:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: Ugh, I hate it when my DH says things like that. I don't think they mean it personally, but that's the way I take it! I can barely find the time for the interests I used to have. I used to draw and paint every day...it's been years since I completed at picture. It's not that I can't find the time, I'm just too exhausted to do anything by the time I get around to it! Sorry, no advice...just commiseration.

:lol: I was going to say the same thing!

I know somebody that had her 8th kid at 45. He's a happy, healthy 5 yr old now. :)

I was directed when to push with my first two (hospital births) and did it instinctively with baby #3 (homebirth). All three were quick labors (3-5 hours) and no epidurals or anything. Pushing seemed a bit more intense and did seem to take longer with my homebirth, but I also noticed a *considerable* difference in pain/healing with #3. I mean that I had NO pain afterwards. I did have a waterbirth, so I don't know if that factors in also, but I believe the instinctive pushing was a major factor in that. I think just the fact that you're working with your body instead of against it makes a big difference.

I hope it's ok to bump this now. Is the poll frenzy over?;)

This isn't a word pet peeve but... My pet peeve is people that honk their car horns to try to get my attention so they can wave at me. I walk around town a lot and it happens to me all the time (I live in a small town where everyone knows each other). First of all, when someone honks, it scares the cr*p out of me. Second of all, I don't recognize cars very well so by the time the person passes by, I have no idea who it is! It probably sounds grouchy, but hey...I'm going to run into them again eventually. Do we have to honk and wave every single time?

DD14 just joined a girls choir. She's got a great voice, but she's very shy and quiet. Her choir director requires the girls to stand up and sing a solo in front of the class at the end of classtime each week (they rotate each week). Next week is her turn, and she's extremely nervous about it. It's a very casual setting...she can just sing a few lines of her song of choice and sit down again. The choir director just wants the girls to trust each other, and have the experience of singing by themselves. I think it will be great for DD, because she lacks confidence, and she's never had the experience before. DD is terrified that she will cry in front of everyone. She does that when she's nervous...in fact she did it when she auditioned for the choir teacher. She couldn't get through her song, so the teacher had her sing along to some scales...she was very patient with DD, and DD did great on the scales. Does anyone have any suggestions to help DD prepare for her solo? I've only just recently been able to get her to sing the song in front of me. I want her to sing in front of DH and her brother and sister, and then maybe move on to her grandma and grandpa. I know she's going to fight me on that, but I can't think of any other way to prepare her. Any suggestions?

Thank you for posting this! I've been looking for a list like this for a long time, to use with my ADHD kid. :001_smile:

Thanks for posting this! I'm going to find some episodes for my kids to watch. I loved Mr. Rogers as a kid. I was an only child, and it always felt like he was my friend...like he was talking directly to me. :)

Congratulations!!! :party: Please post pics when you can.

Congratulations!!:grouphug:

Our state has lower regulations but our school district has been very easy-going about letting homeschoolers take classes part-time. My oldest DD went to the local middle school for just one class (Art for the first half of the year, and computers for the second half). She could have taken as many classes as she wanted. She didn't do it this year, because budget cuts all but eliminated electives at that school (all that's left is 2 days of band and choir per week :( ). I'm not sure how easy it is to participate in classes part-time in other school districts in our state, though.

Interesting article! I like that the author doesn't automatically put-down unschooling because of the results, but actually dicusses different possibilities for their lower scores. The comments are remarkably civil, too. :001_smile: ETA: For the most part. Further down it gets a bit heated, but not nearly as bad as most blog-postings about homeschooling!

Thanks for all of this info! This is good to know. Maybe there is some way I can take a look at the plan my husband might get to see how they would handle it.

Thanks so much for your responses! I think just to be on the safe side, I will contact the midwife to see how busy she is, without actually making an appointment. Looking at her website, it seems she does take payments, so if DH doesn't end up getting benefits, I think we'll be ok. Thanks again!!

That's a good idea. Thanks for the advice! :001_smile:

We've been self-employed and uninsured for several years now. I'm 12 weeks pregnant and would like to have a homebirth with a midwife. We did this with baby #3 and paid out of pocket. One of the main reasons we did this is because of the price ($1500 for a homebirth vs $6000 for hospital). I haven't been to a midwife or doctor yet, because DH recently got a temp job with the government. He's doing well at his job, and we are hoping this will help him get a permanent job with benefits (he doesn't have any benefits as a temp). He has had a few interviews, but those jobs went to others permanent employees. We're still hopeful he will get on permanently. Anyway, my question is....how long should put off making an appointment with a midwife? If I were to make one now, and DH *did* a job with benefits, would I be covered, or would that be considered a pre-existing condition? I guess just the fact that I'm 12 weeks along makes it a pre-existing condition, though....I'm not sure how all of that works. It's been awhile. :blush: From a quick internet search, I'm only finding one midwife in my area that does homebirths. I'm kind of afraid of waiting too long to contact her, in case she gets too busy. If I end up having to have an OB and a hospital birth, and DH *doesn't* get on permanently, we'd be screwed. There's no way we could handle a big debt like that right now. Any experiences or advice would be appreciated!

Sorry if this has been posted before, but DS couldn't think of anything to write about for his freewriting today, and I came across this. He really got a kick out of it! http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/storystarters/storystarter1.htm Right now he's writing a brief biography about a stubborn policeman who has discovered another planet. :lol:

:iagree: Especially with the bolded. Is this normal for child exams? I admit we don't do regular checkups past 1 year in our family, but our kids have been to the doctor for various illnesses over the years. I would be shocked if the doctor asked any of them to fully disrobe. And if it was needed for some reason, I would expect a warning ahead of time, and I would expect to be in the same room when it happened.

I believe it's a reference to a thread from last week, discussing a blog post from a mom who is against homeschooling (to put it mildly :glare:). In the comments section of the blog, an inexplicably irate mom referred to what "one of those sows on the WTM boards said" (or something to that effect). It was so out there and uncalled for people were giggling about it over here. :lol::lol:

I've got to hit 2500 posts before I'm promoted again?! And here I was looking forward to getting close to 1000.... :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

I would say that most of the blame is on the parents themselves, not the teachers. What is a 1st grade teacher supposed to do with a student who has never been read to, doesn't know the alphabet, and has never held scissors? She already has to help this student catch up while dealing with 29 other students with various other problems (behavior, accelerated learning, etc.). All this while having to stick to the more and more rigid constraints from administrators. I absolutely could NOT do that job. I have enough trouble with my own. :tongue_smilie: Again, I believe this is due mostly to the parents. Most homeschoolers have a vested interest in their children's education.

So sad. And that poor grocery clerk...he must feel absolutely terrible. :( I used to put the car seats on top of the cart with my first two kids, but with the third, I finally figured out how to use a sling. It was so much easier than dealing with bringing that heavy car seat everywhere!

I've been wondering this myself. DS 11's handwriting is terrible. It improves if he's writing cursive, but his printing is illegible. The spacing between his words is erratic, and his letter sizes vary. We've done every year of HWT, and he does fine (most of the time) in the workbooks, but when it comes to anything else, it's just awful. This year we're just doing copywork for handwriting, and I keep having to make him do his assignments over. It's very frustrating. DS has mild dysgraphia, ADHD and sensory issues, so handwriting has always been a struggle for him.

I would love to name our baby Annika if it's a girl, but DH put his foot down long ago. He says it sounds too much like Monica, and he doesn't like names that end in "a." (My name ends in "a," should I be insulted?) He's also vetoed Lachlan, Declan, and Liam, because of our Scottish last name (he thinks it's overkill). Now I can't remember which (if any) of those names are Scottish or Irish. I guess he's just going by the way they sound with our name. Lachlan is my favorite...I'd love to call him Lach (Lock) for short.