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AmyontheFarm

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Everything posted by AmyontheFarm

  1. MY husband is a fire fighter and he's had to deal with seeing a few dead people. Please, get your husband someone to talk with a minister, a close wise friend or a counselor so that he can get his thoughts out in the open. I hated admitting this for the longest time, but I as a wife CAN'T be the person that he unloads everything too. He didn't want to scare me with the details, he wanted to protect me so my husband just didn't talk about his first event for months. Which meant he wasn't talking about much of anything to me for months! AAuggh! So, find him someone, preferably another man who is married and gets the whole "I don't want to freak out my wife by telling her this" thing. He most likely won't need to see them long, my husband get everything out in 1-2 visits at the time and he's good. I do watch out for the "boomerang" which is when the memorials start going up or are posted in the paper at the one year anniversary. Those can bring up the memories again and he might need to re-connect with that councilor again. But not always. It amazes me that with all the "death" we see on tv, our bodies know and understand that it is just pretend because when we witness something in real life, our bodies and minds go into overdrive.
  2. Today was our first day back from Christmas break. I planned in September to ONLY get math done today. Wasn't I a smarty pants! LOL I figured if it took us 8 hrs we'd get her done. Last week, I did invite a homeschooling family who are new to our area over for an afternoon play date! I officially have 8 minutes until they are scheduled to arrive, the house is clean, the math marked and put away and the tea kettle is bubbling. The kids were motivated to complete their work and clean up to meet some new friends! Man, I've gotta figure out how to get them this motivated every Monday morning! LOL My dd18 however is being effected by a full moon, or a boy. Haven't figured out which one yet.
  3. :glare: My husband wouldn't let me duct tape the kid in bed. :glare: So, I feel your pain, if it's any consolation when he's a teenager he won't want to get out of bed. Excuse me, I have to wake up a teenager....
  4. I would ask to see each picture before it is used. Just make sure that little girls are sitting appropriately if they are in a dress, etc. I wouldn't let them use their names on the internet or a printed handout. I would give them permission to use a made up name. But never their real name. We sign photo releases for our church each year so they can use the pictures on the website and posted on bulletin boards. Names are NEVER used.
  5. Can I ask how long it took to work with tea tree oil? We used some OTC suff the dr recommended for months and it did nothing. I finally just stopped because she was so tired of the routine every single night. Since, then she now has more warts appearing.
  6. My dd now has an ipod. She's agreed to let us read her texts from a specific person (for her protection) but is getting frustrated that she has to forward them to us individually. I understand that some might think that she just shouldn't allow any contact with this person but that's not possible. I agree with her, it is frustrating to get 30-60 emails and try to follow a one sided conversation. Does anyone have any suggestions how to do this easier and even better if I can see what the other person has said later on. I don't need a blow by blow of the conversation daily but I do want the peace of mind that I CAN go back to check over the conversation on a back up version in case a he-said-she-said senerio happens latter on. Thanks,
  7. Sorry, I posted this on the wrong forum, I copied it over to the General Forum and don't know how to delete it now.
  8. As a wife of a fire fighter I vote that you buy and practice using a ladder. If there is space for a window seat under the window you could build in a storage area for the ladder so it doesn't accidentally get mislaid in the room's closet. Make a designated fire location away from the house, but NOT crossing any streets. You don't need any little ones playing chicken with a fully loaded fire truck!
  9. I'm teaching Seabird come February. Every week we'll be reading the next part of the book. Then start on some hand-on activities. For two classes they will be carving their own soap seabirds. We'll be making a whale bone model out of cardboard another week. Learning about ships, and they need to build one of their own, I limited the size and weight! See, I can learn from my mistakes! LOL Each of them will have "crew" jobs and they will be completing a semi-prepared lap book by doing hunts for some of the components. I'm really excited about the class!
  10. I just started homeschooling this year. Before I selected all my curriculum, before I set up the homeschool room, before I worked out my schedule. I decide I was going to make a crazy horn. :biggrinjester: I took a cardboard tube and wrapped it in red and and white paper. Attached a funnel to one end with a bunch of bright coloured gift ribbon curls. On the other end I hammered in a brass metal "mouthpiece" which was a metal candle insert. I attached a silver ribbon to hang our horn from a stand. Then I put it into the classroom area with a note on it stating do not touch. It drove the kids nuts. :lol: I live to drive my kids crazy! Now, when I see someone starting to stare off into space, I'll grab the horn and continue reading through it or when we are reviewing something I'll hand it to the child to share their answer by speaking through the horn. They never know when I'm going to reach for it and they think it's funny! I want to buy one of those dollar store microphones that amplify your voice next so when they need to give me an answer I can give them the microphone as if we were on a game show. Other things we do for fun is meet Daddy in town for lunch. Oh and those stupid webkinz. The fluff balls have a nicer wardrobe then I do! LOL
  11. I just showed my dd8 and she's so excited! Finally girly Lego.
  12. I learned recently that there are quite a few spelling lists already built in Spelling City. For example, we are working through the Dolch word lists so googled dolch word list spelling city and up it pop's! Someone else has already did all the entering of the words for me! That saves me a ton of time with multiple kids.
  13. Each child uses a different program. My ds10 uses Mavis Beacon typing class. My dd8 uses Ten typing thumbs. Both think it's a game and I use it as reward time because I activated the games in each program. So, if everything else gets done then they get to "play". Both kids are doing great at progressing through the program, so I"m happy.
  14. my dd is off to a dorm in 1.5 years so I"m all ears! :bigear:
  15. Ok, after a bunch of research on my part, discussion with my dd and hubby we've decided to invite him to a get together at our home with other families from church. This allows him to step into our family and friends circle easily. As to the written plan my daughter asked for, we've decide on a few basic guidelines to start. 1. She can't date one-on-one yet. She is welcome to hang out at the coffee shop with their group of friends but not to be off in a corner just the two of them. (She is fine with this, she says she's not ready to date any one person yet. She just wants to get to know him better.) 2. She needs to make sure that no boy makes her feel that she needs to exclude other people from her life. ( She understands this because her cousin doesn't talk much with any family after she started dating and eventually moved in with an overly possessive young man.) 3. She arrives to the group events either in our car or arranges to arrive and leave with a girl friend. We live out in a rural area, so we don't want any "accidents" like forgetting to fill the gas tank and "aww shucks my cell phone is dead. We'll just have to sit here alone in the dark together" moments. She'll also call when she's arrived and when she's leaving, because it is a rural area and we want to know she is safe. 4. She carries my cell phone when going with the group so that she can contact me - if someone needs a ride home, or for permission to be out past 10pm. 5. She has a 10pm curfew at age 18. She started to laugh because she's usually in bed by 9pm. 6. No touching, not even hand holding. This was her request. She doesn't want to go down that road, if she's uncertain that she wants to actually date him by herself, she says she wants time to just learn to be friends. Then she looked at me and said that she wants to marry her best friend just like I did. 7. Any boy who is interested in dating her must talk with Dad and ask his permission to date our girl. 8. Any potential boy must be either in school full time or working full time. This boy she's interested in is 20 and is just starting a 3 year apprenticeship. 9. Parents have the right to chose the chaperone(s) when she does start dating more exclusively. We will take into consideration her suggestions. 10. No boys on the floor where her bedroom is. EVER! 11. Any potentials are welcome to join us for any meals at home or at a restaurant, dad will pay. 12. No, electronic communication past 8:30pm because she usually has night devotions and she wants to continue that without her ipod going off constantly. So, the game plan is to attend group events so they can get to know each other better. Welcome him into our home with other groups of people at first then over time just him and us. So, he can get to know our family and we can get to know him better. IF, things are progressing then we'll give our blessing to dating exclusively which our daughter says she can't imagine that happening for at least 2 years. I'm betting it'll be closer to one year, but I'm not telling her that. We will figure the rest out from that point, later on. My husband reminded me that by the time I was her age, I was already engaged! So, any suggestions that we should add to these guidelines?
  16. My parents wouldn't allow me to date one-on-one until I was at least 16, and the young man had to ask my father for permission to take me out on a date. I HATED this, until one day some friends of friends started a campaign to get me to date this young man who I didn't want to date. He was sweet but just not my type and he was happy with the thought of us dating. Well, these friends just wouldn't stop, so I told the young man he would have to ask my father for permission first. He readily agreed! Asked when my dad would be home and he'd pop over to chat with my Dad! I had a small freak out by myself on the way home and I burst into the house screaming that if any guy named Pat came over that Daddy HAD to say no! :glare: Obviously, I wasn't mature enough to date anyone if I had to have my Daddy crush a young man's dream. My father was so awesome, he actually took this young man out for coffee, asked about his passions in life, his goals, etc. Finally, the boy came to realize that the only thing we had in common was a few friends. So, my father explained that he couldn't date me because it wouldn't be fair to the precious young women who was waiting for him to find her. Apparently, Pat shook his hand and thanked him, they met one more time but not to discuss me but instead photography, apparently my father had more in common with him than I did! LOL A few years later when the man who I eventually married asked my dad if he could take me out on a group date with a group of youth from church. My father asked him how we would get to the restaurant, where we'd be going and how I'd get home, along with who'd be our chaperone. Walt was able to give him answers to all those questions and my dad gave his ok, without talking to me! I remember thinking, hey don't I get a say? But at the same time this was the first time I was actually allowed to go hang out with the youth group after church, so I figured it would be fun. I was nervous and so excited to be going out on my first group date. Walt realized that I was still too immature to be dating alone yet so, we went with the church group on group dates for over a year. I wasn't going "steady" so I was free to make friends with other guys and I actually went to a Valentine's Dinner with another boy and my Aunt and Uncle who were trying to set us up. That was a flop! When we finally started going on dates just the two of us, I knew that I was going to marry him. In total we dated for 5 years and now we've been married for 18.5 years. To me courtship is more about guidelines that allow each party to walk away from the relationship with their heads up high. I think it offers protection for the younger girl by allowing her father to speak on her behalf. But it also allows the young women to be protected by her father. At 15 I had my heart set on a young man, my father stated in no uncertain terms that I would never be allowed to date this young man. I was furious! But in retrospect, my father was very wise, because my husband and I are friends with this man and his wife today. If I had married this man, I'd be up on manslaughter charges, cause I could just strangle him for some of the stupid things he's done to his wife and career. So, I believe that courtship has blessings for a young women, but my father always told me that who I married was MY choice. Yeah, he pushed me into that first group date with Walt, but my dad knew that I needed a bit of a push from the nest, just to test my wings. And my truly grateful that he did.
  17. Thanks everyone. If I had time I'd update that list but I don't need another project right now, and I suspect neither do any of you! LOL I'll slowly build a cheat sheet in my computer book here, I know eventually I'll learn most of the abbreviations. I just have to give myself some time.
  18. I ended up buying a copy of the Well-trained Mind after borrowing my girl friends 4 times. It's always on hold at our local library. I recently borrowed Cathy Duffy's book from the library! Wow! It was a huge help to me. I was able to sit down and "work" through her exercises and had an amazing layout of how, what, and why I wanted to homeschool for each of my kids personalities. These pages became invaluable along with the Well-trained Mind book to help me sort out which curriculum to use with each child. I was able to completely by-pass the unfortunate process of trying some expensive curriculum and discovering my kids just hated it. That saved me some serious cash! I would strongly suggest that you either borrow each book from the library and read them through or buy the Well-trained Mind and borrow Cathy Duffy's book from the library being prepared to photo copy some of the work sheets. I just started this school year myself. This forum is amazing! If you think you might like a curriculum I'd suggest you search the forum and read what people have to say about it and more importantly "WHY" they like it or don't like it. You have to select curriculum based on your child's needs, strengths, abilities first, then look to see if it fits your needs (limited prep work, lack of internet in the home, etc) You will be blessed through this process, if you thought you knew your kids before it's amazing how much you learn about their learning styles after reading both books.
  19. Our oldest (dd18) has come to me and told me that she liked a certain young man and is interested in becoming better friends with him. She has never dated before herself and doesn't want to date for the sake of dating. She's talking about more of a courtship style of a relationship. But that's only IF they become friends. He's texted her a few times and she's been bring me her ipod when he does and showing me what he says, willingly. Then she's talked with me about what she is going to write back. I'm loving the openness she has with me, as she starts walking down this road. I should be completely thrilled, right! I'm scared stiff! I don't know anything about courtship, she's asking her father and I to help create a written road map for her so that she "doesn't screw this up", those were her words. She understands that this young man might not be "The One" but she doesn't want to make a foolish mistake that isn't God honoring either. :bigear: So, I'm open to suggested reading for all of us. Directions/ Suggestions so that I as a Mom don't mess this up. Guidelines, courtship contracts, any advice what so ever. BTW, what we know so far about this young man, we are pleased. My best friend is related to him and I've been in her home multiple times for parties and have been able to watch how he treats people of all ages, I've seen him step in to lend a helping hand without asking, repeatedly and he has the same faith base as us. So, Daddy and I aren't adverse to this, just scared stiff that our "baby" is growing up! LOL
  20. First, I love this forum! The people on this board have taught me so much and saved me $100's of dollars. But I wish this forum had acronym macros so that every time a person types in their curriculum acronym it actually wrote it out in full, or at least allowed us newbies to be able to hover over the acronym and see what the actually title of the curriculum is called. Just my little rant. :glare: BTW, I finally got the tree decorated tonight. I foolishly thought homeschooling my kids would allow me more time to do things with the kids like decorating the tree. But I've learned that I don't like people talking to me while I wrestle those darn lights onto that fake tree!
  21. We borrowed a lot of books through the ILLO at the library too! It can take a couple of weeks for the books to arrive to plan ahead.
  22. Does anyone know if I need to purchase the Teacher's Manuel and the Master Toolkit also? I wish I could find a used copy of this game. Does anyone want to sell there copy? LOL
  23. We made two sugar cube Pyramids to go along with our curriculum. We glued the cubes together with white Elmer's glue. They've sat out side through two rains and they are hardly dissolving. My dd is concerned that they won't disintegrate. Now, I'm worried too! Perhaps I used too much glue? Will these things be outside on the deck all through our Ontario winter? How long did it take for you pyramids to dissolve?
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