Cranberry upside-down cake! (I got the recipe off recipezaar)

Yes, SOTW has real people, myths, and fictional characters, but it is clearly stated which is which.

We are using SOTW 1. I actually bought only the activity pages, by mistake. I thought it was the activity guide. It contains maps, coloring pages, and some games like word finds. So if that's all you want you are fine. But as for me, next year I will buy the activity guide instead, because I find I would like to read the suggestions for activities and supplemental reading.

You really need good information, not just a few opinions from this board. Visit the website of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill: NAMI California - Informing, Educating & Supporting People With ... Donna Pollard, a long-time NAMI Orange County volunteer, employee, and friend to families and children retired on October 7, 2010. ... www.namicalifornia.org/ - Cached - Similar Family Resources Classes & Events About Us News & Views Service Providers Recovery! NAMI Affiliates Questions & Answers More results from namicalifornia.org »

There may be an Orthodox 'strand' that states that the Theotokos is free from personal sin. But that is not the dominant teaching. The only person free of sin was Jesus Christ. This is what we were taught at an Orthodox seminary.

thank you everyone, for these posts. It seems that where money is concerned, sometimes family members can act in very strange ways... Hope we can resist the temptation when our turn comes.

Has anyone been through something like this? My uncle is being arrested today after a long investigation. He was the executor of Mom's estate, and dragged his feet giving us, my sibs and me, our share from the sale of her condo plus our shares in the family company started by my grandfather. After 2 1/2 years we asked a lawyer to investigate, and long story short, he took the money, plus "investments" from other elderly relatives, and put them into the family company, which he turned into, basically, a Ponzi scheme. He has been under Federal investigation. We were the first to notice something was amiss. Now he has been caught, and the arrest is to be today. This is very painful because he was a moderately close relative & was my godfather when I was baptized as a baby. We have had Thanksgiving at his house numerous times. How do you cope with this? Is it ever possible for a family relationship to be restored? I am not really angry with him about this, I am aghast and sorry for him, but my sibs are really mad and can not think about anything else in life right now. Is it possible to reach out with forgiveness or should one wait for some sign from him that he is sorry? Should one contact them at all? Leave them alone? OK, pray, but what else??? Thanks!!

:grouphug: We went through my Grandma's things like this: we (the 5 female relatives) sat with her jewelry box and went round in a circle, each choosing one thing, til they were all gone.

Yes, freer in the sense that all maintenance, taxes, etc, are taken care of. We just live here-- no worries. But not freer in the sense that now we are bound to a lease & can't break it.

We thought about this before we moved, but it turns out in our new state it is illegal to rent a place without seeing it in person. Who knew?

Yes! I hid them in socks though. DC were very surprised since this is our first year doing this. Good message about good deeds by stealth! Hooray St Nicholas!

It sounds like your neighbor is very odd, but I do have to agree with her about one thing, though I myself would never complain to a neighbor about it: it's those beep-beep noises that cars make when you click them locked/unlocked. That noise does bother me or sometimes startles me. I found out how to program my own car so that at least our car does not do this. Just the locks click. No beep. It was a real relief for me. (Maybe I am an oddball too.) Maybe you could do that? It would be a tiny thing for you but might make a difference to her.

That particular church is too controlling. That's not healthy.

Wow. You are doing great to be able to function at all, with everything that's going on!! :grouphug: Can the two year old ever be confined sometimes to one or two rooms by a gate? That way the mess could be localized at least. Maybe he is two strong though. Hang in there.

I always tell DC "Santa Claus is a fun game that we and lots of other people play at Christmastime. When we give presents we remember St Nicholas, who gave gifts to people who were poor, and he gave them secretly so they would not know it was him. We especially remember Jesus, who was God's biggest present for us." When they see someone dressed as Santa, I say "Look! there's someone playing the Santa game." But we don't ever do the sit-on-Santa's-lap-at-the-mall thing. I have never seen the point of that. And I don't label gifts "from Santa". DC respond well to this. I like this approach because I don't feel that I am fooling them into something, yet we get to preserve some of the magic and fun, WHILE STILL underlining our fundamental beliefs. They both love & are excited by Christmas. DS even loves to help put out the presents under the tree. Just today DS6 observed a discussion between his art teacher and some other homeschoolers. The teacher was saying she believed in Santa but the kids were saying they did not. DS just observed. Afterward I asked him what he thought of it the conversation. He said "Last year I was Santa! I helped you!" Every so often DC will ask if Santa is real, and I just repeat: "Santa is a fun game we play at Christmastime etc" I know they get it, since I have heard DS6 explaining this verbatim to DD4.

FWIW, my DS6 enjoys hearing SOTW chapters over again. If you dip into SOTW now, it doesn't mean DD would necessarily dislike doing it again in the fall with the other kids.

Also: Evelina by Fanny Burney

Reasons 1,2,3,5, plus we thought it might be fun!

Hi, you have gotten a lot of good feedback, so I'll just respond to one of your points-- like you, I was worried about accountability and making sure dc are progressing and not falling prey to my inexperience as a teacher. So, we signed up with the "parent partnership program" at our local school district. This is a program for homeschoolers whereby the state provides us with a teacher to meet with, a framework for making specific goals for ourselves which we need to show progress toward, and they administer yearly testing. Not all homeschoolers approve of this way of doing things, though, but it has worked so far for us. I like having someone I can ask things of, and I like the accountability, to be honest. I have to write up monthly progress reports and I have to be in touch with the teacher once a week. Of course, they are not testing for the classical curriculum we are teaching, but at least it is the basics. Hope this helps.

Alessandro Manzoni The Betrothed (I promessi Sposi) may be just what you are looking for!

I'm not so good with making up fun projects--- the way I make LA fun for DS is to make our 'fun' reading the same things he uses for WWE1 instead of the short snippets of stories that are given in the workbook. Books he likes, like Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, Little House, Narnia, etc. And also his science text (DK Animal Encyclopedia for narration). For LA we are using reading aloud from Philippians, OPGTR, WWE1 (with our own choice of full-length texts), FLL1.

Hmmm.... About being negative and shooting down other people's ideas in order to brag or make a clever comment: A good friend called me on this a few years ago-- I'm so glad she did, because I never would have realized how negative and hurtful I sounded.

The only Scotland books I know are the Sunday Philosophy Club books by Alexander McCall Smith--- maybe not the book you are looking for, but they are excellent.

Hi-- I just made a scarf for DD4 with 15 stitches across. It seems about right. I just began one for DS6 with 20 stitches. I'm not an expert though! BTW my kids just watched Totoro and they love him!!

We've just started reading the Little House books, and i'm surprised how much there is in there about good conduct/behavior. It's really helpful & a good example to my kids.