Anyone who is not happy with outsourcing...

Anyone who is not happy with outsourcing... [2008-02-07]
...might want to consider Barack Obama for president: He says he will ensure that US companies that outsource work to other countries will LOSE the tax breaks. Something to consider anyway. This could really be an important issue to all medical transcriptionists.

Happy Hanukkah to those who observe......... [2006-12-01]

So happy for you! Do you have any grandparents nearby? sm [2006-07-16]
I am the grandmother of identical twin girls. Although it was my daughter's first pregnancy, she was terrified. MOM, what are we going to do!!!!? Two of this, two of that. How are we going to afford this? and on, and on and on. I have 4 kids of my own, the youngest just graduating from elementary school. The oldest is the mother of the twins who are now 2-1/2. When those girls were born, everyone's life changed in a heart beat. Everyone got together and got stuff and decided to help out. The acquaintance network turned into the twins network. They have 3 grammies, maternal (me), paternal and step-paternal. We do the grammie shuffle and take turns babysitting. We are all only mid-forties and that helps. :) We all get along and will call and say Grammie one to grammie two, are you ready for home invasion? :) We had friends from all over donating clothes, etc., and still do. We're not too proud for yard sales eitheras they don't always have to match each other. There is no way they need to because they are so totally different and yet so exactly the same. It is the strangest most wonderful experience that we have all ever had in our lives. I still cannot get over it to this day. Sometimes I just sit and watch them for a while and I can't even put it into words. My son and his wife just had a baby boy and it's just too easy with just one, but my daughter (twin's mom) was holding him the other day and asked, What do you think mom, should I do one more? I said, What if you have twins again? and she said, oh well, I've done it before, I can do it again. The good thing is, the twins have kept each other occupied since day one. As long as they are together, they don't need too much. I used to type for hours with the 2 sitting in the playpen passing toys back and forth. Consider yourself doubly blessed and good luck to you. I'd be happy to give you more input if you feel like sharing your email address.

MDI-MD... [2008-08-12]
Check out MDI-MD out of Baltimore, Maryland. I have been with them since April of this year after leaving Medquist and very happy with them so far. Part-time is 700 lines a day or full-time at 1200 lines (but can do more - you tell them how many lines you want) and you have a 24-hour period to complete your work, no set schedule. Love it!

Thank you for your advice everyone. I am lucky in that my job is one where I have the full 24 hours [2008-05-30]
to do my line requirement and no set in stone schedule, so it has been doable. Also, line counts have been down and I I had my DH go in the attic and pull out the swing, which I had almost forgotten about, and that has helped a lot. Also, we hadn

Anyone looking for dental coverage? [2008-05-29]
Just thought I'd pass along a website I came across tonight. I was looking for some dental coverage (youngest son needs braces-UGH!). Anyway, this company offers a dental plan that is going to cover HALF the cost of his braces!!! HAPPY DAY!! Just thought I'd share in case anyone else's kid(s) needed braces! www.ChristineWood.onesimplecard.com

Recently on the news... [2008-02-08]
They were talking about companies bringing all areas of outsourcing back to the states. I guess companies are finally starting to hear the US publics' voice. I don't know how long it will take them. This was for major companies that send their service and support overseas. I am hoping Dell will join the other companies and bring their service and support back here as well. Just thought I would add what I had recently seen on an evening news broadcast. It was a very small blip about this. Hoping for more soon.

Correction!!! Hillary Clinton [2008-02-07]
actually talked about this first before Barack Obama. I just read she feels the same way about the NO TAX BREAKS for companies that outsource. So, looks like it's a democrat thing....Hillary OR Obama.....if you care about outsourcing. My vote if for Hillary!!!

How do you keep it together? [2008-01-22]
I work at home as an employee and have a 3-year-old daughter and a 1-year-old daughter. I I How do you get your work done, keep your kids happy, keep your house clean, stay organized? Any hints, tips, anything? Prayers? lol

I can definitely relate to this. [2008-01-18]
I started sending my son to preschool about 6 months ago, but recently had to pull him out. I am so absolutely stressed with him home now. I cannot concentrate and I feel like I am now working from 4 am to 9 pm each day and making much less. With him at school, I could work for 5-6 hours straight each day and then be done and have the evening to spend with my family. Now I feel like I have to work all day in between the breaks I have to take to take care of his needs and my income has dropped by $200 each week as I canIf momma ain? It is so true! I am really hoping that I can at least get him back in somewhere part-time. For me, the extra work I get done more than covers the cost of preschool, not to mention he gets out of the house and gets to play with other kids his age and I get some quiet time alone.

Names and life [2008-01-15]
Remember the studies about the treatment of, potential for success and likeability of people based upon their names? Take that into consideration. I am sure there are articles on the net about it. I only have one strangely named child and that was because I promised a friend I would not name her Kay, which was her name that she did not like, which I was planning to do. I still wanted to name her after this person because of the respect we felt toward her and the fact that her name sounded like such a happy name as was the person herself. We named the baby Kayce instead. Close, but not exactly the same. Could you try stuff like that with other names you like? I really do like the name Mya Avery. My daughters have a friend with a child named Justice, but she spells it Justys. I don't care for the name, but the child herself is lovely. I too have my all-time favorite names and two of those are Katherine and Alexis for girls, and two for boys are John Michael and Ryan Allen. Another friend of my girls has a daugther named Madison and she is as lovely as is her name. If I ever get a granddaughter my daughter plan to name her Deanna Katherine. I hope she arrives soon because though I love all the boys, I would dearly love to buy a Christmas dress for a girl and a little fur muff and mittens. Those little red Mary Janes are nice too! Good luck and whatever you name the new baby I hope you enjoy her or him.

Don't hold your breath... [2007-12-31]
Transcription companies and hospitals are increasing production rates and/or decreasing CPL, which means you have to work even longer hours to earn the same pay as before. The work itself does get easier after a few years, but it never gets to where you are not having to stop frequently to look up a new drug or rewind the dictation over and over to determine what some ESL doctor or a sloppy native speaker is saying. What we need is a Norma Jean of medical transcription or some federal labor laws regarding home employment. At first they were happy to save money by having us work at home. Now they are taking advantage of the fact that so many people want to work at home and the trend is towards paying us the equivalent of minimum wage. Some of you may be willing to do it, but I'm not.

I can relate sm [2007-12-21]
There are no easy answers. Toilet training takes a great deal of patience and for some kids, a very great deal of time too. There isnfully trained at 18 months. For one thing, children are not physically capable of holding urine until they are AT LEAST 28 months old. If you don't believe me, see the paragraph above. I have heard that they are not ready to train until they can ride a tricycle, going forward, on their own with some speed. I found this to be true of only one of my now grown kids. Take her out and get her some pretty big girl panties and let HER pick them out. DOn't get the sponge center training pants because they feel like a diaper. You want thin, regular panties because when they wet and the cold air hits their fanny it will shock them. Know that they will get stained and horrid, but it is in the name of progress. Don't make night time dryness an immediate goal. Strive for daytime potty training first and exclusively, diaper at night. Don't make a big deal of this. The child will tell you when they are ready to let that diaper go. Mine did and none of my 3 wore a night diaper much past age 3-1/2. Don't get into a power struggle. Stickers may not be enough. I had a pediatrician tell me to use M&Ms, 2 for a pee, 5 for a poo when my daughter was being stubborn. The advice is NO OTHER TREATS and make her work for the M&Ms or whatever very small sweet treat you use. I thought this was dead wrong, I didn't agree, but I was desperate because she was going to be 3 in less than a month with no progress. I needed M&Ms for only a couple of weeks because she got used to using the potty and got tired of the M&Ms. If you use a little potty seat, a good idea, take the little guard thingy off of it so it looks like a regular tiny toilet. Those guards are treacherous. And um, toss the seatbelt out too, they are just cruel. As for not minding a loaded diaper, some girls are like that. I finally gave up on my girl and let her sit in it until she asked to be changed. During the first week of this nastiness, her godmother came to visit. She walked in the door and had a fit over the smell, traced it to the kid and told her she smelled horrible, disgusting, awful and asked her how she could stand to be that way and furthermore, little girls who pooed their pants didn't go in HER car for Happy Meals. She never would sit in it again and shortly afterwards decided the best way to handle poos is on the potty seat. I am reminded of what I have heard several times. Your child WILL learn, she WILL get out of diapers because no kid wears diapers to school. This is not true, but once they get there someone will laugh and that is the end of the diaper.

The key is having your own accounts - sm [2007-12-16]
I only have one but it does not make me much $3-400 a month, would need several more like it to be happy (or one lucrative one). Most I have made in a year is $16K, but I am not dedicated, which is a key element to making a good income; get bored, surf the next too much, etc. I find it real hard to just sit there and work for hours on end typing. It also depends on your dictators (easy or difficult), your typing speed, etc. Many factors go into your production and ultimate income. Most new MTs I would say are lucky to make $5-6 an hour when the first start; so just go into it with your eyes open, and don't be conned by the ads that say you can make $40-$60K your first year.

This profession is [2007-12-06]
If your thinking about MT for the money, don't do it. To make that much money you will be tied to your computer, A LOT. If however you want to stay home to raise a family and be there when they need you, or another reason along those lines, go for it. I would venture to guess that most of us are still doing MT because we love the job and the fact we can stay home. There are those that say they make 65K a year, sometimes I think they are including their benefit packages in that to make it sound better (just my opinion) because I don't see how its possible under normal 8-5 circumstances. I would not trade any amount of money for the opportunity to be able to stay home and raise my family. To me there isn't a better benefit package in the world than happy, healthy children who knows their mamma is there for them!

after reading some of these posts [2007-11-23]
I don I I I don Daycare is over $700/month, plus rent, utilities, car payment, gas, food, insurance, etc. Set up play stations for your little ones. For example, my dining room table is only a few feet away from my desk. When she is home, I set her up with Play-Dough, which she will enjoy for about 45 minutes. I put a CD player on the table and she listens to kid music and sings along. When she is done with that, I will tape down wrapping paper, put a big shirt on her and let her finger paint for 30 minutes. All of this is quick clean up stuff. I keep a sand box on my covered porch, also not far from my desk and she will spend an hourplaying in the sand, followed by a 1/2 hour bath. I also keep videos with a lot of music and dancing for exercise time. For real rock and roll time, I put on fast music in my bedroom and let her jump around all over my king size bed :) I make over $40k a year when she is in full-time daycare, and only $32K when she is at home...but we are making it and I I love it when she comes over to give me a hug while I am in the middle of the world Please use an expansion program. Try ShortHand and download their free file that has about 8000 abbreviations already in it. It only takes a few weeks to see the benefit of using it. Keep the kids busy and they will be happy and learn to respect your work time. Best of all to you!

Yes, I do that now and then. [2007-10-24]
Makes me feel like such a dope. My sister got preggers at 38 and I think again at 40, but lost that one. She has a friend who was accidentally pregnant at the same time, I think at age 42 (though she looks very young). She was sensitive about it, per my sister, and had been so happy that my sister was in the same boat (my sister had been excited about it, but miscarried). Women tend to like to have things in common with other women, so it is hard to be alone in something like that. In the future I'm sure you will be much more sensitive and supportive, and maybe that will make all the difference for the next one you meet. Trouble is there are so many ways our mouths get us in trouble. I remember asking a family member (a nurse) one time why people became alcoholics - didn't they understand it was no solution and would harm their bodies?? You guessed it - the person had been drinking since she was 12. Found out a decade later.

Working at home [2007-10-12]
I guess I am lucky. My son is almost 2 and I was pulling my hair out because it never failed if I was busy he was cranky. But my neighbor(and dear friend) has some health problems and cant really hold down a regular job and offered to come over in the morning so that he can play in the yard on his toys and in his room (without me having to jump up every couple of minutes to assure myself he was okay). She feeds him, watches him play, and does some lite house work for about $25 dollars a day and because he gets to go out and play he usually goes down for a nap by 12-1230 and she leaves and on days when she needs to do errands he goes with her. I dont know what I would do without her. I know the pay isnt much but that is all she will accept so I try to supplement by giving her groceries, taking her with me when I do my errands so she can save on her gas and I watch her son (he is 8) usually one night on the weekend so she can relax. Hope you can find a happy medium cause the do exist. Stay strong and keep tapping.

I did as you are doing , work while naps and - sm [2007-09-27]
at night. No I did not get a lot of sleep and was pretty tired most of the time. I would basically work 9pm-2am; and during naps (unless I napped too due to exhaustion). I did not make much then; still don that is about all I did then. I was a newbie and doing acute care, though some days I did more than 500 lines, just those were rare. If you czn do that then that should be an extra $800 or so a month which should be helpful....but don't forget about taxes. Good luck.

What should I be charging? [2007-09-21]
I have my own transcription business (which only consists of me)and I My current job pays me $5.00/page. I would like to charge cpl because that is usually how it is done. I sent out a few resumes and said I was charging $.12 per line. I am going to be sending out a lot more and would like some advice if I I live in a community where the average house costs about $300,000. Does anybody have any advice? Should I keep it at $.12 per line or go a little lower? I have been working for 3-1/2 years and I have not attended any formal training. I If I pick up another job, I Right now, since I have to stay home with my kids, this is what I opted to do. I was fortunate enough to have my chiropractor hire me with no experience. She has been very happy with my work and I Any help would be appreciated! Thanks.

Mine went through something similar - sm [2007-05-08]
though with imaginary monsters. I had heard of making a monster deterrent spray, so I got an atomizer, filled it with water, added a little vanilla for scent and would spray her room at bedtime and vanquish the monsters. Did not have to do it for too long, month maybe and she started going to bed on her own. I've been battling her though practically since the beginning though. DH never wanted to let her cry herself to sleep, took me years to get her to go to bed on her own. I am very happy to be past that stage of things.

Thanks...sm [2007-01-29]
Well I am lucky in that the 1 year old does entertain herself most of the time. She is really good about playing within view of me and being happy... I know that a lot of little ones won As long as I stop every once in a while and chat with her she is happy. Also I will always stop if she insists she needs me. I Two in diapers doesn DD will be 19 months when the new one arrives, so I've decided to wait for potty training until after the new one is here a month or two so she doesn't have to deal with so much change at once.

Count your blessings [2006-11-29]
My mother and I used to argue like cats and dogs about my daughters B-day it is just before X-mas and none of her school friends were ever able to celebrate with her but being my mother her philosophy was your b-day is your b-day and thats the way it is!! I found a happy medium first of all we let my mother choose a day to take my daughter for a special b-day outing (which both loved). Second I schedules my daughters B-day party in early november so that all of her friends could come and enjoy. Third we made each childs actual b-day a family only celebration on which we go out to dinner as a family (kid choice of restaurants or food when tight on money) and spent the entire evening as a family. My mother didn't have to give in and so therefore no more fight. I wish I could have those days back now!!!!! my mother (as well as all of the rest of my and my husbands family) live almost THREE THOUSAND MILES away. So my mother will not meet her youngest grandchild until his first birthday! How sad. I would give anything to have my childrens grandparent(s) close enough to even have the option. Let you mother have her night with the little guy it may take his mind off of Daddy and I am sure he will come home with some toys to help to distract him tomorrow.Also while he is with grandma that will give you some MUCH needed time to try and work things out with Dad so that he can go in to his surgery with a clear head and concentrate and good results and not be thinking about fighting with you. Take care keep us posted and love every minute you have with those you love because you never know when you time is up.

60 independent ideas for preschoolers [2006-10-30]
This is from the cathswap yahoo group, Gwen one of the mods wrote it:HTH :) For what it's worth, I've compiled my list of 60 activities for my preschooler to do independently while I'm doing lessons with Heather and/or Jared. (If you're not homeschooling but still have a preschooler at home, this may help you get some just for you time...) Rachel will be encouraged to participate with our lessons as she wants to or is capable (like listening to stories during Language Arts or History; she can certainly do art but I'm not going to force it and hopefully these activities will keep her occupied and out of trouble. Feel free to pass this on to anyone else whom you think may find this helpful. Preschooler Ideas for Younger PAVCS Siblings - 3 and up Since I'm using all the provided curriculum boxes for the kids (from K12), I decided to take the biggest box --the one that the art clay, plaster of Paris, etc. came in, and designate it my three year old's school box. This way her school box is just like her siblings'. This box will ONLY be used at school time, and will only be used at the table. You can take any box and decorate it and make it the special box...brought out only at certain times and each time having something different in it. Inside will be her own pencil box that will have a set of markers, (crayola washable, naturally) a pair of Fiskars kid scissors, a box of crayons, a pencil, a pen, and a glue stick. Each day I will put some papers in there for her to either color, cut up, paste things on, or practice writing (simple mazes and such for her to follow, etc.) Each week I'll put one or two interesting books that she will enjoy looking at. There will also be one or two special activities that will change from day to day, made up of (mostly) educational toys and stuff that I currently have on hand but has been put away for a while.... Each day there'll be something different to do, either loose in the box or in a zipper top Ziploc bag (the kind with the slider zipper is easier for the kids to manipulate than the traditional ones). The idea of this box is for her to entertain herself with little or no guidance from me while I work with her older siblings. She will more than likely be participating with us during some lessons (she likes to play Chicka Chicka Boom Boom with the phonics tiles, LOL) . Here are some ideas for the activities. Some will be in a zippered bag, some won't. I have 60 activities, so that I'll have enough for 2 per day per month. At the end of the month I'll start over again. The key to the success of these is to keep them a surprise and limit access to them so that the novelty does NOT wear off. Some seemingly obvious things, like legos and matchbox cars are missing from this list because they play with them almost every day. I got the ideas for many of these activities from various websites with preschoolers in mind. I do not have these in any particular order. Obviously they need to be mixed up so there aren't a whole slew of similar activities piggy backing day in and day out......Also, I'm not going to insult your intelligence by reminding you about choking hazards, which some of these activities may contain...use your common sense based upon your child, and you'll be fine!... 1. sock match...several pairs of colorful infant socks that she's outgrown in the bag to match up or just play with. If I know her she'll have them on her hands and feet for half an hour. 2. dominoes...to build with and do who knows what with... 3. Discovery Toys Tinyville Magnets (these are magnets in shapes like people, vehicles, animals, buildings, cloud, stars, moon, etc...) and the magnetic white board 4. Play Doh, with geometric shaped cookie cutters 5. Play Doh with farm animal cookie cutters 6. Paint in a bag...put two colors of paint in a doubled Ziploc bag, seal it with clear tape, and let her squish them to mix the colors. There will be a couple of different color combinations 7. More magnets --from a magnet kit...lots of different plane figures and a magnetic base to build upon 8. Blues Clues Cards there are nine sets of four cards, three clues that go with one card. Got these at a dollar store that was going out of business...got them for 50 cents! :-) 9. Mixies cards (11 sets of three different cards that form a picture...these came from somebody's birthday party favor bag) 10. Puzzle Pairs (Discovery Toys two piece puzzles of things that go together, like a sock and foot, sink and soap, etc) 11. Memory...for Rachel I'll probably only give her 24 cards at a time as opposed to the full set of 72; this way I can get 3 activities from one memory game and she won't be overwhelmed! 12. Animal Lotto..she can match up all the animals on the boards... 13. Spirit jigsaw puzzle...I printed out a horse picture colored to look like Spirit and am gluing it to felt, then cutting it out in simple shapes for her to put together. I will probably put a couple more like this in there too. 14. Pattern blocks (mine are from K12; easily obtained from curriculum suppliers for a few bucks) 15. Wooden Geometric Solids...these will keep her occupied for at least a half hour; as with above, easily obtained from suppliers, often for under $10 for a nice set of 12 hardwood blocks 16. Math linking cubes- these are the multi link cubes, not unifix cubes. The multi link cubes are connectable all the way around, unlike unifix cubes that only connect one way. 17. Lincoln Logs 18. dry rice with a funnel, measuring cup, measuring spoon, and containers 19. Lacing beads with shoe laces (the long heavy duty ones from Glenn's old workboots work really well) 20. Giant pegboard and rubber bands 21.Rubber stamps with farm animals 22. Rubber stamps with numbers 23. Discovery Toys Playful Patterns 24. Discover Toys AB Seas alphabet fishing game 25. Discovery Toys Itsy Bitsy Spider Game 26 Discovery Toys Bright Builders (being a former consultant has its advantages!) 27. Stickers! Lots of STICKERS. Draw shapes on a piece of paper and give lots of tiny stickers to fill in the shapes with. You could also write the child's name on there to put stickers on each letter...so the name shows up in stickers. the smaller the sticker the better as it takes more time to fill them in. 28. Animal cards...you know those clubs where you get wildlife cards? Well I picked up half a set at a yardsale and the kids love looking at the pictures...that should keep her busy for 20 minutes 29. Mr and Mrs Potato Head Not sure if it's educational, but it should keep her busy for a half hour, hopefully. LOL 30. Bucket of Goop (three parts cornstarch to one part water) in a small empty oxyclean bucket with a scoop, funnel, graduated cylinder from K12, and another container to pour the goop into. Messy and fun but easy to clean up. 31. Watercolor paints I miss those old Paint with water books where all you had to do was have a paintbrush and water. The new ones come with a set of watercolors attached, but in this case, I'd really like the books with the pictures already colored and you just swipe it with a wet brush to paint. Maybe lacking in creativity, but hey. After painting one picture Rachel will probably have the paint set ruined by not rinsing out the brush...my idea here is for her do to something WITHOUT guidance from me...oh well... 32. Lacing cards. Using the shoe laces from the lacing beads. I'll cut out shapes from light weight cardboard and cover with contact paper before punching holes in it. Someone else suggested using old bleach bottles but I'm afraid that cutting them up will ruin my scissors. LOL 33. Felt shapes and felt board...using cookie cutters and other things as patterns, I'll make some little people and geometric shapes for her to play with. I'll cover a piece of sturdy cardboard with felt. Bananas for the Monkeys Original Author Unknown: Cut five monkey shapes out of brown felt and fifteen banana shapes out of yellow felt. Number the monkeys from 1 to 5 and place them on flannel board. Have the children identify the number on each monkey and place that many bananas in front of it. 34. Puppets in a Bag --yarn, facial features already cut out, a brown lunch sack, and some glue...a puppet kit! 35. Glue, Yarn, and shapes...sorry, no creative name for this. I'll draw some shapes on construction paper and give her a small (the tiny size) bottle of Elmer's glue to squeeze onto the lines I drew (helps build small motor coordination) and then she can put the yarn on the shapes. Other times, do this with her name, or a house, or something similar. I buy the tiny bottles once, then get the more economical bigger bottles to refill with later as needed. I don't even buy Elmer's half the time. 36. Collage in a bag...rip out some magazine pages with interesting pictures for her to cut out and paste on a piece of paper...maybe following a certain theme...like one time have it all healthy foods...another time, families and kids, animals, flowers, etc. 37. Bean Sort - Since she's pretty much beyond sticking a bean up her nose and requiring Glenn to remove it with needle nose pliers, I figure this is now a safe activity for her to do with only moderate supervision. (yes that's what happened and I got rid of our Don't Spill The Beans Game after Heather and I were traumatized by this. Rachel, interestingly, didn't care too much one way or the other. Heather was much more mortified by the sight of her daddy heading toward Rachel's nose with those pliers...I didn't look. :) ) Lots of different beans in a bucket for her to measure, pour, sort, and throw on the floor for me to vacuum up. 38. Eyedropper, small container of water, and a mini ice cube tray or Styrofoam egg carton. If you're feeling adventurous, use colored water to make it interesting. Demonstrate how to use the eyedropper both to fill and empty the cups... Would also work well with mini muffin tins, I suppose... 39. Colored Pasta - color your own pasta, using wheels or any other pasta that has large openings (easy to lace.) Use small amount of rubbing alcohol and several drops of food coloring in an airtight container or Ziploc. Leave the pasta in for a few minutes ; shaking it up or stirring a few times. Take it out to dry in a single layer. . then provide laces to string them up. You could provide some color or shape patterns on cards to duplicate. 40. Penny Count (source: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/3446/keeplittleones.html) I will make a more compact version on a single sheet of paper, and use circles the same size as the counting tokens (bingo chips) that came from PAVCS...match the colors and number amounts! But I thought the whole idea was pretty neat: Make a poster board showing cells of numbers. Example: Draw a square, write 1 in it. Draw or tape down 1 penny in the square. Do the same with each square...up to ten or twenty...your choice. I'd start with 10 first and then draw two more squares at a time up to twenty as child gets better at this skill. 2) Give your child a basket or plastic container of pennies and have him match up pennies that you have put down with the picture in each square. (Ex. In the 2 cell, he would put below your example 1, 2 pennies in a one-to-one correspondence. Check him when he is done by having him count each cell with you. Repetition is what teaches counting! 3) Eventually test your child by showing him only a number 3 printed on a index card and have him lay down 3 pennies and say 3. You might even write the word three along with the number 3 back in step one so that the child is learning a sight vocabulary word along with the printed 3. You would only do this if your child already knows the alphabet though. Then you could hold up a card that says three and see if he can lay the correct pennies down when seeing the word too. 41. Super ball or small car and a paper towel or Christmas paper tube. If you feel creative you could make a marble run of sorts with a couple tubes (see www.familyfun.com) I probably won't...she'll be happy enough with this. Why get more complicated than you need to? I could also let her color it with markers if she wanted. 42. Magnet and paperclips, washers, a nail, etc. 43. A large (big enough to climb in) box. 'Nuff said. 44. A giant piece of paper (or PAVCS posterboard) to color on...whatever desired...just give the paper and markers and you're set. 45. Lots of colored pom poms and tweezers to sort them out...look for tweezers that will be easy for little hands to manipulate, like the ones that come with the game Bed Bugs...heck, look for the Bed Bugs game. LOL 46. Treasure Hunt: large pot or box filled with corn meal, oat meal, rice, etc, with small treasures hidden inside...individually wrapped candy, coins, Barbie shoes, game pieces, etc. Make a picture checklist with all the items to find! 47. Colored Straws and scissors: nothing more to say. LOL straws are good for scissor practice because one snip and you have instant results. Provide Elmer's glue and paper and it's time to make a mosaic! 48. Discovery Toys Busy Bugs This can be duplicated with any manipulative, but I just got the game off ebay for $10. Might be able to find something similar in a homeschool catalog... kind of like the penny poster above, just using something different to play with and put the problems on index cards instead of the poster. You could use stuff around the house like coins, counters, buttons, pasta...make up index cards with patterns to duplicate/put simple problems on there: show items with number and number word under it, or do a simple problem like 2+2= etc...... This activity will be accompanied by a couple bug books and hopefully a neat bug video from the library! 49. Sticks, chunks of moss, rocks, leaves...with small rubber animals or dinosaurs...add some sand in a 9x13 baking pan...don't worry about sand on the floor...that's what vacuum cleaners are for!!!!! On a nice day do all your school work outside...heck, let the older kid SKIP schoolwork to do this outside... :-) 50. Magnetic Treasure Hunt: like the treasure hunt (#46) above, only this time use metal items and a magnet to attract them! Be sure your magnet isn't too strong or your kid will get several treasures at once! 51. Memory 2 see activity 11 53 Memory 3 see activity 11 54. Checkers and a small purse/canvas bag.... Checkers are cool cause they stack. If you can get more than two dozen, that's even better. Dollar stores often have checker games. 55. Chess pieces. Get a cheap chess/checkers game or two at the dollar store. Rachel likes to play with the pieces like they're alive. :-) 56. Magnetic Marbles I picked these up at a dollar store. Amazing the things you find at these places! I know that they'll be interesting for at least fifteen to twenty minutes...maybe more. 57. Popsicle sticks and Elmer's glue. Bob the builder at your service! Real cool if you have colored sticks...or just color them with markers when done. This is great for eye hand coordination and small motor building. You could put the glue in a small plastic cup or on a paper plate and have child apply it with a cotton swab to avoid excessive glue.... 58. Rubber Stamps with letters 59. Viewmaster and reels --I'm trying to collect educational rather than twaddle reels (cartoon characters = twaddle). I want to find reels of animals and places that are real. 60. Farm Animals and Barn. Our barn was being abused (read: animals left all over the house) plus we really don't have shelf space for the barn to be out all the time. So I'll bring it out from time to time...maybe when nothing else is working and Rachel is being a real pill. I had one other activity but I forgot what it was. :-P I thought of it after I shut the computer down for the night and made a note to add it here when I got up in the morning. HA! Hopefully we won't need two of these every day, making them last even longer. Having them all ready in their bags will be handy too... Other suggested ideas: set up a play store with empty food boxes; book and tapes; educational videos, painting with water and a paintbrush, cleaning windows, kitchen chair tunnels, puppet theater, One thing I am going to try not to worry about is THE MESS with some of these activities. Messes happen. Elmer's, crayola markers, and watercolors wash off. Sand and rice vacuums up. (You'll note I didn't put finger paints or tempera paint activities here...#1, that's not recommended without supervision...because tempera stains...and #2...well, tempera stains. LOL I've chosen things that will have a moderate clean up factor, if any. I may even let Rachel use the vacuum hose to clean up any spills...the other two will probably fight her for the privilege. LOL And when they're old enough to actually handle the vacuum, it's no longer fun for them and they don't want to do it!

I do s/m [2006-09-12]
I have a 10 month old daughter. My office is small and I just get all her toys together and she will play on the floor while I work. The room is all baby proofed so I don't have to worry about what she is or isn't getting into.. anything she can reach is hers. She is a VERY happy baby and is very good at entertaining herself. I was finishing my studies when she was born and have always had this routine with her so she is used to it. I take my breaks when she needs me, either just being cranky, wanting attention, or needing to be put down for a nap. I can work at night after she has gone to bed, or get up early in the morning if I need more time. It is working out very well so far. I'm hoping to move into a larger room here soon so she'll have more space to play, and to get a lap top w/ wireless keyboard so I can keep an eye on her while she plays outside when she is older. It can be frustrating some days, and it is never easy... but I think being home with her is SO worth it.

I have to agree with the poster below. 2-year-olds can get overwhelmed (sm) [2006-07-26]
My son just turned 2 and we just had some family over to our house for pizza and cake. I went to the party store and got Cars decorations and had balloons and a Cars cake, but that was about it. Even singing Happy Birthday was a little overwhelming for him. I have a daughter who will be turning 6 soon, and she is much more into having a birthday party and it's a lot of fun to plan hers. It will be much more fun for everyone to have spectacular birthday parties as they get older. Even next year for your daughter! Have fun with your little one!

So happy for you! Do you have any grandparents nearby? sm [2006-07-16]
I am the grandmother of identical twin girls. Although it was my daughter's first pregnancy, she was terrified. MOM, what are we going to do!!!!? Two of this, two of that. How are we going to afford this? and on, and on and on. I have 4 kids of my own, the youngest just graduating from elementary school. The oldest is the mother of the twins who are now 2-1/2. When those girls were born, everyone's life changed in a heart beat. Everyone got together and got stuff and decided to help out. The acquaintance network turned into the twins network. They have 3 grammies, maternal (me), paternal and step-paternal. We do the grammie shuffle and take turns babysitting. We are all only mid-forties and that helps. :) We all get along and will call and say Grammie one to grammie two, are you ready for home invasion? :) We had friends from all over donating clothes, etc., and still do. We're not too proud for yard sales eitheras they don't always have to match each other. There is no way they need to because they are so totally different and yet so exactly the same. It is the strangest most wonderful experience that we have all ever had in our lives. I still cannot get over it to this day. Sometimes I just sit and watch them for a while and I can't even put it into words. My son and his wife just had a baby boy and it's just too easy with just one, but my daughter (twin's mom) was holding him the other day and asked, What do you think mom, should I do one more? I said, What if you have twins again? and she said, oh well, I've done it before, I can do it again. The good thing is, the twins have kept each other occupied since day one. As long as they are together, they don't need too much. I used to type for hours with the 2 sitting in the playpen passing toys back and forth. Consider yourself doubly blessed and good luck to you. I'd be happy to give you more input if you feel like sharing your email address.

My honey bunch! [2006-07-14]
I am blessed to have a husband that truly loves, protects and provides for our family of 7 (us and our 5 children 13, 12, 9, 7 and almost 2. He is such a fun daddy. He is totally a help to me. He will help in any way I ask. He always asks for my opinion in matters where it really doesn't make a difference. He does all the bills and never (well, hardly ever) complains about my unthriftiness at times! I love him because he takes the time to turn his clothes right side out when he takes them off. He just does little things like that just because he knows they will make me happy. After 15 years of marriage he still writes me sweet notes for no reason. Marriage is a 24 hour a day job all its own.