I think planning for a person's end of life is a very difficult thing to do. It's also very smart and compassionate. We asked certain people to look after our kids several years ago. After they agreed, we had it written into our wills/trusts/power of attorney, etc and gave them copies. It does give me peace of mind to know that if something happens to both of us, someone will immediately show up to take care of the kids and that our life insurance will cover the costs of raising them. It's very reassuring.

Okay, thanks! I'll tell her that she will have to wait until after I read it. Maybe I can interest her in Hunger Games.

My daughter wants to read the book, Wicked. I am in the middle of reading The Hunger Games and don't really want to put it down to read Wicked to check for content. Would it be appropriate for a mature 10 yr old girl? I'm not worried about bad language and mild romantic content. Anything further would be concerning. Any thoughts? Thanks :)

The above ground shelter will not be built into the home but instead placed on the property. This lot is on one acre, but adjoins our other land which is 10 acres. My mother's property is about 20 acres on the other side. We have plenty of room. :)

We are having a storm shelter installed on our property. It's a bit complicated, but basically, we bought this place after a nasty tornado came blasting through Alabama last year. Because our area was heavily hit, the previous owners filled out paperwork for government reimbursed storm shelters (they reimburse 75%). They ordered an above-ground shelter. Even though we are in the process of buying this place, it's still in their name and the shelter was approved. My mother/step-father (who live on the acreage next door) bought a below ground shelter. Yesterday, my mother called to say they had changed their minds and now wanted an above ground shelter - she didn't say why. Since my husband wants a below-ground, they wanted to see if we could 'switch' shelters. (I don't think the company will allow this, but for the sake of discussion, let's assume they would). I'm a bit suspicious of her change of mind and I'm looking for pros and cons of above and below ground shelters. I'd love to hear from anyone with thoughts about them, and also with thoughts about what items you keep in a shelter. It doesn't look very big...

Homeschooling is rare around here, so I DO get a fair amount of comments. I'm also known in my community for being outspoken and a bit of a disability advocate. For better or worse, I have a reputation that has already reached the high school. As a general rule, I give people the benefit of the doubt. I always answer the homeschool questions (even the innocently asked rude ones) politely. I try to look at the meaning and intent behind the question. I've only encountered a few rude ones that were 'digs'. There are days when I want to tear my hair out at some of the comments though. :)

What do you do when someone asks that question? I've only had one person ask me if I had a teaching degree and I don't think she meant to be rude, only curious. When I told her I didn't (I double-majored in pych and sociology), she was a bit flustered and said that I was so organized and good at showing new concepts to kids that she thought I had a teaching degree. I'm fairly good at dodging insults and jokes, but I don't know what to say when people ask if I have a teaching certificate. The only thing I can think of is to just smile and say, "No, I don't." Any suggestions? My style is basically to avoid conflict, but if I'm in a corner, I come out strong.

If I'm in an emotional situation, I do two things. One, I talk about it with my best friend who is well known for being completely honest. There are times when she sides with me, but there are also times when she tells me I'm over-reacting. The other thing that I do, is to do nothing for at least 24 hours to calm down. :) I may have misunderstood some things in your post, so feel free to clarify. if I were in your shoes, I would send a note to the teacher indicating that you were there and you saw no mis-behavior on your child's part. Then I would ask for clarification regarding what happened while acknowledging that you might have missed something (or it could be that your definition of 'not a big deal' is a big deal to the teacher). There are several things that could probably be done to help. Tennis balls over the chair legs so they don't clatter as much, maybe some hand fidget toys if he can't stay still, etc. I would also schedule a face to face meeting with the teacher. Sometimes things in writing come out harsher than vocally.

My Dad is messy. Messy is probably too kind of a word, he's a slob. He always has been. He probably borders on being a hoarder. His house is falling into a bit of disrepair but he won't pay to have it fixed insisting that he can do it himself "when he finds the time". My step-mother is a dream. She loves to cook, loves my Dad but she is frustrated at the house. They both have some health problems. My Dad is almost 72 and my step-mom is 65. The house is not unsanitary (no dirty dishes stacking up, etc) but there are some rooms in the house that I haven't seen yet (they've had the house for about 15 years). I want to offer to send our housekeeper over to my Dad's house for one day to do some cleaning, but I'm worried that if I offer to send her over for a few hours they will be offended. Truly, three hours would probably clean only one room in their house, but I'm happy to do it if they want it. To complicate things a bit, I am sending my housekeeper to my mother/step-dad's house for three hours next week to help with their spring cleaning. (Mom has arthritis and my step-dad recently injured his shoulder - so there are things they can't get to). Is there any good way to word this in an email? (I do better in writing as sometimes I have foot in mouth syndrome when speaking). I think my step-mother would love to have someone over (but she may get offended). My Dad will offend easily. My Dad's health (heart problems) are such that at any moment a heart attack wouldn't be a surprise. He's far exceeded doctor's predictions and I'd like to do some nice things for him.

Thanks. If it's still bothering me tomorrow, I think I'll go see the doctor. I typically only see a doctor if I'm very sick (maybe once a year) or pain that doesn't go away after a couple of days or is significant.

About three years ago, I broke a rib while doing martial arts (obviously, I wasn't doing them correctly). It was right on the bra line and extremely painful and uncomfortable. It eventually felt better although it occasionally 'flares' up if I over-stress that area. Friday night, I was changing the sheets on the girls' beds and my foot caught between the mattress and frame and I lost my balance. I fell awkwardly but managed to avoid (at least) hitting my face on anything on the way down. I literally couldn't move for a few minutes. I have a number of sore areas - ankle, knee, hip, etc. I also have some pain (that comes and goes) and a LOT of discomfort on that one rib area. My right arm is numb feeling and sore (but obviously functional since I'm typing). My back is aching as well. Is it possible that I've re-injured it? I was hoping it would feel better today, but it's actually worse. Sitting is painful, laying down is also painful. I can only get comfy in the recliner. Obviously, I'm still functioning well and doing things, but lifting and bending over is completely out. Any thoughts? Should I see a doctor or do you think it will settle down in a few more days?

Typically, I let her run around and play outside. She also takes extra activities like theater (lots of dancing) and soccer. I've thought about keeping track of how many toe-touches, sit ups, etc she can do and show they increase over time. That's about it for us. :)

I don't consider myself super-organized, however, I will say that my best days are when I wake up and get moving before 7:00.

Item claimed :)

Something that sounds really silly, but was really effective with my daughter was to use clothes pins on her stuff. She was always forgetting to take things to school (homework, snack, etc). I wrote item names on clothespins (lunch, homework, etc) and clipped them to her backpack after school. The night before (and sometimes *sigh* in the morning), she would check things off as she unclipped the clothespins. It helped build the habit for checking things.

No, not if it affected the team as a whole, I wouldn't punish him. I would (after every practice), remind him to put his things away (and the first few times I would stand there and watch him). I also would (the night before or few hours before, whatever works) tell him to go check his bag to make sure everything he needs is inside (and stand over him). The first few times is hard because it takes up a lot of your time. However, it's the only way I've found to teach my kids anything. And I've also found that after NOT watching a few times, sometimes they slip (which is when I enforce the consequences). After enough rounds of watching and not-watching, at some point they get it. It seems like I have a lot of things in rotation here. :) Some are things that are going well, some are just learning, some are re-learning. We don't have a ton of activities, but we typically have something every season so I understand the frustration. There are also times when I've bought duplicates (if they weren't expensive) just to keep the frustration level low.

I don't think that is too much responsibility, however, I've found with my kids that I have to TEACH them how to be responsible. It might be beneficial to set up reminders to put his clothes in the dirty clothes area, make a special place for all his clean stuff (we used a large duffel bag for each of the girls sports or activities and they knew they could find their clean stuff in that bag or they put it away there after practice), etc. We've also used checklists. I have bailed them out ONCE on things when they mess up. But after that, as much as it hurts me (and them), they are on their own. I will bail them out if their problem affects others (for example, if they couldn't play then the team would have to forfeit the game). He's old enough. Find a system that works for him and do it. :) These are life lessons and will benefit him in the future.

Keeping our fingers crossed here. :) Last April, there was devastation literally two miles in both directions of our home with complete homes destroyed. There was not a single problem at our place other than really scary silence and weird tones from the tornadoes going by. No rain yet here, just ominous looking clouds.

Thanks. And yes, their work is doing quite well. My 10yo dd isn't homeschooled yet (we afterschool in math), but she's always operated independently with her other subjects. My youngest seems to be doing great. She doesn't like it when I hover (helpfully). It seems to make her suspicious. lol

Cutting her hair moved their 'play' to a different level. I can see joking around with a person, but once hair is cut, that's permanent. And I can't imagine ANY female would want their hair cut. Of course, my perception is that he didn't give her a haircut, he cut a chunk of hair. That's over-stepping boundaries.

My 10dd is very much independent when it comes to learning new things. If I try to help her, she literally clutches the work to her chest and tells me, "Don't help me - I want to figure it out myself." Typically I leave her alone unless I see her working herself into a frenzy. Showing her something at that point typically doesn't take longer than about 5 - 10 minutes. She just needed help to make it 'click'. My youngest is showing a strong tendency towards doing the same. I've enjoyed homeschooling over the past two months but I admit that part of it is because she enjoys learning on her own. I step in to help with math and sometimes we read together (usually she reads to me). We do history together (SOTW). She's only 7 yrs old though and I wonder if I should be doing more hands-on instruction? Unlike my 10dd, she will ask me if she needs help. My youngest is doing well in her schoolwork. I've ordered the book "What Every First Grader Should Know" (or something like that) and will check for gaps. Is this okay or should I push harder to instruct?

Our middle daughter has an August birthday as well. She entered kindergarten with all of us knowing that she might have to repeat. We did have her tested to make sure there were no underlying problems (other than age). Two years of kindergarten were perfect for her.

It sounds like the flu. The nasty thing about the flu is that you can end the flu and begin complications (like pneumonia or nasty sinus infections). I had the flu with sinus infection and thought I was dying last year. Seriously, I worried that I wouldn't wake up when I went to bed. I was sick for nearly a month. It was horrible. I went to the doctor twice and they gave me some strong meds to help with the nasty symptoms, congestion, coughing, and it had also triggered reflux which made me feel like I was gagging all the time. If you can, go to the doctor. I hope you feel better soon.

My husband always wanted us to homeschool but I didn't want to give up my free time. :) Then, I realized that our school district was very, very weak and my daughters were actually tutoring other kids rather than learning new material. And so we started thinking about homeschooling. Then my littlest started becoming ill - stomach aches/cramps, diarrhea, daily vomiting, lethargy, etc. We pulled her at Christmas, and she has been improving health-wise every week. She still has morning stomach cramps that she takes medicine to help settle them down. But everything else went away. I'm now completely sold on homeschool. :)

He may or he may not. :) In our household, my husband has been begging me for years to homeschool. I just didn't want to give up my free time. Most days are great, some days I really long for silence. :) If your husband's main conern is for socialization, honestly, I'd work on that more than the math (due to the fact that she is young). I'd enroll her in plenty of activities and schedule lots of play dates. Then remind him that in school they get in trouble for 'socializing' and she's quite social outside of school. All the best :)