Thanks so much for the input, guys. Gives me a lot to ponder.

No worries - didn't think anyone was slamming. Just realized that my first post was a bit unclear :)

He's actually really good about helping around the house -- my close friends are more of an issue with that, as they're SAHM's with kidlets in public school. To clarify -- I guess my issues are twofold - A) Fiance who's willing to pitch in with parenting, household work, cooks, cleans, etc., but doesn't understand homeschooling and is constantly worrying that the girls are behind and therefore will be unable to succeed if we ever have to put them into public school, as well as worrying about the stress he feels homeschooling causes me. Very supportive for the most part with the business of running a house, just has no idea how homeschooling works or why I'd chose to do it, even after explanations... B ) Close friends who are convinced I'm screwing up my kids because the house is messy during the day, I work during the day and let the littles play on their own, and I don't keep a perfect house or have dinner on the table or do things the "right" way. These same friends are convinced that if I'm stressed or sad or temporarily overwhelmed (holidays, deadline, etc.) that the answer is obviously to put the kids in school.

Try highlighting the control you're trying to change, clicking the button you're trying to remap it to, and then clicking enter. Logitech makes a decent USB controller for around $20. HTH!

I left my husband last year on December 10th, bringing my 4 y.o. and 6 y.o. with me - I now have full custody, as there was some neglect involved. Cry when you need to. If you don't want the kids to see you, cry in the shower or lock yourself in the bathroom and run the water. Make time every day to reassure the kids that it isn't because of them. And try to keep yourself busy with normal-ish things -- laundry, cooking, vacuuming, etc. "Normal" routine activities helped me to keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep things happening, so that they weren't too alarmed by the changes.

Hi all - new to the boards, but I've been lurking for awhile. I have two girls - 4 y.o and 6 y.o. from a previous marriage. I have full custody and their father isn't in the picture other than occasional visitation - no decision making. We live with my fiance. My older daughter has a pretty severe case of ADHD (medicated), and I have some health issues myself. I work around 25 hours a week from home as a freelance writer, and I'm homeschooling the girls loosely following Well Trained Mind, throwing in some computer stuff, documentaries, etc. for them to work on if I have a work call or a focused deadline. I'm a member of our local homeschool co-op, so I DO know some homeschooling families in my area. However, what I'm struggling with is the lack of support/complete disagreement/general ignorance (not in a sarcastic "ignorant" way, but ignorant as in complete lack of knowledge/unfamiliarity) from my fiance and close friends. He's parenting the kids along with me (we cohabitate), but doesn't understand homeschooling, doesn't "get" why I want to do it, and is truly concerned about both their education and my health. He's not necessarily anti-homeschooling, he just sees school as the default option and doesn't see why I'd want to voluntarily add more to my plate. I think, basically, that they have unrealistic expectations - thinking that the house should always be clean, laundry done, kids sitting neatly at the table -- and if these things aren't happening, than I'm either failing at schooling or at housekeeping because I'm working. Not working isn't an option, financially. I don't feel like I'm doing that badly, but I also don't want to consistently defend myself. Like any family, we have good days and bad days, but overall, we're hitting our educational goals for the year -- however, he has no children of his own, and doesn't necessarily have the perfect idea of what's developmentally appropriate. What I do is darned hard, but I make it work...I just need to figure out how to show that it's working. I guess I'm wondering how to either A) Let this go and do my own thing or B Demonstrate that I'm really not screwing up the kids <sigh> Thoughts? Advice? I feel rather like banging my head against the wall some days.