Do you have a Head Start/Child Development preschool program? I'm sure they would let him come in and read aloud to the kids and maybe once he gets started in that, if it's working out and he likes the staff and vice versa, maybe they can put their heads together and find out in what other ways he can help "teach" the preschoolers.

It wouldn't bother me if a neighbor wanted to borrow something like that. If she's returning it within a reasonable amount of time, and if she's returning it in good condition and not damaging my things, and if it's a situation where it doesn't really affect me/cost me money, I really don't think I'd care if my neighbor borrowed our tools. If it was like, say, a lawnmower and she was using it frequently and not ever replacing the gasoline or oil she was using, that would start to bug me. Or if she was borrowing something and I had to hunt her down for it two months later. Or if she was returning something in poor condition. Or if it was something I needed to use on a regular basis and her using it was inconveniencing me so I couldn't use it. But borrowing a drill or something? Even if it was 7 or 8 times a year? Eh. No biggie.

We used- and absolutely loved- Oak Meadow last year for 4th grade. Very creative and hands on! For more info, see: http://nancextoo.livejournal.com/126472.html and http://nancextoo.livejournal.com/124071.html :)

against my 10 y/o daughter. She had to imagine that she was a colonist who had to give a speech saying that the British were going to attack. The speech had to include details as to how our town should protect itself, how we should prepare, and what we should do once the British did attack. (She's been reading about the Revolutionary War, obviously). She wrote: --- "Neighbors, friends and family I think the British will attack! For our protection all women will stay with children 10 and under. Babies and girls only! Boys must fight! If a man dies one woman will take his place. We will prepare by loading guns and polishing them. We will make bombs, buy as much gun powder as possible, and make over 2,000 bullets. Then we will fight the British!!! We have to make the first fire! Aim for their heads. We will win for sure! Aim for their hearts fire at them throw bombs, set them on fire! I want your hearts beating faster than ever! We have to win. We will win. We'll kill the British." --- I wasn't sure whether to laugh or feel somewhat dismayed at her enthusiasm. :lol:

Yes, it IS abusive, for sure. I also wanted to come back and say two other things: 1) I think it's good that you go out of your way to build your mother in law up and to say nice things to her 2) If you have this talk with your son and IF he says something along the lines of "I'm going to say something to Grandpa next time he does it!" (I don't know if your son would do that but IF he does)... please don't discourage it. No, "Oh, don't say anything, it's not our business, just say something nice to grandma" or anything like that... if a teenage boy gets something in his mind as the "right thing to do" (and it WOULD actually be the right thing, I think), don't discourage that. That would send a really bad subconscious message to him I think!

:grouphug:

That was so cool to watch!

I do LOVE bread but I limit it a lot when I'm on a diet (as I've been for months now). When I'm on a diet... I don't know. Some people miss chocolate and would want to splurge on that. Me, I drool over bread and butter lol.

Plaza Azteca is apparently a chain- I've only been to the one in Reading, PA, and my husband, sister-in-law and I all agree- it's FANTASTIC Mexican food! :D

I know you said you won't medicate... but I just want to share my experience with my oldest. She had ADD and other special needs and had a lot of trouble focusing/concentrating in school from like 1st grade on. She couldn't focus so instead she'd start ripping up her papers, or getting out of her seat, even trying to leave her classroom and so on. The teachers suggested I look into medication for her and at first I was really opposed to it because of her age (she was about 6 then, too) and because I had this preconception in my head of what "medicating" a kid would actually be like and so on. But after taking her to a pediatric neurologist among other things, I decided to go ahead and give it a try. And the truth is- I was really glad I did. My daughter was able to focus better, concentrate better, behave better. She got in less trouble, and SHE felt happier because of all of this. She started out, I think, on Ritalin, and eventually she was switched over to Adderoll and then the third and final switch was to Concerta. We liked the Concerta. The only side effect it seemed to have was that she didn't have much of an appetite for lunch. But she ate a good breakfast and made up for it at dinner time. She did really well on it and she ended up taking it until she was like 16 or so. At that point, I told the pediatrician that I wanted to try taking her off the meds to see how she'd do now that she was so much older- and at that point she ended up doing just fine. I have no regrets about having used the medication, it really did help her and benefit her and it was the right thing for us to do. I am not trying to talk you into making a decision YOU are not comfortable with- I am just letting you know what it was like for us in case you change your mind or run out of other options.

I agree, and I'm a little confused, too. If he's collecting social security, it's either because: 1) He's been proven to be disabled and therefore isn't quite as able-bodied as you might think, or 2) He's of retirement age and is enjoying his retirement years- and why shouldn't he do so? Maybe there's more backstory here that we know nothing about, but without knowing that, I wouldn't begrudge someone their retirement years- and if giving a gift of money didn't sit right, I'd give a gift of something else- something he could use in the house, or, like Tara said, a gift certificate. Unless your husband is adamant about the gift being money, in which case I'd just let it go- it IS his father.

This. :D

I read them all when I was a child, but I don't remember all of them, or anything specific about that one in particular. I have been re-reading the series along with my daughter now. So far we've read: Little House In The Big Woods, Little House On The Prairie, Farmer Boy, and On The Banks Of Plum Creek, and we will be starting By The Shores Of Silver Lake within the next week or two. Hopefully by the time we start "The Long Winter," we won't have quite so much winter left here in PA and I won't find it quite so depressing lol. (I am not a fan of winter myself!)

I wouldn't personally feel the need to tip people like that. However, I also wouldn't personally feel the need to refuse to 'allow' (so to speak) my husband from doing so anyway if he really wanted to do it. If I felt there was someone I should tip I wouldn't want my husband telling me I couldn't. And vice versa. So, yeah, I see your point. But it's not worth arguing with your husband about. Let him do his thing.

Your son is in 8th grade? Yes. I would talk to him. Not in a nasty "what a jerk he is!" kind of way. But a sort of sad commentary/conversation: "It's a shame Grandpa seems so bitter all the time, isn't it? He must not be very happy if he is always feeling the need to criticize people and finds it so hard to give praise where it is due. I wonder if his father was hard on him. I'm glad that your dad was able to break the cycle and to be a different kind of father than his father was, and that you have a good example to follow in your dad. But it always makes me feel kind of bad when we're around Grandpa and he talks like that in front of us. What do you think?" That kind of thing.

:iagree: with all of these sentiments. I've always hated threads about welfare/poverty on any forum I've ever been a part of, because it always turns so nasty, and people are so quick to judge, when they don't know the people or their whole stories and aren't in their position.

Science- usually two days a week. History- usually two to three days a week. (Plus vocabulary assignments on other days come from social studies reading, and our reading material -the books we read together on a daily basis- revolve around our history subjects most of the time). Geography - integrated with history (plus once a week we do a review of the state capitals). art- last year we did a formal art program built into our curriculum and did it like 2 X a week; this year it's less formal and revolves around handicrafts incorporated into our social studies curriculum and it's just kind of periodic, no set number of days a week or anything. (Plus in the summer she goes to a two week art camp of some time, as well as makes use of arts and crafts supplies on her own). She's in 5th grade. Last year for 4th was similar. Oh, and amount of time we spend on the subject varies, it depends what we're doing.

We went out a few times before and right up until totality occurred and had a clear view. But then it got pretty cloudy. Went out again between 3:20-3:40 to check on it a few times and kept getting glimpses that would last just a few seconds of it looking all orange-red but the clouds kept drifting and covering it again. Now I need to try to get a few hours sleep before I have to get up at 7.

Well, we checked out the online activity area and frankly I found it disappointing. Today, she could only access the "World Map" area (she got a world map in her introductory package). Each month, she'll get another code so she can access more areas with activities pertaining to specific countries. I guess I expected that there would be a decent amount to do online, though, and today there were only three games/activities to do in the section she can access now. She played all three of them, doing everything she could possibly do, and you know how long it took? Less than ten minutes. There was a world trivia game that consisted of 10 multiple choice questions. She mostly just guessed the first go around and only got 4 right. Then she played it again- the same ten questions, with the answers listed in a different order. That time she got 9 right. She played it a third time- the same ten questions. That time she got them all right. It took 4 minutes to play it three times. Next was a "world map puzzle"- she moved big jigsaw puzzle pieces until she formed the picture of the world map. It took maybe a minute and a half tops. Last was a "continent" game- it listed various countries and she had to click on the continent they belonged to. That took maybe three minutes. So she spent maybe 9 minutes total on there, and then there was nothing else to do. I said, "I thought there would be more to it than that." She said, "Yeah... but it was still fun, though." She then shrugged and went off to do something else. So if you're going to buy this, don't let the online section be a huge reason. There's not much to it. But she still enjoyed receiving the things in the mail, and I guess if we want to learn more about each country as the info comes, we can do that on our own with books, videos, music, crafts, recipes, and so on, as desired. It'll be a month or so but when we are able to access one of the sections for a specific country, I'll update as to whether that's as limited as this first section was. I suspect it will be.

I would throw them away. The plastic can break down over time and they become less safe. I wouldn't want to put them in a place where somebody else would buy/take/use them, that could be knowingly putting a child at risk. Sorry!

Congrats!!! That's awesome!! :party:

I wanted to update... the first package came today. This one isn't about a country but more of an introductory thing. It included a really cute travel suitcase, an introductory letter from "Sam and Sofia" and a picture of them, two stickers (one of Sam and one of Sofia), an activity sheet, a world wall map, a "travel passport," and a "boarding pass" that allows access to online games and activities. My 10 y/o daughter was very excited to open the suitcase and look at everything. She put the stickers on the suitcase to decorate it. She did the activity sheet (which had like a simple code, a hidden picture type thing, and an activity that she had to do using the world map, which involved finding different countries and seeing what their capitals were and writing them down, and then the letters that were in the circles spelled out what country Sam and Sofia will be visiting next month. Then, once a month over subsequent months, she'll get an adventure pack that will contain a letter from Sam and Sofia, stickers she can decorate the suitcase with, a photograph of the country they are visiting, an activity sheet, some sort of souvenir from the country they are visiting, and a "passport stamp" so she can put a stamp in the travel passport each month. She'll also get a collectible boarding pass each month that will allow access to more activities and games on the online area. Of course, she really wanted to go explore the online area but I made her finish school first. In a little while, I'm going to let her check out the online stuff, and then I'll update again as to what that was like. Sometime before the end of the day tomorrow I will also post about it on my livejournal site and will include pictures, I'll let you guys know when I have it up on my site. :)

I'd give them til age 21 before I treated them like an adult, especially if they were still: 1) in high school, 2) in college, 3) not working or only working part time. Unless they expressed a desire to not be included with the kids anymore.

LOL Clean never lasts long here. If you surprised me with a visit at any given point, you'd probably think "what a mess!" and think I hardly ever cleaned it. But I do!! It's just that it's a losing battle. It's four against one in this house! lol.

don't forget yogurt, ice cream, pudding.... chocolate milk.... yep, me, too! :D