We've done FHA loans twice. Yes, the PMI sucks but we have felt that it is better than continuing to rent. We've never been in a situation where we could save up 20% for a down payment--renting doesn't cost much less than owning a modest home (around here, anyway). Even if we were able to save $400/mo., it would take over 10 years to get $50,000. By that time we could have made much more in equity than we would have saved on PMI. I say go for the FHA loan, and make sure you're buying a house that is well within your means, even if it means upgrading in 5 years or so.

Thanks for your input!

Analytical Grammar just came in the mail! Yippee!! We're in the middle of FLL4 right now and I intend to finish it before we start AG. When we do, though, I'm wondering how to schedule it? I would rather have her do some every day than use their plan (11 weeks then review once a fortnight). Would finishing the entire book in a year be too intense for a highly capable 5th grader? If so, could we do half a lesson each day? Also, what have you all done after AG? I know, I know....

We're still on a 36-week schedule, but we spread it out through the year, so 36 weeks/12 months=3 weeks/month. Practically, this works out to 1 week off per month, + 4 weeks off to use as needed. Usually, I just wait until we're going to have a busy week (family visiting, appts, etc--not school busy) and then take it off. Or if we're all feeling a little burned out, I'll just decide to take the next week off.

One word--Tillamook. :)

:iagree:

You may never get an answer to your questions. I've had to learn to stop trying to answer them. The people in my life who are against homeschooling aren't going to change their minds because of some answer I give them. There are some great threads on here about "passing the bean dip". Basically it means that you refuse to engage--you give a vague, non-threatening answer and then change the subject. Like this: "They're going to be home ALL the time?? They'll be so bored." "Yes, I'm sure it will be an adjustment at first. Could you pass the bean dip? I just love this recipe! It would be perfect for Aunt Millie's b-day party next week. By the way, have you spoken with Uncle Sid lately...."

It is a trend, and I've seen it done well and not well. I think a lot of pros or aspiring pros want to get shots that aren't the typical, traditional straight-on headshot. But some of the slanted shots break a lot of the rules of good design. I've done it myself...it's easy to get carried away with trying to be original.

Other: check in with a friend who was in the audience or whoever your contact was, and ask them if what you said came across offensively. If so, I would write the apology, but keep it lighthearted. If not, enjoy your wine. :)

It was weird that she did that, but maybe it's not a big deal? I could see another mom pulling my kids aside and saying, "Hey, I know you guys don't believe in Santa, but my kids do--could you please keep quiet about the whole thing so we don't have to alter their Christmas celebration?". You'll find out soon if she's the kind of mom who needs to micromanage her kids and their relationship, or whether this is one particular issue that she's concerned about. I'd withhold judgment for the time being.

It seems like what you're saying is that the failure option is removed in a homeschool setting, and that the emotional pressure we put on our kids (and ourselves) to succeed might be doing them a disservice. Am I understanding you correctly? If so, I get that. A teacher will do her best to make sure a child is successful, but at the end of the day, it is the child's success or failure. The standards are (in theory, anyway) unyielding and objective, you're either right or wrong, whether you're tired, distracted, etc. A homeschooling parent's success is often wrapped up in her child's success--I'm a good homeschooler if my kids __________ (get into a top college, earn their Eagle Scout award, go on an overseas mission, etc.). Teachers don't and can't do that. I think the fact that we put our heart and soul into our kids' educations is a great strength of homeschooling, but we do need to be careful not to take too much ownership of their successes and failures.

I have a friend who was homeschooled and is currently interning there. She does have a state diploma, though (she did her last 2 years of high school at the community college), so that may not totally be relevant.

Sonlight or My Father's World

No way would any of my kids be allowed to go off and read if they had friends over (unless they wanted to read *with* their guest), especially at a birthday party. Their presents would be donated to Goodwill.

Finishing the basement so everyone has their own room. :P

My son just stopped wearing pull-ups about a month ago. We didn't do anything to address the issue, we just started noticing a few months ago that occasionally he would wake up with a dry pull-up. After a while we noticed them more frequently, and when he ran out of pull-ups a few weeks ago we decided to see if he could go without them. He has only had 2 accidents during that time, interestingly they happened the 2 times he slept in his sister's bed (she just got a new mattress and we let him sleep there when she was gone...guess that won't happen again!). My guess is that he slept harder in her bed since it's more comfortable. Anyway, we were planning on eventually getting the alarm but it turned out we didn't have to. :) That's exactly how my son is. He is by far the hardest to wake, and we couldn't wake him to use the bathroom--we tried a couple times and it did *not* work. Anyway, my advice would be to just be patient, and maybe revisit the issue when she's 10 or so? I never thought we'd see the day when we were completely done with diapers and pull-ups, but it's finally here!

I don't feel that I can make a judgment yet, based on the information available. Particularly since 60 minutes is the main critic of CAI/GM--they are not exactly a credible news organization in my mind. It seems to me that the two major issues in question are 1) CAI's support of Greg's speaking engagements, and 2) the veracity of his accounts. Re: the first point--I can definitely see how CAI's advertising of Greg & Three Cups would be to their advantage, and I hope everything was done legally. The 2nd point would be a problem for me, but I think American reporters might not be able to go into Afghanistan/Pakistan and get a lot of credible information. Trust has to be built, and that takes time--which is the whole point of Three Cups. So I'm not sure what would be the most effective way to validate the Korphe story, among others...and I'm not sure one man saying, "that's me in that picture--I didn't kidnap him" is enough evidence to throw the entire story out. If the allegations are true, I do feel that corrections need to be made, However, I hope Greg's work can continue, with or without him....and if 60 Minutes is wrong, it could be devastating. Since the fate of thousands of girls hinges on this story, I wish they would have been more thorough.

My kids are all pretty social. We do church 3x/week (Sunday service, midweek service, and then they play there with friends while DH and I help with the young adults ministry) and homeschool co-op. The other activities we're in do not help them socially at all, and if anything they prevent us from having more playdates with friends. I am a firm believer in giving kids opportunities to pursue their passions--whether that's music, sports, etc., but you can steer them toward things they can do from home if that's a concern. If it's purely social, yes, I think it's important for homeschooled kids to have friends, but I don't think you need to be gone multiple times a week to facilitate that. Really, the hardest part is finding and making friends. Maintaining friendships is much simpler--dropping them off for playdates or having their friends come over is usually just driving one way, and if it's a good friend you won't be needing to spend a lot of time with them when they're together. I find that a lot of times, having kids over means my kids need less of my attention and I'm free to catch up on chores, reading, etc. You mentioned the Y--ours has childcare included in the cost of the membership. That has made it a great option for us, though we don't use it very often anymore. The childcare made it so if one was in an activity, I could drop the others off and they could play instead of just sitting around and waiting.

By keeping them home, I get to control who/what gets access to my kids hearts and minds. We do have outside influences, but I choose what they are instead of letting someone choose who doesn't love my kids as much as I do.

Another vote for "all of them". :) Formally, we do 144 (36 weeks x 4 days/week) + 24 co-op days. If I was reporting, I would also count camping and hiking trips, library trips, swimming, karate tournaments, or pretty much any other outing.

Homeschooling was always the plan for us. DH has wavered at times, for a while it was because of an anti-homeschooling co-worker and lately a little because of my son's behavior issues. But it's never been hard to convince him that the kids are better off being homeschooled (and that my life would actually be way more stressful if I put my son in school and continued to homeschool the girls). He leaves all curriculum, activity, etc. decision making to me. While I'm glad to be able to do things my way (and I'm far more opinionated about education than he is), sometimes I would love to talk to him about all of it for more than 30 seconds without his eyes glazing over.

We're in almost the exact opposite situation--we were avid library users, and I was spending a fortune on overdue fees. I finally decided I'd be better off minimizing our library use and spending that money on books we can keep. What I'm finding is that they still feel like there's "nothing to read"--mostly because I've picked out the books I've bought. They tend to pick out twaddle, and I'll still let them choose their library books, so they tend to prefer those. However, owning books has made it easier for us to do read-alouds--I pick higher quality literature, and we don't have to rush through a book or abandon it halfway through because the library needs it back.

They're supposed to eat, get dressed, make beds, brush teeth & hair and do a chore before 9:15 (this happens sometimes). Then it goes like this: We do the following together: Read-aloud--Living Room Pray Bible reading--LR Bible page--Dining Table Song School Latin--LR SOTW 2x/week (read chapter) or History of US--LR SOTW map--DT Then DD10 does math and everyone else does WWE--DT Then everyone does their own math, spelling (SWO) and they read to me individually. The younger 3 kids are usually done by 12:30 or 1:00, even if we start late. DD10 also does grammar (FLL4) and writing (CW) with me. It's up to her when this happens, if she doesn't catch me before lunch she knows she has to wait until after my break is over (around 3:30). We do science at homeschool co-op. I haven't been able to work art in yet, or music. We do our SOTW rotation with my oldest, who is currently in 4th. So next year we'll be doing Ancients, which is right where she and my youngest are supposed to be. The middle two are fine assimilating though. Also, the younger three are all doing WWE1--it's a little too easy for my son and a little too hard for DD6, but I'm hoping we can drag her along and she'll catch up. If not, I'll redo it with her when she's older. It works well for us...though next year when DD10 is in 5th grade and officially logic-stage, it will complicate things a bit. Though writing and science will both be taught at co-op next year, so that frees me up a little.

I would say both truths are basic to our nature. I don't think one is more true than the other, or one is more powerful than the other. It just is what it is.

I'm with Jean and Heather. For me the question is whether sin originates in the human heart/soul/etc. or whether people are made sinful by outside influences. I believe the former. I believe that people are basically bad but not utterly bad--our bent is to turn away from God, who is good and the source of all goodness. I consider myself conservative. For me, there is a strong link between these. I do not believe that improving a person's circumstances causes them to be less sinful, though it may change the way in which they sin. So while I believe in helping the poor (for example), it is not because I believe that poverty causes sin and alleviating poverty will make people less sinful. The government can (and should at times) restrain one's sinful impulses, but it can not provide salvation from sin--only God can do that.