Lots of great places for shooting here in Pennsylvania! IDPA is a lot of fun: http://www.idpa.com/

I'd probably call and say something like, "I have a delicious recipe that is perfect for the venison I have in the freezer -- just wanted to make sure venison was okay with you." I love venison and would be thrilled to try your stew, but I just like to know what I'm eating, and not everyone is comfortable with game. At the very least, do identify what it is before you serve it.

Um, combination? DH usually takes leftovers; if there aren't leftovers, he picks something up somewhere. I pack his leftovers in a container and put them in the fridge at night. One of us makes sure the iced tea pitcher is filled (haha, there's a great plan for a happy marriage -- make sure the tea and teA pitchers are filled!), and that could be either of us, depending on who notices that it's low (DH drinks more of it than I do). In the morning, DH (who gets up at oh'dark thirty, way before I do) makes his breakfast and coffee, puts his leftovers and utensils in his lunchbag, and fills his iced tea bottle. He is not bothered by doing it himself; I just get in the way of his routine. He does not feel unloved because I don't pack his lunch; conversely, he feels loved if I make dinner. :) (When we were first married, he was going to school, and I was working 50+ hours a week, so we made quick breakfasts for ourselves, I made dinner during the week, and he made nice breakfasts on the weekend. He still makes way better french toast and waffles than I do. But dinner on the table right after he arrives home, even a humble meal, says "We love you" to him like nothing else does.)

Can I just tell you "thank you" for posting this? I hadn't seen it before, but it was exactly what I needed to read *today.* :)

Honestly, I usually just throw in a bunch of ingredients and hope it comes out okay. :) It's kind of a mashup of a few recipes from my Indian cookbook (which I can't find on Amazon, but it's a super basic one, though it has some pretty good recipes). I cook the chickpeas separately, and I might saute an onion and maybe some garlic in a pan, and then I add some frozen broccoli (or cauliflower). Then I add some diced sweet potatoes and some water or chicken broth, and I let it all simmer until the sweet potatoes are soft. If there's too much liquid, I let it boil off, and then I add the chickpeas (drained) and some curry powder, and then some coconut milk at the end, just heated through. Not very scientific (or probably very authentic), but it is pretty good. This recipe looks good, though I've not tried it, and the collection of spices looks pretty similar to what my Indian cookbook lists for some curries: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/moroccan-chickpea-stew/detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Recipe%20Search%20Results

I would find it odd, and probably tacky. I think it would depend on the exact circumstance, though. I've donated money to various people/causes over the years, when I could, if I thought the reason was legitimate and all, and I've seen nothing wrong with that. I remember one woman who had a parent die unexpectedly, leaving her with a huge funeral expense, that she couldn't afford, and since she was a long-time poster, and I was able to do so at the time, because she flat-out asked nicely, I sent a bit of money and was glad to do so. In this case, it sounds odd and at least slightly fishy.

Our first house was a foreclosure; we happened to find it when we were looking for a rental and not finding anything. We happened to see an ad in a real estate magazine for that house, and it was in a good price range. It was 2/3 of the price of identical houses in the neighborhood, and we would not have been able to afford it at full price. It needed a lot of cosmetic work, but since my husband is a professional carpenter and did most of it himself, it was totally worth it. I would say to get a really thorough inspection done if you buy a foreclosure, and be prepared to do heavy repairs. But it can be a really good deal.

I really like our year round schedule. I've done different things, but for this upcoming year, I'm just basing my plans on needing 180 days, and we'll work as needed and take breaks as needed. Probably that means we'll have several weeks in the summer of solid daily work, since it's too hot to be outside much anyway, and then we'll have several weeks in the fall, with some "let's skip school today" days when the lovely fall weather hits. Then we'll go light from Thanksgiving to New Year's -- I'm not entirely sure how that will work, because I don't really want to take seven full weeks off, but I want to leave more time for Christmas-related activities too. Then January and February (and March, depending on the weather) will be heavy school months, with April, May, and June maybe being lighter. I have to log 180 days in my state, so I try to get at least 15 days a month that I count as school days; 20 is better and lets us be done sooner (only for the state's purposes), but 15 is the goal.

I think 6/5 is working very well for my 10yo right now, and I think 7/6 will be good for her next year. I don't have her do all of the practice problems, but we both appreciate that there are always some easy review problems in a problem set, and just a few new ones at a time, so it's not overwhelming. She doesn't really like math, so having some easy ones has been great for her confidence. She does well with the incremental approach and needs to see something, then let it sink in over a few days, so Saxon is a good fit for her. She also does not like lots of colors and cutesy things; those are distracting and babyish to her, so Saxon's no-nonsense approach is good for her. She appreciates the subtle humor, like in the one example that said something about Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy -- she appreciated that she got the reference to Narnia. My son is totally different, so IDK if Saxon will be good for him or not.

I typically do the quick-soak method -- bring the beans and water to a boil, boil for two minutes, remove from heat, and cover. Let sit for an hour, and then boil gently until soft. chickpeas -- curried with broccoli, sweet potatoes, and coconut milk; just hot with salt and pepper as part of a lunch meal/snack; roasted kidney beans -- minestrone soup; as red beans and rice; chili pinto or black beans -- refried beans black beans -- stuffed into peppers or enchiladas; black bean soup great northern beans -- with rigatoni, spinach, and tomatoes

:iagree: I'd listen to his concerns, but since I'm the one doing it, I'd probably stick with my way, unless I felt that it wasn't working, in which case, I'd give his suggestion a thought. Generally, though, in my house, I take a criticism of how I do things as volunteering to do it one's own self -- if you complain that dinner's not ready, I'll see it as you offering to make dinner yourself and will take you up on the offer.

We actually already have plans for both of the dates for the field day, so we can't make it, but if you're heading down this way for the field day, be sure to check out the Greek Festival in Camp Hill, which is very close to Carlisle -- pagreekfest.org. Admission is free, and food has always been reasonable.

:grouphug: to all. We're there, and it's no fun at all. Things are so tight and getting tighter. I could really use a vacation. :)

Of my own brothers, Matthew is the younger one; James is the older brother. At my house, Benjamin is the much-loved second brother. I think Matthew and Benjamin go really well together. (Had I not had a brother named Matthew, I would have loved it for our third son.) I'm chuckling reading the last several posts; my oldest son is Andrew, and I see that a lot of people suggested that with Matthew. My only hesitation with that one is that if there was a third boy someday, you might feel like he'd be left out if he didn't have a disciple name.

I don't do the sir or ma'am thing with my children either. I don't feel that I *force* manners upon my children, but I do remind them to say please, thank you, and excuse me when appropriate. I absolutely do model those things, and I really do think that matters the most, but at the same time, I remind them to close the outside door, to put their shoes away, to do their schoolwork, etc. I don't consider that to be forcing; I consider it to be helping them learn routines and social graces. If someone does something nice for them, and they don't say thank you on their own (which they do, most of the time), I will say something like, "ahem?" or "what do you say?" or, my favorite, "how do you show your appreciation?" As for making children apologize, I'm of two minds about that. On the one hand, I don't care for any sort of forced or false apology; if my child is really not sorry, I'd rather him/her not apologize. On the other hand, I have a friend who said that she was never made to apologize, so as an adult, even when she's genuinely sorry, she finds it hard to say the words. Usually when I can tell that my child is sorry about something, I suggest an apology if one is not given freely; some kids just need someone else to be alongside them when they apologize. Also, in my house, "I'm sorry" is insufficient; it's too easy to toss that out without meaning it. A sufficient apology in my house is, "I'm sorry for doing X; will you please forgive me?" I've seen this clear the air and smooth hurt feelings multiple times between my children; they move on and bear no grudges.

Cool -- thanks again!

True. I don't think I'm going to get the MM bundle right now, though, even though it's on sale. It's still more than I want to spend at one time if we're not sure if we'll like it.

Ooooh, I'm kind of liking the looks of that! I've looked a little at MEP, and it's not grabbing me. Thanks!

I guess it would depend on the blog. If someone has a lot of really helpful information, it might be reasonable to have a paypal button so a grateful reader can contribute to the writer. If a reader knew that donations were going to pay for something like activities or homeschool supplies for the blog writer's children, a reader might be inclined to realize that the writer is writing instead of taking on an out-of-the-home job. People do pay for magazines; a blog might provide similar sorts of information. I think there's a lot to be said for the way people ask too.

The OP mentions several stepchildren in her sig, so it's possible that she did not participate in raising the children who dropped off the little ones. But yes, that would be aggravating.

That's a lot of recommendations for Math Mammoth -- thanks! It's looking like a good plan for DS1, though I think I will need to wait until we're finished with/tired of Miquon to decide what level of MM to get.

Math Mammoth and Singapore Math? Cool, thanks; I will look at those.

I'd be okay with it. My DH would probably find it interesting and would want to take our younger kids too. I'd also be okay with that. I'm okay with alcohol in moderation within the law, and I would equate a distillery/brewery tour with an auto plant tour; I'd have no problem with showing my kids how something is made, even though they'd have to wait to partake until they were a little older.

Glad, IIRC, makes a line of microwaveable containers that are BPA-free, and they wash up nicely and are pretty inexpensive (I want to say I bought them on sale for $3ish for a 3-pack of pretty large ones). I wouldn't worry about BPA for the occasional use, but DH takes and microwaves leftovers almost every day, so I wanted BPA-free ones for him. That is heartbreaking. :( God bless you and your church.

What math might you recommend that is inexpensive and good for a fairly mathy 7-8yo boy? He's a bit of a late bloomer, so we've gone slowly, but he's really blossomed and is flying through Miquon. I expect we'll finish all six books by this fall, early next spring at the latest. He gets the concepts very quickly and is also thriving with flashcard supplements to cement facts. He enjoys a bit of the "explore the concepts, look for patterns" that Miquon does (as opposed to his older sister, who doesn't care for the exploration at all), so I think he'd enjoy some of the "why" of math, but I want him practicing the steps too. Math is my strong subject, and I see DS1 intuitively doing the same sorts of little tricks that I do. I know nothing about Life of Fred, MEP, etc., so I am interested in what you might recommend for after Miquon for this child.