My husband is on board so we will give it a go. How long does the trial need to be to determine whether it's going to help or not? And, if we go gluten free but keep dairy in, is that a bad idea? Michelle

Thanks for the info! I'm going to have to talk this over with my husband... Michelle

We did a year of it and read books from the book lists about the time period. But for me, with little memory for history, the commentary didn't cut it. I had to use a different book for a spine to tie things together in my mind. Michelle

Agreed. When I went through this with my first I was positive that something was wrong with him. But then it happened again and again with each child. We can go over the same letter what feels like 100 times and then still, the child has no recollection of the letter's name or sound! But eventually it DOES come! Michelle

I haven't noticed an increase in cheese prices yet. The 1 pound blocks are 3/$5 here. Michelle

I'd say puberty is a good cut off. Michelle

My children use the computer, play video games, and watch tv. They have a limit of one hour per day per child, BUT when one child is using their time the others usually sit and watch. This adds up to a LOT of time spent on fruitless activity each day. Is there anyone here who has gone from allowing these things to eliminating them entirely? How did you go about it, and did your children live through it? ;-) Michelle

Yes, and last time I bought black underwear to take along instead of wearing those weird fishnet panty things. I'll definitely do that again if we have another. Michelle

Agreed. :-) Michelle

I research, but when it comes down to it it's been trial and error. We're entering our 10 year of homeschooling now and at this point I'm a lot better at weeding out what will and will not work for us. But I have stacks upon stacks of barely used books to prove that it took a long while to get there. Michelle

My kids were the same. I continued through a whole year of it, but it just didn't work. You have to do what's best for your family, even if it's shelving something that the majority loves. :-) Michelle

When my older kids were at the 2nd grade level, I spent a lot of time tearing my hair out about science. Now with my younger kids I don't even bother starting it until 3rd grade unless they specifically request it. Michelle

I would like to make the whole household gluten free if I thought I could do it without increasing the grocery budget. (There are 8 of us so we're spending a huge amount on groceries as it is.) Is that possible? Michelle

If you have a good working knowledge of history yourself, then maybe. If not, then I would say no. As someone who has little memory of the history I studied in hs and college, the TQ guides didn't compute for me. Michelle

I'm taking note of this! I'll be entering my 10th year of homeschooling this fall and I have yet to find a composition program that "fits" for our family. Michelle

Ah, the gluten/lactose connection is news to me. I will look into that - thanks! The trouble is this kids LIVES on all things gluten. And I suppose that makes the possibility that it affects him poorly even more likely... Michelle

I have a similar situation with my sister, who is disabled and nearly 20 years older than me. She refuses to help herself and chooses to wallow in self-pity. It is VERY difficult to watch. But I think you just have to realize that *you* cannot change someone else (and we have tried with talk, talk, and more talk, interventions, etc.) We can show love as much as possible, but when it comes down to it only God can change hearts. Michelle

I agree with that. What I think you have to keep in mind is how much stress is reasonable to allow for his age? When my older kids were younger, I think I placed too much pressure on them before the time was right. So my advice would be to allow the demands to increase, but make sure that the increase isn't too much too soon. Michelle

Lego is big here. Michelle

Agreed. More specifically, I seek to pursue what's right in the sight of God, and then decide to be happy. I often fail miserably, but I try... Michelle

My mother is 79 and I'm 40. I'm the youngest of 4 kids. Michelle

LOL! My daughter thinks that not wearing underwear is completely gross - ha ha. But my 6 year old son on the other hand... he needs a personal invitation to wear underwear. :-) Michelle

I usually buy the microwave kind (low-fat butter variety) for ease, even though I know it's not healthy. When I make it from scratch I top it with butter and lite salt or sea salt, depending on my mood. Michelle

I always turn mine off before I leave the house. Am I just being paranoid? I could stay on top of things better if I could just leave them on! Michelle

Good, bad, or ugly? I have grade 7 on hand and I'm tempted to try it, but don't want to have to bail out in the middle of the year because it's so bad. Anyone have any experience with this? Michelle