Oh, how do I join? I actually was hoping people would just respond via private emails so this wouldn't get political here. I just don't know where else to ask these questions where I valued the opinions.

I just hope my questions don't come off as blaming either side. It is aimed at Jews because of my lack of personal encounters with them. Which shows me I need some Jewish friends. Honestly I didn't know anything about Palestinians until my daughter started working for Arabs and then later started dating their son. The family is definitely passionate about their views as they have family in Palestine, understandably, but I don't want to form an opinion based solely on their views without having a Jewish perspective. Even then my views will forever be flawed because it won't be my experiences but I am trying.

Thank you for your response. I really appreciate it,

Thank you for responding. I believe I know where you are going with this and can understand your points. I wish I had Jewish friends so that I could talk to them personally. It has been going on for centuries and I know I am never going to understand it all but I do believe listening and educating myself will help me emphasize. That is really all I can do.

Trying to make plans for high school. Where has the time gone? Our state requires a .5 credit for health and I have narrowed it down to Apologia Health and Nutrition or Total Health Choices for a Winning Lifestyle. My understanding is that both of these are whole credits. Would either of these be a better choice for half credit only? I need to keep it as one semester unless it is absolutely necessary for an entire year. Any ideas on how to schedule this way? Or should I go back to the drawing board and choose a less intensive option?

I am an American that hasn't really cared to become well informed about Palestine/Israel fighting. You know until it touches someone you care about it is easy to overlook thing. I regret this. Recently we become friendly with Arabs that are vocal in their defense of Palestine. Being in the Bible belt I have always been raised to support Israel so my bias naturally falls with them even though I don't have enough knowledge to form a valid opinion. I have also read and watched so many videos/comments/posts from social media, and news that my head is spinning. I don't know enough to know what to watch or what is reputable so I am watching it all. I have actually searched for one sided articles as well as unbiased. Sometimes I feel I learn more when listening to biased opinions as long as I find the other sides' biased opinions to compare. Besides leaving my head spinning, I have been left with questions that I would love to ask but don't want to debate especially here. I was wondering if someone would be willing to answer my questions privately? I promise I won't debate or attack as this is just for my knowledge. I am ok with it being one sided view because I have the other sides view locally. I don't personally know any Jews to ask these questions to. I have searched for answers and I know that I have seen some in comments but my biased view is that welltrainedminders are more educated than the general population of commenters. Anyway if this is not allowed then please delete. Again, I don't want a debate started here, which is why I won't ask the questions here. You can private message me through the board if you are willing. I would also love to discuss the politics of supporting Israel as a Biblical standpoint if any Christians want to help me understand this position more fully. Again I was raised in the Bible belt and am Christian but don't have a firm enough grasp on this part either. I hope this is not taken wrong and is received in the spirit it is meant to be asked, search for knowledge from ones closer to the crisis then I.

Is there a program that would teach my 8th grader computer? We can do the basics but being able to fully understand word and excel would be wonderful. I can usually figure out what I need for myself but I have no idea how to teach a class to my daughter. Is there a program that you can suggest? People still do this class, correct?

Has anyone used Oh, Freedom curriculum by Woke Homeschool? It is a history curriculum that is supposed to give the other side of history from the perspective of minorities. I would love to know if you have any experience with it and hear your thoughts.

Received: LCR and we played with nickels so it was a little more “skin in the game”. My extended family are not gamers so they don’t give or like receiving games. Boo! i did however have a second copy of Santorini and gave it to a friend that has game night with kids. played: Santorini: well loved by all. We played multiple times and each time had a different winner. 12 Days of Christmas (card game): a simple easy to learn game that is fun for everyone. We look forward to playing this every year. Finally pulled out Kodama and while it isn’t the most exciting game ever it makes up for it in beauty. It is easy to play and is just strategic enough to keep it interesting. I really enjoyed it and we probably played it 5 times in a span of three days. oldie but goodie: Bananagrams: everyone loves this game

When I picked our home school name years ago I had no intention of schooling through high school yet here I am. My daughter will graduate this year and is not happy that Jubilee Learning Center is the name to be on her diploma. I have a short window of time to change it but would love to keep the Jubilee part. Any ideas? We are Christian so it can be part of the name but not a necessity. Honestly I would love ideas of random words that sound right with Jubilee as a school name rather than just Jubilee Academy.

For Mother’s Day we spent two days playing multiple rounds of board games. Here’s my review: Aquarius card game: a fast, easily understood game yet very fun. Ages 8-47 all enjoyed it. It is card matching designs similar to matching in dominoes. First person to match 7 cards to their “goal” card wins. There are several action cards that can change the game as well. There is some luck in the game but it has enough strategy to keep interesting even for avid gamers as well as teaching beginners. The play time is quick as well. Picture Charades for Kids is exactly what you expect with charades but it has pics rather than words allowing prereaders to play as well. Even so, our entire family loves playing regardless of age (8-47). I will say we have played so many times that we know the cards as well as most players’ actions by memory so we might have to retire this one soon. Jeff Foxworthy’s Relative Insanity: We have played this many times as a large group when in-laws are together. It’s more fun when we read the cards aloud in Jeff’s voice or at least a country accent. Now I allow all ages 8+ to play but some cards can get a wee bit racey. Most of it goes over their heads though. Just be aware. It is played like Apples to Apples but I enjoy this more. Steam Time: a risk when I bought it as a new unreviewed game but turned out to be a real gem. It is my favorite worker placement game. Myself, 8; 10; 12 yr old played it two times. All of us loved it. The 10 yr old still prefers Machi Koro but likes this one. I am not sure if most young kids can play it but mine have been playing this style long enough to do well. Matter of fact, my 10 and 8 yr old tied one game and my 12 yr old won the other. They left me in the dust even though I fancy myself as a pretty good strategy gamer. It is cumbersome to learn but is easy and quick to pick up speed once you understand all the rules. Still it will take around an hour to play minimum. No two games are the same, nor are the five rounds due to the changing board. Trust me when I say it’s best to watch a video to learn to play but this game is so worth it. Definitely in my top 3 games list.

We have so many games and several we haven’t even had time to play yet. I feel guilty that I am even considering buying more but this is my one addiction. For us we get out a new game and it takes us a bit to get a feel for it. If we love it, we play it over and over without trying a new one especially if the directions are complicated. One of our recent loves is Midnight Werewolves. We have played it at least 20 or so times in the past couple weeks. Everyone loves it from age 7-46. Some of us love games and two of us only tolerate it, dh and son age 19. Really one of our favorites ever!!!! We got an expansion packet for Dixit as we were tired of using the original cards and never picked it anymore. Back to loving an old favorite of ours. Another favorite is wits and wagers but the younger kids are not able to play as well. On on my list of wants is Photosynthesis.

I have so many binders that my kids use that don't fit in their desk and end up on the floor. Is there a pretty way to store binders?

We live hours away from family so it is just dh and myself doing the driving. My daughter has her permit but no license yet. We told her she can get it as soon as she completes all of her work for the week before Friday so we can go then since I schedule Fridays as light days for all the kids. She likes to procrastinate and never finishes all her M-T work without some carrying over on Friday so she hasn't earned the privilege of a licence yet.

Thank you for all the responses especially concerning our schedule and allowing down time. You have given me much to think about. I guess part of why I do all this is because I was never allowed to do outside activities growing up because my parents were not willing to drive us places. Church was not even a given while I grew up until I began driving myself. I wanted more for my kids but somehow more has taken over. I do need to reconsider everything. I definitely don't want to lose any personal relationship or closeness we have because of time constraints on things even if they are not necessarily bad. One thing I cherish is the between time with my preteen on Mondays is our "dinner time". Her dance is too far to drive back home and back in time for class to end so I park and stay. I have a couple of hours of "me time" to read quietly in the truck or work on whatever I want. In between classes we grab a quick bite to eat at a local restaurant and talk. It is usually only 30-40 minutes but enough time to enjoy each other's company. I need to figure out how to incorporate individual time for the rest of the kids too.

I've have dreamed of pulling back but the kids are fine with the other siblings pulling back but not them. Then I feel guilty just considering it since my oldest two, one in college and one newly college graduated and married, were able to do multiple activities because we didn't have so many children at the time. It wasn't them that chose to have a big family.

Here football practice starts at 6 and ends at 8 if the coach doesn't run over a few minutes and is four days a week. Thankfully the fields are 5 minutes from house so not much driving time there. I did include driving times in all the other practices though. My son didn't start playing until last year and was the only newbie on the field. Kids start playing at 5 and 6 yrs old but we refused to let my son start that young even though he begged every year even though we let him try many other sports that were less time consuming. Honestly we would rethink even letting him play now if he wasn't so devoted to it and he has by far the best, safest set of coaches around. I don't say that lightly as I had another boy that played from 8yrs old through high school. If we drop the team now, he isn't guaranteed to get these coaches again. While at practice I see some of the ways the other ages/teams are treated with the cursing at them (younger than middle school aged kids) and the few water breaks, I know I don't want one of them. I called my husband and told him he needed to talk me down before I marched across the practice field and let a coach have it last week after hearing 4 curse words thrown at a approx 10 yr old with the last one being "get your head out of your #@@" He quickly told me that all the parents are required to stay at practice just as we are so they obviously know and are okay with it. I was livid!

I am curious as to how many activities do your children attend that are away from homeschool time at home. (Coops count too.) I only ask because it seems many limit their children much more than we do and yet sometimes I find my teen complaining because I don't have enough time to "listen" or "drive her to the store" etc. The listen complaint comes usually when I am teaching the younger siblings and she is finished for the day and wants to talk about shopping, the social media account she runs for the church, etc. I don't have as much "down time" free because I do so much for them. Okay, that was just a vent but I would like to know what you all do. Currently we have.... Teen (recently quit judo three days a week (her choice that we were not entirely happy with) and tournament soccer (chose to play on the homeschool team only this season but wants to go back next season to both) Monday - 3 hr soccer practice Tuesday- 3hr soccer practice Wednesday- youth for 2 hours Thursday- 3 hr soccer practice Saturdays-refs soccer games Preteen Monday- dance 4 hours Wednesday- church dance team practice and youth total of 3 hours Thursday-dance 2 hours 9 Yr old Monday - football practice 2 hours Tuesday- football practice 2 hours Wednesday- we alternate weeks between Awanas and judo both of which are 1.5 hours Thursday- football practice 2 hours Friday- football practice 2 hours Saturday- football games 2-3 hours 7 yr old Monday- judo 1 hour Tuesday- dance 2 hours Wednesday- Awanas 1.5 hours Thursday- judo 1 hour Mom and Dad every other week we have our church's in home meeting while kids are in Awanas and on the Wednesday nights we don't have our meetings, after dropping kids off at their functions we have an hour to go get coffee together just us two. Our oldest just started college out of state so we now do not have his football games and practices to account for. Our youngest three also play spring soccer when there is no football for my son. Dh coaches and that accounts for 1 hour practice per week per kid plus all day Saturday games. Oh, and Sundays are church days.

I am so glad it went well. It is so hard to put yourself out there. I think people think that introverts are the only ones that have it hard at get togethers but as an extrovert, I always second guess whether or not I talked too much. Self doubt is a bad thing. I will continue to pray it goes well from now on.

Thanks. Strange that with all this I am not as stressed as I usually am. I don't know if its due to my tiredness, mild depression/hormones, or God helping me be at peace but I am more calm than I usually am. I would say its God but I don't have lots of experience in being great with trusting Him to work things out. I usually try to take control of them and with this I just feel like I just can't do that any more. I am disconnecting and saying God you have to handle this because I am tired of spinning my wheels and getting nowhere. If this is faith, then I guess that is good. If not, maybe you can advise me on how to be a better Christian.

I would also love prayers for several struggles. Right now I am struggling with my relationship with God and my faith in general. I am not “feeling” a relationship with Him and understand that it is due to my faults but most of the time I feel so blah when I try to read my Bible or pray. It doesn’t fee like there is a connection. Almost like He is so far away and waiting on me to reach out in the right way but I don’t know how to or seem to be doing it wrong. I am also having a couple of medical issues. I believe I must be starting menopause because I haven’t had my monthly in two months now even though previously I have had issues with them being extreme and having to take medication to help a few months back. I took a pregnancy test even though I knew the answer was negative. I am only 43 but my mom and aunts went through it early. I am not sleeping great, have the most embarrassing issue of incontinence lately which I hate to admit even though I know it’s normal after 6 kids ranging from 8.5-10 lbs, General moodiness with some depression at times, ringing ears nearly constantly, and swelling feet. The ear ringing and swelling feet are extremely difficult to cope with. I have been to doctor about both. It was thought my blood pressure meds could be related to ear ringing and it got better for a short time with new medication but has returned. The swelling feet happen any time I am not in bed with them up. I am on a fluid pill along with another pill that I take for a separate reason but one of its benefits is lowering blood pressure and helping remove fluid. I also take a regular bp pill. My bp is just borderline high without medication but for some reason I can’t get control of the fluid. I constantly breathe heavily and am winded without exertion which according to doctor is due to fluid. The meds helped right away but it seems the last few months it hasn’t been working. Not sure if it has anything to do with hormones. My weight has increased lately, I’m plus sized, but when pills are working great I will see an 8 lb difference on the days I don’t have swollen feet. I can’t seem to lose no matter what I try. So please pray for that as well. I just feel tired of it all almost to tired to worry about it. Lastly last week my suburban’s motor broke and it will cost $6000 to repair it. We just spent $3600 a few months back and it wiped our savings. We have looked at other options but due to finances, we can not afford anything that seats us all that is newer or less miles so we have to repair ours. We had to take money out of IRA to pay for it as that was our only option. Then today my sons truck was put in shop and it is costing $650 for repairs due tomorrow. His truck is what we have been using til we can fix mine so we can’t wait to fix it. Even though his isn’t ideal, only seats 4, we have managed but he has a new job and has to have it back. Plus he is leaving for college out of state in a couple months. Basically his has to be fixed. Then lastly our air conditioner went out in a portion of our house so we have to buy a new. It’s a window air so not super expensive but still in the south, it’s too hot with no air. I am am trying to trust God with all these things and praying that he will provide but struggling because I don’t feel I am good enough to ask those things of him. See 1st paragraph. So basically I am struggling financially, physically, emotionally and spiritually. I am sorry this is so long but could use your prayers. I’ll probably delete this in the future since it’s so much info but until then thank you for letting me vent and for reading.

Mattel Games Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters After playing and loving Forbidden Island I decided to give Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters a try. It is a cooperative game as well. It is easier to play than FI and therefore great to play with younger gamers but interesting enough that even adults like the game. We played it 3 times in a row actually swapping out myself and my husband with the kids ages 7, 9, and 11. My husband enjoyed it even though he isn't a gamer. The quality of the board and pieces are outstanding. It seems easy to beat but is more difficult than it appears at first. There is an advance play version that I haven't tried yet. I love playing with my kids and us working together to figure out the best strategy. I was amazed at how strategic my kids minds can be.

Thank you so much for the advice. You gave me lots to mull over this summer. I also have a high schooler with learning disabilities that I feel I have failed. There are so many what ifs and shouldas. She will have no trouble of accomplishing her dream job and even has two other strong options that were placed in her lap in the last year in spite of her being only 16. She has never wanted to attend college but I fear that my lack of ability to figure out what worked best for her for so many years hindered the possibility of college in her eyes. She has learned to cope well with her disabilities but sadly is still behind and would have to attend community college unlike her friends. I know she could make it work if she put her mind to it but fear that I have held her back from even wanting to. With my other kids I don’t want to look back a few years from now and think if only I did this or that, they would be so much further ahead. I definitely don’t want them behind which they aren’t yet. I want to continue homeschooling and this was our most successful year but it was also nearly unbearable at times. Basically I would start the day teaching one child followed by giving him assigned pages in that subject, grab another kid to start teaching and assigning, then another. Usually I could get to assignment on second child before first needed attention or new subject but not all the way through the third child. Basically I just folded them in and out for hours hoping nothing interrupted the flow or else I would have to start the pattern again with someone waiting on me. By the end of the day I had tons to grade and prepare for the next. Many times my teen would need help thus causing the flow to be even more difficult. It felt like a never ending loop of “here is how to do” and “do this” without stopping or else it would be so difficult to get it all done in a day. There was definitely very little joy. Many times we worked straight through lunch, choosing to eat later, just so we could not break the pattern. Anyway I know it isn’t supposed to be all easy and fun but I don’t want it overly tiresome either. The most fun we had were the times at the beginning of the year when I always started the day with a read aloud, a couple of LOF chapters, a riddle or two, and a Mad Lib. We also loved the science experiments and games which became fewer and farther between as we got “behind”. I love that even my 2nd grader knows more of the periodic table than I did as a graduating senior thanks to a game we played at the beginning of the year. Yet As the year flew past I wanted to push through the “textbook type work” trying to catch up rather than allowing time for the extras. All are above grade level readers but at the beginning of the year I sat with each child and read great classics with them. Depending on the child, they would either read to me, me to them, or tag team read followed by discussions. The last few months of school was more me assigning the pages to be read followed by narration while I helped someone else. While this is still an accomplishment, the kids loved that one on one time and discussion with me that wasn’t available when I had not read the book. I can tell those moments along with the other moments were their happy school times. I want to somehow find a balance. I am not sure I can ever feel assurance that CM or a literature approach works entirely. Even though I would love to trust it, I fear I will have a high schooler that while well read, will be behind their peers and not having enough traditional schooling to accomplish whatever future goals they have. I think the issue is I believe in classical schooling methods but fall short or if I accomplish it, it becomes drudgery. I love Charlotte Mason method in theory and find it most enjoyable and a great fit for us but doubt it’s long term abilities or should I say my ability to make sure it works and not miss something. I need a balance between the two that allows a little freedom and fun but still boxes to check to ensure goals are met. Sorry i I know this was long. It helped me to type and think things through somewhat. If you made it this far, know I appreciate your time and effort to help.

I recently came across Trail Guide to Learning Paths of Exploration and am considering changing to it this year. I would love to know if anyone here has used it. All three of my children will use Singapore Math with LOF and Miquon as supplements. 6th grader would use the expansion kit to the base set which will be used by my 4th grader. I believe my 2nd grader could use the base kit's 3rd grade material with minimal adjustment thus saving the expense of purchase that expansion. 2nd grader will also use Phonics Pathways and her favorite. ETC. Last year was a great year but I became bogged down trying to do too much and sadly this hurt us most in history and science. We did not accomplish as much as I would have liked as we tended to overstay in one part too long before moving on. It was so difficult to not try to use it all with the program we were using, Wayfarers- Barefoot Meandering. Don't misunderstand, Wayfarers is a wonderful program that gives you multiple choices but for me it was hard to not choose too many and become "behind." Even though I have looked over POE, I am not getting the same vibe from it. It has the overall feel of Wayfarers but with less choices. This would be a plus for me. I really need to streamline our school and do as much as possible together. I would cut out LOF, or Miquon if my kids didn't love it so. We tried them as core programs but found using them as occasional supplements worked better for us and were not too time consuming this way. I know POE claims to be a complete program in everything but Math but is this entirely true long term? Have you found the need to supplement anything? I tend to over schedule and choose too many supplements so having something complete would be a plus. Is the writing and grammar enough alone? Grammar is something my kids covered well with ELTL and Easy Grammar but their writing skills are still lacking. Copy work improved their writing but only minimally. Long term I may see a difference but I worry if it doesn't work quickly they will be so far behind and have to play catch-up. Do I trust POE's writing/grammar to be enough or supplement especially for the 6th grader? I have looked at Write Shop but am unsure which level to put her in. Her minimal paragraph writing experience produced lackluster results. A friend is giving me Write Shop 1. Is this too advanced for a child that only writes good simple sentences? Should I start with a Junior program and work up from there? If so, which one? OR just let POE's writing be enough? Some have questioned whether the science is enough. Have you found this so? I am doubtful the program is worth it for us if I need to supplement science, grammar, and writing. I want to embrace "Less is More" this year. When I finally let go of the pressure of using so many math spines, it was freeing and made for better school experience. I insist they finish their Singapore levels but LOF and Miquon is only added when we have the time or just for a break as the kids enjoy it. Before it was more trudging through. I want science to be fun and less "work" but something that gets done. Science is also not my strong suit so I will need hand holding. Apologia seems like a good program but it seems so much to add to POE. Any advice is much appreciated.