We're going to my Mom's and it sounds like there will be somewhere between 12-14 there. My brother has an extra 17yo boy he took in last year and it sounds like he and his older sister will be joining us.

:laugh: That's shorts and tank top weather here. This time of year wintercoats and boots are a must. If it's a road trip gloves, hats, and snow pants are put in the car. In a about a month or so they will wear it all whenever we leave the house (I do let the teen go without the snowpants). From March thru September I let them make the choice unless obvious weather conditions dictate otherwise.

I've heard about this. When oldest DD was in first grade PS her teacher requested each student bring in a reusable bottle for water that they could fill in the morning so the kids would have access to water any time they needed it. It was her belief that dehydration effected attention span and ability to concentrate.

Like the others if its an assignment giving specific color instructions then I expect them to follow directions but other than that whatever tickles their fancy. None of mine have ever really been into coloring someone elses pictures. They will draw their own pictures and color them all day long, but we had a stack of coloring books that sat useless for years before i finally gave them away.

Bump. Hoping someone has the answer.:001_smile: Yes, it can be used in place of SOTW. It can be purchased through Calvert or many other venders. Calvert also publishes a workbook and teachers guide to go with it.

Well, I live in Alaska and we don't have alot of historical sites set up for visitors (the Aluetian Islands were an important battle site during WWII but they aren't really accessible to the average tourist). But by visiting Alaskaland (it's been renamed but I don't recall the new name)in Fairbanks you would learn alot about the history of our state. Many historical buildings, and artifacts have been moved there. Here locally we have Old Town Kenai where many of the original structures from when it was just a little fishing village and trading post have been preserved.

I do pretty much the same. If we are having company I'll do more, how much more depends on who it is. I want a sign for the front door that reads "If you've come to see me then come right in. If you've come to see the house make an appointment.":D

Kindergarten should be fun. At that age all that is needed as far as seatwork IMO is phonics, math, and handwriting. An hour that can be broken up through out the day. Other than that read, explore, play games, and read some more. Have fun with it, you have plenty of years ahead for all the other stuff.

Child's History of the World

is there a list somewhere that organizes it into geographical location. I thought it was at Paula's Archives but I can't seem to find it.:confused: HELP! Tia akmommy

I haven't been to our library in a couple years because they rarely have what I'm looking for. Last time I was there they didn't have gaming machines, but they did have a computer in the children's section loaded with games. UGH! The thing would always have noisy kids huddled around it with no parant in sight. I think it is great that computer use is available for those that do not have them at home, but not noisy distracting games. When we did go to the library it was to look for books or educational videos and such, but it was impossible to keep my kids focused on the books when others are very noisily playing computer games. I also don't believe the librarians should have to parent other people's children. It's just not what they are paid for.

Dh has had his since Feb. and it is still working great. We don't play DVD's in it because DH has heard that it is hard on the disk drive. A good friend of ours has had to have his replaced by warranty twice, but I'm not sure why. Oh, something we learned with our original Xbox is to make sure the kids always use the button to close the disk drawer. We had to have the disk drive replaced when it would no longer open and close.

I'm not sure what it says about us but the girls' names are pretty traditional and our sons is a bit unusual. Samantha Mildred (DH picked her first name and Mildred was my paternal gm's first name) Sarah Michelle (Sarah has always been my favorite girls name and we just liked the way Michelle sounded with it.) and bringing up the rear: Ryker McClelland (I wanted something unusual for his first name and his middle name is an old family name, originally a surname I think, on DH's side.)

Well my birthday is the 22nd and younger DD's is Christmas day so neither of us has ever had much choice there. I can't say that it has ever bothered me except when people would give me a gift and tell me it was was for both. DD thinks having a Christmas birthday is special, "everyone" celebrates on her birthday. There is always an extra gift under the tree for her Christmas morning (in birthday or generic wrap) that she gets to open first and we have carrot cake for breakfast (she really likes carrot cake and it keeps me from feeling to guilty about cake for breakfast) . She has expressed a little disapoinment in never being able to have a party on her actual birthday, but it really doesn't seem to upset her much. My nephews is the 26th and his seems to be the most forgotten so I know he must feel a bit slighted.

I'm right there with you. While doing our back to school shopping this fall I was hoping to find some cute fun supplies for the DC's but they only thing outside the plain and ordinary was Hannah Montana. UGH! :iagree:We have the same attitude here. I don't pay good money for clothes to advertise brand names.

No wait at all. This was at 12:30 but its a small community with several voting precincts. There was a gentleman in handcuff talking to two police officers in front of the building though. Seems he caused a bit of a ruckus. As I walked by one of the officers was telling him that if he had something he felt he needed to say that was not the place to do it.

Only once, but it was most definitely spam.

:iagree: I try not to worry about what other people do. I do prefer names that sound like names and i do wish people would try to at least keep it phonetically correct, but to each their own. My son has an unusual name and we chose to use y for the long i sound, but it is easily read correctly and when people mispell it it is easily corrected. Actually because the name is a bit unusual most people ask how it is spelled if they need to know. What I have a hard time with is people who go in for the latest fad names, so you have tons of kids close in age all running around with the same name.:001_huh:

Richard Nixon

I voted that I find it amusing mainly because when I hear the term I think of Northeasterners. I've never been called Yank and if someone did I would probably look over my shoulder to see who they were talking to. The term doesn't offend me though.

Christmas eve at my Grandparents. Just about any holiday no matter how insignificant was a good excuse for them to have a house or backyard full of family and friends. "Uncle" Bob (he rented one of my Grandparents apartments) bringing us Orange Crushes. Spending nights at my Grandparents, and using grandpas t shirts as jammies. Laying in bed with grandpa and listening to him tell or read me stories. Playing "Where's Sammy" with grandpa. Sammy was their dog and we'd throw the blankets over him saying "Where's Sammy" till he would emerge from the blankets tail wagging to lick our faces. Then we'd just bust up laughing. Walking with grandma, skipping and singing silly rhymes. Getting up early to have breakfast with Grandpa before he left for work. Going to Woolworth's soda fountain with grandma and my Great Aunt Wanda. There are so many wonderfull memories of my grandparents, I could go on and on. I miss them terribly. Going for rides on my dad's motorcycle, just him and me. After my parents divorced he remarried a lady with 2 kids so any time I had him all to myself was good.

Both of my girls(15 and 10) love 'em. We recently picked up the first in the new Seekers series(this one is about bears) a couple weeks ago and it has also become a favorite.

The laundry room is off the kitchen, the broom and mop are between the wall and the washing machine. DH bought me a handy dandy wall hanger a few months ago. It's in the box in the laundry room closet.:lol:

I've never heard of this, but I do have pictures of my grandparent's urns so I guess thats almost the same thing. My other grandfather's funeral was open casket but I don't remember any pictures being taken of his body. I didn't even want to view the body, but DH thought I should. I prefer to remember them while they were healthy and alive. At my grandma's funeral alot of picures were taken of the living (it was the first time in about 20 years all three of my brothers and I were in the same room). So, while I really don't think it's creepy they are not picures I would want, but to each their own. If it brings some people comfort to have those then they should. As far as the family bickering goes all I can say is families just get weird after the death of a loved one. Just after grandma died some in our family fought over the stupidest things. Her clothes were fought over for crying out loud. she dressed like an old lady and I for the life of me could not figure out why my 30ish yr old cousins thought they were worth fighting over. :confused:

My 8yo is in third but had I planned to put him in a building school I would have kept him home an extra year. Academically he would have done fine but he just did not have the attention span at 5 for full day K (i think full day K is alot to expect from any 5yo) When my oldest was in PS K was still 1/2 day.