I have similar ages, plus a 2 year old... My 10 year old is fairly independent. Have you tried checklists (I use the sprial notebook idea) plus timer? I tend to do my day in blocks. So, for example, I have a school block of 9-11am, during that time from 9-9.30 I'm directly teaching oldest while 8yr old plays with toddler and 5 year old does some activity (I actually like to get him to make a snack for everyone), then oldest continues on her own and at 9.30-10 I'm directly teaching 8yo while 5&2yo have snack and activity (playdough or something). Then 10& 8 yo keep going until they're finished while I work with the 5yo at 10am, and toddler gets a toy rotation box. When we all finish I'll go over what the older ones have done with them then we take a break. I also try to do the same subject in the same block for everyone, easier to keep track of items and easier for my poor brain! That looks complicated written like that... 3 blocks like that get us through everything. With checklists and timers. And patience and luck.

Yep.

Exactly, my mum hid it from my husband for 10 years. Only then did he see what she did to me (and I accurately predicted her every move) and realise that I wasn't exaggerating. My sister has never been subjected either. Once she came close, and my sister rang me in tears thinking that mum had lost her mind, that episode was tip of the iceberg to what I'd experienced...

I remember my mum once sobbing to me after yet another argument shed had with a friend, she said 'I'm almost starting to wonder if I'm the problem!' I nearly bit my tongue off trying to keep quiet- I would have just made myself a target...She's not a happy person, but in a sick way she's only happy when she's not.

Awww lovely! Congregations to your DD and the family!

I thought exactly the same thing! I love my sil but we are polar opposites in many ways - this was deliberate on dh's part..

I feel busy if I have to leave the house too often! More than 3 times a week feels crazy busy to me. It's a good thing that my kids aren't in school lol!

Thank you so much murphy101 and dmmetler and others for your posts. Truly. You have spoken to me over here (again! Murphy, I wish I could grow up again in your home!), planning 6th grade for my 10 year old, I needed to hear it and I appreciate it. And no, at 6 years in to this Homeschooling thing, I don't have much advice at all. I have lots of books!

Oh yes please! Can you please come and tell my currently training 2 year old son this? Feel free to throw in something about Sleeping too. Ouch. You have my sympathy!

Our group works because people do their own thing! Our main social outlet this year is a weekly visit with friends (my bestie, INFJ like me), we will do an excursion/park day/insert activity roughly monthly and sometimes invite others. My DD will often catch up with a friend on this day too. I find that as a group homeschoolers prefer to do their own thing, around here they seem to group in the early days, find their niche friends and spend less time in the big group. It's a bit of a problem for newbies, can look cliquey.

I'm INFJ, married to a INTJ. We, uh, like to do things our own way... Dh is super efficient and hates people for the most part! A hs group I am part of, I helped lead with another lovely lady - who is INTJ! Lol, it was very much a case of stepping up because no one else was doing a competent job. I stepped down. I think the other lady is hoping to asap too.

I think dating would have been fine. What my mum would do is meet someone, fall in love, and within a few months we'd all be moving in together and they'd be talking marriage. Many times 'moving in' required us moving hours away. We had just recovered from a very traumatic sudden escape interstate from her abusive husband, d*mned if I was going to move hours away in with the next guy (that was my crying scene in a restaurant! The guy moved in with us instead. It didn't last long, we cramped his style.) Sometimes it wasn't so serious, just a fling, but the boyfriend would still spend time with us kids. I wanted her to be happy, I just did not need to know about her sex life! My mother was highly offended when I didn't want her to introduce her latest fling to my kids - after she'd just finished telling me that it would never be serious and she didn't like him that much except he was wealthy (and she refused to ever meet his kids). Ok, that turned into a vent, sorry! My point, date, fine, but keep your adult relationships to yourself. Don't unnecessarily destabilise the kids unless you're sure it's worth it. Ftr, none of them were worth it, certainly not worth moving us 10+ hours away from our father.

No club! But I'd say at least 80% of parents amongst my friends were divorced. It was more unusual for parents to still be together! I graduated in '01.

I actually get along well with my step mother now, now that I'm an adult and she doesn't try to parent me, and I'm happy my dad is happy. I always wanted my mum to be happy too, I just needed some stability! The last time she moved in with a guy while I was still at home (17) I moved out - and she's never forgiven me, the time before that I cried in the restaurant when they told us (different guys).

1. Don't move the kids far away if possible. 2. Don't keep moving the kids around while you chase new partners. Kids need stability more than you need romance. 3. Don't just disappear from the kids lives because the custodial parent is difficult. If you hear bad things about their home life then stick up for your kids! 4. When the kids travel interstate to visit you, don't spend most of it working and leave the kids with step parent. 5. Talk to the kids about remarrying before doing it. It's not a nice surprise. 6. Don't make the kids live with your abusive partner. 7. Don't try to get out of paying child support, and don't tell the kids about it. 8. Don't assume that as teens they are old enough to hear and deal with 'the truth' about the other parent. 9. Do get them counselling. One joint session with your therapist doesn't count. 10. The kids are not your therapist either, don't dump it on them. Numbers 1-3 & 6 were the worst. Numbers 4&5 made stepparent relationship more fraught than it needed to be. Yeah, stellar childhood, thanks mum and dad.

Where the mountain meets the moon had some beautiful language.

We'll be starting dd's 5/6th gr year in a couple of weeks. She's 10 (11 in July), we school Jan-Dec. Maths: a mix of beast academy 4d and 5 as they're released, finish working our way through life of Fred pre-a series (we're halfway through 0) and mathematics a human endeavor. LA: spelling by sound and structure. MCT voyage Writing across the curriculum mainly, with a little poetry, slow reading through a midsummer night's dream and creative writing as part of her journal project. Lots of reading! History: finish Diana waring's RRR. Science: a mix of bfsu vol 2 and astronomy, as part of our journal project. Latin: Gswl and fabulae ceciliae (sp?) Russian: Rosetta Stone and homemade. Project: based on country diary of an Edwardian lady, monthly pages with nature study, sketches etc. This will include art which will focus mainly on sketching, watercolours and calligraphy. Violin lessons weekly and some sport that I haven't decided yet. We'll also be going through Telling God's story with some friends and doing crochet together too. And we'll be out of time! Eta- I forgot logic! I've got critical thinking and fallacy detective!

Poor thing! I'd be hiding behind closed blinds! I detest the assumption that I'm home all day and available whenever you call, flexible and on-call are not synonymous! I remember a couple of years ago, I made sure to tell everyone that we were starting school and really needed a few weeks to get the schedule underway before we could be a bit flexible again. Guess how many people called that first week? Not one, not two, but three!!! They were all so surprised (and a little snippy!) When I said no. No. Nononononono. What solved it? Moving 90mins away lol, now everything requires planning. :)

We actually really enjoyed blue through yellow then moved to MCT. I did supplement, and I haven't hit highschool yet. I have tan and Gold I think on my shelves the old editions which I've heard are better due to less busy work, but I haven't used them. I'm kind of a pick and choose homeschooler though, so I'm happy to use it as a sort of independent spiral review, yellow especially. I did like blue though, except the first section (and I still supplemented).

Oh no, poor baby! Praying!

We have billions of scissors, I can never find any though... We have 2 vacuum cleaners! A main one and a little portable one for the car.

I got a smallish set, and they found some more around our property. My kids have loved them actually, they look through them regularly! I should have gotten the big one.

My sister was less than a week from finding a lump to diagnosis, including mammogram and biopsy... She was in surgery within a fortnight and starting chemo within the month. Hope you have good news.

Ok, back to ramble. It will certainly be a chaotic ramble, you're forewarned! Dh grew up blue collar, first generation born here. He, and his family have a great work ethic and very practical priorities. His parents have done very well for themselves and his mum is very white collar now. I grew up fairly white collar but in a very dysfunctional home so many of the white collar benefits were negated. Dh is blue collar, he's very clever, one of the smartest people I've met, great work ethic, tradesman, but not academic. I'm quite academic but never finished my degree, I had babies instead! Much to my mother's chagrin. So, into that complex mix are our aspirations for our children! I try to offer them an excellent education, bordering on elite education for knowledge's sake. We aren't wealthy but we do prioritise homeschool books/supplies very highly. Dh keeps me level by stressing the importance of practical skills and hands on work, and we both believe in the need for free time and a strong family bond. What we actually hope for our children's future is honestly very basic, and has little to do with their careers. My mil actually asked me once how I'd cope if DD became a hairdresser, after all the work I'd put in - the insinuation being that the excellent education would be wasted. I simply said that she can be a hairdresser that speaks Latin! It honestly wouldn't bother me in the slightest! What we want for them most, and what we have designed our whole lives around, is to be able to try! Try to do whatever they want! We hope to set them up with the skills and confidence to be able to go for their dreams (in life, not just career) knowing that we support them. We hope they'll leave us with enough skill as a backup plan, practicality and work ethic to be able to make a go of whatever opportunity arises. I'll have to think some more about the homeschool community here...

Bump! It's that time of year for us and I'm looking at this again. Has anyone been using it? How do you like it? :)