We do Elemental Science. I boutght the paperback version but it comes in a pdf/digital format too. My DD has loved it. Mixture of seat work and experiments. But the whole lession last for 20 min or less. Good luck!

We just started it and love it!! My kids love the experients and so far seem perfect for their age. (We just started K) :D

Super Why Leap Frog Seasame Street

Call CPS or the cops whichever is appropriate whenever something like this happens again. 6 years old can be held to some accountability or at least their parents can if a four year old can be sued for accidently knocking down an older person on a tricycle. At least you'll have a record that these people are harassing you and if or when her lies which seem to keep getting bigger paint your son as the person to blame no one will believe her.

I get this alot just from taking a shower. Usually swimmer's ear drops helps clear it right up before it does turn into an ear infection.

:grouphug: Don't give up. My brother was the same way with his allergies. Just for good measure. :grouphug:

:grouphug: I am po'd for you and sorry you've had to deal with all this over the years. Now please take some well meaning advice....focus on you and your kids and your dh in otherwords your family. I don't say this to be mean or anything but it's time for some healthy purging. Good bye mil and mother. I honestly thought I was the only one who had a mother like that and you've got two? I admire your strength. It hurts and they will try to lay on the guilt trip but stay strong. From experience if they truly care they will change or rather moderate their behavior to you and your kiddos. I had to completely cut off myself and my family when my mother did something similar but not that severe. It took me refusing to allow her to talk or see her grandchildren before she came around. Granted it took like 6 months and we've had to take baby steps but it worked. Honestly, since you are moving I would seriously consider not leaving either one of them a forwarding address or phone number. They have your cell and email I presume they can contact you through those until a time you deem it safe for your children to be treated correctly by the people that should love them and spoil them the most. As for SS, well I don't have step-kids have only had step brothers/sisters over the years. They learn at an early age what and who they can manipulate. I very jokingly want to say something about the suicide comment but those type of thoughts that streak through your head are best left kept to oneself with so serious a topic. Since he's reaching his majority and probably in for a major shock, I would personally consider talking to a consulor (ok I can't spell) and showing him the effect of his actions. What do they do to people who threaten suicide? They are usually admitted to a hospital or psych ward for observation. I know this sounds a little extreme but he's almost 17? He should NEVER joke about this. (Maybe have a cop friend that can show him without him knowing like an act in a play what the consequences would be? Of course, whoever is the legal guardian would probably have to sign off on this?) I'm no expert but maybe their's one in your area that would be willing to help? My rambling wild suggestions about the SS are just that wild thoughts. Anyone who is threatening suicide over a smartphone needs help. But whatever you do, stand firm and know that you can always vent to us. If nothing else, we'll send you hugs and give you some wild suggestions that might make you laugh? (Sorry if you're not in the mood I always say crazy things when someone's so sad just trying to cheer them up.) Good Luck!

My mother and I are starting up a children's clothing line with a special occassion adult items (i.e. matching pjs for the whole family like for christmas). Hopefully, we'll have our website/online stores set up in a couple of weeks. Working away right now on inventory and some graphics. Also, help my husband in his home maintenance business and window film business. Would love for this thread to continue. I love supporting small businesses as that is how our family survives through our small businesses.

I'll ask my hubby when he gets home. He works exculsively with Sherwin Williams paints :)

Unfortunately, I'm very familiar with exactly that situation it seems. Happened all through my teen years until I was married. I would be practically killing myself to be doing everything above and beyond sunday service. I finally just had to stop cold turkey and I mean everything. I'm not saying you have to do this by any means but it's want ended up happening with me. Unfortunately, some people no matter how direct you are with them will not change the way they approach things. You could try: Having your DH talk to him or My hubby and I learned a new trick resently that makes the "pushers" in our lives take a step back use the phrase...."Are you trying to make me feel guilty?" in a calm matter of fact voice. It makes people stoy and think about how they are coming across and wording things. or Finding a new church maybe closer to home if it's what your family wants. Whatever you do, good luck and don't let the pushers get to you. Maybe even do morning services in your own home just as a peaceful calming study before approaching the situation just to put a little space and a cooling off period before you do anything. Sounds like you really love your home church especially to drive so far one way with gas prices soo high in rush hour traffice with lots of kids.:grouphug:

We used clicker training with our blue healer and it worked beautifully. I loved it and it made training so easy that soon we were doing without the clicker and just using hand signals. As for the nipping, it sounds like you've found a wonderful solution. The only other one I could think of is coating the surface/nip area with something bitter that won't hurt him if he does it. Maybe get some chew toys/treats. Just don't give him an old shoe that could seriously backfire. lol Good luck!

I'm thinking about starting my own clothing line...so I really would love some feedback. It would be strickly kid's clothing and I want to start out small and work my way up if it takes off. Ladies, if you're famailar with these brands think Hannah Kate, Matilda Jane, Mud Pie, etc. Now I have a few questions..... 1) How much would you pay for an outfit for your kids that not every kid in the neighborhood might have? 2) Would you always prefer free shipping or want to know the exact amount and pay shipping? 3) Would you just like completed options or would you like a chance to customize/pick out a few things on the outfit yourself? Would you be willing to pay a little extra for this option or not? 4) Do you personally think there is still room in the market for this or do you believe it's too flooded? LOL. I know everyone's going to have their own opinion and that's exactly what I'm looking for good or bad. I have several things I've drawn out that I haven't personally seen before even in my research. I'm not looking to copy the above mentioned clothing designers but take a pattern and make it my own through there may or may not be similarities. (I've notice most children's patterns have a basic simple theme.) I want to eventually create my own patterns but would like to use one's I can purchase to begin with. Let me have it......:lurk5: And thanks in advance :D

I know this sounds funny but my dad is always coming up with these little tricks. In the breakfast/granola bar aisle (sorry can't spell), look for the nutri-grain "apple cinnamon" bars, pop one in the microwave for 15 to 30 seconds and yumm.....warm apple pie. Crumble it up on some WW ice cream and eat it a la mode. Plus it's cheap and I could hardly tell the difference. :D

I was worried about that so I guess the credit report is a no go. Want to find him but don't want to be arrested in the process. lol Social Security Admin will only forward a letter if someone is dying. I'll try the spokeo and see what it comes up. Thanks everyone for your help. :001_smile: Guess I'll come up with another idea for a late father's day.

Hopefully someone will know the answer to this.... I have a 22 year old brother that has been missing for two years and I haven't seen him in three. He moved without telling anyone and has had zero contact with any family or friends (or maybe they don't say because of who is asking). I really wanted to find him for my dad for father's day but despite all the time and money I invested in those people finding websites nothing came up. However, I did stumble upon one more idea. I can't afford a private investigator but I do have his social security number. An advertisement for a credit report said it show current address so my question is... Does anyone know if I can legally run his credit report? I'm not his employer and I don't care about whatever is on there I just would like an address to reach him at. I also don't want to hurt whatever his credit is, would running a free report hurt it? Long story short....mom's a maniuplitive control freak (and yes we share same mother) and her choices along with a bad break up with a girl he wanted to propose to led to his decision, I believe. I don't want to invade his privacy but I would really like to make sure he is ok. I learned from the social security website that he is not dead and that is somewhat comforting but I would just really like to extend an olive branch (in non intrusive letter form) if he's interested. Thoughts??

Holey Cow that's a huge insurance premium. We are self employed so we chose to purchase our own individual plan. We pay $379/mth for a family of 5 (though this is a family rate so it doesn't matter how many children we have). We do not have co-pays for well visits but sick visits are $40 for regular dr and $60 for speciality. Emergency visit co-pays are $150 and yearly deductible for anything is $1500 for the entire family. But we set it up this way b/c we rarely if ever go to the doctor for sick visits. The best thing? We write the whole thing off on our taxes. :lol: I thought that there was a new law saying insurance companies couldn't exclude pre-existing conditions these days??? Good luck. It sounds like ya'll are in between a rock and a hard place.

Wow. Parents are much more easy going these days. lol My bedtime as a teenager was 7:30 until I hit 14/15 then it was 8:30. I had to be in my room by then. I wasn't required to be asleep until like 9:30 or 10 when my mom made a final check and said "lights out". Dunno if this helps.

I agree with several people that you need more calories. If you don't have the right about your body goes into starvation mode and will store everything you intake. That being said I just started a diet 6 weeks ago and I'm down 26 lbs as of this morning along with like 4 inches in my waist alone. I don't say this to toot my own horn but so you can see the results. I'm on the Dukan Diet and I would definitely recommend it as it's the only diet where I could eat as much as I wanted when I wanted it as long as it was on a approved list of foods. The weight has stayed off and even though I had to cheat once due to an unexpected family funtion didn't didn't derail me. If you choose to go this route, I would definitely recommend reading the book first. Took me about 2 days to read this. Good luck in whichever route you choose to go! :D

Call your vet and have them do a quick exam. They wouldn't be able to tell the size without an xray but if the puppy daddy was too big she may need help birthing the puppies.

I called the local BAR association (a lawyer's only referring service) let them know what I was looking for and they directed me to who I needed. Might try networking through a local small business charter group if you have one locally. Leave business cards everywhere you go ie resturants, church, mailer to specific areas. You could easily/cheaply do this yourself with some letterhead and a volunteer to address envelopes (just make sure it's short and to the point. Long letters lose people quickly)

Hey for anyone who's interested in finding a penpal for their little one or not so little homeschooler a new page has been setup on facebook. Homeschool Pen Pals It's a closed group so you'll have to request to be added but it sounds fun. I'm not affliated with the group just joined myself and wanted to share. Happy Homeschooling!

Awesome Thanks!

Start having the neighbors file noise complaints with the police? I mean if their playing music at all hours and it's loud enough for the neighbors to hear it then it's a legit complaint and not made by you. (Am writing this as I listen to the music through the walls and wonder if I should yell at my neigbhors that my kiddos are sleeping could they please turn it down. And I live in a single family home. sigh)

Honestly Leap Frog DVD sets ROCK. Both my older kids picked the letters sounds and numbers up from them and surprised me. Really liking the Super Why that's on Netflix too. Spelling and phonics.:D

Thanks I didn't want to get something that retaught (hmmm. may not have spelled that right) her a completely different approach to reading and mess her up but what her to be well rounded. In grammer and spelling as well as reading. I'll go check it out now.