Hey y'all, I am moderately in love with Anki for memorizing stuff. I think it's wonderful. Here's what I'm wondering: I'm making a deck that would be useful for two of my people. I want both girls to be able to use it from our iThing or my phone. I understand how to export / import cards and notes so that Kid1's cards appear also in Kid2's profile. If I am adding cards as we go, will Anki remember the progress Kid2 has made with the cards she already had? Or will it overwrite everything and it'll look like she's starting from 0?

One of the best things I've ever done for my homeschool is put out an empty quart jar and some pretty pebbles. I told my girls that each time they got through a subject (not necessarily a specific task, but a subject - it's clear to them) they could ask themselves, "Did I do that with a good will? And to the best of my ability?" And a "yes" answer allows them to add a pretty pebble to the jar. When the jar is full, something happens (fancy lunch, special outing, something like that). This jar turned things around in my house. The kids had gotten into a bad habit of complaining, even about things they actually liked pretty well, and the jar with the pretty pebbles fixed it! Also, it's worth noting that in a year and a half of three kids participating in this thing, only twice has a kid dropped in a questionable pebble. Sometimes they'll deliberate a little while, and occasionally ask me what I think (I never offer an opinion), but always save twice they've been honest and true about it.

Puerto Rico!! Fun and sunny and wonderful. Not too close, not too far.

I have had a MotoX phone for nearly a year. And my husband has a MotoG for half a year now. For both of us, it was our first smart phone. We have had no issues with the switching from wifi to cell on phone calls (though honestly I rarely use that feature). I use the $10 plan and he uses the next better one with the data. I love that we are not paying an arm and a leg. Whenever my people are old enough to "need" mobile phones, we'll totally do the $10 plan for them.

Thanks for the tips, y'all. I'm a techno-turtle, so probably the carrying it in is the best bet for this iThing.

My 10 year old totally figured it out, without anyone asking her to! It's a precious long time.

Lemme see if y'all have ideas about this: We moved house roughly a month ago, and the huz's iPod went missing. It turned up this afternoon in a box. When I plugged it in and turned it on, the display says it's disabled for 23 million and some odd minutes. The disabling happens after you've bungled the passcode, but it's been off and lost for a month! What should I do? (it's far from critical to have it, but since it resurfaced it might as well function)

Thanks, y'all. She does get a good bit of exercise -- the swimming is an hour every day (minus Tuesday) of pretty vigorous work, and the girls ride bikes and scooters and whatever. This kid likes to bake and is keen on learning to make good bread this summer. She does play with her sisters and likes crafting and stuff. I've just been seeing an increase in the sitting + reading to the point where I've been a little wondering whether it's altogether healthy. I like the ideas about moderation and eye rest and gross motor stuff. And I forget who mentioned it, but the point that if I do stuff with her, it'll get her out of the book is totally valid. I'll have a bit of a chat with her and also make more of an effort on my part to engage her in different things rather than just tossing suggestions her way.

The escaping thing rings a bell for me. And avoiding some social interactions. On the other hand, this kid is a committed introvert in a biggish family (she's kid 1 of 4), and reading is a good choice if you need some escape, right??

I'll try to fix it for more options. And in this case, it's basically reading for funsies, fiction only. But high-ish quality fiction. ETA: there we go. A couple more options. I originally limited because of practicality for my particular 10 year old, I suppose. She's in bed a good 10 hours and at least a couple of hours are spent in meals or other daily basics.

Basically, yes. She has probably 30 minutes a day or so of household responsibilities, besides occasional "would you please" requests. And 4 mornings a week the girls swim on a recreational swim team and sometimes ride bikes in the street and whatnot. Bedtime is solid, and no books go to bed. After those basics, you'd be fine with all day reading? (I'm not saying that's exactly what's going on, but just to press.)

Hey y'all, I'd love to hear some opinions on where a tipping point would be or if there even is one. My 10 year old is a reader, which is great. We're a family of readers, really. But is there such a thing as too much? Assume, for the sake of simplicity, that the book choices are mostly somewhere between good and great. Also, assume a regular habit. So not "I am so into this book that I cannot possibly put it down" but a general state of being lasting much longer.

What are y'all into? Naturey stuff? Hiking, camping, boating, swimming...? Nerdy stuff (this is me)? Museum, historical sites, old homes...? Sporty stuff? Baseball stadiums, pro games...? Shopping? Beaching?

Jumprope + some time on YouTube looking at awesome tricks/routines kids can do

I'd either install one of those no-slam things or take the door off. Door slamming bugs me and I consider it a safety issue. But I love that joyofsix is compassionate and constructive. Figuring out a way to appropriately channel that physical response to anger I'm totally sure is the healthiest way to go.

Our meets are roughly 8-12 or maybe 1p on Saturdays. But it's fun! The kids play with their friends and swim their races and we chat with the other families and cheer for everyone's kids. It's all good, even with two littler gals who aren't yet swim team kids. And it's really only something like six meets for the summer league. If we have something pressing, one parent takes the swim kids and the other does the pressing thing with the remaining children. My favorite thing about swim team is the following: everyone cheers for the kids who are slow or have a hard time. Everyone. And they really really mean it. It's very sweet and nice.

How do you usually talk through it with her? I could see something like licking the sink going along these lines: "Mama, I licked the sink and I feel terrible about it!" "okay, well, that's gross. Do you feel sick or something? Or do you feel like you need to fix it up with someone?" Or, "Mama, I took candy from Brother and I feel terrible about it!" "ooh, well, we know that's not the right thing to do. How do you think you can fix it up with Brother?" If you maybe focus on making amends where appropriate and help her think through that it might get you out of the loop?

We love the audio books! I far prefer them to actually reading in the car - it's fun that we're all involved I the same story. An engaging series might be just the ticket, maybe something along the lines of the Hunger Games?

Well, what's the hangup? When you figure out what you're going to eat for the week are you missing ingredients, or the week doesn't go according to plan, or you run out of other things that you figured you'd not need?

A full keyboard is a pretty big deal within a couple of years. And the weighted keys, too - you can't learn to have a nice touch or play with dynamics unless you can actually do it. Craigslist might be a great place to look - you'd want to have a piano guy check out any actual acoustic piano you're considering, though. Console pianos don't take up much more space than a keyboard would.

My kids are 10, 8, 5 and 3. 10: XtraMath, typing.com and allrecipes.com, occasional wikipedia for satisfying curiosity. Oh! and weather.com 8: XtraMath and weather.com 5: XtraMath w/help 3: not

Wow, that's amazing!

Do you want clever, or classy, or clinical or something else? I know you said clever, but do you mean witty/clever or smart/clever? Witty seems maybe slightly out of place for that type of thing and more fitted for a hair salon or dry cleaner?

Flip belt! It's at flipbelt.com.

My kids' school does a rockin' program and I would love to see it at the library. It's a Bingo sheet, and each square describes a type of book (a book recommended by a friend, a non-fiction book, a book set on another continent, the first book of a series, etc.). Prizes are offered for bingo-s, with an even better prize for a blackout. I love that the kids read out of their usual - a book of poetry wouldn't be a usual pick for my people, but they'll enjoy it!