Well, we didn't get our cat until recently. My daughter is 10 (almost 11) and she cleans the litterbox every morning.

Once again, :iagree: with Wendy. LOL.

Er... what does that mean? Like hackers, you mean?

I can't get into my blog at all- I keep getting one of those "problem loading page, the server at livejournal is taking too long to respond" messages. I can't even get onto livejournal's main website, let alone my own blog. Can anyone else get on?

:iagree:

My girls did a 4H cooking club for a while. They really loved it. It was held every other week, for like an hour and a half. They were given a 4H Cooking Workbook, and at each meeting, they would have a short discussion and then they would go cook something together. There was a fundraiser we had to do during our time there (fun shaped pasta) and they worked the concession stand at a horse show, and they could have an exhibit in the county fair. The cooking club ended up not continuing the next year though. I was going to put the in a 4H Wilderness club but then decided to hold off as we already had too many other extra-curricular things going on. But they did enjoy it while they were there.

I don't need easy. I just need possible. - Soul Surfer Out there is nothing but possibilities. - Solitary Man If you want to limit yourself, that's fine. But don't let other people do it for you. - Gracie All this, it's not me. I am more. - Batman Begins You have so much to enjoy and to be and to do. Your part in the story will go on. - Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Forty thousand years of evolution and we've barely even tapped the vastness of human potential. -Spiderman Your potential is infinite. You might do anything really. - Confessions of a Dangerous Mind Even the smallest person can change the course of the future. -Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring The path to knowledge is frought with consequences. -Rango Everything I know, I know from experience. -The King's Speech This is called logic. It won't hurt you. It will set you free. - American: The Bill Hicks Story Go, see the world. You will never regret it. - The Namesake I have five lessons to teach. What lessons they learn is entirely up to them. - Nanny McPhee Read that book for yourself. Don't read it for no class. - Higher Learning

We mix things up. Often I'll give my daughter a choice: "Do you want to do this or that next?" Sometimes I'll just assign the things I want out of the way. Our starting time varies, too, depending on what else is going on that day. We work best with a schedule of "things we need to get done this week" broken down into a daily schedule and just crossing out as we go. No specific time periods. And if something doesn't get one day it gets added onto the next with an ultimate goal of just finishing everything by the end of the week. So far it has worked out fine for us, and on the rare occasions where something doesn't get done by the end of the week, I'll have to decide whether I want to do it over the weekend, add it onto the following week's schedule, or just skip it or modify it, but that doesn't come up too often.

My daughter will turn 12 while she's still in 6th grade because we've decided to stretch 6th grade (which she's going into this fall) out over a two year period. She'll turn 12 in October of her second year of 6th grade. (Therefore she'll end up turning 13 like a month after we start 7th grade).

We'll be leaving at 3:00 PM EST to go pick them up at the bus drop off location a half hour away. The bus is scheduled to come in at 4 but we are supposed to get there 30 minutes early just in case. We will have a 9 year old girl and a 6 year old boy. It's our second summer hosting, and our first time hosting two at once- I hope it all goes smoothly! We'll be showing up at the bus drop off location this afternoon with a packed vehicle as we're heading directly to the campground from the bus- it'll be about an hour ride and we'll be camping (in a cabin) for three nights. Kids are ridiculously excited- I'm hoping they all get along lol. And that the FAF kids don't get too homesick or anything. I'm sure I'll still peek in on the board from my iphone when I have some downtime, but won't be around as much for the next week while the kids are here. Wish me luck! :D

Already Watched/Finished: The Sopranos Oz Sex and the City Six Feet Under Queer As Folk Prison Break Lost The 4400 Currently Watching: True Blood Dexter Will Eventually Watch: Nip/Tuck Dead Like Me Weeds Big Love Rescue Me Heroes Rome The Tudors For The Kids: Liberty's Kids

Aw he's cute. And may I say (from the little glimpse I got) that your house and desk look so nice and UNCLUTTERED lol!

I have been doing that when it comes to her trying to jump up on the kitchen table or counter. That's icky so anytime I see her trying to do that I immediately say "No!" and take her away from there and put her down somewhere out of the room.

I love the Activity Guide. It gives you review questions to ask (and provides the answers), it tells you to have them do a brief narration of what you read (and provides a few examples of acceptable answers), it gives pages of simple mapwork and coloring pages, it recommends a bunch of extra/supplemental reading materials so I know what to look for at my library, and it suggests lots of fun crafts, projects and activities and tells you how to do them- for all different levels of craftiness. I don't consider myself especially "crafty" but there are lots that we can easily do and that the whole family enjoys. Yes, some of the activities are a bit more religious than others- we do them if they seem fun, skip them if we don't want to do them. And yes, some of them are more elaborate than others. We do them if we're so inclined, skip them if we're not. There are usually several ideas presented and it's easy to pick one or two that you DO want to do in any given chapter and just skip the rest. We didn't mummify anything (we made scented oil instead). We didn't bother with that long comic book someone mentioned, but found "Joseph's coat of many colors" to be fun simply because what kid doesn't like having free reign over a white button down shirt and a bunch of fabric paints? :D And yes there was the ten plagues sticker/activity sheet (which we did do). But other than that, nothing I've come across activity wise so far has been religious in nature. There's been a really fun variety of ideas and activities and subjects presented. In my opinion, if you're going to use SOTW, don't do it without the Activity Guide. That's what makes the whole thing so much fun and more interesting! (Well, I guess you could do that on your own, too, but it's so nicely and easily laid out for you in the Activity Guide- things I'd NEVER have thought of on my own)!

:lol:

I will research first if it ever comes down to seriously trying to consider whether to do it. Yeah that's another thing! Sometimes she jumps across my hands right as I'm typing or the keyboard and makes a different window come up or my cursor jump elsewhere and I'm always afraid she's going to delete something that I'm in the middle of typing or something lol. Hopefully it never gets as bad as your situation but if it does at least my husband is good at fixing computer problems lol.

It's very tempting. It would save some skin and some furniture, too. We don't plan to ever let her go outside. Not that I want this to turn into some sort of ethical "should you or shouldn't you declaw cats" thread but part of me wants to do it and part of me wonders if it would be, well, mean... or what if she accidentally got outside and couldn't defend herself or something... something to think about though!)

My husband would have a heart attack if I even mentioned it to him lol. This one took some convincing. (And don't tell him I told you but he actually LOVES when she goes into his computer room late at night and plops herself down onto his chest and goes to sleep there, and I've seen him holding her like a baby and making kissing noises at her, too) hehe. But he wouldn't agree to another kitten. I'm not so sure my 10 y/o (who has litter box duty) would love it either lol.

But she CONSTANTLY goes to jump up at me while I'm sitting in my computer chair, starts scrabbling part way up which results in her nails digging into some portion of my body- my leg, my side, my chest, my hand- and it kinda hurts! (She just gave me a little bloody scratch on the back of my hand). Sometimes she claws her way up the back of my chair instead and then jumps onto my shoulder/the back of my neck and then either jumps to the desk or tries to walk down my chest, giving me a face full of her back end. Then she hits the computer desk and sends stuff flying- had to pick up a little container of tacks and paper clips that scattered across the floor yesterday. Then she goes and plops herself down on my desk. And it's pointless to put her down on the floor because that will result in the whole cycle starting all over again. And then she starts trying to "catch" my cursor on the computer screen, to pounce my typing hands, etc. (And, yes, she IS cute, and NO, of course I wouldn't really throw her across the room. I usually end up scratching her behind her ears instead. :P But I do find myself muttering curses under my breath sometimes lol). P.S. We ended up naming her Hazel. And she lets my five year old son carry her around like a sack of potatoes and when she's had enough, she looks for me and meows but never scratches at him. :)

I've been to the chiropractor for sciatica. Strongly considering acupuncture for same.

freerice.com- they even get to help contribute food to the hungry while learning from different categories! Timez Attack- fun way to practice times tables. Webkinz has an arcade section and some of them have educational/trivia type games. multiplication.com has different multiplication table games. gamequarium.com has educational games. There's coolmath-games.com http://www.etymologic.com/ (word game) http://www.yourdictionary.com/fun.html (word games) http://www.funbrain.com/grammar/index.html (grammar game) (funbrain has reading games, math games, etc) http://www.agameaday.com/ (language arts games) http://funschool.kaboose.com/?level=2&task=search&page=1&category=58&type=0&showIcons=3&sortBy=pop&keywords=&x=48&y=26 (fun and educational games and activities) http://home.earthlink.net/~cmalumphy/countinggame.html (a counting game for younger kids) http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/interactives/systems.html (a science game) http://www.kineticcity.com/ (science experiments, games and activities) http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/games/geographygames/geospy/ (geography games) You can also google "typing games" if you want them to practice typing skills.

My daughter's 10. When she's hanging out with her friends, they like: Doing each other's nails Doing arts and crafts Watching movies Listening to music Putting on various dress up clothes and playing imaginative games Baking/making some sort of snack/food Going in the pool Playing multi-player electronic games (the Wii, handheld games, etc) Going for walks/bike rides Playing board games Playing with barbie dolls Going to the park together If I plan things, I've done stuff like: movie discussion groups, poetry/short story writing workshops, book clubs, etc.

Seems like a very long day with very little breaks or free time. Lunch is only a half hour even which doesn't even leave time for a real "recess" or something. Everything is so strictly scheduled- when do they just get to do their own thing and make their own choices? I think that sort of day would be exhausting for my 10 year old (and me).

I am a non-religious Jew who homeschools secularly for the most part, and while we are only 16 chapters into SOTW, I don't find it overly religious or one-sided or objectionable. We have a lot of fun with SOTW. Yes, there are some bible stories (Old Testament so far) but there are other viewpoints and gods and goddesses from various myths and legends, too. It's more from the viewpoint of showing what the different cultures and places believed back then as opposed to "This is religious fact from my specific religion" or whatever. (And even so, there's a lot more to it than religion of ANY sort, so you don't end up feeling like you're focusing mainly on that or anything). My daughter (age 10) and I are really enjoying SOTW. Here's a review I wrote of it which shows pics of lots of the fun projects we've done so far if you want to check it out: http://nancextoo.livejournal.com/124469.html

This was our 4th grade list: Silent Reading Accidents May Happen, 50 Inventions Discovered By Mistake Aesop’s Fables All That Glitters Bailey School Kids Joke Book Bakugan Official Handbook Chinese Fairy Tales Chocolate Fever Cry of the Wolf Diary Of A Wimpy Kid, The Last Straw Disney's My Side Of The Story, Sleeping Beauty/Maleficent Doll People, The Don't Bump The Glump! & Other Fantasies by Shel Silverstein Eve Of The Emperor Penguin Fairies and Elves Favorite Tales, The Princess & the Pea Felicity Learns A Lesson Free To Be You And Me From The Mixed Up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler Grimm’s Fairy Tales Gus The Greedy Puppy How To Train Your Dragon Irish Fairy Tales Jess, American Girl Today Jewish Fairy Tales Josefina Learns A Lesson Josefina's Surprise Karen's Two Families Kid Who Invented the Popsicle, The & Other Extraordinary Stories Behind Everyday Things Little Mermaid and Other Stories, The Magic Schoolbus Gets All Dried Up, The Magic Schoolbus Makes A Rainbow, The Magic Schoolbus Gets Baked In A Cake, The Magyk Meanest Doll in The World, The Meet Felicity Meet Josefina Mistakes That Worked Monster of the Month Club Monsters In The Attic Monsters In Cyberspace Monsters And My One True Love My Dog Ate My Homework (poems) Pippi Goes On Board Pippi In The South Seas Pippi Longstocking Place To Belong, A Race Of The Year Season Of The Sandstorms Secret of the Unicorn, The Sheepdog In The Snow Silly Things Happen Stone-Faced Boy, The Wayside School Is Falling Down What The Moon Brought Zombie Zone, The Books We Read Aloud To Each Other Abu Ali, Three Tales of the Middle East Addie Across The Prairie Addy Learns A Lesson Addy Saves The Day Addy's Surprise Ancient Near East, The Barack Obama, An American Story Buffalo Bill & The Pony Express Care & Keeping Of You, The: The Body Book For Girls Caught In The Act Changes For Addy Child’s Guide To Economics, A: How To Turn Lemons Into Money Coat Of Many Colors, The Cornerstones of Freedom, The California Gold Rush Dance, Sing, Remember: A Celebration of Jewish Holidays Daniel Boone (partial) Escape To Witch Mountain Family Apart, A Farmer Boy Feelings Book, The: The Care & Keeping Of Your Emotions Gilgamesh The King God's People, Stories From The Old Testament Happy Birthday, Addy Heidi Historical Album of Pennsylvania, A (partial: focused on colonization/Quakers) History In Art, Ancient China History Picture Book, A: The Thirteen Colonies If A Bus Could Talk, The Story Of Rosa Parks If You Lived In Colonial Times If You Traveled On The Underground Railroad Insect World, Praying Mantises, Hungry Insect Heroes In The Face Of Danger James Herriot’s Treasury For Children Jupiter, A New True Book Kids In Colonial Times Last Quest of Gilgamesh, The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe, The Little Brown Jay, The: A Tale From India Little House On The Prairie Magic Schoolbus, Lost In The Solar System, The Mary Poppins Meet Addy Odin's Family, Myths of the Vikings Once A Mouse... One Grain Of Rice On The Banks Of Plum Creek Orphan Trains, Traveling West To A New Life Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr., A Pony Express! Revenge of Ishtar, The Search For Delicious, The Sign Of The Beaver, The Snowflake Bentley Story About Ping, The Story of Benjamin Franklin, The: Amazing American Story of Harriet Tubman, The: The Conductor Of The Underground Railroad Stuart Little Ten Kings And the Worlds They Ruled (partial; read sections on Hammurabi and David) Trumpet Of The Swan, The This Land Is Your Land, Pennsylvania West By Covered Wagon, Retracing The Pioneer Trails World Myths And Legends, Native American Text Books, Work Books, Reference and/or Resource Material Colonial Kids, An Activity Guide To Life In The New World Easy To Draw Animals Exploring The 50 States Handwriting Without Tears, 4th Grade Cursive Success Merriam Webster Intermediate Dictionary National Geographic World Atlas For Young Explorers Native American Crafts Workshop Oak Meadow School 4th Grade Math Oak Meadow School 4th Grade Syllabus State Sticker Book, The The Story Of The World Volume One, Ancient Times, Book & Activity Book Usborne Book of World History, The