First, dh says a big THANK YOU to all of you for your suggestions! This is very helpful. LOL, that's my sad attempt to describe the role dh is envisioning he (or we?) play. You're right; there's nothing catchy about it! It probably would be up to the Y what to actually name it, since it would be run as part of their programming. This is true. Ultimately, the cost would be up to the Y, so there may be a fee, but dh wants to present the program to them as something he is willing to head up as a volunteer. I do think some kind of application process would be beneficial. If nothing else, we would probably need to limit the number of participants, at least in the beginning. Good points, thanks. Also wanted to add that there's a good chance we will know a lot of the people who would initially form the group (or pool of mentorees, if it becomes more of a one-on-one thing). We have been involved with the fitness program the Y already does for over a year now, and have sort of a reputation since we have lost so much weight. That program mostly focuses on exercise, though, so we see this as a supplement to address overall lifestyle changes and provide encouragement.

Re: philosophy -- it is rather broad at this point. I think Annie hit it on the head talking about people who think there's only ONE way to do things. In general, most adults know what things are good for you and what things are not so good. Lists and rules (anything that smacks of a "diet") don't really help -- at least, they didn't help us. We don't get into fads. We certainly wouldn't be out to push or sell any kind of program. We believe everyone has to find what works best for them. It might be LCHF, or counting calories, or whatever. It has to be something you can live with. For us, it was honestly a combination of common sense decisions: planning out balanced meals (organization was key), eating more fresh foods and fewer processed things, portion control, eating at home much more and eating out much less, trying new forms of exercise. The goal would be to help participants explore options, try new things, maybe get people out of their comfort zones a little bit, and help them put together a lifestyle that works for them and their families. And then to help them persevere on that path instead of getting frustrated and giving up. Does that clarify the philosophy?

I totally get that. In fact, it was the first feedback I offered dh when he brought his idea to me! I think this is probably a bigger concern for women than it is for men. I may possibly join him as a co-mentor (I've lost 75 lbs and we do see the process as involving the entire family). I am not as committed to the idea at the moment as he is, though. Thank you for responding!

... would you take advantage of it? DH has lost nearly 100 lbs. and is starting to think of ways he might be able to "give back" to our local Y by starting a weight loss/healthy living support group/mentoring program. His philosophy is that most people know the right choices to make when it comes to diet and exercise. It's not an education problem, but an execution problem. In our weight loss journey, consistency and perseverance have been key. His goal would be to provide support to people as they work towards consistently making better choices. He's trying to flesh out his ideas before pitching the concept to the director. If you would take advantage of such a program were it available to you, would you help him by answering any or all of the following questions? What would you want to get out of such a program? Would you prefer a small group or one-on-one setting? Would you be comfortable with a mentor/coach of the opposite sex? In a small group setting, would you be comfortable with members of both sexes, or would you prefer a single-sex group? How would you feel about a coach who is not a personal trainer/dietician, but just a regular person who made significant lifestyle changes? Would this be a drawback to you? A benefit? (The coach would be able to refer to other professionals as needed.) Would you welcome friendly and encouraging accountability? (ex., regular emails/phone calls to check on progress) How involved in your journey would you want your mentor to be? Would your spouse/significant other be supportive of you being in such a program? Would s/he attend at least an occasional meeting to learn about how best to support you? What other ideas or concerns would you have? Thank you for your help! :bigear:

I am definitely aware of this. Perhaps too aware. I don't want it to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. And as you can imagine, it's a bit of a sensitive issue for dh, so it's hard for me to talk about my fears without him feeling like I'm blaming him. :crying: For some reason, I never worried about this with dd, even though she showed zero interest in being read to or learning to read before kindergarten. In fact, when she started kindergarten, she flat-out told me she wasn't going to learn to read. Then she proceeded to take to it like a fish in water and zoom to the top of her class. DS, on the other hand, is far less precocious all around than dd was, but he loves to be read to and asks lots of questions about what words say, how they're spelled, etc. I never thought we'd be even considering reading at 4 (due to my aforementioned paranoia). At this point, I don't see any reason to worry; I just wasn't sure what we were dealing with exactly. FWIW, dh is not dyslexic. Both of his parents were professional educators, and he's been tested multiple times. Honestly, I suspect that he was more of a late-bloomer than anything, but the constant pressure of being behind destroyed his confidence. He reads just fine when he's not on the spot, but any situation with pressure (tests, reading aloud to a group) still makes him panic.

Prayers for you and baby Caden. :grouphug:

This one doesn't cover the whole of Jesus' life, but a friend of mine wrote a really great study called How Jesus Prayed. She's seminary trained and reads Greek and Hebrew. She goes more in depth on word study, etc. www.howjesusprayed.wordpress.com

Totally normal. Your body may just still be recovering from your harder workout the previous day. I also find that sometimes when I feel like certain bodyweight moves are harder than they were for me a few weeks/months ago, I'm not losing ground -- it's because my form has improved due to my increased strength. So I can squat lower, go deeper in a push-up, etc. without realizing it -- and that makes it feel harder. Took me a while to figure that one out. It's not as obvious as when you increase the amount of weight on the bar!

I suspected as much, but this makes me feel better. Thanks! I have never taught anyone to read (dd learned in public kindy), and frankly, I'm terrified. Also, dh struggled immensely learning to read in school -- he's still not really a confident reader as an adult. So there's always this nagging in the back of my mind... is it going to be that hard for ds? But that's the beauty of having him at home -- we can go at his pace, and he won't have to suffer the humiliation of being behind like his dad (if it were to come to that). He really enjoyed playing with the OPG flash cards, so we'll keep on with that, and reading aloud, and some other fun things. Need to see if I can dig out dd's old spelling puzzles; I bet he'd enjoy those! Any other suggestions welcome!

DS (4 and a half) has been showing interest in learning to read. He know all his letters, upper- and lowercase, and their sounds. He can pick out the beginning and ending sounds of words and recognize his name in print. He frequently asks how words are spelled. I have a copy of the Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, so I thought we would try some basic phonics. The first real "reading" lesson starts with sounding out the word "at." He easily recognizes both "a" and "t" so I thought this would be easy. But it seemed like he couldn't recognize that the two letters went together to make a word. He only sees the letters separately. I realize he's young, so if this is just a developmental thing, maybe I should wait a few months and try again. Is this something I should be concerned about?

When you run in a timed race (5K or whatever), what, if anything, do you do to warm up beforehand? When I am running on my own, I usually do one lap at a brisk walk before I begin. But in the few 5K's I've run, I've been hesitant to do anything beforehand, because I am afraid of tiring myself (I already have to stop and walk a few times along the way). But it feels like it takes me a long time to hit my stride when I start cold, so maybe that's a mistake. I'm not going to be winning any prizes or anything; I just want to run my best possible time. Any advice?

A photo collage of their life together is easy to do on a large piece of foam core using Mod Podge. It can later be put under glass or in a nice frame. Or frame it or a nice photo of your parents or the entire family with an extra-large mat and let guests sign it with a short congratulatory message. If you have any friends who are into photography, this might be a great time to capture your parents with their friends and family, since they didn't have a big wedding. FWIW, my mom isn't a huge surprise person either, and she would have said she didn't want a party if asked, but we surprised her on her 60th birthday anyway, and she LOVED it. I hope all goes well for you!

We did this with SOTW, but it took us two years. We covered two books per year over third and fourth grades (finishing up now). Obviously, we had to pick and choose our topics carefully. I sat down at the beginning of each year and mapped out which sections we would be covering. We have been heavily focused on western civilization this time around. We will leave off after WWII and circle back to the ancients next year, devoting a full year to each time period for the next two cycles. I can send you our topic lists, if you're interested. I think doing all four in one year would be a stretch, unless you have a student who really loves history and are willing to devote 4-5 days/week to it. We usually do history twice per week (60-90 minutes per session) and include narrating/outlining, map work, and some additional reading or other activities. In order to pull it off in one year, I think you'd have to do a lot of straight reading through the books, without a lot of extra activities. If I did it that way, I'd probably try to incorporate history into other subject areas (have him write on your current history topic as part of his LA work, for example, or use history reading instead of separate literature). And possibly think of keeping a timeline so he can trace the "big picture" across the course of a year, along with a lot of discussion about how things "fit" in order to increase retention. I think it can be done, with some advance planning, but it might be easier just to use one of the other suggestions that are designed as one-year courses. Good luck!

When dd was in public school (right up the road) and ds was an infant, pick-up time was smack in the middle of nap time. There were many, many days I considered this. I never could bring myself to do it though. I once read a tip that parents, especially new parents, should get in the habit of leaving their purse/cell phone in the back seat with the baby. We're so used to having those things on us at all times and less likely to forget them, especially in situations where having the child is not part of the usual routine. Seems like a viable idea to me.

I agree with the bolded. There is nothing in the words "give" or "get" that seems inherently rude to me.

We have always taken the summers off, but we're trying something new this year. I had grand visions of my kids engaged in creative play and exploring hobbies/interests with all their free time, but in reality, if they don't have some things planned for them, they just turn into couch slugs who snipe at each other all day and beg to watch TV or play video games or eat. And truthfully, I'm not much better. We're doing "school lite" this year, taking one week off per month in June and July for family travel, and probably the first two of August (we usually start school mid-August-ish). I brainstormed a bunch of potential summer project ideas with dd and dh, and dd settled on astrophysics. So I've been putting together a seven-week unit study on that for us to explore together. We're using a lot more videos, etc. than we do during the year (we're heavily literature and writing based) to keep it light. I want this to be an opportunity for her to delve into something that interests her without any pressure. She'll also keep pushing forward in math, practice learning to type, and review her Latin at least twice per week (no new material, just keeping it fresh). For ds4, I'm going to take advantage of his desire to "do school" like dd and introduce some basic phonics, along with other directed play/preschool activities to keep him occupied while I work with dd. We will be going to the library once a week (I'm giving dd SWB's library list to encourage her to branch out a bit) and take one day a week off for an outing with some of our friends. Some of these are educational, and some are just for fun (swimming, one of those bouncy-house places, etc.). This absolutely won't happen without serious advance planning, so I am putting together a schedule just like I do for the school year to keep me accountable. If I stay on track, so will they! I wish we could be one of those laid-back kind of families, but things around here just go so much more smoothly when we have a plan. There's still plenty of free time built in, but when we are productive in the mornings, I generally find that everyone is happier and better able to entertain themselves for the rest of the day.

Me too! :D

There are lots of issues here, as everyone has pointed out, but the 1 a.m. road trip would have been a deal-breaker for me. I had a similar experience with dd (granted, she was younger -- only 6 or 7 at the time -- but it also wasn't the middle of the night). She went with our church's kids' group on an outing one morning. DS was tiny and there were tons of chaperones, so I let her go without me. It was just bowling and to get a milkshake at a local fast-food joint. When I returned to the church at the designated pick-up time, no one was there. No one there 15 minutes later. Or 30 minutes later. Or 45. They were over AN HOUR late returning from the trip. I had no way to contact anyone, and no clue if she was safe. When they finally came rolling in, I learned that the pastor had decided to change things up and take them to the park instead and have some adult go pick up the milkshakes and bring them there. I was so angry I was shaking. I still can't believe that not a single adult on that trip didn't question his logic. Dd never went anywhere with that group again (and sending her on a week-long youth group trip to the beach with this same guy in charge? I think not!). We do our own summer day trips with our own group of friends now. OP, this guy is irresponsible AT BEST and doesn't deserve the privilege of your dd's participation in his group.

Seconding the NaNoWriMo stuff. DD9 used it this past fall and it was a great resource!

Oh, the Asheboro zoo is a classic, of course! Can't forget that one! Carolina Tiger Rescue is in Pittsboro -- is that what you're thinking of? We will probably venture to that one at some point, but ds4 is in a tiger-phobia stage, so maybe not this year, lol! I'm thinking anywhere in the state -- or even somewhat into VA/SC/TN would be okay. Even if it's too far for us, it might come in handy for somebody else. And we travel across the state fairly frequently.

Summer's coming, and I usually put together a few fun day trips for our family and some of our friends to enjoy together. We love museums, but I'm always on the lookout for things that are a little bit different or unique. I thought it might be fun (and helpful) if we built a list of our favorite places to visit in a given area. Since I'm in NC, that's where I've focused this thread -- but I think it would be great to have other threads for other areas as well. You never know when you might get a chance to visit! So feel free to share your favorite day/field trips in North Carolina here -- post links if you've got 'em! Here are a few of ours (may add some more as I think of them): Greensboro Children's Museum, Greensboro Winston-Salem Children's Museum, Winston-Salem Greensboro Science Center, Greensboro Mrs. Hanes' Cookie Factory, Winston-Salem (free samples of 5 different cookies -- yum!!) Homeland Creamery, Julian NC Museum of History, Raleigh Discovery Place, Charlotte ArtQuest, Greensboro Old Salem, Winston-Salem Dan Nicholas Park, Salisbury

I believe it's on Amazon too.

Alton Brown has a great cookbook that goes over a lot of this. We got it last year when dd (then 8) was working on a science fair project. She was a somewhat advanced reader, but she was able to read some of it on her own, and I'm sure it would be easily understood by an 8th grader. I'll see if I can come up with the title... Episodes of his show are fantastic for food science too. I'd love to build a study around them! ETA: Found it! We used I'm Just Here for More Food: Food x Mixing + Heat = Baking, which is all baking recipes.There's also I'm Just Here for the Food: Food + Heat = Cooking, which seems to be more about cooking.

:svengo: My OB once said, "You have the tiniest hands I've ever seen." I thought THAT was weird. Now I don't really think it was so weird after all...