I think it's a little weird. Easter morning is full enough! But, I don't think it's wrong or sacrilegious.

Our children are all older, but since my husband is temporarily -- maybe for several years -- unable to care for our children as a parent, I decided to address this with our only child who is still a minor. I had three people in mind: my married son and daughter (who are still quite young: 22 and 23), and my sister. I just had this conversation with my youngest daughter recently, in fact. I asked her who she would feel most comfortable with for the next several years, because the advice and love of a guardian would go beyond age 18, as far as I'm concerned. She made the decision herself that though she would love to be with her sister or brother (she has a great relationship with them), she would feel that my sister was most like ME, her MOM, so that's who she would want to be with. I've discussed it with my sister and now I just have to remember to change our will!

My children were skinny and were good, competitive swimmers. Of course it probably helped my son that he had really big feet (size 13). Maybe as your son's feet grow, he will get better at swimming! :) Interestingly, I had one daughter who had a great back stroke -- one of the fastest in the state, even -- but for the life of her, she could not float on her back without sinking; she had to stroke hard to stay afloat. Maybe that's why she got so fast!

I feel like my children just missed the techno childhood. My son, at age 16 I think, was the first person in our town to own an iPod! We had THREE computer games -- Robinhood, Castle Explorer, and Carmen San Diego. (There just wasn't much available back then!) We were lucky; I'm sure it would be much more of a challenge to have a young child in today's world. As it was, my son spent the majority of his time with Legos. We had a little card table set up in his room, so he could work on his Lego creations and not have to put it away every night. This was a huge, huge part of his childhood. Other than that, he read books a LOT. He probably went through six books/week. He also wrote stories. He played lots of imagination games with his sisters. He rode his bike. But, he is an artist at heart. I'm not sure what I would have done if he wasn't...if he just wanted to rough house and be physically active all the time. He was very content to just sit and work on an artistic projects. Later, he got into sports heavy-duty, but by then, he was old enough to be on school teams.

Our family may be living in Central America for a few months next fall, and I'd like my daughter to take the SAT while down there. (I've checked, and it WILL be offered in the city where we would be.) I assume the written test is in English, but does anyone know if the person administering it is required to speak in English -- as far as giving all instructions, etc. My daughter knows some Spanish but probably not enough to follow detailed instructions.

Where my daughter lives on the Carribean, it's pronounced Kuh-RIB-bee-un. Maybe it depends on where you live.

We support the OE theory and forms of evolution, but really -- whatever it is -- it does not matter so much to me. We actually attend a Baptist church, but do not feel uncomfortable with our belief in OE, there. It happens to be a very committed, healthy congregation that is open to different interpretations. I don't believe you can ignore scientific evidence. I believe science and Christianity do not oppose each other at all, but will -- over time -- reveal the same truths. I like this quote: "It is the God-intended meaning of Scripture as expressed in the Spirit-inspired words that is inerrant, and not some other meaning that anybody thinks the words convey."

One year and eight months ago my husband was paralyzed and not able to speak a word. Two months ago he was able to walk (slowly, and without the use of his arm) our daughter down the aisle at her wedding. He was also able to give a 30 second speech at her reception, which he had been practicing every day for three months. It is hard, hard work, but he is getting better. Anyway, I thought I'd share this photo, which we finally just got from the photographer last week. :) (The drops in the photo are from mist in the air.)

It really varies by school, I think. Two of the schools my daughters applied at have the policy that even if you only took ONE college course, you have to come in as a transfer, and then you are not eligible for freshman scholarships. One daughter went to a non-accredited Bible school for one year, was not planning to try and transfer any of it, but the very fact that she attended a school after high school prevented her from entering as a freshman. At first I was bummed about this, but she was still awarded the Presidential scholarship, which would have paid half of her tuition. (She decided not to go to that college, however.) Another daughter entered college as a freshman, and was awarded enough scholarships to pay for half, but then the following year as a sophomore, she was awarded another large scholarship which covered the remainder of her tuition. It was not a freshman scholarship. So, it appears that even as transfers and second-year students, good scholarships are given.

There are so many I could list! But the biggest two, apart from the obvious -- more time together as family, are flexibility with schedule, especially during a time of great emotional crisis for our family, and the ability to concentrate on a passionate interest and really develop it. A year and a half ago, the kids and I drove three hours to the airport to pick up my oldest daughter, not realizing that that would be the last time we'd step foot in our home for a year and a half. While we were gone, my husband had a stroke in his sleep that was so massive, it took us to three rehab hospitals across the country. We never made it home again to even collect a book or item of clothing. My girls (the ones still left at home!) were able to come with me from state to state, supporting my husband and myself, and homeschool as they went. I'm so grateful we didn't have to worry about public school, how would they keep up with their credits, transferring from school to school. We could simply huddle together as a family through those desperate times, and be there for each other. My kids have also had the opportunity to focus as much as they wanted to on some very specific interests, which they NEVER would have had time to do had they been in public school. They have been able to do some pretty amazing things and develop some awesome talents, simply because they had the time to do so.

Jonathon.

My kids have all been in 4H and enjoyed it, although it does vary from club to club. The ones around here meet about once/month. They usually meet on weekends or on an evening, because most parents will come too. I don't know if that's typical, but in our group (and it was one that included both ps and hs kids), parents -- often both -- were at every meeting. One reason I liked it is because all of my kids were in it together, as opposed to girls scouts and boy scouts where they would have been filtered into different groups depending on ages and gender. The clubs here center around the projects, all in preparation for the county fair in the summer. Anything else -- oral presentations, special events, etc. -- are extras. The difficult part is that there was very little direction on projects, and we really had to wing it for the first year or two. You basically pick anything you want and do anything you want, within categories. We live in a farming community, so the majority of kids had farm animal or agriculture projects; we didn't. We did photography, sewing, arts and crafts, cooking, etc. So for example, my daughter did a photography project one year where she dressed up our cat in various outfits and took a series of black and white photos. Another daughter did a scrapbook project on a fundraiser called "MS TRAM," which is a bike ride across our state to earn funds for MS. She took photos of the event -- the planning, the event itself, post-event, describing in detail the whole process. One daughter often did knitting projects. Another did a poster of a cow's digestive system. :) Another project involved planting a flower garden, and making a photo journal of it, and then bringing samples of the flowers to the fair. My favorite project was when one of my daughters did a miniature replica of a pioneer sod house. (That was in the history category.) A couple of my children entered our dog in the dog obedience category two years in a row (pretty much a disaster!). That was one of the only projects that our group actually helped with. They provided a dog obedience instructor to work with the kids and their dogs for six weeks leading up to the county fair. During county fair time, they would go in and present their projects in front of a judge, and if they got the championship ribbon within their age group and category, they'd get to then enter that same project at the State Fair. All of my kids had a chance to do that at some point, and it was always very exciting. They got to stay overnight in the over 100 year-old 4H dorms on the fairgrounds, and be part of various activities there.

What are your son's hobbies, and can you incorporate that into a gathering? For example, my children are musical and their friends are too. To honor them on their graduation, we rent a local coffeeshop with a stage (fortunately we don't have to pay a rental fee, since all of our children have worked there and some still do), and open it for a few hours on the day that it's closed to the public. We invite all their friends, family friends, people from church, etc., and have an open mic. It is really fun. We just have computer-made invitations, inviting people to come and bring a song or an act of some kind to share. Even people we don't invite, come (acceptable in a small town). We just have coffee, tea, and some desserts. It's fun to have a gathering based on your child's particular interests. It could be large or very small. We'll be doing the same thing this year, too.

I'd whip up a smoothie (you can do it quickly in the morning). Bananas make smoothies feel heavier and taste sweeter. You could also try a breakfast bar. Get one that's protein heavy, because it'll sit in her stomach longer. I couldn't eat much breakfast as a child, and I still can't. But, I always make sure to have at least a protein bar. I like the Balance yogurt honey peanut bars best. :)

Maybe these are too casual? They can be dressed up with some pretty jewelry. http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=24196768&color=004&itemdescription=true&navAction=jump&search=true&isProduct=true&parentid=W_APP_DRESSES http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/product/clothes-dresses/24220790.jsp

For future use, I'd have your husband add your name to the account. But it should be doable as is, too. Over the years, I've often reserved hotel rooms, hostel rooms, etc. for my children. They would go and stay there, knowing I had already reserved and paid for it. They would not even have a card themselves. Different hotels handle this differently, but to be safe you or your husband should call and arrange it ahead of time, (it would probably need to be your husband), and he would just let them know that this is the card he wants to pay for the room with, not just hold the reservation with. Some hotels require a card when you check in too, in case additional expenses are incurred. So, your husband would need to fill out a form (there might even be an online form) ahead of time that gives you permission to use that same card for any additional expenses. We did this recently for my daughter. We wanted to pay for the first night of their honeymoon. We were able to get the hotel form online, fill it out, scan it and email it back to them. It allowed any expenses that were incurred to be charged to our credit card. My daughter did not have to have any credit card at all.

I don't understand how you could say this based on her post? I think you answered perfectly! I hope I would be as clear-headed in a similar situation!

We've done it both ways. If there are stairs involved, I'd hire the pros. If it's a an easy transfer along a flat surface and into the first floor of the house, AND if we had plenty of people to help at both ends, then we'd do it ourselves.

Perhaps the question seems too broad. I'd maybe break it down to more specific questions for awhile. However, I'd keep working at the narration. I think I'd put together four or so sentences that he could read and choose from. Only one of them would be a good narration, and he would have to choose the sentence that best narrates the story or unit.

Thank you for posting this. I have a husband who is a "Max," now, since his stroke. To me, he is still my husband. I've also become very sensitive to people who use the word "brain damaged" carelessly. As in, "Do I look like I'm brain damaged or something!?" I know people don't usually mean the words unkindly, but I still don't like it.

I'm sorry you're in that situation, but I'm glad you're trying to help them. I, too, agree with trying to sell both cars, and get one nice used car (with no monthly payments) in exchange. Is public transportation available? Part of the problem of course is your mother's relationship with her own mother. She needs to lovingly stand up for herself. She needs to explain to her mother that she would like to and plans to still help her, but can no longer be as flexible because she is sharing a car with her husband now. Maybe the issue will be important enough to your grandmother that she will buy a second car for your mother. Looking into the prescription issue is so important too. For example, my daughter had two prescription creams for her skin that would have cost us $150/month. By doing one generic, and for the other, buying a close cousin of the cream which is actually over-the-counter instead of prescription, we were able to get the cost down to $20/month. Sometimes community ed or senior centers have courses one can take on finances as a senior citizen.

If it were me, my first reaction would probably be to finish out the year too, because I like clear, tidy endings. That being said -- if my children were at risk emotionally or physically, I'd pull them out in a heartbeat. Also, you don't have to deal with the credit issue at that age. They don't need elementary school transcripts to go to college! And someone else made a good point: as long as they are so willing to homeschool now, that is definitely an advantage. I'm sure you'll make the right decision for your family.

What else would you suggest, Iucounu? I don't believe we have stored any important info on it. (I never used it myself.) I don't believe my daughters did, either. Mostly school assignments. However, they probably ordered some things off of websites that would require them to plug in personal info.

Oh my goodness...that is one of the saddest things I can imagine. I will be praying for the family.

We never gave our children any spending money, same as others here. They've all had jobs where they earn their own spending money...which would cover things like coffee and eating out, movies, concerts, taxi or bus fare, haircuts, drug store shopping (shampoo, soap, etc.), any little extras for their room, any clothes shopping beyond the very basics. We did pay for the expensive choir dress required, and continue to pay for the cell phone plan -- which is part of our overall family phone plan. They're all pretty frugal.