We're currently taking a break from phonics lessons and my son (age 5) is just reading Hooked on Phonics books to me. Last week, I had to change a diaper just as he was about to start reading to me, so I told him to practice on his own until I came back. What a difference it made! His reading was smoother with less guessing than I expected, considering his resistance to slowing down enough to sound out words. What I've done since then is have him spend 10-20 minutes in another room practicing while I do the dishes. Then when he's ready, he comes in and reads to me. I am amazed at the difference. Did this help any of your kids?

Yes, please tell us what you ordered! Was it stuff you were already considering?

So in the Hindu view, is the entire universe destroyed and recreated every cycle? Or is it more like the universe and earth stay, but life is wiped out and recreated? It sounds like Hindus don't believe in time being linear the way most of the western world does? If so, would a Hindu scientist give the earth an age or would the question be silly in his or her view?

For those of you that are devout, practicing Muslims, Jews, Hindus, etc., does your faith believe in a young or old earth? I'm especially curious if Jews view Genesis as a literal 7 day young earth creation. I'm not trying to start a debate - I'm just wondering if people of other religions have to try and reconcile what their religious texts say about the age of the earth with what most scientists believe about the earth being billions of years old. (I guess I'm also wondering if these other groups accept evolution or not, too.)

I've been using MM 1A and 1B with my son. I got a great deal on Singapore 1B and started using it last week. I had previously resisted Singapore because I didn't want to juggle a textbook, workbooks, etc. I've been surprised to see that in the one week we've used SM, my son has enjoyed it much more than MM. (Of course, he's also enjoyed MM 1B much more than 1A...maybe because 1A is just so repetitive with math facts?) Anyway, is it common for young kids to enjoy SM more than MM?

I should clarify something. I don't mean to say that "ecological breastfeeding" can never space babies out 2-3 years, just that I think that on average, in America these days, babies will be more like 18-23 months apart. I think new studies need to be done to see if women's periods are returning faster after birth than when the data was collected in the 1960s and 1970s. I know the sample of women I know might not be representative, but I know two other women besides myself that have their cycles return (and stay regular) within 2-3 months of birth, no matter what! My second baby nursed every 1 1/2 hours day and night and my period still came back at 10 weeks postpartum (up from 7 weeks with the first baby). I don't know when I started ovulating because I couldn't track my temps and the other signs were very, very unclear. Anyway, while I only have anecdotal evidence, I wouldn't be surprised if hormones in the water, hormones in food, pesticide use, fatter women, etc. are causing fertility to return sooner after birth for many women.

I know many families that have never used contraception or didn't for many years. Here are some of my observations: -One woman had at least ten miscarriages. Another had at least seven. -If you exclude the gaps caused by miscarriages and exclude a few women with fertility trouble, the average age gap between babies (even for women age 38-43) is 19-21 months. I know know of very few gaps longer than two years. All these women breastfeed and many co-sleep. -One family was going to be quiverful until she had four babies in four years. Number four was born shortly before number one's fourth birthday. They then decided to space the remaining babies out. -Of these families, I'm slowly noticing more starting to use contraception or NFP to space their kids out a bit. It's sort if a secret with them. -I've read Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing and while I realize that these women don't meet the author's criteria for "ecological breastfeeding," most of them are pretty close. I think the book's data is probably out of date and doesn't apply to our culture and diet. The book (and other quiverful materials) promotes the idea that a healthy woman without fertility trouble can space babies out 2-3 years with ecological breastfeeding. I seriously doubt this claim, based on my own observations. Besides, how can you claim a method like this works well and is easy to use when even one or two skipped feedings with an older baby could allow ovulation?

Wow, that is a great story! Thanks for sharing. I will definitely remember that one for future use.

When I went to college, I took math through Differential Equations, plus some undergrad and graduate level statistics courses. It wasn't enough for a math major at my college (an engineering school), although it was almost enough courses at some less rigorous state schools. Anyway, two kids and a decade later, I'm thinking of returning to school to major in math or math education. I got As and Bs the first time, but I really think my algebra skills were my weak point. I had AP credit and skipped Calc 1 and 2, which may have also caused some problems. I would like to shore up all my weak areas and would even consider redoing (on my own) everything from algebra on up. I got an A in calc 3 at the time, but it took 8+ hours of homework per week, plus lots of help from the math geeks to do it. So, for all you professors and math lovers out there, what sequence and curriculum should I use to prepare myself? I was looking at MIT's Open Courseware, but that's for calculus and up. Thanks for any suggestions you have.

I haven't read all the replies, so maybe this has been suggested already. Could the hooks from your bra be snagging on your clothes in the wash? Does it only happen to your shirts or do the holes appear on everyone's shirts?

Thanks!

I have CFS and also have these problems. It doesn't look like I have candida, but I do have 2-3 types of pathogenic bacteria. I also had tapeworms, which I think are gone. I still seem to have another parasite called blastocystis hominis. My chymotrypsin levels were also low, which my previous doctor said meant I needed to take digestive enzymes. I started doing that and I think they are back to normal. My intestinal SIgA levels were <5% of the lowest normal level. My new doctor had me take high doses of vitamin A for two months to help. I don't know if it worked. My salivary SIgA is still low. Make sure you get tested for parasites. Many labs are sloppy and don't find them. Research labs carefully. Also, consider glutamine powder and quercetin to help heal your guts.

1. You had HG (hyperemesis gravidarum) with both pregnancies, although you didn't have to be hospitalized. (The second time, I still had to worry about vomiting occasionally until 36 weeks.) 2. Your health got worse when each baby was about a year old, because your body gave out after all the sleep deprivation. 3. After four years of constant problems, you were diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and statistically, had <50% chance of ever recovering. 4. Both of your young kids are very active and one is very extroverted and you are an introvert. 5. Your health might improve if you could ever get the toddler to wean so you could be properly treated. (The remaining suggested treatments aren't safe for breastfeeding or pregnancy.) 6. You didn't really want more kids but are surrounded by friends with huge families. You also recently left a church where few people used contraception and those that did, generally kept quiet. It wasn't "politically correct" to prevent pregnancy and continuing to have babies, despite a mother's ailing health/poor finances/lack of time, was seen as normal.

I've been thinking about your question. As I've mulled it over the past few days, I remembered how in high school, I was often unable to let go when friendships were over. There was one boy that I felt turned several friends (of many years) against me. I stayed loyal to them and still treated them as before, all while they largely started being too busy for me. Most of them weren't mean...they just acted more like acquaintances.

http://www.thatmom.com/podcasts/patriarchypatriocentricity-series-two-2010/ Parts 8 and 9 of this podcast series are about the 2009 Homeschool Leadership Summit held in Indianapolis. I listened in August and here are some of the points I remembered: -women were not allowed to attend -how to teach wasn't the topic -a major item on the agenda was how to get homeschooling families to all switch to family-integrated churches

Look up Christian Reconstructionism/Dominionism/Theonomy. Some of these self-proclaimed "leaders" are Reconstructionists. I'm pretty sure Doug Phillips is one. Reconstructionists want to turn the country into a Christian theocracy and go back to much of the Mosaic law. While I doubt they'd ban mixed fabrics, some advocate returning to stoning of adulterers and rebellious children. (Keep in mind, that many of these people are into patriarchy, so a "rebellious" child might be an adult daughter who wants to move out or not marry the man the dad chooses.) Reconstructionists are post-millennial, so they think they need to usher in the millennium and after 1000 years then Christ will return. Homeschooling is a major part of the plan. Strangely enough, the few Reconstructionists I know in real life voted for Ron Paul and other libertarianish candidates. They don't seem to notice the cognitive dissonance between wanting freedom for their family, while wanting to place non-Christians under their own version of Christianity.

I suspect the OP wants to know if there can be a homeschooling group of people of all (or no) faiths without drama and arguing and hurt feelings about evolution vs. creation, or any number of other issues.

I know someone that flushed her dad's car keys down the toilet when she was a teenager. She had taken them without permission while they were out, and they fell out of her pocket as she reached down to flush the toilet! The mom didn't have an extra set with her either.

I agree with that. I realize that although God tells us to forgive, it doesn't mean we have to make ourselves vulnerable to the offender again. Now what do we do about the wife? Just be polite? Continue to be friends? We're not great friends, but more than acquaintances.

Ding, ding, ding! I think you're really on to something here. He is about twenty years older than us and now that you mention it, I do think he saw himself more like a mentor. Maybe it never was a friendship of equals. (Come to think of it, we were so much younger with fewer kids than everyone else, that I think many of them probably didn't consider us equals. That would explain a lot.) That would also explain why in that long email to my husband he said something about "after all this time we've invested in you."

Well, the church had four elders. One was usually traveling, so we barely knew him, despite years of attendance. We don't really know his opinion on anything, so we have nothing against him. I already wrote about two of the elders. The final elder didn't think what my husband said was helpful, but didn't seem offended or angry about it. He is a much more gentle/less controlling man than the other two. He emailed and wanted to know why we left. So have many other families. So far, all we've said to most of them is "We don't know what to say about it now...maybe some day we'll talk about it." I sometimes wonder if we should tell this elder, because if others see the actions of the two as sin, then it needs to be dealt with. I'm not sure it would do much good and I don't want to "cause" a church split. Also, the stress of discussing it all would be very high for me and I already have a chronic illness that is made worse by stress. A friend that left the church a year before us because he thought the elders were too controlling suggested to just leave everything alone there and move on.

Sometimes it's hard to be subjective about your own life. I knew people here could be more objective, which is why I posted. :-) We'd been "friends" for about five years before all this and never had a problem before. We had moved and made the mistake of having all our friends from one place, our church. We'll never make that mistake again. Just as people "diversify their portfolios" for money, I think we'll do that for friends, that way if we have to leave a group, we don't lose most of our friendships. Since everyone here seems overwhelmingly in the "dump him" category, then it seems like a good idea.

I'm glad I asked for outside opinions. I was wondering if maybe I was being over sensitive about this. Being talked about as a crazy person was the final straw that cemented my departure from that church. When I mentioned it to another male friend, he said, "But entire denominations agree with you about this issue! Are they all crazy, too?" I don't intend to start a debate on the issue here, but in case you're wondering, that church's policy was that women were never to speak in the service (not even to make announcements). Except the elders were starting to grant special permission, occasionally, all while they said it was wrong for women to speak. After spending months studying the subject, my husband and I came to a different interpretation of the passages used and wanted everyone to consider our points. We also hated the hypocrisy of them allowing it out, while saying it was wrong, while also stating that they had "no official policy" about women speaking in church. Anyway, apparently Fred thinks I must be crazy if this issue, and others related to it, bother me a lot. That's why I feel like he doesn't really respect me and never will, even if he eventually apologizes.

I think I would agree with this. The elders at this church seem to think that "serving" others really means "telling them what to do," particularly their wives and children, especially unmarried daughters.

To make this easier to follow, I will present the story in a timeline format. I am trying to figure out if my husband and I should attempt to repair this friendship or just move on. Spring 2010 Several people were having a discussion through our church's email list. Our friend, (let's call him "Fred"), stated something we disagreed with. My husband asked what his biblical support was; specifically, where was the OT law that Fred was alluding to. The way my husband worded it was along the lines of, "But where is the law? There isn't one about [this issue.]" Summer 2010 Fred (a church elder) suggested we meet with him and his wife to discuss the doctrine we disagreed with our church about. My husband and I thought it would be a two way discussion, where we could present our evidence that the church's policies on some very important issues were wrong. Instead, Fred, who is quite a talkative person and has a tendency to ramble anyway, spent the first 1 1/2 hours of our two hour meeting doing all the talking. We had a binder of verses we had printed out, pages from the lexicon, etc. We got about ten minutes to show him our evidence. He didn't say much about any of it, maybe because we had almost no opportunity to present our case. Fall 2010 Our church had open sharing time every week. My husband stood up and commented on the unwillingness of many church members to seriously consider the issue. He didn't name people specifically. He stated some of the "excuses" we'd heard about why the issue wasn't really worth re-examining. One elder got very angry and chewed him out publicly. A week later, Fred spent an hour (in private) chewing my husband out, following up with a long email accusing him over and over of being "prideful." (He then offered to do a long term study with us on the issue. We declined, knowing he had little intention of considering out viewpoint seriously.) Besides lecturing my husband for an hour, during this time, Fred said things about me. I have seriously struggled with insomnia for several years, and Fred suggested that the reason this issue was so important to me was because I had gone crazy from lack of sleep. He also said that I seem too controlling and not submissive enough. A few weeks later, Fred and his wife came over to talk to us. My husband, who is not an emotional person, starting crying when he explained how much what Fred had said hurt my feelings. (I'm not a very emotional person either, but I felt his comment about me being crazy was over the line.) Fred just kind of sat there and made a half hearted apology, along the lines of "I'm sorry if your feelings were hurt. But my feelings were hurt, too, when you sent that rude email last spring." (He was referring to the one I mentioned earlier.) Fred also denied that he was ever angry at my husband. (So did the elder who chewed him out publicly.) Can you tell that "anger" was one of the things considered sinful at that church? Even if he always considers anger a sin, he should own up to it! Otherwise, I'm left thinking, "If he doesn't consider that anger, what must it be like when he is angry?!" We told Fred we were leaving the church and he seemed like he wanted to take over our church search. He sent a list of recommended churches and kept talking about how we needed to have an "orderly transition" to a new church, implying that he should be part of it, as an elder. In early winter, Fred emailed a few times. We found it very uncomfortable and kind of suffocating. We wanted him to back off a bit and stop the pressure of finding a new church ASAP! Or else Satan will lead us astray or something! We kept our replies brief, with vague details about how the church search was going. I guess he finally took the hint and now his emails are very short, as in, "I have some extra XYZ. Do you need some?" We haven't seen Fred in several months, although his wife stopped by briefly a few times. We aren't upset with her. With prayer, I am slowly starting to feel like I might be able to forgive Fred. Is the friendship worth saving? Fred is a very generous, hospitable man, but is that enough? I feel like he really doesn't respect me. Thanks for reading.