Nordic Berries sells two product that are yummy! Even I eat them. There is a multivit and a DHA. We like the orange ones.

Not even close. Different country even. We have moved around alot!!!

I just sent out my three year old son to play in the snow. He mainly sat and watched a dead bird that we have not cleaned up because it is in a difficult place to get to. (The snow is very high and we would have to climb a fence to land in a three foot snow drift then climb over back from the ground.) So I do not protect my kids from it, although I will go out and pick up the bird now that I know he has seen it. Just to teach him cleanliness, not to show him fear of death. I have not gone out of my way to discuss the recent passing of my grandfather only because my kids did not know him (met him once three years ago). But when the kids ask about the family tree they get honest answers about who is alive and who is not. I find them as curious as can be when we get into these discussions. We have not gone to the extent of explaining the eternal destination's of people's souls' as we have a mixed family as far as faith beliefs. I believe that requires a more mature thought process but when it comes time we will go there. I find it sad to hear that parents are not reading certain books because there is death involved. What better place is there to deal with these bigger subjects than in a book. But we all miss great opportunities to be great parents because we are human, hurting or distracted. I am hoping those children are resiliant enough to face it when they are older. In fact, I am just remembering how my family sheltered me from the death of my grandmother when I was five. Even as an adult her name brought me to tears and I had to go to her grave, across the country, when I was thirty, to find peace about it. Once I did, death did not have that same fearsome quality. I have no doubt in my mind that my family chose to shelter me out of love. Even if it was to make the loss easier for them, so they could be there for me the weeks and months that followed her passing. Life is complicated.

:iagree: I have a daughter the same grade and with the same issues. There is wisdom in waiting. In addition to that, these are a few things that have helped here that you can do sitting right beside her. 1. An electronic Dictionary for $30 at Office Max. It has made it easier and far more interesting to check the spelling of words. The final product has fewer spelling mistakes. 2. Teach her to finish a project to the end. I'm not sure if you have the same history as we do but I did not teach my daughter to finish a written piece of work. It was mostly because I was just happy she was writing. Once we walked through the process several times it became familiar to her and she tried harder the next time to get it right the first time. ;) 3. After we file her finished work in a binder, she shares it with people that will encourage her. Maybe you do this already but it has made my daughter proud of her work. Sit down, read over and compare her work from last month or last year and notice the improvements out loud. Best Wishes! I look forward to other the other ideas you hear about.

OK. As long as this is just for fun. I state up front I do not know Latin, I found a site that translates English to Latin. Any academics would probably notice errors but....here it is. Nunquam satus a terra bellum in Asia Don't ask me what the words mean. The only one I know for sure is terra. And Asia of course. :D

My son is three and a half right now and not anywhere near potty training. Ugg. I feel your frustration. I asked him tonight when he was going to go in the potty like a big boy and he said...in the evenings. :001_huh: Candy does not even work, he just says "No Thanks". Hopefully you will get other more helpful replies. Just know your not alone. My two olders do not wear diapers...;).

I second the Dave Ramsey FPU suggestion. My dh and I are mid way through it now. It has been fun, tough and informative. Just to let you know....even Dave would recommend a small allowance for adults to blow money on things that they feel is worthy of it. So use this as a selling point to your dh, it may lighten the burden of a buget just enough to get him on board. To put it in perspective, we each have $15 a month to spend however we please. My hubbie played a game at the arcade last night with some of his and he goes out to lunch with a friend on a monthly basis. I am keeping mine for drive through on nights when I am without the kids. Budgets are freeing if done properly and Dave Ramsey is a good source for motivation and tools to get the job done. Best wishes! It is worth it!

Praying for God's peace and the wisdom for the doctors. :grouphug:

We just finished major dental work with our three year old son. None of my other kids have cavitites and he had three caps and two cavities filled. He also had two smallish cavities behind his two front teeth that the dentist said he would wait on. He smeared some flouride on them and told us to wait 6 months. I am brushing and brushing back there and I give him a calcium drink hoping that these things will help. I agree with the previous poster that said some kids just have poor enamel. Also, get a second opinion!!!! My son at three had a great pediatric dentist and he was able to do *all* the work with laughing gas and a shot. We had several appointments and he did one at a time. I brought toys for after and gave him Motrin before. He came through it well and still loves going to the dentist!! Look around or ask around. Anesetic has its dangers and you would do best to avoid it. I just wanted to let you know that it is possible to have major work done humanely without the general but it depends on the skill of the dentist. :grouphug: to you. I felt awful when we had so much work to do with my son. I came to the conclusion that sometimes kids just come with bad teeth. I hope you find what works for you and yours.

We started HOD last fall and used the Beyond level for about 7 months. My kids loved it and still love it three weeks into the Bigger level. I am finding it very easy to use and I actually am going through it with them at a faster pace than one unit a week. We will end up using two levels in about 16 months. To clarify, I use MUS, FFL and AAS instead of the right side of the page. This gives me the flexiblity to do those subjects at grade level while combining grade 1 and 4. My daughter does not have learning disabilities but struggles with a challenging curr load. My son is slightly ahead for his age in almost all subjects. Beyond was a light 7 months for us but the kids learned a bunch and are retaining it. This is what I keep hearing from other people, that the retention is amazing and they keep loving it each day. This is my goal for their early years. Bigger has a very nice approach. She has you make a timeline then goes through American History biographically. Beyond was chronologically. The science in Bigger has impressed me, however I cannot say that for the Beyond level. Now, my kids are carefully making their notebook pages and learning as they go. Notebooking is something I have always wanted to do but could not for some reason. HOD made it happen effortlessly. The poems are choosen well and are appealing to my kids. The bible is very appropriate and the Bigger level even goes into character traits of Historical characters. This has been a very helpful quality in everay day parenting. There have been many instances this week where I could gently remind my kids of the perserverance of Christopher Columbus. They received it well and I was off the hook. I am grieving the loss of HOD. I do not want to do an overview year of history and my son is not ready for the newly published year for the ancients. So, I am moving on reluctantly. I highly recommend the Beyond and Bigger year. It has been the most productive homeschooling year we have had and also the easiest for me. HTH

My approach has been to buy a mix of used and new. I do not think it behooves me to buy the cheapest product out there used if the small family companies go under this coming year. I want them there next year but I also will not put my family in a difficult position financially by buying all my items new. Think of it this way...you are helping families by buying used as they will have money to purchase and stimulate the ecomomy themselves. We are all connected this way it seems to me. I guess that is an arguement against stopping all buying, if we all stop it will come to a sceaching halt. (as we have seen) Used is better than none at all. All the best finding your balance!

Yes, there are difficult decisions to make during these heartbreaking times, I feel the guilt as well. My thoughts go out to both sides of the story. I am hoping next school year this will all be a distant memory.

I'm glad you asked this HollyBee. I am looking at the cards for Ancients as well. My kids will be in 2nd and 5th and I plan to beef it up for my 5th grader. I'll be listening to the ideas you get to add to my ideas. My plan is to pair it with the Guerber book, The Story of the Ancients. I also hope to buy the CD from Mystery of History. My daughter has not had a ton of worksheets so this will be new ground for her. Have you looked at the IEW, they put out a writing program that people have spoken good things about. Here is the link. http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/index.php?q=product/ancient-history-based-writing-lessons%2C-third-edition%2C-teacher/student-combo I suppose this does not answer your original question. It is just some thoughts I had for our year of history next year. Maybe they would help. :lurk5: Thanks for the link, Elizabeth.

Alana, thanks for starting this thread. I am always looking for new Canadian resources. Could someone please tell me if there is a place with a sample of the Apple Press Map books? I would like a peak inside to see if it is something we would like to do.

Is it OK if I play? I am looking at what I have on hand and taking out the rotation of History. Grammar- I would go through my copy of R&s 3rd grade as we have not finished it. I also have Simply Grammar and half a book of Easy Grammar left. But I would prefer to use the fourth level of FFL, as the previous two have been an amazing addition to our hs. Math-All on hand for three years...but I would have to get creative with the workbooks as they have been used up by oldest child. My middle would survive though...he is just the type. Writing- Yes, with IEW, it is all good. Spelling- Yep. I have two years of AAS and SWR as a fall back. Science- Dh is a scientist so I'm good on that one too. But we have many science books to look over again and some unused experiments with Noeo. Bible- Well, I'm sure we can do that one without much help. Latin- English from the Roots up would take us far. I still have PL for my little ones. Geography- No. We do not have a good atlas yet and I link it too much to History. I would flounder here. I'm with the What-is-the-fun-of-that people. I like to have interesting things on hand to look over and peak our interest. :blushing: I am also worried about the small hs businesses that have served us faithfully all these years. It would give terrible hardship to them if we all just stopped buying. ETA: I'm happy to do my tiny part of keeping the hs businesses afloat.;)

We just visited San Diego and *loved* it. We rented a car and found it helpful. You would be limited if you didn't have one. Things we enjoyed....Balboa Park, the Zoo, the Tide Pools at Point Loma and the Wild Animal Park. Legoland was great but we only spent the last hour there. Btw, if you show up at the door an hour before closing you seem to get in free. You may want to call ahead of time to double check as it is a bit of a drive out from SD proper but it is a good place to finish off if you start at the Wild Animal Park. If you go in the winter months...whale watching is an option. We had an eventful trip and saw lots of breaching and extra wild animals. However, I cannot say we enjoyed it, as two of us had seasickness. Yuck! Maybe you would have better luck. Dress warm with sunglasses! Do you need a hotel room? I can tell you where not to book. We had a noisy location by the harbor...lots of military jets coming and going and a beeping thing that sounded all. night. long! :glare: I was so tired I only noticed it when I was going to sleep. However, think of that when you book a place. My kids are lobbying for the next vacation to be at the same place. You will love it!

Monday is survival day around here. We have big adjustment issues after the weekend. Tuesday is a regular school day and bath night. Wednesday is errands and small grocery day. Thursday is house cleaning day. Friday is planning for next week schooling and laundry day. Saturday is library, bath night, lunch out and big grocery shopping day. Sunday is resting as much as possible and finishing laundry. Our schooling activites fall into a weekly schedule but I didn't think you were asking about that....just the housekeeping things. It helps when the week is simplified. Best wishes getting something to work for you.

It is a two hour drive from here and I look for excuse *not* to go. I would suggest that you save your money and go somewhere else when they get older or do something local. The geography is bland...but if you come from a totally different region maybe it would amaze you. The crime rates are getting higher. I really have not seen activities which are a big draw. The only reason I would go is to visit family...and then I'd try to make it worth my while by taking in as many activities as possible. Apparently, there are excellent resaurants there (Indian and Thai) but your children may not like them.

:iagree: I feel IFV is a great tool for couples who are not having children of their own naturally. As with any technology there comes a responsibilty to use it wisely. Imo, this was not a wise use of the technology, married or not, employed or not. As I often say to my dh, "There are starving children in this world!!!!" But I do feel that it was best not to destroy the embryos, maybe donating would have been a better route. I only partially understand the statistics and the numbers that take so I hear the arguement that nobody knew how many children she would actually give birth to but still....never should have been an option as far as I'm concerned. But what is done is done and she did not abort so it could be worse. :confused: Life is confoundingly imperfect. She seems to want them, I'll give her that. But she will not be able to keep up (physically, financially or emotionally), no matter how much she wants to. I don't think she is crazy but definately lacking in forethought. I wasn't part of the previous discussions but this is my 2 cents worth.

Stepping out on a limb here... I would multiply the length times the width times the height and make it all equal to 16. Soooo.....4 feet X 1.5 feet X Z = 16 cubic feet Divide 16 by 4 and 1.5 Z = 2.666666666 feet I hope that is right and helpful. Otherwise, I'm gonna be embarassed. :tongue_smilie:

I think, in non-rural North Dakota, you could have a moderate lifestyle on $60,000 with four kids. Of course if you were a spender you would want more and if you were more frugal you could do it on less. That includes (or dosen't as the case may be) a vacation once a year, saving for retirement, no debt repayment, no designer clothes and a moderate sized house.

I have a budget of $775 for 6 people per month. Includes diapers and toiletries but not eating out (that is a separate budget of $200). So mine is about $130 per person per month. I buy organically when I can and we have a nice stock of extras in the basement.

We use OmegaBrite. It has two liquid flavors (Tutti Fruiti and Orange Cream). We have found it to be very easy for all our kids to take and it has had many positive benefits. Good Luck in finding one!

This has been our experience. Fourth grade is a big step up in acedemics and I think there is a reason for that. Fourth graders seem to be a bit more settled However, if you are talking about an annoyance with other peoples' children, may I suggest that simply because a parent *cannot* control their child enough to teach them does not mean that they are not trying and do not *want* to lead their kids. Some kids come wired with more challenges and these things take time and patience. If this is your child, my prayers are with you. Take heart, the teachers at school would have the same issues, so, hold your head high and do what you know is right for your kids. That is, if you are so inclined.

Thanks for the warning! I have a first grader that likes to do it all in his head and I'm in the beginning of the journey. I realized today that I had a descision to make about the writing it all down part. I needed to hear your experience. I'm sorry you are changing your path....but I am grateful for your post.