I fully agree with this sentiment. I do think it works both ways, though. He isn't your paycheck, he is your husband. My kids are the same ages as yours, except I have a 7yo instead of your 15yo, and also a 10yo in ps. We are very involved in outside activities in addition to homeschooling. What he is asking is certainly doable, and it shouldn't be painful for you or anyone else. * If your girls are getting up at 10am, they must be staying up late the night before. If they can't use that time to get a headstart on the next day's schoolwork, they need to get up earlier. It is too much unproductive time, which isn't good for anyone. The day starts at _____, they get alarm clocks and need to eat, get dressed, etc. in order to start at that time. For us it's around 9-9:30. * When we do a 15 min. chore time in the morning and a 5 min. pick up at the end of the day, it is enough to keep the public areas reasonably picked up. My 11yo does additional chores independently, and the younger girls do some with my supervision. I can tell them to do things without having to nag and remind (usually). * Your younger kids should be more independent than they are. I would make that a goal as of yesterday. Make them a list of what needs to get done every day and require them to be done by 5:00, with consequences for work not completed on time. If I was out of the house 14 hours a day, I would want to come home to relative peace and calm. Not perfection, not silence, but knowing that someone valued me and my work enough to prepare for my being there. I can see how it would be frustrating to come home after a long day, only to have people going about their business as if I wasn't there, or expecting me to pitch in. Now, I will say that I'm not perfect in these things, but the goal of a tidy house and dinner started by 6 is definitely attainable. It sounds to me like your kids need more discipline/structure. It doesn't have to be perfect overnight, but I would start with the goal of dinner done at 6 and everyone up by 9. I think things will fall into place faster than you think they will if you are committed to trying.

I put my son in school in November. It wasn't a completely seamless transition, but (like you) we knew it was what we needed to do and we are in a good place now. It's good that you are putting him in at the beginning of the school year. Our decision to put our son in school happened pretty quickly. I spent a week visiting the school, taking a tour, taking placement tests, etc. before we started. Then once he started, the school had more placement tests for him. One piece of advice I have--if you do standardized tests with him, have him take the one your district uses. It will make placement (in reading and math groups, etc.) easier. After a couple weeks, we determined that our son was not ready for 4th grade and would be better off in 3rd. In WA there is a *huge* difference in expectations between 3rd and 4th, and he was behind in all areas. He has made some improvements since starting school. He still has a long way to go before he's where I'd like him to be. Another piece of advice--figure out how your son's teacher communicates, and stay connected. For the most part, parents aren't beating their doors down in 3rd grade if they've been in school since K, so they may not be forthcoming with feedback unless you ask for it. School has actually been a great experience for us. I'm still homeschooling my daughters, but my son was frustrated at home and bullying his younger sisters (one in particular). My son has really responded to the structured, predictable environment and the behavior incentives, he has made friends, and it helps him to be with other kids who are doing what he should be doing. Our district is a top-rated district, and I'm not sure our experience would have been as good in a different school, but it sounds like you've chosen your son's school carefully. I'm happy to answer any other questions you have. :)

You might consider starting a social group. My co-op has about 250 students. I'm not the director, but I have been in leadership for about 5 years. I'd be happy to give whatever input I can.

Wearing white to a wedding??? :eek:

:iagree: Nobody has mentioned this (I don't think), but we bought an espresso machine last year. It was about $350 (at Costco Business Center), and it has been worth every penny! I mostly use it as a single-serve coffee maker--I run a little more water than what would typically be used for a couple espresso shots and have a nice Americano. We've also saved money on DH's expensive lattes...and would save even more if I could convince him to make one in the morning before he leaves for work (or if I got up and did it myself).

Wow. One can help a friend with cancer without running a co-op for them. I would draw a firm boundary and offer to take my friend's kids on a different day. I've never had cancer, but I can't imagine that it's easy for her to get her three young kids there and hang out for hours waiting for them to finish their studies. Commit to what you are able to do without bitterness, and then farm out or cancel the rest. Help the friend with cancer however you can. No way would I be doing all the planning/prep work out of guilt.

I wouldn't leave the group if it was one person causing the problem. I'm pretty sure my group would insist that they stay home. If it was more than one family, I'd think about staying home for a week or two, or maybe just put everyone's hair up in buns for the day and risk it. I've had lice before (working in preschool) and it was a pain, but not the end of the world. But we caught it before it spread past my hair...maybe if we'd had to delouse an entire house I'd feel differently.

Anything by Roald Dahl is excellent, but The Witches is my kids' favorite read-aloud ever, and we love read-alouds. It only works if you can really get into the voices, though.

I am no fan of the Pearls, but there are many, many people who read their stuff and don't become child abusers. I think the Pearl books are most dangerous in the hands of people who have extreme personalities or a black-and-white view of the world. If she seems to be a healthy, solid person in general and has a good relationship with her husband, you probably don't need to worry about her. The best thing you can do is continue to raise your kids in a healthy, positive way and hope to be an example to her, and report any signs of abuse that you see.

Yes--he pays for the building, some of the books, and my salary. :P I meant that tongue-in-cheek, but I really do believe that his contribution to our kids' educations is as important as mine. He does not do any of the actual educating, but he is the breadwinner, and he also acts as a sounding board for me and encourages the kids in their learning endeavors.

On one hand, I think it's appropriate for a girl who is an ungrateful brat in public to get a public smackdown. On the other hand, she didn't become a brat overnight. I don't have teens so I may eat my words very soon, but I think anyone who talks and acts like that in public has been allowed to get away with too much for too long. The dad might want to consider his contribution to the situation. I can't say for sure what I would do, but it seems like it would be a good idea to simply post a, "Dear friends, Darling Daughter will be taking a break from Facebook for an indefinite period of time. She will also not be available by cell phone or email. If you wish to get in touch with her, please feel free to send a message through her father or me."

Since I'm only about 85% sure I'll be homeschooling the kids next year, it could theoretically be anywhere in the 36-45 range, 47 if they take away the dual enroll option for 11th-12th grade and CC between now and then. I would love to finish my education and possibly teach college (probably CC). Maybe the grass is greener, but I get excited about the idea of school and working after being away from it for so long.

We're using Analytical Grammar. I think she hates it far less than R&S. We were looking forward to ALL, but we need WWS far more.

Also, what are your favorite online resources for natural remedies, holistic approaches to medicine, etc? Thanks in advance!

I would set up a meeting with the principal and bring in samples of their work. He/She might even connect you with a teacher at your kids' grade levels so you can gauge what they're doing compared to what you've been working on. I would also consider having them do whatever standardized test your district gives its students--it will make placing them much easier. Don't be afraid to work with the school on this. They have a vested interest in making your transition as easy as possible. My son started school rather suddenly this fall. We'd been considering it for a while, but then once it became clear to us that school was what he needed, he was enrolled and attending within two weeks. He spent a lot of time (before and during the first week of school) doing various tests so they knew where to place him for math and reading. Because of our experience, I'm planning to have my kids all take the state test along with the school kids (WA requires standardized testing anyway). If I end up needing to put the rest of them in school, it helps to have data the school can read (so to speak) about their progress and abilities. Feel free to message me if you have any other questions--it was a huge transition for us (especially since my son was initially placed in the wrong grade), but it has been positive overall. If the 5-paragraph essay is something you need to focus on, I recommend 4square writing. It is easy to learn and apply. You might also see if they have textbooks you can borrow at their current grade level--they could skim them now, or you could switch them over altogether. If the district doesn't have extras now, maybe you could check some out for the summer. If your kids are comfortable academically, you probably don't need to worry about it...but if they struggle it would give them less to worry about in the fall.

Band, band, and more band. Marching band in the fall and spring, concert and jazz band all year, and I did a couple summers in Drum & Bugle corps (which wasn't a school activity, but my band director was our corps director and many kids from band were in it). I was also in National Honor Society and Drug Free Youth.

Exactly--and because it's so mild, it does the whole melt-refreeze-melt-refreeze thing. We had a half inch thick layer of solid ice (clear like an ice cube) covering every stair, banister, etc. around our house...the roads were way worse. Besides, I defy any of the naysayers to endure 100 straight days of overcast skies with drizzly rain. :P

What a doozy! DS missed an entire week of school, which is really hard for us since he has not yet had 2 normal weeks of school in a row since he started in November. The kids loved the snow....for about a day and a half, then it got old. The power went out Friday morning and was out for 36 hours. I caught the stomach bug that had been making its way through our family and spent most of the first day barfing. We went out for the day Saturday to get out of the dark, cold house, and when we came back, PSE was working in our neighborhood. Yay! So my husband missed a day of work and then took a day off when I was sick, and one of their clients (or maybe vendors?) didn't show up when they were needed, so he'll have to work through next weekend to make up for the lost productivity. You can't look anywhere without seeing broken branches or trees split down the middle. It's amazing how one week of adverse weather can cause so many problems. That's why it's so irritating when people call Washingtonians "wimpy" because we "can't handle a little snow"...this is nothing like what most people think of when they imagine half a foot of snow.

I'm so sorry. :grouphug:

We went the weekend before Memorial Day weekend. Besides the blizzard we drove through in Butte, Montana, the weather was great. There were some places in the park that hadn't been plowed yet (hiking trails, mainly), but the roads were clear and we saw plenty of wildlife with no crowds. We stayed in West Yellowstone, which is probably the best place to stay if you're coming from WA and you want to see the entire park.

Well, at least they feigned sympathy, right? Hope you feel better soon!

We'll be doing a "birthday adventure", with an obstacle course, a treasure hunt outside, a Nerf gun war, etc....sort of Indiana Jones style. We always do a little more for the 10th birthday than the others.

Honestly? I don't believe it. Kids are required to read in school, and even schools that aren't great have kids reading daily. Even if a kid only reads a book per school week (I'm talking about picture books, not chapter books), they would pass 100 books in 3 years. If the study said most people don't read 100 books in their adulthood, I would sadly believe that.

Honestly? I'll probably let them binge on their new Wii games a bit. We'll do silent reading together and I'll probably work through our read-aloud, but we all need a week off after the craziness of last week (and I have no interest in trying to do school while my son is home, anyway...we tried it a couple times last week and it was fairly horrible).

I would think that P2 either: 1. looked it up in the 15 minutes after the initial conversation, or 2. remembered that he/she knew the answer after all, or 3. was making something up to make P1 leave him/her alone. Without hearing tones of voice and other ambient noise, it's hard to know if people were speaking rudely/offensively.