Oh, waving at you Isabella, didnt know we had another local here! No, no product crunch- very soft. The conditioner keeps it soft- she doesnt use any styling products normally- just the conditioner daily. At the moment I bought her Tres Semmes or something like that- supermarket. Cos she goes through a lot of conditioner and it was on special, and their heavy moisturising one works well. We have done Alchemy (the black bottles) and the Byron Bay Hemp Co.'s Finest Hemp Hair Treatment is absolutely amazing- i use it myself. I get it from Precious Organics in Myaree. http://www.thegoodoil.com/ The BedHead products for curly hair from the hairdresser shops is wonderful too, but expensive and we can only buy them in pairs, and we both go through so much more conditioner than shampoo its not worth it. Sometimes I buy it on ebay though. She gets a lot of attention for her hair. Yes, she does appreciate it however sometimes she would like a change- a hair colour or fancy cut- but it never seems worth it because it couldnt relaly improve what she has naturally. So, she just plays with it.

Lol. Well, she spends AGES in the bathroom every day so I am not sure you would want your dd to do that if she doesn't already :) Personal hygeine etc is rather important to her (you could call it teenage vanity :)). She can spend 20 minutes in the shower easily, but that will include shaving her legs etc. We are forever knocking on the door telling her to get out. But her basic hair routine is to wet and condition her hair every day in the shower. She combs it through with a wide toothed comb in the shower. I think she rinses it lightly- leaving some in. She only uses shampoo once in a while, when it looks greasy. Maybe once a fortnight. As for brands...we just try different ones all the time, but generally speaking she uses the better quality ones. I often buy her the more natural ones, but then sometimes she will ask for the salon brands. She finds that she needs to change brands regularly. I find the same. She never uses a hair brush- just the comb in the shower, and I think her fingers or perhaps the wide toothed comb, afterwards. Then she lets it air dry. Other than that...not much at all! Her hair is very slow growing- it was never long when she was young. She gets a trim maybe once a year or does it herself. She does use chemicals (mousse etc) on it every now and then, such as when she is going to a special function, but day to day, she doesn't tend to. The colour is natural. She did get some blonde streaks in it once and it did dry it out somewhat. I think the key is to keep it very decently conditioned all the time, so it doesn't really get a chance to dry out. It definitely used to frizz before she learned to do that.

Mostly, we just live what we believe, and talk about it - it's not separate from our lives. I haven't taught it as a separate subject, per say. We tend to relate more to being "spiritual" rather than "religious" and don't have a dogma to share. However I have taught world religions through history, and that has been an easy and practical way to do it. I have spent extra time on the religions I wanted them to get a good feel for, such as Buddhism. K12 has a good world history course for middle school kids- History Odyssey- and that is secular and covers the origins of the major religions quite well. Certainly a good starting point. I would use it again. (I just used the narrative book, which you can buy separately,not the whole enrolled K12 course, and built a course around it.)

Dancer67, I think you are spot on. I agree that it is irresponsible of a doctor to "throw" anxiety meds at a patient based on what the OP has said she said. I agree that bloodwork should be done to determine deficiencies, before just diagnosing "anxiety". There are so many other possibilities. Doesn't sound like a good doctor. And anxiety meds have their own side effects- and what if you are anxious due to deficiencies as well? You are being sent on a wild goose chase. Get some bloodwork done. Then you can rule out those things and come back to a purely emotional disturbance. There are other things you can take for anxiety too, such as magnesium and/ or herbs. Doesn't work for everyone but it can alleviate symptoms for many people.

Depends what time of the month it is or what is going on in my life. I am a mornign person. I am waking about 5am here at the moment, which is just before dawn. I love it- the sound of birds and the gentle light in the mornings. I get up before everyone else, make a cup of tea, meditate, do yoga, go for a walk. I absolutely love my mornings. However, there are days I don get enough sleep and still wake up at the crack of dawn - when I WANT to go back to sleep and I just cant. And some days I wake up inexplicably sad or desolate or disturbed, or just feel like hiding and not getting up. I find once I do actually get up and move and have my tea and some exercise, I am fine for the day. There is an article in our newspaper about how depression can be linked to not getting enough rest. I do think its sad that so many people just never feel deeply rested. Sometimes I feel it too....and ongoing underlying exhaustion. DH is taking me to Bali in 3 weeks though and hopefully 5 days of massage and sitting by the pools and adventuring will help me to rejuvinate. The week before that I am taking a week's silent retreat as I do each year.

We basically have stopped eating processed foods. I was still buying some corn chips and meusli bars and 2 minute noodles for the kids- I recently stopped- and my dh , who I didnt think realyl understood the issue- was the one to ask me to stop. He said they need to eat "real food" not that stuff. Of course he is right...I was just getting lax about it. I have a concern though about the amount of severely hybridized foods around nowadays- cant get watermelon with seeds in it any more around here. Hard to get oranges with seeds. There are hundreds of varieties of bananas, but the only ones in commercial cultivation are I think 2 or 3 different types- right across the world- and they are very hybridized. These types of foods are much higher in sugar than the more natural varieties. ANd you cant take the seed from the fruit and plant it. You can only do your best. Its pretty hard to avoid it all nowadays. FOrtunately non hybrid soy is available here- my son absolutely adores tofu, which is quirky but I give it to him (we all eat it). It does sounds and look like, from what I have seen, that commercial farming in the US. is worse than here in Australia. Cows still graze on pasture here.

I would LOVE to have our own beehive, and I imagine I will one day. DH doesn't want one (he wants to get rid of our chickens too!) but I am sure I will win one day :) Ds is allergic but there are bees all over the place around here. The only times he has been stung are when he is being silly trying to kill them.

Love it. Yes, I agree- collectively women have plenty of power- but as long as we are brought up to believe we don't, we don't access it. I love stories like you just wrote, Rosie. THe concept was instroduced to me by someone who said...if all the women in the world refused to marry/have babies with bad men...we would have no more bad men- they wouldnt reproduce- or they would have to change. We DO have power. But we just havent woken up to it completely yet.

I have no idea how old the earth is. Science may hypothesise, but it doesn't know either. I figure it's older than we can really conceive.

I can get fresh turmeric in the stores here nowadays- looks like miniature ginger, but its a lvoely orange on the inside. But if you cant find it...leave it out. You take a tablespoon or two in the morning or a couple of times a day (if you feel a cold coming on, take several times a day- you cant really overdose. For preventative, take once a day). Its strong stuff. You can strain it after a week or two if you like, or just take some of the solution off the top and leave it stewing.

I think women have always had the power, but we have spent a long time believing we didnt and acting as if we didnt- and then carrying on behind the scenes to control what we weren't allowed to help manage openly. If we didnt make love with/marry men who didn't treat us with respect and honour, not to mention equality, we could have changed the world a long time ago. We have that power to a huge extent (bar rape). We have their babies. But in the past, we were their possessions. But women make up 50% of the human race, more or less....we always had the power. We just didnt use it. Yes, I do think women have a lot more freedom nowadays than men, in many ways. But, times are changing and they will eventually change for men too. Many men are making different choices nowadays. It's just not "normal" yet.

I made a comment on that thread about patriarchy, but I never meant to imply at all that matriarchy would be a better option. Just that we have been through more than 2000 years of patriarchy and there is a rebalancing happening which sometimes swings to the other extreme. Matriarchy might be better- for a while. But wouldn't we just be better off working together and honouring and respecting each other? I would rather have balance. At the moment...the feminine is still not completely honoured and allowed in both men and women.

In this day and age I think it is impossible to have a totally broad education- just one that is relatively broad compared to others, I guess. There is too much to know. I think it is such a general term that has virtually lost meaning due to its generality. To me....its to have a solid foundation in maths, science and language skills...but its mainly to be 'widely read'. Now, its impossible to be widely read in all areas in these times. But it is possible to have a curious mind and a passion for continuing to learn about a variety of topics, including history and current affairs. I do enjoy meeting people who are widely read and can take up an intelligent conversation on a wide range of topics. Many of these people I am sure became widely read as adults...its a life long thing rather than something we can cram into a kid in 18 or 25 years. I think we can just plant the seeds and water them.

Dr Who Six Million Dollar Man The Goodies Bewitched Get Smart

I like to take high doses of professional strength echinacea. I take 3 dropperfulls whenever I feel something coming on. I buy 500ml bottles and put it in juice for the kids too. There is a Yahoo group, Jean, that you might find interesting- it is called Herbal Remedies and it is run by Dr Shillington. I have learned a lot of information from there over teh years and there is a lot of information in the files. I dont stand by everything He also has an online shop- OrganicSolutionsStore.com but there are lots of formulas you could make yourself such as this one, which I have made: ( I am copying and pasting the whole thing from the files because of copyright laws). Total Tonic Formula (natures antibiotic) 1 Handful of Garlic Cloves 1 Handful of chopped Onions 1 Handful of chopped Ginger 1 Handful of chopped Horseradish 1 Handful of fresh sliced Tumeric 1/4 to 1/2 handful of chopped Habanero Peppers depending on heat value. Throw in a blender and cover with an inch or two of Organic Apple Cider Vinegar. All ingredients should be ORGANIC, but don't let that stop you from making this great formula. You can use the mash right away or wait two weeks and tincture. Much love, Doc Ian "Doc" Shillington DocShillington@Knology.net 727-447-5282

I don't really know what the whole of society is doing- its easier to see trends in retrospect, such as whether it is a weakness that men are allowed to express and feel and be more feminine. I do definitely see that the feminine is allowed to have its place more and more. But I do feel that it IS time for change and we have had ENOUGH of a severely and extremely patriarchal culture, where the values of domination and competition are revered and the feminine- in both men AND women- is repressed. We are in a decades long process of rebalancing, where the feminine is resurfacing- and it is resurfacing in both women AND men. I do think this is a GOOD thing ultimately- we need more feminine values of empathy and compassion right across our culture. We need them desperately. And as usual, as with the intitial rise of feminism- there is a swing to the opposite extreme first- women got in touch with their masculine side and asserted themselves into all aspects of the culture. Now, they are integrating and embracing their feminine sides again. I see the same swing happening with men- but it is a long process. Men are allowing their more feminine side to express and come out- and many of us instinctively know it is important. How many of our husbands attended our kids' births, compared to THEIR fathers? I have met many rather feminine young men in the last few years. They are literally beautiful- drop dead gorgeous. Soft. Open. But still masculine. I think its a good thing...but yes, there may well be a swing too far...sissy boys and all. But I think it is part of a much larger societal trend which I see as ultimately a good thing. My dh is a mentor to young men. Many of these men are very lost. He is helping them deal with their emotional issues AS WELL AS teaching them how to survive and thrive in the world, to run successful businesses etc. My dh is also one of these men who has a very strong masculine side AND is completely comfortable with his feminine side. Our son has always been quick to tears and also to anger- highly emotional. Really- nto much we could ever do about it without completely brekaign his spirit- and I think we have matured as a generation past teh point of wanting to do that, generally spekaing. But my son is almost 15, rarely cries any more and when he does - he has learnt to manage it himself. I think 12 is a bit young for that for highly emotional kids- but I dont know any 15 yearo olds who behave the same way. I tihnk 12 is about the age when in traditional societies, the men would take the boys out and initiate them into the mens' world. I dont think you can keep looking at the past and idealising it- it was messed up too. Our dhs and their fathers were not allowed to express their feelings so much. Times have changed and its a good thing. But maybe it will go a bit far in that extreme before balancing out. Ultimately...I feel it is great that women can feel comfortable being soft and feminine, and also direct and authratitive and action oriented....and also that men can feel deeply empathic and compassionate and express that openly, while still being masculine. We are all whole beings- we have both within us, all in varying degrees. I dont see what is happening as ultimately bad at all.

I woud just grow them in pots and put them outside for teh part of the year that you can- so that they harden and become strong- and bring them in for the part of the year where they would die outside. But...keep them where they will get lots of natural light and preferable some direct sunshine. THey may not thrive inside- mine never have- but you could probably keep them alive.

It feels so good, doesnt it? I still get a high regularly when I see that we are on top of our bills and spending, and saving as well. That kind of grey , desperate feeling of buying things on the credit card online (my weakness) is no match for the high of actually being on top of it all and saying NO to something because the money isn't there right now. It is so empowering! DH wasnt the leak around here- I was. Thing is, we have some big bills coming up next year. Our daughter got into a course that is costing $9000 for the year, which is much more than a year of university normally is- but the course is so good and gets her into 2nd year university. Its a lot of money for us and we have promised to pay this year (after that her university fees are hers to deal with). Also, a year ago when our finances were looking REALLY good, dh promised to take Dd to Paris for a week for her 16th b'day. She is an artist- this was a beautiful gift to her. But soon after he made the promise, our finances did a dive. He has just booked the ticket now. They are going. But it is a strain on us. I am sure DR wouldn't approve! But we both felt it wouldn't be right to break the promise he made to her. However....because the rest of our finances are in order...it IS doable and I give it my blessings.

empathy: understanding and entering into another's feelings Not, falling apart and bursting into tears at another's suffering, but being able to empathise...to understand what they are feeling, because we are not so hard hearted and cut off from ourselves that we cannot. It does not mean we collapse in an emotional heap...but in order for kids to develop their sense of empathy- compassion for themselves and their fellow man, which surely is what love is all about- they need to be empathised with. I woudl prefer a doctor or nurse, or police officer for that matter, who can empathise, compared to one who cannot, anyday. But obviously, not one who cant function because their emotions overwhelm them. Someone who is grounded and has a highly developed sense of empathy is often mature and able to handle their emotions more than someone who opens the floodgates every now and then ad keeps them tightly shut the rest of the time. For anyone interested here is an interesting little You Tube on the development of empathy in humans over the centuries, and the absolute importance of empathy for us to continue. Probably not for the most conservative Creationist Christians among us.

We have wonderful memories of our son, a massive tantrum thrower and screamer from birth. Around that age..ok, maybe up to age 4 or 5 as well....we would walk around swap meet (car park car boot sale) and when he wanted something that he couldnt have, he would throw these massive tantrums. It must have been hard for him surrounded by "things" he couldnt have- but we did often buy him things too. But dh would just pick him up and throw him over his shoulder and act like it was no big deal at all to have a 3 year old slung over his shoulder screaming his lungs out while he walked around. We would nod and smile at strangers as if it was just normal. Which it was for us. I look at photos of him at that age and gosh he was so darned cute- but those photos dont tell the whole story! Ds is now a lovely argumentative almost 15yo. About 2 or 3 years ago he grew out of the tantrums. Around then he also became capable of playing a family board game without melting down. SO there has been progress. Actually, he is turning out pretty well, which is quite a surprise to dh and I! Well, what we would do is just send him to his room. I would try and reason with him and that would rarely work but it would distract us both for a while and get me really frustrated :).

I have often wondered where this obsession with germs came from..then I watched a bit of commercial TV recently, and half the ads were for pain killers (cos no one wants to feel anything anymore) and the other half were for various things to kill germs. Smiling mothers killing all those nasty germs in their homes. Wow, how did we as a species survive so many thousands of generations without dettol or pine-o-clean? Well, the fittest of us survived because we had strong immune systems- and the rest didnt. I wonder what will happen now? I have never instigated a wash hands before meals rule- only after toileting and when they actually feel dirty. We rarely get sick.

I have noticed over the years that for many people it is a surprise that their family are so negative about their homeschooling decision, and that it is kind of like a growing up inititation. You realise that in order to be true to yourself, you have to go against what the family, and the general culture, think is best. Even though they probably havent done any research on it whatsoever, and you have probably spent hours researching and many more hours agonising over whether its the right thing to do- they will tell you straight to your face that you are going to ruin your kids' lives. . My family wasn't especially negative to my face, but then, I spent so many years rebelling against them, and moved to the other side of the country...they knew there was no point trying to tell me anything at all and were grateful for any contact. I am sure they had a few things to say to each other in the beginning- like rolling their eyes, there she goes again. However, in case they were concerned, I did send them a few articles in that first year or 2. I get so, so much positivity now. When I take my kids to see them every couple of years, or they visit me...they can't stop telling me how great my kids are. My step mum raved about me to her daughter- my step sister- one of her kids was being bullied at school- and now she homeschools too. My SIL homeschooled for a couple of years. My parents, divorced, both tell me how proud they are of me. They tell all their friends. So, you kind of just have to deal with it and wait for time to pass. If you are kind of enmeshed with your family, it can be very difficult because they will press all your buttons. You will learn to not engage, to smile and change the subject, and go home and vent to your husband (if he is supportive- many husbands are also not so supportive) or to your fellow homeschoolers such as here. This place is alive and cooking as a support group for homeschooling mums, with a few dads here as well. Come here and vent and replenish (oK, dont spend too long here, it can get kind of addictive, you have to go be with your kids sometimes too, ok? ) :)

I am pretty adventurous....I am up for it! Never had them before but I am game. I am also doing Weight Watchers at the moment and anything deep fried kinda makes me envious :)

We have never had The Talk...they just learned in small increments since they were toddlers. There is a lot of humour around the various aspects, in our home. Plenty of crude humour, too. Both the kids are a little embarrassed but not too bad...the humour allows it all to be expressed and discussed regularly in various aspects. Their dad's way of talkign usually involves humour. I did do the talking with dd around her periods, but when she gets cramps or feels bad because of them, her dad is sympathetic and gets her a hot water bottle etc. Before dd16 got her period she didnt want to talk about it at all..it was hard to get enough information into her because she didnt want it to happen at all..so I gave her a book to read and I think she did. When it happened, her girlfriends all talked about it - she has great girlfriends- and she often tells me oh so and so got their period the same day as I did this month- that sort of thing. She wouldnt say that sort of thing in front of her dad, though. I run a womens group that dd16 is part of. We discuss these things there- I feel very happy to have my dd there.

I value empathy, but I suspect many don't. There are many men and some women in jobs where, if they had empathy, they couldnt do them. It is not a highly valued trait in our society in many areas. And people value success and jobs and money more than the higher human values.