Hahaha! Sounds like you're already prepared!!

DS turns 5 in a few weeks, and we're throwing an indoor camping party. I have the food and decor pretty much squared away, but I need ideas for games/activities, especially... *Good books for stories around the campfire. I'm thinking camping or fall themed, or Halloween as long as it's appropriate for 4-6yo's. Funny and/or not-scary ghost stories would be great. *A short (30-minute-ish) movie to have on hand in case we need to kill time. I was planning on "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" until I realized it's 75 minutes (really?? has it always been that long??). Preferably something we can stream for free or cheap on Amazon Prime. Again, camping/fall/non-scary Halloween. *Games or activities that will let them get up and move. Weather-permitting, we have a playground at our disposal, but we've had a lot of rain and I want to be prepared to be indoors the whole time. Venue is our church's fellowship hall, so there is some room to move around, but it's carpeted so we have to be careful about mess. Some things I'm thinking about: *Building a giant tent (we'll have plenty of chairs and blankets available) *Sleeping bag races *Tug of war *Injured camper relay (each person puts bandages, etc. on the "injured" camper) I'd love to do a sing-along, but I can't think of a single adult that I could bribe into leading it!

This place is ENORMOUSLY popular with teens around here: http://airboundtrampolinepark.com/winston-salem/ Adventure Landing on Stratford Rd has an arcade, mini-golf, etc. About half inside/half out. http://www.adventurelanding.com/parks/winston-salem/ Basically anything around the Hanes Mall area is a pretty nice part of town. Will come back if I think of more...

I went with dh, although I don't think it was required, and he insisted on driving us home afterward (he wasn't on any meds, just a local anasthetic). He preferred that I wait in the waiting room, so I did. The whole thing took probably 30 minutes. He was sore for a few days but no big deal. Lots of ice and rest over the weekend, and he was fine.

:svengo:

So, so sorry. :grouphug:

Maybe it should be paired with the "topless" car washes I've seen (where they wash everything but the top of your car)... :lol:

Lots of youth groups around here sell pine needles in the spring and fall. For an extra fee, they will spread them in your yard. I know of several that sell Christmas trees too. I've heard of groups asking people to DONATE mattresses (for children who don't have one) but never SELLING them as a fundraiser. Seems like an odd thing to sell something so expensive and that only gets replaced every 10 years or so. Why not sell toilets too? :confused1:

So, so sorry. I know this must be a terribly hard time for you, with all you've been through. Please talk to us as often as you need to. :grouphug:

Doesn't Math-U-See have a whole level devoted to fractions? Or am I thinking of Math Mammoth? I haven't used either, but if fractions truly are the problem, I wonder if it might be best to work him through something like that, even if we're backing up and starting from a very basic level. I know that he will be lost if he can't get up to speed on fractions. I think that's exactly what's going on here -- she assumes I somehow know more about this than she does because I home school. But as I said, my dd is 10. I plan to teach her algebra when we get there, but I was counting on having a couple more years before I had to brush up! I am leery of my ability to do this, especially in a few hours a week. I'm definitely concerned that lack of textbook will be a problem. it would be far easier to know what/how his teacher is going to teach. When my dd was in public school (same system), I had real trouble figuring out what on earth they were supposed to be learning. And that was 2nd grade! If I take this on, I think it will have to be for a trial period, after which we all evaluate its effectiveness. I would LOVE to help my friend find the resources so she can work with him herself, but I suspect she will not be up for that.

It occurred to me that he might not be ready. I think I would have benefitted by waiting a year. I eventually was able to pull it all together, but I think it would have saved me some heartache. Not sure I want to have THAT conversation with his mom though... :bored: At least not without more information. Now that I think about it, though, I wonder if he's not actually taking PRE-algebra. When I asked, she did say algebra, but IME it's unusual for a 7th grader to be in Algebra I around here. Advanced students usually start in 8th, others in 9th. We were in the middle of a workout, and she caught me completely by surprise, so I just sort of sputtered and said I'd think about it. It didn't even occur to me that algebra didn't make sense. I suppose that should be the first question on my list!

A friend has asked me to consider tutoring her son in math. He just turned 13 this month and is taking algebra in public school (7th grade). I have never tutored, except teaching my own dd -- and she is only 10, so we haven't reached algebra yet. I have a Bachelor's degree and studied past calculus with mostly A's, but I was an English major, and it's been a looooong time since I've done this stuff. I have no idea where to start, how to evaluate where he is or what kind of help he needs, or how to estimate what kind of time/energy it will take for me to be able to help him. All I know is that he is struggling with fractions. I'm not even sure there is a textbook we can work from. He is typically a good student, but he leans more toward the language arts (he's never without a book in his hands). What questions should I ask to determine if this is something I should take on, or whether I need to help her find someone else?

Agreeing with others that CLE is very independent, cheap, thorough, and we love it. Most lessons take dd about 45 minutes. We've been using it since 3rd grade. Curious about this point. We've experimented with various ways to speed things along. DD does grasp the new concepts quickly and can get bored with all the review, so I'm always looking for new approaches. Are you saying to do lessons 1-4, new material only, then take the quiz (lesson 5), then do lessons 6-16 in their entirety? (Just want to make sure I understand.) Any particular reason you break it up this way?

Jealous!!! Our two are the only grands on either side of the family. My sister and dh's brother are not married and it's not looking like any cousins will be coming along anytime soon. How wonderful for your (growing!!) family!

My dd10 has been independent in CLE math and R&S grammar since third. We go over new material every few days and as needed when she has questions/struggles, but mostly she reads the lesson and does the exercises on her own. Not sure she would have been able to do that in first, but she was in ps then.

If the stated rules are that all participants compete in the grade level to which they are assigned (or would be assigned in public/private school), no exceptions, then deliberately writing down a different grade level is obviously wrong, IMO.

FTR, I'm not completely naive, LOL. Rag, I could see. Toothbrush, even. Just seems like even total scumbags would be smart enough to pick something that it would actually be possible to clean with! On second thought, maybe I am naive... :glare:

Anyone know of any good (preferably free or cheap!) resources for learning computer animation? DD has been shooting movies on an old iPhone using her stuffed animals, and I think she'd really enjoy this.

I know my housekeeping skills are sub-par, but would someone please tell me how on Earth you clean a carpet with a spoon??? :confused: What a lunatic...

I voted "depends." If you had an advanced child who would benefit more from competing with older students, I don't see the problem. If you were entering the child in a level lower than his actual age/ability in order to give him an advantage, that's cheating.

I did that too! He still teases me about it. After the ceremony, my mother scolded us for giggling like schoolgirls the whole time. It's true that you can even see us on the video whispering at the kneeler when we are supposed to be praying. We were so young and excited to be getting married, we were positively giddy. Maybe it was irreverent, but I look back on it and think those kids were kinda sweet. :)

Married 15 years and counting. We used the "generic" service for our Protestant denomination -- although I'd prefer to call it traditional. :)

:smilielol5: And now I have to know: What did Ann say???

I took my maiden name as my middle name and dh's last name as my last. I was always told that's the "Southern" way to do it??? Don't know if that's true, but seems to be common around here. Mostly I think it helps when running into people that I knew from my pre-marriage days. I feel like I still have my middle name, though. DH made a comment the other day about someone's name being the same as what "used to be your middle name." I was like, "Well, it's STILL my name, even if I don't use it!" :p

I can't vote (I need at least one post on the boards, hee hee), but I don't dislike any of them. I actually think Beatrice is a nice name. Although I will admit that in my head I always pronounce it "Bee-a-TREE-chee" because of this crazy English teacher I had in high school. (Apparently that's the Italian pronunciation? Or at least she thought it was.) You have to say it in a really drawn-out, high voice too. :) The nickname Trixie is really cute. I tend towards old-fashioned and somewhat unusual anyway -- or at least I thought I did. DD is Charlotte, but hey, it wasn't that popular 10 years ago!