I will look more closely into teaching classes/tutoring from home. It wouldn't be enough to replace my income by any means but it is a logical first step. I will also give some consideration about offering camps. If I had a bigger home and yard it would be more feasible so maybe down the road. Thank you for so many ideas and just general care to even respond! As to my son not wanting to go out at recess... nothing happened. I work literally right next door to his classroom and I know all the teachers and staff very well. There are supervisors on the playground. He just would rather come in and sit with me or follow me around instead of going out with his friends. His only complaint is that he doesn't like what everyone plays out there. Whatever that means. I make him go out at lunch recess at least. It is hard for him because he sees me all day long but has very little actual access to me so that is like a small kind of torture for him. I am very thankful that my kids talk to me and don't shut me out. We've had many long talks and they have confided in me things they've done that they know we wouldn't be proud of too, as well as struggles they are having in school. Communication is strong so for that I am very grateful. My husband and I talked for a long time Thursday night. We are praying and looking at options but we also do not want to go back to scraping by and wondering if we had enough for that month....let alone ever go out for anything fun or buy what we need when we need it. Those were some very lean years...but good years too. Thanks all for the input.

I use it in my first grade classroom some, though not as much as I'd like. The few lessons we've done in math have been a big hit. Wish I could be more helpful.

That is a possibility. We live four blocks south of the elementary school and could even walk to get them. I couldn't make that much around here for an "off track" week. I'd be lucky to make $100 per kid. But I am not actually sure what "off track" means as that is a new term to me but I assume you mean vacation days, yes?

My husband works in a manufacturing facility. His schedule isn't flexible. Although there is rumor that some jobs within company will be open soon that they hope to fill in house and my husband is thinking of applying so that he could get a raise but it would require him to go on a permanent 2nd shift which makes me want the kids home even more because otherwise he'll only see them on the weekends.... He's also a fitness coach and had hoped that his income would offset what I make but after nearly 9 months it is still a very fledgling venture and not reliable. I've considered the homebound instruction/tutoring aspect. We live in a small district so not sure how busy I'd be but I need to figure out how to tactfully look into this because my school district doesn't know I am pursuing this avenue and they've hinted at wanting to keep me around. It really isn't the school staff that is the issue at hand and I don't want any hard or hurt feelings. They know we homeschooled before and have been very welcoming to me and my family and said really positive things about homeschooling because of how successful my kids are in PS.

I'll try to keep this short. We homeschooled from the beginning until last year when we put both kids in PS (daughter went into 3rd grade and son went into Kindergarten-though he had already had a year of K at home.) I subbed in the school district and for the most part the year went well. Fast forward to this year. I was called by the district to do a long term sub for a sick teacher at the beginning of the year and looks like I'll be finishing the year out for her. My kids are now fourth and first. My son is in the classroom right next to me. For some reason, that I can't put my finger on.. this year has been SO much harder for them. They are both begging to come home, though my son is more vocal about it on a consistent basis. My daughter is dealing with some mild drama and has been the recipient of bullying though that did subside after the first few months. My son does not want to go out on the playground and does not seem to like school all that much anymore. Now my kids are not socially backward in anyway and very outgoing so their reaction to school this year is baffling to me. I'd pull them out in a heartbeat but... We need the money. Not a matter of want but actually need...as in we can't pay all the bills if I don't work. When I homeschooled before I did day care but I was about to lose my mind trying to watch little ones and homeschool and I knew it would only get harder. I am making REALLY good money right now and it is hard to think of losing that income. But we don't want our kids in PS long term anyway. Don't even get me started on Common Core. I am looking up every option I can think of and praying for options to appear that I haven't thought of to allow me to work and homeschool them again. We went around the table on New Year's Eve and each answered the question "What do you hope for 2014?" and both kids immediately said "We hope we can be homeschooled in the fall." :( I am not really asking for ideas so much as prayer for those so inclined that we could bring them back home sooner rather than later because this is breaking my heart a thousand times over. (If you do have any ideas though I wouldn't turn them down. Haha!)

beaners I am not offended. I live in a very small town with only three fast food places. Also, my husband works an off shift so I have to be around for the kids in the morning and to get them to bed at a decent time. All factors that make it difficult but not impossible. I have considered pretty much anything but I really wanted flexibility if possible. Sittercity.com.... thanks! I will check it out!

So about tutoring on my own...how does one go about starting that? How do you advertise?

Thanks. Yeah I wondered if the pay would even be worth the commute. I do have a teaching degree...taught in an elementary school and currently substitute teach from K-12th grade. I have the credentials.... just wasn't sure it would be worth my time to look into it, esp with the cost of gas.

Currently our kids are in PS. I'd like to bring them back home but I must work. I used to run a day care and homeschool but I no longer want to do that as I always felt pulled in too many directions during school time...hence why the kids are in PS this year. I am trying to come up with job options that are legitimate to help me bring in an income but flexible to work with homeschooling. Do any of you tutor through Sylvan and homeschool? Is it hard to balance? The closest center is about 40 minutes from me, so I'd be commuting which might negate the income I'd bring in anyway. What is the pay like? Any info at all would be appreciated.

No one within two generations on either side of my family or my husband's family are left handed....yet both of our kids are dominant left handed since birth. As in, from the time they could begin to grab for things as a baby, they reached with their left hands. My husband's family really pressured us to make our eldest a right hander and we fought them on it. They would force her to use her right hand for things when we weren't around. Needless to say we nipped that in the bud quickly. Neither had a traumatic birth, both are quite intelligent, and are perfectly normal children. I know this is a right handed world but my kids know nothing else so they are adapting just fine thus far. I have never understood forcing hand dominance in a child. My dad was right handed but broke his right hand in Kindergarten and learned how to write with his left during the critical "how to write your letters stage" and to this day he prefers writing left handed but he does everything else right handed. So he truly isn't a left hander.

Having homeschooled every year prior to this year and this year having my kids in public school, let me offer you some encouragement and advice. First if your husband is completely opposed to PS then it isn't an option so dwelling on it only breeds seeds of doubt or discontent. That is unhealthy, though completely normal sometimes.... just ask me. I am great at fixating on the "what ifs." Best advice I can give is to keep lines of communication open with your son. Find out what he likes and wants and if there are areas he needs more then you, your husband, and your son can sit down to realistically decide what to do about that. Also, I sub in the public schools currently from K through high school. I used to teach in public schools about a decade ago.... there are good and bad to both homeschooling and public school. I have literally seen it all. Try to focus on the good you are offering your son in homeschooling and not any perceived drawbacks. My kids thrived at home and are thriving at school...just for different reasons. There is plenty of bad about public school but there is good too. I choose to focus on that for this season of our lives knowing they are learning some valuable life lessons and that hopefully we'll be able to return to homeschooling some day.

If you had only $2-3,000 to plan a romantic getaway for an entire week for you and your spouse...what would you do? Where would you go if the criteria was to be somewhere close to the ocean, warm, lots of activities to choose from, privacy... etc. Trying to plan a getaway and I need inspiration! We are on a budget but determined to do something...just us...this next year. Thanks!!

I know this topic has been covered by others ad nauseum... but please bear with me. This year financially we had to put our kids in PS for the first time. I had to work. Up until that point I had done day care and homeschooled and for me I had reached a point I just could not do both effectively. So instead I am now subbing in the district my kids are in school in plus another school district nearby. I am subbing just about every day. The thing is that I want to pull my kids out. We've agreed to have them finish the school year but I need other options for next year. There are several reasons but after only two months of subbing.... well I have grown increasingly uncomfortable with what they are teaching the kids, not to mention the complete lack of respect from kids as they age. So many influences I knew existed but the longer they are exposed the more I don't like it. My daughter is already caught up with writing notes with a boy and flirting back and forth and she is in third grade and that is NOT how we've raised her. And my son has turned into this mean-spirited boy who picks on everyone and whines about everything. There are aspects of PS that I like. I love their teachers and I know they work harder for someone else than they do for me. I like the access to extra-curriculars and to the arts (something I was not very consistent at) and learning in a co-operative environment.... so ideally I'd love a private school but the closest one if 45 minutes away and ridiculously expensive. Help me think about how/if it is possible to bring them home next year knowing that I must work. It is not a matter of wanting to... if I don't, we literally do not eat for the month. That is not an exaggeration. I cannot and will not go back to day care. Those were some of my most depressing years and I feel so free away from it and my home feels like home now and not a job. So what other options would there be? Missing homeschooling so much right now.

"Grief is not a disorder, a disease or a sign of weakness. It is an emotional, physical and spiritual necessity, the price you pay for love. The only cure for grief is to grieve." - Earl Grollman Grieve the loss of your little one....surrounded by those who love you and the little one you lost. :grouphug:

I am also curious about this aspect of it. Usually a lanyard has a student's ID card right? Does this creep now have personal info about your daughter??

I watched all of Season 1 on netflix and then watched all of Season 2 thus far on my computer to get caught up. :D Personally I don't think that Neal is Baelfire. But he is someone who believes in magic pretty easily and was not scared away from Emma and the job she had to do to break a curse. Will be neat to watch it all unfold for him. But I want him to stay away from Emma...something about him, though he loves her, rubs me the wrong way. But what I have loved is that even with the evil characters there are elements of love and goodness in them...even Rumple and Regina... and in the good characters there are bad elements like Emma being a willing thief. It creates so much more depth that I find myself liking the "bad guys" as much as the "good guys" and that makes for an interesting show!

I hope you get that call soon. :grouphug:

I would love to get: the verification before Christmas that the kids we hope to adopt are indeed found to be adoptable so we can actually begin the process. If I get that...I don't need anything else. Here's hoping. The only other thing I'd like is a comfy long robe.

How about you come back and tear it to pieces after you've actually finished all 10 chapters...not just 5. Bothers me when people give opinions on a book they haven't actually read..... ALL the way through. Sigh. I like Francis Chan. If you read his other books or watched his other studies (videos) you find that Chan is not like that at all. He is about real authentic relationship with Christ, our Savior, and the byproduct of that authentic relationship is a life lived for Him not for ourselves.

Marriage should be about more than a dress. Who cares what people do with their dress. Now if someone bought the dress for the bride the least she could do would be to ask permission first. But we spent 4 years in the "wealthy" wedding venue as professional videographers. We filmed some extravagent weddings. I have found that the trend has moved to lavish wasteful weddings period... people spend so much on weddings it is making families go broke in the process. But honestly, is it not their money to spend? They are paying a photographer with their own money to trash a dress they paid for with their own money. What does it matter to you what someone does with a dress. It is an article of clothing. It is not like they are taking their wedding bands and lighting them on fire or taking the marriage certificate and burying it in mud. Marriage is about commitment, whether you are in an expensive couture dress you've preserved for 3 generations beyond you or in a sun dress you got on clearance at Target that goes to Goodwill immediately, or anything in between. Trashing the dress is an opportunity to let loose and have some fun without any worry about the dress. Who cares.

This comes from the perspective of a family who has homeschooled until this year... I would put your second grader in. Sounds like he did well in school when he was there except for a difference in how they taught reading, which I am sure you have covered so he should be fine. Your first grader sounds like my oldest.... if anything is a struggle for my daughter she shuts down or cries. Math was that way for us each year we homeschooled. She is a great student but so hard on herself. I say that with your first grader, try putting her in as well and evaluate as the year progresses. She may do well having a different authority over her education and she certainly won't get away with whining very long in a big classroom. Or if it doesn't work it might be just enough exposure for her to appreciate you teaching her at home and you can pull her out if necessary. Having to always be the "heavy" on your kids is taxing. If it is too much...PS is an option...and maybe it is just enough for you all to know that homeschooling is what you want to do but at least you know.

The odd thing was that when I taught 10 years ago, if a child had head lice they were sent home. Fast forward to now that my kids are in school....not only do they not send the kids home when lice is found, parents aren't even notified anymore. And they have a community area in most classrooms to hang up jackets, backpacks, etc. Much easier to spread that way. Thankful my daughter has her own locker though and my son has extremely short hair. I was subbing and helping kids with homework and one teacher leaned over and said "don't get too close. She has lice bad." I feel for the kids. :( That being said, I agree with those who said to pull hair up and back in a braid or ponytail (a tight one) and lice have a harder time clinging to dirty hair so if you shower every night you may want to alternate nights..and product in the hair isn't a bad thing. Ten years ago when I taught I had a little girl with chronic head lice in my class and she was so deprived of love at home she was always hugging me. I got head lice 4 times from her that year until I chopped my hair off. But I couldn't deny her hugs and love when it was obvious she never got it at home.. :( so sad. So now when I even hear the word lice, my scalp starts itching. ahhhh!!!

Thank you to ALL of you who responded! I was gone all day to a family function but I really do appreciate your sound advice. I am not overly worried at all but just wanting to make sure we are doing the right thing for him. I didn't want to overreact nor refuse to act at all if necessary. I may not have explained what I hear/feel when we snuggle very well...if he has been running around or anything that gets the blood pumping harder and he comes to cuddy with me which is often (since he is ALL boy and only 6)... his heart is beating loudly and I can hear the abnormal wooshing sound quite easily.... I am not sure if what I feel is just the heart beating harder or part of the blood wooshing abnormally...I don't really know how to explain it other than it sounds odd to me. But I am not a cardiologist....so who knows. My husband apparently has a very mild heart murmur and so does my MIL. So are heart murmurs genetic? My husband's is so mild, it is almost nonexistent. My MIL's was slightly more pronounced than husband's but never a problem for her. But our son's is quite pronounced. I will call our doc on Monday and see about getting a referral. I am believing he'll probably be fine but you are right, we ought to know what we are dealing with for sure from a ped. cardiologist.

Our son went to a physical (well child check up) not long ago and when the doctor put the stethescope against his heart, she turned immediately to my husband who took him and said "He has a pronounced heart murmur. Did you know that?" Just so you know, we are not the type to take our kids for yearly well check-ups nor very often when they are sick so our son does not go often to the doc at all but he has had the same doctor since birth. We cannot remember anyone ever telling us in the past that he had a heart murmur. She said she was not too concerned yet but that down the road we should be careful about allowing him to play an organized sport that will require a lot of exertion. She asked if we noticed that he tires easily running around, which we haven't noticed. But we hadn't really been paying attention to that. She said she would refer us onto a specialist to find out more specifically what we are dealing with but she said that was up to us. She kept saying she wasn't too worried right now...so we said thanks but we'll wait to go to a specialist mostly because of her lack of immediate concern. When we snuggle and I rest my hand or head on his chest, I feel/hear the abnormal rhythm of his heart beat...it is quite easy to detect now that we know what we are looking for. Now I wonder if we should have him checked out more thoroughly. Any of you deal with a significant heart murmur in children? Would you recommend getting him checked out or should we just take the doc's cue and wait.

:lol::lol: For some reason they DO grow into sharp spikes when they sit on the floor long enough. I'm just sure of it.