I have used canvas bags/reusable bags on and off for years. My biggest problem is that I forget them in the trunk and don't think about it until it is time to pack the groceries. We also have some of the Ikea bags and they are huge and would not fit in my purse. I am looking into buying some of the ones that fold up small so I can put them in my purse and not forget them. I feel guilty when I have to use paper bags because I forgot mine in the trunk and am too lazy to run out and get them. :o

I have always had acne prone skin. As a teen I used all the horrible, drying "for oily/break-out prone skin" products I could find. My skin was terrible! It was always red and sensitive and I would break-out anyway. In my 20's I found a wonderful skin care routine from some department store make-up counter (might have been Estee Lauder or something, I don't remember). It was designed for sensitive skin and I loved it. My skin had never looked or felt better. Of course, shortly after discovering the company discontinued this line. I looked for other products over the years, but have settled on Kiss My Face olive oil and honey bar soap and a moisturizer from the Grassroots line that Kohls carries. I also sometimes use essential oils depending on how my skin is doing. I would like to do something more natural for a moisturizer, but what I am using works nice. I have thought of trying the oil cleansing method, but it just sounds like too much work for me. :) I do have to say that backing off from all the oily skin products has made a world of difference!

I just received the Ancient Far East kit for my dd (6th grade) to use as she is really a hands-on type. We are enjoying it so far. We have also done the Egypt, Greece/Rome and Middle Ages kits. We have enjoyed the activities. I think our favorite is still the fruit mummy from the Egypt kit. We still have them sitting on our bookshelf.

This is the approach we have taken. When I first started hs'ing I looked for other hs families. They weren't easy to find and when I finally found them I realized that we just didn't fit in. Joining community activities has been a much better fit for us. My dd is in figure skating and Judo and my ds is in bowling and Judo. He is also part of a teen group at the library (not hs specific). We do other random activities as they come up. For us this has worked really well.

We do Judo, also. JudoMom gave a great description so I won't repeat what she said. :) We also plan to try JuJitsu in the next month or so because our Judo instructor does not hold classes from May through August and I want us to continue doing something.

Oh, thanks for posting this. I played this last summer/fall and really liked it, but had forgotten to bookmark it. I couldn't remember the name of it or the web-site and ended up forgetting about it. I am glad you shared it so I can go play again. :)

We sometimes go out to dinner, but more years than not we end up staying home and watching a movie or just enjoying some down time as a family. I am also one that these types of things are not a big deal to me, so that plays a part in it. We talked about doing something for our 10th anniversary, but we didn't get beyond talking about it. :) Maybe if we start now we can have something planned for our 20th. :rolleyes:

Our library has a police officer at the building after school gets out. I am not sure how long he is there (I think until around 5pm or so?). The library is right next to the high school so lots of kids are there doing homework, hanging out, accessing the web, etc. There are quite a few kids, but they are well behaved from what I have seen when I have been in there at that time. But, they know that if they get out of line that something will be done. I try not to go to the library when school lets out mainly because of the traffic and the number of people who are in the building at that time. I prefer when it is less busy because the building is not that big and I don't care for crowds. I would talk to your librarians and see if this might be a possibility or maybe bring it up at a city council meeting.? Good luck!

MN has a number of virtual school options as well. It seems like there are more all the time, though no one in the hs circles I am in ever discuss these options. Some don't even know about them. We do get to deduct hs expenses on our state taxes which is nice. Because I feel strongly about hs'ing, I will also continue to fight for the freedom to continue hs'ing. To me it seems that hs'ing, on the federal level, gets lumped into the right of parents to have educational choice. With that in mind, I try to support those who take this stance as opposed to a focus mainly on the public school system. Anyway, I am trying to make dinner and read and post so I hope my thoughts are coherent. :)

I just read this today about McCain's stance on education.: Charters, homeschooling, & vouchers are key to success Q: How can we improve the quality of public schools in this country? A: Choice and competition is the key to success in education in America. That means charter schools, that means home schooling, it means vouchers, it means rewarding good teachers and finding bad teachers another line of work. It means rewarding good performing schools, and it really means in some cases putting bad performing schools out of business. I want every American parent to have a choice, a choice as to how they want their child educated, and I guarantee you the competition will dramatically increase the level of education in America. And I applaud our former Governor [Jeb] Bush for the great job he's done on education in Florida and America. Source: 2007 Republican primary debate on Univision Dec 9, 2007 To me this is stating that he sees homeschooling as an educational option, so I wouldn't think he would be for putting restrictions on it.

Oh, yea, I forgot about that. Out of curiosity, do you know which candidates would be likely to support that piece of legislation?

I think a lot of it will depend on who is voted into office this fall, though I am not sure that we will see any major changes regardless of who becomes president. I don't think homeschooling is that high on the list of immediate concerns for the federal government. In the meantime, I don't see any major changes happening in the near future. Granted, I am speaking to homeschooling on the national level. I suppose individual states can see some changes, but I mostly am concerned with my state and as far as I am aware we have no major legislation in the works that may impact hs'ing laws in MN.

This is a really neat site. Thanks for sharing! :)

I, personally, do not think formal grammar is necessary before middle school possibly even high school. I think basic grammar is important in the younger years, but I don't think a program is necessary to give our children an understanding of the basics of grammar.

The only groups in my area are religious. I tried starting a secular group, but got no response. I decided to leave it be and we join community activities rather than homeschool sponsored ones. I do attend a mom's night out and am on a yahoo group for our area, but no real support group.

First, (((Lucinda))). Ok, when your dd comes to the table in a not so great mood, I would rethink the plan for the day. Maybe start with a game or a special treat or some other fun activity. This may help improve her mood and allow you to accomplish at least some of your goals for the day, if not all. If her mood doesn't improve, well, we all have days like that no matter our age. Try to give her a little grace and try again tomorrow. I don't think kids will try pulling this daily to get out of work if their feelings are respected. As far as not being with kids constantly, I think it is something she will have to get used to. I truly believe that we should not put our dc into every activity/group to come along just so they will have social interactions. I think there is something to be said for staying home and focusing on the family and the academics. Now, I am not saying to not have your child do anything with others, but you need to find the balance. I think you have your dd involved in a nice amount of activities. At this point I would keep doing what you are doing. I would also try to do things where she interacts with people of all ages, not just kids her age. I think this really helps because kids see that all people are interesting and can fill our social needs. It sounds like you are doing a great job. We all have days where we wonder if we are doing the right thing. Go outside and take a deep breath of fresh air. This always refreshes me and helps my attitude. HTH

Thanks for sharing your experience. I think I am going to look for something else.

Yes, I would prefer something secular or at least not overly religious. I am just starting to look and I saw the DVD and thought that was a nice addition, but if the program itself isn't that good, I will continue looking. Thanks!

There are a couple simple ones at this site. They don't have pictures, but you can click on the name for more information. http://greece.mrdonn.org/greekgods/familytree.html HTH

I am starting to look into high school courses for my ds and am trying to figure out science. Has anyone here used AO LifePacs? I am looking at the grade 10 set as that is the one that covers biology. Are these religious? Are they a decent high school level course or is there something better? I see they have a DVD of the experiments. Has anyone used or seen these? Are they necessary? Thanks.

I try to do 1 hour of yoga daily. I do a kettlebell workout 3 times a week and Judo 2 nights a week. I am looking into Ju-Jitsu, also. I do random workouts with my dc and I try to walk regularly. I average 6 days a week of exercising. I don't do it to lose weight, but to keep active and loose. I look at my parents and see how being inactive can affect a person. I wish I lived by some mountains because one of my favorite things to do is hike in the mountains. Maybe some day, sigh.

Have you tried replacing the needle? Skipped stitches can be caused from a dull needle. I would start with that and then re-thread your machines, check the bobbin area for lint or stray pieces of thread and then try it again to see what happens. If it is still doing the same thing, it might be the timing and I have no idea how to fix that. Good luck!

I have found that combining subjects as much as possible really helps move the day along. We don't do writing as a separate course, for example. My dc write within other subjects (history, science or literature) and we talk about the mechanics of writing as they come up. This way they get 2 things done at once and the writing makes more sense to them rather than some of the silly assignments I have seen in some writing curriculums that I have looked at. We had been doing grammar as a separate subject, but are now combining that in with the writing. If I see something that needs to be addressed, we use resources we have on hand to go over the concept and then apply it to the writing. Things like geography and logic are covered in history, science or literature. By doing this we end up with math, literature, history, science, PE and foreign language. We also don't always do History and Science everyday. Math and lit. are usually about an hour, sometimes less, PE is about 30 minutes and FL is anywhere from 15-30minutes. So most days we do about 5-6 hours of work. Anyway, would you mind listing your subjects? Is there a way to combine some of them? Just some thoughts.

I was surprised that my ds (13) enjoys it, also. He is more into action games (he likes Sonic, Metroid Prime, stuff like that), but he played this for quite a while and really enjoyed it. It was fun watching him train his dolphin. The other thing I like is that the game is $29.99, where most Wii games are $49.99. It wasn't so hard to fork over the money. :) We have a diving school in town and my dc and I are discussing scuba lessons now! Amazing the doors video games can open. :)

I just wanted to share that we just purchased Endless Ocean and my dd is having a great time with it. She is learning about many different ocean animals while playing. I am not a scuba diver, but it looks realistic so you almost feel like you are there. It was $30 well spent!