Well, I think everyone has their likes and dislikes. It isn't irrational. I like lapbooks...a little! I think I like the concept better than the actual project if you KWIM? We did 2 this past year and only one got done...halfway! My dd11 loves them, ds8 likes them and ds10 hates them! We'll see where my youngers lie when they are old enough! As for an interesting way to preserve the material learned...I give lapbooks an A+. It is easy for the dc to look back on what they learned. As for retention? I'm not sure it is any better than notebooking or some other activity. I like lapbooking, too, for my dd11 who does not like to write a ton. She can easily get writing in but in smaller chunks. She likes that. I do prefer the already put together kind.

Thanks everyone! I'm ordering this evening so we'll see if these work! I found one by doing the Search and it didn't specify a total $ amount. As my order is hopefully less than $50 :001_huh: I will try that one. It is: 274013 If it doesn't work, I'll try yours, unsinkable. Thanks so much!

Okay, okay. If we must be serious...;) here are a few suggestions: Are there any books/curricula that you just don't like and won't ever use? For me, I've decided that I just don't like teaching Saxon Elementary Math. So, even though I had the TM's and one complete Saxon 2 set...I'm selling it. Do you have duplicates of anything (many of us do!). Sell the duplicates. What has helped me is figuring out that for many of the books I'm saving for the younger dc, there will most likely be a revised edition out before I use the saved copy, KWIM? So, I'm selling those as well to somebody who can use it NOW as opposed to 5 years from now. My new rule of thumb: If I love the curriculum enough to reuse it...I keep it if it is something that won't be out of date in 5 years. If I don't like it now, chances are I won't like it 5 years from now so I sell that, too. If I can't decide and it is an expensive curriculum...I keep it. If I can't decide and it is not that expensive or something that turns up on the sale board often...I sell it. What also helps is when you figure out your educational philosophy and what curricula goes with that, KWIM? HTH

I'm so glad you posted this b/c my neighbor just told me they have nursing bras at the local Dollar Tree. I was going to get one. Not now! You just saved me a buck. Toys at the dollar store are always cheap and fall apart. My kids LOVE to buy toys there when they have a dollar but mom always warns them against it. It always falls apart after a few hours of play. I also don't by cheapo diapers. Talk about leaks. And some off-brand cereal or other stuff...tastes like cardboard.

You are not alone in dental issues with dc. My ds9 had a super-nasty cavity and needed a root canal. :001_huh: He confessed to not brushing his teeth when we told him to and thus...major tooth decay. We took him to dentist after dentist after pediatric dentist. He would.not.sit.still. He was terrified and nothing worked. One night, he had a tooth ache so bad (duh!) that we called the dentist and he came in to his office at 8pm to do this root canal. Dh took ds in and they prescribed valium for him. It didn't work. :glare: So, $200 and NO ROOT CANAL later...ds comes home with pain medication. :glare: Finally, we took him to a dentist who gave him pills to make him woozy. It took 2x the amount to knock out an average adult to even get ds to sit still! This kid is strong-willed. Finally, the dentist pulled out the blasted tooth (adult tooth) instead of doing the rc. Ds cooperated, but didn't like it. It was a nightmare. A real nightmare. Needless to say...he brushes his teeth now. :glare:

Well dear, little child...:D teeheehee. Okay, I'm kidding w/ you. Seriously, notebooking can be whatever you want it to be. It can be simple like putting all your dc history narrations and drawings in a binder and whala! Notebook! It can be very elaborate like a scrapbook. You can add clipart, momentos of field trips, photos of projects, drawings, etc. as well as narrations. There are tons of sights w/ notebooking pages for you to use or you can use your own. We've not really gotten into notebooking yet although I love the concept. We're doing MFW ECC next year so we will start with some simple notebooks. My kids like the idea better than lapbooks (at least ds10 does). Some dc like to embellish the pages much like a scrapbook and make it really neat and elaborate.

:lol::lol::lol: I haven't laughed that hard in weeks. Thank you for that! Um, yeah, we're no help here. I have boatloads of curriculum and this was our first year homeschooling! :001_huh: My excuse to my dh is that ONE of the younger dc will eventually use it. :D

Anyone? Please? :D

Thanks!

We love all the Max Lucado children's books. We also have many board books like The Story of Easter, The Story of Christmas, etc. There are many in that "series". We've enjoyed the Hermie the Caterpillar series as well. Wow, there are so many! You can find these on http://www.cbd.com if you don't have a Christian bookstore nearby (like Lifeway or something).

Anj, I am a Christian and so I 100% agree w/ your post. Really. But, we can't even live on 100% of dh's salary much less 65%. Dh stopped tithing long ago (much to my dismay, but he's in charge of the money so...). We can barely afford food much less curriculum. The curriculum that I have purchased was with money from selling curriculum, w/ the exception of one "splurge" (Drive Through History). I hear you, though, and am feeling convicted to start a budget (gulp!) b/c I think we do waste money. Well, I know we do. Where does one start? I've heard of this Pear budget. Is it Christian? Any suggestions on where to start? Anyone? I can't believe I'm even asking this...

We used to budget. We used to have a strict monthly budget b/c we were reforming our spending habits. Now, we just sort of have a loose idea of what we spend and how much we have. It's not working but I'm terrified to actually put it down on paper b/c I KNOW we are falling behind every paycheck. I just don't have the strength to actually see it written down, KWIM? It would put me over the edge, I fear. So, we just go paycheck to paycheck. We don't eat out often. We just had pizza out and that was our "splurge" for the month. I bought Drive Through History last month and that about did us in. I have so much more curriculum to buy but I must sell what I have and use that money. Then there are school supplies and organizational supplies. I don't even know where that money will come from. So, no, we don't budget.

Would you like to come over and help me? :D I fear you would have to stay for a week or more to get this house organized. I wake up each morning feeling defeated already b/c of the disarray that this house is in. Congrats to you for conquering the clutter! Maybe your success will inspire me.

That is my ds10! He would never listen to audiobooks on CD unless in the car b/c he was a captive audience! He was actually fighting w/ his sister over one of these today! Go figure!

Our library has started carrying these audiobooks called "Playaway". Basically it is an iPod like thing (about the same size, too) w/ the audiobook pre-loaded on it. You just pop in a AAA battery, some earbuds and whala! My kids LOVE them! So much easier than CD's. My kids would always complain if we were listening to a book that they didn't like or whatever. Anybody else seen these/used these? So far, we've listened to The Westing GAme, The Cricket in Times Square, The Whipping Boy. Just wanted to share in case your library might have these or might be interested in carrying them!

Where do you buy your essential oils? I've been wanting to go this route as well, but cannot stand the smell of vinegar. Period. Blech!

Maybe $50 per month whereas it used to be closer to $150. Not in the budget. In fact, it is probably closer to $35 now. We do get pizza every now and again. I need to start making my own. But, for our family of 9 (okay so 8 b/c baby doesn't count!) it is quite expensive. I rely on coupons and use things like Chuck E. Cheese as an incentive for good behavior. We obviously haven't been there in decades. :lol: It's depressing, really. I was just sick to my stomach today realizing that I put $40 in gas in the van yesterday and will have to get more gas this evening to get to my kids swim picnic for the end of the year of swim team. Very depressing. Very.

I know I am going to regret asking this :D but why do you boycott Nestle? Like I need another cause, but my curiosity is killing me. :D

There isn't any "added" sugar in Juicy Juice. It is 100% juice. There are natural fruit sugars in it, of course. Correct me if I am wrong, but I always figured if it said 100% juice there wasn't any added sugar. I'm looking on the ingredients list now and don't see sugar as an ingredient. In answer to the original question: My kids love Juicy Juice. Since we only buy 100% juice (no HiC or Hawaiin Punch or Tropicana, etc.), Juicy Juice has become a fave. We use it to make popsicles as well. Nowadays, the the prices of everything going up...we dilute the juice. 1/2 water and 1/2 juice. It makes it a lot less sweet.

This is exactly what I've been looking for. Thanks so much. Just also wanted to add that Jessica at TA also has a list of house rules that I had copied once...similar to these. Hope she chimes in! Thanks Ginger.

Baby #1 bathed every day...sometimes 2x a day if she had a really nasty diaper...you know the ones. Baby #7 is lucky if he bathes once a week. :001_huh:

That is what I was going to suggest. They have a "pocket" for each of the themes you mentioned.

So, can anyone recommend a good brand for kids? Capsules would be preferrable as my ds7 (the one I'm most interested in testing this on) has big time food issues. I have Cod Liver Oil (liquid) from Garden of Life. It is a lemon-mint flavor. Still can't bring myself to take it on a daily basis. I'm guessing capsules would be best. But, for kids, what brands are good? I want good quality.

I think it might be referring to foods that God referred to in the OT as "clean" or "unclean". He gave the direction to only eat the flesh of certain animals and never to eat of others. Pigs were one of those "unclean animals" because of their extremely basic digestive system and inability to sweat. Thus, pig products are said to be very "toxic" b/c the animal does not have the ability to sweat out the impurities. Some other animals that are "unclean" are shellfish like shrimp, crab, lobster and bottomfeeders like catfish. Jordan Rubin in his book, The Maker's Diet explains this fairly well. After reading his book about the clean and unclean animals, I decided to stop eating shellfish (very difficult b/c I LOVE crabs!) and pig products. My kids can be heard saying, "pigs don't sweat" in an answer to somebody asking why they don't eat sausage or pepperoni or pork. Anyway, that might be what they were referring to.

Oh, Janna. My little bundle of joy is quite the strong willed infant as well. And, spoiled. Do you co-sleep? Co-sleeping really, really helps save my sanity as well as helps me catch a few more zzzz's. The pacifier helps, too. He loves his binky. I know you are formula feeding, but co-sleeping is not just for nursing babes! Hang in there my friend. This too shall pass. Jesse went through a period of about a week or so where he would just scream all.day.long. Really. We all took turns holding him, I slinged him, I rocked him...nothing. He just screamed. Feel free to PM me if you just want to vent. I promise it will get better. Have you tried different formulas? Sometimes a certain formula is just not a good "fit", KWIM? I'm sure you've tried everything. Just hang in there...