Thank you! My oldest dd didn't plan to be a young mom (21) and is struggling right now with a 10 month old who cries if Mom steps out of sight. She loves her little girl but feels like she is spinning her wheels and not accomplishing anything with her life. I hope you don't mind that I sent her a link to your blog.

I LOVE pulling my kids' teeth! It's my job in the family. DH has nothing to do with it other than buying their teeth since that darn tooth fairy has gotten so old that she forgets to come by for several nights in a row. My Dad used to tease us unmercifully. He was always offering to go get the pliers or tie a string around our tooth and a door knob and then slam the door. We ate it up though we howled about it. :D Dental floss tied in a loop and then slipped below that gum line with a tooth pick is the best method. Not long ago I did have to loosen a tooth just a little more by using a craft stick and hammer. The permanent tooth had come in behind, so we couldn't loosen the tooth by wiggling it. I can't believe my daughter trusted me with a hammer in hand:001_huh: That reminds me, I need to go pull a tooth!

I think it would be hard for older mom's to know how things might have been since they didn't give birth when they were younger. I had 1st dd when I was 22. The rest were born in my 30's (31, 34, almost 39). Physically it was much easier when I was younger. As someone else mentioned, I worried a lot more when I was an older pregnant mom. I worried about disabilities and the increased possibility that I might die or have a stroke. My blood pressure was an issue during my last two pregnancies. DH was military with 1st child, so we didn't have too many financial worries, but our finances had definitely improved by the time we had the last two. I always planned to be a SAHM, so that didn't affect any career decisions. Relationships - It has been harder at times with DH because I'm tired at night and want to be left alone (know what I mean?). Our intimacy took a nose dive due to Mom being too tired from getting up with kids in the middle of the night and losing sleep. In some ways I think I've been a nicer mother to my younger kids (not as much physical discipline), but in other ways I have less patience with them due to being an older lady who wears out more quickly than a younger mom. One thing that REALLY irked me was my doctor asked me almost EVERY appointment about our birth control plans for after the baby was born (last two). Yes, more testing was offered to me when I was older. It could have been due to the fact that we were no long military and had regular insurance. In the military, ultrasounds weren't standard, and I was not offered one with either of the first two children. Interesting observation - I was invited by dd and her DH last fall to attend their birthing class. Most of the women were in their mid-30's or older. My dd was 20 and one other girl (unwed mom about the same age) were under 30. My dd felt out of place.

:iagree:I would also suggest Mary Hunt. Check your library for Debt Proof Living.

Moved on...thankfully!!!

My dd is 10 and has been a slow starter. She is using R&S Math 4, and she NEEDS the review problems at the end of each lesson. Also, her brain seems to turn off and on during just one lesson. She'll speed through 5-6 problems spouting off the answers orally and then suddenly she can't remember what 3x1 is. I kid you not! Drives me batty. Good luck finding the right fit!

It's not fun for the kids but one math lesson each day keeps me in the right frame of mind. You are not alone. I have taken off months, and months, and more months before. This past spring I disciplined myself to do school every day. We made it 9 weeks too and then BAM summer hit. I was very scared that I wouldn't be able to do it again. But, here I am. :) Have a fun week!

I understand what you mean, but that is always one of the questions about homeschool that gives us a chuckle. I have given my kids the choice to do some of their work (not extra) in the evenings. They decline the offer, because they want to get it done and over with during the day! Most days I have an idea of what I think they should accomplish, but I can tell if they are getting burned out and call it a day. There's always tomorrow. ;)

We didn't pick names. You have my permission to skip that part ;). I try to make Latin an "easy" subject. My 5th grader goes over the vocabulary flashcard page (I don't cut them) and then she does a page with me sitting beside her. One page is doable. My 13 yodd does a couple of pages a day independently. They listen to the audio clips when new vocab is introduced. Once they know it, they go over the vocab without the audio. They review all the vocab and chants every day.

I also want to give a thumbs up for My Father's Dragon and Charlotte's Web. I LOVE to hear the recording of E.B. White reading Charlotte's Web. Have fun!

It sounds like you have quite a bit of work ahead of you. :grouphug: I hope the school administrators are flexible. Just for background. My dd did R&S 4&5, but when we tried to do R&S6 in 6th grade she could not wrap her mind around it. That was about the time that she started a major hormonal shift. She is now in 8th and has breezed through the first 15 lessons. I own R&S 7&8 and there is NO way I could do it. Let us know how it works out. Good luck!

The Movie is coming November 21st. Just in time for Thanksgiving (27th)! http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilight_movie.html Edit: Sorry Lovelearnandlive, I see you already mentioned the release date.

Possible spoiler too! Anissa, I think Stephenie Meyer nailed it in New Moon. I had a friend that was so distraught that friends actually came in and fed her after her long term boyfriend broke it off. I would not have believed it if she hadn't told me. She was a very strong and mature young adult. I also went through a similar "I thought I was going to marry the guy" break up in my young adult years. I experienced similar feelings to what was described in the book. So, I have mixed feelings about what is portrayed in the book. She nailed it, but do young girls need the ammunition (referring to the things that Bella does)?

RoughCollie mentioned in the the "Twilight...oh my" thread that her 8th grade dd was assigned to read the book Twilight for school. I was not alone in being surprised that it was assigned. I know many people who have enjoyed reading it but studying it for school? This made me think about my 13yodd's request to read Lord of the Flies. I've been putting her off for almost two years, because I didn't think it was age appropriate. Now I'm pondering the fact that maybe I'm not challenging her enough. No, I'm not assigning fluff, but am I holding her back? (BTW, she's flying through The Lord of the Rings at the moment) When would you let your child read Lord of the Flies? I think her older sister was 17 when we both read it.

My sis-in-law thought Twilight was great and lent it to me after her son (13) had read it. I encouraged 13 yodd to read it then I did too. It was a FUN read. I read the 2nd book and decided that it is more appropriate for older teens who hopefully have a handle on their hormones. Thankfully dd has lost interest. She's not crazy about boys at this point, and I don't want to encourage fantasizing about them. I own and have read all four books. I would encourage you all to read them. They would be great for discussions - pros and cons. I about choked when I saw that Twilight was assigned school reading. As a nation I guess we are desperate to get our kids reading books...any book. My dd reads a lot of fantasy, so I'm not trying to be smug but why assign something that is "candy?"

The only ones I've actually viewed/listened to are a couple by Prof. Vandiver, "Odyssey of Homer" and "Aeneid of Virgil." My 13yodd and I have really enjoyed these. These are the lectures that hooked us on the Teaching Company. 13 yodd has also listened to "Consciousness and It's Implications" and watched "Understanding the Brain." I've heard nothing but high praise from her.

It looks like they are back up and running. :) "Okay! The single server seems to be handling the traffic really well, and the Young Writers Program site is back up in full effect. Hooray!"

My 13 yodd is trying to talk me into doing NaNoWriMo. Unfortunatley, I'm not a writer though it does sound really cool. I looked at the guidelines last year and if I remember correctly, anyone 13 and up who was working independent of a class had to join the adults (50,000 word count). This year 13-17 year old independent writers can set their own word count on the Young Writer's website. They have workbooks for the younger set too. Links are here: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59451 So, here's the question I have. How do you write AND do Thanksgiving?

Hmmm...well, I have a nephew that learned to read at 10 years old. So, I know it can happen. My 3rd dd learned to read at eight. It was nerve racking with grandparents breathing down my neck and second guessing my own decisions. Every time I was on the verge of setting up testing, dd would make a leap forward just enough to make me decide to hold off a little bit longer. I think AngieW has some excellent advice. For me, if my dd had reached 9 and was still not reading I would have had her tested. It can affect a child's self-esteem like Angie pointed out. Mostly, it would equip the two of you with the tools you need to help him become a reader.

How's it going? :grouphug:

My oldest attended public school. I can remember attending an open house at her middle school where they told us that the teachers worked together to make sure that the students had no more than an hour of homework. Ummm, I don't think so! Like you I gave her a lot of slack with housework. She was married at 20 and it shows that she didn't have a handle on housework :glare:. She is in the school of hard knocks now with a baby underfoot too. I feel your pain!

I would give them a few more days, but do check back. I think the workbooks are worth it. From the website: We’re Back Online! W00t and Welcome Back! Hey there writers! October 1 eve, we lost one of our big database servers to disk failure. We're sad to say that the disk dying meant we lost a day's worth of new accounts and forum posts. Our most recent back-up was 9/30 at 1:15 AM. So if you created an account or made any changes after then, they've been lost and will need to be redone. Since we are running with one server instead of two, we might need to take the site down again until both big-gun database servers can work as a team again. But it was just too sad to be dark in October, and we'd rather be slow (with occasional weird 'Cannot connect to database' errors) than not have anything up at all. If you're just browsing the site, you can help keep the load on our database lighter by only signing in when you're ready to post something. Clicking on the "Customize Forums" link on your My NaNoWriMo page and unchecking forums you don't want to read will also save us precious data cycles. Something not working right? Post a report about it in our site feedback forum! Thanks for your patience everyone! The NaNoWriMo Staff

Bees & Blossom charts has been VERY helpful here. They were worth every penny. We put the posters on the end of my bed every morning. DD would stand at the foot of my bed and I would toss a "bee" to her from the other end of my bed. She loved diving all over my room trying to catch them. They can be lethal if you throw them just right. :D

I bought one too even though I knew it I wouldn't use it, but I'm a sucker for planners. Reading through the table of contents may give you a good idea if it is something you will use. Many of the forms don't apply to me, because we don't have to do record keeping in our state. Also, it uses a lot of color (brick red) for printing. That could get spendy.

Hmmm...as a landlord, I would say that it is his/her responsibility. Fleas I can understand if you bring them with your pet. Of course, I let my DH take care of these types of questions from tenants ;) . Good luck :)