:iagree:

That's really not the point with the Duggars. They have given over the size of their family over to God. They believe that their reproduction is in God's hands, not theirs and have surrendered their will to God's Higher Authority. We've made the same decision and, believe it or not, it's a very free place to be because we no longer have a say in those matters. No agonizing over family size, no decisions about birth control, no agonizing over knowing this is the last baby with all the emotions that go along with that. Someone pointed out about the danger to Michele because of her C-section last year, but I'm sure that she's not concerned because they've laid that in God's hands, trusting Him for her safety and the baby's.

I believe that many here are making more of this buddy system that the Duggar's use than is necessary. Saying that the Duggar household is run by the children is an interesting assessment. I have only seven children right now and I would say that they do a LOT of the household chores. From about age 2 we start training them to do simple tasks and as they get older those tasks grow more complicated. I still do most of the cooking but I certainly don't feel guilty in asking my three oldest to pitch in when my hands are needed to tend to someone else. If I had as many children as the Duggar's do, I'm sure the household chores would be mainly done by the children. Let's say my kidlets have 6 chores a day to do, as an example. Add in 10 more kidlets and give them each six chores and you do pretty much have the household chores done. What I have noticed as our family grows larger, is that we have a "team" spirit. We are a family, each member is important, and in order for our family to function as God wants us to, we work together constantly to reach our goals. That's also what I see as I watch and read the Duggar's shows and book. They are a family, working together. The buddy system they use allows them to work together to function as a family. This morning my fifteen yodd dressed my 19 month old son. That's a version of the buddy system -is that wrong because I wasn't personally caring for him myself? I was putting a crock pot supper together because of a busy afternoon. I'm sure that Michelle Duggar is not sitting in front of the TV all day while her older kids deal with household chores and child rearing. When you are a member of a family, whether you are two years old or the father, you are important and should share in responsibilities that enable your family to function. Sorry if this is rambling but I've been following this thread with a sense of disbelief at some of the comments that have been made. Of course, I'm also an overdue preggo woman and may be a tad bit sensitive because of that :lol:

I'm doing this with my 12 yods who has struggled for years with spelling. He's about halfway through both Megawords 1 and Sequential Spelling 1. I'm beginning to see some progress so we are going to keep at it. We just do one list a day in SS and one worksheet a day in Megawords. My intention was to do SS seven days a week but that has fallen by the wayside so we are just going to keep plugging along doing five lessons a day. I do like that he learns the "rules" in Megawords and then sees the patterns in SS.

Thank you so much for the information - I even use MFW and hadn't caught the fact that they had lesson plans.

I think I heard Dr. Wile address this at a home-school conference a few years ago and he recommended that Physics could be done at the same time as Algebra II. That's the way my son is doing it this year so I hope it works!

That's very interesting! We were talking about drinks yesterday, because he likes o.j. at breakfast and we were talking about whether it would be better to forego that since it's so high in sugars. He was talking about switching over to tea. I do know he drinks one cup of coffee at work every morning but I think he limits it to that. I'll have to look into that - along with everything else. He doesn't drink soda very much so I don't think that's throwing him over the edge.

Would you mind answering a few questions about the DIVE cd? I am trying to decide whether I want this or not. Is there a lecture for every lesson? How long do the lessons last? My kidlet doing is about half way through Zeta and I just ordered 87 but wasn't sure we wanted/needed the DIVE. Thanks

I have finally decided, after much the same angst that you are going through, that for most of my dc, we are going to leave MUS after Zeta and go to Saxon. My oldest ds just finished up MUS Geometry this year and asked me if he could switch over to Saxon Algebra II because he just doesn't feel that MUS is preparing him adequately (he's thinking about a science/engineering major in college). The Geometry felt very babyish to him. I'm hoping the switch will work out - he started the Saxon Algebra II book today and sighed in happiness. (I know, weird). That said, my dd is going to remain in and finish the MUS series (she's in the middle of Algebra I right now) because she absolutely hates math and wants the minimum education she can get by with in that area :) That's why I said "most" of my kids will switch over after Zeta if not before. Just to muddy the water, I also have a third grader who has hit the proverbial wall in the middle of Beta! He's the only one who has done MUS all the way through (the others switched at various points from Saxon) and he just stopped making progress! Any ideas on that? My theory is that he is depending too much upon the blocks and isn't confident enough in his basic math facts to go forward. I pulled out Saxon 3 for him and he loves it. Isn't it funny how different kids need different curr. Since I own most of both series, I guess I can just go with the flow based on their personalities. I can empathize with your dilemma and hope you can easily find the right solution for your son without too much switching around.

I'm really hoping that this update includes an account where you can track orders and know what's going on with backorders :)

I love, love, love my Zo. I wonder though if the reviewers are using the preset cycles. I don't use the presets for most things, I have adjusted mine to a shorter bake time under the "Homemade" cycle option. I think I also lengthened the kneading time because I use whole wheat flour. We found the bread was too dry and crusty for our taste using the presets, but I've found that with every bread machine we've owned. I chose the Zo because of that programmable setting.

Thanks so much for all the suggestions - I'm looking into all of them. It seems a bit overwhelming right now but I'm sure it will become a new normal which will improve the health of the whole family - I can see where we have become a very carb-heavy family. I grew up on a farm where meat and potatoes where served almost every meal and that has influenced my cooking abilities and my meal planning a LOT! :glare: Keep the suggestions coming!

I am so frustrated. I just got a call from dh's doctor's office with his blood test results which indicate an elevated sugar level and the nurse made the statement that "he's almost diabetic", "needs to watch what he eats" and "we'll see him next year for his check-up". That's it. I guess I was expecting some sort of follow-up with that diagnosis. I've been trying to do some research on the web, but am probably overly-skeptical about which programs/suggestions are legitimate and which are. . . well. . . not. Any suggestions as to books I/we can read to educate ourselves in this area and reverse this sugar level trend? He's known it was a problem for at least a year and basically he's ignored it so now I feel like it's more my responsibility as chief cook around here. The really ironic thing is that I'm the one who has a sweet tooth! He really eats very little sugar but I think it's the carbs that are getting him. He grew up in Japan and loves his white rice despite my attempts to switch over to brown. I already make most of our bread from whole wheat grain (though I do mix white flour in because the kids like it better so I guess I need to cut that out). Any suggestions of where to go next would be greatly appreciated. He's also got relatively low high blood pressure which he is on daily meds for if that makes any difference. He's beginning to be more consistent in exercise which I'm sure will help but I think we really need to make some changes to make the weight come off easier for him.

I was just going to post about the molasses. I usually just add about one/two tablespoons per every cup of white sugar. Works like magic.

Not this week. Received an order yesterday that I had placed last Friday but never received a shipping notice.

After the comment from the coach, I did tell the ladies sitting nearby that my kids were looking forward to a school break when the baby arrives. I'll have to make sure that becomes common knowledge :) I won't tell them that our normal calendar almost always includes starting school the first week of August so that we can take a break around the time the local school starts. My kids love to be outside on the day that the school buses start making their rounds. See, I'm just as rude the other way, I guess - LOL

For what it's worth, the coach is a woman. I'm not sure it really matters, but I can see what you're saying. It's interesting because my reaction may have been entirely different if it was a guy - maybe I have my own sterotype issues!

Oh, it didn't particularly bother me. The first comment just made me laugh because of the stereotype (and no, I didn't have my denim jumper on). The second comment probably bothered me more just because it isolated my son in a way that was completely unnecessary - if he went to a private school, he also wouldn't be on the same schedule as the rest of the kids. I don't think my ds even registered what she had said.

My eight yods's first soccer practice was last night. New people, new coach, and hopefully, new friends for him. Comment #1: I'm basically due anyday with baby #8 so I was explaining to the coach that if ds doesn't show up at a practice and I don't call it's probably because of circumstances beyond my control :) As I return to sit in my lawn chair, a lady sitting next to me says, "So do you homeschool?" I replied, "Yes" with probably a puzzled expression because it seemed an odd question to ask a new acquaintance (first words ever spoken between us). She answers with "I figured you did when I heard you have so many kids". :confused: I guess I live under a rock - I never knew there was a limit as to how many children you could have if you send them to ps. Comment #2: Our local school starts today so that was a big topic of conversation between the coach and kids as they were getting to know each other. Coach asked my ds if he was ready for school and he gave her a confused look because we've been doing school for about three weeks. I explained we homeschool and had already started. Fast forward to the end of practice -- coach is giving them a little pep talk, announcing next practice, wishes them a good day at school tomorrow. "Oh, except for Joey, he's homeschooled and he's already been having school for a while now. Aren't you all glad you aren't homeschooled?" :001_huh: It may be a looooooong season this fall!

I do it every week, transferring from my lesson plans. One thing I do though, is I have a little "cheat" sheet" list of the lesson plans that need to be transferred each Sunday night because otherwise I do the same thing and forget something each week. My "cheat sheet" just lists the subjects for each kidlet that need transferred. With five kids with different plans, it's helping me keep my sanity. My olders also have different schedules and are always on different "days" for school because of extra jobs, trips, etc. So my cheat sheet is also going to start including which day of school they are on for the week I'm working on (I set up all my LP plans based on sequence number = day of school). Hope that makes sense.

I think the biggest thing is to make sure that they realize they are part of the team. My kids love it when we have a new baby in the house because it's everyone's project. We are a Christian family so we always approach it with the idea that even though it may not be convenient, God has given us another wee one to love and take care of and it's all of our jobs to make sure the house runs as smoothly as possible and that all of the little ones are paid attention, too. Practically, one thing you may want to consider is instead of increasing the amount of their chores, consider how much help they can be just dealing with a fussy infant by holding, cuddling, singing, etc. while you do some of the cooking, cleaning, etc. (I mean after the initial recovery period). I try to keep in mind that my kids don't necessarily want to clean the toilets but are usually happy to hold the baby for a half an hour while I clean the bathrooms. Supper time is always stressful and my olders are a big help in the preparation if it's time to sit and nurse the baby, but on most occassions, I try to time it so that baby is not hungry (i.e. doesn't necessarily need MY attention) and I'll assign a kiddo to entertain baby while I cook for an hour. Usually they get to turn on the T.V. while cuddling the baby or walking him/her to sleep which is an extra treat. Even my younger kids (age 5 up or so) take their turns with baby entertaining duty - maybe bouncing the bouncer, maybe just talking to them while he lays on the floor, so I'm sure the teenagers will be a huge help. Yes, the initial newness will wear off after a while but with babies there are so many new things each week in their accomplishments that the interest stays high. HTH, Janet

I would give them more time to respond. I've had situations where I just couldn't get to the p.o. because of sick kids or car break downs. As far as the no response, internet connections do go down. It's only been since last week - give some more time and I like Tina's response - thirty days then you can dispute. It's probably just an unforeseen circumstance on their part.

My dd is doing: Bible, History, Literature: My Father's World World History and Literature Grammar: Abeka Grammar and Composition IV (not doing all the composition component) Vocab/Spelling: Abeka Spelling and Vocab Science: Exploring Creation Through Marine Biology Math: Finishing last half of Algebra and doing Geometry (MUS) She got behind last year because of a three month missions trip plus she hates math - LOL. Latin: Latin in the Christian Trivium II French: Rosetta Stone I combined with Breaking the Barrier French I Arts/Music: Harmony Fine Arts (if I ever get her started on it)

My seventh grader is about a week into Rome to Reformation and the transition has been pretty easy because a lot of the things we were doing in HO last year are similar in MFW. He just told me the other day that he really likes it but history is always his favorite subject so I'm not sure that MFW is making a difference other than making my life easier as far as scheduling. The book basket has been a big sucess and I haven't even been reminding them - the books are out all over the house being read and reread so that part has definitely been a great addition to our school work even though the kids don't know it. As far as the recommendation to skip up to Ancients for next year, I would follow MFW recommendations. The high school programs seem to build on each other and are designed to follow in sequence from Freshman to Sr. year. Maybe have him do some reading (History of US?) in the summer before his ninth grade year just for fun so that he could finish out the history cycle to satisfy his curiosity?

I'm guilty as charged many times because my pet peeve in the grocery parking lot is that the corrals are all fairly close to the store. My everday vehicle is a 12 passenger van with an extended back and I just don't park anywhere near any other cars. I have a rule that I must be able to pull forward through the parking spaces so I don't have to back up and I prefer it if no one is on either side of me (you'll understand when you see the swipe mark on the side of my van from when I turned a bit too sharp pulling out of a parking spot). I usually have a few kids with me and the cart corrals are usually more than 15 - 20 spots closer to the store than I am. . . . nope, not going to return the cart. If they want me to return the cart, they are going to have to treat the whole parking lot as a parking lot and put corrals throughout - not just near the doors.