Praying...Sorry for the stress...and hoping for good news tomorrow! :-)

I admire you; you have a goal and want to attain it without giving up your family. I'm sure you can do it! Carrie:-)

You offer the child a marshmallow...Try it...then you offer $10 to the child who finds it unharmed. :-)

It's beautiful! We know a family who does milk for Horizons...and gets to drink yummy organic raw milk. I envy that part...Now, getting up early...and working so hard...That I don't envy! :-)

I have one that is slender...I wear it occasionally. It really doesn't do much for me. Carrie:-)

I do think that being at the vacation to wrap it up...instead of at the front of it...would be easier on your family. :-)

I like the one of the person with a camera looking at her. Carrie:-)

I'm just impressed that you get it all together by any time at all. I would say that by 3 months you should be getting out of bed:-) And 6 months school should be back to normal:-) Seriously though...I'd say lots of cds, math every day, and dad helping to get the kids to REALLY clean on Saturdays (and helping them) I've been amazed at the cds that I can check out at the library. Everything from Dred Scott cds...to SOTW...to Odyssey cds (about Shakespeare and other subjects...) If the kids are happy and fed....and the baby is loved and fed....and you get healthy...everything will fall into place. Have the olders help with the youngers, right?? Carrie:-)

I would go over to the Robinson's curriculum, even if you don't purchase that...at all, and look at how they talk about using Saxon. It's really the best way to use it, if it's your choice:-) They do math seriously, 6 days a week. Set up all the problems in the boxes on paper to really understand and teach the "example problems" and get a great grasp instead of just coasting without fully grasping the problems. I did Saxon 25 years ago and hated it...never did well...kinda lazy and no real help. That being said, I tried it with my daughter full of optimism because she's pretty darn smart....but since she cried every day...I went with something else... :-)

Ohh...and for fine motor skills...do you have him doing things like legos? I really think that all of the "connecting toys" that boys play with are great. Also, if he's active, let him hop up and down while you're trying to teach him. For my son, he wouldn't know anything if he wasn't allowed to move while learning. Carrie:-)

Was it on this board that I heard that you shouldn't try to teach children to read until they can do things like sing skip counting songs and such. After all, reading is memorizing sounds and be able to blend a few letters and remember them as you go...so that after you say...." s..u...n" you know that the word is "sun" My son is GREAT at skip counting, has known all of his phonograms for about a year...(which he does while jumping on the couch or floor) and is just now...at 5 1/2 starting to sound out little words. In fact, he could sound out words that he wanted to sound out before I tried to get him to read. (Like, hey mom....mom is spelled "mmm ooo mmm" so it's "Mom." So, unless you really think that there's a problem, I'd be thinking it's his age. I really think that the little fridge leap pad game with letters.... is actually pretty accurate with the sounds. You might try one of these and see if he can catch on to the sounds. Four is really young to worry. Carrie:-)

I think I'd say, "Bummer that we couldn't find a place we could both agree on, maybe we can vacation together another year." End of story. If you go, you'll keep hurt feelings, and your children will know others are coming to enjoy time after they're gone...more hurt feelings. Be up front and tell them you'll just plan something else. Sorry they didn't use their brain and just make due with whatever you could afford. I'd go camping with friends rather that a nice resort and hurt friend's feelings. That is...if we had friends who asked us to do something like this....That's another story... Carrie:-)

I voted "Momma" because if spelled with two "a's" I spell it with one "m" Mama:-) Carrie:-)

http://theultimatebabywrap.com/ubw-product.htm I forgot to add that I bought one of these used for $25 when one of my friends had a little baby. It was great for when they are too small for an ergo to be used in the 5 months and older position way....and I wanted something that felt REALLY secure. I had always wanted to try a Moby. This is like a Moby knock-off and worked great for little ones... :-)

I'm SO excited for you. Let us know when you can share more. I've always dreamed that we will have children dropped in our lives! Carrie:-)

I have to say that I LOVE the fact that we no longer get any of the "little kid soaps" here. This includes no Hannah Montana....and her other "tv friends." I never wanted to have them and I should have always said, "NO." You can do it....don't answer the door to the snotty friends! "Send them home." :-) Carrie:-)

I have to say that I watched him and when I was able to briefly meet him...I can just say...I like the guy! He's nice, personable and well spoken. Maybe you don't like his voice, but I just needed a great writing program....and this was it. Also, I just love the fact that he homeschooled and he's just a regular guy! Carrie:-) (I was so excited to meet him, you'd think that he was a movie star or something:-)

I want you invited over here. One of the questions that I was asked is do I know if you concentrate on "Homeschooling" or are you more into talking about private schools and how we can be like them. Hmmm. I would think this a funny question, except I know one speaker who is very well known...who has just started to acknowledge that homeschooling can work...without private schools. Now, don't get me wrong, I looked at the private school where you teach; it looks wonderful! But, even if I didn't want to homeschool, I could never afford the money for all of our children to be at a private school:-) So, I'm going to lend my LLC book to the person who was asking me about you... (Will I EVER get to look at my LLC book and my memory book...together? I keep on lending them....:-) Carrie:-)

myfavoritebabycarrier.com has the Ergo...and maybe others and they have a 90 day money back guarantee. I love mine. Until my child was 4, I could carry him for hours while shopping and such. Beco baby carrier is another carrier that is similar. You can do a search to find these. I loved having my Ergo and while the baby is little and slipping in and out of carriers, nothing is better than a good fitting easy sling to slip them in and out of when you're running quick errands in and out of places. Carrie:-)

Favorite is the peppermint creamer at Christmas, then the vanilla one, and then the chocolate raspberry.

I have two stepchildren and two children that are bio. I love all of them and the steps are the easiest. I have them half time and of course my children full time. I'd love to have more, but I think that our family is complete with four kids, two parents and their exes, a dog and a cat:-) Carrie:-)

nurtureminds.com/ Just to give you something else to think about! This has an abacus program and goes through addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. I also read "living math" books and do skip counting and other real life math problems with him, orally. Just a thought:-)

Sorry about your ticket. Going to court always helps with tickets, it seems. I like the take the kids idea:-) You could borrow some, for extras, for your field trip:-) Good Luck!

This is great to hear! I'm planning on purchasing from the beginning, with an effort to combine a 1st grader and a 6th grader, next year. (so starting with Ancients) It's nice to hear another great review! Thanks!

Don't forget Greg Tang's books. You can get them from Scholastics for a special price for five of them. ($20) They are really good. I have my olders read them for hidden practice...to my little one.