I think it's about time to read Narnia as a family again (been 5 years), and FUFI seems like a good book. I don't want it for the science or history. But for literature discussion, Bible, and some fun stuff, it should have plenty of that, right, especially for K, 4th, and 7th? I also want to have my 7th grader read some of Lewis's other works, maybe. What has been your experience with FUFI and a large family?

My daughter learned her facts simply by looking them up on a chart. That's what she wanted, and over time, she stopped needing to look them up.

That's awesome! You may find it easier to wear your new baby on the bus, so if you need help finding a suitable carrier, please ask, or check out the forums at thebabywearer.com.

Subscribing to this thread -- I hope you get some good suggestions!

Out of curiosity, which teeth did they pull? I am contemplating braces and wondering what the best options for creating more room are (removing teeth vs. filing several down a bit).

Not generally doubles of things, but only four eat as of yet, and some of them still need help with stuff anyway. We serve family style most of the time. We have DH at the head, with 5yo on the side on DH's left, with me on the 5yo's left. 2yo is at the foot, on my left, and 11yo is on 2yo's left, right across from me, with the 8yo on 11yo's left, right across from 5yo, on DH's right. Splits up the often-silly boy crew, and it means that between DH, 11yo, and me, someone can easily pass things or help a small boy cut meat or whatever.

This year, my kids are 6th and 3rd (and pre-K), and we're using Mr. Q's Chemistry. We like it, and science (not my strong point) is actually getting done. It's easy for my 6th grader but seems to be effective for her, in that she seems to remember the vocabulary. She does a review sheet for each chapter, plus the tests. My 3rd grader doesn't do the written sheets/tests. Both of them fill out lab sheets (template I made) for some of the experiments (not all! sometimes we just want to see what happens and not stress about recording the procedure). So based on that, I got Mr. Q's Earth Science for next year -- rocks, weather, stars! -- sounds perfect for my crew of little boys. My problem is DD, who will be in 7th grade. I am concerned that Mr. Q will be too easy for her. Looking at it, it looks like it'll be a mix of review and new info, which sounds good. But do I need to beef it up for her? How much challenge is necessary for 7th? Is it okay to have this subject be easy and fun, since it does have some new material? If I supplement for her, or if I opt to use a different and complementary program for her (same topics but more challenging? Like we use History Odyssey for her and ds1, same topics, just in different levels), what would you suggest? And how do I get a stronger program for her, without either just adding more work/reading to her plate, or without sending her off independently? Time is fleeting -- I want to keep her with the rest of us when possible for as long as possible. But I want to make sure I'm not doing her a disservice by not challenging her enough. Maybe what I really want is a program that's a step up from Mr. Q, that she can work through on her own, but where she does the experiments with us. So when we study the planets, for instance, she can read her book, and I can read to the boys, and we can do the experiments together to reinforce the concepts, and we can continue to go over the vocabulary at breakfast together. Suggestions?

My kids love Mango Language, so you might see if your library subscribes to it.

Yes, this. If my daughter gets pregnant unexpectedly, we can rally around her and support her, and we could potentially have a lot of influence in encouraging her not to have an abortion (we are very much against abortion); she could choose to birth the baby even if the baby's father would encourage an abortion, or she could choose abortion, but it would be *her* choice. But if our sons get someone else pregnant, they don't get to choose to have the mother birth the baby if she chooses abortion. My support for my son, or my son's ability to be a good father, would only matter if the baby's mother allowed him the chance to be a father in the first place. (Gosh, now this thought is so depressing. I think there are emotional reasons to wait to have sex, but one really huge practical reason isn't just "you might get pregnant/get someone pregnant unexpectedly;" it's "you will be tied to this person and his/her family for life if you create a baby with that person, so choose carefully." That wasn't an issue for me -- I've been with my DH since we were teens, and an unexpected baby wouldn't have been the worst thing that could have ever happened to us -- but it is something I will stress to my children, as something to think about carefully.)

I actually like this explanation. Although I want my boys to wait just as much (maybe more, since it could be a lot dicier for them if they created an unexpected baby).

Definitely Henry Huggins. Also, The Mouse and the Motorcycle and its sequels. Narnia, at least The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe Paddington Wayside School books maybe The Hobbit? Maybe in a couple more years? The Cricket in Times Square Anything by Carolyn Haywood, although these are also good chapter books for new readers My kids all loved Mr. Popper's Penguins, especially my preschooler. The first couple of Little House books, especially if you watch the youtube videos that correspond to them, are fun for boys, as is Farmer Boy. When they're a wee bit older, the 68 Rooms series is a lot of fun. The Westing Game too, but in a few years. Also, my oldest son adored Treasure Island at about 6-7, but I know my DH had to stop to explain things, so ymmv. And my kids lovelovelove the Percy Jackson series. Maybe in a couple of years, especially if you study Greek mythology some first.

Yep, the kids' towels are color-coded. So are their water bottles, although not necessarily the same colors as the towels (that would have been brilliant). Each child, except for the infant (yet -- he'll get one sometime after a year), has one nice stainless steel water bottle. This is the only container that's allowed out of the kitchen (because it keeps spills on papers and electronics and beds way down), and it's the only container that they take in the car too. No more lost sippy cups, and we always know whose water bottle is whose. My kids are responsible for clearing their own places at the table. DH or I clear the rest, although sometimes I do ask a kid to clear some or all of it. They put away their own laundry too, except for the boys' hanging stuff, because they can't reach the bar. (Well, the 8yo can, but it's just easier on me to fold the foldable stuff and stack it at their spots at the table, while tossing all the shirts in a basket and sorting them by boy when I take them up to their room and hang them.). As for cleaning up, they're responsible for their own rooms, and periodically, DH or I go in to assist with the small amounts of clutter that seem to build up, but each of the big three kids gets a room to clean up at the end of the day, regardless of whether or not they even ever stepped foot in that room. (I generally work it so that if DD, for instance, has gotten out a big project that day, she cleans the room it's in, but it's not foolproof, and yeah, sometimes they clean up toys that some else played with. Such is life.)

Is anyone else picturing Scully (and maybe Mulder too) on this scenario?

This, exactly, except sub "nearly 200" years for 80. PB and snap traps has been a good combo.

No idea, but I am so sorry for your loss. Gentle hugs.

It is rare that we have people here (DH works in construction and can handle most stuff himself), but when we had the guy here to fix the internet, my then 4yo was totally fascinated. That guy was great! He looked at my four kids and my very pregnant belly and asked if all the kids were mine. I thought, "Oh, no, here we go." But no! He said, "My wife and I have six." Then, he asked if we were homeschoolers. He said the piles of books were dead giveaways. Turns out that he and his wife homeschool in the next county over. He was really nice. In fact, when my 4yo saw him across the street the following week, fixing some else's phone, he smiled and waved and greeted my 4yo. DH is in people's houses fairly often, and I think he would not mind a couple of polite, interested questions from kids, but it would obviously depend on what he was doing.

It is 4F here right now. DH said it was reading -2 when he left at about 6 am. But! God bless my DH, who suggested an outdoor wood burning furnace seven years ago, and who hauls and chops said wood, and who feeds the furnace every night. God also bless him for wrapping some pipes in heat tape last night. My babies and I are toasty warm.

Wait, isn't that why cargo pants were invented, so men didn't have to carry bags? Or is it just my DH and boys who cram a gazillion things into those pockets? Man-size cargo pants can hold an iPhone AND a small tablet in the same pocket at once, apparently. DH has lamented the fact that men just don't really carry anything equivalent to a purse. He wears jeans to work 99 percent of the time, so no cargo pockets. He puts his stuff in the side pockets of his lunchbag or in its top compartment. Also, I have a small cubby set on a counter by the door, so keys, etc. can go in those. I lose my sunglasses much less often now, and the kids' sunglasses are in their cubbies (one for each of them), as well as inhalers, EpiPens, Chapstick, etc. Books to go back to the library and mail to go out sit next to the cubbies.

That is more than my 11yo and 8yo do, but we also have several very little ones, and so my big kids help with the littles more -- nothing specific, just whatever I need at the time, so that probably skews things a bit. If we had no littles, I would expect more household chores, but my 11yo can do everything for the 2yo that I can do (including bathing and putting him to bed) and most everything for the infant (except feed, and since I bathe him with me, she has never done that). My big two: -One feeds pets and puts away dishes, while the other empties trash cans and takes out trash/recycling/compost every day. -They put away their laundry; I wash it. 5yo collects laundry from around the house every day and takes it to the laundry room for me. -They clear their own dishes, and they put away groceries. -They help some with meal prep, nothing set, just as needed. -They tidy their school areas and rooms, and they make their beds, generally daily. -They feed the furnace in the middle of the day, and they help DH haul wood when needed. He has taught them a bit about yard care, but they aren't quite old enough to operate the tractor yet for mowing. -They help dress littles, make and pack lunches, fill water bottles, buckle littles, etc. when we go out, just whatever needs to be done. -They each clean a room or two (so does the 5yo) in the afternoon, just putting away stuff and vacuuming. -They (well, the 11yo; the 8yo can go along with the 11yo) can run into a store and buy crickets for the gecko, or a couple of grocery items, or stamps, or they can run in and pick up or drop off library books. (This is enormously helpful to me, so that I do not have to unbuckle everyone for a two-minute errand.)

I was just a guest at a winter wedding. I was in it, since the bride was my sister, so my outfit is irrelevant, but lots of women were in pants, like dress slacks and blouses or nice sweaters. Mostly darker colors, but not exclusively. My brothers' wives wore dresses, but they needed to be in a lot of pictures; I think they could have easily been perfectly fine in the tunic you linked plus dress pants and flats, had they been friends or more distant relatives, because that looks a lot like what a lot of the women were wearing(especially those over 30; my sister's younger and single friends seemed to be wearing little dresses)..

I voted "middle ground" -- somewhere between your last two options. I definitely don't view dating as a casual thing. I view it as a prelude to marriage, and I see emotional attachment as a sacred thing. I don't want my children dating anyone that they don't see themselves marrying. I lean more toward a courtship model, but I don't necessarily want it to be a very formal and arranged sort of courtship, if that makes sense. I also voted "no age, whenever someone asks," but only because it wouldn't let me leave that one blank. Truthfully, I don't have a set answer for that. It'll be when the time is right, and that will depend on the particular child and the particular circumstances. My parents thought maybe sixteen for one-on-one dates for me, fifteen for a group date. But really, they didn't have a specific sort of rule about courtship or what dating was supposed to mean, or whatever, although I know they would have insisted that I only date guys they approved of. *I* was the one saying, at 13-14, that I didn't want to do a lot of casual dating, that I didn't want to date any guy I couldn't see myself marrying. I wasn't interested in lots of breaking up and getting together and all of that, and I didn't want to waste my time on a guy who just wasn't the kind of guy I saw myself marrying. Yeah, well, my poor parents. Even with a teen with her head on straight (and I was, generally, not a flighty teen at all), no parent is exactly asking for their 14yo daughter to fall hard and fast for a 16yo boy. My parents knew his parents from church; I knew him a little from a couple of school clubs that I had joined when I started high school in September. A friend set us up for the Homecoming dance (so, October). One dance, people; it was supposed to be one dance, as friends. Not two years of dating, two years of long distance relationshiping when he was at college, three years of dating when we were finally at college together, a ring, fifteen years of marriage and five children. ;) Needless to say, I have no preconceived notions about my children and dating. We'll take it as it comes.

Hahahahahaha, oh my goodness, that is SO TRUE! They really do reproduce in dark corners. Oh, and they teleport themselves too.

2 hours on hold! That's awful! I haven't been a AAA member in about ten years, so IDK, but here in PA, we are ERIE customers, and they have been fantastic with roadside assistance. The only drawback is that you have to call someone first for a tow or lockout or whatever, and if you're traveling, that can be tricky to know who to call, but ERIE happily reimbursed us for things. I think it costs us $14 per year per car? Can't remember, and I have an almost-asleep infant in my lap, so I can't look, but it's pretty reasonable.

Didn't read the other replies, but my kids have a lot of Legos. Typically, they build the set as it comes in the box, with the instructions that are included. They play with the set for a while and have a great time with it. Often, things get broken, or they get purposely taken apart, after a while, and then the pieces are reused to create their own things. Then they'll decide to build a set again, and yeah, sometimes pieces have been lost. Lego is AWESOME at replacing pieces, though! It's very easy and pretty inexpensive to replace things, and a couple of times, if it's only been a couple of pieces, Lego has sent them to me at no charge, which is really good customer service -- small expense on their part for a lifelong customer who has many of their sets. I don't know how old DS1 was when he started building his own things -- 6 or 7? I really don't remember. I know my 5yo has been building his own things for a while. He takes the minifigs apart and creates new characters, and they're forever building ships or robots or who knows what with random pieces from the Technic sets and all. Storage -- high shelves for things they don't want broken, and a big bin for loose pieces. As well as all over the house; I find Legos in all sorts of random spots. From time to time, they sort them into bags by color or by set, if they are trying to build something specific. Oh, and DD has a couple of the general building sets that have pink and purple and such in them; she keeps them in her room, separate from the other general bin, I think. Great toys! I don't regret for a second the money that has been sunk into Legos -- nothing gets as much play time as Legos in my house, except for maybe Duplos.

I think you could easily use something else instead of van Loon. DD likes van Loon okay, but she hasn't raved about it, kwim? I think it's a nice contrast to Kingfisher, but not the end all, be all. I don't think there is anything that DD has done that has absolutely needed van Loon.