She had been here all week prior to the exposure on Friday (including the previous weekend) and we had seen her several times and she had seen my parents several times. So, it is not really as draconian a request as this would make it seem. But yes, that is, to be clear, what I wanted. And to be clear, 8 hours after she left, she WAS, indeed, sick, as was her husband who is visiting with her and had been exposed to the sick niece also.

Also to add, my sister who visited had known, certain, frequent contact with the vomiting, ill niece the day before visiting us. And the evening after she left from visiting us (which I was so uncomfortable with) she did get ill, with the same thing my niece had. :(

So I'd like to know if I'm being unreasonable here. I am staying at my parents' home for a visit (we live about 3 hours away). I have 2 sisters, one of whom lives nearby, one of whom also lives about 3 hours away. I have a 3 month old, 2 year old, and 6 year old. This week, the sister who lives out of town came to visit and stayed in the guest room of the sister who lives locally. We all got together with our kids and my parents several times. Friday, the sister who lives locally, and whose kids are in public school, called to let us know she would not be coming over as planned that evening with her kids - one of them had had to be picked up from public school for vomiting/fever. The next day, less than 24 hours after being exposed to this virus, the sister who was visiting from out of town came over to hang out at my parents' home, where I am staying with my kids. I expressed (politely) reservation about this as she walked toward me, but she said she was not ill, and that our niece was already over it. I was very uncomfortable with it, but since this is not my house, I couldn't do much. My oldest son had a therapy appointment (family CBT which his father and I needed to attend with him) and my mother was watching my two younger children, since they cannot come to the appointments. Needless to say, tonight I have a 2 year old with fever and vomiting and, to be frank - I'm angry. This isn't the first time this particular sibling has exposed us to a virus. The rest of my family feels I am being unreasonable - since she didn't know. But I say ANYTIME you are less than 24 hours out from exposure to something nasty and contagious, it's just kind and right to stay away - particularly from the elderly and/or families with little kids. I always extend this courtesy to my sisters. And if one of them had expressed reservation with me visiting because I or my kids might be ill, I would have left. No question. Would you confront her? Let this go and ride out the misery in seething silence, but draw more firm boundaries in the future? Is it unreasonable of me to be ticked off that my reservation was completely ignored, and now, I am facing a miserable week for my poor 2 year old, 6 year old, and heaven forbid, the newborn?

I hate dishes. Passionately. Dh hates poo diapers. Passionately. So I made a deal with dh: I do most the poo diapers. He does most of the dishes. Laundry is not so bad, but it is never. ever. ending. And I absolutely refuse to iron. I would dread laundry if it included a full day of ironing everything the way my mom had to when we were growing up. Ugh!

O G = Orton Gillingham program. My ds was at an absolute halt in progress and every single day was a battle with tears and nearly zero advancement in skill for over a year until I tried AAR level 1 with him. He stumbled over every word and hated every second of every type of reading lesson/program we tried; I utterly dreaded it. (He was showing all the signs of readiness, but something wasn't connecting, still no clue what, but whatever it was, AAR solved it.) What programs have you tried? Have you considered starting over at the very beginning of a solid program designed for kids struggling with reading? Maybe she missed some basics, or is not grasping something she needs to make it all fall into place, especially if you have had to switch programs often trying to find a good fit for her and you feel fairly certain there are no vision issues or LDs. It also is possible her confidence is low, and that is killing her desire to try. I hope you find something that works!

Nope, me too! I adore book lists and children's literature. I have books full of book lists! I love finding blogs with lists of good kids' books. I read and re-read my old SL 2010 catalog (the only one I got before they took out book descriptions - boo hiss SL!, veritas press, build your library, simply CM, fiar, and a number of others... and will spend embarrassing amounts of my limited free time looking at books on Amazon that rabbit trail into more and more book ideas from the "other people who purchased this also..." suggestions. Having kids and homeschooling has simply given me a socially acceptable outlet for something I was always *not really mildly* obsessed with anyway ;)!

I use it and like it. It's easy to use, and I feel the material is both quality and age appropriate (unlike SL history cores, which I feel run best kept to the older side of the range, I think the science is better at the younger or middle end - but that may be because we are science people, not history people, around here). I like the variety of topics at this age because it allows my young son to discover new science interests, and I feel it is easy to add extra material if he wants to dig deeper into a topic. The schedule for a was light enough we often completed an entire week - less experiments - in one 30-45 minute session, so adding to the program or expanding on a topic would be a simple matter of searching amazon for additional living books or making a trip to the library. Because of the variety of books - as opposed to a more textbook type approach - it is easy to remove one that bores your kids or disagrees with your beliefs, and add in something else. The review worksheets are nice for summarizing and making sure your child took something from the lesson, but they aren't necessary if your kids hate worksheets (mine does so we did them all orally, together). It would be easy to keep a science journal instead, if you wanted to track progress in a more child led way. We finished science a this year, and I have science b ready and waiting for 1st grade. I've looked it over and am pleased. Love that when I haven't got time to do the experiment for the week, we can at least watch it on video. Love that all the odd bits I might need for experiments are included in packages. The most important factor in my satisfaction with this program was that my son looked forward to science and always asked for it first. This program was never a battle to get done!! I plan to use levels a-e for all my boys.

I don't know much about the quality, but Winterpomise does carry an African American focus bundle. It is meant to add to their curriculum packages and looks interesting, and it might if nothing else provide a jumping off place for you.

I'm sorry, that sounds so hard. I'm only finishing up our first K year here, but let me say it was a burst bubble in many ways. Meltdowns, groans, tantrums... I often told my 6 year old I would put him into (the very crappy) schools in our area (it was an empty desperate pathetic mom moment threat, I have no palatable options here besides homeschool, myself, so feel your pain). Mine is nowhere near the age or cognitive reasoning capacity of yours, but I did find that figuring out his learning style (social kinesthetic or 'wiggly willie hands-on' -as inconvenient to prep with a toddler underfoot, and opposite my own style preferences as possible) and aggressively eliminating programs counter to this, regardless of how fantastic or promising I found them, has helped...some. Asking him what he likes to do, and giving him choice whenever possible, has helped. Cutting school to four days a week, has helped. One day is a fun day. We free play or go to co-op (which is basically social play) and we eat the kind of junky lunch that comes with a toy that he begs for, and we watch tv, and we just relax. These are all treats he would not get if attending a 'regular school' 8-3 five days/week. Also just being fair, non-patronizing, and direct, as in "dad has responsibility, mom has responsibility, and learning x is your responsibility. Please have a good attitude and get it done, as you are stressing me out with your grouchy mood. Not everything is fun," type talks, has helped. I had visions pre-experience of such an ideal homeschool that all learning would be loved, and fun, and charlotte mason delightful... but mine has hated learning to read, has pronounced fine motor delays, and honestly there is absolutely no program in any subject I will ever find (excepting science experiments) that he will love more than being outside digging in his sandbox or watching Octonauts or going to an aquarium or park. Just had to make my peace with it: my kid is probably not going to be in love with academics. He does not want to make lapbooks. He has no interest in discussing the art in "Come Look with Me" books I excitedly bought last year. Unless I unschool, and I'm so not there, our homeschool will likely be a series of constant compromises that we get through as peacefully as possible each day.

My oldest (6) still does, and as long as my kids want to, I'll love it :). I loved, loved, loved mud and puddles and creeks and anything else of that ilk as a kid. Messy outdoor play is like a giant free awesome sensory box for kids, and all it costs me is a load of laundry and a bubble bath after!

It would look nasty to a lot of US kids, and even adults, I suspect. It's very poorly presented. But to me it just looks like a piece of fish laid wrong side up (nearly all pieces of whole, real fish have that brown stuff under, but it is usually trimmed or placed down so as not to offend aesthetics. And it's on an ugly plastic lunch tray it does not fit on, with a roll on top that would have better been placed beside it.) Yes, I would gladly eat it. I love fish. Tbh, I wish my kids would, but they are unfortunately more the fish sticks and nugget types. Not a fact I'm proud of. More a fact of our culture and my limited options for grocery shopping and eating out in a small town. The truth is - That lunch is probably way, way healthier than a lot of crappy fast-foodesque school lunches that no one would have blinked an eye at. Corn dog nuggets, chicken poppers, pizza rolls, piles of fries, etc. Kids all over the world are protein deficient. It's just a piece of basic meat, bread, and veggies. People are spoiled.

I'm baffled as to why that would be offensive. Baffled.

Now in my head, probably for the rest of the night... "They're two, they're four, they're six, they're eight...shunting trucks and hauling freight... Red and green and brown and blue, they're the really USEFUL crew...."

Purging stuff is a wonderful thing. I desperately need to do more of it, but I'm hopelessly sentimental at times. I'm also in a small town which has limited easy options for drop off, no pick up services (and I'm very pregnant with a 1 year old and rowdy 6 year old in tow) and I did not want strangers coming to pick stuff up anywhere remotely near my house... But I didn't want to throw it away, so I put everything in a box and left it in our Walmart's parking lot in a spot so it would be clearly visible and it wouldn't be a hazard to anyone's car, on a day with excellent weather, hoping someone could benefit :D! It was gone next time I checked, so I am hopeful someone was happy to find it. It was all highly usable stuff in good condition.

I wish I could give you a solid sort of answer. But all I can do is empathize; I have wondered these same things myself. For me it is a rocky, rocky road with a ton of two steps forward, three back... three forward, two back, in an alternating sequence. I have a little card I bought from a convent, which I like, which simply has a line drawing of an acorn sprouting into a tiny tree and "The life of a soul is a slow growth" scripted on it. I alternate from the humility of knowing that I have only to be grateful I am alive at all; I have no right to demand answers of the Creator - and this reality: that my heart gets lonely and lost and angry sometimes - I hurt for myself or for the vile suffering of others, most especially innocents - and I do cry out for answers. Usually, I've found if I'm patient and hold to even the most grudging, weak faith, some answers, some peace, will eventually, come. Faith is a struggle for me. And I don't know whether to envy those for whom it seems very easy, or not...