He is immediately removed from the situation and either gets a "time out" (perhaps on a step) or a "time in" being made to sit next to you on the couch but not playing, if you think he won't stay in a time out. Each time is accompanied by a firm "No hitting, that hurts!" and a comment about "Now you can't play for a few minutes."

I'll second A-Z Mysteries and Encyclopedia Brown. Maybe the Adventures of the Bailey School Kids books, or the "Fudge" series by Judy Blume. There's also the "Stink" series (Judy Moody's brother), The Boxcar Children, Wayside School books, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Yes, if he is interested and you get a good vibe at the getting to know you social from the people who will be in charge. But actually if you are interested and worried, I think what I would do and what you should do is just talk to someone in charge and be honest and tell them you're interested but feel funny about leaving a kid that young with people you have only met once and will they be okay with it if you hang out for the first few gatherings to make sure you and he both feel comfortable with it before you start leaving him alone. If they're good with that, great! If they aren't, I'd have second thoughts about wanting to leave him with them.

I don't have a concise post that describes WHY we homeschool (I'll have to add that sometime)! I do have a post that is a "So what do you do every day?" kind of thing that shows how different each day can be and sort of sums up one particular month of homeschooling with lots of pics to show how homeschooling looks over time, but that there IS no real "typical" day.... you can check that out here, if you'd like: http://nancextoo.livejournal.com/175611.html

I wouldn't want to do an academic co-op. I likely have different educational philosophies and want to do things the way we enjoy doing them (I use a curriculum that's pretty different from the "norm"). I wouldn't want any religion involved because we homeschool secularly (and aren't Christian to begin with). I wouldn't want to have to teach other peoples' kids on any sort of regular schedule (a one time or very short term fun class maybe) because I like the flexibility to sort of come and go as I please.

Not til Labor Day, but good luck to all of you starting now! :)

I think play can definitely stand alone in the earliest years. But maybe, like someone else said, it depends on your definition of play. Mine's pretty broad. My almost 6 y/o had playbased preschool this past year. It included: Lots of board games Lots of read alouds Computer games/video games educational TV shows puzzles, mazes Lots of varied arts and crafts materials Building toys (Lincoln logs, legos, blocks) Manipulatives (pattern blocks, geoboards) Lots of conversational learning games and topics Helping to do things around the house, including baking etc Nature walks and collecting things Extra curricular activities which included teeball, bowling, swim lessons, a couple of Montessori camps, etc. A bin full of dress up clothes, musical instruments and various toys Lots of outings and "field trips" Outside play, imaginative play etc. Making various homemade "books" (a backyard nature book, an "about me" book, an "about my family book," a "hornbook," and so on). He has really learned a lot. We haven't focused on teaching to read yet but do "letters" by making ABC books for fun, games, conversation, songs etc. We haven't focused on formal math but math skills are included in some of our board games, computer games and conversational games and he's picked up a lot that way. I guess I don't get why that isn't "enough" for preschool and/or Kindergarten. I definitely think it is. Nobody started teaching me how to read until I was in first grade and I am a very good avid reader and always have been. Not learning to read at age 4 or 5 and not even starting until I was about 6 1/2 worked just fine for me. And I see no reason why it couldn't wait until 7 or 8 if a child wasn't ready/interested by 5 or 6.

I really like the Anita Blake series- I've read them all. And also the Merry Gentry series by the same author. The JR Ward "Black Dagger Brotherhood" books are great...I think I even like them better than the Anita Blake books! And if you like all those, you'll probably enjoy the ones by Karen Marie Moning too- I'm just finishing up the first in the series called Darkfever...it's a good, easy/quick read along the same lines as the ones mentioned above.

I like "funfetti" with vanilla frosting. And I'd probably do cupcakes and let the girls each decorate their own with a variety of sprinkles and such. If it's still hot out and you'll be doing outside stuff, what about water play? Sprinkler, water balloons, maybe filling a trash bag with water and hanging it for kids to hit like a pinata til the water soaks them (saw that in Family Fun mag :D), playing catch with a new/clean wet sponge, drawing with chalk and so on. You could always figure out relay race type things. If inside, my daughter is usually good at entertaining herself with her friends and wouldn't really need me to come up with games and stuff.

Ok, here's how we did it. We cooked a box of elbow macaroni. We used 1/4 cup of butter and melted it and added enough flour to make the "roux" and then slowly stirred in 1 cup of half and half and 2 cups of 1 percent milk (instead of the 3 cups of milk that recipe called for). We put about a tablespoon of minced garlic from a jar and some salt and pepper into that. We then stirred in two cups of cheese... my husband bought a store brand shredded cheddar and a store brand colby and monterray jack mix, pre-shredded, and we did a bit more than a cup of each, and a bit less than a 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese. Once the cheese was melted and thickened a bit, we poured it over the macaroni, stirred it, and meanwhile we melted 2 more tablespoons of butter and put like 8 crushed Ritz crackers into it and stirred that around a bit, and topped the macaroni and cheese mixture with it. Stuck it in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes, and waiting on it to come out now. It looks and smells good, anyway. I'll let you know how it tastes lol. Thanks again for the responses! ETA: I really liked it, my husband really liked it, my brother really liked it, both of my kids liked it (ages almost 11 and almost 6), two of his (meaning my brother's) three kids liked it (8 y/o twins), and the other (5 y/o) didn't DISLIKE it but didn't like it as much as the boxed stuff he's used to eating. So I'll call it a hit and we'll be holding onto the recipe to make again someday! :)

Thanks again for all the responses! I showed them all to hubby and he's off to the store, going to take the info and sort of do his own thing. He actually IS a good cook (much better than I am!); we just never did homemade mac and cheese before. Oh, actually, we did once, using some recipe or other we found online, and found that one to be just alright. Wish us luck, we'll see how it comes out tonight! Going to have it with hot dogs wrapped in cheese and those crescent rolls that come in cans which you then bake...we'll bake the hot dogs in the crescent rolls. I know, totally NOT a healthy dinner, but we are in the mood for it. We'll have salad on the side to try to make up for it haha.

I like orange lol. (But I wouldn't choose colors that aren't neutral for somebody else!) Ah well, cover some of it with pieces of furniture, pictures on the wall, whatever. Maybe you can accessorize a little in a way that will make it stand out in a more positive way. The dirtiness is horrible though! I would be complaining about that and asking them to clean it or have it cleaned or deduct something from the rent for my time and supplies- people should not have to move into a place that isn't already clean!! Glad to hear your MIL is helping you. Eat the chocolate! Good luck with everything. :)

Do a stirfry kind of thing and serve with rice?

Thanks for the recipe! Kiana, thanks for the tutorial...guess you can tell I am not much of a cook LOL

Thank you for the reply! Do you have any preference as to brand of Cheddar Cheese to buy for best taste? (And I confess I have no idea what a "roux" is, going to have to look that one up lol).

I mean, we COULD just open a couple of boxes of Velveeta Shells and Cheese like we always do but for some reason I have it in my head that we should try homemade mac and cheese instead. Somebody tell me how. :) Thanks!

This week I am reading "Little Town On The Prairie" with my daughter. As for myself, I am reading "A Feast For Crows" by George R.R. Martin (fourth in the Game of Thrones/Song Of Ice and Fire series). But I stopped that one temporarily for a quickie read (finishing it within two days of reading) called "Darkfever" by Karen Marie Moning (first in a series, human girl finds out she's got abilities and gets involved with fairy/supernatural stuff kind of thing). It arrived via interlibrary loan so I wanted to read it quick and get it back to them. Should finish it today and will get back to A Feast For Crows which is over 900 pages long. Hopefully I'll finish it on time and not have to pay late fees like I did for A Storm of Swords. :D

Just saw this, wanted to say thanks for the recommendation! I will have to check it out! I am currently reading A Feast For Crows but put it aside for a quickie read that came in from interlibrary loan that I'd forgotten I'd even ordered- I think zennjenn recommended it but not sure! It's called Darkfever and is the first in a series by Karen Marie Moning. It was recommended to me because I like stuff by J.R. Ward, Anita Blake, and the Sookie Stackhouse books. :D I read more than half of it yesterday, will finish it today, will order the next in the series and go back to A Feast For Crows. I've got the Duchessina book on my "list" though. Thanks again! :D (And Mommyfaithe, thanks for your comment on the list of stuff I'm reading with my daughter. I don't post about it regularly because I know most people are just doing and discussing adult books). :)

I'm with you! I did not use a curriculum for preschool, nothing formal, no workbooks (other than occasionally doing mazes because he liked them), no worksheets etc. It was very informal, play-based, conversational, interest-led and so on. My son will be 6 in November and I do plan on starting K with him in September- it is a curriculum, but it's a Waldorf-inspired, hands-on, not overly academic one that won't take us more than an hour or so a day to do.

If it's to ask what a word means or to ask a question about something we just read or to comment on something we just read, then I appreciate that she's interested and curious and paying attention and I answer the question/define the word/look up a picture of something they're talking about when my daughter wants to know what something looks like, or whatever the case may be. I do sometimes hold my finger up for her to wait a moment while I at least finish reading the sentence I'm on. But I don't expect her to wait til I finish a whole page or anything. If it's for something totally unrelated to the book and unimportant, I will explain to her that I would prefer not to be interrupted while I'm reading unless it's important (like she has to go to the bathroom or sees something wrong with her little brother or some such), or unless it pertains to what we are reading.

I don't know. But just to throw it out there, my daughter's doctor does not look "down there" when my daughter gets an annual checkup! (My daughter is almost 11). I wouldn't think it necessary for a doctor to be looking "down there" unless 1) it's a gynecologist or 2) parent/child are complaining of a problem "down there." Maybe it's just me?

I would have been ticked off, too. Mainly because I DO NOT LIKE HAM! Never did, in any form. Never will. Not deli ham, not baked ham, I just don't.like.ham. I DO however enjoy sausage, bacon, pork chops, etc. Just not the taste of ham. So I'd have been pretty upset to find that ham was put on anything I ordered when it was supposed to come with something else. They should have either told you when you ordered or called you back to let you know that they had run out of something and asked if you wanted a different kind of meat, or for them to double up on one of the other meats, or a different pizza altogether or what.

I think she's ridiculous but I would take the kitten back and try again because otherwise I'd be afraid she would dump it at the pound or something. I also wouldn't want to worry about the dog hurting it.

Love. Here's a link to a review I wrote telling why, showing our standardized test scores after one year of TT, etc: http://nancextoo.livejournal.com/124221.html

My daughter will be 11 in October and she doesn't have a set bedtime as in "you must be in bed by 9 PM on the dot every single night"- if she seems tired or whatever, I very well may tell her to go to bed at 9 and that she can read a chapter and then go to sleep. Other times she may stay up later watching a movie with us or just chatting, or quietly playing a computer game. Most nights she's definitely in bed before 10, other times she stays up late just hanging out with her dad. Is she allowed to just stay up as late as she wants playing video games or something though? No. She usually sleeps til between 9 and 9:30 AM.