1. How long have you been homeschooling? Older ds, three years. Dd, almost one whole year! And youngest, one year. 2. Which homeschool philosophy(ies) do you use? TWTM 3. Why do you homeschool? Older ds had a baaaaad teacher. Dd was developing an ulcer thanks to the awesome socialization at the local ps. With my youngest, we decided that if I could teach him to read before his 5th bday he wouldn't go to school. He turned five on Sunday and finished reading his third Little Bear Book that Friday :D 4. What was your biggest waste of money in homeschooling? Copybooks 5. What was the best money you have ever spent? TWTM, I have the two newer editions and TWEM on my Kindle. 6. Which curriculum/curricula did you want to love, but didn't work for you? It was an art program... but the name escapes me. Oh! And the Biology text I bought dd for this year and the history book I bought BEFORE I bought SWB's Ancients :glare: 7. Which curriculum/curricula did you end up loving that you thought you wouldn't? I tend to think I will love everything, or else I've just forgotten I was ever wrong about anything :lol: 8. What is your best advice to anyone just starting out? It's okay. It is possible to fail at hsing, but you really have to put effort into it. Do something every day, keep up with readin', writin' and 'rithmatic and cover all the other stuff when you get the biggies done. 9. Which mistakes have you made with your olders that you will not repeat with your littles? Television, we didn't read together nearly enough and I put them both in ps to start with. Oh, and science. Yeah, science. And art. 10. Anything else you want to share? This isn't a "real" poll, but I still feel compelled to have an other!!!! :lol: School year round. Then, when it starts to feel like you're going to lose your mind, you can take a week off, guilt free. Really. It's a sanity saver.

Any of those shows with those charming young twins in them.

I think that if I were her friend you couldn't keep me from going :lol: How wonderful and CONGRATULATIONS :party: to her! If it takes this much consideration, though, I might worry that I would be a damper on the festivities, in which case I might just send a card. :iagree: I think sometimes the point is missed, because people worry so much about the manners involved. I like manners, but I think it's good that some of them are being cast off. How crazy to think that a mother-to-be is not allowed to celebrate the new life inside of her!

God bless you, Christine. I'm lifting you up in prayers every day :grouphug:, oh and your weather geek husband :lol:.

:iagree: I wish you would have posted before me! That sums it up nicely. I just want them to be happy. Happy with clothes on. :lol:

I just slip some frozen fruit on the bread and then smash the sandwich. It helps relieve the stress that comes with being so darn perfect. :lol: Santa WOULD do that. He's an agent of Satan after all. Don't make them social misfits. If the ps kids are doing you should force your children to participate. This is why I over cook all of our veggies and only serve my children cold, dry meat products. They must have the same experiences as the local ps children, or else.... they will be social misfits. We take notes watching Life Onboard and I have my sons practice being a**es just like the main characters.

We all know there's no actual peanuts in peanut butter slices, those things are strictly scented plastic. Sheesh.

Lifting you up Christine.:grouphug:

Of course :D I want them to be upright citizens, that puts some limitations on what they do and they're my children, I care about at least 90% of what they do now, I figure by the time they're adults it may drop down to 80%, but that's still a lot :lol:

Then, just throw a slice of peanut butter at them and run.

The House at Pooh's Corner Luke is reading me Little Bear Treasury And the two olders and I are reading Life Expectancy :lol: Not literary greatness, but full of great language and humor.

We read aloud during lunch and at bedtime (our "fun" books). I started reading my kids chapter books at around age four. Bedtime, they listen well and fall asleep :p Lunch time, they listen while they eat. They both seem like good times to me :D As far as audio books, we listen in the car, which is nice, but I'll also play the books inside when we're having lazy days and before they started school work, they would listen to the books while they played in their rooms. They don't listen intently, but they do listen and sometimes even get sucked in. I don't worry about them retaining our 'fun' reading. I couldn't tell you too much about the books I read for fun once I'm done with them :lol:

Should I vaccinate my Cub Scout? Only after his circumcision and you should breast feed while he's getting his shot. Should the people who I invited over for a delicious crockpot dinner take off their shoes? No. Ankles should never show, that's immodest. Are you watching your children while they're there? Those people could be predators. Should men in kilts drink milk? Only straight from the udder :lol: Woo! Run with that one ;) And since it's almost that time of year....what do you think about Halloween? I never think about Halloween. It's bad for my teeth and my children are allergic to candy wrappers. ETA, egads! He's a scout?!? Well, he's already ruined.

You can do very little or you can do a lot. When I was a Bear leader we did a lot of activities. I started out by planning the number of activities they needed to get their badges by the end of the year and then scheduling everything. :shrug: It's sort of like planning a class for hsing ;) As a Webelo leader we did much less, but I had less help and had to run two dens (Wolves too). So, I didn't have the time or energy to do the more interesting achievements and stuck with the easiest ones. I loved Bears, it gave you so many options for completion. It was my favorite year.

As a Christian, I don't pray with the larger BS prayers. We stand quietly, but we don't take part. The prayers are so general as to be, for us, a little creepy... We lift our voices to the great creator, the higher power which connects us all... However, in the smaller groups, where most of the kids worship the same God, the prayers are more specific. ==================== The biggest complaint I've read about SOFs is how they are not open and complainer (claiming to have the most open mind of all) can't stand them and thinks they should be outlawed, or fought into non-existence. That's not so tolerant ;) I'm glad your church allowed the picketers to finish their demonstration, good for you :D However, the folks who claim to be the most tolerant would have been happy to cry out for how they should have been arrested. That's my point. Sort of like BSA, who doesn't claim to be tolerant or fair, being attacked for not being tolerant or fair by people that claim to be tolerant. Well, sure you can complain all you want, but that's not tolerating, that's complaining, that's meddling and that's saying that this group is wrong and must be changed. So, when the other poster said that BSA would be destroyed by people that want to force them to change their policies, I agreed.

http://usscouts.org/advance/boyscout/religious.asp

Peer pressure your son into being like the other kids. It's the only way... :lol: I was concerned at first too. Then I realized, I wouldn't want to be around it either. My son has boundaries, and I'm relieved he knows how to walk away when things are getting too much for him. He doesn't feel like he has to do the same thing and he's alright with saying no thanks.

It's the same with SOFs. The most "tolerant" do not feel the need to extend tolerance to those that disagree with them. Fwiw, we'll be starting scouts all over again next year :D Luke cannot wait. :iagree:

My daughter had been Jo (little Jo, Jo bear, &tc) since she was born. Her time in ps school had her being called Jazzlyn, Jaqueline, Jock-a-lyn, and other great screw-ups. I am Julie/Juliana. I am known as Julia, Juli (which is a version I actually like), July, Julien, Julie Ann, Judy, and a ton of other versions. Both of us learned to live with what others called us, because our parents gave up on correcting people. Jo and I both decided this just makes it easier for us to figure out who our 'friends' are. If someone, like the school councelor, calls (like she did when I took Jo out of school) and consistently refers to her as Jock-a-lyn, then I know all her prattle about being so close with my daughter is bunk. Of course, you could always tell your son to correct the teacher, or ignore her. I had a Korean friend that did this (his first name was a family name and every.single.year he had to reexplain that). Imo, it's just a learning experience.

He never saw it coming ;) :lol: We like to be outright with it. A nice little, "Don't make me punch you in the face," relieves stress and allows both parties to a. see the error of their ways and b. move on.:lol:

Gosh, I figured someone would have gotten it by now... Sorry! I had too much to do yesterday! Here's another: She's not a step child! I think she might be Irish... but that's an assumption on my part.

Exactly. It's just like the assumption that all rich people are greedy. I am positive that rich people give, the catch is... You won't hear about the "good" rich people being altruistic, because they won't broadcast it.

She's actually rather calm when angered... go figure :huh:

Danielle almost got away with it!