I get the impression as some others do that she is looking for a reason to be critical and is overstepping her boundaries. I get the impression from you that she doesn't mean to be this way, that she can be very loving as well. If this is the case, I would address it in a hopefully calm, polite phone conversation BEFORE her next visit. Something like... "We are excited to get to spend time with you next week, and _____ (insert son's name) is looking forward to your visit. I always enjoy you coming and am glad you are lovingly involved in your grandchildren's lives. However, I am new in my role as a home educator. You may not mean this intentionally, but when you question my judgement of when and with what content I have school, I feel uncomfortable. I so want you to come visit and for us to have a wonderful time together. But please trust that I have researched the law's requirements regarding homeschool and I am following them. Education in public school is different today as it was when your sons were growing up. Also, homeschool is very different than public school. I will be glad to provide you with credible specific information with curiosities you have about the difference between homeschool and public education if you would like. However, when you come next week, please do not ask ds or myself about school unless it is out of the intention to share in our excitement about the things we are learning in a non traditional way. We want you to continue to have visits in our home, especially to continue the close relationship you have with ds that we thankful for. However, if you continue to question ds or me about the credibility of his education with a skeptical tone, we have no choice but to ask you not to speak about school at all." (If mil does not receive this well, you can express regrets, and maybe ask dh to have a heart to heart with her that while you want her to be able to continue to visit, sadly she won't be able to visit until she decides to honor your request to stop meddling in your family choices especially regarding education. Dh or you could add that it is fine for mil to not agree with the way you homeschool, but it is not fine to express that to you or dh, that is something she will have to keep to herself. I would hope it wouldn't get that far.) Your other choice would be to continue to dread her visits due to the criticism she has towards you, even if it passive in the way she presents the issue. She must have some insecurity issues herself and feels validated by criticizing her children's families. I would give her grace, in that her reason for being this way has to be rooted in some insecurity. I would not take it personally. However, I would set a clear boundary line where a conversation is abruptly ended when she is critical of you or ds in any way (be it school, what time you wake up, what you serve for breakfast, how you do or don't do laundry, etc...). My suspicion is even if you had your son in B&M school, she would have something else to be critical about. I am facing a situation where I will eventually have to be direct and confront a close friend in a way that I will be risking cutting off ties with her if she takes offense. That is difficult, but I have been passive too long in this situation. Being direct with a family member you love, and your ds loves, is multiple times more difficult. Sadly, I feel in your situation you will eventually have to be more direct than you were when you had the conversation offering to answer her questions about homeschooling. I wish your MIL would have taken your hint that you want her to drop the skeptical tone when you tried very well to get her to come clean with her attitude towards your homeschool methods.

This statement makes me think of the Emperor Penquins. Just watch a YouTube video on how well they take care of the young.

I hear the Titanic exhibit is good, I think you get assigned the name of a real passenger on the ship and at the end you find out if you survived the sinking or not. We liked the Aquarium there, and I think homeschoolers get a teacher's discount. I would call ahead and ask about that, you may need to show a homeschooler or teacher ID card. I wasn't yet homeschooling when we went. Loved the Old Mill restuarant as well. We try to hit the restaurants at off times for meals because they get so crowded it isn't as enjoyable. Dollywood charges quite a bit for parking, but there is a shuttle route to be picked up and taken there from a place where parking is free or lower cost. There are some quaint pottery and tea house places off the touristy roads. I don't like the touristy aspects and insane traffic of the Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, so we try to go during weeks when traditional schools are in session if possible. It is beautiful there.

Who is Alan Rickman??? Lol, guess he does nothing for me either, whoever he is.

Doesn't understand how someone asks on a public forum (not this one) if her expectation on a child is too much, then some people post yes, that person gets their feelings hurt and has her husband sign up for the forum to talk about what a wonderful mom she is and those that posted she handled a situation too harshly with her child are mean. Then all the popular posters on the forum think the husband is a hero for defending his wife. Why ask publicly if answers aren't left up to anyone to respond in anyway.? My husband would laugh at me if I called him at work crying because some homeschool moms I don't know from the internet honestly answered a question I asked about whether or not expectations were too high for my child and if some internet moms were offended by the way I handled a situation with my child. It's better to discuss things of such matters with your spouse, trusted friends you know in real life, or a therapist vs. a public Internet forum anyway.

Loved the street food in Chiangmai Mai, Thailand. Equally loved fresh Naan Bread or battered fried onion clumps I bought street side in Bangladesh. Not a favorite and didn't try it, but in mainland China I saw some unusual things hanging out of street store windows, possibly dog or some other animals I wouldn't think of eating.

Loved my first grade teacher. To not reverse numbers, she taught us that 0 was the teacher, had a smiley face inside. Then numbers 1-4 and 7-9 were good students that faced the teacher when numbers 0-9 were written in order from left to right. All these numbers had a smiley face written within the number. However, 5&6 were bad students that faced away from the teacher, they had frowns drawn within their numbers. I remembered this and taught it to my 5 year old recently. She went from frequently reversing her numbers to never reversing a number 0-9. My dh can not believe I remember this from 1st grade as he doesn't remember anything taught that young.

I have heard, but not researched first hand, that many young children outgrow food allergies, maybe around age 6-8. My children have never been tested for allergies. My dh had an ENT refer him to an allergist for food allergies for chronic sinus and inflammation issues. First doctor in years of dh having chronic sinus infections among other things to recommend food allergy testing. Dh turned up allergic to milk, eggs, and wheat. However, he consumed those things almost everyday, and I heard the error in the allergy test is that it is typical to have elevated antibody levels to the things consumed most often. This suggestion may be different for children, but dh's allergist recommended a rotation diet if dh wanted to reintroduce the things he showed allergies to. Dh had no eggs, dairy, or wheat for 3 months, and now we try to eat those things on rotation, at least 3 days apart. Dh isn't strict about it anymore, but years later he rarely has a sinus infection now and is sick with other things much less often. I had to go on a strict dairy free diet for several months while breast feeding my dd. The doctor didn't think she was allergic to dairy, but as a newborn, she didn't digest milk protein well. She did outgrow her stomach issues around 9 months of age like the doctor predicted and now tolerates dairy (although we don't do too much dairy anyway). I found it was easier than I thought to find dairy substitutes. I put apple juice in place of milk for baked goods, made my own almond milk, used rice milk in mashed potatoes, and earth balance or EVOO in place of dairy butter. Also, in our Vitamix blender, I frequently make dairy free ice creams using coconut milk, raw cashews, or extra bananas to add extra calories and creaminess.

The 99.4 isn't typically a fever, a fever that that would be more a concern of being a virus is usually over 100.4, some say 100.0. However, dehydration can cause a slight elevation in average body temp, which would explain the low 99s temp. Hope she feels better, and doesn't get a fever.

Thanks everyone for the heads up about Rod and Staff grammar, I 'm certain the math would be fine. I saw a few samples online of the grammar, and did think they were a bit dated role wise, I will still look at it thoroughly at the conference though, since as you can all see from my threads grammar and punctuation is not my strong point. I really need a program that will teach my children how to correctly use grammar and punctuation. I understand Rod and Staff may do that without being too much unnecessary busywork, just have to see for myself though. The poster that said I am asking because my children are young and I haven't seen any other the curriculum myself is right on with why I bought these questions about curriculum associations with questionable organizations. However, I was unfortunately born LONG before 1994, I graduated college in 1995. I just didn't have children till later in life. My homeschool mom friends from the 90s all used Abeka, and I knew that wasn't for me because it is more a school at home approach to learning from what I understand (no offense to those who thrive on that method, it's just not for me).

Just to let you know, if your daughter hasn't been tested for celiac yet, but will be in a couple of weeks, she will need to keep eating gluten each day for the test to be positive. Then, if the blood antibodies are positive, the MD will likely order a biopsy to confirm small bowel villa damage, In which case your daughter will need to be eating gluten atleast 2 weeks prior to that test. I only say that because you mentioned having test run, but that you are day 1 being gluten free. I understand, that gluten needs to be consumed regularly until the biopsy is complete. After that test is performed, you can go gluten free for life regardless of if the biopsy is positive or negative for celiac. I know it is hard to feed your daughter what is poison to her body just to get diagnosed, but some considerations in continuing gluten a few more weeks are listed in my prior post this afternoon. Again, I am definitely not judging if you choose to stay gluten free starting today, just wanted to be sure you knew about needing to be on gluten till the biopsy is done.

This has been quite informative about curriculum. I am SO VERY GLAD I have chosen to be ecclectic! I like some Charlotte Mason, some classical, some workbook type things, some Montessori, some Sonlight book choices, some MFW lessons, and some twaddle. I can't seem to grasp unto any of the above 100%. The only thing I am 100% satisfied with in our basic curriculum is MEP math, but I think there is no danger in becoming a cult follower using that! I am thinking about looking at Rod and Staff for 3rd grade English/grammar at the upcoming homeschool conference (where I plan to avoid all Josh Duggar seminars). I am also thinking about looking at Rod and Staff math for my younger daughter who isn't catching onto math naturally. I think Rod and Staff is Mennonite, is that correct? If so, anything to be warned about, lol?

Whether or not to undergo a gluten challenge for a celiac test is highly individual, and I considered not having my son tested and see if his health improved on a gluten free diet. But, I read several threads on the celiac?com board of why they had themselves or their children tested even though it made them sick to undergo the testing. We homeschool, so school is not issue for us in being gluten free or not, but I don't know that I will never have to enroll our children in school. A main reason others tested their children was that celiac is considered a disability according to the school system (I don't know that for a fact, it's just what a read from parents of celiac children on the forum) and their schools did not have accommodate gluten free meals and abstain from gluten containing art supplies like clay and play dough in the classroom if a child wasn't diagnosed by a doctor with either non celiac gluten intolerance or celiac. Some parents filed 504 plans with their school systems, and had an annual meeting with the school staff and school nurse. Some parents had trouble with accommodation even with medical paperwork, but in the end the school had to legally accommodate for celiac. This would really be an issue in having a storage place for gluten free emergency meals in case the school had to go on lock down. On a more minor note, it would be an issue for the school to store gluten free foods in the nurse's office to offer the student a gluten free alternative at school parties. The other issue was that some medications contain gluten, and if your child were ever hospitalized for anything, the pharmacy would not have to provide gluten free medications without a diagnosis, and the patient could get sick from the meds. 2 other reasons were that when children undergo a gluten challenge and get diagnosed, their guts typically heal more quickly than adults, also they haven't had as much time to have other body systems damaged and develop into cancer or another autoimmune condition. If a child avoids gluten throughout childhood and then later decided to eat gluten because they were never sure they had celiac, they could get very sick having had the gluten out of their systems for several years and reintroducing it to their body, if in fact they do have celiac. Also, if that grown child wants to undergo a gluten challenge later in life to get a positive diagnosis for medical accommodations, the gluten challenge may be more difficult to do because their GI tracts aren't used to the gluten. In no way am I questioning judgement to not have the testing if anyone suspects their child has gluten issues, please, please, know that! It is individual. Plus, not having a celiac diagnosis, thus far, in our family, I don't know from experience the above scenarios listed to be true, it's just what I read when I was trying to decide about whether to do a gluten challenge for my son. Also, I have only been looking into this for one month while many others have researched it in much more depth for a much longer period of time before deciding to test or not to test for celiac. Then again, there is the fact that the tests have a high false negative rate, especially among children, and like someone said earlier in this thread, experience with gluten reactions is a more positive indication of an intolerance vs. the test itself. I just felt compelled to post this in response to the quoted post in the message to give the other view I found on why some choose to do the testing even though it is obvious gluten is a problem.

Interesting you brought this up again about my son's negative labs. I just dropped my celiac research when his labs were negative. Because dh has wheat allergy and we all eat less gluten than most people, my son' s labs had to be done after eating a normal amount of gluten for several weeks. I was very encouraged at the last MD visit because my son had gained weight and his anemia improved on supplements, plus he didn't have any asthma symptoms the month he was eating wheat everyday. But, even though the doctor didn't disregard my report of his hyperactivity and over emotionalism eating wheat everyday ( especially when I gave him100% organic whole grain bread), the doctor didn't recognize it as a valid wheat reaction ( he just suggested I cut back on wheat) . Through all this and reading the celiac board, I had my own concerns about having a wheat intolerance for myself. I know I have low lying dairy issues, so don't eat much dairy. When my son's test was negative, I dismissed my concerns about wheat being an issue with my health as being paranoid about having celiac. However, my gallbladder has been acting up more, started when pregnant with my son 8 years ago and the attacks have come and gone once in awhile through the years, but easy to manage with a careful lower fat diet, and when I cheat the attacks haven't been that bad. But the other day the attack lasted a whole day. Since it's been 8 years since I had my gallbladder checked, I got it checked at the MD office. The ultrasound showed no gallstones and no sludge, just a contracted gallbladder, which is unusual having fasted 16+ hours before the test. When the doctor ordered the lab work, I casually mentioned the only change in my diet was eating more wheat than usual during my son's recent gluten challenge. I told her since my son's tests were negative I didn't think celiac would be my issue with my gallbladder, that I was just paranoid about wheat being a hard to digest food. My doctor immediately suggested since I've been eating gluten regularly the past weeks that I have a celiac panel done, even though my son's labs were negative. I am expecting a negative test, but will know in a few days what the results are. A post above about celiac and gallbladder problems being connected has got me more suspicious of the results though. Sorry to be a hijack poster, but I am finding this thread informative for both OP and myself. I am interested if the OP's son has behavior improvement once able to be on a gluten free diet.

Just looked up Vision Forum ministries and their website says they are discontinuing the organization because the head stepped down for some great sin he confessed to his family and plans to repent from. Interesting........

I wasn't aware of the other threads, since the recent Duggar one that mentioned some curricula companies that may be inline with Gothard teachings, but have read the link in a post above and understand it more fully. I just wanted to know the main difference between Gothard and conservative Christianity. I also really wanted to know if Abeka and BJU are tainted with Gothard type legalism. The link and info above has been helpful. Also, I am now relieved to know that I am not unknowingly a Gothard follower!

Thank you. Are the Duggars considered Gothard followers? I was interested in their first show that introduced themselves as a family and I was interested in that one show long ago. At first I thought it was nice that they got positive publicity being a family different than the mainstream. But, as they kept doing TV shows, I was turned off because day to day personal lives should not be put all over TV for all the world to see, especially what would happen if one of their children grew up to resent having their childhood on display for all the world to see (I hated Jon and Kate plus 8 for this same reason). I gathered the Duggars were Christian, but not aware that they followed a lifestyle beyond what most conservative Christians follow. I am worried because I am attending a Christian homeschool convention soon, my first convention ever, and on their FB page and blog sight many posters are thrilled that Josh Duggar is speaking! I for one am not interested in hearing Josh Duggar speak only because of my aversion to children being exploited by parents agreeing to and profiting from their children being on world wide public display via television. I knew nothing about a cult like affiliation. I know little about Vision Forum, except that I assumed they were a legit Christian non profit. I need to do my research on that as well.

Until coming across this in other threads, I have heard about Gothard, but have had no idea who he is or what the ideas behind his teachings are. What exactly do his followers do and believe that is harmful? I read excerpts from the Duggar thread about curricula to be avoided if one wants to avoid Gothard teachings. Some of these are conservative Christian curricula, but I don't understand if the offense in these curricula are that they are conservative Christian, or do Gothard methods teach something to be leery of beyond what your basic evangelical Bible believing church goer believes. I scanned the internet to try to understand what is threatening about Gothard, but get a glowing review that sounds like he is a wonderful, godly man from one site and a review that he and his teachings need to be avoided like the plague from another website. I am a conservative Christian who believes the Bible is literally true, inspired by God. I don't want to get into a debate about that belief. But I want to know what Gothard is all about beyond claiming to be a Christian. Does he teach things contradictory to the Bible? Do people tend to follow his teachings over the Bible? Is it that he is extreme in things like authority, men's/women's roles, legalistic matters like should women only wear skirts, etc.... I haven't looked at the curricula mentioned that is said to be tainted with Gothard teaching like BJU, ACE and Abeka. The reason is I am not looking for school at home in our homeschool, if I were I would look at these options more closely because my understanding is that they are Christian. I have looked at Sonlight and MFW. I like the Biblical lessons in MFW, Kindergarten is my only actual experience with the curriculum. The reason I'm not sticking with MFW isn't because I don't like their Bible teachings, it's because I don't like scripted lessons for my teaching style. Is anything that teaches from conservative evangical Christian viewpoint considered Gothard, or is it that Abeka and BJU teach from a more narrow minded legalistic interpretation of the Bible? I'm really curious. Although I don't have long hair, I wear pants more than skirts, I had a career before homeschooling that I intend to keep up with, I only have 2 children, I'm not into how to books on life matters (eg: parenting, marriage, discipline, authority) because the Bibke speaks for itself on those matters, and I'm not the best housekeeper; I am wondering if I might unknowingly be a Gothard follower based on living life in light of a Biblical world view. Not sure if what I am asking about a distinction between Gothard and a conservative Christian makes sense. A specific bullet point list of what is terrible about his teachings would be helpful.

Not, fabulous, but here's a basic way to make the dish: If you want to cook the chicken yourself, cook the chicken on stove top in water so you have your own broth, then remove the cooked whole chicken, set chicken aside. Add diced carrots, celery, onion, and seasonings (such as salt, pepper, parsley, rosemary) to broth and cook on low boil. Meanwhile, me ake the biscuit type dumplings I mix 2 cups flour, 4 tsp baking powder, about 1/2 cup oil, about 2/3 cup water, about 1 tsp salt (I just wing the measurements). Make small balls or clumps out of the biscuit mixture about 1 inch round (just wing it also, but they will grow as they cook) and drop these into the veggies cooking in the broth (should be a gentle low boil if that makes sense) the last 12-15 minutes of cooking. Cut up or shred chicken at this time. The last 3-4 minutes of cooking I might add frozen peas. When you taste test the dumplings and make sure they are cooked through inside (not raw doughy tasting inside, yet not overcookd into a tough gummy consistency), add the chopped cooked chicken you set aside earlier, then simmer all together for 5-10 minutes. Warning: I am not a great cook, I don't follow a specific recipe for this, and I am sure there are much tastier ways to enjoy Chicken and Dumplings. But it's one of our favorite meals.

Good side: Apple and raisin salad..chopped apples mixed with raisins sprinkled with sugar and a few squeezes of lemon juice. This sweetens and softens in the fridge after several hours. We love Chicken and Dumplings here. I prefer the fluffy doughy biscuit type, but like the flat type as well. I sometimes get the dumplings as a side at Cracker Barrel, but their chicken always tastes dry to me so I stopped ordering it as an entree. I make dumplings wheat free for dh with Pamela's gluten free artesian flour, a little baking powder, oil, water, and salt. Then I drop small clumps into the pot of boiling veggies/broth/seasonings the last few minutes of cooking. So yummy! Enjoy your dinner!

If you are there on a Monday, entrance to the Frist Center art museum is free with a canned good. It is right on Broadway downtown. Or you could pay admission on a different day if you like their current exhibits listed on the website. The downtown library is huge and nice, not too far from the Frist center. There is a sandwich cafe inside the library building. Those might be good options for you during the daytime without a car or husband, even though you asked for evening ideas :) . Seeing a show at the Ryman, the symphony, TPAC, or live music spots with dinner downtown are good night/evening things if you don't have a car. There may or may not be an event at the Arena in the middle of dowtown while you are there. If you have a car, you might be interested in touring Opryland Hotel one evening.

Amazingly, my mom was supportive of homeschooling, but only after she saw positive experiences in a neighbor's child a few years before I decided to homeschool. When I mentioned it in the kid's infant years, my mom thought homeschooling was nuts. My sister is a teacher's aide and has seen that our 7 yo reads better than most middle schoolers. So she doesn't criticize on that. But sadly, her response to my homeschooling was, "I couldn't stand to be with my kids all day!" Honestly, I couldn't stand to be around my kids all day either if they had cake and pop for breakfast all the time, lol. I do LOVE being with my kids all day, just couldn't resist poking fun at the diet situation.

This post above is what has kept me from becoming strict! For example: I had a full fight that angered my mom more than I ever saw her because I didn't want my son to eat cake, pop, and junk for breakfast that their cousins (my sister's kids) were eating. My kids ate the cake and pop the night before at a family celebration and I was fine with that. I didn't criticize my sister in any way, but my mom and sister took it as an insult to my sister's parenting just because I gave my son a healthy muffin and fruit instead of letting him eat what their cousins were eating. Before, I had let them feed him junk more often for the occasional day or two with extended family, but at that time my son had just got dx with full blown asthma and was on extra meds to keep the asthma under control. I don't understand why what someone else eats offends others, it makes no sense! The testimony in the above post of the woman whose strict diet helped her husband's Parkinson's is why I want to push for a strict diet. Parkinson's and other autoimmune issues run deep in dh's family. My dh has had health issues his entire life, and my son has had symptoms that have led the MD to run tests to rule out autoimmune conditions. It's not fun wait on lab tests to wonder what test results will say, and thankfully those tests have been negative so far. If it's true a certain diet can help, I want to know about it.

My son was tested for celiac this past week and I found out today that his labs were negative. But, the past weeks while waiting for the test and results, I have researched celiac symptoms and read that many children had behavorial issues that resolved quickly on a strict gluten free diet. While my son had different symptoms prompting the celiac blood test, he did get extremely hyper and irritable when he had to eat gluten everyday for the gluten challenge. The celiac.com website has a supportive forum for all kinds of questions related to testing, symptoms, transitioning to strict gluten free diet, and much more. I am sorry that your little one is going through this, but I have read so many encouraging stories how children diagnosed get so much healthier once going gluten free.

Between raw food diet, juice cleansing, Nourishing Traditions, Feingold, Dr. Furhman's nutritarian, green smoothies, GAPS, paleo, Hallelujah diet, holistic chiropractor visits, nutrient supplements, and whatever else anyone can think of...what has truly worked? Our current diet is mostly whole foods (some raw) with a traditional SAD meal outside the home once or twice/week, little dairy and wheat, and a dessert or chips every few days. At home, I use natural sweeteners like raw honey and maple syrup in small amounts. When possible and financial feasible, I buy organic and non-gmo, but don't panic if just regular meat or veggies are bought. We mostly have refined sugar outside the home, usually candy or desserts the kids get at church or extracurricular activities a few times/week. We have green smoothies several times/week plus we are new to juicing (having carrot juice mixed an apple and other veggies a few times/wk). My dh and ds who have the most health issues sees a good chiro as needed, that helps some, but it's not a cure all. I am wondering if doing a strict diet of saying no to ALL foods that aren't good for us would keep us out of the MD office. However, it's an uphill battle to get everyone involved (that's everyone from my husband to the grandmas to Sunday school teachers) to believe that a strict health food diet is necessary to heal the body of inflammation and recurring illness. If it's a difference from saying a firm NO to all junk foods vs. limiting it, I can be the family food Nazi, but is it worth it to create a constant bitterness with other family members and close friends? Others I have known to try a strict diet with kids end up giving up after a few months. Even so, one person might become a vegetarian, another might try paleo, another might given up gluten, another switch to raw milk, another tries juice fasting at intervals, another goes to the chiro weekly, and the list goes on. They are all trying something different, but I don't know which extreme diet change, if any, truly works. On the paleo websites, people say how wonderful that is, but another website says raw foods is the only way to go, that cooked foods are equivalent to poison (exaggerating there). GAPS is way too complicated for me to attempt. There are testimonials and warnings against every healing diet I have researched. For those that have BTDT, what has worked and failed? What can you really stick to as a long term family healthy eating plan? Do I really need to be a food Nazi and tell my children NO, they can't eat cake and candy when they go to Sunday School and Grandma's house and birthday parties if I expect hope in reducing health problems like asthma flare ups? Interested to know others' experiences, TIA.