We use a download called Times Attack. My kids usually found the trolls a little scary until at least 4th grade though...

My daughter needed deodorant at eight. I was very surprised. My OB said that she is seeing girls starting their periods younger than they used to as well.

We had egg-in-a-hole with sausage and gravy last night for the first time and everybody seemed to like it. Here's how my great-grandfather ate his eggs every morning... He would crumble up some biscuits. Then put scrambled eggs on top. He would pour gravy over that. Next he would sprinkle it with sugar and then pour a little coffee on top! I've been wanting to try it ever since my mom told me :)

I was just wondering if any of you might have some advice... I have been feeling nervous about driving places with just me and the kids -especially longer distances. I keep thinking I'll get a migraine and won't be able to see to drive home. I know I could usually just pull over till the aura goes away, but I still feel nervous!! Anyone else like this? Advice?

We've only watched one on Netflix and it was more sitcom than drama, but we loved it! It's called My Princess.

If you can't open a new jar just use a bottle opener under the lid to pop the seal. The jar will open easy as pie after that.

I would love to see this. We've been doing some unit studies lately and I have an older Konos vol. 1 in the bookshelf that I'd really love to use more

Yelp, we've used Avon Skin So Soft for years and it seems to work pretty well. Its been great for getting rid of ants in my kitchen, too. My cousin did say her 3yo broke out after using it once though.

I like Taylor's Port ( if port counts) I'm not sure what a serving would be, but smaller than regular wine, I think. As far as helping anxiety, I know sometimes when I'm feeling stressed or anxious during the day I will just think about the glass of port I'll be having before bed and it makes me feel better :)

If its the same group I'm a member of, there was an email sent out a few days ago that said if someone else didn't want to take it over it was going to be closed. That might be why you haven't heard back.

Little Women - We had been listening to the audio in the van, but I had to find out what happened, so after everyone was in bed I found a copy and stayed up reading. I didn't know what was going to happen to Beth and I cried and cried. Island of the Blue Dolphins The Christmas Doll

Passion of the Christ when Christ falls carrying the cross and Mary has a flashback of him falling as a little boy. Born on he Fourth of July when Tom Cruise was expecting to be honored in the parade and they start yelling and spitting on all of them. Frozen when the snowman tell her that there are some people worth melting for :)

I have started doing my readings first thing in the morning, before my boys even get out of bed. I usually take some muffins, hot chocolate, or something else in case they want it and I just snuggle under the covers with them, drink my decaf, and read. I make sure they are awake and listening by talking with them and asking questions, but I can get LOTS more uninterrupted reading done like this! Once they get up and get moving its harder to keep their attention :)

The thinking is, I believe, that 'curiosity' can be bad, but that 'wonder' is always good... Here are some quotes I found ( I haven't reads the article or the essay that these are from, so I have no idea if they are sound. I just borrowed the quotes): "For the Greeks, curiosity was not even a clearly articulated concept. To the extent that it was acknowledged at all, it stands in contrast to its mercurial sibling, wonder. Aristotle believed that all humans naturally desire knowledge, but he felt that curiosity (periergia) had little role to play in philosophy. It was a kind of aimless, witless tendency to pry into things that didn’t concern us. Wonder (thauma) was far more significant, the true root of enquiry: ‘It is owing to their wonder,’ he wrote, ‘that men both now begin and at first began to philosophize.’ … Until the seventeenth century, wonder was esteemed while curiosity was reviled" http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/04/12/philip-ball-curiosity/ "In Basic Questions of Philosophy, Heidegger writes that although the early Greeks had a sense of wonder that served as the foundation for their poetry, science, and philosophy, we are unable to have that feeling; in fact, we misconstrue the experience by thinking in terms of curiosity. As he states, t has long been known that the Greeks recognized thaumazein as the "beginning" of philosophy. But it is just as certain that we have taken this thaumazein to be obvious and ordinary, something that can be accomplished without difficulty and can even be clarified without further reflection. For the most part, the usual presentations of the origin of philosophy out of thaumazein result in the opinion that philosophy arises from curiosity. This is a weak and pitiful determination of origin, possible only where there has never been any reflection on what is supposed to be determined here in its origin. Indeed, we consider ourselves relieved of such reflection, precisely because we think that the derivation of philosophy out of curiosity also determines its essence.(GA45 156 / 135-136) 3 Our problem is not just that we confuse the words "wonder" and "curiosity," but that we fail to see that they (the early Greeks) did not. The necessary attunement for philosophical thinking is no longer accessible to us. Therefore, as Heidegger tells us in the essay "Was heißt Denken?,"what is "[m]ost thought-provoking is that we are still not thinking—not even yet." http://www.academia.edu/419999/Curiosity_As_the_Thief_of_Wonder_An_Essay_on_Heideggers_Critique_of_the_Ordinary_Conception_of_Time

I've used Ambleside on and off for years. I love it and I keep coming back to it, but when I try to follow it exactly I always end my week feeling guilty, because I NEVER get everything done! Here's how I've made AO work for us: - I don't use the schedules anymore - I combine my kids on most things ( which is considered a big No-No on the Ambleside forums ) - I put the 'extras' in groups and rotate them week by week. I just simply couldn't do them all every week! I now also do a regular, simple grammar and a spelling program, because I am not that great with grammar and I think you really need to be in order to be good at teaching it CM style. We also do R&S for science simply because my boys like it better; You should see their eyes glaze over when I try to read Burgess Bird Book :)

My Princess is a Korean series on Netflix that I started watching yesterday morning and didn't stop till episode 8! I never thought I'd be interested in something like that, but I can 't stop watching.

We have had times were we went by a schedule with bedtime, get-up time, school time, etc., but by the end of those weeks I would be a real grouch :) I grew up in a Christian home and my parents were strict about character issues ( stealing, lying, being disrespectful), but there were no rules on bedtimes, what we ate, or anything like that. I've found it works best around here that way too. We try to have 4 lesson days a week and we fit them in where its convient.

I would like to use Angelicum Academy's Great Books online program for my 8th grader next year for high school. There website says you can earn 48 ACE college credits. Does that mean that for most colleges she would get to use those credits? Would they only count depending on what she majors in? I was just wondering if the college track was worth the extra money...

My daughter is 13 and will hopefully be enrolling in the Angelicum Great Books program for high school next year. She has always been homeschooled and we've usually followed a 'relaxed classical CM' mix of schooling. What is your opinion of what a child needs to know before starting 9th grade? I was thinking more intense grammer, spelling, and vocabulary. Also, maybe a review of world and US history and geography. I suppose a Logic course and Latin? Thanks for any advice. We are heading to BAM to find a new calender, so if someone is kind enough to respond and I don't answer for a bit, please don't be offended :) thanks

Saw this one somewhere else... Pepsi: Is Pepsi ok?

I just ordered Traditional Logic and it came with a calendar AND an issue of 'The Classical Teacher' magazine. I thought their Composition, Poetry, and Science all looked interesting. Oh, and a book called 'Simply Classical: A Beautiful Education for any Child'.

I think it sounds like you are really doing a great job! If all kids could do just what yours are doing I think it would be a wonderful world :) As for all those extras that you're trying to add in, maybe you could make them '5 minute extras'. You know you can do 5 minutes of something everyday and not take away from their outside time. I little of something is better than nothing at all... Just a thought :)

Here's some unique gifts we've bought: Beautiful handmade rosaries on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/BeckyArganbright Lego rosaries, also on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/listing/171372508/catholic-rosary-children-catholic-rosary?ref=sr_gallery_8&ga_search_query=lego+rosary&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_search_type=all Handmade Harry Potter charm bracelets ( they also have a pretty neat Dr Who one) : http://www.etsy.com/listing/96766392/uk-versoion-harry-potter-bracelet-book?ref=sr_gallery_17&ga_search_query=harry+potter+bracelet&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_search_type=all and my dd loved this Lord of the Rings chess set: http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-Return-King-Chess/dp/B000067BKT/ref=sr_1_4?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1386771222&sr=1-4&keywords=lord+of+the+rings+chess+set

Years ago, before I joined the Roman Catholic Church, when I was searching for the "right" Church (and homeschool approach), I was very drawn to this. We even visited R.C.Sproles Jr.'s church, St. Peter, in Bristol, TN. Everyone was very nice and I received 2 or 3 invitations for dinner that night with different families. I remember all the women and girls wore head coverings and ALL the families homeschooled. The women from there that I talked to later at a homeschool get-together did not seem weak at all, as a matter-of- fact they seemed to have very strong views and were even a tad bossy about it, but not in a rude way if that makes sense... I was leaning towards teaching my daughter that she needed to be a SAH and things like that, but what really started me questioning it, besides predestination, was when we all listened to the audio of Elsie Dimsmore together. That story got me thinking. I just did not think that was the way it was meant to be.

Well, we had been more relaxed in the past and then last year tried to be more structured (did lessons at the same time, did them everyday, used textbooks, and tried to follow the AmblesideOnline schedule). I was looking for something to help me be more relaxed again and I ran across a post by, I think, Ellie that said she had always had two days of lessons, a library day, a cleaning day, and a day for field trips. We tried that last week. The only change I made for us was that my oldest did the younger kids lessons while I cleaned on the cleaning day. It was a great week! There was a field trip on Monday that lasted from 9-2, and when we came home tired we all just relaxed and didn't worry about lessons. Tuesday was a regular lesson day. Wednesday we got up went to the library for a few hours and came home and all laid around enjoying our books. Thursday I did a deep clean of the bathroom ( which I didn't have to worry about cleaning a little on everyday, because I knew I had a 'Cleaning Day' coming up), while my dd13 had a checklist from me and got to be the teacher for her little brothers and then do her work. She loves to be the teacher, especially when it's between that and cleaning : ) Friday was a regular lesson day. We relaxed our actually lessons as well. I love most of the Ambleside choices, but trying to follow the schedule did not work for us. Now if we like an Ambleside book, we will just read it on our own. We have lessons all year, so I think this is a great schedule for us for right now.