I'm just now starting to investigate hybrid SUVs, and I'm wondering if there's anything I'm overlooking. I'm interested in any experiences, good or bad. Anyone own a Durango, Aspen or Tahoe? Or anything else that will seat eight? TIA.

Anyone have advice/websites/travel guide suggestions for visiting Yellowstone for the first time? I'm looking for anything from suggestions for time of year, to places to stay. (Husband won't camp. Might go for a cabin, if that sort of situation is available.) I know there's a bunch of stuff out there, but I'm looking for been-there, done-that suggestions. TIA!

Maroon 5. Wake Up Call. (Slinking away now...)

...for kids is that if you can't get along with your family members, then I really shouldn't inflict you on outside society until it's handled. (Translation: You don't go anywhere.) So, I would have called off the visits, too. It's not personal, it's just business. I mean, I know it is personal...but face it, if she's going to call you that over something this small, your feelings aren't that important. Not that they shouldn't be--and I'd want to take some time and try to figure out new ways of bonding, if that was possible, apart from this--but I do believe that certain behaviors have to have consequences, and something like this seems big enough that it needs to be seriously addressed. Letting that slide seems to be a go-ahead flag for something bigger. Not trying to be dramatic, but...it's my honest feeling. Showing that you won't let her abuse you is a form of love, IMO. Just as necessary as affection.

...about modesty that pretty much followed this train of thought. I mentioned Noah's sons (the ones who backed in and covered him when he lay there naked) as possible examples of what we should do as Christians. Look someone in the eye, direct our attention elsewhere, etc. Our sons aren't going to get the rest of the world to dress so that they're comfortable. They're going to have to learn coping mechanisms for scantily dressed women, because...the scantily dressed women aren't going anywhere, lol. ;-) I don't care for my girls dressing in a way that bares more than I think is proper. But I don't lay down a lot of rules because I want their mode of dress to reflect their self-image, and I think that's built, not put on from the outside (no offense meant to groups who have "dress codes"; your practices illustrate your beliefs, just as mine illustrate what I embrace). I have a personal belief that women/girls who are looking for sexual attention in an inappropriate way have something else going on, inside**. The answer to that isn't shaming them, it's finding out what's causing it. As a Christian, obviously, I believe love and Christ are the answers, but I'm sure there are non-Christians out there who share my view and believe that strengthening girls' self-image in ways that showcase their worth in a non-sexual sense is the most permanent, and helpful answer. JMO. **This shouldn't be taken to mean that I believe every woman who's showing some booK fits into this category. I have shirts that other women would consider immodest; this is referring to what I see, in my mind's eye, when someone says lots of cleavage.

...apologize. My background is such that I have a big thing about not repeating certain parenting behaviors that I experienced, and I may be *too* apologetic, in some instances (I also do many things that I absolutely *need* to say I'm sorry for)...but I know that a characteristic of many abusers is that they don't accept responsibility. That's the biggest thing to change, to break the cycle, IMO. Yes, try and modify your choices of words. Yes, look for stressors and take care of yourself. But really, I think that understanding when a line has been crossed and sincerely apologizing makes a huge difference. You're not perfect, you'll never be perfect, but I think that you can mitigate a lot of damage by simply telling your kids when you've messed up, and showing them that you value them enough to try harder. JMO.

On our first pass through history (kids were older; I don't really focus on history until about third grade or so) was keep a wall "timeline" (long piece of contac paper on the wall with incremental century divisions) to put some of our completed projects (SOTW) on. We also made little index cards with brief narrations, telling the culture/time, and explaining the craft. Obviously, we didn't do this with everything. Just hit the high points. It's simple, reinforces the chronology, and serves as a visual reminder of what we've learned. (We also got some "Wow!" comments when visitors would head to the bathroom. :-) (Now you've made me want to do it again, with this batch of kids!)

...not wanting to wait until the Sunday morning in question to know if your child has an obligation. (Are we the only folks who skip a Sunday now and again? :001_smile:) If you get all the help you need this way, and are wedded to keeping it, then, I guess it's really just a question of wanting to take the trouble to change it. I think the generous thing to do is err on the side of making things as smooth as possible for those who are doing the volunteering, but that doesn't mean it's "wrong" for you to do it the way you always have, either. ETA: Wait a minute...after reading it again, I think I'm misunderstanding the setup. When you say she should send the dd into the room to check each Sunday, are you saying that each Sunday's workers are only posted on that Sunday? Or is there a "master schedule" posted that shows the whole month/quarter/whatever? If *that's* posted somewhere, that the girl can write down when she works and go and tell Mom, then I think that's enough. What I said above doesn't apply if she's asking for continued notification when the information has already been made available.

"It isn't a contest." Because it isn't. ("Mind ya own bidness" is another alternative, lol, but I'm sure you're looking for something more...diplomatic. ;))

It was not a big deal. They told me to take 800mg of Ibuprofen about 30 minutes before coming in, and that freaked me out, lol, but once they did it, and said they were finished, I was all..."Are you serious?! That's it?!" (It doesn't take any more time than a Pap smear). A little pressure, some pinching, maybe...don't work yourself up over it, though. I'm not sure if others have had worse experiences, but for me, the anxiety before hand was the worst thing. (I'll pray that the results are good and your spotting is easily explained and resolved.) ((Hugs))

...I will admit that I take it with a grain of salt when someone offers advice and has only one small child. (Don't be mad, lol!) I mean, yes, everyone has a point of view, and just because you don't have experience doesn't mean that you don't have wisdom to share. I think that's a given. But having several children and many years of homeschooling under your belt counts for something completely different. I'm more likely to perk up my ears when someone with *more* kids than me, who has been homeschooling for *longer* pipes up. It's the same with general parenting; I tend to pay attention to those who have *grown* children, not just teenagers. One of the reasons I tend to do this is because I like to hear about mistakes that folks have made. If you haven't had the chance to make any mistakes, then you don't have any to share, KWIM? ETA: I agree with the poster who mentioned the helpfulness of having general ages of kids listed in signature lines, and this is one reason why. I don't really find all the curricula helpful, because I think that's relative to the children you're teaching, but I do like to have a ballpark figure for the number/ages of children the poster has. I put mine in after someone else mentioned this, some time ago!

(My blog is linked in my signature) Okay, here's the problem. I had a custom design, and one day...it just sort of disappeared. Rather, the picture for the header disappeared, and I had to do some rearranging. So, now, the pictures and widgets that I had are down at the bottom. And I don't know how to fix it!! If any of you have designed your own headers, I'd take any advice you could give about that, too...but I'm pretty sure there's a way I can just rearrange my widgets through Blogger...right? RIGHT? (Whimper) It's not a great big deal, but I'd love for it to look better than it does. (Either have the widgets on the sidebar, or as part of the header, if I can figure out how to do that.) Anyhoo. I've Googled and found a few things about making your own header...but they assume a lot on the part of the reader. Like, that they know what they're doing at all. Which...I don't. But I could figure it out if someone had a link that used small words. :D Any help is appreciated!

.... Nevermind. Thought better of it, and deleted my post. Sorry! ....

..."co-op". In a public/private school, it's the school's way or the highway, usually. A "co-operative" truly is a group effort, and decisions can be made much differently. I'll give you an example. My little brother was homeschooled largely because his private school, the same one he'd attended for years, started using a new math program for algebra. The teacher was new, the material was unfamiliar (this particular program probably works better if it's used all the way through) and kids were failing right and left. Even kids who were notorious in this little private school for being top students, quick learners. The parents complained, but there wasn't really anything to do. My parents were spending so much time working with my brother that they eventually decided to cut out the middle man, lol, and just do it full time. Now, part of the reason I chose to participate in a co-op this year is because I am dismally inadequate in the area of higher math. I heard great things about the teacher my kids would have, and when they started, things looked great. But after a couple of weeks, the pace (this is a one day a week co-op, with a math help class another day, if needed) was getting to my kids. One of them didn't understand the material, and the other was overwhelmed by trying to get so much instruction in one day (they were using a public school text and trying to go through the week's work in two hours). The kids were frustrated. I talked to the teacher. She became frustrated, because evidently, my kids weren't alone. She had, as she put it, an entire class of kids who were essentially square pegs, and were having a difficult time fitting into the round hole this program represented. She took some time to think about it, and suggested a curriculum change. Now, this is a fairly big class, and there was a chance that someone whose child wasn't struggling would have had a problem with it, but she found a homeschool program that fit the co-op set up better, and had fewer weeks scheduled, so that we didn't miss any work. She's a hero at our house, now. :D And I've never heard a story like that come from a traditional school experience. I'm sure it happens...but not often. My point (and I do have one, lol) is that this is truly a co-operative effort between parents. It certainly has a schoolish feel, much of the time, since there are quite a few families, and several classes, but I wouldn't have anything close to the kind of input/relationships with teachers that I have now in a private school. I wouldn't have the option to pick and choose classes to fill in blanks where I'm weak, as a teacher. It would be all or nothing. ::Shrug:: It's not everyone's cup of tea, though, I know.

...eye-popping, lol, but I hope that I'm teaching my sons to stop at... The rest of it ("Can't you help us out?") is understandable...but unrealistic, imo (and experience). In all honestly, there are always going to be odd things that no girl will think of (sparkles? Not jogging in front of men?), and you'd be hard pressed to convince me that anything other than billowy head-to-toe fabric would be enough to keep some young men from temptation. :D Dressing considerately? Sure. I encourage my girls to do that, because I want them to be appreciated for their brains. And I do think you can encourage inappropriate attention, even though I believe even more strongly that anyone should have enough self-control to direct their eyes appropriately, or manage their thoughts. But I also want my boys to be responsible men. And I don't know that I'd feel they'd reached that goal unless they understood that ultimately, you're the one who has to answer for your thoughts.

This is why I chose a co-op with (what I consider) crazy rules and a demanding amount of involvement for the mom; we can pick and choose and take the best of what they offer, and leave the rest. And...it's only one day a week! (Well, there's an option for a second day, but it's not required. We go if the kids need math help, but not otherwise.)

I think that one of the reasons I like the E.H. version so much is because that one finally made that concept clear to me. I know there's a statement in all of the various renactments in different time periods (Richard III in the thirties, for instance)...but they all sort of fall short, acting-wise, in getting the message across, IMO. (Everyone gets into "Shakespeare Mode", lol.) There was very little pretense in this one. I think the combination of actors who aren't generally "Shakespeare-ish" (this was one of the reasons I liked the Julius Caesar with Charlton Heston) combined with some of the settings for various scenes (the "To be or not to be" performed as an inner monologue while browsing for videos is a perfect example of Shakespeare's timelessness, imo) made for a really new experience for me. (Before this, the Olivier version was my favorite). Anyhoo. Not everyone's cup of tea, I know, lol...but I find it extremely watchable. :-)

...but I think my favorite is the modernized version with Ethan Hawke. (Jill pauses to cover her ears against the howls of protest.) A couple of reasons: First, it's the only verison I can think of that doesn't have an older man (with bleached hair!) playing Hamlet. Hawke actually seems to be the age that I would imagine Hamlet being. Second, you mention the "To be or not to be" soliloquy, and I love how they do it in this one. I love how they do many things in this version...the "play" where the murder is exposed becomes a movie (Hamlet is sort of a film buff), Hamlet's "get thee to a nunnery" is done via messages on an answering machine, and, well, Bill Murray is in it. :-) They really capture the young person angst. I'm normally not one for Shakespeare set in odd times/locations, but I love this one.

...(cauliflower, carrots, broccoli, and zucchini). I'm toying with the idea of cutting up a cantalope for dessert, or making dh do it, lol.

I mentioned in my response that while our approach is what's needed/believed best for our family, it might not be for everyone's. I think it's worthwhile to mention that there could be a variety of needs even within families, for individual children. Someone might be able to work a good deal and still maintain a certain level of schoolwork, someone else might not be able to do that. My goal is to have children who will be able to handle working while going to college. But if someone has to ramp up to that, a little slower than the others, I want to be sure that I'm sensitive to that. I don't consider school a child's "job", at any stage of their development, but I do believe that this time in life for them represents a unique opportunity to focus more on academics than they might get a chance to in later years, and I want to be sure we take advantage of that.

Honestly, I don't know that any of my kids will ever be able, financially, to simply attend college, without working. Like so many other aspects of life, I kind of want to prepare them for what their reality is going to be, then, by hinting at it, now. So...if they'll need to budget study/work/down time in college (and really, in life afterwards, too), then I think it makes sense for them to begin to do it, now. And they need money for some of the stuff they want to do, now, also. And there's five of them, lol. (Translation: Mom and Dad aren't going to foot the bill for everything you want to do/buy.) So, they earn it. (As of now, neither of the older kids has a steady job, but they do odd things here and there, as someone else mentioned. Yard work, pet-sitting, etc. I'm not opposed to them getting a steady job, and the oldest is currently trying to do just that--her younger brother still isn't old enough--but I do like that they have the flexibility to schedule activities, volunteering, etc., as they do now, by picking up work here and there.) That's the practical reasoning. My philosophical reasoning is that I want learning to be a lifelong pursuit, and much of the way I structure our homeschool is meant to find ways to encourage that. I know it may sound counter-intuitive, but minimizing it, to a certain extent, is part of that process for me. Short lesson times, short academic days, not considering school a child's "job"...all of these are connected in my mind with integrating learning into life, and making it a marathon, not something we burn out on, if that makes sense. (And I'm not intimating that this is the right way/answer for everyone, just our particular family.) This is an interesting thread. Glad it was started!

:iagree: With everything Strider says. So sorry you've got to deal with this.

People who get on several times a day, for a few days...then neglect it for a few days...then get on several times a day, for a few days...;)

My favorite quote is actually from one of the comments: "I know people who quit Facebook after playing around with it for two months. I know others who joined and still use it once or twice a month to stay in touch with a few people. I know other people who are on it all the d@mned time." ROFLOL! Exactly!

I was quoting the OP. :001_smile: Just hit the wrong button, and it came out underneath you. (Sorry) Hey...no worries. It's not only Friday...it's a long weekend Friday! Woo hoo! :D