Beachbody workouts are designed to do in a small living room. You need, for most of them, to be able to hold your arms out in one direction, and then about two huge steps in the other direction. So I guess for me that is about 5 ft by 10 ft? Something like that. They also explain how to modify for even smaller spaces. These are workouts you could do in prison (and people do). Insanity is zero equipment. ChaLean Extreme takes weights; Les Mills Combat requires nothing, though a weight and/or gloves are helpful. P90 requires a chin-up bar and weights, I don't know about anything else. All can be modified with bands. It is a HUGE reason I like Beachbody. Once you buy the video, provided your DVD player doesn't break, there are really no excuses. (Oh yeah... and in P90 and some of the others, they actually write out the entire workout in the booklet, so even without a DVD player, if you've seen it once, you can do it.) If you are exceptionally tall, there are a couple exercises you can't do with low ceilings. You have to put your arms out instead of up. I do it before they wake up now. They used to wake up with mommy no matter what time it was, so I had to work out after they went to bed. That was rough!

The Pell grant part should be impossible unless they lied on the FAFSA. A college annual tuition would be between 30 and 200% of a Pell-eligible family's income, 30% being the lowest limit, so that would be the lowest tuition and the highest possible Pell-eligible income. "In the 2009-2010 school year, for example, nearly 80 percent of those students who attended a community college with the help of a Pell Grant had a family income level of less than 150 percent of the federal poverty level, according to a report published by the American Association of Community Colleges. Similarly, of those students, 60.7 percent had family income levels that were $20,000 or less, which is below the poverty threshold for a family of four." (I am so sorry but deleted the link... C&P into Google and you'll find the page I copied this from.) So, if you know people doing that, Stefanie, rest assured, there is no way they could have gotten that without lying about some assets or another. I mean, sure, they could send a few hundred bucks a quarter. But paying full tuition and receiving Pell Grants? Also, your Pell grant can be used to pay living expenses, and if they are getting scholarships over and above tuition, they have to report those. If they are not reporting those, then they are quite frankly lying on their forms. They are omitting necessary information. You must know some seriously conniving double-dippers, Stefanie. They are cheating the system and cheating poor people out of aid. Or doing some serious income generation totally off the books. I'm very sorry you have to deal with people like that. We have single parents with kids who don't get Pell money and who drop out. The people you know who are double-dipping are cheating those families. I'm pretty disgusted. I'm also dubious. I see these stories on the Internet, but I know people in real life, and I know our Pell recipients where I work, and they aren't double dippers. A lot of them go to the food bank. I always get irritated when I hear stuff like this because people assume that because their friends do this, that somehow, the entire system is full of cheats. Nope. It's actually a lot of truly poor people. What it does mean is that the people you know who do this are cheating the system. The calculations are set up to exclude them. So they have to be lying somewhere. Oh, and for good measure, I copied this from an old College Confidential thread: Government fraud is theft, and theft from the poorest and theft from our social fabric. Report, report, report. "So and so bragged about paying cash for college and using Pell Grants and scholarships to _______. First, last, birthday. Please check it out." If you have a facebook post, post it. I would absolutely do that, even to my own family. It is not a victimless crime.

Did not read the other answers. I want to say that 18 isn't a magic number. It's just the number at which I'd have a hard time legally forcing them to move from the house to a treatment facility. I'd kick out a minor for the same reasons I'd kick out an 18-year-old. I just have more control over where they go--such as drug or psychiatric treatment. For me, you are out if you: --Put people in the house at risk of losing life or limb (permanent damage), usually this means violent tendencies and also being at least 11 or so; --Risk us losing our home (drug sales, manufacturing, etc.). But for assault, I wouldn't want them on the street. I'd rather have them in jail on assault. Yeah, jail sucks. But I would want to send a message. And I've had family members in jail. Then there's the economic side. For 18, you're going to pay rent, either for a room with us, or to someone else. I will help you form good credit. I will help you by co-signing for college loans. I will help you by setting you up for success. But if, after all my work, at 18 you can't even get a job to pay to share a room with someone, I really don't know what to say. Time for the school of hard knocks. I mean how hard is it to pay for a BED? The recession was hard, and I'd reduce my rent fees. But honestly... adults should contribute to expenses. They will buy their share of the food, rotate payment for other incidentals like TP, and share in utilities. For many kids, living at home under those rules is just not that attractive. It's like regular life, except you live with your mom as well. But hey, if they don't feel like moving, I'm happy to have help with the rent. But that's an easy scenario. What if the kid has a baby? Again, you pay rent. I won't care for your child--many people want to adopt children. You adopt out if you can't care for the baby. I think it would be hard to watch a grandchild be adopted out and I can't say I know what I'd do in reality. But in theory, I'd like to think I wouldn't try to keep a baby in my child's care who could be with extremely loving, caring parents, especially now that open adoptions are more common. Life is hard. I lived with my mom, paying rent, for several periods as an adult, mainly in between moves. It was helpful! But I paid for 100% of groceries, utilities, plus on the mortgage, and her gas for those short periods. She's welcome at our house any times. I think there can be firm boundaries and love and responsibility at the same time.

A one-legged stool! I bet you'd get great abs!

Math salamanders--if you just take the first part of the URL that pops up in your address bar when you click the link, you get to a whole bunch of puzzles and worksheets! Some are pretty repetitive but I'm loving the lizard theme. :p ETA: Tonight I had her make up a puzzle based on last night's salamander math puzzle. She did a really challenging one for me--it actually took a good five minutes to solve, and then I had her stepdad do it. She was over the moon. She LOVED being the center of all that attention, making up a problem, and getting recognition. That was a great suggestion and a really positive activity for our family. Thank you so much for that suggestion! This is something we will really look forward to as a family.

I read about Lena Dunham in the New York Times. I don't watch her stuff except excerpts in what I read. :) I almost never watch TV--only local sports. Most of my pop culture information is from the Internet. Cheezburger, to be precise. I used to read reddit and then I realized that it's too addicting and Cheezburger summarizes most of their funny videos anyway.

I'd go to her and gently mention that the previous work was about X minutes, but now it takes Y minutes and you're wondering if that is a school policy or just her style, and if her style, would she mind adopting the teacher's homework policy, just for consistency's sake.

You know what, she might. Her little sister is MUCH more into that kind of thing. My five-year-old would create mazes at the age of two. She is funny like that. But they are both very creative. We live in the Pacific Northwest. Summer here is pure heaven. Sprinklers, salmon, swimming, blackberry picking, wearing a bathing suit all day, every day. Besides, I am working so they're still in camps during the day. But I like the idea. ;) Maybe I'll have them build a treehouse or something they can do outdoors.

I must have been a terrible kid because I need that to. I hate it when things come up daily. Hate. It. It really, really bothers me. I guess I am getting what I deserve. Thanks for all the BTDT moms who are replying to this thread!

I did see the update and responded to it directly the first post I made. People choose political parties based on their political beliefs. Your suggestion that students who do not participate in a discussion are not penalized is naive at best. Even if they are not penalized with a mark in the book, it affects the teacher's attitude towards, them which is precisely why superiors, instructors, and others in authority really have a responsibility not to ask these kinds of questions. Moreover, I wouldn't go so far as to say this was a violation of basic human rights, but I do think that people have a civic right to keep their beliefs private. It shouldn't happen, but it does. It did in my high school. We got lower grades for essays that were 'poorly defended' if the teacher did not agree with our views. He was a deacon at the local church. The whole point of keeping this out of the classroom--not discussion, mind you, but certainly parental party affiliation--is that many people cannot do this. They cannot separate their beliefs, feelings, attitudes and behaviors like they should if they were perfect.

Thanks for the description. I don't notice pain before my period because I'm in such a pissy mood.

I skipped Wednesday but today I did Complex Upper and it was crazy. Just crazy. Though I will say this: when I started Beachbody videos, I could not do one push-up and now I can do plyo push-ups. I am VERY proud of myself. Someday, I will do a hand-clap push-up. Maybe when I'm 40.

That is nuts. At our schools, that is more like a middle school amount. We get one math worksheet daily plus spelling/vocab words and 20 minutes of reading. It is supposed to be 10 minutes math, 10 minutes spelling, 20 reading but the child's choice after 1st grade. How long do they have the sub for? I'd put up with it for a limited time but if this is like, maternity leave, I would talk to her. Third graders need to play. It's like working out. You need recovery time.

Thanks you guys for all your suggestions. It's great to have a menu to choose from and some reasonable minds at work. :) Talked to the teacher today. My passionate little girl is doing great in school. I swear she saves up 100% of her drama for the homework window! Bleh. Anyway, THAT is another story. The main story here is, he was very happy with everything she's doing. 100% in pretty much everything. She could challenge herself more in math but doesn't choose to. Ah, the same old refrain. He asked that we continue doing the first part of the math, but encouraged me to do other math puzzles and enrichment with her. So I think we will do a puzzle and then algebraic math for solving the puzzle. Tonight we did this: http://www.math-salamanders.com/image-files/cool-math-for-kids-captains-square-puzzle-3.gif So that was fun, easy, just introducing her to more puzzling thought. I think I will continue to use those worksheets. They are funny little puzzles. I want her really to be using her critical thinking skills. Also I like doing a puzzle with her. It's so much more fun to do that than to sit at a worksheet for some reason. ;)

I don't think it's childish not to ask people how they voted. I have never done so in my life with anyone other than my mother and my partner. I don't even ask my sister. I think it's rude. Likewise, nobody has asked me except my mother and my partner. Maybe I'd ask my MIL. I don't think it's a maturity issue at all! It's a question of the right to keep your political beliefs to yourself and not to be asked to state them by an authority. (ETA, that vote compass thing is super cool. Pegged me right on. I voted my conscience--Green--the first two presidential elections. Now my beliefs are the same except for the belief, "How likely do you think it is that a third party candidate will like, REVOLUTIONIZE the party system in this country?" It used to be "somewhat agree" and now it is, "God what a young fool I was! I am so sorry Al Gore!")

I wouldn't be opposed to a test which aligned people to a political party, provided it was in the context of a discussion about how people can change their minds and how the majority of Democrats and Republicans actually vote for people from both parties and third parties as well.

"I imagine that tip-toeing around him and giving in to his tantrums is probably making things worse." You know, you'd think that. You'd think that not tip-toeing around things would somehow at least make things better, right? Like facing it outright and not being afraid of a tantrum would make the child think, "Oh gosh, this is going badly. Maybe I'll stop the behavior that is causing bad things to happen. This is not working so I will stop." And I could see how you might think that, because that was what I used to think. Maybe they do think that. But for whatever reason, the behavior doesn't stop--even when the child can clearly articulate the fact that they realize they will get nowhere, and on the contrary, that it is against their interests to have a tantrum. I have spent the better part of eight years thinking, "If I just never give in, never, ever, ever, and if I always take the bull by the horns, eventually she will learn that this is not working to control me and she will stop." But she doesn't. Eight years, approximately 1,253,482 repetitions of, "Don't start this or then you won't get anything," and she still starts. However, rest assured, that there is no possible way that tiptoeing around tantrums could make it worse for some kids. How could it possibly be worse? My child has gone to school in bare feet; gone to bed without dinner more times than I can count; has been grounded / in time-out for more than two days in a row because she just couldn't bring herself to give in. "Don't make him do the work if he's going to throw a tantrum, but make it clear in advance that his privileges will be pulled until the work is done." I'd bet my bottom dollar that it is the making clear in advance triggers a tantrum. It sure does in our case. This type of child does not respond to consequences. It's almost like they are color blind and no matter how much you beat them over the head (figuratively) they will NEVER see orange. They just can't see it. My daughter knows theoretically that she will never, ever get what she wants from me by whining or tantruming. At least, she never has. She knows like she knows that orange is made of red and yellow. But when faced with a choice of "How should I respond to not getting my way?" she just does not apply that theoretical knowledge. Her brain goes, "A good idea right now would be to make everyone else miserable." Now, any normal child would, of course, think, after 567,891 times of this happening, "You know what? If I whine, I won't get what I want. How can I get what I want? I'll do that." It's pretty simple, actually, and I know I'm not crazy for thinking that could work, that because I have one child who is very well-behaved and actually gets commended for being able to follow instructions. I have been told by total strangers that I am a very consistent parent. So I know what you are saying. But as for tiptoeing around a tantrum making it worse... I don't know about that. Some kids don't think in terms of actions-consequences, even with the most diligent parents.

Slightly less inappropriate but still inappropriate. Appropriate: "Did your family talk a lot about the election? What do you talk about? Let's keep it to issues and not personal attacks." "Is voting important in your home? Do you think it's important to vote? Why?" "Here is one issue on the ballot that reflects a civics question we've talked about. Let's get into groups and have a mock debate. Here are the ground rules for the debate (have them written out)." "Why do you think there are political parties?" "What do you think is the most important issue on the ballot? Talk about it in groups." So, so many ways to get students to talk about values and share without putting them on the spot. (In Washington we can join a party but we just vote for whomever we want--even in the primaries. It's a runoff system. I'm a liberal but never joined a party.)

I am not suggesting that OP do anything other than expose a child to language through experience. I am a huge fan of learning through exposure and experience and not through grammar. So we are on the same page there. :) I am simply pointing out that the Russian as a language is not in the same category as French or Spanish in terms of difficulty or complexity. I think your example of Latin was lacking--I can think of one more instance in which Latin nominative and accusative endings overlap--but the point is, kids don't need to know all this. They can absorb it, we agree on that. I love Russian and I think it's a great entry point.

I wouldn't say they're interfering--I should say that the rewards system the teacher has set up is really positive particularly for less typical children. If my daughter breezed through her homework it would be fine. But she dawdles. :P I think your attitude has been mine from the beginning, but now that we're busier it's harder to stay on learning at home!

FP, my experience with the Evergreen School is based on knowledge through friends with gifted children. They are quite happy, though their children are only IQ 145-160, nothing like some kids I read about on the Internet. Regarding the public schools, they are public schools. They will first serve the neediest and the largest number of children. I have never met a parent of a profoundly gifted child who was happy with public school. If you have ever seen any thread on the Internet or heard anyone in real life who has a child with an IQ of 145+ who felt that their child's needs were met adequately in public school, and I mean this in all seriousness, please send it to me. I'm dying to know what that looks like. I have read thousands of complaints about inadequate individualized instruction. As someone working in education and in the public sector, all I can say is, you get what you pay for. If it were up to me that would be on top of every last voting booth in the country. So provided OP realizes what public education's limits are, she should really appreciate it here. If she's looking for a home-school student-curriculum ratio in the public school, she's in for a life of pain and frustration, because that's not going to happen for anyone but the most disadvantaged children.

Oh dear, sorry for the mix-up! Yes, somehow I mistook you for the OP. Best of luck to your son. I know for me going outside really helps!

I was shocked when I tried Rosetta Stone for the first time. I had learned two languages fluently (foreign service levels 4 for both, independently tested) and was excited to try a new method. We got it free as we were overseas military. It was a huge, huge waste of taxpayer money. The methodology is extremely weak. It works for babies, perhaps, but even then, the context is so incredibly weak that it won't really work. I agree with the majority: switch.

So sad... I was going to recommend actual studied, like those done by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, which does some of the most amazing social science ever. I now see that that is not appropriate. For learning about the US government, I'd go to their website! http://kids.usa.gov/government/

In our schools, reading assessments are conducted through October, but because they use a district-appointed specialist to triangulate the teacher's test, and they have to test all children in grades K-3 (or more) , it can take through November. They realize this is not okay. They want more staff. That takes money. :( Yes. A lot of parents think that knowing the alphabet = being able to read because they can sound out words, right? People are delusional. Also, my kindergartener, who is an emerging reader, likes to sit and look at chapter books. Because she thinks it's cool. Whatever. I don't think my child's teacher would be well-served by assuming that kids who like books can read. Your child is unusual, OP, in a wonderful way. You are working in a context that teachers encounter about .00001% of the time. It must be hard but be patient and find ways to make things work for your family, knowing that it is not going to happen automatically.