:lol::lol::lol: What makes you think anybody has to arouse sexual feelings in a girl of 13? They're already there!

I have puddling curtains in my living area on three very large sliding glass doors that face out to the pool. They're beautiful. Too bad both my Roomba and my Scooba run right up them and then beep piteously for help. So I tie a knot in them to get them off the floor. Since I Roomba and Scooba almost daily, they stay up in a knot most of the time. When company is coming, I try to let them out the day before, otherwise they have knot marks in them. Or I just leave them in a knot and make people wonder about me. My next curtains won't puddle because I'm not willing to clean my own floors. If the hired help insist on climbing up my curtains, the curtains have to go!

Ack! All this talk of falafels gave me the munchies. Now I'm going to have to find a can of canned garbanzos and make some for tonight.

This may not be the answer you're looking for, but your daughter sounds like a normal 13-year-old. This kind of heightened curiosity about all things sexual is textbook normal. At this time she needs a mom that will discuss these things openly with her without giving her the idea that she's a pervert or a weirdo. In my opinion, publicly humiliating her by ripping the door off her room was exactly the wrong thing to do. Unless you're planning to chain her to her bed, she will have internet access at her friends' houses. She will have access to erotica at any bookstore, and she will satisfy her curiosity whether you like it or not. The only thing accomplished is that now you will never know about it again, and you will never again have the opportunity to discuss it with her, to guide her or to make sure she understands the difference between that and the real world. Just my opinion. I hope things work out.

The thing with grammar is that 1) there's not that much to learn, and 2) what there is can be really, really hard. Lots of people don't do formal grammar at all until middle school. By then, most kids have the processing power to get it the first time. You can cover all grammar in 12 weeks if the child is old enough. At that age, a child can achieve mastery in a couple or three yearly passes. Your little one may simply not be ready for adjectives. You know your dd best and what would work for her. If it was my ds, I would drop adjectives right now and revisit them next year. We struggled with grammar for a few weeks in grade 3 and 4. Each time I dropped it. Now, in fifth grade, he gets everything. He's working almost completely independently. We'll be done with grammar in another two weeks and we won't see grammar again until next year. We'll spend the rest of the year on writing. Regardless of what you decide to do, remember that she has years to achieve mastery of grammar. Adjectives don't have to happen this year.

If I may respectfully disagree, marriage as we recognize it today did not begin until the late middle ages.

Call Animal Control. Dogs are very social animals and keeping one jailed behind the garage is criminal. Not to mention that the dog can go all anti-social and become dangerous. I would call Animal control every day until somebody comes by to check on that poor dog.

Yes to the onions! I go through them like water -- they go into practically everything I cook. How do you store them?

Swiss chard is a great idea. I have seeds (bright lights from Burpee) and they will look beautiful. Here in South Florida it will grow practically year round. How do you freeze beets? I'm planting some to can, and I'm going to plant a few just for the tops -- dh loves his beet tops!

I don't blanche peppers. I wash them and cut them into strips about an inch wide, put them in a freezer bag and done. They last months and months, especially if you squeeze all the air out of the bag. I also stuff them and put them in disposable aluminum pans ready to roast. I cover them well and freeze them. They also last for months like that. Great freezer meal.

Yes! I'm thinking of doing an entire planter -- I can get 16 peppers in easy. My little guy eats the ripe ones like apples, right off the plant, and they're $3 or $3.50 apiece around here when they're cheap. And I can freeze all the green peppers I need to cook the rest of the year.

I've set up four 4' X 8' raised planters and I'm ready to put my seeds in. I'll use the square foot gardening system which has worked very well for me in the past. Still, I only have 128 square feet of dirt and I want to make sure I use them wisely. Obviously, it won't be all about the cost. Regardless of cost-effectiveness, I'm planting my own tomatoes, salad and leafy greens. Those should be eaten the same day they're picked on principle. :001_smile: What are the most cost effective crops you plant? TIA!

We download the sound files and listen to them on our iPod any time we want to practice. As the pp said, it covers English and Latin grammar very thoroughly.

:iagree:

Gosh, I don't see how they make the "classical=conservative" leap. I've been a liberal all my adult life, and I have always taught a Classical curriculum. I guess I just didn't get the memo.

I'm looking into next year's curriculum. I'm very attracted to the Living Books curriculum on principle. Once I add our own math, will the rest be meaty enough? How many books do you end up reading in a week? How are they spread out? Can you use your own copies of the books, or do you have to buy their editions? What has been your experience? How did you flesh it out, if you did so. Was it enough for your dc? Thank you for any guidance you can give.

Thank you so much for your quick feedback.

Anyone have any experience with HomeschoolClassifieds.com? I'm trying to get rid of some books and curricula, and thought I'd post there too.

Thank you, Jackie and Bill. I took a chance and posted thinking I might get a link or two. Both your posts are super helpful. Thanks!

Thank you. I'll look up the book. How do you like having chickens around? Is it a lot of work? (Asking because I know sooner or later it's going to be my job.)

Chickens were mentioned in a couple of posts today and it started me thinking. We live out in the suburbs and I know some of my neighbors must have chickens because I can hear them in the mornings. (I actually like that sound.) I have plenty of room out back (1/2 acre) and ds has been hounding me about having chickens. When I was a little girl, my favorite thing to do was to go to grandma's house on vacation. She had a little black hen and a little white hen and they each lay an egg each morning. The little white one laid my egg, and the little black one laid grandma's egg. Every morning I'd go out back and look in the bushes where I knew they'd lay their eggs, and every morning my grandma would cook my egg just so. I loved that so much, I still remember 45 years later. Dh had chickens many years ago, but it didn't work out. After he raised the flock, he couldn't kill them, and he couldn't sell them because he knew they'd kill the chickens. So he ended up with 20 or 30 pet chickens and the people at the feed store would laugh and tease him about it. ;) I wouldn't kill a chicken I know and then eat it, but I'd love fresh eggs! Is having chickens a huge deal? Also, my dog will want to eat them. How do you keep them away from the other animals? How many hours per week do you spend caring for your chickens. Is it cost-effective to get eggs from chickens instead of going to the supermarket? I know -- lots of questions -- but I was reminded by the posts and ds was asking again today about us having chickens.

:drool5:

Oh, wow, this is huge! Congratulations. Your work has paid off. I hope you guys get plenty of choices. Well done.

What a good idea!

We got ds a camcorder -- not an expensive one. He and dh downloaded free software to create stop action movies and he's been uploading them to YouTube ever since. Even has his own channel. He can spend hours posing his little figures, doing his thing. The camcorder has been a HUGE hit around here.