A dear friend is watching 1 child for whole weekend for my 9th anniversary and 35th birthday. Dh and I are staying home and sending the kids to others' houses. The friend also has a child (7yo girl) that is having a birthday during the weekend. I wanted to do something for the mom &/or gift for the birthday girl. Any ideas?

Well, I'm still at that stage in "having hormone issues" where they still tell me it's all in my head. :glare: I am 35 years old (this Sunday:party:), BUT I had my tubes tied 5 years ago. It was all down hill from there. I finally self- medicated with OTC progesterone cream by Emerita called...ProGest. I got it at Vitamin Shoppe. It is amazing stuff. It really is true that progesterone is the first thing to go and just a little makes all the difference. I once tried a cheaper one on the shelf next to it, and I noticed aweful side effects not to mention it didn't work. If you try an OTC cream, please try Emerita. I read several times that Emerita was the best, but I just haaaaaad to try a cheaper one. :banghead:

:iagree: We should really have a support group for that.

I just saw these at the local science museum gift shop. They look absolutely awesome. Just beautiful. http://www.eurographics.ca/en/prodtype/jigsaw-puzzles.aspx

Glad the OP got the resolve she needed. I did want to add to anyone else reading that my husband and I made a promise to always get advice, ask questions, whatever from people in our demographic- ie...homeschooling friends with many kids. No one in our families can relate to that so all of their "advice, help, and support" has always been skewed (even those with ties to education). They may understand exactly where a K-er needs to be in a classroom, but it is a different ballgame when you are homeschooling. At least from my experience.

They only sent enough for 3 months (I have 4 kids). Is that normal? I haven't done it before, but I don't see anywhere that they limit it in any way. Any ideas?

My husband and I are an intact family living (and melting :001_smile:) in Florida. Recently (it is over) we had a legal situation with 1 set of grandparents. So, just seeing this thread title made my stomach "do that thing" like when you ride a roller coaster. I have a bit of input. Anyone with more specific questions can feel free to PM me. First of all, there are few separate avenues in "going to court" regarding children. As we are an intact family, I don't have experience with custody issues and visitation. But- our attorney advised us that- outright (in Florida) grandparents don't automatically have any basic rights. Now, if a child had a regular, on-going relationship (like they were providing child care for them everyday- that was the example the att'y used to explain) for some reason that relationship was cut off, and the child was going to be harmed by this, grandparents could go through family court to reinstate some rights (if it was in the child's best interest). It is a costly process and the grandparents would have to prove the relationship issues. The estimate I saw earlier of $20,000 sounds like it might be in the neighborhood of correct from what I remember. A second avenue for court is for someone to file a petition for dependency. That is what most CPS organizations use to mandate a family to take action in an (accused) abuse/neglect case and/or Terminate Parental Rights for adoption (possibly by a grandparent). This is almost unheard of outside the realm of CPS, but (legally, at least in Florida) anyone that has a direct connection to the child (family, child care provider, teacher maybe) can file this petition. So, yes- grandparents can file this (as did happen in our situation). CPS is completely out of it, so, the petitioner pays for the whole thing (see estimate above). quote from a few posts ago... In most states in a visitation case, the burden of proof is on the grandparents to prove that the grandchild is harmed by not seeing the grandparent. If you sue, it will cost about $20K for each of you, and if you lose (which you probably will, given Troxel v Granville), you can guarantee you'll never see them again. It would be much, much wiser to try to make amends. This sound right on the money to me.

I was given a copy of The Junior Classics 10 volume set. I feel like I just hit a gold mind. My question is- how in the world am I going to "cross reference" these before I go looking for books elsewhere? There is so much literature and it would be a great way to preview something and see if we want to read the whole thing, but there is no way I will remember what is in them. I'm hoping someone has maybe aligned them with the 4 year chronological order? Here's to hoping!

oh man. BTDT. It's really discouraging to the both of you. Great opportunity to show him show him unconditional love in a pretty concrete way, right?

electric pencil sharpener paper guillotine/trimmer (one of those big dealies that you can take an arm off with) *obviously a safety issue with littles flat-bed scanner printer that will accept a CIS

Oh man- my husband worked til late like that when we started homeschooling. That was part of the reason why we did. Now he only works til 830pm. That schedule is so rough.

I just wanted to say that I think it is awesome your husband was willing to call from work, check on him, and praise him. Way to go, dad!

I cannot find clothes for him. I don't think I would have any problems finding jeans for him- if he wore them. He can't stand anything around his waist that isn't elastic. He wears mostly athletic-type clothes (basketball shorts...). We also live in Florida. By the time they fit around his waist, they are hanging down to past his knees. That isn't so much the problem except the crotch hangs down so far and he is constantly pulling/adjusting "up" to have fabric between his legs. He is 11yo, wears around an 18, and is about 58 inches tall. He is short for his age group, but I know he is growing/will grow more. He's becoming more active and I want him to be comfortable so he isn't discouraged. Any ideas?

If you like Science Scope- you will love Guide to History Plus. I have both. I'm working on collecting the rest. :bigear:

You know, I said the same thing (and did enjoy it for a bit) when we moved into our first house without one. Then I got pregnant with baby #3. We weren't even homeschooling yet. Now, we've been living in a house without 1 for a year and a half. But, I have a 11yo, 8yo, 6yo, and 5yo. I don't do dishes near as much as they do. But you have more children then I do. I can't imagine.

Looking for a list of the fun stuff we can do for american history. We already have our spine/texts/literature. (No, I don't have the AG for sotw 3 or 4) field trips websites videos/movies projects Any ideas?

:grouphug:

I don't know how accurate and legal this is, but our (my husband and I) blanket approach to copywrite issues has been this: we copy/scan/print anything we purchase. We do not however sell those or even loan out to friends anything we have done this to. If I resale it, it gets deleted. I think this is (probably) the spirit of most copywrite statements. But, if you start loaning out and giving stuff away that you have digital copies of- yes- you are crossing the line of pirating media. If you are using it for your own family purpose, you aren't reducing any profits to the author. I do however go for curriculum that is geared towards non- consumption and use by several children. I guess you could argue that some things are meant to be consumed by children and purchased again for siblings. I understand that technically this may not be every single author's intent with their curriculum, but my husband and I are in agreement of this. He is a computer guy, deals with EULAs and various digital media all the time, and has a very sensitive conscience when it comes to this pirating media.

He sounds very legalistic in his view of Christianity to begin with so, he is going have a very twisted view of what a Christian "should or shouldn't do." (I think) when you "argue" a point, one must realize that underlying each side's points of view, is a basic set of assumptions. It sounds like his basic assumption views his children as part of the "it takes a village" crowd and his children belong to society (there was mention of the social contract). I, on the other hand, have a basic assumption that my responsibilities (and rights) as a parent are given to me by God and that responsibility is a priority above all else. My personal mission field begins with my children. They don't "pop out" seasoned, veteran disciples of Christ. It takes time, effort, energy, relationship, and faith on my part to develop that. That right there seems to be reason why homeschooling (in a missional mindset) could be considered a responsibility.

I know exactly what you mean. I feel the same staring at my wall-to-wall Billies (Ikea) covered in curriculum (although I do have 4 children). I do know that my feelings come from issues with control and perfection. You are not in control. At some point (and I saw reference to scriptures) you have to realize, ultimately, the success of your children's education is up to God. He will use whatever resources, experiences, and life you give your children to shape them- whether "perfect" and "complete" or not. My 2 cents.

That is just beautiful.

I feel ya on the "sister thing." :angry:

The running joke here is that winter was on a Tuesday last year. I understand what you mean when someone said it feels like it's been summer since May 2011. We moved here 2 1/2 years ago. I was really depressed the first Christmas. Oh, and the second Christmas. Probably this Christmas too. Sigh.

I always wonder what my neighbors are thinking when my husband plays with the kids. He is always playing physically with them and getting them screaming. They love it and I sure don't play like that with them. But, since we live (almost) within an arms length of their house, if they are ever concerned. We don't know them that well either. I wouldn't be surprised if someone was concerned for their safety from the noise. A story... During college, I lived with a male roommate. I was upstairs watching TV and he was downstairs playing some kind of video game. My mother called and he answered the phone. He put her on hold and yelled up the stairs. I did not hear him. About 15-20 minutes later, there was a knock on the door. I did hear that and went to the top of the stairs to look down and see who it was. I could tell it was a pair of cops so I immediately went down to the door. The male room mate had answered the door and they were telling him they got a 911 call about a mom who had called her daughter and was put on hold; the phone was never answered and she could hear a fight ensuing in the background. She hung up after about 5 minutes and called 911 (from another state). The male roommate had yelled for me, then went back to playing his video games. Needless to say, he wasn't winning and was verbally expressing his frustration with the game. My mom thought he was verbally (and possibly physically) assaulting me. :lol:

(just a little pity party here.) Seriously. Where is it already 75 degrees and signs of Fall? I want to hear all about it. :driving:This is me coming to your house for the weekend. Why :banghead: Why :banghead: Why :banghead: did I ever agree to move to Central Florida? :glare: Still looking for that "melting" smiley...