Hi! Not really too near you I guess but not too far away. We live near Osage Beach at the Lake of the Ozarks.

I, too, would not leave my 11 year old at a pool party. I just would not like to put that responsibility on the hostess. I don't trust anyone to watch my child as well as her father and I do. However I would not expect to be fed. If you must provide something how about a bag of chips and some salsa for parents. I realise not all parents feel this way but for those of us that do, we would never forgive ourselves if something happened to our child. Not all are strong swimmers.

I'm pretty new, just about to start 2nd year with 2 kids -1st and 5th- so I'm probably too new to say. I am being more organized this year but no filing or workboxes. I have planned out roughly how much to do each week to get done and will be doing a more detailed schedule for a week or so at a time. When I looked at the filing thread it seemed like we didn't really have much to put in the files. We don't seem to have many worksheets - other than math. Almost everything else is reading books and narration and outlining etc. I wasn't sure how you would file that - other than a bunch of blank pages. I can be organised at work but not so much at home. Just enough to get me through reasonably efficiently. Even so , I think I am guilty of more researching, planning etc than teaching :confused:

Here

Someone else may have suggested this one, I just skipped to the end and didn't read all - in England we eat cheese and onion pasties. Pretty much like a hot pocket but triangular and the filling is cheese, onions and mashed potato. Just saute the onions and then mix with potato and cheese and bake, delicious, I love them. My 6 year old dd told me today that she was thinking of not eating meat because she loves animals - we asked if she wanted to be a vegetarian and she said no she was going to be a fruitatarian.

Thanks for the book lists Angie. I rely on my library a lot so these will be great ones to try. Thanks for sharing all that hard work on your part!

This will be only our second year homeschooling so last year I was in your position. I did get really nervous and anxious just before the school year started and wondered if we were doing the right thing. I think that must be a fairly normal reaction to such a big life change. i think it is quite difficult to plan too much the first year. I felt like I just did not know what was a realistic amount to plan for each day. I decided to go easy on myself and just take it as it came the first year and not get too upset if things were a little caotic. The year went pretty well and although probably not the most organised of schooling, I still think the kids learnt quite a lot. This year I feel much more able to plan, still an amatuer of coarse, but much better than last year. So try not to worry too much and enjoy as much as you can.

Just wanted to add The Boxcar Children series. They seem to be good for a fairly wide age range. My 10 year old still likes them and my six year old is just getting in to them. There are lots of books in the series so if they like them it's great. Also, surprisingly, my daughter really got into the Hardy Boys books, not so much Nancy Drew, but really enjoyed the Hardy Boys. You just need to find something to pique their interest sometimes and then they're off.

I went to nursing school in the early 80's and then, they definately told us 100 plus your age for upper limit of systolic. I can't remember for sure about diastolic but think it was 80.

My Goodness, how do you guys do all that! My !st Grader will be doing SM 1A & B SWO B English for the Thoughtful child - in a few months time WTM writing and Science HWT - penmanship SOTW 2 Piano Lessons Awana Maybe, maybe some extra geography but don't know if we'll fit it in.

My house is almost always less than neat, often way less than neat, and I put off having people round because of it. Your post really inspired me so thankyou :001_smile:. Thanks for being brave enough to step out on a limb and for inspiring me for one to do it too.

I don't know any technical terms etc but a while ago I had been reading some quite modern stuff, several books in a row, then I picked up John Steinbeck and immediately realised how much better the writing was, not necessarily the story but how much better written it was. Can't use any technical language to say why it just was.

I wouldn't worry too much about numbers. I think it's sometimes hard to get accurate numbers on young children. My opinion is that you need to be concerned with keeping your child interested and challenged. I think that is much more easily done when homeschooling. We started homeschooling because my oldest dd was not being challenged at school. I can honestly say that the giftednest worries that troubled me then are just not really an issue now. We just go at her pace and challenge her when necessary and don't have to worry about grade levels etc.

I vote for other I think. From what I've read the best way to get out of debt is to create a kind of 'avalanche' effect. You start by paying off the debt with the lowest balance as quickly as you can and then apply what you were paying on that to add to what you're paying on the next lowest balance. You keep doing that, each time adding the amount that you were paying on the loan you just paid off. Hope that makes sense, it's kind of hard to write it in a straightforward way.

Lovely stories and lovely memories.

I've heard that yellow or orange are supposed to be good for helping you think or study.

I just want to say that it seems like most of the children whose height and growth have been reported on this thread do not sound like they have precocious puberty and the thing about prec. puberty is that growth is not normal. I don't know if your ds's age means he has prec puberty because I only paid attention to girls normal puberty ages. If I were you I would definately find out and if there is any doubt ask to see a ped. endocrinologist. My dd pediatrician did not know much about it at all ( and she was a good dr). It was only when I persisted that she called the specialist to ask and they told her that they wanted to see dd. We chose treatment for several reasons and I think the height reason would be even more important for a boy - I know my dh would agree. A quick hand x-ray can tell bone age and soon put your mind at rest.

I'm afraid I don't know specifically about boys, but my dd10 has precocious puberty. She started showing signs of puberty at around age 6-61/2. My dh family has a history of it and my dh had it himself. I took my dd to a pediatric endocrinologist and she was able to be on treatment for a few years which delayed its progression. I,too was concerned about her future height as my husband stopped growing early and ended up around 5' 5" ( he has always wished he were taller). We had to stop my dd treatment about a year earlier than we would have liked because the medicine made her blood pressure go up. We found it a difficult decision to start treatment but we felt she was too young to be able to handle having periods at age 7 or 8 and also did not want her to get unwanted attention from older boys etc because of her developing body. I'm glad that we chose treatment as she is now 10 and has not had a period yet, but will very soon I think. Also it really helped to control mood swings and we had our little girl for a few more years. I don't know what the options are for boys but if it were me I would at least find out and then decide. My husband was not treated and I think possibly it would have been to his benefit to be so. Also wanted to send you a :grouphug: because I know how difficult this is to deal with.

I have been laughing very loudly at them indeed! I have to share one that happened to my brother and sister-in-law. They were at a residential missions training course. At one of the sessions the speaker commited a spoonerism (I think it's called that). He meant to say "ruling in the fear of God" but instead he said "fooling in the rear of God". They said that they were desperately trying not to laugh and nobody else seemed to be amused at all. When the break finally came they rushed back to their room and rolled on the floor laughing.

I wish my kds could go to parties with some of yours! My girls just will not push in and grab stuff. To me that is just bad manners. I believe you can be enthusiastic and have fun without trampling others or snatching everything for yourself. I really struggle with this after some of the parties my 2 girls have attended. I stat to feel bad that my girls are missing out because I've made them practise good manners and therefore they've been left out. But you know, then I tell myself firmly, that doing the right thing can not be wrong for them and one day they will realise they are the winners because they will have good character to fall back on. It is really hard to be raising your kids in a counter-culture way. It's kind of like classical education I guess, striving to find what is beautiful and true and good.

From my experience misspelling words at first is normal and doesn't mean they always will. My DD10 wrote a lot when she was little and at first misspelled but over time she just started spelling more words correctly. She was in PS until this last year and never did a formal spelling program - just some lists of words that were so easy I think she only ever got 1 wrong in all her 5 years at school - and that was without ever studying for the tests. My youngest DD6, in K this year, seems to be fairly good at spelling as she reads a lot , I think she is reading about 4th gr level or so. When she writes, which she is fairly reluctant to do a lot of, I only correct the words she asks me about and will help her sound out and spell if she asks me to but don't correct otherwise yet, too soon in my opinion.

I work 24 hours/week - 2 twelve hour shifts. My kids are 10 and 6 so I can't leave them by themselves at home. My husband and I can almost always work it out to have 1 or the other at home and if not my SIL can occaisionally babysit. Whoever is at home supervises the schooling and if they go elsewhere then they don't do school. It seems to work out quite well but I would definately prefer the continuity of being there all the time.

I haven't read all the posts but you know just because someone is late for this sort of thing doesn't mean they necessarily show up late for work. I'm always on time for work but not always on the dot for social things. Frankly I enjoy not having to be so scheduled some of the time. If you really hate it so much then maybe this isn't the group for you. But it sounds like you felt you had to leave to make a point and to me that seems a little like cutting off your nose to spite your face ( if they have that expression here in the US.)

No grown children of my own yet but again I am a grown child. To me it's a really special part of my relationship with my mother to go visit and have her make that special thing I like. She seems to like to do it too ( I think!). I think if it were me and I could possibly do it I probably would, maybe not if they just lived around the corner and were over every other day.

I have recently discovered Herman Wouk and am really enjoying all of his that I've read. And if you're the type who doesn't want a good book to end then his are the one's for you because they are wonderfully long and yet wonderfully interesting. I started with "The Winds of War".