We don't often get through our science, but I am determined that this year will be better. We are going with Galore Park's Junior Science as a spine, and I want to supplement with some experiments. I need the experiments to be easy to carry out, with a minimum of running around to look for supplies. Am I better to get a Thames and Kosmos Elements of Science kit, or Janice VanCleave's Biology, Physics and Chemistry experiment books? Or is there something else even better out there? My kids are at a grade 5 level.

E string squeaks can be worse with cheaper strings, but the biggest culprit is arm weight, and I think that might be the case for your daughter as you mentioned that the squeaks are the worst when she is changing strings. Check that her elbow is heavy and that it is lower than her wrist when she changes from A to E. The elbow always leads when moving to a higher pitched string. Watch the stick of the bow to be sure she is maintaining her arm weight, and if your teacher has taught her to have a strong bow thumb, remind her to work on that as she goes to the E. I'd suggest she practices short staccato strokes in this pattern: AAEE AAEE AAEE AEA.. :ll, ensuring that she has weight in the bow before starting to move it. HTH

Thanks, everyone! Epcot seems to be getting high marks from most of you. We'll be sure to see the country pavillions. Are there any particular rides we should try? What is there to do at Universal Studios? I know nothing about them, other than they make movies, and apparently also run a theme park. Would you go see the Harry Potter area, or is there something else to do there? If we were to go shopping for a day, where should we go? I live in a town with single lane highways and four stop lights, so am not keen on doing any more driving on freeways than absolutely necessary. I will check out the alligator place. Has anyone tried the simulated sky diving? Any good places for dinner shows? Is Cirque du Soleil worth seeing? Thanks for all of your help!

I'm travelling with my 17 year old daughter from Northern British Columbia to Orlando at the end of March for a special just-before-you-leave home Mother-Daughter holiday. We have a hotel booked close to Disney and would like to go to Disney World for a few days, but aren't sure where we should concentrate our time in the park. Any suggestions? Also, where else would you suggest we go in Orlando? Anywhere we should avoid? Thanks so much!

My daughter has been diagnosed celiac. She was never small or thin, and never had constipation or diarrhea. She started vomiting once a week, then progressed to almost daily. Just before she was diagnosed, she was vomiting blood. I was taking her to the hospital regularly, and several doctors told me she could not possibly be celiac, and one or two suggested I was making up her symptoms. My sister was celiac, though, so I pressed for the antibody test. When it came back, my daughters numbers were off the charts. She has been perfectly healthy since going off gluten, and feels sick if she inadvertently gets any gluten. I'd suggest a new doctor. Soon.

http://www.lego-instructions.com I've been looking for something like this for a long time for my son, so thanks for inspiring the search. Leslie-Jean:001_smile:

But I love Quebec...

When I want a roast for dinner, I put it on low at 1:00 and it is ready by 5:30. Our favourite way to cook a roast in the crock pot is to cover it with apple juice and add a package of Onion Soup Mix.

I am wondering how to change my login name, short of deleting my first account and starting a new account. I use that login name for my email, and I'd rather that everyone who knows my email login name didn't have access to all my posts on WTM. I was taken aback when I googled my login name and found all my posts came up on google. Thanks, Leslie-Jean

I'm in, though probably more as someone who will try to read a book a week, than as someone who will commit to read a book a week. I just want to be able to join back in if I miss a week. We may be moving, so I foresee some weeks where it might be difficult to get a book in. I do think I need to start reading more in front of my kids. They see me much more often in front of the computer than in front of a book, and I do wonder if that is part of the reason that my younger ones don't read nearly as much as my older ones. Leslie-Jean

Thank you so much for the link! I had found the Tools for the Mind book, and was looking for more information about the program and the philosophy. I will look differently at our days this week: trying to incorporate more activities and games that help my kids develop their executive functioning. I think they'll be very happy to play more games, to play act, and to be more creative. Does anyone have any more links on Adele Diamond's work? Leslie-Jean MacMillan

Many Canadians do not know the words to the National Anthem, and fewer would be able to sing God Save the Queen. As a nation, we are considerably less patriotic than Americans. That being said, I think I've found my new favourite Canadian song: r. Leslie-Jean

Your heart is hurting, and you have had many losses. I am so sorry.:grouphug: I am writing to tell you what we do and some of my thoughts, but please know that I do not know you, and that my thoughts might not be helpful at all to your dilemma. Please keep what, if anything, is helpful, and disregard the rest. In our family, all of the children who live in our house are ours. Some of my kids also have other parents and other siblings. My biological daughter sometimes complained when she was little because she had only one mother and father, while some of her siblings had two moms and two dads. I think all you can decide what you do. You can decide if your younger and older stepsons are yours, or you can decide that just the younger two are yours. In my case, the kids who live with me are mine, and I care for their extended families very much, but they are more like second cousins to me. However, they are full family members for my kids, so they are invited to birthday parties, and my kids always buy them Christmas presents. When the extended families have special events, only their biologically related kids are invited. My other kids are at peace with that. You cannot control what your older stepsons do, or how they behave. It could be that you choose to claim them as family and they never reciprocate. I am not sure. The quote I am trying to live by is: "You can change the world from one that is senselessly horrible to one in which there is compassion with your choice about how to live. You can choose that, to the extend of your ability, the people whose lives touch yours will be treated with love." LJM

Follow your heart.

Just posted this on the other workbox discussion, but thought I should have probably posted it here: Another advantage I found with workboxes as compared to a list of to dos was with longer assignments. My son has a learning disability and is working through an intensive program that takes about an hour and half a day. At the beginning of each day, he used to feel overwhelmed. When we started with workboxes, I broke the program down into 10-15 minute sections, and put each of those sections in a different box. Suddenly, with the program visually and concretly broken down into smaller tasks, my son found the program much more pleasant to work through.:001_smile: LJ in Canada