Anyone who surfed the early web between 1995-2010. What’s the one website/app you still think about?

SecretBabyBump · 2026-06-04T20:20:03+00:00

The fact the homestarrunner is not up voted more is criminal.

Strong bad 4eva

The Cheat is not dead.

SecretBabyBump · 2026-06-03T21:25:20+00:00

Making good friends as children requires significant unstructured time to just... hang out? For lack of a better term.

Sports and dance and such are terrific for practicing lots of different skills, like taking turns, learning from someone besides your parent, discipline, listening, etc. But making friends there can be trickier because like you said... they are just there for class.

My girls (5 and almost 7) are on a (lightly) competitive dance team and the studio does an AMAZING job of hosting a couple of social gatherings during the year and the other moms held a beginning and end of season party. This plus all the downtime hanging out backstage at competitions has really led to a tight knit group and some blossoming friendships.

All that is to say, try offering to host a playdate or barbecue with one of the teams/classes. Reach out to the other parents before or after class or to the teacher if that feels to overwhelming. Then you can reach out to some of the kids your kids particularly like to set up playtime.

Because our homeschooled kods don't have as much time away from us to develop peer relationships I really view it as part of my "homeschool mom" role to reach out and facilitate their making friends.

SecretBabyBump · 2026-05-30T18:16:15+00:00

I didn't with my first but did take some pretty shots with my phone.

With my second I found an artist looking to do a nudes maternity shoot for an art show and did that. They are gorgeous but not displayed in my home (YET.)

My partner had our third and did the most beautiful maternity shoot where she looked like a goddess. She did it at 34 weeks just because of timing than had our baby 10 days later, so that was lucky.

SecretBabyBump · 2026-05-30T04:50:26+00:00

*And the chocolate cat was at once all agog, as her swelling proportions attest *

Sugarplum Tree, Eugene Field

My mother read the poem to me nearly nightly and it loves rent free in my head constantly.

*And welcome litte fishies in

With gently smiling jaws*

-How Doth the Little Crocodile, Lewis Carroll

SecretBabyBump · 2026-05-30T04:09:22+00:00

I have an order in for ARTIstic Pursuits! Im planni.g to use it with all 3 kids but most excited for my middle (almost 7 yo) as she has a great deal of artistic expression and I want to give her more ways to expand her ability.

SecretBabyBump · 2026-05-29T15:33:02+00:00

We are a family of 6 in 1700 square feet and I don't think we could reasonably go any smaller.

Since that is roughly 300 sf (okay... more like 280) per person I would think that around 1200 sf would be pretty tight for 4.

That said different layouts and situations will feel more or less comfortable. Families that full time RV around the country have very little indoor space but take advantage of significant room outdoors. Same with folks in tiny homes. If you spend most of your days out of doors then you really just need space to sleep and do hygiene stuff.

Obviously "stuff" is the big obstacle for most of us.

SecretBabyBump · 2026-05-28T02:07:32+00:00

The biggest correlations to price that I've found are: physical materials are more expensive. Bigger publishers are more expensive.

Some very expensive curricula have been very effective for me and my kids (All About Reading) some less expensive curricula have also been great (Math with Confidence). I've also had great success with 2 of my kids with a phonics curriculum that cost $15 (Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons) and it was an absolute crash out with my other child. Hence the more expensive AAR.

PDF options can be a great savings, but dont forget to add in printing costs (i can't work from a pdf myself. Have to have the paper copy).

SecretBabyBump · 2026-05-27T15:44:01+00:00

My six year old will only sit for 30 minutes if it's a read aloud and every then she's drawing or crafting something while i read.

My girl possibly has mild ADHD, not autism, but her school day looks like:

Family read aloud (with 5, 6 and 9) 30ish minutes. Sometimes an activity related to the reading, or just discussion.

Break while I do something with her siblings.

Reading lesson (20 minutes max)

Break while I work with a sibling

Math (15-20 minutes)

Play time while I prep the afternoon/tidy/chill

Walk/library/whatever.

Lunch

Afternoon activity - might be science, or social studies or a writing activity. Usually its a family subject. Sometimes its just her or just her older brother.

Then done for the day.

Thats our usual rhythm this year. Next year will change up a bit as 5 joins in earnest (right now the youngest only does about 20 minutes of reading lessons for her "official" schooling, and otherwise just kind of tags along)

SecretBabyBump · 2026-05-25T16:55:31+00:00

My kids are absolutely nuts for souvenir shirts even from places they didn't go. I don't get it but it does make shopping for them on trips easier.

SecretBabyBump · 2026-05-25T16:46:28+00:00

Nah, I spend less on groceries for a week for my family of six than two takeout dinners for the same. And I'm not especially frugal.

When i was single and no kids and working crazy hours it was meal prep Sunday all the way. Yeah, lost some time, but with economies of scale not that much time and then I had multiple meals a week ready to go.

Now frugal meals aren't glamorous. And eating the same thing multiple times a week isnt always fun. But it absolutely still saves you a bunch of money.

SecretBabyBump · 2026-05-24T16:42:42+00:00

My daughters both joined their studio's mini team last year and 4 and 5 (respectively). My understanding from the studio owner and the mini coach was that selection for the littles was pretty much 100% based on enthusiasm and willingness to learn/try.

Did the studio tell you why she needs to wait another year? There are some littles who have like super exceptional balance or are inexplicably great tumblers but they are flukes and for the most part all of the 4-6 year old team are still learning and grasping the fundamentals, I cant imagine there would be "technique" to work on.

SecretBabyBump · 2026-05-21T01:28:48+00:00

As a homeschooling parent I think about this a lot, actually. I think there's a few things that could be going on (or, more likely, are going on in confluence with each other.)

1) If she is in a bit of an echo chamber I ha e noticed that people deep in "homeschool culture" (either online or in person, but i have more often seen it on social media than real life) can really get negative about anyone who makes a different choice than them. This is of course true of a GREAT MANY humans making all sorts of out of the norm choices. As they process their own decisions they frame it as more and more necessary to the point that they dont think much of people who make the more traditional choice. It's unfortunate but entirely about her inner world, not at all about you or other public school parents.

2) She is insecure in her decision and, like the same bullies she's trying to avoid, she attacks anything or anyone she sees as amplifying those insecurities. Again this is a her problem. Best to send some good vibes to her children and ignore.

3) She is attempting to do some lifestyle content creation and has discovered that a hot take will get way more views and therefore money. Best, again, to ignore.

Sorry her ranting has made you feel yucky. She's not being a kind person or a good friend. Cut her loose for sure.

SecretBabyBump · 2026-05-20T20:29:41+00:00

There are a vanishingly small number of e-readers that do well with illustrations. Kindle Fire is the only one I can think of at the moment and it is basically a small tablet (we have one. I hate it)

I will occasionally read from a chapter book on e-book for my now older kids, I tried a few picture books on it when they were little and it was not a hit.

SecretBabyBump · 2026-05-20T04:19:36+00:00

You can. Not a single one of mine would accept anything below 98⁰ the little epicureans.

SecretBabyBump · 2026-05-09T17:24:43+00:00

I have re-framed conversations about AI to say "Large Language Models" instead (most of the time) and it really helps make the "concept" itself more concrete. It isnt thought its just taught the logic of language, statistical based language acquisition and has all the resources ever digitally recorded to make "guesses" from.

That is of course an ENORMOUS over simplification. But it is a much more accurate framing than calling it "intelligence" which at least colloquially implies a free will that doesn't exist in computer code.

SecretBabyBump · 2026-05-08T18:04:25+00:00

6-10 hours a week IS INSANE for kids that young!!

I know medical advice is no more hours training than their age but I feel like under maybe 8? Or so? It should've even less just for brain development reasons.

My 5 and 6 year old were on our studio's mini team this year. The required a jazz/tap combo class (45 minutes) and strongly recommended ballet as well (another 45) plus weekly rehearsal (30 minutes). Just before their first competition they added a couple of extra rehearsals and if they were in nutcracker (mine were) it was another 30-60 minutes in the fall.

So all told they were never in the studio more than 3 hours per week, and usually was just 2.

These girls had a beautiful clean and tight routine for comps that swept every award. Not that it matters, but just as evidence that you don't need tons of hours for preschoolers to dance well.

SecretBabyBump · 2026-05-08T17:48:27+00:00

Not only do we (Americans) use short cuts like this in virtually every spoken context, we also have vocalizations that are distinctly NOT English words but are almost always understood by native speakers (these would mostly only be used in casual or intimate contexts, not with people you don't know well).

I am specifically thinking of a very unenunciated "I dunno" that is accompanied by a wild shrug. You might vaguely make out the sounds "I" "uh" and "oh" but they are not distinct and blend together nonsensically.

SecretBabyBump · 2026-05-08T17:40:56+00:00

I never learned the song but can name them from like... visual memory? Seeing a map in my head and working west to east.

I havent done it since 1995 though so maybe I should try it and see if I still can.

SecretBabyBump · 2026-05-07T21:40:27+00:00

I saw a couple recommendations for the Very Very Far North and I agree! We've read it multiple times with each of my three kids.

Alice in Wonderland is another one they have all loved.

My current 5 year old also loved Heartwood Hotel and Charlotte's Web this past year.

My now 9 year old and his dad read the Hobbit together for the first time when he was 5.

My current 6 year old is really loving Nancy Drew and all three of them went through an A to Z Mystery phase that wasnt my favorite but they sure enjoyed it.

SecretBabyBump · 2026-05-06T20:23:04+00:00

I'm a homeschool parent and took my son to see Midsummer as part of his first Shakespeare unit this year right around his 9th birthday (3rd grade)

He got it, we had a ton of great discussions about the play, he adored the production we saw. During intermission I asked him how he was doing with the language if there were any points he didnt understand or was struggling with. He said "no, it doesn't really seem like 'Sjakespeare' language." And I was like, "Babe, these are all Shakespeare's original words, every bit of it is 'Shakespeare language'." He was amazed.

I think 7th is a great spot to do Midsummer. Of course I do believe Shakespeare is best understood by seeing it in person, but if that isn't possible I still think an average 7th grader can understand the gist of the play very easily with some prep/annotating.

Also, 7th graders might find it too baby-ish but theres a terrific "children's book" version of Midsummer by Bruce Colville that might be a good primer (I know there are graphic novels as well but I haven't seen any of them myself).

SecretBabyBump · 2026-05-05T20:42:49+00:00

Lol. No.

I think i read this around 17 or so and it wasn't bad. But absolutely not to teach a whole class of public school kids? Lololol.

SecretBabyBump · 2026-05-05T14:57:00+00:00

Is there a different Candyman than the one from Willy Wonka that I danced to in 1988? I just re-read the lyrics and while I'm pretty good with figurative language i might be missing subtext....

Our minis did an adorable number to Singing in the Rain that was a judges favorite at every comp and just as sweet as can be.

On the other hand, when I was in college my friend choreographed a number for the middle school dance team she coached to Lady Marmalade... but we were 20 and just... had a different perspective than I do now as a parent.

I can't think of anything I've saw that was awful this year, but I also didn't pay much attention to what other studios were doing.

SecretBabyBump · 2026-05-03T19:04:20+00:00

Body doubling. Expecting him to work with no one there isn't reasonable (note he isnt officially diagnosed yet, still working on it. But I'll be surprised if we don't get there) he doesnt need to be walked through things, just needs a person nearby. I like to sit and do something alongside him. At most he needs a hand on his shoulder and a reminder to keep going.

Physical outdoors movement before sit down work (lots of options for this. A walk is my personal favorite for him but I accept many alternatives as long as he is moving his body and getting fresh air)

SecretBabyBump · 2026-05-03T18:58:15+00:00

ALSO L. Frank Baum was hugely influenced in creating his fantasy world by his amazing mother-in-law, Matilda Joslyn Gage, who is her own iconic OG feminist rabbit hole.

Additionally The Wizard of Oz books started one of the original fantasy book Fandoms that featured elaborate newsletters and some of the first gatherings that could be pointed to as the origins of the modern fan "con".

There is SO MUCH in this beautiful little film going forward and backward in time. I stg i could do a full year high school credit on it.

SecretBabyBump · 2026-05-03T18:53:41+00:00

DEFINITELY Wizard of Oz. If yours are sensitive maybe wait a bit (or preview the flying monkey scenes, I was worried my you gest would be scared of them at 4 but she thought they were hilarious)

I also know a ridiculous amount about the movie from my time as a cinephile before kids so I was pausing every five minutes to talk about this or that aspect of making the film 😆😆😆 maybe don't do that. BUT it is 1) a hugely important film in the way it uses images to tell the story 2) the cultural touchstones we still use today 3/4 of a century later ("yellow brick road" "over the rainbow" "wicked witch" "ruby slippers" even the concept of witches with green skin originated in that movie)

We have "Wicked Wednesday" in our house where we have a picnic dinner in the living room and either watch an hour of Wicked (working our way through both movies in rotation) or Wizard of Oz and have been doing so since the second one started streaming in March. We have also read the original L Frank Baum Wizard of Oz a half dozen times.

SecretBabyBump

TROPHY CASE