I really dont know- not my area of expertise at all. I know I got a very in depth report with my hair analysis which explained it all. Yes, I can't see why a toddler woudl be any different to an adult. I am sure heavy metals would show up. As Jean says- not sure that hair analysis is the best way to test for Mg- and probably many other things too. A hair analysis will only show what is actually put into the hair for whatever reason. Since going through a stage of getting myself and many others I knew tested...I am not even sure it is worth it unless you have very competent people reading it. I and many others have had a high copper reading in the hair. For a long time I was trying to get all the supposed excess copper out of my system- as recommended. Then I read a different report on the many excess copper readings, which suggested that actually the copper was not available to my system and that taking copper would be helpful. So I just stopped doing anything, lol, because obviously there is some debate as to what having these things in your hair actually means.

Well, chronic Mg deficiency is very common and it's pretty hard to overdose on it. So...I personally wouldnt do a hair analysis to just find that out. I would give the kid Mg. It is great for stress. If they take more than they need, it will just cause loose stools. No big deal. I have had a hair analysis. It's great for testing whether you have heavy metals in your system- mercury, lead etc. Thats what I have generally used it for. The one I had done gave a very in depth report, and it is useful for more than heavy metals- it can tell you about your constutution (parasympathetic, or sympathetic nervous system dominant ), and can pick up imbalances. So...I do think they are useful.

I have noticed lately what a great impression my kids make on people. Ds15 just had an interview with the deputy principal of the highschool he is goign to next year., and he communicated so openly and honestly and confidently, looking the guy in the eyes like a young man. I was so proud. We had some guests a few days ago who we see once a year or so, and both kids shared in the adult conversation openly and beautifully. The guests were so impressed that they kept commenting on them, and told dh and i what great job we had done and they told the kids how lucky they were to have been homeschooled. It was lovely.

I don't think a marriage fails just because people move on at a certain stage. The sign of a successful marriage is not staying together, IMO. And it doesn't meant that if people split, it was unsuccessfulo r unhappy all that time, either. I think its a shame people feel that they or their marriage failed because it ended. People do grow apart and thats ok too. My parents divorced at 15 years too. Interesting. My mother said to me a few years later that we live in different times and "serial monogomy" - having more than one long term relationship in one's lifetime, which she has done, is a lot better than staying in an unhealthy relationship where people grow apart as they mature (as my parents did. I can't imagine my mum with my dad anymore. He didn't change. She did, dramatically. ) DH and i have been together 18 years now, married for 11. Never been easy. Neither of us compromise much- we really speak our truth and risk separating to do so many times over the years. Its always been worth it and it is more fresh and alive now than ever. But, its never been easy. I suspect relationships are not meant to be.

:iagree:

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

I would talk to the kids about it in a way that is respectful of grandad but clear that you dont agree with his beliefs that other races are in any way inferior. Great fodder for conversation with kids. We have talks like that frequently. And I would slowly and surely let it be known to him that you find his racist remarks innapropriate and offensive....without necessarily making him wrong. Just his remarks. You never know how people get to where they are, and hostility towards them is unlikely to make them change their views. I dont really think its appropriate to let people get away with that sort of thing forever. At some stage they need to realise that the people they think are agreeing with them, because they say nothing, do not actually agree with them. To anyone but somebody very socially insensitive, realising that others do not agree and feel uncomfortable should be enough to reign it in somewhat. Many people probably just dont even realise how crass they are being- theyve jsut been brought up that way, or developed their views for some reason, and never really been challenged because its just normal to them. My MIL is clearly racist but we see her so little and she hides it fairly well so we have never had a confrontation about it.

Witchety Grubs is about all I can think of. They are a native Australian delicacy.

Let home at age 16 because my mother was with a man who verbally abused me a lot (due to alcohol). To stay true to my own knowing even when it threatens my marriage. To bring up my kids the way I feel is right, against all opposition. I have hitchiked, been a street urchin, lived in a cave, been to India 3 times on my own (it never gets easy for me in India).

All of them, and any you didn't think of too. I have different ways of preparing them though...not all just plain boiled or steamed...they might appeal more with some sort of seasoning. I have the best spinach salad recipe. Everyone asks for the recipe. My kids eat it in large quantities. Great way to get your greens. Sesame Spinach Salad 2 tbs oil 1tbs soy sauce 2 tbs wine vinegar 1 clover garlic, crushed Pinch sugar ¼ tsp nutmeg Freshly ground black pepper 1 tsp grated fresh ginger 250gms young fresh spinach 2 tbs toasted sesame seeds 1. Mix together in a jar: oil, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, sugar, nutmeg, pepper and ginger. Cover, shake well, put in fridge till needed. (I put it all in a blender but its not necessary). 2. Wash and dry thoroughly the spinach and tear into smallish pieces (I use baby spinach so I dont do this) . Place in salad bowl and pour on the dressing, then sprinkle on the sesame seeds. Toss lightly. Serve fairly soon.

We already have 3 chooks, 2 dogs and a snake (in a rental!). The kids and I have wanted a cat ever since our previous one ran away a year or so ago. But dh really dislikes cats. Really. Was upset we had a cat before. Contantly complained. Kept the cat outside. Said we would never get a cat. I told the kids...the only way we would ever get another cat would be if dh brought one home by some miracle. I could never just get one, as I did other animals, because he is so hostile towards cats (he is a dog person, not to mention cat allergies). So on the weekend he goes to a garage sale. A woman had gone interstate for some reason then phoned her neighbour to tell her she wasnt coming back. To sell everything. Dh picked up a few plants at this garage sale and came home. Later he felt to go back to the garage sale. He was in the backyard (EVERYTHING was for sale or free) and a cat came up to him. He reckons this cat SPOKE to him and told him how sad it was. (dh is rather sensitive for all his brashness!). He asked the woman from next door what was going on with the cat- they had tried to give it away but no one had replied to the advertisement and it was about to go to the cat haven the next day. So, now we own a cat. A gorgeous, well loved, friendly, not neurotic, ginger Tom called Tiger Woods. The prettiest cat ever. About 2 years old. And it was dh who brought it home and who now adores this creature like nothing else. Dh the cat hater. Who slept with the cat last night to make sure it felt secure. It's so funny how things turn out.

We have a policy of not leaving money around because for some kids, the tempation is just too much and leaving it where they have access just provides them with tempation they don't necessarily have the maturity to resist. So, in a way, it turns them into criminals because it makes it too easy and once they get a taste, and especially if they get away with it, its too late to take that opportunity back. We learned that with one of our kids. I now have a safe in my room- we literally found it on the edge of the road. I do keep my purse in my bedroom but they know I know how much money is in it (or at least I like to give that impression regularly) and anyway, if I am out it is with me. I keep extra cash in my safe and hide the key. I feel much better since doing this because I suspect one of my kids was pilfering ocasionally and this way, the opportunity is just not there. DH has a similar system for himself. Also, yes, earning money has helped a lot with that "desperate" feeling around money for my teens. They both feel wealthy instead which really changes things.

Whenever they want to.

For a long time I did pour my money into the kids...then I realised taking care of myself was also important. I think it is the conditioning we as women are given, often on a very deep level culturally, that we are worth-less than others especialyl men, and are valuable only through what we do and give to others- our role as servants, to serve. So being indispensable and always available is part of our way of valuing ourselves on one level. I think it is important to take care of ourselves and its a statement to our dh's and kids that we value ourselves. That is wonderufl for our children to see too. I have also found it can be an adjustment for the family to make and there is often some resistance...which sometimes has made me reluctant to ask or do what I want- but it is always worth it and they really can cope and handle it.

I love all the seasons and especially change of seasons. I am an optimist.

Years ago, I wouldnt take time to rest if I only had a cold. It would interrupt my program too much. Now that the kids are fairly independent - and I am more likely to take better care of myself- I take time off fairly regularly for rest as well as personal activities.

I think of hovering mums as those who stand right next to their kids on play equipment and constantly tell their kids to "be careful"."you might fall", "dont go any higher". To me that breeds fearful kids- the mother is always fearing the worst, rather than instlling confidence in their kids with "you can do it". "Oh dear, you fell- heres a hug, wanna try again?" (or watching from a safe distance and pretending not to notice when they fall so they dont make a fuss). Or, they don't give their kids much personal space because they are too enmeshed and fearful. A mother who listens to her fears out of proportion to allowing kids to have a healthy freedom and take age appropriate risks, will breed underconfident kids who learn to overly depend on mum's judgement rather than slowly develop their own. However...I don't live in the U.S., and I dont live in the OP's area, and I read Protecting the Gift. The single most important thing I got out of that was how important it is to trust your instincts- and teach your kids to trust theirs. Always. I think there is a dfferennce between that and trusting your fears all the time....but only you can say which it is.

The truth is it is a trade off. Yes, there are experiences that school kids get that our homeschooled kids wont get, although often we can compensate with extra classes. But there are so many benefits to homeschooling that schooled kids dont get...a more relaxed and non competitive environment and pace to our days, not having to deal with a lot of meanness, a closer family, one on one attention.....that most of us consider the good to outweigh the bad by far. That being said I have now enrolled my son into highschool for next year and we had an interview with the deputy a couple of days ago. He was pretty impressed with ds- his ability to communicate, to look him in the eye and express himself. Have you noticed how many tees wont look you in the eye? I have never even told ds to do that- it is natural to him to talk to adults respectfully but with dignity. The deputy heard my reasons for wanting to enrol ds in school and said they sounded very valid but he said to realise that a school envornment cant compete with the one on one quality attention that ds has had at home. I thought that was amazing since this guy was a bit wary at first. He also said that while having teachers for different subjects was great, there will always be teachers that ds will not like or click with. It sounds like your dh not trusting you fully is causing you some anxiety and that is so understandable. But that stress and anxiety of "never doing enough" really changes the tone of our home and homeschooling days. I was like that for years and I wish I hadn't "pushed" so hard and had spent more time just enjoying what we do with a healthy discipline- and let go of what we just didn't get to. Trying to compete with schools is not acknowledging all the incidental learning and character training and fostering a love of learning (not always, I know, but somewhat) that hpapens in the home environment. Perhaps your dh has a kind of wish for his own kids to have the experiences he enjoyed as a child. Perhaps it is an emotional longing for those happy days, himself. Maybe you can acknowledge his feelings while reminding him of the many benefits of homeschooling. But you shouldnt have to "prove" yourself to him or anyone.

Many vegans do eventually swing to a high meat diet due to long term deficiencies. It is possible to eat well on a vegan diet but it is rare for people to put the effort into it that is necessary. I have heard people rave about how much better they feel when they move to eating meat. THe book Nourishing Traditions addresses this issue on the physical level, although they dont address the ethical/spiritual aspect. I would prefer to be vegetarian and was for years, but I now eat meat for thereason you have suggested- my system (type )) does actually seem to thrive better with meat and I have chronic anaemia. However I do not like to eat as much meat as the blood type book suggests. I hoep after menopause I may go back to being vegetarian, but we will see. I still believe we are designed to thrive best on a mainly plant based diet. But for many of us, it is hard to be healthy without the addition of some meat. There is a guy called Dr Gabriel Cousins who has done a lot of research into these issues. He has found that people can thrive on mainly raw food plant based diets even with type 0 blood, but it has to be speficially biased towards their own constitution. I have the Rainbown Green Live Food Cuisine book and it is full of valuable information about these issues. He is vegan. amazon.com/Rainbow-Live-Food-Cuisine-Gabriel-Cousens/dp/1556434650/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b

I live on the other side of the country and have since I was 18. DH however....the house he grew up in is about 2 kms away. We have brought up our kids in the same area- which is a beautiful, riverside suburb, so I am not complaining. Hes not even close to his family and they dont live very close except his mother who is 15 mins away but we dont see her very often. It's just a nice area. Ideally I would love to go back and live on the east coast (nearer family and many friedns) but since we have brought up our kids here and they might well hang around since they have so many friends here...I would rather stay near them. And I doubt dh is up to moving either.

Wow, I really feel for you guys. If it werent for these boards, I wouldnt really know how bad it is getting over there. Its not really in the media much over here. Here, we are busy selling off our iron ore and other metals to China, so until that runs out (inevitably....) we are a boom state. SO the government decides to import 2000 people A WEEK into our city. Great. So now we have traffic jams wheras before they didnt really exist. Now we have dense housing where before we had suburban sprawl. I think there are plenty of jobs though. And i am working for a gardening and reticulation business that is definitely booming.

Ds14/15 joined Joeys when he turned 7. He is just now going into Venturers. Dd16 joined Scouts when she was 10.5 and was the only girl for quite a while (co-ed here). She LOVED it. She was a Brownie before that and her dad convinced her to try the Sea Scouts that were literally around the corner from where we lived. She is now a proficient sailor and the Chairman of her Venturer unit for the 3rd time as well as soon to be the State Chairman for Venturers and on the committees for organising various state events. So SeaScouts has been a huge part of our lives and still is. Dd has been on several major camps with them and both have been on zillions of local ones. Ds has sailed out of our estuary and down the coast with other Scouts. Their friends are all in Scouts. Nope, I am not a leader. It's not my thing at all...I would never have liked it as a kid and wouldnt now except for some fun parts. Who wants to be told what to do in your spare time? And it's too like the military for me (it didn't used to be but we have an extremely militaristic female leader for the last couple of years and she is a dragon). But my kids? Absolute fanatics.

At the moment: I get up around 5am. Meditate, do yoga, put the dishes away and HAVE MY FIRST CUP OF TEA. Also a fresh orange juice if I am feeling motivated to squeeze 2 oranges. Sometimes sit on the verandah and watch the sunrise. 6am- I take the dog for a walk for one hour. It is light at 5am here now. 7am- dd16 is up and getting ready to go exercsising with a neighbour girlfriend (young woman, 21) Also, Dh gets up about now and makes tea for both of us, and he reads teh newspaper. I shower, potter around doind a bit of housework and chatting with dh. 7.30- ds14 gets up. Around 8am we tend to all be around the kitchen. Ds14 has usually eaten cereal already- a huge amount of it. Dd (and her friend sometimes) are ready to make eggs and coffee, and dh helps. Its virtually the only thing he cooks- eggs. That is their morning ritual. I sometimes have eggs with them...and sometimes make myself eggs or something else either before or after them. I do tend to consider my mornings before school starts rather "sacred" and don't like to socialise much. I will chat with dh though. I don't drink coffee- thats something dh and dd do together with our home expresso machine. The kids have been getting their own breakfasts since they were small. The last few years though eggs have been a common breakfast and so a ritual has formed around egg cooking- we went through a poaching phase, then scrambled- at the moment it is fried. On Sunday mornings we often have guests over for "eggs and coffee". Its just what we do :)

All taken in the last year. Ds14 however has grown a lot since last Christmas when teh family shot was taken. He is way taller than me now.

Remember many of us homeschool because of bad experiences in school (either us or our kids!). My dd did well in school. We pulled her out because we had decided to homeschool ds - he had a bad year 2- and we wanted to do it as a family. But we always knew she woudl thrive in school- but wanted to homeschool her to keep her close to us, as she was so peer influenced. Fast forward- dd16 is not going to school- straight to college- but ds14 is going to school next year. It feels right for him to get the stimulation of different teachers and subjects. I am goign for the interview in a couple of hours actually. If it doesnt work..we just pull him out again! At least we have that option, which most people dont even realise they have.