I've been to the LEAH convention in Rochester twice. It is somewhat religious but not enough to bother me. I just skip the booths and talks that are really religious. There were plenty of secular sellers and speakers. That said, materials which are religious but not overly so don't bother me, we still use them, not sure how I would feel about it if I wasn't ok with that.

Honestly? No, personally I wouldn't in my current family situation. I can't even fathom keeping up with all the kids plus having to 'conference' with the older ones about what they want to learn then putting together materials for them. I think it sounds great for someone who is ok with devoting most of their time to it and/or has one child but it's not something I would consider.

We completely stop schoolwork both during the move as well as before and after. I've found that if I use my time on schoolwork I end up staying up most of the night, every night to declutter, plan the move, pack etc.. IMO, if kids are young enough to not be able to do much work on their own then they're young enough to take a break during the year and if they're old enough for it to really matter then they're old enough to work on their own (assuming what they need to get done is more or less planned out). That said, if any of my kids were old enough to work alone most of the day I would put them to work cleaning, babysitting, and packing instead!

I don't think books should be banned or censored but there are books, like stephen king novels, that are the printed equivalent of an r rated movie so our kids won't be allowed to read them until they're older. There are a few books I read as a child that were disturbing to me so I don't encourage the kids to read them, buy them, or suggest them when the kids want something to read but the kids could read them if they really want to. One that comes to mind is behind the attic wall. It's about a girl who goes to live with her elderly aunts and find dolls that walk around, talk, and behave like people who used to live in the house when she looks behind a wall in the attic. She hangs out with the dolls but when she tries to show them to other people they won't move or talk. It was really creepy to me when I read it, still is.

I've been looking for a health type curriculum too but haven't found just the right thing. So many dabble in anatomy, physiology, and why healthy habits are healthy (like why teeth need to be brushed) then spend most of the book on feelings and outdated nutrition advice (like how important it to eat ten slices of bread every day).

We could definitely get by with a pack of pencils, pencil sharpener, a couple erasers, crayons and/or colored pencils, a few binders, some looseleaf paper, and some printer paper until the sales start up again. If we were starting now I would look around for what we already have then just get a few basics from target to hold us over until the summer. Maybe costco for binders (they have nice ones that are inexpensive), printer paper, and possibly pencils. Last summer I bought a bunch of supplies thinking we would need them all. They were taking up so much space that we donated a box full last month. I've found that the more supplies we have the more careless we are with them. Why not lose, break, or chew on your pencil when there are 80 more in the closet? Why put the crayons away when another box can be grabbed? Why not throw away a sheet of paper with a single mark on it when there are 1000 sheets waiting to be written on? Why not use tons of glue when there is a gallon just sitting there? Just my experience.

We've had community playthings table and chairs for several years and although the older kids have outgrown it they always wanted (and still do) to sit at the dining room table or sit on the couch. I've thought about getting desks but besides not having a place to put them I'm not sure they would be used.

It would be great if every single person who made a worthwhile contribution to education received a livable wage in return but it's not always realistic. Let's say my favorite 2nd grade social studies curriculum is well researched and was written by someone who spent a year of 40 hour weeks on it but it not very popular. It consists of, say, a teacher's guide, student book, and workbook. The author self publishes it at a cost to them of $20 per set. They want to make a decent income for their time and want to earn $40,000 for their year long effort (assuming they're not paying themselves for advertising, marketing, shipping, customer service, etc.). Now the author of this particular not-so-popular program takes orders and only receives 50 (for the sake of this hypothetical situation we'll say the people ordering are willing to wait and be told what the price will be after all the orders have been taken). Does that mean each customer should pay $820 so the author can end up with a livable wage for the time they put into it or should the author charge something more reasonable like $50 and only walk away with $1500 for a year's work (after publishing costs are paid)? I know this whole hypothetical situation is unrealistic but I'm trying to highlight the fact that someone who is 'worthy of living wage compensation' isn't always going to receive it due to price levels the market is willing to tolerate. Kind of an aside but I've noticed strange prices for many homeschooling items, particularly books. One well written workbook will sell for $8 while another equally well written one goes for $25. A great math card game set that is printed on regular colored card stock might sell for $20. Not to begrudge someone their profit but it's hard to happily pay someone 20x what something cost to make. I think some programs are on the verge of pricing themselves out of the market. The difference between AAS/AAR and MM have been mentioned and, IMO, illustrate the situation well. Math Mammoth is a well researched and written program that sells as a complete set with hundreds of printable pages for under $100 when purchased via a coop. All about spelling (which we also own) costs $30 per level plus an expensive set of reusable materials. MM seems to sell more at a lower price, maybe they're both making the same money but MM is just more accessible?

We pay about $20 for each 30 min lesson, each semester is paid up front. To be completely honest the price would have to be really, really low (in the $5-8 range per half hour) for me to be willing to take my kids to a teacher who is giving lessons in her home while her toddlers nap. Even well behaved kids who are consistent nappers will have off days, create interruptions, be sick and need attention, cry in the background, etc. I wouldn't be comfortable with my child's music lesson (which we're paying for) experience being contingent on the behavior of other little kids. If the teacher had a responsible person (not a 10 year old 'helper') caring for the children during the lesson time I would be ok with it but we would still look elsewhere first and expect the price for an instructor working out of their home while toddlers are there (possibly creating noise or interrupting) to be somewhat lower than the same person working out of a professional studio, office, or music shop. I wanted to add that we currently live in a fairly low cost of living area where music instruction is easy to find. If we lived where good teachers are hard to come by and prices generally exceed $50/hour I might be willing to consider an arrangement like you are talking about.

Interesting thread. We have five kids, the oldest is 8. Sometimes they go with me to appointments and sometimes not. When they do it's not a big deal, I've had my teeth cleaned while holding a baby. Things have a way of working out. My husband is often away for months at a time so when he's home in the evenings it feels like a huge luxury. When he's home I try to get some errands done by myself. Honestly, having the kids at home is way less stressful than when they were in school and our entire lives had to revolve around the school calendar and daily schedule. I tried hiring a maid but it was stressful to get everything picked up by a certain time so she could clean. Besides, wiping down a counter isn't difficult; picking up and putting back everything on that counter is what takes time. I felt like I was doing all the hard work and paying someone to do the easy part. Not to mention the chemicals she insisted on using stunk up the house. My 'secret' is to hire a babysitter. Now, even when my husband is home, I hire a babysitter. I find that 7-10 hours a week is enough. Sometimes she takes the kids outside or for a walk so I can get housework done - I can accomplish in an hour what took the maid 2 or 3. Other times I go to appointments or run errands. Most of the time I go to the gym. On occasion I simply sit in the car and enjoy some quiet time alone. I pay the babysitter less than I paid the maid for more than double the hours. I would cut down on a lot of luxuries before I stopped having the babysitter come.

I don't eat gluten and I can't imagine asking volunteers to provide expensive and time consuming gluten free baked goods. I think that as long as there are a few gluten free foods to eat (fruit, homefries, eggs, sausage, etc.) they don't have anything to complain about. If people who can't tolerate gluten have special baked goods made for them each week the whole thing could turn into every other person asking for baked goods that are egg free, dairy free, nut free, sugar free, etc. which would end up being so stressful on the volunteers that the whole thing shuts down. In your shoes I would put up a sign that says due to cost and time restraints gluten free baked goods will only be available the first Sunday of every month (or whenever) and on other Sundays those who cannot consume gluten are welcome to enjoy gluten free foods such as fruit, yogurt, sausage, hash browns, and so on. Maybe add that those who would like gluten free baked goods could maybe get together and take turns bringing in commercially produced baked goods to share. Brands like udi make really yummy blueberry muffins and other sweet baked goods but are difficult to find and expensive. A pack of four muffins costs $5+. Hopefully that will help them understand that the time and money aren't available but that everyone still wants them to attend.

I would definitely call her and ask what happened. It sounds like she had some errand she needed/wanted to run, asked one of the kids if they were comfortable with it, was told no, and left it at that. I wouldn't think twice about it. We do, however, tell any babysitter who has a car upfront that our kids are not allowed to be driven around anywhere for any reason. As a young child (less than kindergarten age) I was driven around by babysitters. I don't think an 18 year old would know that kids over three years old or so need to be in car seats. If she's otherwise a good babysitter it wouldn't be right to simply not call - she will wonder what she did wrong. Also, if you don't bring up the car seat thing with her she won't know not to drive other people's kids around without car seats. Even if she doesn't watch your kids again the information you give her might prevent kids from another family from being driven around by her without car seats.

For a comparison: When the military gives someone orders to move they give them ten days 'house hunting' leave but do not pay travel expenses for the trip. They either pay for movers to come and pack everything up then deliver it to the new location OR pay you what amounts to about $1/pound to rent a truck and move your own stuff OR a combination of these two scenarios. They pay full per diem for each adult and half per diem for each child, I want to say it's around $90 for an adult and that includes your hotel costs. When paying per diem for the travel time they assume you will drive up to 500 miles for a one day trip or up to 350 miles per day for a multi day drive. If you choose not to drive or go overseas they will pay airfare and transport one normal sized vehicle. They will not pay any extra to transport pets (if they are in your car when you have it weighed they would pay the regular by the pound amount the way they do for all your stuff). They will not pay any home buying/selling costs. If you live on base you have to clean your house or pay to have it cleaned. If you go over your household goods weight allowance you have to pay them back for the overage, allowed household goods weight varies by rank, most ranks are in the 10,000-15,000 pound range. I'm not sure if it varies based on rank but there is a $2500 allowance to help pay for costs associated with setting up your new house.

double post

To the best of my knowledge in the Air Force the only time a skirt would be 'mandatory' would be a female officer in formal evening gown equivalent uniform when males are wearing their tuxedo equivalent uniform (called mess dress for both genders). Mess dress is not mandatory for the majority of the Air Force who are enlisted and, generally speaking, attending formal events is not mandatory therefore making the wearing of a skirt by female officers not mandatory. They might be expected to attend but it would seldom be truly required. The other time a skirt would be required would be when a dress uniform is required for a female who is late enough in pregnancy to need maternity clothes. That woman would wear a dress maternity jumper (yes, it's an unattractive as it sounds). In nearly a decade of living on military bases I have never, ever seen any woman wear it but I've also never heard any woman complain about wearing a skirt, most seem thrilled to be wearing something more feminine than they normally wear.

What about a women's magazine? One that's been around for decades. You could talk about not only the articles but the advertisements as well. The change over time, or lack thereof, would be interesting too.

It's not an artifact in the sense of being old but what about those new legos for girls. I think they're called lego friends. They don't require much of any building from what I understand, they're pink and pretty with skinny girl action figures. Apparently the people at lego didn't think girls would want to build with legos, just have another play set all ready to go. Another that comes to mind and is currently out are the bic for her pens. Read some of the amazon reviews, they're funny. I'll think about it more - interesting topic.

The two older kids, both under 10, are soooooooo confused by the concepts of both rotary phones and pay phones. They don't get why you have to keep turning the plastic thing around and why you can't just push on the number. I'm still looking for a reasonably priced rotary phone to keep around. They also don't get why there were/are pay phones. They want to know why people can't just use their cell phones or ask someone else to use one if they have forgotten to bring their own. I grew up in the northeast and never knew what a package store was. I remember asking someone who mentioned it 'packages of what?'. I had also never been to a liquor store where children were not allowed in (when with their parents). I went to buy stuff for a party and had to stand outside the door with the baby while pointing out what I wanted to be able to make the purchase. I also had never heard of a tag office until moving to a different state. Where I grew up the place you went to get a driver's license and license plates was called the dmv (department of motor vehicles). Someone was explaining where a place was located and kept saying it was near the tag office. I didn't feel too smart when I asked what it was. I didn't know that in some places tags are the little stickers those states require to be on license plates. I was terrified the first time I heard a cat purr. I was an adult and thought it was growling at me.

I've been having him do the math mammoth worksheets that are already printed and ready to go. We're keeping the card games and manipulatives to use in addition to mm. I also laminated quite a few of the worksheets that go with rs so they can be done over and over as practice. I've been having him do one sheet of basic problems each day, trying to beat his time from the day before. The rightstart level we were using was level b. The first 25ish lessons were skipped/looked over because they would have been repeating what he already knows.

It's so strange. I get the concept they're trying to show but the three ring circus involved in getting there doesn't make any sense, Today I just gave him a couple math mammoth sheets. I really just want him to learn his basic math facts and have them down pat so he can start tt3 next year, or even in the spring.

Our first grader was getting bored with math mammoth so after reading good reviews of rightstart math I ordered it. We've been using it for a few weeks and it just seems so.... weird. I don't know how to put it. Much of it doesn't make sense to either of us. Parts of the lessons seem so simple, like they are for a three year old. Other parts of the lessons seem really advanced. I don't know what to do about it. He's not happy with math mammoth, rightstart doesn't seem like a good fit, and having spent $300 on math for him this year I don't really want to buy anything else. I'm planning on him starting tt3 next year.

I have major sleep issues so when DH is home he lets me sleep on the weekends. He usually tries to get me out of bed by 10 or 11 but it's not uncommon for me to sleep past noon. That said - I'm often up until 3 or 4 am doing housework so it's not like I'm getting to be off the clock from a normal bedtime until noon the next day.

Peter is the name of a very close relative. I've always liked it. We are Catholic and I lived in a very Catholic area as a child so I've grown up knowing people named Peter. We considered it for one our kids but didn't want to repeat the name of someone closely related. I can't help but smile reading your signature. In our close family we also have several of the same names. Have you looked at the website where you put in the names you already like or the names of your other children and it comes up with suggestions bases on them? http://www.nymbler.com/ For Peter it comes up with: Thomas Simon Patrick Miles Mark Paul Ross Stephen Felix Phillip With your other kids names it comes up with: Joel Benjamin Jack James Eli Levi Simon Jacob Gabriel

I did searches of any and all names we were thinking of. First name, first and middle, first and last, first middle and last. If it's just the first name it doesn't seem to matter but when more than one name matches people are going to think they were named after that person.

I'm in my 20's and feel I'm too old for them but I'm not 117 pounds, maybe if I was I would feel differently.... FWIW, our kids aren't allowed to wear them. I feel they're a bit too, um, form fitting to be modest (and we're not people who would call ourselves modest dressers.