" Perry insists that a good education is based on what a child learns in the classroom and not what a parent might know that could help their child." :blink::scared::cursing::banghead::thumbdown:

I would like an answer for this, too! My friend's 4 yo uses the "s" sound in place of a "f." She's not homeschooling, so I guess her school next year might pick it up, but wouldn't it be better to work on it before it's ingrained even more?

My Grandparents/guardians bribed me with dimes. I got a dime a finger if you could see the nail looking at the inside of the hand. (But it didn't work for me. I still bite my nails :blushing:) If she has friends who like to paint their nails, maybe keeping them nice for that could be incentive. (POSITIVE peer pressure!) Personally, I can not stand the feel of an emery board on my nails, and clippers send shivers down my back, and both set off my anxiety. Does she have these same problems?

:iagree: This is a GREAT idea!

:grouphug::grouphug:

I don't know what you do, but my husband and I looked at the numbers, and we figured out that we saved money with me staying home. With 2 kids daycare age there was no way I could make enough to afford it, we didn't have anyone who could watch the kids, and we didn't want them in a state funded place. We save money not needing a second car/insurance/gas expenses. I didn't need nicer clothes. I made more food from scratch rather than buying more expensive, quicker foods. Try to see if you can manage on one income. It requires some sacrifice, but it can be worth it.

We live in California. Do we need another reason? We live in California and we are conservative Christians. I never thought I'd homeschool, but when ds1 was 6months we started paying more attention what was going on in the schools politically. We heard about Harvey Milk day (which was passed into law recently) and how he would be taught to kids in KINDERGARTEN, and that "alternative lifestyles" was to be taught as a moral choice. Both my husband and I grew up in the CA ps system (though I did middle school out of state in a private school) and we knew it was bad. Then we found WTM and we realized what a great education we could give our kids!

My father in law has dealt with this with some of his kids. In his case he threatened to kick them out (and he would have done it, too) if they didn't work at getting a job, a driver's license, and learn how to budget and write a check. (I think "looking for a job" included daily application filling and interviews) His oldest dd's choice was to get married and leave. She never got her license and still "can't" write a check. 15 years later she has just separated from her husband because of infidelity (on her part.) She, too, is living with her biological mother (she was adopted into my dh's family when she was 16) and her mom wants her out. My fil will take her back home, but only on the above mentioned conditions. The point of all this: sometimes kids need a dose of harsh reality to wake them up. And sometimes they ignore you and ruin their lives. You know your daughter best. You know what shes capable of. Hold her to that standard, and maybe start charging rent.

:iagree: That is a very good point! All though with DVR, there is a chance that it will be watched when kids are home.

Can you take the 12 yo and leave the 10 yo?

My husband and I watched the Dugger family on 18 kids and counting do this. We were shocked by how much they were paying for laundry soap before they started making their own. It was like $60 for 150 loads, or something close to that. We buy ours at Sams, it it's $14 for 110 loads. I don't understand why they don't buy in bulk, it saves so much money! We do almost ALL our shopping at Sams, one month's worth of food at a time. There IS room for all the tp in my linen closet, and even though we live in a 990 sq ft townhouse, we still can make it work. We have compared prices around town, per unit it is cheaper, and well worth the $40/year. Planning meals with basic ingredients, and not buying a lot of extra fresh ingredients has us at around $250-$300/month for food and household items. That number doesn't include the diapers and wipes. We get 126 size 4 for $35! I've seen the grocery store prices for diapers. Why would anyone pay that? (You did say you wanted other money saving tips...)

These are great! Thank you every one. When my ds1 was around 4 months(?) he had a very bad rash, so I decided to let him have some diaper free time. I had just changed him, so it would be okay, right? I was holding him in a standing up position (he couldn't stand on his own yet) while I was sitting cross legged on the floor. I heard a sound, and was able to catch the green, mushy poo in my hand before it landed on the carpet. As I sat there trying to figure out how I would stand up and clean up without letting him sit down with poop on his butt.... he peed on me.

:lol: :lol::lol: :iagree::iagree: Same thing happened to me, only I was sick, not pregnant. That sure is one penetrating smell! Thank you, everyone, this was just what I needed!

Our ds1 was 6-9 months the first time that happened. I stopped watching him for maybe 5 minutes. Then my husband (who was right next to him) said "What's that smell?" Ds1 had put his hand down his diaper, pulled out the poo, and smeared it almost 360* around him on the carpet, his arms, outfit, and even a little on his face. There was some on the outside of the pacifier, but thankfully none made it into his mouth!

:lol: Thank you, I needed that! :lol:

So I just finished off cleaning my 22mo after I found him on the stairs playing with his poop on a cardboard book. I don't know what it is about my boys, but over the years I have dealt with some HORRIBLE poo messes. My husband has a poo-phobia; if it's not in the diaper, he won't go near it. So I need to hear your best mess stories so I don't feel so alone and grumpy :tongue_smilie:

Keep in mind that people are more likely to talk about or review a company when they have a bad experience than when they have a good experience. Just because there are more complaints doesn't mean you will have the same experience.

I am the oldest of 12 kids (all same mom and dad) but I only grew up with the next two after me, a sister and a brother. They were born 15 months apart, and everyone thought they were twins. They were always really close as kids, and I was always left out. During my high school years they pretty much hated me (I only deserved it a little bit.) It took until I had been out of the house for 4 years before my sister and I got to be no longer enemies. We can have nice chats now, as long as we avoid certain topics. My brother doesn't call, and wouldn't know anything about his nephews if my sister didn't make him call on their birthdays. The other 9 kids, 8 brothers and a sister, ranging in age from 18 years to 2 years old, are all in different families either adopted or foster in another state. The oldest called me out of the blue the other day, and now we're e-mailing, which is wonderful.

:grouphug: People can be so clueless/unaware sometimes :glare:

Wow, reading all of these are so sad, I had no idea there were people who said things like this! And here I thought it was bad when my grandma-in-law didn't want me to have more than 1 (or 2 now) because she thinks I can't handle it. (She only had 1) I just remembered, when my husband announced our engagement to his then alive Step-grandpa, his only question was "Is she white?":glare:

They did :D One year we did a "Journy through the Bible" with different stops along the way for different stories (matching animal cards for Noah's Ark, putting the 10 Comandments in order, etc) starting at Creation and going to Christ's ascension. The next year we had a "Straight and Narrow" path that was criss-crossed by a "Crooked" path. At each crossing they had to answer a situational question "What would you do if you saw someone being picked on?" and if they answered right they went on the shorter straight path, and if they answered wrong (it was multiple choice) they went on the longer path that also had a "pitfall" lose a turn spot. It took hours to set up, but it was worth it! In both cases the kids wanted to play multiple times :D

Make your own! Have the kids come up with the premise/theme and the rules. You can add Cranium stuff like charades or something. For my VBS I turned the entire room into a giant board game with masking tape, with the kids as the pieces :D

I WISH my dh had some friends. Anything to get him off his computer games! He's lost touch (except for the one-a-month facebook post) with everyone he knew in high school, and there's no one his age at his work or our church. I have one friend, and dh is okay with her husband. They could actually probably be friends, if either one of them actually made an effort :glare:

:grouphug: Don't feel bad about wanting to limit your children's time with him. Sounds like he wouldn't mind :glare:

Are they giving away the books they are culling? I've gotten a lot of good books for free that way! Can you write a letter to whoever is in charge of these choices, maybe along with as many homeschoolers in the area that you know?