Absolutely, they can think deeply. In fact I think it is the overuse of edutainment that has squelched that. We like edutainment, but it's like candy to us. It's not a substitute for brain food!

Chris, I get driving fatigue very easily, so I can totally relate. My friends who find driving easy or even relaxing do not understand me at all. I also get easily flustered in traffic. If I were taking this trip I would try to find the route that would make me most comfortable and get up extra early to leave so I could have a break when I needed it. (((Chris))) I really get where you are coming from here. If someone does not have an issue with driving they cannot appreciate how challenging it can be.

I'd like to, but I can never pull that much cash together at once. Fortunately my farmer has really decent pricing on his meat by the cut and puts together nice family packs. But it would still be a lot cheaper to buy a half.

We use Life of Fred as a supplement. I don't think I would be happy with it as a stand alone. My son is doing TT algebra and LoF beginning algebra.

I am off to add to my Netflix queue now!

My kids started going to the mall, the movies, etc when they had driver's licenses. The only exception is that once my husband dropped the girls off at the mall once when they were about 13 and 15 just so they could Christmas shop but it was weeknight, not a weekend. This was before we had a shooting in the mall, and then a woman abducted from the mall parking lot by a gang. Those two incidences have made me no longer feel good about our mall and the area around it. At one point our mall banned kids under 18 who were not accompanied by a parent on Friday and Saturday evenings, so it would have been a moot point anyway. I don't know if that ban is still in effect.

You know what bugs me? At our local YMCA we have boys dressing rooms and girls dressing rooms and mens dressing rooms and women's dressing rooms. Boys and girls (under 18) are never allowed in the adult dressing rooms, but adults are allowed into the kids' dressing rooms. If I knew that an adult (other than a parent accompanying a child) could not enter the kids' dressing rooms I would feel so much better. My kids are not Y members and only attend homeschool swim and gym, so when they are in there they are not alone, the whole class is there.

We may be found in pj's on Mondays because we are usually out of clean clothing by then. As loads of laundry are done, people run off to get dressed. If I waited until they could all get dressed then school would not get done. On Tuesdays and Thursdays they dress in their gym clothes as we go to gym class right after lunch. Fridays we have an 8AM violin class, so we find it's best to get dressed even though the violin teacher may or may not be in street clothes (lessons are at his house). I'm not willing to spend my weekend on laundry just so we can properly dressed on Monday mornings. Not worth it to me.

We have this same setup. All of our components, except the wii, are actually in the closet in my bedroom and we have a remote that works through the wall. We also have wires running through the wall to an facing wall in our living room where we have a plate to which we can hook up an mp3 player, a camera, a computer, and the wii. The will is on a bookcase behind a strategically placed family picture when not in use. We love this set up. The only issue I have ever had is that it took some doing to get used to the height of the sensor bar for the wii. For simple viewing the height is great! Our fireplace is gas and we never actually turn it on (I hate the gas logs) so the heat is not an issue for us.

Well, we did have my husband drop us off in the neighborhood behind our street. And when we were done we called him to come get us. But it was mostly because I live on a fairly dangerous road and did not want to walk the kids up our road in the dark, especially with one of the kids in all black! There were two groups out last night that were pulling wagons; one behind an ATV and one behind a riding lawn mower. Those kids were having a blast. They'd stop, hit a bunch of houses, then move on to another area and do it again.

Tacky.

My daughter wore my graduation gown and cap. My son was Darth Vader.

I'm sorry. I see that your children are younger than mine. I was not victorious when I was where you are on the mothering path and my older children have some pretty bad memories of a very damaged mom. My younger kids have had the advantage in that regard. Healing can be slow. I will tell you that my older kids, all adults now, "get' it. They know I love them, they know that I was battling with my own memories and was not a screwball mom on purpose. Your kids will get it too, and they will be grateful that you chose to stop the cycle with their generation.

I have no problem believing it. I think my fractured and strange childhood, which led to my being a misfit in school because emotionally I was simply a mess, strengthened my decision to homeschool my kids. I am probably not the only one who is more protective, more watchful because of my past. It is certainly not the central reason for homeschooling, but I cannot say that things I went through did not contribute to making me the sort of mom who wants to keep her children very close to herself. And I am quite sure that were I open enough to tell a couple of stories from my childhood I could have you cringing. Nothing chic about it. I'm not proud to be from such a difficult past and I am certainly not proud of what it cost my children to be born to one so damaged, but I am very proud to have risen above it all. I am an overcomer. I am victorious. I win.

:iagree:

Actually, I think you and I are making the same point here. We celebrate that he chose to come to earth as a mortal baby, live a mortal life and be our Redeemer. But we don't sing Happy Birthday to Jesus or in anyway say that this is His birthday. I find it confusing to tell children that we know when Jesus' birthday is and to have birthday parties. I do agree with your second paragraph too, by the way. I have nothing to add so I'll just hold up this :iagree:

Same here. Whatever the oldest kid needs to be doing is what we are all doing. We are having a break from the cycle this year as we finished modern times last school year and my oldest at home is in 8th grade. I want him to start a new cycle as a freshman, so we are doing a year of state history so we can all start the cycle again next school year.

Good post!

Thank you! That grinds my gears every dang year. And when the church teachers bring out the cake and the kids dutifully sing Happy Birthday I want to stand on a chair and holler "Hey, y'all. Some researchers believe His birth was probably in the middle of the summer. So stop it, already." but that would be rude and embarrass my kids. But at home I tell them, we are celebrating that He chose to be born even though we have no clue when He was born. We don't call it a birthday around here.

It depends on which home. I was passed around a bit as a kid. I've been through some stuff, well a little of all that stuff you listed. Even the last one, there were two times in my life when I lived in abuse free environments. God heals and restores. You know, I think sexual abuse is the hardest to overcome. I can't imagine how anyone overcomes it without therapy. Even with therapy, it can take years.

I'm just adding another YES! In case you needed another one.

The only picture we have of our kids in Halloween costumes is 19 years old. My oldest two kids were dressed up as clowns, complete with face paint. I remember my daughter, 2 at the time, had a pair of teal blue high top Chucks that I loved so much that I made her costume coordinate with those shoes. After that year I began down a long path of confusion that led to a great deal of legalistic behavior. In the past couple of years I have began to come out of that fog and examine, one by one, every rule I had for myself and my children and my poor, long suffering husband. It was simply a matter of time before I would have to sit down and examine Halloween again. This year we have decided to participate in our downtown association's festivities. We like that it is done during daylight hours and that it is very community based between businesses and our downtown churches. It feels right to me. I don't know if we'll do this every year, but I have a definite peace about this right now. Just like I can have a Christmas tree (the one thing my husband would never let me eliminate during my long, strange journey) and just enjoy it as a decorated tree without losing what *I* am celebrating at Christmas, so can I let my children have this fun and know in my heart what I am celebrating and what I am not celebrating. God knows my heart.

I disagree. I think those festivals fill a void for families who do not wish to celebrate Halloween and even those who do. Not every neighborhood is friendly and safe. And on years when Halloween is rainy and nasty, a church gymnasium may be just the place to have fun and show off the costume of the year. I really think the volunteers who devote HOURS to planning and prep for these events are probably doing it to bring joy, not kill it.

She can untag, or maybe it's detag, herself and then nobody can ever tag her in that particular picture again. Some college students have to furiously detag every Saturday and Sunday morning, if you know what I mean.

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