Oh my gosh, I was just about to say that! I grew up in Southeastern Ohio as well! I wonder if they have those other places?

Well, I think it depends on your style, but I would try Macy's. That's where I found some dresses for dd to wear to a wedding rehearsal and as the flower girl in a wedding last summer, when we were trying not to go too formal or costly and find something that she would actually wear again. Now, I know you won't be shopping in the little girls' department, but it looked as if they had a good selection in women's clothing as well. And the prices (at least on what we purchased) were great. Our finds ended up being on sale that day, but even at full price it wouldn't have been bad.

We made the pinata well ahead of time to give each layer adequate time to thoroughly dry before adding another layer. We mixed salt into the paste to prevent mold/mildew. I tried the baking soda in a sock yesterday. It might have slightly mitigated the odor, but there was no remarkable change. I think *next* time I make a pinata I'll do it differently, but since the party is in five days, our weather this week is going to be humid and rainy, and we already have this one done, I'll probably just put the candy into individual ziploc bags and add it to the pinata right before the party. I'm still going to do a test run to see if it affects the taste of the candy through the ziploc bag. If it works, I'll remove the test bag and add the others on the morning of the party. Thanks for all the helpful hints; they will be very useful in the future!

I actually didn't think of adding in the quotation marks and changing the capitalization when I was first using it with dd. But the second time around, with ds, I sort of knew what lay ahead of me (with having to teach him to write using correct punctuation and capitalization) and it really bothered me. So, I decided to add it in. Have fun with it! It really is amazing how well they can read when they finish the book.

Do you think it would work to put some baking soda in there and shake it around a bit, then let it sit for awhile before emptying the baking soda into the trash? I'm thinking I might place enough candy for each child into snack-size ziploc bags and put them into the pinata just before the party, but I'm going to test it with one bag of a few tootsie rolls to see if it will work. I hate to waste that many plastic bags, though. I think I'll try the baking soda and see if it helps.

How did you get rid of the past smell and keep the candy from smelling/tasting weird? We made a really cool pineapple pinata for dd's luau themed birthday party, but the tootsie rolls we put in it as testers came out tasting just like the paste and were inedible. What can I do to save it? Thanks for any ideas.

I have taught both of my children to read using The Reading Lesson. Dd asked me to teach her to read at 4.5 years old. I had no idea where to begin teaching a child to read, so I did a google search. The Reading Lesson looked the most appealing and logical to me, so I purchased it used on Amazon. I used it with dd (who was an eager learner) for a few months, then we took a long break while selling our house and moving. We resumed the lessons together at the beginning of her K5 year. She finished it in a few short months. The book claims that upon completing it, your child will be reading at a second grade level. I'm not sure if this is true, but I do know that dd whizzed through Dr. Seuss books and beginning readers/chapter books in the months after she finished it, and was reading children's novels like The Boxcar Children and Charlotte's Web by the end of K5. I began using The Reading Lesson with ds (who was a very reluctant learner) when he was five, during his pre-K year. We made it about halfway through, then took a break for the summer. We decided to start back at the beginning of the book for a solid review when he started his kindergarten year (at age 6). He just finished it about a week ago, and he is now reading begnning readers/ beginner chapter books with me. I love the simplicity of the book, and the fact that just a few minutes each day quickly adds up to a lot of learning. Kids are reading words from the very first lesson, and simple stories from very near the beginning, which builds confidence and helps hold their interest. There are a few things I didn't like, but I found it easy to fix these things. For example, they don't include quotation marks in their stories, I think because they think it would confuse young children learning to read. So I just used a Sharpie to add them in myself. Also, they start off with all lowercase letters (because those are the ones children will encounter most in print) and gradually change to using capital letters at the beginning of sentences, in proper names, etc. Again, I just fixed this with a Sharpie. They now have other products (dvd's, cd's, a writing program) to go along with the phonics book, which you can find at their website, but we only used the book. We purchased one of the dvd's for ds, but we thought it was babyish and never really used it. This was the only phonics program we used with dd. Ds did a few pages in an ETC workbook, but quickly outgrew its usefulness. The only supplements we really used were index cards for writing the key words to practice.

Littlest Pet Shop toys (both the little pets and the playsets) are something my dd has played with for years. She disovered them when she was five and still plays with them at almost 9 years old. Polly Pockets are another toy that she liked at that age and still plays with now. As far as the Zhu Zhu pets go, you can buy the individual pets and play with them on their own, or you can buy a pet and a playset/car for the pet to "play" in. Dd won just one of the little pets and really likes it, but I suspect it would be more fun with a playset. I don't know if you allow your children to use the computer, or if you want to encourage collecting a lot of stuffed animals, but my dd has loved Webkinz over the past few years. She plays with the stuffed animals in real life, and goes onto the Webkinz website to decorate rooms, play games, etc. I know you said you have enough arts and craft stuff, but I thought I would mention the Melissa & Doug pattern blocks and Melissa & Doug stamp sets, just because dd has enjoyed both for several years. Also, since warm weather is here and summer is approaching, if she doesn't have a hula hoop, a scooter, a jump rope, sidewalk chalk/paint, those might be good ideas.

Thanks for the encouragement, Caroline.

Wow, thanks for sharing your sister's story. I can't tell you how much it encourages me!

if he/she is learning it for the first time and never studied it as a child? For example, do you think it is possible for an adult to learn to play a musical instrument for the first time, and become good enough at playing to become a paid member of an orchestra? Or for an adult to study pottery or painting for the first time and come to create art worthy of exhibiting and/or selling? I've read about the windows of opportunity for learning certain things (foreign language and music, specifically), but I wonder how much that would really matter if one had a passion for something? I know that it would be difficult to suddenly become good at something if one had absolutely no exposure to the idea prior to adulthood, but what about someone who had a propensity for a certain area, but never was afforded the opportunity to study it formally? I wonder how many adults limit themselves because they think it is too late to learn something. I also know that it's worth pursuing hobbies and interests, even if one never becomes good enough to pursue something as a vocation/career, but I guess I just wonder if that possibility is there? What do you think?

Things my 6.5 yo son likes: insect container with magnifying glass for observing insects small aquarium for housing amphibians/reptiles for short periods for observation pond net for catching minnows and other small pond creatures fishing pole rock/mineral/fossil samples or kits w/storage box Pokemon cards Lincoln Logs Lego blocks/ Mega Blocks Tinker Toys Plastic dinosaurs Nerf guns Bakugans sidewalk chalk swords/light sabers

"He is taller than I am," is correct. Think of it as "He is taller than I am tall." You need the subject pronoun, not the object pronoun.

For us summer is about fun and extracurriculars. Dd has gymnastics practice during the day over the summer, three or four days a week. We go swimming almost everyday. Ds gets a lot of informal nature study as he likes to go to parks, nature reserves, lakes, creeks, ponds, etc. and explore, fish, hike, etc. Dd will be going to two weeks of art camp. The kids like to go to the nearby tennis courts and hit some balls, ride their bikes up and down our street, play with the neighborhood kids. We will probably take a lot of day trips to museums, the zoo, maybe a waterpark. I will *try* to work on math with each child for a few minutes each day and have each child read for a few minutes each day. I keep a read-aloud going. Other than that, we don't really do formal academics in the summer.

My dd loved the Amanda Pig books by Jean Van Leewen when she was a new reader. She also liked One Saturday Morning by Barbara Baker (and it's sequels, One Saturday Afternoon, and One Saturday Evening). Would she try something like Sarah, Plain and Tall or The Hundred Dresses, since they're a bit shorter than a Little House book? Also, our library has some great picture books based on Laura Ingalls Wilder books that dd liked to read before she was ready to tackle a long, thick novel.

I wanted to get Life of Fred fractions for dd to use for the last few weeks of school and as a fun keep-up-with-your-math-skills book for over the summer. But, she doesn't know long division yet. We're finishing up Righstart D, so she knows single-digit division facts, but hasn't learned long division. Any ideas for how to teach her? Thanks!

I am considering making a short trip to NYC this summer, but I remember reading on here a few weeks ago that parking is super expensive, and that most hotels charge for parking. We would want to drive, as flying would be a lot more expensive. So, are there any towns nearby that don't charge for parking where we could get on a train or some other form of transportation and get into the city easily/quickly? Also, are there any truly relaxing things to do in the area? We live in a very rural area, and I feel stimulated and envlivened by visiting a city. I love visiting museums, trying out new restaurants, going to the theater, the symphony, etc. Dd is much the same. But dh and ds are more nature people. They like a slower pace and pastoral scenes. They feel a bit stressed in crowds. Would there be anything enjoyable for them, or do I need to look elsewhere? Also, are there any hotels near NYC that have pools/hot tubs? Thanks for any ideas.

When my dd was starting her K5 year, she was ahead of where most children are academically. So, I just did what she was ready to do. We worked through FLL1, even though it was written for first grade. We had gone through a good portion of a phonics program when she was 4, but took a long break because we were selling our house and moving. So, we finished up the book. Dd progressed rapidly through Dr. Seuss books, then beginning chapter books, then onto novels like Charlotte's Web and The Boxcar Children by the end of kindergarten. We used Miquon math along with Singapore, to give her variety and more of a challenge. She had taught herself to write at age 3, so we used Italic handwriting to just make it prettier. As for "typical" kindergarten activities, we relegated those to free time, of which there was plenty. Most mornings were spent playing with her brother outside if it was nice. She loves to make art and do craft projects, so we always keep lots of supplies on hand. She played with Play-doh, jumped rope, hoola-hooped, drew pictures, wrote little notes, etc. She also went to a gymnastics class one morning a week, and we tried to find other activities like homeschool library days. Ds is just finishing up his K5 year. He needed to spend the whole year on the phonics book and spend more time learning to do handwriting, but he was ready for the first grade math book halfway through the year (we use Righstart now), and he usually sat in on dd's history reading and science experiments (as science is his passion). He has also become very skilled at doing narrations as he has heard so many of his sister's writing lessons! Again, he had plenty of free time to paint, draw, climb trees, play on the swingset, dig up worms, carry around slugs and caterpillars, hit golf balls in the yard, etc. He also did a tennis clinic in the spring. My approach to academics is to get done whatever the child is capable of and prepared to benefit from, regardless of their "grade." In this respect, I guess I would be considered rigorous. But we try to accomplish it in a very unschoolish sort of way. We read books in the hammock or under the canopy of the playhouse on nice spring days. I read Norse mythology to them while they built forts out of sticks, stalks, and leaves in the fall, and Persian folk tales to them while they built with wooden blocks in our family room in the winter. We often do math on the floor. We are loosely scheduled, but still manage to get a lot done each year. Good luck in planning for next year!

Very well said. This is where I am right now, too.

I haven't read through all of the responses, so perhaps this has already been mentioned, but you can have leather furntiture treated with a substance that will make it stainproof. We bought a very light gray leather sectional sofa a few months ago and had it treated. Ds accidentally got crayon on it (the kids "painted" their toenails with crayon in another room, and he didn't know it would wear off on the couch when he climbed onto it). We followed the directions for cleaning stains, and it came right off. We have to retreat it every six months, but they gave us a kit and we can get free refills at the store. Also, the salesman told us that the main concern for punctures is cats and very small dogs. He said that the nails of a bigger dog (e.g. a lab or golden retriever) were too large to puncture. I'm not sure if this is accurate or not, as we don't have any pets. We also have two large brown leather ottomans that we have owned for about two years. We have never treated them with anything, and they still look great after two years of wear from the kids.

The local public schools use this program for elementary grades, and I'm curious to know what it covers in first and second grades. We are considering enrolling our kids next year, and I am wondering if what ds 6 has already done for phonics will be good prep. for the 1st grade program or if he would be bored. Thanks for any input.

Ten years is a decade, 100 years is a century, 1000 years is a millenium, but what does one call 1,000,000 years?

I always pronounced it my-kwon. There's no way I can call it mee-kwon. Even though we don't really use it that much anymore, dd absolutely loved using it in kindergarten and first, and since I bought all of the books, we sometimes pull out pages to do when we need a fun break from Righstart. I'm going to keep calling it my-kwon. I don't know if I could ever use it again if I had to call it mee-kwon.

Do you have an Aldi's near where you live? They wouldn't have the gluten-free products, but you can get canned fruits and veggies, and fresh fruit and veggies very reasonably there. I'm not sure if they have organic milk or not, but it's worth checking, because they are definitely a lot cheaper than most grocery stores. I know you said you wouldn't qualify for government assistance, but if you find yourself really needing help, is there a food bank/pantry anywhere near you that you could visit once in a while?

Would she wear leggings with a long top, dress, or skirt? This look is very popular right now. You can fight comfortable cotton leggings in capri or regular length at many stores since it is a current fashion. I just bought some for my dd at Old Navy for $6 each. How about a skort? You can fight cute, sporty but stylish looking ones in soft cotton knits or comfy nylon mesh at places like Target, Gymboree, Gap, Old Navy. Depending on how formal you want her to look when you go out, my daughter has had good luck finding comfortable but stylish clothes at Justice in the past. You have to ignore all the trendy, over-the-top glitzy stuff and look for the comfy shorts, t-shirts, and capris. Good luck!