We live about an hour away from it. Every year they have a free seminar on how to teach high school/prepare kids for college. A few of my friends and I went a few years ago, and it was really excellent. It opened my eyes to things I really hadn't considered would be possible for me to do, and that workshop was how we started our jr high/high school co-op, because we couldn't find a co-op close to us that was as rigorous as we wanted. I think the school is very well-run, and they have such top-notch teachers--people who really are the best at what they do. Their Latin certamen teams are sooo good! If we live closer, I would most likely at least put my high school kids in there!

LOL, I just posted this link too! Oops! That's what I get for not reading through all the new messages! It really is a fantastic school.

Yeah, to be honest, I think you are describing more of a cottage school. CC does not "teach" anything. They have tutor "training", but that is only to emphasize over and over again that the tutor is there to drill the students, not to explain anything. That is for the parents to do. So the best CC tutors are the ones who can find come up with catchy ways to remember stuff, not ones who can make it all make sense. Which was very frustrating to me when I was a tutor. I'm definitely not a "games" sort of person! There is a very well-recommended cottage school not too terribly far from us (well, far enough away that it isn't an option for us, but I did go to an informational meeting there before we started our co-op!) It's called the Classical Cottage School. There is a link on their main page called The Classical Cottage School Approach, which might be helpful to you as you think all this through.

A friend of mine posted this link on facebook earlier today, and I thought it was hilarious! All the stereotypic cliches in one convenient conversation! Although I have not actually heard all of the lines said to me personally, I am sure some people have been thinking them! "Don't you LIKE polar bears?!" Sooo funny!!

We have sort of done this with a TOG co-op. We use TOG for our history and lit, although we only do the co-op for our dialectic and rhetoric kids. We also do science and foreign language. We meet on Tuesdays, and our younger kids are already in a co-op (unit study-type, only used for enrichment, but a really great (and big) group). The younger kids' co-op only goes until 12:30, so we pick them up and then do a modified CC-memory work time with them in the afternoon, while the older kids are finishing up their classes. I made a modified timeline, with dates, and this year we are also memorizing the kings and queens of England. We memorized Heb. 11 last year (we were studying the Ancients), and we're memorizing Eph. 6 and I Cor. 13 this year. I take science facts from whatever the older kids are studying--Life Science last year, and Physical Science this year--so that the younger kids can contribute a little to discussions, and have some basic facts about what their older brothers are studying. We memorize a stanza of a poem each week as well--we memorize about 6 poems a year. And then I do mapwork using whatever the TOG stuff is for that week. In the summer I divide everything out per week (the poems, Bible passage, etc) so I have a master plan of what to cover each week. You could certainly add math, English, Latin, whatever else was important very easily. I offered on the curriculum board at the end of this summer to send my memory work files to anyone who was interested and thought they would be helpful. If you would like one or the other, please message me with your email address!

I was having a lot of hip problems after my last pregnancy, so I did a ton of research this past summer, and we bought a 2.5 inch memory gel topper from Costco. It sounded like it would not be as hot as other ones (that was a huge area of concern for me), plus I didn't want it to be too deep and plush. Since I spend a lot of time pregnant, I didn't want a topper that I would sink way down in and be stuck! Right after we bought it, we aired it out for several days down in our basement, and the smell dissipated quickly. That never bothered me. But the first several weeks we had it, I was definitely hot. I would wake up sweating! But I actually got used to that, and I stopped waking up being hot. I was quite surprised when I realized (several months ago, before it got cold!) that I wasnt hot in bed anymore. Weird! Also, the first few weeks, I really felt like I was being pulled into quicksand, a sensation that I did NOT like feeling, but again, I got used to the topper, and I don't feel that way anymore at all. Maybe it compressed a bit, and I like it better? Who knows?! So how do you usually sleep, as far as position goes? When I was reading reviews on Amazon of various memory foam toppers, I remember clearly someone saying that she was a side sleeper, and the topper cured her hip problems but gave her neck problems. That has been my experience as well. I changed my pillow, tried to sleep more on my right side (because before I mainly slept on my left side, and that was the side I have problems with) and have really tried to work it out with my chiropractor, massage, etc. (well, I only had one massage--it was a special treat, LOL). While I would say my neck/shoulder is better than it was say in September, I am definitely still having problems. It hurts and I can't turn my neck as far I used to be able to. I'm not sure what we will do long-term. We also do not want to puchase a new mattress, which is probably what would really solve all my problems. I'm thinking maybe next summer we might take it back off, especially if it starts feeling hot again!

Yes, I have to agree with Bill here--I don't think the circumsicion procedure itself was painful for my 5 boys. Some of them started crying when strapped down, and stopped when they were released (making me assume it was the strapping down part they didn't like), and others didn't cry during any part of it. My husband watched each circumcision get done, and we have had all the different methods. No complications from any of them.

I only go every 6-8 weeks (and I have a big family!), so I buy a TON of stuff--2 big carts, piled high and overflowing, along with stuff on the bottom. At least $700 worth. I usually pay $6.00, although sometimes if I don't have a $1, then just $5. But I do help load the groceries into my van. I will put them in the front passenger seat and the middle seats. I don't want to be there all day, since I have to drive through D.C. traffic to get home!

Yes, I read it too, and I was very moved. I also thought that no one who was a "fraud" would go to so much trouble all. the. time. with so many people. As I said on my facebook page when I linked that article, he is the kind of man I want my boys to grow up to be--not a good athlete necessarily, but someone who cares deeply for people and has his priorities straight.

I went to the commissary with one of my kids this afternoon. While there, I bought a bag of tator tots for the first time in my adult life. After reading all those threads on "foods you grew up" on, I couldn't stop myself! When I was growing up and my dad was flying, my mom would make fish sticks and tater tots. I don't even remember how she made them, in the oven, or in oil, or ??? So we'll see how they taste, and if my kids like them, LOL. Memories . . . who knew I could be a nostalgic shopper?!

We get all ours from Home Science Tools. They have lots of dissection selections, both in kits and individually.

Has anyone taken a TOG rhetoric lit class online? What all does it entail? We're looking into one for next year (year 3, if that matters), but there's not a lot of info about what they actually do in the class. Do they read the same books as the TOG year 3 plan if we were doing it at home, and do they do the same writing assignments? I know TOG offers separate writing classes, but do the lit classes also have some writing components in them? Thanks!

Beware! My early teethers have had the most problems, as far as biting me while nursing! It's like they don't really know where to channel that feeling, or don't really have nursing boundaries, or something. I just know that my 3rd and my 8th got teeth early (around 3 months), and my 8th child had 8 teeth before he turned 7 months, so he just kept teething. And biting me. SO painful! He drew blood a few times, and I was not real excited about continuing to nurse him, LOL. But finally he is not teething anymore, and things have definitely settled down in the nursing department. Whew! My other kids would maybe nip a little, or bite once or twice, but not to the same extent (or as hard!) as my early teethers.

I have 8 kids, and I have eaten a similar diet with each pregnancy, since I really don't have any morning sickness or anything to speak of. I love peanut butter, as well as nuts like almonds, and I snack on them frequently during pregnancy. I also drink a ton of milk because I really like it. I have one child, #3, who is anaphalactically allergic to peanuts, walnuts, and pecans. He was also allegic to milk until 1 1/2 years ago, when he outgrew it a few months before turning 9. He also has a lot of environmental allergies, and he suffers from asthma, although he has really improved over the past few years. My 5th child, a girl, was allergic to milk from the get-go. She spit up tremendously even as an infant until I stopped consuming any dairy products myself, and she couldn't tolerate any formula other than that predigested really expensive stuff (I had to wean early, at 7 months, because I unexpectedly got pregnant again and lost my milk supply). But she outgrew her milk allergy by the time she was 2 (even had a milk challenge test in the allergist's office to make sure), and she was never sensitive to nuts of any kind. The other 6 kids have no food allergies whatsoever. So in my very limited sample size, anyway, it seems unlikely that diet during pregnancy is absolutely tied to allergies. I think there is a genetic component, or something, that predisposes some to be sensitive.

Does anyone have a good recipe for frosting for cinnamon rolls, but without cream cheese? My dh mentioned that he'd like to eat cinnamon rolls tomorrow morning while watching the parade, but we used our last bit of cream cheese in a dip we took to a party last night!

I don't have any other IEW stuff, and it's been fine. Everything is explained in the book.

Hmmm, we are using it with kids from 2nd grade up to 5th grade. The 5th grader has much more detailed compositions, but the younger kids haven't had any problems with it. I think you can go simple and geared to younger, or more complicated and geared to older kids pretty easily. The 2nd grader did do All Things Fun and Fascinating last year though, so he was not a total beginner either.

We also used that last year in a small co-op, and it was so great, esp for that 1st-3rd age group. This year we are using Geography-Based Writing Lessons, which is an ebook using Holling Clancy Holling's books (Paddle to the Sea, Tree in the Trail, etc.). It's been good too!

I remember starting having discharge a little before 10, and I can clearly remember it because we were stationed on Okinawa at the time. I had no earthly idea what was going on, and I just started throwing all my pairs of underwear in the closet because I thought something was really wrong. Ironically, I was prepared for menstruation, because my mom had been very open and clear about that, but she neglected to mention anything about discharge! I knew I wasn't seeing blood, therefore something must be very wrong! Eventually she figured out none of my underwear were in the laundry, and so I told her. I was so relieved when she explained! I didn't actually start my period for several more years--close to 13, I think. I did wear pantyliners though. Never have liked any "dampness" down there!

We had a subscription to both magazines for a little while (a year or 2). My older boys (14 and 12) much prefered Popular Mechanics. Popular Science had more what they termed "weird" articles--about finding aliens, the end of civilization, etc. Popular Mechanics articles seemed a little more practical and real-world. I don't recall any ads that would have been offensive, and my boys didn't either when I asked them, but I can't verify that right now by looking at a magazine.

We live in Northern VA, which is definitely a high cost of living area! We put just about everything on our Sams credit card (which we pay off each month) to get cash back. This also gives us a pretty good feel for how much and where we spend, since the only thing on your list we don't put on there is cell phones (we have 2 non-smart phones on a 3 year old contract, so that is only less than $70/month). Our monthly bill is averaging around $2500, and we have 8 kids ranging from 14 1/2 down to 7 months. We almost never buy new clothes (lots of good consignment sales, plus good friends who give us clothes), and we spend very little on stuff like Christmas/birthday gifts. Does that help?

I graduated from high school with a girl that had Turners. We are facebook friends, and she is a lovely person! She is married to a deaf man, and they adopted 2 children. Definitely a happy outcome for her!

Hmmm . . . well, I don't know about all your theories. I have 8 children. We are not "Quiverfull", as in espousing any sort of movement (and I don't wear skirts!). Right now I would call us "lazy about birth control because it doesn't really matter if we have more or not--we like kids", LOL. There have been a few times in our marriage where we did use birth control. I nurse for around a year for each baby, and I usually return to fertility when a baby is around a year (although I got pregnant with #6 when #5 was 4 months old--and I was doing all the right things and had never been fertile before that early so YOU JUST NEVER KNOW AND SHOULDN'T JUDGE OTHER PEOPLE!!). We married when I was 20, but we didn't have our first child until I was 24. We have not sought out having children, I haven't tested for ovulation, or anything. Yet we have 8 kids, I am only 38, and we could conceivably have a few more, and we could have had a few more on the front end if we had started earlier. I do not consider myself super fertile, and like I said before, we were not deliberately trying to conceive--just not doing anything to stop it. (And no weird patriarchal must-say-yes-to-sex thing going on either!) So again, anecdotally, it is indeed quite possible to have a large family without trying at all. And it is also pretty much impossible to accurately describe to someone who doesn't have a large family how it gets so much easier to have babies when your older kids are older, how the older kids really want more younger siblings, and how much fun it really is!

We have a 2007 Sienna (8 seats), and I adore it! I could drive it forever, I think! We have had no problems with it at all. I would definitely recommend it!

I have never seen Essentials, but I always use Saxon 1. I think anyone could go straight into Saxon 1, without really any previous math at all, so your daughter should be fine! I don't use the TM at all with Saxon 1. The worksheets are pretty self-explanatory, as far as teaching the concepts, I think. I am sure there are helpful things in the TM (and I did use it with my first 2, I believe), but nothing I remember as especially earth-shattering that you would not be able to function without! My 3rd, 4th, and 5th kids have done just fine with me not using the TM. My kids have never been absolutely thrilled with Saxon math, but I don't think they hate it or think it is incredibly boring, esp. at the younger ages. Then, they just like spending time with me, coloring towers and drawing pictures for the word problems! I think Saxon gives a good, solid foundation, with no fancy bells and whistles, which I like. In short, it's free, and I would use it!