See, that kind of lie being fine and OK is exactly why I detest social stuff. "White" lies are supposed to be lies that avoid hurting the other person, but IME at least 75% of them are told to make the speaker feel better, when it would be preferable for the lie-ee to know the truth. (Oops,is my Aspie showing? :lol: ) I think you are wise not to spend too much energy on this.

Perhaps by sharing that they prayed about it a lot, they are trying to communicate that the decision wasn't taken lightly, and that they are aware that you are likely to be discombobulated?

Why, do wide beds for youths create bed-hogging men who only leave 6" of bed for their partners?

We don't have anything as elegant as pillow shams but if we did you can bet I wouldn't be putting the pillows in and out twice a day: even a top sheet under the duvet is too much bed-making work for me! If the bed takes more than about 20 seconds to make (except on the day I strip it and make it with fresh linen), then it's too complicated.

School has definitely had a negative effect on the way my children get along with each other. They used to be unusually close to the point where several people commented on how well they related to each other and how lucky I was that they played so happily together. During school they were socialized in ways both subtle and explicit to play only with same-age (and preferably same-gender) peers. At this stage we are still working to get over that aspect of schooling.

I still think it basically comes down a fundamental problem with the assumptions underpinning school. If you have a skill (fluent reading) which can be attained by normal kids within a wide range of ages (perhaps between age 4 and age 10) and even earlier/later for outlier kids, then it is never going to be ideal to teach this skill in age-matched groups of 20, 30 or more kids. You can start early and put pointless stress onto the later readers, you can start late and bore the earlier readers, or you can start in the middle and have problems at both ends of the range. But whatever approach is taken, I don't think it's feasible for a school to achieve the benefits of the truly individualized reading journey that is routinely available to home educated kids.

It's always tough to receive a diagnosis of any kind, but with Crohn's even though it isn't "curable" is treatable to some extent, so it's great that you and your son now know exactly what the problem is and can take steps to alleviate it.

If there's a kids/family bathroom, you should use that. But if the only alternative is stalls that are too small to fit you and any kids who are too little to go alone, then the handicapped stall is fair game.

Excellent :D

We're going to be pretty year-round too, but it's exciting for the kids to be 'going up a grade' (despite the fact that nothing is really being done on grade level anyway).

If you're going to get seriously into Lego, you need to get it into your head that there is no such thing as the perfect Lego Storage Solution. Whatever you do, it will always be a compromise between the time and effort to keep it sorted vs the inconvenience of having things mixed up and difficult to find. You can keep every individual set in its own box with instructions, which means you can find any piece almost instantly, but then it's hard for children to be creative with it (which is the biggest educational value of Lego in the first place) and you have to be draconian about packing up (otherwise you'll end up doing it yourself. Every time.) . Or you can put it all into a huge box/bag and kids can create away, but woe unto anybody who wants to build a specific boxed item again, because there will always be one piece that can never be found. Or you can go somewhere in the middle, and have the best/worst of both worlds.

I guess they thought we all already know that moms don't take sick days?

Poor young man! Sending positive vibes your way :grouphug: Please let us know what happens (no hurry - when you get time)

I have very strong principles and values that I try hard to live up to, so I guess I'm not that worried about what studies may show re nonreligious folks. I feel sad about the way atheists are viewed by some people, but I don't blame anyone for believing what they have been taught. I hope I will never hate anybody for their religion in the way that some people hate me for my lack of religion.

I suspect I'd probably feel a bit claustrophobic (maybe that's the wrong word, but worried about being crushed down by water and so far from normally-breathable air?) however I'd still try it if I get the chance because I'd love to experience the underwater world.

How are we going with gearing up for the new school year? I have posted my latest plans here. (Any comments appreciated.) What about you?

And stuff I have got on the back burner for now (at least until the kids get over the shock of this much structure) LOTE: German - Duolingo and a hodgepodge of written resources Latin - Getting started with Latin (kids) Latin Intensive (me) I would love them to do both (and I am doing both), however I don't think Mr. 11 or Ms. 9 are capable of learning two LOTEs without a lot of pushing, and while Ms. 6 probably could I am trying to minimize her seatwork, so I am thinking of giving them a 'taster' of each and letting them choose which to continue. Logic - I have quite a few resources, but currently I haven't managed to fit it in. Religion - not sure where to go with this. We have already covered Bible stories (pretty extensively), and basic tenets of the major world religions, also attending houses of worship (churches, mosque and synagogue) so don't know what should be next? Physical education / sport - not sure. Kids all decided they didn't want to go back to Athletics, so it'll probably be lots of swimming, games and dogwalking until I have the money to put them back into swimming lessons. Drama - will start again as soon as we can afford it.

OK this is what I think we are going to be starting next week for new school year (ds11 6th grade, dd9 4th grade, dd6 2nd grade). Is it too much (bearing in mind that we have been more 'unschooly' in the past and this will be more structure than they are used to)? or too little? Have I missed anything major? Arithmetic: All kids have MM at their own level, plus Timez Attack, LoF once per week and Murderous Maths when we get to it (mainly for elder, but the girls like it too so I'll keep reading it with everyone). Spelling: AAS (everyone) Grammar and writing: Fitzroy Word Skills (different level for each kid) + letter writing for all kids, creative writing for Ms. 9, penmanship for Ms. 6, and additional work from I hate to Write for Mr. 11 History: prehistory (spine: Children of Time) then SOTW1 all together + possible immersive unit studies on Australian history. Science: unschooling and/or unit studies - bio + chem, various practical workshops eg using the miscroscope, culturing bacteria Geography: our own combination of Core Knowledge elements and cartography, Seterra, country studies (with international food days), Culture Swap and tie-in movies/lit for each country studied. Art: Core Knowledge art appreciation, + art lessons for Ms. 9 Music: Music appreciation: Meet the Great Composers (+ Ms. 9 recorder and vocal, Ms. 6 piano, violin and music theory, Mr. 11 composition and sound engineering). Both the girls will be going back to Girl Guides, and Ms. 9 will continue with horse riding as often as possible within budget limitations.

Like is inadequate for this post. I need a LOVE AND 100% AGREE button.

Ms. 6 aced her MM1 end of year test with 92%. The kids are making meat and veg combo spag bol while I'm on the computer. We got our biggest apricot harvest ever. I can remember four chords on my guitar. I have decluttered a huge box of no-longer-used resources to pass onto another family.

Moms reminds me of Trixie Beldon books!

My number one rule for happy field trips is not to require any reporting or other 'work'. Nothing ruins a fun day more than having to go home and write a page about what you did. My number two rule is don't do it in a group if we can do it just as a family. Group activities for kids with social problems add a whole extra layer of stress, plus the more homeschooled kids you have, the more it's like a regular school field trip (can't linger of things you're interested in or rush through things you're not into because you have to stay with the group). The only time we'll do a group thing is if it's either unavailable for one family or massively more expensive. My final rule is: try not to hold overly high expectations.

I don't personally like Khan Academy that much, but I think it's always worth a look, because it's free.

Try . (But ignore the score, as it's not actually in the key she is singing in.)

And also re 'more difficult words', I would have thought that the early sight words are the more difficult ones, both because the most common words are the most likely to be irregular and because the more words you have the easier it is to add new ones to your lexicon. The words kids learn later are likely to be longer rather than more difficult, and longer words mostly have regular spelling (to take an extreme example, antidisestablishmentarianism is actually easier to spell than who!).