It is unsanitary if the underwear belong to one of my boys.

I can't speak for the poster you originally quoted, but most people who believe we are living with the consequences of a fallen world don't find it convenient.:)

Growing up, our small town had one homeless person who slept under the railroad tracks. A church in town bought him a house. He never slept in it. To my knowledge he wasn't an addict. It is entirely possible he had mental illness, but I doubt he was ever tested.

Penny Anna Not too bad except their last name was Nickel.

I regularly take the kids down to my parents' house by myself, but I haven't tried it since Dd3mos. was born. That is a 6.5 hour trip. We've only taken one longer trip (21 hrs. in two days), but they did great. When I was little we'd make the trip in 24 hrs. (speed limit 55) and we'd drive straight through, only stopping for gas. Time flies when you are sleeping. My best advice if the kids don't travel well is to leave at bedtime. Drive straight through and have more time at your destination.

According to my MIL (who is prohomeschooling) the small town in Missouri where my husband grew up is encouraging its troublemakers to "homeschool" until they turn sixteen. Then they can drop out.

I cut my Dh's and my two sons' hair. I hate cutting hair, but it saves us about 40 dollars a month. I tell Dh that when he makes x dollars I'm never cutting hair again, but I don't think I'll ever want to spend 40 dollars a month on haircuts. I started cutting Dh's hair about two weeks after we got married. I learned by trial and error, and it used to take me an hour to cut his hair. Now I can do all three in about 1/2 hour. If you use a guard, you can use a razor and it doesn't get too short (like a buzz). I use a 3/8" guard on the back and a 1" guard on the top. Most families I know use a razor, because it is so much easier. If possible, pick a time to cut when you don't have to be anywhere for a couple of weeks and give it a shot. Now, I have to finish with my haircutting story. Keep in mind that I HATE cutting hair and it used to take me an hour early in our marriage. Dh's hair really needed to be cut. He kept asking me to cut his hair at 9:00 or 9:30, but I kept saying ask me tomorrow when we have more time. This happened for at least a week, and he was looking pretty shaggy. Finally, I said okay, but you go get everything ready. He got the stool set up and the razor and scissors out then called me to come. I walked into the room, turned on razor and shave a two by three inch strip down to the skin. He had neglected to put a guard on, and I had neglected to check. :eek: I was horrified (the guys from central office were coming to his office a few days later). I wanted to shave his head, but he said to just cut around it. There was no way to hide it. I just finished the cut and he went to look in the mirror. When he came out, he said, "You can't complain if it's free." At that moment, I thought I had married a saint.

Funny, when I opened the thread I thought I was going to be choosing between bag and sack.

Thank you! I'll have to give this a try. We moved into our new house just as the last tree was ready last fall. I took a couple days and did 70 qt of applesauce. It was so hard to see the rest go to waste - I think I could have done 500 qt off the one tree. That may have been a bumper crop, but I'm glad to know of something I can do besides applesauce.

My brother and SIL said not to send packages to one place they lived because a neighbor stole them all.

Is there a special process for dehydrating apples? We now have a house with 3 apple trees. No one needs that much applesauce.

1. What's your name? Tracy 2. How many kids do you have (include ages if you wish) 4 - G7, B5, B3, G3mos. 3. What curriculum/curricula do you use? most of what is listed in the Veritas Press catalogue + some extras 4. Something interesting about yourself I am a VERY conservative person, but in my last church I was known as the "party girl" because I threw huge birthday parties for my kids. I figured if people were going to drive 40 minutes or more to come to a party, it ought to be a good one. We always requested no gifts, but I sent the kids home with neat stuff. Every kid in church knew my kids' birthdays. 5. What's your favorite season? spring and fall, I love the transitional seasons

Could they spend a week with your parents while you and Dh take a vacation together? My Dh loves my parents, but I struggle to get along with his. I try to be amiable when we are together, but I no longer tell Dh, "It's been several months; we ought to go see your folks." We see them at Christmas, at least once more during the year, and whenever they want to drive 6 hours to see us. If our positions were reversed, I'd hope he would try at least to the extent I do with his.

We have one dog. My inlaws brought her to us last fall. Without asking us first.:glare: I wouldn't call us pet people (the dog turned out to be a very nice dog, but we still aren't pet people).

I'm not familiar with everything you've listed, but I have Flying Creatures of the 5th Day. I'm just starting it with my kids, but I have read through most of the book. IMO, the first chapter is tougher going than the rest. If it isn't terribly important for him to understand classification at this point, read it and move on. See how he does in the next few chapters before you give up on it.

I haven't read all the posts. I'm sure you'll get some great advice. While I agree a lot with what Rosie said (and in practice my Dh defers to me on school issues), I would say that your Dh has an unusual upbringing. Because of his fear of gov't, I would humor him the first couple of years at least. K'er and 1st typically do not take much time each day. Do the program your Dh wants and make it what you want it to be.

:bigear:

I'm a little late getting to this post, but I wanted to respond because I may have contributed to your original confusion. On another post, I wrote that my sister was an expat in Spain. Most of the people she knew did not have dryers. They were very expensive to use. Many of the Spaniards and expats from other European countries vociferously condemned the American use of dryers. I personally line dry when it is convenient, but I like having a dryer (and feel no guilt at using it). To pp, my sister has terrible allergies. They weren't as bad in Madrid because they lived in the city. In the country, it is very hard on her to line dry.

I've never heard of classmates giving each other gifts, but that is just my experience. I think $20.00 is an appropriate gift, but I doubt any graduate would turn down less if that's what someone was willing to give and I'm sure they would be thrilled with more. For my nieces and nephews, I'd like to give x amount times their GPA. So if they got a 3.2 GPA, I might give them 32 dollars. For family friends I'd stick to 20.

Thanks everyone. I'm sending her several of these links like the No Fear Shakespeare. The ones that are too young for her I'm saving for my own kids. I bought the PinkMonkey.com study guide and the Lamb book to send her. I'll also recommend West Side Story. Romeow and Drooliet looks fun and my kids were watching the youtube video earlier. Thanks for your good wishes, MariannNova. I'm sure she'll be fine; it doesn't sound as if the teacher cares if she really learns anything. I, on the other hand, would love for her to get something out of it.:tongue_smilie:

Thank you everyone for your responses. I'll check these out tonight.:001_smile:

My niece is studying Romeo and Juliet. The teacher is trying to cover it in the last two weeks of school. My niece is feeling frustrated, because she isn't really understanding it. The teacher gives them a packet that they need to complete each day, and they work on it in class AS they read it out loud.:confused: Does anyone have any good resources I could recommend to her? Books for younger children that tell the story more simply, perhaps? Guides that explain some of the passages? Websites that might give additional help? She'll get a decent grade by filling out the paperwork, so I'm just looking for something that will help her understand what she is reading and give her "the flavor" of Shakespeare.

Northwest Iowa - My husband is routinely transferred with his job. I told him I did not want to go to Minnesota because it is too cold and too far from our families. We are less than 40 miles from Minnesota now. I told him he couldn't get much closer, but I think one plant is closer to the border than ours.:001_smile: I like Iowa. We were in Sioux City for 3 years, so this is our 4th year here.

I usually tip at least 20% the few times I take the kids in. But I really hate cutting hair, so I value the hair dresser more than some might.:001_smile:

:lol::lol::lol: I thought those kinds of things only happened in movies.