Suffering- what a huge question. I just listened to a podcast on the reason for suffering. It is by William Lane Craig on the Reasonable Faith website... the podcast is from the recent "On Guard" conference. Good stuff. I wonder about how much sadness we are exposed to now. I have to carefully monitor what I read. I am not opposed to taking on grief of others that I know... but reading about kids on the FB and such is really just borrowing grief that I was never meant to bear. I think we are supposed to pray for those we know and in our circle of influnce... that was why we are put where we are! Not that we can't pray for others... of course we can and should. But I just wonder about all the news and sadness that we are exposed to. It can't be healthy. You parents above who have lost kids... wow. What amazing attitudes you have.

There are soo many great thoughts on here for how to talk about to your kids. Having worked in this field.... I want to just add a few things. Be specific. Don't say "don't let anyone touch you." Say..."don't let Uncle Bob touch you. If Uncle Bob touches you, you need to tell me." Kids think of "anyone" as stranger danger. But studies show its generally someone they know and trust. I name all the people that are with my kids and tell them specifically who is allowed to touch and not touch. Also.... tell your kids that we never let people put anything in our mouth. They will probably think fingers... but adults know its more than that. Again, if Uncle bob tries to put anything in your mouth you need to tell mommy. Explain to kids that nothing bad will happen. Sometimes abusers tell kids that their mom already knows and she says its ok. Or that if they tell they will kill their dog. Kids assume that mom knows everything (don't we tell our kids that we have eyes in the back of our head? ) They think its true... of course its not! One more thing. Good touch/bad touch isn't really a great thing to say. Because the thing is bad touches.... feel good! And should. That is the way a body works. A bad touch is hitting, punching. A secret touch is when someone tell you not to tell. You tell your child to tell and to keep telling the same story until someone finally listens. The best protection is talking about this to your kids. The naive kids with parents who don't care and aren't involved are really at risk. Lets not be those!

In the ER we give meds by weight in kilograms. Thus.... take your kids weight in pounds and divide by 2.2. Then.... its 15mg per kg for tylenol and 10mg per kg for ibuprofen. Thus..... a kid weighing 75lb or 34kg would get 340 mg of ibuprofen. (2 tabs or so or ibuprofen) You can probably get away with rounding up for ibuprofen.... but I would round down with tylenol. It is easy to give too much tylenol and very dangerous.

If you feel like something is stuck in your throat, you could go to the ER as feeling like you can't breathe or are going to choke is an emergency. You could go to your dr. and have him schedule you for maybe an EGD... where they take a camera on a tube, stick it down your throat and look. It could be a variety of things. They could also prescribe medicine for acid reflux. If you go to the ER, sometimes they give you a medicine to help you pass it. Also, they can take an xray to see if they can see anything. I highly doubt its cancer, but they might be able to see something on xray or the EGD. Or you could do nothing and hope it goes away. :)

Has anyone ever been to one of these? The speakers look great.... however.... I don't just want to hear about YEC. Is it about more than OE vs YEC? I lean toward more OE myself. But I do want to hear about Christian homeschooling and encourgement for homeschoolers etc. Obviously I will avoid the Ken Hamm sessions as I presume that is all he talks about. Thoughts? Thank you in advance. Not trying to spark debate... just want to find a good close ish conference to attend.

Thanks! These are all great ideas. He was already advanced in math and reading, its just the guide. I feel better after reading all your posts. I just like to check boxes and be caught up!! I have this fear that I am going to get behind and my children won't graduate till they are 25. This homeschooling is nerve racking the first year. I try to be relaxed, but it is so much responsibilty when you are in charge of someone's education!

Hello! I was doing Beyond LHFHG with HOD with my 8 and 5 yo. But it was too easy for one and too hard for the other. So now I ordered the new ones, but I am freaking out because its already week 8 of school and I have to start over. I don't want to go till June. I feel like I obsess about this!!

I'm super suprised that some moms are "shocked" their kids want to know how bodies work. It is something they use everyday, multiple times a day, and we owe it to them to explain things. Just 2 days ago, I had the "birds and bees" talk with my 8 and 5yo. They already knew. I just clarified things. We do live on a farm... thus they do actually see it more than other kids. Also, we need to be teaching our kids.... wayyyyyy before the age of nine, girls parts, boys parts, and who touches them and who doesn't. One in 4 girls is abused, 1 in 6 boys by the age of 18. If mom is embarassed to talk about parts... how are they ever going to tell you if something is going on? I have worked in the abuse feild. It is our job as parents to protect.... and it goes way beyond "don't let anyone touch you there." It starts with education. A 9yo boy probably just wants a simple explanation.

Hello, I am using HOD beyond for an 8yo boy. The reading is too easy. Thus I am trying to beef it up. Was thinking of either SL 3rd grade readers and LA program, or the HOD Drawn into the heart of reading with the Rod and Staff English 2. I am also open to any other thoughts. Thanks!

What curriculum did you use? I want to know somehow that my second grader will be prepared for college when the time comes. Will any curriculum done well do this? Or do I need to be very selective? It is so hard to tell when to have fun, and when to push.

Hello! I am doing HOD beyond with a 5 yr old boy and 8 yr old boy. This is our first year HS. I think it is too easy for the 8yo. The reading is really too easy.... do I just go ahead and order the next level? (Drawn into the heart of reading) Really, the history is mainly what I like. I add math, phonics. Do I need to add English? Like Rod and Staff or something? I just don't feel like we are doing enough. Thank you for any advice.

I was wondering the same thing. I am using both AAR and AAS. For AAS I have just set an amount of time to work on it and we do that and get as much done as we can. The first part is pretty easy for my son, so I want to get to where he really "should" be, but wasn't sure where that was.

I sent you a PM about Western Nebraska. It's great here! I love it and the people are wonderful. Not too much shopping, but thank goodness for internet.