In short -- both our kids had academic issues in the school they attended. As in inadequate academics. DH was very reluctant, but it finally got bad enough he was willing to give home schooling a try. Success would have been hard to miss, given where we were coming from, but a few months' success did convince DH that home schooling was good for our family. Details follow, if you want to read the gory stuff LOL ... Our son was being starved to death intellectually. His last year in school was 4th grade and he learned exactly nothing that year. It was a bad teacher that made that year so very very bad. We tried working with the teacher for enrichment/acceleration/whatever, with no results. The administration at that school had a well-earned reputation for not accomodating advanced students, so we knew the situation wouldn't get better curriculum-wise, even if the teachers were better in future years. In addition, our daughter, 2 years younger, was being allowed to skate by without really learning important things. In math, for example, she did not really understand the concept of place value, yet was able to make straight As in her schoolwork on adding/subtracting 2- and 3-digit numbers. Again, we brought our concerns to the teacher, who brushed us off with "she's doing great, there's no problem." I began after-schooling dd on the math so she would have the understanding she needed. DH was very very very very reluctant, but at last agreed to try home schooling for one year, then re-evaluate. By Christmas of that school year, DH told me that we were going to continue home schooling indefinitely. :hurray: Now my kids are middle- and high-school age. Home schooling older kids is VERY hard WORK. It is a full-time job, much more involved than what we did that first year of home schooling. But it's worth it. On my deathbed, I will be glad I did it. Karen

:iagree: Those of us "old enough" remember when no one's teeth were paper-white, and everyone's teeth got more yellow with aging. The current aesthetic "standard" for white teeth is unnatural and is obtained by artificial means. Follow the money -- dentists make lots of it pandering to pop culture aesthetics. Watch "My Fair Lady" and take note of Audrey Hepburn's tooth color -- you'll see what I mean. Karen

Rather what DID I do -- last November. I adopted the stray hanging around our place. He's strictly an indoor cat now. Right now he's sitting opposite me, grooming himself. We adore him. :) Karen

:iagree: I also add "will you forgive me?" as part of my apologies. I'm very sorry to say that your relative sounds not quite all-there. When mental health issues and young children are both in the mix, really nasty stuff can happen. I agree with all the other posters who advise reducing contact as best you can. I have a parent with a diagnosis of a psychosis, so I do know a bit about it. You have my sympathies :grouphug: Prayers, Karen

A spray weapon is good. My dh got bit through the calf by a farm dog when he was jogging near my parents' rural home. The owners were outside when it happened, didn't call the dog back or offer to help dh. ER visit for dh, antibiotics that made him ill, total bleck situation. He runs with pepper spray now. I have also threatened dogs with sticks, when they come onto our property, but I never had to actually hit them. I would, though, no question. :grouphug: Karen

Well, I have been using Paperback Swap a lot recently. It's not just for paperbacks, either, but for all books in good condition. Using PBSwap, you would not have to advertise on various boards, just enter your books into the PBS database one time. They do all the coordinating between offers and requests. Yes, you have to mail books off when they are requested from you, but you could control the pace of that somewhat by not posting everything all at once. And you get credits for books YOU can request from others. :hurray: I highly recommend it. Karen

Well, for his generation, John will be uncommon, yet do-able for most people. My personal favorite apostle. Some will spell it Jon ... oh you could do Jonathan, too. And hey, how about David? :) Karen, a trendy name of the late 50's, bleck

:grouphug: My dd needed a Heimlich when she was 3-ish. She put an entire dinner roll in her mouth at once and couldn't move it up or down ... thanks be to God DH took action instead of just sitting and staring in horror as I and both my parents did. That roll came flying out like a baseball. :grouphug: Karen P.S. Please don't feel horrible. Things happen, even against all our best preparations and preventions. Thanks be to God you knew what to do and could do it :)

Always. We are not a military family, but I will say this ... my DH's job satisfaction drives the entire family's satisfaction. His being fulfilled in his work, being affirmed in his manliness as he defines it, it is so incredibly important. Popular culture denies it. It is still true. Good on you for supporting your MAN. :grouphug: Cue Tammy Wynette .... Praying for you all, Karen

I am trying to do this with my kids. We are not centering our curriculum on languages ... but we are reading classics from various areas of the world as it seems to line up with our history content. For example, these past couple of weeks were focusing on the rise of Islam, and I required my son to read part of the Koran. When we were studying the ancient Americas, it was the Popul Vuh. For ancient China, we read Monkey, the Analects, and The Art of War. It has required me to spend a LOT of time searching Amazon and our library database for appropriate books. They are not always catalogued in the way I first think to search ... sigh, why can't they read my mind? But I HAVE been able to find something for every area/time period we have covered so far. Is this what you were thinking about? Karen

Monday -- listed a big stack of DVDs on SwapaDVD, and two CDs on SwapaCD. At least 6 of those items have already been requested :) The others are in the bin I set aside for Swap-a-stuff items, so they're out of the way. Karen

Whenever you decide to pull your son, I would advise not advertising your decision in advance. In other words, don't give them advance notice -- it may or may not precipitate nastiness if they are the type to engage in that. If you tell your son your advance plan, only do so if you're confident he can keep it to himself. Otherwise, a Friday afternoon conversation about what won't be happening on Monday ought to be enough for a kindergartener. And whatever paperwork you do, make sure you only do what is legally required. Don't let them bamboozle you into extra hoops for their convenience or nosiness. JMO, :grouphug: Karen

Yes, I try to avoid the topic. You may need to be a bit more assertive and point out to these people the rudeness they are -- hopefully inadvertently -- engaging in, that it still hurts you and damages the relationship. Some people will get it and some people won't until you ask outright to make it an off-limits topic. I get this mostly from public school teachers who just can't see outside their own little pigeonholes. If it comes up a 3rd time, I consider it fair game for me to be forthright instead of deflecting. That usually brings an end to the cycle. :grouphug: Karen

We probably go once a year on average. Firstly, there aren't very many movies I would want to take my family to. Secondly, there aren't very many movies I want to see badly enough to pay the prices they charge. Thirdly, I am 50 years old and have learned patience (at least in this arena), so it's not hard for me to wait a few months, get on the request list at the library, and be able to watch the movie FOR FREE on my nice big TV screen in the comfort of my own home, at the time of my choosing, curled up with favorite afghan on my comfy sofa, light level exactly what I prefer, sound level exactly what I prefer and customizable throughout the course of the movie, popcorn bowl at hand, personalized potty breaks when desired ... really, what's to like about the movie theater experience compared to that? LOL Karen

My ds14 is a fencing maniac. He started just one year ago. Fencing is EXPENSIVE. Lots of specialized equipment ... yeah, the club lets kids borrow everything, but it's kinda disgusting to share clothes and facemasks that everyone sweats like pigs in. DS has received fencing equipment for every gift-giving occasion for the last year, and we ain't done yet. Then you have to allow for repairs/maintenance .... Lessons/club fees are expensive, too. DS fences at a 501©3 club, and it's still expensive. Fencing is TIME-CONSUMING. DS spends 8 hours a week at the club. Now, granted, not everyone spends that amount of time at it, but it's his passion. Then there are tournaments, which are occasionally in town, but more often require a drive of 90 min to 3 hours one-way. Basically, if it's a tournament weekend, that's our whole Saturday. Fencing is FUN. For our guy, at any rate. Not everyone clicks with it, but those who click really click, iykwim. Tournaments are run with various age groups, so your little guys would still be competitive in their grouping. Fencing is GOOD EXERCISE. DS has really toned up and muscled up in the last year. Granted, he's maturing, but without the fencing, he wouldn't have those steely muscles. It's very vigorous exercise. I complained above about the sweating, but I do love to see him sweat for 2 hours at a stretch and enjoy it -- not what I expected for his teen years, as he has always been an indoor/nerdy/mathy kid. I love indoor/nerdy/mathy people (I am one and I married one), and it's been a wonderful revelation to me to watch DS blossom into an athlete as well. Fencing is a very ANALYTICAL sport. Successful fencers are thinkers -- it's kinda like very physical chess. The thinking and strategy are just as important as the stabbing part. There are scholarships available for fencing. The odds are better than for, say, basketball players. There are two fencing kids in our two-county area going to eastern prestige schools on fencing scholarships this coming fall. Given the vastly lower numbers of fencers, that's pretty good odds. You have awhile for that, yet :) My advice for your family is to see if there's an introductory course offered at the fencing club(s) in your area -- e.g. our club offers a 6-week intro course a few times a year for age-5 and older. You won't really know until you give it a try. I absolutely would not invest in any equipment until your child has been fencing for several weeks ... HTH, Karen

Friday -- Sorted through a box of miscellaneous junk toys that had not been touched for ... only God knows how long ... put them in baggies by theme (ninja turtles, farm animals, etc.) and put them in the donation box. Saturday -- threw away a thingie for holding scrubbies in the sink -- the suction cup doober broke and they don't sell those thingies any more and I really liked it ... sigh ... gone now.

Several people my dh works with did this during the past year. They all got great results and they all ended up with health problems -- pneumonia, whatnot -- said their drs. were all familiar with it and said they have numerous patients doing this program and getting sick -- it's too stressful for the body. Be careful, girlfriends. Karen

I'm with you. I love the idea of hospitality and all that. I hate hate hate having people in my house. My house is my place of peace (relatively speaking, having kids and all) and my refuge from the cold cruel world. So I have learned not to have houseguests if I can avoid it. :grouphug: Karen

We use a similar approach to Musicmom's for our mathy ds. I use Life of Fred as the spine and NEM chapters spliced in as appropriate. This gives us the traditional American sequence and the advantages of both programs. We did this for Algebra I, Geometry, and currently, ds is doing Advanced Algebra, using LOF Adv. Alg. and Singapore NSAM. For Pre-Calculus and Calculus, Singapore's shifts to other books, so that will require a little research in the future. NEM is not intended to be self-teaching -- it's what was used in Singapore's public schools for so many years. Now there are new Singapore curricula available -- most of which, I believe, are considered "more approachable" or easier than NEM. The forum at singaporemath.com talks about these differences/similarities at length, so I would recommend exploring that if teaching time/skill is an issue. That said, we are using entirely different materials for our math-hating dd. She hates anything her brother excels at, and if I forced LOF or NEM on her, she would deliberately fail ... sigh .... so we are using Larson (with CD videos) and Gelfand for her. We'll see how that goes. She has the smarts, but it's the attitude that's the problem. Making me pull my hair out ... HTH, Karen

Me. And it's been 6 months since we saw any of them. They're much better over the phone. :tongue_smilie: Merry Christmas to all! Karen

First off .... :grouphug: I am so sorry your son is having such a hard time with this. I know it is no easier on you, just in a different way. My dd12 has her Boston brace 2 weeks exactly today. She is up to 18 hours. The first few days were h***ish. Because they told her to start with sleeping in it and it is HARD to adjust to sleeping in it. There is pressure on weird places on the body, and just the hardness of the thing made it really HARD to adjust to it. She missed quite a lot of sleep that first week, but she did eventually adjust. She seems to be sleeping fine now. It is just HARD in every way. Fwiw, for my dd, it is not optional. Both her dad and I are actively monitoring the situation. Also, dd has an advantage -- though I would never have thought of it as an advantage before now -- she had open-heart surgery at age 7 and the last thing in the world she wants is another major surgery, so she is motivated by that in a very real BTDT kind of way. As for suggestions ... I wonder whether your son really understands what the spinal surgery would entail? Maybe a little "scare" session with photos and whatnot would firm his willpower? Maybe not ... :grouphug: Karen

I don't hate WalMart universally, just certain stores. Especially the one really crowded, not very clean, store that used to be the closest one. Now there's a new, very clean, store nearer to our house, so I've been going there and it's a much better experience. I'm just praying it never gets like that other store is. I can't tell whether it's the manager or the clientele that does it. However, I do not like the produce section of any WalMart I've shopped in -- not enough variety and fairly low quality produce. I go to the local Kroger-owned store for produce, unless it's an emergency. Karen

Well I'll be the politically incorrect rebel and tell you that I'm glad I have one. Reheating leftovers during the lunch rush -- or some evenings during the supper rush before racing out the door to activities -- is a blessing. We have two evenings a week where it's not really even feasible for me to make a pot of spaghetti. I hate the schedule, but I want the activities my kids are doing more than I hate the schedule. So the micro keeps us out of the fast food restaurants. In an emergency, I can bake potatoes in 12 minutes. No, they're not gourmet baked potatoes with a sea salt crusted skin, but they're a meal when it's needed. Again, staying away from fast food. You can control what you keep in the house, if you're worried about popcorn fumes or whatnot. You can teach the family not to put plastic in it. These issues are about education, not the appliance. Don't you have to teach your kids not to put plastic in the conventional oven? I remember having that conversation with at least one of my kids LOL. By the way, microwaves operate by boiling the water molecules inside the food. That is why you need moisture added to most things to cook them in a micro. There is no ionizing radiation involved, so microwaves are not "unsafe." Nutritional values of foods are not affected differently than heating by any other method affects them. If you've seen plastic melted in the micro, that's because the food was heated to the point that melted the plastic -- the micro did not directly melt the plastic as a conventional oven does -- it was the boiling water molecules in the food heating the plastic. That's why micro-melted plastic items melt weirdly and in spots rather than evenly. Just use glass or ceramic dishes instead. I've lived with micros and without them during various seasons of my getting-longer life. I'm glad to have one when I do have one. Karen

You can find out independently by contacting your council. They can tell you if there's a nearby pack chartered by a Catholic parish. Worth a phone call to ask. As for the Methodist service -- it might well be their particular observance of Scout Sunday, even if it's not on the official date -- they may have some schedule issue. And I agree with the poster who mentioned that it's a way to thank the church for the use of the facility -- I think that's important, especially if they don't charge the pack for using the facility. But you sound like you might be happier with a Catholic chartered pack, so I'd advise phoning the council to see what's available. Sympathies, Karen

#1 -- what they said, the other posters. Come up with a scripted response for people whose opinions you don't really care about. If there are family/friends whose opinions you really value and they are not on the same page with you ... well, you may need to tighten up your boundaries ... #2 -- you and your dh need to be on the same page. No two ways about it. I think Rosie had some great advice on this. Money was not our issue, but my dh was a home schooling skeptic, too. Our son's experience with his elementary school was so bad, dh decided to agree to home school for one year and then re-evaluate ... by Christmas of that year, he was 100% on board ... so skeptics can be won over by home school success :) #3 -- Christian curriculum can range from every little item having a particular religious "agenda" to just adding in a Bible study curriculum as its own subject. If your husband can respect your faith, you need to respect his as well ... if indeed he objects to "too much" religion, which may not be the case at all ... you don't say whether you and dh have discussed the religious upbringing of your children. That's a fundamental issue that you need to be on the same page, and it will inform your curriculum choices later on. Prayers, Karen