Wow, I didn't think if I quoted a post without huge emojis it would turn them into huge emojis for me. Apparently all my emotions on this thread are big, even when they are somebody else's!

I did think of that ... but I'm afraid to jinx it and do it too soon Anyway, that's one item on my to do list that I won't complain about doing!

When DH and I went to U of I Champaign tuition was $3000/year for in state and about $6000 for room and board in the dorms. I got scholarships for tuition and my parents paid for room and board. DH was able to work construction in the summers for his uncle and pay for tuition by himself and his parents paid for a cheap off campus apartment. Now my DS is at Purdue and tuition is $10000/year in state and room and board is a bit more than that. He lives at home so I'm not sure on the exact cost of room and board. And I have no idea what U of I charges these days but I'm pretty sure it's more than Purdue. I have no idea why it's so much more expensive, so I'll be reading this thread with interest. There is just no way an 18 year old kid can make that kind of money in a summer no matter how hard he works. And for a girl who in most cases wouldn't be looking at a well paying construction job, it's even more unreachable.

When I had my other kids, I was very good at checking out of activities - nobody expected much of me because I had all those little kids LOL! I was "in the thick of it" back then and everybody understood. But now that I've got teenagers and I've been involved in stuff for a while, I feel like there are all these expectations ...

I sure hope so! I'm just so worried about how tired I'll be because my kids n.e.v.e.r. sleep through the night til they're at least 1.

I know you're right. I am planning to scale back after the baby is born. No more Sunday School, and the ministry night is over after March til next winter. But the Easter program is right before my due date and my replacement won't be ready to take my class til after that.

Not to mention: think/worry/obsess about squeezing a baby out of my privates and all that entails I think the giant emoji is definitely appropriate here LOL

You guys, I have sooooooo much to do in the next 2 months! And I've never homeschooled with a baby before, we started hs'ing when youngest DD was a toddler and the others were in 8th, 6th, 4th, and K, so I don't know what I'm doing! And it's been 7 years since I had a baby and I know there's tons I've forgotten about! And I'm 45 years old and I'm tiiiiiiiiiired! On my to do list: get a car seat, help college DS find cheap stuff for his apt that he'll be moving into soon, 2 teenagers' drama performance and grueling tech week with 12 hour days for a week, partially in charge of weekly ministry nights for about 90 people where we package health kits for Haiti, teach Sunday School every week until my due date, make sure everybody has spring/summer clothes that fit because I won't want to do any shopping for a while after baby arrives, keeping up with dr appts, 3 kids' bdays between now and then and 2 shortly after, sign up DD for driving school, squeeze in a day trip to our local convention with DH, buy curriculum so I can plan this summer as I have time/energy, take DS to career counseling appt, enroll DS in local CC for DE courses next year, switch all our health ins and make sure that's all lined up with the dr and the hospital as soon as DH's new policy at his new job kicks in April 1, renew my driver's licence before it expires, help run the Easter program at church with my Sunday School class, and, you know, like, educate my kids somewhere in all that LOL Anything else I forgot????

He received a full tuition scholarship to a different in state U, but very little room and board help, which is just as astronomically priced as tuition. The room and board there was about the same as tuition at the local U that didn't offer him anything where he could live at home for free. So it was about a wash there for DS as far as finances go and the local U is worlds ahead of the other one in terms of being competitive for his major. There were other U's scattered throughout the country that would have given DS a full ride for NMF status, but they were not at all competitive for his major. So yes, it's possible and even likely that a high stats kid could get a full ride *somewhere*. But the PP I was quoting was stating that she was counting on her kids getting merit aid *at a specific local U that they could then live at home or with family*, and that's just not the case everywhere.

They probably didn't know how to raise their hands or wait in line yet And maybe they asked how to actually spell words instead of sound spelling and getting it wrong 🙂

Just a heads up ... this was not true for us at all. My oldest DS is a high achiever. Not a perfect SAT score, but it was darn close. NMF, great transcript, and only $1000 merit aid at the local U. Granted he is in a very competitive major and he likely would have received some aid had he chosen a less competitive one. But I don't know any student who received most of their tuition from merit aid, and I know a lot of stellar students. Merit aid is not handed out like candy, and you cannot count on it regardless of how smart and high scoring your kids are. Not saying you need to do anything different with your parenting and/or involvement in the process ... but if that is what you are counting on for financing you are likely to be very very surprised.

This. When my kids were in ps, they came home W.I.R.E.D. They were sooooo good all day (for that I'm thankful) and bless their little hearts they just did not have it in them to be quiet and calm for one more second. They needed physical activity and a snack and a break from any type of planned activities whatsoever. After that, they were able to sit down and do homework and talk to me about their day and whatever else, but not before. I get why after school activities are attractive for parents, and I think you're a really great librarian for offering them, but the last thing ps kids really need after school is more others-planned activities.

We saved some money but it wasn't a lot, nowhere near our EFC for even one kid, let alone 6. First year for oldest DS we were able to pay half tuition at a relatively low priced state U that we live close to (thank you Mitch Daniels/Purdue and your tuition freeze!) DS worked throughout high school and saved for the rest and lives at home this first year. Next year it looks like we will have just enough in our savings to be able to pay half tuition again and he is working 16 hours/week to pay the rest and to pay for a cheap close to campus apt with 3 roommates. As for the rest of his college years and for the rest of our kids, we paid extra on our mortgage (and it was only a 15 year to start with) so the plan is that once 2nd DS graduates and needs tuition money in mid 2020, the mortgage will be paid off and we can use those funds to help the rest of them with half tuition at Purdue as well. But even then, we won't have enough for a more expensive school or for room and board anywhere but home. They are on their own for that. We've been very up front with them about how we decided early on that me being home with them all day throughout their growing up years was worth the sacrifice of the extra income and we hope they all enjoy their time with me LOL

I do tell mine to work it out themselves ... and them later when everyone is calmed down and nobody really has a dog in this fight anymore I go to them individually and talk about what he/she could have done differently. Not whose fault it is because I really don't care and you only have control over your own actions anyway. I also have a phrase I really like to use: "Drop the ball." I've told them many times it takes 2 people to argue just like it takes 2 people to play catch. If 1 person drops the ball and refuses to engage, the argument ends. DH's favorite is: "Smartest one gives up first." 🤣

If he's a great reader and doesn't enjoy activities and projects and such, maybe K12's Human Odyssey textbook series along with a good literature list from each time period to read alongside would be good for 6th-8th grade history and literature. My kids enjoy reading these textbooks and I found that bringing my kids home from ps they were very lacking in world history knowledge. For science we were not a good fit for Apologia either. We jump around a lot for science but have been mostly happy with Mr Q and God's Design series and Beran Builders series. For writing if he is not a natural writer I would look into IEW. It's definitely not the right program for everyone, but it did give me confidence as a teacher to be able to figure out where they are and where they should be headed, which was invaluable. I also love Analytical Grammar for middle school grammar. Good luck!

If you have a college degree you can order the ITBS and CogAT through BJU.

I wasn't nearly as clever or witty as your DD, but it reminds me of when I was in ps and told my geometry teacher how stupid and pointless it was to prove something that he just told me was true and is obvious to everyone in the room was true. He said, "Momto5, you're being stupid." And I've hated math ever since 🙂

I really like the Cincinnati convention, but this year it falls on my due date and we're 3ish hours away, so not this year. I like the speakers and the encouragement best, and DH and I usually make a long weekend out of it. It's nice for DH to be able to get his head into what I think about all year long 🙂 He helps me see the big picture because I tend to get lost in the day to day details. I like the shopping too, but I usually know what I want to purchase because of reviews on these boards, although sometimes I have it narrowed down to 2 or 3 options and need to see them in person to decide. I try to listen to Pudewa and Kern and Cothran and Perrin, they always make me feel so invigorated intellectually! But also practical stuff like "is my kid just easily distracted or is something wrong" type talks. This year since I can't go to Cincy I'm going to my local convention in Indy. I like supporting my local hs'ing organization, and I still receive good encouragement there, but there's nowhere near the variety that Cincinnati has, esp when it comes to curriculum choices. It seems like most of the booths at my local convention are all about Bible and character stuff, which we cover through everyday life and don't really use curriculum for.

Theatre/drama has been a great outlet for my class clown and has taught him a lot about how to use his strengths productively! However, it has *not* taught him how to internally gauge when he is getting close to crossing boundaries and how to control his own impulses. IME that requires direct teaching and guidance from a parent.

It's my understanding that they vary a bit from state to state. In our state we can add to the account anytime, either on a regular schedule or by lump sum deposits. The funds can be used for any educational expenses and unused funds can be rolled into another child's account. I think other people can contribute too but we've never done that. There is a small tax break for the money we set aside, we report that in our taxes every year. We got a credit card that links to ours so that any rewards we earn automatically add to the oldest kid's account. Oldest DS emptied his account last year for college and we got a notice to report it on our taxes. Pretty easy!

Me too! I still have issues with texture, but I usually no longer have to separate my plate into strict divisions and I enjoy casseroles and stir frys, which I never would have touched in a million years when I was young. In my 20s I learned to like salad, and now I enjoy a wide variety of vegetables, cooked and uncooked. When I was pregnant with my 4th, I craved onions in all my savory dishes, which was a first. And now I put onions in everything 🙂 I still enjoy my share and then some of chocolate, but if I crave something now it's usually a potato or meat dish. If it's not chocolate and just sweet, I have no problem passing it up for more satisfying calories.

My oldest is doing CS right now, and the way Purdue explained the different Computer majors when he was trying to choose was that the Computer Science people are into the theory behind the programming languages (hence the math heavy course sequence), the Computer Engineering people are into how the theory interacts with software for different applications, and the Computer Engineering Technology people are into how the applications actually work and fiddling with them in a hands on way. Those are generalizations, of course, but it did help DS narrow down what he wanted to major in besides just knowing he wanted to work with computers.

I forgot Til we Have Faces! We like that one too 🙂

I just hand the workbook to my kids, tell them to read the lesson and do the exercises (1 lesson or review/week), and then grade it. They do quite a bit of high quality reading which exposes them to a wide variety of vocabulary as well, but I want them to be familiar with the roots of words since we don't do Latin, and VCR is an easy painless way to get that in. I think they usually do Book A at the end of 8th grade.

2nd DS is like this and always has been. It's who he is, it's how he's wired - to desire attention and crave a reaction. I love this aspect of his personality most of the time, it means he's creative and witty and actually very perceptive to people's feelings now at almost 17. But at age 10 it was really hard to teach him when he was getting close to crossing the line between funny and annoying because he was enjoying the positive response so much he didn't realize he was getting close to the line til he'd crossed it and usually left it far behind in the dust and got a negative response. And that sudden switch from positive to negative (at least it seemed sudden in his mind) left him confused. We had the best luck with having conversations with him about this and then listening for the warning signs and reminding him with a simple, "Where's the line?" remark. But it was a loooooooong learning process.