aw I hope you feel better soon, and have a great first day despite the printer!

Aw. I'm sorry. I say call a do-over and pretend your first good day is your first day lol. I hope you feel better, I remember how rotten morning sickness was with my last pregnancy!

another "no" here. And I'm not overly strict about what my kids watch. :D

If you already can't stand it, it's not for you. Find something you can all enjoy! deschool a bit, have fun, live life, explore, do hands on stuff, create, go on field trips, read good books, take a little more time researching a curriculum you might all really LIKE! :) Also maybe check out meetup.com to see if there are any homeschool groups in your area so you guys can meet some people! Welcome and good luck with everything!

I got my packet in the mail today, AND it included a free game! Last year they didn't give me a game til the end, this year they sent one with the initial packet. Did anyone else get theirs?

Very nice! Seems a good fit for your family. And I like Eva or Eve or Evie for a nickname.

hate it!

Very exciting! I plan to start a week from tomorrow. I hope you have a great first day! :)

We've done things like: Make a storyboard Make a comic strip from one of your favorite scenes Draw a picture of one of your favorite scenes Write a new ending to the story (or add a new adventure) Write a letter to one of the characters about his/her behavior Answer these few questions about the story Pretend you are a reporter on the scene describing one of the events in the story "as it happens" (can even video record this) Sometimes we've done the plain old "write what the book was about" kind of thing, or "describe the main characters, the plot and the setting." And sometimes I think plain old discussion does a lot, too! Other ideas: act out a skit/scene like a little play, draw the main characters, maybe come up with some sort of craft or recipe relevant to the book. I don't assign "grades" as of now. I didn't last year for 4th grade and don't intend to this year for 5th.

My daughter had two penpals at once (two friends who live in Poland and who learned English with a woman from a message board I used to go to. They practiced their English by writing letters to my daughter, and then she'd write back to each of them). But they stopped corresponding. She just acquired a new one through this board and wrote her first letter today :D But my daughter is almost 10. My son, who is the same age as your daughter (will be 5 in November) cannot read, write or spell anything other than "B-E-N" yet, so no penpals for him for a while. :) We're keeping preschool and Kindergarten very laid back and will save the whole learning to read/write and spell thing for 1st grade. Maybe when he's in like 2nd grade I'll start looking for a penpal for him, if he's interested!

How about instead of a card you invite him over for a home cooked meal on Friday? Or out to dinner? Or lunch? Call him up or send him an email or however you usually communicate and say "I'm sure this Friday will be hard for you. We miss so and so, too. We would love for you to come over and have dinner with us rather than being home alone on her birthday" or some such? If you're not up to that, then I think a note or a "thinking of you" type card is a lovely gesture.

Yes!

playdough preschool computer games a geoboard pattern blocks a one hole punch with some paper an audiobook an age appropriate movie a bunch of old buttons or something he can just sift and sort and stack and do whatever he wants with

I never could do even one single measly pushup. I don't know if I could do a program like that lol. I'm doing the Leslie Sansone Walk Away The Pounds DVDs here and there while I wait for my appt at the gym. Leslie is much kinder than Jillian lol. But maybe once I get a little further into this I'll check out some of those Jillian DVDs.

Hey, *I* wasn't at this at 1:20 in the morning. It was all those other crackpots! hehe. Ooh what a good compliment from your son! Is this the Jillian Michael's thing you are talking about...?

Me and the retired cabana boy, we refuse to even try Nutella. We are positive it can't possibly be all it's, er, cracked up to be.

Totally honest? "Emmaleigh" looks way too "trendy" and "fluffy" or something compared to all the more classic names you gave all of your other kids. And compared to the middle name you want to pair it with as well. It doesn't seem to "match" really. But if you don't care about that, go for it. Emily is a nice name and that's what most people will "hear" anyway. Like Pamela, I'd rather make Leigh Ruth two different middle names.

I think K would be best. And probably more enjoyable! :)

What a crock!

Survivor American Idol The Biggest Loser Fringe

Oh, I had quite a lot of fun playing with them when we went to a Playmobil fun park while in Florida. But then again, I'm a little weird. hehe. Let me see if it works attaching a picture from when we went.

LOL...he's alright. But go back to page 25. I think it was post number 245 or 246. hehe.

Would it be too greedy to want both? Yes? I thought so. You should bookmark this thread and drag it up for your 10,000th post. It can be, like, the thread that never dies. (Scary thought, I know). Nite :)

Wooo Hooo It's a 5,000 Post Party! :hurray::party::cheers2: Cute joke!

<waits for the 5,000th post>