We're Lutheran. Sunday School is first, classes for all ages. Divine Service follows. My daughters go with us. There is no children's church. My son goes to the nursery, which is available for children under 4. Strangely, every church I've been in (several different denominations) has a separate Sunday School hour. It wasn't till I started reading online that I heard about Sunday School being a place where kids go instead of going to church with their parents. Maybe the Sunday School hour is a Southern thing.

Next year's first grade plan: Ambleside Online Year 1 Singapore Math 2A Suzuki piano (Now if I can force myself to keep it that simple ;) )

McGuffey readers, MEP math, and a good handwriting program. Suzuki music lessons if you can afford it and have a good teacher available. http://www.suzukiassociation.org

Well, 5-year-olds don't have to be reported. However, kindergarten is a prerequisite for first grade. If the worst-case scenario happened and dd had to go to school next year, she wouldn't be able to go into first grade if I didn't report kindergarten this year.

Thanks for all the quick replies! Dd finished 100 Easy Lessons awhile back, and we went through the first 2 levels of AAS before I decided to be more relaxed. So we're taking a break from formal phonics instruction. :)

I'm trying to take a more relaxed approach to the second semester of kindergarten, not because dd couldn't handle the work, but because I couldn't juggle a more formal approach very well with my little ones. But I'm a little nervous about it. So here's what she did today: played with her little sister -- Legos, pretend, putting on a show, etc. played Contig Jr. with me for math facts practice wrote a thank-you note to her great-aunt had a piano lesson with me went on errands with her grandmother went to the library and played an educational game on the computer walked for nearly a mile outside, stopping to look at interesting nature objects along the way buried herself in her room with a mountain of books (carefully chosen by me from various homeschool reading lists) Would you call that enough for reporting purposes?

No, I don't mind what dh does to my cooking. Like others have mentioned, I think he has so much nasal congestion that his sense of taste is dysfunctional. We went to P.F. Chang's for our anniversary, and he requested his food so spicy that the server had to ask him, "Are you really sure?" He ate it and it didn't seem to phase him. I do have to watch him when he gets in the kitchen, especially with eggs. I have nearly gagged from eating eggs that he's made because I thought they were just plain scrambled eggs, and it turned out he had added garlic or dried parsley or black pepper. My younger daughter, who has always eaten eggs really well (she's my pickier one), decided that she didn't like eggs anymore after eating some that Daddy had made, and it took quite a bit of coaxing to convince her that Mommy's eggs are good. I think he's finally gotten the message that NO ONE in this house will eat any scrambled eggs unless they are absolutely plain.

My dd5 has too many dolls, and most of them are junk. I hate Barbies, but I was weak and gave in to well-meaning neighbors who were passing some on from their grandchildren. Not to mention all the random baby dolls that she has accumulated over the course of her life, the AG knock-offs, etc. And the absolute worst? A plastic montrosity from Kroger, about 3 feet tall, who looks like she's balding because the hair only "works" if it's in a ponytail, whose arms and legs pop off at the drop of a hat, and who looks indecent without clothes because it actually has "books". But dd loves that doll, and has special memories of her grandfather (who died this year) fixing the limbs every time they popped out. She loves them all. She names them all. Argh! How on earth am I going to make these dolls disappear without upsetting her beyond reason?

My schoolroom doesn't have a closet. I want a cabinet with shelves where I can put all the school "toys" -- games, math blocks, puzzles, activities for the toddlers that only come out during school time, etc. Does anyone have a great suggestion of where or what to buy?

I got a card like that, one of those preprinted ones. I had to cut the part with the last name off and throw it away. I just couldn't have it in my house. I also was looking at some festive holiday house slippers at Target, but the tag said "Mary Jane's". I couldn't buy them. I agree with Mrs. Mungo wholeheartedly about the 1920s, etc.

I see myself as a married relation. So I don't speak up to my husband's parents the way I would my own. The problem with this is that my MIL does talk to me the way she would to her own kids. But I don't feel comfortable responding in the same way her kids would. So I'm forced to bite my tongue a lot, and I get mad about it.

Thanks for all the great responses! The game at letsplaymath.net is exactly what I was looking for. I look forward to trying it with dd when she's feeling better (we're having a sick day today).

"Quid est tuum praenomen?" is the first song I ever heard my younger daughter sing.

My math goal for the rest of the school year is for dd to know addition and subtraction facts up to 20. I'd like to find a game we can do together (non-computer-based) that would make it fun for her. Right now she can do the addition facts fairly well, but she has to stop and compute in her head if the sum is more than 10. She doesn't have much patience for drill at her age, so it needs to be a game of some sort. Any ideas?

I'm struggling with two last Christmas gifts. Any ideas? 1. Great-grandma who lives across country -- mid-80s, poor eyesight, doesn't get out a lot, lives in a small house that's jam-packed with knick-knacks. 2. The children's god-parents -- married couple, empty nesters, on a strict diet (so no food-related gifts).

http://www.sharmusic.com They have violins in every price range, and the quality is good. They've been around a long time (since before internet days). You can probably get advice over the phone from them.

Slightly off-topic, but did you know there's a musical about Frog and Toad? I was able to take my kids to a community theater production, and it was hilarious. The musical includes many of the stories from the book. The soundtrack is also available, I downloaded it from I-tunes. (No, it doesn't help with book recommendations, but your son might get a kick out of it.)

I have a real gripe with that Dobson quote. Yes, absolutely, children need fantasy in their lives. My kids are knee-deep in fantasy all day every day. I would never discourage that. HOWEVER, the fantasy is of their own making. It is not imposed on them by me, the parent, the one who's supposed to be completely trustworthy. If I tell them that something is true, then it is no longer a fantasy for them. It is part of their reality. It's not magic for them anymore, it's dead serious. They are naive, they are innocent, they believe what I tell them. I'm not going to take advantage of that just because it's "cute" and because I get some sort of thrill from seeing their "wonder and amazement", blah blah blah. This is a hot-button issue for me, and it has been ever since I figured out the truth about Santa. I was one of those kids who got angry. I was insulted on behalf of myself and all the other kids. I felt like the entire adult world was laughing up their sleeves at all the dumb little kids who fell for the charade. Thankfully, because my parents had never lied to me, my anger did not extend to them. My parents took me to see Santa, kept quiet when I talked about him (I picked up my belief from other kids at daycare and school), let me think it was real, but they never told me he was real. When I started asking questions, they were honest with me. I think it would have damaged our relationship had they played it up big and then yanked the rug out from under me. My oldest dd is sort of into Santa this year. She likes to talk about him, and I wasn't sure if she believed or not. But yesterday she told me that she knows Santa isn't really real. I told her she was right, but that's just our family secret. Because really, I don't want her to be the kid who makes the other parents mad at her.

I've lost a little over 15 pounds since October 11. I'm doing Dr. Gott's "no flour, no sugar" diet, plus I've added the rule of no artificial sweeteners either. I'm drinking lots of water, I go to Zumba class 2 or 3 times a week, and I'm about to start T-tapp as soon as I figure out how to do the exercises correctly. I have 17 pounds left to lose and two clothing sizes.

Right around lesson 75-78 of 100 EZ is where we had to put it away for awhile. I found some easy readers at the library and let dd read those for a couple of months! When we went back to 100 EZ, she zipped through the rest of it. Her first book was "Are You My Mother?" Dick and Jane readers were also a success here. I remember her sitting in the back seat of the car reading them to me. When she got to a word she didn't know, she would spell it and I would tell her what it was.

Arrange the language arts and math classes so that advanced students can work on their level in those subjects (a first-grader could go to second-grade math, for example).

I'm right there with you. I had my last diet coke on Saturday and it has been SO HARD! I'm drinking tea sweetened with stevia which I don't enjoy at all, it just keeps me caffeinated a bit.

Let's say your 5-year-old brings in an object that she has found, and she's determined to play with it. You see the potential for danger to herself and her little sister, and you instruct her calmly that the object is not to be played with, it is dangerous, and she is to put it back where she got it. Then she proceeds to ignore you and goes on playing with it. So, you get up calmly and take the object from your child. Or, you TRY to. She refuses to let go, saying "It's mine! It's mine!" and laughing like it's a game. What do you do? (By the way, if you've read "The Explosive Child", this child fits into that category.)

Hmm, that could work. Not PBJ, she won't do more than lick some of the jelly off and make a mess of the rest. But she loves oatmeal -- maybe too much. I could see her getting even worse about turning down "regular food" if she were allowed to eat oatmeal every night. But the thought of not having to cater to her is rather tempting....

So, what if you're trying to save money on food, but you have a picky eater? My 2-year-old is the picky one, and she's stubborn even to her own detriment. She'll go without eating rather than eat a dinner she doesn't like. She has no allergies or sensory issues that I know of, she's just picky. And she's unpredictable -- she can love a meal one time and the next time not touch it. My 5-year-old is finally to the point where she understands "This is it. You eat this or you go hungry. It doesn't have to be your favorite." But the 2-year-old doesn't make that connection yet. So, what do you do?