:lol: Yeah, right. The Tieks ads on Pinterest finally got to me too, so I clicked on one the other day. Oh, those are cute, and they look pretty comfy, maybe I should... What the WHAT? Those things cost HOW MUCH??? Never mind. I missed Teacher Appreciation Week (really, I suck as a school parent -- this is why I homeschool) so I was planning a year-end gift for ds's preschool teachers. I was thinking either fresh strawberries with a small pound cake (store-bought, of course, I spend all my free time on Pinterest, not actually BAKING anything) or one of those little round watermelons tied up with a cute bow.

I'm later getting my act together, and we'll probably be moving late summer, so we'll see how well all this comes together, but... Math: Finish CLE 6 and move into either Saxon 8/7 or Algebra 1/2, depending on where she places Science: Earth & Space -- thinking Elemental or possibly Mr. Q Advanced. Either way we'll have field trips to a nearby emerald mine, underground caverns, and the National Weather Service! History: Middle Ages with History Odyssey, supplemented with primary source evaluation using Reading Like a Historian from Stanford (a big hit this year!). The reading list is extensive, and she's not a historical fiction fan, so we might make some adjustments here. We prefer to focus on works originating in the time period. Language Arts: Spelling Workout H, R&S 6, finish WWS1 and either move into WWS2 or supplement with more creative writing exercises Literature: Working list includes: The Voyages of Dr. Doolittle, The Count of Monte Cristo, And Then There Were None, Heidi, Number the Stars, Oliver Twist, The Jungle Book, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Old Man and the Sea, and A Doll's House, plus units in poetry and short story ("The Raven," "Kubla Khan," and "The Lottery," among others) Bible: God's Great Covenant: New Testament 1, plus Luther's Small Catechism, hymns and psalms Latin: Latin for Children B Fine Arts: Harmony Fine Arts, plus live performances at least once per semester. Looking for some kind of simple "learn to draw" program that we can use along with ds5

I'd probably go with hot dogs or sloppy joes. Chips, veggies and/or fruit salad make easy sides for a crowd.

I'm actually considering the same thing. My parents are looking to downsize, and we are looking to get out of our rental situation. We were planning to build a house, but have run into (yet another) series of problems. My dh is all for it. My parents have put a lot of work into their home over the past several years. It is a nice house (much nicer then when I was growing up there -- lol!). It is nearby, so we wouldn't be making a major change in that sense, as it sounds like you are. That said, I just don't know. There's a part of me that really thinks I wouldn't be able to truly make that house my own. That in some sense it would always feel like my parents' house. I want to love the idea, but so far I just... don't.

That's it! I'm moving to the Himalayas!! :lol: Right. I do enjoy my exercise. It is enjoyable. It was not at first, but now it is. But, that doesn't mean I don't work hard at it. I turn down other activities -- frequently -- to keep my exercise schedule. I turn down parties and events that involve food to stick on my eating regimen. I spend HOURS planning food just to make sure that I don't go off track. And it's not like this is something I'll do for a month or two to drop 10 lbs and then I can back off. I CANNOT BACK OFF. EVER. I have to be "on" mentally and physically 24 hours a day, or I will gain weight. I'm fortunate that I have the time and ability to do this right now. When I worked full-time, it never would have happened. It is a full-time job in and of itself. I have to say, I am absurdly jealous of anyone who is so active and naturally drawn to a healthy diet that it is all play and no work. ABSURDLY jealous.

Hugs to your dd. I have been there. As you say, we all have our issues to deal with. But it sure does suck sometimes, especially when you're young. My grandmother used to have this hanging on her wall: "You think you have problems as great as my own, and I'm forced to admit that it's true; but consider the fact that mine happened to me, while yours only happened to you!"

Exercise absolutely makes me HUNGRIER. But it makes me hungry enough that even veggies sound good. I'm not so tempted to go after the junk because I'm truly hungry and not just craving something. And when I am really craving something unhealthy, I go ahead and have it -- no guilt. I was such a mindless eater before, and totally addicted to sugar, carbs, whatever junk is in processed foods. Intensive exercise was the only thing that allowed me to break that cycle. IDK why it worked for me when it doesn't seem to do a thing for others.

As my trainer says, "You can't out-train a bad diet." I do find that, for me, exercise truly helps to curb the cravings for sweets and salty snacks, processed foods, etc. The more intense the exercise, the greater the benefit. I'm not sure how this works. But it has been one of the keys to my weight loss. I, personally, really had to push my body pretty far past what I was comfortable with (NOT talking about pain/injury here, but I was the type of person who disliked feeling even the slightest bit winded) before I could see how beneficial exercise was for my overall health. Now I get a kind of high off of it. I still have "ugh-i-don't-wanna" days, but mostly I look forward to pushing myself just a teeny bit further. So I think the advice to not count on exercise for weight loss from burned calories is valid -- calculating what you've burned is notoriously unreliable anyway -- but I always encourage anyone who approaches me for advice to find some type of exercise you can tolerate, if not enjoy, and make it as intensive as you can stand it. If possible, get a trainer or a friend who knows something about fitness to push you just a little bit. Not all trainers are drill sergeants. Mine is a phenomenal cheerleader. I've only done what I have because, for the first time in my life, I felt like somebody really believed I could do it. On our first run, I huffed and puffed, stopping to walk every few feet, while she back-pedaled around the track without even trying saying, "You can do this. Come on. Just to the next line. You got this." Everybody else's MMV, of course. I'm only sharing what has made a difference for me.

Yep. I do work hard. I choose to look at it as part of my life, just as I look at laundry and cooking and the other things I have to do but don't necessarily want to. Not that there aren't days that I cry because it's so hard for me and seems so easy for others. Because it seems so unfair that I work like a dog and I'm still overweight. I watch what I eat closely and hit the gym for heavy cardio and weights for at least 60 minutes, 5-6 days per week. DH also has to fight his weight intensely, which is both a blessing and a curse. It's good to have someone that understands. It's bad when we both hit the skids at the same time. Things go downhill REAL fast. We are experimenting with intermittent fasting and seeing some progress with that. It would be nice if we could find something that would allow us to have an occasional slip up or cheat day without massive setbacks. I FEEL so much better now that I am in shape, so that helps keep me going when things get rough.

That's right! TOTALLY did that on purpose! :laugh:

... and I may or may not have already eaten my entire box of Mother's Day chocolates... :leaving:

I really would prefer not to have to tell dh what to buy, although I've certainly done so, complete with links, on more than one occasion. For Mother's Day, I sent him an Amazon link to some workout pants. I knew they were coming because the Amazon account is linked to my email, so I got the confirmation when he bought them. Which is fine (I knew he would buy them anyway). But sometimes a surprise is nice. Pinterest has become our friend here. I pin things I like, and he has the link to my Wish List board. Half the time I forget what I've pinned, so it's both easy for dh and a surprise for me! Win/win! ETA: Spelling, and because this thread just reminded me to pin those pants for the future!

It was actually this blog and the recent thread here about the Biggest Loser contestants that led me to research intermittent fasting for weight control. DH and I each lost over 80 lbs a couple of years ago, but through the past several months, we've started to see indications of what those contestants experienced (weight loss plateauing or even beginning to gain, despite no change in diet and exercise). We tried our first 24-hr fast yesterday and did well. We're going to implement a 5:2 schedule for a few weeks and see how things go. I was down 1.5 lbs this morning, and dh was down 2 -- although of course it's to early to tell if those results will stick. But I *feel* much better than I have in quite a while! Thank you for sharing this. I'm going to check out the podcast -- sounds fascinating!

I suppose I meant that bookstores are not, IME, overly generous like that. It's one thing to run a sale, but another to tie it to a required purchase. Kind of a "too good to be true" scenario, if you know what I mean. But, as I said, I wouldn't have event gotten there without someone else saying it meant something different. I totally would have marched to the checkout with an armload of books. And I think the store owes this poor child his/her books at 50% off. It's just the right thing to do.

If I think about it, it doesn't make sense that they would give 50% of multiple books for the purchase of just one. But, reading the sign at face value, I understood it to say that if I purchased the new book, I could take 50% off my purchase of any or all of the others. It would not have occurred to me to analyze the sign. I would have made the same mistake you did -- and my kids would have gone home disappointed too. :(

A journalist. Specifically, Murphy Brown. :lol:

I haven't sold anything myself (we're still too early in our journey for that), but I've bought quite a few things off the classifieds here. I've had only good experiences. If you're on Facebook, the Homeschool Curriculum Marketplace is quite active.

Yep. Yep. And, yep.

Similar problem, and it bugged me too. ;) We started homeschooling when dd was in 3rd grade. We actually did do a fast-forward and covered the cycle in two years. It worked fine for us. I'm not sure how much she retained (I've been surprised at some of the things she's forgotten), but I'm not sure if she would have done any better if we'd gone more slowly. She really isn't a history fan (sniff, sniff). We did SOTW but focused on Western civilization. I can share the lists of what we covered in those two years if that's helpful. Be forewarned, covering that much material doesn't leave a lot of room for hands-on activities, crafts and such. We're not a very hands-on family, so that didn't bother us, but if it does you, you might want to re-think. She is finishing up her second go at the Ancients right now. I think she has enjoyed it fine. She has learned a lot. As I said, not really a huge history fan. If anything, what has hurt us the most this year was format -- previously we had done history study together, but this year she has been more independent. She's asked to go back to more read-alouds and discussion next year, and I'm looking forward to that. I have ds starting kindergarten in the fall, which means he and dd will not be on the same cycle unless I start him in the middle. That, actually, is SWB's advice in WTM. But it really bothers me to do it, for reasons which I can't explain and which I'm sure are ridiculous, so I'm not sure yet how I'll handle it. We won't really do any history in kindy -- although I am thinking of putting together something on holidays through the year/around the world for him -- so I have a year to think on it. At most, he'll tag along with any read-alouds, etc. I do with dd. My two are so far apart, I'm not planning on being able to combine very much anyway.

If you practice fasting, would you mind answering a few questions? 1. How long have you practiced fasting? 2. What is the typical duration of your fast? 3. How often do you fast? 4. What do you do during the times you normally would be eating? 5. What benefits have you derived from fasting? I am thinking mostly in terms of fasting for health and/or weight management. However, I'd be interested in religious/spiritual perspectives too.

Do you have any major conferences nearby? Our state homeschooling organization puts on a conference every year with a huge curriculum fair. Hundreds of vendors are there, and you can buy a pass just to go to the fair if you don't want to go to the rest of the conference. It's a reasonable price and it lets you look at lots of different things in person, ask the publishers questions, etc.

I don't spend a lot of time hunting for bargains, but I do follow a few Facebook groups, etc. so I keep abreast of what's out there. Since I generally have a good idea by January of what we will be needing for the upcoming fall, I try to buy along if/when good deals pop up. Then I buy the rest of what we need over the summer. I am not really one to change horses mid-stream, though. We stick out the year and change the following fall if necessary. ETA: I agree with Tibbie -- sticking with a philosophy helps. Our school is structured more around my ideas of what my children's education should be than theirs, IFKWIM. I can't think of anything I've bought for dd that I'm not planning to use again with ds. And non-consumables help too.

We have never yet given up naptime (kids are 5 and almost 11!) and we never will, if I have anything to say about it. Now dd does schoolwork in her room, while ds plays. He has a bad habit of coming out every 15-20 minutes to see if quiet time is over, so I've started making him lie down in his bed when he does that. It usually takes about 30 seconds before he's promising not to come out again if I let him get up... so that usually works. We also kick the kids out of the living room at 8pm, on the dot, no exceptions. They don't have to go to sleep (well, ds usually goes to bed then), but they can't be in here with us. DH and I have gotten really good at being "alone together" so I don't mind him being around. And sometimes it's not that I need NO conversation; I just need ADULT conversation. Evenings are our time to catch up, or ignore each other -- whichever we need at the moment. I am lucky in that dd is a very independent worker. She has done a lot of her schoolwork with minimal supervision since we started homeschooling in the 3rd grade. But ds is going to be more of a challenge. Hoping to ease into things with kindy and work my way up to spending several hours a day at his elbow. Yikes! Anybody else drive themselves to the brink of insanity thinking of ways to make school better/more efficient/etc.?? 'Cause that's when I have to pull out the chocolate...

LOL, when we were kids, my sister used to label her stuff "Touch And Die"! Maybe you could try that! :lol:

Guess you're going to have to start feeding them more than once a week! :)