There is a world of difference between what is sold as "milk" in the stores, and the raw stuff produced from grass grazing cows on organic farms. Store Milk is a processed food, and the processing changes it chemically in such a way as to make it "dead" and not a healthy food. Raw milk is food of the gods. It is full of living enzymes which actually help the milk digest. Dead milk (pasteurized and homogonised) is difficult to digest, hence all the allergies that people blame on milk. But while dead milk gives me gas, raw milk doesn't, and it digests very easily. Many people claim that when they switched to raw milk, their allergies and digestive issues with milk disappeared. All milks are not the same. Google "raw milk". Of course, being a wonderful, healthy food, it is actually illegal in most places. I buy it direct from a farmer who sells it as "bath milk" to get around the legality issue.

Your pirate name is: Dirty Bess Flint You're the pirate everyone else wants to throw in the ocean -- not to get rid of you, you understand; just to get rid of the smell. Like the rock flint, you're hard and sharp. But, also like flint, you're easily chipped, and sparky. Arr!

I am not sure what you mean but I just thought I would reply to bump you and see if anyone else does. We arent doing Cambridge at the moment....but in my memory, most of the stories in the books have comprehension questions at the end. Did you just want some in the middle as well? Are you not using the books- just the website? I found that between the books and the website there was a lot of help. We may be talking apples and oranges here since we used the British edition, but I think they are fairly similar.

Can I do a winter one? :) I want to finish Latin Prep 1. Books for pre reading for the kids: Star of Light, Adam and his Kin, Great American Short Stories, Old Man and the Sea Red Badge of Courage The Pearl Tim Winton's Cloud Street (modern Aussie classic all the kids do in highschool here, so I will probably get my kids to read it at some stage, since we do all this U.S. and British lit.) That's probably more than enough since I already have several books on the go, including Sarum, which is taking me forever to get through.

I am not always completely honest (hows that for honesty :) ) but I do try to set a good example in front of my kids and model for them that its actually ok to go back and pay for something, etc. Yes, I think that generally those types of values are sliding in our society, but I don't find them so rare in my circles.

:iagree: for all the same reasons. I also like the fact that the courses are only for 6 weeks- even though they are meaty- because they are not too much of a financial commitment up front.

Nothing can provide you with energy without a cost. You do pay for it in a toll, usually on your adrenals. All these so called "energy drinks" are complete misnomers. There is no such thing as a drink or anything that can give you free energy. Anything that stimulates your system will also contribute to burning it out. I am trying to teach my ds13 this at the moment, as he wants to drink those high caffeine drinks that are NOT recommended for children. Its hard to get it across to a child though, and in the end, I don't like to absolutely forbid things that he can easily do secretly (he is in several environments during the week without me where he has access to these things) because I feel it tends to encourage him to be dishonest. Part of the attraction for my ds13 is that I dont approve, and that kids are not supposed to drink them. Your son is 16. I am not sure I would forbid it. Hes getting old enough to wokr out these things for himself and take ownership of his own body. But I would rustle up some information about them and make sure he is well educated about them. Sometimes I make my dd do an assignment on issues like this- make it a part of school. Then she does the research herself.

oh yeah,really excellent point! I think of this one a lot! It's not very politically correct though, is it? What are we doing to the human race by allowing the weak to survive- and enabling the infertile to reproduce for that matter? There are consequences for everything and I sure we haven't seen the last of them. I also am not saying I would prevent my, personal child from surviving if I needed to get expert medical care but I do wonder if we will all become so soft and weak in the next few generations that we will just all die off anyway. Or at least, large proportions of us. At least- it is only western civilization that has these luxuries. In the underdevloped world, it is still survival of the fittest. They may end up fitter than us.

Alice, I am just skimming through pages of posts and yours caught my eye as a very balanced one. I am a trained naturopath, as is my husband, and we did a delayed vaccination schedule. Both dh and I feel naturopaths DO have conflict of interest, the same as doctors (although doctors are just trained by conflicts of interest- they do not usually profit from it, in Australia anyway). Most of the workshops we are supposed to attend for ongoing professional education are run by companies who produce supllements. Naturopaths generally speaking- not all but generally- peddle drugs, they are just more supposedly "natural" ones. Our kids are healthy, and we saw no problem with delayed vccination for them. Dh was adamant. If it was up to me, I may not have done it, but there do not seem to be any problems. You are right- anti- vax people often feel pro -vax people have not educated themselves. But I know many anti- vax people in the circles I mix- and the truth is, I know very few who have actually done the research themselves. Most are just riding the anti-vax wave in the alternate circles I live in. I do believe many pro-vax people are the same, though. They just latch onto an emotional position. It's hard work to do the research yourself. Its a highly volatile and emotional issue. And as far as I am concerned, no one can completely know if they are doing the right thing whether they do or don't. They can feel confident, but that could just be a false sense of security. We dont know. I do believe some kids react badly. It's a risk. Either way.

No, this sort of thing doesnt happen to me often- people making mean comments. I wonder if some people just look like they are sitting ducks for someone else's frustration in life, and somehow they attract those sorts of comments to them. Maybe i look too much like a dragon or something.

My dd15 would prefer to get up late. It doesnt work for me, and no, she wouldn't get her work done- which wouldn't bother her! She has afternoon classes, and work sometimes, so she cant just take all day. And, I am not available all day either. So, my teens get up at 7am rain hail or shine, and no matter their bodyclock or hormones, because that's the only way it works here. The consequence for not getting up on time is not being allowed to have a morning shower. Thats a fate worse than death for my daughter, so it's a good motivation!. She also wasnt getting enough exercise. The chiropractor told her she needs to walk 30 minutes a day, minimum. So she has to do that in the morning before school, too. However I have noticed- and so has she- that that walk changes her whole day, and she feels much better for it. It wakes her up better than caffeine or a shower. Both of which she has as well! She sleeps in on Saturdays, and on holidays. As for geting enough sleep, my kids have to be in their bedrooms by 9pm- not just for them, but for me too. I cant make them go to sleep then, but I think it helps. If they are tired, they go to sleep. Yes, I have noticed their body clocks change. I have noticed my son's change in the last months, and he would prefer to sleep in. They both still need almost 10 hours sleep a night at least several nights a week. I imagine as parents our approach to this issue varies depending on our own attitude to sleeping in. I am a little unsympathetic, as I had to get up early when I was a kid, to catch the bus and trains to school. It became a lifelong pattern, and I go to bed early and rise early- before everyone else. And I love it. I feel the day is wasted if we dont get started early. I see what I am doing with my kids- and my husband is even stronger on this than me- is starting them on good life habits. They may stray from them, but we see it as important to set a good foundation.

Mine is a name a spiritual teacher gave me. It is the Hindi name for the colour yellow. It was more poetic when it was given to me - 'yellow like the sun or the shining face of Buddha'. I no longer use this name in real life but its easier to keep it here than go back to a very common western name that I have in common with a certain author of a certain book these boards are famous for. :001_smile:

I am not convinced any one way on the whole diet issue. I was vegetarian for many years. My husband still is. But I dont feel good on a vegetarian diet and haven't done since I was pregnant. I have a theory that we all tend to get toxic and need a good cleanse every now and then. In traditional cultures, and most ate some animal products whether meat or dairy or insects, there would often be a yearly period at the end of winter where food would be scarce. Fasting is a part of many cultures- whether by necessity or for spiritual reasons. At any rate, I think it might be normal to have a break from animal products and even most food and let our bodies have a break. In our culture, we eat too much and we rarely allow our digestive system to rest for more than overnight. We overload. So I think that the reason why many people feel better on vegan and vegetarian diets for a while is that their systems get to lighten up, detoxify, and it feels good. But after a few years, the nutritional deficiencies start to show themselves. Not for everyone, but for many, many people. That's when you go from feeling good, to feeling run down, depleted, exhausted, and you just want to start eating meat and dairy again because you crave certian nutrients. I think there are many factors to consider- where you live (how much sunlight you get on your skin, how local and fresh is your food, the temperature), how much fresh food you eat, your allergies known and unknown, the toxins in the food chain and the environment, how much stress you are under, how fresh your air is, and a huge factor is the genetics of your body. I do think its probably possible to eat really well and live well without meat for many people- but I am not convinced that no animal products is how we were designed. According to Nourishing Traditions and Western Price, all the healthy native cultures he studied had SOME animal products of some sort in their diet- yet their diets varied widely from almost vegetarian to almost all meat. I think we are very adaptable, but I don't like any diet theories anymore that say this is how we should all eat- because history shows that all sorts of diets are possible. But what if your culture- like the Chinese- lived on a certain diet healthily for thousands of years. Does that mean that I- with north western Europe heritage- can suddenly adapt their diet and be healthy? I don't actually know. All I know is it seems to work for them, but what other factors in their life contribute to their health, I don't know, and someone trying to sell me a theory in a book or otherwise, is unlikely to give me the whole picture. I was a vegetarian for ethical/spiritual reasons and would still prefer to be but I haven't found a way to be healthy and do that- and I am trained in nutrition, diet, and health. So I buy the best quality meat and dairy I can afford. You can't lump it all in together- raw milk is NOT the same food as pasteurised milk, and a vegetarian diet high in processed foods, or GM soy, or sugar, is not healthier than an omnivorous diet high in fresh, local, unsprayed and unprocessed food. Nor does it have less negative impact on the environment. When I was in naturopathy school, two of my lecturers disagreed strongly with each other over some of these issues- especially milk. One felt it was a nutritious food, the other felt it was poison. I feel a lot depends on your system, your heritage, your individual genetics, your childhood and what allergies you may have developed,whether you were breastfed, and the quality of the food itself. And you may like to take into account whether the cows are living out their lives grazing peacefully under the sky and stars, are loved and cared for, or living in crowded lots as money making machines. I just don't go for one size fits all theories any more.

The only time I listen to music is usually when no one else is around. The others don't like the same music as I do. It would be less than once a week. I listen to pop music in the car with my teenagers- I enjoy maybe half of it and it's a fun bond. If I drive alone, I don't listen to anything unless I have just bought a CD that I am enraptured with. I quit the band I was playing in for 2.5 years, this month. I had had enough of band politics. Sometimes I sing just for the heck of it. The other day I thought up a tune and worked it out on the piano and wrote it down. Music seems to weave in and out of my life intermittently, but we don't play canned music much at all during the day. I do like silence. I would certainly rather have nothing on than listen to anything just for the sake of some noise in the background. However, I do compromise with my teens in the car because I dont want to alienate myself from them, and I actually do enjoy some of it.

I also wonder why you dismiss the learning "disorder'- she is having learning difficulties, is she not? My son struggles and struggles....he was 12 when I finally took him along to get tested and he was diagnosed a clear dyslexic! He can read well now but it took him longer than normal....and some of his other skills are still "behind". If a kid has any sort of LD, you can't punish them for not trying hard enough. It's just plain harder for them to do the same level of work- they may need to work harder, but they usually already are, or they have emotionally given up. My son is brilliant at some things, and others he finds a real struggle. The diagnosis helped him stop giving himself such a hard time, and it also stopped ME giving myself a hard time, being his teacher. I don't understand why the grade is so important? My kids have been to school so they just consider that they are in the level of school that they would be if they were in school, whatever grade work they are actually doing in any subject. Many homeschooled kids work on different levels in different subjects. I would focus less on grades and just have her work at her own level, at whatever level she feels some success, and keep her moving forward from there.

Do you use your treadmill a lot? Consider walking around the neighbourhood instead? If I had a tiny space I probably would cull my books to less than 7 bookshelves, though I understand everyone has different priorities :). I love books but I have 3 bookshelves, and one built in bookshelf. I cull books regularly. We have two armchairs in our dining area, and the main loungeroom is our schoolroom with TV and sofas and computers. Since we spend more time here than anywhere, it made sense to take the main lounge area and use it for us. Guests are secondary and either sit in the school room on our comfy sofas, amongst the living chaos of the schoolroom, or in the dining room. If you took one area and made it your office, how would that impact on the house- would it mean another area was less cluttered? Could you use bunk beds in the kids' room and make some more floor space there? When you say you can't "give away" your antique sofa that is in your bedroom- did you mean no one would want it, or that it's too emotionally valuable to you? Is it just "stuff" you really need to let go of? When I was a single mum and my kids were your kids' ages (actually a bit older), I put their bunk bed in my bedroom so we all slept in the same room. Then, their bedroom was available for play space. It worked well at the time and made them feel secure, and also gave us a spare bedroom where I stored my laundry (those were my pre-Flylady days and I often had a mountain of clean laundry on the spare bed waiting to be sorted). Its hard to know without really seeing it or knowing your emotional connection to your "stuff", but it sounds like you need to get a little more ruthless :)

I believe kefir is better. Its also easier to make (doesnt need to be at a particular temperature- can sit out on the bench). Ive stopped buying yoghurt- we just use kefir now. However, I suspect you mean store bought- we cant get kefir in the stores here.

Vacuuming once a week for some areas, twice for others. Sweeping is not done- vaccum is used on all floors. Mopping. Now thats an interesting question. Not often. We have beautiful marble floors. Some are black marble- dont show the dirt- some are white marble but it has a sort of speckle through it so it doesn't show the dirt badly either. Im not good at mopping, but I no longer have small children, either. (Mmm, dont know why I added that, since I never was good at mopping when they were little either.)

YOu didnt read my post very well. Death rates are different to the rates of contamination in a community. I did say measles kills lots of people- in undeveloped countries. Not in the U.S. It is likely related to hygeine and nutrition. Cases reported is a very different thing to DEATH rates. Your post commented that death rates of a group of students who contracted measles would have been higher if the students had not been vaccinated. That is unsubstantiated and irrational sounding opinion, and I do not understand how the above quote substantiates it in any way.

I didnt feel either of my kids were in logic stage till recently- and they are 13 and 15! I don't know if they are late bloomers or what. However, that doesn't mean you can't start WTM Logic stage work in grade 5 anyway. Outlining, logic puzzles, moving to the next level of grammar etc. I only had trouble with this with my younger, who is a bit behind in some areas. That said, you know your child and if they are just out of school, you might want to fill in some of those gaps anyway. Start him where he is at. Make it work for you and your unique child. But really, I dont think you need to wait for a child to suddenly be in logic stage- its a development over years. My older flew through logic puzzles even though she wasnt interested in the 'why' behind anything. I was surprised when my younger found logic puzzles extremely difficult. He still does them- I think they are good brain exercise for him- but he had to start with very basic ones. Yet he was more interested in the "why" behind things at an earlier age than dd.

There are other ways into uni that dont involve getting your HSC, but I am in W.A. and am not so familiar with other states- but I understand they are similar in that respect. I am intending on using the TAFE system- my dd15 is just finishing a cert 3 course in general adult education which will allow her access to cert 3 or 4 level TAFE courses- and from there, if she wants to, she can go to uni. Some unis here, as Ann says, accept portfolios. Some unis- only U.W.A. here- dont allow kids without a TEE ranking but I know one homeschoold girl got into their music school anyway, and it is prestigious and hard to get into. Its worth just talking to the unis themselves. My understanding is that you can actually do the TEE- I'm not sure about the HSC- as a private student. I am intending to avoid it, because I feel its a bit of a waste of 2 years in the prime of my kids' lives. As Ann says, you can buy text books from school book shops in most major cities. You can also buy them online. You may find though that school text books are not necessarily the best option for homeschooling- there are many books written for homeschoolers (usually U.S. based) that are much more interesting and appropriate for a child at home than a dry textbook. It takes a while to find your feet though, and school books may be your best option till you work out what else is out there. You can usually find The Well Trained Mind at your local library, or get it through interlibrary loan. Its a great read and you will find it useful even with a highschooler. It will open your mind to education outside of the school system.

Actually apparently measles does not have a high death rate in the U.S. and never has. In fact, the death rate is slightly higher now that vaccination is normal, but it is still low. I just googled death rate and measles and came up with this on the first page: http://www.vaccinationnews.com/Scandals/Sept_13_02/Scandal33.htm Also an article by WHO on the incredible number of people in underdeveloped countries who do die of measles each year. But that's not western countries like the U.S.. These graphs (though not necessarily from this website which I havent checked out- but I have seen the graphs before) are what has made me doubt that vaccinations are really the cause of diseases like measles being largely eliminated in western countries. http://www.healthsentinel.com/graphs.php?id=14&event=graphs_print_list_item Its important to do the research yourself and not just take an emotional position.

:iagree: The medical community o longer has the right, in my mind, to ask us to blindly trust them. The pharmaceutical companies have vested interests. There is much corruption in the chain from researchers to manufacturers to public information. Thats why people need to actually do teh nitty gritty research for themselves. I dont have a problem with vaccinating against polio, which still exists in some parts of the world. Or smallpox. I am not against all vaccinations, but widespread vaccinating against diseases that are not generally life threatening in a hygienic and well nourished western country, just bombards the individual immune system with many diseases it wouldnt normally come across in one lifetime, not to mention the toxins that come along with the vaccination. But one thing I haven't seen mentioned much in this debate concerns me greatly. I regret vaccinating my dd against measles- because since she has not had measles, she cannot pass the immunity to measles through her breastmilk to her breastfed baby. The vaccination does not provide her baby with that protection. The baby wil be completely unprotected in its first months. We are designed to pass on protection to our infants, and this incredible system set up by nature is completely undermined and bypassed by the vaccination system. The baby is thrown out with the bathwater. What will be the long term effects of this? The tone of the article was not nice at all. I do not feel we have the luxury of trusting the authorities on issues like vaccination, yet those who go against the generally accepted vaccination publicity, which most people buy hook line and sinker, are treated as if they are putting the whole community at risk for doing their own reasearch and coming to their own conclusions. However, I am not extreme either way, and my delayed- schedule vaccinated kids did not react to vaccines at all. I have travelled to 3rd world countries though and dont discount the benefit of vaccines for many people for whom some of these diseases are deadly because of their poor hygeine and nutrition and lack of access to modern medicine.

I don't understand- is the Californian govt dedicated to providing every child with a computer and internet access? Has that already happened? Even underprivileged kids? I do think a lot of learning can happen effectively on the computer and online...and many of us homeschoolers are testimony to that. I make use of all the resources I can afford, and since i am in Australia, and most homeschooling resources are produced in the U.S. (and the exchange rate often sucks, and postage is expensive), some online resources are excellent for us However, I also have an issue with reading from a screen and don't like to read textbooks or novels off the screen. It can't be good for the eyes, either. The policy seems shortsighted....however, I also understand that California is in a desperate financial state.

You can do it! I recommend eating more healthy fats, like coconut oil or even plain whipped cream- it really helps cut the carb/sugar cravings and makes you feel nourished, the way we reach for chocolate and biscuits to make us feel nourished even thought they don't really do the trick (so we reach for more).