Yes! I've done a lot of reading and listening... and there are plenty of economists out there who think that this is the wrong approach.

My boys take Karate and have done seasonal sports... so I guess that's "outsourcing extracurriculars". We'll probably have them in some sort of instrumental lessons soon as well... Hmmmm... does EPGY count as outsourcing? It's a computer curriculum, though not "live". So we do explanations/review as needed. Nevertheless, I marked number 2.

Our boys are pretty young still... they get to eat 3 pieces or so that night (any more and my 4yo WILL vomit). Then they get a piece or two as a dessert treat for the next couple of nights. Mom and dad have a few pieces. Then on Sunday it goes to church and sits on the counter in the office... usually it's gone in a few days.

Tell him that it isn't for her you want him to go... it's for him. HE cares about HER, or else he wouldn't be hurt. I'd say something like "Because I love you so much, I don't want you to have any regrets. I know that you are a wonderful, loving man, and I don't want you to ever doubt that about yourself. This may be a wonderful time of healing for both you and your mom, and if not, you'll always know that you were the best son you could be. Go. I'll take care of things here. " Then I'd pack for him, buy his ticket and put him on the plane. Losing your parent is such a big deal--whatever he is saying, he may not be functionally able to make a good decision right now, and needs you to do it.

That IS good news! I so understand the crying after the fact thing... ((Jill)).

It's a bad time... but you can't reschedule death. I'd strongly encourage him to go. Having all the other things to worry about will allow him to be in denial about that loss... but avoidance won't serve him well in the long run. If he doesn't do his grief work now, it's much more likely to have long-term impacts on his mental health. Loss is much more successfully handled when it isn't heavily tinged with guilt. The process of grieving isn't fun... but it is important. ((Jenne)) Praying for easier times for you.

That's basically my question in a nutshell! We moved--the new place has a compost bin in the back yard, but it has been neglected. It is full of twigs and pine needles, not "composty" at all. What should I do (add? in what proportion? empty it first?) to get it working again and making nice compost?

Thank you! I wonder if the link will be swamped tomorrow?

We do! We decorate, trick-or-treat together, hand out comic books as treats (my dh picks them), then sit home and listen to Orson Wells' famous "War of the Worlds" broadcast on CD in the dark. During the day we bake cookies (pumpkins, hats, cats, etc) and decorate them seasonally, carve pumpkins and bake the seeds as snacks... and any other fun activities I can squeeze in. Costumes are enjoyed by all (last year I was Professor McGonegall). In our old house we had few kids who made it to our door. Our new place--judging by my previous experience--will be different. We now live in a largely hispanic neighborhood, tons of kids, down the street from the elementary school and close to main streets and around the corner from a couple of churches. I figure we're going to see 200 plus kids at least. The last time we lived in a similar neighborhood, we ran out of treats and had to turn out the lights and hide. :w00t: I love this stuff!

Phonics Pathways is a hit here... my ds 4 has known his letter sounds for a while, and PP has smoothly transitioned him into blending. Since this is our first "teaching" to read experience, I've been pleased, and excited by how quickly he's progressed with the exercises.

I've used GTG with a Ker before, and I'm doing world geography again this year with my Ker. GWG is definately "tweakable", in fact, I mostly tweaked. By the end of the year I was just checking out library books on the countries, printing map and coloring pages off of Enchanted Learning, and using our globe. I did use a few pages from GTG (also you can check out "A Trip Around the World" and "Another Trip Around the World" from Carson-Dellosa--they are very similar). I combined the three resources because I wanted a broader range of countries--I have a list of what they each cover if you want to email me. I think it was good for me to have GWG because I was new and wanted some confidence and ideas. BUT doing it today, I wouldn't have spent the money. Our public library is good and GWG isn't a full curriculum, more a resource list plus some worksheets and maps and activity ideas. I could pull something together on my own that is comparable, and did so by the end of the year... I've got plenty of multicultural crafts and cooking etc. in my personal library already. Not sure that helps, and YMMV! :001_smile:

Thanks for posting! That is so cool... we love sciency stuff like this.

We use plastic trash bags... usually the bag goes out to the big garbage bin, not the pail. I'm worried that the can would get sticky/smelly/wet with no liner? Also, we have the big bins that are automatically dumped by a truck as well... I would think there would be lots of stuff falling out if it isn't in bags? I'd love to find a way to be more responsible with my trash, but I don't want a smelly/messy house or yard either... what works?

I'm a Mainline/Liberal Christian Protestant. Since I'm ordained UMC, that's not a surprise! I think obviously many people will have slightly more nuanced answers than they offer, but I just went with the closest... but nice to know the test seems to work. What I found more interesting than my other close matches (in descending order: liberal Quakers, Unitarian Universalists, Orthodox Quakers and Reform Judaism) was what appeared at the opposite end of the spectrum. My last three were: Jehovah's Witnesses, LDS and Nontheists.

Hmmmm.... I'm really enjoying the Jasper Fforde novels, particularly the Thursday Next series. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=jasper+fforde

Obvious misspellings on a message board don't bug me in general (or else I'd be in real trouble)... but in business or professional life they do. My personal linguistic pet peeve is when people use similar, but incorrect, words in writing: wreak/wreck/reek for example. I once received a note from someone asking to use a "Candle opera". It took me a while to figure out she meant a candelabra. But that wasn't a homeschooler!

I'm not a Hardy fan (I'd call Tess my "least un-favorite"), but just jumped in to note that the most recent Thursday Next novel by Jasper Fford, First Among Sequels, has some great Hardy stuff in it. I'm not done yet, so I can't say more... http://www.amazon.com/Thursday-Next-Sequels-Novels-Penguin/dp/0143113569

I for one, recognized the pic.... Kaylee is awesome!!!! Hmmm... maybe it's time to break out the Firefly DVDs again?

You both have the poem correct... but only the line about "One ring to rule them all..." is actually enscribed on the Ring. Gandalf then says that it is a line from a longer poem, and recites the whole. So RoughCollie is correct!

I totally agree with this! I'm a (much) older sibling of two brothers. They are nine and eleven years younger than me, respectively. I was always held to much higher standards than they were when I was in high school and they were in early elementary school. AS I should have been! I wasn't always thrilled to have to be the responsible one, but... that's the way it goes. I can't imagine resenting them today for the fact they happened to be younger than me! I think your older daughter needs to be held accountable for her actions. She's in the process of becoming an adult. It's a whole new world--with great power comes great responsibility, you know? If you'd like one of those "there but for the grace of God go you" stories, let me tell you about a girl from my church. She is 16, and was 13 when her only younger sibling--a brother--was born. Her parents are low income immigrants from West Africa, both of whom work multiple jobs long hours. So for three years she has been almost solely responsible for parenting her baby brother. She picks him up from daycare after school, brings him to church on weekends, doesn't go out in the evenings because she is caring for him, etc. Always lovingly and uncomplainingly. I'm sure many people who see her think she is an unwed young mother--but no. She's just being a big sister. She's also a straight A honor student who will probably escape the poverty her family lives in with scholarships and hard work. I look at her, think about my own flighty nature at that age, and have to shake my head...

Yes.... I keep checking back for an update.... not yet, huh?

My husband does this when he's thinking hard, or just focusing on something; and he's not really aware of it... sorry I'm no help, but if you find a cure, let me know!

That sounds lovely! I love Craftsman homes too... sigh...

Our new place is a 1950's era ranch house. It isn't very interesting, but it has lots of storage and electrical outlets, both of which I like. I wanted to add that I did live in a house in Germany when I was a teen that was over 400 years old. It was made of stone, and you could see on the outside walls how it had been modified over the years with different types of stone. It had lost its roof in both WWI and WWII, but had survived, and the downstairs had been the village Gasthaus for most of its history (though not when we lived there). I miss those really thick walls with deep window wells--the walls must have been three feet thick...