We do Memoria Press. I got the Latin DVDs and the workbooks, everything and I learn right alongside the boys. I'm doing Prima Latina with my 3rd grader this year and Latina Christiana 1 with my 4th grader. I watch the DVDs with them. It's tempting to just sit them in front of the DVDs, but.... ok, for a 4th grade boy who's rather be doing anything but schoolwork, I have to be there beside him to keep him paying attention, but it's also been good for me because I'm learning it, too. He's really learned a lot. Both boys are doing well with the program. I am quite pleased.

Congratulations! Welcome to the world, Baby Boy!

When you posted your question ( 7:37am) it was 28 degrees here.

Well, yes, but what does that have to do with anything? It's a statement, but is it a statement that is intended to create a change in behavior? I am an older mom, but I got married later and we were infertile. I realize that I will be older when/if my kids get married and have children but.... So what? Should that have kept me from adopting my children, and enjoying the years we spend together? Because I'll be too old to enjoy my grandchildren? Because I will be depriving any future grandchildren of my presence in their lives? Oh brother.

I agree with this statement.

I like to roast mine and put potatoes and carrots and acorn squash in there, too, and then make a really good gravy for the whole thing. Yumm.

Some of it depends on your kids. Your kids are young, and it's more important to focus on the 3r's than Anything else. Also, and I may get flamed, some kids can't deal with relaxed. My kids couldn't. They want to play and not do school, so "interest lead" for us would be "engineering".-building Legos, and "architecture" -hideouts-every day. However, living books are another story. That has nothing to do with "relaxed" homeschooling. If yu do SOTW for history, yu will get a solid program, but she lists all sorts of "living" books for each chapter.

I had two children who've had them. My son had then at 15 months due to multiple ear infections. Great, no problem, he literally hasn't been on antibiotics since. My daughter got them when she was 5. She had some ear infections, but also problems with fluid build up in her ears that was affecting her hearing. The procedure went fine, the tubes fell out after 10 months, but I don't think it really solved her fluid/hearing problem. Both procedure went well, recovery was a breeze with both kids and the worst part was remembering to put in the ear plugs when they went swimming.

DD is doing our weekly Scripture verses and the pieces in FLL. The boys learn a poem a month (this month it's "Stopping by Awoods on a Snowy Evnong" by Robert Frost.). They also learn weekly Wcripture and for history they are memorizing the Presidents and the Declaratn of Independence.

We all got flu shots today. Yep, family field trip. Dh and the little girls got theirs already, but the three older kids and I got to a wonderful doctor who I absolutely love, but she has her own practice and ran out of the shot a while ago and hasn't even able to get a new supply. I know I could have gone to CVS, but they would only give it to DS1 and me, and thenI'd have to sit there with all the kids and fill out paperwork, and then what about the other two, blah, blah,blah. It's so much easier when you just have to fill out the consent form. So, today I'm listening to talk radio and the guy was stressing the importance of the flu shot and I'm starting to get panicky and then dh comes home early and was listening to the same show and so he called his doctor and they could take us all. So, they did. And now we're done. Sometimes I am so thankful when dh just does stuff like that.

We never had 4. We had three and nobody batted an eye and then got the two little girls at the same time and started getting, "are they all yours?" although I'm not sure if that's due to the number or the fact that their skin is all several shades darker than me or dh's. Though if they just saw me and the kids, they could assume that dh was Hispanic. I tend to think it was the number.

I have 5 kids and personally, I think the term "large" is relative. I consider the size of my family "a bit above average". To me large is having between 7-10 kids or more.

Well. I guess being a "world liver" is better than being a "world colon". Lol. I would describe some like that as having "wander lust".

Could be age. I know that over the span of time I have been a "woman" my cycles have changed tremendously from having severe, debilitating cramps in my youth to no cramps but horrible PMS as an adult. Things are always changing with me.

Usually in the spring for the following school year. Some publishers have "free shipping" in the spring, so I'll wait for that. I don't change curricula much, but sometimes I do, so I don't want to shop too far ahead.

Well, we use a traditional spelling program, but spelling is pretty low-key around here. I think there are enough exercises in our book, plus I have the kids write their list once a day and we "say-spell-say" it once a day and they do pretty well on the tests. We use Spelling Workout and like it.

Yes, yes and yes!

My kids love them. We just finished Cameron Townshend (began Wycliffe Bible Translators) and will pick up another one tomorrow. On Fridays we don't do our normal Bible curriculum. We do a verse quiz and then read from one of the Christian Heroes books. Takes us a while to get through a book, but that's ok. I agree with the other posters that it's not Pulitzer Prize winning literature, but it's fine. It's interesting and inspiring and keeps my kids attention.

I use stevia to sweeten almost everything.

Pretty sure we are. Going from Cental Valley California to Salem, OR for a family reunion, but we're making a vacation/field trip out of it. Since we're studying California history this year, we'll likely stop at Sutter's Mill (where gold was discovered) and a few other historical places. We'll probably stop at Lassen Volcanic National Park and Mt. Shasta. That won't be till summer, though.

I always tell my friends right off the bat, "I will not call you , but that does not mean I don't like you. I just don't call anybody."

I would say C.

I hate talking on the phone. I'd rather chew my arm off than make phone calls. When I agree to be on a committee at church it's always with the caveat "I don't make phone calls." So, for the second question, I rarely am on the phone. And I do not have a smart phone. I have a basic cell phone with a cheapo-deepo plan. And I use it for emergencies on the road or for texting.

I don't think they were terribly expensive candlesticks, though it does say "crystal" on them. But what do I know? Maybe I'll take the out of the box. Yes, our church does have a yard sale in the spring, but I'm not sure how much $ they'd fetch there.

What do you do with this stuff? 8th grade graduation dress (my mom made it) 3 crystal candle sticks Decorator items I'm not using now Jesse tree Christmas banner I made several years ago, it's nice, but we haven't used it yet I just have all this various and sundry items that are cluttering up my life but I just don't know what to do with. I don't really want them, but..... Can't quite get rid of them.