It was a simple process and it worked for those vessels. She has telengectasia (sp?) which causes them (like the little blood spots you can get on your skin). Anyway, she also really recommends AYR ointment (her ENT suggested it) to put in the nose. It is available over the counter and has reduced her nosebleeds by keeping the inside of the nose moist. My son gets nosebleeds and she wants me to try it with him, but I keep forgetting.

I am impressed with all of the ideas. My dad still strongly encourages me to eat it. For awhile I ate 1 tsp mixed with plain yogurt, cocoa,sugar and sprinkled with toasted wheat germ. Don't know if that is enough to make a difference. I need to try it again and also some of the other ideas that everyone has. Thanks again.

My cousin in London has just started kindermusik type business and is looking for customers. I was thinking of suggesting to her to advertise with a homeschooling group there. For example, here I belong to a homeschooling co-op with a newsletter where people can pay to advertise music lessons etc. Is there anything like that in London? Thanks!

I ordered Michaelmas daisy seeds today. My mom is from England and she loves them. She has never celebrated though. I love all the fun celebrations that everyone mentioned so we may have to try it next year!

This is a question that has been driving me crazy for several years. SWB recommends a number of them in her reading lists in grades 1-4 (not sure about the other grades yet -- I haven't looked at them). Originally I was really against abridged versions BUT my kids have really enjoyed them AND have requested the originals after reading them. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is an example of this (although I think that the reading level is still probably too high for them at this point). Also, Tom Sawyer (which we are now listening to unabridged). I definitely think that the abridged versions help with some of the longer more complicated books such as the Odyssey and the Iliad for future reading, but overall I still can't decide what I think about condensed books. I really want to submit it as a question for Susan to answer on her Peace Hill Press youtube videos. She does a great job with those and I would love to hear her elaborate on her opinion on this.

I have high anxiety as well. My mother has it, her uncle had it. It can be debilitating. I constantly worry about symptoms. I am taking Celexa and it seems to be helping. I really appreciate this thread -- it helps to know that I am not alone in this! I really need to start exercising because I know that it helps and therapy also helps as well, but I don't manage well without medication. I also worry about side effects but it has gotten to the point that I can't function due to the anxiety.

A comment re: jeans -- My kids always get holes in their jeans really easily, so if they don't have holes in them, I ask them to keep them for going out in public rather than playing at home. I have been patching the jeans that still fit them (you can get iron on patches at Walmart) to wear around the house -- don't know if your son might have some of these. That definitely helps with the clothing budget and also makes me feel better about waste since it is amazing to me how quickly they get holes. My kids wear Tshirts all year round even when it is cold. They seem to be running around all of the time. I can't get them to wear sweaters or sweatshirts. I actually took a photo of my son wearing a sweatshirt the other day since he never wears them! I actually like not having too many clothes. One of my sons has lots of hand-me-downs because he is smaller than his brother and I feel that I am doing a ton more laundry because of it. Good luck -- I definitely understand about not wanting him to be self-conscious -- I feel that being homeschoolers makes me more conscious of that as well as the fact that I didn't have many clothes when I was growing up.

My ds10 is buying a new camera and I thought that it would be fun for him to do photography for art this year. Does anyone know of any good programs for this age? Thanks!

I would love to hear how the course goes. My son is only 10 but he likes photography and it would be interesting to hear about this online course for future reference. Sounds fun!

I know that my reply is too late to help with the company visiting, but I wanted to let you know what works for me for future reference. Our carpet is light tan and in terrible shape. I use a scrub brush and laundry detergent to get out the bad spots. It works much better for me than Spot Shot or some of the other cleaners.

I have been feeling like this too. The kitchen, thinking of meals, the whole thing and we aren't even schooling right now, so I feel guilty because it should be easy. I have been reorganizing the house this summer and haven't been able to finish it, so I am going to have to wait for Christmas break. Help.

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We are going to Europe in October as well, and I was curious to know if you have finalized your itinerary. We are actually flying into Amsterdam because it used less frequent flyer miles. We are going to London to see family and then Paris. My husband wants to go to Spain but I am not sure how fun that would be even though the kids have been learning Spanish. Anyway, just curious to see what you have come up with!

We are going to Europe in October and ds10 loves Playmobil. I was thinking of going to the Playmobil Fun Park in Paris. Has anyone been there? I can't find many online reviews of it.

I had symptoms that I definitely thought were UTI (frequent urination, burning etc) but it was a yeast infection. Don't know if she is too young for that. Sorry to hear about the doctor -- hope that you get a resolution soon.

Someone this board recommended French for Children to me. I ordered from Amazon -- here is a link although mine came with CDs. http://www.amazon.com/French-Children-Passport-Catherine-Bruzzone/dp/084429179X/ref=cm_cr_dp_orig_subj Anyway, we have really enjoyed it. We have actually just used it in the car but I feel like the kids are actually learning some French -- the songs are very catchy and educational and I think that it is a native French speaker. It is a fun program and I feel that we are all learning some French (I have a minor in Spanish but no French). We are going to France this fall, so I feel that we will have a few basics for that.

I am bundling right now and want to get rid of my cable and landline and just have internet. We have a laptop and ipods that we use at home. Any ideas on the best option for fast internet without bundling? I am really looking forward to getting rid of the cable -- the bundles are so expensive and it seems like even when I downgrade something the bill stays about the same, so I just want to do internet.

We had a 1950s stove -- bought it from the original owners. It worked great and the clock on it still worked. The only reason that we got rid of it was because we remodeled our kitchen. We have had 3 1950s refrigerators. They worked fine but on two of them the handles were broken, so we used a bungee cord to keep them shut. That makes me think that the handles may be a weakness on those -- they are the kind that pull out and down to open the door. The freezer compartment was definitely small, but we have a full size freezer so we just used that for most things. The refrigerators kept everything cold. The inside of the refrigerator was smaller also, so we ended up having 2 at a time. But we still have two refrigerators -- one in the garage. Everyone in my husband's family does.

Praying here.

I got my drivers license when I was 22 because I was graduating from college and knew that I would have to drive to work. I waited to get my license because I was very nervous driving. We lived in a small town and my mom taught me to drive. We started by driving around the block. I would drive on our street and when we came to the main street I would stop and she would drive because the main road was "busy". We laugh hilariously over this now because the main street of that town could not be described as remotely busy, but to me back then it was! I am sure the neighbors wondered what on earth we were doing. I like the idea of practicing driving but I would definitely keep it on easy slow roads to start. Tell her good luck and not to worry or feel embarassed. I did for a long time and people would bug me about not driving at that age but now it isn't a big deal. She'll probably be a good, cautious driver.

I need to make these for my kids' basketball team. I was thinking of just using iron-on numbers and letters but someone suggested using the computer and printing it on iron-on transfer paper. Ideally I would like something that looks decent, but isn't too tricky to put together. Does anyone have experience with this or any suggestions? Thank you!

One of my sons took a long time to learn to tie his shoes, mostly he didn't want to be bothered with tying them. My other son ended up teaching him how -- that worked well because he didn't really want me to teach him. One kid to another was a good option for him.

Trumpet of the Swan read by the author -- one of our absolute favorites. The unabridged Chronicles of Narnia read by Kenneth Brannagh, Patrick Stewart, etc. Loved this. Misty of Chincoteague

It is like herding cats. I start fairly late in the morning (9 a.m.), give them a 15 min P.E. time during the morning (we use a timer) and take a two hour break at lunch. With one of my sons, it helps to give him a list of what to do and then he can decide what order to do it in. With the other one, I have to sit with him sometimes (especially with math).

A tour of your state capitol building. We just had a tour of the one in Richmond VA and it was outstanding. Lots of state history -- very informative and the kids enjoyed it.