I am very happy that our history curriculum, through Connect the Thoughts, covers current events at the same time as it covers history. It is quite clever how it is done. Also, some of the other CTT courses specifically cover modern issues...dd15 is doing a course on Emerging Third World Countries. There are others such as on Terrorisom, Poverty, Current Wars...they are basically a series of research assignments. connectthethoughts.com

I would say, which might be heresy to some...its not actually necessary, so I would choose whether its a hill you wish to die on or not. Many a kid goes on to do well in math who hasnt memorised all the math facts. Its not actually a done thing here in Australia to memorise addition/subtraction....only multiplication/division, generally.

By shortening his school hours, and giving him work he can do independently so that there is less necessary interaction between him and I ...we have lessened the stress levels, and allowed him to take more control of his own education. The attitude is still there....but every now and then he will tell me about what he is learning in history or whatever and I can tell he was actually engaging rather than just going through the motions.

Robin Hobb's books, and Thomas Covenant books. Ds has been reading the Belgariad books too. We love our fantasy fiction here. Dd read Clan of the Cave Bear series this year too....fair bit of s*x in them though...I had forgotten till she told me :)

It is quite possible to have a general schedule, without putting in times. I have evolved to a basic schedule for my two....after trying dozens of schedules over 6 years. Every day is maths, LLATL and Latin, basically. Then each day there are a couple of other subjects. It is general. If we miss a day, we just pick up where we left off. There are different subjects each day, for variety, but core subjects are daily. No times. "Together work" and "reading" are scheduled in each day. No details. No chapters, no exercise numbers. Can't get behind. I schedule the subject according to how many times a week we need to cover an excercise or chapter to finish in a year, generally. I too have done MOTH and the benefit of it for me was to realise that there actually are limited hours in the day and it is not possible to do 8 hours of schoolwork in 5 hours. Not to mention all the extras and out of the house disruptions. I never tried to "live" the scheudle I made....its just not me to do that....but I didnt find it a waste of time. There is no right or wrong way to schedule or not schedule...except in what works or doesn't work for you to keep moving forward. Sounds like you are going from one extreme to the other and maybe a middle path might work better.

Yes, being sick means your body gets more acidic, and that can trigger aches and pains that usually lie dormant. It often happens to me. I did learn recently that you can do too much yoga/stretching, to try and alleviate lower back pain. I ended up making it worse through straining. When I stopped trying to make it feel better, it felt better :) Drink LOTS of water. Dehydration is a major cause of back pain, and when you are sick, you need extra fluids to help the body eliminate the virus.

Sophie's World. I am over it, personally and wouldn't have finished it..but the kids...well, teens...are enjoying it and want me to finish it. Next...I think I will go for a good science fiction like a Bradbury or Asimov or Arthur C CLarke.

Liveship Traders trilogy by Robin Hobb. But I recommend you start at the Farseer Trilogy. If you like medieval type fantasy.

This thread has reminded me of one of my great fears. That I will respond to a resurrected thread, not realising it is an old thread I have already responded to, and I will say something completely different to and in conflict with, what I wrote previously in the thread. And you'll all find out what a flake I really am. :lol:

I would check out google advertising, and Amazon advertising. I know you can put both onto websites for income...I'm sure you can do blogs too. I quite like google advertising, as far as advertising goes..it seems unobtrusive and it is tailored to the topics on the page.

I have been on a cooking strike for a while recently. I was tired of all the fussiness, especially from dh! My kids are teens, my dh works from home....all can survive without me. I had threatened to do it for years....I actually did it and made myself yummy food and left everyone else to fend for themselves. It worked. The teens became more resourceful and made themselves reasonably decent meals- and enjoyed doing it. Dh grumbled and pulled faces but made himself edible food. After a while, I asked if anyone wanted ot share the meal I was making for myself. They were all much more willing to compromise and eat decent food, rather than complain. Now that I have done it...uit has changed the general attitude, and although I have gone back to doing more of the cooking, I know if I feel resentful again, I can easily stop. As for cleaning...the FLylady helped me there. I put the timer on with the kids and we clean together...or I give them specific jobs. "Tidy your room" or "tidy the schoolroom" are too general orders, even for my teens. Better off giving specific instructions. Although it is frustrating...it seems to be a natural part of childhood to be messy. I think its partly because our generation has so much stuff...its not easy to keep it all ordered. If I was to start again with little kids, I think I would train them to put things away, much more strictly, from a young age. I do think it's important to find a way to deal with teh whole issue that doenst leave you resentful, because I think that has a negative impact on the tone of the whole family. It is only "things"...not as important as relationships.

I wish I had known that its not a waste of time to do all those field trips, and that school work will wait, and that it would have been better to get out of the house more while they were younger. I wish I had known it just doesn't work to rush and cram knowledge into my kids, that they can only learn at their own pace and not a speeded up one, and that "pushing" them creates more gaps than going at a steady, relaxed pace. On the other hand....I am so glad we have spent hours on the couch with read alouds, and that we have spent so much time on history.

I use gmail and the calendar and contacts in that. I like it because I can use it from any computer and its the same.

My dd15 has had a girlfriend I wasn't too keen on. Mainly because I know this girl has been drunk a few times at parties as well as having had lots of boyfriends. I didn't want to control it and in a way I couldnt because it was through Scouts and Scouts is my dd's whole life. So, I discussed it regularly with her, told her exactly how I felt and why, and talked in such a way to keep dd open to me. I could see her perspective- she felt she could say anything to this girl- they were really open with each other, in a way she couldn't be with her other friends. They discussed things that her more protected homeschooling friends weren't interested yet. It has turned out that dd's first serious boyfriend is this girl's brother. And he is a serious and devoted to her dude, and it has given me a different perspective. I also spent some more time with this girl as I was helping supervise an activity one day...and I felt I had been overly judgemental, despite what I knew about her. In the end...I keep a close eye on it but I didnt interfere and I am glad I didnt, because it would have hurt dd, and mostly, she is trustworthy. Although some of her Scout friends drink underage- she is against drinking and is in fact a good influence on them in that way. I dont allow her to go to parties that are unsupervised. It's all new territory for me too...and I feel the nature of the teen involved needs to be considered as well as the negative influence of the friend. In my case, I was very concerned but the concern seems to have been unfounded...so far anyway. Dd is strong enough to not be negatively influenced. I dont want to control much either...but I do. I tell her she cant go to some parties. For a long time, she wasnt allowed to go to any. I control, I set boundaries. But...I didn't want to make my dd rebel by banning a friend that I could not easily ban access to without restricting her life considerably. I preferred to keep the discussion channels open and not alienate dd.

Off the top of my head: sick people are easier to control. Population control isn't an issue that is discussed publically a lot, for obvious reasons...but there are still people out there who believe in eugenics etc, just like the Nazis. However, although I have friends who are right into all the conspiracy theories...I just like to keep an open mind and while I like to make sure my head is not in the sand....I also prefer not to jump to conclusions and presume the worst.

There is a lot of information on the internet about it, and many people feel that mandatory vaccinations are one of many steps the "powers that be" will take to gain more control over the population. They believe that the vaccinations that are being rushed through- and no one could deny they are being rushed through- are actually designed to make people sicker, not well. The whole swine flu scenario seems strange to me...and I'm not saying I believe the above information is true....but something doesn't seem right, and I definitely don't believe the "government" has the best interests of everyone at heart. (Any government, really). However, at this stage, it does seem that the people who are sure of this conspiracy may be jumping the gun. Only time will tell. I am watching the net and the news for real information rather than conjecture. I honestly think that if it were to become true and the vaccinations were to become mandatory, it would be a starting point for a revolution. At least, I hope the general population has at least that much gumption left in them. I have received many emails on this issue already.

Thanks everyone...my periodic cluckiness has been cured listening to your stories :001_smile::001_smile::001_smile::001_smile::001_smile: I remember getting pretty irritable during pregnancies, myself. I dont know whether I had that pregnancy glow on the outside, but on the inside, I remember it being pretty intense and definitely not always fun. Thanks for the reminder. But at least you all get to cuddle a gorgeous newborn at the end :)

You are so patient going the conditioner way, Laura! I am an everything natural kinda gal, but my kids had lice so many times in a few years, a few years back now, I went the whole hog for the strongest chemicals I could find! I ran out of patience with all the natural methods! Definitely not so lovely on their locks as conditioner. Glad you got rid of the little critters.

I imagine the love of reading would continue if the child was continued to be exposed to good books that appealed to them. School turns many a child off books and reading. Its not teh age of teh child- its the environment. My 7yo son didnt like to read, and couldnt really read, when I pulled him out of school to homeschool. I read aloud to him for an hour a day and made him read a short time each day, and he became a big reader, and still is, at 13. He is also dyslexic. I think early reading may come from a combination of genetics and inclination/interest. Early readers dont necessarily stay ahead...its not necessarily a huge advantage..but you cant stop some kids. I think the best thing to encourage a lifelong love of reading is to read aloud to the child daily. I still read aloud to my teens- and they are both good readers. Some kids dont like it- and you just have to accept that- but I think most do.

My dad is/was a sci fi fan and he used to feed me classic sci fi like Asimov. Then on my own I got into such heady stuff as The Female Eunich, Zen and the Art of MotorCycle Maintenance, Simone du Bouvoir (sp? ), Ghandi's autobiography. I used to feel like a freak at highschool- like no one lived on my wavelength- you can see why :).

Asking for money is normal in my circes nowadays, so I dont take offence. The amount is not specified- that would be rude, for sure- but actually I am relieved at sticking a $10 or $20 note in a card, rather than taking my precious time to go hunting for a present for a kid I barely know. If you think about it, the mother might have been thinking she was actually saving you some trouble. Its a win win situation. And what kid needs more "stuff" nowadays anyway? Better off saving for something they really want that their parents won't buy them. My son just bought his own ipod and my daughter a camera with their own savings. I don't find it tacky anymore. I did the first time. Now, I appreciate it.

I guess I just dont hang out with the handbag crowd very much...I had forgotten there are people out there like that, I guess. I probably shut them out years ago and forgot. I come from an academic family...but I didnt really find that any more fulfilling than the more working class people I came across when we moved to the country. Academia and intellectualism was a prison I sought to escape, not to emulate. I am forever a disappointment to parts of my family. I know an Irishman who literally couldnt write until my mother taught him enough to fill out forms. However, he was well read and politically savvy. My mother also sought to escape the world of false intellectualism and made sure I didnt get stuck there- at the same time as she continued at university studiing history for her own interest. I think many people do continue to educate themselves...but maybe just not in the general, broad sense we are used to in discussing a classical type education. Many men of my mother's generation seem to read modern writings widely and know far more about politics than I do (as I have little interest). I have interesting conversations with lots of people....well educated and not. People are interesting if you dig a little. Lack of education doesnt mean shallow by any means, and sometimes it can lead to a unique viewpoint as well. And...being well educated can make one awfully shallow and dry and 2 dimensional- my father is a scientist and I love him, but I dont want to be like him. I would rather be like my mother, who is less well educated but full of warmth and a sense of humanity. A good education is a blessing, no doubt about it...but its not the be all and end all of having a meaningful life.

Dd15 is reading the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever, first series. For school, she is reading a book of American Short Stories for LLATL Gold. Ds13 is just finishing Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck. We are reading Sophie's World together. (I keep asking if we can stop this because I keep thinking we are not getting much out of it and I hate to waste reading time- and they keep insisting I keep reading it).

I love the idea of celebrating it, but rarely actually do, other than acknowledging to myself the change of seasons. Dh and I go married on the autumn equinox though. We did remember for the first time this year to celebrate that :) We are coming into summer....not that it feels like it yet here, we are still huddled up in warm clothes and have the heaters on.

For the 2nd time lately, this afternoon my dd15 said to me, mum, they just don't teach kids history in school. My friends don't know any history. Dont they realise how important it is to know history? She is genuinely concerned and I am actually thrilled that she actually values at least some of the education I have tried to give her. I loved the article and I agree- and she makes such a simple point, that one needs knowledge to think about before one can actually think- yet that point is so lost on our education system creators.