I think "rude" is a fairly subjective thing and I choose to take responsibility for my own responses to things (escept when I am PMSing as another poster admitted to, when I am more likely to be over sensitive). However...if people did that and I would have expected to be invited...I would be hurt and probably reassess the level of our friendship. Most of the time, I am not hurt because I didnt expect to be considered part of that friend's inner circle, so discussing it in front of me wouldnt bother me. I think though that some poeple are more socially conscious in that way than others, and I am not so.

In past years...thousands of $, because I could and I was a curriculum junkie, and, because its expensive to get U.S. curriculum in Australia. This year...with highschoolers...a few hundred at most and much of that was bought previously. Its the correspondence courses that cost now. I dont buy curriculum much- I use what I have. I have always felt you could homeschool very inexpensively if you wanted...but I had money to spend and I spent it, and it seemed essential at the time.

I call myself a local because I have lived here since I was 18yo, and that is 27 years ago now. So I have lived here longer than my home state. However, when asked where I come from or was born...I say where I come from, not here. Being a local is different, in my mind, to saying thats where one originated.

Yes. As Jean says...magnesium is good for anxiety. It is a relaxant. Epsom baths are a traditional way of soothing sore, tired muscles as well as stress. You can also just use foot baths.

I kept reading all this negative stuff on Charlotte Mason/Ambleside message groups, about Classical Homeschooling and TWTM in particular. About how dry, extreme etc Classical was. That was my introduction. Eventually, I was linked to the boards by someone over there and once I found them, and read TWTM, I was completely hooked.

Nope, not a big deal to me at all. However, we do do memory work of poetry. I am not big on dates.

It really depends- I might put something in the over than took me 15 minutes to put together, but it takes an hour in the oven to cook. Meanwhile I go off and do other things and come back and make a salad 10 minutes before the oven dish is ready. I probably generalyl take 15-30 minutes, but a couple of times a week might take a fair bit more just because I am making something more elaborate. If I was making steamed potatoes and broccolli and some trout- I might consider that a 30 minute meal at most. That seems like a pretty quick meal and we often eat meals along those lines. I make mashed potato in the Thermomix (put milk and potatoes in TM, turn on for 20-25 minutes, when finished, add butter/parmeson and blend for 15 seconds) , cook something protein based, and make a salad. I am pretty sure its all done in 30 minutes most of the time. The Thermomix is a big time saver though. I can make a white sauce very easily in it by just throwing all the ingredients in it and turning it on- I think it takes less than 10 minutes before its ready and most of that I am doing something else.

Ds14 hangs out with kids in the street, particularly a pair of brothers. Comes home by dark. Sometimes does a sleepover or has a kid over here for the night. Is often out all day and we have no idea where- but we do know who he is with and feel ok about it. His friends' house is his 2nd home and they love him- the parents too. He is the oldest kid in the street and is the "leader". He often eats meals at his friends' house but his friends have never eaten here. I guess we are not so "friendly" in that way. I dont find it easy cooking for other kids and need some time to prepare. Dd15/16 has no friends locally. She will catch public transport to meet various friends at various places in the city. She has a phone and stays in touch (unlike ds who doesn't have a phone). She tells me where she is going and who she is with. She is also home by dark. She also sometimes has a friend over for a sleepover, or goes elsewhere for a sleepover, but so far, no sleepovers at friend's places I am not familiar with and she has lots of friends- some of whom I don't know so well). If friends are over for the day- sure, we do meals. Bur rarely dinner unless its a sleepover, and we don't tend to do evenings unless its a sleepover. Generally daytime hours are 9 to 5 or 6ish- pick up before dinnertime. My dd is very social and although she catches public transport during the day, I wont let her past dark, so it is up to me to get her (dh works evenings). So...I am someone who goes to bed early. I am generally not happy picking up dd past 10pm and would not be happy with an 11pm pick up generally speaking. She often has meetings on in the evenings, related to committees she is on, and she knows she has to arrange times to fit with me as well as other committee members.

Routines. Flylady. My kids are older now so they do a fair bit themselves...but they also still make mess. I have more time to myself though, so I have more time to deal with it. 10 minute tidies. My kids each have a worksheet in their workboxes today with a 10 minute tidy for each day, only in their bedroom. Ds14 had to do clothes today- find all his clothes from around the house, pick up clothes from his bedroom floor (and the bookshelves and wherever else he stuffs them!) and deal with them (drawers, hanger or wash basket). Then put on a load of washing. This kid needed my help though- he just couldn't see most of the clothes he had all over the place. I had to stand there and point. Tomorrow he will change the sheets on his bed and make his bed beautiful. So...train your kids. It's time consuming and tedious but worth it. Make it a part of school, or a before or after school routine. Put a timer on for 10 minutes, or 5, and even some boppy music, and have everyone do something. Make it a bit fun. Have cocoa afterwards. Whatever it takes to create some routines and processes where everyone has some responsiblity. I usually put on a load of washing in the mornings, if needed. My kids do their own washing but often need prompting. Dh does his own washing. We do loads by the person- saves one step, sorting. On weekends I will often take an hour or two just to pick up and vacuum. But I will also often get the kids to help. Yesterday (Sunday) I had teh afternoon at home alone so I spent an hour making the living area neat and tidy and felt great. I keep the bathrooms clean daily by wiping down the sink, swishing the toilet every few days, wiping the mirror every few days. I put toothbrushes and toothpaste away daily if necessary. Doesnt take more than a few seconds to keep it neat daily. Kitchen is the one room that takes the most work and everyone contributes. It is always clean before we go to bed at night, and first thing in the morning, while I am waiting for the kettle to boil, I put away dry dishes. I declutter regularly- 5 minutes here, 10 minutes there. I have a huge house and it really doesn't take a lot of time to keep it in reasonable condition. Daily maintence, some weekly jobs, and I wait till holidays usually to do deep cleaning and massive decluttering. I am not a perfectionist. Certain things make a house look clean- one thing is clear surfaces. If teh dining room and other tables and surfaces in the house are kept clear, it makes a big difference. I really recommend Flylady though. It was years of doing her program that helped me learn how to form routines and prioritise so that eventualyly everything gets covered. I still use ZOnes- this week I focus on the living area. It just means that if there is a job I have been avoiding in that zone, I get to do it. Thats why I spent an hour in here yesterday.

We all have our own computers, are computer savvy and pretty liberal with computer useage. Ds14 and Dd15 yos have own Facebook but must have parents as friends. Both have unfriended us- lost computer privileges- refriended us in order to get computer priveleges back again. Both have unrestricted screen time between 6pm and 9pm in the evenings- TV and/or computer. Both use computers for schooltime and sometimes are caught doing non schooly things like You Tube during school hours. They are reprimanded and redirected to schoolwork. School is in public areas so this only generally happens if I am too busy doing something else to notice. However, if they are generally focused I dont mind a quick "YouTube break" during school hours at lunchtime of if they are waiting for something. The big issue here has been their ipods connected to WiFi. We have found they will go to bed at 9pm and sit in bed on Facebook on their ipods. We only recently dealt with it though it's been going on for a while (we can be a bit slow!) and they both have to hand me their ipods at 9pm. I really want them to have a break between screen time, and sleep. They also both stopped reading in the evenings because of their ipods so hopefully they will get back into that habit. We will see. Dd15 does Media Studies for school and spends a lot of time working on her photography online. I let her spend extra time in the afternoons on her computer because its a creative outlet for her and she doesn't have any friends locally. Ds has friends on the street- he is out there playing every afternoon. There are compromises and screen time does tend to creep up to an unacceptable level quite often- then we discuss and deal with it and bring it back down. No miracle solutions here- just knitty gritty flexible real life working it out as we go, and lots of discussions with the teens about how we feel about too much screen time.

Love home2teach.com classes. We have done several and will do more. Dd15 did their lit course recently. I find their classes of a high standard, great feedback, and I love that they are 6 week courses so they are not a long term committment.

We do 40 weeks of school, with a few days of for public holidays here and there. Probably a solid 38 weeks in the end. Its based on the school system- and it is 10 weeks on 2 weeks off, with a 7 week break at Christmas. It really works well. I need the solid 2 week break, myself. And I dont need as long as Americans often take over summer- 6-7 weeks is plenty for us. I could probably handle 4 weeks if I needed more school time. But I need the solid breaks from school to catch up on housework and time with dh. The dcs seems to need it too.

I am attracted to the idea not so much for the acceleration, but more because I like the idea of consistently doing 3? hours of school a day most days for year upon year, and having the rest of the day free. It reminds me of the Robinson curriculum as well- except they are 5 hours a day, 6 days a week. There is however a big difference between ticking boxes, finishing the work, and the type of mentality that I think a classical education or even a living books one, or a rich one, encourages. But I am sure there is plenty of possible crossover. Its an idea worth playing with if it attracts. If acceleration is your goal...there are plenty of ways to tweak TWTM . If having lots of free time to pursue passions is a goal, that's a different angle and it might involve different priorities. What aspect is it that particularly appeals? FOr me...the idea of apparently accomplishing so much in so little daily time is appealing..but I wouldnt be happy with Calvert. I want to design my own program. So..different priorities.

We were part of the same spiritual community.

Stinking hot summers here but it makes no impact on our school year. We follow school terms, which are different in Australia and I like the way they structure our year- and it makes it easier to do classes. We have 4 ten weeks terms with 2 weeks between each, and a 7 week summer break (our Christmas hols!). Summer hols are just the right length and we get plenty of breaks through the year.

CADA Coconut, Apple, Dates, Almonds Equal amounts of each (I use a small handful of each and one apple) I also soak the almonds and dates overnight, but you don't have to. Blend together in blender. Yummy living porridge. I need protein an healthy fat for breakfast and this keeps me going well. Many variations possible- leave out coconut; use different fruit- I often use blueberries and/or pears; use other dried fruit instead of dates; and use any variety of seeds/nuts (pepitas, sunflower seeds, brazils, macadamias, also linseeds are good but dont soak them first).

loves to fix things! I hear so mnay women complain their dh never gets aorund to cleaning the gutters or fixing the swimming pool pump or whatever...my dh is a whizz at all things handyman! And he enjoys it mostly! also...loves to buy presents for me and the kids. This guy loves to op shop and garage sale and he is always getting me this or that. But also more expensive things too. He loves to give presents. Actually, he was the one who taught me to love shopping! He hates it when I go grocery shopping without him!

Yes, I would go to Amblesideonline.com and read and read. Yes, the Charlotte mason method can really be wonderful. I started there before migrating over to Classical and I migrate back there periodically. It will help a kid with their reading because you will be reading a lot to them, and they will be reading a lot. Oral narrations - telling back to you what they or you have just read- in their own words- is a central part of CM. I have used it a lot.

Eat a diet mostly based on plants. Eat a fair amount of your food uncooked. Eat a variety of colours.

Basmati rice, even white, is very healthy. I compromise and usually use that. However, I find my family is much more lenient toward brown rice if I soak it overnight or for a few hours first. It goes quite soft then, when cooked. Also I have been known to mix 50/50 pre cooked white and brown rice to make fried rice.

We did some, but I didn't use a separate writing program all the time. My reluctant writer would focus on outlining, writing from outlines, research assignments, written narrations, and planning short essays/essays, all at different times over a few weeks each- and also in different subjects (so sometimes we only read/oral narrations for history while he did lots of writing for English or Science, or some other combination) . He actually never did too badly with outlining, so I would move him onto to working on other skills at different times- then come back to outlining for a while, etc. In other words, I am fairly flexible and dont do it exactly as any external plan- I try and cater to my son's needs for focusing on one skill at a time, then another for a time.

That however is only half of the story. Yes, germs and visruses cause illnesses, but they are around a lot anyway. How come one person gets the flu and the other doesn't? Because the conditions in the sick preson were conducive to getting sick- that is where good health and good diet comes in since a body that is fed a healthy diet will have a healthier immune system that otherwise. And also, their temperature. If you are out in a rainstorm or a chilly wind, your body is expending a lot of energy on keeping itself warm- and has a lot less energy available to direct towards the immune response. So getting a chill- physically cold- can very much be a realistic trigger for getting sick, if other factors are present such a viruses and bacteria, which they frequently are. That "old wives tale" is one with its feet firmly planted in reality, I am afraid. Germs and bacteria are only one factor in the whole health picture. The "ground" they thrive on must also be conducive to their proliferation, otherwise the immune system will just wipe them out.

:lol::lol::iagree: I can so relate to that. I get a bit giddy too! Well, I used to anyway...I am kind of over curriculum nowadays. I may get to play with it again next year when dd goes off, and I just have ds, but overall, I have had a good run and its good to spend money on other things!

Ultimately it comes back to the parent, and then the child...but thats only a great theory or ideal. What if the parent has simply not been exposed to the concept of taking responsibility for oneself, or one's children's educatoon. Or, they just never seriously consider it because everything else in their lives tells them to trust the authorities? It wasnt till I seriously started researching homeschooling that I realised the extent to which the institution of school (and health institutions as well) disempower parents so that they feel they themselves are inadequate. It takes some sort of catalyst, or stroke of luck, or fate, or something, to come across the right person, the right informaiton, and be ready for it...to start taking responsibility in a big way. Otherwise, you just live in the dark and you don't know any better.

My mum lives thousands of kms away, so I dont really have any issues with her. Dad too. But dh has one of those guilt tripping mums and she lives 15 minutes drive away. The solution- he doesnt see her very often. Every couple of months he has a phone call and a few times a year, we drop in. No hostility, all friendly...but not so enjoyable. But then..she isn't a really motherly type granma so she has never wanted to spend a lot of time with the kids either. She is ok- we love her- but dh isnt prepared to compromise himself to spend too much time with her. I think it's one of those things...you have to learn to be real rather than nice. It benefits everyone, but it can be easier said than done.