I'm not sure if this is funny, but I love it: For the past two weeks, middle dd has had beach volleyball camp, so almost 3yo dd and I have spent a lot of time playing on the beach, something she has never done. She seems to have developed a little love affair with the ocean. On Thursday, as she ran back and forth gleefully in the waves, she yelled to me, "Mommy, the ocean is saying, 'I love you! I love you!' And I love the ocean, too!"

Totally better than the opening ceremonies.

:iagree:Well said! If someone asked me that, I'd probably say, "No, but I do it anyway."

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: Please, please, PLEASE don't think of yourself as an awful daughter. We cared for my mom in our home half time for five years after my dad died, then for the full last year of her life. She didn't have mental issues, (except for increasing depression and anxiety due to her physical state) only increasingly severe physical ones which eventually led to her deciding to end dialysis and, consequently, her life. She spent the last month of her life in a care facility because it simply wasn't safe for her to be here anymore. (Long story with this, involving cancer, daily radiation, multiple 911 calls and ER trips, accelerated diabetes and kidney failuire, fear, sadness, trauma on all counts). I realized at some point that, though she was still my mom, in a sense she wasn't "my mom" anymore. It's one thing to say that you're going to care for your mom when she's the mom you always knew and loved. But it's a completely different thing when your mom has changed, physically, mentally or emotionally, into someone whose needs you can no longer reasonably meet. Of course she's still your mom and you still love her, but she has become so different, so needy, so much *not* the same mom, that you should have no shame in deciding to help her get the help she needs. You're still her daughter but someone else needs to play the caretaker role for you, for reasons you've seen vividly played out in your sister's life. I'm saying all of this gently from the perspective of having been in a somewhat similar situation. Please don't beat yourself up. You need all the grace you can get. Others will give that to you. Give it to yourself, too. :grouphug:

Quiet by Susan Cain just finished Island of Wings by Karin Altenberg And I'm always buried somewhere (happily) in The Knowledge of the Holy by AW Tozer

Betsy-Tacy:001_wub:

Please don't ask for encouragement and input, then blast everyone who lovingly attempts to give those things to you. Maybe you are looking for more than we can give.

Anything by Journey. :D

It depends on the potato. If I use a thinner-skinned potato, like a yukon gold or red skin (which I prefer), I leave the skin on because it blends up with the potato and leaves nice bits of texture in the end. If I'm using russet potatoes, I do peel them because the skin is more thick and coarse.

This may be a silly question, but is your son upset with the situation? That is, you say no one talks to him and he talks to no one. Is that because he doesn't know what to say to start a conversation, or because he genuinely doesn't want to talk to anyone? Is he as upset as you are? Regardless, please don't beat yourself up. Even if it's true that he had no friends for his first 16 years, he has a lot of years ahead of him in which he'll have more opportunities to make friends. On the flip side, the benefits he's gained from homeschooling surely outweigh a temporary lack of friends. Could he be an introvert who simply likes to be alone? As the previous poster said, personality is deeply ingrained. I'm sure if you did a survey here, you'd find many, many people who have remained satistfied introverts even while being in twelve or more years of schooling. Be kind to yourself! Take heart!:grouphug:

My mom had this done with my brother and felt the same way as Amy.

:iagree:I took my oldest dd to Disneyland (we lived across the street) when she was a week old. I just really needed to get out. She was totally fine with the experience.

:D My MIL once said to me, about HSing high school, "I think you're nuts but you're doing a great job."

Some of the things I didn't get around to with oldest dd (mostly due to her choices) are turning out to be great choices for middle dd. At the moment, one example of that is Art of Argument. I suspect its follow-up programs will be the same. Omnibus is the same. I do have several years of Artistic Pursuits on the shelf that I'm not willing to part with because I really do think it's a great program. And I have four more years with middle dd, so maybe she'll use it. Maybe....

:iagree:Yes, yes, YES!!! Let's use our time differently, shall we?

I'd rather hang out with weirdos than automatons.

:iagree:Absolutely.

Lots of down time/free time. Build this into your life, and place value on it so that your kids know they will have time for uninterrupted /unstructured/uncriticized/unscrutinized exploration of their interests, no matter how short or long term. Don't hijack their explorations and try to turn them into something schoolish. Let go of your fear that daydreaming is wasted time.

We don't. With the older two, we used family and friends, then reciprocated by babysitting for said friends. For dd3, her big sisters watch her, though she's now started going over to one friend's home.

Wow. I have never even considered drying myself off while still in the shower. No judgement, just marveling at how much I can learn about the world, late on a Thursday night when I should probably be in bed.

Something in the neighborhood of $40 at one time. But if you asked what I've paid ALL TOGETHER in all of my years........just dig me a hole and bury me NOW. :tongue_smilie:

Sigh...... Got rid of two of our four cats because of this, getting ready to get rid of a third. Every morning I'm cleaning up cat poop, and the house now smells like cat pee seemingly permanently. NOTHING gets this smell out. We'd replace the carpet if we hadn't spent $4000 on it only 3 years ago. Like some others have said, they will pee on anything on the ground - towels, laundry, papers, dress-up clothes, toys, anything.

No new advice, just popping in to say your kids are adorable! Eeep! :tongue_smilie:

Good GRIEF!! I don't know which is more bizarre!

To be honest, it's an outsourced class at a local PSP, which uses Omnibus II.