I have been asking myself this lately. I played competitive sports from age 3 until age 23 (when I had my first child). My husband also played until he was 1/2 way through college. I was always a big proponent of them - learn to work well with others, physically, it's great, it's fun, etc, etc, etc. However, my dh is now 400# and I cannot blame that on sports but I know MANY adults who started gaining weight (and never stopped until they got huge) once they stopped playing sports. these are typically those who played highly competitive sports, in which they could eat as much and whatever they wanted b/c they would burn so many calories during practices (for dh, it was football & wrestling). We now eat REALLY healthy (mainly plants, no meat) and if we had a scale, i'm sure it would show dh is losing a few lbs but b/c of all the jobs he has, exercise is not possible so he would need a biggest loser couple of months to get down to a decent size. anyway, i see my oldest dd eating like CRAZY & she is a pole bean (all of them are) and i think - if she does sports, she will have to eat more & more & it's hard to train yourself to STOP doing that after having to do it for so long...idk. there are SO many opportunities for her to learn self-discipline & working well with others. I would rather instill a <3 of exercise (like biking, hiking, running, swimming, etc) that she can carry with her into her adult years & not HATE exercise like her parents do. I HATE exercise but LOVE sports - however, my sport is a team sport you cannot play alone so I just don't exercise (i haven't gained weight yet b/c of being pg so much - nursing just takes it all off - but i have lost a lot of muscle). I'm just not seeing sports as much of a priority as i used to...

we use Saxon a couple of years ahead but after finishing a Saxon year (b/c it never takes us a whole year), we move on to MEP. This is helping to 'slow' dd1 down & MEP challenges her in new ways (just don't drop the facts drill! btdt). I am hoping that after this year of doing 2 curricula, she will only be a year ahead in Saxon.

haven't read the whole thread so forgive me if i am repeating: Eat to Live (Dr. Furhman) basically, LOTS of veggies, a good amount of fruit, 1c beans everyday, limited meat & dairy

:iagree:

ds 1 is the most active child I have ever seen! His toes are all bloody from running barefoot everywhere (no time to put shoes on!) & his calf muscles are HUGE (he just turned 2) b/c next to running, jumping is his favorite pasttime. However, I have worked w/him on sitting still probably since he was 1? The rule I had for him was, if you bring me a book, you have to sit still in my lap while I read the *entire* thing to you. I only had board books for him but even that was a struggle at the time. However, if he wanted to get up, I would sit him down immediately & say no, you brought me this, & you need to sit still while I read the whole thing to you. With that said, I would read really fast so he would have success :) Little by little, he was able to do it & now he can sit still through a Bible Story & some 'regular' books (not board books). All this said, my main concern was learning to sit still, not so much the reading part - that comes w/exposure & time, imo & little experience.

Well, we have 1 week left before we are finished w/the 1st 1/2 of MEP 1 & she took a test today...all but 1 problem right! MEP is great b/c it STRETCHES her brain but with all that stretching, she doesn't look forward to math as much as she used to. I am thinking maybe 1/2 of Saxon 2, finish MEP1, finish Saxon 2...hmmm... too much skipping? or just enough switching it up to keep her brain active & engaged???

:lurk5:

Saxon/MEP Question: Saxon is our main curriculum but dd was done w/Saxon 1 by Feb. So in March, we started MEP 1. She is 1/2 way through & I am wondering if I should switch back to Saxon for 2 reasons: ' 1.b/c I am thinking 3mo is long enough of a break for core curriculum & 2.b/c I am thinking MEP is hard enough, doing the 2nd 1/2 of Year 1 would probably still be a challenge after she completed Saxon 2. What say the hive? tia!

I pick a curriculum, we do it until we are done, taking breaks as needed/wanted. When we are done w/a curriculum, I will take a week break (or so) to either get ready for the next round or (normally) for something more practical. ex. we took a 2 week break when ds 2 was born, we finished saxon 1 in february, took a 2 week break to potty train ds1 (successfully poop trained). She will be done w/ the 1st book of MEP at the end of May & we will take a week or so (however long it takes) to *finish* potty training ds1 :) we started doin year round for 2 reasons - 1. OPG does not go just 1 year so we just kept going until we were done and 2. when we take more than a week break, it becomes a struggle to get back into the routine of school everyday.

I have more littles & less school but my schedule is set a similar way. Here is a suggestion that helped me: write down EVERYTHING each child can do on his/her own (or just w/o you). that way, you have ideas when the child starts to get into trouble. if you want to & have the time you can even write them down on slips of paper & the child can choose from a cup or something. Here is our day (VERY choppy but it works for us): 6:45am-feed baby, breakfast 8am-baby naps, littles have roomtime, dd1-spelling, math, grammar, writing 9am-everyone gets dressed 9:30-Bible Story & scripture memorization w/oldest 3 9:45-dd1 & ds1 play (not so quietly :glare:); dd2-phonics 10am-dds play; ds1-puzzles w/me 10:15-feed baby, older children get to watch tv 11am-lunch 12pm-play outside (1hr+) 1:30pm-ds1-nap; dd1-spelling on her own; dd2-math w/me while i feed baby 2pm-everyone but dd1 naps; dd1-reading w/me 2:30/3pm-everyone naps/quiet time for dd1 4:30pm-get up from naps; dd2-writing so you could say school goes from 8am-4:30pm at our house but w/most of it being in 15-30 min intervals, it's easy to swallow. History & Science are missing out of all of that. We did those before baby was born & I haven't figured out how to get it back in again. It will come. Those are gravy right now. When I'm on top of things or when they remind me, I'll read CHOW during breakfast some days. hth even a little :)

NEXT YEAR?!?! but it's only February! it's MAY, you say? :willy_nilly::willy_nilly::willy_nilly::willy_nilly::svengo:

I thought PSAT stood for "Practice"SAT?

love this! :iagree:

this is so me! :iagree: I have noticed myself becoming more easy-going w/in the last year. I praise God for it DAILY! ONLY He could change my heart & attitude! I see that I am different w/my kids, w/my friends, etc. I LOVE it! Being uptight (b/c I still am in a lot of ways) is my least favorite part of me! SOO thankful that God has changed me & is changing me!!!

not sure why the thread got deleted, i wasn't bashing dh or anything... just as a general reply, some of you were right, i was not expecting some of those responses & didn't know how to respond to some & didn't feel the need to respond to others - I was just asking for security advice - which I got A TON! Thanks! I wrote it all down & we are doing most of them. just so dh's name is not dragged through the mud, the pics he took were innocent (the guy coached him through how to suggest, etc. but he couldn't do it, thankfully). The problem was more the deception than the pic contents. The email sent to him from the guy said: "just b/c you found me you think you can harrass me? I gave you a great opportunity and you blew it. taking your identity is nothing. i can ruin your life. leave me alone & I'll do the same" I understand some of you said this could be dh just trying to cover his tracks... i can't be a good mom thinking about this all the time. i am contemplating doing the keyword thingy that yall mentioned but idk... i'm physically fine - though mentally & emotionally wrecked, as you can imagine. thanks for your :grouphug:s, i felt them over the internet :) katy

that's the kind of joke my dh makes!!! that would have gotten a resounding laugh w/my family :lol:

In my few years of experience, I think this is KEY! Truly! We get comments like that all the time & while there is A LOT that goes into having well-behaved children, EXPECTATIONS & CONSISTENCY are two that jump out at the moment as key.

that's totally how I feel! So I prayed that the Lord would mess up my cycle if he wanted me to be pg - I was up for whatever but didn't know what *He* wanted - so he did & that's how #4 came about ;)

sounds EXACTLY like dd2! She is 3.5 but I'm not sure it has much to do w/age...:glare: don't know what to tell you but i sure to empathize! :grouphug:

my girls ask when they will get to go to preschool & when they will get to ride a school bus? (they love riding city buses) i just say, "you go to preschool to learn your ABCs & count to 10 and you already know how to do that!" (that answer sufices for now) i feel a twinge like a bad mamma, keeping them home instead of letting them go to school, like they want...but then I remember they have NO CLUE what school is like (or the school bus ride) and I remind myself that I know what is best for them - NOT public school (ESP. not where we live), let me tell you!

me too! I get my period 3-6mo after my babies are born & then keep up w/my cycle until the baby is 1 (HATE formula - want to nurse all at least till they're 1). I get pg IMMEDIATELY after I stop paying attn to my cycle. All of mine are 18mo apart but if I didn't try to prevent, they would be 1yr apart, no doubt. I've always been regular since my 1st period - all my kids' bdays are in the 20s or the 1s of the month - that's how regular I am (if that makes sense).

I have been working w/dd2 in OPG for a year & a half She is only on lesson 100 (we do by time, not lesson, and she is *antsy*) She has been on the cusp of reading fluently but she guesses a lot (again, *antsy*) We do school 3x/week and she does it but she is not thrilled Well, we went to a historical park today and she started reading the signs telling about the buildings all by herself! Still sounding stuff out, but totally initiating it by herself! I was SOO excited!!! I was reading the signs (not out loud, just doing my own thing while they were running around) and she came up and just started reading! okay, back to your relaxing weekend - just had to tell someone who would *really* appreciate it :) (others who have not taught their children how to read or those in which it has been awhile do not get quite as excited)

OPG!

Another vote for OPG. I started both dds on OPG at a little over two yrs. I suggest setting a time limit: rather than doing 1 lesson/day, do 5 min/day. If that is 1/3 of the lesson, FINE! She will be able to sit longer as she has more practice. I do 15 min lessons w/my 3.5 yo. We are 1/2 way through OPG and still this is not a whole lesson. So, OPG, Starfall.com, magnetic letters, bob books, & dry erase board (or magnadoodle works well too) are my suggestions for young readers :)

Here is the succession I have done for my oldest 2-it has worked so far! :) 1-ABC puzzle until they know most/all letters & sounds 2-when they know most, we use Starfall.com as a test/reward (the letter they can say w/sound, I will click on and they can watch) 3-work on making sure they know all of their lowercase letters (I use beanbags that I made - got the idea from Tot School Blog) 4-OPGTR with magnadoodle & fridge letters 5-bob books 6-early readers from library I go by time, not lesson, and just increase the time as they get older & more used to what we are doing. dd2 reads a library book to me for 15 min & we work on OPG for 15 min (we started off just doing 5 min - she has been doing OPG for a year now and we are on lesson 100-something).