Too much social media/buy my ebook flogging puts me off. There's one at the moment, a popular choice but it's driving me crazy with all the watch/buy my stuff. I really can't bring myself to even look at it closely.

I dislike spiral bound because they don't look pretty on my bookshelf.

They are super cute pics and I love the idea! According to photo records, ds2 disappeared after he turned 1 and ds3 doesn't exist... I'm a baaaaad photo mum. In my defense, ds2 started running at 10 months and I've been haggard ever since! Oh wait! We did some a couple of Christmases ago!

Haha haha *sob* ~signed, mother of 6th grader, who sat with said sobbing 6th grader until 5.30pm while she rewrote her plagiarized paper and repeated 'I don't know' as her mantra... mDh is bringing ice cream.

Wow, that is scarily accurate...

Ooh, I have a similar mother and I'm very sorry... I used to get her to do cooking with dd on the weekend/afternoon, about fortnightly. But we're not on speaking terms at present. Good luck, speaking up was so so hard...

You could try some Poe or Lovecraft aswell!

I loved talisman at about 11-12 yo, I didn't know there was a second! *Off to buy more books...*

You're a brave person bolt. You did the right thing, now you can disentangle from the drama.

We are slow reading our way through A Midsummer Night's Dream. Just one page a day, discuss, narrate, done. It's been quite simple and effective. I picked up a beautiful Rackham copy from a second hand shop. We also watched a documentary I happened to have laying around (on a whim on a sick/no school day). Dd was hooked. She has now read through a few other plays on her own and is planning a performance with some friends later in the year. When we finish Midsummer, I've got a couple of different versions to watch (you can stream from the Globe website!) and I'll try and hunt out a live performance. Eta- dd just turned 11.

Basically, if they're adults (I know, 18 is still a baby!) and have decided then you need to respect that boundary. You then get to draw your own in a way that makes you able to be as supportive as possible (ie, adults making adult decisions work and pay their own way for the most part) I would be suggesting (and offering to pay for) premarital counseling and possibly professional financial/career planning advice, so that they can be on the same page.

I don't have a lot to add, but I do get what it feels like to be othered in well meaning Christian/homeschooling circles. I remember being at church once, and tangentially listening to a conversation that some lovely ladies (I mean that sincerely) were having about those poor domestic violence victims. It struck me that they had no idea at all that they were discussing my childhood, it didn't occur to them that an other could be standing in the room. Also, would it help to think about what you are doing in terms of for your children. It might suck a lot for you but you are a stepping stone to a healthy future for your children. You need to take care of yourself because you are delivering them from the dysfunction you grew up in - I know that it isn't easy.

Yes, I'm a reader. Dh is just as much as I am. He's making his way through Dante for fun at the moment. My mum is a reader and it's about the only thing we bonded over. I'm not sure about dad, I think he is in theory, but is a workaholic and so doesn't put in the time. My sister doesn't read, she's one of those people who has never picked up a book after highschool. Dh's family aren't big readers but his parents will occasionally pick up a Christian book or biography. Mil teases me about buying too many books a lot. My kids are young but shaping up to be voracious readers which makes me happy.

Because my marriage and the life we've built is too complex to be solely defined or necessarily destroyed by a moment. We are very happy, I trust dh a lot, I've invested half my life and all my dreams are wrapped up in this. I can see not wanting to blow that up for an out of character mistake.

My ultimate goal in homeschooling is to raise brave thinkers. I want to put beautiful and true ideas before them, I want to give them time to be comfortable in their own skin. It is almost nothing to do with objective goals, careers or scores here. I want them to be able to walk through the world knowing who they are and what humans are capable of. Lofty and vague perhaps, and we still do the math/grammar/memory work, but if nothing else, they'll know that they are capable of thinking their way through any problems.

I honestly don't know. Depending on the circumstances, I have a lot of empathy for the rather not know crowd. People are complicated, relationships even more so.

Thank you!

Haven't read all the replies... If I don't keep it simple, it doesn't happen. Here is what we do that actually happens: We read a kids version of the story, look it up in our bibles (kids practice looking things up), one of the kids read the same story out loud again. Then they copy out the main verse into their bible notebook. We have a quick talk about what we read, pray, and done. Using complicated programs never happened in real life, and I like to let the text speak for itself as much as possible.

What? Witches? I'm struggling with what you're saying here... People on the register are only there after being tried and convicted, correct? I'm currently really, incandescently angry about the shockingly poor justice for victims of child rapists in my own country so I'm trying hard to read your post in good spirits.

I wouldn't make that assumption.

That, I do agree with.

Free minds, free voices Think Out Loud Humanity unbound We The Thinking People

Hornblower, I don't disagree with your last post. I disagree that stooping to deliberate offense is an honourable or effective way to make a point. Obviously this group disagrees with me. Good luck to them. Everything in JaneC's post is something that I can support for a supposedly secular society - minus the actual intended offense towards other real people.

Oh, the irony! Isn't the whole point of the FSM concept to paint the idea of faith in a god as 'immature' or 'childish'?

Oh come on. You're allowed to blaspheme, I'm allowed to be offended. If you purposely blaspheme in my face to make a point, don't expect us to have a mutually respectful relationship. Likewise, you're allowed to have your beliefs and even tell people about them. But if you continue after I've said no or manipulate me into giving further audience don't expect us to have a mutually respectful relationship. A club challenging cultural expectations and encouraging open dialogue with radical ideas - all over it. Using a deliberately nose-thumbing name screams disrespect. I get that disrespect of 'those' groups/belief is kind of the point...