New to scouting....my son (BSA 12 years old) is working on his Coin Badge, still have to get with a counselor to show all of his work. It's really hard in his troop to get with counselor not sure why. But we hope to get with someone in Jan. He is also working on his Tenderfoot. He really needs to do a camping trip. He missed all the fall ones but hope to get some in the Winter/Spring months so he can move into the classes. He loves to the meetings for social time with other boys but hasn't gotten into doing the work for the badges or classes...we are giving it 6 more months and DH is going to go on a camping trip or two. My daughter is in AHG (11 years old) Explorer. She earned 3 badges this fall and her 10 hour service star. Currently, working towards her level award since this is her only and last year in Explorers. She is working on the Theater/Drama badge, Pet Care Badge, and Cycling. She enjoys the meetings too but doesn't really like the work required at home for the badges. I am a leader for the older girls unit so we are committed until May. I am working with her on the badges to get her level and I am thinking of having her complete a handful more like cooking, cake decorating (since we are having a lock-in and 80% of the badge will be completed then). Do you find you have to require or make time for them to work on the badges? I feel like I do. Would you just allow them to keep in their troops just for social/fun reasons?

Slept in Skipped Breakfast Lunch Put kids to work on chores around the house while I work on business paperwork/files Oversee Toddler routing between a few activities in my office More Chores/Balance Checkbook (hopefully) Get older kids (tweens) ready for HS group Christmas Party with DH Enjoy Downton Abby, Tea, and my toddler playing in the background (I really need to squeeze in a shower before the kids/DH goes to the Christmas party...)

I totally understand! I've been there and in someways are still there a little. Will always do grandparents but I have given up on doing my Aunt's family for the first time this year. Last year they gave us nothing and for the past several years I've given a family type gift (movie & treats or game & treats). While in person they say they appreciate the gift. We don't get anything back and honestly it gets harder and harder to know what to give them, so this year since we've had a big movie, opened a new office for my husband's business, & my grandfather (my aunt's dad) passed away I've decided to just let it go. My DH and I agreed if we got something from them we would send a nice thank note and something small as a token of our thanks but in all honestly I am not expecting anything and hope they don't. It's been so freeing and so much less pressure since I decided not to send them anything. My sister and I have exchanged off and on but she has never been a great gifter and a lot of times has gifted with my mother for my side of the family so this year since she is married and we are seeing her around New Years we are sticking with a couple gift (puzzle and tea for a cozy night) they like staying home and my sister last I knew liked puzzles. She hasn't sent anything if she doesn't I don't know if I will keep giving or just send a card..but either way it's way less stressful then other years when she lived with my mother and I felt I had to send similar amount of gifts to both of them.

Totally. I hate to admit but I was very closed minded several years ago before I started reading posts on the forum. In the past 3 years posts, while not an active poster, I am an active and somewhat addictive reader. The forum has opened my mind to be tolerate, more compassionate, more humane...I've learned that people live differently, are raised differently, have different values and lifestyles and the reasons behind them...I've been personally swayed to view education, religion, social issues, parenting, and more all in a different light then I was raised or lived for the first 10 years of my marriage. I am constantly telling my kids and husband of things on the forum and discussing them, sharing with them what others thought or ask about. When I am in need of advice on what type or printer to by or how to motivate my children or what to get my husband for Christmas the forum is the first place I go. I can't say that for any place else on the internet. It has given me a sense of community.

Not buying anything new here but I am shopping my shelves like others. I've decided to tweak resources/books and make it through the rest of the year. I part of me really wanted to just go and buy something new that I've had my eye on for over a year but I deep down I know it's not the resources or books I need to change I need to "pull up my big girl pants" and be more firm and not a push over. Some days will come easy others will be harder but overall just plugging away and finishing what we've started seems like a good goal. So I am re-starting and plan to finish GA-History lately we've been jumping all over in the history dept with living books. Still debating on Science but I have 2 books shelves full of books so I will find something to start in January or finish up. We are doing Jr. High Easy Writing but I feel the need for my older 2 to do more writing then just learning to write so I hope to start working through the Writer's Jungle exercises/suggestions. We did 2 session of free writing this month and it went really well. Both times my kids ended up writing a poetry which was a surprise as they both hate to write poetry (at least that is what they tell me) and they are not fans of reading it either.

snow white

Where in Atlanta? If downtown/buckhead/midtown - Varsity is a good choice. It's got hamburgers, hotdogs, grilled chicken sandwich etc. Great for families. Chick-fi-fila is everywhere so if you don't have it locally, it's a nice change of pace, the fries are good and they have lots of salad choices if you aren't into fried food. They're a ton of options depending on what food you like to eat and price range...

We have odd jobs like others around the house that they can earn $. Like bagging leaves, sweeping decks, watering plants (we have a lot and you have to use a watering can) etc. My husband does mailings for his business and they can earn 50 cents per mailing last week they did about 25 each. They earned $ and it saved me from doing it like I normally do. if you have a home based business that might be an idea. Also, sometimes close family members like grandparents will have jobs to do. My niece wanted to earn some $ so her grandmother had her deep clean her house (she had been away for several weeks).

I always write Thank You notes and I teach my kids. It's actually part of their chores/schooling, we keep a running list. I have for years. Even my 3 year old will make a picture or paint something to send as a thank you for birthday money from grandparents/extended family. A lot of times for the grandmothers I will send a recent picture of the kids at the zoo or in the yard. On time my son got some free coins at a coin club, he thanked the man in person briefly but it was during the auction part so couldn't do it properly, so that week he wrote a nice note and handed it to the man. The man was shocked, he felt writing thank you notes was a lost art. I write them for my husband's real estate company and have for the past 3 years. We thank clients, lawyers, loan officers, and people with a simply note of thanks. It's better then any advertising we've done in the past. It's positive and reminds them of how thankful we are to work with them or for them referring someone to us. We've seen an increase of over $20k directly from the notes. We'll ask why they referred their friends and it's the 1st or second reason besides their satisfaction with what my husband helped them with. Thankful I had a grandmother & mother that instilled in me writing thank you notes and it's paid off. In the past couple of years as my children gotten older and we don't often get notes of thanks back from people when we send gifts they have asked to stop but I remind them of how it's helped bring in more $ for dad's business and the grumbling stops. I've worked on creating some templates we use and also some guidelines. I almost always make sure the letters are nicely written or typed and spelling is accurate. I am not as picky with grammar but I like the sentences to flow naturally when the receive reads the note.

Yes, my daughter could. She sometimes would read an AG book in a day. My son could have never read a AG book that fast but I would have just read it to him if it was required for a class. That's always an option to present to parents/girls.

Bleak House

I didn't even have 1 qualify. I was bummed too...

We are all doing Star Wars, My husband is Darth Vader, My tot is Yoda, My daughter is Princess Leia, My son is a Starship Trooper, and I wanted to be a Jedi but couldn't find an outfit so I ended up making a character....I am Darth Vadar's Sixth Apprentice (my daughter helped me create it since she is a star wars fanatic). We are doing 2 trunk/treats star war themes so it's pretty fun! Sortof thinking of doing Hunger Games or the Hobbit next year...

Knew him as a regular on a chatroom (90's) before Social Media/Yahoo Mess. type programs. He Private Messaged me and the rest is history. We were married within a year. Never dated in person, just over web/phone. He proposed over the web 3 days after talking to me. We were engaged the week I meet him in person.

I would recommend trying it out,we are trying it and so far it's good. My kids are doing the high school level (11/12 year old).

Where I am most consignment sales are done at church's...a lot of times they pay the church a fee for the space or/and give a portion to missions/youth. Another idea is look for vacant space, one big cosigner does this 4 times a year, she rents out old grocery store/vacant buildings for a month at a time.

Exercise 6:30am with DH (yeah I didn't sleep in) Drink Water Finish creating test for World History Make BK - wake kids Read Aloud - Around the world in 80 days Scouting Work/Schooling

yes...just a little. I was surprised to see Target already stocking Christmas wrapping paper and bows by their Halloween stuff. Hobby Lobby has had their Christmas stuff up since the July. With all that it's made me start thinking about gifts for the kids and extended family. Thankful I buy throughout the year so I don't have to get/make much. Normally I make things for the grandparents or have my kids but this year I haven't and honestly do see the time so not sure what we'll do. My older 2 (girl 11, boy 12) are getting legos. Friends for the girl, medieval for the boy as their BIG Christmas gift. We are waiting until Oct 1st to buy them from LEGO so we can get double points. I love their FREE rewards program every-time I buy online at LEGO.com or at a LEGO store I got points and the points = free money. So I am hoping I will get a duplo set for my almost 3 year old free. Looking for ideas too love to read what others are doing/planning...

Sounds like a great motivator! Good Luck!

Do photos on your blog, it takes up space and you can write less... another idea is do lists like 10 resources on art or what we did this week, I read a ton of hs blogs and it's what they write about that matters and makes me read...and inspires me...not the occasional grammar or spelling error, we are all human.

Thanks for sharing. My son isn't too overwhelmed by the reading amounts but he has shown signs of hesitation with the writing required, I hope to figure out something so we can use it in a year or two.

First, don't feel guilty. If a house full of kids b-day parties aren't your thing, no biggy. I down play b-days for my kids and have for years. For several years we did their out of the house meal (they go to pick the place) 2-3 weeks before their b-day this allowed for me to have less stress and easier planning with my husband's work which at times is very on-call with managing rental properties and preparing contracts for clients. On the day of their b-day we would pick either at breakfast, lunch whichever my husband could be home for to open her presents with the family. Meals for the b-day weren't really special but I did make sure I didn't cook/plan anything that the b-day kid hated or really disliked. if it was a school day we would try and do light schooling when they were younger as they have aged we have done more just as adults have to work on their b-days too. Sometimes we would get a special candy bar, cookies, or small cake nothing too fancy or that I had to stress over. Of course we sang the happy birthday song and overall tried to have a positive day with more free-play time if at all possible. One thing that helped was the way my husband and I do our b-days, we really laid back, sometimes going out for a nice dinner or cooking something special on the day of or a few days before. We tend to get presents for each other at other times of the year, like my husband wanted a bigger TV flat screen so we go it early in May/June and called it combo father's day/b-day gift. I got a kindle the first year it came out early and called it a b-day/anniversary/Christmas gift. So we try to show our kids that while we want to celebrate that they are a year older we try and keep it low key. A few years I have the night before with my husband put up some balloons or cut out batman (my son loved for a period of time) figures/images and taped them on the windows in our breakfast nook so when he got up he would be surprised. It's worked for us, I would recommend that if you have done the big-party thing in the past, you might want to sit down with your older kids and explain how b-days are going to change/be. You can have a surprise element or something special like you get to have your favorite dessert on the day but make it work for YOU! Lastly, we haven't been invited to a lot of b-days but also we have sort of stay away from folks that are big into over-the-top bdays for their kids. Its just not for us so if you kids do have friends that do b-days it can be harder I think to keep yours low-key. I had a friend that allowed 2 friends of their child to come over around their b-day for a day of playing, it worked well and the kids were not to give gifts just a time to play, relax and have fun, they did a small cookie cake thing she baked before they went home and they sang happy birthday to the child. it was low keep and worked for her as she had several kids. It was just a playdate with a little extra. Just ideas...

I am a Christian. I homeschool my kids because my husband feels its best. We tried private school when they were really young and they couldn't explain to me why my son got a C on a phonics test, after lots of discussion and asking general questions like did a lot of kids get C, is this more of a pre-test, etc, and thinking that K was really young to be testing all the time. I pulled them out. We were lucky that we paid per month and they didn't hold us for the rest of the year. We had previous homeschooled with a co-op but I had taken on a part-time job that included housing so we felt it was a good move at the time. I quit the job, my husband's business took off and we got a house. I always thought we would put them back in private school but now they love homeschooling and the cost of private schools in our area is $10k+ a year some as high as $20K so for 3 kids it doesn't make sense plus they would be heart-broken. My husband has used some scripture when sharing why he believes in the parent schooling children at home. Deut. 6-9 Especially verse 7.. I am not sure why you are going to the "new" church, but I wouldn't subject my myself or kids to a pastor that was anti-homeschool. There are several churches in our area that promotes public school as a mission field as you described in your post, while some people view it that way, we don't and we have stayed away from churches that have leadership that is anti- our way of schooling. It really comes into play with kids activities and Youth Group (not sure if your church has that) but the one we went to for a long time had special activities just for public school kids and pvt/homeschool were not allowed to participate. It really turned us off and we since have left (quietly). Just an idea.

Dance, Ballet, Tap, Gymnastics it is really popular where we are too. My daughter tried it when she was in K-1st grade but only for a month or two. It was to be a beginning class, but we soon learned it was more of a play class and then for more $ you could advance to another class that met 2 times a week and did some competing. My daughter didn't really learn anything, it was suppose to be Ballet. I later learned the place we were going wasn't really professional-training until you girl got into the upper levels/classes. A few years ago she got into Tap dancing so I went and got her shoes and she watched some Youtube Videos and the American Girl Movie Molly had some tips at the end (special features) and she enjoyed them a lot. She even made up her own music to go with her tap. We thought of looking into classes but it's really just a phase and it passed within 6 months. She still likes to tap but her feet grew and I haven't gotten back to get new shoes so we passed them on to someone that could use them. I think if she had showed more interest we might have signed her up but for true-training it costs $100's+ dollars a month, commitment on the child/parent, and you must be flexible for weekend traveling a lot of times out of state and it just doesn't make sense unless she wants to go semi-professional (which she doesn't). That's my experience.

I agree with others, try it out and see if it works before making any major changes to your housing. Also, not sure where you are but in GA there is a dealer called CarMax, they don't get pd on commission for selling the cars it's salary and the hours tend to be better more like shifts, not sure if you are close to Atlanta Area but there are a few around and it's not that bad. Selling Cars is a hard job, like others have said, in today's economy most dealers compete with online-pricing and most deals are $100 or a little more depending on options so to make 2000 a month you have to sell about 20 new cars a month, of course USED cars is typically where the money is, there is more MARKUP so the commission is more like someone said above 350-450 or even higher just depending on car price, options, and how much the dealership has in the car. The hours is what got us years ago when we were homeschooling 2 little ones. Even when you get a day off it's not really a day off, Most managers want you in selling on your day off if you are not producing enough also you have the risk that someone comes back that you talked to the day before or week before that buys a car and you are not there, most dealers call this a Split deal so your husband would get 1/2 of the money. Of course, if that is the only option you feel you have, then I understand you may have to do it but beware it burns most families out, in the year-2 my husband worked as a car sales guy most of his co-workers were divorced and most said it was the job.