I'm not opposed to doing a raw diet at all. I'm asking here because I want opinions on types of food or food options so I can make an informed decision. No my daughter would not eat the dog food. But if the dog is eating egg daily and then licking my daughter, she could have a problem with hives and itching.

My hubby and I have talked about getting another dog for years. We had a pomeranian when we were first married. She passed away 7 years ago. I never thought I'd love having a little dog but I did. So......while my hubby would probably prefer a larger breed, I want another Pom and he agrees. I found a particular puppy that I want. She's not available to be taken home for another two months which is fine with me. That gives me time to prepare. However, am I crazy for getting another dog? I've thought about the time investment, the house training, the barking, the exercise, the grooming, the food, the vet visits and bills.....Help me think through this. Tell me what questions we should ask each other. Also, I need to find an egg, dairy, and gluten free dog food. My daughter has allergies to those things so I want to make sure the dog food doesn't contain them. It's challenging to find dog food without eggs though. Someone help me out with food ideas please! And I would LOVE for you to share your favorite training and dog care articles, websites, books.....I have a few months before we get the dog (if we decide to do it) so I want to brush up on all things puppy since it's been such a long time since we've owned a dog. We've waited a long time until we thought we were ready for another dog and now that my husband is no longer in a job that requires us to move frequently we feel more comfortable with the responsibility. But I would welcome your thoughts as we discuss.

I give my kids new pjs the night before so they can put them on before bed. We have a few small goodies - my kids are getting nice coloring books and activity books. They work on these while I read aloud. I also make a cake for breakfast. I think that is their favorite part....lol! And we do back to school pics the night before.

We are Lextin Academy. I wanted something official sounding for transcripts someday and for any paperwork. It's a combination of my name and my husbands. (Lexi and Justin). We haven't chosen a mascot but that sounds like a fun idea....

My kids have learned with Typing Insteuctor for Kids. It wasn't expensive. I also looked at Mavis Beacon. I went with the first choice because I had some younger kiddos wanting to learn. But both programs looked good.

Ok we're back to ancient history this school year - Egypt, Greece, Rome and other ancient empires. I would love to hear your favorite map resources. Outline maps? Wall maps? Or resource books with helpful maps?

This. I would use nice materials but not most expensive. We are contemplating some updates and that is our plan. If we use most expensive and nicest options we might price our house out of the neighborhood.

Me. I get up with my oldest at 6 and we get nearly two hours of uninterrupted school time. It's so much less stressful and she enjoys her free time in the afternoon. We keep an early bedtime for everyone. But our early start time has been so so helpful. Best decision ever!

Bliss series Lemonade War series 68 Rooms Adventures Secrets of Shakespeare's Grave (and sequel) Chasing Vermeer Lemoncello's Library and sequel Tuesday's at the Castle series

Me. I'm 3 months postpartum and I need to lose the baby weight plus the extra weight I gained when we moved to a new state last summer-too much eating out during the transition period. However, while I'm breastfeeding my body seems to refuse to lose weight. I'm super frustrated. I'm trying to eat lower carbs and get back into exercising. We'll see if it works. Sigh.

At the top of this forum there is a sub forum that is a writing workshop. People post samples of student writing and ask for feedback. So you might try looking there CAP has online classes where the instructors provide feedback on assignments. But I don't know of a forum about only CAP products or just about thei writing curriculum.

My kids are 16 months apart. My son is 8 and my daughter is 7. I could potentially teach reading together but my son is a struggling reader and his younger sister is passing him up in reading skills. So it I taught them together he would be discouraged. My son is quite good at math and his sister cannot keep up with him there. So they are separate in math as well. I teach Bible, science, history, and Spanish together. Math, reading, spelling, writing, and grammar have to be done separately. They are just not at the same level at all in those subjects so it would be impossible to combine them.

August 1st. Although we moved here from south Texas and when we lived there we did quite a bit of school in the summer and took all of December off as well as other times in the winter. We went to lots of parks and played outside when the weather wasn't unbearably hot. So if I still lived there I would absolutely start now so you can take off when it's actually nice out.

We do school in pjs most days. So every year I buy some cute new pjs for my kids and they get them the night before our first day. They call them their back to school pjs. 😉

Thanks everyone! Maybe I'll try a fountain pen. They sound so intimidating! Lol. And I might get some FriXion pens to see which we like best. Maybe I'll find a pen that will convert me from using only pencil.

What are you shopping for this school year? Necessities and fun extras.... I am getting some personal lined whiteboards, new pens, maybe a fountain pen, lots of post it notes and post it tabs, construction paper, dividers for our notebooks, and back to school pj's. I think I'm stocked up on paper and art supplies. My list is pretty short this year.

My oldest will be in 5th grade and I really should transition her to doing her writing in pen instead of pencil. However, I love writing in pencil and have not found a pen I like using. So I need suggestions to help us find a pen we'll like. Ballpoint? Roller ball? Gel? What brands?

Me too! I opened it and started reading right away to see if they were addressing the issue. Nope!! I'm really frustrated that they aren't updating people.

Yes. But only in grades 10-12. I loved it! I had so much time to pursue my own interests (piano and horseback riding and community service things). And I got to help choose what I studied. It was awesome! I went to private school from 3-9 and public school before that. So I've experienced all 3 options.

Ah! Not what I want to hear. I start 5th grade with my oldest this fall. I'd love to hear tips and advice as well.

My hubby did talk to the pro. He got brushed off. So he wants to have a paper trail of our frustration about how this program has been handled. So he's already talked with the pro twice actually. Now we're going with an email.

Ok. New antibiotic and I'm finally feeling better. I vow to get out of bed tomorrow. That's my hope. Why is mastitis so terrible?! Yuck!

I'm going to let my hubby type out the email and then we can read it together. He'll do a much better job of leaving the emotion out of it and keeping it concise and to the point. I really think we have to address our concerns but I don't want to sound like I'm nothing but negative. Yes, I'm pretty angry at how they've handled things. If only they had stayed in communication with the parents. It's very frustrating.

Sorry, this got long but I need advice about an email I'm going to send...... We are members at a very small beach and golf club where we have access to a golf course, swimming pool, tennis courts, etc. It's a really neat family-oriented place that has a lot of programs for kids. Our 3 oldest kids made the swim team and it's been great. My 3 oldest kids are also doing a summer golf camp. My two girls (ages 10 and 7) are in the regular golf camp which is two hours on Wednesday nights. My son (age 8) is able to be in the advanced camp. He takes golf very seriously and is a pretty good little player for his age - most importantly he wants to play. He LIVES to play golf. So I was excited that the assistant golf pro at the course allowed him to be in the upper level camp (this assistant gave my son lessons last summer, so knows him very well). My problems are with the advanced camp. From the brochure it says that the camp will be from 9-12 every Tuesday from June through July. There will be 1 hour of instruction followed by 9 holes of play with on-course instruction. Every Sunday during June and July there will be a golf scramble competition for the kids who participate in the golf program. The first week we had to pick up the kids an hour early (at 11) because the golf course was hosting some type of big event. Whatever. But I was slightly annoyed that they didn't get their full time. The next week it started pouring rain so they ended it early as well. Ugh! They can't control the weather but they didn't tell me until the moment I dropped off my son the first week that the time for that week would be changed. A little heads up email would have been nice. This past week I went to pick up my 8 year old son. I was at the course at 11:45. I saw him sitting alone on one of the big stones near the parking lot. He looked upset and frustrated. As he got in the car he said he had waited for an HOUR for me. He wasn't wearing a watch so I wondered if his time perception was skewed. But I also wondered if I had the ending time of the camp wrong or something (because of the first two weeks and having to pick him up early - maybe it really ended at 11 and I was wrong). I asked my husband to call the course to confirm for me. Then my son tells me they only played two holes when they are supposed to play all 9. So I realized that yes he had been sitting in the parking lot waiting for me for quite a long time. I told him to go inside the golf shop and call me if he ever doesn't see me waiting in parking lot. So he knows what to do in the future (he is my shy and soft spoken kiddo so he wouldn't naturally want to do this). Sigh But why didn't one of the employees wait with the kids until all of them were picked up by a parent? Why didn't someone (like an ADULT who is being paid to watch my child) call me? My husband got a response from the head golf pro that the camp is actually now going to end at 11 but the boys are encouraged to go on out and play 9 holes ON THEIR OWN. We're talking about boys between 10 and 14 mostly. My son is the youngest. (And for the record, I asked someone else on staff and the course has a rule that children must be 12 or older to play alone. Most of these boys are between 10 and 12 so many of them are not technically old enough to do this). This was never mentioned when we signed up and we never got an email explaining the changes. We would never have assumed that part of the golf camp that we are paying for is unsupervised and without an adult present. Also, on Sunday my husband showed up at the course with my kids for the golf scramble and was told that they weren't having it that day. He thought maybe I was just confused or something. So he took them out to play the course on his own. No, I was not confused. When he came home, I showed him the brochure with the dates of the Sunday scramble and that day was clearly listed. They gave NO reason for not having the competition that day. So, I'm super frustrated. I'm not getting what I signed up for - Sunday competitions that they randomly cancel with NO notice or explanation. My son does not get to play 9 holes with the assistant pro like I thought. He is expected to play the course ALONE or with another boy from the camp with NO adult supervision. They changed the ending time of the advanced camp without notifying me and left my kid ALONE in the parking lot and no one checked on him or called me. When you enroll your kid in a summer camp or clinic don't you expect that they will be with an adult at all times? And not sent off by themselves?? I'm just speechless at this! And isn't the point of paying for a sports camp so that your kid gets instruction in that sport and not just time to randomly play the sport on their own with no guidance? How does that improve their game? My husband is going to draft an email with our complaints to the club. I don't want to come off super harsh because I don't want to be THAT parent and we are still members. However, my kids will NEVER be enrolled in a junior golf program again if this is how they are run. They can do private lessons with the assistant pro from now on. But because we are still members I don't want to blacklist myself and be treated badly because we complained. However, I feel my complaints are valid and important and should be voiced. Truly, I'm mad about how this is turning out. What does the hive think? How should I phrase things in an email to them? And even if my son were older, I didn't pay for him to play the golf course alone. It's a quiet little course but on the edge of a large reservoir. I'm not comfortable with him being out by himself. And if I DID want him to play alone, I'm a member there - he can play for free (so why would I pay for the camp thing?).

Ok. So after I posted I took a cool shower because I felt so bad. While in the shower my throat started to feel weird and scratchy and I realized that I was probably having some type of allergic reaction. I took some Benadryl and called the urgent care back. They refused to prescribe me a different non-sulfa antibiotic and they refused to see me again. They insisted I go to the hospital. Sigh. I could breathe fine and I have several Epi pens in the house. I called my hubby home from work and he took me to see our family doctor. He gave me an antibiotic that I'm supposed to take for a week. No more Keflex for me. And no more sulfa drugs either! Ever! I felt so dizzy and nauseous and horrible. So I have new meds and I'm going to curl up and watch a movie. And my hubby is working from home tomorrow to make sure I'm ok. And I will keep breastfeeding but I will also keep hating it. Sad. I know. But I have 3 kiddos with dairy allergies so I'm terrified to give my babies formula ever. And I won't use soy. So that leaves me with breastfeeding (I can be dairy free). And yes I'll be taking probiotics too. So hopefully I'll start feeling better this weekend. What a yucky day! Thanks for all the advice and kind words!