Jean, nothing to add. Just :grouphug:

When my dc have acted that way (and it seems to cycle), I start punishing unkindness IMMEDIATELY. They know that if they say/do something unkind to someone else, Being consistent with never, ever letting it slide helps after a few days of the kids being punished all. day. long.

I'm SO jealous! My dh and I are going to a hotel in town for the next two nights while my 23yo handles things here. I bought candy for the kids and a card for dh.

That is such great news. I am so happy for you and your family. :party:

This is for my youngest three, as I give my high schooler more flexability. We do math first thing, then our other core subjects like grammar, spelling/vocabulary, Latin, and logic. We save after lunch for history/science. We do history three afternoons a week and science two afternoons a week. We do art/music and catch up on Friday.

Good for you! I went back to school after a long break also. I had two kids at the time and graduated when I was 8 1/2 months pregnant with #3. It can be done!

I spend several weeks in the summer planning out 36 weeks. I then schedule out the daily work for each child. Everything written down for that week gets done THAT week. I am pretty rigid about keeping up with my schedule. I know that wouldn't work for everyone, but it keeps me sane and everyone knows exactly what they have to do each day.

Could it be something you are eating? My dd has that type of reaction if she eats pineapples, and my ds if he eats bananas.

My 10yo dd had a gymnastics teacher like that when she was about 6yo. It upset her so much she wanted to quit, and I let her. She wanted to go back after about 6 months and I made sure I enrolled her in a class with another teacher. She is now on a competitive team with great coaches that never speak to her the way you described. These are tough coaches that expect a LOT. One of their teams came in 2nd in World's last year. That is to say, their expectations are very high. There is a way to be tough and expect a lot without making a child feel like they aren't good enough. If you don't have the option of another coach at that gym, I would change gyms.

I have always used a very small black and white book that I got years ago from Timberdoodle. It is called The Drawing Textbook and is great for teaching drawing skills. It was written by a former Disney animator. We tried Drawing With Children, but it wasn't a good fit for us.

All day is not an option here. We have activities every afternoon and have to leave at 2:30. We stay hard at school from 8:30 until time to leave. My 12yo doesn't have to go anywhere on Wednesday, so she does work longer that day, but it has to be things she can do independently. My kids know if they don't get their schoolwork done, activities are going to get cancelled. It motivates them to work hard and finish on time.

I agree with Faithr. My oldest three boys were the same way at 14. There is such a difference in a 14yo and even a 16yo. My 16yo, who was lazy, didn't really care if he finished on time, hated to read, etc. has read Sophocles, Aristotle, Homer, and other ancient writers this year and has really gotten into it. He even finished early a few times because he didn't want to stop reading. He is managing his own schedule well and finishing his work on time (finally).

hometrainingtools.com has a sheep's brain for $11.00.

My two best friends are my sister and a friend who is like a sister. My sister is 12 years older and my bf is 5 years younger. I am also friends with my kids' friends' parents, most of whom are younger. I had my oldest at 22 and my youngest at 36, so most of my friends I have met through my three last kids are much younger than I am.

I thought the book was very accurate. I grew up in the South during the 60's and had a nanny. She was my "mother." When my grandfather died, it wasn't my mother I ran to for comfort, it was my nanny. I really liked the book.

When my now 11yo was about 2, we were at the library for storytime. The lady was asking the kids what different colors were. When she showed yellow, my ds yelled "tweeter!" We realized he thought the color yellow was called tweeter.

I add salt, pepper, onion, garlic, pimentos, and half a bottle of Mojo (for a big pot). My bf is Cuban and this is her recipe. It is wonderful. I serve it over rice.

Yes, I remember. My kids and their friends still play it, but they say "Punch Buggy, no punch back." Driving them an hour to and from gym/dance, etc., the other mothers and I hear it all the way there and all the way back. My kids also play "tweeter." Yellow cars and trucks are tweeters. Whoever has the most points when you get out of the car wins. DMV and Penske trucks do not count.

When we had three kids, we stayed in suites. Once we went up to five, we just got adjoining rooms.

I use the white-cover Kingfisher. I used it with my oldest three boys and am now using it with my 11yo ds and 12yo dd. My 4th grader will begin in Kingfisher next year. I don't think it matters where you start your timeline. We started our current timeline with Moderns and are adding Ancients this year. We use a binder and templates I printed out from donnayoung.org. Each history cycle has a different color paper, so it's easy to find our place.

I went to a small school in a small town, so everyone knew everyone else and so did my dh. The only time anyone tried to bully me was in 7th grade. A BIG girl who thought I had tripped her playing basketball, pushed my head into my locker when she walked by after gym. She walked to her locker and never looked back. I was a tiny, tiny child. I'm sure she didn't expect me to do anything. Imagine her surprise when a chair hit her in the back of the head. She, nor anyone else, ever bothered me again.

We are taking off Friday afternoon and coming home Sunday morning. We are not going out of town, just staying in a hotel. Our 23yo will be in charge of the kids. :001_smile: We are just planning to relax, maybe go out to a movie, and go out to eat. We are looking forward to just being alone.

I've never been able to see as well at night, but after I turned 45 it got significantly worse. I have prescription glasses now and have to use them to drive at night.

We both wear a watch. I don't sleep in mine, but dh does.

Are you looking for: www.abookintime.com