I dont measure. About a cup of juice and a cup of plain yoghurt. A banana- and/ or handful of frozen berries. protein powder (I use golden pea protein powder, but I have used other types- fine for kids- check sugar levels though, I always make sure its got no sugar). Then I add a green powder (such as spirulina)- about 1/2 to 1 tsp. Its called a green smoothie. My dd likes to add rolled oats. Sometimes I add nuts.

I am not sure- most of us feel there is some sort of line..and sometimes we feel it because we know we have crossed it at some stage. I have at times, in smacking a child in rage, even though it left no physical traces- I know I stepped over a line in myself, and I am not against occasional smacking. The smacking thing seems to fade out as they get older- perhaps its because they naturally respond to other consequences better and simply mature. I cant remember when I last smacked my 14yodd, although I think I hit my 13yods this week when he was being really rude to me- it was a rough week for us with each other. I don't think arbitary rules and ages are really the issue here and smacking at all for many people is child abuse- even raising the voice, some people feel is abusive- others are OK with rods and belts. Whether the kid feels abused or not can be quite subjective and dependent on many other factors. My dad told me once that his dad hit him hard when he was 12- for the last time- when he was rude- I cant remember if he was physical, but somehow he was somehow disrespectful to his mother. It made a great impact on him- positive, he feels. I am not sure what I actually believe around physical punishment- in an ideal world it just wouldn't happen- but I am not sure its so damaging, either, as some people make out. I kind of fall in the middle, but try to keep an open mind for better, more appropriate, healthier solutions. I dont think smacking anywhere other than the hand or butt- or perhaps thigh- is appropriate. Never on the mouth or face or head - but I cant tell you why, it's just a gut feeling that that is not ok. I am not ok with using tools either- belts etc. And I personally never wait till i am cool to smack- I always smack in the heat of the moment. If I wait till I cool down, I would never do it. I see smacking as far less hurtful than long term punishments, and its over with quite quickly. I cant stand seeing mothers of small children trying to lecture with and reason with their misbehaving children- its torture and its not effective. One of my issues is...my kids get the occasional smack, or have had- they see their parents lose their temper, and they are allowed to express anger too, although we try to train them to be respectful and they generally are. But these kids are comfortable around a certian level of volatility, if you know what I mean, without living in an environment that is always like that, or unpredictably so (as in say an alcoholic family). They wouldn't be intimidated easily because they can stand in the face of someone being angry with them. Even though *ideally* a 100% peaceful loving environment where no one raises their voices seems great, I am not sure I would want it anyway. To learn to deal with anger and strong feelings is important,and seeing adults struggle with it is a normal part of life, I feel. I grew up in a household where no one was ever angry in front of the kids but man oh man, you could cut the air with a knife at times and there was so much repression. It took me years to even know what I felt, because only certain feelings were appropriate in my home and I lost contact with my feelings. To me that is just as bad as the other extreme of too many out of control emotions. So I just do my best to let things flow and help everyone express what they feel respectfully, and apologise when we don't. Its not perfect by any means, but I dont pretend I have itall together, either.

Yes, it seems to me that the pendulum swings form one extreme to the other. Allowing a boy and a girl to go to a movie together does NOT equal sex, and to NOT allow them to go to a movie together seems to me to be making a big deal about nothing much- in my neck of the woods, anyway. To even call it a date, rather than just let it be what it is, and then place such a lot of energy on that word as if it is one step before marriage, is just not how I think and not how the teens I know think, either. I don't promote promiscuity either and I sure intend to keep an eye on things- and being a homeshooling mum gives me more than usual control of my kids' contacts- but I do see my teens as sensible enough to go to a movie with a person of the opposite gender without going completely loopy and wanting to have sex with them and thinking about marriage. Gee, I hope they don't get too serious for a long time but I realise hormones are powerful things. The freedom of allowing some mingling is it can take the huge charge out of the situation and allow some familiarity and normality about the whole boy/girl thing. But then, I dont put a huge focus on marriage either so I guess that makes me quite different from most here who see marriage as incredibly important.

I Am That: Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj Talks with Ramana Maharshi Tao te Ching Other authors: Jack Kornfield, Eckhart Tolle, Gangaji, Byron Katie, Isaac Shapiro, Adyashanti, Lama Surya Das.

I dont like it myself- the Wii thing hasn't hit here yet, but if it's over there, it won't be long! I appreciate being able to get a movie I am looking for from the library, I must admit, but I myself would prefer they spend the larger proportion of their spending money on books. i dont want my library turning into a community centre. My local one is part of the Rec Centre building complex- with a gym, indoor courts, creche, and after school care centre. I would rather they keep the Wii to the after school care centre- maybe they do, I dont know. I would be mad if the library became noisy, or a hangout for teens on the computers. I think they do have some sort of restrictions though, because it doesnt seem to have happened yet.

Fairly liberal here. Most important to me is that they understand how the hormonal attraction thing works, understand the issues with disease, don't fall in and out of relationships because they feel inadequate in themselves- it is important to me that they value themselves highly enough to behave sensibly. But after a point- I feel they are free beings, not for me to control or to strongly impose my values upon. They need to work out their own, and I see my job as giving them a broad education and exposing them to many values, including my own, so that they can make up their own minds. Of course I will have my biases. Marriage is not an issue for me- I don't care if my kids marry or not or if they have many relationships in their lives, whether they turn out to be homosexual, or have sex out of marriage. I hope they find partners they can grow with and who they are compatible with, especially if they choose to have children. I don't see it as my parental duty to pass on my values to them, or my spiritual beliefs, or my sexual beliefs. I have a very liberal background- it would be hypocritical to teach that which I havent lived myself. But I will and do share my ideas, and the wisdom I have gathered in 41 years. And I do impose boundaries I feel are appropriate at every stage. My experience contributes a lot to my approach. I left home at 16 to live with an older man who actually just took care of me till I left school. My parents were divorced, with new partners, one an alcoholic- it was him I was escaping. I was hitchhiking over Australia at 18. Living on the streets at times in the next few years- yet I come from a normal middle class family. Their values didnt work for them, let alone for me. I had a mind of my own in my teen years. My kids values are already different from mine, and that's ok. I want to respond to each situation as it comes, and keep the communication channels open with my kids at all times. I don't want to come from a pre-planned formula on how we are going to deal with things. I want to stay open to my own growth and journey as a human being so they feel they can speak their true minds as well. Anyway, we will see how it lives out.

I would still do the world history, using textbooks, with a parallel stream of U.S. history. Its not all bad just to use textbooks- my kids are the opposite, and sometimes I would just love to have them sit down and work through a textbook. I think I would keep some balance though and insist on some reading- a little historical fiction, picking the books you think might appeal to him the most (King Arthur for Middle Ages?) and leave it at that.

Use or own :) I have the Latin, French and English programs. The Latin is great for us, after years of Cambridge. The French- we are not doing so well with. The English we did for a while but haven't for a while now. We may go back to it. I wouldn't use just that. I like it though.

We dropped French for now. I just cant seem to find a way to do it that works for us. Latin is fine- enjoyable even!- but French feels like such a chore even though 2 out of 3 of us want to learn it. This term we are also not doing much art or music appreciation, or Shakespeare, but I am not concerned about those, we have done plenty this year. We are in our last term of the year and I have had enough. As for piano practice- I knew the only way music practice would get done around here was to schedule it before school in the mornings. Since I pay a lot for lessons its a priority for me, and I also think its a good way to switch on the brain in the mornings. One child has a lesson before school on Mondays, too, which we dont really like at the time, but it is nice to get it over with for the week.

Hi Lucy, We did Ancient Mariner a couple of years ago. The way I did it was just to read it aloud with as much expression as I could, and see what they actually picked up (it was new to me at the time, too). They both managed to pick up the general gist of the storyline and were intrigued by it- but they certainly didn't understand it all. I didn't expect them to though. We just got what we could out of it in a couple of sessions and moved on. We will tackle it again next time through. Same with Canterbury Tales- but even now I won't choose a very archaic version.

My understanding is that Latin Prep is written for younger kids to start. They are basically two separate series and Latin Prep is more "fun" and aimed at a younger audience- but still a meaty program. I think you can do LP 1, 2 and 3 then SYRWTLL 3 to finish it off. I dont know how the entrance exams work. They are British programs catering to the British exam system. However if you want more experienced people to reply, like Laura, try on the Curriculum board.

I have put in a vegetable garden in the last couple of months. I am not committing to any more homeschooling classes and I have cut back on a major one. Somehow my curriculum junkiness has gone,but I am left with a lot of unused STUFF which I am going to sort through and keep anything I could use if times get difficult and I cant afford to spend money- and sell the rest.

How do I make it through the rough times in my marriage? Because the momentum of a pretty established life built with him and our children is a strong force, and it would take a lot of effort to move out (in our situation, I would be the one to move out, with the kids). I have done it before- it's a big thing. So that's one incentive to stay and keep going. Another is the kids. But for me, I am personally not willing to stay in an unhappy marriage or one where in the long term, I feel too separate from my husband, even though we both thrive on our independence. He knows that. We are not Christians and we don't have those types of beliefs around the whole issue-that we should stay together no matter what- we just feel its worth a really good shot, for the sake of the whole family. We know we love each other- that's not an issue. Whether we can live together is an issue, at times. But when it gets bad, I get really, really honest about it. So does he. One or the other of us will really tear things open for a good look. We are both willing to give each other our total honesty, to the best of our ability, and go from there. It hurts, but it hurts anyway, so may as well put it all on the table and see what happens. Usually, just being able to talk about it helps- really talk- even if it doesnt get "fixed". We both have areas we wont compromise on, but we have compassion for each other. My parents also divorced. It devastated me. I will try everything before going there myself, but ultimately I would not stay just because we are married. I dont even believe my parents should have stayed together. It would have been good if they handled the whole thing better for my brother and I, but they couldn't and I get to learn from their mistakes.

Thanks you so much everyone. I am going to try the blog idea for writing. And I am going to make sure he gets to move before school. It just helps to know i am not alone in this. thanks again everyone

I keep my two together for history and literature via Ambleside, which I tweak considerably. It works well. i am not sure what you are really asking...I suggest you draw up a simple timetable for the week and plug in your books and subjects and see how it looks. I usually add approximate times to my draft timetable to see how many hours a day it looks like it will be, and adjust accordingly. One of the things wih CM is to keep lessons relatively short, but for a 12yo that can still be 45- an hour or so for some things. We do our maths, English, dictation, Latin etc first thing in the morning. Then I read aloud to both kids (while older does art). Then I expect them to finish their work fairly independently- often it is writing but mainly their independent reading. Thats just what works for us- to break up the day with read alouds- usually two books, the history spine and a literature book. We no longer read aloud in the evenings. I think you need to "live it" for a while, then you will naturally adjust. We are not doing dictations or spelling at the moment, we dropped music appreciation this term and no Shakespeare either for now...life just does its thing and we focus on different things at different times. If you remain flexible, things work out and balance out. Although CM advocates narrations, my kids are 13 and 14 and the older is doing a writing course online and the younger will do a writing course soon, and this week did one essay for the whole week- it was a big job for him. we still do oral narrations and will continue written ones on and off. You do what you need to do for your own children- dont be loyal to CM or TWTM or anyone- be loyal to your kids and your own natural flow and what you feel is needed, and use the methods and techniques as tools to help you in that.

It can get pretty mean and nasty. And I don't know if people even realise how mean and nasty they are being, half the time, or abrasive, or belligerent, or lacking in graciousness or tolerance for others' points of view. They just want the right to speak their truth without consequences. It's scary how apparently courteous, kind humans can become so caught up in the righteousness of our beliefs, that we forget that every single one of us has a unique and different perspective on life, we werent all born joined at the brain and that's ultimately a good thing if we can rise above our pettiness. We sink so low, so easily, and this board is no exception (most of us do not have the benefit of a classical education, even if that were to provide some insurance against the mentality). I am personally glad that even if I dont always agree with the decisions, we have some moderators who stop it turning into a complete catfight at times, because I don't think I would like the overall tone if some people were allowed to dominate and destroy otherwise friendly and respectable threads- there is such a wide range of people here. I find the moderators generally fairly "moderate" and commonsensical.

Ds will be 13 next week and will have braces in the next year or so. He is a later teether and just had 3 very entrenched baby teeth pulled because of, well, basically, deformed teeth growing in the wrong places. We needed to make space. 11 does sound rather young. Dd managed to avoid braces by getting excellent orthodontic care when she was about age 9. She had a plate.

I love him a lot, he loves me a lot, but it's been one hell of a rough journey at times. If it weren't for the kids we wouldn't have hung in this far but we are open and honest with each other and very good friends.

I like that idea. Thanks for sharing that it worked for you. We are at the end of our year and summer holidays are just a few weeks away. It is tempting to throw in the books already but since as I wrote above, the boy doesn't really get into things (he loves computers and computer games but I dont want him to do them instead of schoolwork) I am not sure what he would do instead. If he was the sort of kid who would go outside and build a treehouse, great, but he just doesn't seem to be, and he has had plenty of opportunity. He could read but I think he needs to move and do stuff. I am thinking a morning trip to the beach might be good though, since he has become interested in surfing. Yes, I do realise the importance of this. Thanks for the reminder. Oh its good to know that you have BTDT and are through it! thanks for your sharing, and encouragement, Gwen.

Hi Jean...I agree, but dh and I are racking our brains for something to get him involved in. He is not interested in the more traditional boy things like building things (never liked Lego much), pulling things apart, mechanics or woodwork. Perhaps something will turn up. He is involved in Sea Scouts on weekends and is a leader there. thanks for your thoughts.

Thanks kidlovingmama. I am thinking he needs to do something physical before school too. Perhaps we all do. Dh does those little talks too, sometimes. It does help. And yes, not engaging in the arguements is something I could definitely get better at. Its so easy just to get in there before I even realise I have said anything. I will check out the book, thanks.

Thanks Lizard...I think I know the author you mean- wrote An Angel in the Marble? Ds does have some of those things- Scouts is very good and some young men take him surfing sometimes. He's never been interested in woodwork, building, mechanics, how things work- otherwise I would get him to build something or take something apart.His father would love to teach him handyman, practical skills, but he seems to have zero interest. But I do see the transition happening, as you say. His whole big thing about his sleepover birthday party this weekend is being allowed to stay up as late as he wants, and eat whenever he wants- freedom from the shackles of childhood! thanks for your thoughts

I remember reading before about people struggling about their 12 year old sons and me feeling a little bit smug as ds had always been a bit of a challenge but at 11, even 12, he wasn't much different and I felt I had it all sussed. Well mine is a late maturer, he is 13 next week, and I am ready to give up and put him in school! He wants to battle with me rather than really put the effort into his schoolwork when it gets a bit boring or challenging. He has learning difficulties. He reads well but writing is a chore, and he doesnt want to do anything that is difficult. He is a perfectionist. He is frustrated and wants me to sit with him and help him- then he argues with everything I say. I discipline him. I just about burst into tears this morning and he was really sorry. But this is happening way too often and I am really wondering if I am the best teacher for him. He is NOT overworked by the standards around here (on these boards!) and he finishes by lunchtime most days- about 4-5 hours work. Lots of free, physical time in the afternoons with other kids on the street. His dad is around and when I vent to him, he wants to come and discipline ds. And at times that is going to be appropriate if ds is being rude...but the dynamic seems more complicated than that and just bringing in the big guns doesn't feel like a solution to the whole situation. And dh doesnt really have the patience to go into the nitty gritty. He wants to solve the immediate crisis with discipline and then walk off. Dh feels I should be stricter with discipline, but day after day of enforcing that level of discipline with a resistant child who wants me to sit with him while he does his work, is burning me out. Does this pass? Will he ever actually care about his schoolwork? Will our relationship survive homeschooling? Its a bad day. I am probably hormonal. Ds is sorry and promises me he will try harder, and he can turn from obnoxious to melting my heart in a second. But I would appreciate some BTDT from parents who have passed through this stage and survived!

Lol- my waters broke 3.5 weeks early, first child. No contractions. I danced, walked, had s#x, nipple stimulated, cant remember what else. Still no contractions. After 24 hours, went to hospital, where they induced me. Lol, still no contractions. Eventually, mild contractions. Then stronger contractions. 48 hours pass since waters broke. I am now exhausted, dh is exhausted,weve been awake for too long. I just want to sleep. Barely dilated! Dh overheard midwives talking to doctor about giving me a caesarian. Dh comes back to me, says GET UP, MOVE! I get up and move, walk around, and eventually dd is born, naturally (with pain killers and monitor- no foetal stress whatsoever the whole time- but dh and I were completely done!) So, nothing worked, and dd was born in her own sweet time and if I had just let that happen and stopped thinking she had to be born when we thought she shoudl she born,or for the hospital's protocol and time frame, it would have been a whole lot pleasanter experience for everyone!

I have a born-mature child and one late maturer. There is a definite personality difference, as everyone with more than one child soon realises. Dh was considered a late maturer- I was considered an early maturer but ended up quite damaged from the lack of emotional support as my intellect was way ahead of my emotions. However I am sure that environment can play a role in encouraging maturity or not. Sometimes kids grow up fast because they are in a tough environment and have to just to survive. Parents can keep their kids young, too, by being over protective and not extending trust and increasing responsibility appropriately. The particular dynamics of every person in every situation, their environment, their particular parents and birth position in the family are all going to influence the child. But nothing is going to actually change their unique and individual character- only influence it this way and that.