One of the greatest setbacks for us moms is negative feedback when wanting to go down this road of homeschooling. We, too, are extremely social people from two very social families and both were very negative/at first!!...not later!.. and anti our wild choice to homeschool! GASP! When we get hammered like that from family/loved ones, I think it's almost natural to listen a bit tooo much then to our kid's own emotions no matter how young of what 'they want'. For we humans do love to copy each other...we are made for fellowship! I had an aunt that I am extremely close to yell at the top of her lungs at our swim club that I was 'ruining, ruining, ruining!' my kid's lives! (reminded me of that scene from the Princess Bride now that I look back on it!! ha!) It was very painful and can really shrink our confidence levels!! Probably all of us have had such negative feedback and then some! Trust me, you'll have it happened numerous times! Hang in there!! If you are called to this...then you will prevail and your kids will see your confidence and it will make a difference in their attitude! My kids are all now homeschool graduates...they are awesome kids and even though they had to trail blaze thru their own choices they now are thanking me that I homeschooled them! Now that I look back on what I did with them, I'm in awe! 'I...me?..did all that?!' It really is a full time job that is none rewarding...often filled with self doubts...and yet...each year that goes by I am on my knees thankful for another year w/my kids 'at home'! And to have each one of them want to homeschool their own kids now? Wow! I'm humbled...grateful...for trust me...you'll have some rough patches to go thru. And I wouldn't trade it for anything! Hang in there! Also those family members who snubbed their noses at me later became my cheerleaders! It took time, but they couldn't deny how 'social'...'normal'...and 'smart' they were! Proof is in the pudding ba-beee! :) One more thing...I love what ImperfectBird had to offer you!! We did the same exact thing!!!! What is more fun than to 'play school?'!! We did this and it worked beautifully!! We took LOTS of special trips and made a huge deal out of them and did our best to take friends along....we did the 'back to school shopping' each year...getting lunch boxes and a new backpack if needed....picking out pencils and all that! I SOOOO miss it!!!!!

Having small kids to snack up is a challenge and I have already written down the coconut pancake recipe! I love that idea of having 'cold ones' on hand for a quick snack!! :001_smile: 1. We do hummus LOTS with fresh cut veggies like peppers, broccoli, celery, apple slices.... Hummus is also pretty cheap when homemade, too!! So these other 'treats' are more special that I listed! 2. Another 'dipper' is to use Almond Butter or Cashew Butter! If there are no existing allergies then these are wonderful to have on hand!! 3. Some of the new 'chips' that are out are great! Like Real Deal Veggie Chips; Way Better Snacks 'Simply Sweet Potato Tortilla Chips & Simply Beyond Black Bean Tortilla Chips 4. Gluten Free pretzel sticks 5. Kinnikinnick S'Moreables - Graham Style Crackers (yum!..and with some almond butter on top? AAUGH!!) 6 Kinnikinnick Animal Cookies 7. Gluten Free Jerky (sometimes you can find this stuff on sale!) 8. Think Thin bars...comes in various flavors 9. Gluten Free Bulk Cereal (has sugar in them..but some are lower and the 'crunch' sound is fulfilling ...one can add raisins; dairy free/vegan choc chips to it, etc.. 10. Gluten free pepperoni 11. Raw cheese slices for those who 'need' that dairy! 12. homemade juice popsicles for warmer weather Sorry long!

I love that silicone cup idea!! You can do that for any liquid thing...great idea!

...it's a natural coffee substitute...made from chicory root and spices and whatnot...it's really good!!! ...also no caffiene...good for the 'gut' and and delicious hot or cold.

Any recipes to share? I'm discovering I like more flavors now: Our most recent new flavor is 'vanilla nut' and now 'mocha'!! For the past couple years we've bascially used a blend of two flavors: Java & Hazelnut. I pour both bags into a bowl, mix it up and store in a container. We use 3 heaping TBL per six cups of water. DH drinks it 'black' while I love my treat of So Delicious Coconut milk/vanilla creamer in mine! :drool:

...just checked mine as I love Fox News and go it, too...mine also worked just fine. Came right up...hope you can figure out your problem!

It was one thing my mom insisted on with her 7 kids....and we all passed that onto our children and so forth! To have that knowlegde is not only life saving for themselves but possibly for someone else who might be near them later in life and struggling or in a complete panic! And as one mom here stated...it could be their own children!..... I'd definitely not give up at all! We are a 'swim' family and really I never expected that to happen, but we were regular attenders of our swim club and to be on their team you just had to swim a wee bit...they had something for 'pre-competitors' and that is how our daughter continued her swimming skills. My sons were older and already set swimmers but thru joining the summer swim team they all got 'free' lesson daily and of course, their skill level went from 'backyard swimmer' to 'competitive swimmer' in no time. We didn't push it...they wanted to keep with it and so we did and have many years of fun with it. (even then I did not do the 'daily swim' thing...that burns out so many great swimmers) Soo...for us...thru our swimclub one could sign up for the team for free...and get coached for free...I couldn't have afforded that in 'private lessons'. It was a huge booster for our family!!! Out of the 3, one has their cpr/lifeguard certification and has lifeguarded...but more importantly...they are strong, confident swimmers. I will always feel at ease about that & also that from that they have learned a healthy fear of the water, which is just as important.

Our middle son rode first at a young age which motivated the oldest to conquer it days later! But for all the kids they started out on a small grassy hill where falling wasn't a big deal. I recall telling them not to peddle, but just to stick their legs out and glide down the hill! What a fun time it was to see each 'get it'! Have fun!!!

We were raised not to curse but my dad cursed! We knew for sure when he was hurt or angry! Some forms of expression just hurt my ears! There just has to be a better way to express that please!!! Especially when it involves using God's name! ...that gets me the most and I come from a church background that aces in that form of expression!! The english language is really beautiful....for me, it can become too frequent and more of a lazy man's way of talking. Better to zip it for ten seconds and see what better form of vocab might flow out!! I really don't want to hear any s*xual lingo flowing out of people's mouths and man...you can't turn on the tv or walk in a store and not hear that...so yeah....we have no interest in that nor using His name...I was strict on that...even if they did it behind our backs. You do what ya can! Some of my own famous sayings are....(and dern it all...but it's fun sometimes!) ...'shoot the boot!' Heard some guy say that one time and it just latched onto my verbage!

...I take God at His Word and His Word from the first book to the last book does not condone homosexuality or any other kind of sexual behavior including fornication which just about all of us committed before our marriages. As one gets to really know the Lord they see His hand of protection...His reasoning to the 'sheep' in keeping us protected from the enemy. I read an article once and if you google it you will find it...about hundreds of sheep that went to their deaths following the herd straight over a cliff in Turkey. What a waste but that is how our churches are becoming. So watered down...so what IS the difference? What makes the Christian different? As I shared before, what was so different in the people who went to horrible deaths for their faith. Why do that? I do see a separation happening within the church body and oh how sad. The bible might have some 'grey' areas in it but from a study from start to finish it's pretty clear and pretty exciting...it changes lives! It's alive...because He wrote it!

....sounds like a great choice! I'm boring....white dishes...one of these days I'll break free and 'go for it'!

I do have a question for ya. Does she have a foreign language in place? That I feel is a 'bear' for homeschoolers but maybe thru an online program or tutoring, etc...? We used Teaching Textbooks for the high school years....my oldest, in being our first guinea pig did Saxon all the way thru! The others left Saxon for Teaching Textbooks in their final years of schooling. For language each had their own foreign language choice...we had french...then spanish which turned to ASL signing and my youngest fell in love with ASL signing and latched onto it for her foreign language. (we had tutors privately teaching them...as a book just wasn't enough) Co'ops and private tutors for a given subject they might struggle with were bigges for us in their high school years. I depended on both venues lots although cannot say I 'raised' my kids via co'ops. We just used them as the need came in for one that year....or even two. Get excited...it's a whole new ball game and they're learning to now be more independent! (PS....community colleges also offer wonderful 'enriched' education programs for highschoolers...just need to take a placement test and at our community college you can be in the 11th grade taking courses that might get you transferable credit for college besides high school credit!

At first we were up super early and since they hit the sack at 8:30 at night and hubby & I had the rest of the evening 'kid free' starting school super early worked perfectly! As the years went by the starting times changed like the seasons of weather! hahaha...by the time my last who is now a freshman in college (and back to waking up super early!) was in her final few years of high school....I just allowed her get up on her own. She knew what she had to accomplish in a given day!! When she got a job in 11th grade once again that 'accountability factor' kicked in and she was much more disciplined....

I love that 'Dangerous Book for Boys' idea!!!!! My boys would have loved that!!! (they're young adults now!) How about a co'op? We drifted in & out of those over the years. We used them 'upon need'...and it worked all the time! Some co'ops even had sports teams and hard teachers that gave ....gasp...'tests!' We would drift back to 'traditional homeschooling' each time but I'd say that those years we did co'op or found a small group mtg. in a home for a given subject like science...it was always a success on that accountability factor...sometimes pressure like that is a good thing!

...and it drove me lulu!! Sleep is precious when homeschooling!! But I guess he got the message and he no longer does it!!! It's rare now he hits the snooze button or sets the clock to read 30minutes late....grrrr....glad those days are over!