Ill take yesterday as an example: I got up at 6am for some quiet time. 7am, the kids and dh got up. The kids (ages 13 and 15) had breakfast, did their chores, dd went for a walk with her ipod, dh and I went for a walk together. About 8.30 I had everyone do some cleaning, vacuuming, getting rooms in order- I have started doing that first thing Monday mornings and it works well when we all do it together. The kids get their pocket money from their dad ($20) after they pass bedroom inspection. 9am ish we were all at work- me doing some emails that needed attention, the kids on their maths. I also marked some of their work from yesterday. 10.30 or so we stopped and we did our "together work", which in this case was some discussion on how to deal with anger, reading a bit of Dantes Inferno, and half a chapter in Sophie's World. Short discussion. Ds ate the whole time- that is normal. We had strawberries and chocolate sauce. 11.30 The kids went back to their schoolwork and I went and made some soup for lunch. I had lunch early, while they continued what they were doing and ate in their own time. All during this were lots of disturbances, breaks, arguments, chats...but somehow stuff gets done anyway. I went and had a nap at 1pm since I hadnt slept well. I got up at 2.30- ds13 had finished his work, dd14 was still going. I did some washing and pottered about. Dd14 went to work at 3.30. Ds13 went to play with the street kids once they got home from school. I went to a yoga class at 4.30. I chatted with a friend after yoga and didnt get home till 7.30. Dh had decided to take us out to dinner- I missed out but it turned out fine, he spent some quality tyime with the kids. I was in bed by 9pm when they all got home, and everyone came into my bed to tell me about the food. Then everyone went to bed too.

My first impulse is to say no, it doesnt matter. I get to hoemschool with his support, and I am grateful for that. But he just doesnt want the kids in school in order to protect them from the school environment...he has a very strong protective instinct. And truth be told, while I can go with that too, sometimes I feel he is a little too over protective. Dd15 recently talked about going to school for the last couple of years, and dh wouldn't entertain the idea at all, because of wanting to protect her. It felt a little....limiting. She is an extroverted social animal (thats the problem, he feels). It closed off an option at a time when I feel she should be allowed at least some say in her life. There coudl be no discussion. Ultimately I would prefer her to be at home these last couple of years anyway, so its easy for me to go along with his strong opinion about it...but a part of me feels dd needs to be included more at this stage. SO, yes, I could be more comfortable with it if dh and I were a little more on the same page and able to have more discussions....but its ok, too.

Are there? Perhaps we should be talking about population control instead then? I don't think so. How about reprioritising the money already collected for taxes? Less wars, more health? So many possibilities. Just needs some really creative thinking. We have a public health system that works pretty well- still plenty of rich people. I just don't get where you get these ideas. So much ungrounded fear in this debate.

I have had one husband, but I have had several serious relationships before that- lasting more than a year.

I think it is a basic human right but I dont think it is anyone's responsibility to provide it, in particular. I just think its a jolly good idea, thats all. I dont buy the sense of entitlement. We are all in this together. Taking care of our fellows is humanity, its just kindness, it's a non issue for me. However, its up to the people how they choose to do that. Government is not Daddy but it seems like it's a good use of government, to provide a structure that provides for everyone. I live in a country with what seems to be called "universal health care" and it works well enough, and I am glad for it. The U.S. has 10 times our population. I just dont know how it would work, but I do think it's worth discussion considering it does work in other countries. I dont understand the point of all that wealth just for the sake of it.

So the status of being the richest country is more important than the care of each and every one of its citizens? What good is all that wealth in the hands of a minority if so many are suffering?

Oh yeah, here too! I dont know though, really, if its better in all areas at all. I love that my kids have read so much including many classical books, and I love that they are familiar with a lot of history. However, they may have got more science in school, they may have done better with a foreign language. They may have developed different passions or strengths because I am sure I am biased against maths/ science and toward the liberal arts. Who knows what another teacher might have done for them? Dd has developed wonderful artistic skills as a nature watercolour artist, and sketcher, however perhaps in school she would have developed broader skills and been exposed to things I cant even conceive. She might have got into a special arts program. I dont homeschool for purely academic reasons though. For my dyslexic kid, I am pretty sure that homeschooling him has been the best thing for him academically, but for my other, I will probably never know. However she has had time to follow her passions, and I think that is of immense benefit.

For me, it's the computer. I think my family would say so, anyway :) However, I don't miss it if I am on holidays and away from it. I get on first thing after meditation time, I pretty much leave it on all day, and check my email and here several times a day. Apart from that, I get pretty obsessive about books, sewing, cleaning, health, food, and whatever other subject has grabbed my interest at the time- but the interests, while obsessive at the time, rotate and pass and return- I am not obsessive about any of them all the time. Dh is obsessive about medieval fighting at present. He gets in armour and kills people (pretend!) with swords. I find it amazing anyone could actually want to do that, but there you go, we are all so different! :)

Lol, I have BTDT!

I have never dictated whole sentences- I only dictate what the kid can actually remember, however long or short that is. It's gets longer, but it's important to go for success. I was brought up on dictation at school, (I think its normal in Australia, or at least it was), and the teacher would read the whole passage first, then break it down to phrases or short sentences, then read the whole passage again. Thats what I have always done and my reluctant writer is fine with it. One thing I learned from another homeschooling mum is to do repeat dictations. So if my son made mistakes, the next day we would do exactly the same dictation again. We would do the same dictation daily until he got 100% and felt success and confidence. Then we would move onto the next one. It worked well for a while that we did it (then I felt we no longer needed to do it that way anymore).

My kids are both teens now, and my younger has always needed me a lot. I have spent the last 6 years exhausted from homescooling, and yet still enthusiastic. This year, my younger is finally working mostly independently, and my older is doing some external courses which enthuse her....I am still exhausted but I feel its not justified because I am not doing much with them any more. Still, its still the focus of every day and I am not really free to do much else. We don't do long days though. Even with teens we are finished early afternoon. That keeps me sane and I get a rest time.

Mine read in the evenings most days as well (their own choice of books although I do have influence there), but I generally read aloud 30-60 minutes and they read independently 30-60 minutes during the school day. It varies. They also read for some subjects- dd15 is doing LLATL Gold and it involves a fair amount of reading. Their history involves reading. Probably a decent couple of hours a day, 4-5 days a week. I still read aloud the harder stuff. I think that is the thing that has my kids reading at a pretty high level.

That's what I thought, too...that many are not treated because of inability to pay- in reality, whatever the actual ideal is about having to treat anyone. Isn't that part of the reson for the health care debate and proposed legislation? I am not well versed in it, but it seems that the objections I keep seeing here are based on fear of the unknown, based on extreme examples, rather than any common sense or experience of the systems in other countries. No system is perfect and using extreme and isolated examples is not an honest way to debate. The Aussie system is far from perfect. But we sure wouldn't prefer the present U.S. system.

Thanks everyone, it sounds like some of your lads enjoyed it and others of you would just skip it without trying. I will see if it ends up competing for something else of equivalent value when the time comes...or perhaps another year or two of maturity might do him some good anyway (he is 13 presently).

But if you are disfunctional about it, how will "hoping" stop your dd from feeling the same way? Isnt it better to live what you want your dd to live, rather than doing one thing and "hoping" she would do another, and then being concerned that someone else's child is wanting to get their make up on? It just seems strangely incongruent. My dd thinks she is beautiful, with or without makeup, and she tells me I am beautiful with or without makeup (and I dont wear it regularly). Makeup is fun though. Its pretty normal for (usually older)teens to feel "naked" without it. I dont think it needs to be a big deal at all though.

My girl is a very girly girl. She loves her makeup. I never made a big deal about it- she wasnt interested beyond lip gloss until she was 12 or so if I remember correctly. Now at 15, she wears makeup every day, but it is subtle. I have made comments at times such as "wow, thats a lot of make up " or "I think thats a bit much". Ditto about her choice of clothes. But its been rare. Mostly, she has worked it out for herself and my gentle comments, rather than directives, have been enough for her to back off with it. I prefer not to interfere or control her, or anticipate problems where there are none. I was not a girly girl although I did have make up. Having a girl who loves to do her nails and her hair and her face and cares about her clothes- has been such a joy to me, and healing, actually. I play with her with it all, and I enjoy her teenagerhood with her, I revel in her beauty with her, and I totally want her to feel she can express herself and play with it all. If she was grossly inappropriate, I would say something, but it hasnt happened.

I have two on my fridge and in the toilet :) Do Not Create Needless Work for Others Treat Others How You Would Like To Be Treated. That pretty much covers it for me.

I am not disciplined to do work in the afternoons, myself, and my kids used to go to school so to them, by 3pm, they feel they shouldn't be doing schoolwork anymore anyway. They rarely go past 3pm. I learned not to go out in the morning more than once a week, twice sometimes- but I needed at least 3 solid days at home in the mornings. Otherwise I couldnt get the academics done. However, if I could do it over (and start from the beginning)...I would school year round more...and I would make sure the kids learned that it was ok to do school anytime- mornings, afternoons, evenings, weekends etc Perhaps you could all have a rest after morning activities, and then hit the schoolwork in the late afternoon or evening, before dad gets home?

I have deep pantry shelves too. I bought about 30 large glass jars (I bought them 2nd hand over months- they are old huge olive jars mostly) and I keep all bulk goods in them- sugar, various flours and grains and legumes, and anything where the packet gets opened and pantry months might get to the contents. These jars all sit toward the back of the shelves and other goods (that are shorter) further forward. I also have separate areas for different things. I hae all tins stacked in one area. All drieds fruits and nuts in another. All biscuits and pkt goods in another, all condiments on another shelf.

I am not familiar with Ecce but used Cambridge for several years, and now use Latin Prep too, and will pick up Cambridge again as a reading program- I think. We will see. Cambridge just has great stories. I learned that they are also based on Latin classical stories as well- they are not just "made up". Also, when I didnt have time, the kids could go online and translate for themselves. Be aware that the first Cambridge book only covers a small fraction of the grammar that LP covers in its first book, though. However, that does make it excellent for reading practice and to pick up a vast amount of vocabulary.

I like option B too...my younger will get something like that (not with American though). I like the idea of going back to Ancient and Medieval in the last 2 years. I am terrible with programs like Sonlight- I want to tweak them too much to be worthwhile. I also change my mind frequently according to how well things are going, or whether I feel we need a change. And, Sonlight seems like a lot of books. I prefer to go more deeply into less books. The one thing I have stuck with the last 6 years (I started late too) was the 4 year history cycle and I am so glad I have even though it wont be 3 times through for us. I love the year long theme that extends to our literature as well. I just started at the beginning and each year we move on. It has worked well. But honestly? I don't think it matters that much.

We are coming up to the point when I am going to hand over Pride and Prejudice to dd15. And perhaps Jane Eyre before or after. And I have Tess of the D'Urbavilles in mind as well (I read all 3 in highschool and loved them). I am really uncertain though whether to have ds13 read one or any of them too...he would probably get through them faster than dd, he reads well....but I dont like to "turn him off" reading, so to speak, since he is an avid reader. He loves fantasy- so does dd. There are zillions of wonderful classic books we will never get to...not sure if I should attempt to get him to read those more traditionally female ones? Its not the style- we just read Ivanhoe together, they are good with older book language- its the content, the themes. What is your experience? Another possibility is to pick one as our read aloud...ds did love Ann of Green Gables but he was much younger then. Now he wants to be a Man, so to speak :) thanks

Not at all. Most medical people in our public health system here in Australia would be horrified at this incident too. It's a horrible thing to have happened. In fact, there are many people who have to go into the public system to get the best care, because the public system can afford to buy the latest equipment to keep them alive longer.

Oh thankyou, thankyou, there is hope. :) Oh yes, the girl thing hasnt really happened yet- his "girlfriend" is a online friend he never sees in real life, so she cant smell him! I guess I better be careful what I wish for, eh!

I cant get mine to wash. His hair is greasy. He says he washed it, but it doesnt look like it. He smells. Why doesn't he care? :confused1: He has grumbled since the day he was born- seems to be his nature. The best thing I did was get him an online maths program that teaches him (probably similar to TT but Australian and free) as well as marks his work. The other best thing was changing over to Connect The Thoughts curricula- he actually does it independently, and although he still grumbles, he is really engaged with it, rather than just doing the motions. He is learning, and thinking, and I'm happy with that. Going to a real science class with a real male teacher, who is passionate about science, has also been good for him. Too much "mum" and mum cops a lot of flak.