Other because I've used both and I feel they are both correct. If I HAD to pick one that seemed more 'correct' to me than the other, I'd go with gray. But grey looks nicer and I think it's also correct. So. Both!

I'll play :)

I'm really enjoying the new WW plan and while I haven't done it for a full week yet, I can tell it's working well and that I'm losing pretty well!

Ours are close to $300.00 a month for a five bedroom, three story house. And we don't even have electric heat- we have oil!

Why do you need "extra grammar" and "extra vocabulary"...? I guess I never really understood the whole "we need two different programs for this, and two different programs for that" thing. I'd rather stick with ONE of each, and let them have their extracurricular activities (which to me are important in their own rights) and ease up a little bit on the expectations of doubling up on subjects for 9 and 10 year olds. You'll be less stressed, they'll be less stressed, you'll all be less behind, AND they'll have time for cub scouts and sports and so on.

For preschool, we do not do anything formal at all. We do nature walks. We play preschool board games and computer games. We do arts and crafts (if he wants to). We listen to music and sing songs. We have dress up bins, musical instrument bins, building toys etc. We play outside. We watch educational kid's shows. We play conversational games about opposites and rhymes and lefts and rights and so on. We bake and cook and fold laundry together. We go on outings and field trips and educational tours. We play and use our imaginations. We talk. We laugh. We pretend. We watch clouds and bugs. Sometimes we play "crayon math" games (oh you have three crayons! How many will you have if I take one away?) But only if he wants to play along. There's nothing structured or formal. We have fun. And we learn TONS in this manner. For Kindergarten, we will be using the Oak Meadow curriculum. It's very gentle and laid back in the earliest years- hands on, creative, story and nature and craft and music and movement based. It doesn't push heavy academics, it teaches the upper case letters of the alphabet in hands on ways like finding the shapes in nature, drawing them in the dirt with a stick, making them with popcorn and glue and different nature/crafty ways like that. It's not Waldorf but it's kind of Waldorf-inspired in the early years. (Actually, we will use Oak Meadow well beyond then, too, my daughter used OM4 last year, which was her first full year homeschooling, and she's using OM5 this year, we love OM over here)!

Thanks for saying this. Nobody thinks about it, and I had almost this same problem! My daughter (now 10) was 4 and in preschool and for the whole month of December, we could NOT go to a store without someone: 1) Asking my daughter if she was excited for Santa to come and 2) Wishing her a Merry Christmas. In preschool, they had a "Christmas party" (not a "Holiday party") complete with a Santa Claus and Christmas crafts. The town streets were decorated with Christmas lights and a town square (public property!) was decorated with, get this, a nativity scene- not a menorah to be seen to balance things out, of course. She kept asking "Why doesn't Santa come to our house?" And I'd patiently repeat "Because we're Jewish, Santa is for Christmas, but we have/do fun things too...." It just wasn't good enough for a four year old. She didn't want to be the ONLY one who didn't celebrate Christmas- but she was, and it was impossible to not be reminded of it everywhere we went. And what was worse- I wouldn't tell her (I regret this now) that Santa wasn't real anyway because I was afraid she'd go to the other four year olds and tell them "My mom said Santa isn't real anyway!" and then all the other kids would hate her and she'd be forever known not just as a Jew, but as the Jew who killed Santa lol. And since at that point in time, I expected she'd be in public school until she graduated, I didn't want THAT following her around her whole life. And we couldn't go anywhere during the month of January without someone asking her, "What did Santa bring you this year?" It was miserable, I used to hate the whole holiday season. I dealt with that for preschool, Kindergarten and 1st grade. In 2nd grade I finally told her SANTA ISN'T REAL! THOSE KIDS' PRESENTS COME FROM THEIR PARENTS AND SO DO YOURS!!! ...BUT DON'T TELL ANYONE!!! By third grade she was fine with her differences (and even wanted to do a little Hanukkah presentation for her class)- and that was the year I pulled her out of school anyway so it's been less of an issue, not being in a classroom full of Christmas hype, and she's old enough to deal with it in stores now and not afraid to say "Thanks, but we celebrate Hanukkah" when some well-meaning (I hope) cashier tells her "Merry Christmas." As for my son...he's 5, but he's never been to preschool or public school, and so Christmas has never been the big deal it was for my daughter. In fact, the other day, we were walking in the mall and the mall Santa waved and said Merry Christmas! to my son- my son looked at him like he had six heads and didn't say a word, just kept walking. When we passed, he told me, "He's not real, Mommy. It's just a costume." He's perfectly happy with our Hanukkah celebrations and his Hanukkah gifts and hasn't yet really realized just how much in the minority he really is. I wish people would think twice and care about things like this rather than getting their panties in a bunch over whether some cashiers are being instructed to say "happy holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." Being wished a "happy holiday" isn't going to be harmful to ANY Christian but guess what? It can be pretty helpful to (for example) a Jewish child. And guess what, I'm SURE Jesus would have been ALL FOR respect for the JEWS OF ALL PEOPLE! So there! :P :lol: LOL, well, now, you guys are making me blush!! :D And if you sent me a card that read "eff off" in German- I'd probably appreciate it lol.

:lol: How fun would that be?!

LOL I'm just glad I wasn't the only "huh?"

We make pancakes for breakfast, and cook sprinkles into them (or chocolate chips or some such, whatever the kids want), and put a candle in the birthday kid's pancake. ETA: And of course, whoever's birthday it is gets to pick what they want for their birthday dinner, be that a restaurant meal or a home cooked one.

If you do want to call and ask, call the superintendent's office. But then again, like someone else said, some districts like to make up their own "rules" so it's better to go by state law. Here, the state Department of Education has a homeschool liason that we can call and check with if on things we may be in disagreement with our districts over... do you have something like that? maybe you can find out?

I BELIEVE if they turn (whatever compulsory school age is) AFTER your school district's cut-off date for that school year, you don't have to report them til the following year. So, like, here the cut off date is September 1st. My son's birthday is November 7th. So he'll turn 8 (compulsory school age here) in November of 2013. I won't file for him until the following school year (a few months before he turns 9). Which is to say I do not think you need to worry about this year. Just file for her next year. She wasn't of compulsory school age when this school year started and I REALLY don't think you have to report in the middle or end of the year.

Who couldn't use a Knork!? It's a fork and a knife in one! http://www.findgift.com/gift-ideas/pid-239303/ Or this awesome tiki tissue box? http://www.findgift.com/gift-ideas/pid-72393/ Or Eureka bookends?! http://www.findgift.com/gift-ideas/pid-198207/ or a DADD (Dad's Against Daughters Dating) Sweatshirt? http://www.findgift.com/gift-ideas/pid-274591/ Or an electric scooter cooler?! http://www.findgift.com/gift-ideas/pid-210359/ Oh, a "Tonight" / "Not Tonight" pillow! We all need one of those, don't we?! http://www.findgift.com/gift-ideas/pid-162088/ ...hmm...maybe an "After 5 Women's Cocktail Watch"...? http://www.findgift.com/gift-ideas/pid-202184/ I should totally get a job as a personal shopper! Anyone want help picking out a gift for that someone special? Anyone...?

LOLOL! LOVE IT! (but that price, oh, my!) Oh man this site is killing me. I so want to shop right now.

a Peter Petrie egg separator http://www.findgift.com/gift-ideas/pid-174804/' a "Mom, I'm Home!" personalized laundry bag http://www.findgift.com/gift-ideas/pid-143288/ A "When we're at YOUR house, we'll play by YOUR rules" sign' http://www.findgift.com/gift-ideas/pid-121345/ Key Pete, the Magnetic Man http://www.findgift.com/gift-ideas/pid-249279/ A "Goodnight Bush" (instead of "Goodnight Moon" book) http://www.findgift.com/gift-ideas/pid-176510/ ...did I help any of you guys find gifts yet??? :lol::lol::lol:

Oh, fun, a "don't break the bottle wooden wine puzzler" http://www.findgift.com/gift-ideas/pid-38936/ Playdough scented cologne... http://www.findgift.com/gift-ideas/pid-78930/ a "Please Take A Moment To Appreciate My Vast Knowledge & Experience T-Shirt" http://www.findgift.com/gift-ideas/pid-268245/ Band-Aids that look like strips of bacon... http://www.findgift.com/gift-ideas/pid-67836/ There's a "I'm A Ninja (You Can't See Me)" teeshirt, an "I Have More Friends On Facebook Than You" teeshirt, "The 12 Drinking Games of Christmas," personalized toilet paper, a backwards clock, a flask that looks like a camera, a "Mom, I'm Home" personalized laundry bag for those college kids... You can do ALL of your shopping on this site! hehehehee

LOL they even have a "size long" bra. (I don't know why I'm so amused by some of these right now, but I am). I know, most of you are probably just shaking your heads in disgust. :lol:

You know, in case you're having trouble finding that perfect gift this year! http://www.findgift.com/Gift-Types/Humorous/

:iagree: I'm not Christian but all I say to "Merry Christmas" is "Thanks, you too." That's the most polite and easy thing to say to someone who obviously has no idea I don't celebrate Christmas (and the people who are close enough to me to know wouldn't say it to me anyway). But yep I've seen/heard plenty of Christians get all pompous and bullying and indignant about people being asked to say "Happy Holidays" and protesting it and making snotty, sarcastic remarks about being "too PC" (as if that's such a bad thing, and as if it's their right to take over the world and its stores and its schools and its public properties and push their beliefs down everyone else's throat- I mean, heaven forbid some people actually acknowledge with some degree of politeness and respect that not everybody celebrates Christmas and that therefore every public place need not treat it as the only holiday in the world). "Merry Christmas" from someone who is well-meaning but just (for some reason) not really thinking about the fact that not everyone celebrates it- I can handle that in the spirit in which it was intended. But a "Merry Christmas" from someone who is digging in their heels and basically saying "I know not everybody celebrates Christmas but WE'RE the majority here and we WILL have it OUR way and we REFUSE on principal to say "happy holidays" because Christmas is the be all, end all, and if you don't like it, too bad, and if the schools don't like it, we object, and if the stores don't like it, we boycott, and we're going to pass around stupid chain letters and poems about it and get everyone we can on the screw-everybody-else bandwagon".... ...if you REALLY can't find it in your heart to just wish me a "happy holiday," do me a favor. Just tell me to go to hell or something instead. :lol: It'll be more real, at least. ;)

Well, I can't say yet how they hold up, we only gave it to him yesterday lol. Also, we let him play with it in the house...the rockets are pretty soft so they didn't hurt anything. If I let him play with it outside the rockets will probably end up over the fence and in the creek or something :P

We just gave our son a Stomp Rocket. He LOVES it. No little pieces :D (Otherwise I'd have said Knex...he loves those, too!)

For Hanukkah this year, I gave my husband two shirts and I got tickets for he and I to go see a comedy show next month and gave those to him, too (already lined up a babysitter for it and everything!) :D

Well, my 5 year old son got Lincoln Logs and Knex as some of his Hanukkah gifts and I will say that my 10 year old daughter is playing with them just as eagerly as he is! She also likes Littlest Pet shop stuff and wanted a fushigi ball (sp?) and loves playdough. And loves craft kits and sciency kits. She got a make your own bubblegum kit, and a dippin dots maker, and a rock driller, and was REALLY excited by those particular things.

I agree. I went to a pet store meaning to buy two parakeets- and ended up buying three because that was all they had and I felt bad about leaving one there in the pet store all alone haha- but they were NEVER tame, they were bonded to each other and wanted nothing to do with me other than food. They didn't let me pick them up, touch them, etc, no matter how gently or gradually or often I tried. Maybe one would have been different, but I agree now it would have been much better to get one from a breeder instead that was younger and tame- and to get just ONE if you wanted it to bond to YOU instead of each other. With that said- the three I had NEVER fought with each other or hurt each other or anything like someone else described (and I have no idea whether any of them were male or female). My father-in-law and his wife have two lovebirds and the female is definitely dominant over the male. He can't go near the food unless she lets him, and they've got this hanging sleeping tent thingie and he's not allowed in it, ever...she chases him right out. They even tried putting up two so they'd each have their own- but she chased him right out of BOTH of them lol.

And I said "Other" because my kids couldn't care less and don't even wonder what happens to them, if it was just up to ME, I'd throw them away- they're TEETH for crying out loud! However, it's my HUSBAND who insists we keep them nice and safe forever and ever and so HE plays tooth fairy, HE collects the teeth, and HE puts them somewhere...I don't know where because I don't ask, don't wonder, don't care lol.