Have you ever looked at Truth Quest? We are going to start using it next year. I think it is awesome!

We have always had our dogs inside. We use a crate when one of us can not be on board to watch them and when we are gone. If we are going to be gone for longer than I want to leave them in the crate we take them with although that can be risky also. Have to watch weather and if they dig or chew can get into trouble in the car. We have had a second crate for in the car for this purpose. We got 2 labradoodles almost 2 1/2 months ago. It has been much harder with two, to house break them but they rarely make a mess any more. You have to be very vigilant with them and you might go through a time of thinking it is never going to happen but they love to please their people. I am an inside dog person. You miss so much of their personality, IMHO, when they are outside most of the time. With two of them ours have been double trouble.. OH! I ment to say fun. The down side of having a lab inside is from our experience the labs shed, a lot. That is why we went with the labradoodle. When we first got ours I always went outside with them and they never got to come back in unless they had gone potty. Have fun, enjoy.

Take a deep breath, look in a mirror and tell yourself, "It is going to be ok." I have received one item that was damaged when I got it. The outside package was not tamaged nor was the original box but the item itself was. I emailed the seller and explained what I had receive. He responded fairly fast telling me that he was refunding the amount and to just through the item away. I received my money back with no problem. I also received an item that was homeschool that had missing parts. She also refunded my money speedily. If your husband is in agreement with going ahead and ordering it directly from the company, that is what I would do. Sometimes you can get really good deals through ebay and then other times it is just waisted time. Also, some of the sellers will have on the listing that once it leaves their hands if you don't get insurance they are not responcible. Have you looked at any of the yahoo group curriculum sales groups? I have gotten several things a lot cheaper this way. You do have to spend the time looking and then asking questions sometimes if the discription isn't totally clear. Many times they will include shipping in the price. Not new but generally good usable products. Hope you get it resolved with this ebay seller quickly.

I NEVER use fabric softners or dryer sheets. They make both my son and myself very ill. It is even hard for me to be around people that have clothes on when they(the clothes not the people) have been laundered with fabric softner products. You can very affectively use white vinegar in its place. Much cheaper, clothes simply smell clean instead of airomatic, helps greatly with static.

If you are looking for the true original culture of the US, I think you would have to go to the Native American culture. It is very distinct from other cultures even though it itself varies from area to area of the US.

:iagree:I totally agree. I am very careful that the movies we watch don't have ANYthing it is that will be disruptive to my kids. We watched 'Radio' and my little boy had bad dreams for nights, dreaming that I had died. Not worth it in our home!

My closest friend who was my sister went home to be with Jesus almost 4 years ago. We used to talk 3-4 times a week. Now I guess I don't really have a 'best friend' but I have a homeschool friend that we email back and forth almost daily.

Congratulations! Relax and enjoy! I am 60 and our two youngest are 8 & 9(adopted). Our oldest lives with us as he is in a power chair. He and our two youngest are best friends. Now I know he isn't a teen ager but I have heard many stories of the teen of the family being the best friend to the little one. It will work and you will find your balance.

I don't know that mine will ever out grow the love for stickers. We use them a lot as reward on 'well done' school papers but they also love to wear them AND put them on me. Yesterday my ds had put a couple on my shirt in the morning, I went to the Dr in the afternoon. When my oldest son came home he mentioned 'my stickers'. I am sure the Dr got a chuckle out of it after we were gone but I had completely forgotten that I had gotten 'stickered'.

When I had a front load I had this problem with all my clothes if I didn't transfer to the dryer right away. I hated the machine! After battling it for 9 yrs it died enough that my husband opted to replace rather than fix and I went back to a top load. The problem no longer exists.

I am using R&S for my third grader and like it. One thing I have learned, a child needs to be ready for spelling just like they need to be ready for reading. I started her in this spelling program 1 1/2 yrs ago and she was really struggling. I just restarted her and she is flying through without a problem. I had started my 2nd grade son in the spelling that was built into the LA he was using last fall. We would work through the words but when I would go to give him the words to 'test' him he would look at me with this blank look. I suspect by this time next year I will be able to do spelling with him without a problem. As a side note, one of the things we do with spelling that seems to really help my dd is spell the words with magnetic letters. I am sure it has to do with the way she learns but this seems to 'lock' them in for her.

We school year around. I try to to the 3 R's every morning that we do school (4 days a wk, I always take Fridays off and we use this as catch up on the house). We get in History or Science 2-4 days a week depending on our weeks schedule. Our year looks something like this: We start our school year mid Aug. right after or shortly after the Sturgis Motor Cycle Rally(Nothing is normal in our town that week). From then through the end of canning we basically do the 3R's in the morning and canning in the afternoon. I take the whole day if I need. My two help me with the preserving and I have come to realize that this is as educational as sitting at a table working in a book. Depending on how my produce is running we might get a lesson or two of History/Science in on an afternoon in every week. I take off the week of Thanksgiving, 2-3 weeks at Christmas(depending on how much time I took off for canning) and the week of VBS in June. I also take off a day here or there when needed. We have had a lot of snow the last couple of weeks, ps has been out and we have taken a couple days off for the kids to just go play. I try to take off from the middle of July through the middle of Aug. but this year I might take off a little bit more as I have a lot of painting to do and we will be refinishing our hardwood floors. This might mean some additional time in June as the weather is going to have to be right for both of these. It has taken me quite some time but I am finally learning to relax a bit, be consistent with school but also take time when I need to. Our schedule doesn't look like anyone elses because they don't live in our home and live our lives. You will find what works for you.

To me it has nothing to do with whether I home school or not. When we are in public I expect my children to obey, not be running around, etc. It is because that is what is best for them not because of some judgement someone else may place on our family or homeschooling. Be blessed Sandy