Nope, not a chance.

Oh, I'm jealous. Our library sale was a bust this year. A few people scooped up all the kid lit to resell on eBay. :mad:

She said her dh would email me when the baby arrives. I'll post as soon as I hear anything.

:iagree: If you really feel like you must keep up some kind of lessons, then I suggest "Home Ec". Teach them how to sweep the floor, clean the toilet, fold the laundry, and make a sandwich. :grouphug:

I know OhElizabeth in real life. We live in the same town and have co-oped and scrapbooked together. Maybe I will meet more of you at the convention in Cincinnati this year?

Me too. This election just isn't the same without him.

I was unsure about teaching middle and high school too, mostly because of math and science. But I have just taken it once year at a time and each year is just a little bit more than the last, and it has been fine. My oldest is in 6th grade, and I am not worried about teaching 7th. I would just keep taking it one year at a time if i were you. Don't look too far ahead, just think of the next year coming up. There are some great curriculums out there for middle school and high school that really teach the student (and me too!). I appreciate Lightning Lit, Teaching Textbooks, and Sonlight. And I'm thinking about getting Teaching the Classics by Adam Andrews. So, hang in there! You can do it! :001_smile:

Both my pregnancies were really different, and both were boys. So, I'm no help. I just wanted to say I'm thinking of you and hope the baby makes an appearance today! :001_smile:

We have pared down our activities over the years. The first few years we ran too much, partly because I wanted my kids to be able to try lots of things and find what they really enjoyed, and partly because we were looking for friends. Now we are in fewer activities because we have an established group of friends, so we don't need to use scheduled activities for socialization opportunities; and homeschooling takes up more of our day than it used to. And, I just slowly found a balance that works for us. I now know we need to be home to school in the mornings. If we are gone all morning, we won't pick up our books in the afternoon. And, if we are gone too many evenings a week, everyone gets cranky. My one hard-and-fast rule is "one sport per kid per season." They participate in choir and youth group through church, and then we evaluate other opportunities as they come along. This fall our schedule looks like this: ds11: soccer, choir, youth group, geography co-op, and First Lego League ds7: soccer, choir, youth group, geography co-op, and Park PE Club I really encourage you to find what works for you and your children. Every family is different, and each child is different. And it may take some time to find the best balance for yuor family.

I love my Canon Power Shot S3IS. It has 12x zoom, which is great for shooting the kids' soccer games. :thumbup:

Thanks! We just turned it on.

I was holding my 10 day old infant, and recovering from a c-section. Dh was still home on paternity leave when his staff called (he is a newspaper editor) and told him to turn on the TV. We parked our 4 year old in front of Blues Clues in the other room and turned on the Today Show. When we saw the second plane hit the towers, he said "I have to go", and I said "I know". We didn't see dh for three days. Thankfully my mom and dad moved into my house and took care of the boys and I. For a week I watched TV and cried.

My husband is a newspaper editor, so I also say "thank you newspaper readers". :)

My 6th grader is using "Art of Argument" from Classical Academic Press.

How about Hocking Hills in Southeast Ohio? Not too far from you, great hiking, and nice cabins in the woods with hot tubs. For my "getaway" weekend, I stayed home and dh and the boys left. But if I had the time and money, I would love a quiet beach house for a week. :auto:

You would love my doctor. He insists all his patients be up to date on their tetanus shots. I didn't want my most recent booster (those suckers hurt!) and he was really giving me a hard time about it until I gave in.

I absolutely would go out during school hours. If you get a prying question regarding school, I would just say "strep throat" and I bet they will leave you alone in a heartbeat. ;)

I hyphenated. It made sense to me. I was adding something to my life - my wonderful husband - so I added his name to my name, instead of replacing my name with his. And, my maiden name is a Mennonite name, and I wanted to preserve that part of my heritage since I was marrying a non-Mennonite. My children just have my husband's name. Even though most of my relatives are Mennonite, I am the only one with a hyphenated name.

I had just seen this story online and was afraid it was the same boy. http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6353450 My heart is just breaking for this family. I'll be praying for them all.

I like mine covered in white chocolate. Yum!

We are beginning our third year using Growing With Grammar, and are very happy with it. My ds can work independently, which is a big plus. And the review sections reference the lesson in which the material was first taught, making it easy to flip back and reread that lesson, if needed.

Under my married name, I died of ovarian cancer in 2000! Under my maiden name, I am a freshman at Eastern Mennonite University. Nothing too exciting there. I have a pretty unusual name, so I'm not surprised.

We have grandparents that are willing to keep the kids overnight, but we are so busy, and they travel often, so we have a hard time finding dates that work for all of us. We probably get out three or four nights a year. We like to go to a matinee movie, dinner, and then shopping for furniture or carpeting, or other non-kid-friendly things like that. We spend about $60 for our date nights.

I have all my Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving, so I can enjoy the Christmas season. I'd rather be baking and singing carols than fighting for a parking place at the mall. I already have some presents for my kids hidden away in the basement. :D

The first time I clicked on your blog link, the picture didn't come up for me. But I went back a second time, and then I could see it. Just passing that along in case it is helpful to someone else. :)