I can't recall anything remarkable my son has said that would reflect his homeschooling. However I dearly wished I had written down the story he told me the other day. I was amazed at his clarity of thought, sequencing, and vocabulary. I do think homeschooling has fostered his imagination with e amount of imaginative play he engages in along with the good books we read together.

We did traditional last year, this year were doing year round. We've taken a lot of time off this winter. I'm not too worried about it. My goal is to complete whatever first grade stuff were still doing by the time he turns seven in September.

Ruth can you write a book? Or a PDF including all the info shared here that we can download?

I have just one and he asks most of the time. It's not a rule it's just something he does. I usually let him eat whatever unless it's an hour before supper.

We lived in one for over two years. We may do it again in the near future. I think in Florida it would be fine. Get your septic and water first. Life is a whole lot easier then. Look into FEMA auctions.

Harmful to my son in that he's very close to his daddy. He misses him dreadfully. Hes used to spending every day with him. I try to stay cheerful around him, I don't cry or moan or anything. My son is very sensitive and thinks his own things and draws his own conclusions. He has a vivid imagination and comes up with all kinds of things... I talked to him again, calmly, and he said he took the job because he thought I would travel with him more. I told him before I wouldn't like the travel so I don't know why he would think that. I think he has selective hearing. I honestly think he's feeling stuck and not admitting it. Now we just have to stick it out until he could find something else. He said he truly hated his last job and could bear it no longer. He's very good at his job and I believe it does fill a need. Depression, oh I fully believe that. However I am allergic to the medications. I have terrible reactions, I've tried several kinds and I am not willing to go through that hell again, even for a day. I need to get myself up and get to exercising. Spring finally being here will help as winter is a terrible time for me. Peri menopause with a young child does not help! :) I don't know when he went off his meds. He didn't tell me till the other day that he hadn't taken them in a couple of months. One of my biggest reasons for hating him gone is the fear something bad will happen while he's gone. It's happened before. At least I had my parents to be with me until he could get to me. Anyway, weve been talking and ironing out some issues. I'm going to see if I can talk him into trying a different medication. I don't see that the last one did any good anyway. Thanks again. :)

Oh sorry didn't notice dysgraphia in the post, that what happens when you're reading late! No, no experience with it. Have a friend whose son may have it and have read some things about it. One thing was mentioned was the discomfort in the body, more than just the hand.

My dh had one of those once, was diagnosed with migraine. I just saw on tv yesterday that if you get migraines you have a higher chance of stroke. Be aware of the symptoms. Vision issues is one of the symptoms.

Have you looked into dysgraphia?

Seriously all of your posts are making me cry. To reach out to a stranger and offer such awesome advice means a lot to me. I'm going to carefully read over the replies and see what I can do to implement them. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I probably would be more amenable if the pay was good. If he was actually paid for his time. if he had good vacation plan. We've actually gone into debt with this job because he incurs expenses that they may or may not reimburse him for. It can take months for reimbursement. As much as I hate it, I'll probably go with him this time. I'm going to see if he can leave a day later to give me more time. DS is begging to go. He cannot stand being left by his daddy. Campers in winter are awful. We did it one winter and that is why I know it to be miserable.

Thanks Ann and Jenni Reducing bills - that would be my thought but he just bought a brand new vehicle. Don't get me started on that! My dh has some issues. Real issues. He was on medication for years but got off of it. Jenni I believe you touched on some things why he likes this. I would love some alone time but he doesn't seem interested. He feels like he needs to put everything into the job. I feel like I've talked til I'm blue in the face but really, dh does what he wants, when he wants to, and I'm expected to cheerfully go along with it.... Where he has to go generally are these little towns in the middle of nowhere. He often has to work miles from where we stay. So unless we can travel, there's nowhere to even walk to...

Thanks butterfly mommy. How do your kids manage? My boy cries for his daddy to come home. I find that really hard to deal with. He just doesn't get why all of a sudden his daddy is gone for days at a time. My neighbor works offshore and is gone for a month at a time, but it's been that way since the kids were born. It's been their whole life. We have plans to sell our house and put a home on my parents property so when he's gone it's easier on us. My son is close to my parents and it would help fill the void. Problem is our house isn't finished and needs work to get it ready to sell, and dh has no time to finish it. Was supposed to take all last week and do it, but guess what, he had to go to Dallas instead. The frustration just mounts because I see no way out and nothing to help.

Thank you for reading and replying. I know I am whining. I am grateful he has a job. It's just the lack of routine is driving me nuts. I'd like a week where we can plan on dh being home. A week where everything is not totally upended. I'm not a person that can live with that sort of uncertainty.....I just never know when things are going to change. This Wisconsin trip was sprung on me this morning. We would have to leave in less than two days. Probably means missing a party for DS tomorrow and definetly the dentis on Monday. chiropractor visit next week, and AF to arrive on top of it all. Clothes to wash, house to clean, see if my mom will keep one of the dogs on such short notice.... Dh just does not realize how hard all of this is on me, being such a homebody and needing at least two week notice for any major trip like this....

Warmer weather isn't so bad. It's right now he wants us to go with him to Wisconsin. I live in Louisiana. I despise cold weather. Right now it is 60 degrees and I am miserable. Staying with SIL. This is the scenario, we did this in January. Dh's job is based in Iowa. My SIL lives there. We would ride up there with him, he'd leave us there while he does a multi state run to different spots he needs to go. He might go to three states in four days. Hard on us to be skipping about like that. Then he'd come back though to pick us up and go home. The theory is that he's less days away from us, cause we are riding with him e four days of travel to get up there and back. If we go with him in RV and hotels I have no vehicle to go anywhere. Dh usually leaves at six and mostly comes home around dark. No time to really do anything. Our sole purpose would be to spend the evening with dh. He doesn't always make it back for supper so i have to make sure I have some kind of food in the hotel room. My boy is a realy good child. He gives me no trouble, but he is very active....

God only knows why he took this job. He says he likes it, despite the stress of it. I don't think he will admit anything tho. He says he doesn't like to be away from us. He somehow thought he would have a lot of free time since when he's not gone he works from home. Well at home he has zero free time. I TOLD him it would be like that. He's working for his BIL, he begged him to work for him. My BIL runs himself ragged with this job. My SIL is very unhappy with it. I don't see why dh thought it would be different for us. I don't know if he wants to look for a new job. I don't think there is anything really available around

I stay home most of the time, but it means a great deal of time away from dh. It's really harmful to our son.

They told him he would get good pay eventually. Right now I'd say he's making less than $15 an hour, since he works seven days a week, on call 24 hrs per day. Oh he doesn't get any vacation either. They told him he could take a day off sometimes but that's not really true. He has two phones he is constantly on, either with phone calls or emails.

Thank you. He had a job for six years where he was home every night. Said he didn't like it. had good pay and superb insurance. He left it for this job. Lousy insurance, bad management. I don't mind the two or even three night trips. But the ones where he's gone 7 - 12 days is really hard on our family. Doesn't help he is on salary and works seven days a week. Our life is never free from this job. Ever. We've been down this road before and he swore he would never do this to us again. Our life is totally up in the air at all times so I constantly on edge. I would be on medication if I could tolerate it, but I can't. I feel very stuck. I can't rely on my life from day to day.

dh began this job in January. I was against it and I told him I would not be happy with this lifestyle. He took it anyway. He travels a lot, several times a month, leaving us at home alone. Other times he wants us to go with him. WHich means either pulling the travel trailer, whereas I am all day in a small space with a young child and a dog, knowing no one, and no where to go. Or in a hotel room, again alone with a small child, no where to go, eating out at restaraunts daily, etc. Another option is staying with my SIL while he goes off to another state. Very Small house, one bathroom, SIL;s dog, SIL has anxiety issues so any messes drives her a bit crazy. I leave DS's toys out because he plays with them all the time. Makes me nervous to have someone else nervous over my son's activities. He's not bad, but she's childless. I can't stand it. Any of it. I Like to be home. I like my own house, my own bed, my own bathroom. I have my own routine and I don't like to vary from it. I'm so very angry my dh did this to us. He disregards my feelings totally and tells me that me being mad at him burdens him down so I need to not be mad when he goes out of town. How am I supposed to deal with this total upheaval of my life and what I value?

this looks really interesting. Have you used it?

I have others by them, hard to do but they work!

Figure Skating used to be my number one sport, but most of my favorites have retired and I haven't gotten into the new group. I don't think they show the professional competitions anymore. I like gymnastics, diving, skiing and the luge. Basically I love the Winter olympics! LOL!

I use it in cooking. Love it on bread. I used to use it on my skin but it burns my face. Olive oil does the same thing so I put no oils on my face. I've tried it in my tea but it's too oily. I love the extra virgin. I have the one with no scent or flavor but I rarely use it. I don't find it tastes like coconut, bagged coconut is much sweeter, but it adds a nice little sweet flavor to foods. It's the best thing I have found to cook eggs. I like to use coconut sugar but it's expensive.

Yes youre making sense. I have only one child that I had after almost 19 years of marriage. An orderly and perfect house is essential to my real peace of mind. However with a very imaginative little boy that takes way more energy then what I have. I keep it up reasonably well and I constantly remind myself that one day he will be grown up and gone and I will miss the chaos. Since I was only able to have one child due to multiple pregnancy loss and infertility, I embrace what I am able to have with this one child. I think of friends of mine whose children died and how they would love the messes their child would make, if they only have them back. It really is a constant reminder to myself that the fostering of my sons energy and imagination is very important. At the end of the day, he is a happy little boy, even if I feel a bid ragged around the edges. Of course not having a houseful makes a big difference. I have a bit more chance of getting peace and quiet. You need to find your happy place, whatever it is that you can do during the day that is completely yours. For me, time in the tub at night with a book does a world of good for me. Find other things that can refresh you besides orderly surroundings. These are the things that have helped me personally.