Does anyone have a recommendation for a Nutcracker performance on DVD, preferably available on Amazon? There are so many to choose from.

I've been there! It took me at least 3 years to realize what all the OBX stickers meant when I moved to North Carolina. (Outer Banks, for those who, like me, don't get it)

I'm glad we're not the only ones! My kids think it's SUPER AMAZING AWESOME when a worker comes to our house. Luckily for them, we've had some plumbing issues ). For the most part, the plumbers have been super generous with their time and patience with the kids.

They're not *great* but my first grade reader likes the Step Into Reading nonfiction readers. The ones about the Trojan Horse, Pompeii, Thomas Jefferson, and King Tut are favorites of his. Pompeii link: http://www.amazon.com/Pompeii-Buried-Alive-Step-Reading/dp/0394888669

Our best days are the ones where we start with read-alouds all together for 1 or 2 hours. Two hours is an outside figure, but we could solidly sit for 90 minutes for read alouds every day. When we do this, the 3 year old is much happier to go about playing while I do more formal instruction for the older two (K and 1st). Since the kids are so young we don't do that much formal seat work. I'm not sure how the read-alouds will work when the older ones are in that awkward transition to needing to do more work but needing me to do hands-on instruction of that work. We try to read books related to what we're learning, but also whatever interesting library books I've checked out for the week. As long as we're not reading Fancy Nancy 30 times in one sitting, I think the read-alouds are a solid addition to the school day.

I do wonder if we have a different idea of what "doing life" is with little ones because we have such an intentional home-based idea of education. I'm assuming you're not settling down with a pile of workbooks with your child, but you are taking time to talk, explain, engage, and arouse curiosity. I know from experience (observation, working with other mothers of little ones) that it doesn't always happen. For example: I once spent about 15 minutes with my kids (then 1, 3, 4) talking about all of the cheese options in the fancy cheese counter at a supermarket. Another mother stopped me and said, "that's why I give my kids a phone in the store, so I don't have to talk to them the whole time." I've also had some people comment about homeschooling my preschool-aged child, with the idea that he'd not make any same-aged friends without going to school. I wonder if the question was some kind of backdoor into socialization? Then again, it's probably polite chit-chat. I always read too much into these conversations.

Do you know what has really improved our attitude about school work? Starting earlier in the day. We had a change in our schedule earlier in the year, which found us all up about an hour earlier than we were. It really made a huge improvement in their attitudes as we got started in work, plus work seemed to take much less time. Plus, there are several days in the week where we're done with "work" before lunch, which is a HUGE point of excitement for the kids.

Is 3.5 an option online?

I let it all go. It's the kids' domain. I tried helping them organize, helping them keep kit pieces together, keeping built pieces in one place...and they wanted none of it. They're happy creating their scenarios with their figures and special pieces, and since they're happy, I don't try to sort their pieces by brick type any longer. Win-win. BUT: all three Lego-players enjoy playing the same way. I can't imagine the terror if one were really keen on keeping kits together, organizing, etc.

Similar: calendar time with minor mental math problems (date x1, date x2, etc.), we do our Catechism study, Bible story, sing thematic songs, and do some of the little activities that would otherwise get lost. It's also a great time for me to do the activities that my 3YO would like to do before he's sent off to play for the day. So we'll practice the Pledge of Allegiance, do a few of the little readers we have for social studies and religion, and do whatever our monthly activity is (we made thankful leaves in November, for example). We used to do much longer circle time (more games, more stories, more songs and fingerplays), but I've let that go. I really should do it again - the kids love it.

Another great one: just got into one of those arguments you have with 3-year-olds, where my son insisted that there is no word "climbed," but it's "clambered." Me: Bruno (the cat) just climbed up there. 3 Year Old: Mama, he clambered up there. Me: You can say climbed, too. It's a word. 3 Year Old: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My kids have such a funny, affected way of speaking, which I attribute to all of our read-alouds and the lack of television. So, for example, my 5-year-old just made a case for a fancy handkerchief: "I really need a handkerchief so that I can bury my head in it when I am weeping so I can muffle my sobs and be forlorn in private." It takes all of my will not to laugh when she speaks like this, because if I did laugh she'd stop right away. What funny things are your kids saying?

Overweight as a kid, although mostly "overweight" in comparison to thin popular girls in high school. My younger sister and father were legitimately obese (my sister still is). My mother was very weird about food. I battled bulimia and anorexia in college and grad school. Lots of disordered eating in my family :(. My mother kept calling my sister's weight "baby fat," then suggested she'd "grow into it," but it's hard to see how a steady diet of potato chips and cookies leads to anything other than extra weight. I really think if my mother had encouraged a more positive, healthy attitude around food, and had moderated our diets at all - especially in the early years - then it wouldn't have gotten so bad for everyone. She just didn't seem to want to parent around the hard stuff. We were never asked to stop eating cookie after cookie. I really remember eating entire boxes of cookies for snacks after school. There also was no effort to push us to be physically active, although I was such a book junkie that I'm not sure simple suggestion would have taken root. So, what do I wish she would have done differently? From a very early age, stock ONLY healthy food in the house, leaving cookies/chips for special treats at birthday parties, etc. Push us to physical activity daily by limiting screen time. I really think that would have been enough. As an example of the power of these two: my mother passed away 5 years ago. Within 2 years of her passing, my father lost 80 pounds because he stopped buying Coke and potato chips and cookies for himself. When I start to get frustrated by the wasted vegetables on the table, as my own little kids aren't so interested in the greens, I remind myself that these were absolutely absent from our dining table growing up. Our vegetables were iceberg lettuce, corn on the cob (in season), and tomato sauce. So sure, my 6 year old is eating a broccoli spear with a side of grumbling, but he's also growing up knowing that a range of vegetables are the core of every meal.

We have hard stone floors, so almost anything that drops breaks. My mobile kids (3, 5, 6) always make snacks and some meals for themselves with our collection of IKEA/thrift store bowls and plates. Not so pretty, but easy on the heartrate when the inevitable accident happens. When everyone's a little bigger we'll finally invest in something "real" or more permanent.

My young reader really likes the A to Z Mysteries. They drive me nuts, but I'm not the one reading them. My reader's capable of reading more, but likes the pictures and that he can do it easily.

Are there other masses at your local parish that are geared toward young families? We felt very alien in our new parish until someone kindly pointed out that we weren't attending the "family" mass.

We travel cross-country a few times a year, and the most effective way we've found to reset the kids' clocks is a combination of all of the above: epsom salt baths, magnesium-rich foods, lots of daylight sun exposure (especially around noon), vigorous exercise, and 1/2 of the Trader Joe's brand melatonin tablet. It usually works within a day or two.

I've just finished reading The Power of Habit, which really resonated with me. http://lifehacker.com/5896846/the-right-habits So, instead of making a slew of resolutions, I'm going to pick two keystone habits and watch the rest fall into place :) - wake earlier (than I do now - at least when the children rise, if not earlier) - get everything ready at night (snacks, breakfast, packed lunches, material we'll need the next day)

I'm starting to brainstorm ideas for Winter Olympic activities. I'm curious if anyone else has ideas or experience schooling around an event like this. My husband says it's my justification for watching hours of Olympic coverage during the school day...

Oh! Definitely forgot avocado - it's awesome in smoothies. We have a vitamix, so getting the coconut oil blended isn't much of an issue. We also throw in walnuts and chocolate chips, but most blenders couldn't handle those for very long ;)

We do, three days out of the week. It absolutely makes a difference with the grocery bill!

We have activities built in our school day where my 5 and 6 year old are able to do tasks themselves (journal writing, Explode the Code pages, some spelling work). I use those times to get new activities up. Also, we have lots of breaks (bathroom, baby needs a diaper, snacks, toddler's eating glue...), and before we regroup I'll set something new up. I do think that it comes down to routine. I was hard to bring the kids back to work after a break, or after I'd lost their attention, but we've been working on it all school year. It's really much easier now than it was in August. If it's setting up a science experiment, getting out manipulatives, or something that doesn't exactly require your concentration, you can keep a conversation going with your child as you go. As for planning, I like to make our weekly plan on the weekend. We have five folders that we use to hold papers we'll need. For science and history, I'll write out lesson plans for each day so I'll know what to do. As our routine has taken over, these lesson plans aren't that involved. I figure I'll get to use them again with the younger two, so it's worth doing well. I also draft a master list of what I need to do each night to get school ready for the next day.

Our thickeners: coconut oil (I think if you get expeller pressed there's no coconut taste), peanut butter, oatmeal (uncooked rolled oats or cooked steel-cut oats), frozen bananas, tofu.

Yosemite is amazing, but it is very crowded. I dislike crowds and people, especially in this context (enjoying natural beauty,hiking, etc), so I found it to be offputting. But: We did a backpacking trip in Tuolumne Meadows which was pleasant and not crowded. Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks offer some great high-country Sierra experiences without the crowds. Other friends have camped/backpacked in the national forests and other protected lands around the park. I personally would avoid Yosemite in the summer, but I live in CA and have the luxury of taking a weekend trip in October :)

This towel (I've seen it before) ALWAYS reminds me of the David Sedaris "Detective" story - in which someone was using their brown towels in a "brown towel" kind of way. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/28/detectives