I was in private school from k-5th, then homeschooled from 6th-12th. I preferred private school, but my parents didn't have the money to continue sending me (and my 3 siblings) there after my mom quit teaching at the private school. My mom continued using the curriculum we'd used in private school (Alpha Omega LIFEPACS), so the transition was easy, although I missed my friends. When I turned 16, I got a full-time job during the day, and did school work at night. It was pretty tough to be a full-time student while working full-time, but it was quite an accomplishment! I was able to purchase my own vehicle, and actually had a little spending money, too. Once I graduated, I had to pay for business school on my own, and working full-time helped me pay it off early. I loved my homeschool graduation. Our local homeschool group had monthly graduation planning meetings, and the graduates were able to pick the class motto, Bible verse, colors, etc. Graduates were invited to participate in the ceremony by singing a song, playing an instrument, giving a speech, etc. During the ceremony, a State Representative handed the diplomas to the graduates' parents, who proudly handed the diplomas to their graduates. When each graduate walked up to receive his/her diploma, the State Rep's wife read a short narrative about the graduate's hobbies and ambitions. The ceremony was a little long, but it was so interesting that the time seemed to pass quickly! After the ceremony, each graduate was given a full-sized table for setting up a guest book, family photos, trophies, and anything else the graduate wanted to share. I loved every minute of my graduation day! My dh had a terrible public school experience, and he vowed his kids were never going to go through the same thing. He also went to private school, and had a little bit of homeschooling (although his parents didn't end up sticking with it.) I attended business school, and now have a successful full-time career in computer support. (My ultimate goal was to be a stay-at-home mom, so I didn't focus on attending a full-time college. Ironically, my dh has a Master's Degree, and he's currently the stay-at-home parent.) My dh and I are now homeschooling our 6-year-old daughter, and when our 4-year-old son is old enough, we'll be homeschooling him, as well. I'm hoping to make homeschooling more fun for my kids. I can certainly see why my mom chose our worktext curriculum (which was sometimes boring) - she was familiar with it, and it allowed us three older kids to work independently while she had to work closely with my younger dyslexic sister. My mom took us on field trips, enrolled me and my siblings in piano lessons, soccer, etc., but she was too busy for individual teaching moments. Besides homeschooling her own four kids, she was also babysitting four other 2-year-olds. I'll have more one-on-one teaching time with my two children, and I've been having a fantastic time perusing this board with all the wonderful ideas!

I would move to the Smoky Mountains. Dh and I vacationed in Gatlinburg several years ago, and it was simply gorgeous! We've dreamed of moving there every since then. :closedeyes:

Does this look like it? It says it's Callobius Severus: http://www.ivory.org/spiders/callobius.severus.html The spider in your picture looks huge (and nasty!)

I'm a full-time working mom, and I envy the stay-at-home parents! My husband is the stay-at-home parent, but he doesn't do laundry, dishes, bathroom cleaning, paying bills, etc. He cooks, and sometimes clears the clutter, and that's it. I leave the house at 6 a.m., and a lot of times don't get home until 6 p.m. I'm sooo tired, but then there's the homeschooling to do with my 6-year-old daughter (hubby says our 4-year-old son interferes too much to do schooling during the day while I'm gone), and mountains of laundry, and two sinks full of dishes. Besides that, the house is a total disaster. Hubby and kids are home all day to trash it, and when I get home, you cannot tell any housework was done the day before (if I did, in fact, get to any housework!) We also have a side business, and I run everything on the business side. I try to do some of that work while I'm at my full-time job, but lots of days I'm also working on our side business stuff after my full-time job. I feel like I'm always working, working, working. We're in a lot of debt, and I'm working hard to get us out of it. I started an eBay store to try to help make more ends meet, but really I don't spend enough time listing stuff to make it worthwhile. I wish my dh would help with the eBay thing, but he's not interested. :glare: If I could stay at home during the day, at least I could do laundry throughout the day, and not be squishing all this housework into four hours of the day, while also attempting to work on our side business, and homeschool our daughter. I look forward to a day when it's not so busy!