This could so be my thread. :s It went so far that in september, I got the idea to unschool them, cause planning would never work out for our way of being. Speaking of making mistakes... I don't have real solutions for you, but thank you to start this thread. I've read everything through and I hope I can work some things out. For the last weeks, we only did math and a bit of language-arts. Oh, who am I kidding? It was math and TRYING to do some language-arts. I'm lucky I have kids who read well and like to read, I don't know what I would do if they didn't. :s I don't get how all of you are able to manage everything. I am bad as a mom, bad as a homeschooler, bad as a human being. I love having my kids around, but I'm a loser all the way. But I can't just give up. School was ever more terrible for them... I will try some of the replies in this thread, hoping I will finally find a way to make everything work... Thanks for starting this thread.

I think you're right. I editted the beginpost. Thanks for noticing.

We lost the baby this weekend at 11 weeks. Damn, this hurts! We named her Aurora, after the Roman goddess of dawn. That way she can look over us at that special moment between night and day, when she opens the gates to let the sun out.

Congrats! :) I convinced him to already tell everyone. It's way too soon, but I just can't keep it to myself. I'm so excited, it becomes ridiculous. :blushing:

Thank you, thank you... I'm so happy!:hurray:

... and I can't, cause DH wants to wait for a few weeks before we tell family and friends. So I'm affraid you are my victimes, because I don't know anyone IRL here. :D We're expecting our 4th child!!! :party: Update on november 26: We lost the baby this weekend at 11 weeks. Damn, this hurts! We named her Aurora, after the Roman goddess of dawn. That way she can look over us at that special moment between night and day, when she opens the gates to let the sun out.

Same here... we're all 100% vegetal. We get our calcium out of other things.

I only started to feel better when I began to eat 100% plant-based. It helped me completely. I don't wake up tired and I'm not exhausted in the evening anymore. My household is fine, I can entertain the kids an entire day long and I still have energy left. I'm still nursing my 2 youngest, though, so my body is really much stronger and healthier. You don't have to wean to feel better. I'm never going back... Oh, even when you don't want to go 100% plant-based, you can try green smoothies during the day. They contain a lot of nutrients that give you more energy. I started out that way and that was already a big difference. Oh, and skip sugar/fructose/sacharose/etc. Just leave it where it is... it takes more energy from your body than anything else. I'm using maple/rice/agave syrup instead.

Getting Started with Latin

Thank you all. We did go for it and it's a succes these first days. We'll see what the future brings :) It was very nice to see all your comments, it helped us out a lot! Thanks!

Peter Pan at 1! They thought it was hilarious. Still don't know why, but they enjoyed it from the beginning till the end. For the rest... there are lots of funny books. Alice in Wonderland cracked them up and the Spiderwick Chronicles made them laugh a lot. The 3rd book of Narnia too, that nephew was extremely funny. Pippi Longstocking is one of their favorites, together with Jip and Janneke (do you even have those books in English? They are Dutch by origin). We also have Wiplala, but I don't know if it's translated into English. Same thing with "Dolfje Weerwolfje". They made a movie of that last one, so maybe it's translated. The book we are reading right now is also really funny. It's called "Bliss", writted by Kathryn Littlewood. It's about a bakery where the parents use magic in their bread/cakes/donuts etc... the parents have to go away from home for a while, the kids have to stay and run the bakery. It's really funny.

We actually share one since the beginning of us living together. I never really thought of it, it just seemed normal and natural.

I don't think there's a right or wrong in this. What you feel can never be right or wrong. I'm the opposite. DH is my go to person when I feel bad and need a shoulder to cry on, which happens a lot ;) I don't have anyone else in my life to do that with.

Yep, here too! I was trying to search for information about IXL and MEP and there were "no matches", which is just impossible, cause I know there are threads about it.

Look, I got 8 hours of math in highschool myself. I don't really think the no-instruction is a real problem here in those first years ;) I was quite a math-genius as a student, I think I can manage teaching a 7-8yo. ;) And like I said before, MEP will be used to. She just needs a different approach. She "sees" math/numbers/equations, she uses it all in her daily life, she draws it, dreams of it, speaks it to people who don't understand her... it's like it's her own secret language. I really can't explain it in another way. Learning it from books gets her irritated and she totally got demotivated. We really need another way here. She needs to be able to practice it without limits. So I guess trying this out a year or 2 won't kill her. It can only motivates her again. And together with MEP, it can work I guess. Lots of people thinks MEP is a good program as stand alone. We can get the information there, but practice it at IXL instead of in workbooks, I guess...

I think my family/relationship works different than most then. My husband and I will always stay together for the kids. There's just no doubt about that. Even if our relationship would end. We would not come home with another person, we will not be in fights every day, we would just be grown ups and work ourselves through the years the kids are at home. That's the responsibility we choose when we got kids. I don't get people with kids who divorce or fight or whatever. If you have kids, get over it and move on. As a parent you don't matter, the only thing that matters is that your kids are happy. But that's us. And I know for sure that my husband would not decline me another child if I want one. He knows that the only thing I live for is being a mom. He loves me too much to do that to me.

It is the shippingcost to Belgium. That's very high!

But with MEP (http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mepres/primary/default.htm) as support, it will work, not? She doesn't really need lots of explanation. She just "sees" math, I don't know how to explain otherwise.

Thanks! We're considering this as our math-method. I'm extremely in love with Singapore Math and it's very hard to give it up, but it's not working for our oldest. She likes the method, she's very good in math, but she hates books and anything schooly. We tried, but she feels bad, we feel bad and it's time to change things around. Other curricula will give the same problem, she needs something else and this is what we came up with. I need to get over the idea to trust a computer program with an important subject as math, so I'm searching around for some reviews. It seems to have everything they need to learn and I'm planning on complementing with workbooks and puzzlebooks etc... She even wants to keep CWP from Singapore Math. I think I just need to get over the idea of not using books. So hearing the good and bad things will be nice. For instructions (if she needs them, like I said, she's extremely good in math) I always can use MEP and sitting next to her is not a problem either, cause I have to do that now too.

Just a figure of speech. He would know exactly what I was trying to do and it would be his responsibility to not get pregnant. But then... I guess that not being open for another baby when I really really really want to would be one of those rare things to end our marriage. It would kill me if he kept saying no, that would be the end of us. But he won't ;) he knows how important it is to me, so we don't have that problem.

90 dollar shipping :001_huh:

My girls are all in gymnastics. The oldest transfers to a competition-group next "school year". They asked her, so why not? I don't see why it would be that bad. The gymnastics world is great!

I will always stay honest about it, that's a fact. But if I want another child and he doesn't, it's his responsibility to not have one. I would stop all birth control from my side. It's his thing to make sure we do not have other kids. I'm sure I would trick him in having daily sex or something, just to make sure he got sick of taking care of it and having an accident, but at least he would know about it and it would be his own fault if I conceived. :D A woman needs to know her tricks. Here, I am the woman in the house, he has no say in the whole kids-thing. If I want another child, I'll get one, whatever tricks I have to use and he knows that, I'm always open about it. I'm responsible enough to not have the rest of the family in trouble financially or whatever, so he just nods and gives me what I want ;) Even better, right now it is he that wants another one :p he started the whole idea of going for our 4th. Normally, we start trying in September.

Just start with the first one... It's in fact 1 story. You won't get it if you don't read them in a certain order. Other great chicklits: "diary of a mad bride" and "diary of a mad mom-to-be" by Laura Wolf. Hilarious!

It's only available in the US :sad: :crying: