We started 3/4 this year. We're about a quarter through the Diversity book. I think you'll miss out on the thinking part of the program without using the HW and HOTS. If we just did the text and activity books, we could whip through the program incredibly quickly, but we'd miss out on the connections - kind of like just using the text and workbook for Singapore math. Other people may have different viewpoints - and it does depend on what you're trying to get out of the text. I want to push my son towards more critical thinking, and I think that's especially there in the HOTS. They really further the lessons.

On the guessing game, we can see that the answer has to be 24 or 26, but I can't figure out which one or how you could tell. Is there anything I'm overlooking? Anyone have a reason for one number over the other? Thanks!

We're good with the books, tiles (magnetic tape if you didn't get it with the tiles), and the board. I have a blank book that ds writes the key card rules in for review as well. We're about to finish up Level 1. I'm very pleased with the program. Hope you enjoy it :)

It doesn't help with wheat, so this may not be useful, but I like Linda Coss's books: What's to Eat and What Else is to Eat. (egg free, milk free, nut free) The recipes may be very simple for people who are used to cooking, but for people who were used to eating out and using packaged food (us!) they've been really helpful. The Milk-Free Kitchen has also been good for us. It does have some recipes with nuts or sesame oil which we have to avoid, but we like the Paprika Chicken and BBQ chicken a lot. Both books also have dessert recipes! Yea!!! Enjoy Life brand chocolate chips work great and so does Earth Balance margarine. We avoid dairy, nuts, and sesame. Both books do use flour, so you may want to see if a library has them or check at a bookstore to see if there are enough recipes that avoid the allergens you need.

You might also go for a test drive in the Fit. We just got one :) There are only 3 of us, so we fit fine. There is a center seatbelt in the back so you can fit 5 people in (theoretically). I'm not sure how it would work in practice though - so if it stays one of the cars you're considering, checking it out at a dealership will give you an idea of how everyone might squeeze in - or whether it should be off your list. The one thing I'm finding frustrating with it is how tiny the rear window seems. I use the side mirrors much more and just can't see as much as I'd like out the back. I imagine it would be much worse with someone in the middle seat in the back.

:iagree: Clearing the air - very briefly - may be good. Not so much rehashing everything (as nice as it may feel), but saying something like, "I felt hurt when you chose your boyfriends over me and I don't want my child hurt in the same way. Please only make a commitment when you're able to attend." And then you're stuck deciding how important the relationship is to you and your children. :grouphug: Good luck.

They can test for blood in the stool really quickly. That was how our pediatrician checked whether there was still blood or not when I went dairy free. I just brought in a dirty diaper- easy.

If there's an allergy, Lactaid could be deadly. Ds is allergic to milk. He has a reaction to the milk protein - not to lactose. So if you've got an intolerance to lactose, then lactaid should be okay. If you have an allergy or an intolerance to milk, then don't use lactaid.

Ds was diagnosed with a dairy allergy at about 3 months old. His pediatrician told me to cut dairy out of my diet and I did. Symptoms (blood in stool) went away. Then I ate something that contained dairy accidentally. Ds immediately had blood in his stool. That's how we were certain dairy was the issue. So if you add dairy back in and see an immediate result, you've got proof. Good luck. I also second the Enjoy Life chocolate chips - very very good (although expensive).

I use the Mental Math exercises at roughly the times they suggest it in the HiG. So we're using 3A. My notes (our schedule) have: (Subtraction in thousands) text p54-56, WB p53-54, text p56-57, WB p55-56, MM 16, text p58-59, WB p57-58, MM 17, text p60, iExcel 9-12, text p61 I tried timing the MM exercises at one point (like the Mad Minute book) but that didn't work well, so now I just print out a copy of the page and have ds work it with a pencil. The topic has been introduced in the text and ways to think about a problem, so they shouldn't take too long (but sometimes they do).

There's the CA coast. Weather stays roughly in the 70s year-round. Of course, I now pay a couple hundred less a month for our house payment than I paid for rent over 15 years ago there...

From what I've read on the Singapore site, I don't think the Standards edition is much more difficult, but there definitely are differences in the scope & sequence. I'd recommend giving the US edition test rather than the Standards test. If you were going to switch editions, the recommendation is to switch after a B book instead of between A and B.

We're reading it as a family read-aloud and I read it as written. We did have a brief discussion about the word though.

It's impossible to find a book that no one would find inappropriate. Just look at the lists of banned books - including To Kill a Mockingbird and Huck Finn. It's great that you're looking over book lists and questioning inclusions and looking out for your daughter. You could talk with the teacher and ask if there's a theme she's teaching with the selection of these books. I have friends who teach English and do have clear reasons for their book selections. That might give you more information as well.

One of the pieces that really stayed with me from Angela's Ashes was from the audiobook with McCourt talking about the time his family (4 kids) had the amazing luck to actually have an egg to eat! Not one per person, but one egg for the family. You could hear the excitement in his voice in the retelling of just how wonderful a treat having the egg was. I often think of it and of how blessed and rich we are. Yeah... I'll probably require my son to read it and listen to McCourt read it too. I didn't enjoy Teacher Man nearly as much, but then my expectations were really high.

I said inside out since I have to turn it right side out when folding. Items in pockets just get washed. Dh has learned to keep his flash drives out of his pockets after two went through the dryer. :D Of course, someone :blush: once left a black white board marker in her pocket that went through the load of whites. Very very luckily the cap stayed on and nothing was ruined.

During my pregnancy, my husband asked when something would happen. I responded, "In the.... you know... the thing that comes after summer." "You mean 'fall'?" "Yeah!!!" <sigh> I write anything that I need to remember down now. And then I lose the list :confused:

Frank McCourt reads the abridged version for the audiobook of Angela's Ashes. It was wonderful. I listened to it on my work commute and then would come home and read the fuller print version, but I could hear his voice through it with the wonderful accent. At high school level, I'd be fine with my child reading both books but I'd talk with him about them if he were interested.

Deep breaths and a lot of them! Congratulations & welcome :) I think you try some things and see what type of planning and what level of planning works for you. I need to have things written out and planned in advance for the full week or I have meltdowns :glare: Some days we've just tossed the plan entirely and it's worked great. Some days I've tried to wing it and it's gone horrid. What works one year (or one month) may not another. But you'll definitely not mess everything up if you fall behind. We didn't get any part of writing done today (sigh) and I feel behind, but we aren't and we won't be. I'm still really working on :chillpill: but it's the way to go. Do your best, accept that you won't be perfect, and keep trying. It's good overall.

I used SWO A in first grade. Ds did fine with it. We moved on to B in 2nd grade. Ds could do the work, but he didn't seem to be retaining anything. I also started to see the need for some formal phonics (ds is a self-taught reader). After reading a good bit here, I got All About Spelling. It's working much better for us than SWO ever did. We're about to finish up Level 1 and ds has learned reasons behind spelling - much more than the little comments in SWO. SWO may be useful for you, but AAS was a much better fit here.

Dh got one about 4-5 years ago. Recovery was fine (yea to frozen peas). Both our fathers had v's done back in 70s/80s and so dh got their stories as well - both did fine. Unfortunately, dh has had a spermatocele probably from the vas. He had an ultrasound to check everything out and that's what we were told. So he's one who had a bit of a problem as a result. There's a lump which moves around and causes a bit of pain and aching. Due to our experience, if I were giving birth, I'd get tubes tied at the same time. We chose the v. since it was a couple years after the pregnancy and it was a LOT cheaper. Dh is still okay with having had it done, so he doesn't have any regrets. I just wish he didn't have the aching :(

One of the options should have been, "La,la, la! I'm not listening!" :glare: I'm actually not entirely sure. If you count the books I get for me, "It's a great reference!" or the books I get when on sale, "But it's the Oxford Medieval Series! These'll be great for middle school!", then I don't want to know how much goes. If you limit it to actual curriculum, then I'm very good! (Bought Spelling Workout for this year but then we switched to AAS towards the end of last year and we just won't use SWO.)

Same thing happened with our son with the nebulizer. Albuterol makes him really mean. Our allergist said Albuterol has two molecules while Xopenex only has one :confused: And since the Xopanex works for us, that's what we go with.

Guess I meant the next half hour :) Eeek... Dh is off. He said if we're going for an impulse purchase, be impulsive. We already have the DS and while ds (ha) enjoys it, I'm hoping the iPad can be a major distraction for the shots. (It'll belong to me and dh - and ds won't know about it for a while.) Ah well. I'll have an eReader (assuming it's in stock) and then maybe with Project Gutenberg etc, I'll buy fewer books (yeah, right). Thanks for the opinions... just wanted a couple more kicks along the way (man, this is a silly decision on many levels). But it should be neat.

Dh and I have been discussing this. I don't have an eReader, so this would give me one. Ds just had allergy skin tests and we were told "He's allergic to everything!" and the prediction is about 3 shots twice a week for 9 weeks, then tapering off over the next 5 years :( Ds is petrified of this. He loves his granddad's iPad and playing games on it. The thought is, we buy one, ds can use it to play games ONLY when waiting at the office (after shots we'll have to stay for 30 min to watch for reactions). This may be a draw for him and give him something positive out of the whole rotten mess. We have the cash and it won't hurt us financially (this is the "mad money" we've each got squirreled away - bad news is no more mad money). Looking at the 16 or 32 WiFi version. Convince me to send dh out to Best Buy tonight! :auto: