Oh! How exciting! I can't wait t see things like that! We will be moving to Stuttgart. DH works for AFRICOM. Hopefully we'll be able to find a small village close by and not live in the city.

Ahhh - forgot to mention that! My husband is a former Marine and has worked for the D.O.D. for the past 8 years. In Germany, we fall under the SOFA (Status of Forces) agreement - fortunately we are able to hs. In fact, where we are headed, there is a large Christian co-op that we will be able to join. I am so excited about our time in Germany!

I will check into that further tomorrow - from the quick glance I took it looks interesting. :001_smile:

Good evening! I'm going to make a long story as short as possible and jump right in! We started history with SOTW-1. Didn't make it far before I realized we needed more Christian content. Added in Vos but still it just didn't "feel" right. Added in Biblioplan. Still wasn't quite "right" - although I think the combo is fantastic, I think that starting with the Ancients was what was bothering me. Scrapped all that in a moment of pure insanity when I ordered TOG. Sold it on eBay after the 3rd week. You all were so right - too much for lower grammar only students. Finally found The Answer. Decided to go with TQ-AHYS and thought we had found the perfect fit for our family. I love it. The girls love it... But DH just accepted a job overseas and we will be moving to Germany in 6 weeks. Yikes! I am not sure where to go from here. We will be in Germany 3-5 years. Possibly longer. What on earth should I do about history? I have an almost 8 yo and a 5yo. We are headed into 3rd grade with my oldest and still have yet to complete anything close to what resembles a year's worth of history. Please - any thoughts / suggestions? I would prefer something with a Biblical basis. Love Diana Waring but don't think her curriculum is for students as young as mine.

I am prescribed Adderall XR (25mg) and take it 5-6 days/week. It works immediately (for me within an hour) and is out of the system the same day, I believe. It is not like an AD that takes weeks to build up to therapeutic levels. The negative side-effects that I have noticed are: dry mouth - more so in the first month or so decreased / no appetite - hasn't come back in the almost year I have been on it irritability for about 30 min. as the 2nd dose is kicking in occasional irritability in the evenings as the 2nd dose wears off If your mental health issue is BD, I would question the use of Adderall. It is not - in my limited understanding - appropriate for sufferers of BD. It can induce mania, I believe. I'm not sure, though, so please make sure a p-doc is perscribing all of it - or at leats knows that you are taking the combo! G/L to you! As a sufferer of ADD and dysthymia, I certainly feel your pain!

Well, I guess that settles that. We'll have to live in town. Hope it works out so that we can do it! I am glad to hear about the hs group. We are in a wonderful Christian co-op now and just love it!

I (sort of) know how you feel! It's exciting and scary all at the same time. I agree with those who have said to start preparing and pray-pray-pray. If the Lord isn't leading you to Malaysia, He will close the door! If you do go, I hope you have a wonderful time. On another note, where in NC are you from? I grew up in Kernersville and DH in High Point!

TY all so much for the great info! DH is a former Marine (13+ yrs), and has worked for the DOD for 8 yrs. now, so we are used to the way the military works, thankfully. We would have access to everything on the base, which is comforting. The job is a pay-rate which we hope rates us for a house instead of apartment on base. Not sure on that one. We'd rather live on the economy, but are unsure yet if we would get some sort of assistance with the whole 5-month's-rent-up-front thing. We sure can't come up with that! As for the house, we are still talking about renting it out vs selling. We're also contemplating DH going over 1st (it will likely be the 1st of May) and the girls and I going a month or two later. I can't imagine movers coming in just 4 wks or so! Of course this all is counting chickens as he hasn't actually been selected :-) but we are fairly confident that he will be. And if the move is to happen as quickly as he suspects, it's probably wise to start thinking about it all now. At the worst my house will be much less cluttered! Thanks again for the helpful posts!

TY for the great answers! I'll keep reading, and once we know for sure that he has the job (and we are 99% sure he does) we'll know more about what can be shipped / will be stored.

Jessica, I will pray for you!

I am a wreck right now (when am I not - seems to be the only time I post :001_huh: ). DH works for the gov't - DOD - and we will find out within the next week or so if we will be moving to Stuttgart, Germany. We would fall under the SOFA and will be able to homeschool with no problem, thank goodness. I have so many concerns, one being living in a country with a different language. I realize that many Germans speak English, but it would obviously be in our best interest to learn the language. Is German hard to learn as an adult? Are the people friendly towards Americans? Will it be difficult to obtain homeschool materials in a country that doesn't allow homeschooling? I guess I should make sure the companies we use will send to military addresses overseas? And also, we have a fairly large house that we *just* refinanced last year. We live in a tiny mill town where comparable houses have been on the market for well over a year. The mill just announced that it will shut down next month for 2-3 weeks. Not sure much of anything will sell now. DH and I differ on what to do with the house. I think we should go ahead and sell most everything we can in the house, keeping only sentimental things to either move to Germany or keep in long-term storage. Take all of that money and pay off debt. Empty the house and put it on the market - thankfully we don't have to sell immediately and can wait for the market to come back. We're not 100% sure until we try it, but the "plan" is to live in Germany for 4-6 years, then move to another country - probably Japan. We're not sure that we'll come back to the US for some time, as the idea of raising the girls in several countries is appealing to us. DH -who never wants to sell anything :tongue_smilie: - wants to keep the house, and maybe rent it to a military family or let our church have it for the intern pastors that we get for 2-3 years at a time. That way, says he, we can leave things like the lawn mower, appliances, etc. here at the house and not have to buy them again upon our return. With the plan to not return for at least 4-6 years - maybe longer - does this actually make sense? If it does, please tell me so I won't start a war with DH over this, LOL! Whew! Lots to think about. I know I rarely post, but I so appreciate all of the good advice when I do. Thanks for any thoughts/suggestions!

My DDs (7 & 5) love Wii Fit, Wii Play and Family Game Night. HTH!

My husband travels all of the time, and we love to have "spa parties". I let the girls get in the big garden tub and I pour an entire bottle of bubble bath (no dyes or perfumes) in. Then I bring them raspberry ginger ale (a special treat) in fancy plastic cups, and pretend that I am Mrs. Sprinkle-toes (that's my alternate personality - a lady from England that loves to surprise the girls with random appearances throughout the week). They play in the bath as long as they want. Once they are dried off and in pjs, we polish toenails only (usually in 2 or 3 colors plus nail stickers). Then I let them put on glittery "make-up" and play dress-up. It's soooo much fun! Finally, we eat dinner by candlelight and watch a movie together. Too much fun for my 7yo and 5yo.

I will be praying for you. It can certainly turn your world upside down, can't it? I hope all goes well for you. It just kills me to read that. I know exactly what you are feeling. For me it came when I was pg with DD#1. My Mom couldn't handle seeing me with my huge belly and watching my husband talking to the baby. One night she had had 1 glass of wine too many and she actually called me back to her room (we were visiting) and cried to me about how my precious baby was not "really" her grandchild...that she had failed my father...etc. What that said to me at that very moment was that I was different. All those years I believed the lie that I was the exact same as any child that was biological, but I wasn't. That's when I realized that I didn't belong 100%. It's an awful, awful feeling. I am so sorry that you know what I am talking about. Thank you both :) How difficult that must have been / must be for you. I feel for you - thanks for sharing that with me. Thanks again for all of the posts. If any of you ever want to, please PM me.

Sorry to keep posting so much - I just can't answer everything in one. My brother was adopted two yuears after I. He has different biological parents. Like me, he never has had the desire to search (at least, not that I know of). My brother & I have never been close. We never communicate, unless it's a holiday or birthday. We don't not get along, we just aren't close, KWIM? At any rate, since my biological mother found me, my brother has been especially distant. I could go on and on, but I think it all boils down to the fact that although he has no desire to be found, he wonders why it is that his biological family isn't searching for him. I believe that he is hurt by that (even if he doesn't really want it to become a reality) - I truly do. My brother and I often joke that one or the other of us is "The Chosen One" in our Mom's eyes. When he went through his embarassing (to my Mom) skate-rat phase - with the long hair and skater-boy attire - I was The Chosen One. I was a prep with stylish hair and good grades. She wasn't embarassed of me. Then I hit my awful teenage rage year in 11th grade and ran away. My brother became The Chosen One then. He had shaped up and she could be proud of him. When I met and married a wonderful man who was in the USMC and stationed in Hawaii I became The Chosen One again. How fun to tell all her friends about wedding plans, etc. OK - so this sounds awful, and is honestly probably more fiction than truth (about my Mom actually having a Chosen One), but I have been The Chosen One for awhile now and I have to honestly say that my brother would probably love to take the opportunity to step a few paces ahead of his big sister. He probably wouldn't hesitate to bring it up to my Mom in a casual conversation, "Oh, I had no idea Laurie and (biological mother) were talking again. Why didn't you tell me?.....Ooops, you didn't know that, Mom? Oh I am sooooo sorry." It's all so messed up.