I dont get canned pumpkin. I've never had it. The real thing is not expensive and available year around around here. Must admit that it can be a pain to cut. The rest...well, I cant say I eat them all regularly, but they are all a part of my varied diet! And I am sure I could add plenty more to that list too. I feel its kind of arbitrary. However, I wont be picky, anything that gets people eating well is good in my book.

We have a safe. I am starting to stack up a savings account though. At the moment there are only a few thousand in there.

It ocurred to me this morning that I didnt remember seeing anything on this thread about cooked bones, since some people obivously believe it is better to give a dog cooked meat to avoid bacteria. I presume it is common knowledge but maybe it isnt, that cooked bones, especially chicken bones, are much more likely to splinter and get stuck in a dog's throat. The only cooked bones I give are occasionally when I am making a soup stock and I cook a large bone for hours- by then it is soft anyway. I am surprised about all the fear of salmonella poisoning. I realise there have been some scares in the U.S., but I have never come across it here in Australia. I think I did have food poisoning once, and it was not a pleasant experience- I can't remember what gave it to me. But I survived it- my dog digs up bones she has buried for weeks- they can hardly be "clean". She also eats rats that have probably been poisoned (if she can catch them they cant be well!) and birds that are carrying who knows what. I figure a dog's digestive system much be pretty tough if they can handle all the things they will eat. Not trying to be argumentative, just sharing my own thought process, but I am not a germ phobic person by any means. I never even heard of washing meat before! Except fish, to help get rid of the fishy taste. What doesn't kill me makes me stronger and all that. I do realise some dogs are more sensitive than others- my MIL has a standard poodle with terrible breath who is supposedly fussy with a sensitive stomach- but the sweet biscuits my MIL insists on feeding her for treats can't help.

We are just going to use the IEW Medieval writing course alongside our Ambleside/HEO based Medieval year. In other words I wont be trying to line up our reading with the writing topics in IEW- that would be too hard. We will just do both.

So Soph, how did or do wild dogs ever survive? I have a lovely book by a local vet which advocates what you might call a home made diet, but it definitely encourages raw meaty bones. But also many other things, such as yoghurt, vegies, fish oil- so that would make up the missing nutrients

Ive always had a dream of having land so I can have a small farm, a milking cow, chickens, maybe some sheep or alpacas- more small time specialty stuff than a big enterprise. And I would like to build a self sufficient house with solar power and a large permaculture garden and fruit trees. Mmmm. And lots of nature around, with a nice view and a big verandah, and enough money...and I can see myself sittin there on the verandah knitting. Its a dream and it doesn't make or break my life. Dh and I do not want to upheave our children's lives to move to the country. The kids are very well established where we are. We feel it would be traumatic to even move too far from where we live now. We live in a beautiful suburb with lots of nature, but close to lots of resources and opportunities for the kids. But maybe when the kids leave, if they ever do (we dont really want them to :) ) we will move to the country. Meanwhile we rent and I have rabbits, chickens, a vegie patch, and herb garden, dogs, and lots of nature around that I dont have to pay for- it's all free. Its not bad!

My 13yo is a handful at the moment. I alternate being the mean mum, making him do the dishes again (must be a 13yo thing!) and hugging him and loving him to bits. I know they speak and almost look like big people- but they really arent yet. They still needs lots of parenting.

I would do some cleansing, particularly liver cleansing, but its good to do some bowel cleansing first. I 2nd Rosemary Gladstar's book. Time to take control of your own health and help your body heal. I doubt a doctor can help you with that, but trust your intuition.

Yes, there are several now- the recommendations are here: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/J00outlining.html

I think it is dangerous to label kids too much- if you "decide" she is an introvert, it will limit how you are with her and the opportunities you give her- and you are obviously concerned about it. I think you are spot on yourself- that even though she might naturally be content to be alone a lot, some extra social stimulation could be good for her. Sure, it might not change her nature, but it might extend her horizons in a positive way, and as homeschooling parents, I think that is our job. I would go for the PS classes, and I only wish I could do the same and let my dd14 do a class or two locally- she would thrive on it, while still getting the majority of her schooling at home. I am myself an introvert who tends to hang out at home and limit my social activities to just a few- but I know that there have been many times when a friend has dragged me out, or phoned me to go for a coffee, or I have attended a social event or class, where I have been very glad I left the home and interacted more in the world. I know it is good for me.

About 20 X 20 with a 10X10 corner taken out- so its L shaped but spacious. Its the house's main living area, and its a great room, upstairs, next to the upstairs kitchen- it has nice views of trees from windows on both sides of the room, as well as two doors onto two separate verandahs. Dh runs workshops from home from the other large family room in the house (downstairs, near the front door, so people don't traipse through the house). So our school room doubles as my office, and the main family room- as we have the desks in here, including mine, plus a lounge area, and a big table for crafts. Recently I even allowed a TV in here which really makes it cosy. We all have laptops now so the computers are in here too. Its just the room where we tend to hang out, not just the schoolroom.

It's been very good for our dog who has a tendency to overweight right from young. On a raw meaty bones diet, plus other scraps from time to time and the occasional can or plate of kibble when we cant get bones at a decent price- she is healthy and happy, and her weight is the best it has ever been, although she still looks overweight, but she couldn't be on the amount of food she eats, which isn't much. It's also healthy for dogs not to eat every day. In the wild they dont. It so hard as a human not to project and mourn for the dog who is looking at you with those doggy eyes, but it really is better for their system to have a day or two off food each week. We have a puppy too, but she is only getting raw meat, not bones yet- she's a tiny thing. We get chicken carcasses from the butcher for 50 cents each. We buy 10 at a time and freeze them. The older dog gets one a day, generally. He often has big bags of bones cheap too, but if he doesnt cut them small we cant buy them because our older dog is only medium sized and these bones are huge. Then we check out the supermarket every few days and look for pet bones on special- they are usualyl cow or lamb bones and fairly large but not impossible for our dog. We can often score a week or two's worth for less than $5. The pup will start getting some chicken wings soon.

Dh stands. hes a clean freak, has his own bathroom, cleans it himself. I have been wondering though why ds has never even left drips on our toilet seat and also never lifts the seat. It's just never been an issue. However, for many years, he did sit, and it wasnt because we asked him to, he just chose to himself. Later he naturally took to standing- and I guess by then he was a good aim! Dont want one of those black light thingies though. A friend with several boys has always told me- you get a kettle full of just boiled water, and you pour it all over the toilet and all the tiles around it. There should be a drainage hole there somewhere (better check first!). If necessary, do it again. The boiling water cleans AND sterilises the whole area. It takes away that urinal stink. I guess if it was really bad you could add some disinfectant to the water too. And the truth is I have never done it because it just doesn't stink in my loo!

I think SW is a good quality product. I did find my two kids needed the upper level for their ages though.

Since we were still using SOTW as we transitioned into official Logic Stage according to the WTM, I never felt it was much of a leap. Yes, we started outlining- which was managed pretty easily by both kids. We did logic puzzles- easy for my older. When my younger got to logic puzzles i expected to just sail through and was surprised he found them challenging. I found with a mildly LD and writing reluctant child, I had to take longer to transition him anyway. However in some ways, mentally he was quicker than his older sister to start analysiing and thinking more in depth. She is very easy going and, well, lazy, and she always does just what is asked of her- and she wasnt going to do any thinking she didnt have to :). I remember for a long time thinking she really wasn't into logic stage thinking- but now that she is 14, I would say, it was probably around 13 that she changed. And some other programs say 13 is around the beginning of logic stage anyway. I think the fact that we were continuing with SOTW, and we werent doing science the WTM way, and I was using LCC for quite a while too- meant there was no severe jump. Every year just gets "harder" than the next.

I would let her go for it but don't write it down. Just write down one a week or so. You could also ask her- instead of "tell me that story in your own words", you could ask all sorts of other questions instead at different times- so for one story, you could ask her to tell you about the main character and everything she remember about her. Or, ask her to tell you about a part of the story instead of the whole thing. You can refine the narration process, which also helps to keep it interesting. Here is a list of narration prompts, CM style: http://simplycharlottemason.com/timesavers/narration/

You know, I am kinda surprised by all the similar replies. I really thought I was such an unsociable odball- my dh tends to think I am. I know we have had this conversation before and I am sure someone even did a poll, but I think homeschool mums must be a majority of introverts! Pity my kids arent! They are about as social and extrovert as you can get. Must get it from their dad. However, I do wonder how healthy it is that we all live so isolated in our homes and families. It's nice to have privacy and space, but I cant help but wonder if it wouldnt be more wholesome to be out chatting over the back fence and borrowing sugar from the neighbours and all that (like in the soapies I watched when I was a kid :) Thinking Bewitched here, and that nosey neughbour always coming over for sugar!). Maybe its more to do with values- I find my own values differ so much from so many other people, particularly neighbours, that I am smiling and being nice and inside I am thinking "gosh, this is so superficial" or even "what an dill" or whatever. I think I am getting more intolerant as I get older. Homeschooling is good for me in that way, in that I mix with people I wouldn't normally- it stretches my social boundaries and I think that's a good thing. When I have been to India- and it must be the same in other cultures- I always enjoy the friendlinss and neighbourliness of everybudy, and it seems odd to come back into a culture where neighbours barely speak to each other. But then, I like the space here and miss it when I am in India where there are just so many people in such a small area.

I am a lot like that too. Dh rushes to the phone whenever it rings, I dont even like answering it. Or the door. However, I have learned that to have a reaosnable life with friends and a home that is welcoming for my children's friends...I need to overcome my resistance to some extent and be more generous with my time and energy. I am an introvert. I am on holidays and promised lots of friends that once I was on holidays I would have time to visit them, we could go to the cafe or for beach walks....and I am feeling this resistance to phoning anyone. I just like being alone with my kids in and out and doing their own thing, and sometimes going out with dh for a drive or a meal. But I must admit that I think the computer inhibits my sociability. if I didnt socialise online, I might do it more IRL.

My mother was on it for fibromyalgia- the side effects were so awful she got off it. Then the fibro got so bad she went back on it again.

I am flabberghasted by this law- I think there should be riots in the streets! What idiots thought that up?

Umm, my 13yo is sitll lke that about once a week, so obviously I havent found anything that helps. Some kids are perfectionists. Some have learning difficulties. My son alsohas great difficulty playing board games with us- he gets so competitive and emotionally involved he just has a melt down at the slightest trigger. He IS getting better, but its been a long road!

If there is any way you can borrow someone else's workbooks just to look at and get an idea of how they are laid out- that might help you make a decision. I couldn't have done it without the workbooks- and with the workbooks, I skipped a lot, including the diagramming- the IG is relally only useful for the diagramming answers but no where is there any support for doing that level of diagramming in the Homer program itself. However IF I had seen the workbooks themselves AND felt inclined over our summer break to design my own program around it, that would have been ideal. I think the program is, in retrospect, rather more complicated than it needs to be. We no longer use it, but I do think it will produce good writers.

I would put the whole house on hold, put videos on for the other kids- put your husband to bed and take care of the baby. When your husband wakes, put yourself to bed and have him take care of the baby. Nap when the baby naps. Its silly to try and do anything else in such circumstances. It will pass.

Its an interesting time we live in when things pharmaceutical companies produce after millions of $ of research, which still have incredibly high levels of side effects but suppress symptoms, are called "scientific", but something that cant be patented but has commonly been used efectively with little or no negative side effects for thousands of years- is called unscientific because no one can make enough money out of it to put the $ into research. The word "scientific" just doesnt do it for me any more.

My dd14has done a pretty consistent 20-25 hour week for a couple of years now and will definitely be doing closer to 25 hours or even 30 this coming year...I am about to jump my ds13 from a 20 hour to a 25 hour. This includes reading. He will freak :) However if neither had been doing much work consistently...it would be quite a shock to suddenly jump to 6 hour days. I wouldn't blame the child for not being able to focus and apply himself if he hasnt been taught over a period of years- but he will learn if he is consistently guided in that direction. I think it might take lots of patience on your part though :)