As a music teacher, I was able to get it. They also have free (or maybe the cheapest is now $10) and VERY inexpensive versions of their software that is just fine for basic needs. I would e-mail them and ask them if you sent in a copy of your homeschooler id could you get the discount! :)

Oh, and breakfast the kids serve themselves from the usual options, and each day of the week has the same lunch (Mondays, tuna/crackers/fruit; Tuesdays, miso soup, etc.).

I wrote our favorite dishes on a bunch of index cards and sorted them by category (main, veg, salad, etc.). Once a month I pick out dinners for the month. Once a week I add in the side dishes before I go grocery shopping. The whole thing probably takes 30 minutes/month. Very quick! :)

Yep, READ! :) We also use McGuffey books for oral reading practice.

What kind of 15-year-old car sells for $6K??? We usually buy 10-year-old minivans for about $5K.

We have 6 living in 1800 square feet and it's plenty. One room is our garage substitute since we have no garage. It's set up with work benches, tool wall, and laundry. Another room isn't absolutely necessary and we'd be fine w/o it. Before here we lived (temporarily) in 1300 square feet and before that in 1600 square feet. All were good layouts for us. The 1300 square foot house felt small-ish, but we all really liked that house. Like so many others have said, I think it does depend SO much on the layout.

We love, love, love it. My kids discuss the photos of the day every day, and several times per week they recreate an experiment from his videos. Tonight, DD7 woke up for a glass of water, saw me putting water on to boil potatoes, and was beside himself with glee watching the water boil and explaining the whole process to me. He was *thrilled* that he caught me at that exact moment. He was so excited telling me all about it that he could hardly go back to sleep. :) Yay, Happy Scientist! Well worth $10, but I definitely would have paid $20 to renew.

:lol: Good point! :)

Finances are definitely my husband's department, and I don't know all the details though I do know the basics. And, no, I didn't go right from college to marriage. :) I had years on my own too. We PREFER not to know everything about everything. We can cover a lot more if we have different departments. In an emergency, I know exactly where to find thing so I don't have the need to have it all in my head. :)

No tv/smart phone/ipad/ipod, but our kids each have 15 minutes of "protein" time (Happy Scientist, Discovery, Jewish sites, etc.) per day on the computer + they get to watch a 30-minute "protein" movie while I make dinner (Netflix documentary, etc.). On Friday afternoons they get to watch a treat movie, and on Sunday evenings we watch a family movie. That's pretty much it, and we don't have any conflicts about it at all.

There's just not much out there... Have you checked out this site? http://morahmoriah.com/ I haven't used any of the Qedoc-based things, but I've used hard copies of the workbooks and they're great for early elementary.

If we weren't about to turn 44 & 51, I'd have a whole other slew of them. So, so grateful we got 4. And so, so grateful we have no more diapers! :)

:iagree: And Savannah isn't too bad either! :)

We read a chapter a week, and do narrations. Twice a month we have art/history/music/science day and do the most interesting activities for the two chapters we have read. About 2/3 of our readaloud books are historical fiction related to the period we are studying.

Like someone else suggested, I really would just try full-time "umbilical" leashing, where she's attached to you all the time. She'll eventually have to go, and you'll start to learn her cues. It's great for bonding too. My pup was leashed to me for about 4 weeks.

If my kids obviously get it after working 1/2-2/3 of the problem I let them cross out the remaining problems. If they're having trouble, we work through some together and leave some for the next day.

I'd do some learning now, and take a month off when the twins come. The beauty of learning at home! :)

I've never felt it was hard work either. I get up in the morning and my first thought is how can I make his day a little better, and his first thought is how can he make mine a little better. We have no problem discussing things and coming to an agreement; neither of us ever feels like we're compromising. Just very compatible, I guess!

59!

:lol: I did that too! I had my 33rd birthday on the plane to Israel in 2001, and spent the whole summer thinking I was 31. It didn't dawn on me until my plane was departing that I had subtracted a year instead of adding a year.

Around here, we just can't stomach car payments. We keep driving $5K cars until they fall apart. Our overall car cost has been very minimal. I would definitely vote for getting a used car! Think of how many used cars you could buy for the cost of one new car. Have you looked on ebay?? Even if you have to fly across the country to get the car, you could save far more than that on the cost of the car.

If I wanted to homestead, and grow food year-round, I'd probably want somewhere with a 10-12-month growing season. OTOH, places that warm (further south) also have poorer soil. Soil however can be slowly improved over time, and there's a limit to how far you can extend a growing season. :) If I could live anywhere, I'd be in northern Israel. I had a great 12 years in Oregon, though, and could easily live there again, but right now I'm REALLY enjoying being able to grow loads of tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant in coastal Georgia. :) I really could be happy in just about any non-urban area with a Jewish community.

Another vote for Dick Blick! :) You can also keep a wish list there. Mine's too long. :)

:iagree: Me too. I definitely wouldn't do this. I like an aggravation-free life whenever possible. :)

That must feel so good!!!!! And it looks great. I did the Great Declutter last summer, and this summer I'm going through all the areas to make sure that everything has a place it belongs.