Thanks everyone...I am surprised so many others find it hard too. I felt like such a wuss. I am going to take extra good care of my teeth because I dont think I will be able to face a dentist again for a long time. My mouth is still numb today.

HI Dawn, I am in Australia so take that into account. I think I saved $300- $400 getting the refubished one that I did- I have friends who have bought refurbished and its all been good, wheras our experience of buying off ebay has not been good. It was $2049 (its a quad core- the dual cores are cheaper) and new it was getting up to $2400. But this is Au$ and I am pretty sure we pay more over here than you do. And we also get an educational discount supposedly but when it went through there was no discount. That would be different over there though.

Im glad I am not the only one who will work out how to move heavy furniture alone rather than wait for dh. He cant stand it..he will usually express his distress by saying nothing at all, even if the whole room looks completely different when he walks in! I have learned not to ask for comments, because they are usually negative! I did learn a lesson though. Who knew that dh considered that particular bookshelf full of...Ill be nice and say knick knacks.....completely his corner? I thought it was time for a change and shifted the dusty things into boxes and put some different things there. He was so upset! I did put all the others back for him and let him have the corner. Its like a security or something. However yesterday I rearranged my office around to accomodate my new computer better- it was hard work but worth it to me. Dh paid me a compliment- he said "you are very creative, aren't you?" regarding my office's new look. That was the best thing he has ever said about my desire to change things around.

I went to the dentist this morning for 3 fillings- one was a small one behind a front tooth. As he was drilling away, he hit a nerve and I just about jumped off the chair involuntarily, shocked at the intense but brief nerve pain. He apologised profusely....and immediately gave me a 2nd injection. He worked on one of the other fillings, came back to that tooth again- and just the water spraying on it made me jump again. By this time, I was sweating and anxious. He said only 1 in 1000 patients needs a 2nd injection and he has never had to do a 3rd- but he gave me a 3rd (all different places). He apologised again (and I really dont blame him- I am a bit sensitive for some reason). I had this strong urge to phone dh and get him to literally come and hold my hand before they tried a 3rd time- the dentist asked me if I wanted to leave it, if it was just too much to handle- and we agreed to try with just the water first, a last time. It was fine this time. But then with the 3rd filling, he had to give a 2nd injection again. He said it was most unusual but he was sorry it hurt. So, my mouth was very numb and still is a little, 8 hours later. But when I got home, I played on the computer a while, then went and tried to have a rest. I felt really knocked around. I couldnt sleep though, so when dh came in I went to tell him my dentist story- and surprised myself by bursting into tears- and then my body shook and shook and I cried for half an hour! It was as if my whole body was traumatised, and the trauma was releasing. I have never experienced anything like it before. DH just held me- hes good at that. It was wierd. I am ok but feeling fragile- I will be fine. Anyone else get traumatised by routine dental work?

We have certainly had our wild times around here too and it is normal as far as I can tell- when you have a certain type of kid. YOU just keep going, forgive yourself, forgive them, and see what can be done. Computer games are a notorious trigger. A certain online game had to be banned here because of the extremely addictive behaviour it was encouraging in ds. ALl his friends were allowed to play it except ds...then slowly, one by one, his friends' parents banned it too. Sometimes it takes one parent to make a stand for others to feel they are not the only one banning their kid. You are not a bad person or a bad parent..you are human. Your son is probably as frightened of his rage as you are...he will need help in learning to manage it- and i have found that all the moralising in the world doesn't help much when the emotions are running high...because its very hard to pull out of, once triggered, for a kid (adults too, but we have years of practice).

Thats funny Jean. Same with my 2, except my son is slightly younger than my dd. But I took dd OUT of school at age 9 because we realised that with her highly social and popular nature she was going to be so peer influenced, we would lose her pretty soon. And we had just started homeschooling ds because he wasn't handling school- and we realised the benefits went far beyond academics. ANd dh, initially sceptical about the whole homeschool thing, became my very staunch supporter. So much so that when I recently decided ds needed to go to highschool...it took dh ages to come around! As far as he was concerned I was sending ds to the wolves! However, what i would say to you is that you are probably spot on about your daughter...but remember, you only need to decide what you feel is best for her now, not for the rest of her life! My dd was very resistant to homeschooling at age 9. Very. She spent the first 6 months asking me every day when she could go back to school. Its such a social age (well, they all are for some kids).So I worked hard to make her social life happen and it worked out. Last year she wanted to go back to school and she would have been fine. But we worked out a different pathway for her that gave her a LOT of freedom and spare time- as others have said, that can be a huge draw card in the teen years. I think ds will be a bit shocked how little spare time he will have once he starts school next week. Anyway, I absolutely love how you asked for what you wanted in this thread :) and i support you fully in continuing to homeschool your wonderfully alive daughter in the forseeable future. :)

I just bought and IMAC 27" and I did consider getting a mini mac and buying a large monitor but...one of the reasons I wanted a MAc was for ease of use, for simplicity, no hassles. So I went for a refurbished recent model from the apple website. I have a friend who has the minimac connected to a large monitor in his loungeroom, so I did consider it. It could work well for you...but its still a fair amount of money, so I would scrape up the extra for the full computer if I could...but either would be ok.

As others have said....yes, but not that one. We do have a Christian classical part time school that is run by homeschoolers, and I was very interested till I saw how much religion and indoctrination was involved- I also knew my kids wouldn't go for it. SO...ideally,yes. I would under normal circumstances be open to my kids goign to a private Christian school, if that were an option and they were going to school. I wen to a classical Christian school and feel the education was excellent. But there is a limit and the co-op you are looking at steps over my line.

Yes, we don't do cookies here :) Only biscuits :) But yes, Anzac biscuits are pretty good. My mum bought an "upside down map" when I was a teenager, so thats why I am familiar with it. Mostly we just have similar ones to the rest of the world.

I kept thinking this would be the sort of movie I would feel more virtuous for watching (like reading some classics) but not necessarily enjoy....but i saw it last night and LOVED it. So enjoyable. THe language didnt really blip on my screen until I saw it mentioned here. Many PG movies are far more offensive. It was in context. Great movie- I hope it wins some Oscars.

We're not really down under, y'know. Thats just the Euro_American centric way of looking at us :) Australia in its rightful place :) flourish.org/upsidedownmap/

I am left handed but knit handed but sort of wonky. I cant hold both needles in the air- I have to jam the right hand one into my thigh for stability. I have been told Europeans knit like that, but its not how i was taught- its just how I managed. I was taught by right handers- I have no idea why I knit right handed though- it must have been more comfortable.

chiropractor

:hurray::hurray::hurray::party: On our way to Freo on the motorbike for fish and chips and fireworks!

we don't defrag or do regular virus scans. In fact, if I ask him to do or look at anything on my computer, I can guarantee I wont be able to use it for a couple of hours while he "cleans it up". Of course it is wonderful that he is so logically minded and a self learner and now skilled, that he could make sure everyone has their own computer in the family- and he and the kids have 2 each. However, its not stress free. So..I decided I wanted a "stress free" computer experience. I have also been exploring Minimalism, and getting rid of a lot of my clutter. I havent touched the room full of computer parts, of course :). But I decided it was time I had one, really good computer that brought me pleasure and that wasnt a source of stress for dh. Various friends have Macs and have given me speeches about them and I knew thats what I wanted. So you know what? I told dh I wanted a Mac and he, always wanting to please me bless him, bought me a 2nd hand one from ebay- that didnt work. Grrr. Guess who had to repackage it and send it back- after we bought software for it? Then he bought another for himself- after many hours of trying to make it work, he has sent that one back too. Both were "bargains". That crunched it for me. No more computer stress, please (of course, a corner of dh probably enjoys the hours spent trying to get a broken Mac going). So I bought my own. DH is jealous. The kids are jealous. It really is beautiful. I know eventually they will get them too, but I had to go first. All the Mac people I know say they would never go back to a PC. Of course there will be exceptions but that is the main thing I hear, and thats got to count for something.

I have my new 27"IMAC. Love it. I am finding my way around it but one thing is puzzling me...is my itunes library on my old PC, transferrable? I have all the files on an external hard drive, and I can access them, but somehow Itunes on my Mac isnt recognising any of it. It is registered etc. Do I have to manually import them all into ITunes and set up my playlists from scratch? thanks...I have been looking and cant find the answer.

My ds15 has a snake too...Monty Python. He is a Stimson python. Here we can only have native snakes from our own state- no imports- and there are only 2 breeds that are non poisonous, allowed for pets. He has shed so many times- it is such a wonder to see. Yes, snakes are escape artists. Ours has grown a fair bit and the books sitting on the lid were suddenly not heavy enough to keep him in recently. Ds was watching a horror movie at 7am the other morning- all alone- and suddenly, right at a scary part, his snake appeared on the TV set and then dropped on the floor in front of it. He was terrified for a split second!ANother time, we were in the garden and dh suddenly saw a snake. It turned out to be Monty- he had escaped- but fortunately was recaptured. Ds15 wasnt feeding Monty enough recently and when dh put a mouse into his cage, the snake, normally very docile, came out and grabbed it out of his hand. I love snakes. Enjoy!

I love to select a few special photos to print and send to relatives or put around the place. We have a very large white board in our living area that I never used as a white board, so it became our photo board. It often catches people's attention.

Rose geranium is one of my favourite smells that even dh, who is highly sensitive to smells, seems to be able to handle. I even drop it on the toilet floormat sometimes and ds15 said to me the other day "mum, I like using your bathroom the most because it smells so nice." I also love any citrus but many people are allergic. Bergamot is an antidepressant and a lovely smell. I sometimes drop it in the dishwater. I love lavender but dh is very allergic.

Although I have done the gym and various classes in years past, the way I motivate myself nowadays is I combine exercise with being outside in nature. Many, many times I motivate myself by just saying "15 minutes is better than nothing" and I give myself permission to walk for 7.5 minutes and then turn around and come back. Which I virtually never do because once I am OUT there, it's so beautiful! I have a regular walk I do that takes about 25 minutes, but if I want to I can extend it to 45 or an hour by walking further. My main exercise is walking, and i walk in nature (we live near a wetlands) or through the suburbs looking at people's gardens. It's relaxing, feeds and soothes my soul as well as exercises my body. I find gyms rather soulless and unmotivating.

Well, I might just join you and also say thankyou to everyone here who over the years has also provided so much companionship and reassurance. This is such a unique place and there have been so many times when only people here could possibly understand what I was going through. And thankyou to Susan Wise Bauer and her team, for making this all possible.

One of the things they have used in hospitals here is tea tree oil- because staph is getting so antibiotic resistant that it is becoming a problem to treat, especially in immune lowered people. Tea tree trials were apparently quite successful but I dont know how much it is actually used. If I were treating myself at home, that is what i would use- or as a pp said grapefruit seed extract. But its certainly not something to muck around with. Here are some studies: http://tahilla.typepad.com/mrsawatch/mrsa_wounds_essential_oils/

I know..this place is amazing for getting feedback about just about anything! And often within seconds!

:iagree:. It might take you more time to pull it together, but honestly, I could have done that rather than spend many thousands of $ and HOURS because I visited the curriculum board so much. I always had this sense that my son struggled because it was the wrong curriculum (in retrospct, I could have just stuck with the first thing I bought. He struggled anyway. ) ANd...I kept thinking I could add in wonderful new subjects...but there are only so many hours in the day. Nowadays I am much more minimalist and if I had my time to do it again I would keep it very simple.

:grouphug: I guess that's why a lot of people start small homeschool businesses...to make that little bit of extra money to spend on homeschooling. I did have the money to buy whatever programs I wanted...and some were successes...but you know, there are plenty of great free programs on the internet, as well, and many times I liked them better. Such as Ambleside. And the good thing about a free online program is that you can tweak it a lot and feel no guilt, because it didn't cost you anything. THere are also cheaper good quality curriculums like Rod and Staff. If you hang out here on the curriculum board especially...it's easy to suffer from curriculum envy and start to wonder if all those other kids are getting a better education than yours. But you really don't need all that stuff, especially the expensive ones. Expensive curricula does not equal good education, by any means.