Absolutely! And we all know that even the absolute best, most supportive and all-around great husbands get to have occasional lapses in judgement! And, whilst in most of our opinions this Cher/Cindi Lauper moment definitely counts as one of those! There are a whole lot worse things in the grand scheme:) It sounds as though he is generally a loving, normal father and husband...that is why husbands have us wonderful wives to question their occasional lapses in judgment, and to provide the gentle ribbing for years after the fact when necessary, lol. And if this is his 'moment', his one mid-life issue? Maybe you can think of it as glad it isn't a bad toupee or a shiny red convertible...or both:) I hope that it works out for you...either that he reconsiders and you get to enjoy the trip as a family, or that you are able to find the humor in the situation. And can then play it up for all it is worth! Honey, Remember when I drove all that way with the kids to a tournament and spent the weekend shuttling, cheering, feeding, etc., etc., and you had your Girls Just Want To Have Fun Weekend? Now it is time for THIS girl to want to have fun!

Oh! Chris Van Deusen! A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0811836037/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1397342891&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40 And Curious George Goes Camping as well.

Well, yes:) I just had a look through some of our living math book collection and can't believe I forgot about Cluck O'Clock. I may well have blanked it from memory in desperation as there was a time that I must have read that book hundreds of times...it is a day in the life of chickens in the henhouse, and my kiddo is nuts about chickens. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/082341809X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1397304030&sr=8-1 I will look at the ones in dd''s room today:)

Oh, and if you are looking for young readers don't miss 'A Second is a Hiccup' which relates all the standard time units to things a child can understand. A second is a hiccup, a week is seven sleeps, that sort of thing, but lovely rhyming language that makes it a bit more special:) http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0439831067/ref=aw_d_dsc_books

Wayyyy of topic unsami, but can I just say I love and respect your approach and very logical views on teaching cultural differences to children. I really wish more mothers took your loving approach to religious/cultural differences, not just in relation to this thread, but in general...

EXACTLY:)I think my conversation with hubby would go something like this: Dear, about the concert...I just want you to know that if you feel this is just really, really something you NEED to do, as your loving wife I fully support you. Even if we have to take out a loan or take the exhorbitant cost of tickets out of our dear children's education funds, if it is really that important to you to see them in concert (because really, how many years do they have left? Didn't we see them when WE were teenagers?') I totally understand and I am sure the kids will too. Maybe I could make a video of our vacation and dd's game for you so you can feel a part of it later... Oh? What's that you say? You have decided you DON'T want to join the true fans in the audience with your lighter (and bald spots?!) waving in the air? You will just buy the new greatest hits album and we can listen as a family in the van on the way to dd''s game? Okay, if you are absolutely sure...

I second (ha!) this one:) My dd loved it! Here is the time list from the living math site, and I have to admit to owning a good number of these. One of my absolute favorites is at the bottom, part of the Time Life Math series. My dd also loves the Pigs on a Blanket book (and this whole series) as well as the beautiful One Lighthouse, One Moon (younger readers). http://www.livingmath.net/ReaderLists/TimeCal endars/tabid/1012/language/en-US/Default.aspx

I think I would have to install Cindi Lauper's version of 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame' as his ringtone! Because really...lets put things in perspective. Is this just one of those 'must do' before you die, really, really want to dos? If so, make it happen. If not, then it is family priority time...

When I am looking for part-time nanny help I am always looking for someone with something just a little bit different...I hired our first nanny because she was highly recommended, but she also knew ASL and could communicate with my hearing dd that way. We do use Sitter.city, but it probably works well for us because we are located next to a major university and the majority of candidates are university students. This means they often have a range of interesting and unique 'extras' that I look for. Even rudimentary Spanish can be a great selling point for parents of youn kids, so if she has any skills like that definitely use it as a selling point. Also, maybe this sounds really basic, but the first nanny caught my eye with something very basic. In the profiles (mostly of college girls) they used sort of glam photos or really professional pictures of themselves...the young lady I chose to consider an ultimately loved used a photo o herself with a child making funny faces at each other. Very basic, but it screamed 'I will have your child as my focus' not myself:) We did put everything in writing, and I was very clear in laying out what I expected...she was not CPR certified and I was willing to pay for the course for her, which was a bonus for both of us. If you can make sure your dd has even a day course in CPR/safety it will also make her stand out. One thing: we have tried using a younger HS student occasionally, but because she attends public school the hours she is available are very inconvenient. So if your dd is homeschooled, I would definitely list this as potential employers may be thinking a High School student will not work for them...when in fact her more flexible schedule may actually work in their favor!

One of the easiest and best things I did for my dd was to tie a stretchy therapy band around the base of her school chair and kitchen chair. Her little feet bounce like crazy off them but it really helps:)

Well, it is official. A really believe a ps teacher would at the very least think we are crazy, at the worst report us:) My hubby and child were in the back yard this evening. After hearing a door slam, and cupboards bang I went to see what mischief my dd4 was up to. She had the Brock Magiscope in one hand and the box of dissection tools in the other, shouting "mommy, there is a dead baby opossum in the yard! Can we dissect it?! Wait until you see it's tiny opposable thumbs, they are teeny-weeny and so cute!" Oh. Uhh, maybe not right before dinner sweetheart?!

I have not come across anything quite like Times Tales or multiplication.com materials for addition/bubtration facts, probably because of the nature of he material. However, there are materials that incorporate fun 'tricks' or ways of memorizing them: things like 'magic 9's for adding 9+ another number,' or 'monkey in the middle' for adding two numbers that are 2 away on the number line, such as 6+8. The workbook Two plus Two is not Five has those type of things....but there is a fun set of board, dice, and card games put together by a former teacher called Giggle Math that does the same thing. I think my dd learned most her math facts through them and some RS games. I highly recommend them for young kids and non-workbook loving kids...and just for fun:) http://www.gigglelearn.com/boardgames.html

I got my first tattoo when I was 15. (I have 2) I was newly graduated, newly emancipated, and about to start college. I have an anklet of vine going around my ankle, with five just -starting to bloom rosebuds intertwined--one for each of the personality traits I decided that I would strive for. Of course, no matter how much it meant to me, to the rest of the world it is just a tattoo. I think there is mostly less judgement about tattoos than years ago, at least in most circles, but it is there a bit. When/if my 4 yr old wants a tattoo I will try to make sure she has something special and long-term in mind, try to suggest a body location that can be hidden if she likes, make sure she knows that tattoos grow/change/distort as bodies do, and all the million other considerations:)

Well, one of the students we had come out identified 4 different species in abundance living at our house, lol! Most of them tend to stay RIGHT outside the doors?! For some reason we have a tremendous number of green anoles that love our garage door. But by far the biggest issue is the little brown house geckos. I guess they are actually an invasisve species that typically chases away the other native species. Not so at our house! Our house is brick and right I outside the front door is a very tall, primarily enclosed brick entryway that they love. Of course our porch light attracts bugs, but we are required to keep that on. I don't even use the front door in the summer, ugh. In desperation we tried glue pads...won't do that ever again. One night there were six in one night! But...we have beautiful birds we feed and one day a gorgeous red male cardinal decided a trapped lizard would make a great snack. It was heartbreaking and had both my hubby and I in tears. We have put glue boards inside the doors (after having them rehung!) but the third time I had to soak my screaming child to remove it from her skin last year I gave up:( And we have yet to find anything sonic that is anything but a joke. Anyway, I don't want to distract your kiddo, but if she wants more info she is welcome to it. Maybe I shall start a thread in the chat forum and see if others have had this problem...and stop contaminating this poor thread with my lizard issues:) http://www.tsusinvasives.org/database/common-house-gecko.html

Not snakes, but tell your dd she can come and find a solution to our lizard issue for us! We have had three different 'experts' out, have rehung and adjusted all the doors, cut back foliage around the house, you name it. No one can figure out where they are coming from (no one else in the neighborhood has the problem!) or how to stop them from getting into our house. We live in Texas and from about May through September EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT we average 4-5 in the house! So gross. They are just those teeny tiny babies, but they lie in wait for me I swear. One night I went to use the toilet in the night an there was one just waiting for me...inside the toilet bowl! I FREAKED:) They are protected as 'beneficial predators' so no one can do anything about them. Outdoors? beneficial predators. In my house in numbers greater than occasionally one? a big problem! But they die in the house and leave little carcasses all over that we find when we vacuum or such. And they stink when that happens, ugh. I am dreading summer for this reason alone. Fourth year in this house and fourth year dealing with it. Aagghh!

I love the idea of this! I haven't done any full books based upon a single poem except for themed poems like T'was the Night Before Christmas or Paul Revere's Ride... But dd just finished memorizing this poem a couple of weeks ago so I think this might be a great way to help her visualize the poems more. I think I will take a while and use this book to help her develop the mental imagery a bit more. Thanks for the suggestion, and I will be on the lookout for similar books for othe poems we work on.

Thanks for a bit of enlightenment for my decidedly non-poetry minded brain. The only Lear poem I could think of was of course, The Owl and the Pussycat which was one of the first poems my dd chose to memorize...tonight I googled and read her The Pobble Who Has No Toes, which led to more and more, with more googling of unfamiliar terms. She also insisted I show her where Bristol was located (Daddy is British and she is a dual citizen, so fantastic!). All in all a great success!

Thanks for the Scared Silly recommendation! I have been looking for a great Prelutsky anthology and I really like the looks of this one:)

I am resurrecting this thread because I just received the set yesterday and cannot.believe.this is considered HS material. Has anyone worked all the way through? I mean, obviously with LoF Butterflies for math it is MUCH easier than say Mineshaft. But I started Australia with my very advanced dd4 (who can read pretty much anything and has playful experience with all sorts of grammar, literary devices, etc., but nothing really formal!) and I am thinking it is just about perfect. Of course, I am not worried about mastery, but... Anybody finished the set yet? What do you think?

I can give it ago as I just received Fraction and Decimals/percents. Hopefully someone who has already worked through them can chime in as well. I would say yes, or at the very least be ready to do it concurrently and very familiar with simple division already. It comes up very early on, and it seems that it is already expected...but very gently so. For example, in chapter 3 you convert 100 inches to feet by dividing by 12 using remainders. One thing: I bought them for my young child to do, and although she can do long division I wasn't sure if she would be ready for the Fractions book--although she is very insistent that she is and WANTS it so badly I decided to try. However, when I sent an email to 'Fred' to ask, I was also told that the intermediate series, particularly Mineshaft, really gets into fractions so I went ahead and bought them as well. I just had a look and it is a great intro to long division with the work shown and lots of fraction work. So another option if you like:)

Great list Tanikit! You actually made me remember that I bought The Llama Whi Had No pajama ages ago, and for some reason stuck it up in the top of the library bookshelf?! I just wiped the dust off and am excited to read it with her:) Definitely take a look at Shel Silverstein again...but there are quite a few geared more toward older kids. But I was quite surprised by how hilarious Alex found them...Especially Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Will Not Take The Garbage Out. She has read it another couple of times today and keeps walking around quoting bits of it and the Boa Constrictor...

Thanks for the recommendation! I was able to order a used copy from Amazon, and all the reviews look great. I think this will make a nice addition to our small but growing collection:) And thanks for taking the time to type out the poem. I have added it to the list for bedtime reading tonight:)

Ooh, Jack Prelutsky! Good call. Dd has memorized a couple of Prelutsky poems, including one of her all-time favorites, 'Last Night I Dreamed of Chickens.' Do you have a favorite volume or book, or just those typically found in anthologies and the like?

Thanks, I just ordered Favorite Poems Old and New, so hopefully she will enjoy that. I have gone through what I have here at the house, and whilst I have a pretty good collection of must reads, I want to find some more fun and silly poetry to mix in. Anybody have more ideas?

Oh, I do. And this is a very uncomfortable situation at the age of my dd/her dd...an older child like this one must be so hard watch struggle:( I have a 'friend' with mental health issues. Her dd is approximately 7 months older than mine and she insists on constantly comparing the two. As awful as that is, my dd is extremely advanced/accelerated and primarily homeschooled (term used loosely here as my dd is only 4!). The rub is that due to her mental health issues, friend has kept her dd home from any sort of preschool, but not done ANYTHING at all with her. Still, good parenting COULD probably meet the need IF said friend was not convinced her child was a genius and needed no instruction at all! She 'KNOWS' her child can read despite all evidence to the contrary. She KNOWS her daughter knows all math through all arithmetic despite evidence. She just insists her daughter is stubborn and doesn't want to show it:( Ugh. I have watched this kid and she doesn't even know the first letters of words. It is a dreadful situation because there is no convincing mom...but she is convinced that homeschooling is the only way because her child is 'a genius' (no testing either) and will self-teach...because that is what geniuses do?! I have tried to be subtle. I have tried to share ideas or programs. There is only so much you can do:( It is so unfair, and honestly, only time will tell if it qualifies as educational neglect/abuse. Good luck, and I hope you have more luck than I have.