:iagree:This is absolutely why I don't like religious-based curriculum, including my own!

Hmm, I hadn't realized there were LDS curriculums/schools like that out there. I'm kind of leary of anything too religious, though, even if it's my own. I'd rather get a good secular foundation and add in religion. I just find that it's way too easy to start seeing the world in only one angle, and that really bugs me.

We live in the tropics, so ants are a common problem. We use Terro liquid ant bait. I have a small bottle, and just put a few drops on wax paper or old lids (whatever I have handy, really) out at night. The ants eat it, take it back to their nest, and share the poison around. It's really the most effective method, plus kid-friendly as I keep the baits around sinks and things out of their reach (they are also old enough that they don't try to eat strange things anymore). If you worry your kids would get into it, you could always clean them up in the morning, then set new ones at night. I imagine there are homemade versions, but you have to get the concentration of borax just right or the ants won't live long enough to feed the colony (I found that out when I made homemade cockroach bait that slaughtered a ton of ants I never even knew we had infesting our bathroom - ant bodies everywhere around it), so I just took the easy out and bought the bottle, which lasts forever. Oh, one caveat - it doesn't seem to work on carpenter ants, just the small ones, so if that is what you're problem is, you might have to do something different.

Heh, this scernario is very similar to mine (minus the c-section concerns, since both my dc were Vs). Both my husband and I are wishy-washy about it - our youngest is four and a half, and it seems so crazy to go back and do it again. I worry about a tagalong baby, too - our oldest are 3 years apart and it was perfect, but another one would be more than 5 years younger than our last. And there's no way we'll have two more... So, I hear ya! We've decided to stop preventing and NOT start TTC until the end of the year (in other words, there is no ovulation tracking/trying to time it or buying fourteen thousand pregnancy sticks). I can't deal with the stress of checking every month, so it's got to be laidback. And, if we don't end up pregnant, I'm okay with that. I guess you could say we're giving it to God, but not all that extreme, since we have an end date for my husband's snipping no matter what the outcome!

To be honest, if you are doing this for someone else, I think you might have to try again, or borrow a giant bowl from a neighbor. But, otherwise, get a slotted spoon and fish half of it out, then measure into another measuring cup (if you have one that will work?). That's what I would do. Oh, and the reason I say use another measuring cup is because the zucchini is distorting the measurement right now. If you just dump half of it into the dry ingredients, you will not only have not enough zucchini, but the wet ingredients won't be right, either.

My take on all these diets floating around is that if I don't have a medically necessary reason to do it (ie, celiac disease, lactose intolerant), I'm not cutting it out of our diet. We're all reasonably healthy, no one seems like they have any major issues, and we eat dairy, grains, and a host of other things people say are evil or whatever. I do try to keep the processed foods out of the house, though, and the only sweets we eat are the ones I make, which doesn't happen more than every couple of weeks or so. We also don't eat nearly as much meat as most people, and veggies reign supreme around here. Oh, and I just don't do supplements. Period. Not even vitamins for the kids. Most of them seem like hype - although I did take iron pills when I was having a deficiency years ago.

I don't see why not - my boys like books that have either male or female protagonists, especially if they are funny. The only "girly" books they dislike are the horrible princess ones, or anything that has pink displayed prominently on the cover. Actually, now that you mention Amelia Bedelia, I'm gonna have to get a few of those for them - I think they'd love them because they are so ridiculous.

My oldest, who is 7, names artichokes, spinach, and brussel sprouts as some of his all time favorite foods. To get here, the way I approached eating in our house is that no one gets a special meal. I try to consider everyone's likes and dislikes, but I'm only cooking one thing. If you don't like it, you go hungry. (I've tried the whole "just taste this and you are done" method, but that backfired because our oldest can literally make himself throw up if he doesn't want to eat something.) Both my boys have gone through phases where they wouldn't eat certain things. When it's something that I think they just don't have a taste for, like green peppers, I let them pick them out (but I don't stop cooking with them because my husband and I love them!), but if they are just reacting to them for no reason, they have to eat what they were given or no dessert - and definitely no snacks later if they get hungry. My oldest is finally *FINALLY* getting through his "I don't like white stuff" phase. He even shunned whipped cream when he started it a couple years ago, but is now down to only sour cream and white cheese (although, the cheese thing is fading out). Anyway, my point is, I wouldn't make food a battleground. You make it, he eats it or he doesn't. I've yet to see my kids genuinely go hungry, although once or twice they were pretty upset they didn't eat their dinner (I'll save it in the fridge for them if they change their minds). We don't make them clean their plates, unless they want dessert, and even then, if they made a good effort, we'll bend sometimes.

Awesome, thank you! I might bite - I've got to find something to keep my boys busy this summer while we get ready for an international move, that also doesn't increase the mess too much around here.

So, HSBC is selling a new Zometool bundle. I've been staring at Zometool since I ran across them online about a year ago, but cannot bring myself to buy any. My boys are very into building stuff, and LEGO reigns supreme here, so I think they would be a big hit, but they are pricey and I worry the pieces will be a pain to deal with. Any thoughts? Are they really as educational as they are touted? Are the lesson plans, cards, etc. that they also have enough to get some real learning going on? If I buy that bundle, which doesn't come with a box, is it going to be a pain figuring out how to store them? :confused: Oh, and my oldest is only 7, so am I pushing this a bit?

Oops, wrong forum!

I'm an Ergo fan, and think it could be used fine with someone with back problems, but really don't know for sure since I don't have them. My main question, though, is whether or not this is something SHE has expressed interest in, or just that YOU love baby wearing and want to share. I ask because it might not be worth the money to buy one (since most are rather pricey) if she just isn't going to be that into it. I lent my Ergo to my younger sister when she was due with her third. I love babywearing, and although she was mildly interested, she just hasn't used it much at all (her son is now six months). She's just not a babywearer. I'm glad I didn't spend any money buying her a new one!

All of those sound like commercial places of employment, not a family farm. (Not that I'm an expert or anything, ha!)

Oh my, absolutely let him do that!! I understand the impulse to keep them together and neat, but doing that totally neglects the best part of LEGO - building new stuff. If you don't want a massive jumble of stuff, and are willing to put in the work, I'd suggest you implement a sorting system. I bought a lot of Stanley toolboxes (not the ones like tackle boxes, but the ones with clear lids and compartments) for our LEGO. My kids are 4 and 7, spend 90% of their playtime with LEGO, and doing this has been the best move we've ever made. It does require us to sit down and sort for an hour or so every couple of weeks (especially if we haven't been paying enough attention to them when they are using it), but the benefits have been awesome - they no longer ask me to find every piece for them, and it doesn't take an hour of shifting to find anything. My next move is to get my father-in-law to design us a shelf that will fit our boxes. Right now they are just stacked against a wall near the LEGO table.

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I had a Mirena put in a month or so after I had my youngest (he's now 4). At first, it was fine, but after I had had it in for about a year, I ended up in the emergency room with some of the worst pain of my life. They handed me narcotics (I detest pain meds and will avoid them whenever I can, but totally took them that time), and told me it looked like my IUD had moved position. I went to my doc a day later, who confirmed it and removed it for me (after warning me I might get pregnant if I did...um, thanks, I think I realize that!). So, no, I wouldn't advise you to get one because it can be horrible if it doesn't stay in place. Around the same time, I had a friend who actually had to have surgery because hers had moved so much they couldn't just pull it out like with mine. Also, my moods were really messed up with it. I thought I had postpartum depression, which I didn't have any issue with with my oldest, but about a week or two after having it out, I realized my mood issues were clearing up in a dramatic way. I didn't expect that at all - since the Mirena has such a low does of hormones than other types of birth control I've used in the past (I've done the patch and the shot), I really didn't think it would affect me like that, but it definitely did. I do know people who have had IUDs and liked them, which is why I had mine put in, but I just cannot in good conscience tell anyone to get one after my really bad experience with one. It's really, really crappy if you are the statistic where it goes wrong.

This may not be all that helpful, but after looking at both Sube and Calico (which seemed similar), I'm going to use Calico with my boys. It's the same initial outlay for the homeschool set, but Calico sends you the materials and Sube is just selling you the downloads. So, maybe it's more about how much work you want to do/how much your printer and laminator cost?

As someone who is new to homeschooling (but, ironically, was homeschooled, but that's another story I'm going to bypass atm), I've been sort of bothered by the mass of very religious curriculum I keep running into. We are going to start homeschooling this fall, so I haven't gotten into finding a group or anything, but I worry it's going to be difficult. We're actually rather religious ourselves, but we're not homeschooling because of that at all. I want my kids to be exposed to lots of different viewpoints, and not be threatened by someone because they believe in something else. I'm keeping them home because my oldest is speeding through certain subjects and I worry about him being bored, plus we are military and move far too often for him to get what he needs - and I don't want to force him to switch schools partway through the year, something is just going to be inevitable in our life. I keep finding curriculum, then dropping it because it talks about the bible because I am worried it will be too biased. Maybe that's unfair, but since I have yet to be anywhere where I could actually read the stuff, I don't want to buy it and find out later it's not gonna work out... Anyway, I worry that when I tell people we homeschool, that's the sort of people they think we are. We're not the Duggars, thanks.

Ultimately, this is all gonna be a personal decision. I feel bad for the OP because I think her dh is taking a stand that means, well, nothing in the grand scheme of things (maybe he can convince Occupy Wall Street to take up the cause? They could sure use a real one, and that would actually make the news!). But, that's their decision. Personally, we're not going to stop flying because of a fear of the occasional bad incident. I accept it may happen, and I have had to deal with irritiating TSA agents before. I mostly hold my breath until we get through. Since the military sends us all over the world, we're forced to fly if we want to ever see our families. Plus, travel is very high on our quality of life list. Being stuck with only driving as a choice (which does put your family in genuine danger, fyi, for all those who like to think flying is scarier) is just not okay for us. But I know other people are fine with this. My mother-in-law hates flying, but will still fly to see us because she cares that much. Still, I'm sure she'd be perfectly happy with her life if she never had to leave her hometown. I don't really get that, but I'm glad she's willing to come see us anyway! And that's really why I think taking such an extreme stand that really only hurts you, not the people you want to hurt, doesn't ultimately make a lot of sense.

Okay, the problem with this argument is that, as far as I can tell, we're not talking about someone who has vast EXPERIENCE with flying. If you are saying you are paranoid because of XYZ, but it's just because of what you've read in the media, you don't really have a leg to stand on if you are talking to someone who flies all the time WITH KIDS and has seen the reality of it. Your example is the opposite situation.

Wow, as a frequent flier (with kids), this whole thread was a little bizarre to me. I feel bad for the OP - and life would not be happy around our house if my dh ever tried to get all high and mighty about flying. I mean, to each his own, but we've never had anything like a "groping" experience. The worst thing I've had to do is take a baby out of a baby carrier and send the carrier through the xray machine. A pain, sure, but nothing crazy. Oh, and one flight, they said we could bring juice, then on our way home through Rochester, the guy there got all weird and made me throw it out. Whatever. It annoys me, but to give up traveling just because we have to deal with the occasional stupid policy is not at all an acceptable trade for me. We're planning on taking our kids overseas in the next year, and I don't think steamships are still available, so it's to the airport we'll be going.

Not to hijack this thread, but I had to jump in because, bizarrely, we just found out we're expecting a third, very surprise, baby. Our youngest is 4, and we were about done with the "I think this is the whole family" talks... Luckily, I still have the crib and mattress because it's a convertible and we haven't moved our son into a "big boy" bed yet. I just got done selling the jogging stroller and other small outside things, though. Still have one stroller, so I guess that's something. Oh, and my sister still has my Ergo - time to recall that, I guess! I'm going to have to read come back through this thread. I know I want to keep it simple this time, so doubt we'll buy a swing or that goofy seat that was so popular when my sister had her baby a couple years ago.

At this point, no, I'm doing the choosing. Spanish is our heritage, even though unfortunately my father didn't speak enough of it to my siblings and I for us to attain any real skill in it. I studied it in college, however, and can do a lot with it, even though I never attained full fluency. That said, I didn't start working with them until my 7 year old had a PE teacher in school who is a native speaker. He started teaching the kids a few words, and that sparked a massive interest in my son. He came home and taught his little brother, and then they started asking us how to say thing in Spanish. So, I started using it with them. We're going to start a more formal program this fall, and eventually I plan on tutoring for both them as well as myself so I can stay ahead of them. I do, think, though, that motivation is a HUGE factor in language acquisition. If they ever get bored with Spanish, I'm okay with a break. Although, we use it at home now, so hopefully that helps with that! My husband speaks Portuguese, and my son is now fascinated with that, and has started talking about Japanese. I'd consider allowing him to switch at some point if he was serious. I'm not okay with switching every year or every few months, however. Language instruction materials are not cheap, and I feel that they have to gain a certain level of proficiency before I'm okay with investing in something new.

I got a quote yesterday that had it at 299, so, yep, it's pricey. However, I have not found any other program that is as well done, plus provides the materials. Sube, which I strongly considered as well, is the same price for the homeschool version, yet is only downloads so you have to put it all together. I think Spanish is just the thing I'm going to have to spend the most money on. I am Hispanic, so it's a pretty big deal to me to have them speaking it, as well as improve my own ability with the language. I've tried to put together some lessons on my own with cheaper things, but I spend all the time freaking about whether or not I'm perfectly correct in grammar. To the OP, you might look at Puertas Abiertas. I almost bought that one due to a lot of good reviews, but decided not to because it didn't have a second level. It might be a good program to get you going, though.

I'll second the comments about not worrying too much about the whole Latin American/Castillian Spanish debate. I minored in Spanish in college and had all but one professor who was either from Spain or had an accent from there. I had no problems understanding the one professor who sounded Latin American. Also, while we were exposed to vosotros, and it appeared on every verb list, I don't remember it ever being tested so I didn't spend a ton of time on it. Still, I can recognize and understand it when I hear it. I just don't use it as much when speaking. I'm in the middle of introducing my kids to Spanish now. Mostly, I'm just using it with them and they are picking it up fast (they are 4 and 7). I don't speak it fluently, though, so I think I'm going to use Calico Spanish (they have a homeschool version) because it's the most scripted immersion program I've found. You didn't say if you spoke any Spanish, which would make a difference, but I have enough (and decent pronunciation) to use what they give and build on it. It's tough to find good programs targeted at kids.