My grocery budget is less than the thrifty plan and I feel like it's adequate. I've been buying a lot of meat lately too and we're not in a low COL area either.

We took a four year old who got overtired twice a day and screamed for about a half hour until she fell asleep exhausted. I would not do it with kids less than 5 years old especially if they still need afternoon naps. If you child can sleep even when overstimulated, I would consider it -- otherwise wait. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't see social anxiety. I see that he really just doesn't care. Now, we have to teach him how to love people but that's a whole different scenario.

Yes. It took me until almost college to be comfortable in my own skin and into my 30s almost 40s to be comfortable with my own personality. School was not a good experience for me. it's not why we're homeschooling, but just an aside note. Ds seems to be very comfortable with himself. He doesn't mind the lack of friendships for the most part. I do think he longs for a good friend, but he also has to want it enough to do something about it. He is exposed to other kids his age and I am very willing to get him involved in things that interest him. We're praying that we know what to do with him. If we need outside counsel, that we would be led to what he needs. I'm open to it, but don't want to stir up something that doesn't exist. There are weird dynamics going on in our family right now and we have to sort out what weirdness gets dealt with first.

This is what we are doing also. His complete schedule is online or at the community college. I feel like ds is getting a solid education and it is completely hands off for me. He also gets to go with his stay up late get up late schedule that his body seems to like. We also continue to get some flexibility that homeschooling allows since his classes are all Monday-Wednesday. The additional bonus is that I am no longer responsible for his classes and he is independent of my ability.

I ask him if he's satisfied with his life and happy. Most of the time he answers yes. Sometimes, he has issues that he brings up like: --He doesn't have a friend who makes him laugh that can get him away from his sister. Yet, when he did have friends that understood him and he got along with, he didn't ask to have them over or even say yes when I asked if he wanted to have his buddy over. Little sister is a very intense personality but she's found friends in the neighborhood so she's not always intense around him as much now. --He has personal issues with his dad. That we're working on.

His older brother has a chromosome disorder with cerebral palsy. Totally different playing field than autism. If it is autism, it would be mild. He can step up to the social platform if he needs to. Last time we had a group of families over to our house he and a bunch of boys his age were running around playing great together. He was having fun - laughing, goofing around... I offered to have some of those boys over. Nope. I think part of it is he just doesn't want to bother. He told me his dream career one day. He was going to open a factory in the Amazon someday run entirely by robots. I said, "So you don't have to have to interact with people?" Yup.

My #3 is almost 12 and is very introverted. He doesn't really look you in the eyes when he talks to you and seems to have some emotional issues that come out now and then. I have tried to get him involved in different things, but the timing of the activities doesn't work for our family and me taking care of his older sibling with special needs. When he does go to activities/ groups, he interacts fine for the most part but that is where it ends. He doesn't make connections and would rather just be by himself anyway. He does go to a once a week all day enrichment program where there are other boys in the class. I've asked if he wants to have them over. Nope. His sports interests are things like running or tennis - activities that are solo sports for the most part. I'm a little concerned that as he starts going through puberty, that he is going to tend toward depression unless we can stop this path he seems to be taking right now. Public school is not an option and I'm wondering if he needs counseling. Private school is way too expensive around here. I could pay tuition at a local college for the same cost. The thing is - he reminds me a lot of myself. I too was incredibly introverted and socially awkward for a while. It took until I was 16-17 before I started to feel decent in my own skin. Going to school did nothing for all of that and only made me introverted with low self esteem. So, should we be seeing a counselor? Would that even help?

I agree about the lack of access directly between the two houses. Yes, it works in theory if the in-laws are able bodied, but it would be a pain if you were the caretaker and had to go outside or through the garage. On the other hand, there is a nice degree of separation.

I am longing for simplicity and richness --I'm getting closer. I also am thinking about it for people considering homeschooling and using tips and thoughts from it. I already have a friend who wants to borrow it. Let me know what your final review is. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I like it. We switched from Singapore which I love in theory but doesn't have enough built in review. I am trying to have it fit my daughter in 3rd grade and am doing a 1/2 speed Saxon and full speed MathUSee because I do like how Saxon teaches math. She may not be a good fit which is why I'm keeping MathUSee in my back pocket.

You can keep the yogurt warm enough in your oven with the light on. It takes about 8 hours. No need for warm areas in the house. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Love Biblioplan, hate Biblioplan. I do like the schedule with story of the world scheduled with Monks and Mystics and Trial or Triumph along with a selection of books for literature where we can choose what we have or what would interest the particular child. The schedule includes levels for each of my kids that are using it. I really really don't like the companion. It's VERY choppy and not even choppy like a textbook or Usborne book. It's like a bunch of mini articles cut and pasted together. So, it's a half win for us.

Good earth original tea or a licorice tea. Both are naturally sweet.

i used to get multiple calls asking for my brother a few years back. They kept asking for his number telling me that they were collecting a debt from him. I never gave them his number yet they kept calling me. The weird thing about it is that he would never put my number down as a contact number anywhere since we hadn't lived in the same state for over 20 years by that point. Also, my last name has been different than his for over 20 years also. How did they find me?!? Why were they calling me of all people?!?

I think Colorado has a good system. We have to test every other year and the bar is pretty low for what is an acceptable percentage on those tests. We need to turn in the scores to the school district or an umbrella organization. The umbrella organization will only make a stink if the child is not progressing or is under the lowest percentage indicating either a learning disability or non- schooling. The other way you can avoid testing is to join an umbrella school where there are all sorts of things you are accountable to do. People use this option if their kids don't test well. Either way, there is accountability from an outside source not necessarily the school district. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I listened to her on The Read Aloud Revival's podcast and have heard about her through my years of homeschooling. Has anyone ever bought a seminar by her? Is it worth it? I am trying to get us as a family to love books more and am wondering if just having my kids read through historical literature would be worthwhile without a program. I'm so trying to simplify things around here but get more richness.

Triple Mystery science. I tried the whole get a library book and write a sentence or two about the subject in the book. It lasted 6 weeks. It was just not getting done because of just lack of time on my part to get her to narrate to me. We are running out of time every day. Mystery Science can be done on her own at this point for the most part and I don't have to use brain cells for it.

Just got to give an AAARRGG! out there. I signed up my 6th grader for an online writing class. Let's just some children are better than others at being independent and able to work under different situations. Mr. "sudo" first born was happy to be given assignments from someone else and took the bull by the horns so to speak. My 12 year old will be like pulling teeth for a while until he gets the hang of it. It is NOT saving me time now, but I know the payout with this one will be later. He is my path of least resistance guy and getting him to walk the uphill/ hard path is not fun. He wondered why I put him in this class because, "I know how to write already". The plan for all our kids is to transition them to all or most of their high school classes be online or with outside teachers in a co-op or similar. So, Mr. 6th grader is starting with one class. He will own it eventually, but it is sure painful getting him to that point! I just keep telling myself it will be good later and I'll thank myself some day for putting in the hard work now. Thankfully, I have the perspective of what will be/ could be eventually with his older brother so I won't just give up.

Just think about getting rid of the "to be" verbs and you should be golden. They are: am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been. Potters school does this also. My son has gotten used to it and his writing is very good. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We moved to our location about 18 months ago. About 6 months ago, I asked someone I knew not really well, but well enough to know her character if she could be my emergency contact. She happily agreed. I gave her a list of numbers that she should call and who would come here to help with my kids as soon as they could get a plane out here. I would suggest you find someone that seems trustworthy and caring to give your information to in case of an emergency --- someone that could be "you" for a short time until the other contacts could be made.

Could I just do mystery science twice a week and consider science done for my 3rd grader? She LOVES these videos and the activities and is learning from them. Even the paper activities. I just need something she can do on her own and this one does the trick for the most part. She also has a charter school enrichment program that has science learning with it so technically, she would be doing science stuff three times a week.

Living with a child in a wheelchair, you need to make sure it's handicapped accessible. SOO much easier! An aging parent may or may not need that access, but it's hard to redo if they wind up needing to be wheelchair bound. I would have a separate room/ suite set up just for her. Much like a hotel suite with mini kitchen - microwave, fridge, ect. I would also have a living area and a separate bedroom area. Make sure they are big enough for large pieces of equipment if needed. The extra living area could be used by a caretaker if you need to hire one occasionally without having to disturb the rest of the family. Trust me, having an extra woman who is right there helping you take care of your loved one is not restful. Also, have a separate heating/ cooling system. Older people tend to be colder than everyone else and you don't want to have to pay to heat the whole house to the temperature to make her comfortable.

I think that's an issue that needs to be addressed with the school. It's an assumption that everyone will be able to afford the cell phones with data. Even if the child did go to school with a kindle fire, do they allow children into their wifi network? My 16 year old has a phone but no data plan. He and all my children would not be able to participate in that activity either. I don't think a class supply list should include a cell phone with data plan. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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