How wonderful!

I am so sorry for your family's troubles! I'll pray right now!

We were only 20, and had been dating for about 6 months. My dh and I had gone with a group of friends to the observation deck of the airport. It was awash in blue light from the runway. In front of everyone dh knelt down and proposed. To this day we refer to my engagement ring as our "blue light special" ;)

I soak my beans overnight with a teaspoon of baking soda. I usually cook them and freeze for future use, but I don't see why you couldn't cook everything together. Dried beans are easy to use, and much cheaper :D My chili recipe is not really a recipe. I just dump browned hamburger, beans, tomato puree (or crushed tomatoes), corn, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, and seasoning salt all together in a pot and simmer until it smells good. We serve our chili with cornbread - yum!

The same thing has been happening to me. When I go to resources (click store, look on the bottom lefthand side of the screen) and sign in, my computer just thinks and thinks. I finally just did a search at BookShelfCentral for the levels I needed. I am not sure how complete it is, but it's a start!

Dh is a vet and has some clients with alpacas. I wonder, how much land do these animals (sheep, goats, alpacas) need for grazing? We also have three dogs, and plan on adding chickens and a horse eventually.

:lurk5: How timely, we are getting ready to move into Ancient Greece

That's one to save for the baby book! Plus, at least he's writing ;)

Every year my obsession is different. Last year was math, this year it's writing. I keep searching because I haven't found a perfect program yet. I am always worried I'll miss "The One." :)

We generally do 8 weeks on and 2 weeks off - year round. But, sometimes we do 8 weeks "normal" schedule, 1 week off, and 1 week "fun" schedule. Fun schedule is all of those neat things I don't get to during our regular learning times: unit studies, fun math games, art projects etc :)

I can't wait to see the responses to this question! We recently bought 5 acres, and are planning on getting some goats. But I am open to suggestions :)

Oh how sad! I am so glad the family was able to get out safely!

What a great list of books to try! I have hardly read any of them yet!

My kids are similar ages (12, 9, 6, 2 and a newbie who doesn't do chores yet!) We have several "chore" times a day and they rotate so no one can whine about *always* having to do a certain chore :) Here is how we break it down: 1.) Morning Chores - Everyone makes their own beds. Two children unload the dishwasher (one gets the top rack, one gets the bottom). A third child sweeps up the kitchen and wipes down the counter that was used for breakfast prep (this is the child who has dishwasher duty for the week). 2.) After Eating Chores - After every meal, the children clean off their own plates and take them to the sink. One child wipes off the table and helps the 2 year clean off his plate. Another child sweeps the floor, and the last child loads up the dishes into the dishwasher (they should be cleaned off pretty well). We rotate these and the morning chores each week. 3.) Every afternoon we deep clean one room. I made index cards for each chore in the room (dust floor, vacuum rug etc.) Each day I take out that room's cards, turn them upside down, and let the children pick their chores. The 2 year old and I are a team :) We celebrate a job well done with an afternoon snack. 4.) I taught my older ones to do their own laundry. Because they share a laundry basket with a sibling (we have a boy bedroom and a girl bedroom) they end up doing all of the children's laundry. They do their laundry when they start to run out of clothes lol! I do my and the baby's laundry, and my dh usually does his own. 5.) Before dh comes home from work we have a 10 minute sprint to clean up the toys, unfolded, clean laundry etc. from the living spaces. This plan keeps our house fairly clean and neat. We definitely have a lived in feel, but it's manageable!

Lol! One night when my dh came home from work, I asked him how his day was. He starts listing off what he'd done, and sneeks in "Oh, and I bought a house." :lol: He actually convinced the bank to give him a business loan (a small miracle!) and *bought* a rental house in 24 hours! We now have a rule: No buying of property without consulting your spouse first!!

:sad: Well, that's totally unreasonable! We had to search and search for a family practice that wasn't so big it was hard to get into for appointments. We drive 20 miles to a smaller town. The practice is in a renovated house, there is only one doctor, but love him! Good luck with your search!

How fun! Thanks for the link :)

When we had our washing machine serviced, the Sears repairman told us that the quickest way to kill your washer was to use too much soap. He recommended using *1/2* what the bottle recommends. We have a front loader and I use 1 tablespoon of soap, for a normal load, with good results.

I am another one with naturally big hair. The other night, my dh and I were looking at old photos, and he commented that he liked my hair when it was big. Well, if he really likes it big, maybe I'll stop trying to tame it :lol:

:grouphug: I hope today goes better for you!

We used a combo of a video program (ModuMath from Discovery Streaming) and LOF with my 7th grader. This mixture of programs worked great for my visual, math phobic dd. She now finds math quite fun and has moved on to Algebra with no problems :)

History Scribes are great! I have their History Scholar ebook pack. Sometimes they'll go on sale at Currclick and are *very* inexpensive! Is there anything else like this out there?

Me to! I just assumed it was the time of year. Everyone is researching curriculum choices for next year :)

My 7th grader adored Exploring the History of Medicine. It was one of her very favorite things we did this year!

Does anyone have suggestions for a stand alone resource for history based writing prompts? I am considering making up my own history program next year, and would like to add more writing then our normal narrations for my 8th grader. I know about the History Scholar ebooks, and the IEW theme based writing lessons. Any others I am overlooking? Thanks!