<-------Jealous!!

I've heard many people wrestle with the idea of sending a child to school based on how much they need/desire social interaction. Maybe we could start an idea thread for how we've successfully dealt with that at home? My youngest is like that--she loves being around other kids and makes friends easily. How much she likes an activity depends on whether she knows anyone there or not. I actually did wrestle with putting her in school, but it occurred to me one day that I just need to work harder at meeting those needs myself by spending more time with her. So now we talk through her schoolwork, and she is always sitting with someone while she works--either me or one of her sisters. Not only is she happier when I'm not making her work alone, but her retention is noticeably better. She's taken a huge step forward in math since I stopped making her work silently at the table.

:lol::lol::lol: I will only explain things to my kids when they're in the right frame of mind to listen. In your situation I would probably only go as far as "Daddy and I decided that this will be our last baby. I have a cyst so I have to have a doctor with me when the baby is born, so we'll be at the hospital, but probably only for a day. We aren't having any more kids because we want to be the best possible parents for you guys." End of discussion until they are asking from a desire to gain understanding.

In this situation, I would not put the kids in school. For us, school was a last resort (except for DD12's music education, but being a part-time student going for a specific purpose is different than just going to go). Our kids' social needs are met through family, co-op, church, and extra curriculars. I think it would be very hard to maintain friendships with kids who are in school if your kids are homeschooled. For my family, they are completely different schedules--most homeschooled kids I know do school in the morning, have free time in the afternoon, extracurriculars and dinner in the evening, and family time on the weekend. Afterschooling is a nice idea, but almost impossible to implement. Kids are tired after a long day of school, and they have homework. They're not up for more homework, not to mention the fact that you will basically be homeschooling twice (I spend almost as much time doing homework with my son as I do homeschooling my girls). Also, kindergarten now is much different than it was when we were kids. There's a lot more pressure to perform. She's not just going to go and play and do fun projects all day. If you are not well and can't devote yourself to their educations, put them in school. But your younger girls' academic needs can likely be met in a couple hours a day--it is easy to spend that much time getting them out the door, welcoming them home, communicating with teachers, and helping with homework. They may love school and not want to come home or they may be completely fine with coming home...every kid is different in that area. My son is afraid of middle school and is hoping to be able to come home after 5th grade. My personal belief is that school is not usually best for kids, and that when it is it takes as much time as homeschooling to do it right. YMMV.

Green Smoothie Girl (google it) says that type 2 diabetes can be reversed with a sugar-free, meat-free, mostly raw, plant-based diet. I don't agree with her on everything, but I think the diet she recommends is optimal, and I don't doubt that one can avoid drugs by following it.

Does he seem to be emotionally/mentally healthy besides this issue? I put up with a LOT of resistance from my DS for a LONG time. It got worse and worse until I put him in school. Sometimes resistance is kids being kids and sometimes it is a sign of something going on that needs addressing.

I have one at school full-time, two at home full-time, and one (oldest) who goes to school for band. I allow her to stay for PE simply because it is more convenient for me, but I could take or leave it. Homeschooling is part of my family's DNA, too (so never say never). I never would have put my son in school if I felt that there was another way. Without going into too much detail, it was not safe for his younger sister for him to be at home--and that with near constant supervision. He has actually done pretty well in school--I wouldn't say thriving, but it is a better fit for his issues than being at home. My desire is to be able to bring him home at some point, but we have some work to do before that can happen. All that to say I never would have chosen to have one in school and the rest at home, and it is hard to be pulled in two different directions, particularly when it comes to our co-op. Having DD there part-time makes it even harder. School days aren't as bad, I just make him do school with us, and we do a shorter than normal day. I homeschool him over the summer and on breaks from school and we take our days off when he's in school, to give him the structure he needs.

Thanks everyone! Wow, lots of great ideas!

A trained leader is extremely valuable and enhances the experience; however, I think a mom could work through the book with her kids and still get something out of it. It would be a good idea to take the leaders training if possible, though. I am currently going through Romans with a friend from church who is new to Precept. We go through it more slowly and without the DVDs. It is a different experience, but it gives us a little more flexibility to slow down through the more complicated parts.

I am a Precept Leader and a huge fan of Kay Arthur and Precept Ministries. I have the book you're talking about and it has been an invaluable resource. However, I'm not sure it would be my first choice for family Bible time. It describes the method in detail, but it isn't a directed Bible study. I would consider getting that book to use as a resource, and using a Precept Upon Precept Bible study for yourself and your older child, with a corresponding Discover 4 Yourself study for your younger child. This way you could all be studying the same material using the same methods, but in an age-appropriate way. Enjoy!

Have you participated in an effective fundraiser that doesn't involve selling overpriced junk to people who really aren't interested? By effective I mean >$1000 profit with 50ish people participating and no one killing themselves soliciting donations or whatever. Please JAWM on the need for a fundraiser. :) This is for a fantastic, non-profit, volunteer-run karate organization. Thanks for sharing your experiences!

I went off sugar cold turkey a few months ago, along with white flour, white rice, and most processed foods. It really wasn't that bad. From my experience, a lot of the detox symptoms you're talking about are there because you're putting stuff in your body that it can't handle. I did eat fruit. I had a pot of quinoa cooked and ready for a quick snack. I had a couple eggs for breakfast every morning, a green smoothie in the afternoon, fruit, veggies or nuts for snacks, and a healthy dinner. Drinking a lot of water helps, too. I lost 25 lbs that way and was rarely hungry. I also lost the taste for sugars and starches really quickly--after a while, sugar tastes fake, diet sodas taste like chemicals, white flour tastes gummy and unsubstantial. I had way more energy and felt better in so many ways. Unfortunately, I've been slipping over the last month. We've had a lot of stress at home and food is my go-to comfort item. :P But now I know I can do it, and it won't be that hard when I get back on track. As for the chocolate, I get 90% dark chocolate and have one square a day. It tastes bad at first but I've come to prefer it. It really satisfies the urge to keep eating, and once you stop liking sugar, you won't need things to be as sweet, in my opinion. Do a search for Green Smoothie Girl. I don't agree with her on everything, but her blog is very informative and inspiring.

Does your parks & rec dept offer homeschool PE or other homeschool classes? What about your YMCA?

We talk about whether or not what someone says is true ("Is it true that you have an ugly nose? No? Then don't worry about what that girl said.") We talk about forgiveness, and the fact that we all make mistakes, even if they're different mistakes than what someone else makes. We talk about seeking to please the people who are important to us--God, family, and close friends, and not worrying about the opinions of others. We talk about choosing friends who accept us the way they are. We talk about what is within our control and what is outside of our control. We engage in activities that promote confidence and a positive self-image. We talk about how bullies and mean kids are often insecure, and that we can make a difference by being kind in response (when it's safe). We nurture healthy friendships. My response to a kid who came home crying would be something like, "I'm sorry they said that to you. That must have really hurt. I don't know why they would say something like that, but I think you're a great kid. You are always nice to people and a great reader and ______. Have you made any friends? Maybe we could see if she can come over tomorrow after camp."

I'm not a tiger mom either. :) I see it as my job to identify and nurture interests. They won't get 10,000 hours in any area while they're at home, but they might get the first 3,000-5,000. More importantly, they'll (hopefully) be equipped to do what they want, whether it's becoming an "outlier" or being knowledgeable about many things.

I expect my kids to facilitate my care in the event that DH or I cannot care for ourselves/each other. If a nursing home is the best way to do that, fine. If living with them is the best way to do that, I hope to be able to respect their boundaries and privacy. The men mentioned in the OPs example seem quite presumptuous.

We have just (as of about a week ago) started leaving all 4 kids home alone together for an hour and getting coffee or having lunch in the grocery store deli. We are really enjoying being able to spontaneously spend time alone together--we haven't had that since our first year of marriage. Scheduled dates with a sitter have always felt like more trouble than they were worth to me. Cleaning the house, coming up with an easy dinner, paying a ton of money on the sitter, and then my husband always wanted to go out for a nice dinner...I much prefer a quick, low-maintenance Starbucks date.

Could you get one of their themed currics? We use Medieval History-Based Writing Lessons and are enjoying it.

I would put it back on her: "Which of the state standards are you concerned about? He can read books like __________, he's working on __________ skills in math, etc.". Or I would say that he's moving at a pace that is comfortable and challenging, but we are using a different scope and sequence than the schools. I might even ask, "What kind of answer would satisfy you?" I'm with Jean about finding out where she's coming from--I understand her need to get a picture of his ability levels and how he's being educated. OTOH, if she's just anti-homeschooling and refuses to be open-minded, you need a new doc.

No, I would not allow my kids to stand on chairs. If they wanted to see the words, I would sit in an aisle seat or in the front.

"When I have a reason to send them. They are excelling at home so I'm not too worried about it." When I put my son in school last year, it seemed as if everyone in my life was expecting me to enroll my girls shortly after. Guess what? I'm not homeschooling out of fear or ignorance, or because I think the schools are evil. I'm not putting him in there out of desperation, and then realizing that he didn't die, so it must be ok to send one's kids to school. I know what the schools have to offer and I will take them up on it for things like music education and for a kid who obviously needed more structure and positive peer interaction than I could give him at home.

If it's entrepreneurial work that you're planning to go into, what skills/knowledge do you think you're lacking? Is college the best way to prepare yourself for your chosen career? I would look at it that way--figure out what your goals are, then think about what is required to meet them. Degrees are more important in some businesses (for credibility or whatever) than others, so that would be something to factor in as well.

It's hard to adjust to the reality of how much faster kids learn one on one than in a classroom. He is probably learning plenty. If he loves reading, I would load him up on books about things you'd like him to be learning about (use the corresponding literature suggestions from SOTW, etc) and children's literature. At his age, you really don't need to spend more than 2ish hours on formal education, especially if he's using his "free time" on worthwhile endeavors. Just keep the TV/Wii/computer off and his learning will continue after he's done with "school". It sounds like you're doing great! Public school would definitely keep him busy, but there is a lot of wasted time and a lot of learning that isn't as efficient as what you're able to do. If you're worried, you could always get a standardized test and find out where his is compared to kids his age. They're not 100% accurate and you need to adjust mentally if you teach differently than the schools (which I think most of us do), but I've found the tests to give a pretty good estimation of what my kids are excelling at and what they need to work on.

Bring things to do for the younger kids if they finish early, or enrichment for the older kids if the younger ones need help. Discovery Education has a free puzzlemaker (google it) that has come in handy for me in co-op classes. I teach an art class where some kids finish within 10 minutes and some take the entire hour. I bring playdough and games for those who finish early. Do you have a TA? Maybe she/he can work with one group while you work with the other.

:iagree: I do make the kids do a good share of the chores. We maintain through the week and then we do any cleaning on Saturday morning that we didn't get to earlier in the week. Sometimes DH participates in the Saturday cleaning, sometimes not. Usually I'd rather he didn't. :D I do most of the kid-shuttling--it only seems fair to me, since I'm the one who manages the family schedules (if I say they can go to a b-day party, I'm the one who is responsible for getting them there and back). He does pitch in if I ask him to or if I'm overwhelmed, and of course he takes over the household stuff if I'm gone for a weekend or something. I feel that, while my "job" teaching the kids is as important as his job, I have a lot more flexibility during the day to maintain the house, and he needs time to relax and time to enjoy the kids. Granted, I don't have the highest standards of cleanliness. :D I'm not someone who can't go to sleep unless the kitchen is clean, etc.