We just drove to Florida over Thanksgiving week and did about 7 hours a day. We made stops a long the way to sleep and did some sight seeing. We brought a lot of books on tape, Madlibs, toys, and a portable DVD player. The DVD player came out when we hit traffic or just needed to go a bit longer. The Grand Canyon sounds like a fun trip!!

We use the 5x eye piece and 4x and 10x lenses the most. We looked at slides of monocots, dicots (plant cells) pond water, tadpoles, butterfly wings etc with and did pretty well. I occasionally used the 10x eye piece with the 10x lens (100x total) to see detail but for the kids it was not necessary. The Brock is a great microscope!

Hubby and I have used the Nojo, Bjorn, and Ergo and liked all three. It really depended on the child. I felt the ergo was the best and more versatile since you can wear on the front when young, and back when the baby is older. It is hard to cook dinner with an older baby on the front, they get grabby. Good luck! Adrianne

Birds? They have been known to do this. (esp starlings)

Good for you Lisa for dealing with this. :grouphug: to you. Disciplining your child is very hard. Keep it up! It may take a while but it will work and she will be better for it. Here we do time outs sometimes but for willful disobedience we spank. For screaming like that - I would spank her and put her in her room. Give her a hug, tell her you love her and want whats best for her but she cannot act this way. Don't spank when your angry, it must be controlled discipline.

and concentrate on the quality. What you are experiencing is pretty normal here. My ds 10 grew out of it. My ds6 is still there but I am confident he will grow out of it. As the fine motor skills improve so will the handwriting. I would just make sure he can form the letters, keep up the practice -not too much, we do one handwriting sheet a day, no copy work yet - and have patience. He will get it. Just keep him working to his ability.

Not quite The sodium and chloride ions are actually attracted to the positively and negatively charged parts of the water molecule and become attached to it. The O end of the water is negatively charged attracting NA+ ions, and the H portion is positively charged attracting Cl- ions. Another thing to keep in mind is that these molecules all have thermal energy and are constantly moving (solids less than liquids less than gases) as are their electrons. Weak bonds can break and reform. The reactions can go back and forth. They look very final on paper but are not in the salt water. Smart son to be asking that question! Keep up the good work!

:iagree: This sounds like great advice!

Thanks ladies! You have helped tremendously! Adrianne

This sounds exactly like us. We plan on spending a lot of time on those two wars. What is Homeschool in the woods?

I must be hard for you. It is not easy when someone is being nasty to you, especially someone you love very much. It must hurt a great deal. In a way he does deserve some of what you are saying to him. But like you said, he is 15, you are 40 something.... Just remind yourself, you are his mother, you love him and are doing what is best for him and try to leave the room or bite your knuckle when he gets this way. (and you can use it against him when he is older, he-he) But again don't tolerate disrespect or rule breaking. FWIW, when my kids gets emotionally crazy, (in a 6yo way), I hug him and tell him that I love him very much. I also find that spending one on one time with them doing things we both enjoy helps discipline problems. In our family it is usually video games but we also like to roller blade. Even sharing a liked book and discussing it makes a difference. Finding that common ground can be hard but it is well worth it.

We used this in a co-op we belong to years ago. I think the ages were 7 and 8. The kids loved it and learned a lot. Every mom took a different country each week. the book had great project ideas and suggestions. It was great in a co-op setting because we could do a lot with our one country. I don't know how it would work for home use. Great program though!

Good for him!! Yeah!

Has anyone done SOTW with multiple children, esp younger ones? After trying to teach history separately, I have learned we need to do it together. This year ds10 is starting the modern age, so by default, ds 6 is also. Ds 6 is very thoughtful and can follow along and comprehend the material on his level. (he just can't write for himself). After reading the beginning of the activity guide and SWB warning not to teach SOTW to kids younger than 4th, I have decided to proceed anyway. Has anyone done this? Do you have any recommendations? Things you would do differently? Things that worked? Thanks!

I was excited by this also when my issue arrived in the mail a few weeks ago. My ds 10 actually remembered her name! Go SOTW!! Thank you SWB!

((Laurie)) I don't have teens but I seen my friends going through similar things. I have observed though and start to see with my 10yo ds, that the teenage years are similar to the young ages. They are emotionally unstable and EVERYTHING is a big deal. I was chuckling to myself when reading your paragraph about how he hates everything you make and weekly it changes. I was thinking, he sounds a lot like my ds, now 6, when he was around 4 or 5. Every week it was a different food he hated, usually followed with, "Oh mom, I hate ---- didn't you know that?" When I was in that tumultuous age my dad was very stable,he would listen and give his advice. My mom very unstable - emotionally reacting to everything I did. I still have issues with my mom. My dad and I get along great, in fact my dad lives with dh and I. (or we live with him?) I think you should just be there for your son, be his rock. Don't react emotionally to his reacting emotionally. Like, you dh, don't tolerate disrespect or rule breaking. Remember he is your son and you love him. Right now he needs to know that most of all. HTH!

I like to get my hands dirty. I only wear gloves when dealing with stickers, poison ivy, or shoveling natural fertilizer....

Make sure they are drinking plenty of water too. (not sugary drinks which can dehydrate you) I also make sure they apply the cream at night. I like the A&D idea, I think we will try that! I hate this time of year. Everyone's skin is dry - even the dog.

Hmmm... In the past when we have purchased babies, we had to keep them in a box with a mesh lid to keep the larger chickens out (we have about 25 full size RRR). The larger chickens would go in the box and eat the baby food otherwise. (knock over the containers etc) If we put the mother and the babes in this box, then they cannot get out unless we let them. I don't want to restrict the mother hen or mother nature. I was hoping she would do her thing and care for the babies. The food seems to be an issue.

How did you feed them? Thanks Bill!

We have a banty hen setting on eggs right now. We think she will hatch them at the end of this week. She is setting in a nesting box that is hanging on the wall. Dh and I are afraid that when they hatch they will injury themselves jumping from the box to the ground, about a 1 to 2 ft jump. Should we try to move her? Can we move her to a nesting box we have on the ground? Also, once they hatch should we separate them from the rest of the chickens? We are very excited about the prospect of baby chicks! Any advice is appreciated. Adrianne

:iagree: It is a great program. It covers the basics, is relatively inexpensive, and is easy to teach with multi ages. With my 4th grader I supplement with books from the library for narrations and reports. For my 1st grader, the projects require a little help from mom.

Do you use one? How do you like it? I am having a hard time deciding about a table attaching model or the ones that attach to a chair. The whole idea of hanging my son off a table scares me but I have heard they are safe. Not requiring a chair would be nice. Any recommendations?

It was funny explaining a snack cake that lasts forever.... I do however CRAVE the occasional Ho-Ho when I am pregnant. So my kids have had those.

I like these ideas. We are going to try them here! I know how you feel. I constantly feel like I am talking ds10 down from ledges some days. So far physical activity, patience and lots of hugs are working here.