We do the two hour quiet time here. Absolutely!

First of all, I really dislike Relevant magazine. Just had to get that off my chest. :D I went and found the original article. It can be found in this issue, if anyone is interested: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/digital-issue/53 I found it to not be too bad for the magazine that it is in. Some of what the other article (was it CNN?) said I thought was expounding on the original article, but it wasn't. There was a lot of their own spin on it (no surprise there! lol)

:bigear: (just listening in. I had a very short stint of counting calories and found it to be too much work. Yep, I'm lazy like that. So I'm looking for alternatives.) :)

ummm...the last season was awful. :/ Actually, the third wasn't all that great either, if I remember correctly. The second was just ok. The first was definitely the best though.

I'll go to their parties and eat their food that they serve me. :D But I very rarely buy anything. They know that going in - I'll tell them, well, I'll come but I can't buy much if anything. Generally they don't care. But I've never really been to what you are talking about. Usually around here it's Mary Kay, Pampered Chef, or Thirty One. (I do buy from the Thirty One... :D )

DH never got two of his adult teeth on the bottom. He still has his baby teeth there.

Well, short answer, I've never been called to any vocation. I went to college because I was expected to. And I wanted to. I thought I knew what I wanted to do with my life, but I was only 17 and I was convinced that what I wanted to do forever was what I enjoyed doing - and what I always got attention for doing - then. In college I debated majors a little - I wanted to be a vocal performance major (really not a great major, honestly), and ended up sort of settling on music education. But at the same time, I really wanted to take a lot of Bible classes (I went to a Christian liberal arts university). Three months in, I met DH, and 9 months after that, we got married. I was kind of floundering my first year of college - in high school, there was a bit of the 'big fish in a little pond' type thing - and even though I wasn't in a really big pond in college, things didn't flow for me quite as seamlessly as they had in high school. I had to actually put forth effort, which I had never had to do before. I ended up dropping out after the first semester of my sophomore year. As of now, I would not change a thing. I learned a lot about myself and, obviously, met DH. :D But for me, there was never a vocational calling. There never has been since. Do I still feel that I could learn endlessly about music and not get tired of it? Yes! But that doesn't really call me to a vocation, it just means I'm passionate about music. And, honestly, I LOVE to learn almost anything - I did go to the community college for a semester before DS7 was born, and did a lot of online classes, which I seriously LOVED. The whole college scene was never for me, so to speak. If I felt like I was going with a greater goal in mind, then I could handle it. But even then, I was still going with the intent of just getting what I needed and then...??? Who knew? To me, I think that the reason I never had a vocational calling was preparing me for what I am now. I know you don't want to bring the homeschooling mom thing into it, but that's where I am now. I'm thinking maybe sometime when my life is going to change, or needs to change, then I'll feel a calling toward something else. There are occupations I could see myself in. I could still go into music. Since DD's NICU stint, I could see myself going to work there - getting whatever education I'd need to become a nurse of some sort, or a respiratory therapist (a HUGE part of her getting better). But none of those things are things that I *know* that I am called to, they are just random thoughts that go through my head. As the time grows nearer - whether its when DD goes to college or before, who knows - if there is something else I am meant to do, I'm sure that I'll know. In the meantime, the only other thing that I feel 'called' to do is as much for missions as possible. That's something that's always been part of me, though. There was a brief period of time when I was on a missions trip in NYC this year that I could picture it - my whole life, with DH and the kids, living in NYC and doing all the missions work we could, every day. The thought of that still makes me wistful! But that isn't where we are right now - if the opportunity opened up, and DH agreed to it, trust me, I'd jump at the chance! But I know that isn't what is meant for us now, only that we need to support what goes on there as much as possible, and maybe even one of our kids would end up there, even if only as an intern for a year. Who knows? That was my first missions trip - maybe I'll always feel like that when I get home from one (DH went to Haiti in Feb, I went to NYC in June - the plan from now on is that at least one of us will go on a missions trip once a year. The kids can start going when they are old enough.) I don't know. But I know that missions is the only 'calling' I've ever had - and it wasn't necessarily a 'pack your bags and go there now' type thing. Just a 'do anything you possibly can' type thing. :) (Yes, I do believe that is something that rests on all of us as Christians - but I also believe that some 'feel' it a lot more than others). I feel the same about local outreaches - our church does one huge one a year and I would love to do many, many more, even if they couldn't be on as grand of a scale. But I digress... Anyway, in my experience, there isn't a set formula for being called to something - vocationally or otherwise. I'm sure my reply did nothing whatsoever to answer the questions you were asking, and for that I'm sorry! :) Just relating my experiences. :)

This is kind of what we do. It's the floors and the bathrooms that I have a hard time squeezing in. With the combination in every room of hardwood and carpet (well, most rooms), it gets really time consuming to vacuum and steam mop all the floors that need it. :) But all toys get put away after dinner in the boys' room, and all toys in the living room area have to be picked up and put away before every meal. So we never really get too bad...the 'clutter' problem is a result of having 3 kids and not enough storage - the house is a great size, but the storage in the house, not so much. ;) And to me, clutter is probably not what it is to a lot of other people... And to the PP regarding the perfect comments - yeah, I do know what that is like. My Gma, with her perfectionist ways, and me, with mine, and my oldest DS, with his...yeah. :) We want it perfect or we give up lol. Not that bad, but sometimes it can get pretty close. And sometimes I DO feel like an epic fail because my house doesn't look like hers, even though I'm well aware of how impossible that is, with a husband who works construction, 3 kids, and a dog who weighs more than any one of the kids. :tongue_smilie:

:lol: That would be mine...grandma, not MIL. :lol: I think it is because our house was spotless (there were 3 of us - my grandparents and me). Her house is still spotless (and now its just them). So it is a totally different story for me, but still, I've wanted the house to always be spotless for a long time, but gave up on it. Sometimes it can be kinda depressing! :) Like I don't want to have clutter anywhere, I want clean lines, empty spaces (I think I'm a bit of a minimalist), and no dust on the floor, and I don't want to notice anything being out of place...and after awhile, I don't. Notice, I mean. :lol: I guess I can have them help me in bigger areas. Maybe they can HELP me clean the bathroom, but I can't trust them to do it alone anymore. I can't stand the thought of the bathroom being anything less than my version of clean, kwim? :) But when it comes to other things, (like I hate dusting - with a passion. Like, I never dust.) I don't care so much if it gets done well enough. So I guess that is what I need to determine - what areas are ok with me to be good enough and what ones will stress me out if they aren't perfect. :)

Thanks. I guess that's the part that stresses me out. :) It not being done correctly, I mean.

nvm

I find it interesting that so many people wouldn't talk about this in real life. ?? I wouldn't walk up to a random stranger and be like, hey, how much do you spend around Christmas time, but with close friends and family it comes up in conversation. I'm not shy about money, we don't make a whole heck of a lot but we do ok. That isn't something that I'm ashamed of. Maybe it is just part of the dynamic that we have, but talking about it doesn't seem strange at all to me.

:iagree:

:iagree: I used to be below $100/wk for groceries. Now we run around $120-$125. Part of it is because of having to buy food for the boys being in the house all day as opposed to at school, but not much of it...

Ok, I hate to admit this, but I'm not Wonder Woman.. :tongue_smilie: I 'said' that I knew I wouldn't have as much time to do housework once homeschooling started, but I think the reality hadn't really sunk in. I've tried a couple of different things, but so far nothing is working. :confused: I tried doing everything myself during breaks. Thing is, the kids aren't that old and a lot of their work is supervised by me - so the morning, for the most part, is spent with one or the other of them. We quit at 11:30 and try to get atleast a couple of things done around the house. Then we have lunch with DH and get back to the last little bit of school, which usually takes another hr or so. By that time, DD is napping and I'm taking time to do nothing, get on here, pay bills, or catch up on a show I want to watch. I don't mean to sound lazy, but that time is time that I'm not giving up - from like 1:30-3:30/4 each day. So here is my question: How the heck do I get everything done??? :001_huh: I can handle laundry every day, that's cake, it doesn't take any work or time to speak of. I've tried having the kids help, but they are honestly not really all that useful - they can dust (kind of), dust mop, sweep, and empty the dishwasher. Well, DS7 can scrub the floor. I tried teaching them how to clean the sinks and toilets but it was an epic fail - they just don't do it well enough, and I'd rather just do it myself than go in there every.single.time. and have to fix it behind them anyway. They always pick up all their toys and make their beds, I don't even count that. I tried having them vacuum, but they aren't good enough at it (hard floors or rugs) for what I want. Anyway, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by being the person who is doing everything. :) Oh, and while I understand things like, 'Let some of it go.' that just isn't practical - I want my house to be clean. I want everything cleaned once a week. I'm just trying to find possibilities to make that happen, whether its shortcuts or just ideas as to when everyone else does it. Or things that a 7 and 5 yr old can do well enough. Thanks.

I've always heard they are. Even if it didn't matter, I like them for the comfort factor - headrest, armrests, built in cup holders, and the seatbelt thingy. :) And even with backs, the back can be taken off to be used as a regular booster. (DS could, according to our state law, stop riding in his when he turns 8 in Feb - but I'll be the final judge of that. He's not that big so idk if he'll be able to wear a seatbelt properly without one. He won't care either way, though...)

It depends on the financial situation of the year. The most we ever did for just the kids was probably about $400. (I balk at that now lol :) ) And that was when we just had 2. This year the 'plan' is to stick to 80-100 per kid. We don't buy the kids stuff throughout the year, they get about 3 gifts for their birthday (or about 40-50$ worth, which may be 5 small gifts - it just depends) and then Christmas and that's it. And I love love LOVE LOVE Christmas. :) I want to have tons of presents under the tree, even if they aren't all big ones, kwim? I'm all about wrapping up every last book, etc. This year they are each getting new sheets, a couple of toys, a board game or two, books, pjs (always on Christmas eve), a new ornament, and then stocking stuffers. We don't really do any gifts outside of the kids and our parents. DH's parents we usually spend about $25-30 total on, same with my grandparents. On each other, it varies. Optimally we'd spend $50-100 on each other (usually closer to the $50 mark), but a lot of times that just doesn't happen. So I guess, total our 'average' would be maybe $400-500 for everyone???

Ok, that's cool. I just wasn't sure if it was something that would only cover like, half the year, and I would need to start looking for something for the other half. :D

I'm just curious. I had always done extended family only (DH has 3 brothers, so them and their kids and the IL's - my family lives too far away, though my grandparents did come for each of the kids' 1st birthdays) at ages 1 and 2, and started inviting a few friends at age 3. Then the last 'big' party (since all the parents come as well, there always ended up being 20-30 people) with both friends and family was age 5. At age 6 we just started doing smaller things with a few friends (took 3 kids and went out for pizza and bowling, then came back to the house for cake/ice cream, took a friend with us to Chuck E. Cheese, etc). But at the same time, I don't know if we should keep doing the big party thing?? Like, I guess I thought that at age 6 they would really be grown out of having all their aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc, here for a birthday party because they are more into their friends then, kwim? But then I see that other families still just have everyone and I really like parties so I'm like maybe I should keep doing the big ones...idk. I guess I just thought what I was doing was normal. But maybe it isn't? ETA: I know that sounds like a convoluted mess, sorry. :lol: And now that I think of it, maybe the parties I liked the best as a kid would influence my decision? And on that note, what were your favorite parties as a kid? Did you have any? And what are your kids' favorites now? TIA. :D

Thanks so much! :) I'm pretty sure at this point Apologia will probably be the direction we'll go in. On that note, how long is that supposed to last?

:iagree: And I'd be ok with it. :)

I guess I'm just thinking it through. Like what do you like about Writing Strands, what are the pros and cons, etc. and if there is anything you like better and why. That sort of thing. :)

These are the two programs I'm considering for next year. It would either be Apologia Astronomy or REAL Science Odyssey Earth and Space Level 1. Anyone have any experience with either or both of these? What are the pros and cons of each? I promise, this is my last thread today! Yikes! :D

Yeah, that's weird. :confused: As far as supporting their political agenda, if I cared about supporting it I could just do it another way. I'm just wondering if there are any benefits to it from the 'homeschooling' perspective, kwim? :)

Ok, I've got a whole slew of threads here with questions. Sorry, they keep coming to mind AFTER I've already posted the other ones! :) Ok, so I'm not sure I'm 100% clear on writing for DS7 next year - I don't know if it's time to buy him a 'writing curriculum' so to speak? Right now he's in 2nd grade and does narration and dictation, as well as handwriting. He does a little bit of copywork here and there, too. I think it's enough right now. So anyway, in WTM it brings up writing curriculums specifically starting in 3rd grade, so that's what I'm going to do. What I am not completely sure of, yet, is which one we'll be using. I'm thinking about Writing Strands. But like I said, I'm in early negotiations with myself about it now. :lol: So any thoughts?