Hello, I had downloaded the base/free dungeon version of Timez Attack for my 9 y/o fourth grader to try so that she can become stronger at having her times tables memorized, after having read some reviews on this site. She tried it out this morning and she really loved it. She is now begging me to buy the full version, so she can access all levels. This costs $39.99. I've read good reviews about the game, here and otherwise, and I'm not opposed to spending the money if she's going to enjoy it and it's going to help her learn, but what I'm a little concerned about value-wise is that it took her half an hour tops to totally complete/beat that dungeon level. Would I be basically paying $40.00 for what will amount to two hours of gameplay (for all four levels) for her to have totally beat the levels? That doesn't seem very open-ended! I'd appreciate any feedback on this from those of you who have/use it. Thanks in advance! Nance

Wow, that IS a lot to deal with. You need help- and you should not be afraid to ask for it! It sounds like your husband needs to be giving you HIS assistance, not the other way around. Look how many single moms go to school and work AND take care of kids- your husband is "only" going to school and when he comes home, he should be helping you with everything else, not expecting you to keep "the kids out of his way." Do the kids have any grandparents nearby who might be able to help out a bit more with the kids? Watching them and maybe helping them with some of their work while you do school, or playing with your three year old while you work with your 10 year old, etc? If your daughter is going to end up (or has just recently ended up) on medication for her issues, she may start to become a bit easier to deal with. Three is a tough age in general (I always joke that the "terrible twos" were just practice for parenting a three year old), and if your almost one year old is anything like my now four year old was when he was that age, nursing was a part-time job in and of itself- although perhaps you could nurse him from within a sling or something that will keep your hands free for doing other things? I know it doesn't help right now but they will likely become easier as time goes on, the three year old won't stay three forever, the one year old won't nurse forever.... With all that said, I also think you have no choice but to pick and choose your priorities right now. I don't think you should put very much energy into a photography business (or any at all, in fact) if you are a full time student with everything else going on- focus on school and the kids and on getting your husband or other relatives to help you out with those two things. If you are desperate for money and you are a full time student and your husband is a full time student on Unemployment, there must be some sort of government aid you guys can qualify for if you need help- whether it is food stamps, medicaid, help with your electric bill, or whatever the case may be. Talk to counselors at school and ask if there is any help or leeway they can give you so you don't have the stress of the whole "failure to progress" thing on your shoulders on top of everything else. And don't stress too much about whether your oldest is completing full days of school or whatever right now, pick the very basics you want her to keep up with and do it barebones for now, without a lot of busywork, and if she's got educational hobbies or things she's into, let her focus on those. How much schooling do you and/or your husband have left? Is there a light at the end of the tunnel anytime soon? Good luck, I really do hope everything starts looking up for you.

Old Yeller and Lion King? I'll have to think on that one some more! ETA: Where The Red Fern Grows, Charlotte's Web, Bambi and Up also have death in them. Not sure if you are looking for things along those lines.

You guys are right, of course. I'm going to email the members of my group explaining and asking them to let me know if they are okay with or have any problems with their kids occasionally appearing with my kids in a picture. I was thinking of examples like where I took pictures of my daughter playing kickball with some kids from our homeschool group the other day, and I had a picture of her from across the field out on her base, but of course other kids were in the picture, too. It was from a distance though. Or when she was going to kick and some other kids were on line behind her. Or when we were on a field trip and the kids were at tables making things out of clay for part of an American Indian workshop, and I took a picture of her making her bowl and saw that I happened to have another kid in profile in the background from the table next to hers... I always wondered if I had to totally avoid ever posting any of those pictures that show any other kid or what. I will see what the parents in my homeschool group say. Thanks for the feedback!

My 9 y/o gets easily distracted, too, and can be poky about getting things done. I don't think it's ADD or anything like that. I think she's just like that.

So, I maintain a "livejournal"/blog- basically recording our day to day lives as homeschoolers, and for most entries, I include pictures of what we are doing on a given day. Now, I never post a picture of JUST someone else's kids; any picture I post, I post because it has my kids in it. And I never include any identifying information about anyone else's kids. And I TRY to post pictures most of the time that only have my kids in them, when possible, or at least not clear shots of other kids who aren't my own. But a lot of the time what we do in our day to day lives involves group activities with other kids in our homeschool group (or sometimes with neighborhood kids). And so some of the pictures I take of my kids that I want to post on my journal site involves them being engaged in activities WITH these other kids. What is the etiquette for that? Is it okay to post pictures in that circumstance? Is it wrong to post pictures that have someone else's kids in it no matter what? Do I need to go clear it with all the other moms in the group and/or neighborhood before posting pics that might show one of their kids in it? I'm just curious what your thoughts are! Thanks!

Me too! I'm about to go look on my library's website and see if I can find it, now I want to read it :D

Yep. My daughter's 9 1/2 and she's had crushes on boys since she was probably about 7, talking about who she's going to marry and saying somebody was her "boyfriend" (she said that he and his mom and her and I should all go on a picnic together), and commenting on whether a boy is cute. It's innocent and normal. Not to mention sometimes they just copy what they hear other, older kids say. I wouldn't read too much into that boy's comments or what that means about how he's brought up. Seriously.

I'm sorry, but this is a no brainer to me. I would immediately bring it to the attention of the kids' parents and the principal and the teacher. They ARE bullying him. You need to do everything you can to put a stop to it, and not refrain from doing so because they MIGHT keep bullying him more sneakily if you turn them in. Turn them in. Today. Now. Keep the lines of communication open with your son, and if it persists (sneakily or otherwise) turn them in again and demand that something be done about it. I'd also make sure he was NOT in a class with those particular boys again next year, if you keep him in school. Poor kid :(

I think it's just hair (and her hair, no less) and it isn't a permanent, irreversible decision. If she wants bangs, let her get bangs. If she doesn't like the bangs, she'll grow them out again. :)

Hm well I don't know, my daughter is only in fourth grade this year, and I've only been homeschooling her for a little over a year to begin with. She was in public school from Kindergarten through most of third grade (I pulled her out at the end of third grade). I DO know that the schools where I live aren't very good if you want to go by those standardized tests they focus so strongly on- the results come out in the paper in July usually, providing the details of how all the area schools scored, and with the exception of one, every district around here across the board- every grade, every subject, "did not meet state average." The school I pulled my daughter out of was the third worst. So something they are doing is just not very effective, and it probably has something to do with the whole standardized test/teaching to the test thing to begin with. It's too stressful, it's not well-rounded enough- and then there were a million other reasons I didn't like her experiences in public school. We love homeschooling. Would I consider public school again years down the road if I felt like I was no longer capable of teaching her (and/or that she wasn't capable of learning on her own)...? I guess so! But for now homeschooling is going really well; and I did have her take a standardized test (for "fun" as far as she was concerned) just to get an idea of where things stood after over a year of my fairly relaxed homeschooling, and she scored just fine. So I have no worries for her or myself at the moment. If that ever changes and I can see that things aren't working or she suddenly starts scoring "below average" or something, then it would be time to reconsider our methods. I do think I'd reconsider our curriculum/method first, and then explore bringing in a tutor, before I'd reconsider sticking her back in those schools though. But as a last resort? If I felt I had to, I would.

After taking a peek at this thread, I'm going to check out that Leapfrog DVD you guys are talking about- they have it on Netflix, so I'm going to borrow it from there :)

My daughter was in Brownies for a couple of years and is now in her first year as a Junior. I just re-registered her for next year, and it was only $12.00 to re-register. Plus we pay $1.00 a week dues. We do do the cookie sales once or twice a year but the "goal" is low enough that it's easy to meet, and we never experienced it being competitive. Unfortunately, Girl Scouts (in my experience) is NOT all about things like camping and cool stuff like that, I wish it was! They mostly tend to do craft type stuff, or sometimes baking something, or sometimes stuff having to do with planting seeds (this year). Field trips aren't very frequent. I don't think overall that it's as "cool" as it could be in general, but she still enjoys going.

Yep, I meant that OM is very laid back for a Kindergartener and it's more like a hands-on preschool program, very art and crafts and nature and story based etc. Very laid back on "academics," like it focuses on learning the upper case letters of the alphabet in creative hands-on ways rather than a formal learning to read and write kind of thing. I love it. If the OP is talking about math and language arts and handwriting and so on for a Kindergartener and there's a part of her that feels like that's too much, I'm just telling her I understand/agree with the part of her that is thinking along those lines- I prefer much more laid back in those early years. I'm sure she'll make whatever decision suits her and her family in the end. P.S. I totally agree that no formal curriculum is necessarily needed for Kindergarten- and it's also true that OM is expensive (I got a fantastic deal on a used curriculum, though). But I adore their whole philosophy and approach- my 4th grader and I have loved doing OM4 this year, and I'm looking forward to doing OMK with my son in the fall.

I agree with the part of you that says that is ridiculous for a kindergartener. lol. Sorry. If you're open to alternative suggestions, I highly recommend Oak Meadow :D (Although I don't think they "do" curriculum fairs and the like).

I would ask them what THEY wanted to do, and I'd go with that.

My daughter was NEVER big on dolls. But I myself played with mine til I was at least 11 :)

Selfish? Not at all! We're having a blast AND I think she's getting a better education. AND enjoying childhood more!

I like this one: http://members.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/handprint/bouquet/ It's easy and cute. There's also a link that says "Mother's Day" that you can click for more ideas. This one is listed for father's day (we actually did this one here last year) but it could be done as a "Mom" thing as easily as a "Dad" thing: http://members.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/fathersday/dadcard/

Here's a site that has some really fun, creative fundraising ideas, including some that won't cost you anything! http://www.fundraising-ideas.org/DIY/index.html

Ugh, no. That's likely to make her decide she hates music/piano/whatever. It's just too controlling IMHO. I mean kids already "have" to do school, chores, errands, etc., now we have to force their interests on them, too, tell them what they HAVE to do in their spare time- even if they don't want to? She IS an individual, let her make the choice. Maybe when she's older she'll decide to do something with her natural talent. Maybe she won't. But there is no reason something like that shouldn't be her own choice and develop naturally. Heck, it already IS developing naturally if she's starting to play on her own- don't squash that by making it feel like it isn't her choice or that she has to rebel or that it's no longer fun. Just let her know that lessons will be available to her if/when she wants them, that you think she has a natural talent, (even reassure her that she can do lessons on a trial period of she wants and that you will not force her to continue if she doesn't want to) and then let it go.

I would not go. You are not being a baby at all! When I found out my father was dying of brain cancer and that he would like to see me before he died, I said yeah right, you were happy to live without me, go ahead and die without me. And all HE did was abandon my family when I was like 10 and decide to never be heard from for years and years. He didn't sexually abuse me or anything, how awful. I'd never put myself in the emotionally traumatic position of being around a person like that. Not for anyone's sake. I also, like others said, would not lie about or for him. I would tell your brother exactly why you will not go, and then tell him I'd be happy to pay for or help pay for his ticket if he ever wanted to come visit me separately. I just read your most recent post, and all I can say is that I would never take the chance or make the assumption that your brother wll never leave his child alone with your father, or that your father has really changed. Your brother will not be as hurt by hearing something like that about his father as he would be if he has to experience his father doing something like that to his children, right? I'm sorry you went through this and that you are still dealing with the fallout from it. :(

I'll be 49 or 50. I'll probably spend part of my time hanging around my husband's shop, assuming he still has one, part of my time volunteering somewhere, maybe there will be grandkids....

My 4 1/2 year old son is in a Britax Boulevard carseat with 5 point harness. I'm not sure how long I'll keep him in there. But he's still fitting comfortably and I love that seat (and paid a lot for it lol) so I'm in no rush to take him out. I forget how old my daughter was when I first put her INTO a booster seat (as opposed to a carseat), but she stayed in it until she was 8 (using a highbacked Graco TurboBooster) and now she doesn't use anything except for the seatbelt. She's 9 1/2 now. And she's only allowed to sit in the back seat and of course she must always wear her seatbelt. Whenever I get around to taking my son out of his carseat (not in the very near future) he'll go into her old Graco TurboBooster).

I like the idea of letting him pick one or two of his closest friends and doing a camping overnight just with them. I actually like doing birthday parties here! When my daughter turned 6, we invited just the girls from her class (she was in public school at the time) to meet us at a local mall at the nail salon, and each girl got her fingernails painted and a design put on, then we moved across the hall to the pizza parlor where relatives met us and we had pizza and cake there. When she turned 7, we invited just the girls from her class and had a tea party at a local bed and breakfast. They all dressed up and were served finger sandwiches and tea for lunch. When she turned 8, we had a "story book" party here at our house (again just the girls) and everyone dressed up as their favorite book character and we did book related games and activities, and I made the cake with a book shaped pan and printed out a "once upon a time there was a girl named Alexa who loved books" page, and a picture of her, and Walmart printed it for me as an edible picture that we could put on the cake (I got the idea online, loved the idea)! When she turned 9 it was her first year not in public school and her dad and I took her for a special overnight at a hotel with a pool (her b-day is in October and she always wanted a pool party but can't have one due to cold weather lol), and then combined a party at a local community building that has table games and sports activities and a rock climbing wall and stuff like that for her and her brother, whose birthday is 5 weeks after hers (he just turned 4) and we invited family and friends from the homeschool group and ordered pizzas. I remember turning 10 was such a huge deal to me when I was a kid (double digits)! but I think at that stage we won't be trying to do group birthdays for her anymore (unless we combine hers and his again) but next year I'd like to take her and one friend to do a zoo overnight, which a local zoo around here offers, I think it would be such a neat idea (and she thinks so too). So I definitely think there are special ways b-days can be celebrated, with a close friend, rather than big group events- but I DO think they should be celebrated in fun ways- maybe because I can't remember ever really having birthday parties when I was a kid and I feel like I missed out lol.