I would definitely get your son to a doctor. You will have better peace of mind if you get to the bottom of whether or not your son had a seizure. Most of the time with a tonic clonic (grand mal) seizure your son wouldn't know if it has happened to him before. They lose consciousness and most don't remember what has happened. With a simple partial (focal) seizure your son would be completely conscious and know exactly what was happening. A complex partial can result in impaired consciousness. Many people seize during sleep so you wouldn't even know. Hopefully, your son just had a terrible choking incident but it's not something to take lightly. I hope I'm not scaring you but it's so important to get checked out sooner rather than later. God Bless,

Sorry for your frustration about keeping your boys' room clean. I have always been a neat person and my kids can never live up to my expectations. I always end up doing a good clean once every 1-3 months even though they pick up daily. They will never get it as clean as I want so I am willing to the work. I implemented a family closet about 5 years ago. It has made a big difference in keeping their rooms clean. My washer and dryer have always been in the basement with the kids' rooms on the second floor, which meant climbing two flights of stairs to put clothes away. I decided (after watching an episode of the Duggars) that we would have a family closet. We bought hanging racks at Walmart and brought their chest of drawers down to the laundry room. Now, I have all the children's clothes down there. It has made a big difference in keeping the laundry put away neatly and organized. Also, it's easier to keep it all put away since I don't have to lug it up two flights of stairs. God Bless,

This year is our first year doing MFW. My daughter is using the Ancients program. I have been very happy with it. I haven't used TOG at the high school level so I can't compare based on personal experience. But, my opinion is that it would be less intense than TOG. Up until this year we have mostly used Sonlight. I did love Sonlight but there is just lots of reading without a lot of scheduled output. MFW is great about scheduling quizzes, map activities, papers, and timeline. My daughter sometimes feels the map activities and the timeline are babyish but I insist she do them anyway. My daughter is not math or science inclined but she is heavily focused on music, specifically piano. This is the field she really wants to study in college. I'm happy that MFW is not so intense that it makes that difficult. I also am very happy with the seamless incorporation of Bible into history. I always felt before with Sonlight that it was a bit disjointed in places. HTH! God Bless,

My kids are 15, 13, 11, and 8.5. I have always had a hard time keeping up with school. I made some choices last year and this year that have helped me in that department. Last year I signed my oldest daughter up for a class through Write at Home. It was wonderful. It was just one area I no longer had to worry about. She enjoyed the writing assignments and having positive feedback. This year I have my three youngest children all doing Teaching Textbooks. They are all automated grading so they are able to math on their own with me nearby to help when necessary. When one is working on math I'm able to work with someone else on other subjects. It has been wonderful. I know some don't like Teaching Textbooks and I had to get over it. At this point it's about getting it done not being perfect. Also, I have combined my youngest two for Spelling. The oldest is a little above the youngest but not by much. We just do it together. Makes it SO much easier. They also enjoy doing it with each other. We are using AAS. We have always combined history and Bible. When my oldest was 13 she began doing her own but I still combine the three younger ones. The other trick I do is I get dinner started in the morning. I use my crock pot a lot. I have great recipes. That way dinner is ready and I don't have to worry about cooking when I'm exhausted from homeschooling all day. I sure hope some of these ideas have helped. I do believe it gets much easier as each child becomes more and more independent. God Bless,

I would choose the older home. I love the sense of history and charm. I love the details that a new home doesn't usually have. There would be no choice for me. God Bless,

:grouphug: Prayed for you you. God Bless,

You are definitely not alone. My daughter at 9 could not spell at all. She was probably on a second grade level and has stayed there until recently. She was reading on grade level and was doing math on grade level. I tried EVERY spelling program out there. I hated Spell to Write and Read. It was just too teacher intensive. All the other ones didn't work. Now my daughter is 13. We are working through AAS also. I began her on the 3rd level. She is doing really well. Everything is beginning to click. We spend as much time on each lesson as needed. Most of the time she does a lesson a day. She will start Level 4 in a about a month. Since we have been drilling the AAS rules and sounds she is spelling so much better. Has your daughter improved since starting AAS? God Bless,

So sorry to hear that your daughter is going through this!!! My daughter has had a very rough time with ovarian cysts. Last October we (and pediatrician) thought my daughter was having an appendicitis. She was in extreme pain and could barely move. The pain was coming from her lower right quadrant. She was feeling nauseous also. She was sent straight to the hospital and the surgeon felt certain based on her symptoms that it was an appendicitis. Wish we had done an ultrasound. She did have an ovarian cyst the size of a grapefruit. The surgeon actually said it was the largest he had ever seen. Thankfully it was fluid filled and he decompressed it in the OR. She has since had at least 2 more. During one episode we took her to the gynecologist and they did do an ultrasound. The cyst had burst but there was a tremendous amount of fluid in her pelvis. The only option the doctor has given us is the birth control pill. I feel very uncomfortable about it. I am very hesitant about artificial hormones. My daughter, now 15, is exercising much more regularly than she was before. I just encourage her to take extremely good care of herself and hope that helps. If these continue to reoccur and her pain continues to be so extreme she will probably have to go on the pill for a while. Hope your daughter starts to feel better!!! God Bless,

Ladies, thank you so much for responding with such great information!!! What a valuable principle the LDS church is encouraging. I love how it goes beyond just trying to provide for yourself but being able to share that with others. Our church and many around here have been teaching for about the past 10 years financial responsibility (no debt, lower expenses, etc) and it has become more important in the past 2-3 years since the real estate bubble burst. But, I love how this system goes beyond that. I have many friends who buy in bulk and store food but not with preparedness in mind. I will definitely be checking these websites out. The whole philosophy makes a lot of sense to me. I like that it's not about end times and panicking. It's seems very organized and rational. Thank you so much for answering my questions!!! God Bless,

I just read the thread about self sufficiency. I was really intrigued by the posts by people advocating food storage. It seems that it is something well known in the Mormon community. I have never heard of it. I went to some of the websites mentioned but I am still a bit confused. First, what exactly is meant by the term "food storage". On one website I watched a video about how a woman uses food storage in her everyday meals. I didn't even understand what she meant by food storage. I'm assuming it is similar to stock piled ingredients. She mentioned wheat, beans, dried milk. Second, what is the belief behind food storage for Mormons? I'm not trying to get a religious debate going. I'm just interested in why. I think it's a really interesting concept and would like to learn more but need some basic background/terminology before I delve in a dig deeper. God Bless,

Thanks so much for posting this! I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels inadequate from time to time. We are in our 11th year. I am so glad to know other "seasoned" homeschoolers feel the same way. God Bless,

Hello, My oldest daughter is in the Duke TIP program. We have not participated in any Duke TIP classes or camps either, but I would like the option if we ever decide to. Also, now that my daughter is in 10th grade they have started sending her info about choosing a college. I think any opportunity to get recognition as a homeschooler is probably a good thing since we won't have any school related awards. HTH,

:bigear: Blessings,

Hello all, I am in need of some help and hope some of you ladies who have been-there-done-that can help. My oldest is a 10th grader this year. She is using Jacob's Geometry, MFW Ancients, Rod and Staff English Book 2, Vocab from Classical Roots, Rosetta Stone Spanish, Apologia Chemistry, and Henle Latin. I cannot keep up with all the grading each day. I am really falling behind. She is a good student but when she has a problem we don't fix it until a week or more later. I feel that's a big problem. My problem is that I am also homeschooling 3 other children who need me so much more. My 11 year old son has Cerebral Palsy, epilepsy, auditory processing, etc. He needs a lot more help than an average 11 year old would. My 13 year old is fairly independent but I have to keep up with grading her school work otherwise she isn't diligent enough. My 8 year old still needs help while he does his English and Reading. My question is does anyone have a great system for grading? Do you just stay up all hours of the night? How do you handle this? Thanks so much for reading!! Blessings,

Hey Kelly, We have had Netflix for about 2 years and love it. I'm using it a lot right now to focus on Science (since that slips a lot around my house). The great part about Netflix is that many of the movies, TV shows, documentaries, etc. are on instant play now. Many times you don't even need to wait for the disk to come, you just push play. We watched a Nova program about the Mars rovers today. It's so nice not to have to watch commercials, too! I think it's a great way to supplement any educational subject. Blessings,

Testing:iagree:

Thank you so much. This is just what I was hoping to hear. This sounds perfect for my daughter. Blessings, Elise in NC

I really need DVD's also. I think as long as the instructor isn't "talking down" to the students my daughter would do well with Latin. I think for this particular child we need a "fun" Latin rather than a scholarly Latin. Blessings, Elise in NC

I am trying to decide whether I should use LfC or LA for my soon to be 7th grade daughter. She is not a strong student and doesn't enjoy a lot of studying. We have tried Latina Christiana I and she HATED it. It just wasn't worth pursuing. She will not like a Latin program that is geared towards younger children. But, I'm concerned that LA would be too difficult and frustrate her. Does anyone have any advice? Thanks!

My daughter just finished Rod and Staff for 9th grade. It has been very thorough. A lot more writing than in previous years. Rod and Staff only has one more Grammar book and we will complete that one for 10th grade. I'm not sure what we will do for 11th grade. BTW, my daughter has used Rod and Staff since 4th grade and scored extremely high for English on the ACT for the Duke TIP program. It has really helped her understand grammar. Blessings, Elise in NC

Hi, My daughter is just finishing up Composition I with Write at Home. She is in 9th grade this year. She is a strong writer and has loved having a writing coach. It was expensive but well worth the investment. Hope you all enjoy it.

My daughter would not be able to do Algebra I this year without it. I am not a math person at all. I really need all the help I can get and Saxon Teacher has been great. The CD ROM goes through each and every problem and works it out. It does it differently (sometimes) than the solutions manual. It also has a section that teaches each new lesson. It has been well worth the money! Blessings, mom to dd 13, dd 11, ds 9 and ds 6 Winter Promise, Saxon Algebra 1, Rod and Staff 8, Apologia General Science, Latina Christiana II, Worldy Wise 3000 book 4