I've read the WHOLE thread. :coolgleamA: Whew. But now I'm more confused. I have a boy who is about to turn 10. Going in to 4th grade. He has been very slow to catch reading. He's just now really getting going - light bulb went off I guess. He is currently reading A Series of Unfortunate Events book one and doesn't struggle too much except for multisyllabic words (he missed "puttanesca" :001_rolleyes: ) Writing is a big issue. I would say he struggles some with pencil phobia. Cannot sit still long enough to do boring workbook pages. I have worked with him some on copywork but I am too streched thin to keep making them as I go. He also is not very good at all with manuscript to I began cursive. I think I want to move forward with ELtL level 2. I'm ready in 4th to start grammar, I like all the samples I have seen and I know I can modify the copywork a bit if there are selections that are too long. Here are my questions: If he is reading at the level stated above, do I need to continue reading instruction with RLtL? He completed SSRW and I believe knows his phonograms pretty well, however it was not an OG method so it might be like starting over. He needs to progress in his reading, figuring out rules for multisyllable words, and needs lots of help with spelling. Is RLtL a good choice? I can't imagine starting at level 1, level 2 I guess would work, but the readers look soooooo easy. Or would something like LoE Essentials work better for firming up phonics and spelling? If I do the copywork as outlined in ELtL, do I still need the handwriting program? Can he just copy the samples? If so, should I get the workbook so I have pages to print for him to use? I don't think he's quite ready to just see it on a tablet and copy it to a comp notebook. Thanks for any help you can provide!

Or what if I am so busy with school that I forget to set my crock pot humming for dinner and now I don't know what to serve for dinner because we have to get out the door for a spelling bee? :rolleyes:

Our church is 30 minutes away on a Sunday morning, more like 45 on a weeknight. And that is taking the toll road, so you add up time, gas, and tolls and it's getting to be tough. We joined there after really seeking super strong teaching and I will say I have yet to find anyone as good of a preacher as my pastor. He is just awesome. BUT, we feel like we have no relationships. Like the OP, most of the other attenders live on that side of town. We would like to find a new church but most of them are very seeker around here and my husband won't compromise to go to watered down teaching. The search continues.

If the avatar is the same it's not that hard to figure out. But I am feeling a little lost. Where is everyone? Why are so many people changing names? Is it the whole FB thing? I just don't get it. I feel late to a big event and am trying to catch up! :glare:

We are getting ours tickets to Taylor Swift. They aren't technically on sale yet, so we'll have to make some kind of a gift card idea. She will FLIP OUT. Also either Bieber or T.Swift perfume, jewelry, clothes, music. Something Hunger Games too. I love the idea of cooking things, like a donut machine, mentioned up thread. She'd love that!

I love loaded cauliflower. Steam it then load it with cheese and butter and sour cream and bacon! I also often make a burger patty topped with sautéed mushrooms and then topped with Swiss cheese. I made a delicious cauliflower soup with puréed cauliflower and cream that I froze in single serve portions. I often pull that out on a cold day even just to have alongside some turkey and cheese roll ups.

I searched but didn't find anything. I find older people the hardest to buy for. I need some ideas for my elderly MIL, who is 80, and not very active. She doesn't like gadgets. She is c-o-m-p-l-e-t-e-l-y set in her ways that she rejects anything new. She lives alone right now but that will change very soon when we combine households. She reads, but mostly the paper and magazines, so new books are not really a good option. BUT I did get an idea from here some time ago about a memoir about growing up on a farm in the 30's. I will get her that. She does not do any handicrafts. She does not cook. She does not have any desire to change her brands of hand lotion. She does not wear make-up or do her hair or wear perfumes. She has her housecoat style and is not willing to change. I got her a Keurig last year and she hated it. I got her some slippers and she hated them too. She doesn't listen to music. She doesn't watch movies. The main TV shows she likes are her "stories" - daytime soaps. And she watches reruns of The Waltons and Little House on the Prairie. When I say set in her ways, I mean it. Or you might call it *particular* to certain things and unwilling to change or adapt. I'm at a loss for a few small gift ideas!! :confused::glare:

:toetap05:

Except for the DUPLO set, these are regular sized Lego, right? I see on the site it mentions them in the preschool category. We have a whole bunch of Lego mostly from sets that were built and then torn apart and never put together again. My son is in to trying to build Minecraft spaces from regular bricks right now. Those sets look like a fun way to add a bunch more building options but they would need to fit with the size he uses now. Just curious if you know.

I vote Charlotte too. It goes best with the other girls very feminine names. Charlotte Jane is SO CUTE. But I really love Harper. Harper Joelle is a great name.

OMG! I totally feel like this! I am reading the thread going ... "what now...? who...? wait, wha...?" :willy_nilly:

I am so sorry. My dd will be devastated when her guinea pigs die. :crying::grouphug:

I had frozen some homemade calzones during my last batch cook, so I pulled those out and put them with some tomato sauce. I don't eat carbs so I am having a hamburger patty smothered in sauteed mushrooms in butter. :tongue_smilie:

I've lost a cinder block!!

Safety mode will block comments. It doesn't seem to block the suggested videos on the side bar and it doesn't block you from clicking on them. That's why I don't allow my children access to youtube unless I pull a video up. I think though if you are on a certain "channel" then only videos that relate to that will come up, so my son (in the room with me and me looking over his shoulder) sometimes watches Lego movies or Minecraft, and my dd likes Taylor Swift's channel.

I had to finally get in to see a naturopathic MD. They call themselves "integrated medicine". An MD who looks more at the whole person. Could you try to find someone like that? :grouphug:

Can you all share what a pediatrician might do/say? Will they likely want to do a blood draw? We had an appointment but I canceled it. DD said if they wanted to do blood she'd refuse. It scares her to death. This is a strong, healthy girl. I don't believe there is anything medically wrong in the sense that she has some kind of thyroid or vitamin imbalance. I also do not see a correlation to food allergy. I can still take her in, but she is freaking at the thought of giving blood. I am just so uncertain if what I am dealing with is truly anxiety, or a cycle of some kind. Maybe like bi-polar. I don't know how to know. There is certainly a great deal of anxiety. I don't think she's depressed. She has very down moods, but very sort-of manic ones too. OP, can you share how you knew it was anxiety? Sorry to sound dumb. I have done reading online and it scares me more...you know how that is!

What about the newer versions of Emma (Gwyneth Paltrow) or P&P (Kiera Knightly)? My dd loved Ever After too.

Thank you Lisa!

Can anyone point to good trusted resources to help me know if I have a child that needs help? I have a 12 yo who seems to be struggling but I am not sure if it's normal to her personality (which is quite anxious) or part of the hormone poisoning of being 12 (even though I saw a lot of this on a lesser scale before puberty), or something more serious. :confused:

Recipe? I luurrrvveee me some cauliflower! My family is having homemade chicken pot pie from my big batch cooking this weekend. I'm doing low/no carb so I will have a burger patty and some kind of veg probably. Maybe some cauli!

I don't have much to share as my oldest is in Challenge A and I am tutoring it, so I am underwater with that endeavor. But, in the past I have enhanced CC a lot with Half a Hundred Acre Wood's blog resources. Here's the link. If you poke around there a while you will find her schedule and a bunch about what she does to enhance all the subjects.

There is a ministry called Bags of Grace that does this. You can either organize your local group to put some together to keep in your car, or make them as a group and give them to Bags of Grace to distribute.

I just think it's a combo of industry and location. In my dh's industry (graphic design) companies outsource so much of what they need you would think freelancing would be a snap. Not necessarily. The volume of freelancers for every job is unreal. They are also younger and cheaper than he is. Or they outsource jobs like creating a logo overseas. There are scams on Craigslist like "make a new corporate identity for our company - logo, brochure, web, etc and win us as a client!". They pay the winner $300 for all that work and you never hear from them again. But we live in an area (TX) that is doing very, very well. If my dh was in IT like just about all our friends we would not be struggling. He was not gifted in that way and I guess chose the wrong profession. It makes me so sad because he is SO GOOD at what he does. Really incredible.

Thank you Joann! This was a really thought provoking and heart wrenching post. Gave me a lot to think about...for myself. I am asking myself these questions because I do at times feel hyper-critical of my 12yo dd. I really do need to find some ways to show my love, appreciation and approval of her - not related to school work - and not related to accomplishment. :grouphug: