That's very true. An hour's journey each way and an hour's playdate do take out a chunk of a day. It's no problem Jenn. Probably my fault for not explaining the situation properly in the first place.

Thanks :001_smile: I've been thinking that the simple approach was probably best.

:001_smile: Yep.. that is for sure. Love them to bits, but there are those odd occasions when you could use some alone time!

That - and the pain I'm probably going to cause her - is something I'm really worried about. I read someplace that if you leave the head in you can cause an abscess :eek: Poor baby, I just hate this and am scared of doing it wrong but I can't leave the wretched thing in her skin. I ought to have called myself Mouse, not Hedgehog.

Oh my goodness. No wonder you are scared. I would be terrified. I should follow your instinct.. not sure what else to say. You know your town best etc.

I've been struggling with this too so I'm going to try a new schedule for my chores. I have 4 kids, we do school 4 days a week and I have a big dog who sheds a LOT. She goes to a homeboarding place on a Wednesday so I've scheduled most of my cleaning on that day. In reality I think I'm going to need to vac other times as well but at least the main mopping of floors and cleaning of toilets (which she seems very interested in) will be done when she's not around. Other than that I sorta keep laundry going during the day in between schooling and do ironing in the evenings when dh does Bible readings. I'm not totally happy about that as it means I can't do any Bible marking so I might change it. The kids also have a small number of rotating chores - loading and unloading the dishwasher, wiping the table, bringing the laundry down (this is usually accompanied by a lot of laughter since they all throw it down the stairs and oftentimes the laundry and all the kids end up in a heap at the bottom. :lol: ) A while ago a wise mom advised me to get the kids on board with some simple chores and it's worked very well for us. Somehow, they still seem to think it's fun doing grown up jobs!

I would say.. go ahead and have a wonderful time. It's lovely to have grandparents who will have your kids occasionally and I'm sure your dc will really enjoy themselves. I think it's important to have special time with your dh and the relationship between your kids and their grandparents is important too. Dh and I went to Dublin in May for a long weekend and it did us so much good. Extended periods of time for talking about everything and nothing :001_smile: and our dc had a fantastic time with my folks, who live right near a beach. :D

This is where I have to show tough love.. right.. :sad: We use Frontline every month :confused:

Katymary.. thanks.. that's a lot clearer than what I can see on my dog's skin. And also a little :ack2: It seems to hurt her when I touch it.. what should I do to help her?

Great idea.. how exciting! I love house decorating etc! :lurk5:

how to identify it for a start, and how to deal with it effectively? Our dog is a rough-coat GSD and I was just running my hands over her fur as usual (she likes a good massage :001_smile: ) and I came across a lump on her skin. I accidentally knocked some of it off - a bit that seemed rather crusty and came out with some fur attached to it. I wondered if it was a wart at first but what's left there on the skin is more smooth than that. Then when I went to take a closer look it seemed like a small brown/grey thing embedded in her fur. I sorta poked at it and she squeaked at me so it's obviously uncomfortable for her. As she's a rough-coat it's not that easy to see her skin and the fur in this particular area is black. Can anyone help me out? Or the tick out!!

Totally agree. And I'll add, that I think if they're used to helping out when they're younger, it's less of a struggle getting them to help out when they're older. I said to an acquaintance only yesterday, that if I died next week I know my older two dds could pretty much run the house. That is to say, they know how to do it, although it might not always get done!! :D

I guess it depends what the intention is when such a list is produced. I don't know whether it's the done thing in this family's culture to invite strangers to your house, or not. RanchGirl and Mejane.. thanks. :001_smile:

:smilielol5:

This is real interesting subject. Can I suggest that you create a new thread for it? Otherwise it might well get missed at the end of mine. :001_smile:

Praying for you! :grouphug: money worries are so bad.. I hope everything works out well for you all.

What a lovely room! So many great ideas! And your kids are beautiful! :001_smile:

:iagree: We're using R&S grammar, and also Saxon for math. As I understand it, they're both very good programs and certainly the Saxon is pricey. It takes a while for my kids to get back into doing anything after a break, so maybe give it a few weeks and see how your son is getting on? And we aren't on the "correct" grade for R&S grammar either, although we did start using the classical curriculum only recently. My 6th grader is nearly done R&S 3, and my 4th grader is halfway through R&S 2. They already know heaps more grammar than what's being taught in PS so I'm not too worried about that. How about trying him with R&S 2?

Any chance of a convention (or similar) over here in the UK?! OK. I know it's unlikely. I'm saving my pennies for a US bound flight. :D

Thanks for sharing this with us. It was real helpful to me to read this today.

I've just edited the original post. I hope it explains things better (but I'm rather anxious that it won't!) :sad: Yes - I could ask to communicate with the mom. Well that counts me out then!!! We are unitarian/baptist Christians (for want of a better description)! No it's ok. It's probably quite innocuous, as you say. :iagree:

No, my friendships are by no means all about my faith. As I said in another post, my children play out most fine days with the children who live on our street. Not one of them goes to our church, and there's a fair mix of religion/life beliefs and skin color. We occasionally attend a homeschool group in our town which again is made up of a diverse group of people and we get along with them all. And no, it doesn't matter whether someone has a disability etc. My nephew has uncontrolled epilepsy (it doesn't respond to any drugs) and I have no problem being with him/taking care of him/etc. My concern in this instance is that because of the difference in culture, I may not be reading this dad's intentions right. I'm honestly not sure what he means, although I think it's most likely that he is genuine and looking for a good friend for his daughter. I do know that it's the dad because when I mentioned the name to the city group leader, she confirmed that it was the dad of this family.

Thanks Jenny. It's really helpful to have your perspective. I also try to maintain a respectful distance with other men, because my dh has asked me to. Culture is a funny thing and yes, one thing for me might mean a totally different thing for this dad who sent the email. It hadn't occurred to me that it might be construed as asking me out on a date! That is a little scary! Yes, I agree. I think this is my dh's objection to me being alone with other men.

I've actually only just discovered that you can edit your posts. Sorry about that. The online group covers the whole county. Within that, there are actual homeschool groups that meet up regularly for socialising or specific activities. This particular family attends two homeschool groups in their city, and I sometimes attend a group in my town. The city is 45mins-1hrs drive away from me. I have emailed the leader of one of the city groups, but all she said was that she saw the family occasionally with either dad or mom but she hadn't actually had any proper conversation with either of them. It's a big group and they meet for specific educational and sporting activities, as far as I know.

I know, and thanks. I guess the lady who posted this had a different perspective on what I wrote, and I won't be responding to the dad like this. I originally created this post with the hope that someone would be able to help me word a pleasant refusal because I was finding it difficult, and it has been useful to hear some different views and broaden my perspective on the whole thing. That's a good point, Jenn. That would be true if he was interested to join the homeschool groups I sometimes go to but they live in a city 45mins - 1hrs drive away from us so I am not sure. Our attendance to our the groups in our town has become more and more sporadic of late as I have gotten busier with sorting and packing things for storage so I'm not sure how much help we would be to them. But it may well be worth asking whether the dad is interested to attend my local group. It's from 2 Corinthians 6. For me it's simply a recognition that Christians and non-Christians think differently about some aspects of life, so if you want encouragement in your own faith you'll most likely find that with someone who agrees with you. I am really sorry that non-Christians are treated like pariahs in your local Christian HS group but it's probably better to discuss it with them?