I'm planning on getting my kids and their cousins some sort of slackline based obstacle course, the kind that can be set up between 2 trees and you clip in different obstacles like monkey bar rings, climbing ropes, etc, but there are so many choices on Amazon that seem very similar. Do any of you know of good brands or brands to be avoided? Obviously we don't want anything breaking off in a child's hand while suspended in the air. Reading reviews helps a little, but I don't know which ones are to be trusted.

The church we attended in France was like that. Parts were in English, like the sermon, but people were encouraged to pray and sing in the language of their heart/however they first learned that prayer or song. The Lord's Prayer especially was routinely said in many languages together, which I thought was awesome.

This is interesting and helpful to read as my kids are small enough no one expects them to be independent. My mom, who has a weird prejudice against preschool, was recently talking about how crazy it was that a mutual acquaintance put one child in preschool so she could concentrate on homeschooling the older three, all of whom are elementary age. Mom made some comment about how the older children should be working more independently so the youngest wouldn't have to go to preschool. Mom never homeschooled, by the way. It'll be interesting to see how her opinions change as my kids get older. In a few years, I will have kids in much the same position as our mutual acquaintance, and it's not my goal to have third graders working all on their own. (I did defend the other mom, for the record, and changed the subject.)

I agree that the law suit is silly and doesn't put the Girl Scouts in a good light. My daughter is a little tiger cub this year, and when we were out selling popcorn, there were some disappointed folks when they realized she was not selling cookies, haha. I think there is potential for some confusion, but there would be less I'd the Girl Scouts had a stronger brand to start with. If you play word association with random people, I'd put money that if you said "Girl Scout," most would respond "cookie," but for "Boy Scout" or "Cub Scout," you'd get something like "uniform" or "camping."

I'm currently eight months pregnant with number 4, and my oldest is six. Four kids isn't unheard of here, but our spacing makes people wonder if we are planning on a dozen or so, I think. Actually, we are planning on four being it, but random strangers don't need that info. We get a lot of "do you know what causes that?" said jokingly, and when I respond "I thought so, but if it is what I thought, we'd have several hundred at this point, so..." the comments quickly die. We also get "it must be hard having so many so little" to which my stock response is "I haven't heard that there is any number of kids that makes things easy, but thankfully they are usually good kids." That last bit is often said with a over-the-top grin at whichever kids had been trying to drive me crazy most recently, which makes the kid laugh. Most people seem to like the acknowledgement that all families can be difficult and there is no "right" number. Then again, my grandmother's response when I told her we were expecting #1 was "I'm sorry," even though we were healthy, financially stable, and had been married a year. I think it was one of the first signs of cognitive decline for her, so I now try to assume, for the sake of my mental well being, that any out-and-out rude comments are the result of old age, poor health, or the like.

One thing to keep in mind is how he will feel about each label or the rejection of the label. I imagine it varies by kid, but I think that as they get older, most will feel better knowing "my mom didn't want me labeled adhd" than "my mom didn't want me labeled gifted." I suppose he might never find out, but I think most kids have a clue that something is up. Like others said, GT programs can vary so wildly, there's no way off guessing what the one at his school is like. One year my brother got stuck doing test prep during the pull out time because someone decided it would be easier to raise average scores by having the high achievers score even higher. His gifted teacher, not coincidentally, quit that year.

I do and don't really stand out for it in this area (Atlanta-ish), but it's not universal. Other places I've gone, I've been told "you must be an English teacher" due to that pronunciation.

Our neighborhood has mostly grandparent age folks with young couples starting to move in, so there aren't lots of kids. We got about ten trick or treaters, half from the neighborhood and half by car. People were really generous with our kids, though! I'm hoping there well be more in future years, but our town has started a thing on main street, so lots go there. I love seeing our neighbors and making those connections, especially because a lot of the elderly in our area love it and wouldn't really be able to do the big trunk or treat, but I worry most neighbors will give up if there are so few kids coming around

My husband hates beds and how much space they take up, so he is always going our kids will want hammocks when they get older. Our house has enough space for enough beds, but he'd love a much smaller house with a Murphy bed for us and hammocks for the kids.

There is definitely some potty humor in there. Nothing terribly crass, but it depends on your family culture, I'm sure. In ours, that's the kind of thing I let the kids read on their own and pretend to be mildly shocked by if they bring it up with me. They know out isn't a big deal, but also isn't what I want to hear from them. With my current four, almost five, year old, we're going through MEP 1 and he plays Prodigy. I was surprised, but he tested into third grade there. He's just growing out of being completely writing averse, so I scribe for him at this point. Later, probably when we get halfway through MEP 2, I'll start him on Beast 2. My six year old is currently in MEP 3, Beast 2b, and plays Prodigy covering 4th grade topics, mostly. I also have her play the Medieval Math app sometimes to improve math fact automaticity.

I like the suggestions you've already gotten. Since you mentioned using dimes to teach tens, I wanted to point out that this works great for some kids, probably those with a practical understanding of money already, but confuses other kids. A dime is smaller than a penny, there's no obvious relationship between ten pennies and a dime, etc, so something that seems like a concrete example to us adults ends up requiring a lot of abstract thought, or at least memorization of something that seems random, for a young child. Trading unit squares for a ten rod, as others have suggested, is more straight forward.

That's why we switched to home birth. Baby 1 was close to being born in the triage area, and I really didn't want a parking lot/side of the road delivery (which baby 3 would have been!) Nothing against doctors or hospitals; I'd just rather have the midwife in my prepared home than only my husband in a not-prepared location.

I learned a three column format(the middle column is largest by far). At the top, you write the goals for the lesson. Then, left column is a good estimate of how much time each step should take. Middle column is a description of what you and students will be doing. Right column is notes for you to keep in mind, like "introducing new material. Ok if students don't fully understand." Or "this step crucial. Make sure all students see relationship between a and b." Always plan for enough to cover at least 125% of the allotted time, and now in that this column which activities can be skipped if short on time or should only be used if there is ample time. I used that for teaching language, where many shorter activities worked best. A different format might be better for a lecture or other type class.

I think that one thing that muddies the waters is the current "click bait" culture where a well-meaning but, bless her heart, foolish 21 year old publishes a rant about taco Tuesday being cultural appropriation, then very conservative news organizations with low journalistic standards publish this far and wide with headlines like "you'll never guess what liberals say you can't do now!" Some things seem clear-cut to me. In kindergarten, we made "deer-skin" Indian costumes out of brown felt, complete with beaded fringes and made-up "Indian symbols" scrawled in marker. I wouldn't be ok with my kids doing the same today and was very surprised to see Facebook evidence last Thanksgiving time that this still takes place in many schools, even with face paint to make things even more generic "Indian-ish." One way that I understand it is remembering how I felt when I heard in a dumb children's tv show: "The meaning of Easter is being with family!" That was a punch to the gut for me as I'm willing to let there be all manner of secular trappings enjoyed by all, but please don't just make up an insipid meaningless meaning to my most-holy day of the year. That's how I felt as a member of the majority religion. How much worse would it be if I'd heard that from the mouth of someone whose ancestors had stolen the lands of my ancestors, or enslaved them, or banned them from the country, leaving me with little more of my heritage than those religious symbols which they were now skewing for their own purposes.

Very, very little is federal. That's one of the reasons educational quality varies so much from state to state, and even town to town.

It's an awesome feeling to repair something like a drier, at least for me! Realizing that I can understand how a machine works, buy a ten dollar part, and make it work again is pretty satisfying. My husband can do this with cars, but that's still too intimidating for me. It doesn't help that one of his steps always seems to be "come inside angry, giving the impression that the car will never work again." You tube videos are super helpful, for sure!

We just got our first car as a married couple this week. We have been driving a 2002 Saturn sedan and a 1998 Buick sedan with three car seats in the back of the Buick. My parents got the Saturn for me in college; dh bought the Buick off his Grandma when he got out of active duty military and she needed to stop driving. We got an eight passenger 2012-Chevy Traverse. I'm due with baby four in December, so it was time. We hope this vehicle will last at least seven years, but would like it to last longer, of course.

I take it your husband is finding it a bit much, then. I'd try to work out what would make him enjoy the visits more (let him know you are fine with him going out on those Saturdays to pursue a hobby or just go about his regular routine when they are there, or have them come three times every two months) and then talk with your folks once you've determined how to let dh enjoy his off time, too.

If they had a dedicated space at your house and were the kind of people who can pitch in and just be part of the family while they were there, it would be more than fine with me. I mean, I've had house guests who just know how to help in the kitchen without direct instruction, how to have fun with the kids in a way that reduces my work load, and those people can come as often as they want! Most people aren't that way, though, and I couldn't deal with regular guest-y guests more than once a month.

In our area, they desperately need officers, so if he stays out of legal trouble, can pass a fairly basic physical test, and can speak reasonably well in an interview, he'd likely be hired to go to the academy. To succeed there he'd need to be able to be bossed around without getting upset, learn to shoot reasonably well and safely, pass classes that would likely resemble community-college level classes, pass a fairly intense driving course, and learn some physical tactics in a hands-on easy that requires taking some pain (have to experience getting tased, pepper sprayed, and punched, though that last is while wearing protective gear). I think my husband's academy class lost most people due to not liking the discipline of showing up on time, in uniform, etc, but they also lost done due to lack of driving and shooting skills since those had a clearly delineated pass/fail line. To be a good officer, I'd say he needs to have excellent spoken and written communication skills. He needs to be able to talk to people in a way that makes them feel he respects them and doesn't judge them. Lots of officers earn degrees in criminal justice, but few (according to dh) really learn anything from them, likely because these programs tend to not have high expectations, at least in this area. A degree in sociology, English, psychology, or really anything that helps develop communication and critical thinking skills would likely be at least as helpful. My husband is often thanked by those he arrests, and some repeat offenders will request that he be their arresting officer because he treats people with respect. Deescalation skills will help keep him and those around him safe. Being unafraid to look up laws and read them for himself will help him and those he serves a lot.

Exactly this. It's a matter of preference; just be consistent!

Your son's grip sounds like my husband's grip. I think it looks horribly awkward and uncomfortable, but he has much better handwriting than I do and doesn't get especially tired writing, even during long handwritten exams. Has it caused your son's handwriting to get worse? Is his hand hurting, or is it taking longer for him to write?

This weekend the kids have been playing some with a sweet five year old boy from next door. No kids that age live there all the time, but its a multi-generation home with grandkids. nephews, etc over fairly often, and they come and ring the doorbell when they are around. I was chatting with the boy today, asking where he went to school, and he told me he had just changed schools because his mama and aunty had a fight and his aunty kicked his mama's door in and then kicked them out. Shortly after this, his mom stopped by briefly to say hi, and I realized who this kid was. His mom had lived with our neighbors before this kid was born but had gotten kicked out of there for complications arising for drug use. We sheltered the mom and his older brother, then a toddler, for part of an afternoon. I didn't realize it until afterwards, but the reason the mom was shaking wasn't just fear over the situation she was in but because she was under the influence. This kid is so sweet, and so desperate for friends. My kids didn't really want to play for as long as he wanted to play, but he kept offering my four year old a dollar if he'd keep playing. I told my kid he wasn't allowed to take another kid's money, but there wasn't any cash forthcoming anyway. I'm not sure if this little boy is going to be our neighbor or not, but I hope he gets stability. If they are moving in, I'll have to talk with my kids to make sure they know that his mother is not on the "trusted grownups" list, but that they should always be respectful and kind. DH is a cop and so I hear stories that make me sad all the time, but then I hear it from a five year old's lips and it crushes me. Our world is in so much pain, and there's so very little we can do. It would be so nice if evil were a comic-book villain we could fight instead of this insidious twisting of the good that ought to be.

If you have a scanner, you can use a website like freefax.com to send a fax from your home computer pretty easily, and it's free! It gets tricky with lots of pages, but one or two is easy.

Found it. It's The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander. The non-fiction material I remembered is actually on a companion website, not on the book itself, at least the edition we have. I'm not good with judging age-ranges for books, but it looks like it's aiming at middle grades to early high school.