Kari, I am so glad that part is over. I hope she heals well and that you are still somewhat sane when this whole thing is over!!:)

Um, she probably can't really help you with that. Yes, that was her. When she went back to work a few weekends later they had to teach her how to stitch the squares up again. Seems they had to tear apart all of her work after she left! She is still learning. But they love having a teen there, especially when school groups come in. She sort of "purties up" the place, even if her quilting has to be ripped out!:rolleyes:

but if I don't blog I tend to get curt reminders from my stepmom, my mom and my stepsisters. So if there were nobody else in the world to blog for, I would still have to blog for them!:)

:eek::eek::eek::eek:

You mean it is not too late? Or too early? Should I send some out? The closest I came to sending out cards was to send some Christmas vibes to folks. They never told me if they received my Christmas vibes, though.:confused:

My daughter went to a work day at the living history museum where she volunteers. The museum is closed for the winter season, but they were having a clean up/organize/etc day. While she was there they told her that they are having a dress custom made for her and let her choose her fabric! This is about an $180 investment that they are making in her, because there are not that many girls who are 5'8" and 100 pounds. The chances of another girl as tall and slender as her coming to volunteer are pretty slim. If Sarah quits, that dress is going to hang unused for a long, long time. They must think pretty highly of her to spend some of their pitiful budget on this expense. So in a few months when I start posting pictures of my 1850's girl on my blog again, y'all will get to see her in a dress that is long enough and not hanging off her frame!!:)

This where books become easier to deal with than videos. Especially for younger children, who are more prone to believe everything they see on a screen. I don't think I have ever used any sort of video presentation that depicted the evolutionary view of early man. Well, except for those insurance commercials, but those caveman seem to have it going on!

We have been pitiful about writing and now dd is in 11th grade and we are both panicking about her writing skills. So we are going to focus on that between now and graduation. I am assigning her a paper about the similarities and differences between the American revolution and the French revolution, thinking if I kept the topic simple she could concentrate more on the process. If a student is very weak in writing, how many pages should we start with and how long (in terms of days/weeks) should I allow before the assignment is due?

This is my approach as well.

I have seriously thought about cleaning my entire house, closets and all, and photographing it and then using those pictures for guidelines for the kids. I may put that project on my to-do list!

I have been sitting on my rump all day long, in fact I did not even get dressed until an hour ago. I crawled out of bed and returned to the same spot I spent 4 hours in last night. But, I have almost completed 6 weeks of lesson planning including websites and unitedstreaming videos, library books to put on hold, games to play, science lab supplies to purchase, and crafts to do, for my 4 homeschoolers plus my bonus student.:cool: And I have done a tremendous amount of laundry while doing this. Can getting up to swap laundry around or refill my coffee cup count as exercise for today? I really have to get these plans done.

Do you do a separate page for each child? Or do all the children's assignments go on one pageflake page?

They do. They are trying to help us, really. Don't be afraid of them. They will do you no harm.:) I think it is a little more structured. It helps to keep things sorted out and the how-to board is really a great place to work out the bugs of how to do things in the new format.

I think that this is what I am practicing now as a mother-in-law. At least I am trying to. When the kids were dating I am the one who talked to them about things like personal boundaries when it came to their relationship with dh and I and with other relatives on both sides. I think they were a little taken back by my speech about "Before you feel like you need to spend every holiday with me, think about how to make your own traditions. You need your traditions first." We are pretty laid back about things and when we disagree about something that they do, usually financial, dh and I gripe about it to each other alone in our room where nobody else can hear! Then to the married kids, we just smile and nod unless they ask our opinion! I do tease them about grandkids just as I tease them about how I picked out my daughter-in-law for my son. But it is all in good fun, in truth it is so important to me that they are treated as a separate household and respected as such.

I always suspected that. I was just playing along. :D But do they EXCEL at Zoo Tycoon? As long as they excel at whatever it is they do all day, I am sure they will have a bright future.;)

If you have picked out excellent materials (and I know you have) and your boys are doing well within that curriculum, then you can rest assured that you are doing fine by them! I think we are all looking at you and considering your posts from these years and wondering "What? What could Laura be worried about? She sounds like she has it all together!" I think the self-doubt is normal for any homeschool parent who really wants to do this well!

Oh, yes. Now that you mention it, Peela too. I guess I was not thinking about Peela since she had stopped posting before the board changeover. I always enjoyed her view point. Her life is so different than mine and I learned a lot from her posts!

Abbeyej. I miss her on the boards terribly. I loved her posts because she was one of the handful of posters who had seen homeschooling from both sides. I lost love it when posters say "Well, when my mom was homeschooling me...." Anyway, if anyone knows her in real life, tell her she is missed here in this community.:(

Aww, I am sorry you have been sick. I hate being sick. I hope you are on the mend.

I just keep clicking on the "New Posts" link at the top and it gives me the threads that are updated. It takes some adjustments but I love smilies :) and I love the ignore list. I am so glad to see you back!! I am going to see if I have an rep power left and if I do I am going to sling you some rep just for coming back!!! Now you go use the search function to find out what my last paragraph meant!! Go on, it is your first research project on the new boards!!;)

What? I can't hear you Pam, I have you on my ignore list, you not being a conservative, wild-eyed charismatic Christian like me and all.:D

I am another one who uses TT happily. I stay out of the fray when most TT conversations come up, unless you are a math expert it is best to keep a low profile on math curriculum. I cannot give you test scores yet, but TT is the math we can do. My kids get it, I get it. If the budget allows, may I suggest using Aleks along with TT? This has been a very good solution for us. My high schooler does a TT lesson and 20-30 minutes of Aleks per day. I feel good about this arrangement and I am pretty sure I am not destroying her chances to succeed in life.

I have had it both ways and I greatly enjoy having a room dedicated to all things learning. I like having a room where it is okay if a learning game is spread out all over the place for the whole day, where it is okay if there are crayons everywhere. I like being able to close the door after a day of hard work and change directions in my mind. Having a classroom does not change my educational approach or put an end to snuggly reading on the couch. Far from it, in fact my youngest is going through a phase where he is too shy to read aloud in front of his siblings, so he and I have a daily date on the couch so he can read to only me. I thoroughly enjoy my classroom and put as much time, money and attention into making it beautiful and welcoming as I do any other room. But lots of people prefer your way and that is good too. It's all good!

Nodding my head here, Pam. See the goal and just keep marching no matter how big the blisters!!