My incentive is to be healthy, and this is a rare chance for me to do it so intensively. I have been nursing or pregnant for nearly 10 years, and when I weaned in mid-August, I decided to work at losing weight with intentionality & gusto. I've lost 28 pounds so far... I still have 10 or 15 to go. I am now getting so many compliments, but honestly, that's not really a motivation for me. What DOES motivate me now that I'm seeing some results is that I can wear cute clothes & not feel like I'm constantly tugging or embarrassed about how I look. Mainly, instead of making clothing the focus, it's actually made it so it's no longer the focus for me. I can enjoy what I wear but it makes it less of a focus for me because I don't feel so self conscious about it anymore. I like feeling healthy and like I'm just a normal-sized person.

This sounds great!

I really liked "Things We Wish We'd Known" - a wide variety of experienced advice from a swath of homeschoolers. http://www.amazon.com/Things-Wish-Known-Abundant-Life-Homeschooling/dp/1883002427

I really enjoyed: *Things We Wish We'd Known (edited by Diana Waring) http://www.amazon.com/Things-Wish-Known-Abundant-Life-Homeschooling/dp/1883002427/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1320704005&sr=8-6 * A Charlotte Mason Education by Catherine Levison - finished August 2011 - This small, easy-to-read book is an excellent resource for homeschool moms, particularly for those in the elementary years. An educator from the 19th century, Ms. Mason's ideas are widely appreciated in homeschool circles. Even though though we're beginning our 6th year homeschooling, this book was not only a great refresher on Charlotte Mason's principles, but also gave me a great amount of encouragement to be more hands-on and intentional about the ways that we approach subjects like science and literature review. I eagerly recommend this book. Here are some of my thoughts on other books: * A Biblical Home Education - (Ruth Beechick) - This book outlined some new-to-me ideas, and expanded on Dr. Beechick's ideas on homeschooling, which I'd already read in many other places. Much of the book was re-hashing (for me), so I can't say it was anything incredibly insightful for me as a mom already a few years into homeschooling. BUT! If I was a new homeschool mom, trying to really get a feel for what is *necessary*, what some of my basic goals ought to be and what school should "look like", I think this book would be quite helpful. She does outline how to base your curriculum on the foundation of God's Word and offers some helpful critiques of each homeschooling "philosophy" out there. I enjoyed the book, and have dogeared a few pages for follow-up from me. I would be hesitant to recommend this book to a seasoned homeschooler, but for the mom with preschoolers or in her first few years of homeschooling, this can be an excellent vision-shaping book. * The Christian Home School - (Gregg Harris) -This book was written more than a decade ago, when homeschooling was still largely a statistically insignificant thing, when Joshua Harris was still unmarried and living at home, and when the Harris twins were kidlets. It was insightful and helpful for me to read what Mr. Harris & his wife were doing even then that has helped to sharpen and shape some of the most challenging and determined Christian young people of our generation. Harris' ideas about homeschooling, parenting, and life will be encouraging for Christian parents who seek to be intentional and interactive. * For the Children's Sake: Foundations of Education for Home & School by Susan Schaeffer Macauley - finished 4/12/10 - This classic text on homeschooling took me "a shade under a decade" to finish (not really, that's just a movie line-- it took maybe 4 years!) because when I first picked it up, my oldest was still too young for me to really grasp the value and be able to implement what I was learning in the book. When I picked it up a few months ago (perhaps at the beginning of this year), I found that it was absolutely perfect for this stage of homeschooling... a few young interested learners in our home, and with me having a few years of early homeschooling under my belt. I'm happy to recommend this book as inspirational and challenging for the young homeschooling mom. Hope this helps you!

I voted either, but here's the deal: I struggled. Because once a name goes female, it doesn't go back. So once it's on the slope towards female-usage, it's headed for the feminine side. So for me, those names would be cruel to use for a boy, because he'll be constantly fighting that expectation/question... class role sheet in college, resumes, etc.

OK, seriously-- I need help here-- anyone have some tips? Seems like people would love to give advice. Help!

I need some short-term advice. Our family normally lives overseas, and most of our "normal" homeschooling materials are there. We came back to the US in March for a visit with family and friends, and will return in January. I brought back some books to read together, our math books (Singapore), and a few workbook type books to just fill time, so that we could leave them here and not take up luggage space on the return trip in January. But the kids seem antsy now, and it seems like my 7yo & 5yo have just each had big leaps in what they are hungry for, academically. KWIM? So I'm not fully prepared with the materials I currently have here. Let me give you the situation; I welcome your advice. * 9yo son- excellent reader, slightly ahead in math, enjoying learning about America during our time here. * 7yo son- very "typical" boy- enjoys math, science topics, not reading well, yet, but wants to. I don't have our normal phonics stuff here, just some practice books like the boring old "I Can Read It" books. Any ideas for this? * 5yo dd- hasn't done formal schooling; very artistic, has not been interested in sitting for long periods of time until now. I was planning on waiting until January and then combining all of them with a MOH core focus for history, and keeping them all going in separate math, phonics, spelling, while doing IEW with my oldest. But now I'm sensing that they're kind of hungry for it while here. Do you have ideas for things we can do that are either free, online, or relatively inexpensive so I don't have to invest much $$ for just a few months of time here in the US? I do have their age-level appropriate math books, and for my oldest, I have Sequential Spelling, Vocab Vine, and some Grammar workbooks. Ideas? TIA!