We still struggle with this area! I'm pretty content in the other areas now...I think we found some great fits. However I still feel a lot lacking in our writing. And by writing, I'm talking about creative writing, not handwriting. Next year I will try a new curriculum, but I'm not going to go buy a new curriculum this year. What can I do, or what are the favorite curricula that I can look into next year for writing? My first grader is doing a weekly journal and WWE. However, in WWE its just story narration and one sentence of copywork. I would like to work with him more on creative thinking and writing. For my 3rd grader I am just doing a weekly journal and WWE. For my 6th grader, he's doing Writing Strands but it seems to be lacking for his age. He does a weekly journal also. Ideas? Thanks!

My 6th grader is very bright in math. When he was in public school last year, he was in the "advanced" classes and still doing very well. Because I wasn't sure where he was at and I wanted to make sure we covered everything, I started him on Saxon 76 this year. That should be grade level and ensure that he covers everything he needs to know this year. However, while some of the concepts are new to him - he catches on really quickly and very soon the practice and work seems "boring" to him. Today he was looking at the back of the book and answering some of the questions, saying he already covered some of that in his math last year. Some of the concepts were new to him (like multiplying negatives...etc.) however I don't know if going through the entire book would be helpful? I know that Saxon is a spiral approach, so what does that mean for a child who is doing lessons that are too easy? Does that mean we can't skip lessons that he already knows? How would we go through it faster to get to the lessons with new concepts? Would it be okay to just have him do maybe a few problems out of each lesson to cover a couple lessons a day in the areas that he already knows? Thanks!

Yes, I remember when I first joined the church - I thought I could just get away with iced decaf latte's. ;) They weren't hot or caffeinated! However, I was counseled by several including my Bishop, that all coffee was not recommended. So then it led me to think that it wasn't really about the caffeine itself. ?

Not necessarily, when I took English 201 last year, there were still many of the same problems. I am one of those adults who are going back to school, or rather starting school for the first time, but the gap hasn't made *that* huge of a difference on me. Its been over 11 years since I've been in high school! I do remember when I was fresh out of high school, I took English 101 online. I got A's and B's in my honor English classes at high school, and yet I still tested within English 101. I really struggled with English 101 that year. I don't know if it was because of my age or maturity, but it was really hard. I ended up passing with a "C". However, then over 11 years later I take English 201 (or 205...whatever it was), and I pass it with an "A" hardly breaking a sweat. I don't know if my maturity and life experiences helped me to achieve in this class, or if the incoming younger students are just getting worse and making those of us who actually try look a lot better.

Yes I have seen that too in my online classes! On the positive side, I have noticed that even if I don't try as hard I still get glowing comments from the teachers. I think they are so used to these grammar illiterate kids fresh out of high school, that an adult with even some care and knowledge of grammar is refreshing. ;) I'm not the world's greatest speller or grammar-know-it-all by ANY means, BUT I'm better then those "youngin's" so that's all that matters. lol

The caffeine thing is more of a personal choice or interpretation. There is nothing that says we can't have caffeine, however. I know some very active families that will not drink caffeinated pops, but I also know some very active families that do. Often Dr. Pepper is a favorite in the LDS families that I know. ;) As far as chocolate, for those who choose not to drink caffeine - there is not enough caffeine in chocolate to cause harm or make it addictive in nature. (Although I find that I can still become pretty addiction to chocolate...hehe!)

Because its against my religion. LOL, no really it is. ;) I was a coffee drinker - some days I'd have as much as 4-6 cups a day, but usually it was at least 1-2 cups every day...without fail. When I joined the LDS church-I gave it up cold turkey. Amazingly, it wasn't as hard as I thought. I've never even craved coffee or wanted it since I stopped drinking it over 2 yrs ago. I still like to have my herbals teas on occasion, as well as hot cocoas. :) When my friends go to Starbucks, I get a hot cocoa (peppermint hot cocoa is my favorite!). For my caffeine fix, I drink soda...Dr. Pepper, Pepsi. Although, I know soda is that great for me either. uggh My husband won't buy soda anymore, so its a rarity now for me. :(

My DH finished his first two years of school and is taking a break while I do my first two years and then he'll go back and finish, planning on getting his nursing certification. In the mean time, because of student loans, he has to start paying them back if he's not taking any credits obviously. We went through the whole exit counseling and all that, selected our payment plan - but it was SO confusing. We chose Income Contingent because we have a large family and low income for our family size right now until DH finishes with his current job and can get his nursing certification and start his new career (that is a whole 'nother long story, not getting into right now...haha). Anyway - we started getting our Direct Loans billing statements now but they keep saying we have $0 for monthly payment and $0 due. I went to the website and logged into his account...it shows our repayment table and its all $0 due until 2036 (contingent on our current income and family size). Apparently we are paying interest only, but we're not being billed anything. Our interest balance as of 12/26 says it is $29.30. Will they bill us for interest when its due, or is it up to us to look at our statements and pay the interest shown even though it says our total payment due is $0? I am just very confused! Thanks! :)

Oh my goodness, don't get me started! LOL I told my DH to please knock me back into reality if I ever get like that when/if we have a daughter. :) I've been trying to think how it could be seen as a positive tool, but every point I come up with - there is a major negative drawback. I think, unless the girl wins every time, it can cause major self-image issues. Can you imagine a young girl standing in front of these judges, being judged on how she presents her self and how she looks? Yes some of it is talent and how the girl behaves up there...but a lot of it is how she looks as well. Having my young daughter wear make-up? No thank you...that's like saying she's not pretty enough the way she is. And some of those moms are just...well to the big extreme and...well scary!

Thanks for the reply! I answered in red...

I don't know how I could be making it complicated? I am just taking my morning temps for charting purposes. I think its good to chart because you can see when you typically ovulate, and plan accordingly. ;) Even if I wanted to just have fun while waiting for my body to readjust, its good to have a cycle history to go off of so that I know what is normal for me. Also it helps to show issues that may be happening in your cycle so that you can correct them. For example, my leutal phase (from when you ovulate until your period comes) has been short (around 10 days). Usually less then 12 days is considered a problem, a leutal phase defect. A fertilized egg can't implant if there is not enough time between ovulation and your body preparing for a period. Ten days is short, but not too short to freak out about thankfully, since fertilized eggs can implant starting around 7 days. Even still, it is a bit short so I can help that now by taking some extra vitamin B-6. :) That said, yes I do have no patience though! When I get it in my mind that we're going to TTC...each month that passes is hard. :( I know it's not been long in comparison to real fertility issues that many women face, but it doesn't make it any easier. Its hard for me to just "have fun" because I always think that if I miss the ovulation that month, then it was a "wasted" month. lol

Thanks for the reply :) I did have my thryoid checked about 6 months ago, and it was all normal? Its not so much the fertile CM patches I'm concerned about, but the weird high temps this cycle and screwy cycles I've had lately. uggh! Mirena IUD is supposed to be out of your system as soon as its taken out. "They" say you should be fertile right away. However, I've known many women who can't get PG for months afterward (and some do get PG right away though). Also, I've had it twice now and each time it messed up things for a few months. I hate the Mirena! :(

I don't know what's going on with my body. I used to be predictable, and now I have no clue what to expect cycle to cycle. I'm going to be 30 this fall...but that still is fairly young, right? I had my IUD removed four months ago. I had an IUD previously (a few years ago) and had cycle issues for a couple months after removal, but not like what I'm going through now? My ovulation is later then usual, although I've had some late ovulations before and even got PG on one of those late ovulations with my 5th son . My leutal phase was short the last two cycles (10 days) so I started drinking raspberry leaf tea (for the last two weeks now) and taking vitamin B-6 (100 mg for the last three days). This cycle I keep getting random high temperatures, that are usually what I see in my post-O phase. I'm only CD 10 today, but I had fertile CM w/ some light spotting yesterday and a temp jump today. I'm wondering 1) what's could be the cause of these random high temps and 2) If my vitamin b-6 or the RRL tea could cause high temps or 3) if I could have ovulated yesterday? Help?! Thanks! My charting page: http://www.fertilityfriend.com/home/215eb

I would never circumcise to prevent HPV, however I was surprised that the HPV vaccination can be given to boys now. I wasn't sure my stance on it to begin with, since its so new, but then at my 11 yr old son's check-up they asked me and it took me off guard, I said yes. I'm a vaccinate on schedule kind of person anyway so I don't really have convictions against vaccines. My sons are all un-circed' though (with the exception of my 8 yr old who was circ'ed a couple months ago due to medical reasons *sniff*), and if I can help at all by having them get the HPV vaccination-then I'll go for it.

I have! lol Well there is a Classical Conversations group opening up this fall. They are doing open houses already and tuition is due by...July? So I need to have that planned out if we're going to do it, and we're pretty sure we are. So I had to switch my oldest to Saxon math already since the program he'll be in will be using Saxon...8/7? I put him on 7/6 for this year. (Are those right? I'm confused with Saxon's books LOL).

That's me! :) I was actually basically raised anti-LDS. I was raised in an offshoot of the LDS church (the Reorganized Latter Day Saints), and I remember as a youth always having discussions with friends about how we "hated" to be mistaken as Mormons etc etc. Thinking back, I didn't even understand all of that or even what the LDS church's beliefs were. I'm glad that as an adult, I got the chance to find out. My DH and I had tried out a couple different churches, but we had a hard time finding a good fit. He didn't feel comfortable in any of the churches. I prayed every night that we'd find a church to belong to, specifically one that HE would be comfortable with and actually enjoy. Finally one day my Dh told me that he had a classmate in a college class he as taking who was LDS and he was asking him some questions about it. He liked the answers and suggested that we check out the LDS church sometime. Well we're pretty big procrastinators and checking out a church is a scary step to take sometimes. We didn't know anyone in the church at all. Then one day, a couple months later, a couple missionaries came to our door. We had lived here for 8 years and never a missionary here (we're in a hidden, hard to find place). I think they were just as surprised as we were that we were actually interested in listening to them. lol THe rest of the story is really long, but I wrote about it on a blog if anyone wants to hear it. Basically what made us decide is how the answers we were getting all made sense to us. They were all things we had personally wondered about or even believed (such as I've always believed in the trinity being three separate beings before the church, it just makes absolute sense to me). But also, we just felt really GOOD about it. Attending church we felt so much love around us and the atmosphere was just way different then what we had experienced before. Also, we really wanted this for our children too. We love how active the LDS church is with activities for the youth and the families. The majority of the youth are all very good kids as well, trustworthy and good examples for our own. What have we struggled with? Well giving up coffee was a little hard at first, but not as hard as we'd thought. I had no issues with giving up alcohol because I hated it in the first place. My Dh drank, but didn't mind giving it up either. It was a BIG life change for us though. Not just simply choosing a new church...but a way of life. Its been stressful at times for my DH who can be a...stubborn man sometimes. lol It can be a lot of pressure on a new convert family who has no family or friends other then those we've made in the church to support us and help us when we struggle. BUT the good things in life can't always be easy. We've got to work for it sometimes...lol

Which specific Christian thought, theology and tradition are you speaking of? I can't think of anything I've had to throw out to have faith in this church? Actually I've felt the opposite - that suddenly everything makes sense and the pieces are all there.

Good ideas! :) Thanks Sometimes I feel left out because I started having kids so early that while I'm the same age as all these moms with just a couple young kids....I have five with my oldest being almost 12. lol

LOL! Thanks for stopping by! :) I have been going to the book group since I was invited about two months ago. None of them are homeschoolers except one of the ladies, and she is the only one who's gotten to know me the most. She invites me and my kids over for playdates all the time, and I invite her over. :) I knew her before I started homeschooling-so she's been a great source of info to me too...kinda like my mentor. lol

I don't know about that though? Whenever there is a social gathering that I'm invited to, then I go. For example, church socials I go to all the time. I got invited out on a "girls night out" one time and went. I go to the book club which is one Thursday a month. If there is a baby shower, bridal shower, etc that the church is throwing for someone then I go.

Thanks all for the replies! :) I do think I need to work on my issues with not wanting to invite myself along. I don't think its really all that purposeful to not include me since we all get along great. They just have this little social group formed and they stay in contact a lot more. I'm not part of the "in crowd" because I'm somewhat of an introvert. They are all pretty outgoing. Its sad when new families move in and the moms are already part of this social group - but I've been here two years now and am still struggling. So its me, not them. I guess I just don't know how to involve myself. I'm trying to learn how to be more outgoing and sociable. I've always been a bit of an introvert, but I've gotten a LOT better over the years and through having more kids. ;) Still though, sometimes I just don't know how to start a friendship or even maintain a friendship. I'm not one to pick up the phone just to chat. I still haven't got passed my fear/issue of the phone! lol Silly I know, but its hard for me to make phonecalls unless I really have a need or a good reason to call someone. I hate that I have these insecurities.

I started AAS with using personal magnetic boards for my two songs doing AAS. Its only about 12x15 or so...maybe a tad bigger. The tiles don't all fit perfectly on it, but good enough. I can line up the ABC tiles in two rows at the top of the board and still have plenty of room to write below. However, after awhile of using that - I realized that my 8 yr old is too old for it now and doesn't need the extra sensory steps for spelling, and my 6 yr old is actually a natural speller! So now I go through the cards with him, do a lesson. During the lesson I'll go through that lesson's words with him and have him do the segmenting with those words (pulling down a token for each sound). Then he writes the word on his paper. After that, he grades his own paper so that he can see what he did wrong and write the correct spelling. If he got a lot wrong, we keep working on them for the rest of the week. If he didn't get any wrong then we do a final test the next day (starting with going over review cards/concepts first. :) ) So we haven't used the tiles in awhile now!

They all have mostly younger children. One of the ladies has older children also, but they are in school during the day. I thought that same thing too, although I've only been homeschooling for three months now and this isn't that new of a group. :confused: I hated myself for it, because as I said I HATE inviting myself to things. But I emailed one of the ladies and told her that I heard about the preschool group today from one of the other ladies, who is a recent new family to the area. I asked if it was open to more moms coming in and if so then I'd love to hear more about it. I told her that on the particular day of their preschool group, my oldest three actually are in classes at their co-op from 9:30-3pm. So I really COULD be involved. I hope I don't get rejected. :( Still though, even an invite would have been nice - you never know someone's circumstances.

And maybe approachable isn't the right word... Specifically I'm talking about a group of ladies at church who I'm on good terms with, friendly, and have even had the majority of them over for dinner - they seem to always be doing various get-togethers and I always hear about it later in conversation but no one thinks to invite me. First there was a book club. I didn't take it personally. I was new to church. I didn't want to invite myself though - I guess I have issues with that, afraid of rejection maybe. So I made extra attempts to befriend those ladies even more (and just be more friendly in general to get to know everyone better). We had lots of dinners with people we invited over. Finally I got an invite to the book club about two months ago...I've been going to church with those ladies for over two years. I was told the original book club leader didn't want a large group so it was sort of exclusive. She's since moved on, and I put a bug in the new leader's ear that I'd love to find a book club so she invited me. Then I've been hearing about these playdates between preschool aged kids with some of these same ladies from the book club. I have lots of kids, all boys, and the majority of those ladies have little girls. I thought maybe it was just a few friends having some playdates with their daughters. I wasn't *too* concerned about it. Today I hear that its an actual preschool/playdate that they do once a week where moms take turns hosting it at their house and teaching a little lesson. Several ladies are involved in it, including new families who've moved in. I have to add, also, that these ladies are the sweetest people I've ever met. At least to my face they are- they all act like we are friends. Now its really starting to bother me. What is wrong with ME that I'm never considered to even invite to these things? I have a preschool aged child also and am a stay-at-home-mom who'd love to get out of the house once a week. So I start to think that maybe it's something that I am doing wrong. Maybe I'm not approachable enough, or social enough. For those of you out there who ARE part of the "in crowd" (LOL) what do you do that makes you so approachable or socially adept? Do you have ladies within your social circle that you maybe just forget to include, or is it purposeful? How could someone make herself not be so forgettable? Thanks. :confused:

A book we read at our book club just before we read The Help, was These Is My Words. I forget the author, but you can search for that on Amazon. The cover looks like a leather journal. That's a pretty good book! :) Its part of a series too, but I haven't read the other books yet. Also, a teen series that *I* thought was pretty good was the series that starts with Fallen, then Torment, and a new book comes out next year. Its by Lauren Kate. It is reminiscent of the Twilight series, but better I think. The main character is stronger and the love story is more solid. Also the backstory is much more involved and interesting. Its not JUST a love story in other words. The main characters are a girl and a fallen angel.