I also would not feel at all okay with any clause in a contract that allowed for an abortion; I would absolutely insist that I treat the baby as I would any of my own children, and abortion is simply not an option. I would also insist that no embryos be destroyed, and I would only allow transfer of a reasonable number of embryos (two, maybe three), no selective reduction allowed.

Also, my kids have really loved several of the Focus on the Family Radio Theatre dramatizations, such as At the Back of the North Wind, Anne of Green Gables (well, DD; I'm not sure the boys listened to it), and the Legend of Squanto. They're very good and entertaining, so their production of Narnia is probably amazing. I'm not sure it's a full unabridged version, though; it may be more of a dramatization. So if you want an actual reading of the book, I'd probably go with the other one (Michael York, I think, though I don't know anything about it).

Some of the audio books we've listened to in the past couple of years (we have long drives any time we go anywhere, so we cover a lot of audio books): -Little Britches -The Mouse and the Motorcycle and sequels, read by B. D. Wong -Henry Huggins series, read by Neil Patrick Harris -some of the Little House books, read by Cherry Jones (she's okay; her voice is a little too warm and enthusiastic in some parts, IMO, but still very good; boys might enjoy her reading of Farmer Boy) -the Percy Jackson series (even my 4yo boy loves it) -Encyclopedia Brown -James Baikie's Peeps at Many Lands:Egypt (from librivox) -multiple selections from librivox -- various Lang's fairy books, Our Island Story, Tales from Shakespeare (my kids especially like anything read by Kara Shallenberg) -Treasure Island, read by Alfred Molina -Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner, read by Jim Broadbent -some of the things by Jim Weiss (SOTW and some others), but my kids aren't big fans of his voice

Library sales. We used to live in an area with amazing library sales -- like, they'd put barely used books on sale for a dollar or less (25-50 cents for children's books). I was able to buy so many "hmmm, this looks interesting, maybe for someday" books that way. I am still finding things, seven years later, that have been aging on my shelves and are just right for NOW. My dad often finds cool stuff at library sales, and I rarely turn anything down. Our support group has a lending library, and we also have a free table at many events. I've picked up a lot of good stuff that way too. Like, a few years ago, someone left Beautiful Feet's Augustus Caesar's World on the free table, in excellent shape, so I snapped it up. My fifth grader is reading it right now, and it's just right. I also have most of my college books, a large portion of which were Penguin paperbacks (I was a history major, and there are limited textbooks). So those are waiting until my kids are ready for them. And my mom routinely clears out HER shelves and brings me books, or I raid them when I go to visit her. My kids are, in many cases, reading the exact copies of books that I read as a kid. Mostly, though, I never seem to throw anything away, ROTFL! I happen to have more storage space than money these days, so I buy select few books, but I still have tons.

No idea why the link didn't work, but yes, the ISBN matches, so I think it's right. Thanks so much!

I generally love being pregnant and giving birth; it's been a wonderful, mostly pleasant experience every time. I just don't think I could carry a baby and then not raise him or her. It might depend on the person I was doing it for; I could probably do it for, say, my sister (actually, for her, I am sure I could do it), but while I think it is a wonderful, generous thing to do and have no moral issue with it at all, I don't think I could handle it emotionally for anyone other than my sister, and only then if it wasn't my egg. I could be the oven for my sister (or possibly my brothers' wives), and I'd have to just approach the whole thing that way -- just the oven, giving a gift to someone I love dearly. Now, do I think it's a great thing to do for someone else? Absolutely. For money or not. What a wonderful gift to give someone! I am just not sure I could do it myself.

PA -- best local foods ever. Seriously, the wealth of local options here is amazing. Little farmers markets and dairies everywhere. But specifically, BEEF! (And dairy in general; you can buy some really good artisan cheese here. Seafood, not really something to order around here, but if you want a steak or a burger, it'll be incredible.) And apples. Peaches, too, but the apples are particularly spectacular in season.

All of mine see our family doctor (who is my doctor as well); she's a young female, and I picked her because *I* prefer females myself, and also because I thought a younger doctor would probably be more comfortable with my slightly less than mainstream ideas. She is. :) If/when my boys have a concern about seeing a female doctor (my oldest son is 8), I can switch them to one of the male doctors in the practice (one of whom is technically DH's doctor, though he's only seen him like once). I really like the idea of a family doctor; I've had some great pediatricians, but I prefer the idea of continual care and whole-family approach that a family doctor provides. (And thus far, ours has been fantastic about small-kid issues -- I've had no problem getting her to okay the specialists I wanted for allergies and speech therapy, and when our DS3 had a heart murmur as an infant, she jumped on it and got us the echocardiogram to confirm that it was benign.)

Oh, so glad to hear this good news! Congratulations! Two brothers close together -- so much adorable fun! He's beautiful, and I hope your recovery is swift!

What Alessandra said. I haven't tried the Targus stylus; I have the super cheap ones from amazon that are 10 for $3.00 or so, and they work fine. Occasionally, I'll get a dud one, but for the price, I have no complaints. (My toddler has also destroyed a couple of them, so that's another reason I went with cheap and plentiful.) Dropbox IS really nice for getting files to your desktop for printing, but when my printer dies, I am going to get one of the ones that lets me print directly from the iPad, because Dropbox is limited space (or costs money). Examples of how I have been using Notability for schooling: -PDF of Treasure Island unit study -- Notability lets me write directly on it so I know what we're doing. -Use as paper/white board -- DD sets up a file and does her math practice problems right on it. She likes picking pretty backgrounds and colors -- whatever makes math more fun for her. Very easy to make corrections, including moving things around if we need more room. I just print a few samples for the portfolio, and when the school district sends me the letter approving the portfolio, I'll delete all but the few samples. -I scanned DD's math tests into the computer and turned them into PDFs on the iPad; she just does it right on there and makes it larger if needed. Nice and tidy, easy to correct, nothing to get lost. -I loaded a calendar in PDF form onto the iPad and used Notability to mark weekends and holidays -- easy to plan my year that way. (I also have used Notability as a word processor for making notes about lesson plans.) -DD's worked through a logic book this year, and it's in PDF form on Notability -- super easy with the stylus. -I loaded our science program onto the iPad for next year. I loaded two copies of the student book onto it as well, one for each big kid; they'll do the follow-up sheets right on Notability, and I'll print a few samples for the portfolio.

One of the best things about Latin, which was an unexpected benefit, is the sense of organization it's giving my DD. Because Latin is so logical (and in ways that French isn't always), it's really helping her with order and process, teaching her to follow the same steps every time. This has carried over to other subjects, like math.

If you have something that can run it, one of the old Caesar games might be fun. And my kids love Carmen Sandiego too.

We do do memory work, and she reads out loud to the little ones pretty often, so I think we have those covered. Figuratively Speaking, though -- that might be a good thing. She would probably really enjoy that. Is this the book you meant? http://www.amazon.com/Figuratively-Speaking-Gr-Learning-Works/dp/0881603171 Thanks!

As the title says, I can't decide if I need more LA for DD for next year or not. Part of me thinks what we have is plenty, and part of me thinks it can't possibly be enough. We have a typing program, and she uses a word processor. She gets plenty of literature, either reading on her own, or as read alouds/audio books. We'll probably do at least one poetry study sometime in the year too, and I'll assign some non-fiction as well. For writing, she'll be working through WWS1. She does do some free writing but isn't super big into writing; I think WWS1 will be enough in terms of composition for her. I'll have her write paragraphs about science, history, art, etc. occasionally, and I'll target spelling or grammar mistakes as they appear. Latin's her favorite subject, so that hits grammar as well. We'll do memory work as well. My gut reaction is that her spelling is pretty decent and will be best corrected on an as-needed basis. Her understanding of grammar and punctuation is good too, though we'll do a little work on diagramming sentences, because I think she'll enjoy that. I had planned to have her do some specific worksheety stuff on language mechanics, spelling, and vocabulary, but then she completely aced her standardized tests in those areas, so I'm kind of left going, "What's the point? She's obviously progressing in those areas just fine." So I kind of can't decide if I need something else or not. My friend recommended Queen Homeschool, and I liked the looks of their LA books, but I think they're redundant with WWS1 (and we don't need the picture study part). So if I need something else, what, that isn't redundant nor busy work? Maybe poetry copywork a few days a week, both for the poetry exposure and for the handwriting practice? Maybe some great speeches or other famous/inspiring quotes in there too?

I spent about $200-$300 this year for my two older kids, and I'm really, really pleased with what we have. However, I spent a lot of time looking for deals. Some things I am using for free (Saxon math for DD and the Prairie Primer) because our support group's lending library has it. Some things I just got really good deals on. And sometimes I spend time collecting free resources (supplemental math for DD) or making my own (notebooking pages, or worksheets to go with the geography book I bought). I also have a pretty decent home library, and we have amazing public library services too, which helps a LOT.

I love the iPad for educational stuff. Right now, I'm using it to do all my planning for next year. I have some of our curricula on it in PDF form (which cuts down on heavy bags when we have to go somewhere), and like a PP said, I like Notability for the kids to annotate worksheets, or just to use as "paper." DD finds it much more interesting to do math on the iPad than on regular paper, and it's easier and tidier to make corrections on the iPad too. I like that it cuts down on piles of paper, since I only print a few samples. I'm using Mr. Q's science next year, and it's like 900 pages; the iPad made that really easy! We like the Kindle and iBooks apps as well (and it's easier for me to hold the iPad while rocking/nursing an infant as well). I do have some educational drill games on the iPad, but we haven't used them a ton yet. We do like how easy it is to look something up without having to take everyone to the desktop machine. I have my kids set up to do typing and piano (using MusIQ) via the desktop machine, but someone else can also be using the iPad to use Mango Language through our library at the same time. I actually use my iPad a TON and rarely for gaming. If I had the funds for a second iPad, I'd probably get one. The downside to having just one is that if I put too much curricula on it in PDF/Kindle form, it would slow us down because multiple kids would need it at once. So, for instance, I got DD's WWS student book to put on the iPad (or her cheapie e-reader), and I got science and Art of Argument (also for DD) for the iPad, and I'll scan in her math tests, but I opted not to get the teacher book for WWS or DS1's WWE book on the iPad. Oh, and the one other thing I dislike is that multitasking is cumbersome; on my desktop machine, I can have multiple windows open at once, but the iPad doesn't do that. So if I might need both a student and teacher PDF at once, the iPad doesn't make that easy.

Ours always does picture study at the beginning, and then for the past couple of years, they've been able to offer two classes each day. Sometimes the kids have a choice; sometimes all kids in a certain age range go to a particular class. Some of the things we've done in the past couple of years: Music and Movement for preschoolers, Dr. Seuss fun (preschoolers), American Girl (pick an AG and do some activities based on her time period), pirates (literature study for 6-9yo boys based on Treasure Island), Renaissance history, nutrition, cooking, art, gym (relays and games for ages 8-12ish), IEW, forensics (high school level), Lego club, Asian cultures, Greekology (Greek culture class), world cultures, sign language, nature.

We have done the BrainQuest workbooks for a few years.

We have thus far combined for history/geography, science, literature, and art. My three big kids are 4, 8, and 11 right now. For history, we've used SOTW and have supplemented with picture books; I occasionally assign my 11yo a harder or longer book to read separately that goes along with our history. The 4yo participates where he can/where he wants to; he doesn't do the SOTW maps, but he listens to the stories. He gets a kick out of read alouds too, and I try to vary those so that there's something that appeals to everyone at some point. Each big kid has his/her own math, writing, personal reading, grammar, and language.

When my DH gets dressed up, he likes to do it up well. He picked a really snazzy tux for our wedding.

My husband's ideal prom involved no dancing and no other people, except for me. He does seem to tolerate me. Why he and I went to four proms in a row (his junior and senior, then my junior and senior), I'm really not sure. I do have a lovely collection of gowns in the attic, though, and he did look awfully smashing in his tux. :)

Oh, yes, All of a Kind Family! They rank up there with Little House in my book. I don't think they're too young for Misty of Chincoteague; we read it in the fall, and even our 4yo liked it. Rebecca Caudill's Fairchild Family series might appeal to you too. Lmk, and I'll bring them to you.

Does your library offer Mango language online? We did one level of L'Art de Lire and liked it okay. DD was in 3rd-4th grade. It's very repetitive, and she didn't feel that she was learning enough actual grammar, not as much as she wanted, anyway. I got this book for her: http://www.amazon.com/French-Step---Step-Myrna-Rochester/dp/0071453873/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1366329416&sr=8-1&keywords=step+by+step+french It's not been spectacular, but I think that's because I need to work through it with her, going over the vocabulary more. I'm going to give it another shot next year, I think, along with Mango online.

We use the CAT online and have been very pleased with it.

Am I the only one who really feels sorry for this boy and hopes her daughter brings home someone like him sometime? He seems to have such a wise head on his shoulders, and I really, really hope he doesn't spend all of that money (which isn't horrible in the grand scheme of things, but it sounds like he worked really hard to earn it, and it might mean he has trouble affording books for college or something like that), only to have the girl dump him after prom. I don't think she's necessarily wrong to want the same experience that her friends are having, but at the same time, she's not really being fair to the boy either, IMO. I really think the guys should get together and decide what they're comfortable with.