I looked over many of the menus posted and noticed that most of them would be protein and nutrient deficient for a 21 year old man. I played around at Nutrition Data to try to find a menu that averaged per day: 2800 calories 70-100 grams of protein Not super carb heavy...many people can't tolerate much rice or beans without health problems. Prices are from my local Kroger. Parentheses means I estimated the price because I didn't know it off the top of my head. Wal-Mart or Target would probably be cheaper. If he did stuff like turn of his water heater at night, the savings in his electric bill would give a little more leeway for produce. Unfortunately, I don't see how he can have much produce, enough calories, and enough protein on this budget. He can only pick 2 out of 3, unless prices are much cheaper elsewhere. Also, there wasn't enough money left to buy spices. 1 lb dry black beans $1.50 1 lb dry chick peas $1.50 1 lb lentils $1 2 lb brown rice $2.50 1.5 lb ground beef $3 - don't drain the fat, he needs the calories 2 lb turkey $1.50 - from a Thanksgiving turkey. Save the carcass for broth. 18 eggs $2.50 1 stick butter $0.75 1/2 lb cheese $2 (sale price) 2/3 c olive oil $2 1 lb sweet potatoes ($1) 1 lb spinach ($3) - for salads 2 lb bananas $1.20 1 lb onions $1 1 head garlic $1 1 can tomatoes $1 1 bottle apple cider vinegar - for dressing and to make stock 1 bottle peanut butter $3 Deficiencies with this menu: Only has 1/7 the RDA of vitamin D Only has 6/7 the RDA of vitamin E Only has 5/7 the RDA of vitamin B12 Slightly short on pantothenic acid Short on calcium, but broth might contain enough to finish meeting the RDA My notes are all disorganized, but I think the total came to $27.70. Ditching the onions and garlic would save money without losing much nutrition, but would make for a bland menu. I think an important thing to consider is that some foods, like pasta or anything made with flour, are cheap, but have few nutrients. Vegetables have nutrients, but are too low calorie to keep him from starving. Meats, eggs, and dairy are nutrient dense, but expensive. Brown rice is very high carb and isn't nutrient dense, although it's better than anything made with white flour. Legumes are more nurtient dense than grains, but if blood sugar problems run in the family, can still be too high carb.

Here's a recent thread on Telling God's Story.

My son is 5 and we just read the lessons. I didn't get the activity guide. We are about 2/3 through, and I really like how the focus is on Jesus. As far as your older kids, it isn't babyish at all. I learn new things from it too, even though when we visit a church, I usually feel like the sermon didn't teach my anything new. I can't wait for the next level to come out. I am very, very pleased with it.

This is an interesting point. We have friends that teach a martial art. The parents were about 40 before they started it. Their kids started with them and the parents' rule is that the kids have to continue classes until they get their black belts. One child, who is a 3rd degree black belt now, stated that they didn't really enjoy it until they became a black belt.

Well, my oldest is only 5, but here's what we do: I start his school work with our library books, which pretty much gaurantees we get some in. He loves to be read to, so he is excited to start school each day. If he could, I think he'd have me read to him for half the day, and then spend a few more hours listening to audio books.

One more thing, does it have to be one instrument or the other? Maybe she could do flute and piano?

My kids are too little for instruments, so I'll relate my own experience growing up. At the end of third grade, the sixth graders in band and orchestra came to our classrooms and played for us, so we could get a better idea of what instruments to sign select for the following year. (All third graders learned to play recorder, so we already knew how to read music.) Piano was not an option. I picked the flute. My dad thought I'd quit after two weeks, my mom thought I'd quit after two months. They never made me practice and I played for seven years, until other class conflicted with band in high school. I still have my flute, and may join a community band next year to get back into it. Looking back, I would've been a lot better if I'd practiced more and had private lessons, but I'm glad my parents didn't force me, because it may have ruined the fun for me. Okay, well maybe after 4-5 years, encouraging me to practice might not have been a problem... If they had required piano, an instrument I had no interest in, I probably would've wanted to give up and not try another instrument. Even as an adult, I have zero interest in learn say, violin, while I might consider another woodwind. I think different instruments just appeal to different people, just like not everyone wants to play football.

I don't any experience to share, but I wanted to say I think it's great you are trying this. Maybe in the summer you could collect surplus produce from local gardeners and offer it as well.

What would this be like? Relating sciencific principles in chronological order, as they were discovered? I haven't read Joy Hakim's books, but aren't they supposedly like this?

Does it do laundry, too? :lol: What would a hands-on, self-teaching program look like for K-3? in my mind, experiements, and self-teaching 5-9 year olds don't go together.

It seems like there is a lot of dissatisfaction with science curriculums for lower elementary school. What would your dream program be like? What skills would be included? What content would you like covered? I've included a multi-choice poll for things other than content.

Coconut flour makes good muffins. This is the cookbook I use. No other flours or xanthan gum are needed for most of the recipes. They do require lots of eggs, however.

Oooh, I just looked up zombie 5K races and they look fun...well, as much fun as running can be.

I did this a month ago. I let the dishwasher sit overnight, with the door open. Then I put 1/2 cup olive oil in and ran it through another cycle. Problem solved. Other ideas I read about suggested salt or vinegar.

While it seems that there are some professional vegan athletes, I still think that many athletes probably do better eating meat. Do these professionals have trainers planning their meals out for them? High school and college athletes probably don't have the time or expertice that might be needed to plan a vegan diet that allows them peak performance.

I have not read any of the replies yet. Here are my reasons: 1. Diabetes runs heavily in my family. A vegan diet would require too many carbs (such as beans) to get enough protein and then I would become diabetic. I do best on a low carb diet. 2. Vitamin A is only found in animal products. Many people have genetic defects that prevents their bodies from converting beta-carotene to Vitamin A efficiently. For some reason, food labeling laws in the US allow beta-carotene to be listed as vitamin A on labels. A vegan with this defect will easily have a vitamin A deficiency. 3. It would be very difficult for many people to get enough protein on a vegan diet: athletes, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and those like myself that seem to need more protein than average. 4. If you compare the amount of vitamins and minerals in a reasonable portion size, it becomes clear that meat is more nutrient dense than vegetables. Sure, a lb of kale might have more of XYZ than a lb of meat, but how many meals will it take you to eat a lb of kale? When you eat meat, you are indirectly getting the nutrients of all the plants the animal ate. 5. We don't have multiple stomachs and we can't spend all day eating like cows. 6. B12 is probably only available in animal products. Sure, vegans can supplement, but who knows what undiscovered nutrients are only in animal products that they are missing out on. 7. Sure, some people feel better initially on a vegan diet, but often they giving up junk and high grain diets at the same time. They might feel better if they had given up the junk but kept the meat. My dad tried a vegan diet for 5-6 weeks and he lost weight, but it didn't help his glucose levels enough. He switched to low carb and while the weight loss slowed, he feels much better and his glucose levels are almost normal. His blood pressure is also normal now, for the first time, even with medication, in decades. 8. As far as treating animals well, we try to buy our meat from small local farmers. 9. Arguments about how much grains cows eat that people could eat are sort of irrelevant. Cows are meant to eat grass, not be locked up eating only corn. Also, many animals can graze on land too rocky or hilly to be farmed.

Reading all this makes me glad to be in the US. It sounds more balanced here.

This guy made his son a playable Angry Birds cake for his birthday. I've never been a crafty person or into cake decorating but this might pull me in! I finished my red angry bird costume today and am almost done with the black one for DS1. DS 2 can't wait for me to make his yellow angry bird costume.

We had a different flavor cake on each table as the centerpiece. They were small, but actually tasted good. People mingled a lot as they walked around trying to see which flavor they wanted. One person came up and said they had 5 different pieces! We also spent $300 to have a caricature artist. Those that didn't want to dance sat around and watched her draw different guests. They had a great time. I bought my dress used for $188 and sold it on eBay a week later for $90. I wore it twice, since our ceremony and reception were a week apart.

My son was closer to five before he was ready for chapter books. You could start with short stories without pictures such as Uncle Wiggily's Story Book.

I would google low carb diets. I've heard that many types of cancer cells can only use glucose for fuel (some can use either glucose or ketones). Keeping glucose levels low would help starve out these types of cancer. There's even a type of chemo treatment where the person receives insulin before the chemo, to lower glucose levels and weaken the cancer. I can't remember the name of this treatment, but I think they only need to use 10% of the normal dose of chemo, so it would have fewer side effects.

Well, I decided making a Dalek costume would take too long. My boys and I are going to be angry birds instead. I found a great website with directions for making them. How to Make Angry Birds Costumes

Thanks, this is helpful. I will be able to keep my sanity better if I know that he's a little young for a conscience. Most of the people I know with kids my age are from our former church and use lots of spanking. It's hard for us to know what is "normal" when most of our experience with little kids was from being around families that considerd spanking a 2 year old dozens of times per day normal.

I understand your point. We had already removed the crayons from their room, because the toddler was coloring in books. On the day they colored on the walls, their room was almost completely empty, but they found a small brown crayon in dark corner of an otherwise empty closet. I wasn't surprised the toddler was coloring on the wall, but the older one coloring on the carpet was an unpleasant surprise! As far as tomato staking, well, he would probably love it. His perfect day would involve tons of food and me with him all day long, reading, playing, working together. He is an extrovert that wants more, more, more of everything. More reading time, more screen time, more playing outside, more school work, more, more, more! As an introvert, I get drained by this. Plus, the 2 year old demands to be involved in many things, too.

I realize that 5 year olds tend to be careless. It was (yet another) accident, which I am annoyed by, but I understand. A month ago, as we were cleaning out the old house, he wrote all over three walls in his room, which had just been repainted the day before! Then, even worse, He decided to write his name in crayon on the carpet. Again, no remorse.