I agree with the others, I don't think a face to face between teacher and student is going to accomplish anything. Your DD should not be put in the position to have to explain why she's leaving, and with the way it was worded, teachers appears to think she is quitting playing so then your DD would be in the awkward position of having to tell her she's not quitting, which would then leave your DD having to explain the leaving is of the teacher. I'd either ignore the email and hope that the teacher can take the hint (after all if she's lost other students she is aware of the reasons whether she wants to admit it or not)....or if teacher pursued and called me I'd simply explain that DD did not feel rejected or any of the other things that teacher worried about, and tell teacher that this was not a decision made lightly and that now that it's been made you don't want to put undue pressure on DD about her decision. And let her know that you realize that DD can return to teacher if the decision changes. That doesn't promise anything, but it also doesn't burn bridges which hurting her feelings by telling her to real reason might do. Then I would have DD write her a note of thanks for bringing her skills to such a level and giving her such encouragement, etc etc. And then I'd let it go. Sending your DD over to teacher would only be detrimental for DD...as it's inevitable that teacher will try to either discern the real reason for leaving or worse, try to talk DD into staying "I promise this year will be better" type of thing, which is completely unfair to DD to have to endure. And while I'd love to think that teacher wouldn't do this, because it's unfair to do to a student, I'm also thinking that teacher is probably feeling desperate to not lose any more students. On top of everything else happening in her life losing her income just adds to her stress. It doesn't sound like she's been able to keep her professionalism during her lessons if she's allowed her life situation to cause her to cry during lessons. That's inappropriate on every level to do with a young child (with you as a friend might be different, but not with a child). I wish your DD all the best as she continues her studies.....if the teacher's comments are accurate it sounds like she is a wonderful player!

According to the food pyramid one serving of rice is 1/2 cup cooked; one serving of chicken is 3 oz cooked. Your age, weight, and activity level will dictate how many servings you should be eating.

Hmmm, reading about the dust, I had to go scribble on ours and then see what happens, lol. We use an old washcloth to wipe our board and I tried several different ways of wiping, including very haphazardly swatting at it but I couldn't create any dust? Perhaps the eraser that you are using is not absorbing the ink like our washcloth does? As for not having a ledge.....I have one of those teacup hooks to put the washcloth next to the board, and the pens are in a cup that is also attached to the wall. The washcloth gets tossed in with the other towels on washday and comes out clean and ready to reuse.

Two of my daughters have been saying for a couple years now that they want me to homeschool their children (they both have elaborate plans for a very active career, one a writer of best selling novels, the other the actress that will star in the movie version of those novels, lol)....and so they realize that they won't have the ability to homeschool but want it for their kids. So, me.....I'm already collecting/keeping curriculum to use with my grandchildren. I just hope that I don't give them an outdated education with my saved curriculum, lol. It sounds to me like the OP's lady is a very lonely very sad woman. Kinda like the movies about the has-been actress who doesn't quite realize that she's not on top anymore. This woman must have felt that her worth was derived from her motherhood and/or teaching, and that now that she has neither she hasn't quite found her worth for this phase of her life. I find that quite sad, and a tad bit scary for me, since so much of my life and my personality are wrapped tightly in the homeschooler that I am....will I be able to find the real me, maybe the "old" (not age but before kids) me. And will I still like that person? Or, as my husband would say "she needs a life".

I put several in each frame making it easier to rotate them and they stay unblemished. The frames we use came with a thick piece of cardboard which we used for another project so there is plenty of room to stack. A favorite place to put several frames with posters is the bathroom....usually the kind that require some memorizing (sign language, multiplication table, latin roots, poetry). Lots of time to sit and stare, lol. We have the smaller posters on the kitchen cabinets. And each of the kids has one poster (no frame) on the ceiling above their beds.....another good place for inspirational or memorizing types, as they lay there and stare.

Ooops, I didn't notice it was so old either, lol. I would love to hear what they decided and how it's going..... If he took the promotion has he seen the raise yet....is he travelling as much as she feared, has they been able to work through her resentment, how is she doing with the workload and everything If he didn't take the promotion, how is he handling it since it sounded like he may end up with some resentment.....is he still only travelling a little bit or have they snuck a few more days in, lol. Whatever happened I hope that it has worked out to be blessing for your family!

Can't really help you with the decision making..........my husband travels a lot and I cope with it. I can tell you that it gets easier as you get a routine down for when he's gone....and it gets easier as the kids get older and are able to help out around the house and not demand quite so much of your absolute focused attention. I do understand the resentment....mine isn't so much when he's gone as when he returns and complains about how exhausted he is and wants a day of the kids being quiet so he can "relax". We've had a few rows about it, but he finally understands that as tired as he is, I am too....and I don't get to come home and take a day off! I think it's vital that you and he talk, calmly if at all possible, about your resentment and how to work through that as a couple. I know I don't have all the facts of your situation, but I'm gonna bet that if he turns this particular job down, it's not going to be long before another situation where he'll have to travel comes along, so you may as well face it soon. (As an aside, I would push DH to get the promised raise in writing with a deadline for it to happen so it doesn't become the "we don't have the budget this year"...been there, did that, left that job quickly, lol. In our case it was the same thing....we need someone to do the work now, and at fiscal year review we're "sure" we can fit it in the budget...and of course months later he's doing the job great and suddenly other priorities ate up the budget....never again.) Resentment can and will eat away at the relationship if it goes unresolved. So come up with some ways that you can have YOUR needs met, but he can still do what he must for his job. A few suggestions: Perhaps you could use some of the raise to hire a homeschool high schooler to come over and be a mother's helper? Pick and choose what you feel you need the most help with (or let it be different each week according to your needs).....playing with the kids so that you can get other things done, cleaning the house for you, tutoring/supervising some of their school work, whatever. After all $10k is $833 a month, even after taxes it's about $600 a month....if you were to pay $10 an hour for a helper (around here that's apparently the going rate, your area may differ of course)...but $10 an hour for perhaps 2 days a week at 4 hours a day, is $80 a week. Sounds like he may be gone at least one week, and if your prediction about "take an inch" comes true it may be 2 weeks.....so figure $160 a month, still leaves you with an extra $440+. But a more relaxed mom, or maybe just one that gets everything done? The other, and this is more what I do (because my husband's travelling doesn't include a raise, lol).....find ways to make things easier on you. I tried and failed at Once A Month cooking, because I dreaded and hated that one day of total exhaustion.....but what I found DID work for me is to cook double meals. It's very very little extra work for me to make twice as much spaghetti sauce or an extra pan of lasagne....so I freeze half and then only have to thaw, cook noodles, make a salad and we're eating. When we grill chicken we fill the entire grill and freeze the leftover (no extra work and no wasting the propane grill gas!). I have soooo many different recipes that we use cooked chicken for, our favorite being Teriyaki Rice bowls. So double recipe of the sauce whenever I make it, extra grilled chicken, and all I have to do is use my rice maker to make rice and it also steams veggies. We also eat things that my DH doesn't really consider "dinner"....like waffles (and my kids make it themselves so it's a no-work for me)....or hot dogs, another easy one for me. We also will just do a popcorn dinner (usually with some cheese and salami for filling)....again, little to no work for me. Housecleaning goes to "lite" when DH is gone.....I don't vacuum or mop daily....the bathrooms also go to every second day, etc. Just before he leaves the family spends about 3 hours doing a heavy-duty cleaning of the house....and when he comes home, after his day off, we do it again. Sure it's a little less perfect, but it never gets so dirty that I can't stand it, and it gives me a little less to do each day. As the kids have gotten older and more capable of doing the bigger jobs(like vaccum, mop, dishes, laundry) they have taken this off me even when DH is in town. We school year round so I don't ever feel like school is a burden....some days we do school lite, some days we're so into it that we suddenly look up and realize it's dinner time. So when life gets rough I don't feel the pressure of having to put in x hours of school. If it works we keep going, if it doesn't then we know we're ok to slow down for a day. And thankfully my kids love learning enough that they don't slack off for more than a day without complaining about it...I know that doesn't work for all families and some must keep the strict schedule or it gets lost quickly, but that's not us. I hope you're able to find the balance to make it possible for your resentment to lessen. Resentment can be quite exhausting all by itself!

EDITED TO ADD: OOOPS, sorry I should have kept reading before responding, you were already given this information. You can make your own buttermilk....for each cup of regular milk just add 1 tablespoon of either lemon juice or vinegar, stir and put in refrigerator for about half an hour. So since the linked recipe calls for 1/2 cup buttermilk, use half cup milk and 1 1/2 teaspoons of lemon juice or vinegar.

Our library has conference rooms and if the group is smaller they also have study rooms (about 8 chairs fit around the table). There is no charge to use so long as you are not Our library will only let you book them a month in advance, but we've not had a problem because during work/school day no one uses them. When we've tried to do something evening/weekend we've had a bit more of a challenge getting on the calendar. You might also check with a local cafe, coffee shop, etc. to see if they have a private dining area that they'd let you use in exchange for a little business. Our local Old Country Buffet hosts a businessperson's meeting once a month....they "request" that all attendees buy breakfast, but they don't require it. I've seen what appear to be simliar meetings in other restaurants with large dining areas that can handle a bit of a separation or have another room. I don't see why a co-op couldn't do the same. I wonder if a local pizza joint might have a private room where you could do your co-op and every throw in a couple dollars to get a few pizzas for lunch.

Oh, yeah, I also forgot that you can purchase art prints (though they're 5.5 x 8") from http://www.uni-prints.com/ Very nice quality, very reasonable prices.

Ambleside Online has a picture study and have yahoogroups that provide printable copies of the chosen artwork (4x6 is one of the formats offered). You can find their picture study here: http://amblesideonline.org/ArtSch.shtml Plus they have yahoogroups (you'll need to hunt around in these, but they do have many of the prints formatted in 4x6 already): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AO_HEO_PictureStudy_IA/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AO_HEO_PictureStudy_IB/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AO_HEO_PictureStudy_II/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AO_HEO_PictureStudy_III/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AO_HEO_PictureStudy_IV/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AOArtPrints/files/ It is fairly simple to convert 8x10 (which is the other size most of the above files are formatted) to the smaller 4x6. I know you said you weren't computer savvy, but if you ask almost any computer savvy friend, they should be able to help you quite easily and quickly. The only reason I'm not offering step by step is that any such instructions would depend on what programs you (or your friend) have available already on your computer, and since that could one of any of the hundreds of choices, it would be impossible to do steps for all of them. Seriously, though, once you learn this you'll be able to do it yourself no matter how computer-challenged you are! I have never used Walgreens, but I have used Sam's club and been able to upload 8x10 and it will automatically change it to 4x6 or 5x7 (it will warn you sometimes that the cropping conversion may result in distorted pictures, but I never found the crop to be noticeable). Going smaller is always a better quality picture than trying to take a small photo and make it larger, so if your DH is saying your photos are too small, that may be why it's not working. If you don't find the photos you want in the links above, once someone shows you how to resize, you can do a google search for the exact artwork you want, download it and resize it yourself. (and again, any semi-computer savvy friend should be able to teach you this as it's extremely easy to do once you know how!).

Raising a thinking child and one who will question authority when they disagree can never be wrong! I encourage my children to challenge my decisions so long as it is done with respect, calmly and that ultimately if I tell them that the conversation is over, it is over. They need to learn when someone with authority over them needs to prevail even if they disagree. I want thinking children, not rebels. And I think learning that difference now when the decisions are about playing on a trampoline, or being allowed to go to a particular movie will make it easier for them to discern later as adults when they should give in to authority and when giving in is not in their best interest. Most of the examples I can think of are politically charged, religious, or legal in nature, so I'll not cite examples so as not to throw the subject too far off, lol. I explain it to my children in the same way that I explained different rules at different houses. Obviously, when your son is at Auntie's house he needs to follow her rules....perhaps he can raise his objection respectfully but if it's met with her repeating the rules than he should accept her decision as final and end his discussion. He's very likely going to need to learn that restraint and how to challenge the frustration (or even anger) that doing this will bring for his adult life.....or he could find himself losing more than one job over it....or worse. For opinionated people (hmmm, me maybe), that's a difficult thing to learn, so this could be a very important time for him to learn it while he's young, so it's easier to know when to keep your opinions to yourself later in life. All that said, please tell him that I totally agree with his logic about Veggie Tales and Cars! Plus, I think Veggie Tales has better "moral of the story" moments, so of the two I'd rather my kids watch Veggie Tales (though I have no objection to Cars, just this example makes it the lesser of the two goods). His logic about the trampoline is also sound except when you remember that a trampoline is high off the ground....so horsing around with light sabers on a trampoline could cause harm because those toys tend to make the users dash back and forth.....a dangerous thing when a step off the trampoline can mean injury.....but a dash across the ground won't have that consequence. There's always another side to the argument right? LOL Good luck to your son!

Well, you ARE talking to a bunch of homeschoolers, so of course we're going to encourage you to keep her home, lol. BUT....here are some things to consider: Your post count says you are either new here, or that you were a lurker. If you're new, consider that you came and posted here, instead of going to a board with other public schoolers asking for help on how to handle a less than adequate teacher. Perhaps your heart already knows what you want and you came here hoping for confirmation (which we HAPPILY give you). Of course, maybe you also posted elsewhere, and I'm way off base, lol. Also consider that as a Kindergartener your daughter is in the most vulnerable stage of developing her feelings towards school and learning. If she loves her early years of learning the chances of that following her through the years and into the tumultuous teen years is much better. If instead she learns to hate school....well, a lot of people on this board can talk to you about how it takes years and sometimes, never happens to change a child's attitude about learning. Personally, I think that learning to enjoy learning is as important as any other subject I will teach my children. A love of learning will last a lifetime, even after I'm not their teacher anymore, and should guide them to continue wanting to learn throughout adulthood. The lack of a love of learning means a dismal school career, and an adult who never wants to learn anything more. A poor teacher, or even a good teacher but one that mommy has to argue with each week is NOT going to facilitate that positive feeling. A loving Mom showing DD how wonderful learning can be....even amid a bit of chaos wins hands down. Another thing to consider....she's a Kindergartener. What's the worst case scenario? You try to homeschool both your children with the littles underfoot and worst case it's a failure. So next year you put your daughter in school.....believe me, she'll catch up and you'll never realize that you had this blip on the radar. BUT...the best case scenario....things are a little bumpy to start while you, and they, find the right schedule, the right mix and things go wonderfully. You wonder why you ever doubted yourself. Ok, reality is that it will be somewhere in between. But you really have little to lose. And everything to gain. Your children will become closer than you ever imagined siblings could, and built in playmates so none of the kids lack someone to play with. And, if you really want outside friends, I'm sure your community has at least one, and more likely several, homeschool groups that you can do park days, playdates, field trips, co-ops, and just plain have fun time together. You'll never know until you try.

I agree, it would really depend on whether you feel your mom can handle the kids and their allergies. Has mom ever had them overnight before...or for a day....or even a few hours without you? Has mom ever fixed them a meal without your input? If the answer to those two was no, then I'd probably not go right now.....but perhaps you could start working towards "training" mom :lol: so that you would know that she could care for them. Maybe wait until next year to go the same week, or just wait until you feel confident that she can handle them. If mom has fixed them meals and is well versed in what they can and can't eat, and has had them for a day alone, then I wouldn't worry so much about the length of time. Yes, a week with active boys may turn out to be more exhausting than mom thinks right now, but so long as she's healthy, she should be able to handle an exhausting week. It's the light at the end of the tunnel that will get her through, lol.....as parents we can't see the light:lol:. I do agree with the poster who suggested that the dog be boarded......maybe at a place that allows visiting and that could be an activity for Mom to do with the boys each day (or every other day). It would be much easier on Mom and give them all an activity to do. Of course, that all depends on the dog's disposition whether boarding would be ok for him. You might also want to suggest that Mom stay at your house with the boys for the week. That way you know that there isn't some food item lurking in her fridge that is not ok, but that she might forget to read the label, you can stock your pantry with safe/appropriate snacks and foods. But mostly, because the boys will be more used to what activities they can and can't do at home (and Mom's knic knacks and furntiure will stay safe) and they have ALL their toys to play with. Mom will be the one having to adjust not your boys, and she'll do it much better than the kids would! Also, since you have never left them before, having their own bed to sleep in, toys to play in, and house to roam, they are less likely to have separation issues. I hope that Mom is ready to take this on for you so that you can have a wonderful time away with DH. :auto:

SHHHHHHHHHHHHHH PLEASE!!! Don't give them any ideas. :tongue_smilie:

Choose Page Layout, then size, then statement (which is 5.5 x 8.5). Go back to your worksheet and realize that the dotted lines are now where the page will print, so you may have to adjust your column widths or font size to make it all fit.

Ebay has an option to automatically send an email to the winner of the auction immediately after the auction closes, so while it may SEEM like the seller was right there at the computer as your bidding closed, that is most likely no so. There are a lot of people who are hesitant to purchase from such "newbies". They have no track record for accomplished sales and smooth transactions, but you know what.....everyone that sells on Ebay was once a newbie, and if no one bought from them, well, ebay would not exist, lol. Yes, there is a higher chance that someone with their first sale will be a scam....but you know what I would tend to think the problem might be that since she's so new to this, perhaps she doesn't understand/know the protocol of selling on ebay. To her, she posted it for sale, it sold, you paid, and now she knows she has to pack it up and mail it. Perhaps it's already in the mail, or sitting by the door to go to the post office today......but she just doesn't realize that she should be letting you know the status. Oh, and one thing about the stats for a seller....remember that you are only seeing what she received feedback from! She may have sold more items but if the buyer didn't do feedback, then it won't be included in the count. Same with her being the buyer, if the seller didn't leave feedback than it won't show in her count. I have been buying and selling probably a couple thousand but my counts is in the high hundreds....mostly because I'm horrible about remembering to leave feedback for my buyers because I've always been told to wait until after they leave feedback for me, and if they don't I never remember, and half the time when they leave feedback (and mine is 100% positive!!) I don't get around to leaving it for them. yeah, I'm a bad ebayer etiquette wise but at least I'm an honest ebayer! So, her stats are low but it's not necessarily truly the first thing she's sold, or the 4th transaction she's made....but it's still pretty low. And yes, you have some protection from Paypal. You have 45 days to dispute the transactions.....so in other words, if your item doesn't arrive in 45 days then you can file a dispute and request that Paypal help you with a refund. Paypal requires her to provide proof of mailing to your confirmed paypal address, so it's not a case of Seller "saying" they sent it....she has to prove it. It's not a perfect guarantee....but there are other remedies if that fails, such as disputing it with your credit card company, but this has drawbacks like ebay and paypal will close your accounts. Did the item have Buyer Protection? (Look under the price, it should like shipping, refunds and coverage.....does the coverage say something like "Pay with paypal and the full price of your purchase is covered"). I wouldn't be surprised if she responds to your email today....perhaps she isn't online much over the weekend because she's with family. Perhaps she does email from work.

I think I would give the seller a little time. I mean you say you paid on Thursday, UPS isn't open on weekends, so she's only had one day to prepare the package for delivery and get to UPS (unless she's a commercial account it costs extra to have UPS pick it up at sellers home). I would wait and give her Monday to ship it and Tuesday to notify you. Also, keep in mind that if she gives you the UPS trackining number, and you go to UPS's website it will not show as in their system the same day as shipment. UPS only updates their site with new packages overnight. Unless you have cause to think the seller is scamming you, please, give them a little time to do their part of this transaction. They have a life as well. I've always considered 2 to 3 business days after my payment CLEARS (and not all paypal transactions clear the same day as made) for shipping to happen to be reasonable.

Wait, I thought the reason that homeschooling was so damaging to our kids and going to ruin their very lives was because of the lack of socializing homeschoolers get. You know, when we have them locked in the closet and all. Hmmm, now I'm going to have a sleepness night worrying that since I not only let my children talk at EVERY meal, but even encourage by joining in that I'm ruining them even more! But, I can comfort myself with the fact that we have classical music playing in the house while my little Cinderellas clean the chimney and during art/craft time. So obviously I'm ok there. Heavens! I have missed why your daughter is in school now, but if it was because she wanted it, that phase may pass really really soon. Just remember that there is no disgrace in pulling her back outta there! In fact, we'd all probably cheer you on! :grouphug: Only 160 days or so to go.

I use a non-dated method....in other words, I have my plans of what I'd like to do in the order I'd like to do it, but I don't assign it specific dates to get done (which also means it would never work to put in a personal planner, but my calendar which is my planner is in the same binder, so it's easy to see both together. That way, if we do less than we "should" have for a day there is no feeling that we failed to finish, nor is there any need to erase things, or move things to something else. We just know that the next time we pick up that subject we'll be on "this". Without dates attached there is never the failure feeling. of course, we school year round so I also don't have a "must be done by" date. I know approximately when I want to finish this workbook/textbook/subject, so that we don't get totally behind, but even that is not hard and fast. For me it makes life in general just seem smoother to have a plan and know what we want to do, but not to have deadlines that will make me feel stressed if we don't make them. It gives us the chance to seize the opportunities that come up without being chained to a calendar. And for those that worry that this means you might get behind and therefore not have your child get through all the subjects/courses that they should in a "school year"......when I see that we're getting close to being done with the plans I've worked up, so it's time to start considering the next set of plans (and buying or finding resources for it), I do evaluate whether we're on track to complete this grade on time. Right now, it's August and my eldest by virtue of her age should be starting 7th grade....but we're about 2 months into our 8th grade plan for lit, science and history, and about mid way through 7th grade in math. So, technically we could probably take the rest of 2009 off and still be on track. Somehow not having deadlines makes us free enough to just keep going to the next lesson when we are enjoying it, whereas when I had daily plans we'd get all frustrated if we got behind and be so busy trying to 'catch up" that we never did get ahead. It's obviously a psychological thing, but I've done the non-date planning for about 3 years now and it has been so wonderful and we've gotten so much more done. According to my husband it's because I'm such a control freak that I couldn't handle it when the calendar was in control instead of me. :confused::lol:

Be sure to check your library before buying these....mine has the entire new Bill Nye on order....I'm second on the holds list! Oh, I had to look them up using "Science of Disney Imagineering" instead of "The", but I found my library has these also.

The state I grew up in considers me well-educated.....top 3% of the state's graduating class, top 1% of my school. I have a J.D. from a rather prestigious college. But I'll tell you that teaching my own children has been as much of an education of ME as it has been of them. Are the reasons she never graduated/GED because she is simply not capable of learning? Or did "life" get in the way and she's kinda resigned to it now? If she's capable of learning, then she can learn right along with the kids (and perhaps having them home studying will encourage her to study on her own and go for the GED). If she's not capable of learning, then no, she probably shouldn't homeschool them. With her finances, will she be able to stay home with them, or will state aid require her to get a job??? If she's going to have to get a job, then it might not be wise to start homeschooling, but if the foreseeable future is that she will not..... Here's a list of free curriculums: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=109114 It is absolutely possible to homeschool without spending much money, perhaps no money. And, consider the money that she will save....no more school uniforms (or expensive clothing for school.....jeans and t-shirts work as do PJs in our house....and no peer pressure for name brands or latest styles). None of those lengthy very specific (and very brand name heavy) school supply requirements. Hit Walmart/Target etc this week and get a year supply of pencils, paper, crayons, glue, for about $20. Kids don't "need" fancy notebooks, stylish binders, backpacks, and all the rest......those 50cent binders do just fine when they aren't tossed around a classroom/school hallway. She may to work harder than some homeschool moms, but hopefully she's willing to put in the work for her kids sake. And hopefully, she's found a friend in you to help her through the rough patches (or to hook her up with other friends to lighten your load in that regard!).

See the answers above in red

Ridley Pearson, the author of Peter & the Starcatchers series has another series above Neverland that is definitely age appropriate for your son. Pearson also has the Kingdom Keepers set but age appropriateness may depend on your son.....it's about teens who have had holographic duplicates made of themselves by Disney to interact with guests at the parks, but the villans of the parks are trying to take over the parks and the teens are pulled from their homes into their holographic personas in the middle of the night at Disney World to fight the villans. While it's wonderful sci-fi and totally implausable, lol.....a senstive child, or one with a young impressionable imagination might have trouble with the idea of being involuntarily pulled from your bed in the middle of the night. One of my kids was a bit unsettled about it and had a couple nightmares, but wasn't willing to give up our read aloud, lol. Eventually she settled down, but it is a bit intense at times. Since you say he loves sci-fi I'm guessing that magic type of storylines don't bother you (some families avoid it so just wanted to mention it, as obviously there is a lot of magic to make villans come alive and people become holograms). Another author we enjoy is Andrew Clements....not sci-fi, and usually set in a school, but his twists and turns in the plot are wonderful to keep up with.

Are your kids able to stop and start workloads easily? Maybe you could take an extended break at lunchtime to participate in activities, and pick up the work when you got home? I know not all kids (or moms) can get back into it once you've stopped, so it might not work for you, but worth considering?