It sounds like you want to do what you want to do and you are fixed on that- that's non negotiable. It sounds like you are perhaps resenting your daughter's problems and difficulties and not quite celebrating her and your time with her...and the escape to your own world seems like a welcome relief. But...then you feel guilty about neglecting your daughter. But you cant really have it both ways...and its ok to send a child to school, really. To me...what your daughter (any child) needs is stability and consistency and parents who are not so stressed out they can't deal with her natural emerging needs (which change as she grows). Homeschooling can't be a healthy option if there isn't a parent who can provide a very calm and matter of fact day to day atmosphere. And oodles of patience to deal with issues as they come up. Homeschooling is really a full time job- it can't just be fitted in between other things. I think it may be more important that, if you are set on going to college, your daughter go to school so as to have a stable, regular life that isn't chaotic and stressed. Of course school has its problems too. Of course. And if it proves that school is worse than home....you will know and you can change your mind. At least you have tried it. But the regularity of the routine of goign to school and hopefully coming home to a mum who is able to give her your 100% attention, and enjoy her and engage and deeply connect with her- because mum is also getting her own needs met- is also a very viable way to go.

:iagree: To some extent anyway. I think the term myth is commonly used to mean something that is purely fictional. But I dont think that myths are the purely fictional dreamings of barbarian cultures who needed to give names to things we can now scientifically explain (which is how the term myth was always explained to me). Myth can be a fairly dismissive term. I think they are often based in real events and very deep understandings, including supernatural events and an understanding of things we have long since lost the capacity to understand. I was at a full day seminar run by an australian aboriginal elder, a couple of months ago. He took us to the beach near the seminar rooms, and explained some aboriginal dreaming stories (which would be considered myths once upon a time but are now just called dreamtime stories in schools here, in respect to our aboriginal culture)....then he explained how science backed them up. It involved the rising of the sea level and things that happened at that time. Very interesting and gave us such a sense of how long these people have been here, and how much history they have compared to our measly 200 years. I do think "religion" can be quite different from myth. Sorry, my brain couldnt follow the preceding posts...it gave up trying.

Only once, last year. Never experienced anything like it. No position made it feel better but walking stopped it getting worse. I really hope you feel better soon.

I am still fussy about my kids getting enough sleep- the recommended is 9.25 hours for teenagers. Many teenagers get much less than this. I have found that mind really do need that much and they agree, except when they want to stay up late :) We have a rule...no computers or TV after 9pm. That is still "bedtime" around here....and no, they don't actually have to go to sleep, but its the only way I can set up a transition time between electronics, which are well used and loved around here up to the last second, and sleep time. Since both have mobile phones with internet coverage...they can still do FB in their bedrooms from their phones. But fortunately, most of the time (and they are still learning), they are asleep by 10 or soon after. And yes....my kids used the 'parental block' which is somewhere in there under settings..until we realised we weren't actually seeing their posts.

:lol::lol::lol: Lovely hear from you Colleen! You are probably very wise not to get sucked into the vortex :)

http://www.sunwarrior.com/ My son wants to have protein powder and I am not happy about using soy isolate or whey powder. Both are cheap and nasty, as far as I am concerned. I have been doing research and this one is the best I can find.

These are our guidelines also. THe kids have many, many friends through the Scouting movement as well as gymnastics and homeschooling. Hundreds- that they know in real life. What has happened is...both kids have changed their settings at times so that dh and I couldnt read their posts. We discovered it and made them change back. We do watch what they write- and some of it is rather...savoury, in our son's case. He doesnt like that we see it. Swearing happens. Stupid teenage stuff happens. On our part,....we do not comment on anything to the kids unless we feel there is something dangerous going on. (such as recently, some incredibly beautiful photos were posted of our son doing a backflip off a cliff into the ocean. Umm. No. Lets talk about that one- we didnt realise you were doing THAT at the beach the other day!). As far as the teenage language and messing around goes...we leave it be. Its their space to be teenagers. And because we are like that....many of the kids' friends also are now our FB friends. So we even hear about the car rear ends, the hangovers, the relationships...the stuff teens talk to each other about when they forget adults are watching :). We were teens too once. But we like to stay in touch with our kids' social group so we prefer to sit back and watch and mostly stay out of it all.

Tashi was one of the books that pushed my teetering then 8/9yo son into reading. He hated reading and I was making it as fun as possible- Tashi appealed to him so he read it. Not long after that he was reading well above his age level- his reading just jumped from poor to excellent in a short time and Tashi just happened to be one of the books that was on his list in that time period. I bought him the thick book of combined Tashi stories and he was so proud of himelf reading such a thick book. There were/are some pretty trashy popular books intended to "get kids reading" for that age group- especially boys. We managed to avoid most of them. I feel Tashi was much better than most of them.

I am not a puritan when it comes to making from scratch, by any means, but I just dont feel good about jarred sauces. They feel kind of "dead" to me, and they tend to add sugar to them- a lot of sugar in some form or another. I make a very quick and easy tomato sauce by frying an onion and garlic, chopping up some other vegies really small, and adding canned tomatoes- fresh if I have them but they are not usually very cheap except for right now. I add barbecue sauce for flavour. I have just discovered Quorn mince which makes a great vegetarian bolognaise sauce. I am sure my version isnt much better than a jarred sauce but at least I know exactly whats in it and I feel better about it.

Non Christian perspective. The whole submitting to husband thing comes from times when survival was a much more precarious thing and some sort of chain of command was helpful for the general order of things, and to keep more people alive. We live in different times. We are moving out of centuries of a patriarchal system into a more balanced one. 1. Both adults must consent and agree to children. Not fair to say one or the other gets a say. In this case, one can always veto the other. 2. Every woman has complete sovereignty over her own body. Always. 100%. No exceptions. 3. In the case of frozen embryos...they belong to both, in a sense, so both must agree to have them destroyed. Either can veto the decision to destroy.

My ds15 is like that too! Always has been, but a while back he really withdrew and decidedly wouldn't cuddle- moody etc. I put it down to growing older, puberty etc and I occasionally begged for a hug and left it at that. Then....all his old cuddly nature came back and he regularly sits on my lap again, and asks for hugs. I DO ask him to get off my lap after a couple of minutes now because he IS heavy. He is very affectionate, but mischevious too (he is not beyond pretending to fall asleep on my lap so as to get longer there!). I remember the midwife I had for the pregnancy with him, had a 16yo son at the time. She told me once that her son still jumped into bed with her husband and herself for a morning cuddle. I remember thinking...I really hope my kids are still that friendly with me at that age. They are. I have noticed a lot more physical affection with this generation of kids. All the teens hug each other when meeting up or saying goodbye. It can take ages to get my kids from somewhere because they have to hug EVERYONE goodbye (their friends that is, not strangers). I notice it with other teens too. So....I imagine it will be less unusual for them to stay somewhat affectionate with their parents.

Thanks Ladies, I have learned some things here too, very appreciative. I found this as the first link when I googled chaste tree- it says chaste tree stimulates progesterone production (doesnt mention oestrogen). Thats my understanding too. http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/natural-medicine/herbal-remedies/chaste-tree-herbal-remedies.htm

:iagree: It is good to be aware that there are vast amounts of research on this issue, including many books....it is not easy to be with a partner with an addiction and very easy to fall into the pattern of co-dependence, living in an unrealistic hope of being able to change the addicted person with enough love. In that respect...the co-dependent person is often addicted too, but in a different way. Similar mechanism though. The addicted person/people have to get to the point that they actually want to change. Deeply. And then do something about it- whatever it takes. Many give false hope to their desperate partners by saying they want to change when they can't. Addiction is not so easy as a change of mind..otherwise it wouldn't be addiction. But the partner needs to take care of themselves and their children first and foremost, to recognise the reality of the situation- and that often takes outside help.

:grouphug: I was the only one ever willing to do any therapy, marriage or otherwise...and it was often enough to get us through. Not because I was the only one who needed help or to learn ways of handling things....but because I learned how to cope and grow, and it was enough to help him shift too.

My dh is similar to Jean's, not with the Christian aspect, but he just doesnt get affected by images...but mostly.....he doesnt create them in his head. He has worked with young men with porn addiction, and from that and just being a man himself...he feels it is an issue of fantasising a lot, and peoplf dont realise you can actually stop that. Men do have a choice- not necessarily in how they naturally respond or even how they think...they get a choice when they become conscious of the fact that they themselves can feed the whole issue. Still, for many its not such a big deal. I do know some young men though for whom it is a severe addiction that has a strong impact on their life with their partner. And I know older men like that too. DH is not blind to women's beauty, and he appreciates it...but he says he just doesn't allow himself to feed fantasies, because they lead to suffering. However...I do have a lot of compassion for those caught in porn...I know two men who desperately want a "real woman" on an emotional level, but who find themselves only attracted to a certain "Barbie Doll" image. They are caught. I am not going to make a fuss though. We dont shame our son and we dont intend to start shaming him over this issue. It's not so much a moral issue to us as ....the cost is high. If you are addicted to porn, if you see women like that, you are going to have a hard time being with a real woman. They get old and they put on weight.

Eggs- usually fried or poached, this morning it was scrambled with fresh cherry tomatoes from the garden. On good wholegrain seeded bread. Ds15 has trouble with breakfast- doesnt like heavy foods in the morning- usually eats Corn Flakes but I just bought him protein powder and he is loving a protein shake for breakfast.

:iagree: In my circles especially, but even my my parents circles and others I am aware of here in Australia...the standards are not so "old fashioned" and co-habiting is much more acceptable, especially before marriage. These boards always open my mind to the way others think, and I am sure there is a subculture in Australia that thinks similarly to the majority here..but I am not aware of it. My parents would never have treated my brother or I like that- if we were with someone, they were invited to stay as well. Always. Funny, my brother and I are both happily married- it doesn't seem to have hurt us to be brought up like that so I can't see the need to change. But then, both our parents co-habited after their divorces as well. Again...my brother and I married. No problem here. I would feel hurt if I was invited to stay with a relative but my long term live in partner was not. I would consider it rude, presumptuous, judgemental, unaccepting and ungracious and I would decline the invitation. My loyalty would be to my relationship.. I would prefer not to be invited than to be invited that way. The OP asked if it was old fashioned. Why yes, in my understanding, in my culture, I believe it is but so what...that is irrelevant. Old fashioned is fine. Is it reasonable? Is it for the best, does it hurt people unecessarily? Obviously I live in a culture than many here.

DH always had low blood pressure but then in his 50s it has started going past normal into high. Apparently that is fairly normal/common for low blood pressure people. The same for my mother- always low, then went high as she got older. Both are overweight. I wouldn't mind a bit of higher blood pressure. At 80/60 on a good day, sometimes it's hard to do much. It sounds pretty normal that your bp is fluctuating. Probably just tkaign readings at the same time each day, sitting in the same place in the same position, would give you a useful average.

Oh, that is so sweet, thankyou. I am sure I will hang around. These boards are so unique!

Hi Laurie, this is our 3rd week of PP here in Australia- my 2nd week on PP because i was in Bali eating my heart out (and putting weight on that I had just lost) for the 1st week. I did start another thread on it a few days ago..now buried. I love, love, love the new system. I love being able to eat fruit for free (but it is going into summer here, and fruit is one of my favourite foods (all of it !) ) and I feel like I ate all last week...I always had to be so disciplined using WW, and "deal with" my hunger pains....now, I dont get so hungry at all. I find it easier to spread the food out too, with more points to spend. Also, the weekly points concept is great...it gives me a buffer if I go over my daily, plus it gives a buffer for a special event or night out. I didnt spend all my weekly points but I did feel like I ate a lot last week...I really didnt expect to lose weight, honestly...but I did- just over 1 kg. I think the new system must be well thought out and researched (I heard it took them 4 years). It really encourages you to eat more healthy food. I always did anyway, but the old system didn't encourage it so much. On our WWmessage boards here, there is a leader who wrote a good blog post that many people commented on that helped them a lot. It is important to spend your daily points on healthy food...not try and squeeze in treats and alcohol on your daily points. That way you will get the nutrition you need and the whole thing turns into a healthy, sustainable lifestyle rather than a "diet". The weekly points are the ones for treats. I love it and I love that I can eat the way I want to eat- healthy, mostly fruit and veg- and feel full on it. Last night I went out to a chocolateire with dh and had a guilt free hot chocolate.

I recommend Dr Lee's books however like treestarfae, I don't feel comfortable taking even bio identical prgesterone indefinitely. I did for 2 years. It was fantastic...it made the difference between living in h*ll and having an ok time for 2 weeks out of every 4. But then suddenly I didn't feel to take it any more and I was ok without it. It is powerful stuff. Estrogen dominance is common. I now take chaste tree- I used to take it years ago too and it was good- it is balancing and it promotes progesterone. EPO never seemed to do anything for me. I would just keep going, doing what you're doing (researching, acting on what you learn) and experiment with yourself. We are all a bit different and what works, or feels good, for one, will not be the same for another. I have tried so many things over the years to balance my hormones...B6, EPO never seemed to do anything...chaste tree, taken regularly, does, for me (atm)....progesterone cream was good for 2 years but then not. For the skin/hair symtoms that EPO relieves for you, there are other things that can help. In fact, progesterone cream can often help. Vitamin E, eating more oils like coconut, MSM...many things.

Thats my understandingtoo, from reading Western Price's research with traditional cultures.

I do it online too and its worth it to me. Also, I highly recommend the new system. It's much more "doable" than the old one. Doable as in, much easier to maintain as a lifestyle rather than a semi starvation diet, lol. Its also amazing how much you can eat- I felt like I was eating all day last week and still lost weight. This is Australia's 3rd week on the new system- your first. THe new system has a different amount of allowed points (eg I get 29 on the new system, 18 on the old) and the points for foods are calcuated differently, so the old products and guides are not relevant as far as points go...although the recipes can be translated to the new system.

Gosh, can't imagine even considering it an issue. Marriage is a state of mind, not a bit of paper. My kids value marriage as a committment- and we didn't even marry until they were 4 and 5 years old. You can be committed and not officially married. And you can be married and...so what. Plenty of unhappy, miserable, stupid people who wreck their kids' lives have a bit of paper to say they are married. I would be much more concerned about the log in my own eye before worrying about the speck in others' lives. I would be far more interested in whether they are poeple I would want around my kids...whether they drink alcohol to excess or are rude etc....than whether they have a bit of paper to say they are married.

Not presently (except for 2 investment property mortgages) but we are going into debt to put dd16 into college for her first year- $9000- next year. We don't have the income to pay it up front or even off in a year, so we will pay it off as we can (she will pay the rest of her university fees herself- go into debt- but the system here for that seems better than the U.S. and we dont have to pay back uni fees until we earn $40,000. Until then its low interest.) No, I will not be going to work to pay off the debt (although I may go to work for other reasons)...I won't even be homeschooling. However, my life situation is my life situation and I would just do whatever I needed to given any situation. My kids are older- I am more flexible. DH didnt want me to work- he wanted me to be with the kids- but if he had been different, I may be working instead of hoemschooling because it would be hard to homeschool against a spouse's approval if there was debt involved.