We watched that one episode with the surprise proposal/wedding but can't seem to find it coming on again. Was it canceled already?!

Yeah right, my son would have yanked that right off his own head in a heart beat.

I don't know WHAT is up with this board right now but the tags are hilarious in some of these threads!

Yes, I'll definitely keep it. :) I also have a letter from a few years ago when my daughter left the Tooth Fairy a note asking her if there was any way she would leave her more money than she usually does LOL! So my husband went and left her ONE PENNY more than we usually stuck under her pillow. We were cracking up, but my daughter was actually excited that the letter had worked haha!

aw lol... that "Santa Frauds!" thing is kind of funny. See, we're Jewish so my daughter has known for quite some time that there is no Santa (I told her when she was in like 2nd grade because I couldn't stand it anymore that she would feel left out that Santa didn't come to her house. I didn't tell her prior to that because I was afraid she'd tell the other kids in school and what hard feelings THAT would cause lol- (she was in public school from K-most of third grade). So part of me wonders if she knows that there is no Santa Claus, does she also know that there's no tooth fairy and she's just trying to eke it out as long as she can for the money? haha. Or does she really still believe? I can't ask her, of course, because I don't want to ruin it quite yet if she DOES believe- she's growing up all too fast, I'll let her have this for a while longer either way. :)

LOL!! Aww! We went to Islands of Adventure in February and went to the Wizarding World Of Harry Potter... and one of the employees/cast there told my son he can go to Hogwarts when he's 11 and my son really believes him. My son is only 5 but he's told me multiple times since then that he's going to Hogwarts when he's 11 and that they guy said he could and asking me how many more years/birthdays he has... oh boy lol. (My son has already seen the first 3 HP movies with his sister and has heard parts of some of the books when his sister and I read them).

here's the letter we found under her pillow, along with the tooth she put under her pillow last night: Dear Tooth Fairy, You are very kind to a lot of kids in the U.S. and I thank you! There should be Tooth Fairy Day in honor of you and all the other tooth fairies! I'm so excited to wake up! Please tell me (if you can) what you look like! Well you don't need to know what I look like! You see me every time I lose a tooth. Please when you get time write back! Best Regards, Alexa (insert pic of face with eyes closed here) I'll be sleeping! P.S. I drew this picture for you! (and she drew some fairies and butterflies and a picture of a mouth with one tooth blacked out and an arrow pointing to it saying "This is the spot where my tooth came out!").

I love "Colors" by Kira Willey. It's got a really pretty melody. The lyrics are: Kira Willey Colors lyrics I am green today I chirp with joy like a cricket song. I am gray today Gloomy and down like a morning fog. I am orange today Loud and messy like finger paint on the wall. I am red today Hopping mad like a playground ball. I am black today Strong and tall a great big bear. I am purple today Bright and happy like a butterfly in the air. I'm a rainbow today All the colors of the world. I'm a rainbow today All the colors of the world. I'm a rainbow today All the colors of the world are in me. I am yellow today I shine my light out like the sun. I am white today Soft and quite like new snow. I am blue today Calm as glass and cool like the sea. I'm a rainbow today All the colors of the world. I'm a rainbow today All the colors of the world. I'm a rainbow today All the colors of the world are in me. All the colors of the world are in me.

We have been brewing a lot of teA in recent months. I've heard it helps when you really want one more addition to the family. So far, no sign of a new addition. But the teA's good, anyway.

Yes, I agree! We've been doing lots of reading and writing this year for OM (which must be working, she scored great on Language Arts, even more so than math btw!) and they're always interesting assignments and choices but this fun and animated CD for math is a nice way to break up the day and do something "different" like you said. It definitely seems to be a good combo for us, and then we get to round it all out with OM's fun hands-on kinda projects and handicrafts... it's been a really great year for us, we've really been enjoying it overall. I'm looking forward to OM6/TT6 next year! :)

TT5 takes us 25-30 minutes per lesson. We do lessons 4 times a week, except when there's a quiz- then we'll do that on the 5th day of the week.

:seeya: Still here. Still liberal. :)

:grouphug: You never know. My OB's office will not see a patient for a first visit (for pregnancy) until they are after 7 weeks pregnant, as after 7 weeks is when they expect to have no problem with the heartbeat. I'd definitely want to repeat the ultrasound about a week after this one if you haven't miscarried, just in case! Good luck! P.S. I did have some bleeding and/or spotting with all three of my pregnancies- once toward the end of the third trimester, once very early on, and once in my second trimester.

Anyone?! C'mon, I'm counting on you guys!! lol

You can't possibly mean five per child PER YEAR, can you?! My daughter uses a 3" binder (a pretty and quality hot pink one we got from Staples). It's working out great- and 27 weeks into our 36 week curriculum it's looking fairly full but we definitely still have room in it for more papers. So if you mean you think you need five a year, consider my mind boggled lol. If you mean using them over a five year period- then I don't consider that a big investment.

I need to find a site that shows aerial photos of the Midwestern states that were part of the Northwest territory- showing the checkerboard pattern- can anyone direct me? Thanks! :)

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/speed-dial/ :)

LMAO!!!!!! :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol: One part of me would hate to lower myself to having to call it a "wheel barrel" myself, but another part of me would feel that if I called it a "wheelbarrow" I'd either confuse them or offend them. And then would that ruin my chances of being the recipient of the wheel barrel? Er, barrow? I don't know. So, I guess I would say "I am answering your ad about the wheel barrel" And then I would probably die laughing... which would make me feel better about having to type that... and then I would compose myself and proceed to finish the email. And then I would eagerly await my wheel barrel. And then I probably WOULD forever thereafter think of it as a wheel barrel. (Actually, now thanks to you, I probably will anyway haha). Maybe you should just christen it "The Wheel Barrel" (and paint it on the side in pretty stencil letters) and if you're asking about my drink of choice, I confess, I like frozen fruity girly drinks with little umbrellas in them.. pina coladas, strawberry daiquiris, and so on. Still laughing, Nance

READ THIS: http://welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=259625 :) (It's a recent post I made about my experience with TT- which I LOVE by the way- and our standardized test scores in math which just came back).

Speed Dial. It consists of a bunch of screen shots (almost the size of this text box- when you're first starting out typing a message in it, not viewing it after the fact) of any of my "favorites" that I want to set in there. So, like, I have my email, my meetup group, this site, my blog, my library's site, netflix, my bank, the weather, facebook, and so on. When I go to my homepage, all of those are displayed in boxes and I can click on any one of them and it takes me right to whichever one I clicked on. I'll include a picture of a snapshot of the screen so you can see what I mean. It's pretty cool. :) (I will only be leaving the picture up for a little while). (It does have a google search bar at the top and it's through Mozilla Firefox).

Oh, there's no "maybe" about it. That is FUNNY! :lol: ETA: Only because it was your cereal and not mine, though. Hehe.

Actually, I think that's a GREAT idea! My daughter is going to take typing lessons (again) this summer, and if we continue on to Story Grammar for Elementary school next year (we're currently using Sentence Composing For Elementary School), I think we will use that idea! This isn't about handwriting, after all, so why not? She DOES complain sometimes that her hand gets tired writing out all those sentences!

OK I have read (or at least skimmed :D) every post and while I could quote a million things, I'm just going to try to hit on some things that stood out to me as key posts/ideas and/or mention ways that I might be able to help/participate instead: I am the organizer of an inclusive homeschool meetup group in my area, and if you start a list of such groups, mine can be included. We've got classical schoolers, unschoolers, cyber schoolers, relaxed/eclectic schoolers, people who have some kids in school and some being homeschooled, people of different religions, but no religious focus on the group, it's just about education and socialization. Bottom line. (And it's not an academic co-op... we may discuss our various curricula and philosophies but the focus of the group is field trips, educational tours, park days, play dates, craft dates, seasonal parties, game days, picnics, occasional "fun" class or experiment days, and so on). I'd be up for adding myself (as a secular, relaxed/eclectic homeschooler) to the "how we homeschool" or "blogs" section. My main blog is in my sig line. I do have a post already there that could be a "how I homeschool" kind of post complete with pics and descriptions and so on, sort of summing up what a random month was like (since I believe that any given moment, day, or even week, can be totally different from one to the next, and that it is so hard to judge what "homeschooling" is like at a glance, just by looking at one hour, day, or week)...I tried to sum up what it's like as a whole- in MY home, of course. That can be viewed here: http://nancextoo.livejournal.com/175611.html I've got other articles about relaxed homeschooling mainly which can be viewed from the sidebar of my blog, as well. (And some curriculum reviews, too). If you're interested in using any of them, you are welcome to. I may be able to write other types of articles too if asked. I think Dulcimeramy's post about what "inclusive" is and isn't is great! I, too, think that "Inclusive Homeschoolers" is a perfect name. I've never attended a convention before and wouldn't have an interest in one that was strictly religious in nature but would love to attend some sort of "inclusive" gathering if it had topics of interest and fun social opportunities with people who aren't looking to strictly be with those of their own religion; and if it was within reasonable driving distance for me. (I'm in PA. So PA, NY, NJ, possibly OH....). (And that is not to say that I would be against it if there was ANY religious content- just that I would have no interest in something that was strictly religious content, or one particular religion's content, or had nothing at all for those of us who are not religious and so on). In regard to Carrie's post which said: "I agree that the focus should be on education and not what you are/aren't in other aspects. Personally, "academic excellence" is the main factor at play, but I'm reluctant to use those particular words in fear of making unschoolers question their place. I'm assuming (not being an unschooler) they have the same goal, but there is a certain impression that those words give off." ...I agree. I'm NOT an unschooler but I AM a "relaxed" homeschooler and that could DEFINITELY give the impression, even to somebody like me, that it is geared toward more rigourous homeschoolers or some such. It would (probably) definitely (oxymoron, I know) be offputting to unschoolers.

You're talking about your 5 y/o? Maybe you should just back off a bit with the curriculum stuff if it's not going well at the moment. Maybe she's just not ready. She's young. Where I live, compulsory school age doesn't even start until age 8, and if you've never read "Better Late Than Early" by the Moores, maybe you should- if only for a bit of perspective, even if you don't fully agree or wait as long as they suggest. A child that age learns SO much, all the time, informally, and just may not be ready for a "curriculum" and "workbooks" and "worksheets" and "deskwork" and so on yet. And that's okay. It's fine to just stop and keep it informal, creative, hands on, play-based, conversational, and so on and wait a while longer to reintroduce the other stuff. I had to do that with my son. I wrote about it here if you want to take a peek: http://nancextoo.livejournal.com/190076.html (I call it "A Kindergarten Dropout" lol). (He's now 5.5 years old- I will be giving another try to K in September when he's 5.10 months old and we'll see what happens). :)

Awww. Congrats!! :grouphug: