought of this thread today when I recieved an email from the folks at Homeschool Freebie of the Day. They gave a link for a free downloadable PDF on money management for teens. I have no idea if it is any good, but you can't beat free, right? Thought you might like to take a look. Here is the excerpt from the email, and the link to the PDF is below... And here is this week's SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE LINK for this week: MAKING AND MANAGING MONEY FOR TEENS Advice and Inspiration for Teens and Their Parents by Olivia Brodock (PDF ebook) A wonderful primer for tweens and teens on how to earn and manage their own money! Topics include: saving and giving, planning ahead, short term and long term saving, wise spending, debt, home business ideas and more. Normally $7.95, but a FREEBIE for our subscribers this week only! http://makingmanaging.s3.amazonaws.com/MakingAndManaging.pdf

We used DVDs such as Whistlefritz, Little Pim, and Dino Lingo for the most part. I would also allow episodes of cartoons we normally wouldn't watch if they were in Spanish. A couple of other things we found very useful: learning nursery rhymes and finger plays she already knew in Spanish (and other languages), dual language books where the words are on the top half of the page in English/bottom half in Spanish, and one of our favorites: the Scholastic Storybook collections. If you haven't seen these, they are a set of DVDs with classic children's lit. The story is read aloud whilst showing the pages of the book, and there is an option for subtitles so the kids can follow the words. They are fantastic regardless, but one day I realized they have a Spanish play option...so we could do the same beloved stories whilst hearing proper Spanish pronunciation. A really great (free if you have a decent library nearby!) resource.

Last year I showed dd5 this 'magic fingers' video for shoe tying and it was really easy to do! Much easier than traditional methods:) http://www.efficientlifeskills.com/how-i-taught-my-6-year-old-to-tie-shoes-in-5-minutes/

Yes, I have to say that I did NOT grow up with family dinners, much less proper ones. But when I was in High School I dated a wonderful LDS boy. As part of Wed youth group activities, every couple of months the parents got together and cooked a 4/5 course meal. All of the kids sat down at a formal table and the parents acted as waiters, everyone dressed in semi-formal attire or business casual depending upon the night. It was a lot of fun, and it has served me tremendously-well over the years. I could easily see that as something fun to adapt for homeschoolers even if it isn't the norm to do more formal meals at home. Very useful:)

I guess it depends upon how you look at it. We always have a salad or veggie tray first, and that happens to be on the table before dinner. Sometimes I might even make an appetizer to munch on, but it tends to end up acting as more of a side dish. We eat at the table most nights with food in serving bowls. Cloth napkins but no table cloth except for special occasions because I am anal about wrinkles but cannot be bothered to iron one. Dessert, if we do one, is usually fruit or non-dairy ice cream, or just a small piece of dark chocolate for hubby and kiddo. It comes out after dinner because otherwise I would have to listen to whines and begging about it before dinner was done:) Of course, dd5 is having her dinner in courses this evening: I am miserably pregnant and daddy made an executive decision to take an overly hungry dd through the McDonald's drive thru for French fries after gymnastics...she will have fruit and veggie nuggets when they get home, lol. Does that count?

Absolutely normal. After the birth of our first child we had 5 miscarriages in 5 years, 2 of them edging into the 2nd trimester. It was awful, and each time I swore I was not going to put myself or our family through it again. Now I am 30 weeks pregnant and still can't quite convince myself that everything will be fine. It has been a difficult pregnancy with several hospital trips...until I hold this baby in my arms I am not sure I will get there. Wishing you the very best.

I hope you find what you are looking for! I will say that if you would like to add in just some grammar to your own program you might take a look at Easy Grammar. It makes a nice companion to a writing program, especially since you are doing AAS already. It is very, very open and go and is just a get-it-done program. I actually bought it because Alex wanted something more independent before MCT and for workbook-y kids it is just a solid no frills setup.

[quote name="eternallytired" post="6194274" timestamp="1424200494 Kerileanne99, how long do you think it will take your daughter to get through MCT's Island level? Is there any portion of it you are putting off until later, or one you wish you'd waited on? I have no problem adjusting programs to meet our needs--either adjusting pacing or substituting activities--but I don't want to get most of the way through and think, "I sure wish I'd waited--they'd have gotten far more out of this in a year or two!" (Especially at that price...) Whew, that is hardto say because we are doing a very eclectic mix of LA--and I am purposely trying to stretch it out as much as possible:) it is for this reason that we alternate WWE2, but analyze the sentences and apply more of a MCT style along with the regular dictation and copywork, which also doubles as her 'fun' cursive practice. We finished Grammar Island which didn't take too long because of all our previous grammar work. Sentence Island I am determined to stretch along with Building Language which she loves. But she has also done an informal Greek/Latin roots study through a handful of resources such as workbooks and games, so there right now is a lot of overlap in programs/materials she is using...and AAS7 has them as well. However, she is learning to construct much higher quality sentences because of it! As far as writing, this is the best way we can slow down. On AAS days she takes the 6 words from the writing station and creates a story using them, creating a story web and then picks a couple of sentences to analyze before illustrating the journal. This is time consuming so is all she usually does with math. Other days she will choose MCT... The one thing I will say I think she will get more out of later is a Music of the Hemispheres. Whilst we do a bit with the mechanics of poetry during our reading and memory work (she really likes to memorize poems!) I want to wait on much of it. We have looked at many ideas and literary devices, but just because she knows what say, similes and metaphors and descriptive language are along with say, iambic pentameter? I do NOT think she is really appreciating the language of poetry as a whole. Nor is she fully absorbing the choices of the poems. So I have pulled it out a few times but am really just using it for ideas at the moment, preferring to just expose her to great poetry more appropriate for her and mention some ideas as we go. Plenty of time for more later! I will say that if you are looking for something open and go, do the next thing? MCT is not really going to be it:) I feel like the whimsy of it is great, but definitely it is more work than I had planned. Part of it is the way we have adapted it for dd, but much of it is just the nature of the program!

Just an alternate view: Normally I would say that MCT is very advanced for use with a 5 year old...most kids simply wouldn't be ready for that level of output, and they WILL not get the full gist if they are not writing efficiently and confidentially. But I am using it with my dd5, only after finishing WWE1 and the first 5 levels of AAS. It sounds as though you are doing much of the same. As long as they are comfortable writing at least a full paragraph working for more I have to say I LOVE the program. It has really made my dd's work blossom. And MCT can be done as slowly as necessary. Here is the thing: for kids in this position you MIGHT find something that works or bridges a gap for a couple of months, but it is often expensive and they outgrow it way too rapidly. I think MCT with its gentle, 'storylike' format is a perfect fit given the above as it gives them room to grow and thrive... It can be done as a whole program or in parts, which really helps too. And, as I am sure you are already doing, it can always be set aside for a bit if it isn't a great fit!

Last year I did pasties (or 'hand pies') in the Cornish pasty style. We are vegetarian so have out own favorites, but here is a link with some different styles. Just about every culture has their own: pasties, empanadas, pierogis, etc., and they can be savory or sweet. http://www.marthastewart.com/1058976/savory-hand-pies

Lol, I just had to add that dd5 was reading next to me and thought your post title was a joke/ riddle... Her suggestion was "because the mouse in the soup ate it." I really, really hope not:)

It does seem like maybe the higher the level, the more words are useful:) we are in level 6, and dd really enjoys spelling so that may be just out experience. OP, what level are you working on as this might make a difference...

[quote name="AimeeM" post="6191692" timestamp= I've considered ASL and I actually know a good bit myself... but when his therapists (namely his Early Interventionist and Speech Therapist) try to teach/use ASL with him, he just thinks it's hilarious and won't participate (other than to laugh I am not surprised if that is pretty much the only time he encounters it, lol. Maybe he thinks she is just flapping her hands a lot:) The library typically has Signing Time videos, some are on the Two LittleHands YouTube channel, and PBS plays it in some areas. Maybe he will enjoy it (and recognize its usefulness!) if he saw it associated with the written word as well...and for some reason kids seem to really love to see the signs done by other children, which the videos take full advantage of:) Good luck...