Wow Melissa, thats an inspiration! How does your 15yo handle doing their other work with that much reading aloud going on? I just dont think my kids would have time for much else, which is why our read aloud time gets cut back. But my kids wouldnt like me to read aloud at the meal table. They would feel I was cutting into their free time. I dont think I could read aloud for 4 hours, either. I find an hour is about my max at one sitting. But....you sure get through a lot!

When my kids were around 11/12 they suddenly didnt want evening read alouds any more. I was sad, but I kept the read aloud going during school time. I didnt want to spoil their memories of evening read alouds by "forcing" them to continue. Wheras our read aloud time is our favourite time of our school day. We get through less and less books as the kids get older. This last year for read aloud we read Ivanhoe, Sophie's World (both long books), The Brendan Voyage (geography), and King Solomon's Ring (nature study). 2 years ago, all we read aloud the whole year- apart from some non fiction stuff- was Lord of the Rings. So..it depends a lot on how big the book is. I have learned not to try for too much any more.

I have no idea....but if it was my dh, he would be upset for a bit, then use it as an excuse to upgrade his tv screen :)

I have an ipod and I am kicking myself I didn't just go for the iphone. I didnt because I felt dh would be upset with me spending the money. He was a bit negative about me getting such expensive toys. So what happened? After the kids and I all get an ipod each....he goes and buys himself an iphone. Grrrrrr. We love them here.

I see "good" as what life actually is made of. As in God or Existence is "good", or rather, "Goodness" itself. Life is, intrincically, goodness/love/light. "Evil" is just the quality of turning away, denying that goodness. Actually, the true nature of everything has that quality that we call "goodness", and therefore evil is included within that...which is why good overcomes evil. Evil is experience though, when we deny our goodness, or Godness. It's like the analogy of the light. Dark has no real power of itself...it is only there when the light is shut out. Once the light is allowed to shine, the dark just naturally disappears. The presence of evil in the world is not something animals or the sky or the trees really know anything about. It is purely a human thing. We create the evil ourselves- most human suffering is man made. And I dont think that is anyone's fault, but we can become more conscious about dealing with it. I see God as "what is" is a very vast sense, and not as a religious concept, so the presence of evil is within God too, and God is not in conflict with evil. Only we are, which I don't think helps at all.

I would be thrilled if I cooked a meal that people didnt enjoy so much, but they did enjoy it with condiments. Yes, I coudl get hurt..and have done...but, aroudn here, if two out of 4 of us enjoy the same meal, its a good day. Dh and one kid are very fussy. If they can add a condiment and then enjoy it...well, better than a sour face. I have a cooking job and I am amazed at the umber of people who have to add masses of salt to a meal...and dh often comments that the food I make is tasteless. I think poeple train themselves with lots of salt, and then low salted food does taste bland. Also, if you eat a diet high in processed foods, or a lot of take away foods, "normal" homecooked food can taste pretty bland. The range of tastes out there is quite extreme- the food dh eats is to me very extreme in terms of both sugar and salt. I never realised people actually thought about these things so much though :)

My dh sometimes feels teh same. He doesnt always want to eat teh super healthy food i cook and he empathises with th ekids. Yet he has come to the point where he realises it's what I cook, or nothing, so he is learning to appreciate it. But I am learning to bite my tongue over the cola he will eat with the healthy food. Nagging, criticising etc, even with the best of intentions, come across as controlling (well, they are a form of control). As far as the kids are concerned....we recently had a spat over discipline issues with the kids. Its the end of our year here and I was worn down, ds14 was fighting me, and dh wanted me to handle things differently and I just refused because I was exhausted. He felt he wasnt getting enough of a say in how to deal with our son when he was difficult. We eventually had a good breakthrough conversation about it where we came up with some strategies together. I think its a common issue. It just depends on the personalities of the two people as to how much they rub on each other. Just because I am in charge of the schooling and the kids and do most of the cooking, doesnt mean dh isnt going to have a strong opinion or two about things and if I dont listen, he is going to feel out of the family loop and controlled.

I have two things (and i have tried many others over the years). I have a super size wall calendar with huge spaces in it, for writing all appointments. Not pretty, but very functional. And I have an exercise book (I think you call them bound composition books or something- its a simple lined notebook) at my left on my desk. I open at a double blank page. One one side I draw a cross intersecting the page into 4 parts. Each part gets a label- Computer, Home, Out, and Phone. That is my To Do list, but it is broken into 4 parts so if I am sitting at the computer, I can just do the computer parts etc. This has worked for me for years and I keep coming back to it. On the other side of the page is the other blank page, and here I write down inspirations, phone numbers, lists of things, plans for next year etc So I turn the page whenever it gets cluttered and most is crossed out, and start fresh on the next page, transferring across anything that I need to. It also means I can refer back to old pages if I need to. I have an ipod and I thought I would use it for lists and things, but I find it too fiddly...I just use pen and paper.

Wehave a government moderator come once a year. After the first year, I stopped preparing for it and she just turns up, and the kids continue their work and I sit at the table and talk about what they have done, and show her a bit of work. She asks them a few questions. Easy peasy. She is not stressed that we haven't covered some things officially (like technology), and she loves how we combine subjects like History and English. I have nothing to hide at all and this year I even forgot she was coming, and it all went well. Didnt even have time to tidy the schoolroom.

We dont do much really. I grew up secular and Christmas was just a family get together time- exciting as a kid to have all the presents, as well as just to be embraced in that extended family thing. My grandmother was always very adamant that the family get together at that time, and we all spent time with our cousins, as she never met her cousins till she was an adult. I don't much enjoy the whole Christmas thing, because the obligatory gift giving is just too much. I like the idea of parts of it- its summer solstice here and I always make note of it, but my family do not take to Pagan rituals any more than Christian ones. They just want the present thing and the food thing and that's about it. I do love the summer fruits that come at Christmas here. I guess we just don't make too big a fuss of Christmas. For us, it's at the start of the long summer holidays and that means more to us that the single day of Christmas. My family don't like cakes and biscuits much so if I bake it all just sits there. We more go for the fruit. We celebrate the season in our own way, but not in any religious way at all. And Christmas is kind of a blip to get over, one day in a long train of hot sunny days to go to the beach, laze around on the computer, socialise and just relax and play . It doesn't mean our lives are devoid of the deeper meanings...it's just that the deeper meanings of Christmas dont make much impact on us,

I love this, thankyou. Yes, I give gifts to our two music teachers, but that is all. I really like the idea of the note though.

Yes, sure you can spray, and dh used to surface spray places like underneith outdoor furniture, and window sills, when the kids were little, to minimise the risk of them touching a redback. But once they are a certain age, most Aussie kids just know about spiders and are a bit careful, just like the adults. You don't go around shifting pots in the backyard without just checking briefly for redbacks on them. We dont get many spiders in the house we are in presently. Some houses seem to have more than others. I let the huntsmen stay, usually. They are the very large spiders that live on the walls and catch insects, but they are non poisonous. Other members of teh family will remove them, though, but even they wont spray them. We will spray redbacks sometimes if there are a lot on something, but we try to be mindful about poisons like insecticides.

I can't see how a change for the better would warrant a trip to the gyno...I would just celebrate it !

I think a change to a vegan diet would be more than enough to get his cholesterol down. I wouldn't do anything else. I also dont think high cholesterol is the problem that many doctors make it out to be. Check out this article: http://www.westonaprice.org/moderndiseases/benefits_cholest.html

If you drink milk- I would go for it. It tastes great and it is a real, unprocessed food as opposed to a highly processed and debateably toxic one. Raw milk is streaks ahead of pasteurised organic. Says me....heading toward raw food veganism and contemplating giving up cows milk altogether.....sniff sniff

I grew up in Sydney (now I live in Perth). It's true, funnel web spiders are deadly and every now and then, someone dies from a bite- but there is anti venom. I do remember a 4yo boy on the news when I was a kid- a funnel web got into the washing basket and he was bitten, and died a few days later. I was taught never to put my fingers down small holes as a kid, since they do live in funnel like holes. But we have all sorts of things like that over here, and truly, it is very rare for anyone to die from them. We have poisonous snakes here in Perth parklands- I have often seen them on my morning walks. Its very rare for someone to get bitten (they run away as soon as they feel you- they are blind), and there is anti venom. We have a pet snake- a Stimpson python- non venomous- and a beautiful pet. I am pretty sure more people get stung and die from reactions to common everyday bees or the common flu, than our poisonous animals and insects (or fish- check out the box jellyfish!) We don't have bears or cougars or anything like that in the bush, either. The koala is not really a bear and far from one that attacks. Although up north there are crocodiles and you dont swim in the rivers that are salty up north. But most of us don't live up there.

In Ayurvedic and Chinese Medicine philosophies, around the menstrual time its important to rest and coddle yourself more than usual. Take naps and make sure you get good nights' sleeps, eat well, and its not a good time to go out in the cold without a jacket or walk around in barefeet. In our culture, we tend to just expect women to carry on as normal around their menstrual time, but in other cultures, there is permission to take extra care of oneself. Even lifting heavy weights like shifting furniture, shouldn't be done around that time. Think in terms of extra nurturing of yourself at that time, rather than powering through. There is also a herb called Astragalus which is excellent for building a long term weak immune system. I am sure you could find it in your local health food stores.

I think it depends on how long you expect them to last. If they are cheapies, and/or your girls are growing fast...I wouldnt worry about the socks. If you want them to last a few winters, socks will help them stay fresh. I jsut threw out a pair I have had a couple of years. Ideally, I wear socks with them. In reality, it didnt always happen.

My hormones were pretty haywire at 39 too. At 40 or 41 I went on natural progesterone cream, and it helped a lot. But after 2 years of that, I am going cold turkey and doing a major diet overhaul instead. Feeling much, much better for it too. I am detoxing and eating raw foods and juices and feeling much lighter. I think as we get older, as well as the maturity, and the body slowly deteriorating (oh, the eyesight going was a shock to me), emotional issues that we havent dealt with come to the surface, and rocky hormones trigger stuff we havent had the maturity to feel and heal before. I think its a good time to do some soul searching, as well as a body overhaul.

Maybe she needs more "connection time" during the day? I would either : lie down with her to put her to sleep every night, so that she feels very, very secure. It seems like a type of insecurity to me- but I didn't have a child like that and I know they come in all flavours, so I may be way off. I did however lie down with my younger till he was 3 - then he went to sleep with his older sister, and they slept together in the same bed for many years. He was a high needs child and even now at 14 likes me to go in and kiss him goodnight, and needs me to just listen to him talk about stuff that to me is not so interesting- but I listen. We also did the family bed at one stage, but I felt too smothered as I "need my space" too. Both my kids slept with me for a long time though. Otherwise, I think I would let her stay up till I went to bed, but specify some conditions- she stays in her room with the light on and an audio book. I too would need the space in the evenings. However, if she is expressing insecurity and neediness at other times....I would try and saturate her with attention and connection by letting her sleep with me and just be with me a lot. Once she is filled up, the neediness will drop away. (again, maybe not applicable to your particular child, just my approach as an attachment parenting advoate).

Oh I agree....the man may have been taken aback, or any of a number of reasons why he didnt respond. I just don't think the child was rude, and I do think the man missed an opportunity. Doesn't make him wrong, or anything like that. All compassion to him- and neither is he responsible for teaching the child- not at all, I am not putting a "should" onto him. But it's a gift to share with a child, not a burden. But I don't think the child was wrong, either, and he will learn whatever he learns from the situation. I just wouldnt want to step in and control it for the sake of social niceties. I say let things happen as they do, and the natural consequences will play out and everyone will learn. You never know the affect it had on the old man, either, even if he apparently didn't respond. I am really surprised at the number of people who find the boy rude and I find that sad. Rudeness is in the eye of the beholder, and one can only get offended if one chooses to.

I love them but I am very fussy- I only like very natural, preferably organic, fair trade products.

I think people get way too sensitive about such issues. I love that a kid feels free enough to ask questions such as asking a man about his missing leg. It all depends on where his heart is, but honestly, one of the things I like about kids is their disarming honesty and curiosity. They grow up and we teach them to behave nicely, to not show their feelings, and to lose their curiosity- to become just like us. I think we should be learning from them and worry less about them becoming like us. As far as I am concerned, the man with the missing leg missed a beautiful opportunity.

I get burn out on crafts with kids very quickly. I did some of the SOTW activities- they were memorable because they were rare :) Mostly though, I have a crafty kid who I just buy materials for and let her do her own crafts. And i pay for an art class. The other kid never liked crafts anyway- he just makes his own matchbox minibombs and bows and arrows with the other kids in the street, so I figure that's his creative outlet. Sometimes he does a lot of research for them! For me, it's the same with science experiments- burn out. It was a great relief to find a science class for my kids so they could do proper experiments, because I just found them terribly tedious- and often so did the kids, especially when we already could guess the outcome. The class, with an enthusiastic highschool science teacher, has been a godsend to me.

Many times I have failed to notice when dh, who often wears a beard, shaves it off. He is often stunned that I fail to notice when he cuts his own hair from half an inch long to a quarter of an inch. However, he also has frequently failed to notice when I get a decent haircut, so we are even :)