I also think that one of the reasons many other message board sites are so slow is because they are fragmented into too many individual boards. If we had a bunch of different "general" boards then the traffic on each of them would be *way* less and people would stop coming because the boards are too slow. Our board works and is vibrant because we have a large number of people coming here. Split us up and you'll have slow boards. And where would it stop? So you have a Secular/General/WTM board - then you'd need a Christian one, and a Jewish one, and a Pagan one, and maybe a Buddhist one...anything else? Sometimes we have some serious disagreements between AP parents and non-AP parents, perhaps we need to separate those as well so that an AP parent isn't told to let their baby cry it out and a non-AP parent isn't told to wear their baby. And, boy oh boy, life would be a whole lot more pleasant if we had the pro-circumcision parents on one board and the anti-circumcision parents on another board. Which brings me to another category - shouldn't there be a "pure WTM" board, an "adapted WTM" board and maybe another board for those who don't really use TWTM but just like to come here? And we have a lot more CM parents than we used to maybe they need their own board. Don't forget the Classical Unschoolers. I also think that it might be a good idea to split ourselves into those who are willing to answer the door in a towel and those who are not because I'm sure that those who are not may become offended when those who do talk about flashing the UPS man. Personally, I like being on an active, vibrant board with lots of people. Fragmantation would lead to really, really boring and slow boards.

I saw a painted turtle lay her eggs at our beach last night. Part of me wants to dig them up and carefully place them in a terrarium and then watch what happens. The other part of me wants to mark off the area and threaten death to any small child with sand toys who enters. What would you do?

We started with the apple cider vinegar a few days ago and my two year old screams like a banshee whenever I apply the vinegar. There is no broken skin and I can't figure out whether he's screaming because it's cold or because it is actually killing him. Does it hurt quite a bit? And is it working? I don't mind continuing on with this form of torture if it's going to make his warts go away because no matter how many times he insists that he wikes his warts I would like nothing more than to get rid of all of them. So - is this vinegar thing really successful?

Things are progressing. My homeschool room is clean and has been kept clean all week. My desk area was a continual hotspot and now it has been clean for days as well. Yesterday I tackled my final hotspot in my "top 3" and now it looks nice as well. I'm reading the emails, working on my routines and my sink is shiny!

We have 6 people in 4700sq ft. Our last house had 2300sq ft and a fantastic layout. It would have been enough room. I do enjoy having more space, but sometimes we lose the 2 year old.

Our group put out a call for those who were interested in coming to a planning session. Then we all sat down and put our heads together to plan out the meetings for the year. We have had a mix of meetings - sometimes we bring someone in, sometimes we break out into small groups to discuss various topics, etc. Having 8 of us involved in the planning ensured that a wide variety of needs were being met with the meetings.

I think I would just sit quietly and enjoy the quiet. Maybe with a book. Or my favourite snack that I don't buy very often because I dislike having four kids repeatedly ask me for some. I'd leave the house and go have coffee; with a friend or maybe even by myself. I might walk around the mall for an hour and try things on without having to ask for the biggest change room so that all of my small boys can come in with me. Just for fun, I might turn on the TV in the middle of the day and see if any of the characters of my favourite soap from 15 years ago are still on. I may have some of this kind of time coming up. The grandparents are taking 3/4 of the kids for a week at the end of July. I'm lobbying hard to get them to take the final kid (who turns 3 in October). He's fully potty trained now and I have a lovely 12 year old dd to help care for him. They're not so sure. And dh travels regularly so it may end up being a week alone...alone...alone. I *love* my family and feel privileged to spend each and every day with them, but some alone time once a year is something I also enjoy. Enjoy yourself!

We had a fantastic day. We did some yard work in the morning then we had some friends over for a swim and some cake in the afternoon. I made a new recipe for dinner from one of Jamie Oliver's cookbooks. Chicken wrapped in bacon - can't get much better than that :) And my sink is still shinyl

I noticed the same thing with my library. It was hard to find real literature that was suggested here, or in the Sonlight catalogue, or VP or TOG but it was very easy to find trashy YA novels and young twaddle. I wrote a suggestion asking for more classics and less money spent on c*ap (I used polite language :) and their reply was that there was a high demand for the lighter fare and they are here to serve the needs of the patrons. If they patrons demand cr*p, they are obliged to serve cr*p.

The Story of Canada by Janet Lunn is my favourite. There is also one by Donalda Dickey (I think it's My First History of Canada or something similar) is quite good. I really like the series of books by Kids Can Press, The Kids' Book of Canadian Exploration, The Kids' Book of Canadian History, etc.

It must be that time of year. I have a step-by-step guide on my blog as well as my own philosophy of education. This is the shortened form of what I do at convention time.

Dh usually has some in the fridge, but I'm a wine drinker. Tonight I ended up having a Berry Mikes and it was very, very good. I learned that if you put off your second cup of coffee for long enough eventually you can just have a Mike's :D

Has anyone else tried PW's 4th of July cake? Oh, my. I've only tasted the batter so far but if it's anything like the batter I'm going to have a hard time not eating the whole thing. If you're looking for a fantastic cake for 4th of July celebrations (or July 1st celebrations if you're Canadian) then I suggest this one. I posted a link to the recipe and some pictures of our cake on my blog.

I think I did pretty well if I do say so myself. We had a home blessing hour yesterday and between myself and the kids I think we did quite a lot. I also got rid of one hot spot - I put a picture of it in my weekly report on my blog. I'm feeling pretty good, even though I'm not exactly going through the steps perfectly yet. I thought that today I'd get my routines down on paper and put up some sticky notes.

Welcome to the board!

I think it's just BC. It's called the Climate Action Dividend.

My weekly report is up on my blog.

Aurolog offers way more than RS. It offers more helps and hints when you're not sure what's going on, it offers cultural information and context, it offers explicit grammar instruction. I think that Aurolog offers all of the good points of RS and a while lot more.

I have a step-by-step guide to creating your own philosophy of education posted on my blog. It's the short version of what I do at homeschool conventions. My written ed philosophy is on there, too.

I totally agree. Dd was nearly 10 when our last ds was born and she changed a few diapers but it was definitely the exception. Modesty is something we're purposeful about around here but it never even entered my head with any of the babies. My 2 yo still comes out of the bathroom nude to announce that he's peed on the toilet - no one makes a big deal out of seeing his parts, we're all used to it.

Oh, and here I thought that maybe you also got the climate saver booster cheque. I got $100 in the mail today for each member of our family - that's $600 that is supposed to help us be more energy efficient. I love gov't money and I'll try not to think about the fact that I'm probably just paying more in taxes now.

Same here. I make a particular point of repping people who respond when I post a question although sometimes I run out of rep before I can rep everyone and then I usually forget the next day to go back and distribute more.

That's it - watch out! :smash:

I'll kick you if you kick me back? I'm sitting here staring at my terrible hot spot beside my computer. It's grown. And there are things I need to do that are buried in that hotspot (like call the lawn care guy, pay bills, renew BCAA, etc.). Instead, I've been playing on my blog and reading the boards while drinking a strong cup of coffee. My dh comes home tomorrow after being away all week so I'd like to greet him with a clean house plus we're having a Sunday school pool party for ds (8) on Saturday which means I have to shop for and make PW's 4th of July cake. :smash: We don't have a kick icon, but I'll chase you with this hammer if I see you back here again!

I found that it helped me if the kids had something independent they could do. It served two purposes: 1. It made me feel less guilty about not having the patience to do what I really wanted to be able to do with them. At least they were getting something done. 2. It gave them something to occupy themselves quietly with for a while so that I could nap or drink tea or check the boards in peace. If you're feeling irritable now then I'd suggest giving yourself permission to stop your regular programming until you feel up to resuming some time after the baby is born. Instead, find something that you can hand to your dd to work on for an hour or so each day by herself and put your feet up.