Over the years I've stayed at quite a lot of people's houses. It didn't matter so much what they cooked,..... as long as I felt I wasn't a burden it was an enjoyable time!

You do NOT sound lazy, don't even think it! You sound like you're doing loads, even if the schooling doesn't always happen. I've often been surprised how many people are on this board, who aren't homeschooling all their kids. I get the impression most would want to, but don't for various reasons. So they're in a similar situation to you, they'd like to, but at this point in time it isn't working out and ps is better than no schooling (not saying you're not schooling!).

There are some women who are sadly not built to give natural birth. Have you really never come across one? It got rather dangerous for my oldest dd and me once I'd tried for 20 hours and she just couldn't come out,.... natural childbirth is great, but thank God there are other options these days, I wouldn't be alive anymore otherwise!

The postage is unlikely to be the biggest problem. I once spent a whole afternoon translating Tajik thank you notes into German to help a friend who was overwhelmed. If the boxes get to the right children (which they sooo often do!) those children are unlikely to speak and write English or know somebody who could translate for them.

My dd uses a soap with teatree oil in it, that works well.

You ladies are sooo impressive. Being German I've grown up with Sauerkraut all my life (and the instruction to never feed it to any foreign visitors :)), but I don't know ANYBODY in Germany, who does there own.

Stress seems to be what makes mine come out. Are you stressed? It's not that easy to change, though, is it?

NA

That one would scare me. What would you wear? What would you do? WHO would pay? On my list there are only 2 and dh doesn't think very highly of number 2, so I'm not sure that'll ever happen. Go to a spa type place (with a friend who's been before) Help out with the Sisters of Mercy in Calcutta for 2 weeks

:iagree: It's an exceptionally good response!!

I had a hunch some people might feel that way:001_rolleyes: They tast so much better though than the real stuff with occasional lumps in it, yuck! Should I sign off now?:auto:

What about keeping a few bags of the potatoe powder stuff and just making that if they're late. It's pretty much instant, but if they're on time you can just use it another time. That is if powder potatoe puree is allowable for Thanksgiving in you book:001_smile:.

I'm not even America and wondered about the same thing!:D

:confused::confused::001_huh:

When my dc where in school they learned French with some sort of interactive white board programme that didn't need the teacher to do anything, apart from learning along with them. I'm still not convinced that it'll make a big difference. In Germany they do English from Kindergarten onwards (since every teacher knows English from school this sort of works) and most of my friends are telling me that the real learning starts in secondary school, when they do it more intensively.

:iagree: Asking on this board you'll obviously get a lot of mums bidding for hs. But I agree with the above. Mine have been in ps for some part of last year and whereas it wasn't perfect, our hs isn't either. Behaviourwise I'm having to work a lot with my dds right now, when it comes to attitude. Having been in close contact with their teachers, they didn't pull any of this at their respective schools. Ps might give you enough of a breather to be happy and energetic to deal with her when she's home.

:grouphug:

The doctor might have been an idiot. But can't you give the guy who's English wasn't that great a breaK? Have you ever tried to make your living in a foreign country? It can be quite a challenge.

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

I'm only the second poster who's on the other side of this issue (should I start a different thread?:001_huh:) I believe that it's good for my kids to gain a strong immune system, so I don't mind them being around people with a cold, the flue, chickenpocks,.... where I draw the line is more serious illnesses, which are a real problem here in Central Asia (TB, thyphoid, polio,... the sort of sicknesses you only know from immunisations if you life in the West). Having said that, chosing to live here, involves taking health risks. A few years ago dh got rather sick, by the time he got diagnosed with typhoid, we'd been close to him for 3 weeks. However, none of us caught it. :tongue_smilie:

Just wanted to say that we recently visited Dublin and there were all these Scots in kilts. We started counting them and I offered extra points to the kids if they could verify if they were worn the traditional way. :D Nobody did, to dh's relief, his humour doesn't always match mine:lol: P.S.: For those of you who are more conservative, I would have stopped them before they would have gone down on the ground!!:D

Your picture suits that life philosophy!:001_smile:

Did anybody actually kick anybody else (accidentally)? :001_huh: I do excersise DVDs at home and whenever there are boxing elements I keep wondering about this.

Our maths gaps dh fills in happily and enthousiastically (as he does difficult problems with them he can identify gaps, thank God for an engineer as a dh!). It's the German gaps that embarass me. I'm German. The 2 younger one's German should be way better, but it isn't :001_huh:.

:lol: