I don't know if it's all discipline or all truly difficult, or a combination, or what, but with my DD, who hates to write, we do limit how much she has to write in a day. Right now we've put copywork on hold in favor of doing a page from the HWOT cursive book every day, but when we go back to copywork, it'll just be a couple of lines a day, most likely. If I have her do a lot of writing in math one day, I might not have her do a written narration for history; if she writes a history narration, math might be all oral. It seems to help her to know that she's not going to have page after page of writing to do every day. (And actually, she's gotten less annoyed about lots of writing recently and seems to accept that she has to do what she has to do, so that's promising.)

I have to keep everything, because my state requires a portfolio at the end of the year. I buy a bunch of those small 3-prong folders at Staples when they're a penny each in the summer, and the kids decorate those for various special subjects -- this year, they've each made one for the Middle Ages, one for butterflies, will make one for birds, etc. So all applicable papers go into those folders. I'll probably keep those folders, at least for a few years (after I temporarily take out a few to put in the portfolio to give to the school district). Then other papers, like grammar sheets, or math sheets, or art projects, or whatever, go into hanging folders by month. At the end of the year, I'll pick a few to go into the portfolio and will probably get rid of most of the rest -- might keep some art projects, but probably not all the math sheets.

Coconut oil, toothbrush heads, and liquid Stevia currently. I never thought about things like toilet paper -- cool! I really like the S&S program.

I really like Clay Clarkson's Heartfelt Discipline, for its philosophy of *why* we choose a particular way of disciplining. It's a little short on the "do X in this situation" sort of thing though, but it really focuses on reaching the heart and not just correcting the behavior. I also like Raising Your Spirited Child and Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline. I like Dr. Sears's books in general for parenting very young children. For older kids, I think Kevin Leman's books are very good. I don't love every single thing he says, but overall, I've found him to be very much on the practical and reasonable side, common sense, kids are neither always good nor always bad. I think he's a really good compromise between the two major opposing sides of discipline philosophies.

Here is a recent thread that had some great suggestions (I'm too lazy to type my answers again!): http://welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=205971

I have a bit of a less-than-typical situation in that my DD (older and bigger) is much, much more rough-and-tumble than her younger brother (the 5yo, not the 2yo -- the 2yo is pretty typically "all boy"). DS1 is much more likely to avoid rough play in general and is more likely to complain if he gets hurt. In general, he's naturally very protective and giving, like with his little brother. We've given him a few tips about treating ladies specially (and we talk about the things that I do to treat DH specially, and vice versa), and he is definitely a gentleman to me. He insists on holding the door for me if we go somewhere, comes up randomly to tell me he loves me, thanks me for random little stuff I do for him, etc. (He's seriously going to be a catch someday, truly; if nothing else, his dimples will have all the ladies falling for him. The first time he flashed them at me, I was completely gone.) What totally cracks me up is that his sister taught him that he should offer her his hand when they get in the car, and he just went along with it. (It probably helps that she is 95% of the time dressed in some outlandish fancy or historical costume and for all her tomboyish roughness LOVES to play the princess.) But yes, I think it's very reasonable to teach boys to act like gentlemen to ladies. Not all women will appreciate having doors held for them (though I think that's just common courtesy, and I have done it myself when appropriate, male or female), but I think a fair number will like it.

I've seen four chiropractors in the past several years (partly due to moving), and they've all had different protocols. Two of them offered the "pay as you go, come when you need" or "pay up front and get a discount on a large number of visits" plan, and they treated me at the first visit. A third is a drop-in, donation-only chiro; you pay what you can, and the visits are pretty quick, but my DH has found them to be very helpful -- he goes when he needs it and will go back a couple of times in a week if need be (I've only seen that one once myself). The fourth did a bunch of examining and then wanted to set up a treatment/payment plan before any treatment -- sounds like what you're describing. I wasn't comfortable with that, but I don't think it's necessarily shady, just a different approach/belief.

I had good success with Proraps (though I switched to wool, so it's been a few years since I used the Proraps). If he's very wiggly, you can tri-fold the prefolds and lay them in the cover, then make a big stack of that setup, so all you have to do is clean him off and put the whole thing on in one step, just like you would a disposable. Also, Bummis makes a nice little panty-style cover that is very inexpensive -- you put the prefold on with pins or a Snappi clip, and then put the cover on over it, just like you'd put on underwear. No fastener needed on the cover.

I'm sorry that he had to learn the hard way. I have a child who tends to be impulsive and has had to learn the hard way several times; it is heartbreaking as the parent to see that, isn't it?

What a tough situation! I would feel so torn if something like this happened at my DH's work. He gets very few vacation days, and this year, most of them are earmarked for after our baby arrives. Being pressured (either by coworkers or by HR) would be so difficult! IMO, the person in charge (whether it was HR or an individual employee who wanted to suggest it) should have sent around a memo or some such with a polite request, allowing everyone to speak to HR at his/her convenience and donate (or not) in complete privacy. I think a reasonable compromise should have been met first as well -- did the employee use all of her accrued leave, as well as whatever disability she might be able to get? My dad was a teacher for a long time, and I can remember two instances where this sort of thing was suggested. For those who were able to afford it (like my dad, I think -- he was rarely sick, had summers and holidays off anyway, and had a SAH wife to be home when us kids were sick), it seemed like a really nice gesture, but from my current perspective, it would be really hard. I do think, though, that it was a really generous thing your family did, and I think you will be rewarded one way or the other in the end.

Really? Shoot. I was planning to read it myself with my children. I am not fluent in French, but I did study it for several years and am well familiar with basic sentence construction, pronunciation, etc. I looked at the sample pages from L'Art de Lire, and it looks to me like I could totally teach from just that.

I want to get just the first two workbooks for L'Art de Lire, not the CDs and other stuff. Still, since I'm in the US, shipping is pretty high for just the books. I see that you can download the entire package from nallenart.org -- is there a link where I can download (after paying, of course) just the workbooks?

Definitely LWW first! I really think something is lost if you're already familiar with Narnia when you read LWW. It's better (IMO) to see it from the Pevensies' perspective, where they're gradually learning about Narnia. I didn't see TMN as the first in the series; I see LWW as the first, and TMN as a prequel, intended to be read after you read at least LWW. (We see it the same as watching, say, Star Wars: A New Hope before The Phantom Menace -- you're not supposed to know the things that are obvious in TPM and the second and third episodes before you see the three original films.) Also, if I remember correctly, there's something in LWW about none of the children knowing who Aslan was, anymore than the reader did -- which wouldn't be true if you'd read TMN. I really think some of Aslan's magic and majesty comes from the fact that you don't know who or what he is when they talk about him in LWW, until you actually meet him. You would not expect a lion. We read Narnia in this order: -LWW -Prince Caspian -Voyage of the Dawn Treader The Horse and His Boy (DD pointed out that to be truly accurate, we should have stopped LLW before the last few pages and read THaHB, but I hadn't read them myself before that and didn't realize it took place during LWW. But we read it after the other three that had the Pevensies in them, and also reading it then didn't interrupt the flow of the continuing Pevensie story from the first three.) -The Magician's Nephew (Again, we chose not to interrupt the Pevensies' story, plus I wanted to read the final two books one right after the other, as one continual story.) -The Silver Chair -The Last Battle (with tears over the last few pages!)

I often read aloud at bedtime and lunchtime. Usually I finish my lunch first and then read for a while to the children, from a chapter book.

I think I'd opt for some sort of combined rooms, rather than 6 individual rooms. I think you could do a boys room and a girls room pretty well and make it work, but I do like the idea of having three bedrooms -- one for the older boys, one for the older girls, and one for the little ones. I think that gives you the most flexibility in the long run; you'd have larger spaces than you would with 6 individual rooms, and you'd have the option of moving people around if need be. As the little ones get older, and as the big ones go to college/move out, maybe unusual pairings will work (like the middle and youngest girls together, and the oldest in a bedroom by herself), so 3 rooms gives you plenty of options.

I have nothing. No housekeeper or babysitter, no mom or MIL close by, and my husband is gone 55-60 hours during the week. I've got three children (one of whom loves to get stuff out and leave messes around), and I am pregnant with a fourth. I also have a pretty large house and too much stuff. So I either spend a lot of time picking up and cleaning, or it's a mess. However, when I'm on top of things, it doesn't take long to maintain a decently tidy house, just a few minutes here or there. I do what I can. :)

You have my sympathies -- btdt, and I totally understand. It is amazing the difference in my attitude about that sort of thing when I've had some sleep vs. not. I hope you're able to get some good rest soon, and that you find a solution for the kitty issues.

If they're a little different in size, I think they will still work for some of the Miquon activities, a lot of them, actually. I assume they're still proportional, right -- the MUS 10-rod will still be the same as 10 of the 1-rods, the 8-rod is twice as long as the 4-rod, etc.? If that's the case, then they should work for many of the activities. Maybe the ones that use measurement will be a little trickier, but you can still use them to introduce area and such, just being aware that it won't be 4 cm, but 4 units, y'know? We have all of the Miquon books, but we haven't gotten through the latter ones yet; I can check and see though.

I print, or I bring the kids up to the office, where our desktop is, and I read from there.

My kids liked "You Wouldn't Want to be a Viking" pretty well, so I think the others in the series would be good. We also liked Macauley's Castle; it's a little long and took us a few days, but it was worth it. Some others I would add to your list: -Stories of Beowulf Told To The Children, by H. E. Marshall (and I think there are others in the series): http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=marshall&book=beowulf&story=_contents My son particularly liked this hero story. -Our Little Celtic/Norman/Etc. Cousin of Long Ago (several in the series): http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=stein&book=celtic&story=_contents These were absolutely fantastic, and my children begged for more. -Good Masters, Sweet Ladies: http://www.amazon.com/Masters-Ladies-Voices-Medieval-Village/dp/0763643327/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1296079462&sr=8-1 An excellent portrayal of the way different young people lived in the Middle Ages, really lets you contrast different classes. -The Castle Diary of Tobias Burgess: http://www.amazon.com/Castle-Diary-Journal-Tobias-Burgess/dp/0763621641/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1296079515&sr=1-1 I would have a very hard time limiting it to 20 books for the Middle Ages. :)

Yes, they all support it. My parents homeschooled some of my younger siblings and are all for it. My ILs are as well, though I think they picture more of a school-at-home approach than we do (I'm more of a laid-back, life-is-learning, don't really use textbooks sort of person). I've heard both my parents and ILs say that they wish they had homeschooled DH and me.

:lol: This is so true! Our cats will occasionally climb on the counters and then will look guilty and jump down quickly if we walk in. OP, I would not put the kitty outside right now. Maybe when it's warmer, but I'd just try to be careful about leaving bedding and stuff around, closing doors to bedrooms, etc. One of our cats is a 10yo male cat, and since we moved here (4 years ago), he prefers to go outside most of the time. He comes in and out, especially in the winter, and we'll leave water outside for him if we won't be around during the very hot summer days. But I would not do that to a new kitty in the middle of winter. In the OP's defense, she may not have realized how different cats can be, and maybe she heard from other people that cats were low maintenance. I'd have said that after our first cat. He's always been super low maintenance -- easy to please, didn't care if the litter box was cleaned every day, etc. So we got a second cat a few years ago, and that one's been a totally different story. She's much pickier about having a clean space to do her business. We got both as newborns, and they were spayed/neutered; they just seem to have different personalities.

I'm using SOTW2 for my 3rd grader and kindergartener. The kindergartener gets most of it; occasionally I need to stop and clarify something for him. The 3rd grader likes it pretty well, though she could handle something more difficult. I think it's a good happy medium for both of them.

Chiropractor. A chiro can give him adjustments but can also suggest exercises and such to strengthen his abdominal and back muscles. Does he carry a wallet in his back pocket, so that he's sitting on it all day? My DH had some back issues a few years ago, and the chiro told him that that was really bad; at the time, he was sitting in traffic for several hours a day. When he started taking his wallet out of his back pocket, the back issues cleared up.

Sound of Music Lord of the Rings trilogy Dr. Dolittle (the original -- my children loved this!) the old (1980s, I think) adaptations of Frances Hodgson Burnett's Little Princess and Secret Garden, if you can find them. maybe Oklahoma DH would say some of the Monty Python stuff, though much of it is not appropriate for young children. But it gets quoted fairly often 'round here, as does The Princess Bride.