I voted letter of apology and community service. I believe that writing out a letter to the bus monitor, spelling out what they did and apologizing for it, will force the boys to think about what they've done. And community service is a much better option that being arrested or expelled. I'm not sure that being suspended from school or taking bus privileges away will have an effect. At that age, had you told me that I wasn't going to be allowed to ride the bus and my mom was going to be taking me to school, I would have been thrilled. I hated riding the bus. It was smelly, loud, and I had to get up early to catch it because I was the first stop. :tongue_smilie:And suspending me from school? I would have been equally thrilled. No school- yay! :lol:

I'd say let your DD decide. Not so much as coming right out and asking her, but start out with the basics, then add a little. If she seems to be doing well, maybe add a little more. If at any point she seems to be getting overwhelmed, back off a little and stay there. That's what I've always done with my DD. I try and let her set the tone. We do quite a bit, more than I would have planned on my own for sure, and if someone else had said to me here's a list of everything my six year old is doing I would have thought for certain that they were pushing way too hard. But DD asks for every single subject, except math. (We do 22 different subjects, and DD is BEGGING to add Spanish. When and where I ask her?!?!?!) Of course, part of why we do so many different subjects is that I have a child who wants to learn a little about everything. If you have a child who wants to know everything there is to know about one subject, then it would look much different- but neither way is necessarily the right way, we just have to find the right way for our children.

:iagree: :lol: I try not to buy too much junk, because I'm trying to lose weight. (Down 30 pounds since April!!!) I have next to no will power. But there are generally a few things around here that DD will eat and I won't. I don't make rules about what she can and can't eat, I feel like that may set up a problem with food later. She does have to ask me before she can get anything, and if I feel like she's had too much that day, or not enough healthy food, I either suggest healthy food or distract DD. I just try to use my judgement and balance out a little bit of junk with a lot of healthy stuff.

I haven't read the original post, but, I would be unable to place my own life in danger in order to save an unborn baby. Don't misunderstand me, I would be very, very upset, and it wouldn't be an easy decision to make. But DD is already here, and she needs me, and she takes precedence over anything. I'm all she has. She's already lost her grandfather, who was more like her father. My mother isn't in good health. Her biological father isn't in her life. We don't have a large family. And DD has some emotional special concerns. It scares me now that something might happen to me and leave her behind.... I could never do something that might leave her alone.

I'm glad to hear it! My DD is still a little younger, just 6.5, so sometimes I'm not sure if my *brilliant* (sarcasm.... :tongue_smilie:) ideas for others are age appropriate or if I'm completely off. Good luck either way. We are also learning about other countries, and using music and food (as well as holiday celebrations, traditional clothing, etc.), but I get to do all the research myself! Yay me! :lol:

I'm Kymmie. Before, I was here as another username. Then IRL I met a crazy person who thought he should have access to every single part of my life and so I changed all my usernames. Now I'm this name. :D (Luckily he's not dangerous, just annoying.) I'm the single mama to Jenna, 6 year old dancer extraordinaire. Jenna's plan for life includes growing up to be a veterinarian, dog trainer, artist, Jeopardy-winner, who owns and operates a dance studio and is in an orchestra (first chair violin, if you're interested). :svengo:She wants to know everything about everything, and wants to know it now. Let's just say this: I have my hands full. Besides homeschooling, I'm also a college student. I will finally be getting my B.A. next spring. I'm a history major, minor in Spanish, French, and gender studies. I also have a declared minor in Latin American studies but I won't be able to complete it because I wasn't able to study abroad. :crying: I'm in the process of finishing up grad school applications, and want to study gender and sexuality in 19th and 20th century Brazil. Eventually, I want to be a college professor. We homeschool for so many reasons. I first started for academic reasons. I was a nanny when DD was young, and worked with her. At 4 I looked into a couple schools and quickly realized that she'd be way out of place in any preschool, so I kept her out again. At 5 I looked again, and realized that she was now even more ahead and kindergarten was even less of an option. In the process, I've realized how many other wonderful benefits there are, and plan to keep her home through high school.

My whole life revolves around education. I'm a full time college student, and (um, hopefully....) in 2013 I'll be starting graduate school. And, of course, I home school DD. Anytime not in class or teaching DD is spent doing homework, planning DD's work, researching curriculum, etc. 9 times out of 10 if I have free time, I'm reading or researching something just because I want to know about it. The X is a multiplication symbol. education times 2. Because there are two of us. (On a related side note, I hate coming up with user names. Really. I never know what to use.)

Hi to both of you! I am a single homeschooling mother also feeling quite isolated. We have met quite a few other homeschoolers, but they are of the religious conservative set, and we just seem to have nothing in common. DD has made a few friends in the group, which is wonderful for her, but for me..... :tongue_smilie: Adding to my (perceived....) sense of isolation is that I'm a full time college student. So I spend 20-25 hours a week on a college campus, surrounded by another group of people that I'm unable to connect with. It's hard to make friends when people ask if you want to grab some lunch and you either can't or have to bring along a kid. Wow! This post sounds so whiny. I'll end on a good note. I love homeschooling. I really do. It's so amazing being with DD while she's learning, and I LOVE being the one to teach her. :D It's nice to see that I'm not the only one that feels so isolated though.

For the months of the year, we read Chicken Soup with Rice by Maurice Sendak. We read one page each night, and kept reviewing which months we had already read. (So, we read the little poem about January, "Which month is first?" January! Then the next night before we even read, "Which month is first?" January! then we read Feb. then, what are the first two months of the year? Jan, Feb.) By the time we got to the end, DD could recite all twelve months of the year. Days of the week were learned just in the course of life. Anytime DD wanted to know how long until an activity (dance class for example), I'd tell her that dance class was on Saturday, and since today was Thursday, and tomorrow was Friday, and after Friday was Saturday that meant dance class was in 2 days. It worked really well because she is a planner to the nth degree and we do quite a few activities on a regular basis.

As far as food, I'd be tempted to have a child that age start doing some of her own research and cooking. She could use the internet and library books to research the origin of food and some popular national recipes, then recreate one and write up a short blurb on why she choose that food, why it represents that country, why it's important to the people of the country, how it developed, etc. She might need guidance at first, but if she's really interested in the topic, it'd be a good way to teach her some research skills, which are very important. Plus- maybe you could get out of cooking dinner every now and then! :lol:

I'm registered as an organ donor, and I've made my next of kin aware of my wishes. My best friend was saved by a kidney transplant. She was lucky to find a living donor, but so many people aren't that lucky. I'm also hoping to donate my body to the Forensic Anthropology Center at UT Knoxville, which I can still do even after donating my organs.

:iagree: In addition to what I said earlier, this too. While I do want DD to go to college, I believe she could go to college just fine from public school. The reason I have chosen to homeschool her is because I want her to be educated, and that is something that I think classical education does especially well. It's sort of a joke around here that by the time she's 13, she needs to be able to beat me at Jeopardy (not happenin' kid :lol:). But seriously, my goal is for her to be comfortable in all walks of life. I want her to be able to drop in on all types of conversations and feel able to contribute- political, pop culture, historical, current events, weather, etc.

Understandable. DD was a preemie with a weak immune system, I was a single mother with no choice but to take her out of the house when we needed diapers and food. After the first couple times in the stroller or carseat when people had easy access, I wore her in a sling, which I *thought* was enough to keep people from touching, but it wasn't! :glare: People would stick their faces all in my chest to get right up in her face, and grab her hands, basically groping my chest. Ridiculous. I started covering her with a blanket and would do all that I could to avoid people. :tongue_smilie:I'm not really a people-person anyway, so it was pretty miserable for me.

I have 11 years left of homeschooling DD. At that point I'll be pretty much just starting my career, since I'll be getting my PhD in approximately 7 years. So I should have plenty to occupy me! :D I'll be teaching classes and doing research, and finally writing down these books that have been floating around in my head forever. I'd also like to adopt an older sibling group once I get settled in a position. I may or may not choose to home school at that point, obviously can't make that decision until the time comes, but if so, that could be another round of schooling.

:lol: Sometimes I'm not so sure....... Kidding!!!! But how do you teach a dog to swallow a pill anyway? No matter what I try and hide it in, my dog will eat everything AROUND the pill, and spit the pill right back out at me. It takes forever to get her to take a pill.

Not many people in my family have college degrees. My paternal grandmother earned her B.A and M.A after her children were grown and raising families of their own, and one cousin has his masters. Other than that (and I have a large family), I'll be one of the first to have my degree (next year at this time!! :D) I am planning on college for DD. In fact, depending on where she is at that point, I'm planning on early college for her, because I'm hoping to use the community college system at least for high school sciences. I'm really hoping that DD will choose to get an advanced degree, for the same reason that I'm going on to get my PhD. I've watched my parents struggle and work themselves to the bone. When my father passed away, he had retired from one job and was working full time again. My mom worked all her life in various jobs, but was unemployed at the time. They had lost their house. They were living in a rented house and barely making the bills. They had nothing. Now my mom is living with us, with no health insurance and lots of health problems from all the years of manual work. I know that any career is susceptible to job loss or underpay, etc. but college education does provide a route to more money, jobs that can be more stable, and jobs that you don't have to work 60, 65 hours a week lifting heavy objects or using caustic chemicals. I'll support DD in whatever choice she makes, and will never force her to go to college, but have really worked hard to make her into a person who seeks out knowledge. There's nothing I love to hear more than "Mommy, turn on the computer so we can look up why......" She also spends a lot of time with me on my college campus and sees how important education is to me. She already says things like "When I go away to college...." or "How long until I go to college?" Now just need to hope that that feeling stays for another 10 years... :tongue_smilie:

:iagree:But I have a "no character" rule. DD is allowed to check out one character book (Spongebob, Disney, Arthur, Dora, etc.) each time we go to the library, but she knows that it's up to her to read it- Mommy is under no circumstances reading it to her. :D I used to tell her that I didn't like those books, now I tell her that they aren't written for reading aloud. Whatever it is, it had worked. She used to wanted stacks of the character books, now, half the time we go to the library she actually forgets to get her one allowed character book because she's so busy getting the "good stuff" as she calls it. (The funny thing is... that's pretty much the only place I draw the line, I do make sure to pick and read lots of quality literature to her, but we also read a lot of twaddle. Just not TV characters!)

Paper planners all the way for me. My system is extremely complicated and ridiculous, and I'm sure could be simplified somehow, but it works for me and why fix it if it ain't broke, right? :D I end up with 2 different daily planners and 3 binders (just for planning and record keeping- this is not counting school work binders.) For the planners, I just go browsing and find ones that fit my needs. One planner is full size, and at the beginning of each of my school semesters I go through and write down all the due dates of assignments, plus as the semester goes on I write in mini-goals to stay on track (such as, finish rough draft of paper by now, or make sure to have read half the book by now, etc.). I also use this planner to write other deadlines in, such as the millions of grad school applications I have coming up, and (gulp!) the GRE exam. The second planner covers where DD and I need to physically BE at any one time. All my class meeting times and places go in here, plus DD's dance class times, violin lessons, PE classes, meet ups we've scheduled with friends, any concerts or shows we want to see, doctors appointments, etc. Then the binders. Two binders are for planning. The first is just a binder full of paper. I do a lot of scribbling and jotting down ideas, moving things around, etc, before settling on a plan. Much of what we do I pull together myself. So this is basically my ideas book. In the front of the book I have our yearly schedule written out, our subject list written out with what we do on each day of the week, and I plan by week. Once I've settled on the plan for the week and decided what we'll be doing for an entire week, I go to the second binder, which is stocked with... to-do lists. :lol: Each day gets it's own list, so we can check things off as we go. The final binder is the official review portfolio. I'm perpetually losing things, so before schoolwork has a chance to get lost, I make copies of the good stuff and put it in there for the end of the year. Are you confused yet? All this for only one child..... :tongue_smilie:

I have so many reasons that I don't exercise, although I've been working on it. 1. A lack of time. When I have time, I don't have child care. For a long time, I didn't have space to exercise in our house, now I have a big enough living room that I can at least do some videos. Also, DD is old enough now to ride her bike or walk/jog with me. 2. Growing up, it just wasn't a part of my life. Neither of my parents were exercisers, none of my family or friends were really exercisers, I just didn't make it part of my life. 3. I'm easily bored. I'm rarely, as in, almost never, doing one thing at a time. And exercising is just so... boring!! But one of the biggest reasons I don't exercise is because of my uhm... bOOks. :lol: They are larger than large, so I have to wear a regular bra plus 3 sports bras. Very uncomfortable.

I've heard about a cup with a rim around the edge that you put the pill on, then you can just take a long drink and the pill is supposed to slide right down. I really don't know. My 6.5 year old doesn't take pills. To be completely honest, I still have really hard time taking pills, and I take 8-10 pills a day. :tongue_smilie:

:lol::lol::iagree: DD and I go once a week to volunteer at our local humane society. We go to the dollar store and spend 5 dollars on cleaning supplies and a box of treats, then each pick a special toy/treat to give to our favorite dog of the day, then we go and walk dogs for an hour or two, depending on the weather. We love, love, love what we do there, but to be honest, we are both a little sad each week when we leave. Seeing all those cute doggie faces behind cages, especially when you've just had them out running around and know how wonderful they are, is tough. I have to remind DD each week as we are leaving about the good we're doing for the dogs, and how much happiness we bring them by getting them out to play for awhile. And that when we go back the next week and her favorites are gone, that means they have gone home with families who are going to love them. (Okay, okay, I've also promised that we're going to adopt another dog soon.... :tongue_smilie:We're just looking for the right one. We want a puppy under a year old that will be somewhere around 30-50 pounds full grown who is playful and fun, but the dog must be submissive to the dog we already have at home. Oh, and lighter colored, but not white. :lol:)

You guys are making me nervous! :lol: I've always wanted to try c25K, but I can't keep track of it in my head and don't have an iphone or ipod. Oh well I guess.... (What a convenient excuse, right? :tongue_smilie:)

Hi everyone! So, I've been here before. But due to some security issues, I've changed all my online usernames. If anyone is so inclined, I'm sure you all can figure out who I am :D, and I'll confirm on PM for anyone who cares enough to ask. (Anyway, the "security" issue isn't a threat of any sort, just an annoying person in my life I'd rather be rid of, and I'm 99.9 percent certain that this board isn't even on said person's radar- I'd just rather not take the risk and have to deal with the harassment later. :glare:) Moving on from all that nonsense. For all the people I haven't met, and to all the people dying to know who I am (and to all the people who really don't care and were glad that I've been MIA :lol:): So nice to be back. You know things IRL have been crazy when you can refer to the Hive as being stable and calm. :D I need to post a lot, since I've lost my status and I'm starting alllllll the way back at "just visiting!" (How unbearable sad!)