I like this one by William Butler Yeats, " Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire." I love the idea that it only takes a spark to get a fire going and I love it when the dc light up with understanding and enthusiasm. I have this one posted on my blog: Non scholae sed vitae discimus (We learn not for school, but for life). If I could do it neatly, I would embroider it on a pillow :)

Reading this thread makes me miss the days when the littles bathed together. We had a similar experience to CalicoKat's dh's when #1 dd was a toddler and took notice of dh's different "plumbing." That was the end of showering with dad, except for the occasional newborn. Our dc bathed together until it either got too wild and the floor soaked too often, or until someone seemed to be taking too much notice of someone else. We were watchful and took our cues from them as far as modesty kicking in. DD, 8, bathes alone now, but I thought she would never become modest and close the bathroom door, lol. Ours tend to prefer the bathtub until around 10 yrs. and that works well for keeping the water inside the curtain and avoiding slips and falls.

We school all year, too. Astronomy is a fun part of our summer study most years.

:iagree: An IV isn't as bad as it sounds. When dd was diagnosed with type 1 d. they put her on one and it was miraculous. We hope your little one is feeling better soon. oh, Pedialyte is pretty good and doesn't have so much coloring added. I drank it myself when morning sickness had me dehydrated.

Electric rates have gone up here, so line drying laundry last summer just held our bill steady at the previous year's cost. Indoors isn't an option here...too much humidity already. We also toss the jeans and towels into the dryer for a few minutes to soften after they are dry. Even if the savings isn't huge it does give our poor dryer a summer vacation and I get to relive memories of hanging out the wash with my late Grandma :) I don't think she EVER had a dryer.

Wow, our doctors have thought that home education is a positive thing. My allergist in southern California actually said that home educating the children was going to benefit my asthma, chronic sinusitis and bronchitus by saving me from endless "bugs" brought home from school. Olivia's endocrinologist says that home education is a great thing for managing her type 1 diabetes. She says that schools sabotage efforts to manage blood sugars in many of her young patients. Your dr. sounds a bit like my mil touting the benefits of the "School of Hard Knocks." My older dc have managed to adapt to life outside our "hothouse" very well and she has softened a bit.

Does applesauce count as a processed food? It doesn't have any added ingredients. I think we are nearly there except for rice noodles, tomato paste, and added brown and white sugar....still 100% ingredient-wise. I look forward to when the local produce and the U-pick opportunities are available. Good luck with your challenge :)

Whew. We were between pediatrician and internist with ds and the new (as yet unseen) doctor called in the radiology orders and saved us an ER bill :) Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes!

So, our dentist phones last night to say that ds, 20, may have aspirated a bb-sized piece of metal filling yesterday while having two cavities filled. He is offering to pay for a chest x-ray and thinks it would be prudent to have it done today. Our dentist is a great guy and I can tell he is concerned. He said we could present ourselves at the ER, but I am going to phone our doctor and see if we can do this without an ER visit. IF David has inhaled the metal into his airway it will have to be retrieved. I'm whispering prayers that this is all nothing.

Just reading through the suggestions here has made me think, "Uh, oh." We have so many allergies in our own home and I would have to say, "NO," to wheat, corn, and corn syrup, modified food starch, soy, milk, almonds, pork, bacon, (nitrites, nitrates and msg are triggers around here). Anything with yeast or mold is out. If ds, 5, has anything with yeast cooked into it his fingers swell up red and begin to crack. His feet get reddish-blue circles that peel in later stages. He also acts like a drunk. Last week dd, 14, made up a spelt flour cinnamon bread with yeast for the kids with allergies and we lost a school day to his horrible yeast-induced behavior. He couldn't subtract 3 from his 10 puffy fingers :( Dd had stubbornly thought that yeast wasn't really a problem and asked dh to bring some home from the grocery store. Goof- ups happen. We did a total elimination diet to determine our own dc's allergies/sensitivities. It took a month for their skin to clear up. Then, we added back foods over 3 months watching to see which ones brought out the colored fingers and toes. So far, two of the dc have tested negative for Celiac disease. My own parents have said that I couldn't tolerate milk as an infant and then they gave me milk when I was older and they thought I was "over it." Milk congests me to this day. I am sure they didn't think it through. I guess, what I am saying here is that I would try a total elimination diet of the top food allergens and see if your dh's fog lifts. Bloodwork to test for free testosterone is a good idea, too.

An ice pack and flat on the floor with legs bent or on the couch(legs only) might give some relief. Your poor back! I hope it is better soon. Mine is helped with alternating cold and heat when it "goes out."

My dad used to make a wonderful chicken and dumplings with the pressure cooker, yum!

My CBD wishlist totalled over $600 recently and I teased dh by saying that I had, "placed an order today, and now my wishlist is under $100." The order was small, but the deletions were huge :tongue_smilie: We don't really require much in the way of curriculum anymore since we have already "invested" in our core library. Our wishlists are mostly birthday and hobby items.

I think that if you want an item at the top of the list, you would have to delete it and add it again. I challenge myself to keep the wishlist at one or two pages.

:grouphug:

I was told long ago NOT to take acidophilus until after completing the course of antibiotic. You want the antibiotic to clear up the bronchitus or other infection that it is prescribed for and the acidophilus would be counter-productive.

:iagree:and a daily vitamin :)

But, we love spelling and vocabulary studies! We pre-test each lesson and "play" with the words a little before moving on to the next lesson. We use BJU Spelling grades 1 thru 6 then switch to A Beka Spelling, Vocabulary, and Poetry. The kids just move through the series at their own pace. We also work through Vocabulary from Classical Roots books. The kids are all terrific spellers.

Even though the testing was expensive(we didn't have any insurance at the time) it proved invaluable. I have intrinsic and extrinsic asthma. Cold weather, exercise, smells, laughing, and emotion could trigger mine as well as allergens :( I turned out to be allergic to pollens, trees, grasses, chamomile, lettuce! peas, tomatoes, danders, molds, dust, birds, cats, dogs, hay(but not horses...but where do you find a squeaky clean horse?), rabbits, all rodents really, almonds, walnuts,,,,,the lists went on and on. My dh thought I was exaggerating until he saw the written test results :tongue_smilie:

Oh, Lizzie you have our empathy. We totally agree about the carnival mirrors. So far I have survived two daughters and bra shopping. Two more to go....

DD, 14, just came in and told me that she finished reading "Sarah Bishop." She gives it a poor review, too. I don't care for "The Bridge to Terabithia." Dd says "The Red Shoes" was awful!

Have you been able to trace your genealogy back to a particular county or town? Many towns have websites. My dh's family traces back to Oliver Cromwell and on another branch many were French Huguenots fleeing to America. My own tree goes back to the second settling of Jamestown. It is interesting stuff to add to history study, but the details are fuzzy. I just find it helpful when I can mention that their great-great-grandfather or whomever, served in the war or worked in a certain occupation. We had family serving on both sides of several wars. It brings it closer to home.

There is a "sort by" option that allows you other choices like "priority" and "price." Is that what you mean?

We like Enchanted and Fly Away Home, too.

My own asthma is controllable in a similar way, but I would like to ask if the children have had allergy testing? Knowing and avoiding the "triggers" of each child's asthma is part of managing the condition. I have a lot of triggers, but one of our dc has only a few and he can avoid them (and inhalers completely). an aside here, Has anyone noticed how ineffective the new inhalers are now that they are designed to not add to ozone depletion?? Honestly, we inhale the propellant and it couldn't really be that big of a factor in the scheme of things.