When your teenage son has a nightmare that he had to carry the globe all by himself...no, not the Earth, but the Globe Theatre during Shakespeare's time. hee hee! When your then-four-year-old daughter tells someone, "This is 'three' in sign language," (holds up thumb and first two fingers) and then proceeds to say (holding up three other fingers), "...and THIS is 'three' in Spanish!" Oh, my... And who has kids who use the word "thrice"??? Too much Howard Pyle reading there.

Glad I missed it all from start to finish! I always figure there's got to be another website with another thread for exactly those type of discussions! When someone tries to hijack a homeschool site's boards with their own political agenda, I typically grind my teeth and stay away for a few days...

I use one at our local gym 3-5 days of the week. I've often thought of what it would be like to have one at home, but when think about how much a really nice, solid, not jiggly one costs, it's far more cost-effective for me to go to the gym. The cost of a family membership for one year at our YMCA -- which includes all family members being able to use all weight equipment, swimming pool, classes, treadmills, crosstrainers, bikes, etc. -- is less than the price for a high-quality treadmill. I like the variety of machines too much, and have a history, you might say, of buying "minor" exercise equipment which ends up collecting dust, so no home treadmill for me.

15yo Noah = Ba, since that's what our youngest was able to say when trying to pronounce his name as a toddler. 13yo Jeff = Peep. Used to be Baby Peep, Mr. Peep or other variations. He will probably have Peep on his wedding invitations, since just about everyone calls him that and has since prior to his birth. He used to tell people Peep was his name and Jeff was his nickname, LOL! Tiggy (died when he was almost 5yo) -- his real name was Matthew but only my mother called him that, and it sounded so foreign because to all the rest of us, he was Tig, Tigger, or Tiggy. His brothers named him before he was born, and coming up with a "normal" name for the birth certificate was very difficult! Ellie = Beldie for most people, but DH calls her Biscuit, Caboodle, Noodle, or many other special Papa-only nicknames. She actually came up with her own nickname when she was learning to talk, saying, "I Beldie," when someone would ask her name. She's the one who gave Noah his nickname. Kids just have to have nicknames!

I followed it a few years ago and lost almost 30 pounds within three months or less, and I really felt good. I didn't follow many of the recipes in the book, but did follow what was allowed and not allowed during each phase. I didn't struggle with the first two weeks being more strict, because I was determined to make it work, and I truly didn't feel like I was lacking anything. I've slipped from following the guidelines faithfully over the past couple years, but have made many changes in our family's eating because of it: whole grains, more veggies, etc. I would recommend it to anyone -- it's not fad-ish and it's reasonable.

We lost one of our children six years ago (January 20, in fact, so this is fresh in my mind today). He had a genetic condition which was very serious and we knew from Day One that we were on limited time with him -- and were able to enjoy almost five wonderful, awful, scary, joyful years with him. When he died, the things which comforted us the most were ALWAYS when people were honest with their feelings -- having someone say, "I have no way to comfort you right now, but my heart is breaking for you," or "I heard about your son and went home and hugged each of my children tight," meant so much more to us than those (well-meaning, I'm sure) people who said absolutely inane things like, "Well, I'm sure God needed another angel," (no, people don't turn into angels and you're an idiot for saying so -- my inside-my-head response, while hugging them and gritting my teeth). Sometimes the best thing is to say, "I have nothing that can be of any comfort to you right now, because it doesn't seem to make sense, but I am here if you need to talk or scream or whatever." One of my neighbors had lost her 19yo son in a car accident the summer before our son died, and she told me it helped her one day to drive somewhere remote and scream inside her closed car. Everyone deals differently. Also, be there for her long after everyone else fades into the sunset. The days and weeks following all the hubbub are when people need someone the most. Lynda

I remember being very sore each time my braces were adjusted, and extremely sore the day they were first "installed." However, our oldest son got braces last year, and he said they really didn't hurt at all. I was very surprised, but realized our ortho only puts the full bands on the very back molars, and all others are glued on to the fronts of the teeth. There's a lot of pain elimination right there. If your child's teeth are hurting, probably just small doses of ibuprofen or acetaminophen would do the trick. We allowed our son to eat what was comfortable the first day, regardless of what we were eating (usually they have to eat what we make and that's that). That seemed to do as much for him mentally as anything (nothing like a good ol' placebo).

I despise the word "bling." Not exactly sure why, but it just makes me cringe. Amazingly, I don't like those types of sparkly items, either, so... I also hate the use of the word "awesome." I don't have a problem with the word itself, but so many people use it to describe something which is simply great or terrific, and in my mind, it diminishes the impact of when something truly is awesome or awe-inspiring. I can't stand when people say they'll "connect" with so-and-so to "dialogue" about something. Turning nouns into verbs is a big pet peeve with me. I "gifted" someone, we "dialogued" about it, etc. UGH! And the body part stuff: pee-pee, wee-wee, and all that just get on my nerves something fierce! Call it what it is so you don't sound like an idiot. For what it's worth, I am in agreement with most of the posts in this thread -- I never realized how many words or phrases I hated! Maybe I need therapy. *grin* Lynda

Same dd was in the car listening to an "oldies" station (oldies, ha! it played all music from the '80s) and they were playing that song, "Everybody Have Fun Tonight, Everybody Wang Chung Tonight." I heard her say to her brother, "Now why would anyone want to do that?!??" in a really puzzled voice. I asked what she was talking about, and she said, "Who would have fun weighing chum? That's gross!"

...downright depressing. My dd came in my room as I was dressing after my shower and said, "I can't wait to wear a bra-thing like you do. They're so pretty," and I said something like, yes, when you're older and your body grows, and she said, "Yep, my n*pples [her term for bre*sts] will grow big and down like yours." LOL! The "down" part, I assured her, wouldn't happen until she had lovely children just like herself. One of my other children came to the amazing discovery one day that he was born on his birthday! Wow, what a coincidence. He thought that was the greatest thing, and wondered if anyone else in our family had been.

I hadn't realized the above when I answered your post...I suffer from the same problem (wanting to read as much as possible) but the only way I've been able to combat it is to "reward" myself with the reading after accomplishing other things. We do have a rule that no one reads or brings toys to the table when we have supper, but our lunches are a lot looser, so the kids almost always read their "pleasure" books then, and at bedtime. Perhaps you could allow your daughter a certain (timed with a timer) amount of reading time as a "break" during the day in between chores and/or school things. It's difficult to stop, but if she knows there are built-in breaks scheduled for her, perhaps it will help her to self-regulate. I agree, too, that it's an attitude issue -- even "good" things can be overdone if the necessary work is getting ignored -- and I think it's great that you're taking a stand on it now, while your children are young enough to be molded and develop good lifelong habits. Lynda

We have one TV and it's in the living room, a game system attached to it, and that's pretty much it. We've never felt that the kids should have TV/video/computer, etc. in their rooms because we saw that as isolating family members from each other (and wanted to make sure the computer/s are in a central location). Our punishment for the kids is typically taking time off their game/computer turns -- we allow each of them two 30-minute turns per day, so that time is pretty valuable to them. When they were younger and we didn't have a computer or video game system, we'd send them to OUR room for punishment. They could sit on the bed and do nothing, since none of their toys or books was there, and none of our books were interesting to them. Booorrrring.

I would never choose to go to Disney over camping. I am one of those people who would rather camp dozens of times with my family than fight the crowds at a commercial theme park. Any park, not just Disney. Quiet woods/hiking/exploring over expensive/crowds/overstimulation any day of the week! Lynda

I haven't read all the posts, so I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this, but I've heard that pop/soda/whatever your region calls it is bad for your body because of the carbonation, whether there is sugar or artificial sweetener, caffeine or not. I wish I could sound like an informed person rather than an "I heard this somewhere" person, LOL, but I truly can't remember where I read it. Basically, what I remember is that the carbonation in pop depletes the calcium in your body, and if you're a heavy pop drinker, you are opening yourself up for osteoporosis problems in the future (this, I believe, was in reference to women's health, but...). Now that I've sort of said half-information about a subject I'm vaguely familiar with, (*laughing here*) does this ring a bell with anyone else? Lynda

I've had that happen to me with a new book from Amazon, and they were great about it. As far as their Marketplace, if you paid for the book, your responsibility is taken care of. If the seller didn't get delivery confirmation, it's up to him to prove it was actually delivered, or refund your money. Another option is to contact your P.O. about this -- once, when I had a book not arrive and the seller said it had been sent, our local PO person asked our driver to drive by our house to make sure she/he recognized it and remembered delivering a book there. Turned out they delivered it to the wrong house, and the person who received it just didn't get around to returning it to the PO in a timely manner. However, I live in a smaller town, so this may or may not work for you. Either way, though, it's ultimately the seller's responsibility if you have already paid for the item. And by contacting Amazon, you will make sure (at the very least) that they're aware of what their sellers are doing. Hope this helps, Lynda

I'd have to think a moment to brag about individual stuff, but I have really enjoyed reading everyone's posts! It doesn't always have to be the BIG things that impress us or make us smile. As a "group" brag, all three of my kids have been very huggy lately, seeking me out to give me big squeezes and "thank you"s for little things. Lynda

Oh, I like that letter someone composed for you. It says it all -- I miss you, I'd like to be friends again, but I don't want to have you treat me the way you did before because I won't put myself or my kids through it a second time. Do try to communicate your feelings to her -- I can't imagine she "didn't realize" how hurtful her previous behavior was, but perhaps hearing it from you may help her to realize the way it affected your children. It's difficult to bring it all up again, I'm sure, but you'll never feel at peace about the whole thing (or trust her!) if you don't. Lynda

We found The Five Love Languages for Teens to be a great resource, not just for boys but for all teens. There seems to be such a shift during those years, and it doesn't necessarily have to be traumatic, but it is a force to be reckoned with, when "what has always worked" doesn't work anymore with predictability. Lynda

Our children had Toddler's Bibles, Children's Bibles, you name it. They enjoyed the stories and it built a good habit of reading about God and His plan. However, as soon as they were old enough to read chapter books, each of them in their turn requested a "real" Bible like mine and DH's. Their biggest complaint was that they couldn't look things up with Scripture references -- chapter and verse -- in their simplified children's Bibles. One of our children also complained that his Bible kept using dumbed-down words when the "regular" word was not a difficult one to begin with -- and he was only 8 or 9 at the time! We've always read to them from our own Bibles, and I just read what is there and don't try to edit for content. I've found that certain things go over their heads, and if they ask a question I try to answer it as simply but honestly as possible. That early habit helped me a LOT when they started asking the harder questions like what incest was, what a temple prostitute was, etc. Now they're 8, 13, and 15 and they're all well-versed in Proverbs and all the folly of sin involving adultery, etc., and they have a good foundation for their adult lives beginning now. Lynda

Almost forgot: our children are 8, 13, and 15 and get no Internet time. They don't email friends, don't do the IM thing, and truly have no reason to be surfing the Web, so they don't get online unless I have requested they do some research. And in that case, I'm with them making sure they don't accidentally click on a link that's not what they're expecting. They don't seem to be bothered by this at all and never ask for it. Lynda

I'm probably coming into this thread very late, but... At our house, each child gets two 30-minute turns each day. They can't have their turns consecutively unless all three of them agree on it, so most often they'll each have their first before one of them gets a second. If we're having a busy day/going on a lot of errands/don't want them inside so long (like during nice weather), we ask that they combine their turns to play against or team with each other. Sometimes we'll have a family competition night on the wii -- we just got it this Christmas -- but even that doesn't go on "forever." They have a GameBoy that a friend gave them, but they are not allowed to bring it to family gatherings or anywhere they're expected to socialize and enjoy other people's company, since a GameBoy tends to isolate them. We've always had the rule of no toys at the table, whether it's a Hot Wheels car or that oh-so-special stuffed animal ("but he's part of the family and he's hungry!" LOL), so games are not an issue. BTW, their allotted video game time includes computer time -- not for research or school papers, but if they want to play a computer game, it needs to count as the Nintendo does. Hope this helps! Lynda

I don't have a whole lot of original wisdom to offer here, but I do agree with a few of the other posts: if she isn't doing the work, then she doesn't "officially" graduate. In PA (where I am), we have an accredited diploma program, where we follow certain requirements in order to obtain a general, academic, or honors diploma for our homeschool grads; i.e., x-many years of math, science, English, etc., and a certain number of credits per year for the four high school years. Perhaps you could look at the requirements for other states and try to guide your daughter toward those minimum subjects in order to help her to finish well. If she finishes, she graduates, and most likely no one will ever ask to see a diploma (the only time I've shown mine to anyone was as part of PA's requirement when filing the initial hs affidavit for my oldest child). Sadly, there is a negative connotation to the GED, whether people admit it publicly or not -- it implies that the person has "quit" at some point and changed his mind later in life, or was required to complete the GED in order to further his job status or education. It doesn't give the image of someone voluntarily taking the test. I'm sure with your concern about this, a do-able solution will be able to be worked out. Lynda

I'm also working my way steadily toward the goal of 50 posts. I'll often read some great threads, but feel I have nothing of note to offer, so I don't post a reply just for the sake of logging in one more post. I do really enjoy reading what everyone has to say -- it's amazing how one person's viewpoint on a topic can open up a whole new way of thinking for the rest of us! Lynda (datmama4)

Thanks for the chuckle! Imaginary friends who homeschool...the most dangerous type! Lynda

I am also of the mindset that the school doesn't need to know (and honestly, probably doesn't care) about every doctor visit. We are in the Harborcreek School District (near Erie, PA), and I have never had our doctor/dentist fill out a form, nor have I ever made an appointment specifically to fill out a form for our portfolios. Our dentist gives an evaluation sheet at the end of every visit (he's a pediatric dentist, so it's sort of a "good job!" kind of thing), and I toss that in the portfolio under the "health/phys ed" portion. On a separate piece of paper in that same section of the portfolio, I state that the children have well visits yearly with our family doctor and twice-yearly dental examinations. That's it. I figure if the school has an issue with that, it's up to them to call someone to prove I didn't...not up to me to prove I did. We do see the doctor yearly, and I don't see any need for her to fill out a form so a school district can see I'm not a liar. This is our 11th year homeschooling (8th year of being accountable to the school district) and we've never encountered a problem with it. For the record, I also don't like to cause waves (not everything is worth taking a militant stand). But in the past, when the school has asked for something I know is not required by law, I'll typically say something like, "Well, according to the law, I'm not required to do that, but is there a particular reason why you're asking?" And most times they just back down because they didn't know the law and were asking out of ignorance. Lynda