I haven't read all the replies but I wanted to quickly say, before I go make dinner, that we like a different but similar idea to the book-family. Instead of graduating high school with a useful degree, what about graduating with a useful trade? My kids will likely complete an apprenticeship in an area of their interest while finishing high school. My oldest is very interested in cooking and specifically patisserie - dh happens to be a baker. He could easily take her through a baking apprenticeship during her last few years at home, while she still has plenty of time for high school level liberal arts. Learning an instrument has the same idea, it's a skill that the kids can decide to monetize if they want to - same dd will likely play at her first wedding this year... I guess we're focused on a different kind of practical. That said, I value the pace and freedom that homeschooling affords us, rushing to college as a blueprint wouldn't suit us.

Thank you. My assault pales absolutely next to most of my friends and family, it feels like no big deal - what a sad world. To be fair to the police, they did believe me and took a statement, but then it just disappeared... If I were guessing at statistics from experience, I'd say about 80-90% of women have been sexually assaulted at least once, and 0% have had the perpetrator see any legal consequences. I got the statistic from RAINN - https://www.rainn.org/statistics/criminal-justice-system

They're counting incidents, I think.

I agree, except I'll quibble with your numbers. ☺ The statistics say that out of every 1000 sexual assaults, only 11 will be referred to prosecution and only 6 will see a day in prison. If up to 10% are false, then statistically a maximum of 0.6 of falsely accused are likely to see a day in prison and 1.1 to be referred for prosecution. So really we're talking about 1 man > 900 victims.

Yep. You treat them with respect because they are full humans in their own right, not because they are subsidiaries of a male person.

I'm sorry Miss Peregrine. Both about the boys and your mom. I bet the boys parents would have written it off as harmless playing too. One thing we did was always back up our daughter to do what she needed to feel safe and comfortable. For example, she spent years at youth group refusing to sit in the circle and instead hid behind the whiteboard. She was shy and circle time felt like 'everyone stare at each other' time to her. I talked to the leaders multiple times and we agreed that they could invite her to join in, but they must respect her no. Eventually she joined in. I had to be that parent and be okay with my child acting weird. It was worth it. Stuff like that shows that I will listen, support and help. I make manymanymany parenting mistakes, but I am still so glad we handled it that way.

I agree. I also like the 'don't be that guy' style of ad. Because the good guys just don't see it. And they have trouble believing it - because they know it's outrageous. My dh was shocked when a creepy old dude aggressively leered at his 11 year old daughter. Dh's first thought was that this guy must be mentally not all there. But he soon realised that no, it's a creepy guy. It took dh physically standing between them and staring him down to make it stop. Dh thought that it was a weird, quaint, unusual situation - until he saw how upset I was. This is all.the.time. for women and girls. Especially for young ones. We ignore it and take it as a compliment and take safety precautions and swallow our anxiety meds because what else can we do? Admit that we live in a war zone?

The pregnancy stuff is classic controlling abuser. Classic. She isn't a person, she's his sexual relief and child bearing service. Pregnancy is also known to make men like that escalate... like maybe forcing their pregnant wife into a war zone.

And if the criminals are actually charged/convicted. At the moment, why would any woman report? Odds are you'll not be believed, have your name smeared, be retraumatised repeatedly and the rapist will face no consequences. This society condones rape. We pretend we don't, we offer bs platitudes, but by and large men face no consequences for raping at will. That's part of rape culture.

I'll get a little personal too - When I went with a friend to support her while she made her report, we were warned by another woman that maybe I shouldn't go, because it would strain our friendship for me to hear about it (I had already heard the whole story) I thought that woman was nuts, what are friends for? At the police station, the female officers didn't want me there to support her. I stayed anyway, careful not to influence anything. And when they found her rapist, he didn't explicitly confess (he said 'yeah sorry about that') so he wasn't charged. They never caught the guy who assaulted me either. In fact, I know lots of assault victims, I know a small few who had some voice (along with a lot of stupid comments) I know none who got justice. Not. One. When only about 6 rapists in 1000 see a day in prison, when women are silenced and shamed everyday about sexual assault, darn right I'll celebrate a judge who both gave victims a voice and gave them justice!

Awww lovely! Congratulations!

Lol Bill, standing against a mob? So brave.

So on a classical education board, we cannot tell when a public figure is using hyperbole to impress the outrageously horrific nature of a crime upon an unrepentant criminal? Or do you actually, literally, think she was regretting the limit on her sentencing power? Come on. Tone deaf is right. Unbelievable.

The Coriolis Effect thing was made common knowledge through The Simpsons, Australia, episode. Signed, Resident Simpsons Nerd.

Loved it. We did it in a book club, kids aged around 8 - 12, everyone loved it. I think DiCamillo writes beautiful, powerful, books.

For real. I'm thinking about bringing my daughter to my next pap (a long time away) so she can hear how a respectful doctor deals with delicate procedures - with careful explanations and checking in that I'm okay with everything. A good doctor makes it very clear that the patient decides what happens to their body.

Bill, could you be any more insensitive? #teamCeliatheTweeter

Yeah we have a row of caterpillar eaten brassica in! At the moment we're harvesting zucchini and capsicum! We have a couple of tomatoes starting to turn orange. We did morning time and maths today. Then I had to put on my project manager hat and sort some things with the builder. Then it was - is - too darn hot! Blergh. So a less than stellar end to our first week... Also waiting to hear again from my friend who 'maybe might be' going into labour 😲

My dh does night shift one week every three weeks. He used to be fully night shift. We had kids aged around 10, 8, 5 & 2. No you can't shift all your awake times, but we do somewhat shift our schedule. How long is his commute? Do you have a good distance between where he'll sleep and where you'll all be in the house? Is it pretty sound proof? Is your dh generally a good sleeper? For the first couple of weeks I'd probably make plans to leave the house during the day as often as possible, to let his body adjust. One tip, dh goes to bed almost immediately after arriving home (well, shower first lol), this way he has plenty of time to get his 8ish hours in. If he stays up and goes to bed 'on time' then the pressure to fall asleep straight away keeps him awake. Going to bed straight away also gives him more time with the kids in the afternoon and more help for the evening routine before he leaves. Dh also takes a herbal sleep remedy - Valerian, uses ear plugs and sometimes a very small amount of sleeping pill (as in a 1/4 of 1). We still have to be aware of our noise levels, though our house space isn't the best set up right now. We're working on a better solution for that. I struggle to get myself to sleep without him here, make sure you prioritise your own sleep hygiene and routine as well. So, a routine I might try would be something like (I'm guessing the times), 7am I'd get up and get myself ready for the day. 8-8.30am Dh arrives home to join us for breakfast. He goes to shower while you all get dressed. 9am Dh goes to bed, you all go out for a few hours - library/park/co op/visiting/grocery shopping whatever 12 noon arrive home and have lunch. 1pm - little ones nap/rest time, school for the olders. 2 - continue school, little ones play in the same room as you. Bring snacks and kind of stay camped out away from your dh's bedroom. Around 4.30 I'd call confinement finished and let the kids play freely, I'd start some evening chores, getting dinner ready - because by this time of day your dh will probably be waking soon so I would relax on the supervision of quiet somewhat! 5pm ish dh wakes up, you all have dinner together around 5.30/6. Dh spends some fun time with the kids, helps get them ready for bed. 7.30, he packs, dresses & leaves for work. Kids go to bed. Then you have from 8 - 10/11 to do what you like before bed. I generally listen to audio books and clean lol. Your weekend might be a little funny too depending on what days he works, sometimes dh will just nap but mostly be up on the Friday (Thursday night/friday morning being his last work day of the week), but he'll have to nap on Sunday to prepare for sunday night/monday morning shift. You will find your rhythm again, but prepare for a difficult couple of weeks. It will take some time for his body clock to adjust and you all might be more irritable!

I admit, I did have a moment of 'bbbut, what'll I do? Where will I go?' A la Miss O'Hara lol.

I agree with listening to the talks, they are fantastic and I've relistened dozens of times. https://welltrainedmind.com/p/a-plan-for-teaching-writing-grades-k-12-mp3/ Wwe works. Doing formal narration in wwe and sotw is unnecessary, one or the other each day is fine. Retelling as a narration is also fine at that stage, wwe2/3/4 will teach him how to find the main ideas.

☺ awww Day 2 went okay, a little more attitude and foot dragging - from the kids too! Sigh, it's always tough to get the brain back into routine and hold 4 students daily needs! We'll get there, I was just feeling very pouty yesterday afternoon, matching my tween lol. We'll try again today. I've got builder's coming to work on our house build (at the other end of our block) today too so hopefully we won't be too distracted...

Congratulations! I measured 4 weeks ahead with only one of my pregnancies. Kid just had a growth spurt at a weird time I think! Midwife asked if I was sure it wasn't twins! It wasn't. I tended to measure right on dates otherwise. He ended up my smallest boy at 8lb 10oz. Good luck for your ultrasound!

:lol: thanks! I stole Cindy Rollins' nature drawing idea, of having the kids copy a picture from a nature book while I read aloud, it worked nicely actually!

Day 1 went quite well, no riots ;)