We have found pizza to be a major trigger in our sensitive children. It is loaded with yeast, carbs, dairy, and possibly mold (from cheese and mushrooms) even in the purest form. If there are added bits of pepperoni, Canadian bacon, and sausage you've introduced nitrates, nitrites, and who-knows-what. These additives gave one child night terrors. Tomatoes are a trigger for some, too. Pizza is like a time bomb around here. (It still manages to sneak in as a rare treat for the non-sensitive types on their birthdays)

My first thought was that you could knit a swatch with two strands of the substitute yarn.

We compare perimeter to fencing...we have had to do a lot of fencing. We compare area to carpeting. Mommy would love new carpeting, sigh.

No baby food here, either.

Gyo Fujikawa illustrated so many sweet children's books! We have worn out two of the toddler "Babies" books.

Praying for him here, too.

I think that I love Mr. Putter more than my kids do. He is so relaxed and enjoys the simple things in life, sigh.

:iagree:

I wasn't around before the ban on politics, but I appreciate the fact that the WTM is a (mostly) friendly forum on home education. This topic could quickly heat up and spoil things....just like all the pork added to economic stimulus packages (I for one hate Pork spending no matter whom attaches it to a bill.) I'm ducking and running for cover.....

Our "baby years" seemed to set the habits of the older students. Once they are old enough to work independently they prefer the quiet of their rooms for some of their study. Even now, ds, 5, is distracting with all the oral phonics and exclamations over each new discovery. His enthusiasm draws the others over to take a look, lol. I'm glad that all the kids don't require the one-on-one time.

We have 4 children allergic to corn, wheat, and soy. I have tried to designate our home as a Corn Syrup Free Zone, but the stuff keeps sneaking in. The adult children show up for birthdays and barbeques with ketchup and soda pop :glare: Don't get me started on the immunization issues. We have had several of the children suffer severe reactions that the pediatricians wouldn't report. I know that the statistics are not accurate and that the studies are worthless.

January signals the beginning of birthday celebrations at our house and some serious and not so serious study http://brierywood.blogspot.com/

I don't know if this is helpful, but we shop at only two or three places for foodstuffs during most of the year. We also like to buy seasonal produce from the farm down the road, but they close during the winter. Dh pops into these two favorite places on his way home from work saving me the entire experience. We have allergies and have a list of staples that we prepare our favorite meals from. Coupons are a rare thing. We don't subscribe to a newspaper because I am allergic to the ink! I think we save time and gasoline the way we do it.

Our kitchen is so tiny that gadgets are banned! Dd once went wild at BB&B and brought home a variety of silicone oven mitts (the smallest one looks like an alligator's snout) and a vegetable peeler that fit in your palm (everyone hates it).

We use Saxon from level 65 through Algebra 2. One of my kids has continued with Advanced Mathematics.....the others cried for mercy. We supplement with Key to Geometry to get a bit more geometry.

I just asked my dd, 14, to name a movie that she has seen that she considers better than the book. She named "Stardust." Usually books are always better than the movies, but we still enjoy the movie interpretations as entertainment (if they are family friendly). We often use an upcoming movie as a "carrot" to get a reluctant reader to read a book/novel. It got our eldest child hooked on Shakespeare and Jane Austen in her early teens.

I probably shouldn't have weighed in on this poll, but I voted to complete the year with what you started. We never take a break from math. Even small doses help them to retain and become more familiar with what they know. (We school year round) my $ 0.02

I used to save nearly everything the children drew or wrote. When the boxes began to overflow I sorted through and saved just the things that made me smile. In theory, they are supposed to each have their own box, but it practice it is all mixed together in several plastic totes.

Tanning :glare: We have icy rain and snow this morning, sigh. I don't know what my younger two would think of ps. I'm not going to risk a trial...they might find recess a huge attraction. Mine take a few liberties here at home that they couldn't get away with in any classroom in America. I wish I had a dollar for every time that I have told them not to stand on their chairs. We do try to stick to a 9 a.m. starting time AND I had better get to it.

We never had professional help with our 4th child's strange pronunciation. We played word games at home with him and taught him all the phonics sounds with extra attention. He is 20 now and still pronounces his r's a bit differently. He has always maintained that he doesn't hear the difference. He is a great student and his spelling is terrific, so we don't worry. It is just how he speaks.

I had a great-grandmother that everyone called "My ma" and another great-grandmother called "Ganga." I think that when the kids invent the name for mommy, momma, mama, etc. that you can't call it "wrong"

Dog food will cause that in cats every time they get into it.

Our kids have so many allergies that we had two of them tested for celiac disease and they came back negative. DD with type 1 diabetes will be tested annually for celiac d. (part of her bloodwork screening not a challenge-by-wheat sort of test that would bring on her allergies). Her odds of developing the disease are increased, sigh. Home educating the children is considered a plus by the endocrinologist and my own allergist. No one undermines our efforts to stay healthy with their "A little won't hurt you" mentality.

Mama and Papa preferred here, too! My grands call me Nana :D

:iagree: "Raising a Responsible Child" is a good book on the topic.