*sigh* I LOVED Little Dorrit. I would end each disc and sit there and ponder those characters. The actor that played the French guy - oh, he was FANTASTIC!!!! I just loved the whole thing! and now I have a tiny crush on Matthew MacFayden:001_wub: Watching "Emma" right now. Love it! And the version of S&S mentioned above is my favorite, I just saw it a few weeks ago. Should I queue up "Bleak House"? I've been wondering. It looks kinda depressing.

Wow! Free!? That's awesome! I use something similar. Mine is a chrome frame with boxes in clearish white. There are 10 boxes and they work beautifully!!! I make my schedule according to those boxes (I taped a 1-10 on the front) and my dd knows where to find all her materials for those subjects. Love it! :D

I was lucky to find a group when I first started hs'ing that didn't have any requirements at all. We've since become a little more closed and do have a statement of faith, but no requirements for attendance or duties. To be honest, it often seems that since there are no requirements, there is less participation. But that's the nature of it I guess!

Can't wait to hear what you think of it! It's been on my list for a while but my library doesn't carry it. I'll just have to buy it I guess. I'm still reading Portrait of an Unknown Woman. Just not enough hours in the day. And I'm also reading Protecting the Gift as mentioned here several times. I also finally got TWTM from the library and am trying to read as I can. Gonna buy that one fur sure!

I tried Winnie the Pooh and my kids got lost. It had to do with changing the narrator. First it was the author talking, then it was Christopher Robin, then it was CR inside the story, then Pooh, then back to CR as the kid - but not in the story. My kids were like :001_huh::confused: Maybe if the voice had changed it would have made it more clear. My library has all audio books outside the kids section near the DVDs and CDs, but inside the kids area are the younger kids audio books that have an actual book with them. Unfortunately lots of these are on tape and we don't have a tape player very handy, but I get the ones I can on CD. They my son (he's 5) can keep the book on his lap as we drive along and try to follow along with the pics. Or we will also use the regular audio of books that are for younger kids like Magic Tree House, Hank the Cowdog, Dr. Seuss, anything that's more for a 1st or 2nd grader will work for one that young. Simpler stories and vocabulary.

On Wednesdays when my dd has her one-day enrichment school thingie I make scrambled eggs and toast and fruit, so she gets that engine going. Other mornings it's usually whatever we can grab - muffins, frozen waffles or pancakes (I try to find the healthiest I can or make my own and freeze), toast and yogurt, HB eggs, or cereal. I am attempting to keep breakfast super healthy and it always includes a fruit, a complex high-fiber carb, and protein. I wish my dd liked oatmeal! My ds does, but I don't want to cook steel-cut for one little boy who will only eat about 3 tablespoons! What's baked oatmeal and will a non-oatmeal lover like it (I think it's the gloppy mushy quality she doesn't like)? Oh, also if we are heading out the door I will sometimes make a whole-grain tortilla with ham and melted cheese and a fruit for breakfast. They like that too.

I agree with K. Your agent doesn't sound like he's doing anything for you. But I would chalk it up to inexperience not greed about commission. Think about it. The difference in a 3% commission on a $200,000 vs a $230,000 is $900, and even at that by the time he splits it with his broker it's even more insignificant. No, I doubt that's it. You might want to really have a heart to heart and tell him your concerns, that you want him to be able to help you make sure the price is right ,etc. Or else you will want to speak to his broker. He won't want that. Sometimes agents are missing some key training in "customer service". And it's a shame because it's such a service oriented business he will never be able to be successful without referrals! And depending on your interest rate, a difference in price of $1,000 only makes about $8 difference in your payment. So you can add that up and figure one house is X and another at $15k more is $120 more a month. That's not too earth shattering. I'm still trying to absorby my coffee and not remembering, but are you choosing between a foreclosure and new where the fc is $30k less, or are you worried that an fc has sold already at $30k less and affects the appraisal and fair market value of the one you are considering? If so, fc's do affect appraisals but do not have the impact you might think they do. One or two fc's in a neighborhood do not bring down the whole neighborhood's value in the same way as if ALL homes in your county have dropped in value $100k or something. If I were looking at a new home under these circumstances, I would choose the new over the resale. A newer home will hold it's value longer. Older homes have advantages like often time larger lots, mature trees, location closer to work areas, etc. But the newer a home is often it will hold it's value in a flatlining or declining market. I'd have a heart to heart with your agent. Tell him you want to see the comps for the neighborhood and you want him to do a CMA (Comparable Market Analysis) so that you can see exactly what's been sold - especially those homes within about a year of age as the one you are considering. New spec homes are often sold via MLS to get out to the realtor market so he should be able to find a few. Then make your decision based on what feels right for your family. Remember, real estate is an investment, yes, but what are the odds that you are going to sell in 9 months, or even 2 years? Only you can know that. If it seems (barring crazy unforseen circumstances) that you will probably not sell for about 5 years, then I'd say don't worry about a difference like $15k and go for the one that fits your family best and feels right. Real estate is an emotional sale, not purely retail based on investment. Do you love the house? Does it make you all tingly inside when you are in the new one vs resale? You know which one you want. I believe we will still see more downturn in real estate as more ARMs reset this year and there will be more foreclosures. We are not at all out of the woods. BUT, now is a great time to buy and in 5 years you will probably want to kiss your agent on the lips for the equity you'll be sitting on. :tongue_smilie:

We saw a dog like that at the pound once and they had named her "Dot". Love it! "Pepper" is very sweet too! Hope you get to keep her, she looks so sweet and loving!

Poor old man can't stand to get hit, huh?:confused::boxing_smiley::crying: I don't know what game you were watching, but those Vikes had PLENTY of penalties themselves. It was a great FOOTBALL game. Big boys, running and hitting eachother. That's what they do. Yes, I was for the Saints, but I can appreciate that Favre was a rock star tonight. But to say the Saints played "illegally"...no way.

:party::hurray::cheers2::party: Did you all hear us screaming!? We are beside ourselves with joy! My poor husband has stood by this team for about 40 years! Through all the paper-bag-heads and everything. I am SO HAPPY!!!!:D:D:D

Do you have your own agent? The agent you are working with sounds like he or she works for the seller/builder of the homes - which means their loyalty and fiduciary duty is to them, not you. Is the agent and actual realtor or just an employee of the builder? Here in Texas they are almost never actual realtors (unless the builder is tiny) - they are employees of the builder with the accompanying loyalty and responsibility. They might want to tell you that now that you have been in their development and picked out a house that you can not bring in your own agent, but you can threaten to walk. Ask them if they really DO NOT want you to have your own representation and they will back off that line of thinking real. fast. No reputable builder would refuse you your own representation, and pay them accordingly. They want to protect themselves and their relationship with the real estate community. I will say though that the price they can afford to come down to has less to do with actual market value than it does them having a magic number that they have to meet. It has all to do with cost of materials, lot takedown, etc, and often they can afford for that house to sit there awhile, not forever, but for a while. Long enough to get the foreclosures off the block and make theirs the attractive option. I know all this because I worked for 2 major homebuilders for 3 years, and then in real estate for 5 more. My builders almost NEVER cared what people were asking for resales in our neighborhood, nor whether or not there were foreclosures. We had to take down a certain number of lots per quarter, had to build a certain number of spec homes, and only weighed the specs against the sales we had on the books that might "bust" because of a contingency that didn't sell. The buyer pool for the "new" home is often a different animal than those that would consider a resale home. Those builders know the buyer is out there and have deeper pockets to wait for them than the resale homeowner does. They can and WILL come off their list price though. If I were you I'd consider getting your own agent who can help you do more of a market analysis of the sales in the neighborhood and can help you figure out what you want to offer. The builder might say no, but you can negotiate upward from there. HTH!

AYE!!!! Very, very nice Julie. Not only will it do those sweet elderly people a world of good, but it will your dd too. It's not going to be easy, but will be rewarding.

:smilielol5::smilielol5:I don't care who you are...that's funny stuff right there! I'm tired of having to tell my 9.5 dd to brush her hair. For Pete's Sake! She's trying to look like a Cheetah Girl with her belts and boots and bling, but she can't be bothered to BRUSH. HER. HAIR. :confused::glare: I'm tired of trying to put on a happy face so DH doesn't think I am tired of everything. Right now I am tired of seeing all the lonely old people slumped over in a chair, alone in their rooms or in the hallway of the nursing home (when we visit FIL). The despair seems palpable there. Seriously, thanks for this thread. Right when you think everyone else is SO together and has it going on, this pops up and makes me feel like we're all in it together. :)

:grouphug::party::cheers2: Awesome news!!!!!

:lurk5: I was JUST about to post something kind of similar! My ds is a bit older, 5.5 right now, but I have called this year pre-k. We've done some of Little Hands to Heaven and some other basic and fun stuff, no real curriculum. He's about like your dd - can recognize uppercase letters and make their sounds, can count up to 20 most of the time and can recognize up to 10. I have already committed to Sing, Spell, Read, Write for this fall for phonics, so now I am trying to figure out what to do with Math. I want it to be fun, but have a strong foundation. I have looked at Horizons, CLE, RightStart, Singapore, Math Mammoth, Math-U-See, all of them! I have NO CLUE what to choose. I like the concept of RS, but not the price and wonder if it's too similar (games and such) to SSRW that it would be weird. My dd (9.5) is thriving with CLE, but that's a bit of a different case. Her experience was being pulled from ps and put into Singapore, being miserable and feeling like a failure, then moving to CLE. So it's been a God-send. But my son is a blank slate. I don't know what his learning style really is yet...other than: :w00t::seeya::willy_nilly::biggrinjester: Cathy Duffy might call him a Wiggly Willy. All the 5 year old boys I know are this! I really like CLE, but don't know if the 100 level is right for a Ker. Anyone know? Anyways, I will be listening to this thread!!! :bigear:

One more for me!:D Congrats!

:grouphug::grouphug: I will be praying for all of you and your families.

I'm going to do latin next year and we have had NO exposure yet. My dd will be in 5th grade. It sounds like FF is not going to be a good fit, and I am not so sure about LC 1. Does it see, like I could do something like LfC, and then move into FF? Not meaning to hijack the thread, just wondering where you would start a brand new 10 year old and her brand new (to Latin) mom.:bigear:

I hope all this is not the case too. My house is on the market right now listed as a Short Sale. It's been on the market since last Thursday and we already got an offer, but it was quite low. They were fishing for a deal, which I understand completely, but we had no choice but to counter and haven't heard back yet. I won't be surprised if we don't. Our realtor is helping us walk that fine line of making sure we get enough to satisfy the bank. I think there is also a lot of misinformation out there about short sales too. You would be SHOCKED at how many inexperienced realtors there are out there - ones that don't know how to list a short sale and make sure the transaction goes through, or ones that don't know how to assist their buyers in buying one. Both my lender and my realtor (a certified expert in SSs) have assured me that the bank does NOT want to foreclose and will do what they can to make sure a sale goes forward. Meanwhile I will keep bathing it all in prayer!

Us too. We're very happy with our new church and this description fits to a "T".:)

:iagree:We've done well with it also. My dd is also 9 and in 4th grade, and sounds a lot like yours. When I pulled her from school I put her in Singapore which she and I both HATED. Now that we are in CLE I hardly get any grumbles except good natured ones and she is doing very, very well. FWIW, I did start her in the 300 level because I had heard the program is advanced and I wanted to make sure she didn't have any holes. So we breezed through the first several light units by doing 2 lessons a day (still only 30 minutes) but now we have slowed down to 1 lesson a day. She still likes it a lot. It's also inexpensive, but it's consumable, so I am not sure if it fits your criteria in that way. As a matter of fact, that's one of the things my dd loves about it. No textbook to copy out of, everything is in one place. HTH!

I had so much trouble suspending my disbelief. All of it was just over the top. Talk about :smash: you over the head with a message. The "worship Mother Earth" was just too much!! I agree that the special effects were amazing, but best movie experience, no way.

:lurk5:

Bumping to ask this question... Did I do the above correctly? The seller has not responded to my pm, but it was just last night. Please tell me if I did this correctly. My season for piecing together materials for next year is upon me and I want to be able to buy online to get good deals - but do it right for both seller and myself.

Is it from Ikea? If so, keep in mind it's not especially durable. We had one in dd's room for stuffed animals and they collected too much dust that I got rid of it. I'm not sure I can think of anything light enough to pile in it from the school room. Sorry I'm not much help!