Agreed. The rising cost of food is killing us. I spent $135 yesterday and bought no meat.

:grouphug: I agree with the others, you should make her explain it to the kids. Welcome to my world. <sigh> Most of our dating and early married life we had a close relationship with my IL's, then 3 years ago my parents moved into our neighborhood. You'd have thought the world ended. There is so much passive aggressive animosity about this from my MIL I could scream. It doesn't seem to matter that we suggested many many times that they move here too. (New construction, new neighborhood) It is very hurtful. Thank goodness my Mom doesn't take it personally, for me it's not quite so easy. Sorry OP for taking over your thread with my vent but this comment really hit home for me.

Thanks everyone. I've been feeling kind of defeated lately and I'm sure they sense that and are moving in for the kill. :glare:

What do you do when your kids make hurtful comments? DD - I think I'd be able to take my work more seriously and get it done if I were at a desk in a class room with other kids. DS - I hate school. This is stupid, I want to go back to real school. There have been plenty of others. They are young and I know they're not saying them to purposefully be hurtful but I am only human. I don't think my kids realize this. I know I need to have a thicker skin. Last year was our first homeschooling. I love having the kids home but I'm not so sure they feel the same. Maybe I should just give them what they want and send them back.

Meet the kids where they are not where I think they should be. I'm pretty sure I am boxing them in with my preconceived ideas about where they should be and what is age appropriate.

You are not alone. I was super excited to see the activity "Take a Vow of Silence" in the SOTW 2 AG and tried desperately to figure out how to incorporate it weekly.

Thank you so much for this info! I just signed up and am beyond excited. They have some great class offerings too, I've bookmarked it to check next years offerings. :D

Kohl's has big & tall too. (at least online)

Absolutely. $30K + in savings seems like a no brainer.

I am contemplating doing this with the kids next school year. My thought is to get camping equipment, pile into the car, and take us out on the road to see this great country of ours. Part of me thinks I'm nuts as DH wouldn't be able to go and it would be me and three kids alone on the roads but part of me thinks this would be an amazing adventure that we would always remember. If we do this we would be starting from PA. Where would you go and what would you be sure to see along the way?

We will be using RS4K in the fall. My plan is 2 days a week, one reading day and one experiment day. The older will have additional reading in the Usborne Science Encyclopedia and Kingfisher.

This. I can't imagine how expensive it would be to take 12 people out of the country, air fare alone would be thousands of dollars. You say in your OP that you are low income, do you have the funds to pay the minimum balances on the debt you're talking about incurring? Also, wouldn't it be a better learning experience for the kids to plan a trip and then save up for it? I think experiences are great but if it's going to cause financial strain to get them I'd wait.

Does anyone have a schedule for the Town level? :bigear:

I just added you :)

I just added you both. :)