Ouch. Queen bees abound. I did sign in yesterday to post, but I realized that I wasn't nearly as proficient at typing from my iPad as I would like. I never made it over to the laptop. Anyway, I suppose I don't need to defend myself, or even explain my current status, but I do lurk on this board often, and I still miss homeschooling and have so much respect for those who pursue it. The first time I quit homeschooling was in the course a big move, and I chose to send my kids to PS. It went well. Their second year found my middle son in an unsafe environment with an awful teacher. My husband and I chose to bring them all home for the rest of the year. We did, and during this time I wrote my post. I knew several other homeschooling moms at the time, both online and IRL that had lost their motivation and their children were "behind" where they probably should be academically. We had a great time during that spell of being home again. We pushed hard, and they learned so much. I was employed, and my job duties and policies changed. It became a choice of work or homeschool, and I loved my job. My husband preferred that if the kids could have a good PS experience, that they remain there. We re-enrolled them the next year. They're doing great! We continue to take it one year at a time, but we're pleased with their progress and continue to set high standards for each of them. Anyway... It *is* an old thread. Whether I still homeschool or not is hardly the question. You do. Teach your children. Push them to work hard. Have fun with them, and be nice. Just like you'd like them to be. :)

Oh we love our games! We have 2 XBox 360s, an original XBox, a PS2, a PS3, 2 PSP's, a GameCube, a Wii, a DS, and 2 GameBoys. 3 desktops, 2 laptops, 2 iTouch's, and a mini-computer. Whew. Happy gadgety geeks! We LOVE being home together and playing games. Very seldom does this lead to anyone being off alone, as we generally play together as a family, or we watch each other play. DH and I have recently beat Borderlands, Left 4 Dead (which we let our kids watch *gasp*), Res. Evil 5, and the list goes on and on. Our boys will ask, "Mom and Dad, can't you play a game together so we can watch?" :D No shame here. We don't play all the time, but it's great fun when we do. :D

My boys LOVE this, and it was a huge hit at 11 yr. old ds party. I was going to post the same thing. Cheap, quick, and easy!

My husband and I had this problem with our Sony frame last night. He ended up putting the pictures into two separate directories, and then it worked fine. He said the problem was too many files in one directory...

Yesterday, I finally cleared my homeschooling shelves. The boys are in PS this semester, and doing well enough that they'll stay there. I said "well enough," but by my own standards it's just...barely. I only put them back in because some of the childcare parameters changed at my workplace, and it was no longer feasible for us to homeschool. I was okay with it, for the most part. I miss them, and I miss that they were doing so. very. well. We really accomplished so much together, especially my oldest. He is the perfect homeschooled child. In PS, he does...ok. He performs just average, but he's really an amazingly brilliant child. I miss having an "identity" and a place that I belonged. At least, when homeschooling, I was a "homeschooling mom". Now, I'm just like the rest of the rest of the world :D I love my life, but I miss being a homeschooling mom. I was really getting good at it!!!! Anyway, I lurk, but I miss you, and I miss sharing in your struggles, discussing curriculum, planning, preparing, and learning with my kids. I cried yesterday (maybe just because I'm 9 months pregnant, right?) as I was clearing shelves. My husband tried, but he doesn't get it. Homeschooling was precious to me. A dream, and one that I was fit for, and my kids loved (2 of the 3, anyway). Right now, though, we're in a different place in life. I'm still happy, but I miss the "good old days." Enjoy your Christmas break! May you all start the New Year feeling renewed and refreshed!

We have a 2 story house, and I felt exactly like you do. The master bedroom downstairs is DH's office, and I use the massive closet. Upstairs, we took the smaller of the rooms, and the boys use the other 2 BIG rooms. One holds their beds, and the other is their "media room." They like it, and I sleep better knowing we're all together. DH thinks I'm ridiculous. :D

If our lil one is a boy, he will be named Cassian.

I LOVE spiders! I think they're fascinating to watch. My husband hates them. The boys always come to get me when they find them and we observe them and talk about them. I put a Black Widow in a jar once just to watch her. It was neat, even though the kids thought I was crazy. :D I don't much like snakes because they can be hard to see, but I have held a few non-poisonous ones. I don't think I'd be too thrilled to find a copperhead in my garage...

As a youth sports director, I suggest you take this to whomever appointed your child's coach. I personally find his response unacceptable. If my coaches behave this way, I need to know or I can't do anything about it. He may just need some guidance on how to handle the issue, but let your sports director make that decision.

Having #4 late in Dec. Very excited. Very tired. Very nauseated. My three boys are thrilled!

I'm 7 weeks along, and dealing with this now. It's been a rough few days. I sleep constantly. I was watching the House marathon yesterday, and I didn't make it through a single episode without falling asleep! I did manage to cook dinner last night, and then went to bed at 8:30. Here it is, 5:30 and I'm up...for a little while. I hope it passes. The morning sickness isn't too bad so far. Just a constant nausea that doesn't ever really pass.

Apparently, there will be a "Ruthless Romans" game, based on Terry Deary's books for the Wii. It's expected to be released around June 12th. DS is ecstatic! He's been planning to get the rest of the books for his birthday in August.

We're still deep in the midst of our studies, but we will take off for a week in about a month. We'll also take 3 weeks in July for art camp, science camp, and oldest DS will go to overnight camp. We're looking forward to it, but that's pretty much all for our summer break.

We joined our local Y when we moved here. My boys have made tons of great friends this way, and so have I. Most, but not all, of their friends are in PS but they are *great* kids with very involved parents. I run the sports leagues, and so we're at the Y quite a bit. I'm sure that plays a part in the friendships established. We also have a great childcare area that allows the kids to hang out and have fun together.

I think donnayoung.org has some great planners, too. I've been giving this some thought since I always plan a week at a time on Sunday evening. I think I may sit down and plan a year at a time, just to have the big picture, and then break it into weekly chunks. I think it'll give me some starting/stopping moments just to say, "Wow, we did it," before moving on to the next thing.

I loved CW Aesop, but DS just didn't. He didn't like rewriting those silly stories. I purchased R&S 5 last week and received it a few days ago. It looks great for both writing and grammar. We'd used R&S grammar in 3rd grade, but then he went to PS for a year. I love the skills that R&S 5 will teach, and I think it will provide a solid foundation for writing. We've only done the first lesson, and so I can only speak from what I've seen but not done. I will be watching this thread, and hope you get some really good, practical advice on using R&S.

Someone PMed me this morning to say that I had abandoned my thread. I did. There were so many tangents that had been rehashed so many times before, that I had nothing new to add. I guess, in the end, we all see things through different lenses. Not at all an unusual thing, but I really honestly wonder(ed) why we accept the things we do. For me, I love the rigorous path set forth in TWTM. I felt like the universe was finally aligned when I read the book for the first time. I'll continue to stay focused, always keeping in mind how easy it is to get off track. My kids get breaks, and so do I, but they are generally planned and with reason. As for helping others, I think that when people ask, I'll be a little more assertive in encouraging them to push a little harder or dig a little deeper. I think sometimes people need a little push, and not just the wine and chocolate. :D Granted, a little chocolate does everybody good! So, thanks, for all the input. Some of the opposing points were helpful; others snarky and testy. That's okay though, because I learned from those thoughts too. I'll work to clarify my thoughts a little bit better next time I take the plunge!

TOG was the one curriculum I fell in love with, told everybody about it, brought it to bed with me at night, gloated like I was an expert... ...and then quit 6 weeks later... :blush: I wanted to love it, and it would NOT surprise me if I go back to it someday, but year 1 was not really a good fit for us.

For me, the biggest thing is to plan things a week in advance. I use a form from donnayoung.org. Each child has their own page of lesson plans for the week. I check it off as we go. If it's not done, we finish on the weekend. That's only happened once, due to a dentist appt. that we weren't expecting. Without this plan, I can't function. If I overplan, then it's not fresh in my mind and it is guaranteed to change (usually because we've gotten ahead, but sometimes because we've not covered the material I anticipated). Also, I *stay* at the table. I don't assign things and wander away. From 8:30-11:30, I stay at the table. Then we have lunch. At 1:00 we'll start again and go until 3-3:30. Sometimes, I bring my laptop and browse, but usually there is no time for that, because I try to work with Adrian when I'm not needed by the oldest two. Diligence is the key, I think. Making sure that you plan and make progress. So easy for a day to slip by, and you move stuff up, and then another day slips by... You look at your plan and realize you only covered 2 days that week! It happens! Been there, done that! Also, my kids are learning to do so much more for themselves. Oldest DS does his own lunch. They pretty much all do their own breakfast, but I'm there to help. They keep their rooms and bathroom clean. I don't do that stuff. :) It gives me quite a bit more time to plan or *gasp* play! HTH. I'm still trying to work the youngest in on a more consistent basis. It gets done, just a bit more randomly than I'd like. Sometimes it's late evening, and he just doesn't care about it then...

Did I imply that "without oversight, adults can't be trusted to have their childrens' best interests in mind?" I *am* a homeschooling mom, afterall. Of course I believe we can chose what's best for our children! I also believe that what we sometimes envisioned may not be what happens. I believe that sometimes we can lose focus, and when we turn to our peers, they may simply encourage us to continue down that path which is probably not really the best choice. Ironically, back to the friend I mentioned in my OP- If she asked what I thought, I'd probably be hesitant to tell her my honest opinion. It's HARD to talk about! Yet, it's truly important. Most people have a yardstick of some kind. Like it or not. It may be your curriculum that you measure by, or your own educational experiences, or the progress in your co-op. There must be some way to have measurable progress or lack thereof. Perhaps my yardstick isn't the same as yours. However, if you're hanging out in the same Singapore math book (3a for example) for 2 years (but golly, Sue sure can cook and dance!) then something isn't right. Yardstick or none. The problem lies in communicating such things, particularly when asked... Again, that would be hard...

Jill, I love your honesty! Thanks for contributing to this thread because I see your points. Really, I do. I also realize that I provided some pretty weak points of reference this morning in my original post. It was just the latest few in a series of posts over the past few months. Not necessarily here, and not by the same poster, mind you. I happen to know several homeschoolers who have dropped the ball, and so that certainly colors my opinion. I agree with you in that it's important to pay respects to the freedoms that we have, and to hold those freedoms to the highest regard. By the same standard, I think we should probably make every effort not to abuse those freedoms. Who defines when those freedoms are abused? I'm not sure. I just know that sometimes I hear of people being so dismissive by virtue of homeschooling, that it makes me uncomfortable. So, I posted about it. I concede, however, that I probably didn't give the best examples. Yet, in the same breath, I say that sometimes it's those little things I posted (and all those "it's okay, honey" responses that follow) that are just the beginning of what eventually becomes an apathetic/lacking homeschooling experience

Bingo. Thank you so much for expressing my thoughts so perfectly!

Pamela, You have expressed my feelings well. Thank you! Some of you said something along the lines of "I'm not accountable. I do this and this and this, and I worry when we don't finish, and I make sure that happens, but I don't care what other people think." If you're worrying and trying and pushing, then you aren't the example I'm making here. I think it's great that we have the right to raise our kids and homeschool as we see fit. I also think (and no, not so typically on *this* board) that what some people call homeschooling just. isn't. And yes, they are accountable to their children, and it's sad that they just twiddle by in the name of "homeschooling" when quite frankly it would be more acurately described as "education deprivation." Please don't say, "But PS is worse," because we're not even talking PS. PS is oftentimes better than the education-deprived environment of the home. Call it what you will. What distinguishes "enough" varies greatly among children and their families. However, providing *enough* takes work and discipline and time and deliberation. It's a progression. It's improvement. It doesn't happen when we just wait for it. I'm sorry. It just. doesn't. So, no. It's not okay if you aren't moving forward. It's not okay if your 13 year old isn't reading well (forbearing a learning disability). No. It just. isn't. I'm sorry. That's my feelings, anyway. I'm guilty as the next person though, because I just might not say anything other than, "Please pass the bean dip." :D

Thank you all! I am truly enjoying reading everyone's responses. Ria, it was YOUR post (almost a duplicate of the one you wrote here) that sent me reeling a couple of years ago. I knew I wasn't giving my kids the effort they deserved. We put them in school then, and I'm very glad we did. So, thanks for speaking up! :D I, too, love the freedom to raise my children as I see fit. I love that I can chose their academic path. I also see it as my responsibility to give them the *education* they need to be successful adults. I think it's my responsibility to help them acquire the ability to be disciplined and persevere through the harder things and the things which they may not enjoy. I suppose in the end we must all chose our own paths and goals, and we should be empathetic to others' decisions and circumstances. I didn't mean to imply it is our responsibility to regulate one another so much as I was expressing disappointment with the apathy some have about their responsibility as homeschooling families. For me, I do take notice of the standards set forth in the public schools, because when we approach the end, and the big tests are taken and life decisions are made- I feel that they must have mastered at least what their PS peers were expected to know, and everything over and beyond (character growth, personal growth, deeper learning) is the benefit of our time together in homeschool. I'm really thankful for this board, this discussion, and knowing that I had a place to bounce this around.

Can I just ramble a bit? I really feel that the HS community has completely enabled itself to settle for for lower standards than we should. "Is it okay if we take off school this week even though we are 6 weeks behind? We just need to take a break." "Can my 10 year old do Core 1?" "My 10 year old is not writing, and is in 2nd grade math. Is that okay? " All of these are all too often met with a resounding YES! Yes! It's okay if you are behind. That's what homeschooling is for! You set your own pace! Yes, your 10 year old can do Core 1. You can supplement, but regardless, he'll be fine reading and learning on level that probably won't challenge him. It's HOMESCHOOL! Yes, your child can be behind! Some kids just have trouble and life gets in the way. Don't worry about keeping your child at grade level. That's why we homeschool... _______________________________________________ Rarely does anyone ever step up and say "Um, I'm sorry, but NO." No, it would not do your children justice to just take off another week of school if you are already behind. You are not teaching them discipline or perseverance. Get with the program, or reconsider. No, Core 1 is not meant for your 10 year old. You should rethink your options, and find a more fitting program. No, it is not acceptable for your child to be that far behind unless he truly has a learning disability. You may need to reconsider your motivations for HS and step up and take responsibility for your child's lack of education at home. Oh, I know I sound just awful. It's just that I've been there. I allowed this mindset to enable me to let my oldest fall a wee bit behind a few years ago. He went to PS for a year and a half, and now he's back home. Falling behind is NOT an option. He will do better at home than at PS, or he may as well go back to school. I have another friend who has HS her kids all through, and they are brilliant. However, she's made no forward progress with them for the past 2 years. What?!?!? I'm sure she has plenty of people who say, "Oh I'm sure they're learning. They're FINE." No, really, they aren't. The lack of accountability can be staggering sometimes... ...and I bet we end up missing school for some reason this week. You won't mind will you? :D