I contracted out my own pool build last year, local companies wanted 6 figures for a pool I knew I could build for half that...even with the better finishes...so I did....fooey on them! :) I went with a 20x40 gunite or shotcrete pool....I used Pebble Sheen for my finishing surface and added my own design for entry steps and a deep seat in the deep end....instead of steps to climb out it's a seat that kids can climb out of on the deep end or we lazy swimmers can sit in the deep end. I opted for shotcrete b/c of longevity...we are too busy to have to deal with vinyl issues and we hope to start a summer camp next year for foster kids where we will give free swimming lessons, high traffic means we need a functional pool with little down time. We used Jandy products for our chlorinator (salt water) and pump..no heater (too expensive) and our monthly utility bill went up about $60 a month to run the equipment (cleaner and pump)...hope this helps, I can try to post a pic. If I weren't doing summer camps, I would have built a vinyl pool..you can really sub it out and do it for less than 25k easily...the materials for those run around 13k so you'd be paying someone labor to do the digging/prep...the actual materials for a shotcrete pool with pebble tec or sheen runs around 25k but labor is more expensive b/c it takes more crews to blow the materials and sculpt it...hth!

Well, I know there is a great squash relish a friend makes and it has zucchini in it, it's yummy with navy beans or any type of beans really..I'm sure allrecipes has a recipe for it!

I'm in the minority here, but I still believe you should stay where you are at least until you have the baby and things are settled....(financially more stable)....I did not read earlier about your husband's health issues...maybe lung issues? If that's the case, sometimes a move even within the same area helps, we have had 'sick' houses where something in that particular house was driving our breathing crazy (we have 2 asthmatics)... I moved being 36 weeks pregnant and had 4 weeks to find a doctor..(my job actually promoted me 2000 miles away being that far along!) and if I had all you had going on it would have been a large hardship on the family...why not give your mil a chance for 6 months so that your husband can focus on his job/career...I am so sorry, this is tough! Praying for peace for you!

Praying! I am so sorry you have to see your husband suffer like this...hope his body will fight back hard and he will see/feel improvement!

I get some of what you are saying, but I think you may not realize how great a part He is in your life already. It is very easy to put more 'religiosity' into your life and hope that it fills that craving to be more 'in' the spirit. Here is my take on how God/Christ is in my life. The minute I wake up my first thought is of thankfulness for another day to live for Him, another day to put aside my sinful nature (meaning not to be lazy with my time or wasteful to keep my eyes on His path for me), I start planning the day....first, I go walk the dogs and thank Him for the time I have to be the first outside on this glorious day, notice the birds He sent to eat the mosquitoes and watch the miracle of birth...last week we had two kildee babies running after their mother and I held a baby hummingbird in my palm for a few minutes..amazing gifts of His glorious world! I fail sometimes by doing things not focused on Him but throughout the day I strive to have discussions with the kids about how God shows us His plan....we had a good talk yesterday how God brought rowing to us as a family...I guess in other words, God is first in our minds for how we make decisions, what our actions are and who we give praise to. We have a family devotion time in the morning right after everyone is fully awake and usually after breakfast...I love "My Utmost for His highest"..they have a daily email they send out from his book and it gives us a good starting point...or we'll pick scripture and see how God can use that in our lives... I think a life can have more Christ in it just by the actions/love/care we show for one another, in all of our choices we make, even in how we treat the drive thru lady or the cashier at the grocery store...I don't know that God had a design back in the earlier days of adding Christ into someone's life through departments....He wants to permeate everything not to be reserved for a Sunday morning...but I think sometimes we forget how He uses the simplest things...He knows your heart and knowing that you desire to 'feel' Him more in your lives- He will surely send people/events/tools that will fulfill that desire...but be on the lookout - it could come from the most basic things. And NO, kids do not have to EARN his love, it is all about grace...with all of us...I would seek out other church options or maybe you misinterpret the program and could talk to senior staff about their focus and how it is coming across...I was an Awana leader and some may perceive that as 'earning' God's love through awards in their book...but it had nothing to do with awards but with hiding God's word in their heart so they could call on it when in need...the mission could have been misinterpreted though. HTH!

I majored in the sciences, and have no problems with them...but I'm afraid this joke is completely lost on me...give me a viral video of a cat afraid of apples and I laugh...this just makes my head hurt! :D

Here in the south and probably elsewhere we go over the kernels three times with a knife and cut them off into a bowl, you can then cook them (with just a little water to keep them from sticking) then put them in freezer bags and you'll have creamed corn during the winter...that's what we'd do!

Am I the only rogue one? No paper, no computer. I spend about 2 weeks in the summer and 2 weeks in December planning out what to use. So here is how my planning works.. Choose math book for child...finish it in that school year..we adjust as we go, some years they have block scheduling because they take science classes that are compressed into 6 months...when that happens we move math off to the other six months (doing maybe 1-2 lessons a week or something to keep them 'fresh') and then do 2 lessons 4 days a week to complete the math...I don't have to write it down, I just know we finish our math that school year. Science is done at another's home/lab...so they know their weekly assignments and I help them with studying for exams...or just check to see if their work is complete. Languages, we have gone through 3 books of Cambridge Latin (at our own pace) and they are each completing two languanges in Rosetta Stone over a four year course....if they're not halfway done with one language at year one then we pick up the pace... History...I buy the books, I have them all on a shelf and they know which ones they are to read and which ones we do as a group, usually about 3 days a week. Writing, I teach composition/literature classes so they have weekly assignments that I complete those two weeks I plan and put it in their notebook. I just have never written anything down, my cover requires a report card every six months, so I type those up. Now that I have a high schooler I am keeping a notebook with lists of activities/camps/events and what curricula/sources we used. But that's it....I do not have time to write lesson plans down, we just do it.

Make the most of it, lose the hormones and stop worrying about it! A four year old just wants to know you love him and care for him..missing 6-8 weeks of regularly scheduled events will mean a hill of beans in 2 years. Do what you can, go to the zoo first thing when it opens when it's still cool...it doesn't take more than 2 hours unless you're in San Diego. Hit the park early in the morning....go see a summer movie...hit the ice cream store...spend hours at the library taking in the summer events, lots of times they have puppets etc. Look at the bright side, the fact you have to get creative on offering diversions might lead you to something really fun and new!

Playmobil...playmobil...my girls are 12 and 13 and still ask for it!

Both of you stay in constant prayer over the issue, let God make this decision..He does not want anyone to be anxious over anything, He has his ways of making it clear....give it time...and congratulations on your baby! :)

Just finished half a white peach, my dh had the other :)

I think it's great to provide information at this level! Climate change, global warming, any of the above are wonderful to explore...I think it would be a neat presentation to include 3 perspectives on the issue...a presentation from reports on manmade effects on the ozone layers (concentration of gases, emissions, etc.) and a presentation on natural changes that the earth has continually gone through, and any other you find in your research. We know there was an ice age times ago...we still don't 'know' what caused it..but as with all things science related-without enquiring minds and honest science projects....we never discover much. Geesh, how long did it take to believe the heretics who believed the earth was round....we are constantly learning and theories abound, the trick is not promoting any of them as 'truth' until proven over and over again...I do not believe any scientific 'laws' have been established over this issue, but you could provide some interesting comparisons of the world and testing results..records have not been kept for so long, so it may not be conclusive or even point to a clear answer, but at least it gets people thinking! :)

I think it is very kind of mil....I'm trying to see it from her perspective...she has a son living in her 'home' who is rarely there, out of town for 9 months of the year, so she really does not have an imposition on her personally. Deciding to add a family with kids who will most likely have someone at the 'house' 90% of the time is harder for someone to accept. Perhaps it took her this long to decide she could handle it and also to make sure you guys were serious about it. The move is very expensive...many costs you don't consider (eating out, gas, wear/tear on family cars)...without a secured job there - I would be very hesitant to make the move until I had saved up enough money..so here is what I would do. I would be so thankful and gracious to your mil...tell her the spot you have been in and that you do not want it to be long term, but perhaps stay with her for 6 months to get your finances in order, let him finish his classes and see what career opens up for him. Ignore your feelings..dil's and mil's are notorious for getting their feelings ruffled..it may be hard for her to admit that having a 'family' living full time right next to her would be kind of a burden...most mil's/grandmas want to be known as the sweet/gracious one..it's a lot easier to be sweet and gracious when you don't have them underfoot or right next door all the time. I am sure your kids are precious but I get grandparents as well....we had to live with my parents for 6 months while our house sold when our children were young...my husband got a job in their town and I did not want to be by myself with 3 kids under 4 by myself 2000 miles away. My mom is a wonderful grandmother and we had a separate area for us, but it was harder for her to be sweet when she did not like seeing a bicycle left in the driveway or shoes laying about....we worked diligently to always clean up after ouselves and keep them out of the house during the day (library/park etc.) to give her some quiet time...but it was still hard when you're used to having peace by yourself (with my Dad of course). I would stay and be thankful. Give it six months and have a padding if you decide to move so it won't be even more stressful.

Thanks so much!

Kindle or Nook you can get them free off of Barnes & Noble site and others...the rule is anything published before (1927 I believe) is free domain....some versions are better than others so just preview them if you can. You register your kindle or nook when you buy it and books you add to your cart get loaded up when you turn your kindle/nook on..it's really easy...and the instruction manual will help you!

We lived outside Seattle for two years, here are our favorite spots... Dungenness Spit...on the peninsula...if you have bad weather (usually Sept-June) go up there to Sequim (pronounced Sqwim) they usually have sunshine...weird, but true. Orcas Islands: Take a ferry across to it...from just north of Seattle. Great potters are there and wonderful hiking/boating opportunities, and you'll likely see some killer whales. Mt. Rainier: Take the hike up Rainier (mostly only during the summer, nice trails..just go as high as you can, we generally stopped when the pavement stopped b/c we had 3 children under 4) Fish Market in Seattle...just a fun day to hang out there and take in Seattle. Those were are faves, we went to Mt. St. Helen's but it wasn't that pretty to us and better hikes found elsewhere.... Snowqualmie Falls is a nice hike, too.. Enjoy!

Welcome home Grayson!! What a sweet boy!

Thanks for the reply! I tried to send my email address but your inbox is full..I'll try again soon! Tara

Look on the HSLDA site, I was just there and they have several options.. http://www.hslda.org/highschool/resources.asp HTH! Tara

I would rely on the Kindle and stick to a few you can't get on the Kindle/Nook...everyone's reading list will be different...I have about several lists I work off of "Teaching the Classics" book list, AmblesideOnline's list per grade, 1000 Good books list from Classical Homeschooling.org...All I require is that my high schoolers have read 60 books in their four years that come off of these lists...they read other books as well..but they keep a running list of those they have read and know when they need to pick up others. In their literature classes (that I teach) we cover 6 in class together...I try to make sure they come off of these lists. This year it's Mere Christianity...C.S. Lewis The Screwtape Letters...C.S. Lewis Frankenstein...Shelley My Antonia...Cather Tale of Two Cities...Dickens Invisible Man...Ralph Ellison We are doing a focus on the Nature of man/Nature of God so that's the reason for these choices...

We just have a rule...no computer time until 8pm on school days...if they are doing subjects, we have one computer dedicated to school subjects where my husband has closed off links to anything other than the approved sites (we do Rosetta Stone mostly) but Windows/Mac has a system built in to limit it without buying a different program..you can go to OpenDNS (it's free) and it will only allow you to visit sites you pick. HTH

Let me jump in here and add something....pacing. I think I see that your son is 14. At 14 my son could have taken Foerster's Algebra but I planned it so that it would be 'fresh' on his mind when taking tests (ACT/PSAT)..if he had taken it in 8th grade and jumped into Algebra II at the time he took those tests (10th grade)...I felt it would have been challenging to recall some of the basics even though they build on one another. At 14 my son would probably take a long time, he just turned 16 and is starting 10th grade this Fall...he is in the middle of his Geometry course and we do two lessons a day (also did this with Foerster's)...at 14 I do not believe he could have done this. But, if your son is taking that long to do a lesson, I would stick with Foerster's and focus more on time.... I am a testing admin for the SAT's (Stanford) and although there are no time limits, I suffer for those students who take 3x what another child will take...when they hit the PSAT/ACT they will struggle...I have found that to help with speed we do block scheduling...they focus on science intensely for half the year and math intensely (2 lessons a day) the other half..his speed has picked up immensely, he can do two lessons in less than 1.5 hours easily...it could also be that portion of his brain has had more time to develop? Who knows...but to keep him 'fresh' on the months he does not do math, we just do word problems or a workbook of about 10 problems a day, nothing new, just cementing the information he has already learned. HTH! Tara

I am going into my second year of teaching high school writing..last year, I only had one senior and this year I have five. Next year, I will most likely have 10! The trend for homeschooling high school has definitely increased in our area. As part of their resource folder I am including samples of transcripts used by other homeschooling families. I am using 2 from HSLDA and one from a yahoo group I belong to (5 pages long) just to give examples of short/long...while the ones on HSLDA were fine, I did not see any that included test scores or accomplishments. I thought I had seen one where the family did include all these topics on one page. I've read through the posts (through searching) and found that some schools have their own specific transcript they want filled out or will tell you the information they require...could any of you share your files (marking out the child's name or I can black that out) and share any comments you received about your transcripts? I think this would be very helpful for my students and help motivate them to prepare for the next year. Thanks!

I feel most of y'alls pain! We had our house on the market for 31 months..it sold 18 months ago and it seems just like yesterday, we had to take a 20% cut on the price which ate our equity in half...it was not fun, but neither was 2 mortgages for that time frame. It will take us 2-3 more years to recover financially....the markets are horrific...until our government gets control of spending, no one will have confidence to hire employees, families will fear moving, and most will not be able to qualify for mortgages...with interest rates below 4% it should be a very hot market....the only thing that got me through was realizing that in 10 years selling the house would not be my biggest thorn in my side...thank goodness, we only had to make it through 2.6 years!