Does anyone here have knowledge of the mouthpieces that you can put in your mouth at night to stop snoring? This page has pictures of a few: http://www.putanendtosnoring.com/mouthpiece.htm As you can see, there are quite a few, and I'm not sure if one is better than another or whatever. I do have mild to moderate sleep apnea, and eventually I will probably get a c-pap, but for now I'd like to try this mouthpiece if it will work. I actually saw one on ebay that cost $149 :eek: But then I saw many others that were around $40. I'd like to try one of those. Any advice? Thanks!:D

Anyone know if Memoria Press is Catholic based? I just poked around a little on their site, but didn't find anything quickly, so I thought I'd ask here. yvonne

[ETA: I have posted this to my blog after editing it and putting it in more logical order. You are better off reading it there. :001_smile:] I have promoted several times on the board that Latin instruction in the grammar years doesn't require a program. I finally typed up a list of resources and methods: I am influenced heavily by this Memoria Press article: Four Principles of Latin Instruction In short, I think that the best use of time allotted to Latin in the K-6 years is to memorize all of the basic information that will need to be learned in a high school program (Henle, Wheelock's.) This can be more effective (and so much cheaper) than workbook pages and time spent on translations. Much of the work can be done orally, so you can start with very young children. You can find some general ideas for what this can look like in How to Conduct a Recitation. Eventually, you will want to move to written memory work. You can use games and memory techniques to learn the basic body of knowledge. Some ideas: Memory Chants (and chanting while marching, while whispering, while doing jumping jacks, etc.) BINGO Hangman Flashcards Songs (for example these) Races to fill in blank charts Mnemonics Hangman In this way, Latin can be fun. :001_smile: There are several things to do in these K-6 years. Teach Latin memory work: conjugations, declensions, vocabulary, etc. Instill an appreciation of Latin Learn Latin yourself First, some background resources: Bennett's Latin Gildersleeve's Latin Latin for Dummies - fun to read if not a thorough, scholarly tome You can use these resources to learn about Latin yourself. Even Wikipedia is helpful (there must be many Latin geeks who love Wikipedia, because the articles there are pretty good.) Once you have a basic understanding, you can move on to the three objectives. The easiest to explain is the second - instilling a love of Latin: Listen to a Catholic Mass either in person or online Listen to Gregorian chant Look for Latin around you - University mottos, on money, in books, etc., etc. Study ancient Rome Learn to sing songs in Latin Listen to Latin texts being read aloud at many places online including here Have fun with Roman numerals - for example, play Roman Sudoku And the third - learning Latin yourself: Probablythe best plan is to use the Latin program you plan to teach in high school. Work through it yourself over the years. So, the biggest objective - Latin memory work: First, learn a bit about Latin pronunciation. This is an article on pronunciation from Wheelock's Latin. What to memorize? Delensions Conjugations Vocabulary Scripture Declensions are a new concept for most. You can read a bit to explain them in this article from Memoria Press, which also explains conjugations. This Dummies page covers declensions as well, with the charts that you will want to memorize: Declining a Latin Noun You can sing or chant the declensions. One resources for singing them is Latin Aids for Beginners. Conjugations are more familiar, as most people probably learned English verb conjugations in school. These are generally chanted with an example word (often "Amo, amas, amat, amamus, amatis, amant.") This is a nice chart of 1st and 2nd conjugation endings (there are four.) This chart would come in handy for all four. This is a chart of the endings alone for the Present, Future, and Imperfect. You will also want to learn some basic Latin vocabulary. Most programs use the same words. For directions on making Latin flashcards, see this article. You can also use online resources, such as the Latin sets on Flashcard Exchange and Quia. You can choose from many lists. This is a good list of 200 Essential Latin Words. The advantage to making up your own memory work is that you can memorize them in a logical order (nouns together, prepositions together, etc.) rather than in the random way they are introduced in Latin programs. Here is list of verbs, another of prepositions, and the lists for words in Wheelock's or Lingua Latina. You can find many, many lists by searching online. Memorizing common verbs, nouns, adverbs, and adjectives, a list of prepositions, and some pronouns will be a good start. ETA: Whatever words you choose, make sure that you learn the following: Nouns - nominative singular, genitive singular, gender, meaning - this will generally be listed, for example: puella, puellae, f. - girl (You say, "puella, puellae, feminine, girl") - there will also be masculine and neuter nouns Verbs - all four forms (they may be abbreviated, but say the full word) and the meaning with the first person singular pronoun (I) or the infinitive - this will be listed as, for example: habito, habitare, habitavi, habitatum - I live, I dwell OR habito, habitare, habitavi, habitatum - to live, to dwell It may also be listed like this: habito, -are, -avi, -atum - I live, I dwell You may not even know what to do with the other forms right now, but it is so much easier to learn them together than to try to add them in later. Trust me, you will need them all eventually. You can also memorize Scripture passages in Latin. For example, Genesis 1:1-10 or John 3:1-6 (scroll down to 'Reading the Bible in Latin.') I'm going to copy this to my blog, and I'm sure I will make improvements to it, but I hope that it is helpful as it is.

I am having a very hard time today. It's day 2, and I feel awful. This is the second month in a row of this and I will be having an ultrasound when it's over this time. But do you know what I just did? And I'm sitting here crying because I feel like such a moron. I put on a pot of coffee, measured it out, poured in the water, everything. Then I sat back down. I smelled the coffee and started thinking about drinking it. Then my son walked in and said "Mom, is this supposed to be like this?" He was pointing at the empty coffee pot sitting on the counter, surrounded by coffee. Yes, I brewed a pot of coffee without a pot and so it just went all over the counter. Yeah. I know this is a funny picture. I know you're all laughing. I know that I will laugh about it eventually, but right now I feel like an idiot who can't even make a pot of coffee properly because she is being attacked by her uterus. That is all. :mad:

My son's girlfriend is coming to stay a few days at our house over New Year's and I would like to give her a small gift. I have not met her yet...my son is in college and he met her there. Any suggestions? I thought about making her a scarf or something...I don't want to go overboard or too personal. To tell the truth, I really don't know much about her yet. Also, I don't want to spend very much money. Besides making a scarf, any suggestions? Thanks! jak

Just read the serving food to your husband thread and the 1950's wife statement intrigued me! I have to say that I think I am a bit of a 1950's wife - or at least I try to be!! I really do take pride in serving my husband in all the ways that I can - making things easy for him, cooking food that he likes, not stressing him out when he gets home from work etc etc. He helps me out with my stuff as well, and there is lots of give and take, but in our house he is the leader and he is treated and respected as such. Part of my satisfaction as a wife comes from looking after my husband well. Am I alone in this? Or have I read too much into this?!

This is the mnemonic that my half-sister's gifted public school is using to teach her long division (4th grade). It stands for "divide, multiply, subtract, carrydown". Does she understand the why's and how's. Of long division? Er...no. But she does do page after page of division problems to "cement" this mnemonic in her head. My son has been studying long division over the last week or so, and we've spent a lot of time learning WHY exactly one subtracts, why exactly one "drops down"....so that if he does forget,he can really think about what to do next. It's slow going but I really feel strongly about this, and to be honest, I feel irrationally annoyed that my half-sister's "gifted" class is teaching her no more than a silly procedural mnemonic when she certainly has the capacity to understand it on a deeper level.

As an election season approaches...I feel the need to give y'all some guidelines. This board is not for the discussion of politics. There are other places to do that. Yes, we do say that this board is for "hanging out and chatting." That's because parents who teach their kids sometimes just need to...chat. Not about school, just about life. Having said that... I don't want to see political threads here that have nothing to do with home schooling. It was the last presidential election that forced us to ban political avatars, slogans, and partisan discussions. I'm already seeing threads that appear to be posted simply to start political arguments. Not interested, people. Chat about something else, here. Or go talk about politics, somewhere else. Simple. :001_smile: SWB P.S. And, to clarify: the ban against political statements in avatars and signatures is STILL in effect.

I have to admit I like italic handwriting. Now it turns out my ds wants something loopy and threw a "eeww" when I showed him some italic writing. I went back to my pc and looking at this jpeg he yelled "Yes!". Can someone tell me which font is this? It cannot be ZB because it has a "sensible" upper case G and Q :D Help? Anybody?

Have to make some very tough decisions this week about what to do about it.

... or any other Roman Catholic that would like to jump in :) This is a sensitive topic and I truly mean no offense. But, it's something I've wondered about for awhile. My understanding of the Roman Catholic church is that the hierarchy is very important. (Anyone in the know, please feel free to expand on the function of the priests/archbishops, etc. for me, as I'm not well-versed in RC'ism) So... to my question. Because of the scandals of the last decade or so (higher ups covering up s-abuse by clergy) how are you able to feel comfortable being "under" an authority that would do this? When I meet recent converts that are local to me, I wonder that a lot as the parishes here are a part of the archdiocese of Los Angeles and Roger Mahoney didn't have a very good track record in how he handled s-abuse allegations. I just googled him and noted that he stayed in his position until he had to retire because of age. And I was like this: :blink: I mean, seriously, how is it possible that he wasn't fired? (Can an archbishop be fired??) Help me understand! Maybe I'm misunderstanding the influence or authority of the archbishop? I know s-abuse happens in all religions, but it just seems that RC'ism has a uniquely horrible track record in handling these incidents. I'm so sorry if my question is offensive. I truly, honestly mean no disrespect to Catholics. I'm just trying to wrap my brain around this issue and I can't. Surely there's something I'm missing, right? I don't know a lot about RC beliefs, traditions or structure, so maybe someone can help enlighten me?

Ok...I think we survived. The jury is still out on a couple of the family members, but others of us are moving in the right direction. I am absolutely exhausted. We have never been sicker in our lives. Between the five of us we have propably lost 20 pounds. So now I am completely paranoid in my home. How will I ever get my house disinfected? It is a disaster and I don't know where to start. I've got laundry going. Do I need to throw away things like stuffed animals and throw pillows? I am considering throwing away all pillows or is it enough just to wash pillow cases? Walk me through this ladies. This is my first time dealing with this. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Laurel T.

We are just working through lesson 1, but I LOVE it! I seems to make sure you KNOW your work before you move on!!

OK, this is part of the ongoing "shirts with holes in the belly area" scientific Hive investigation. Background: Some people get little holes in their shirts, in the belly area. Often one person in a household gets them and another doesn't. This is a new-ish phenomenon; no one got these holes years ago. Through careful research (a.k.a. surveying the Hive), we've ruled out: ~ Moths or other bugs, because 1) the holes are only in one spot, and 2) we are all amazing housekeepers ;) ~ Top loaders vs. front loaders, because folks with both kinds get the holes ~ Granite vs. other countertops, because folks with both kinds get the holes ~ Height of the wearer, because there's no obvious trend there ~ Weight of the wearer, ditto ~ Gender of the wearer, as we've had reports of hubbys having the issue ~ Getting caught in a zipper, because it's not consistently reported I'm convinced that there is some kind of chemical element, because the holes seem to appear after washing. (I've had experience with known chemical exposure, where the fabric looked fine until it came out of the wash with holes where the chemical splattered.) I think the thin t's we get nowadays don't help, and it's possible that the chemical/pH makeup of the t's has changed. So - new question/poll: If you get the holes, do you typically wear garments with a metal snap/button at the waist, with your t's untucked? Is that location where you get the holes? I'm thinking it could be rubbing (especially when wearing seatbelts), and/or some kind of chemical issue with the button itself. (Another theory would be that there is something on the seatbelt that's doing the rubbing/reacting, but I'll leave that for the next poll.)

But yesterday I went driving with a bb gun. A neighbor a couple of miles down has two big dogs that have started attacking my ponies when I drive by. Friday they were trying to bite his face and legs. I had to get off and try to beat them away while holding a frightened pony. Big GSH pointer and a boxer type. When they charged me yesterday I stopped Patches and took aim and let loose. The older dog turned and ran when he saw the gun, he's obviously been shot before, the younger one stopped and tried to figure things out. I didn't want to hit either one, just shot a warning and it worked. The owner was sitting on her porch yelling at them. Of course they don't listen. I told her that I couldn't let them attack my ponies and she agreed. Basically she said go ahead and shoot them. She will not pen them up. These dogs used to just bark and chase, but they've gotten bolder and bolder in their anti-pony measures. The young one used to try to kiss the pony noses and it was cute, but somehow he's gotten aggressive. Hopefully a few pops and they'll turn tail when they see a pony cart. I really don't want to hurt them but I've had enough.

I'm reading a very interesting book called NurtureShock by Po Bronson. Some of the chapter titles/topics: the inverse power of praise, the effects of less sleep on children, talking to kids about race, why kids lie, and other child development topics. Here's a portion about the surprising effects of some kinds of educational tv shows: "Relational aggression, at the preschool age, involved saying things like, "You can't play with us," or just ignoring a child who wanted to play, and withdrawing friendship or telling lies about another child--all of which attack a relationship at its core. Verbal aggression included calling someone a mean name and saying things like "Shut up!" or "You're stupid"--it often accompanied by physical aggression. [Dr. Jamie] Ostrov corss-referenced what his observers recorded with teacher ratings of the children's behavior, the parents' own ratings, and their reports on how much television the children were watching. Over the course of the study, the children watched an average of eleven hours of media per week, according to the parents--a normal mix of television shows and DVDs. At first glance, the scholars' hypotheses were confirmed--but something unexpected was also revealed in the data. The more educational media the children watched, the more relationally aggressive they were. They were increasingly bossy, controlling, and manipulative. This wasn't a small effect. It was stronger than the connection between violent media and physical aggression. Curious why this could be, Ostrov's team sat down and watched several programs on PBS, Nickelodeon, and the Disney Channel. Ostrov saw that, in some shows, relational aggression is modeled at a fairly high rate. Ostrov theorized that many educational shows spend most of the half-hour establishing a conflict between characters and only a few minutes resolving that conflict. "Preschoolers have a difficult time being able to connect information at the end of the show to what happened earlier," Ostrov wrote in his paper. "It is likely that young children do not attend to the overall 'lesson' in the manner an older child or adult can, but instead learn from each of the behaviors shown." ... ...The more kids watched, the crueler they'd be to their classmates. This correclation was 2.5 times higher than the correlation between violent media and physical aggression. Essentially, Ostrov had just found that Arthur is more dangerous for children than Power Rangers. ...[Dr. Cynthia] Scheibe's analysis subsequently revealed that 96% of all children's programming includes verbal insults and put-downs, averaging 7.7 put-downs per half-hour episode. Programs specifically considered "prosocial" weren't much better--66.7% of them still contained insults. Had the insult lines been said in real life, they would have been breathtaking in their cruelty. ("How do you sleep at night knowing you're a complete failure?" from SpongeBob SquarePants.) We can imagine educational television might use an initial insult to then teach a lesson about how insults are hurtful, but that never was the case, Schiebe found. Of the 2,628 put-downs the team identified, in only 50 instances was the insulter reprimanded or corrected--and not once in an educational show. Fully 84% of the time, there was either only laughter or no response at all." (p. 181-182) Wow. This book has really opened my eyes to many things how kids grow and learn and about parenting and family relationships, etc etc. But this portion about tv shows really surpised me. I have really started evaluating the things I let my kids watch now, so I can either choose different media for them to watch or to use some of these situations as teachable moments!

The kind where no matter how much you try, nothing gets done. Madelynn has insisted on being held or nursed nonstop today making it impossible to do anything that I can't do on the couch with a nursing pillow and infant on my lap. I've managed to: Do my Bible study. Load my kids' notebooks. Teach 1 math lesson. Tell the kids to do logic, math, and penmanship. Put away 1/4 of a load of laundry. Wash 1/2 a sink of dishes. Put away 1/2 a sink of dishes. Go to the local, small, family-owned hardware store for a part Dh needs. Eat a cold bbq rib. Made a small diaper cake, crocheting "ribbon" to go around the diapers. What I needed to do, or need to do, but couldn't/can't because it requires leaving the couch: Eat breakfast. Eat more lunch. Wash 2 meals worth of dishes. Put away 2 meals worth of dishes. Clean the counters/stove. Put away 3 loads of laundry. Wash laundry. Pick up the main rooms. Prepare spelling and reading assignments for the kids. Shower (but the shower is broken so can't anyway). Finish decluttering project all over the floor of my room. Go grocery shopping. Figure out/cook dinner with no food in the house. Really...my house came out of the weekend more trashed than usual. Last week was really chaotic with outside the home appointments so we didn't get as much school as usual done. This week is more chaotic than usual because of outside the home commitments. Between the two, I really wanted to buckle down and make the most of the time I do have at home, not spend every last moment nursing on the couch! I'm not a sit on the couch kind of person. Sometimes I HATE nursing. That is all.

when I hit my head and caused my concussion two weeks ago, I also caused the "jelly" in my eye to collapse. This is causing me to see a constant blinking light, like a headlight, in the left corner of my vision field in my right eye. I notice it mostly in dimly lit rooms and at night. My question is this. Does anyone have experience with this? Does the jelly repair itself? I know this can cause my retina to detach and have been looking out for those symptoms. I've been surfing the web but can't determine if this is something that will heal. The eye dr will see me again in a month. He said that either the flashing light will leave my vision field or I will get used to it or learn to ignore it. :001_huh: I will ask in a month if my "jelly" will heal again and if not, what to expect. does anyone know anything about this? I had never heard of such a thing and can find little info about healing.

I was just reading an article about more men choosing not to wear their wedding rings and I was just curious as to if you wear a wedding ring and if your spouse wears a wedding ring.

A new study has just been released. http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/09/11061081-obese-moms-may-be-more-likely-to-have-autistic-child-study-suggests?lite I think a lot more research is needed, but I can see how diabetes and high blood pressure could cause problems for a fetus. I would be interested to see if normal weight mothers who are diabetic (Type 1) have a higher incidence of autistic children, or if this only seems to be happening with Type 2 diabetes. I hope someone is willing to do extensive research in this area, because I think that possibly some cases of autism could be prevented if these theories hold up under rigorous scientific scrutiny. I also think there are MANY causes and factors contributing to autism and certainly not all cases would be prevented, even if this theory does pan out. And it definitely needs more work and examination than this one study.

I love the concept! I'm just curious which other colleges take such an approach?

Dd13 has an assignment to write about a movie or book that had a weak plot. Even DH and I are stumped. We can't think of anything. Really. I told her we're probably looking for a storyline that has boring characters and/or a boring conflict and/or an ending that didn't satisfy the conflict. Do you know of any? My guess is that we haven't read or seen anything that might be suggested. :tongue_smilie:

DH is trying to teach DD7 now. He spent about an hour with her on Monday night and he's going to spend another hour tonight. He said that her balance is just so-so, but that it got a bit better as they went on. She's just not the most graceful child LOL. Any other late bike riders? Anything that really worked for your late rider? I looked on Amazon and I think I'm going to purchase one of those Strider balance bikes for DD4 to ride, and we'll be able to pass it down to our new baby one day as well. I think that if they could start out balancing, then learning to ride would be a breeze.

:):):):) I go off to a 4H meeting and come home and look what we have!!!! Thank you, you wonderful Peace Hill Press people!!!

I can't think of how to set a poll up for this, but I am curious to see answers. Does your DH play video games? If so, how much? And if you don't mind sharing, how old is he? My husband has zero interest in video games. Several times he has expressed surprise that anyone in his 30s or 40s would be playing video games. I am a little younger than DH (seven years younger) but also went to college before the age when kids brought video games to college. I don't remember ever seeing anyone play a video game when I was in college (1985 - 1989). So DH and I just grew up before that was really on the radar. Anyway, I expect there is a generation thing going on here .... If your DH plays, do you play with him? Do you enjoy it?