I've lived in several homes with septic systems. (All my life, really). We are a family of 6. We have bought a couple of ranches where the systems were installed eons ago, before anyone paid attention to family size. So on our last place, after the system kept failing, and we were having to pump every year, we finally had new tanks put in AND A NEW LEACH FIELD THAT WAS ACTUALLY PLANNED for our family size. Not wanting to have to deal with a faulty system again, I was sure to tell the septic guy that we were homeschoolers, so we're home ALL THE TIME, and use our system hard. You know, the norm is that most people get up in the morning and go and spend the day somewhere else, either work or school. So he actually made the leach field even bigger than code required. Thankfully, I don't remember how much it cost. I quickly try to forget the costs of big ticket items like septic systems and adoptions! ;) OK, so all of this to say, maybe you can get a septic guy out and see if your current system will meet your needs. Is there any paperwork on it anywhere? It's much easier to hand him records, than it is for him to go out and poke around trying to figure out how big the leach field is.... Good luck, and pump. The $200 bill is much easier than a septic wreck. BTDT :ack2:

Really? You would actually let go of a house that you really like because of this situation with the rea? Don't let her get in your way. You have found a house that you really like. Negotiate with the builder, and just don't talk to her about it. If she calls, just tell her you're dealing directly with the builder. She will understand ALL that statement implies. This is not her deal. If she gets pushy, remember that you are in the right. She did not show you the house. period. So, she is not due any commission. period.

You don't owe her a thing. She did not show you the house. She didn't "find" the house for you. Did you ask her to contact the builder? If you did, then the situation is a bit stickier. But it sounds to me like she is trying to manipulate you into paying a commission you don't owe. Don't even talk to her about the house again. Deal directly with the builder. There are attorneys who specialize in real estate. If, for any reason, you feel that you need representation when dealing with the builder, you may want to hire one. But you would have to pay him/her. When I bought my 1st house, I was completely on my own, and felt a little bit vulnerable. I felt like I needed someone to be working for me, and representing my interests. I found a real estate attorney in the phone book. Asked around to "see" if he was reputable, and hired him. I was glad I did. There's a lot of paper work, and a lot of bargaining points. Good luck, and stick to your guns.

My gosh, if my little 7 yr old weren't sitting right next to me, I'd think he had run away to your house!! The disappearing every second..... Your son sounds exactly like mine. And this victim thing.... what's up with that? My son is literally in tears at least 4 times/day because he has been SO victimized (in his eyes). Dh and I think that if we ever direct his sense of justice/injustice productively, he'll be the greatest human rights advocate ever! So I guess that's my answer. With each child I am trying to find "the thing" that clicks in their brain to motivate them to achieve and experience joy in learning. Hopefully, feeding and encouraging that "thing" will work. I wish I had more "right here, right now" advice for you, but I don't. I'm especially struggling with the grade in school thing. My little 7 yos is 10 months younger than my other ds, but is going to fly by his brother in school this year. And the older of the two is sweet and sensitive and loves school. I'm considering completely doing away with the "grade" thing. But what is the first question that people ask of school-age children? "What grade are you in?" It is the way that our society "places" children in their mind. So I don't have an answer for that one, either. But I'm glad you posted, and am enjoying the answers. Hang in there. I truly think that the situation with my ds is just normal boy behavior. Jackie

This is a great thread. I'm thinking of all the possibilities for my dc. Nan in Mass, what a wealth of knowledge you are! thanks for all the details. When I read these posts, I think, why would I ever want to send them to the local high school?

Ditto what everybody else said PLUS: plan to lower your expectations for cleanliness, whining, and overall grumbling. I've done several long trips with my 4 kiddos, many of them without another adult. The key for me was fun snacks, stopping at playgrounds wherever possible, fun (washable) activity pads. A huge hit was leap pads (if you can stand the noise). When they very first came out, they kept my kids occupied literally for hours. When my dh and I did long trips with the kids, we did a lot of read-alouds. So bring some good books. Hope you have fun! Jackie

I have had similar thoughts/dissatisfactions/frustrations too many times to count!! It is HARD to be an intelligent, hard-working, energetic person, and then sit around and play with your kids! (At least it was hard for me!) It gets easier as they get older and start being interested in things. So often when my kids used to come to me and say they were bored, I'd tell them that if they were bored, it was just because they weren't using their imagination. I have to tell myself the same thing. I'm schooling 4 kids, and I live out on a ranch with a complete menagerie of animals, and I still sometimes feel bored. It's not that there's nothing to do; it's just that the things that need doing don't appear to be very fulfilling. The thing that helps me is to look past my own situation, and help others. And I know that you are trying this, and that it's not working too well, but I wonder if you're looking at small enough things? Even very little things might help someone. I don't have much more time to post right now because my 9 yr. old needs help with her sewing project for fair, and my 13 year old is making a complete mess of the kitchen with her baking project for fair, and my 2 boys are, well...... bored. Darn it! Just a couple of other quick things..... I've been toying with the idea of going back to work because ranching is not exactly lucrative right now. (or ever). But I've done a lot of thinking about why we do the things we do (with respect to home schooling), and what you're doing is VERY valuable. It is also very intangible right now, and so is difficult to measure. But the lasting effect of the time we spend with our children will be very deep. It will cause them to have confidence and natural joy. I'm sure of it. The other thing is the movie "Legends of the Fall" Did you ever see it? In that movie, Anthony Hopkin's character is offering an education to a little mixed race Indian girl who will likely never have an opportunity to do anything but tend a garden for someone else. The little girl's father asks "And what will she do with this education? Why should she have it?" Anthony Hopkins looks at him in surprise and says something along the lines of "Well, to enrich her life, and to give her greater enjoyment." Something like that.... It's true. You are enriching your dc's lives by being with them and choosing to home school them. You are in a season of your life where you may not feel terribly self-fulfilled. But it is just a season. It will pass. Hang in there. Value the things you are doing. Jackie

Gosh, I really feel for all of you in CA. I grew up in the Sac. valley (Marysville), and we never had a/c. We had just the ole noisy swamp cooler that blew the hot air around. We were used to it though, and it was a lot cheaper than a/c. Of course we played in the water a lot, while we were pretending to irrigate the crops. We also washed all the horses, trucks, tractors, and cars. Anything that involved water! It could be worse though.... you could live in Redding, CA. When my dear brother helped me move into my house there, it was 118 degrees!! Hang in there. It won't last forever! Oh, and it's about 92 here today. Jackie

I would just like to say that I find Mr. Kolic's vocabulary, well, ..... lacking. "Douchebag?" Really, I would expect more of an elitist.... whether he went to class, or not. Jackie

Speaking from personal experience here, I would NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER rent out a house again without a property manager unless I could 1) drive to it within 2 hrs., and 2) do the work both maintenance-wise, and tenant-contact-wise myself. Do you have a friend who would like to earn a few dollars, and would have the skills necessary to interview and sift prospective tenants? Even if your friend is maintenance-challenged, it is important to have someone there to actually interact with tenants, and actually see with their own eyes what needs to be done if problems arise. You won't even miss the 10% (possibly less if a friend does it for you). But you will regret it if you get into a situation you can't control because you're too far away, and your house is damaged or your tenant skips on you. My 2 cents, Jackie

It certainly resonates with me!! We are in a remote location with limited opportunites for involvement with others. My oldest dd has so much to offer! She enjoyed working in a soup kitchen in Wy, and also enjoyed playing piano for the elderly at a nursing home there. It was wonderful. But where we are now, it is just more difficult to find those opportunities. So, I have no advice, but I have certainly benefitted from this thread. Thanks for bringing up this topic! Jackie

I don't know if it's actually called "homework", but my dd often has reading that she's doing in the evening and on week-ends. (Usually for her online Omnibus class, but also with science because sometimes the experiments take up a lot of "class" time). When I think back to my own middle/high school experience, the reason that homework happened was because there wasn't enough time to get the work done during class time. Usually, that was because of other issues related to the classroom... questions from other students, administrative stuff, discipline issues. But in home-school, those issues are non-existent. So, long answer to the question.... No, I would not schedule homework. But I think that as the course-work becomes more difficult, my dd (as well as those that follow), will be doing reading on evening and week-ends in order to be prepared for class, and to stay on schedule. Jackie

Do you currently prepare your own taxes? If so, check out a 1040 schedule E. This is the form you need to declare your rental income or loss. It's pretty straightforward. If you currently have someone else prepare your taxes, they should be very familiar with this form. You may still want to familiarize yourself with this form, however, as it might help you to track your expenses during the year, and think about how you want to account for these expenses. For example, some people use a completely different bank account for their rental properties, just to help keep these expenses separate and easily tracked. hth, Jackie

:iagree: We should all be so disciplined. Way to go, Jean! Jackie

I second "Leonardo's Horse". I love it, and my kids love it too. In fact, I was going to name my gray gelding "Leonardo", but my entire family vetoed that idea..... saying it was just "over the top". :( Have fun! Jackie

We are considering buying a home in So. Dakota, where the students must be dual enrolled in order to participate in school sponsored activities such as sports, band, etc. (At least that is true in our local district, I don't know if it's state-wide). I will have to submit my dc grades to the district, which I think will be a great way to get organized about record-keeping. I only seem to get things like that done when I absolutely have to. My dc will also have to submit to standardized testing, which I'm not a huge fan of, but it's not going to change the way I homeschool. Anyway, I would love to be able to cherry-pick the classes that I want my dd to take at the ps. Art? Lab courses? Band? These are things I need help with as a homeschooler..... Sounds like a win-win. Thanks for posting. I'm glad to hear of your good experience. Jackie

Not really any help here, just a word of encouragement... When I was doing triathlons, I counted it a win if no-one tried to "rescue" me while I was swimming. I was really that bad. I hated the swimming. I swallowed a lot of pool water. (ick) The thing that helped me was just watching good swimmers. How did they do it? What was their body position when they turned to breathe. I tried to visualize myself pulling through the water as they did. Then I tried to get into the pool during the really "off" hours to train so that I didn't have to feel self-conscious about my lack of ability. You know, I finally "got" it. I finally got to the point where I could think about how well I was pulling with my shoulders, and NOT whether or not I would make it to the other end of the pool. Stay with it! You will make it. Visualize yourself doing well, and I bet you will. Have fun, Jackie

Another plug for Lial's BCM. It really covers all the basics. My dd used it for pre-algebra this year. Lial's is nicely laid out, imo, so that it's easy to just do the review questions for each chapter in order to see which concepts the student needs work on. Then, you can just review the weaker areas, and not waste time on stuff the student already "gets". If I understand your OP, your daughter is entering 8th grade? She could review and do the pre-algebra in 8th, and then be doing Algebra 1 in 9th, which seems really acceptable to me. That would take her through trig in high school. Good luck in whatever you decide, Jackie

Hi, Journey, and welcome, There are several horse-lovers on the board. Hang around and you'll "see" them from time to time.... Our love of horses stems from our use of them on the ranch. We all ride as we work with the cattle. It seems like we've always had horses, but my oldest dd bought her OWN horse with her OWN money (which she earned through 4-H) last year. He is a ranch horse, registered quarter horse, and he is perfect for her. When there's work to be done (herding or sorting cattle) she sometimes has to just hang on for the ride! He's very athletic and ambitious. But when they're not working, she takes him down to swim in the reservoirs, or she just lays on his back, or hangs around him. She can even lie down on him and read a book while he grazes. They are truly a perfect match. Of my other 3 dc, 2 of them love to ride, and the other (ds age 8) doesn't really care for it. He still has to ride when there's work to be done, though. We have good "kid-broke" horses for those 3. Only my dd (age 9) has expressed an interest in showing or competing with her horse, but we have said "no". It's just too expensive! A friend of ours once spent $300 putting silver trim on a halter for a horse show! $300!!!!!! Now just think about all the books you could buy with that! (They weren't homeschoolers, though). And lets not even talk about the cost of getting kids and horses to those shows. Yikes! I think we'll just stick with ranch work for now. Jackie

Oldest dd needed a knife to cut the twine on bales to help feed livestock, and got her 1st at age 7. She is VERY responsible. dd #2 got her first at age 8.... also very responsible ds #1 is 8 yrs. old, and will probably get one soon. He's into making "arrows" out of little willow branches. ds #2 is 7 yrs. old, and I can never imagine giving him ANYTHING that in ANY WAY could be used to cut, poke, prod, etc. He is SO impulsive and SO headstrong. Sigh..... every day is a new adventure with him. :001_huh: Jackie

Hoggirl, thanks for this thread. Because of it, I'm going to listen to Charles Stanley ol right now. Thanks, Jackie

Thanks Cedarmom, Can't say I'm happy with the 4 days/week idea, though. I was hoping for more like 30 min. 2 times/week. Guess it's back to the drawing board..... Thanks, Jackie

It's beautiful, Laura. You have the most interesting life. Have fun, and keep us posted, Jackie

I'm working on scheduling this for dd (8th grade) for next year. Has anyone btdt? It looks like 2 days per week, and about 2 lessons per week, but all of the lessons do not appear to be equal, kwim? Also, how much time for review questions and unit tests? Dd will have a very full schedule next year, so I'm getting kind of nitty about things:001_smile:. Thanks for your help, Jackie