Thanks, Dawn. I can get it locally!!

I have really appreciated Sally Clarkson's phrase, "sympathize with your childs heart." We know a lot of homeschool families that are very legalistic and their kids seem to be either rebellious or boring. I don't want my kids growing up with formulas for living- I want them to encounter the Living, breathing, spirit of the Most High. I've had to let go of some of my desire for privacy and let my kids see me interact spiritually, being humble, being worshipful, being discipled, praying wholeheartedly, praying desperatly, really clinging to God when I felt despair, crying tears of joy over answered prayers and petitions. We've done family prayers for years. This has required us all to be transparent, humble and honest. We have collectively petitioned God for answers to difficult questions together, have searched the scriptures for reponses (Joy Dawson's "Ruined Forever from the Ordinary" is a great read). Raising children to listen and respond to God has required sacrifice on my part because He becomes the ultimate authority in their lives, not us. My older dd has gone and will continue to go to E.Europe. She has a whole 'nother life there. It's been hard to let her go. We've invested years in her, made sacrifices for her and love and like her!! Despite that (maybe because of it?) God has called her to work thousands of miles away from us. Not my first choice. We have, as a family, tried to demostrate sacrificial love over the years- "creating Christmas" for widows or divorced women when our kids wouldn't be getting much themselves. Sending boxes to missionary families that required us giving up extra food dollars, working on campaigns, creating co-ops and educational opportunities for other homeschoolers that think they just appear out of nowhere, working for ministries. In all of those opportunities my kids have seen that poeple are people are people (including us!). No one is worthy of a pedestal. People are fallen and disspointing so our motive better be to serve God and not man -kwim. One more thought: life is short. Our time together might be fleeting so we try to let each other that we love and appreciate each other and believe in the best for one another- that God has a specific plan and purpose for each one of our lives and we look with anticipation to the fullfillment of that. Best Regards as you love your family.

One year I introduced my mil to scrapbooking. She is now an addict:001_smile: Maybe intro her to a new hobby? Does she drink tea or coffee? A teapot from a thrift shop with some nice tea? good luck. Older relatives are difficult to buy for. We usually go the pictures or food route.

I'm playing the CD and not worrying too much about actual memory work right now for the prayers. My 8 year old is learning the vocab, declension and conjugation cards for LC I. We do memorize Bible verses in Latin and English and I agree that it really helps with translation work. We did John 1 this fall and the kids realize that Deum, Deus and Deo are all words for God. I didn't explain that to them, they just "got it." Just from playing Lingua Angelica my 2 littles have retained a lot more than I thought they would.

I'm in SD which is easy peasy to homeschool in. ND is a little more difficult but there are tons of homeshcoolers there. Personally I'd go with MN- MACHE is huge and there are TONS of homeschool resources in the state- lots of stuff for older kids. Course it's a big place so there might not be stuff outside the cities. ND has a nice conference each year to- the place where it's held changes every year. We've homeschooled in various states- some that require more "stuff" than others but we've never had diffculty actually homeschooling anywhere. CA was the only place where I was leery of having my kids out and about during the day (they had just reinacted truency laws and were arresting homeschoolers, but that was years ago so it's probably changed again).

:grouphug: for all that you are going through! The thing to keep in mind with manic depression is that there needs to be not only manic episodes but depressive episodes. If there is not both, then it's not an accurate diagnosis. Also, I believe that they are episodic, not constant. From a sorta educated pov I would assume that ADD is a better diag than Manic Depression. Meds can really make a WORLD of difference and there are some new ones - truly it can be life changing. Would she be open to reading some books on ADD? Could you suggest that her understanding of her own needs be helpful to your mom? She sounds like an amazing sis who is concerned, educated and loving. Is she open to hearing about self-care? An important issue for ALL of you right now? Could you coordinate with your dh how you can work in some self care this week-end? A power bath, massage, etc? I am so impressed with the love and care that you are sharing with your loved ones. Praying for blessings on you as you serve them.:grouphug:

Congrats!! What a blessing!

There has been an inclusive email discussion among extended family (well until a certain 20-something sends personal name-calling emails, but beside that) re: the election- as everywhere views are varied, opinionated and dearly held. One of the older women stated that despite our differences in opinon we were a strong family- "none are stronger." I don't consider it a particularly strong family. People still talk to each other but there is not transparency or collectively held values, there have been ugly divorces, rebellious kids, lots of hurt that is never addressed. I hate to think that this is as good as it gets but maybe I am missing something. What do you think?

We have hardwood throughout the house except kitchen and baths and I love it. We have area rugs in some rooms and not in others.

So awesome! Thanks for sharing your joy!

Dayle- I love the family box idea! My kids LOVE magazine subs. My fil gives them and the kids really enjoy getting their own mail each month. My 8 yo has written g'pa twice this year thanking him for Ranger Rick. Believe me, g'pa LOVES that! Wanted to add- several years we have taken kids Xmas money- given it to them and they have done Angel Tree or a shoebox for Samaritan's Purse (I think that's the ministry). My kids receive the JOY of giving and realize that a tube of toothpaste, or a small book or toy is a huge gift in other parts of the world. They have also helped "create" Xmas for families that we know that don't have much. They've gathered and asked for food, toys, clothes for a widowed fam, seminary student etc and helped wrap and deliver the gifts.

Great suggestions! Have you looked at Memoria Press' Christian Studies? Great stuff for how to memorize Bible content as well as how the Bible is organized. We are loving it. I write our memory work out each week on a large white board in our school room: Bible verse in latin and english, geography, bible, grammar, latin, history sentence, etc. We use Cd's and DVD's a lot to help with memory work. I just blogged about memory work (a couple of days ago). Link in sig block.

To keep in touch with out of state fam, including dd at college - to share pics of our fam with them. To share my opinions- of which I have many-lol! The discipline of writing. Not sure I have much of an audience but it helps to write to who I think might be reading rather than just putting together a word doc. It's not as messy as scrapbooking- lol! To share opinons that I know are not popular with family who will be reading, such as political issues, homeschooling, our parenting choices -kwim?

1. Breaksfast: This week a combo of homemade ww, oatmeal, yogurt pancakes, sausage, homemade applesauce. 2.Car: Olds van, Dodge van, GMC burb- it's a 92 & essential for acerage living- try not to drive it much on the road). 3. weather today? Clear, cold, sunny. 4. toenails painted? If so, what color? Yes. Color: "Leftover summer;)" 5. Read any good books lately? What was it? One 100 Mile Diet. Ecclesiastes. 6. Is your bed made? tempted to go make it quickly, but no. 7. What's for supper. Ramen noodles, candy (going to harvest festival tonight) 8. Name something your dc have done today that made you smile. Completed math while reciting the mantra, "I hate math." 9. What color is your bathroom rug? none there. 10. Who's your favorite artist? Chagall 11. What's your favorite morning beverage? Coffee. high octane. Roibus. 12. Do you have any toys from when you were a child? no. 13. Do you collect anything? See blog sidebar for more definitive list: china tea cups, quilts, kids. 14. Are you looking forward to the holidays? (whichever days you celebrate) Yes. Oldest dd home Dec. 8- woohoo! 15.What are you wearing today? black sweat pants, grey sweatshirt, birks. Will change before going to harvest party :001_smile:

Mine is up. Political content involved.

I think it's hard to find good adult lit these days too. I like Francine Rivers, Ted Decker, Peter Lawhead and of course, non-fic- whatever I can get my hands on :)

Have you seen the cool puzzle maps at Timberdoodle? We have the set and they are great. We have a globe and atlas around and use it alot. We are doing states this year and creating a notebook. Logos Academy has a states sound-off (going to buy soon) which looks great.

I dried tons of mint this summer. You can do it in the oven (very low) or microwave (med) temp till dry, or just hang to dry -but then you run the risk of cobwebs in your drink;).

I love it steamed with parmesan.

We found them very interesting but disagree with many of his conclusions. They are good discussion starters but be sure to add in other info. He comes from a libertarian, isolationist pov and his declarations about the Swiss during the WW's are slanted to say the least. mho:001_smile:

Thesaurus. Rhyming dictionary. Atlas.

The excellence of the Challenge program will depend very heavily on your Tutor. We did Challenge 1 last year and it was a waste of time and money imho (I was a Director of another program so I had lots of compassion). I felt like it was a "lost" a year. While CC does attempt to do some interesting things with their Challenge program the Tutor's have very little to go on in terms of training and their TM is nothing more than the parents guide. If your Tutor is not totally committed, with the time, intelligence, etc that the program will demand, I suggest just putting together an Omnibus group yourself. That is, indeed what we switched to this year. Challenge doesn't have a cohesive writing program for Jr. or Sr. High, even though they have gone into biz with IEW- so why not do IEW for upper levels?? No history. Science for Jr. High is sketchy. "Rhetoric" is odd. I wasn't impressed. Otoh I love Omnibus. Clear, concise history, tons of writing, recitation, critical thinking. 2 thumbs way up. Feel free to pm if you have more specific ?'s

Rose- good to "see" you again!

:lol:

praying for peace and healing.