I also think that it is good to dedicate a year (or two: one in middle school and one in high school) to the study of the history of your home country. To truly understand your government and laws, you need to know how they came about. I don't think you can cover this in enough detail by just adding reading to world history. Most colleges around here want a semester of civics/gov., a semester of state history, and a year of American History along with world history classes. I do agree that my time spent in public school was too focused on American History and not enough on world history (I learned about Columbus, the First Thanksgiving, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln every year for 5 years with little about the rest of the world. But when I moved to a private school, we had more even coverage of topics, but it still included a year on American History.

I was sick until 16 weeks this time around. I was miserable! I had a great couple of monyhs in the middle, now I am miserable again....I know it is hard early on because you can't feel the movement, but I concentrate on his movement now when I feel sick and I have learned that he has a big personality already :) it helps. Early on, I used a friends dopler monitor amd would listen to his heartbeat when I felt the worst. Focusing on those positives really helped. I hope you feel better soon!

Register her as kindergarten and do work at her level. My son will be 2nd grade officially next year, but he will be doing 3rd&4th grade work.

In the last two days my dog has just called over at least 4 times. It looks like he loses control of his legs. I don't know if he is seizing or something else. He is an 11 year old Boston Terrier. He has some fatty tumors that we did not have removed. We suspect that he has a tumor in his rib cage somewhere. He has become very broad through the rib cage recently, but he gets winded from walking through our small house. We knew that we were going to have to deal with a dying animal and the kids in the next few years, but I did not want to do so this soon. My kids love our dog. He snuggles with them, runs with them, watches over them, and puts up with all their torture. He is a good dog. Anyone have any ideas why he might just fall over? I anticipate a trip to the vet this week. :(

Congrats! What a cutie!

It could be nerve issues. I would visit a chiropractor. My big toe tingled for 2 months after my son was born. I also had a few other aches and pains. I went to a massage therapist and It got much much worse, went to the chiropractor and was better in one visit.

I take our kids to VBS at our church. They have a theme each year and they completely transform the church! It is so much fun. This year the kids walked into the sanctuary by a bridge over a pond. Everything was decorated to look like the wilderness. They did a running skit throughout the week about some kids camping. They studied the story of Moses all week. They learned Bible verses, sang songs, did crafts, played games, jumped in bounce houses and much more. They both came home having learned something and they made some friends. We do pay $10 for the t-shirt they wear all week. I loved VBS when I was little.

It is currently 95*, I just went to Target and I wore a spaghetti strap short dress and I was sweating....so glad this summer is cooler than last year so far. By this time last year we had been over 100* 12+ times. By July we were at 115*. I don't want to be pregnant in that kind of heat.

We make the easiest punch for receptions. Everyone raves about It. Premade lemonade (we always do the cheapest giant Walmart jugs, I they it would be better with good lemonade) and frozen strawberries. Just dump it all in a bowl with enough time to get cool and it is ready.

Claratin provides anything but clarity :) I was/am on my phone ;) DH is working and we are having a movie day....Nanny McAfee Returns is over, now Babe. I promised DD an icee because she got a shot today. We will be heading to 7-eleven eventually. My head currently feels like it is lead weight! Thankfully, baby boy is napping not wiggling and stretching! I keep picturing myself snuggling my new little one and smelling his baby smell (assuming I have my sense of smell back ;) ) It makes it all worth it in the end, I know. I just feel pretty wimp right now. Thanks for the support. Don't mean to whine, but I am a pathetic patient ;)

I do. We did miss a year, but no vaccinations. I took dd today and opted to do one shot today and do the other when I take the baby in for his first checkup. I have not returned from a well child check with a sick child. I also ever came home sick when I was little.

Tomorrow I will be 34 weeks. This week my allergies hit me, hard!! I took Clarity and improved for two days and last night I went downhill. I now have a full blown sinus infection and pressure/infection in both ears! Yuck!! They got me in first thing this morning and now I have a z-pac and sudafed to take along with the claratin. I hate taking meds, I feel so disconected on sudafed, especially. But, I am already feeling a little relief. I have never been as sick as I have this pregnancy....3 UTIs back to back, 10 weeks of horrible morning sickness, round ligament pain, a pulled muscle, and now this. Plus, he is the wiggliest of all three kids. I think he is longer too. He loves to stick his little booty in my rib cage!! I do like my GP's scale better than the OB's....according to the scale today I am still under 200 pounds! I came close to 220 with DD, I have been working to eat healthy and have maintained a good weight so far :) I am just rambling, I blame the medicine head feeling. Feel free to ignore me....

At spring break I got a pedicure and picked lime green for my toes. We had our backroom at the studio painted while we were gone. When we came home, my toes were the same color as the newly painted walls. I took a pic and posted it on FB ;)

I don't live in Tulsa, but homeschooling in OK is easy. You wont habe to do anything. Since your kids SIL never be enrolled in school here, you don't have to send in a letter or notify anyone of anything. Just do your own thing. You are supposed to provide and education comparable to the ps, and school for 180 days or 1080 hours. But there is no law for reporting or tracking anything. I keep a record of work and workbooks for a while, just in case, but I don't know anyone who has ever had to prove anything. I love living here. I know Tulsa has lots to do: museums, aquarium, zoo; and it is not far to OKC for the science museum, ne art museum, and much more. I cant give more specifics on Tulsa, but OCHEC has a huge list of support groups for the state on their website. I think, it is ochec.org,

I hit the New Posts button....I rarely know what board I am on ;) I am everywhere, amd nowhere all at the same time.....

Hi!! I am Cheryl. I live in Oklahoma with my husband, our two (soon to be three) kiddos, a dog, a cat, and a guinea pig named Lenny. We own a performing arts academy, I live to teach ballet. My dh has his own window cleaning business. We are always going! We homeschool for many reasons: more family time, fits our lifestyle and schedule better, stronger academics, giving kids more time to be kids.... We are conservative Christians. DH has a huge garden in our backyard, I like to sew, and the whole family loves music :)

For my 18th birthday a good friend gave me a key.chain with my name on beads. They had no "R" when she bought the beads, so she bought a "P" and drew a line to make an "R" but the line wore off in a days or two and my keychain said CHEPYL until it finally broke a couple years ago. Many friends called me Chepyl for years. :) I know have no key chains, they all broke and fell off one at a time. I had one to represent the various important times in my life. I guess I should get one with my kids pictures now ;)

Go to any music store and get a set of primer books. If you can read music and you husband can play a little, you can do the basics. Don't ignore posture and wrist/finger shape or there will be a struggle when you get to a regular teacher. Make sure you get a set of books that includes a theory book.

This pregnancy has just done me in! Plus we just came off of a week of tech, dress, and shows for Flat Stanley, followed by another week for Hairspray. Then allergies...I could not stay awake if I tried!

I slept for 19 hours! My allergies started acting up last night and I did not take anything until this morning after I called my OB. My kids let me nap, they cleaned up the playroom a little and I did get three baskets of laundry folded. DH has worked in the yard all day....it looks so pretty! But mainly, I slept!

Just sew something. That is how I learned. My mom helped me pick an easy pattern, showed me how to run the machine and then left me. I skipped a lot of steps (bias tape, turning seams in, etc) but I made pj pants. An a-line skirt with elastic waist is easy. I have learned a lot just by reading the patterns. Sewing for Dummies is a helpful book. When I get stuck, I Google the step (adding a zipper) and then just watch videos for that step.

We had to have everything approved by an advisor before enrollment was opened for us. It was a pain! I always went in with my schedule done along with my plan of classes through graduation. I never left the office without my number. I waited. You have to be very aggressive, that OS not generally my personality. But it was a necessity.

I had to do the infant heimlich (sp) on DD about 3 times!! For an infant (def under a year, maybe up to 3, depending on theory size), you turn them over your knee with your knee pressed into their stomach and up towards their rib case amd give a few hard hits in the mid back. That should force what ever is lodged in the windpipe to move. For older children amd adults,you stand behind them, wrap your arms around their waist and make a double fist in the same area of the abdomen, pull toward to and up swiftly. You cant be gentle. You have to create force from their lungs to push the item out. Do not do this if their are coughing or speaking at all. If they are coughing, let them do that. And definitely DON'T just smack them on the back. Call 911 and they will talk you through it, but that takes extra time that you do not want to waste. What you really need, and I believe every parent should, is to take an emergency first APs and cpr class. I have had lifegauard and babysitter certification training as a teen. I was very comfortable with what to do when dd needed help. I did not hesotate due to my training. There are sites with videos to demonstrate, but training is best. Many hospitals offer cheap classes.

Our old neighbor called me at a crazy early hour to ask that we train our cat not to use her garden as a litter box. He had supposedly just pooped in her greens....our cats were both inside sleeping at the time. She called about our yard, it was bad, but we had gone out of town for two weeks and the teen hired to now never showed up. She knew we were gone! We think she had one of our cats picked up. She was always watching us.... We ignored her other than pleasant hellos when we were outside at the same time. We were as pleasant as could be. She stopped bothering us, just watched.....

I went for a bridesmaid fitting and lunch with the bridal party. I cleaned my plate and finished my friend's food and was still hungry. I noticed I needed a few extra bathroom trips fi a short afternoon out....when we got back from the city, I web to Walmart and got a positive test that night! I think I called and they upped it one size because I would be about 12 weeks with my second. The only regret I have are the shoes....the bride picked three inch heels...It was a longish ceremony!