Lol, I'm still getting used to no real rules, except the ones I make.

I took it in 98' and was taught two spaces. I totally agree, it's more comfortable ;)

The new standard is one, but I stick with two. See, right there. There it goes again. Or not! I don't like being insta-corrected. I don't think one space is adequate, it makes the end of a sentence harder blend too much into the body, imo.

The reading habit is a double edged sword... ds stayed up till 11 last night, hiding under his blankets and reading with a flashlight... When I found him, I didn't know if I should giggle (such a movie moment) or flip my lid. Do you find that others are shocked by your kids' manners?

My youngest ds has the opposite reaction to activity that dd and older ds have. The harder we play, the more energy he has, the less he wants to sit, be quiet, or rest. Lol, mil thought she'd show me how easy it is to get him to sit still... she had him climbing the walls in no time ;)

Thanks! I'll stick with my new old version, then.

I will, but it has to wait. I'm not planning on buying it used, it's just not in my budget for now.

"Quiet time" If they don't want to take a nap, then they play quietly in their rooms. If they get noisy, they have to stay on their beds, if they stay noisy, they lose their toys and it's 'nap' time.

We use the local grocery store, a family owned place. Their fresh stuff, meat, veggies, fruits, come primarily from local farms. The owner, lets you know if something isn't 'from here.' There's also plenty of stands around, lots of family owned convenience stores and the local vineyard and berry farm.

My son does what he believes is right, even when it's difficult. DD has learned to put school first, and she talks to me about every thing.

:lol: I think I answered the poll backwards... Is it how we express love or what makes us feel loved? Because I answered, what makes us feel loved and that is very different from how we express our love......... Great.

White milk, I don't drink it often, but sometimes it hits the spot. Someone else mentioned malt... malt or regular, malt, for SURE!

Andrew revels in it. He loves that we have a 'secret language' (Latin), and that we're learning so many things they simply do not teach at the local p.s. He loves talking to his sister about what he's learned. Granted, while we're learning he's not overly appreciative, but when we're done he's all smiles.

Out here, around 45-50,000 a year. We are really rural, septic tanks, no sewer, no high speed internet access once you're past our neighborhood, well-water, etc. So, the expenses are very different, there's no public works fees (the county does not do trash pick-up, you'd have to find a private owner/operator), no sewer bill, some people don't have to pay a water bill either, and since there's no high speed internet further out, people there either don't have internet, or else they have suuuper slow, cheaper internet. Cell service has gotton better, but land lines remain a necessity.

I didn't pick any of them. Some of what we eat is organic and some isn't. It's not a matter of money, it's more that I don't really care enough about it to completely change our diets. We live in a rural area, so most of our veggies and fruits are locally grown. They do not bear the 'organic' label, but I know the fields they come from. The same goes for our meat. I know the farmer, my kids wave to the cows and once in a blue moon we get an invite to go visit the pigs and chickens. Again, no 'organic' label, but they're all free range, healthy, non-hormone eating animals. Where's the other when you need it?

Meanest, that's what I'm trying to understand too. There's all this fuss about religion and right or left wing, but what it really boils down to is personal opinion. The ironic beauty of it all is that personal opinion really is person specific, so even when a group of whatevers get together to express 'their opinion,' what they're doing is ignoring their own personal opinions for the sake of argument and altering those opinions to fit into the groups opinion. All for what? To have a louder voice to yell with? The creation post got me thinking about this, coming after so many theology posts. People, myself included, got so passionate in their defense of catergories, while ignoring the parts of themselves that did not fit into those catergories. I wonder why we feel the need to chop ourselves into pieces to fit a specific catergory, why do we mold ourselves to fit into other people's boxes?

I don't know how to answer that, other than to offer how 'no' effects me. I feel guilty, not _______ enough (insert anything there, good, strong, kind). I feel like I'm letting someone down, like I'm avoiding responsibility, being unhelpful... really, the list is endless. There is a lot of guilt for me in saying no. I don't believe it's gender specific, if only because my husband is the same way. He will stretch himself so thin, trying to do everything that people ask him to do. I try to be understanding about all the late nights and lost family time, but I find myself yelling at him, just tell them NO, even while knowing that I would have done the same thing.

That strikes me as really funny, but then, I have way more personal opinions than I do religious opinions, iykwIm. My opinions may be colored by my religion, but it's also rooted in my upbringing, personal experience, etc. So, it seems like personal opinion would be even less objective than religious belief. IOW, religion figures in, in some places, but personal opinion (imo) colors everything. Why all the fuss over religion, when p.o. has so much more sway. Even in religion, personal opinion colors how/what we believe. Our political affiliations are colored by our opinions, everything is, but the biggest concern seems to be how religion and politics effects our kids education (not just homeschooling, but in any school), what doctors we use, where we shop, what we eat; in reality, it seems, to me, that personal opinion, involving everything from what's fashionable, to what's tolerant, to what's good and bad, holds greater sway than either of these.

He knew that slavery was inhumane and wrong, but he did nothing to change it in his own life. He wrote about it, he spoke about it, but he did nothing, personally, to show he felt it was wrong. I think that's worse than some ignorant person holding slaves. He KNEW that owning another person was wrong. He said it was like holding the wolf by the ears, yet he continued to be a slave holder. For someone to understand the inhumanity, the 'wrongness' of what they are doing and justify it for others is one thing; to justify it for themselves is a whole 'nother ball game. Do you have a fav/least fav out of anything in history, that would impact how/what you teach your dcs?

Isn't it funny, then, that personal opinion almost seems to be a plus, whereas beliefs are so often seen as stifling? Personally, I'm so excited about learning all these new things that I think we're going waay deeper than necessary in nearly every subject ;)

Breakfast: Eggs, toast, fruit; cereal and milk; oatmeal and fruit Lunch: Sandwiches, sometimes meat and cheese, most of the time pb&j; more fruit; carrots/broccoli/cauliflower/celery; dippy sauce (aka Ranch dressing); Soup and grilled cheese Dinner: Spaghetti; Chilli; Chicken, rice, peas and carrots; Roast, potatoes, carrots and green beans; Pork chops, mashed potatoes, corn, applesauce, peas; Salisbury steak, tomatoes and rice; Taco pie This isn't every week, but it's a pretty good example. We don't eat all those things for lunch and breakfast every day, but this way we can get a little variety. I don't usually spend more than 150 or so a week, but then most of these things do not have to be bought every week.

If there was a person whose sole purpose in life was self-gratification, I think they'd find it a thankless job at best. It seems like you would constantly be facing failure. How can you make yourself happy if you do not include the happiness of others? That being said, I envy people with the ability to say 'no.' I think, if you've reached a level of maturity where you can realize it's okay to fail or be rejected or just admit you cannot do it all, and still think yourself a good person, or at least keep from thinking negatively about yourself, then you've reached an age of happiness. Whether or not that is self-gratification, I don't know. Happiness, for me, comes from doing my best, being my own definition of a 'good' person, and succeeding. When I fail, I feel crushed. When I am rejected, I question my worth. When I fail at being a 'good' person, I feel like nothing. So, my happiness relies, in large part, upon how I interact with others. Self-gratification, comes from doing my best, being my 'goodest' (lol) and succeeding. IOW, heck if I know, I'm just glad to have made it through the day.

Ds only recently had the epiphany that when a minute went by the numbers changed on the clock. Oh the excitement of realizing that clocks tell time.

Excellent point! Also, aren't our kids aware of things, concepts, that they don't really understand. Isn't it possible that they did not understand death, but knew it must be really bad?

If this is a Montessori school, then you must be paying tuition. If you are paying tuition, then you should definitely bring your concerns to the Principal or equivalent. You are paying for your child to get an education, not for daycare. Also, why does he need to learn how to work in a group? Just curious why this is such an important life skill (not being snarky, but tone is really hard for me to convey online).