LOL. I have to admit that I still have a copy of the 2007-2008 RR catalog. It carried my science curriculum. :blush:

We have a child who is extremely bright but downright awkward for most of his life so far. He's now 17. Up until he was 14, we worried about him. He didn't really have friends...didn't want any, just loved reading. He was happy to be alone. Around others his age he was stilted...he talked (and still often does) almost as if he was trying to use dictionary words (you know, the ones no one uses)....except, if you know him, this is *really* how he talks. Strange but true. He was socially awkward at best. He preferred his own company. He did not relate to others, nor did he seem to need or want peer interactions. He's gradually come out of his shell. He's still much more the introvert and more the loner than the others, but he has changed. He spent the past 5 summers wilderness canoe camping in Canada with small groups of kids, and I think that helped. We also put him in ps, and I think the forced interaction helped. He's in 3 or 4 AP classes this year and is thriving. He's met others more like himself - smart but not overly social. His older sibs used to tell me, even when he was 14, that he was just so awkward and how he did not relate to others. He's different now. He' even has a girlfriend...we NEVER saw this coming. And she's smart and very pretty....we still are in shock. Believe me!

I couldn't twitter if I had to. Most of the time my cell phone is off because I can't remember to charge it. It's not even a smart phone, so that probably means I couldn't twitter if I wanted to. :) I do love reading your posts, though. So in my little tech-unsavy world, you rock. :)

You go, girl! That's exactly how I started. We got a treadmill. I walked. Eventually I got into the video stuff (Turbo Jam is my favorite). It kicked my butt! But eventually that was easy, too. I now run 2 miles a day, and then walk/jog the rest for a total of 40 minutes. It's hard. I won't kid you. BUT - I feel great. I can eat what I want. I look good. You can do it! :)

My kids admit that the reason they were so well-prepared for ps was because of homeschooling...but it goes beyond that. They have actually given me credit for teaching them how to write, and how to think critically. It was wonderful to hear, believe me.

If I can help any...I work in a pharmacy. Our pharmacists have access to a data base of natural remedies. If you go to the pharmacy and talk to the pharmacist, and tell him/her what particular affliction you are trying to medicate, they can look it up, give you suggestions, and print out the data sheets. For example, I can't take NSAIDs because I have Crohn's disease. I did find, however, that tart cherry juice has anti-inflammatory properties and is not contraindicated in my case. :) So, find a pharmacy. And ask!

We bought one on Sunday for ds's 16th birthday gift. It's our 4th iPad. He loves it. Really, it's a small computer. It can do most anything. Awesome stuff. I only use mine when I travel (so I can access the net...I don't have a smart phone) and because I have an iMac at home. But the kids use their iPads for school and social stuff. Dh uses his for work. (All but the newest iPads are version 1).

Your question tickled me. Let me explain. We have 6 children. For years, when they were young and we were financially stressed, I canned. It was a way of life. Circumstances have changed, the youngest is now 14, I'm no longer homeschooling but working, etc. So I needed 6 lbs of tomatoes 2 weeks ago for a sauce recipe. We went to the Amish market, but the smallest quantity they had was 1/2 bushel. I bought them and told dh that we would just make pizza sauce and can it. No problem...we'd done it for years before. So...our food mill (KA) was broken. Bought a new one. Cooked up the sauce, started ladling it down the food mill chute. Sauce is spraying everywhere. Dh is helping me. He slowly becomes covered in sauce. Suddenly he leans over the KA and says, "Hey, Ri. I will buy tomato sauce for you. Whatever you want. Just don't EVER make me go through this again. It's just not worth it." LOL. The poor man. I had to soak his clothes in Oxiclean for 2 days. Truth be told, I think he was right. It took forever and, well, it was not a bonding experience. :) All this said, it was totally worth it years ago.

LOL. I understand. I must be old! :D And Asta, thank you. So much. I seriously had a bad time for a while there after the threads this afternoon. I tried running it off only to have a panic attack in the middle and thought I would die since I was already breathing hard (elliptical...40 minutes...yeah, I needed to work this off). Calmed down....talked myself down...and later saw your post. It helps. A lot. :) ETA: The panic attack was thinking about ds and all that has happened. For those who want all the gory details, once he was removed from college he was given an ultimatum of sorts. He had major debts ($26K). He was not going to live here and do whatever. He could either find gainful full-time employment, work part-time and go to the cc (paying his own way and working on paying back his loans). He chose the Marines, but in the year-long period between recruiting going to boot camp he worked. Has paid off the debt (with what he earned, plus using what was left of his college fund from us to do so...he does have a good number of credits...not like he failed everything, lol).

Don't worry, peeps...I don't feel as though I'm being denigrated. I had twins. They had the same homeschool experience. One graduated magna cum laude from a university. One did so poorly that he was removed from school (after his first year we gave him 2 semesters to shape up...he knew the consequences would be removal from university - ultimately the choice to fail does rest on his shoulders). So, one whopping success and one whopping failure...and we chose to base our decisions about our younger kids on the failure, not the success. I don't regret that decision; given the personalities and abilities of our younger kids I'm comfy with that (there were other circumstances involved as well, financial stuff, etc). For those who feel I've come across as rude, I'm sorry. I've managed to pop in and out of this thread. The tone today was in part from being at work and trying to type in a rush before my lunch break was over. I miss the old boards. We used to have such good discussions. Rarely did people get their panties in a twist such as in this conversation...we talked, we argued, but ultimately we learned to see things from different perspectives. It was, and is, healthy to do so. I believe it was in that spirit that Joanne posted originally. That is how I responded. It really wasn't a personal attack on anyone...just musings, different perspectives, and all that.

Thanks, Jean. The troubling part is that we knew he had these tendencies, yet we did nothing because on paper he looked great (grades, sports, etc). I suppose, though, that this is one of those cases in which hindsight gives a perspective that simply wasn't available earlier. Put back in the same situation, not knowing what I know now, I would have done nothing different. It was his experience that changed how I view things with my other children.

I would call now.

This is something dh and I have beat ourselves up over, and a big part of why we put the others in the school system. Homeschooling was excellent for this child through middle school. It's the high school part that we wish we could do over. He homeschooled, went to an academic co-op, and took classes at the cc and a local private university. What he missed, though, was the crap that comes with high school...the busy work that has to be turned in in order to pass the class, the juggling a busy schedule while maintaining grades type of stuff. He was never pushed to do stuff he didn't want to do but HAD to do. In college, you don't HAVE to go to class. No one is going to call mom and dad if you don't show up. Had he gone to high school, he would have learned that sometimes stuff just needs to be done. I seriously doubt he would have failed in high school because we would have been around to make sure he stayed on the straight and narrow path, lol. In college, he was on his own. He made some serious errors in judgement and is now paying the price. As are dh and I. It's hard not to feel somewhat responsible.

This.

Perhaps I am included in the not-even-homeschooling crowd? I homeschooled two kids all the way through high school. Yes, we used the community college, but by God, we worked our butts off to give those kids an education to be proud of. My dd got a full-tuition scholarship and is now a nurse. My son was accepted to a very competitive liberal arts school. He dropped out of school and is now a Marine. After 16 years homeschooling, I put my younger kids in the public school system. Should I just pretend the 16 years of homeschooling never existed? Should I crawl under a rock, ignore the friendships I've had here, just because I'm no longer a homeschooler? Should I pretend I never wrote a science curriculum (published, carried in Rainbow Resource catalog)? Should I just go away? Honestly. Some of us have actually earned the right to be here and share our experiences, whether you want to hear them or not.

:grouphug:

I have no clue, but you have my total sympathy and heartfelt empathy. My son is on his first deployment and it's just so hard. :( Having to do this with a spouse and children involved must be so much more difficult. :grouphug:

Julie, this is how I started! Don't worry. You'll do fine!

It totally depends on the depth of the well and the amount of water in that aquifer. The type of aquifer plays into it as well.

I try to do 40 minutes on the treadmill. 20 to 25 minutes will be at 5.6 mph on incline 2 (was using incline 3 but had some ankle issues); this is about 2 miles for me. Then I'll alternate walking (3.5 mph) 1/4 mile and running 1/4 mile.

Annual exams revealed my dd's scoliosis, and my ds's amblyopia. I think annual exams are extremely important for issues the doctor can spot that we are so used to as parents that we just don't notice, or know enough to notice. Boys and genital exams - hernia check. Girls...dunno...my dd was never checked like that. We see family docs, not peds.

I would love to hear your perspective.

At 9 I'd be insisting on more independent work, and that might include a change in curricula for you. It's not an unreasonable expectation that she sit and work on math for 15 -20 minutes, or spend the same amount of time on a writing assignment. Short attention spans can be expanded. Lots and lots of practice will help. :)

I used some yesterday. I cut the stalks about 2 inches up from the base and then roughly chop the stalks. In a stir fry, I'll cook them first. The greens I slice into ribbons. In a stir fry I'll add them last.

It sounds as if your dh is of the "boys are tough; man up" variety. That's got to be hard on a young son. I'm sorry. Maybe some of the other posters will have suggestions for talking to your dh about this. :grouphug: