:iagree:Ditto. Also... 6 weeks in Switzerland with my husband for a whopping $1,4000 thanks to study abroad. That's an experience we will never have again. Time to practice being an adult before we had real jobs and bills. I think we are better with our money because of our practice run.

Haha. And today I told my husband, "Hey, did you know they make Mommy juice boxes? Add that to the shopping list." Thank goodness for this board.

I sold a matching microfiber couch and love seat that were about 6 years old for $200. They were in good shape, but not mint! I think $100 is a steal for something one year old.

Vitamin D-3, lots of water, lots of healthy foods, and staying out of places like Bounce Houses in the winter.

I'm not sure that's always a bad thing- especially as a teenager! I always knew my mom loved me unconditionally, but I definitely didn't do x, y, or z because I knew she would be disappointed.

Science, science, and more science! Pleeeeease!

I'm so sorry. We deal with the same thing and I've never learned to handle it well. The best thing we did was move 2,600 miles away.

I would be livid, too!

For months after we first moved here, I'd yell at my kids on the playground, "be careful! I have no idea where the emergency room is!"

It took my husband A good year and a half to really see hsing as something other than a last resort, but we have already had the school years to compare it to. For my husband, it took being around lots of different families, both hs and ps, and watching their kids grow and change. I also share a lot with him when I go to conferences or read a book. I'm a former teacher and still pretty socially connected to my school, so he still hears all the drama. There are no rose colored glasses when it comes to ps. We know we'd just be dealing with new problems. Also, our schedule is a big deal. My husband travels and when he's home, he gets to be with the girls all the time. I remind him what life would be like if we were stuck to the school schedule. Good luck. Excuse my writing. I'm on the dumb iPad.

OK. So I got back on and posted that I am deactivating and I'll do it tonight. I don't want anyone to think I am blocking them...

I posted I was doing it, then did it right away. Then I realized that my post is gone! We'll see!

You can just deactivate it and you disappear from FB, but you can log back in at any time and magically reappear and have all your pictures and everything just as you left them. Apparently to really delete your account, you have to go in and delete every picture or something insane like that. I think they make it difficult. I'm really not sure. I didn't want to do that just yet. FB really is how I keep in touch with so many people. I just have to learn to behave and control myself. :)

I'm a mean mom. I'm realistic with my kids. I always remind them that it's OK if they don't win, but I wouldn't go as far as telling them why I don't think they won't win. I think there is a difference and as long as you are preparing her to accept defeat gracefully, rather than making her feel like she CAN'T do it, it's fine. You'll have to figure out where the difference lies (lays?).

I've been wanting to pull the plug for some time now. I am just too addicted! We are coming out of a rough year with infertility and I found myself just sinking lower every time I opened FB and saw everyone's pregnant bellies and new babies. I was also just wasting a lot of time when I could have been with my girls (like right now). We'll see how long it lasts. I need to get it out of my system so I am not on it all day. I wonder when the withdrawals will kick in...

Chacos, hands down. They have a great arch support. Keens would be my second choice. I don't know why everyone loves Crocs. I have some I wear around the house and they are cushy, but I could never wear them all day. Maybe it's because I have a narrow foot? They just feel to floppy to me. But I can't wear flip flops all day either or my back will hurt.

We love ours. We have a king. My husband and I had spent very few nights in the same bed in the last ten years because we are such light sleepers. Since we got our bed, we've slept together for the whole night, every night. Ours doesn't "mold to our body" and make it difficult to get out of bed. That sounds like someone needs a more firm bed. It is warmer. A bit. But ours is fairly new and we heard that the newer ones are less warm than the older ones- they've apparently worked on that. We didn't "smell" the bed after the first few weeks. You have to air it out several times when you first get it. We've never slept so well in our lives. We hate hotels now because we feel every lump in the beds. We can't wait to get home. Worth. Every. Penny.

I have twins, but they are at least a grade level apart in academics, so my situation is a little different but I can share our experience. Almost everything but language arts and math can be done together. You just might have different expectations with regards to reading and writing within the shared subjects. It's VERY wise to sync as much as you can. It will be much more beneficial for your kids, too. We do SO much with history because we are all learning about the same thing. I can't imagine trying to teach different years of history and getting as much enjoyment out of it as we do now. I think you'll find families with more kids at larger intervals still share many subjects- even if they are accessing the material at different levels.

:lol:

Yes, you are right! Why do I start to second guess myself and stress about it?! If it was ANYTHING else, I'd have no problem moving on. Thanks!

Lots of protein, no sugar, lots of physical exercise. Other than that, you just have to be. right. there. the. entire. time. We just started 5th grade and my child can finnnnnnalllllly finish an assignment without me reminding her to work. My dd responds very well to checklists of short parts of assignments that she can complete and check off. It's really the only thing that has seemed to help. I don't know how I'd get her to do anything with three other kids around, honestly. Good luck!!!

DD went to school through 2nd grade, but she has nooooo idea what middle school looks like. She'd be on the bus at 7AM and not home until 5PM, then have oodles of homework (while sister would have been done hours before). This DD is incredibly social, though. I think that's what she is missing. It's also the main reason I don't want her in middle school!!! :)

Ha! Now, that's what I needed to hear.

We did not have a stellar day today- nothing major, but I had to talk to dd about being respectful when I'm trying to help her. She's been copping an attitude when she doesn't understand something. Anyhow...about an hour later she says, "Mom, I think I want to try going back to school next year." (That would be 6th grade.) Now, we are taking homeschooling one year at a time and she knows that. However, going back to school is NOT her decision. I'm having a hard time letting her know that it's not her decision while still making sure she feels heard. I don't want her to stress over whether she should or shouldn't go back to school, but I also want to know how she feels. As of now, she will not be returning to school next year because I'd rather them NOT go back to PS for middle school, of all grades! It was just hard to articulate to her how I felt about it all. I especially don't want her thinking less of her PS'd friends or their families. We started homeschooling purely for academic reasons, but we of course now see all the social/cultural reasons for keeping our kids home and that's our current motivator. What do you do when your kids say they want to go back to school? What does that conversation sound like in your home?

:iagree: