[Can we share info on healthcare OUTSIDE the US?]

We are in the UK.

 

My general experience of NHS GPs is pretty negative. They often seem too busy to care. They don't have a great deal of time allotted to each patient. When we lived in London it was very hard to even get appointments unless you were seriously unwell. Its better here in Devon but you can still wait a couple of weeks though they try and see young children quickly. The system of health visitors is pretty terrible, i don't know another mum who doesn't think their health visitor is useless, we stopped using their services.

 

My experience of hospital has been a lot better, the doctors there were helpful and efficient, my son has a few health issues and it hasn't been as much of a struggle to get help as I though it would be. Our only trip to accident and emergency with my son when he was one, was a good experience (as much as it could be). We were dealt with very quickly.

 

The only department that I found a huge disappointment in hospital was the maternity department which was just plain awful. Understaffed and just about everything that could be broken was (lights, bed, gas and air tube, and other things) and it was far from clean in some areas. I couldn't wait to get out of there. It was a completely different experience to my first home birth attended by lovely community midwives and with home visits from the doctor as needed.

 

Even with the bad bits of the NHS, knowing it is there to use for free whenever we need it, particularly for my kids, is great. I think the preventative care elements are good and my mum has made use of lots of these programs.

 

I have come to the conclusion that NHS dentists are only any use for check ups and we are starting to favour private dentists if anything actually needs doing. My son has some dental problems and getting a referral to a special care dentist has been hard and slow and because the regular nhs dentist pretty much refuses to do anything other than look, I have had to fill in the gaps with private dentists to stop things getting worse as best I can.

 

I think the NHS is a system that needs you to be pro-active.

[Any of you who has studied natural medicine have sug for treating shingles?]

I posted this on your other thread but incase you didn't see it try St john's wort oil. It really helps. As I said before my dh gets shingles and we only treat it with this. It will massively help the pain/itching and helps it clear up faster. Just apply a couple of times a day to the lesions.

[What kind of doctor would you go to to discus shingles?]

Hi

 

My husband gets shingles regularly every time he gets seriously stressed, maybe once a year. Anyway, My advice would be to track down St John's Wort Oil- a good quality brand. Then dab it on the lesions, it makes a significant difference to pain and the length of time the lesions are there. My husband has been using it since about his second bout of shingles and its a very easy thing to have on hand to help yourself. His symptoms appeared on monday and treated straight away and today its obviously helped to knock it on the head. Though he could do with a few days off.

[Non-US residents: Do you have "warehouse clubs"?]

There are costco and others like that in the UK but you usually have to either run a business or work for certain larger businesses to get a membership. For example my friends husband works for BT and they automatically get a membership and I have been with her but I couldn't just walk in on my own. There are lots of discount places like Aldi and Lidl where you could easily bulk buy.

 

Also I have friends that bulk buy organic and fairtrade products as a group from a co-operative called Suma. I think there are others companies that do this too.

[Do You Allow Your Kids Free Access to the Kitchen?]

My kids can have snacks whenever they like but generally ask mostly because of their age.

 

I tend to find snacks are an important part of our diet. I just choose them really carefully. I have two skinny kids who appear to survive on fresh air at times. Whilst the eldest is now getting into her meals and will eat 80-90 % of most main meals its is only a recent thing. Prior to that my eldest had no apetite and looked so skinny she is now on the slim side of average. My 2 yr old eats very little.

 

If we have snacks little and often they are are happier and generally more willing to sit down to a meal. We basically don't have any sugary treats on a day to day basis but have things like nuts, no salt crisps, vegetable crisps, veg, cheese, home made yogurt, bread and butter, fruit like apples and bananas, rice or corn cakes and hummus/soft cheese.

 

We do have days when we have cake or chocolate or ice cream or something, but its not the mainstay of our diet and we don't often have pudding. I don't ever buy soda for having at home I might have it out of the house but the kids never do. I only buy fruit juice for birthdays. Its nice to have those treats but not at the core of your diet especially not for kids with small appetites.

 

My son has a problem with his enamel, its not formed properly, so we avoid things like fruit juice, dried fruit, sugar etc.. Its made realise how harmful sugar and acidic food can be and how skewed a lot of the ideas I had about healthy snack food was when my daughter was tiny. Everyone I knew used to give their toddlers dried fruit and fruit juices as a staple and a lot of childrens food here is sweetened with apple juice.

 

It can be expensive, nuts are really pricey at the moment. But then so are pre packaged snacks. I usually go shopping once a week but would top up if I have forgotten something critical.

[Ok MEP users, I have Q's]

Hi

 

We are about half way through yr 1 with my 5 yr old (6 in May). They do suggest different manipulatives and we use coloured lolly sticks (from a craft store) occasionally but mostly use crystal tumble stones and snap cubes. The tumblestones are really cheap from places like ebay and we have them in different colours, they have also been useful for categorising in science. Mep do suggest making collections of things, shells would be a good one.

 

We live in the UK so yr 1 is the yr my dd would be in at school and the Mep levels do seem to be pretty accurate for her ability. As far as I can figure yr 1 in the uk equals the last yr of K. She finds it challenging but acheivable so you may find your 4 yr old could go into yr 1 without doing reception.

[How to get permanent marker off the white board??]

Alcohol wipes worked on my sharpied tv the other day. Surgical spirit works on a lot of things, i guess thats the same thing.

[Anyone in or near Bath, UK?]

Hi

we live in Devon but my husband lives and works in Bath during the week so we spend some time up there. I haven't come across many people following classical education approach outside of our immediate area. Here there are a cluster of a families using the well trained mind to different extents. We use it as a spine to our home education and follow some areas more closely than others. I have often found getting the resources difficult in UK as postage can be too high from the USA or things are just not available.

 

We use First language lessons, story of the world as well and plan to start Writing with ease soon too.

 

my kids are 5 and 2 (at the end of feb)

 

Have you been in touch with the home ed group in Bath, they might be able to give you more local info.