LNC... I'm interested in your productive free time list. I posted another thread regarding it, but it got lost in all the other threads and has been moved way down the list. Just interested in your list of free time options that you have framed. I really, really like the idea of framing the lists too. Thanks...

My dd5 has strep throat again after having it 2 weeks ago. She was treated with amox. 2 weeks ago and is now taking omnicef. Infections have always been months a part, not weeks a part. The dr. mentioned taking her tonsils out in the next 6 months because she has a history of strep throat and tonsillitis and obviously the strep is resistant to meds. She wants to see her again in 2 weeks to culture her non-infected. I read the previous posts regarding treatment for strep throat and a few said, "go for the cure" and not to mess around with strep throat. I'm wondering if the "cure" is taking the tonsils out or just making sure medicines cure it or is the "cure" different for each person. I just need clarification. Also, my mother sent me a couple of articles that loosely linked the strep carrier to the family dog. Have any of you heard of this? We've only had our dog since Feb. and this is the closest my dd's strep infections have been. She's never had it 2 weeks a part. I'm just wondering if there's some link to having our dog for the last few months and her strep infection. Is another family member the more likely culprit? Should the dog and the rest of us get swabbed too? Noone else gets strep like my daughter. My ds7 has only had it once in his whole life.

Thank you! And, thank you for all the replies. I think I will ask my realtor to have an open house sooner and for realtors too. I wouldn't think to ask that question. Our house is only 6 years old, so it's not a fixer-upper, it's clean, we have great marketing details. (popular model that was built, cul de sac location, large backyard, no backyard neighbors, covered patio- not a lot of homes have that) The market here is doing okay, I think. I know it's not too great anywhere, though. We are trusting that the Lord will sell our house if that's the plan for us. I just want to do everything I can to help that plan, but I know it's out of our control too. Thanks again for the suggestions!

it's been on the market for 4 days. I haven't had one phone call to show it, though. Should I be wondering about that or am I too eager? This is our first time selling a house, so I really don't know what to expect. Any suggestions, advice, hints, etc., etc. Our realtor said the most activity is in the first three weeks and then we can do an open house. I'm in anticipation mode all day waiting for the phone call to leave at a moment's notice! It looks like most houses are for sale in my particular neighborhood from 20 days to over a hundred days. However, the ones close to 100 days or more are not budging on price. Root for us! It would be such a good thing if we could sell it soon!!!!

Linguistic Development throught Poetry Memorization by Andrew Pudewa. I heard him speak at a conference and was sold! My dc are 7.5 and 5 and we've gone through the first four poems already. They love it! Check it out... https://www.excellenceinwriting.com/index.php?q=product/developing-linguistic-patterns-through-poetry-memorization%3A-book-only You can also get the cd with it, but I didn't it. I just make sure I read it outloud distinctly. This took the guess work out of what poems I should have them memorize. HTH

I don't overreact outwardly, I do just make a simple statement and move on. But, inside, I'm anxious about everything weakness or flaw I see and calculate what the next 20 years will be like! I'm gun-shy too because I have a brother who went that route and lived many, many years the hard way. I see personality similarities in them and I just get scared he won't be wiser than db and so the opposite of what he was raised to do. There are many differences too, though, mainly my dh is a totally different dad than mine was and I know that's makes a huge difference. In fact, that's still an issue with my db to this day at 40 years old! But, still, I lived through his teenage years as a young child and even my adult years dealing with him, and remember all too well the stresses and dysfunction that existed and I don't want that for my ds. I'll come back to reality like I always do, but every now and then I go to the extreme and let anxiety rule. Take a breath and smile, right?

For example, we watched Anne of Green Gables recently and he has repeated the part of the movie where Diana gets accidentally drunk. Why? I made sure to mention how sick Diana got, how she couldn't walk or talk right, how it was an accident and how awful Anne felt for mixing up the drinks, etc. when we watched the movie. He knows from the Bible it says not to get drunk, so why does he joyfully repeat the line, "Why the girl is drunk!" and giggle! Why doesn't he have a profound child-like take on it and see the seriousness of it even in his young mind? Why does he have to enjoy it? I'm disappointed in his reaction. We don't drink and aren't regularly around others who do so he's not accustomed to it. My dd5 doesn't repeat it, but giggles when he does. Am I over reacting? How can I help him to understand? I just keep thinking he's privately enjoying it even after I told him it wasn't appropriate to repeat that part of the movie. How can I help him develop a non-enjoyment of those types of issues, even privately? Will that come with maturity? Do children (boys mainly) enjoy or find humor in things they know to be unacceptable? I'm one who looks into the future to what is possible down the road and I'm imagining that he is going to make choices to privately enjoy things that he knows are not good and won't be discerning and discriminating with his life choices or worldview. I know this may sound irrational, but I can't help it! Bear with me... I'm having a mommy-moment I guess... Thanks for listening to my small rant. (as I re-read this I know we all have the capability to do this, (i.e.. "live in the flesh", sin), but I want to help him be wise and see some result of our training up to this point.)

We estimate that what we would make from selling the house would be half of our total debt. But, just paying that off would free up those payments to be able to send in on the remaining payments and speed up the pay off. I'm sorry for the confusion. We've also thought about the rental payments. Our house payment isn't too bad, but I guess we were looking at the big picture of getting out of debt sooner. It is drastic, I know. I keep thinking of all we'll be free from and that makes all the difficulty not seem so bad. The debt has made me feel like I'm suffocating at times, you know. It's awful! We are Christians and it's just been a conviction and contradiction of the way our lifestyle should be. ("The debtor is a slave tot he lender" has rang so true for me!) We're not in trouble with the credit companies because we've been able to pay regularly, but we're just tired to paying them! What we pay in our debt payments could be another small house practically! I've also felt like, we got ourselves into this and it's not going to necessarily be comfortable getting out of it either. Unwise decisions catch up with you. Second jobs are just not something we are willing to do. To us, moving seems easier than not having Mommy and Daddy home consistently. Thank you all for taking the time to respond and offer your advice.

but what are capital gains? :blush:

I don't believe we have been hurt by the housing crisis. From what I've heard our area has continued to thrive. I was wanting to call a local realtor to ask for sure. Wow, thanks for the answers. I'm really encouraged to know that others have done this and not regretted it. I guess that was one of my concerns. It's just a solution that we keep coming back to. Thanks for the responses and pray for us! :)

We are in debt and it isn't going away. We have improved upon our budget greatly and have not used credit in a long, long time. However, the debt payments are still there and we are just living within our budget, but not paying extra and extra won't be coming in anytime soon. We just can't cut anymore corners. We don't do extra things, just the basics of living. DH getting a second job just won't work for us. A thought occured to us that is drastic, but could greatly help the situation in the long run. We've thought about selling our house, taking the equity we get to pay off a lot of the debt and then renting until we pay the rest of the debt off and just basically start over. We would not only save $$$ on a house payment, but also assoc. dues for our neighborhood which are about $900/year. We estimate the equity would be close to half of our total debt and that would free up a lot of extra $$ to send in extra on the other debt payments that are left, therefore, quickly reducing the debt and then we would be starting fresh. Would we regret this? I keep thinking about it and I just get a feeling of excitement knowing the light at the end of this debt tunnel could be closer than we thought. However, I know it's drastic too. This debt has been a monkey on our backs for years and years.

I'm glad to hear it's still in good shape. I live in the Houston area and Astroworld closed a few years ago and it was a huge and once great amusement park that went to pot and had gang problems and was just not what it used to be. Noone would go to it anymore. So, I'm glad to hear that Six Flags is still hanging in there.

We have our Read to Succeed tickets to use by Aug. It's been years since we've gone to Six Flags in Arlington. Is it still decent and will it fulfill our fun or should we just go to Fiesta? We went to Fiesta last year and just thought we would try a different location this year. If the Arlington Six Flags has "gone to pot", please let me know so we don't waste our time. Thanks.

so you married on a WONDERFUL day! Happy Anniversary! :)

We are definitely talking to him/them now and not waiting, that has been the plan since he brought it up. As for lying, no, we haven't lied and told them (we also have dd5) that there was a Santa because they've never asked that question. I haven't responded to him since he made that comment, I just said, "Hm, why do you think that?" and then he proceeded to tell me why it wasn't logical that Santa could buy all those presents and get around to all the houses. I then told him he was a good thinker and changed the subject. We just aren't comfortable with playing along, especially now that he's asked. We want to focus on other things at Christmas and get that out of the way. We've been waiting for one of them to ask so we can get it over with. But, I guess I was struggling with the possibility that they would think we've lied to them because we let them believe something that wasn't real. I don't want to let it go on because they could start doubting other things we've instilled in them. We want them to trust us completely, even if it's something that might be innocent and fun. Yes, I think the title of the book is Santa, Are you Real? or something like that. Thanks for jogging my memory. I'll have to look it up. I hope they carry it at this time of year. I think it would help to read something, especially to my dd5. And, yes, we will make sure to tell them not to tell any of their friends/relatives and to leave that to their parents. Very important! :) Thanks again for all the responses.

I know this isn't the season for Santa, but my ds7 has recently brought up the subject. He said he knows it's us that buys the presents and went on to logically explain how it doesn't make sense. I skipped over the conversation quickly and changed the subject so we could figure out what to say later. I know I could just say, "yes, you're right" and move on, but I want to do more than that. It's so odd he brought it up now because my dh and I have been convicted about deceiving them and not keeping the focus on what Christmas should really be about and we were planning on telling them this year. (but not in June!) I know many don't see it this way, but we do. I'm wondering how some of you shared this with your children in a sensitive way, explaining that we weren't lying to them, etc. Our children can be black and white about some things and they might question this, but not say it outloud, so we want to make sure we hit that issue to make them feel better. Are there any books to read to them? We've read about the real St. Nick over the years and plan to do that again, but I was wanting to touch on the issue of "tricking" them or deceiving them. I think I remember seeing a book on CBD that was titled something about there not being a Santa and explained it to the child. It has a young boy on the cover. If you know of this book or have any other suggestions on how to go about it, please share. Thanks!

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I start giving out early bedtimes in 15 min. increments. I haven't used anything else for discipline in awhile and this has worked better than other ideas we've tried. After a few nights of going to bed 30-45 minutes early (or earlier), they start thinking before acting or speaking. It's not fun going to bed when the sun hasn't gone down yet! I also try to work on both sides of the behavior spectrum by looking and listening for behavior and words that are acceptable and use a "Blessings Chart" for that. 10 points earns a reward for various behaviors and speech. (starting with 1 point each time I hear or see acceptable behaviors and speech) They don't earn 10 points in one day, but I try to do it every few weeks so they know that a "blessing" will actually occur. If I was having trouble with particular issues like talking back, arguing, etc., I might count points faster by listening for times they did respond properly to you and each other so they could see what proper behavior can earn them. But, unfortunately, my experience has shown that it takes negative consequences to nip it in the bud at first, as I'm sure you know too. Best wishes for a quick turn around! ((((hug)))) I know how weary these moments can make us...

that doesn't contain any sweetners (sugar or any substitutes). I can't find any without either sugar, evap. cane juice, high fructose corn syrup, aspartame, etc. Does this exist or do I have to make my own? (don't really want to do that) Thanks.

Try www.simplycharlottemason.com I don't know if this is what you are looking for or not, but it gives a great overview of every grade, subject and resource suggestion for each subject too. It also gives an explanation of the CM method and other info. HTH

Of those that I've talked to that have used PP, every single one of them has said it was their favorite year. I'm excited to use it! Thanks for the links too.

We will be using Prairie Primer very soon and I just wanted to see if anyone had any BTDT wisdom or anything to share from their experience. Thanks!

My children ds7 and dd5 do not like having quiet, reading time in their room. They say they are bored and balk at it when I mention we are going to do it. They love reading time when we are altogether and love books, but something about being their room and having a designated independent reading time is not appealing to them. I know it's not supposed to be a party, but do any of you have any ideas on how to make this a more pleasant experience. Is it something that will get better over time? I admit, we've only schedule a quiet reading time like this just recently. I've also told them that I'm going to keep track of how many books they read and when they read a certain #, there will be a reward. Is this just one of those things that they may not like, but it's good for them. :001_smile: Thanks for any advice...

I'm needing something for us to get more out of our Vos Story Bible. I want a guide that will help me ask meaningful questions and get more from our reading. I seem limited in my questioning on my own. My children are 7 and 5. Is Greenleaf too "over their heads"? If so, what else is there? TIA

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