She seems knows which symbols goes with which quantity but not the name. If I put 7 blocks in front of her, she will write a 7 - if I then ask her what that number is called, she's just as likely to say 8 or 6 unless she counts up. Last week, we did a similar set of subtractions as today and when I tried to go through them out loud after she answered them, she found it difficult to read them out and would count up to the numbers to remember the name even though the answer she got on the page is right. She sees 9 - 4 = 5 on the page and whispers to herself '1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9' then says 'Nine take away four is five'. She doesn't count up like this while she is doing the maths and writing them, just when talking about them and if I ask her to write a number outside of maths, she struggles. She isn't using a number line when she does this, she just counts up until she gets there, it's really hard for me to see how she's doing this but for her she knows that that amount of counting equals that symbol or something. I asked her to count: she counts to 25 (missed 16), says that is as high as she can go, when I asked what comes next she continued counting 26, 27, 28, 29, 'twenty-ten', when I reminded her of 30 and then she goes and stops at 40 and repeat up to 50 before I called done. She does one more and one less, though it takes longer on the bigger numbers - she isn't counting outloud and doesn't seem to be counting in her head. When we do describe a number as part of MEP lesson plan, she will happily give me addition and subtraction equations, will do greater than or less than with encouragement without her counting. She copies during lessons, she also writes her own sentences (one of her and my 8 year's favourite things is to make cards, piles of cards...) but she gets frustrated with spelling words she doesn't know when we spell out loud for her as she doesn't remember which letter name goes with which symbol. Piper Books are the UK I See Sam books and she is on book 7 of the first set which has been an amazing jump for her having started a few weeks ago because before Starting from Square One that we started about two months ago we would have to rego through the sound of each letter every-single-time when she knew how to write the words just fine and for her, who has been begging to learn to read for ages and hitting this mental block each time, it was difficult for her. She now knows the names of the letters we've done so far with Starting from Square One and those sounds we've done, but other letters she can write, uses to write words she knows, that we've gone over many times like with the names of numbers, just not reliably known yet. The only letter she could do prior to Square One is the m that starts her name even after she could write the whole alphabet in cursive and has been able to for almost year now. "Her letters" (as she calls them) now are a, b, c, d, e, i, m, r, s, t, y. She seems to know things when she writes them but getting it her working memory to speak and talk about it is a barrier for her.

I am baffled by my 5 year old (August born) and I am not even sure how to explain it. I'm hoping someone had seen similar in their children and can help me help her and she is getting quite frustrated. I'll use today as an example of how her number knowledge is confusing. Today, she did 4 columns of subtraction problems (26 in all) entirely by herself with very few mistakes - and those few were ll caused by when she put the answer to one in the box below it. The right numbers were written in. She wrote addition, subtractions, and inequalities to match pictures today and other than a couple of backwards numbers, she did them all perfectly without wanting or needing my input. When I write down a number up to 9, she will give me the right number of blocks automatically. She is quite good at describing numbers up to 9 with problems and, when reminded, inequalities/more than X by Y. Maths has really clicked for her in the last few months after a rocky start (when guessing random numbers was her favoured method). Today, When asked in to colour in 7 circles, she did up to 4 just fine, then counted through 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 again before filling in the next one, then counted 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 before filling in the next one, then counted up to 7 again before filling in the next. If I ask her what a number over 5 is called, pointing to a number, she will count up to the number to get the name. When I asked her to write a 7, she wrote it backwards, then an 8, then a 6. She obviously understands what each written number means because she can do the maths with them without blinking an eye, but she can't recall their names without counting up to it or really use numbers over 4 out of context - she can do them in maths, but writing them outside of a problem means they are more often backwards, illegible squiggles, or an entirely different number. I am at a loss of how to help her with this and worry about moving forward to bigger numbers when she's having these difficulties with smaller ones. We use MEP for maths, she's using the new Year 1 book where it is 1 book rather than the previous 2 books and every 5th pages format that is still true of the older years her siblings are uses - those revision pages are available separately on the site to print and we've spent the last week or so doing the revision pages using numbers up to 10 to try to help her but we're coming close to the end of those and I am unsure about moving forward. She understands the maths, how to use the numbers, but this counting to remember is really slowing her down and frustrating her and knocking her confidence even after she's done over 20 problems perfectly with no help. I feel it is related that she can also write all of her letters quite nicely for a 5 year old in cursive, but cannot recall most of the letters names when asked and, prior to using Starting at Square One, couldn't remember almost all of the sounds on the letters she can write. When she asks how to spell something for her own writing, she'll often ask me 'which one is that' if it isn't one of her square one letters - I can now often just draw in the air for her now to remind her. If she has a copy even just on a board or printed book, she's fine in starting and forming the letters and words in cursive writing. We've been using Starting At Square One for just over a month which has helped greatly in her remember letter names and sounds (I used Blend Phonics with her older siblings but M-5's lack of letter memory meant she needs more letter help) even to the point she's reading the first Piper Books (which made her very very happy), but it is slightly baffling to me that she can write beautifully entire sentences but cannot remember letter names or even really remember the whole alphabet at times. I am at a loss in trying to figure out how her mind is working to help her move forward and deal with these frustrations she is having in these skills. Thank you to all who read all of this :)

My partner had the snip about a year after our youngest and my body was so sure about not wanting to physically carry any more babies that I went into premature menopause the following year just to reduce the chance down further :lol:

For me, it's not something I've thought a lot about. Most likely because I got to where I am the long way around. I guess to me, he's the center of a cult of personality that has been morphed throughout history like many many other cults of personality that some people get a lot out of - and a lot of people and socieities have been badly harmed by to keep to it, but that has little to do with whoever Jesus was. I was raised in a very ring wing Christian group - the kind that literally cuts people who leave out of pictures and my grandfather and a couple uncles were pastors and cousins became missionaries, the whole shebang. I had all the 'proof' verses memorized as a child and as very involved in that church. When I finally really studied the history of Christianity and saw how much of it is more men's desires and power dynamics than faith. I started looking at others with the mindset that I can consider without taking it wholesale and to never consider anything else felt wrong -- if it's true, it should hold up, right? This led me in my teens and twenties where I worked with Chabad, Jews for Judaism and Hollow Inheritance and the Noachide movement among others. I saw what to me seemed very logical counter arguments to the 'proof', I spent time and I listened to the Jewish standpoint (which these 'proofs' were meant to come from) that there are potential messiahs in each generation but until things are ready and all this can be done, they all just remain potentials. I then fell out of that a few years ago as further research broke through the barriers I had put up and had been using as a crutch to block my own concerns (I say fell out because it was sudden and it felt like I was falling for a while) and now have come out feeling more intuned to myself and the reality I see - and me and my family are happier than ever so since I hadn't really thought about who Jesus was any more than I think who any people or inspirations for legends and stories are.

I don't think accepting the concept of being transgender or not being ones assigned gender has to do with belief but about respecting people's perspective, wider representation of often destroyed voices, and a far better grasp of the medical history and science behind assigned gender, gender identity, and human biology that are often diluted and taken for grated when really it causes a lot of damage. Almost all people's assigned gender is based on a medical professional's opinion on a baby's genitals at birth based on tradition. Nothing to do biological chromosomes - the vast majority of people don't even know what their chromosomes are, the test to do it so rarely done, and even in the cases where it is done it doesn't rule out mosaic (a person can have different sets of genes in different parts of the body). We have people with XY chromosomes who present and are assigned female at birth [androgen insensitivity], there are XXY, XXX, XYY,, and so on in karotypes that if assigned gender was based on 'biological sex', we'd have several more than the Western binary allows now. In cases of intersex infants with ambiguous genitals in countries that still rely legally on the binary (and intersex people are genetically as rare as redheads so this isn't some unknown), these traditions are what will push said baby into one of the two categories and has particularly in the last 100 years or so has resulted in drastic, horrendous surgeries to fit into this binary as well as intersex children assigned as female going through what many describe as torturous exams and 'vaginal stretchers' from prepuberty in order fit into a sexual concept for others (aka, so the intersex child who has been assigned female can take a penis when older). This is what the gender binary, lack of science on the range of human bodies and experiences, and the idea that people who are assigned a gender *are* that gender and what it takes to fit it has done. Assigned gender is a big social construct that has a major impact on the world (like money, race, and so on). There is research that shows that the difference in how one talks, holds, and perceives a child of a particular assigned gender happens basically immediately - there are differences in treatments shown in the delivery room and by medical professionals, the socialization is from the start. The gender binary is not a universal concept - many cultures worldwide have far more genders and during Western colonization many people of those genders were murdered for going outside of the Western gender binary - many are trying to rebuild these traditions and explore further ranges as human experience and discussion about our identities continues. Even animals, so much of Western science's time has been trying to put animals into those two categories and they just don't know and I think we need to accept there is more range than in Western tradition. People are born babies, genders are assigned based on genital appearance and I find it sad that so many still think that that is such a key determiner to so much about a person when socialization research, biology, and the range of human experience from many many voices and communities have shown the gender is a lot more complicated than the M or F box on a certificate or their physical parts. I think exploring gender ideas is a good thing, not something to be humored or just does no harm, but is a good thing to actively do and at least mentally go through the range of humanity and possibilities and empathize with them. With my children, we discuss gender, the range of gender and the possibilities, and these have led to a lot of interesting conversations and exploration especially within a community and family with a lot of gender experiences. I would call the them name and pronouns they want as I would anyone else whose genitals and birth certificate I didn't know because I think that's respectful and I would want my children to show that kind of respect to another.

Binip You background with Christianity sounds similar to mine (though mine is a bit more academic). I found myself nodding along with much of what you said - though many think that the best way to fight for marginalized groups is to actively fight the groups in power that build and maintain their oppression - for which in that time in Jewish communities would be the fighting divided priests that had caused devastation for centuries prior and had caused the take over by the Romans and still not learned their lessons.

I think the whole 'I don't think of myself as part of any White community' is part of the problem. What is needed is a strong White community that will refuse to dehumanization of others that the system tries to build, White voices to unite against this rather than turning away from it. Until the history of race is recognised, until it is firmly entrenched in society to know that race is a social construct invented by White elites who pulled the poorer mass of White people into the 'White community' by giving benefits to excuse and give reason to what they were doing to the enslaved Black people, to the Indigenous people, to the world of people who were colonized and divide the poorer White communities from those communities which they had more in common with (see the early revolts by enslaved people were often joined by and supported by the local poor White communities) and the benefits that were given were in exchange for this division and for policing the other groups (many US police forces directly come from slave patrol forces that rich White people would bribe and conscript poorer White men into as are many across the colonized world and some in Europe). Until it is told everywhere that these White elites enslaved Africans because of their skills, because of their immunity through the long history of trade prior to the Atlantic Slave Trade, that the enslaved Blacks were doing the skilled work and were a key part of building the wealth and places where they were enslaved, Until it is no longer illegal to teach about solidarity and the histories of the peoples who were conquered in all schools, Until this is taught and known and accepted that these benefits are still given to this day and still given just as strictly - just enough to cause division, not enough to take away and very often cause the problems that most White people face, then these things will continue. Because the system has been built and is maintained this way, it isn't broken - this is how it was built to be - and until we can come together and build ourselves to recognise and stand together against this, this will keep happening. It happened in the Bristol and Montgomery Bus Boycotts (where out now praised civil rights leaders when marching were violently attacked, the news reports painted them as violent thugs even in suits, and the governments had folders of documents on how they were feeding children and teaching literacy and still the government pushed them out and in some cases killed them off). This cycle will continue until either it gets really violent from people feeling they have nothing else to lose (like the end of Apartheid or the Haitian Revolution) or when those who can't turn away and shrug that they aren't apart of the problem and pretend to be neutral stand together for a solution. There is no neutral in oppression, there is no neutral in this system, and we have to decide what it is that we want.

I'm find it difficult to see why people don't think it is a race issue, especially in NYC with the stop and search statistics that had fewer and fewer White (going down to 9%) people stopped but continually being more likely to actually have illegal substances or guns on their person. The reports of the problems with racism within NYPD has been well recorded and similar has been in police force and wider parts of the justice and further systems (the police aren't the only part of the judicial system that needs examining and change and none of it exists in a vacuum) across North America and Europe.Though anecdotes and light media analysis coming up in discussion of Eric Garner's murder and the treatment of his family along with the other recent victims like Akai Gurley are easy to dismiss the 2002 study, The Police Officer's Dilemma, by Joshua Correll found that people hesitated longer to shoot an armed white target (and they were more likely to accidentally not shoot). Participants were quicker and more accurate with black armed targets but there were more “false alarms†(shooting them when they were unarmed). These effects were present even though participants did not hold any explicit discriminatory views and wanted to treat all targets fairly and has come to be widely known as shooter-bias and a prime example of how racism is institutionally built within society even for those who think they're being 'just and fair'. I would say I'm surprised by the dismissal of the part of race in these actions but the systems that surrounded us as water were built and are still maintained to allow these things to happen and be swept away in the refusals that . If the statistic of an innocent unarmed black person being murdered by a LEO or security guard in the US every 28 hours can't shake people awake nor the far higher number of death threats Obama has faced compared to anyone else (including by a member of his own staff - and that has nothing to do with classism), I'm not sure what will. It's still living memory where marches about Jim Crow and anti-lynching and Civil Rights marches were looked at as a bunch of violent troublemakers complaining about nothing. "The White moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than justice" has always been the biggest stumbling block, not the individual racists or the KKK (who been at Ferguson protests supporting Darren Wilson and openly threatened violence and murder against the Ferguson protests without repercussion - but then the FBI refuses to maintain records on the KKK, as seen in there being no documents in their searchable vaults. But then there have been KKK members who've been president so supports the system anyways).

Crimson Wife - I guess we will disagree, especially as I consider the video footage of Tamir sitting alone in a gazebo not being a threat to anyone, the fact the operator asked repeatedly the race of the child involved, that fact Ohio is an open carry state where I have seen young White children carrying shotguns and even more powerful weapons in public without concern or being killed by the police for years, and the fact the police officer refused to give first aid which they are meant to be legally required to do while waiting for further help, important things to consider. The last fact just in itself, that the officer refused to give aid, makes it even more clear to me that the officer didn't value Tamir's life or see him as human, let alone a child (the latter is obvious as he tried to say that Tamir, a prepubescent child, was 20). And it is hate groups, by a landslide, especially if you are asking about the deaths of bystanders. Almost all murders are done on proximity, which gangs fit into even more tightly than the general public, but hate groups actively attack outside of their proximity and by all data have been growing in numbers and violence lately (and you need to include all violence, not just murders, to see which is a greater threat). This has been helped by poor/hateful legislation - for example as it still stands in 49 states it is legal to murder trans people using the "panic" defence. Also considering the history of gangs within the US (most spring up from community groups that came together to protect their areas when White mobs regularly violently attacked them and they would get no protection and said mobs were likely to be joined by the police) actively sorting out hate groups would bring the decline in gangs and gang violence as has happened in many other countries. STEM - I do discuss the destruction and looting as I discussed the destruction in the London/UK riots a few years back and is covered in the long list of protests and riots and revolutions throughout history that we cover such as the Tulsa riots which recently came up in a book here (the first time US citizens were bombed by planes) or the Luddite riots. To be accurate, I include COINTELPRO and the long history of infiltration by both government groups and anarchists (the latter of which is clear in both London and Ferguson) and we consider the ethics and philosophies involved. We found some great quotes from previous movements (many discussing how the government so often uses violence to make change, that violence in the past that made change is so often lauded, but present day stuff is rarely seen so). Personally, I find the continued framework that they must be peaceful to get real change ignores the long history of how change has happened (US revolution that is so celebrated was hardly peaceful) or how the people we laud today for being peaceful and respectable were still hated and murdered in their time. I also find it interesting that this has just crossed the anniversary of Rosa Park's arrest. As the Montgomery Bus Boycott that followed that was 381 days, Civil Rights movement over 10 years, the Ferguson protests are still fairly young comparably though it has the benefits of having been connected to other protests around the world, particularly Hong Kong.

For those interested in learning and teaching about Ferguson, a reading list has been created by sociologists and other local area experts. I intend to use these and similar when my children are older. When this and other such horrible events happen and my kids ask questions about it, we do openly discuss it, not always as part of lessons, but they and I will bring it up during philosophy and ethics, history, and other related topics. We do openly discuss race just as we would discuss gender or disabilities or any other demographic that affects the situation. It isn't about 'white cops are racist', it's about racism, along with other oppressive ideologies, how they were built and maintained into our systems, recognizing it in institutions and how they try to get us to internalize it and how we can fight against it. In history, When discussing protests, these or any other,, I have a list of protests, riots, revolutions, and other events where people made such an active change which I might call upon and connect them to as I think understanding the history of change and rights is important. I think it is generally ignored how important such actions have been, especially in working rights, and that the calls for people to be more peaceful and respectable (which most of the current protesters already are being) ignores that all those people we admire now for how peacefully they fought for change still had the majority of people in power hating them and some of the most admired changes were not at all peaceful (US revolution, anyone?). Martin Luther King Jr., for example, had a massive FBI file where they listed out ways to get rid of him and many others, was attacked and arrested repeatedly, had his family threatened and attacked, literally said his dream was a nightmare, and the government was found guilty in 1999 for its part in his murder. He and his colleagues actively prepared themselves to be violently attacked when marching peacefully, there are startling photographs of the sessions where they would put themselves through what they expected to see when out. I personally find many US media's view of active protests confusing with how highly the same groups will discuss the US revolution, worker's rights strikes, and the Civil Rights movements, but I guess such things only become admirable in hindsight regardless of whether or not they are peaceful or right which is something else we have discussed as we've covered related topics. Crimson Wife - I think blaming a child for their own murder is a bit much even if the bright tip had been removed especially when Ohio is an open carry state where recently White open carry families with children far younger have been carrying real and far more powerful appearing guns and waving them in public and no police were even called and the phone calls on 12 year old Tamir Rice asked for his race twice before sending police I find that people's automatic impulse to blame the victim of a police shooting even when the victim is a child, even when video footage of Tamir Rice's murder shows that he was alone in a gazebo, even when the police officer that shot him opened fired within seconds of showing up - the car he got out of hadn't even stopped rolling (how in that time would you check the tip when it wasn't openly in view at that time?) and then he refused to give him first aid, when it has been shown that the police officer and the department have lied repeatedly, just boggles my mind. I think the colorblind ideology of the last few decades has a lot to answer for as does the media's refusal to acknowledge the law around police (there is no legal obligation for police to protect people) or history (how few are indicted for their actions, the pressures they are put under in a for-profit justice system that will literally sue states if they don't get enough prisoners, the slavery is still legal when used as a punishment for a crime in the US and is a major part of the economy, and so on).

We use World History for us all. We started it this year with my eldest and really enjoy it. It's currently planned to go throughout middle school grades and interwoven in other topics like literature as well making their own timeline, maps, and hero books (their own writing of role models from history and present).

And they previously arrested and shot at University professors and clergy outside protesting and caring for people's wounds and injuries. They've literally dumped tear gas into residential back yards before. Who is getting arrested and who is causing damage are not the same, it has never been, why ignore the voices of local businesses and people over the police?. There were literally KKK members and Neo Nazis groups out last night harming protesters, there are videos and photos of it, how many do we think got arrested? Cause I haven't heard of one (not surprising since at least a few of them are also members of the police force). The evidence presented to the Grand Jury is all available here: http://apps.stlpublicradio.org/ferguson-project/evidence.html All evidence shows that there was a close minor altercation at first, then Michael Brown ran away and then knelt down with his arms up. Fearing from one life from someone running away just doesn't pass. The fact the Chief has stated that Wilson will be getting his job back prior to the results coming out shows what little he thinks of the death of Michael Brown. Michael Brown's body was left out for four hours (and there are photos of Wilson standing over the body which showed at least one police witness lied) - that is a message. If someone can shoot up a movie theatre and kill 12 people without being shot and brought in peacefully, if escaped convicts can be brought in peacefully, why not Michael Brown? Or John Crawford? Or the other hundreds of people? The fact that someone whose death was ruled a homicide doesn't even deserve to have the shooter go to trial and that this is happening over and over again. Michael Brown's family doesn't even get a trial. John Crawford's family doesn't get a trial for being shot while holding a BB gun in a store that sells BB guns in an open carry state on camera that has had open carry protests of families going into such stories with automatic weapons without police intervention or violence - Crawford's child will never know him and his family is told that it isn't worth going to trial. Tamir Rice's family is likely not going to get it either when their 12 year old gets shot by police for playing with a toy gun in an open carry state -- and the 911 call recording shows that the dispatcher asked twice if the person holding the gun was black or white. There is an obvious pattern here and to ignore it is disingenuous. An unarmed black person is killed in US on average every 36 hours. This isn't black people provoking anything, no one is provoking white police officers to shoot them. John Crawford was literally leaning on the BB gun with a phone on his hand, Tamir Rice was singing on the swings when police arrived, Michael Brown was walking home with a friend. it's a system that is built to do this and needs to be properly dealt with and until it is these things will keep happening. The world looks on, people around the world have joined together in solidarity, governments around the world have called for restraint and justice, and yet the system that thrives on this still gets supported unchallenged, without trial.

Except all the locals are saying that they aren't looting or arson and most local businesses have the same - even the McDonald's has said there was no looting, just people going in groups to get milk to wash out tear gas from their eyes (which has set off in residential areas without protesters as well and at reporters). There are anarchist outsiders who are doing so and have been called out by the community and there are other groups looking to cause trouble. There is a history of such groups, hijacktivists, going to such protests with the intention of violence to make the protests look back. Under President Hoover, he literally sent governments agents to disrupt protests of groups he didn't like and similar has been throughout US history since. That's why watching the livefeeds from protestors has been more eye opening news that what's gone on the news.

Because previous reports by the police and Wilson himself said that he wasn't aware of the theft until AFTER he stopped and shot Michael Brown. Because Wilson didn't put in a report of stopping or shooting (as required by law) and the later report filed on the robbery had the time event of the police speaking to them as afterwards. Because the previous events as stated by the police have been repeatedly rescinded as lies. And last I checked, the punishment for stealing anything isn't being shot and left in the street for 4 hours. This was beyond stopping someone for jaywalking or theft. It was a message to the community and for that Wilson has been on paid leave.

We always watch Hogfather on the 25th.

I just wanted to chime in with sympathy as my 5 year old is similar. She can write fine with a model, she actually has quite nice handwriting after using Joy of Handwriting -- as long as she can copy. Without a copy she sometimes can't even remember which letter I'm talking about which is not something I ran across with her older siblings. I remember my eldest knowing the letters but lacked confidence if he did not have a copy for some time until he had overlearned them all, if that makes sense. I run a heavy copy-based Year 1 plan for writing because of this: Joy of Handwriting's lower case section, Blend Phonics, Joy of Handwriting capitals (which has a clock card which was useful for my eldest), daily copying bit by bit until he wanted to write more on his own.

As an autistic parent with autistic children, I agree with what is written. It is something other autistic adults and I have talked about for a while and I'm glad it is starting to get more acceptance in the mainstream conversation. Personally, I do easily get overwhelmed by other people feelings - even fictional people in stories. I get awful second hand embarrassment while watching TV, I squirm and cover my face even though I know it is just a story I get overwhelmed with how embarrassed they are and how embarrassed I would feel in their situations. Empathy I think should be divided into 3 groups: affective (sharing what another person is feeling), compassionate (desire to help others even if we don't know how) and cognitive (predict other people thoughts and intentions by reading between the lines). I find that the first two can override my own senses and cognitive empathy, especially with people I don't know well. I very much feel what others feel and I want to help, but the issue with predicting other people's thoughts, needs, intentions makes it far harder to know how to so with people I know well I've learned to ask what they want when X happens just as I would want people to ask me what I want before I have a shutdown or something. But asking can be quite difficult for a lot of people and asking well is a tool I'm still learning as I teach my kids.

With my 3rd child going through Year 1, the things that have been ideal and consistently used for my older three for this age group are: CIMT for maths (though faster and more active for my eldest, more verbal for the second, and more manipulates for the third). Joy of Handwriting cursive lowercase, Blend Phonics, then Joy of Handwriting upper case with Piper BRI-ARI/I See Sam reader books for English. and lots of reading aloud, roleplaying, discussion, art and crafts, hands on skills, and Jolly Music for music. For Reception/ K and Pre-K, my ideal is pretty much reading aloud, walks and trips, and roleplaying social skills and activities. I did CIMT R now and them, but my main focus for under 5s is stories and roleplaying for emotional and social education (and fun). I don't begin academics until Y1.

To be clear for this post I will use them, but I avoid using it in person and do not allow my children or others to use them around me without being pulled up on it. It is a 'bad word' in that stupid, along with dumb, idiot, moron, retarded, and so on are ableist words derived from insulting and dehumanizing people based on intelligence. As people with learning disabilities, intellectual disabilities, people across the neurodiverse spectrum face violence in our society and such violence is supported by these dehumanizing words. Taking away of rights and freedom, assaults, violence, murder have all been done with these words as a reason. It's never 'just words', words entire purpose is to communicate something and these words communicate the particular values even when not used against a person. I wouldn't use slurs against any other group to describe a thing or rule or system so why should I throw anyone under the bus because I find a system or rule or thing not well made. Intelligent people can make badly working systems, rules, things, and decisions (most are made and maintained by many intelligent people often to support their own selfishness which is not an intelligence related trait), it doesn't make them less intelligent, there are many other reasons why things may not work. Choosing not to use these words when frustrated with a system doesn't mean we never want to express frustration with it, it's considering what about it is actually frustrating and choosing not to associate it and further demean others. I was raised with these words, and many other horrible ones, and I continue to work through that and many other problematic things, like all people, but the idea that being careful with words that can and do cause harm and do less harm is important to us. It has nothing to do with 'political correctness', I'm not changing my opinion or words to gain favour but actively considering my values and how words - the basis of our communication and our society and the systems therein - reflect those value and choosing to work towards language that accurately express myself and do the least harm. It's about trying to empathic and caring towards everyone in our speech, something I don't think we can go far enough in doing. It doesn't matter than the transport systems or whatever isn't a person, those words to make sense must be connected to our ideas of people to make sense and therefore still cause harm through continuing the ableist issues within society regardless of the target just as it would be if we chose any other identity based insult to use for things.

Living in the middle of England, my top book idea is We Are Britain, lovely book of poems and information about children and families living throughout Britain. It also has a nice map at the front where each of the kids live. One of my kids favourites and my top choice for learning about Britain now. There is also the Horrible History of Britain and Ireland and separate paperbacks for each of country, including one just about England. Maybe a guide to animals or plants in the UK and compare to one you have from your local area?

I've found using youtube to create a family friendly and interesting movement playlist really helpful as it's easier to mix things up. I've found things kids activities as well as callisthenics from around the world has really helped keep us all engaged with it. We currently have 'radio workout' from Malaysia though in English, a five minute exercise video for kids that doesn't take much room but has them in giggles [i sit that one out mostly], a korean workout, and a special video on carpal tunnel exercises which is good for me and teaching the kids how their hands work. It's been a great way for all of us to move in the morning.

Personally would lean towards...well anything but the history ones, but that's because when we tried to watch the TV series, my partner (who is trained as an archaeological scientist and all round history geek) kept pointing out that they kept saying something was true when it either wasn't at all or a common belief that has no actual historical basis. Ruined the history series for me.

I'm another who would always recommend anyone having another pair of eyes and ears. If they didn't want me to, I would respect that - though I'd want someone in shouting distance in the waiting room or ready with a phone. But I can see why those who have very trusted family doctors probably think my view is a bit much. Maybe it's because I'm disabled person who has had more than my fair share of appointments - and far more than my fair share of medical abuse by so-called professionals (I was violently assaulted at 18 right after my partner was asked to leave the room - never allowed them to send him away again, that was one of the worst occasions) - I dislike going alone and am particularly uncomfortable of the idea of any of my kids, especially my disabled children going in alone and facing what I did. I'm a nervous patient so my doctors are used to my partner coming with me most of time and he takes the kids to their appointments. My partner who is also disabled goes by himself most of the time, but as a 6'3" guy who is built as like brick house, the most he's gotten is doctor's not taking him seriously if they're not used to guys as young as him needing mobility devices and the like.

Our favourite is the piper books BRI-ARI system (a UK company, a similar looking US one can be found at ISeeSam, I know I've seen the first set scanned free online) which goes from very basic readers sequentially sound by sound, phoneme by phoneme, into the advanced readers. The BRI (Beginning Reading Instruction) books also have questions in the back for comprehension as well which was a big plus for us, and for the A(dvanced)RI books which have multiple stories per book, I just have them narrate what happened and then ask them to imagine how a certain character felt throughout the story. My older two read one of their phonics stories outloud to one of us a day (my third is eager to begin next spring) as well as their own books. While I agree that having a favourite reader seems a bit odd and restrictive, I have found having one set of progressive readers has really helped my kids reading skills, phonics memory, and speaking skills and the many other books can be used alongside. My eldest, who is ten and has read The Hobbit, is nearing the end of the programme and still gaining things from it I think. For him, these books really boosted his reading confidence in the early days after trying quite a few others (and having dealt with a very bad speech therapist and groups that smashed his self confidence). I've found them great.

There is a big push away from dressing up and such that I've seen across the board, Farrar, not just with American Indigenous. For schools, a lot of parents are fed with it (on other parenting boards with more school goers, it's one of top complaints about schools) and it is questionable whether it helps anyone learn. There is no one way Egyptians of any time period dressed, There is no one way Romans dressed, there is no one way Chinese dressed - each of those groups would be made up lots of other groups, Chinese alone related to dozens of ethnic group. In any of the American Indigenous nations, there is no one way to dress. The Aztec Empire covered hundreds of thousands of square miles and many different groups, attire would have been different depending on group, time, status, occasion. Sure, some find it fun, but is it teaching anything more than stereotypes? A bigger problem with dressing as American Indigenous is that the history of faux American Indigenous costumes comes from boarding schools where they would be put on American Indigenous children to show them how silly they were - and many of those costumes include Plains nations feathered headdresses where each feather is earned and it's placement and colouring means something like a veteran's medals, they aren't really appropriate for costumes. Many Universities campuses across the States, Canada, UK, and so on run 'my culture is not a costume' PSA at this time every year and they speak about the harm these 'cultures as dress up parties' cause and a lot of people go in confused because that way of connecting to others is all they've been taught and then they find themselves angry and lost. I hear it year after year. I think with as many people from these groups openly discussing and giving out resources about themselves and trying to connect that the dressing up as learning will hopefully fade away soon.