My older three bicker constantly. The boys tease their sister, she screams. Some is always touching someone, or passing gas on someone or taking someone's Legos , or... or... or... You get the picture. And the tattling is constant. Usually I try to ignore it, tell them I'm not getting involved and if it gets really bad, I hide in my closet with the iPad and watch Dr. Who.

My 4 year old rests on her bed with a stack of books for an hour a day. My 2 year old gets woken up from her nap after an hour or she'd slep all afternoon and be up till 10:30 at night. She does need a bit of a nap, though, or she's completely coming unglued at 5:00pm. I hate this age.

History is hard after SOTW. We're doing a majorly tweaked version of History Odessey and I am not pleased. Well, let me put it this way, I would be more pleased if I did it like SOTW and read and discussed the material with DS, but I just can't. He does need to be more independent, but also, I'm schooling 3 younger kids as well as my 5th grader, so practically speaking there's not a lot of me to go around. I do try to give him some attention and direction with history, but I can't. It's driving me crazy, because he likes ( or used to like) history and I love it, but now..... Ugh!

Looks great. We outfitted our schoolroom a la' Ikea last summer and love it!

I'd put them in the private school. I wouldn't travel. The few field trips we took while studying California history showed me that my kids couldn't care less about missions or old churches or anything like that. It was a nightmare. I think a cross-cultural experience, like living in another country for 6 months to a year would be beneficial, but I wouldn't travel with my children.

2nd grade with Rod & Staff.

We took a quickie camping trip this weekend. Just up to the Sierras overnight, but I have a raging sinus infection and ain't seen the Dr. till Tuesday, so it was a tough weekend.

The Family Under the Bridge was our first. Finished that one. It was good. Now we're reading Ella Enchanted.

Oh, you'll be fine. Deep breath. But, you also need to remember.... not everything about homeschooling is wonderful and not everything about public school is awful. There are some things that... yeah, he's going to miss about ps. But that in no way means you have made the wrong decision. Sometimes I have to remember that, because I really think that my oldest dd would probably enjoy some things about ps and do well, but that doesn't mean she should be there. I have very firm convictions about what we are doing, but I also know that there are pros and cons to all educational choices. We just make the choice we think is best.

Inside bugs die, outside bugs... we have a live and let live policy. Except for the occasional ant massacre with a magnifying glass. But that's rare.

You've gotten some good answers. Definitely look up Sproul's website and Piper. Also, Monergism.com (I'm not sure how to do links on my iPad) is a great resource. Regarding your question, if you mean, can a person genuinely believe he is saved according to Scripture, but not be because he is not one of the Elect, I would say no. Scripture says, "if you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, you shall be saved". Those who want to be saved are saved because God put that desire in their heart (the irresistible grace part of the Doctrines of Grace).

I micro plan history and science. Everything else is just "do the next lesson". Life in my house is a circus, I can't even stop to think, so if my curriculum is not open and go, then I need to plan it down to the detail so for me, it is open and go.

As was said before, TWTM doesn't recommend formal logic till 7th grade. We're doing the Mindbenders puzzles and ds loves those. It's a great way to start.

I do them now and then. And I don't make pockets. I make them into notebook pages so they go into the notebook. My boys aren't terribly into them, and I feel they get better content with other things we do.

I'm so sorry. We're going on an overnight tent-camping trip this weekend with a 2 & 4 year old, plus our older three. Fortunately, it won't rain. Hang in there, gal!

That's pretty cool!

Interesting.

I never wash swimsuits. I make the kids rinse off after swimming anyhow, so I just make them keep their suits on, which rinses the chlorine water out of them and then hang them up to dry. Even with that, it's hard to make a suit last a whole summer.

DVDs all the way, baby! I learn along with my kids. I think the Memoria Press DVDs do a very thorough job and my kids are doing great with the program. Love it! And I love the guy who does the First Form Latin DVD much better than Leigh Lowe. I mean, Leigh is really sweet and I do like her, and it's kind of fun to learn Latin with a Kentucky accent, but she gets a little drawn out. This other guy is more succinct and has a definite sense of humor.

He did a pretty good job. Common sense. He looks more like a "Chris" than an "Ashton" IMO!

You are absolutely not a dork. Good for you. I hate swimming.

Last summer was our tenth. Dh gave me an anniversary band, which I told him on our wedding day that I wanted on our 10th anniversary. We took an overnight trip to the coast, which was nice and had a very nice dinner, but that was about it.

Beautiful pictures!

I like fruit infusions. I'll buy a pineapple, eat it, put the core in a big pitcher of water along with some frozen strawberries, and slices of other fruits, sweeten with a little stevia and leave it in the fridge over night. Yummy.

I'm not sure if this meets your criteria, but it's such a good book I thought I'd throw it out there.... "Hittite Warrior" by Joanne Williamson. It's not secular, but it's not "bang you over the head" Christian/Jewish, either, I don't think. It's a novel set in the time of the Judges in the Bible, but I think she does a good job showing the interconnectedness of all the cultures in that region at that time. DS1 is just finishing it and he loves it.