Never had a false negative unless it was too early for the test to pick it up. But, bled at 8 weeks for both babies. Just spotting, really. Traumatic at the time, since I had had miscarriages, but both stayed.

I would use it to train the 12yo to get clear and business like with someone who is taking advantage of her. No point in getting upset- these things happen all the time. Get her to treat her job professionally and value herself, and that will teach the woman to value her. Have her ask for the money as soon as possible. Perhaps charge extra for "overtime"- time past the hour that has been arranged- in the future (once the money thing is sorted). And if the woman reacts badly, well, not worth continuing. If its important to her...she will come around. Sometimes people just need a clear boundary-and its a great opportunity to teach a 12yo to be professional about her job. My kids babysit a lot and if people overstep the boundary, try and take advantage of them - usually, they just aren't thinking because they are wrapped up in their own world- we discuss it and teach them how to handle it.

I had mine taken out about 5 years ago (maybe age 37?) due to infection. it is quite horrible when they get infected. That being said, I don't regret not getting them taken out before that. It was just that they needed to come out when they needed to come out. It wasn't surgery, although the dentist said if he couldn't get them, I would have to go to the dental surgeon. I had antibiotics for a few days, then I went back and he pulled 'em out. Didn't feel a thing. Felt much better afterwards. It seems to me that enough people need to get them out at some stage that many dentists recommend it as a matter of course. I don't see any problem with not doing it though.

Its a balancing act, but I realised long ago I needed to treat homeschooling as my full time job and not try to do anything, or have other commitments, during our homeschooling day. My older is fairly independent, but still, she needs me to bounce off, for feedback, for inspiration, and for motivation. My younger has always needed me a lot. This year heis more independent than any other- and he is 13. He can finally sit down a do a workbook page, and follow the instructions and do it ok, most of the time. I found him an online maths program that "teaches" him (similar to TT), and its free now as well, and that has made the world of difference to our relationship and his independence. So has a male science teacher in a science class. Ideally....I would like to teach even more than I do, but its not possible. Burn out for me. Clashing with them. However, I do sometimes pick up that some mums just want the curricula to do all the work, and want the child to work independently...so that they can just go and do other things. In other words, they dont see homeschooling as their "job". I do see it as a full time commitment, but I still constantly try to find that balance between teaching and letting them be independent. My experience is that if I dont mark their work for too long a gap, or I just let them do something without staying in tune with where they are at....sometimes, the whole subject ends up being a waste of time. The factor of me following what they are dong makes a big difference.

I am reading aloud Sophie's World to my two at the moment and we are enjoying it. I am learning a lot :)

My dd15 is realy craving being part of the hustle and bustle of school. I phoned up to enrol her yesterday, but after talking to dh, we are going to try harder to fulfil her needs at home. Not that she doesnt already do plenty. She does Venturers, which is the teen section of Scouts here- both sexes. They are a water group, so they sail regularly. She does a science class where she gets to spend social time with other homeschoolers. And on Wednesday evenings she does a gymnastic class where she enjoys the social interaction as well. She also works part time and does music lessons, and an art class, but these are not particularly social activities. However, it doesnt seem to be enough. I know many parents would scoff at that, but when you have a very social kid who wants to be part of the group....the alternative is a depressed teenager who mopes through her days and feels achingly lonely on the days she doesnt see other teens. So, dh is encouraging me to get her into a drama academy, and/or a soccer club, both of which she feels positive about. They just need to fit into our schedule, which is getting harder.

It's an issue, for sure. I think it is a male, conquor and destroy thing, and I am not so convinced that it is completely bad- within moderation. It does seem to be addictive however. I see my job as trying to teach them to find some self discipline around the issue- and I teach that by providing boundaries. I really wonder how future generations will handle it. It's such a new issue, really.

Well, I know we homeschoolers can get defensive about the benefits of homeschooling even in a less than perfect environment, but my moderator has told me enough horror stories to make me realise there are some pretty bad cases out there. People who have absolutely no books in the house. No educational books either. No games. Just nothing. And then they are hostile to the moderator for doing her job. These people exist here, so I am sure they do over there too. There are people who just dont have a clue about providing a good learning environment. It seems they often end up wanting to homeschool because of a bullying issue. They hear about homeschooling, but don't have a clue how to actually go about it because its just so out of range of their experience and lifestyle. And my moderator has told me that some people expect her to provide a program for their kids, like the distance learning program available to kids in the outback (but not available to city kids), but its not her job to do that. So, ignorance prevails in some homes and I know some kids get really no benefit from being at home other than being away from the bullies- which is a benefit for sure. What would I tell a reporter? Homeschooling is a big responsibility for the parent and it requires a committment to providing a learning environment of some descrption for the child, but that can take many forms. There will be some people out there who provide no learning environment at all, but the vast majority care deeply and do provide a rich learning environment.

My highschool experience was horrible for me, but my parents separated when i was 13, so that would have influenced how I felt about everything. But, I never liked school as far as i remembered. I would have been a good unschooler. I did like learning- I just didn't like people much :) I found the other kids shallow and the teachers hypocritical. I was a bohemian greenie put into a very conservative Christian school. Even my parents werent Christian. I always felt like a freak, and home life wasnt brilliant either. My dh was ADHD, the oldest of 5 kids and emotionally neglected. He was put in Catholic boarding school 5 kms from home and not allowed home on weekends. The priests beat him every day. He was expelled because he actually fought back. His experience of highschool was not good either . So yes, homeschooling for us is definitely a result of our feelings about school, even though it wasnt why we originally tried homeschooling. I try to remain objective though. Dh doesn't bother with that :)

[quote=VanessaS;1019562 The point of a sex ed class is to teach young people about the social and physical impact that unprotected premarital sex (and the inherent risk of pregnancy and disease) can have on your life. I dont think so- the disease and pregnancy bit, yes. But not the rest. Well, not here, anyway. I don't remember it even being brought up when I did sex ed at a private Christian school 30 years ago. My step dd went to a pretty rough public highschool and she was taught that all forms of s*x are equal. An*l s*x in particular was taught to be equal to "normal" style and discussed explicitly. She had no moral traiining around it whatsoever and was quite surprised when we discussed it with her when it came up in conversation one day. That made me decide my kids were never going to school- and I'm not that much of a prude, but I don't want my kids taught that in school. Sigh. The socialisation is why I never wanted my kids to go to school, but it infiltrates anyway. I admire kids who really stand up for their own values. My kids are more "peer influenced" than many and we have endless conversations about the issues that come up. And now my dd15 wants to go to school- she thinks, shes not 100% sure. She doesnt want to regret never having gone to highschool. I find these teen issues that come up far more heart wrenching than the difficult toddler years, which were just exhausting.

Gosh, never thought I would do this, but today I phoned our neighbouring districts highschool and asked if they would have a place for dd15 either now or next year. I was sure they would say no as they are one of the state's top schools and we are not in their district. I just wanted dd to know I would try, so we could drop it, as she had been asking. They said yes. Darn it! So now dh and I are arguing about whether to even consider the possibility. He says no, we need to make it work for her at home. I said I want to at least consider it and keep her in out discussions because she is old enough to have a say in her life. It wouldnt be till next Feb- so we have some time to see if we can make it work for her better. She is an intensely social child and she jsut wants to try highschool. We are hoping that adding in one or two more social activities will do the trick, and it may.

I have considered this myself. Of course, there is no definitive answer. I suspect a program that matches the child may produce better writing from that child than another. So many factors involved. I agree also that it depends on the teacher too. CW involves a lot from the parent. I think it would produce good writers, but for me, other things would have suffered (my sanity for one). It is time consuming. i think it was great for exercising writing muscles though, and i havent seen anything else that is equivalent. I have a lot of respect for CW. However, I had to let myself off the hook and allow myself to revert to more "normal" writing programs because "I" wasnt up to the classical writing challenge with 2 kids on two different levels.

No particular subjects, but I started homeschooling when my kids were ages 7 and 9 and I suffered from feeling my younger was always behind and needed to catch up, and that my older, being bright and capable, should be pushed ahead and doing more advanced stuff. (after all, aren't most homeschoolers advanced, I thought? ) Both approaches backfired. Better to just work with where they are at and RELAX. No need to push. If a kid is behind, pushing doesn't help, and if they are ahead, well, pushing can hurt their enjoyment of learning. And just because they are ahead now doesn't mean they will stay ahead later when the work gets harder. I felt if they got everything right, the work was too easy and they needed the next level. Not necessarily right. My kids are overall average, one a little below in some areas, one a little above in some areas. They have their gifts, but they are not what is called "gifted" in any academic area. So for me, I can't think of any subjects we did that were a waste of time, but I can think of programs I tried to use before they were ready, which didn't extend them, but instead turned them off. It's ok to just be at grade level. Part of the issue is that Australian kids start school a year earlier so the grade levels don't match up with U.S. grades. You live and learn.

A weekly sheet divided into 5 days. No times- just a list of assignments per day. But the responsibility is on the child to finish anything not finished, in their own time on another day, so it effectively is a weekly assignment sheet, just broken down into days for convenience.

I don't know- not my area of expertise at all. But I can say, the year of latin I did age 12 helped me and somehow stuck in my brain until I started learning it with my kids. Latin is not something I aim at mastery of- its just not going to happen here, we move too slowly, we dont dedicate enough time and energy to it. However, I think there are benefits other than mastery, being able to speak or read it fluently. Even exposure to basic Latin teaches how an inflected language works, teaches vocabulary, and teaches logical thinking- stretches the brain. A year or two of Latin is not a waste- or any language. We learn Latin to learn Latin, because it is somehow inherently satisfying and beneficial.....even if we never get to read the original fluently. Not quite on your point....and I am sure there are many, particularly LCC people who have much loftier goals than I do who can give you better conversation on the topic...but I just wanted to put in that....to me, it doesnt matter much.

Depends, for sure. There is a hardware company here in Australia that cuts down trees in an unethical way- yet they are the biggest and therefore cheapest hardware store around. I go to the small store if I can- but sometimes, its just darned convenient to go there. I boycott Nestles. I support the local organic store because the people who run it have really good ethics and charge less than teh recommended retail price for things. All in all, I probably dont do the research I should to find out the ethics of companies I support, but if I am aware of something blatant that really offends me, (not to mention kills many people or animals) I willl avoid it (as in Nestles). Homeschooling companies- I am not sure. I havent boycotted anyone for their values or political preferences yet, that I didnt already avoid because their product doesnt suit me.

Dh does his own washing and shopping. He even prefers to do the grocery shopping, although he likes me to come along for the company (and i prefer to go alone). For 17 years now, he has been showing me how to grocery shop for bargains, every time, as if he never showed me before. My dh is a shopaholic. (and also a tinsy winsy bit controlling about money :) ) Cooking though- now there's an area he could do his own more often!

:iagree: I think I am fortunate in that my body wont let me go off the rails for too long. I had one cup of coffee three days in a row- and two of those were decaf- and all my joints started aching yesterday. I am sensitive to effect of food- and lack of exercise- on my body. I recently had a terribly painful neck issue- simply because I had been refusing to do my yoga and walking, which maintains my scoliosis and chronic back issue quite well. But only if I do them. It was a wake up call. I think people focus too much on the figure on the scales, instead of how they feel. I get depressed and dont feel like exercising or eating well. But I do actuallly feel better when I do exercise and eat well, so the motivation is instrinsic- but not enough to make me exercise and eat well ALL the time. Who are you rebelling against? I think you have to do it 100% for yourself. And its ok to eat crap and not exercise. Maybe you need to give yourself permission to do it so that you can stop fighting against it. Flylady helped m with this one. I figured if I wasnt exercising LOTS it wasnt worth doing any. Same with food- if I wasnt eating a perfectly healthy diet, who cared, I may as well just not worry about it at all. But when I got into Flylady- for other reasons- I realised my all or nothing attitude was really hurting me and holding me back. Actually, 15 minutes of exercise- heck, even 5 minutes- is better than none, and I learned to give myself a pat on the back for a 15 minute walk instead of hurting myself for not doing more. Same with food.

You are not doing your older sons' future wives any favours by letting them get away with treating you like that. Obviously the consequences just aren't painful enough for them :) As for the girls- my 13 and 15yo teens have assigned chores. They alternate weeks. One does ALL the dishes one week, and the other does the pets (chickens, rabbit, doggy do pick up). Additionally, they do their own washing, and dd15 does the pool- she checks the filters and skims the leaves off, checks the creepy crawly is working, backwashes- every single morning. Ds13 does all the bins in the house. Once a week they vacuum half the house each, and help tidy. Pocket money is dependent on weekly room check- it must be tidy before pocket money is distributed. Both are additionally paid for helping me with my cooking job weekly. I too get moans and attitude when I ask for extra jobs at times, but its just life. I give a lot. I give up my free time to drive them to classes- well, even to homeschool them. I am generous. If I allow them to get away with not giving back, now that they are old enough, I feel I train them to be spoilt, and I don't want to spoil them. However, I do find it hard, and it takes my dh to really back me up and help me stand firm with them. I would give up way too easily if it werent for him. I am so glad that I have persevered though and that they do as many chores as they do. You have lots of kids- a few jobs each and after the training period....lucky you, you will have lots of help!

I love Geurber- my kids (last year, then ages 12 and 13) found them dry when they read them alone, but we all really enjoyed them as read alouds. It seemed to bring them alive. They seem simple but they are jam packed with info.

We used Cambridge for several years, then switched to LP. We learn far more with LP, even though it was enjoyable to use Cambridge and it is good for the culture aspect, and the amount of vocabulary you absorb. We loved Cambridge. But we feel we learn Latin better with LP. LP doesnt need any supplementing- there is plenty of translating and reading. It may have been one of my posts that mislead you into thinking one needed Cambridge as I often write about both. But LP definitely stands alone.

I wish I could drink more coffee- I love it. But I have just had one cup 3 days in a row, and every joint is aching. My body just doesn't like it. Once a week is about it. I dont believe the whole 8 glasses of water thing. I think you will wash all the minerals out of our body, unless you do a lot of exercise and sweat a lot. Or when its really hot. I dont think juice is good, either. Too much sugar in the form of fructose- you are better off eating the fruit. I make kefir smoothies (kefir, berries, banana), sometimes fermented drinks like home made ginger beer or apple cider or grape drink, depending on the season, and I drink one or two glasss of milk a day. Raw full cream milk. Sometimes with a tsp of raw organic cocoa powder in it. And I drink maybe 2 or 3 glasses of water a day. Ocasionally I have a diluted juice. Oh, and 2 cups of tea in the morning.

My son lives at a neighbour's house afternoons and weekends. They usually only come here just to look at my son's snake, pick something up....then they go back there. The truth is, with my husband working from home as well.....I like it this way. We do have plenty of games and electronic stuff, but so do the neighbours. I actually am glad for my son....the other mum thinks he is a great influence on her sons, a wonderful and polite kid. We keep wondering if she is talking about our son. But apparently he does appear to behave himself there! Dh and I feel its good for him that he learns to get along with other people, and also to spend time away from us (and the truth is, us away from him. Its healthy for us all!). These neighbours have good values and are good parents, and they send ds home when they have had enough.

I just don't buy those drinks for my kids, now teens, at all. If I am paying, they get juice or water or nothing.

It sounds like you are not being very kind to yourself. I bet your kids think you are beautiful - try and see yourself through their eyes. Or God's, if you think like that. It always saddens me to read people really down on themselves for being overweight, and hurting themselves about losing weight.