Exactly! Thank you.

Well, I thought I was following. I am now. totally. lost. :blink:

I told my husband last night that I could totally convince him he was sick, even when he wasn't. He doesn't believe me. I've decided to try it sometime. *hand on head* "Oh honey, you feel warm. Are you feeling ok?" "Well now that you mention it, I have been feeling a little worn down" (his favorite line, ever) "Why don't you go and rest for a bit" ~ I predict he'll be in bed for at least two days....

We got a Nutrimill a few months ago and I love it! I have one question ~ how often do you clean out the machine/flour bowl? I've been cleaning it everytime I use it, but that seems a bit tedious. I tried googling it, but all I found was a bunch of websites about how often people clean the bowls of their bongs when smoking weed...:tongue_smilie:

I was actually just contemplating starting a fire tonight (we heat with wood), but instead just turned on the wall heater in the boys' room. Sadly, we only got about a week's worth of summer here.....and we were out of town and missed it!

I read an article a while ago (I believe it was in Triathlete Mag or Runner's World) about ADD exercise. The exercises the author found to help his symptoms the most (long term & throughout the day) were martial arts, swimming and biking. He stated anything that required extreme concentration & focus, but also required being aware of everything going on around you (therefore letting your brain work on two different levels at the same time) was excellent exercise for not only your body, but for your brain as well. I wish I could find the article for you....I'll try a quick google search.

*sigh* I just got rid of our Bob books. I had all three sets:willy_nilly: Oh well, my younger son really did not like them ~ even the few he could read. I think I'm going to go ahead and buy the readers from AAR. I'll simply sell them next year in our used curriculum sale. Thanks for all of the replies!

I've decided to use AAS to teach my youngest how to read (and spell). I know the readers for AAR 1 go right along with this program, but I do not relish the idea of spending another $60 on these books. Has anyone found any other early readers that would be available at our library that compliments AAS nicely? Thanks!

Count us among the AAS converts as well. My oldest is breezing through Level 1 and my youngest can't wait to start!

This is exactly what I was going to suggest. Is there anyway you can put out some feelers to see which of us can relate to you and then move the conversation to a more private venue? :grouphug:

DH and I considering moving to Colorado. It appears that the hsing laws there are similiar to the ones in WA (where we are now). Anyone here in CO? Any insight is much appreciated. Thanks!

A cyst? A blockage? Is it possible you had gotten pg and it's a tubal? Barring any of those ~ have you eaten anything over processed lately? I've always had horrible periods. My entire life (since puberty) and once we cut out processed foods I was blown away at the difference. I wasn't expecting the change in my eating patterns to have any effect on that at all!

There are some great protein powders that are based on brown rice. If I were you, I'd avoid soy as well as dairy. Soy has a lot of phytoestregens in it and do all sorts of horrible things to young, growing boys. Adding flax oil to smoothies will help get the fat he needs (if you can find a smoothie he'll like), I've also hidden half an avocado in smoothies. It makes them very creamy (if you can get past the color). Another of my favorite smoothies is: Rice Milk, one banana, handful of spinach, scoop of cocoa powder, about 2 Tbsp of natural peanut butter and a bunch of ice. If you are comfortable with raw eggs (I don't buy store bought eggs, only pastured from a local farmer I know and trust), you could add a raw egg to the smoothie for some additional calories/fat/protein. It comes out a funky color, so I put it in an opaque cup with a straw. It tastes just like a peanut butter milk shake. If you have an ice cream maker, you can make homemade (non dairy) ice cream in his favorite flavors and hide all kinds of great things in it (more flax oil, fruits, protein powder, etc. We have some really yummy coconut milk ice creams in our local grocery store. If you can't make your own, maybe see if an ice cream treat will entice him to eat? I remember what it was like to be on the meds and have absolutely no appetite (which eventually caused a significant decline in my overall energy levels) and I sincerely hope you are able to find a solution soon for your son. :grouphug:

I don't actually need a Bosch, but if I found one in good shape for that price, I'd jump on it in a minute! I really, really want one and I'm trying to convince my husband that that is the same thing as needing one. :D

:iagree: This is exactly all that it is. It's a false sense of security. I think I'd like to shake your husband's hand :D While I agree with everything you've posted above, your last statement is, by far, the most important. It's your dad. I would never compromise my children's safety, but I, personally, would consider compromising some of my convictions about airport security. Unfortunately, though, that's easy for me to say as I'm not in your shoes right now. :grouphug:

My husband is a commercial airline pilot and he shares your concerns, so you are not alone. :grouphug: I recently just flew out of Seattle with my two kids and while I know not all TSA agents follow the same policies (even though they are supposed to!), we were taken to the metal detectors simply because I had my kids with me. They told me they do not require children to go through the Xray machines. Again, each airport seems to work under their own TSA guidelines and that can get frustrating, but it may be worth a call to your local airport authority to see what their policies are (but understand it could all change depending on which agent you get and whether or not he/she is in a foul mood). :grouphug:

My oldest son had reflux. He'd be sitting there in his seat, happy as a clam then suddenly start crying, he'd open his mouth and like a faucet, his entire last feeding would shoot out ~ sometimes about 5 feet in front of him! Then he'd go on coo'ing and playing again. He also was colicky (but we didn't realize it at the time). We switched him to soy formula (I do *not* recommend this) and tried rice cereal, etc... eventually we put him on Zantac and that did seem to help. At the time I wish I had researched more natural remedies and realized that a lot of his issues were colic related. I guess I don't have much help to offer, other than to say, I've been there. Good Luck. :grouphug:

I used The Giving Tree for my speech competition my senior year in highschool. At the time, I was a selfish, thoughtless teenager, so now I can see the appeal. I haven't read it in years. The Rainbow Fish I HATE. Another bad one is The Three Robbers. Awful...

I went on Ritalin in college and immediately lost 15 lbs. It was a major appetite suppressant for me. I had the weight to lose, so it wasn't a big deal, but I'm guessing your ds does not. I would try to make sure the little bit of food he does eat is very calorie dense. Lots of healthy fats and lots of protein. You get more bang for your calorie buck that way. Since he didn't care for the soy milk, maybe try almond milk. Smoothies are great and you can add protein powder to them :)

For those that make their own loaves of bread, I have a question. How do you store your bread that isn't immediately eaten? We love homemade bread here, but we don't eat an entire sandwich loaf in an afternoon, so I'm struggling to find a good way to store the remainder to prevent it from getting stale. In the past I've used a small Rubbermaid salad greens tub, but lately my bread has been rising too much and it doesn't fit in the container. :001_huh: I can't seem to find a taller one. Any suggestions are much appreciated. Thank you.

My kids are 8 & (almost) 6. I wake up at 6:30 every morning (because I enjoy a quiet cup of coffee). I wake the boys up at 7:15. They are allowed to watch TV, play Legos, snuggle with dad, whatever, until 8:00. At 8:00 they are called to breakfast. Then they go get dressed, make their beds and brush their teeth. They then have a little more free time and we are all at the table, ready to work at 9:00. I have found that if I don't build free time into our mornings, things do not go well at all.

My first thought was green smoothies! My kids don't regularly eat veggies, but I know I can get at least two green smoothies in them everyday. I use fresh spinach, one banana and a handful of frozen fruit. When the frozen fruit goes on sale I stock up and fill up my freezer. Since we're coming into the colder season, soups & chilis are great ways to stretch out your meat and sneak in some additional nutrition. I love to make chili and by the time we're all sick of eating it (usually a few servings left), I throw in a box of Mac & cheese. It's not the most nutritious thing, but it stretches the chili into one more meal, but makes it different enough that everyone is ok with it. There are so many things you can do with beans. I buy them dry and cook up a batch in my crockpot. Then I freezer them in Ziploc bags (quart size holds about the same as a can of beans).

This is our third year of homeschooling (first official year for Boy2) and for the first time, I finally feel like I'm teaching them something. In years past, we were sort of just treading water and filling out spaces in workbooks. I didn't know any better. I'm so glad I found this board and started really looking into Classical Ed. It's only been a week and a half and I can already see differences in my kids. So, thank you everyone!

I just found out (for sure) this past summer. I went to a small Catholic school with very high standards and very small teacher/student ratios, so we were all "smart". I switched to a different Catholic school when we moved and I had two really horrible teachers who had very specific pets and since I was a new kid, I wasn't one of them. They made my life hell, so my parents then transferred me to the local PS, by that time everyone had already been tested and were in the GATE program, my parents never pushed to have me tested. Academics always came easy to me as a young child, so I never learned how to study or work hard. I also have ADHD tendencies (not sure if it's real ADHD or result of a TBI as a two year old) In high school I didn't do so well in my AP classes because of that. Same with college when the work load was more rigorous. I finally, this summer, decided to go through a whole battery of neuropsych testing and I scored in the 91-98th percentile in everything. My shrink was blown away. (Considering I was there to find out what was "wrong with me"). He then told me that he was very pleased that I was homeschooling my children because I have so much to offer them. ETA: Also, at my high school, being smart was cool. Our valedictorian was the QB of our football team.

:lurk5: I have to say how impressed I am that this has gone on for 18 pages and remained so civil and so far no one has stomped out or gotten themselves kicked off the board! I've never frequented a web board where this would have been possible. So, thank you.