I love brussel sprouts... Here is my kids favorite way... Steamed with butter, sliced almonds and a tad bit of Almond oil/flavoring. I like to shred them like confetti. Second way to prepare them is to... shred them and saute them in olive oil and butter and toss in minced garlic till it browns and then add procuitto. It is HEAVEN.... samba in sac

Hello my name is Samba and I AM a curriculum junkie....:lol:

Wow ! Give that man a HUGE hug! You and your kids are in for a big treat. Mine love to listen to them over and over again. samba in sac

Jana - I'm joining you:lurk5: samba in sac

While I cannot speak for Singapore Math I can speak to Kumon Math. I afterschool all of my yahoos using Kumon. It is easy and works. In one year my son went from scoring in the 25th percentile in math by state standards for his grade level to the 80th percentile. My daughter went from the 75% percentile to 98%. I would suspect that since it is an asian based program that the approach, philosophy and success are similar. samba in sac

Whoa! Now that is what I call a comphrensive list. Physics Fridays...here we come!:auto: samba in sac

We too are in a similar situation and we have intergrated sight and phonics and it appears to working just fine. We use Kumon at home which is visual based and phonics at school...they also use a blend of sight word memorization too. When it comes to math I wholeheartedly believe in Kumons approach to mastering each level before you move on to the next. This goes 100% against the approach they teach in school but I do not care. It is a much more effective way to learn math and the success that my yahoos have in their school math is a testiment to Kumon's approach. I do not worry about the conflicts and look at it as rounding out what they are missing in their public school.

We listen to the CD's on the car. We finished volume one and two and the kids have requested that we start listening to volume one again then two before we order volume 3 for the car. We also own all four versions and my son likes to listen in his room while following along in the book. He is a reluctant reader but love to learn so this is a great avenue for him. All of my yahoos LOVE the cds. And I must say I too am surprised how much I have retained.

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I am a double twin mom and want to second sonlights curriculum and the ordinary parents guide to reading ansd the well trained mind as a guidebook for good ideas oh yes and the core knowledge series

Undergrad BA Cal State Chico - BA Cal State Sacramento Stanford University for Masters degree And when the yahoos are off the payroll i am going back for another degree I am not only a curriculum junkie i am a learning junkie!!!!

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Yes... Hello my name is samba and I am a curriculum junkie... Next?

My experince from the two times I have traveled Greece and Athens is that the rooms are small by our standards and the beds are much smaller than ours. What they call a king or queen is what we would call a double and super single. Now that being said you should not have a problem getting a cot for the room if there is room for it. Also some rooms will have connecting doors. All I can say is ask ask ask and get bed measurements. It is a very welcoming place and very affordable to travel as a family. Have a fun and very safe trip

We are huge cooks in our family. Cooking is a sport, hobby and nighttime entertainment. Think basics that can be added to with what your kids like... such as Teach the basics and let them choose what to add to "kick it up a notch" scrambled eggs and ... mashed potatoes and ...garlic...or cheese...bacon...you get the idea muffins.. plain muffins but add fruit or nuts or.... vegetables sauted in garlic and ???? chicken stock and ..... for soup Pasta and skys the limit.... rice and beans... then move on to couscous... risotto.. Teach them to cut, boil, fry and saute. Teach them to take something that is simple and add additional ingredents that they like to give it their special touch. Williams Sonoma has a couple fun books for kids cooking.. Good luck and have fun!!

I want to teach my girls 5 & 8 how to knit or crochet. I was taught basic stiches by my grandmother when I was my daughters age. It was a great way to kill time in the summers. I do not remember much of anything...in fact out right nothing. Although I suspect that once I saw how it was done it would come back to me. I am looking for suggestions on how to teach them something I really do not know anything about? Anythoughts?

Basic Math Drills. If she has a good foundation of addition facts then she will breeze through multiplication. We use the Kumon method which has turned my Math hating son into a mental math machine who takes great pride in getting 200 math equations done in less than 7 minutes. This was the son who a year ago could not add 2 plus 3 and get five. He could not get the concept of addition let alone memorize the math facts. Becuase he has the addition down he is full on ready to tackle multiplcation in 3rd grade. He already comes to me and tells me such and such times .... is XX and he is write. Kumon is repetition over and over again everyday for 20 minutes. It becomes so easy for the kids that it is second nature to spout math facts. You can buy kumon books at the store rip out the sheets and place them in plastic holders and reuse them over and over. Start with the 2's and work your way to the 10's. Once they can them all correctly within a short period of time you move on the next number.

IMHO....sounds to me like you might want to consult a registered dietician. Someone who is educated on the science of healthy eating and dietary concerns. Just because someone is an MD does not mean they know what they are talking about when it comes to diet. MD's do not spend much time in school learning about nutrition and dietary needs. The diets sounds a little strick and a path to failure. Tried and true is weight watchers. Moderation Moderation. low fat, lean protein, high fiber complex carbs and moderate sugar which is easily found in fruits. sure the more "natural" state a food is in the healther it is but raw...give me a break what next they'll want you to do colonetics? and magnetic therapy? Start with complex high fiber carbs (whole as opposed to refined) lean proteins (chicken fish, turkey pork beef beans) veggies and fresh fruit. A good place to start is with reading WW books or dr Oz has some good information that is not too wacko restrictive. Start small with making changes and add more each week. No crash cold turkey. Yes I sound like I am skeptical beucase I am....18 years in healthcare and I come from a family of RD's and MD's. I would be rather cautious of what you are being asked to undertake in such a drastic manner.

Thank you for your words of wisdom. The boys do sit so that does help. I believe the biggest culprit is the largest of the boys....DH! I have a black light that I use to dectect urine spots, but again, once cleaned it still stinks. I will begin to tryout the suggestions mentioned. Now that I think about it...we never sealed the floor grout and that might help things. I also never tired vinegar. I treated it as thought it was animal urnine and ordered anti urine stuff from www.planeturine.com since their stuff works great for removed pet odors. Thanks!!! I will report back!

Okay so this really really OT so bare with me... I clean and clean and clean my bathroom and toilet and it STILL stinks like a URINAL!!!!!! It is drving me nuts. I have tile floors that are only four years old and a new toilet that is five years old. I cannot get rid of the stinky smell. Getting rid of DH and sons are not an option :glare: so I need other ideas. Lysol, bleach, baking soda, planet urine animal urine smell remover does not work... I NEED HELP!!! Any suggestions!!!!:001_huh:

kumon daily math drills has worked wonders. 10 - 20 minutes a day is all it takes and it took my son who could not remember the simplest of math problems.... 4 + 2 or 3+2. Within 6 months of kumon my son is able to answer 200 math drill probelms in less than 8 minutes with 100% accuracy. His confidence in math is soaring and once he mastered addtion, his subtraction only took one quarter of the time. Now as we approach multiplication he is already telling me he can figure out some of the problems. It is not for everyone, but for us...it has been a blessing. Kumons approach is self mastery. A child does not move on to the next level until they have fully mastered the previous level. This way they are ready to take on the next challenge and each level builds on the one before therefor making it easier for kids. Plus no child takes on concepts until they are ready for them. But again, not all kids are cut for daily drills. I will say that I was the kid who remembered in 3rd grade no longer understanding math. I managed to graduate college with two BA's and an MA with my highest math level being in 8th grade for which I received a D in---math always excaped me which is why I decided it would not my children. Now after 9 months of correcting my childrens Kumon, I no longer need to count on my fingers or write out problems. I too can do them in my Head!!!! yeah MOM! now I have races with my daughter who is a math wize. I am super proud of my kids math skills now and what I have been able to learn too.

We too found that the emperor was not wearing any clothes at the private school we went to. We left right after first grade becuase I knew that second grade was going to kill my son. It was very clear early on that Catholic school was not what was best for my yahoos. At the school we went to they applied the one size fits all approach to education which could not have been farther from my son. With 36 kids in a class they could only teach to the mainstream kids which my two are not. For us I decided to enroll them in the close public school which offered a full time gate emersion program. Both of my kids test off the charts for private school but just above average in public school. What I liked about our public school was that they customize the programs for the kids if you child qualifies and you request it. Public school has proven to be more challenging than our old private school was, but does not take a classical approach that I would prefer. This first year we had a couple bumps in the road but in the end both mom was happy and the kids were happy. We afterschool four days week with language arts, history with science on fridays and Kumon math daily. So far the kids are not aware of the fact that we are afterschooling and think that we are just reading like always. My son is the hardest to stimulate. He loves history and science which are two subjects that a second grader does not get to study in depth. I keep telling him to hold on till fifth grade when he will get a chance to shine...but until them we will read and learn about it at home. DH and I have discussed that down the road we may be homeschooling our son fulltime at home. We are prepared but as for now he is a highly social boy who likes going to school. Sorry it is late and I can tell I am rambling....

We read SOTW then listen to it in the car (often replayed over and over at my yahoos request---lord only knows how many times we hear beowulf!!!) Then we plan out where we are going to eat for our family night out Friday dinner in the theme of whatever we are reading or learning about....we think of it as eating back in time. Then we research recipes that spark their interest that relate to what we are reading... Goofy but it works.... ya know they always have said the way to ones heart is via their stomache....maybe the same can be said for their brains?? samba in sac

Welcome and while I do not can any great sage advice....I can share with you what we do at home. I have two soon to be 3rd graders and two soon to be kinders... I home schooled the younger ones and afterschool them all. All of my yahoos will be in public school this september. We left private school last year when we discoverd the emperor was not wearing any clothes.... What we do to help them with math (which is NOT my subject) is Kumon daily. Five days a week at home and two days at the center. We also use kumon for language arts five at home and two at the center. This frees me to focus on history and reading. samba in sac

I agree with those listed above me and will add The amelia badeila series of books - Henry and Mudge series Francis series frog and toad series My daughter loves them all and I hear her chuckling at night when reading them.