It won't be cheaper than buying 'regular' eggs from the grocery store. However, if you live in a place where your chickens can free range for most of the year you will have to give them significantly less feed and may end up being about even or a bit less. We have well over 50 chickens, all free-range and give them about 6-9lbs of feed a day, the rest they forage for. At that rate, 5 chickens would go through 50 lbs (~$12-$13) of feed in 2 months and if you had production hens you'd get about 20 dozen eggs in that same time period, so .65 per dozen... not bad.

Here are some pics of the eggs I get from my girls :)

Here's more interesting trivia: -hens can lay fertilized eggs up to 3 weeks after being with a rooster. -the average age of first lay of a production hen (red star, leghorn, and the like) is 24 weeks. -eggs can remain 'good' for a looooong time, even without refrigeration (as long as it hasn't been washed and doesn't have any cracks in it). I'm talking months and months. -not all chickens will eat their eggs if you only collect them every few days. -there are many different colors of eggs: blue, green, army/olive green, chocolate brown, terra cotta brown, brown, white, pink. -eggs must be incubated at 99.5 deg F for 21 days in specific humidity in order to successfully hatch a chick, or you need a broody hen to sit on her eggs for around 21 days to hatch chicks (usually hens have a much better hatch rate than incubators). -there are chickens that have black skin, there are chickens that have feathered legs and feet, there are chickens that have feathers that stick up straight from the tops of their heads, and there are chickens that have curly feathers. Want pics? Google: polish chicken, silkie chicken, cochin chicken. My fave: google frizzle polish chicken. -eggs that you buy from the store are washed in a bleach solution. The hens are packed side to side in tiny cages where they can hardly turn around and live on wire their entire lives. -you CAN tell if an egg is fertilized. There will be a spot on the yolk that looks like a white bullseye (not just a white dot) - if there's one there the egg is fertilized. Blood spots have nothing to do with fertilization. -a true free-ranged chicken will lay an egg with a DARK orange yolk which is much higher in good fats and much better for you than store bought eggs. -chickens come in all different sizes. I have one breed that is abou the size of a softball and another that is about the size of a 2.5 year old.

Have you been to have your hormones evaluated to make sure your levels are correct? Perhaps you have depression (but not actually caused by hs'ing) and medication would help lift the cloud hanging over your head. Although homeschooling can be challenging at times I do enjoy it and I enjoy being with/raising my children. If my hormones are out of whack for a few days (or 6+ months when I had a Mirena IUD at one point) I was an awful person to be around and could not handle anything without having an overblown reaction. I hope you're able to figure it all out. If you feel homeschooling is THE cause of your depression I would send your kids to school. Having a happy family life with kids that know they're loved is more important (in my opinion) than homeschooling and having a rocky relationship with them. Hugs.

Really? Because I love being around my kids and can't imagine not seeing them for 8ish hrs 5 days/week. Secondary reasons - I can choose the curriculum and how fast or slow we go with it; I don't have to get my butt (or theirs) out of bed at the ungodly hour of 5am; I can use Christian curriculum and incorporate God into their schooling. :)

I would start with Alpha. Primer is mostly just counting and writing numbers.

I live in Knox Co (E. TN) and think it's pretty reasonable. Our sales tax is high (9.25%) but we have no state income tax. Property taxes aren't bad IMO - we paid $1200 for a 3500 sf house on 11 acres. We don't have to do vehicle inspections - just a $60 fee to renew registration (the fee is lower in surrounding counties). Other considerations - you won't need to buy snow gear for your kids every year - just a sweatshirt paired with a regular jacket would work fine for most winter days. We have a very long growing season if you have a green thumb, if not we have tons of farmers markets with competitive prices. eta: If you enjoy the country, if you have more than 15 acres here you can apply for a greenbelt something or other (can't remember exactly what its called, lol) but if you're approved you don't have to pay any property tax at all. Very easy to get approval, too.

I say it but would prefer my boys not to say it (probably won't care once they're older though). It doesn't offend me at all if someone else says it.

Eh. I use it on forums sometimes if I'm sick of saying 'dh'. Do I say it in real life? - No. Do I care if someone says it in real life? -No. ;)

I worked with a trainer for a while. He measure bust from behind (had me place the tape in the right spot). he also measured hips from behind... which was probably the most uncomfortable measurement for me. Honestly though, it's not that bad... and it was motivation for me to work my a$$ off so the measurements would be smaller every time, lol!

I don't think my husband or I take each other or our marriage for granted. I know that despite our vows and committment to each other that another woman could always come along... and he knows another man could as well. We do our utmost (most of the time ;) ) to keep each other happy and content so that we don't have to worry about the 'what if's'. We'll have been married 10 years in August and so far, so good. I feel horribly sad for your friend. I think as women that is something many of us (especially those that devote their lives to their families) fear.

I would accept immediately. Congrats :)

I'll be 47 when my (unborn) baby graduates high school.

With ds2 he nursed almost exclusively for 9 months (tried baby cereal/food and he wanted nothing to do with it). Around 9 mos I gave him half of a banana to gnaw on and then I believe the next food was avocado. After that I just gave him big pieces (too big for him to shove in his mouth) of soft foods we were eating and then slowly moved on to cutting it into little pieces once he was ready for that. We do not have a history of food allergies so I didn't worry too much about that... figured I'd deal with it if/when it happened. :)

If you kept them swept to the side I don't think it would be that bad :)

I had a pixie cut for years. You need to be slender/normal weight... otherwise it just doesn't look 'right' (... now pregnant with my third, my hair is halfway down my back, lol). I LOVE this: http://www.google.com/imgres?q=goodwin+actress&hl=en&sa=X&biw=1024&bih=506&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=RiJTaUnXM_VuaM:&imgrefurl=http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/fRn_wveFDPC/2011%2BSummer%2BTCA%2BTour%2BDay%2B12/g7X2SS30G1X/Ginnifer%2BGoodwin&docid=uXu9hVBFhdPQaM&imgurl=http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Ginnifer%252BGoodwin%252B2011%252BSummer%252BTCA%252BTour%252BDay%252Bg7X2SS30G1Xl.jpg&w=444&h=594&ei=o6UtT4jRNcnVtge6j4X6Dw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=206&vpy=114&dur=164&hovh=260&hovw=194&tx=106&ty=280&sig=101507269673428632970&page=1&tbnh=146&tbnw=109&start=0&ndsp=14&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:0

Off the top of my head: Ruby Falls (Chattanooga) underground lake (E. TN) Cades Cove (Smokies) - great hike from there is Abrams Falls Tubing down the river in Townsend if you're here during the summer The drive from Gatlinburg over to NC is GORGEOUS, so is the Foothills Parkway which you get to through Townsend. Fall Creek Falls is really nice plus they have a retaurant there (buffet) that's nice... I think they have crab legs on Fridays ;) Be forewarned that the park is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Great camping facilities though.

Yum! Made me giggle that when I clicked on your thread it was right below the 'war on sugar' thread :D

We don't. I have to pick and choose things to fit into our budget... if we did a co-op we wouldn't have the funds for extra activites such as t-ball, karate, etc. Plus, I'm not the type that enjoys being out of the house every day...which would be the case if we did a co-op plus activities.

I'm using Spell to Write and Read with both of my boys. It takes a bit of reading through the manual for it to click and be able to teach it.... but it is SO worth it. There is nothing quite like knowing your child can pretty much read anything he wants to once he/she has all the phonograms memorized. We haven't done sight words at all and DS6 is able to get through a level 1 reader by himself (couldn't read at all at the beginning of the school year).

I make espresso for iced coffee every day. I have a cheap espresso maker with a wand on the side (De'Longhi brand, i think) that steams milk. I use Starbucks ground espresso that you can buy in almost any grocery store. I don't think you necessarily need an expensive espresso maker - just the kind of espresso that he likes. :)

To get myself out of ruts I'll go onto Pinterest or Foodgawker.com and favorite everything that looks good ... and there's a lot. I'll then upload the recipe to the site I use for meal planning. :)

Meals would be huge if she's not going to have help once the baby arrives. Also, maybe even watching the baby a couple times in the first couple weeks so she can get 2 hrs of uninterrupted sleep. That's so sad :(

At the ages your kids are at it would not take long to do school every day. With my 6 and 4 yr olds it takes about 2 hours. I work on just basics with the 4 yr old (recognizing numbers 10-100, counting to 100, phonics, writing) and you can see what we do for my 6 yr old in my signature (basically grammar, phonics/spelling/reading, math, history, science, bible, art, etc). I love spending the time with them and the rest of the day they're pretty much off on their own playing. It's not as much of a time committment as you might think. :)

I think it will vary greatly as well based on the type of instruction - for example, we don't do any sight words, we follow the spalding method. Ds turned 6 in October and he is able to work his way through a level 1 book with minimal help (but still with some frustration). I'm expecting by the end of the school year he will be ready relatively 'fluently'. :)