I don't have any advice to offer; I would have a hard time in that situation, too. :grouphug: But your post made me laugh, because when I first read through it, I thought you said they were FEBREEZING the baby. You know, that smelly spray stuff that you freshen things up with. LOL I've never heard of Feberizing.

I haven't posted for quite awhile, until tonight that is. I do check in from time to time, though. I am almost 42 and have homeschooled since my oldest was in kindergarten. He began going to school in the 7th grade, and that has been a good thing. :) He will be a senior next year. My younger two have always been homeschooled. However, my middle child, 14 yods, would like to try high school next year, and I am going to let him. He is a great student and tested out of three courses (algebra 1, geometry, earth science), and I am going to miss him greatly next year. My youngest is dyslexic, but the hardest worker of all three of my kids. I will homeschool her until she is at grade level and most likely through high school. She has an incredible amount of confidence for someone who struggles with so greatly with reading. I have used many different curriculae (is that the proper spelling?), depending on what works best for each child. Rod and Staff has been my only choice for grammar, SOTW has been my favorite for history (we're on our second cycle, and 14 yods used HOTAW along with Spielvogel this year) and we've used both Singapore and Saxon Math. This year my 14 yos used Jacob's Geometry. I didn't love it, but he seemed to learn well from it, and even scored a 100 % on one of the four tests he had to take at the local high school. We've always read a lot of literature on the side to go with our history spine and our course of science study. As far as personal info, I love to hike and read and ride my bike. I also like to do weight training, which started as a way to strengthen my bones, but has become a very enjoyable pursuit for me. Well, I think that's enough info for one evening!

Hugs!:grouphug: I wish I could be of more help!

but I think homeschool parents should determine how they should teach lessons. I can't tell you how you should do it, and you can't tell me how I should do it, because we probably have different teaching styles, and our children probably have different learning styles. We also all have different life situations. All three of my kids are different and require different amounts of time with me, but I still like to be directly involved in their schooling each day, and I like to spend one-on-one time with them each day. I know people who give their kids their school work at the beginning of the school year and don't work with them at all, and their kids do well (high test scores, college scholarships), but that wouldn't work well for me. However, that doesn't mean that I think they should do it any differently. I haven't read all the responses, but here's my 2 cents!

I love: running hot water my bike my running shoes and TEVA flip flops my espresso maker Oh yes, I forgot to mention that I LOVE my washing machine. I can't imagine living without it.

I had 4 permanent teeth pulled before I had braces put on. My dad (62) still has his and my brother still has his. Neither one of them have had any teeth pulled, nor have they had orthodontia.

To answer your question, Laurie, I'm not sure what her reading grade level is now. She was reading at 1st grade level at the end of 3rd grade (when the learning center tested her), and she is now finishing up her 5th grade year. She definitely reads more and harder material than she did then, but she still has to sound out some words, and she is not what I would consider a fluent reader. She still gets confused with some of the vowel digraphs. That is why we keep on keepin' on. Luckily for me she is a willing participant! Thank you for the IEW recommendation. I will check that out. She does love to listen to books on tape and loves to be read to, so that's what we'll do for history and science. That's what we've always done (me read to her), I just wasn't sure if that was okay in middle/high school.

:D

I've posted infrequently on the General Board and even less frequently on the High School board. I have 3 kiddos: 17yob who goes to the public high school, 14yob who is currently homeschooled, and an 11yog who is dyslexic and also currently homeschooled. I had her diagnosed a couple years ago at a Scottish Rite Learning Center. One of their recommendations to me was to continue homeschooling; they were very pleased that she was not at all demoralized by her stuggle with reading. At their recommendation, we are using the Language! program (also one of the programs recommended in the Shaywitz book), and we are doing speech therapy. We also had to deal with dysgraphia, but that is a relatively minor issue in our case. So...my question: How do you approach middle school and high school with a dyslexic student? What do you do for composition (currently the speech therapist plays a role in this), for history and science? We will continue to do phonics training and spelling work and grammar (we are using Rod and Staff 4 this year and will continue with 5 next year; it's working well). I can't approach comp, history, and science as I did with her brothers, because it would be way too much reading and writing, but I still want to give her a good education. She wants to go to college, and I want this for her, too. By the way, she is a very hard-working, motivated student, if that helps with your answer. And she has made great progress in her reading, but she is still not at grade level. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and for your replies!

so take my advice with a grain of salt. Actually, my oldest homeschooled student is in 8th grade, but we used Smarr's ancient lit this year. I don't like it. I think his questions are basic comprehension questions. No literary analysis whatsoever. We are continuing with the literature selections, but have completely ditched the course. For the remainder of this year, I am using How to Study Literature by Benjamin A. Heydrick. That way I can continue with the literature selections we have, which I do want to study, but with more in depth analysis than Smarr provides. Did I mention, I don't like Smarr? Sorry I can't be more helpful! Kim

nt

I hate shopping, and I hate trying on clothes. Going to the mall is about as fun as...well, I enjoy pap smears more. :D Okay, I hope that didn't sound like I'm some sort of weirdo. My point is that I don't like to shop or go to the mall.

I've had a bladder repair surgery, and I'm so afraid I will jar things loose if I run. Okay, sorry, TMI! I do love to ride my bike though. Last Sat. I rode 32 miles, and I was hurtin' for the last 10. I usually ride about 12. Anyhoo, today I did 10 min. on the elliptical and then did a leg weight workout. I usually do 30 min. cardio and then either upper body or lower body workout 4x/week, but today I had people coming over and had to shorten it. Good job exercisers!!:D

I have an old laundry soap bucket that I fill with hot water, a little laundry soap, and some laundry booster (I use something Arm and Hammer). I spray the stains with Spray and Wash and let them sit a couple minutes. Then I soak the clothing in the bucket for maybe 24 hours before I wash it. This usually works best if you get the stains the same day they happen. Good luck!

I don't like studying poetry. :confused: Sure, I like "fun" poetry by poets like Jack Prelutsky and Shel Silverstein. I also like some Robert Louis Stevenson. I like to compose silly rhymes. But I'm not enjoying our study (with 13 yos) of poetry via Smarr literature. I don't really (not at all) enjoy Poe or Donne or Milton or Tennyson or Wordsworth. So, will the homeschool police revoke my license? :001_huh:

I'm not sure if this is a "general" question or a "curriculum" question, so I'll post it on both. What are/were your kids' favorite read alouds for ancient history. This would be for an 11 yog and a 13 yob. We'll be on our second cycle through history and will repeat a couple of the titles we read the first time, but I wanted to add some new ones in there. Thank you!

I'm not sure if this is a "general" question or a "curriculum" question, so I'll post it on both. What are/were your kids' favorite read alouds for ancient history. This would be for an 11 yog and a 13 yob. We'll be on our second cycle through history and will repeat a couple of the titles we read the first time, but I wanted to add some new ones in there. Thank you!

That's all I have to say about that!

but I really liked Napolean Dynamite. :D And I agree, the Vacation movies were great! I think the funniest thing I've ever seen, though, is Seinfeld, even though it's not a movie. I've watched those episodes over and over and I laugh every time.

I thought it was just my bladder, but when I finally went in to have it checked out (10 years after my youngest was born), the Dr. said my uterus was also falling out. He told me he would repair the bladder, but that I also needed a hysterectomy. I cried and cried, although we were basically done having kids, but I guess I wasn't done in my mind. :glare: Anyhoo, I got a second opinion, just to make sure, and decided to go ahead with the surgery. I'm so glad I did! Before surgery, I literally had a water balloon between my legs. I like to be active, so this was a definite bummer! I had a v*ginal hysterectomy and was back to riding my bike in two weeks. (Shhh! Don't tell my Dr.) I was very tired at first, but each day regained more strength. Best wishes on your decision!

I severely cut the sugar from my diet a few years ago. I had IBS (manifested as excessive diarrhea), which medication made worse. I went to a naturopath and he said I had a candida problem and cut all sugar out of my diet. My IBS got better and I had more energy. I still eat some, but really try to limit it. This includes any grain or grain product that isn't whole grain. For a treat, I eat dark chocolate. My second suggestion would be to have your iron checked. After the IBS was under control, I found out I was severely anemic. My doctor had me take ferrous gluconate, because ferrous sulfate, the most common type of iron supplement, gave me hives. Ferrous gluconate is also easier on the stomach. I didn't realize how tired I was until my hematocrit and hemoglobin levels got back up to normal. As far as exercise, my philosophy is to find something you like to do, because you are way more likely to stick to it. Good luck on feeling better!

so I guess I'll start now. Today I did 20 min. cardio and a leg workout with weights. I started strength training in January, and I love it! Oh, someone on this board once mentioned Oxygen magazine, a fitness mag for women. I subscribed to it, and it is awesome!

hence, my board name. I literally like to hike until I'm dead tired. I often have my kids with me, so I don't hike that far, but on occassion, I get to go solo and wear myself out. :D I also really enjoy reading biographies, but I don't get to them as often as I would like.

I do this to myself every summer. I expect it to be wonderful, carefree, tons of reading by the pool, reorganizing the entire house (my house is actually pretty organized, but I'm anal, so it's never enough!). In reality it seems that I'm always busy, and it doesn't "seem" like I've had the summer I had envisioned. But when I look back at the summer, it really was pretty good. I got to: go camping three times (I love camping), hiking a few times, go swimming several times in a nearby lake, vacation at the Oregon Coast, read a few good books, go boating with my little bro, turn 41 and feel better than I have in my life, and I got a break from school. :001_smile: I'm actually looking forward to the routine starting up again. I don't even know if this makes sense, but I just wondered if anyone else lets their expectations get them down, instead of just enjoying what is. :glare:

last summer. My recovery was fast. The first few days I was tired, but in two weeks I was back to riding my bike several miles. I felt great. I did follow the doctor's orders about no housework, though, and about the lifting. I also had a bladder repair, and I wanted to make sure that I had plenty of time to heal properly. I made the kids do all but the lightest of housework for three months, and I made my husband do any lifting. I hope all goes well for you! :)