Ha!! Me too! I think I may have detected a pulse. 🚙

I agree!!! I still love the ads. Lol! New stuff is always good to look at. I think it is perfectly reasonable to fund these boards with ads.

Yes. I am in remission right now, and doing all I can to stay there, but you never know. I have Hashimotos, fibromyalgia and a long grocery list of other autoimmune issues. Mainly, I try to be nice to me. I push myself HARD....but I also know when I need rest. We have been know to bed school. I had several years where I was bed bound but we still managed schooling. It can be done. It takes commitment and an iron will.

Oh, I hear ya! I have birthed and nursed 7 children also. Over the past 20 years I have gained and lost more weight an I care to even figure out. My greatest loss was 115lb. I am now in the best physical shape of my life....and boy, oh, boy would I love a quick fix to my battered belly and droopy books! However, the cost! Oh my, the COST!! I still have 4 kids needing to go through college, a business and a home to renovate....priorities! Anyway, I will just keep working out like a maniac! It keeps me from depression and it holds my anxiety at bay, so, having a nicer body is a great side effect. Now, MiF I had the funds, I would have some surgery in a heartbeat! I wouldn't want to augment, but lift and smooth.... My belly is a mess! c-section and a huge weight gain with my oldest made me look like an old balloon that lost its air....sigh.

Rose, I have been following this thread and just wanted to send you hugs. As an adopted kid who is probably a bit RADdy due to the trauma associated with my abandonment/ adoption I know what a tragedy it would have been for me to have met my bio mom as a teen. I probably would have done exactly as your son is doing and hurt my mom deeply. There is just such a psychological hole left in a child with RAD. Then again, I , like your son would have probably seen fright through my bio moms cr@p pretty quickly. I think he needs to get it all straight in himself. Actually, as I write this, maybe it would have been better for me and my mom if I had met and tried to foster a relationship with my bio mom back then. It would have gotten the cards on the table, no mystery, no wondering whys, no false ideas of who my mother really was. I met my bio mom a year after my mother died. I did have a relationship with my mother and I was there for her until the last minute, but it was alwaysr strained, always stressful, always hard. I never blamed her per se' for the situation, but I also never bonded well....I am still an arms length sort of person. I expect those around me to hurt me deeply, so I do not get too close. I am pretty outgoing and verbal, but not warm and cushy. I never can be. Anyway, last year I met my bio mom, 2 sisters and a brother. Also, an aunt. I was welcomed by all with open arms....and one sister has become a very close friend. Bio mom.........piece of work!!! Total piece of work! Truth and reality are not part of her world. She is very sweet, very smart, but as nutters as they come! Even as a full grown woman with adult children of my own, this is something I am working through. I wish my mother was around to help me with this. I wish I could apologize to her for being such a little sh*t. I wish I would not have hurt her the way I did, immaturely, selfishly, without regard for her feelings because I was so inside my own issues and not dealing with the full information...not even really understanding the psychological issues in adopted kids. I come from a time where kids were all resilient, and there was no idea that adopted kids might not bond properly, or might have abandonment issues. I do think it may pan out better that ds is getting a real view of the truth of his circumstances and may actually begin to see your side a bit....a big bit. I also hope he gets a good dose of bio mom, enough to see he really does want to be with his mother ( YOU!). Anyway, you and your family are in my heart and my prayers.

Thanks Hunter!!! This entire thread has so much interesting material....busy...busy clicking! Thanks! Faithe

I NEED MORE!!!! Please post more of your rec.s. These links are PRICELESS!!!!! Thanks Hunter!!! Pretty Please ...post more...or PM me.

Welp....that about summed it up......yep....!!!

I really think the opposite.....somehow, we manage a much more rigorous course when I let go of my plan and TEACH to my kids. I live in a state that is fairly regulated...and it is difficult to break out of the " school at home" mode, which very structured schooling ends up being....even if some of your subjects happen to be classical in nature. Relaxing your checklist and tuning into the day to day flow of your family, kids and lifestyle is not always easy....and relaxed does not me you let go of the reins and let the cart run wild....it means as you see the educational opportunities availing, you do not worry about the 6 grammar sheets that need to be done. It means you live within the flow and sometimes free fall. I find in my homeschool, we have seasons of relaxing our rein and going with the flow, and seasons of very focused, checklisted academic work. No matter what, we are a homeschooling family, which is our lifestyle...not just our way of educating our kids.

That would be nice if there were such a thing around here. OY!

You know, I have been thinking a lot about your question this weekend...and I think what it really came down to was 20 years ago ( and for some yesterday:D)homeschooling or to coin the new phrase, old schooling was a life choice and a lifestyle decision....not just an academic choice for a few months until Johnny could go into the next class without the crummy teacher. It was a choice that was not entered into lightly or easily. It was going against the staus quo and it was even considered threatening by the school systems. Those who did it for religious convictions and those who did it as a political statement were really somewhat in the same boat. When I began, parents were being hauled into court left and right because the school superintendents still did not acknowledge the legal right to homeschool, nor their own regs....and courts were slapping parents with decisions of educational neglect, even when they were complying with the law. You HAD to be convinced that what you were doing was the right thing.....and that you were in it because either your God called you to it or your convictions made it so you really had no other choice....kwim? The social climate around homeschooling has changed radically over the past 20 years....and with the advent of K-12 type virtual academies, even the school system itself has moved toward homeschooling. It is just a different thing for some people now than it was for us back then....and even some of us now. Now, I am not saying that the old ways are better or worse....just that they were different. I happen to like educational choice...and sometimes wish I had some more choice in these parts....and I happen to LOVE the newer technologies and educational tools that have made my homeschooling life easier. I love that I am not so isolated from my peers and like-minded ( and even non-like-minded ) people.... Hmmmmmm......I am still pondering.....

I did not find this with my dds, but definitely with my dss...to my utter horror and frustration. If anyone has any idea why this may be amonst the boys of us "oldschoolers" (Or if it is just mine...sigh)...please let me know! I have already told dh I will NOT homeschool my little boys past 8th grade unless we figure this one out....I have 3 years....:confused:

I have been homeschooling continuously since 1995 and I see many differences in then vs. now. We did not have PC's. We did not have iphones. We did not have online courses. We did not have the plethora of materials and curricula to choose from. We could get Sonlight, BJU, A Beka or if we were lucky some public school discards:D I opted back then to make my own....we used our library card, a math program and loads of lined paper and pencils. Our focus was HOME. There were no co-ops, homeschool gym, homeschool library classes etc. We were home-centric. Our days were filled and we did after-school activities such as sports or music and art lessons....but for the most part, my older kids learned by reading and writing....and reading some more and writing some more. As Christians, our goal was to grow closer to the Lord and to have our children learn to love and follow His will for their lives. My kids had many days of down time. They were not so rushed or stressed out as my youngers. They would wander the woods, shoot targets, take care of their rabbits, dogs, cats, etc. They learned to sew, bake, craft, paint, run electric, plumbing, stack wood etc. They stayed physically fit by play and work....not sports teams (at least not until they were older.) They were and are close to eachother. Back then, not everything we did was to prepare them for college or for a greater career....we were more in the present of the time. Somewhere, somehow....these days got muddled and our focus shifted. As my older kids began organized sports, college preparations etc., our stress level and fear of failing our children came into view. Yes, we wanted them to follow their goals and life's purpose....Had we prepared them adequately? Was homeschooling really the magic bullet to produce happy, God-fearing, intelligent, thoughtful adults and citizens? Here was where the rubber hits the road...and of course the result rested upon my shoulders. I could not place blame of the PS, or a bad advisor, or peer pressure or anything or anybody. I only had myself to look at, and to a lesser degree dh, who was supportive, but busy working to allow us the "luxury" of our lifestyle. After 18 years....many things have changed, grown, evolved... We have moved into a quicker paced life. We have moved into a more technologically based lifestyle. We have more programs to choose from than hours to review them. We have forums, blogs, e-zines, tweets...lol....somehow we are not so cut off from others, their opinions and judgements as we were back then. Our original goals have morphed a bit too....academics are and always have had a front seat in our homeschool, but I think they are much more forced now. I do not feel the free flowy days as I once did with my older set. Maybe I know the stakes better now. I think my older kids might have actually had a better education than my younger ones are getting despite the fact that we were much poorer and had many fewer books and supplies.....hmmmmmThat is definitely something to consider.....

I picked TL 1&2 mainly because Memoria Press offers a class and I do not have to teach it. Eta: TL IS boring...but it gets the job done.