In one of his lectures, Andrew Kern says something along the lines of... the Greek philosophers came to a realization of the rationality/necessity of monotheism. I had puzzled over that at the time and just tucked it away. I think you're hitting right on that notion. Bluegoat, I thought that was a very insightful comment. Thank you for taking the time to share it. :)

Not everyone wants to lock horns in debate. Not everyone is interested in that kind of confrontation, on the internet or irl. That is certainly a valid viewpoint. Also, plenty may be willing, but simply not have the time. On a side note, for several years I was on a message board where a wide variety of beliefs were represented. I often engaged in discussion/debate, and then I began to realize just how much of my time and mental energy were given over to it. I have a large family, I am homeschooling 5 children right now and running my household. Is it a wise use of my time? I decided, no. I think most people, whatever their beliefs, are not actively engaged in questioning or probing spiritual issues all of their lives. I might once have said this was lazy or avoidant behavior. (Now that I'm firmly in the realm of middle age, a lot of things that seemed very important to me seem much less so.) Maybe they are just satisfied with the thoughts they've had on these issues and are busy living their lives, loving their families, and pursuing other interests. Maybe they've moved on to learning and thinking more about other things.

I have a fifth grader, and maybe I'm some wild outlier as well, but honestly, this is pretty similar to the workload I have in place for him. Our Morning Time is about 2 hours, there we cover Bible, History, Latin, Memory Work, and Read Aloud. Math is about an hour, LA (CLE Reading & LA) and vocabulary (Wordly Wise) take about an hour and a half. Afternoon reading is a mix of lit, history, and science reading. That's another ~2 hours, but they're mostly relaxed, curl up on the sofa with your books hours. He wants to start Greek, so that will add another little bit. From your schedule, I guess I might toss out the 'reading time' and just institute an hour *after* school that was considered "quiet time" but where you dc was expected to do some reading and piano practice. Combine history and geography. Bible study could become part of Morning Time if you were willing to move to just reading Scripture or using the VP Bible cards? I use those and they are quick and straightforward, but I really feel like the kiddos learned quite a bit last year. Maybe sign up for the VP self-paced videos so that is sort of quasi-relaxing time? Anyway, I feel your pain!

This discussion reminds me of... "Children are souls to be nurtured, not products to be measured." -- Andrew Kern I think our schools have completely lost sight of this. Unfortunately, I think I lose sight of it often, too.

Whether we discuss an individual day's reading or not depends on 1: my mood ;) 2: how the kids are doing attention-wise, 3: whether I have anything interesting to say about the text, 4: whether any of the children have anything interesting to say about the text, and 5: how quickly I need to get us through Morning Time that day. I do often choose read alouds with a guide, just for the ease of use in finding comprehension and discussion questions. And after we're done reading a book or what not, I'll give us a day or two just to discuss.

When I was coming through, we showed up one day and took the test. No big deal whatsoever. If you can imagine, this is how we took the SAT as well. When my oldest son was coming through (he's almost 21 now), they had pep rallies encouraging the children to "Do Their Best!" and we got flyers and such talking about good night's sleep and protein breakfasts. For my poor younger kiddos, test taking was/is as much a subject as math or reading. They started taking tests from Day 1. I understand the shift, I understand the desire for measurable success, but the funny thing is, I think you get more success focusing on teaching and learning than you to focusing on test outcomes. As a wise man (my HS physics teacher :) ) once said, "You all are so focused on grades. Forget about your grades and focus on learning. If the learning is there, the grades will come."

I'll toss this out there, as it seems to be working with my older kiddos. We do a lesson of Singapore together for the conceptual teaching. (I try to get to this every day, probably only actually do it a couple times a week.) Every day they do a lesson in Horizons (any spiral would work). This way, they get the conceptual teaching up front and then the practice they need for retention. Because the spiral review is largely independent, it's no extra work for me other than spot-checking the lesson.

If everything is ultimately reducible to the interaction of chemicals and electricity, what difference does it make? Your feelings of God were simply the effects of dopamine. Isn't your anger at Christian hypocrisy just a different chemical response? If you discount the reality of one, why not the other? ETA: Reality isn't exactly the right word here. Let me try again. If I'm understanding correctly, your position is that experiences of God are chemical reactions + electrical impulses. When a person prays and feels 'peace' or some such, it's simply that their brain has been conditioned to take a certain neural pathway when they do such-and-such. Pavlov's dog or something. OK, so I'm tracking with you there. When you feel righteous indignation that a moral or precept has been violated, that is also a chemical reaction + an electrical impulse. But morality is just as much of an 'idea' or an 'outside reality' as the concept of God is, no? It's not provable in any meaningful sense. Your angry response at the violation of your concept of morality is, I think, the same 'thing' as a chemical response to the idea of a benevolent, powerful being's love.

I am going to guess that your husband is scared of your grief and uncomfortable with it, and he probably is just desperate to see you not be in pain anymore. I'd have to imagine that a person who is scared and uncomfortable with grief isn't going to be able to give you the support you need right now. I think the suggestion of a counselor is a good one. I am so, so sorry about the loss of your Dad.

Awww, handsome little guy! Congratulations again! :)

The only element of this that would really make me upset is that they violated the trust of the family whose house it was. That is a very big deal to me. When you enter someone else's home, you agree -- of your own free will -- to respect their rules, their boundaries, their right to have their home conducted as they see fit. You have absolutely no right to put innocent parties at risk, least of all innocent parties who did YOU the favor of opening their home to you. Wrt the drinking, a word about the consequences of illegal activity would be in order, but the drinking itself isn't that big a deal to me personally.

I had an umbilical hernia, as did my dh. Both of ours were repaired in adulthood. Mine was 'hiding' strangely enough, I had an innie belly-button but at the very bottom of it was a hernia. Weird. Most of my kiddos have had umbilical hernias. Our approach has been 'watchful waiting' until about age 4 or 5. Some have ended up with surgery, some have not. From my understanding, if a child seems to be in pain with it, or you see signs of infection, or if you cannot get it back in, those would be reasons to seek medical attention.

n/m didn't realize this was an old post :mellow:

But he does have a larger point, doesn't he? Isn't he a white supremacist? Aren't there groups supportive of such ideologies? I've often heard Timothy McVeigh referred to as a domestic terrorist as well. I don't see it as elevating anyone, rather just describing political/ideological acts of violence meant to intimidate others.

I have no problem calling him a terrorist, actually I think that fits pretty well.

Well, I look at this in one of two ways. Either a) there is a God, and the purpose of prayer is to draw us into life with him, or b) there is no God, and prayer is basically pointless in the grand scheme -- but, because it brings comfort to many people and (in most cases) causes them to be more mindful of others, and it harms no one, I can't see a problem with it. I'm a Christian, so of course I lean towards choice a, but I figure, hell's bells, if there's no God, I still know that the practice of praying for others and for myself makes me a more caring and compassionate friend, mother, and wife. Win/win. :)

Congratulations!!

2013 w 33,000 miles, I think :)

My first baby was delivered posterior, had terrible back labor, but once I made it through that I only pushed 3 times and out he came. My last baby turned posterior during labor. I could literally feel him clawing his way around my belly! Like one of the posters above, once he settled down, his neck was arched and he was trying to come out with the broad side of his head first. Nice try, buddy, but that's a definite no-go. I ended up having a c-section with him. The encouraging element of this post is that today, both of those boys are safe, happy, and healthy. :) I wish you a beautiful and safe birth for you and your baby. And, congratulations on #5!!

Oh, how heartbreaking. I'm so sorry.

I think this is a bad choice for any woman, 18, 28, or 58. Since there are perfectly safe ways for the two of them to get to know one another, I see no reason for her to put herself in a position where she is dependent upon the generosity and restraint of three (more or less) unknown men.

This is only my 3rd year, but I have the year planned out in the Big Picture sense, basically that we'll use CLE LA or Mosdos Reading or whatever, but come Monday morning, we just open the books and do the next thing. I write down what we complete each day so I have a completed, retrospective plan. My brain just doesn't work in such a way that I could plan in detail very far ahead. Wish it did, though! I'm envious of you all who have the whole year at your fingertips!

My father and my husband are both truly lifelong learners. They are passionate about history, and they read, research, and study. Just a library card, internet connection, and a few splurges on The Great Courses. There is value in having knowledge, but it doesn't have to put you a quarter of a million dollars unless you want an experience and a piece of paper to go with it.

I am so, so sorry about the loss of your triplets. I don't think it's uncommon to feel conflicted about deciding not to have more children, but your history is particularly complex and you are understandably dealing with a lot of difficult emotions. I wonder if a counselor might help you sort through these feelings? Sometimes an outside perspective can help in figuring out which feelings are true to yourself and which might be grief from your losses or grief at moving on to a new stage of life. Whatever you decide, best of luck to you.

#6 was a real delight :) She was a very sweet, easy baby, and there are 32 months, one of our biggest gaps, between her and my #5. It's always a little scary with an unexpected surprise, but ultimately, what a beautiful blessing!