For high school, we're doing one year of World History, which I don't personally like. I enjoyed spending four years for all of World History during elementary and middle school--we did 2 rounds of World History. This cramming it all into one year isn't fun. I feel sorry for kids (like me back in high school), who get a smattering of history in 1st - 8th, and then get slammed with the history of the entire world in one school year. If we didn't already have a strong background in history, I would be terribly disappointed this year. We're touching on everything we've learned before and going a little further but there's just not the depth that I've gotten spoiled to. We dash from topic to topic whereas before we had time (4 years' worth of time! And then we started over for another 4 years' worth of time!) to dwell on each period. The reason I'm droning on about that is this: if I hadn't already done 8 years of World History, I would not try to squeeze WH into one year. My plan would not look like the one below. I'd take at least 2 years for World History, and maybe 3. But since we already have done 8 years of world history, the below is my plan. Note; for high school, I don't think of it as simply "history" anymore. When I was a kid in school, history was under the category of social studies, and so I have a bit of that mindset. We'll be doing history and then we'll spend a year on government and a year on a social science. This is the plan: 9th grade World History 10th grade American History 11th grade Government/Economics/Civics 12th grade: A social science like psychology or sociology. I cobbled together a program for 9th grade history this year: some novels, some Great Courses, a text book. I'll do the same next year for American History (cobble.) Have no clue for 11th and 12th.

The things stopping you from pulling him out right now: 1. No materials prepared 2. Your dh You can control #1. You can't quite control #2. So, work on #1. For the next bit of time (however much you have), decide on what materials you'd use to teach him for the rest of the year. For each subject, come up with a plan and what you'd need to purchase. This can take a weekend, a week, 2 weeks-however much time you have to dedicate to it. Then, while #1 is being handled, you can keep talking to DH and work on #2. Then, if you really think you should pull him out, and if dh agrees, you'll be ready. Buy your materials after dh agrees so you haven't wasted the money. Include in your plan a week of reading books from the library while you wait for your stuff to arrive.

I wish I hadn't changed my name. I liked my maiden name better than my married name. DH and I talked and talked about it. He didn't mind either way. In the end I changed it because I didn't want to explain myself to his family, but I was only 19 and painfully shy and easily intimidated. Now, I would have no problem explaining things. Actually, I wouldn't explain, and I wouldn't be shy or embarrased about it. I'd treat it like the non-issue it should be. I'm tempted to go back and change it, but it seems like a hassle now. Plus I like having the same name as the kids.

Ask your friends for help. No one ever wants to ask, yet I've never known anyone who was a friend of someone with a loss who wasn't aching to help in some way. Let them help you. They want to do something, anything, to help you. Unless they're terrible people, they will jump at the chance to help. I wouldn't move more than 10-15 minutes away from family. Two hours away mean you visit them or they visit you about 6 times a year--every other month or so. That's just the reality of a 4 hour round trip. A few times a year isn't enough support. Even if it's 12 times a year, that's not enough. You need for them to say, "I'm coming over. See you in 10." The general advice is to stay put for a year after a death, though that is just general advice and might not be applicable for everyone. But there may be a good reason that's the general advice. You might want to take things very slowly right now.

Something has changed, then. It could be personal or it could not. Perhaps she's realizing she needs to branch out more with other people and that has nothing to do with you. Or perhaps she is not as into your friendship as she was in the past. You might be right about how she feels she has to do all the traveling. It's really expensive to travel. Does she make a lot more money than you? Or is it a hardship for her to travel? Maybe she doesn't get exactly what a financial hardship it is to you compared to her (if it is). And money aside, maybe she's resentful of all the hours she has to spend packing and getting a ride to the airport and waiting in lines (arriving 2 hours early) and all the effort that goes into traveling. It's exhausting. I think I'd tell her you simply can't sit in an airport for 6 extra hours over the weekend. Something like, "Well, Sally, this is a problem. You can't get to me through the traffic, and I just can't sit in an airport for 6 hours: that's like a level of hell or something. DH is getting back from his trip right when I'm supposed to be leaving. I'm considering cancelling the whole thing. It just doesn't seem to be working. What do you think?" And see what she says. Does she often drive in rush hour? My MIL is terrified of rush hour traffic. She talks about it all the time. If we're going to go out somewhere during the evening it's all, "But we'd better leave early to avoid rush hour traffic." It's just not a big deal to me, but to her, it's something to be avoided At All Costs. Your friend could honestly not be viewing this as a little bit of traffic, but as a very dangerous driving situation that she doesn't feel equipped to handle.

I didn't read your last post before mine posted. I'm deleting because the situation is different now in light of the most recent post.

This is a great illustration. I love the poor girl trying to sleep on her deb. https://practicalpages.wordpress.com/2011/01/27/b-or-d-new-posters-for-bd-reversal/

Write the word bed. Doodle over it to make it look like a bed with a headboard and footboard. The word "bed" can look like a drawing of a bed. That's what helped my kids. ...deb will not look like a bed. (Had to add the three ...'s because autocorrect kept trying to make my deb with a capital D.) Google "b and d bed poster" and you'll get images of examples of what I'm talking about.

I didn't have them yesterday or today, but ask me again tomorrow. Yesterday got to almost 70 degrees and today is in the mid-50's. This is unheard of. I mean, 50 degrees or more in February is crazy talk around here! By tomorrow we're supposed to get 4-6 inches of snow, which is the norm for February. So, I'll probably have the Februaries tomorrow.

We ran into this last month. DH likes the house tidier than I do. He is happy to clean the house and if I'm honest, he probably does at least half of the cleaning and sometimes more. But every day when he comes home, the school books would be scattered all over the living room on tv trays, making it hard for him to squeeze through our tiny (teeny tiny) living room to get to the kitchen to unload his lunch dishes. And then, when he gets to the kitchen, our breakfast and lunch dishes are still in the sink. It drove him a little bonkers. From my POV, school time is school time, dinner time is dinner time, and after dinner is chore time. When DH works late, it works out great for us. We focus on school all day, I cook dinner as soon as school is done while the kids take a break, and after we eat we're all ready to get up and tidy the house. But that just doesn't work for DH who has to navigate the books in the living room and then has to balance his dirty dishes on top of ours. DH was coming home and immediately launching into lectures about cleaning up and being cranky and overall being very unpleasant to be around. But in the end, I realized it doesn't take much to tidy up the books and dishes, and I realized it was easier all around to switch our chore time (for dishes and books anyway) to just before he walks in the door. So, until 5:15, there are books and dishes, and then from 5:15 to 5:30 we clean it up, and when he walks in at 5:30, he doesn't start lectures about "putting things away as soon as you're done with them!" (Which is pretty reasonable, but ...) I don't know what I'd do if he was that way about everything else in the house. I couldn't live up to high standards all day long if I don't care about them for myself. So, it's a balancing act. The books and dishes were easy to handle. I couldn't take it if he wanted a spotless house. We'd both be pretty miserable, because I just don't care about spotless.

Sometimes I put "unemployed." Actually, I don't use that on forms. I use that on online surveys where it doesn't matter. I kinda like putting unemployed on there. Homemaker sounds so repressive.

I didn't have one until I moved into this area with many (many...most) roads that are lonely stretches in the middle of fields. When I lived in the suburbs, it was always a 5 minute walk to some sort of business-at most. Now, it would be a 30 minute walk to the nearly business. Or an hour walk. In who knows what weather at who knows what time of day. So, enter the cell phone. I hate having a cell phone. I make a call on it about 3 times a year. I receive a call about twice a year. See, the phone that the OP bought her mom will probably be horrible for texting. It's one of those where each number has 3 letters. You have to cycle through the letters to pick the one you want. My older phone was like that and it would take eons to send the shortest message. My new phone has buttons that are so small that I make non-stop typos. It takes half an eon to send a text. My dh is so frustrated with me over all this because he doesn't understand why I hate the phone. No one does. No one except Sparkly and TransientChris! In my house, we have an old office phone with a receiver that has a curly wire attached to the body of the phone. The receiver has a padded neck support, so I can use the phone without having to turn my head sideways to pin down the phone. The rotary phone doesn't have the neck brace and has a super short wire, so I have to stand close to the wall to use it. But I love it. I walk past it and just turn the dial as I go past to hear that lovely sound of the dial rotating. I love that thing. Kids come into the house and are like, "What the heck is that that thing??" They love it, too.

I have the same issues as you do: tiny little screen, tiny little buttons. I have two cell phones (we give one to the kids if they are out without us), and on one of them I can't figure out how to access my voice mail. My DH is a whiz at computer stuff and he can't figure it out either, so I feel justified at the rage I feel toward that phone. I haaaaate the cell phone. I have an ipad and love it. Maybe I just need an iphone instead of the piece of junk I have now. But I'm not willing to pay the money for it. So, I keep my yucky cheap phone and do my best to remember to keep it charged for emergencies.

I haaaaaaaate cell phones. I have a working rotary phone. I use it all the time.

That's what I've heard. I wouldn't push it, either way. I'd do what needs to be done, but wouldn't choose a day with a cold to go on a hike.

You don't need the DVDs. I happened to get them this year for year 6. I think it helps. I let him watch the DVD alone and then we read the chapter together. It makes our lessons go smoother because he already knows what's coming and so when we read the chapter it's review. I don't think the DVDs would be necessary for grade 4. I'm on the fence about grade 5, but I do like them a lot for grade 6. I think getting them in December sounds like a great plan for you. Try teaching on your own and if your student isn't understanding and you think s/he needs more review, then get the DVDs for him/her to watch. We read the chapter together. I don't think he'd get as much out of it reading it alone, but different kids do things differently, so I'm sure there are kids out there who can read it alone and get a lot out of it. Not mine. :) It's open and go, but does require a teacher to help out. For us that means reading together and doing the labs/activities together. He does the workbook pages alone and I check them.

Or maybe longer than a summer. Sometimes it takes a few months to hit a stride when you're first starting out. Maybe all summer through Christmas, if you go that route. That's a pressure-filled route: having to prove yourself to your spouse. Better to try to talk through his concerns, very calmly, ahead of time. Do your very best to keep other people out of it because, as you found out, they could end up being sources of antagonism rather than sources of support. (Edited: I just read your post about how you handle most of the child rearing--sounds like he's waffling, but not fully opposed. Just keep the conversation open and stay calm. )

Uh oh. This is a problem. If you dh isn't on board, this is a problem. A big one. You need him to be on board for this one. Friends and non-immediate family you can ignore. Your husband and the father of the children? No. I hope other people can chime in on that problem with suggestions for how to come to a meeting of minds with him.

See! Now you can tell your rude friends and relatives that you knew of someone who made fun of homeschooling...and they DIED! Do NOT make fun of homeschooling! Srsly.

I had a canopy! Pink with ruffles. Oh, I loved that thing.

Chinese jump rope. We were obsessed with that thing. http://www.wikihow.com/Chinese-Jump-Rope (In, out, side...by side, in on, OFF!)

I agree that these are some seriously aggressive friends. Did they say those things exactly like that, or was that the undercurrent? You don't have to answer that, I was thinking aloud. Above, Tibbie wrote "bean dip." That's a phrase we use here for these situations. One of the people who posts here a lot said that no matter what negative thing came her way regarding homeschool that she'd respond with, "Oh yeah? Would you like some of this yummy bean dip?" Another negative comment, "Interesting. This bean dip is really good. Want some?" Another negative comment. "Oh my. Well, how about some bean dip?" The "bean dip" could be anything. The point is not to engage with what they're saying, but to change the subject each and every time to something innocuous.

Here's a fun story. When I got pregnant for the first time at age 29, I worked in an office with Mike. Mike was single and about 26 years old and had a lawyer personality, which meant he knew absolutely nothing about pregnancy and childbirth but was very vocal about what he thought he knew and was willing to argue a point to death. I read a bunch of books about pregnancy and childbirth and after about 4 months of research decided to go with a midwife. I mentioned it to Mike one day. He just about exploded. "What?!?! That's so medieval! Are you going to start going to the local witch woman for herbs next time you get the flu!?" He went on in this vein for quite a while, totally mocking my decision. My mind went blank and I couldn't think of a single thing to defend my choice. I became furious at the tirade and stormed off to lunch. When I came back, Mike was sitting at his computer. I came in, steely-eyed and angry and refusing to look his way. We sat in silence, staring at our computers for a few minutes. Then Mike quietly broke the silence by saying, "Did you know that there are fewer C-sections when a woman uses a mid-wife rather than an OB?" Huh? "And did you further know that there are fewer interventions for the mother and higher apgar scores for the baby when using a mid-wife?" He admitted, "As soon as you left, I started looking up things about midwives so I could prove to you that you were making a bad decision. But instead, I found out I was the one who was completely wrong." For you: you might not have someone like Mike who is willing to admit when he's wrong. But I wouldn't listen to a word they've said unless they've researched it as much as you have. I wouldn't open the door to them to research things and get back to you, but in your own mind, you know the truth. You've done the research. You know your own limits and capabilities. Let them go on about medieval witch women all they want, but until they've put in the time, they're just a bunch of Mikes who don't have a clue. I would say, "You know what, obviously I disagree. I'm going ahead with my plan, so I don't think this is something we should talk about, because we'll just make each other upset. Would you like a cookie? or Seen any good movies lately?"

Not hyperbole this time, though I am famous for it at other times. :) I thought you were supposed to get the ISBN of the texts you use? I wouldn't get it for the literature books, but I was going to collect it for the science/math/history/etc texts.

I don't remember exactly. They are 14 and 11 now and they've both been cutting them for many years now. My ds11 used to scream like he was being murdered when I'd cut his nails--up until 7 or 8. But somewhere between 7/8 and 11 he went from screaming bloody murder to doing it on his own. I never remind him. He's the one saying, "Mom, I need the clippers. My nails are too long."