Hi, Thanks for the feedback, I totally forgot about Usborne's! It's not just for my kids, but others too, so all ages from 3+. Sorry I am not a Christian, am a Muslim, but I will check up on Sister Wendy, as there's some great inspiring art! :001_smile: N. C. Wyeth

I thought it would be nice if we share some art techniques & resources here. I am looking for good books on helping kids learn about art and an appreciation for it. If anyone knows some good titles, or resources please share. __________________________________________________________________ Now take a look at a master of the brush stroke ...John Singer Sargent. Sargent was born in Florence, Italy in 1856. His American parents were there for his mother's health. He was encouraged early to develop his artistic abilities, and became a master "plein air painter" taking his watercolors everywhere he traveled. This painting is comprised mostly of brush strokes. Sargeant really liked to "draw" with his brush. There are some wash areas (the mountains in the distance, the soft corner of sky, the whitewashed walls, some of the greenery. But look at the linear marks! In the ground in front of the wall, on the pottery, the leaves in the trees and bushes. Especially notice the scratchy dry brush area in the dark tops of the pine trees. http://www.fountains...-brushwork.html

We seem to be going eclectic, doing both CM & TWTM, along with Islam & Arabic - this fits fine with us. I always thought TWTM supports CM & both are classical.

Probably only wants a hug & needs to learn how to manage his feelings, avoid processed foods, sugar & gluten (or junk foods), have a healthy diet, do regular exercise and keep occupied with thought provoking learning, engaging activities which really interest him. Charlotte Mason recommended children going outdoors or doing nature study, all seasons :)

Sorry, but I don't understand what you mean. THD is not about small, meagre meals that are unsatisfying leaving you hungry. There is no calorie counting, it's a completely natural diet. I had very large meals initially, which tapered down after my body got all its vitamins and I have lost more than 3 stones and feel great! First, I don't eat sausages and certainly not pork sausages, but THD members do eat pork, so if you do want to try the Harcombe diet, I think it's best to read the book & join the club, or ask a volunteer member at THD forum. As for feeling sick - Have you seen the doctor? Initially on THD first week, some people do feel unwell or tired, as if they have a cold, while body detoxes from candida. I had brain fog, felt neck pains, dry eyes, tired and lethargic, felt very sleepy, had constipation, etc, and then it all went away. I only feel tired now, if I have too many carbs. There's not much to plan, but if you are still interested in planning menus later, there is the 'Harcombe Diet Recipe' book and plenty of ideas at THD forum. I ate meat, fish, eggs vegetables the first week. Examples would be, fried eggs & peas or fried eggs & parsnips, boiled eggs & cress, steak & peas, sheesh kebabs, salad & yogurt chutney, chicken soup, raw vegetable crudites, roast chicken, with onion & aubergine bake (in coconut cream), on phase 2 it was yummy cheesy lamb moussaka, cauliflower cheese, with lamb koftas, etc. (I also took Vit C or lemons if constipated). Well, do take good care of yourself & hope you feel better soon! :) Best wishes .

Hi, Butter is fine, in fact, it is excellent. It's classed as fat, rather than dairy. The Phase 1 is only for 5 days, then on Phase 2, you can have a little milk, cheese etc. No don't make separate meals - just avoid the carbs, fruit & grains (and milk, for now). Have plenty of NLY. You can read her book: The Harcombe Diet and they also have a Club Forum if you have further questions. Zoe is there to answer any questions.

Shelly & Elegantlion, I can totally relate! I saw this book title in SCM, only yesterday: Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends. I think books that instil the concept of courtesy & good character may be what our children need today especially where there are very few such good examples of families & friends around or hard to find. There are some more books on character listed here: http://simplycharlot...de/personaldev/ That's also my reason for homeschooling too, that I hope & pray some day that we will be a closer family. :grouphug: Best Wishes

Try the Harcombe Diet, Phase 1, eating only meat, eggs, vegetables and starve off candida. (You may feel hungry and eat more for a while and feel tired for the first week while the body gets rid of candida). See You may also need to get yourself checked to see if you are not diabetic or have (THD video on low blood sugar) or hyperglycemia (after you have too much carbs). Keep up with some exercise everyday (like walking for 30-40 minutes) to help get rid of lethargy. Avoid having high carbs, cereal, coffee and sugar. Milk also has lactose - milk sugar. If you feel low or sleepy, have some natural live, probiotic yogurt and drink fresh water. I sometimes squeeze some fresh lemon juice in cold water in the mornings this winter and this helps to get rid of the fatigue & sleepiness. Best Wishes

I really liked listening to a sample from Sonya Shafer's Workshop on Looking Past the Fear (though I am not Christian, as a Muslim, I do believe Jesus was a Prophet of God). Also, please do read about what hardships Charlotte Mason went through. Give your older child some responsibilities according to his available time & ability, (e.g. house chores, schedule & evaluate his own learning or help with the younger ones). Have only one or two extra curricular activities rather than too many, or none at all. Keep life simple, and accept that there are too many things you are trying to achieve. Stick to only the priorities for now, otherwise you may get burnt-out. Take one step at time (if this happens) until you fall back into a good routine. Best Wishes

Try moving to a smaller home, it may reduce your workload. Older children who are well, may be able to help with some chores. Visitors should also help in, seeing that you have your'e hands full. If they offer to wash up, or help with laying the table, hoover, etc... let them. Please do visit Dr Tullio Simoncini's website & read about his work on curing cancer, he believes it is caused by a fungus: candida albicans (yeast). A good diet for cancer I think would be an anti-candida diet or a diet suited for those with celiac disease, by avoiding avoid wheat & gluten products. Try avoiding all processed & junk foods & refined sugar as it depletes his immune system & from essential vitamins. Instead have plenty of fresh garlic (kills candida) have meat, eggs, vegetables, fish, some fruit (avoid very high carbs e.g. potatoes, for now). Leave out transfats and instead use real butter, olive oil and coconut oil. May God cure your son from cancer soon & relieve you from all the pain & hardship (ameen). Best Wishes.

Thanks for this link! :)

Hi Amy, It's very easy to feel confused and lose hope. If your daughter is still young. My dear daughter is a horse lover. She would love the opportunity to work in a stable, grooming a horse, making a horse coat shine and go riding. She read loads of books on horses. We can never own a horse as we live in a middle of a populated town, and my budget would not allow it. At one charity event, there were some ponies to ride. My dd was the most excited, yet when the time came to mounting & riding the pony she became totally nervous. So we just stroked the horse for a few minutes and I asked her out of curiosity how does one get on a horse & where the foot is placed. No sooner than she explained it to me she got on the pony herself without any help, for the very first time ever...I gave her a little push up as the horse was a little high and off she went riding it. She was worried about falling, but her fears soon dissolved. She said at the end, she thoroughly enjoyed her once in a life time experience! :) Encouragement & motivation is all she needs to do what she loves most. Best Wishes

Depends on the honey - it needs to be from a good source as sometimes honey is from unnatural sources & adulterated with HFCS. Heating honey is not a good idea as it may destroy the beneficial enzymes. Then after heating it and losing its nutritional value, it is a carbohydrate which like all sugars may feed bacteria, viruses etc. Try a warm milk drink, next time, if in case he coughs. Hope he gets well soon, and do get some rest! Best Wishes

My response here Warm some water, squeeze some fresh lemon, add honey (optional) and let him drink this, or you could make ginger tea - cut a piece of fresh ginger, boil it in water, remove later and add milk/honey. Keep him hydrated, especially when coughing and help him to blow his nose to clear any mucous as this may also prevent the excess coughing. Rub vix vapour on chest, and keep him warm.

We had a lot of cleaning & organizing to do, it wasn't easy, until the washing machine broke. Now realizing how many extra clothes we had collected that didn't fit or were just sitting in the cupboard, I donated 7 swing liners of them. An old computer tower, HP scanner & printer (can't afford the HP ink, too expensive) also went to charity. After throwing out 3 large bags of household rubbish - Voila! We have space. The room lighting was too dull, but I found my lost happiness in energy saving bulbs which were equivalent to 100 watts - I no longer feel SAD. Arts & Crafts materials have been sorted (except for the books we may need to get) . I shifted all my kids stationary, folders, work, books etc. in one small room and gave them my desk. I bought an Ottoman box, costing only £3.99 from Pound Stretcher. It's a great bargain. The kids use it in their study room as a stool and they love the new set up & lighting. I still have paperwork to organize & finish off planning sheets for the kids studies this year.

Lightly boiled & hard boiled eggs & poached eggs Fried eggs in butter & peas Fried eggs with parsnips Fried eggs with melted cheese on top of tuna or mackerel. Omelettes with green chillies Cheese, tomato & egg omelettes Fry onions & scramble eggs, with 1tsp tomatoe puree & 1 tsp curry powder (red chilli powder, optional) Scrambles eggs with leeks Scrambled eggs with green cabbage. Great for health! :)

Relate to her by talking to her & reconciling. You may need to first listen & understand the situation from her perspective. She then also needs to understand the issue from your and her brother's perspective. She needs help in learning how to handle her feelings, and how to stop her negative thoughts on track. Try helping her search for positive ways to deal with the issue, learning how to be responsible and committed to the decisions you both make and how she can be more respectful towards you & her siblings. Encourage her to be motivated to do what she likes to do, & praise her good behaviour. Help her change her bad habits. Give her examples of courteous behaviour, what is expected and what isn't. Set boundaries & consequences if she goes over & above limits, (e.g: 'until you apologize and be more responsible by doing what you agreed to do, there will be no extra privileges today'). See this article Setting Limits & Using Consequences Best Wishes

See this free e-book, A First Book in Phonics by Florence Akin

Very true! :) Our washing machine broke today. At first I felt overwhelmed with all the work I had to do. The new one I ordered will take between 2-4 weeks to arrive, which means, a lot of washing until it is delivered. I could have ordered another brand which would have been delivered tomorrow, but I thought I'll wait until this one arrives and in the mean time, the kids can learn how to wash their own clothes and it will help them to also learn to keep their clothes clean. In fact, now I think it's so satisfying to wash your own clothes, because it's economical, taking half the time a washing machine does, while learning a life skill. I'm now, really reconsidering whether I do need a washing machine? "People say they either see the glass as half empty or half full. The enlightened are simply happy to have a glass."

All children do become hungry - they are living human beings, and young children do need energy & food, to grow. Therefore, children should eat healthily and have good carbohydrates, with a good, natural, balanced diet. If you are eating like us, and having some honey & fruit, that's fine. If I have too much of these carbs, that too will make me more hungrier. There are many reasons for this, such as hypoglycemia (leading on to diabetes). Junk foods like refined sugar, sweets chocs etc, depleted vitamins from our bodies and increased our cravings. Sugar has this tendency, because refined sugar is a poison. See William Dufty's book 'Sugar Blues'. It's also been researched that the hormone ghrelin, increases the appetite whenever we do eat carbohydrates. If you wish to know more, you can read an article about it here. We personally have experienced that high carbs (such as wheat) consumption not only causes us adverse effects, but eating these and other high carbs increases our appetites. Candida albicans which lives naturally in our bodies, feeds on all carbs (...wheat, fruit & potatoes), and it creates intense hunger cravings. See the Zoe Harcombe videos & Carbohydrate Addiction by Dr L. Wilson (MD). (There are many other articles about high carbs increasing appetite, candida & weight gain, on the net.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sg6V5YZUW4[/media Best Wishes

My dd went through a lot of ear pain, after seeing the doctors, using ear drops & spraying antibiotics (with steroids) in her ear.Then I read about how antibiotics make ear infections worse, making them return. That was the last time we used these chemicals. We have not tried mullein. I only used fresh crushed garlic, infused in olive oil, in my dd's ears which got better each time, gratefully, with her full hearing restored in both ears. I changed her diet & went gluten-free, low carb, as explained in another thread here. My dd also complained about eye pain, jaw pain, dizziness etc. I also stopped using sunflower oil, after researching how it can lower immune response. We kept to a wheat-free & grain-free, simple, natural diet on, meat, fish, chicken, eggs, (green) vegetables, (avoiding potatoes, fruits & high carbs) for months, Some of these viruses, bacteria & fungi which cause ear infections, feed on carbs). Check out also diabetes, because frequent ear infections may be a sign. Recently, we've been through a bitter flu/cold but thank God, (after all the prayers) her ears and eyes, are fine Please do check out whether or not, you have perforation in your ear. This may be causing you pain. Avoid inserting or cleaning your ears with cotton buds etc, avoid water in your ears and do not scratch your ears if they get itchy (scratching it, might increase your ear pain, hearing loss or tinnitus). Try, having more lemons in your diet & lemon & ginger teas, gargle with saline water. A (free) consultation with a Naturopathist may be beneficial as you may get more advice on ear infections. Take care & get better soon! :)

Yes, it's working now. Thank you! :)

I forgot to add, please do not clean inside of you ears with cotton buds or tissue otherwise it may exasperate the tinnitus /ear infection issue. If you don't have an ear infection, then you can try just a few drops of olive oil in your ear and see if that will soften any excess wax, for a couple of days (sometimes the ear wax gets too close to the ear drum, causing tinnitus). Yes tinnitus usually gets worse at night. Listening to very loud music, or ear infections, or perforation in the eardrum, or excess wax and grinding your teeth - may all trigger tinnitus. If you are grinding your teeth in the night It seems you may have level underlying stress. It's great you are gluten free. When my child had ear infection I had to change the family diet and went gluten free & low carb, We had natural foods, which meant, no fruit juice, no refined sugar, no wheat, no high carbs (no sweets, pizzas, breads, biscuits, cakes, chips etc), or sprite & sodas ever. For drinks, we just drank plain water. I have been depressed in the past but I never took any drugs/medications. Some medications do have side effects and some foods & drugs (e.g. antibiotics) may deplete your intestinal flora & you may need more probiotics in your body. Sugar addiction & gluten were to blame for any previous mood swings & depression. Junk foods, wheat & sugar, creates overgrowth of candida and may cause a leaky gut syndrome, food intolerance, allergies, CF, or celiac disease. Overgrowth of candida also may cause (fungal) ear infections. Tinnitus can be a sign of fungal ear infections. I avoid all processed/artificial junk, including wheat, gluten, sugar, sodas, sweeteners, etc, Try to replenish your gut with as many vitamins from natural sources. Have more probiotics & prebiotics, have natural live yogurt, & live by only eat healthy, natural, foods. Make sure you also make time for rest and let us know how you are getting along. Hope this tinnitus gets resolved soon! :) Best Wishes

Re: My in-laws are Egyptian and this is what they recommended! I am not Egyptian, but a near relative told me about ginger tea a while back when I could not stop coughing. (Honey, is optional). I hope you feel better soon!