Congratulations on realizing your hard work! What an inspiration :) The next six months will probably feel like sixty, but you can taste how close you are and you're going to do great.

I'm a girl who has never seen it. I voted Other, but have had my curiousity sufficiently piqued. I should've Googled it before I voted, because now I want to know whether it's horrible, tolerable, or stupid :)

Really? I guess my first thought would be that this person was a lurker who finally had something worthy to register an account for. And I'd think the last place I'd go for credible advice on how to handle a cheating husband situation is to a forum filled with others who had been in that situation. I think once I'd decided my course of action, that'd be the place to go for guidance on how to proceed ... but to vent or to process, I'd want an unbiased group. Probably one I felt I "knew" (maybe through time spent lurking) as opposed to a situation-specific group that had more of an agenda to push.

Is advice more credible if it is coming from someone known versus someone unknown? I prefer a larger sample from which to pull and sort through; and even better, a pool of people who are less emotionally vested (and therefore allowing bias to color their advice to me). I think a group of strangers can be the PERFECT group of people from whom to seek advice. I'll determine "credibility" from the advice received, rather than from the source received. For me, source doesn't equal credibility in the slightest. As to overly personal information or questions, ... well, isn't online anonymity an advantage, then? We all have problems that are extremely private and personal, but not everyone has a safe "known" community to guide them through those (whether IRL or OL). Strangers are perfect for that. It works for 12-step programs, why not for the rest of society? ;) And really, what's a stranger? Who are you beyond a few thousand posts and a clever screen name? That's a rhetorical question aimed at the General You. A great number of posters here hide behind intentionally formed online personalities. That they're more verbose makes them somehow more credible? Both IRL and OL I tend more to tune out people who talk a lot, because they'll say anything just to have something to say. So at least for me, I heed the advice of the less-oft spoken as much as (if not more than) someone with a high post count. I guess I just don't equate high post counts with sage offerings. The thing is, these fora are designed so that one can lurk for a long time before putting oneself out there. It's entirely possible that someone can feel they "know" the posting community long before she first posts. I know someone from work who posts on here, and who has talked up about certain prolific posters, both good and bad, to me. I "knew" some poster personalities long before I began to lurk, and certainly by the time I registered for my own account. Here's what I notice. People go troll-hunting (whether justifiably or not) on those "obviously designed" trainwreck threads and cause the momentum themselves! The troll puts out the bait, and prolific posters take it and run with it. Even when they're trying to derail it, sometimes through those efforts to derail it. The troll wins! I mean, if they weren't getting anything out of their efforts ... they'd find another playground, you know? I've seen it here (as a lurker on the old boards) and on plenty of other fora. There are always those few people who can't resist the bait, and that encourages trolls to stick around and keep at it. It's like giving $10 to the beggar at the access road on the freeway - if I can help, I will. What that person does with that money (or information) is on them. If the person I reply to is fake, so be it. I'm going to be me, and she's going to be her. I don't put much thought into it. Honestly I don't pay much attention to screen names or post counts in general so I only realize if someone is new if someone else points it out. And even then, I don't really care. We all start somewhere. Sometimes people prefer to lurk until they have something so big they need to post, you know? I get that, it's cool with me. I moderated on a forum with close to 100,000 registered members, of which about 8000 were regular posters. So not a huge forum, but a fairly active one. I can't say we saw a lot of trolls at any time during the year, but our community culture differed from the one here. We simply didn't feed the trolls, so maybe it's just they saw no reason to bother us. Or maybe we lucked out, who knows :) everything in life is a crap shoot LOL.

I do cursive in 2nd grade, unless requested to earlier (it's happened twice. Girls, go figure LOL!) I do it for about two years straight, then take the wheels off and send 'em riding. I don't require cursive for all work. If it were actually faster for my kids I would, but ... it's not, so I'm not gonna die on that hill every day. I, myself, prefer manuscript. We average 4-5 letters or cards mailed out each month, which I expect to be done in cursive. My kids naturally compose all letters, even just notes to me about groceries, in cursive ... I suppose out of habit. If I see they're getting rusty or lazy about certain letters I just have them do a week or so of practice. Something like the Pledge or a snippet from the Gettysburgh Address or something. Same thing, every day for a week or so. That usually does the trick. If I thought a kid was way out of practice, I'd bring back a full book ... say for 5th or 6th grade if we had let it slide or something, but I'd say after a year or so of practice in books they don't NEED them. If it's a budget buster or you have better ways to spend that $40, I vote you go for it!

Classic card games are great for math. Memory and Bingo can be used to learn just about anything - language arts, religion, science, art, etc. Sequence makes a kids-version. My Kindergarteners have always been able to keep up with (patient) players in the adult version, though; particularly the version based on US States. I think we got that one at Target.

We watch them in the afternoons. We're typically finished with lessons by lunch. I grade during lunch/recess, and we go over any corrections during the afternoon. If they have none, I usually have them spend an hour or so doing school-ish stuff that isn't official school - crafts, projects, scout badge work, independent reading, and movies. This transitions us from school time to free time.

Most nights we take both. We do a quick military-type shower to get clean, then hop into the tub for a good soak to relax. We love our baths. We don't want to sit in the dirty water, though ;)

Does this vary by region? Where I am, it's not illegal to smoke. One could smoke cigarettes or banana peels or anything he wanted, at any age. That's not illegal; selling cigarettes to minors, is. (Here.) And I think in some places one can buy his own cigarettes at 16. I'm guessing one wouldn't want that person to smoke at the home either because (for many of us) it's less an issue of legality and more an issue of preference. Legality is a convenient crutch, but we're well within reason to not want smoking in our home - whatever the law allows.

If I already allowed smoking, then yes so long as the smoker (any smoker, really) was willing to comply with house rules. For us, that's outside only and not near the doors. And no butts in the planters or the ground. If I didn't already allow smoking, I'd have to say no unless there was an extremely good reason to make an exception. It'd have to be really good, though.

I come from a culture that doesn't really "do" counseling. It's seen a bit like airing dirty laundry, and also (as mentioned upthread) a bit like saying you can't solve your own problems. But I think there's a time and a place for counseling, for sure. I think some personality types need that type of "professional" support moreso than do others. Maybe it's due in part to the breakdown of extended family in our culture, whereas before that support and mentorship would have come from within the family or circle of close friends. So someone lacking in that type of support seeks it out sooner, or sees it as a more first-step solution. Maybe it's due in part to specialization, whereby we've come to think we're best or better served by someone trained in a specific field. So someone from a background that emphasized or bought into specialization would also seek this type of support out sooner. And someone with a strong support network and holistic outlook might see counseling as an option ... just not the first, knee-jerk go-to option.

I've only known one Spencer. He was a freckled, spectacled, red-haired boy who had dimples that charmed the pants off of our teacher. He got away with a lot, because he was a cutie patootie and he knew it :) I liked him anyway, and I like the name. It's common enough to not be mangled, but not so common that he'll necessarily be Spencer Last.Initial. I think it goes just fine with your other boys' names, and very well with the middle name David. Congratulations on your little boy!

I wouldn't, but I'm very close to my family. I intentionally choose to live near them and our paths cross multiple times daily. If I lived close to my family but didn't see them any more than I did any other friend/neighbor, sure - I'd consider a move :)

I've seen plenty at Ross, TJ Maxx, and Target. All sizes, some plain and some "pretty" :) all in a range of prices.

Or maybe PHX. This is a good time, before conventions and Spring Training start up. I know they have a light rail, and I think it even goes into the airport. My kids like the zoo and outdoor activities there. We went to the museum, and it wasn't awesome (nor was it horrible. It just ... was.) But it's been a few years. We accrue a lot of air miles, so we take lots of little trips also :) I bet the kids will be thrilled, wherever you decide to visit!

Depending on which airline your husband works for, consider SFO / SJC. The BART train is in the international terminal at SFO, and will take you pretty deep into the exciting parts of the City. San Jose is a bit quieter, but still has an interesting downtown and airport area. From the airport you can get to a number of destinations and even some hotels using the VTA light rail. It's a good two-day trip, IMO. I did it a few months ago with my own kids. We went to the Rosicrucian one day and the Japanese Gardens on our second day. I think OAK has public transit, too, but it's been years since I've flown into there.

Would it bother me? No. But I may weigh it differently. I think, for me, it boils down to the parable of the blind men and the elephant. As it pertains to homeschool advice, I've actually received pretty good insight from my best friend (a principal married to a teacher) maybe because she's not in the trenches with me. She brings a fresh, more distinct perspective. Not all of her ideas will work or be relevant, but the diamond in the rough she may offer is worth wading through the rest. She feels the same when I bring a homeschooler's insight to the operation of her school. I prefer to remain open to EVERYONE's input, at which point I can self-select the advice (rather than self-select the group I'm receptive to hearing it from). The only time I may wish to self-select the group is if I'm just venting and the BTDT types will better understand and extend sympathy LOL. That's when I call for my people in the trenches :)

Well, recently there was a marathon of Real Housewives on so I made them sit through some episodes. We paused and discussed, calling it psychology, sociology, and marketing. I'm glad my kids hated it and were abhorred by the display of behavior. I'm also glad I got to catch up on the episodes I had missed *blush*! We also introduce stats by following our favorite pro baseball teams. Sometimes geography ties into this when we figure out where the players are from. We use baseball a lot in all of our studies, actually. I love baseball, and fortunately so do the kids. We have a chef of the day. This student has a lighter load but is responsible for making lunch and a snack. It rotates.

Yes. In the four marriages I mentioned, all had begun their relationships as affairs. Three went on to immediately marry the person they had been having an affair with. The fourth did not rush into marrying the person he had the affair with. He eventually married her, but knew that a post-divorce relationship would differ from the adulturous relationship they shared when they were both married to other people. Ironically, I think he had some trust issues he had to work out before he'd marry her; he worried she'd cheat on him, too, eventually. We were part of an ex-pat community where these things were sadly common. In all four cases, the affairs involved an ex-pat and a local. In the fourth and only surviving relationship, once they married they left the ex-pat life and returned to his home in the US.

Happy Anniversary!

I married a man of a different race, so our kids run the gamut. We're from an area that was colonized and settled numerous times, so just about everyone we know has done the same and has the same :) It's only an issue when we're in certain parts of the US, where people just aren't familiar with a more mixed society. I guess, historically, more was at stake and so now, socially, it's still something worth talking about (albeit with more curiosity than stigma). I don't know, I just find it fascinating that people care ... but at the same time, I know it's how humans do. We compartmentalize. Sometimes without any tact, even. And out loud when we ought better to, silently! We had one woman question my husband as to whether one child was his, seemingly worried he had been cuckholded. The child favors my genes. My husband smiled firmly and asserted that genes are funny, aren't they? and effectively ended the conversation. She kept staring, and as they walked away my husband laughed with our child suggesting that if only that woman could see the other genes he had passed on to this child (namely, temper!) He didn't want our kids growing up insecure either. Pardon my while I step into the gutter for a minute, but it reminds me of the whole Khloe Kardashian thing. Making a big, public deal about the speculations when the one in question could give a flip.

I prefer children to receive Sacraments as early as possible, once they are ready to, willing, and able. My parish and diocese prefer to put in place a checklist of completely unrelated requirements so as to bolster stewardship during a time when many parents are effectively held hostage to the parish's games. I live in an area heavily populated by cultural Catholics, so such is life. This is an argument I have with the same DRE every time one of my children hits early elementary. She gets where I'm coming from (a more traditional area in which Sacraments are received any time a child is deemed ready by a priest), but is hard to budge. I'm not out to rush the Sacraments to my kids, and one of mine didn't take FHC until the age of 10. That kid just wasn't ready until then. He struggled with the concept of the priest acting in persona Christi as it pertained to confession. Most of his peers are Mormons, and they believe differently than Catholics. He and his friends are intellectual types who would actually talk religion as 8-9-10 year olds. Naturally he couldn't make FHC until he had been to his first reconciliation. The DRE didn't agree with me withholding both sacraments, but we've always had different ways of identifying readiness. It's important to me that the child understands what the sacrament is and represents. While my son worked through this, I took him to adoration every week. The old folks there love him, and he often joined them for coffee and donuts and more religious discussion. Years later, he still does LOL. For my children, readiness for FHC means that the child can be reverent during the Liturgy of the Eucharist. They need to be focused on the altar, not flipping through the missal or staring at the stained glass. They need to be reasonably still, not rocking on the kneeler or making music with their elbows banging on the pew in front of us. I don't love that they do this at any point during the Mass, but I don't address it so long as they're quiet and not disturbing others around us. But for a child desiring or having received FHC, I have higher expectations during this point of the Mass in particular. When the bells ring, I expect heads bowed, prayers said - not scanning the nave or looking off into space as if completely unaware of what has just transpired. For me it's not enough that the child knows about the Consecration; he must be consistently reverent every time we re-enact it at Mass. That's what I feel to be developmentally and religiously appropriate, at any and every age for someone desiring or receiving Communion. I have a daughter similar in age to yours, who also is young but aching to receive. I've had to explain that (as Catholics) it's not enough to want it, we have to also be ready and prepared for it. She knows this is true not just because I say it, but because I've stayed in the pew with her on occasion having not made it to Confession in time to receive. We've talked about how even adults aren't always ready or able to receive, including also those we know in RCIA and why they are excused during the Mass. So while we wait for her to grow ready, I take her to adoration. We can walk, so we go over a few times each week for only 10-15 minutes at a time. I reminded her as I reminded my other child: Jesus is present in the Eucharist, but it's not the only place to find Him ;).

Too bad, that'd have made a great YouTube clip! It's a small (homeschooling) world, cute story :)

I know of four marriages that ended after adultery was discovered. Three rushed into new marriages within six months of their divorces. Two divorced at five years, the third is still married at seven years (but it's rocky and the husband has confided that they stay together mostly because it's not "awful" and neither wants the stigma of a second failed marriage. It's just not the rock star relationship they thought it was going to be.) The fourth remarried about four years after his divorce. They're still together and will celebrate 15 years together next month. I think rebound marriages can work if both people know going in that it's what it is. Arranged marriages aren't uncommon in my community, so I'm a believer that marriages can succeed if all parties recognize the marriage for what it is (and what it isn't). I think rebound marriages go awry when one or both parties don't recognize or acknowledge the marriage for what it is. This would be the case for the first three marriages I mentioned, with the possible exception of the third still-married couple who is coming to realize their marriage for what it ... was.

I don't, and here's why - the less I know about a poster, the more objective I tend to be about their posts. I think some people go the opposite direction (discrediting someone whose bio they don't know). But in general I don't feel that only people in the trenches are best-suited to advise. Sometimes they're the worst, IME.