Things that my family has experienced (coming up on one yr vegan next month): no more constant sniffles, when we get sick we recover in 3-4 days instead of 2+weeks, hair and nails grow very quickly, cuts or bruises heal much more quickly. I'm not sure if it's just my consistently taking B12 now that I'm vegan or the actual diet but I'm feeling like it's easier to deal with early mornings. I don't feel like it's helped my sleeping on a daily basis but I don't have issues with insomnia as much. My husband's blood-work improved a lot from the previous year. My little Dd grew a ton over the past year ( about 6 inches. No, I'm not kidding) to the point that people back home didn't recognize her when we returned from overseas a year later. That's all I can think of for now. We haven't been vegan for a long time but it's been fairly easy with the help of TJ's and WFs. :)

Ocean First Education is good site for structured learning about marine bio. I think HSBC does some sales occasionally, I'd look there before buying anything.

One thing that's helped us keep the board games manageable (and prevent me from buying more) is the fact that our local comic book store has a lending library for a variety of popular board games. Our local strategic board game shop does the same. I'd look into those kind of shops in your area and see if they do something similar, or ask if they'd be willing to start.

From a practical standpoint, those red contact lenses make vision a little unclear which can be a liability or safety hazard for an employer. They also don't let as much oxygen pass into your eye compared to normal lenses which can cause pain, dry eye problems and infection. I think the contacts can be used outside of work, though. The teeth are really giving me pause though. Something drastically permanent like that would look very foolish in an interview, especially combined with the red contact lenses. I think employment would be really hard to come by. Maybe some less drastic outside-the-norm things like an ear piercing or a tattoo in a subtle place???

No, not really at those ages but my kids weren't really the throw-themselves-on-the-ground-crying kids. They would stand still and whine or cry but they were over doing it regularly by 2 1/2 ish. The younger always seemed to want to keep up with older so she would take cues from her. Since older could roll with it and is a master negotiator, younger was pretty flexible. My kids were whiny as all get out though. Even now, if they're very hungry/tired/etc, the whininess can come back in full-force. Now, that said, I don't judge or get upset at other people's kids throwing a crying fit unless the kid is trying to harm my kid (throwing stuff at my kids, kicking or punching them) and Mom doesn't remove their kid immediately.

Uniq-lo fits that description. They have an online store as well.

I'd love to test this out with my youngest, 7 yrs old who's about halfway thru FLL3. Did you use FLL's preposition list or some other resource (like R &S)?

Japanesepod101.com has great podcasts and videos. Genki is a great series too. We like Dr. Moku's app for learning hiragana/katakana easily and quickly along with the Tako's Japanese app for writing/reading hiragana/katakana/kanji (200 or so of the most commonly used ones)

Crocheted face scrubbies for washing make-up off at night, bath bombs (even my kids go nuts for these), lip balm, lightly scented lotion, maybe a shampoo bar as well.

Kindle edition!! :hurray: Not anywhere near done but I'm already impressed with how well SWB synthesized all the things we noted from her 'give me feedback on WTM' thread and made this edition a really amazing resource combo of all the things I enjoyed with the earlier editions. It's really shining in its emphasis on the *how.* It must have taken so much time and energy!

This is going to sound strange but...mushrooms! My older dd wanted to do some reading/research on fungi after finding some massive mushrooms outside following a rainstorm a few weeks ago. We checked out a bunch of complex fungi books from the library and watched some identification videos too. It was honestly fascinating. I admit I was inwardly groaning at dd's choice of a seemingly boring topic but it's been anything but, IMO. I'm now checking out a few books for my own study! I've also become interested in educational psychology and psych of learning and child development. It marries a bit of my pre-kid academic life with my life now as a homeschooler. It's interesting to read and ponder. Lastly, I'm hoping to finally glean enough knowledge about gardening in this zone to have a really productive garden next year. I'm tired of winging it. ;)

For headbands, a friend of mine hooked them around an empty Quaker oatmeal container (the big cylindrical one). I use ziploc bags for my hair elastics. I know, I keep it classy over here. ;)

Thinking about this thread more, I think the most that we struggled with early on was anyone taking our marriage seriously. We had a lot of people assuming our relationship was a phase or some weird way we were asserting ourselves as adults and it would all be a huge mistake that we'd look back on with regret. We had people taking bets at our reception as to how long we'd last. There was money involved. It was very hurtful to have 'loved' ones assume we weren't going to work out b/c of our being some arbitrary young age for marrying. A large amount of our struggles would have been nonexistent early on if our FOO (both mine and his) had accepted our marriage with open arms and lovingly understood that we were our own family unit now and our loyalties must lie with each other. Dh received a lot of pushback from his FOO for not spending his entire 2 weeks of leave from deployment with me and 1dd instead of them, for his calling me every day while deployed and not them, etc. MIL used his time gone to let the talons out and would call me and chew me out for stealing away her amazing son. If I hadn't had my 1dd (with him) at the time, I would have left him in a hot minute due to his family's treatment of me. So, please, if your (general you) child is marrying or does marry young, please be respectful and kind towards their spouse. You are only hurting your child, IMO. PSA over. ;)

Not sure if I count as young but I met dh at 19, married at 20, had first child at 21, second at 23. I was not really ready for all our marriage would entail as a military wife but I don't think waiting would have really changed much of anything. I feel I'm more mature now, so on paper, sure, waiting would probably look like the better option. But my husband and I grew together and have experienced so much together. It's really nice going into my 30s now with someone who knows me so solidly. We had to spend a lot of time learning about each other, how we communicate with each other. There were bumps as Dh learned more about my personality and vice versa. Now those quirks are fodder for gentle teasing and jokes with each other. Over the years, he worked hard to learn more clearly who I am and cared enough to do so. Same with me with regard to him! I think a true openness to learning and growing with each other is much more important than getting to a certain age before marrying. You need to be willing to work on your relationship. That's it IMO.

Does my whole life count? ;) I seem to do things completely differently than my family of origin, friends, or my in-laws. It's getting to the point where they almost expect me to do the 'weird' thing so when I do there isn't this big shock or uprising. They may have also learned by now that I don't listen! But let's see.. Breastfeeding Homebirth for 2dd Moving to Japan Homeschooling Getting a tattoo Living anywhere but FL Joining a UU church Naming my kids weird names Getting married at 20 to an Army guy Having kids at 21 and 23 Going to college for Psych and not for law or med Buying used cars Living in a racially diverse area Staying at home I'm sure there's so much more. :thumbup1: I'm happy with all those choices though. I think you (collective you) need to make the decisions that will make you satisfied with your life and forget the haters. Too many people are afraid of making some terrible, irreparable decision but so much of your life can be changed.

For baking, have you checked out Minimalist Baker's blog? My kids (one of whom is nicknamed picky pants) love all of her recipes. Her cookbook for everyday cooking is good as well. You can check out her blog to see if the recipes are for you. :)

IME, it's people from a wide range of socioeconomic classes who go. They need to be able to afford the cover charge and blowing money on the experience, but that's maybe $30 per time usually. I mean, there are different types of clubs too...some are classier than others so you're gonna have a mix of people who will frequent them if you're looking at strip clubs as a whole. I don't have a problem with the concept of married men going as long as long as they're respectful about it. I've seen married guys there say, "It's only a ring." And guys who are just out for a time with friends and have no intention of flirting with the strippers or having an expensive lap dance. I've seen clubs where girls get groped and treated as objects; I've seen clubs where the women call the shots and everything is done in the best possible way for an establishment of that kind. It really varies. Dh and I would go occasionally with friends in college for a birthday and with single guy friends back home when off from college. Sometimes he'd go on his own with his guy friends without me. It wasn't a big deal. If Dh wanted to go out with the guys to a strip club, I wouldn't care. Anytime it's happened, it hasn't been his idea at all. Since college, it was a bachelor party surprise or an in-home birthday present from a friends' wife during a guys day. Honestly, he and I are now more opposed to supporting an industry that overall treats women poorly (not all clubs are like that though, in our experience) than the actual seeing women aspect. We've both gotten older and going to the club to dance until dawn or blowing money at the strip club aren't really our scenes anymore. We'd both much rather just get a beer at the local brewing company and get to bed by 10. :lol:

I don't mind at all! (I so mind. I really do.) It's really not that bad, Anyone can homeschool. (When I'm tired of hearing someone drone on and on about how they could never, ever homeschool and just want the tirade to end.)

There's no such thing as a bad curriculum. If you just do *insert religious practice* your life will be blissfully perfect. Living in a larger house farther away from work will make you happier. It's all about the bigger house/car/yard. You can't homeschool. A psych degree is worthless. All Japanese people hate foreigners. Be wary of people of color. People of color don't matter. You don't want to live in a diverse area. You'll get used to the racism here. Home-birthing is too dangerous a practice to do safely. Pitocin will not cause too much pain. Natural childbirth is crazy. You can have the epidural during labor whenever you want it. This episiotomy is totally medically necessary. You need to be induced.

Mazda 5s are pretty easy to find used though, for definitely less than 30K. (We got our 2010 a couple weeks ago for 9K in a *very* HCOL area) I wouldn't say they're particularly cool or fun to drive, however. I guess that depends on what you're comparing them to! ;) They do have good pick-up and acceleration, turn radius is pretty good for a car that size/body shape so ease of driving is there. The gas mileage is pretty good for a larger car as well. We had one before leaving the States and came back, bought another one. If you google something like good value 3-row car, you'll get all kinds of lists. The Mazda5 tops a few of them. ;)

Vacuum pack bags..some of them are just 'squeeze the air out by rolling them' and work just as well. We used a metric ton on our move back from Japan.

I'd worry about using WW on grade level if they have good vocabularies. It is very easy to implement but I found the original (not 3000 series) to be much more challenging. The words aren't defined like in the 3000 series but I just have my kids look them up in an online dictionary and write down the definitions in a notebook along with an example sentence. The different sections seem similar to standardized testing I've seen like 4-5 sentences using a vocab word and pick which one uses it wrong either from a grammatical or word choice standpoint. The original also has a massive crossword puzzle reviewing the past 5? sections' words. The original does not have the reading comp & questions section at the end like the 3000 does though (if that matters to you). Hasn't been mentioned but VfCR is also not too challenging on grade level so if you're considering that one I'd bump it up a grade or 2. That one is a pretty simple format and easy to do independently though.

I think a 6 yo would need support and a lot of guidance but I think it could be done. Different people mean different things when they say self-directed learning sometimes so I hesitate to get too detailed in recs. A book that I read lately that really helped me in understanding how to even support learning like this was: Project-Based Homeschooling: Mentoring Self-Directed Learners by Lori McWilliam Pickert She had sections detailing how to facilitate and support self-directed learning with a multitude of age groups. I highly recommend checking it out for some nitty-gritty details on how to make it work. Also, a classical education board may not be the best place to find unschool-y homeschooling help. ;) (Don't flame me, Hive!) I'd recommend the secular homeschoolers forum or an unschooling forum. They'd be a big help, I'm sure. Good luck!

We used the wooden letters, stamp and see, the little chalkboard for wet-dry-try and the workbooks. I found the teacher's manual helpful in wrapping my head around teaching letter formation for 1dd but only skimmed thru it. It'd be something I'd pick up used for the first foray into HWT and not bother with again for higher levels. Also, we only used those manipulatives b/c I got them used for nearly free. I'd buy the chalkboard again as that seemed to really help as the size is perfect and the smiley face at the top really reinforced everything for my kids. ETA: Didn't talk about how we'd implement!! OK, so we'd open the workbook to the next page, check out the letter, make it with the manipulatives and then end with writing it down in the workbook. We'd go for one page a day but sometimes they'd get fatigued and could only manage half-a-page. I tried to keep it light and fun. Oldest struggled to do all of the above in one siting as she had fine motor issues. Younger had excellent fine motor for her age and sometimes wanted to do 2 pages a day. I'd recommend really tuning into your kid to see how much they can handle and adjust as needed. It was more important to me to get it solid than to rush through.

We've enjoyed K12 Human Odyssey after our run through SoTW. It has a similar feel but is a step-up IMO. There's a lot of review in that it tries to tie-in things that happened earlier or differences/similarities between cultures previously learned, etc. It also has a selection at the end of the Chapter section which is in a story format similar to SOTW. Both my kids really enjoy it and have learned quite a bit from it. I've added in corresponding books for the time period and a youtube video list as well.