How do you keep from yelling at your children? When I was a child, my mother would frequently yell at us. I was relieved when my parents divorced so that I would no longer have to endure her (or the spankings that followed.) Now, I "hear" her under the surface of my voice WAY too much and then sometimes, it just explodes and I am almost outside myself trying to figure out where that came from but powerless to stop it. I don't want to do to my children what was done to me. So, how do you stop it?!

Ahh, too bad. Any idea where you're going to start looking for a new one?

Here.

Vertical writing surfaces are good for building shoulder strength (which will help with stability for fine motor activities.)

Are your kids old enough to help out the neighbors with some yard work or something? It might help to redeem their reputations and teach your kids something in the process.

Ooh, Cottonelle for kids -- that sounds great. Didn't know it existed. Thanks!!

Any tips on teaching your children the proper amount of toilet paper to use? I think they use about a roll a day or day-and-a-half. On the same note -- how about getting them to flush the toilet everytime -- yuck!

My daughter just washed my (very seasoned) cooking stones -- can you hear me scream?! Any tips on how to save them???

You could get the natural kind -- that might help keep some of the chemicals off her body for a little while longer.

I'm used to it -- I was a public school teacher for 13 years before I started homeschooling. It bothered me when I was young but now I just see the respect in it.

Yes!!!!!!!! Ahh, thank you so much -- I've looked and looked and decided to give that one a try. I guess the title slipped my mind during the search. Yea!!!!

Comedian Tim Hawkins and his family were recently on a homeschooling magazine cover. I threw away my copy -- does anyone know which magazine it was? I know it (the magazine) is somehow linked to the planner that I wanted to buy for next year. Thanks so much! mickie

We went to Kohls and got him a $10 shirt -- everyone likes clothes, right? That's pretty much it -- since he told me that Mother's Day was just a big scam for the stores to make money.

As a child, I was afraid of the water -- mostly just getting it on my face. My fear of the large pool more than eclipsed my "trust" of any instructor. My mother put me in all kinds of lessons and I just cried through most of them. She was so embarrassed at my behavior that she stopped putting me in lessons -- I was so glad! After that we just played in a (warm) pool in our backyard and eventually made it back to the larger pool. After many years of playing and getting used to the water, I finally got swim goggles. They made all the difference. I eventually took many swimming lessons and actually taught lessons to small children while in high school. I was especially sensitive to children that were afraid. I can't imagine what would have happened to me if they had been able to dunk me (terrible!) -- although they did try (also terrible!) After my experience, I would suggest what many others have already said: give him LOTS of supervised playtime in a swimming pool and keep the pressure off. mickie

We will begin homeschooling in the fall. Can anyone tell me how/what kind of planners you use? I thought I found an old-fashioned write-it-out book but lost the link:confused: Mickie

We've been married 15 years and I've definitely chilled. When I'm tempted to think crazy, I remember that Elisabeth Elliot says to concentrate on the 85% of the husband that you like and to leave the other 15% alone. It helps a lot! Mickie

Ooh, pretty. Let me know if you figure it out.

We've been watching watching the whole situation closely for the last several months. We expect a war some time this summer . . . Eddie Chumney (hebroots.org -- "5" minute update) and Monte Judah (lionlamb.net -- Fri. 8:00) both give a very good synopsis each week. Mickie

We will begin homeschooling our four children this fall (9, 7, 5, 3.) I need help finding a reading program for our kinder and first grader and Spelling for my fourth grader. Here's the trick: For beginning reading I want something that is literature based and focuses on the patterns in words as opposed to phonetic rules. For spelling I would like something that teaches why the words are spelled in such a way as opposed to random word lists and relying on memorization. Thank you in advance for your help -- it's kind of overwhelming. Mickie