If you're worried about dinginess, put the stuff on the clothesline every couple of go arounds, and they'll perk back up. For me, dinginess is really really low on my totem pole of concerns.

What if you just for a trial run, put all of one person's clothing into one load? It probably wouldn't matter a bit! And think of the freedom you'd experience! I wash by rooms - mine + his, Kid1+Kid3, and Kid2+Kid4 - and don't sort. The kids put away their own stuff (they're the only people on the planet than can tell the difference between girls size 4 undies and girls size 6 undies anyway) and I put away my stuff and his stuff. Each room has a day, and on that day the kids also do a cleanup of their area so I can vacuum. It's lovely. And if we blow it off for a week, it's okay.

I may do swimmies and goggles this year - everyone's suits were done at the end of last summer. Art supplies? Fresh school supplies to finish out the year? My criteria for stuff to put in baskets has a lot to do with whether I'd find it lying around my house x4 in a couple of weeks. More and more I'm just leaving that stuff at the store.

That sounds off to me.

Gak, that sounds scary! Good on y'all for getting him looked at.

Spring is hard.

Ooh, ooh - juggling! It's probably really good for the brain, all that using both sides of the body and stuff. And you could take it anywhere, anytime. Or hacky sack?

Biking and jogging as a family are great. Or jumping rope while doing something else (memory work? Spelling?) might be fun.

As a parent, I'd sure want to know. I HATE hearing stuff in the playground that should've come through other channels. An email, "hey, y'all, this happened and here's how we're handling it" would be appropriate, IMO.

Years ago I ran a marathon starting from nothing. I had a book - I think it was called The Non-Runner's Marathon Guide - and it told me exactly what to do. Seriously, I was a total non-runner. And then ran 26.2m at a go. It was awesome. And then I quit running. And then started again. And then quit running. And then started again....

It totally depends on how often you'd like to be doing the laundry. If you're an every day gal, there's no sense having more than a few of each item. But if you're on a two week deal, you'd need to allow for that.

I'd venture to guess that a good 90% of the fun of the parties is in the dreamy setup stage for the kids. Do you have some stuff that you DO like doing with the kids? I don't enjoy Candyland (or any of the little kid board games, for that matter) so I just don't play it -- they can play with each other or one kid likes to play by herself. But I DO like playing soccer, taking bike rides, and reading books with them. So anyone who's wanting some mama-time can try one of those options. It's not that I WON'T do other stuff (except Candyland - that's just a no), but I can almost always get enthused about one of my preferred activities. Having more than one kid means that they can play the little kid stuff with each other. I do not have to play the "hats and shawls" game where they put blankets on their heads and dance in a circle. They love it - I would not. And they have sisters to play it with.

That's a really ugly thing to say. :crying: Maybe somehow you didn't mean it to be??

Ooh, Milovany, that's an interesting question.

Wow! That's great! Thanks for putting it out there. I just got signed up to have Amazon donate to one of my faves - it's Markarios International, if y'all don't already have a favorite. They do wonderful things in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, mostly.

Chicken pox is no big deal, though -- we ALL had chicken pox back in the day. And really, don't worry about polio unless you're going to Afghanistan, Nigeria or Pakistan. I wonder if the people who say they wouldn't allow their kids to play with un-vaxed kids demand vaccination records at the park... or ask people about their medical history before arranging a playdate... or keep up to date on the adult booster shots...

We had a token-system for a while when we first got an i-Thing in the home. Each of our kids got 12 (I think) little plastic chips per week, and each one represented 10 minutes of play time on the iThing. So they'd turn in a chip and set a 10 minute timer, or turn in 2 and set a 20 minute timer. Kid1 spaced out her playing very evenly throughout the week. Kid2 played all of her time within the first two days. They were free to use them as they wanted and I had downloaded games that would be fun and/or educational. Eventually, I felt like the contrived system made it too much of An Issue, so we abandoned it. Now the kids say occasionally (not even every day) "hey, can I play with the iThing" and it works out just fine.

Maybe a little bunny stuffed animal? An outfit? Or just skip it?

For a long time I thought the emphasis was more on Classical Education (you know, the WTM) and not as specific to homeschooling. There are lots of schools using the classical method.

Would you always be calling to talk to the same person, or sometimes one person and other times another?

I think y'all have done a great job discussing the importance of Latin. Here's why we do Latin from first grade: they like it. It's fun. And it builds familiarity and confidence. Having some vocabulary and phrases from Song School Latin can only help down the road. And having a kid whot thinks, "Latin is Fun! And I'm really good at it!" is also a definite plus. It's totally possible that Latin will get tough later (geez, even the end of GSWL is tricky!), and if my people can have good vibes going into that, I'm all for it.

Thanks for sharing this article, Joanne. It was a interesting read. At my house, we often run into troubles because my husband and I have very different comfort levels with child freedom. A bike ride around the block for the 7 and 8 year old girls seems perfectly legit to me, but for my husband it seems very risky. I wonder what he'd think about this article - I'll try it on him.

If it were me, the money saving would not be a secret. I would frame it as: if you were living in an apartment, you would be paying at least $x, so let's start with you setting aside half of that each month, before you do anything else with your money. As you get more hours at work, you can figure out a way to save a little more. That way, when you're ready to get set up on your own, you'll have a nice bit of savings to get you started. It would be coaching, and the money would be in their account, not mine. Also, I would hope that unless there were some unusual circumstances, the kid would be leaving sooner rather than later, and they'd be working towards that independence.

Wow, y'all! This is great. I really appreciate all the suggestions. I've ordered up a couple of them! And I'mma save a list for Christmas/birthdays. Thanks again!

All of the personal expenses (clothing, phone, insurance, etc.) should paid by the adult. I would suggest that rather than charging rent, you and the adult/child determine an appropriate amount to be into a long-term savings account for their future house/apt/car/whatever. Then you'd avoid a landlord situation and the adult/child would know that you have their best interests in mind. It might be helpful to think of how you would deal with the same situation if it were not your kid - a nephew, a cousin, a sister - some other adult that was needing to share your living space for a time. What would you expect financially and in terms of keeping the household running?