Snack times here are set at 10:15 a.m. and 3:15 p.m. now by drs. orders to maintain even blood glucose for dd. It works nicely to avoid the feeling that the kitchen is always "Open" which annoyed me with several children opening and shutting the fridg! Teen boys follow another set of rules, though :glare:

Our kids love Mad Libs, too :)

My dear mil has sent my husband a gift subscription to National Geographic for the last 29 years. The photos and maps are lovely, but the humans-are-descended-from-apes articles are bad science. I was a geology and English major in college, so I know all the arguments. I have held my tongue re. the subscription and the worst offenders go right into the trash. Life is too short to let this come between us.

Back pain isn't normal for a nine year old. Constipation could be the cause, but you should consult with a pediatrician. My kids will say that they can't sleep and try to sleep in. We've suggested that they "take themselves on a little walk in their mind" and imagine a trail through forest or somewhere else relaxing. It has worked for them. They can pick up on the same little story thread each night to help them drift off.

Multiple Junk Drawers here, a laundry basket, cardboard box and covered counters. We burned the phone books during the coldspell along with catalogs (those drawers are now rehabilitated) :D

We've bought Whittier Wood Products and then finished them ourselves.

I'm sorry you are all having to go through this. We have no experience with this, but one son did have a testicular torsion. Poor guys :( I don't think either is very common and you did all you could taking him in to be seen by the dr. :grouphug:

:iagree: The truth is best. Maybe it was a draft? Little creatures are fragile and short-lived.

We just took down our tree and gave it to the goats & sheep as a treat. I told the kids that they would appreciate getting it today while it is still fresh. My allergies have been awful with the tree this year. I like the idea of a house plant to care for.

I didn't know until recently that flouride is bad for the thyroid gland. Every adult woman on my father's side of the family tree has thyroid disease (myself included). If I had known earlier I would have never given our eldest children the oral supplements :( The topical flouride applied directly to the teeth has the least risk to their thyroid and bones....ironically, flouride weakens bones and strengthens teeth. What good will it do use if our beautiful cavity-free teeth have their roots in weak jaws??? grrrr!

A- here, and dh is O+ so we have had to watch over all the pregnancies and miscarriages for the Rhogam requirements. The dc are a real mix of the A and O + and -. I told the girls that they should pre-screen their beaus to avoid the hassle, but eldest dd has married an opposite and has to have Rhogam shots, too. Giving blood will get you a free typing :) That said, dd, 14, has been told by the phlebotomist not to give blood and to save her veins for herself.

We grade math papers beginning with Saxon 54 because the kids actually enjoy figuring out the percentage and letter grade, lol. They record their grade on the inside of their spiral math notebook and we can see how they are doing. If they get a C we go back a lesson or two and review. Prior to this math text they use ABeka and BJU consumable workbooks and just have correction marks. Otherwise, I don't give grades because we expect mastery before we move on. DS just graduated Magna cum laude with his BA in computer science and minor in business. I think that he learned to put forth his best effort and we never stressed over grades. It was interesting when it came time to submit his high school transcript...

We have never had a flu that there was a vaccine offered for. We don't get vaccines either. We did all get that nasty norovirus in January 2007, but there is no vaccine for it. Dil brought grandson over to us sick :( All the little bugs that get passed around morph constantly and there is no vaccine for them. Hand washing and staying away from sick people is the best defense!! We try to stay away from the dr. and dentist during flu season for that reason. The library is also an exchange of germs hotspot.

I second "Salvation by faith"

These programs offered to "help" homeschoolers seem more like traps to me. We don't participate. I keep humming Julie Andrew's "I Have Confidence in Me" from The Sound of Music. my $.02

I think my kids would choose to major in Legos and computer games if left to make their own curriculum choices. Just like they would eat candy at breakfast, lunch, and dinner if we didn't serve up some sort of balanced meal. I enjoy teaching them phonics, math, and presenting it all in a meaningful progression. If we were playing a word association game IMO unschooling = lazy, irresponsible, unprepared for adulthood please don't shoot me The kids were just reading this and said that I should have said that they have asked to be taught to read when the are 4 -5 yos. They can't imagine not being taught!

They love to share rooms when they are young, but the teenagers seem to enjoy some privacy if a free room becomes available. Currently, our 20 yo ds shares with 12 yo ds and they are fine with the arrangement. DD, 14, now has her own room after sharing a room with her younger brother for many years. DS, 5, insists on sleeping with his 8 and 10 year old sisters on the bottom bunk in their room. There is also a daybed in that room....so 4 potential spots available. His room stands empty most nights. We have actually had children cry when offered a room of their own. Three of our dear children have flown from the nest and there is always a shuffling of beds and possessions when they depart.

Portion size may be the problem here? Our niece had a difficult adjustment period when she began teaching in Honduras a few years ago. All those beans had her tummy aching all the time (and they have parasites to deal with, too). Smaller portions and a balance of fruit, bread, and water helped her. I found it interesting that they have papaya smoothies there, too. Papaya has natural enzymes that aid in digestion :) Don't give up on the beans, just try to ease into them.

I'm thinking that the peanut butter is going to dissolve into the hot oatmeal. I know that it softens and can drip off toast. Those of us that aren't allergic to peanuts will have to try it :tongue_smilie:

We've found inspiration there. We tend to live hard and clean hard...in fits of cleaning madness. I made up index cards with jobs on them and occasionally I will deal them out to everyone and we will set a timer and clean frantically for 20-30 minutes. I will also call out a challenge for everyone to race about and find a certain number of items to throw away or donate. The kids think it is fun :) We also hand out paper towels all around and challenge everyone to find and squish 5 spiders, lol.

Sorry, the "safe list" is our own not really a feature. The kids all know what ingredients that we use and they search for recipes by typing in a search for, say "lentil soup" "quinoa" "turkey chili" or "spelt pancakes." That gives them a list of recipes that they can look closer at. We have no problem substituting our ingredients for recipe ingredients. We've also become expert at carb counting for dd's diabetes. We count cooking as a school subject...sort of math, science, and health all in one :tongue_smilie:

:iagree: We are so thankful that our pediatrician sent us straight to the Portland, Oregon hospital with the fully up-to-date children's endocrinologist's. She referred us directly to the endo that she would take her own children to if the need existed. I have noticed that there are families in the waiting room from far away. They only treat children and I am hoping that we will be so fortunate in finding excellent care when she "graduates" from their care. The Type 1 patient has to see their endo every 3 months throughout their lifetime for the best possible health. I think much of this is a form of accountability...knowing that you will have a "test" every 3 months and that every day's balancing of insulin/exercise/carbs matters. We want our girl to think of her family and her endo as partners in her good health and a bit like angels watching out for her. (Her honeymoon period seems to be winding down and we are gradually seeing higher numbers and are increasing her insulins. Low bg will become a greater concern when she is on insulin around the clock. I am not looking forward to a return to 2 a.m. checks.) I hope that your FIL and DH become better educated so that they can be part of the team.

Dd lives in Germany and we usually share photos in emails, on Photobucket, and we now both have blogs, but really share many more photos and conversations on Yahoo instant messenger. She made me a MySpace page a couple of years ago, but I deleted it after receiving inappropriate forwardings from a contact that would send stuff to every friend they had without thought to my kids reading it. I couldn't very well block this family contact, so I closed the entire thing. Dd tells me that Facebook is where her friends are all at and our niece living in Honduras is there, too. I want to stay in touch, but I think I am feeling "stretched." The very real idea of computer viruses isn't too appealing either. Thanks for all the wonderful input Hive !

Oh dear, I am afraid that Facebook could take up more of my time and energy. I am already addicted to kids, coffee, sugar, reading, old movies, etc......

Dd, 26, wants to set me up with a Facebook account? Page? I am not sure this is something I want to do. I would set up a poll, but I am rather clueless.