Ooooohhhhhh. Ok. Now you have started something. I have used Google calendar before. I like it. I just like my large squared desk calendar better. But.....I never thought of using Google Calendar to put my kid's homeschooling timetables on.....guess what I will be doing today. Thanks for the idea!

I am probably weird but last time we moved I just unpacked manically full time for a solid week ,a dn was done. And believe me,we have a lot of stuff- even the moving guys said so. I knew I couldn't homeschool again till the unpacking was finished,so I just did it. And then, returned to homeschooling immediately because the routine of it helps us all feel settled. I guess everyone is different though, and my kids weren't little.

ds14 has some very strange teeth configurations and has just got braces, even though I am really not into unnecessary interference. He is good looking but his wonky teeth were affecting his self esteem ,even how he smiled. It is costing us $7000 over 18 months. What to do! he is fine with them. I feel ok about our orthodontist They obviously don't need the business,as they are so busy . it is expensive but they all are....get a second opinion and then just do it.

:iagree: I always avoided this book because the title turned me off, lol, but recently I read it and it really is excellent. Many, many good points in it. The modern editions have more modern examples than the original- I recommend that. I am not sure I would focus on clothes or doing better at school as a way of gaining respect from people who are rude, but I understand you are trying something. Learning social skills is something I have had to, as have many others, do consciously- they havent come very naturally. Your dd may need some training. And, some people just arent worth bothering with.

I cant see how good self esteem is a problem :) My husband has excessive self esteem and I think it has been good for my kids. My self esteem tends to be lower and is it FAR better now that I am in my 40s, than when I was younger. Especially around my weight. I am not overweight but I am not slim either and I actually feel comfortable in my body, and lately I have stopped weighing myself, and just checked myself out in the mirror regularly, and really, I dont mind what I see at all! My mother is an "Amazon" bodytype (I am not, I took after Dad's side) and always told me she felt much more comfortable carrying some weight. Not as much as she ended up carrying, but still, she told me when she was skinny, she thought she was fat anyway (the photos of her in her early twenties are amazing, she looked like a model!) and she didnt feel good in her body. She foudn it very hard to be a largish woman in a society that reveres asexual, androidal, hipless, anorexic bodytypes. I wish she had your self esteem....but she is honestly one of the best dressed women I know. She looks great, she dresses beautifully and uniquely and with a style I envy! My dd16 has my bodytype and tends to carry just a small amount of body fat...but honestly, I think it looks beautiful. She is by no means overweight, and a layer of fat, and some hips, make a woman look womanly! She is happy with herself, even though her best friend is super skinny. Enjoy youself! It sure beats the alternatives!

I am reading a specifically Aussie book on paying off investment properties quickly and it really makes sense, once she shows you the figures. The whole negative gearing, tax break thing is not worth it compared to the benefits paying off a house. The amount one wastes in interest is incredible. I am trying to convince hubby to start putting extra money on one of our investment properties rather than just waiting for capital gains. However, we are not in debt and are not committed to paying the kids' university fees. The loans they would take out are not as horrific as the U.S. system and do not need to be repaid immediately, are low interest, and fees seem to be lower here too for most courses. So we will "help" but not pay for the whole thing unless we get a windfall. Dave Ramsey, as someone else said, recommends investing and saving for college before paying off mortgages. Makes sense to me, but for us, we have no debt and dh wont play with the stockmarket, so paying off an investment property seems the best way to invest.

Lol, yes, excuse my typos- I was typing in bed on my ipad, late at night in the dark when I should have been sleeping! yes....we call them (comforters) doonas. Because they have a washable cover, we only need a bottom sheet, then just toss the doona over the bed.

I remember my mum buying my brother and I donnas when we were teens, to make it easier to make our beds. I have done the same for my family and we do tend to make our beds because itis pretty easy to do? Dh's bed is the only one with blankets and sheets,a nd it is more frequently unmade. I completely relate to those who "don't bother" making their beds, because there have been many periods when I haven't,but Flyady got me into the habit and I do like walking into my bedroom when it is tidy with a made bed. I am not naturally a very tidy person so it feels especially gratifying that Imake the effort and it just feels good.

The kids and I started back doing school today after a 2 week break. We were sitting together in the loungeroom for our daily "together work" time and I had been reading the "depth and breadth" thread and was all gung ho about starting back on our poetry memorisation to help train their memories (I think it was a Nan post). So we get through about 5 old (previously memorised) poems and all is well then ds14 demands very adamently that I listen to something he has memorised. He pulls out his ipod and plays a kind of half rap song and sings every word along with it, and dd16 joins in. They are singing along at the top of their voices with a very tricky rhythmn and fast spoken words. This is our memory work time. I couldn't help laughing and laughing even though I kept trying to get them to stop and get on with our serious work. (Ooey gooey was a worm and all that). SO.....they don't seem to have a problem with memorising things they want to memorise. Actually, they are pretty good at memorising songs- it often amazes me when they actually get to listen to the music enough to memorise the words. It's poetry to them. :) Not quite the classical content I had in mind, but still, some of the lyrics are pretty amazing and deep. Others...not so.

Lol, I downloaded it onto my ipad and have been meaning to get around to downloading the main verison onto my desktop...but somehow havent got around to it because I dont seem to use any programs like that. I love the idea of them...but don't really have a need for them. I have a couple of beautiful writing programs on my ipad too. I make an effort to use them but its not what I seem to want to use my ipad for (and I do use it a lot.) Lots of things are like that. I ended up buying myself a page to a day desk diary the other day because as much as I love the idea of keeping all my random notes in my technology (desktop or ipad) they end up on scraps of paper on the my desk and I needed something, one thing, to just write everything down in- whether its homeschool, family or business related. The old pen and paper seems to do the trick here, for most things. I do love my HomeRoutines app though, because I never could get a control journal to work for me (Flylady). So all that to say...no, sorry, but I did at least know sort of what you were talking about :)

This part also strikes me, but I was thinking that from his perspective, if he makes too many "exceptions" to the simplicity of his system, the system becomes no longer simple, and people give themselves too many excuses. Its a bit like Flylady allowing someone to whine and get away with it cause they really have a difficult life...you can't pick and choose. Yes, there may never be a later and some of us will compromise for that, to take our kids on a holiday etc. But I think "living for the moment" is what gets many of us into trouble in the first place. But I dont need to tell DR what i am doing :) and thats really my business and my priority. I am glad his system is simple and straightforward...I think thats why it works for so many. Just like you can keep a credit card and still do his system...as long as you are actually able to use it only wisely....you can adapt the system for yourself. We won't be investing in shares. We intend to pay off an investment property instead.

Whew, I have managed to read most of this today. I think if I was comfortable with the other modes of seeing the threads (hybrid etc), some of the posts would be in context better...but still, so much wonderful, wonderful experience is shared here. It feels very real. I don't know the answer to the depth/breadth question. I have gone both ways at times and I am not sure one is really better than the other around here. I think I have gone one way or the other according to my convictions at the time (eg the publication of LCC made an impact). I am not sure either way is significantly better for my kids. I am probably still trying to go for the breadth now...my kids are 16 and 14, and dd16 is going to a type of full time college in February (she will be 16.5) and definitely specialising...Mass Communication. I am trying to cram in some basic French because we have failed miserably at it but her Dad wants to take her to Paris for a week....to cover Modern History well because she is going into Journalism...to cover more Maths just because she feels she should get up to a certain level....writing through Home2Teach (and other programs in between)...a correspondence course in Media Studies which is supposed to be full time but she is taking longer...and Reading just to cover various things I wanted her to get to. SHe is an artist at heart and while people call her very talented, spending a couple of hours a day for the last 10 years drawing and painting has, I am sure helped her talent somewhat. She is dedicated and obsessed with her art, and with photography. She is currently downloading 400 photos she took at a Ball she went to last night. She also is a natural manager, and organiser, and is involved in all sorts of committees (such as organising the Ball last night) and may soon be the state Chairman for Venturers (Scouts for 14-18yos here). She is also a sailor. Homeschooling has given her the time to follow these passions and even though I havent pushed the academics too hard....it looks like its all going to be fine and she wants to go to uni and it doesn't look like it will be a problem. I think Nan has a point about letting the kids be to some extent and not over obsessing or over scheduling them. Give them some space. But its hard to say what will work for every child when it works just for your own, as many posts here have discussed. I wait to see what will unfold for ds14. He wants to be an entrepreneur, a business man, and get rich :). He is a natural salesman type personality. But he has LDs, is non academic, and I don't know how to specialise for him other than keep working on his basic skills in all skill areas, and keep him reading and learning about the world. I love history so it is a bias I have, and I feel it is a gateway into understanding the world. It gives context to modern day events, and I think in many ways i have used it to start many conversations about values, spirituality, deep concepts....so it is a doorway, but so could many other subjects be, or just reading. I just used history. So thats my content subject we have focused on but also because it is such a great thing to bounce off to so many other things. I am just sharing but I don't have anything amazing to add. I have appreciated reading the thread because it humanises us all. No matter what our ideals...its not all clean cut like it looks in TWTM. I dont think that that undermines the value of TWTM. It is a great place to start, to give valuable structure, and a place to aim in the beginning especially when its all so overwhelming. But after a while, we all become experts, really. We can learn from each other, but no one has our own unique kids or life situaitons, and thats why homeschooling is so great- it is personal, not generic. School is generic. But thats what makes it so scary...generic feels safe, but free flying, adapting, changing our minds, making mistakes, having gaps...its scary. I am glad we covered so much while the kids were younger. We could have done without my stress levels, but I dont feel any of it was wasted. Even starting and giving up on things like abstract Logic was not wasted. But my family all have a lot of Gemini in us, and two of us are Geminis. We tend toward breadth rather than depth. In the end, I go for finding some sort of balance in our life as a whole...and the depth is often in other areas than academic.

I have had my ipad for about 3 weeks now and it is kind of an appendage now...dont know how I ever lived without it. For ease of carrying about...it is amazing. Hardly any heavier than a mug of coffee! (OK, a little, but not much!). One of my favourite bits is that I can turn it on and off instantly, without having to boot it up or down. I can also go to bed and check my email, read the boards, play with various apps, watch You Tubes, read an ebook etc. I can also play my ipod within my ipad and the inbuilt speakers are loud enough that I can prop it on the kitchen table or next to me in bed, and listen withouthassling with speakers. I did have a laptop before I got my current desktop computer, because I wanted the convenience of portability. But I found that it wasnt as portable as I had imagined and so I rarely took it off my desk anyway. Then the battery went and I had to have it plugged in, so it lost all its magic for me. Although I do love the ipad...it does feel alike a luxury item rather than a necessity. I use it a lot, which makes it seem useful...but in the end, its more technology, which I love, but my garden is neglected.

:iagree: I will make more effort when I know the crowd will appreciate it. And I love healthy potlucks. I generally bring about the same amount of food as my family will eat, and a bit extra. But only one dish. If it's all desserts, well, we eat desserts. Its usualyl balanced enough. If I was asked to bring mains, sides AND dessert I would seriously consider not going to whatever it was, or just bringing mains. It woudl be easier to eat at home. POt Lucks are meant to be convenient...for everyone...not jsut the host. We dont eat that much, though. Perhaps the host isnt bringing food? Or you just have friends with huge appetites? There are usually leftovers at the pot lucks I attend.

:iagree: What you are describing is normal for me. I just adjust my life to it. I take naps, I take spirulina for iron and various other things at times, I am taking gingko for memory..maybe this is just your new normal. My husband's short term memory went years before mine and I used to get really annoyed about it and feel it was virtually deliberate...then mine started going! Its not so bad- gingko seems to help. I can go from one side of my tiny kitchen to the other and forget why by the time I get there. I can stand in front of the open fridge or pantry and go completely blank as to why I am standing there, what I am looking for. I would fit more into my day if I didnt nap....but life is not just about being productive, so I enjoy my naps, because if I miss them too often, the rest of my day I am just dragging myself through.

I'm still waiting. Ds14 was always a later maturer. He was also always a challenge, and he just got harder once he got hormones. We have just had a week's break from him and it has been peaceful! He is big, noisy, smelly, brash, self centred, demanding, and sometimes downright hostile. There are moments I remember I still adore him, when the sun shines through, but they are fewer than they have ever been. I do pretend he is still affectionate and light hearted, and hug him when he isn't looking :). He has matured somewhat, in some ways (especially physically!), but it seems he needs to do everything the hard way. SO...I am patiently waiting for that overnight change you are talking about. :)

Ive only just read Total Money Makeover and it has been the kick in the butt I needed. I feel a lot of compassion through his words. He doesnt come across as heartless at all. He is that "tough love" we all need in some area of our lives! However, I downoaded a podcast of his radio show and couldnt bare to listen past the first few minutes. I couldnt stand his speaking style and can really understand what people mean whent they say he is brash. He does seem to me to be a man of integrity, though. Not sure if I will get past my cringing at his radio voice, though, to actually listen to him. I will probably just recommend his book.

Absoutely! :lol: Getting back on the Flylady bandwagon has been good for me, though. Just getting dressed in the morning, even during school holidays here, has meant my days are much more productive- during our winter blustery, hibernating weather, I have done a lot of catching up on things at home- taxes, decluttering, a financial overhaul. Just getting those first few things done in the day...swish and swipe, laundry, dressed to sheepskin slippers :), seems to stop me from noticing its midday and all I have done is drunk tea and done my email and these boards :)

I would have looked at his car and decided whether if it were me, and I can park pretty well, I could have got myself out of that bay without scratching another car. If I could, I would (ideally) have walked off, or discussed with him further telling him if he cant drive well enough he shouldnt be driving a car like that. (In reality, rather than my ideal scenario, I would have complied ungaciously, though, most likely). However...I am concerned here with whether or not my own car would possibly/probably be scratched by the incompetent parking manouvres of a arrogant tourist...or not. Not his convenience. If I was realyl thinking clearly, taking down his number plate in case I came back to a scratched car might be a good idea too. Still, responding to ungaciousness with further ungaciousness isnt really helpful.

My pregnancies (including those that miscarried) were all from broken condoms, no b/c, or the "rythmn method" :lol: which really was a joke for me with my irregular cycle and unconscious desire to have babies! :lol: I haven't read the whole thread but it does seem that a strangely high number of women get pregnant on the pill, but I always thought the figure was something like 98% safety for the full pill (rather than mini pill) and that still leaves, statistically, quite a few babies conceived over the whole population. I have prayed for my dh's vas deferens to grow back together. I want it to. Lol. But no such luck so far. It's lucky that mother nature/ God is so incredibly fertile though, and ingenious at making babies even under the most unlikely of circumstances.....because overall the human infertility rate seems to be skyrocketing.

I would honestly go for the one that costs less, overall. Add up your childcare costs and if the local uni is cheaper, I would go for that. Just make it work.

it's called HomeRoutines and it is really brilliant and totally adaptable for your own routines. it even has a built in timer. it is simple enough to not overwhelm, yet can give you enough for all your basic cleaning routines, including customizable zones. it works without Flylady though. it is just based on her system. just thought I would share for those who like that sort of thing.

I like to put it on everyone's pillows. I put one drop on their pillow in the morning, and turn the pillow over. By the evening, when you turn the pillow back up, it has infused through the pillow. One drop isn't overpowering for us. Sometimes I just drop the drop onto the pillow straight before sleep. I also burn the oils in the schoolroom in an oil burner. In cold season, I use lavender and teatree oil on the pillows/room. Peppermint would do the same- clears and disinfects. Lavender and chamomile is a classic insomnia/stress remedy. I also like orange and lemon with lavender.

I cant imagine being disappointed with a Golden, either. They are beautiful. if you dont mind the extra work and vacuuming etc, I would go for it. Usually once I am obsessed with getting a pet, it happens. We have 2 dogs. The first is sooooo placid and lazy and affectionate. She loves her walks but wont fetch balls. She is definitely friendly. But dh wanted his own dog (she is mine) and bought himself a little JR/shihtzu thingy- and she is so totally opposite to the other dog. They adore each other though and Little Dog will play and tussle with Big Dog while Big Dog just lies there patiently. Little dog will jump in your lap the moment you sit, and if you stop patting her, she will nudge you continually till you continue Big dog will just lie nearby and sleep, and every now and then come and put her head on your lap for a stroke. I prefer big dogs though.

Definitely not. I grew up with ice cream available after every meal, but I dont allow that either. Too much sugar. My kids have plenty of sweet things- fruit mainly- but it tends to be between meals. I have a cooking job twice a week where I cook a vegetarian meal for 15 or so people....I always make dessert for them, so I do get to be creative and play with dessert making- and my family do get to have some too--but only because I am doing it for a job, so to speak. Having said all that, I had strawberries in the fridge this evening, and whipped cream left over from the meal I cooked for "work " yesterday, in the fridge, so tonight we had fresh strawberries and cream. It was spontaneous and an unusual though.