This is a topic I have been thinking a lot about as well. I am sure my interpretation of "rigorous" will evolve with time. Right now it means that I want each child to be challenged and have a strong work ethic. I do not ever push to the point of frustration, but my kids do not have any work they consider "easy." We do spend more time doing school than most other families with children the same age as mine. As my children continue to grow, I want them to become independent learners who set high goals and know how to work hard to achieve them. I haven't heard of the book you mentioned, but now I'm curious so I'll have to read it!

This looks interesting too!

Memoirs are my favorite as well! Thanks for the suggestions. My library has a couple of these. I have until mid October to decide on a book so I think I'll read 2 or 3 books and then decide on which one to go with.

This looks really interesting! I will have to check with a few of the members to see if they have read this before. I am definitely going to read it whether or not I end up choosing it for my group to read.

It's my turn to choose the next book we read. Our book club has ten members (all women and moms) ages 25-45. Some of us homeschool and some don't. Some of us work outside the home and some of the women are stay-at-home moms. Our group includes women from a wide range of religious backgrounds including Agnostics, Catholics, and Evangelicals. My main goal in choosing a book is to pick something that will lead to good discussion. The types of books that haven't worked well/haven't been appreciated in the past are: 1) Books that are too predictable 2) Books with a lot of violence or language 3) Books that are very popular (because someone in the group has already read it) Books that tend to be favorites: 1) Memoirs 2) Books with characters our group (women/moms) can identify with (The Snow Child, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Wonder are books that everyone enjoyed) Any ideas? I'm running out of time and want to choose a good one!!

The less cluttered my house is, the easier it is to maintain. Over the last two years I have ruthlessly decluttered and donated/sold anything I considered excess. Now I have less to organize, sort, clean, repair, pick up, and maintain. No matter how messy the rest of the house is, I always start my day by making my bed. I keep my room picked up and clean at all times so I have one place I can go and relax if the rest of the house is not as clean as I would like. All of the kids toys, games, puzzles, and crafts are in a storage room in bins. We only take out a couple bins at a time and they must be picked up before anything new can be taken out. This prevents the kids from taking out every single item they own and tossing it all over the floor at once (I still have two toddlers). If you have young kids, get a child sized set of cleaning supplies (broom, etc.) as well as some extra magic erasers and microfiber cloths. Even little ones can be very helpful scrubbing down woodwork and cabinet doors!

These are so fun to read! This is just the inspiration I needed. Keep 'em coming :)

We love Colombo here too! I agree, most of the traditions we have so far are little things: brunch on Sundays, decorating the birthday girl/boy's door, etc.

I grew up in a family with very few traditions. We had a couple holiday traditions, but that was it. We didn't have rituals/routines/traditions for bedtime or birthdays or losing a tooth. Every year we would be trying to decide what to do on Easter or the 4th of July and so there was nothing ever specific to look forward to. As adults, my siblings and I usually spend time with in-laws instead of our parents because there are no standing traditions. In contrast, my mother-in-law created dozens of traditions for her kids. She always made a specific breakfast on Christmas morning, always had a picnic in the same park on the 4th of July, always made a trip to a certain amusement park every year etc. These traditions are cherished by all of her children (dh included). They still want to be at her house on Christmas morning to eat the same breakfast they enjoyed while growing up. All of her kids have a wonderful (very close) relationship with her (and father-in-law). I recently read "The Heart of a Family: Searching America for New Traditions That Fulfill Us by Mex Cox and she talks a lot about this topic. Our family has some traditions, but I think we need to continue to add more as the kids show interest/enjoyment in something we've done once or twice. So, I'm curious... What are some of your family's favorite traditions? Do you have a lot of traditions/rituals or just a few? Do you think traditions/rituals are necessary for a strong relationship with your kids as they grow?

I think we could take care of the smaller nests that are low to the ground, but there are a lot of nests way up high. If he stands on the top of a tall ladder with a broom he has a shot of knocking the nest down. I don't think it's practical for him to do this every night though. Sooner or later he's going to fall!

Ugh! I thought my cat was the only one who did this. Drives.me.crazy.

I don't know how we didn't notice them earlier in the season, but three members of my family have been stung in the past couple of weeks. After the second person was stung, we discovered multiple nests in different locations around our house. We sprayed and then knocked them down, but we keep seeing wasps everywhere. Is it too late to deal with this ourselves? What kind of resources does an exterminator have that we wouldn't? DH doesn't want to pay for this if we can handle it.

Great idea!

I'm new here and can't figure out the multiquote feature, but I'll comment on a few things anyway. There are some acquaintances that could maybe develop into friends, but being an introvert I don't like to initiate anything. Also, it does usually take me longer than many people to be vulnerable enough with a person to let them see my faults and build the kind of depth in a friendship that I'm looking for. I think I do need to try to get involved in a couple groups and then maybe be willing to step outside my comfort zone a little more often to invite someone out for coffee/playdate with kids/dinner, etc. My parents did not have any friendships (outside of their siblings) during my childhood and I do think they regret not having invested more time into those relationships.

Thanks!! I am definitely going to try the whiteboard idea as well as making a distinction from a narration and actually summarizing a passage. DD is a perfectionist so she does get upset if she doesn't get something right the first time.

Thanks for the great advice. You all have given me a lot to think about. My two are about a year and a half apart. They are currently in a lot of activities together because I have toddlers as well and I can only run to so many activities. We might have to drop some activities if my kids are in separate sports/etc. but I think it might be worth to not have them feel in constant competition. Big sis does have things she does better than little sis (like being more empathetic or having a better attention to detail) but I'm not sure what activity/sport she would really excel in.

My 7 yr. old dd is still struggling with narrations. I'm just not sure if I should continue on the path I'm on and hope it eventually clicks for her or if I should try something different. We're both starting to get frustrated. She is very accelerated in every area of language arts, but really struggles with narrations in both history (STOW2) and WWE2. She can usually answer 2/3rds of the questions, but really has a hard time picking out the most important information/summarizing a passage. If I told her what to write, she could correctly punctuate, capitalize, spell everything and have the sentence written down in 30 seconds. Is this something that will just come with time/maturity? Should I just keep going with STOW2 and WWE2 narrations? Or is there anything I can try to help with her reading comprehension (definitely part of the problem) and summarization/narration formation skills?

Two of my kids are very close in age. The younger one seems to be good at everything. She tries something once and knows how to do it. It doesn't matter if it is a sport, a new concept in school, a new instrument, etc. Little sis just got a big part in a play, memorized her piano piece before her sister, and learned a tricky gymnastics move after one try. Her older sister has started to notice this and has been making comments that let me know it is starting to bother her. Big sis is on track with everything in school and is good at a lot of things, but little sis is always better. Anyone else deal with this?

DH is my closest friend too, but it's nice to have a friend to call to do things he doesn't enjoy or to talk to about things he can't really relate with. I don't usually have a lot of friendships at a time, but the ones I do have I really try to make time for.

I have found (at least at the one near us) that the quality of the portraits depends entirely on the staff. I have gone and gotten great pictures and other times haven't been able to find a single portrait that I like. I have not seen this much variation in staff abilities/training at any other portrait studio. But since there is no up front fee, you are not out any money if you don't like them. They are usually running a special for one pose, but you can only use it once (wouldn't work for a single pose of each daughter).

I have two good friends that I know well and used to see often, but one is now going through a separation with her spouse and the other one is always home with sick kids. I'd like to make a few new friends, but I haven't done it in awhile (at least a close friend) and it's not something that comes naturally as I'm not usually very outgoing. With your five closest friendships...Did you inititate the friendship or did the other person? Where did you meet your friend? Are your kids friends with her kids? Do you mostly spend time with your friend with or without kids/rest of the family? Being a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom, with toddlers (plus big kids of course) can make it difficult to find time/energy for friendships, but they are much needed! Any tips/experiences for making/finding time to spend with friends is appreciated!!

Thank you for your reply. I think this is the direction I'm going to go. My dd has a couple of play dates set up for next week. I think she does seem to do better when she can spend time with one friend at a time.

This week was rough for dd. She is early elementary age and very introverted. She had several different classes/events this week and overheard several of the girls (at different times) talking about play dates they had been on at each other's houses. The girls weren't being mean, but didn't realize that girls not invited on one of these play dates might feel left out. I have noticed that girls her age have begun to develop some closer friendships, but dd doesn't have a friend that she spends more time with/is getting to know well. DD gets along with everyone and isn't overly shy, but she just doesn't talk that much or interact much in large groups (more than 2 or 3 kids). She tends to sit back and watch everyone else, but doesn't know how to join a group, start a game, just run around and have fun, etc. Also, when she does interact with kids in a smaller group setting she sometimes misses social cues (how to tell when someone isn't interested in what she's saying, when someone is tired of a game/activity, etc.) She will never be one of those popular kids that is the life of the party, but I want to help her learn how to make a couple of close friendships and do a better job of reading social cues. Any ideas?

Done something special with my kids that I don't know how to do or don't have the time to plan. She has braided their hair, done fancy painting on their nails, brought fun seasonal crafts along, taught them a few ballet moves, etc. She has learned what my kids are interested in and plans activities she knows they will enjoy. Also, she is a great communicator. I never have to ask what the kids did or if there were any problems during the evening because she tells me as soon as I return. I am very clear about my expectations: no phone calls, no texting, no unapproved guests. Good babysitters are hard to find. If your daughter builds a relationship with the kids she watches and does meaningful activities with them, she will never run out of opportunities to babysit.

I have very pale skin. It is so light that most makeup brands don't have a foundation shade light enough for my skin. I have never felt a need to go tanning or been uncomfortable with how pale I am until recently. After having become mama to four kiddos and having aged a few years, I have some dark circles under my eyes that really contrast with my skin color. I get pretty frequent comments that I look exhausted. My skin doesn't tan (and even if it did I don't think it'd be a very healthy solution), but I am wondering what I can do as far as makeup or clothing color to help bring a little life back to my complexion.