Yes, and the fact that there is much less oxygen at high altitudes. Most birds cannot fly at that altitude as it requires much faster flapping of wings and huge metabolic output...not to mention less oxygen to utilize for breathing. If I remember right, he had read about the bar-headed goose, a bird with adaptations that enable it to fly over the Himalayas. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-goose-that-flies-over-the-himalayas-180051476/

My dd4 is thoroughly fascinated by Greek Mythology. We have used a multitude of resources, and she can't seem to get enough. I was worried, as it is very obviously more than a bit, uh, gory for young kids:) However, this kid can be really sensitive on things, with the exception of the natural world. I think the myths are so 'out there' that she can explore the ideas without getting upset. And of course, the fact that she LOVES it:) So. After references to both epics, she really wants to read them. I bought her the collection by Mary Pope Osborne (Tales from the Odyssey) thinking that would fill the need. I had planned to read them with her, but she took off with volume 1 and finished it in a day! I gave her volume 2, and she immediately asked if there was another book with more in it. I am not sure what she means, but the quality of the writing IS not the greatest. It feels stunted, and in her words 'isn't beautiful', lol. Does anybody know of any other versions for younger, advanced readers? We can do it as a read-aloud, but she isn't ready for the originals!

One of the most interesting arguments I ever encountered was by a six-year-old boy. I am trying to find the link, but basically he asked about the birds...breathing and flying. His question was if the entire world was covered in water, all the way up to the Himalayan mountains (as per fossilized shells), how could the birds breath or fly in that atmosphere? For that matter, how could anyone/thing on the ark breath? Was there an atmosphere? For some reason this gives me visions of everyone in the ark fitted with supplementary oxygen...huge ones and teeny, tiny miniature ones:)

Not to mention it begs the question WHY would He bother with the ark and the animals at all if he could/did simply recreate them?

This is exactly what I just told my dd4 this weekend. We visited a natural history museum, and in the lobby the have a massive, rusted, and mangled 15- foot tall piece of one of the support girders from a tower. There was a large dedication placard with graphic information, which she read.I hadn't planned on doing much more than to say it was a day to remember that sometimes people do things to hurt each other out of hate and fear, and that many people lost their lives on that day as a result...but this put a spanner in the works. Unfortunately, there is no real way to shelter her. And with her, like other kids, having factual information is better than the things they put together when the facts are not presented. So we will do a very small, factual lesson on the 11th, with no focus on the details unless she has questions for things she has seen or read:(

That sounds fantastic:) Can I come play too?

Ha! Here I thought that it was only me:) When my dd4 was 2 we made sure she could get water from the 'fridge dispenser, could open plastic containers with kid-friendly foods, and gave her a low cupboard for her dishes. The bottom shelf in the pantry has everything she could possibly need, and we even bought a stepstool to reach the microwave. Since then it has just kind of grown and she is very, very independent in the kitchen. With me in a wheelchair, I just had this horrible personal nightmare of her not being able to get food or water. Ah well, it has translated into great skills!

Oh, see since you also have an E name I would continue the trend...if for no reason that she doesn't feel left out, lol. Yet I cannot imagine name my little girl a U name:) What about a name in the same style that has U as the second letter? There are some beautiful ones: Juliet Audrey Ruby Autumn Aubrey Lucy Julianna And so on...

Hmmm, thanks for the tip. THAT would make it worth it for me. Thanks, that is exactly the kind of info I was hoping for:)

Good to know:) Colorado is top of the list for places we would love to move to. Hubby actually got a position at Colorado School of Mines, and we ended up not being able to go for health reasons...those have changed, so we have hope!

I think that this would be the primary benefit to us. Locally, there is absolutely nothing. Not a single group to be found. There are some references to groups either 100 miles north or south of us, which might be a possibility at some point, but I haven't truly checked them out. In addition, driving her myself would prove challenging.

Well, I do think it will depend on the child...how fast they fill in gaps, but more than anything their tolerance for frustration and problem solving. I started BA 3A with Alex (although she wasn't six) when she was still doing Singapore 2B, but she had already learned multiplication and was pretty fast with recall. She loved the style, but just wasn't ready to tackle the hardest problems for lack of patience. So we did what she wanted of it as a supplement and did a bit more little by little to work on problem solving/patience. We still run Beast well back of what new material she is working on in Singapore. This allows her to stretch herself with the application of material she has already learned. It works really well for us.

I am partial to Alexandria Isobel, but I have one of those:). The Isobel is from paternal grandmother. We call her Alex for short, as we wanted something very girly but with a more unisex shortened version to choose from. If we have another girl we are strongly considering Anastasia Aurora. Hubby wants shortened version to be Rory.

As part of our most recent neuropsych eval for Alex, the psychologist recommended that we apply, in the hopes that we can find more opportunities and resources. Alex will be five in December (already!) and so I just spent some time on the website. But honestly, unless I am missing something, I cannot see that there are many opportunities for five-year-olds. Even the Summer Stars program doesn't start until age 8 or so. For those of you who have done it, what (if any) benefits are there for doing it at a young age? It would definitely be nice to put her together with other kids, and I would love to meet other parents...I am just not sure if this is a possibility at 5. Any thoughts? Are there opportunities or other benefits I am not seeing?

We are vegetarian, but I guess we lean more vegan...a very small amount of vegetarian cheese, and we can handle small amounts of egg whites, which allow us to do a couple of meat substitutes such as Quorn. Two nights per week my dd4 has activities at 5:30 pm. With driving time it is just too early to eat before and too late to deal with when we get home, so we pack dinners. Here are a couple of things we do regularly: Nachos (bag of chips, beans, avocado, olives, pico, etc. in a container for scooping. I do NOT recommend this one for the car😠Vegetarian chili over rice Pasta bake- I usually make a marinara sauce with mushrooms and sometimes Mornigstar crumbles. I cook Bowtie pasta, mix it altogether and bake it. Individual servings and plastic utensils. Doesn't have to be hot when eaten. Pasta salads and bean salads Veggie stew over rice Curry Finger foods and lunches for dinner Hummus, pretzels, veggies 'Shape fries'- this is what we named roasted potato and veggie pieces from the oven to get the kid to eat them. Quorn has kid-friendly nuggets to pair with them.

Just to check, did you do the car? If the kids have been riding in it to take siblings to activities, they may be be picking them up again from there... Sorry you are having so much trouble:( Parent's nightmare!

Absolutely:) We use AAS, and will be starting AAS level 4 next month, and I did not want all the extra 'stuff'. I originally bought the basic kit for level 1 and decided I wanted to box. If you scroll down the page you will see the box and an add to cart button ($9.99). Alternatively, most small file boxes also work...I just liked the divider cards and the fact that everything fit perfectly:) http://www.allaboutlearningpress.com/spelling-interactive-kits/

There are lots of lists online. But if you are looking for more of an informal supplement to what you are doing I highly e commend a game called Rummy Roots. It comes as a handful of simple card games to learn something like 100 roots, prefixes and suffixes from both Greek and Latin. The easiest is akin to Go Fish, where you ask for the meaning to pair with the root. Really, it is one of my 4 yr old's favorite games and I love that she can now dissect words accordingly....but hubby and I have learned a lot as well. There are also more complicated games you can play with the same cards. I think it is a great supplement to any vocabulary study, all the way through SAT prep:)

Hhhmm, much of this sounds a bit like my dd. She isn't bossy, but is soooo loud, opinionated, and she tends to somehow always take over the situation. She has trouble with reading the social cues and knowing how to deal with other children. There are many reasons for this, and we are working on them... That being said, it breaks my heart. She is just so clever, vibrant, and funny. Yet nobody is going to get to see that side of her (or won't care!) if she continues to just sort of dominate everything. She WANTS to play with the kids, but really has a hard time with it. The psychologist that did her most recent testing for school suggested that sometimes kids do much better if you can approach correcting their behavior in terms of getting what they want and need. My dd is very egocentric (I think most 4 year olds probably are!) and she seems to 'get' that approach. I don't JUST tell her that a behavior is rude, but put it in terms of how rudeness will affect her and the relationships/things she wants. The dr. Also recommended a book called The Unwritten Rules of Friendship. It is more for you (with a four year old) but there are lots of strategies for teaching social interactions, ways to approach making children more aware of how their interactions color people's opinions...and how that will ultimately affect them. I found it really pretty useful, and it has helped me to understand others a bit better as well:) http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0316917303?qid=1409856426&sr=8-6&vs=1 It

Just for math facts my dd likes Math Bingo, Mystery Math Museum and Mystery Math Town. All are customizable to an extent: you can specify add/sub and mul/div, as well as select 1-10 or 1-144.

Spelling City has an app now that you can customize. I still prefer it on the web, but sometimes that isn't feasible. For younger students I like Word Wizard. It has a moveable alphabet and lots of easier preset spelling words. I see that as more fun though, and we sometimes use the app as tiles for AAS.

We did RS A and B, and I found the RS Yahoo group very helpful. They have several RS veterans who are incredibly helpful and knowledgable. Ha! Some of them are probably here in the hive too (as well as RS veterans NOT over there!), but if you don't get what you need here, it is another helpful option:)

And fractions:) We did it first by simply making the larger-valued card the denominator first, now we are doing using them as they come up as mixed fractions.

We have both Brain Pop and Brain Pop, Jr. My dd likes both and watches them daily. If you have an IPad you can download the apps for free, and watch the free movie of the week and a few more. I would imagine you can do the same on the website, but I never tried. Watching a few might give you a better feel for whether or not you will like it. Also, if you go the app route you can just do it for a month for like $6?

I googled Kindergarten All about me and found a ton of free printables, little books you can make, and even huge Pinterest lists. We did a simple version for PreK this year:)