I don't think there's any reason to panic. Did you intentionally skip 6 or was that an oversight? For us, I am not comfortable with doing advanced math solely on our own, so we will be transitioning to outsourcing math or at least relying on outside help sometime after Algebra 1/Geometry. Saxon is used at several co-ops in this area, it's used in many online classes, including at WTM Academy, and it also has more options in the way of DVD tutorials, etc., so that's one reason I chose it. Essentially, it has more resources for additional instruction, if you need that. But it maintains a similar spiral format to CLE, which was working for us. Having used both (albeit only for a short while for Saxon so far), I will say that I think Saxon does a better job than CLE at explaining concepts in depth, using mathematical terminology, etc. CLE was a nice, gentle way to learn basic arithmetic, it allowed my dd to work more or less independently, and it was wonderful for that. I highly recommend it for elementary math (my ds is using the kindy curriculum this year)! I love that it has a very classic approach that focuses on learning math facts, etc. Some programs, IMO, place entirely too much emphasis on "conceptual understanding" in the grammar stage, while CLE offers, I think, just the right amount. But dd is ready for more advanced instruction, and I didn't feel that CLE would provide that challenge that she needed going into Algebra and beyond. We chose to switch before Algebra, as I said, to give her an opportunity to adjust to the new format. YMMV, of course. :)

We just transitioned this year. DD had completed about half of CLE 6 and tested into Saxon Math 87. So far it has pretty much all been review, but that has been a good thing because it has allowed her to become more comfortable with Saxon's format. There is much more explanation in each Saxon lesson than there was in CLE. I had thought we would use Algebra 1/2 but I'm glad that we used the placement test. Math 87 has been a good fit for her.

Neither of my kids played with toys a lot. DD liked her stuffed animals and her Legos. That was about it. DS hardly plays with toys at all. He prefers pretending, and most of the game seems to take place in his head, as he runs or hops. He rides his bike and occasionally breaks out the Legos or matchbox cars. Otherwise he couldn't care less. As far as objects go, he's always preferred real household items (e.g., the -- unused -- bath loofah he named Fluffy). He turns 6 next week and the only things he has asked for are a mailbox (not kidding) and a blue belt. Doesn't stop the grandparents from overloading on stuff he never touches. But at least we always have a stash of new gifts for birthday parties!

The subtitle of this post should be: ...without looking like a hoochie or spending a fortune! :lol: DD11 has reached that awkward stage. She's too tall for most girls' sizes and too young for the vast majority of looks in the junior department. I am pulling my hair out!! We had to make an emergency run to a department store when I realized that she had nothing appropriate to wear to her great-grandmother's funeral tomorrow. There was exactly ONE dress in the store that worked (apparently slinky sweater dresses are in this year?), and I just about fainted from the sticker shock! Hello, junior department prices that are DOUBLE the girls' clothes! Now she has no shoes. Well, she has a pair of ballet flats that look ok but are about half a size too big. She'll just have to shuffle, I guess. But I don't even know if they are remotely in style -- they were hand-me-downs from her 60-something GRANDMOTHER! :ohmy: It doesn't help that she has absolutely ZERO interest in her appearance. Normally this doesn't bother me (I vastly prefer it to her obsessing over her looks) but it does create challenges when she needs clothes and doesn't want to participate. She dislikes pretty much everything that's not sweats and a tee with holes. And, of course, the only person I know more style-challenged than DD is, well... me. I've learned in the past couple of years to put together an outfit for myself, but I'm at a total loss as to how to do it for her. Especially without breaking the bank. Sigh. I miss the days when I could hit one of the kids' websites, throw a few things in the shopping cart, and -- presto! -- out came an adorably dressed toddler.

Nope... me too. Praying they got the all-clear this afternoon.

I'd push for the MRI. What did they mean that your dd won't do well with it? (Sorry, I'm paraphrasing what you said from memory. Disregard if I'm wrong.) If you do accept the diagnosis, I would definitely return the second she starts vomiting again. But I'm glad she has made it this far without an episode. Maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel! Keeping you and your dd in my prayers.

If she's newly out of school and still living at home, I think it's appropriate for you to pay for extras like this (assuming you are able to do so) until she establishes independence. These things have a way of naturally working themselves out as children become independent adults. My parents still pay for a vacation rental for the entire family and my sister and I are in our 30's. But as we have gotten older, we have taken on more expenses, like buying groceries for the group for the week, etc. We have otherwise always been very independent and expected to stand on our own two feet.

This is our favorite recipe. We put ham in the soup (as well as the bone) but you could just do the bone if you prefer. NAVY BEAN AND HAM SOUP 2 lb dried navy beans 1 lb cooked ham, diced ¼ to ½ onion, diced 3 carrots, diced 3 celery stalks, diced Garlic powder Seasoning salt Cayenne pepper Black pepper ¼ t baking soda Soak beans overnight. Boil about 15 minutes; add baking soda and boil 2-3 minutes more. Drain and rinse. Cover beans with water. Add ham (and ham bone if available), onion, carrots, and celery. Season with garlic and seasoning salt to taste and add a dash of cayenne and black pepper. Simmer for 2 hours.

Oh my goodness -- how ridiculous!! I guess I should be glad the PP's weren't looking when I let the kids go across the service road and down to the little pond beside the hospital! Really the only reason they'd come back was that DD still had school work to finish (hence the reading on the yoga mat in the grass). I'm sure that someone looked out of the upper-floor windows of the hospital and wasn't able to see DH and me sitting in the car. That's fine. But the use of "suspicious activity" really made me laugh!

The Sweet Smell of Christmas brings back such wonderful memories for me! It was also my childhood favorite. Now I love, love, LOVE Angela and the Baby Jesus. It's written by Frank McCourt about his mother (Angela of Angela's Ashes). It tells the true story of how, as a little girl in Ireland, she took the baby Jesus from the church's creche because she was afraid he was cold. It's absolutely precious. Gets me every time!

That was my thought too -- seriously? Anybody who got within 25 yards would have seen that they weren't unsupervised. And we clearly weren't just loitering, sitting there with our flashers on. It was after the normal let-out time for public school, so I don't think that was it. Any other time, it probably would have ticked me off, but by that point so much had gone wrong that we just had to laugh!

NC teaches state history in both 4th and 8th grades. Or at least it did when I was in school. Instead of missions, we made models of lighthouses. :) We just work it into our usual world history studies and make a point of visiting various historical sites around the state as part of our other travels. And NC has a pretty good state history museum too.

To qualify, I really wouldn't consider myself a free-range parent. I'm not a helicopter mom either, by any stretch of the imagination. I guess I'm somewhere in between. But... My grandmother is in the hospital. I went this morning to visit her. When I got ready to leave, my car died in the parking lot. Some good Samaritans were able to help me push it back into the parking space, and my mom gave me a ride home. DH came home early and we went back to the hospital to see if we could get it running well enough to get it to the mechanic. No dice. Fortunately, when it died the second time, it was at a stop sign at the intersection of the parking lot exit and a small service road that goes around the hospital. This is a small-town hospital, so not heavily trafficked. We weren't blocking any of the parking spaces, and there was plenty of room for other vehicles to get past us into or out of the lot, so we decided better to wait right there and call for a tow than take our chances on the road. Tow company said 45 minutes to an hour. It's absolutely gorgeous out today, so we let the kids out of the car to play on a small natural area on the edge of the lot. DH and I were literally parked at the curb surrounding the natural area in our broken-down car, flashers going, windows down, enjoying the breeze. DD took her science book and the yoga mat from the trunk and sprawled out reading and taking notes. DS played in the grass and made a game out of calling out the makes of the cars that drove by. I was very proud of the way they were making the best of a boring situation. We hadn't been there long when we saw a security guard approaching. I assumed he was coming to see if we needed help. He did offer assistance (which we politely declined, since the tow truck was on its way and there was nothing to do but wait for it), then proceeded to tell us that someone had seen unattended children in the parking lot and alerted security to "suspicious activity." What did they think -- that we were returning our kids after 11 and almost 6 years, respectively??? :lol: Anyway, it wasn't a big deal, and Mr. Security Guard clearly wasn't concerned when he saw that we were literally within spitting distance of our two not-really-that-small and relatively-well-behaved children. But DH and I had to laugh. Suspicious activity -- really? Even if a passerby had concerns (and I'm totally on board with looking out for kids!), it would have taken all of three seconds of actually looking to see that there was, well, nothing to see. At least we had a good laugh on an otherwise frustrating day!

Raisins, definitely. It's how my grandma made it. And she put in mini-marshmallows. :laugh:

I would prefer the option of Thanksgiving in someone's home -- provided there is actually room to cook the meal there. We have a similar gathering of our large extended family at the holidays, and I can't imagine trying to cook the entire meal in one kitchen. We are mostly local (out-of-towners who are too far to drive in for the day stay with locals) so my mom hosts at her home, but everyone brings dishes pot-luck style. It's challenging enough just to re-heat things that need it and find space for everything on the counters. It is not a small kitchen by any means -- lots of counter space and a double oven, plus microwave. Obviously, if most guests are staying in a hotel, cooking will be difficult. If your family likes a simpler meal and/or you're okay with ordering some things from a bakery or restaurant, it might not be an issue. Just something to consider.

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: For you and your poor dd. :(

The ancient creeds will give you an idea of the basic tenets that most orthodox Christian denominations have held to. There are exceptions, I'm sure, although I won't claim to know what they are. The creeds were written by Christian councils, often in response to particular heresies. For information about the beliefs of specific denominations/versions of Christianity, you can look at their various confessions -- e.g., Westminster Confession (Reformed), Book of Concord (Lutheran), London Baptist Confession (Baptist), etc. The Nicene Creed I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us men* and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried. And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father. And He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end. And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church, I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen. The Apostles' Creed I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

Weather: Cloudy. Cooling off but still humid, so kinda gross. Beverage: Water. It's pretty much all I drink. Not a fan of hot beverages. Live: Any house that doesn't belong to someone else. After nine years in my late grandma's house, we were in the process of buying our own place. That fell through, and we are now staying temporarily at my parents'. I'm sick of dealing with family and just want my own place!

Yes, like my in-laws. They are retired teachers living on state pensions who like to whine about their "fixed incomes." They do get COLAs. They also both retired in their early 50's and could easily continue to work if they so desired. They don't. Perhaps "steady" or "reliable" would be a better term. Speaking as a one-income family that has survived for many years on a job that pays 100% on commission, I'll take a steady income, however meager, over one that wildly fluctuates any day. It's a budgeting nightmare. Even now that dh has a solid base income (in addition to commissions), it can be tricky.

I was shocked that all the parents stayed at the parties dd went to, even through elementary school. Growing up, I don't remember grown-ups ever staying at parties that weren't for a kid they were close to. I was caught off-guard once when I'd needed to do something else during the party time. We live rural, so it was a good opportunity for me to get things done since the party was in town. Fortunately I was able to ask another parent friend (not the party hosts) to keep an eye on dd while I was gone. I felt terrible, but at the same time, I was surprised. The kids were all 8 or 9 and this was a private party at a skating rink where the chances of losing anybody were slim to none. I really didn't expect anybody to stay. But yeah, they will. One of dd's parties (I think she was 7) was at a pottery painting place that was really TINY. I'd tried to put the word out that parents didn't need to stay, but they stayed anyway. We were packed in like sardines. They brought siblings too -- these were friends dd knew from school, not families where we knew all the kids -- and only one parent even asked if that was okay and offered to pay for the sibling's paint project. Of course I said he was welcome to participate and politely declined the offer to pay, but it was nice to be asked. We had to pay by the piece, and I was a little peeved that everyone else just assumed that an extra kid or two wouldn't matter. IME, adults who are just there to supervise their own kid don't usually eat much, unless you're doing a full meal at a usual mealtime maybe. But I'm sure you're like me and will order extra everything so you can offer it to them anyway. This thread reminds me of that scene in one of the Ramona books where Ramona invites all the neighborhood kids to a party, unbeknownst to her mother. She was like four? five? and yet all those parents either let their kids walk to the Quimbys' house or dropped them off at the sidewalk and drove way, and Mrs. Quimby and Beezus had no choice but to improvise a party for a whole bunch of little kids. Different time, I guess! :laugh:

Thank you! Wanna know a secret? It was an undecorated grocery store cake and grocery store brownies that I tore up in chunks. The truck was one that ds had already. I loved that we could use one of his beloved toys! And talk about EASY! I like to decorate, but a baker I am not!

Adding pics! Here is the stocking I made for ds. You can see a corner of dd's too. Don't have a pic of hers on this computer. And here are a couple from parties we've done:

And things are not starting off well. I've been up since 2:30 a.m. I was wired and couldn't go back to sleep no matter what I tried. It's now 5:50 a.m. and I feel like I could sleep for a week. But now I have to be up in 40 minutes anyway. In an effort to do something productive that wouldn't wake the whole house, I unloaded the dishwasher. Only to discover after I'd finished that it hadn't run when I turned it on (soap packet still in the dispenser). So I took everything back out of the cabinets and re-loaded it. Except, of course, for all the dirty dishes in the sink that now won't fit in the dishwasher. Sigh. To top it off, this was a forced move, which we did not want, and our new situation is only temporary. So I get to do this all over again in a few months. Yay.

I cross-stitched Christmas stockings for both my kiddos. Mine was made by my mother, and dh's was made by his grandmother, so we have a beautiful set hanging from the fireplace that I just LOVE! (And we actually have a mantle to hang them from this year -- yay!!) I'm also proud of the birthday parties I've done for the kids over the years. I really get into decorations and food to go with the theme. I always design and handmake the invitations and matching cupcake toppers, etc. We've done all kinds of different themes -- little pumpkin, Mickey Mouse, construction site, camping, Harry Potter. I think I enjoy them more than the kids!