I'm really glad that you are on the same page as your siblings. That must make the situation much easier (relatively). Is your mother a Christian? The business of lying is very odd. I wonder whether she persuades herself that what she is saying is true, and then to have it pointed out to her that she was deceiving herself may have really pulled the rug out from under her. But yes absolutely, you need the boundaries for the sake of your own sanity and your family. It's so sad, isn't it. In these cases it's almost as if the wounds never really heal, and the person who is still hurting must lash out at others. But you are right - our past can't be a crutch to excuse hurtful behavior. We are fully responsible in the here and now for the things we do. Just two days? My folks verge on being toxic at times, but they don't create if they don't get to speak to my dc for a few weeks. For which I am now ever more thankful than before. (They still make negative assumptions without information, but hey - at least they can't prove anything :D ) But seriously, is it really your responsibility if she does do something terrible to herself? I know it would be so difficult not to blame yourself if she did, but I'm guessing if someone forced you to pick what was most important to you, it would be the health and well-being of your family before the health and well-being of your mother. To put it bluntly, she's old enough to take care of herself. It's not your fault if she chooses to do something silly. Hang in there. A few times when I've had some really awful problem, I've been reminded of Hezekiah, who took the letter from the King of Assyria and physically spread it out before the LORD. I've written down my problem and laid the paper on my bed "before the LORD" and got down on my knees and prayed about it. Don't be sorry for saying what's on your heart! It's good to have a safe space where you can say as much as you need.

He's gorgeous! Just look at those beautiful eyes! :001_smile:

When we started HSing, I came across a book published by the Maxwells, called Managers of their Homes. It's an excellent method for organising the day to day activities of a family, working out how much time you actually have to do what needs to be done. When I started out, I found that I was trying to do far more than I could ever fit into my days. In actual fact you don't NEED to get the Managers of their Homes book. You could do it all on a spreadsheet. That's how my schedule ended up. Having made a list of all the things I needed to do and pruned it to fit into a day, I started fitting it into my spreadsheet. I have the days of the week along the top, and times in quarter hour increments down the side. I put in meals first, unalterable activities and chores after that, and then fit the rest in around it. It requires tweaking every now and again, but it's worked really well for us for some time now. HTH.

I have the feeling, that like many things, math takes time to "click". When your dd is ready, she will understand it. Until then, I would be inclined to treat it as a series of memory exercises. Saxon makes huge use of this - my dc have learned their times tables in full, and many different sets of math facts. Saxon also goes the extra mile to make sure the concepts are explained over and over. Now, when I say to my DDs, what is 2+5, they know it's 7. They know it because they learned the Plus 2 math facts, and they know it because that group of 2 pencils plus this group of 5 pencils make 7 pencils altogether. At the right time for the child, they understand one and then the other of these ways of learning. She'll get it. As you say, she's in 2nd grade. Just so you know, my DDs weren't doing ANY math at that age (I was unschooling and they hated math, so it didn't happen). They're now 10 and 9 and on Saxon 6/5. :001_smile:

I've heard that the R&S Spelling and Phonics programs are really good. We use Spelling Workout with my older DDs. I'm not ecstatic about it, but it does the job.

As it is written in Alice in Wonderland.. start at the beginning, and go on until you get the end, and then stop. In other words.. start with SOTW 1 :D It's so much easier to teach two dc together if you can. I can do this with some subjects for DD10 and DD9, and am hoping the same will happen with DS5 and DD2 when they get a little older.

That's really cute! :001_smile:

I'm really glad that you got some spiritual and emotional support today at church. It sounds like you are making a good effort to reverse the negative trend in your family - communication is vital. Are you close to your mother and siblings? It may sound harsh but sometimes the best way to change is to stop being around people who, by reason of their own habits, pull you back down the road on which you're struggling so hard to walk the other way. It's a bit like this with my family - the details aren't necessary here, but I am making small steps all the time to move away from them and any influence they may have over us, because they tear us down, rather than building us up. Blessings to you Nakia. I can see that you are a loving mama who is doing her very best for her family. :grouphug: I'm often inspired by you and people like you on this forum.

Thanks for all your posts. Really interesting stuff there. K seems to be ok now, she's had some water today and a little bit of her ordinary food. If she gets poorly again soon I'm going to be taking her down to the vet for a check up and I'll probably be asking for allergy tests.

Thanks for all the help so far. I think K is ok for now.. she hasn't been sick for 4-5hrs and I'm going to bring her in and go to bed myself. If anyone has any more thoughts, please do post.

What an amazing song. I've been quietly crying here for the truth of it.

:iagree: However, I'd love to go back with the knowledge and confidence I have now, and give some of those schoolday suckers an earful.

Good grief. Throwing rocks into your yard and at your car. :blink: I'll bet you were glad to be moving!

I can't be 100% sure, but I haven't seen her eat anything when she's outside, for a long time. Back a couple months ago she ate a bit of grass when we were out on a walk but that would be it.

It sounds like you've been pushed around from one doctor to the other and that sucks. (The mockery of your nursing makes you wonder exactly what they do know doesn't it!!) You might like to check this website out; it might be of interest. http://www.womenshairlossproject.com/hair-loss/endocrinologist-dermatologist-hair-loss-doctor/ Anyway I do hope you can work something out. Blessings, Hedgehog x

Well she looks pretty happy just the same! But the color is GROSS! :ack2:

Hmm. K eats and drinks at the same time, although I'm not sure that that's relevant in this case because the first time it happened she was sick when we went out at lunchtime (she eats her meals at 9am and 7pm). Today she had had her tea at the Home-Boarding place at around 6pm, I had picked her up at 7pm and came home, and she was sick at around 11pm. However that's an interesting point and I may well do the same just to be on the safe side. It really can't be nice for her to be sick, she doesn't even understand why. I do know IRL of another dog who is allergic to chicken, but what would puzzle me about K being allergic to it is that she was on a diet of chicken before, and so from that point of view we haven't changed her diet although we changed the brand to a better quality one. Incidentally it's now 3am and she's been outside for an hour, sleeping peacefully on the lawn. I am wondering whether to get her in and go to bed.

Praying for you, Nakia. :grouphug: Doesn't it just make you determined to NEVER EVER do that to your dc.

When we got her, she hadn't been vaccinated regularly and the last booster she'd had was around 21 months prior to her coming to us. I took her straight to the vet and had the vaccs done. At the same time I also started her on Frontline worming and fleaing treatments - worming every 3 months, fleaing every month. The vaccs, worming and fleaing are standard treatments that the vets prescribe for all the dogs they treat. (There are 3 vets working at our veterinary surgery plus assistants.) The food we're using for her is Hill's Science Plan, and again it's what the vet recommended. I moved her onto it gradually over the first two weeks of her being with us. Her coat is noticeably softer now, compared to how it was when we first met her. The food she'd been on before was the cheapest of the cheap.

I agree with Tara.. if you're providing them with food/shelter/etc. then they have an obligation to be part of the family and follow the ways of the household. If that includes holidaying together then that's how the cookie crumbles.

We did change her food according to our vet's advice actually, but in composition it was very similar to what she was having before. Do allergies show up after 4months and as what seems like a one off sicky followed the week later by another?

I'm sorry these kids were so horrid to your ds. :grouphug: You bet. We've had some nonsense with the young ladies round here - major fallings out, parents going to each other's doorsteps and shouting. :glare: The latest was when 10yo N refused to play with DD9, only wanting to play with DD10 (but still happy to "borrow" DD9's bike). So DD10 says, "sorry N, I always play with my sister so if you want to play with me, you also play with her." I love my kids. :D

Any advice appreciated! Our dog is a 9yr old GSD, whom we adopted from a local family 4months ago. The reason for them giving her up was that the adult's work commitments were increasing and K was left on her own for 6-8hrs a day. She doesn't like being alone so we try to take her with us when we go out, but sometimes that's not possible. Last Friday, she was extensively sick - diarrhea and vomiting - all over my kitchen floor. I cleaned it up :ack2: and, as per many relevant websites, withheld water for 12hrs and food for 24hrs. When we gave her water and food again, she was fine with it. This evening it's happened all over again, minus the diarrhea. The vomit is the same, brown and lumpy as if she's digested some of it but not all. Unfortunately, she got to the water bowl as I was cleaning up today's gack in another part of the house and drank loads, so she was sick again - this time very watery and an awful lot of it. She's been whining all through and looking at me most mournfully, and I don't know what to do for her. I've just put her outside on the line and she seems to be very happy lying down on the lawn; she's not whining at the moment. It's 2am here and I'm tired but don't feel comfortable just leaving her on her own. I'm trying to think of what might have caused it. She's not food motivated and often refuses treats, and doesn't graze off the floor much. Yesterday and today she went to her Home-Boarding place because I had my parents to stay and it was easier for her to be "on holiday" (long story and would need a thread of it's own!). The last time she was sick, she'd been at another Home-Boarding place (we use two who work together) two days in the week prior to that episode of sickness. Could this be as simple as separation anxiety or should I be down to the vet first thing on Monday? My poor baby.. :( It's so much worse with an animal because unlike most children, they can't tell you what's wrong.

Thanks for that - very encouraging for me!! I'm intending to use Latin for Children when we've had a bit of fun with Song School Latin.

Some passages for consideration... Ephesians 5v21-26: Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word... v28-29 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church... v33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. 1 Timothy 3v1-5: Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?)