:grouphug: Praying here.

Yes and no. Dh is working a half day, so we'll stop when he gets home. We're planning to go to the apple festival tomorrow afternoon!

I just cannot think about Christmas yet! I will have an anxiety attack. This thread has gotten me thinking about planning to think about Christmas sometime in the near future. That's the best I can do!

Thankfully, we live in a remote enough area that no one ever rings our bell unless we're expecting them. Back in the days when we lived in a neighborhood, I put a sign up beside the door that said, "Please do not disburb. Homeschool in progress." It worked fine.

My three oldest got theirs on at 12. My dd will get them on in a couple of months at 13, and my youngest daughter got her first go round at 8. She will have to have them again at around 13. She had bite problems that were more complicated than the other kids.

Me, my oldest son, and sister had this discussion on and off for years. I believed he lived - and since he does show up in the third book, I was right of course. :001_smile:

:grouphug: I am so sorry.

Lets see . . . quality food face care products (I'm getting older) shoes bras handbags (I'm picky - if I find one I like I buy it, whether it's $10 or $200) Starbucks books clothes for my teenagers (I think self image is important at that age)

:grouphug: Praying for your family, and especially your son.

:bigear: Aren't we a shamelessly nosy bunch!

We live in a rural area off a highway, so no biking except in our driveway at home. We have to take our bikes to biking trails and we ride them when we go camping. Back when we lived in a neighborhood, I let my kids ride around several blocks (they knew the limits) from the time they were 7 or so. We lived in a very safe and friendly neighborhood, though, and my kids knew a lot of the neighbors very well. They also went at least by 2's, not alone.

My dh totally takes the responsibility for the care of our vehicles. I don't have to think about them at all - just like he doesn't have to wonder if there will be dinner when he gets home. :001_smile:

:grouphug: I am so sorry. I agree with the other pps that maybe you should postpone the party. Praying for your family.

Put new batteries in your remote. Also, our remote acts like it's not working sometimes and the kids have found that if you press "A" a few times in a row, it starts to work. Sounds crazy, but worth a try!

It should be fine. I like potato salad best after it has been in the fridge for a couple of day. It usually doesn't last that long around here unless I hide a little!

He knows and can always guess within a couple of pounds or two, whether I've gained or lost a few pounds. It's kind of annoying. I am a normal/healthy weight if that matters.

Andrew (11yo) enjoys Dr. Funster's Creative Thinking Puzzlers. They are also from The Critical Thinking Co. We all like Red Herring Mysteries. I put them on the fridge and all the kids try to solve them. At this age, I think it should be fun. My 13yo is doing Critical Thinking and it is a lot more work, and then . . . she'll get Traditional Logic or Introductory Logic in 9th (not sure which one yet - different kids of mine have taken to one or the other) and that's even harder. I like to ease them in and make it fun in 5th/6th grade. Nakia, remind me and you can look at these when you come over.:001_smile:

I don't know about other countries, but my adopted daughters do not like to be called African-American. They have never been to Africa and were born in the U.S. They prefer black.

Just wanted you to know I haven't stopped praying for you.

:grouphug: I am so sorry.

So far from oldest to third son: 14, 13, 15. It really does depend on the readiness of the child. I'm planning right now for my dd, who will be 14 at the time, to use this text next year.

This is how my girls dress for church also.

Last year we did an OT survey using Greenleaf Guide to the Old Testament. This year we are reading through the NT together. We do it first thing in the morning along with memory work, and then we do church history. It is going well with our Medieval Studies. We are reading Monks and Mystics right now. My high schooler does this on his own using The Church in History. Then they all have some kind of Bible Study or Personal Development book that is age appropriate They do this on their own. For example, my high schooler is reading A Young Man After God's Own Heart.

We do artist study, composer study, and art projects on Fridays. My youngest three manage to get all their other schoolwork done Monday through Thursday. We do the above three weeks out of the month and take the fourth Friday for field trips. My oldest son is in high school and his Fine Arts takes a little longer than theirs and he usually has some work to do on his core subjects to do on Fridays, but he will double up on the other days to go on field trips. I love that he still wants to do that. :001_smile:

This is my 15th year homeschooling, and the first year that anything other than Saxon is being used for math (for 2 out of 4 kids). Last year my then 12yo dd completed Saxon Algebra 1/2. She hated doing it and complained EVERY SINGLE DAY. I bought LoF for her to do over the summer and she absolutely loved it. I agreed to let her do LoF Beginning Algebra this year after letting my friend who teaches Algebra look over the text and give me the okay. I just caught her at the table doing her math for tomorrow ahead of time. It has been the right decision here. My 11yo son is doing LoF Pre-Algebra Biology and he absolutely loves it. My other two are sticking with Saxon. All this to say, sometimes it really is worth it to make a change.