There are a couple great books by Bob Schultz. One is Created for Work. I can't remember the name of the other one. Christian based, and set up with a short daily reading. I went through both of these with my sons. They are great character building devotions, and written from a working carpenter's life! You may also want to read That's My Son, another book I loved. That one's just for mom. :) My dh has also been a good example of your ideal man, working hard and considering us before himself, and showing faithfulness and service to God and others.

Fresh salsa! My gang would eat a lot of this, but my tomatoes are still green, too. Have you considered canning them? Then you've got them for chili or vegetable soup or whatever this winter. A great sandwich with fresh tomatoes: on one slice of bread mayo. On the other, peanut butter, sliced tomatoes and lettuce. Top with the first slice. Very good!

I'll send you a handout I did up a few years back with a huge list of ideas, if you like. All field trips we did in MN. :) Tina

I'm very sorry I didn't keep off the 25 lbs I lost a couple years ago. I'm in the same exact boat as you! For me, I think I just got motivation: the church is having a new directory with photos in November. Do I want to look like I do now or a little thinner in that family photo which will last a long time.... Actually, I need the motivation of others, too. So I'll be heading back to my SparkPeople groups. I need someone to run with, and have a good friend online to do that with.

My son's leather ones have been sitting outside for a week for the same reason. lol Took us a bit to figure out where the musty smell was coming from! :lurk5:

Salmon patties, fried potatoes and pork and beans or coleslaw

Thanks for sharing the fried rice recipe! Sounds wonderful! I really need to do this again, too. September and October are going to be very busy. I could use some pre-made meals to avoid eating out. I'll start another thread where we can post what freezes well, and things we've tried. OTOH, I guess we have tons of threads on this I should look through first. :)

Here are some things I have bookmarked: http://bcs.whfreeman.com/raven7e/default.asp?s=&n=&i=&v=&o=&ns=0&uid=0&rau=0 http://academic.kellogg.cc.mi.us/herbrandsonc/bio111/bio111.htm#schedule http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/faculty/bizzoco/bio362.html There are some links hidden in here, I think: http://waynesword.palomar.edu/bio100.htm http://www.ltcconline.net/kloss/bio201/ http://botany.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/tfp/tfphome1.html http://biology.creighton.edu/courses/BIO341/ http://www.life.illinois.edu/ib/102/discussion_sp.html'>http://www.life.illinois.edu/ib/102/discussion_sp.html http://www.life.illinois.edu/ib/102/ http://www.amazon.com/Botany-Coloring-HarperCollins-Books-Childrens/dp/0064603024/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b Maybe you could find some documentary films here: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/all/ I found a wonderful 6 part film on elements there!

Jennie-O has some great turkey burgers in the freezer section that cook up really fast. Salmon patties are fast. Fried egg sanwiches. Cook up hamburger ahead of time and freeze in meal sized portions for tacos, spaghetti, sloppy joes.

I appreciate this thread! Apparently I'm not totally nuts here. :) I've decided to mix all the sciences together this year, with a lot of hands-on supplies. My kids aren't going into science related fields, but I want them to know the basics in all the areas. As I've started the plans for biology, chemistry and physics, I've seen that there are lots of overlaps, so I figure why not just do it once for all. We can head into kitchen chemistry or botany, etc. while we're doing the studying. I'm thinking emphasizing science will be a good switch from having history for our basis.

We go with a group approach here. I've taught tennis, another mom has run softball games, and a couple moms have been goalies for hockey. The games are open to all the teens here (pick your age group and add friends), but have a couple parents in attendance, and are generally every other Friday afternoon (or whenever). They also play soccer, ultimate frisbee, and whatever else a group can play.

Okay. Here's a site someone shared on another forum that I have been buried in for several hours, there's so much stuff for science (and math and more...). Here's some chemistry stuff. http://bookslinksandmore.blogspot.com/2009/09/kitchen-food-science-and-chemistry.html http://homechemistry.blogspot.com/ But be SURE and look at all the links on the left side of the page, too. There's a goldmine here! Also, there's a quarterly magazine that some may like: Chem Matters http://www.acs.org/chemmatters . Teachers info is online for each issue. I'm starting to get really excited for science this year!

You've gotten some great ideas. Ours have movie nights, and bi-weekly sport afternoons: soccer, softball, hockey, etc. If our family has the kids over for sports at the local park by us, they come back for snacks and chatting. We also have a bunch over a couple times a year to play video games. Of course, some bring a game system and they are usually in several rooms. You could have a game night where they bring various board games--group ones. And then there's the annual drama/comedy production. :D

My family solved it this way. We drew names among the adults and set a $ limit--currently $50. We all still bought for the kids. It is about the kids, right? ;) Then--and this would be so doable for your aunt even--we brought a white elephant gift. Some years this has been something bought-maybe $20- and some years this has had to be something you didn't buy, something you already had and were ready to part with. Some years they are practical gifts, and sometimes a collection of oddball stuff. A bag of Menards freebies has been back several times, for instance, or maybe one holds a bunch of unrelated items. We have had more fun with this, and the kids can't wait to get old enough to be part of the game (graduated from high school); they've heard us all laughing like crazy upstairs while they were relegated to the basement rec room. We draw numbers, and #1 picks a wrapped gift and unwraps it. #2 can steal that gift or pick a wrapped one. If he steals a gift, the giftless person picks another wrapped one. Play continues with each person stealing from another or picking and unwrapping an unknown gift. If your gift has been stolen, you can steal someone's gift or take a wrapped one, if there are any left. One rule: you cannot steal back a gift just stolen from you. Christmas is a time for family fun. We definitely love this tradition. And everyone still gets to do some shopping. My parents still get gifts for all the adults, some bought and some homemade by Mom. My sisters and I also have been exchanging an ornament or some other small thing annually, too. This is the only time of year we buy for each other, after all. ;)

Salmon patties are quick, and I fry up some potatoes and heat up a can of pork and beans for side dishes.

Here!

Singapore Math.

Anyone ever covered a bedroom wall with corkboard? Dd wants a brown wall, plus she's always hanging posters, drawings, etc. on her walls, so I figured a corkboard wall would be perfect! Dh does not want me glueing corkboard to the wall since it will wreck the wall coming off. My other thought was to hang pegboard on the wall and glue the corkboard onto that. Has anyone ever done a wall in corkboard? I need some how-tos. All ideas would be appreciated. Thanks so much!

Thank you ladies! This would explain why it's been impossible for my ds who's math challenged to get past the review section of his Lial's College Algebra book this year, after barely getting anywhere with the introductory algebra the year before! He's probably gotten farther than we know! :lol: He did learn a lot!

Thanks! What an informative site!!

Evening Primrose. I realized I was snapping at everyone, and asked someone for ideas. Took a few of these a couple days and was much better!

Just what I was going to suggest! Let the kids who read stay up a half hour or so later that the others. My boys loved this when I also shared that I'd stay up reading with a flashlight when I was a kid. :) Are there any magazines he'd pick up? After experimenting here, I'm finding Popular Science to be read. You could also try Boys Life, Popular Mechanics or any number of other magazines.

No one's mentioned air guns or paintball guns. An afternoon in the woods is good. ;)

My boys each did one of those hook rug kits, and one ds did a bit of soap carving. Also, making those keychain holders from plastic lacing strips, either in a pattern or with the beads, like the alligator shape.

I second the Ignite the Writing book for the 3rd/4th graders. There are also lots of ideas for even playing with words in If You're Trying to Teach Kids to Write You Gotta Have This Book. I would also play word/letter games like Boggle, Scrabble, Hangman, bantering with rhyming words, etc. Most anything to do with words just to revel in the variety and sound of words. Play charades acting out verbs. Pair off and add adjectives/adverbs to a subject-verb such as 'the dog barked' til you can't add more. Tongue twisters, palindromes, etc. Have fun with words! Bravewriter.com has some free writing ideas and other thoughts. Check them out. They could all write a 'book' with that lined paper that has room for illustrations on top, and they could sew/bind the pages together.