Dh registered us! It was a surprise for me since it is our anniversary weekend. I am so excited to hear SWB again and all the other great speakers!

:grouphug: I am so sorry. Praying for you and the other baby!

That describes ALL of my children except dd5 and ds2 (for now). Totally need to hear that talk! Thanks SWB!

Mine all get motion sickness big time so I do not require schoolwork on long car rides. A plane would be a different story...I don't think motion sickness is a problem. You could just get some audiobooks or just go over math facts, spelling, etc. orally. Lots to do!

Thanks for the update. I am continuing in prayer for you. :grouphug:

I haven't read all the responses yet but I checked most of the boxes and other. No unemployment thankfully or forclosures or car repos. Our "lifestyle" has definitely been impacted in a negative way. However, every time I am inclined to throw myself a pity party I remember that we are still in the top 10% of the world's richest people! We have food in our fridge and pantry, clothes in our closets and on our back/shoes on our feet, 2 vehicles and enough money to put gas in both (for now anyway :lol:) and a roof over our heads that at the moment, doesn't leak. We are healthy (for the most part). And we are blessed. And yet, it is still difficult having to cut back so much. Difficult mostly b/c the children feel it so much more than we do...especially attending a mostly upper/middle class sort of church where 90% are far better off than we are. They see friends still doing things and going places they always used to and getting things they always used to get. Like nothing has changed. It gets frustrating having to remind the kids how very blessed we are compared to x country or y family. That makes it tough.

Not sure you will find an encyclopedia that doesn't teach evolution but I think the Apologia Elementary series are great books. They are colorful and appealing and easy enough for a 2nd grader to read (if he reads well).

I absolutely adore Barbra Streisand! A while back I was on a Barbra kick and listened to her music constantly. I even got posters and concert tickets on eBay, etc. It was crazy. I love her voice, her movies, etc. Very talented. But, like many of the celebs, I try to ignore their personal life b/c I mostly do not agree with their choices. I have so many faves. I also used to watch "Prince of Tides" over and over...just loved her in that.

Here is my dilemna: My ds8 and dd5 are like oil and water...mostly b/c of the competition factor. Ds8 is a bit "slower" to pick things up and dd5 is well, quite the opposite. Both are very bright. I NEVER compare them. But, the competition is still there WHATEVER it is that we do. In LHFHG, they fought over who would answer which questions or who drew a better picture or created a better craft or whatever. It was driving me crazy. We switched to FIAR (not b/c of the arguing) and dd5 LOVES it and ds8 does as well. However, they simply cannot work together! What do you do? I can't do the projects/reading/work with one and then do the exact same thing with the other later in the day. It's too time consuming and I have 5 others to teach! These 2 are about the same ability level and so combining makes perfect sense if not for the arguing and bickering! I get so drained from all the refereeing I have to do that I'm *done* by noon! Any suggestions?

Highly annoying. :iagree: The only people I know IRL who do not watch ANY form of TV are my Amish neighbors. :D We have considered eliminating cable (we only get the basic channels anyway) and doing Netflix or Redbox and library movies. So, just DVDs. We don't watch a TON of TV but enough. AND, when my wee ones are sick, the TV really helps to occupy them so I can teach. Otherwise, the TV is off anyway from 9-3.

Mine LOVE the Lauri Toys PeggyBack game. Even my older ones ;) We also enjoyed Cranium Cariboo (until dd lost all the balls that come with it). Not sure if you consider that a "stand by" or not. :tongue_smilie: Leapfrog Letter Factory, Boggle Jr., Monopoly Jr., Scrabble Jr., What's Gnu? are more favorites.

I wanted to like ECC, too. We got through about 12 weeks like you and put it aside. Sell it. Move on. ECC has excellent resale value b/c so many people love it. It is a terrific program. I figure I was just an anomaly in the MFW world, lol. I still happen to love other MFW years and plan to do Adventures next year. Anyway, I digress. :tongue_smilie: No guilt...just sell it and move on. Try something else next year. Sounds like you would do well just piecing together your own program if you don't like being "told" what to do each day.

While bathing dd5 tonight, she was complaining that her neck hurt. While washing her hair I touched the side of her neck and she cried out in pain. I moved her hair and saw what looked like to grape-sized nodules on the side of her neck. Her lymph nodes have always been noticeable, moveable, but small. Normal. This is freaking me out! They are large and very painful. What could this be? I know it could mean simple infection but my mind is racing with the worst thoughts. Anyone experience this? Thanks.

I have 7 (one is a toddler). I feel like I am at it all.day.long sometimes. And others...we are done at 2. It depends on how cooperative my dc are. Some can get their work done by 1 if they start early and others just drag it out all day and into the evening after dinner. :glare: I am "done" at 3pm b/c I have to get dinner and a few minutes of down time. But then we do some later in the evening. I wish we could just be done at 3. That would be heavenly.

I know nothing about composting but am starting a garden this spring as well. I love the new Square Foot Gardening book. I don't know how readily available peat moss, vermiculite and compost in a bag is where you are, but the author suggest a "formula" of those 3. You can build a 4x4 "box" without a bottom and 6 inches high and fill it with this formula and plant. That way you don't have to get your soil ready for planting. You can build higher boxes for veggies that grow down. I'm so excited to start this.

Considered MSG but she had chinese food on Sat. from a different restaurant (same type of food even) but it was probably prepared differently. But I do know they use MSG so it makes more sense it was a heavy dose of the peanut oil.

:grouphug: I am so sorry. News like this just hurts my heart. Those poor kids. That poor husband. Praying for comfort.

We were at the grocery store when it happened. I immediately called the ambulance and had her taken to the hospital. They gave her benadryll in the ambulance and a nebulizer treatment. By the time I got to her in the hospital (just minutes after she had been taken to be seen) she was breathing normally again. The dr. wrote us an Rx for 2 epi pens. So scary. We figured it was peanuts...probably peanut oil. She's home now and is okay, thank God.

My dd14 had a severe allergic reaction about an hour after eating chinese food. She had fried rice, lo mein w/ beef, sweet and sour chicken, General Tsos chicken and white rice. Not a ton of all of that..just like a little of each. Anyway, she was complaining of a sore throat and then a few minutes later crying b/c she could hardly breath! :001_huh: She has peanut allergies but has NEVER reacted like this even when eating the accidental piece of peanut candy or ice cream or whatever. She has never reacted at all to eating food cooked in peanut oil or to anything that had touched peanut products. I'm baffled! The most severe reaction she has ever had was a rash around her mouth and "scratchy throat". Ugh. Anything else this could be?

We are going back to the beginning. Thanks for all the advice. Dd and I had a long talk. Michelle, where can I get Art Reed's DVDs? Will likely try the DIVE as well.

I am so relieved to hear others have faced this problem. Dd is as well! Thanks! I'll mull this over and see how she would like to proceed from here. The one good thing is that she is a "young" 9th grader and we could technically consider this her 8th grade year. But, I'd like to not have to do that. BTW, if we do swithch to Lials Algebra, which text should we use and then where would we go from there? Where can I purchase Lial's? Thanks!

Dd di Saxon 8/7 in 7th grade and passed with a 90% or better. For 8th grade, she went to our local ps and took Pre-Algebra. The year was a cake-walk for her but it DID help to solidify the concepts she had already learned in 8/7. I do believe she was well-prepared for Alg. 1. I think a lot of it is hormones, lack of diligence (laziness) and the desire to get her work done "quickly" instead of completing it to the best of her ability. B/c the previous year was so EASY, she got used to not really having to apply herself. Make sense? I think we will go back to square one and progress forward from there. Unless there is a different program somebody could suggest. I like Saxon...think it is the most thorough. But, I know there are others out there. Perhaps the DIVE CD would help?

Dd14 has always done fairly well in math. She has always liked math. Until now. :glare: Now it a daily struggle and one that almost always ends in tears. Hers AND mine. :glare: She is just NOT understanding the more advanced concepts. She is on Lesson 46 (you can see were are progressing SLOWLY) and I can tell that she just doesn't have enough practice with the previously learned concepts. I'm having to add problems to each lessons just so she has enough practice and that makes math take For.ev.er. So, is this normal or should I be looking for a NEW math program? If so, which? FWIW, she has used Saxon, since 5/4 and has never had a problem or complained about it. Thanks for any suggestions you can give me.

It is a tough decision for sure. I am agonizing over it and dh is "mulling it over". Neither of us want to make any snap decisions. Dh said he is "considering it". My ds told me last night that he "wouldn't hate me" if we decided to keep him home next year as we had planned. He maturely said he wouldn't be happy but he wouldn't "hate me" nor would he "make my life miserable". :D Nice, huh? Honestly, he is such a good kid but does have issues with authority and can be quite rebellious. BUT, he has a good moral compass. He has "promised" to do all of his schoolwork w/out complaint for the rest of this year (we shall see). Now we must work on sibling relations. Ugh. I wish somebody else could make this decision for me!

Okay, it was put out by Fortunately for You publishing. I can't tell if I got it as a freebie or not but I am "guessing" that I did b/c I wouldn't have paid for it b/c we never did Charlottes Web as a unit study before! Make sense?