You ladies are so great! Thanks for all the encouragement. I'm feeling much better. ConnieB - are you sure we're not sisters? Very similar stories...:) To answer a question - "yes" my parents are in their sixties. No breastfeeding for me. I think it helps to identify how much this has been bugging me. I'm going to arm myself with some nicely worded responses along the lines of letting them know how much I value this time with the kids, and enjoy the life I've chosen (I think my need to please and find approval sometimes stops me from speaking up). Lori

Oh, that would only work if my mom wasn't already completely honest about the fact that she would "never homeschool". I ABSOLUTELY would have guessed that she hated spending time with us. She honestly doesn't think it's healthy to spend all day with your kids. One of the reasons I homeschool is that it is a great way for me to stay emotionally attached to my kids. My mother is a master at emotional detachment, so I have had to work hard at fostering a different parenting environment as an adult. Sigh... Lori

I probably shouldn't complain. My family isn't exactly "against" homeschooling. I guess they're just all about "looking after yourself". Both generations retired early, and although they are hard working, they highly value a lifestyle of leisure. My parents, who retired when my dad was only 53, live at their lake house all summer, and spend winters in Mexico. This week I've had conversations with my mom and grandmother, and the constant underlying theme is that I have "way too much on my plate", and that I "don't get nearly enough time away from my kids". :confused: It's so obvious that they talk to each other about it, since they sneak the same words into every conversation. :crying: I guess it would be easier in some ways if they came right out and said that they were against homeschooling. That way I could address it intelligently. I don't confide in them when I'm having a bad time, because I know that they will make veiled comments about how hard my life is because I homeschool. I don't complain about homeschooling, or parenting. They seem to have come up with this all on their own. It in no way represents how I feel. I'm trying to speak up. When I spoke with my mom on the phone this week, my mom made some sort of negative comment about the type of attention my kids require. :001_huh: I reminded her that I do get time away from my kids, and that I actually enjoy being with them. Today when my grandmother commented about how busy my life is, I told her that my life is busy with the things I've chosen to do, and that I choose not to take on other things in life (gardening, baking, etc.) so that I have time to do what I do. :rant: Well... enough whining. It's been a bad week, and I'm feeling sorry for myself.:tongue_smilie: Writing this out is cheap therapy. I probably just need to grow thicker skin. Boundary setting advice is welcome. Lori

I think this is part of the program. When they gave me the little pocket guide, it had a sliding chart that allows me to figure out the points if I know the calories, fat grams and fiber in a serving. This is a very handy feature. It was also interesting to note that bread with more fiber is worth fewer points than processed bread. This is part of what I like about the program. Healthy options are constantly reinforced. Lori

Since turning 40 four years ago, my annual 5 lb of weight gain has added up to 20 lb! I decided I'd better do something before my width exceeds my height.:D I thought now would be a good time to join so that I can get into the habit of it before our new school year starts up. So far I really like what I see. It's very flexible, gives me lots of control, and allows me to cook for the entire family (some other low carb types of things were not user friendly for our family of 6). The little point trackers are well laid out, and help me to make sure that I'm eating a healthy balance. The entire program seems designed to train the user to make good choices (and hopefully permanent habit changes). I'd love to hear from those who have been there & done that. Any favorite cookbooks? Family friendly recipes? Success or setback stories? Lori

We have the 7 passenger as a family of 6, and it's been fine. This was our first winter with a front wheel drive Sienna. Before this we had an all wheel drive Chevy Astro/GM Safari. I bought winter tires, and we had no problem getting to and from the ski hill, or driving around town. We are in Canada, and this past winter was a bad one. The only time I ran into trouble was in deep snow, since it sits much lower than our old van, but I was able to get myself out by rocking back and forth. I love the amount of cargo space we have. I was able to go to the ski hill with a full van (7 passengers) and all the skis and snowboards for each of us! The well is quite deep, so I was able to put the longer skis on an angle. We drove to Vancouver as a family, and had all our luggage for a flight to Mexico (we flew out of Vancouver), and had no problem getting the six of us and all of our bags into the van. The only thing I wish I had done is get the power tailgate option. I find the door quite heavy to pull down, and was nursing a sore elbow for the first couple of months we owned it. I've adjusted, so it doesn't bother me as much anymore. I'm not sure if it would tow a camper, but I assume the AWD version would. You may want to check the towing specs online and compare the weight ratings with your camper. Hope this helps, Lori ETA: I love the way this vehicle drives. It feels so sporty. When we test drove the Dodge Caravan and the Honda Odyssey, they felt higher up and more truck-like. The Sienna has more of a sports car feel. Ours is the 2008 model.

I'll chime in, since I've come full circle on this one. I put my four children in school two years ago, and brought them all back home after a year (less than a year for the oldest two). I was not struggling with depression, and I know that adds an entirely different element, but I'll share some of my insights. They were at a private Christian school, but in hindsight public school might have been a better fit. This school has a lot of wealthy families, and some of the kids form very strong cliques as young as kindergarten (IE: girls calling each other to ask what they plan to wear to school the next day - in kindergarten:confused:). As a homeschooler, I felt like we were behind all the time, since my standard was mostly what I saw on these boards, but all four of my children picked up exactly where they left off in math, after an entire year in school.:glare: Middle school is a really tough time for young girls to start. My oldest went in at 8th grade, and she had a terrible experience. She experienced a lot of relational aggression from some very mean girls, and even the nice girls seemed hesitant to be around her because they were afraid of the mean girls. My ds had a really hard time adjusting to making sure he was using his time in school wisely, and writing his homework assignments down. By the time he received his mid-term report he was falling behind. I had to spend hours every night working with him to get caught up. I remember one weekend where we spent 10 hours working on a report that was assigned with only 6 days to complete it and no class time. I was almost in tears! My other ds was in 5th grade. He did well in school, but he had the most relational teacher in the school. He's the teacher that all the kids refer to as their favorite for years to come. My youngest dd was in 2nd grade. She would wake up every morning and tell me that she hated school. She had a wonderful teacher, but she just didn't enjoy the way the other girls talked to her. I found it very difficult to apply my parenting values in the short time that we had between 3:00 and bedtime. Some of the attitudes the kids picked up at school made it harder to want to spend time with them. That said, all of the kids begged to come home a year ago. Now that they are home, I can remind them that if they want to have their education from home, they need to help look after their teacher :). This past year has been really tough, but we've made it through. It really helps me to persevere now that school isn't as much of an option. My oldest will be going half time to public high school next year, but I will continue to avoid middle school. Lots of rambling, but hopefully this will help. Lori ETA: I've heard from many ps teachers (this is in Canada, so it may be different in the US) that they keep repeating most of the material covered in grades 7 - 9 because the kids are going through so much emotional turmoil that the students only have about one "good" year during those three grades. Even if you plug away slowly at home, you may end up in the same place as the other ps kids by 9th or 10th grade.

:iagree:Great book. I was reading the thread to make sure someone recommended it.:) Lori

I don't know of a good brand, but when my dc were young I used to put a few drops of dish soap into the paint, and it was much easier to clean up later. Lori

Thank you all so much for indulging my curiosity. I now know more than I did before (which is a common occurrence for me on these forums). Lori PS - The car was a dark blue Toyota Highlander, for those who care about such details.:D

I was driving on a fairly rural road today, in the province of BC, and there was a car in front of me with a rainbow license plate. I didn't recognize it, but thought I saw "Hawaii" on the plate. When I got home I googled it, and sure enough, it was the same rainbow as the Hawaii plate. So, my question is, how does someone from Hawaii get their car to Canada? Do they put it on a barge? If so, wouldn't it be cheaper to just sell it and buy something here? Or maybe they have a summer home in BC (we live in a very popular area for summer homes), and keep a vehicle here, but insure it at home in Hawaii?? I know this is way off topic for homeschooling, but you folks are the only ones I know who might be able to answer this sort of question.:tongue_smilie: Lori

I assume they were praying in tongues. Quite a few charismatic congregations are comfortable with this as part of their worship, and consider it a prayer language. I think it's one of those things that seems strange when you're not accustomed to it, but if you've been in a congregation that has always done it that way, it's not so distracting. Lori

I don't have much to offer, but I'll comment since we've used the program. I used CG with my children for a year. I printed out the workbook pages and had them spiral bound for the kids. They seemed to understand the lessons, and were able to do the lessons without much help. It was a couple of years ago, but I don't remember there being any diagramming. It is a mastery approach, so there's no review built in, which for my children meant that they didn't retain much. We still remember the DVDs, though, and often refer to her as "the crazy grammar lady". She's passed away since then, so I shouldn't make such comments.:blushing: I actually quite enjoyed her teaching, but she was definitely eccentric. One of my friends had her as a high school English and Drama teacher, and really loved her. I haven't used R&S, so I can't compare. We're using CLE now, which many say is as good as R&S, except it is more independent. I always find it harder to pop in a DVD for a lesson than to grab a workbook, but I'm teaching four, so maybe it's just me.:tongue_smilie: Lori

Thanks for posting. This looks good. I have a bad case of "meal planning burnout", so it's nice to see something that my family might enjoy, is reasonably healthy, and moderately priced. Lori

I think it means "spin off", as in, spinning off of a previous topic. Lori

That's what I was going to say.:001_smile: Lori

:lurk5:I'm interested, too. I've been reading to my dc from The Book of Revelation each morning while they eat breakfast. We're not getting too worked up about the deeper meaning of things yet, but I'm finding the worship aspect to be very edifying. When it speaks of our prayers as something that is brought before the throne as worship, it is so precious! I have been taught (in Bible College) from a pre-trib, pre-mill pov, but I'm really not sure if that's where I'm leaning anymore, and have kept our discussion fairly neutral, with an emphasis on the character of God, rather than the meaning of the bizarre revelations. That said, we are all coming up with questions, so I'd love to see some book recommendations that look at this puzzling text through fresh eyes. Lori

Interesting "Gap Year" article. I just came across it, and thought I'd bump this thread rather than starting a new one. CC. http://www.drivenyouth.ca/Site/Parents/BC7E9C65-8DC5-4A30-96A6-72CFE873125E.html Lori

I've been reading this thread with interest, and have a question. A few weeks ago I woke up in the morning with an extremely painful knee joint. I could barely walk, yet I had done nothing to injure it. I went to the doctor, and she said it was behaving like a knee injury (swollen, sore, painful), but she couldn't figure out how it happened. The swelling went away after a couple of days, but I never did figure out the cause. My mother (who tends to read too much about everything that can go wrong with a person's health) wondered if it could be Lyme Disease. I looked at some of the symptoms, and they didn't seem to match. A few days later, one of the local area homeschoolers sent out an email to promote this same documentary, and shared that she had had Lyme, and had gone for years without a diagnosis. Now I see this thread, and wonder if God is trying to tell me something. Could my random knee pain be a symptom of Lyme Disease? Lori

Well, it's difficult to give insight, since I don't know you personally, and can't see your marriage dynamics in action. My first thought when reading your post is that this seems to be more about "roles" and marriage dynamics than about principles of Christian leadership. True Biblical leadership is more about serving and supporting, than it is about having a strong personality. Administration is a spiritual gift, and you clearly possess that gift. I'm sure there are gifts that your husband has that are a beautiful complement to your strengths and weaknesses. I have a dh whose personality is more passive in nature. It used to make me feel the same way you've described, but over the years I have become more at ease with our dynamics, and more comfortable in my own skin. In the process of becoming more comfortable with who we are as a team, I have been learning to be more honest with both myself and dh. This keeps resentment from building. When I say I'm being honest, I'm not being critical of him, but I'm being real about how certain things make me feel. In the past, I would suppress those feelings because of faulty belief systems (i.e.: "good Christian wives don't_____", or "strong Christian husbands should_____"). I'm not sure if this is helpful, but I thought I'd respond to your post, since I can relate to your situation.:) Lori

I didn't at first, but my dd would always feel embarrassed that the other students had a gift for the teacher, and she didn't. I also found out the hard way that many parents arrived at the end of the year end recital/show with bouquets of flowers for their young dancers. :tongue_smilie: Lori

Yes, but that's the $26.00 option. Plus, I have since realized that the small packet rate doesn't apply, since the book is too heavy. Oh well, maybe that's just the price of getting a good deal on a used book. It's still far less expensive than buying it new. Lori BTW Colleen - I'm so jealous that you were able to attend the PHP 10th anniversary convention!

Someone is selling me a 6 lb textbook, and we're trying to figure out the best way to ship it. She's been checking the USPS website, and thinks it will cost $26.00. I found a small packet price of $12.36. I had always been under the impression that shipping from the US to Canada was less expensive than either of those prices. Any "experts" out there? Lori

If the other things work out for next year, you can always pm me for a place to stay. We have a guest room, and I know you won't mind having my Bernese Mountain Dog lean on your leg.:001_smile: You too, Kathy. Pm me if you ever need a place to stay for the convention. I had offered to take billets this year, but nobody has contacted me, so it looks like I won't need to clean my house.:thumbup1: Having to pay a couple hundred dollars for a hotel room takes too much away from the curriculum budget! Lori (who's going to add you to her "friends" so that it's easy to pm when needed).

Me! I'm going. But you already know that, don't you?:001_smile: Now that I have all of my ducks in a row, I'm starting to get excited! Two more sleeps... Lori