This is my approach as well. My son has always been a mathy kid, and ended up ready for Alg I by 4th grade. We did Alg I in 4th-5th Grade, at a pace that he could really dig into it and gain a solid foundation. My other kids won't be ready until a later age... it is very dependent on the child.

Wow... just wow! I want that cake!!! (Btw, I agree with the cupcake idea... maybe with m&m's, a piece of chocolate or mini-candy bar on each one.)

My four nursed for 15mos, 19mos, 29mos, & 41mos respectively (the last two tandem nursed for a year). I weaned my first thinking I had to in order to conceive, and then weaned my second when I had to go on medication for a while that was harmful. The last two self-weaned naturally (obviously:lol:). I introduced other foods somewhere in the 9-12month range. I didn't really do baby food... just went straight to table foods diced or mashed.

This is what we did. We skipped 8/7 and went directly into Jacob's Algebra with my gifted son. For him, the challenge was exactly what he needed to keep from being bored :)

We give out "tickets" for good behavior and hard work. They get 3 at the end of each school day if they complete everything and clean up the school room. We also give them out during the day for going "above and beyond" or such. They lose tickets for whining, leaving their shoes on the kitchen floor, disobedience, etc. They can redeem them for $.03 each if they redeem them in a quantity of 1-150, or $.04 for 151-300, etc. The longer they invest/wait, the higher the value. My oldest waits until the last day of the school year to maximize his value, and my younger ones are learning that lesson slowly. We don't do allowance, so this has just evolved into a way of them earning some extra cash. It works really well for us. We've done it 2.5 yrs now.

I was right all four times. With my fourth (a son), I was told it was a girl after my first sono. I asked for another at my next appt. because I really thought it was a boy, and they said girl again. Still disbelieving, I asked them to try again at my next appt., and was told it STILL was a girl. I told her I really thought it was wrong, so she sent me in that afternoon for a higher tech one and they said the same thing..."girl." My sweet husband, who heard all of these confirmations from different doctors but knows me well agreed to a 3D-type ultrasound from one of those specialty places. I think I was the only one that was NOT shocked when we saw his little boy parts ;) On a side note, I am so glad I was persistent and trusted my feeling, because my daughter was heartbroken that she was getting a third brother and not a sister, so it took the remainder of the pregnancy for her to come around to the idea. Imagine if I took their word(s) for it...

It is nice to know that we are not alone in feeling disappointed with CPO Earth & Space. My kids are not "science-lovers" so they are needing something that is more interesting/exciting... and I am needing something more self-directed. I would love some recommendations as well!

I think I'd just give myself a hug and tell me that I will survive :grouphug: and it will be all that I've ever dreamed it would be.

This is exactly me... Only, I remembered last January when making my lesson plans and put next Monday as our start date to give me a week to regroup after all of the visitors leave.:001_smile:

Here is a link to my school room photo album: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/album.php?albumid=427

I love my G2's... usually black or red :)

DS (and I) are getting tickets to the Cowboys/Eagles game on Christmas Eve!!!!!! I am SOOOO excited and am dying to tell him. Now I need to figure out how and when to give him the tickets, since it has to be before Christmas. Any thoughts?

I used the "Ole, Ole, Ole" by Football Crazy. I've also used "You Gotta Be" by Des'ree. Both worked well individually, but I didn't use them together.

My house is filled with chess-nuts... so much that my hubby and I started a homeschool chess club :) Do you have a co-op in the area that has a chess coach/teacher? That would be the best route. If not, I highly recommend chessmaster software. Our kids love to play on there, and it has GREAT tutorials by Josh Waitzkin... for all levels. It is well worth the investment. We are using Chessmaster 9000 at our house. We dislike Fritz, and haven't found anything that matches up to CM.

What is TimezAttack... do you have a link?

I change the font to webdings and use letter "o"... which makes a check box.

:hurray: I love that :)

:lol::lol::lol:

I bought it for $2.39 at Target yesterday... I'm used to $1.89 or $1.99, so I thought this was high. Wow.... now I'm thankful! My family drinks about 8 gallons a week, so I wouldn't be able to afford to live anywhere else. :001_huh:

Mama Lynx stole 81 cookies :) CLUE FOR 82: I'm counting on you 2 find the thief who stole 82 cookies.

Where in DFW are you? I may be able to give you some recommendations... I'm PM'ing you :)

:iagree: This was all exactly what I was going to say.