There's a guy in our church who holds kids all the time. He's a father ... his boys are teens now .. and he helps in Sunday School, in the nursery, in Children's Church. The bigger kids adore him and even the babies seem to like him. His wife is our children's minister, so I would assume that she either already did a background check or assumed he didn't need one. (We're all supposed to have them but with the volunteer shortage I would bet not everyone has. I did because I worked for our preschool for a time.) He's a great guy, but every now and then I wonder why on earth he's involved with the kids so much. Maybe it's just a family calling for them ... they would've had more kids except for some maternal health issues. Reading this thread makes me start questioning him, and I hate feeling that way. But I TOTALLY agree that you can't be too careful with kids in protecting them. There was a situation some years back in our church, before I was married, and a young man began attending. I naively gave the guy a ride home once when I realized he had walked. (Yes, stupid, stupid, I know!) Anyway, after he'd been coming for a few weeks, an older woman (my mom's age) came up to me and said she thought she knew who he was, that he'd been kicked out of another church for some unsavory things. She was watching out for me. My boyfriend stepped up and was very protective for a time, and eventually he stopped attending. A few years later he came back. And we kept bumping into him at other places, like the grocery store. You know someone is creepy when you're obviously pregnant and they say, "Well, if you ever need somebody..." When he started regularly attending my Sunday School class again (at which I suddenly decided nursing in public was no longer an option!), my teacher the associate pastor had a talk with our senior, and big burly male, pastor. That pastor went on a home visit to 'establish some boundaries' and the guy never came back. Apparently they were reading cues even I had missed ... like he'd always ask about me if I missed church, things like that. He had an obsession and it was scary. But to anyone else, he would've just looked socially inept ... he was focused on me, not anyone else. We've since moved a few streets away, so we don't bump into him anymore, and he hasn't come back to our church. I hate being responsible for chasing someone away from a church ... but I am so glad that our pastors felt my safety was worth watching out for (they did all that before telling me about it).

Allowing them to dictate answers helps when the fine motor isn't up to the brain power. That's what my son did for preschool and K and still for some of first. Shortening lessons to suit attention span, or skipping 'easy' stuff altogether is just fine. Yours is definitely gifted. :) I haven't had mine tested, but given that dh and I both tested gifted back in school, and our kids are much like us temperamentally and both bright academically and both quirky (my son more so than my daughter), I'm going on the assumption that they are. Dh and I made a deal that when they hit third grade standardized testing, if they get really good scores, he'll let me have them tested officially to find out. :) I know it doesn't really matter, but sometimes I'd like a number, just to know if I'm pushing too much or not enough or in the wrong areas.

It's a big part of who I am. We're early in the process and still feeling our way. And, as others said, I was an education and writing junkie before kids anyway ... I'd be teaching or being a librarian if I wasn't a SAHM. (Well, till the layoffs hit, anyway.) It's just what I do and who I am ... help people find out about things. I think the obsessive phase will pass though ... before we moved a few years ago, we had a great but small little house with a nice little yard. I was obsessed with HGTV. (The shows were better back then too ... and I have anxiety issues so it gave me something to watch when I needed to calm my mind.) I was always finding good and simple (and cheap) ideas to improve our living space, and it was actually good for us. Then we moved, into a somewhat larger and absolutely wonderful house. We got ourselves settled, and I suddenly realized ... I was no longer watching ANY of HGTV. We had found / made the home of our dreams and I didn't need to look for help to make it better. (Sure, it needs tweaking at times, all homes do as we grow and change. But basically it's great.) I figure the same will happen in our homeschool journey. We'll find our footing, we'll get a better grip on our goals and our preferred methods, and suddenly I won't have to obsess over every catalog because I'll already have a feel for what we're likely to need. I hope so anyway. :)

What would I have really said? I would've yelled (privately) at my dh, had a panic attack where I threw up a lot, and sent them packing because I was sick. (No joke. I have a severe anxiety disorder, and the nausea can be handy when you want folks to leave...) DH's family is bad about time commitments, though at least they're all local so it's a matter of hours not days usually. But I check and double-check with him about a zillion times to make sure he understands my needs for the day (to maintain my health and sanity), and then we leave it up to him to get the folks moving out the door. We've got our little signals. I've also given myself permission to go sulk in a back room if I have to. Not to be rude to the guests, but if I am heading for a panic attack, better I remove myself from the situation and take a breather. We don't have long-term company often, sometimes just for a weekend, but the same rules apply. DH and I hash it out VERY clearly up front and then I make him do the dirty work. It comes out a lot less stressful for me. It took several years to get to this point though. Fortunately his family has been gracious about my illnesses ... they are a chatty bunch but they will take a hint if you're blunt about it (they prefer blunt).

I don't think it says specifically. They're just light fun reads.

The Beyond the Code books have silly stories in them, but I don't recall any talking animals. Stories that include animals, yes. Well, one was about a dog that kept barking so its friend dog would be let in the house. Does that count? The ETC books themselves don't have much in the way of storylines at all, just random sentences.

We seem to have got it. It's crashed all IE-related stuff, and seems to have messed with Mcafee. I can only use the internet with Safari right now (which fortunately we had). We've been running scans all day but haven't been able to fix anything. Driving me nuts, because I can't access a lot of stuff. Our other computers appear to be clean, but this is where all MY stuff is so it's frustrating.

We're doing Bio I. We stopped doing the lab sheets everyday, as it was too much for my first grader. The experiments come in clumps, not neatly spaced out, just so you know. But the reading is usually just a page or two a day, very gentle. We've had a lot of fun learning this year. My biggest gripe has actually been the Young Scientist Kits. Some of the experiments just don't work right, and one was missing a diagram. There's a Noeo yahoo group, so I learned that some folks got the diagram (for felt drawings of organs for a T-shirt) and some of us didn't. Probably not Noeo's fault but the kit company's fault. If you read AHEAD on the experiments and browse to see if others have had trouble with them, then Noeo is great. (I kind of jinx science experiments, I guess, so that's a biggie for me.) There were a few I've found a better way to do, here and there. It's been very gentle, though, and my 4yo has loved tagging along for the simpler bits. Some of the Usborne internet-linked books also have printable pages, which can help round out the science notebooks if you'd rather they color something than always have to write or narrate. And one week Dover's teacher sampler had human body coloring pages ... that coloring book would make a GREAT addition for the younger Bio users. We used the printables of the digestive system to help us out. I like that it uses real books (leaving us with a nice science library) and that it's gentle and conversational. The guide doesn't guide much ... just lists what to do when and reminds you of supplies. But since you don't read every page of every book, that is helpful.

It might be that he'll find it matters to him how the kids are raised, now, more than it did when you were first married and the kids were still theoretical. :) Like I've posted already, I'm Methodist. My dh is agnostic. He didn't have to sign anything for us to be married in my church, but it was an agreement we made long before I would even accept a proposal that any children we had would be raised in a Christian church. He was fine with that ... he wasn't raised in a church and it's a lack he sorely feels (long story). He didn't want our kids to miss out. Now that our kids are older and learning things in Sunday School and being taught at home by me, it's become a bigger issue. He *wants* them to have this education, but he also struggles with it because it's something he can't yet bring himself to believe, and he's a man of integrity ... he can't teach what he doesn't believe is true. Not that this is your situation ... but it might be subconsciously playing in to it. Your dh doesn't seem to see the difference between the RCC (so very important to you) and the friendly little church down the road. And the differences are important ones. Maybe he just doesn't realize the long-term implications of bringing kids up Catholic vs. bringing them up in some other version of the faith. Just something to think about. You might also see if there are some interfaith groups in your area, where your Catholic church (or some other one close by) participates with other churches on community service projects. That might be something that would appeal to him on the fellowship level, and still let your family bond with the Catholic church more strongly. ((hugs)) and still hoping you can find a good workable solution!

We do about three hours of school, but that's seatwork plus science experiments plus run-around recesses, and so on. I like to start around 9 and be absolutely done by noon, unless we go to storytime or some other event. So far so good.

Does none of that happen in a Catholic congregation? (Not asking to be snarky ... genuinely curious ... it would certainly be awesome to see a church full of people who really did get along without any squabbling ever! I love my church dearly, but like any group of humans, it does have its difficult moments. I've never seen a congregation of any denomination that didn't.)

Wow, I've NEVER heard of anyone else who's heard of The Girl That Owned A City. I LOVE that book! Lord of the Flies creeps me out too. I've not read the other two you mentioned. Sorry ... nothing pertinent to add to the conversation ... I just love meeting people who've read the same obscure things I have.

I'm Methodist, and I will say that our particular church seems to draw folks from many different denominations. Not every congregation will be the same, of course, even within the same denomination, but at least at ours, folks seem to feel at home. I know we've got some former Catholics among us. Some Methodist churches are very big on the liturgy (which I love) and some are more contemporary. That may make a big difference in how comfortable you are at the service. The Methodist policy on Communion is that all are welcome ... it's God's table, not ours. Of course, if your Catholic priest disagrees, then you'd likely be more comfortable not taking Communion at the Methodist church. But I just wanted you to know you'd be welcome. :) As far as enrolling in the classes, you don't 'become' a Methodist until you stand in front of the church and take the membership vows (which may or may not include baptism, depending on whether the person was already baptized before ... and we do accept baptisms from other denominations). We baptize infants, as Catholics do, and children attend confirmation classes usually around middle school (at least around here). But there's no rule that says the child MUST be confirmed after taking the classes. It's up to the child and the family. I know one family in our church where the father is Muslim ... he permitted his wife to enroll the kids in class, and even though the kids wanted badly to be confirmed, he won't allow it till they are legally adult. Which is fine. We accept confirmations at all ages too. :) Not sure if I am any help or not, but feel free to PM if you have any Methodist questions. :) And I do hope you find a church situation that works for all of you, whatever that may be.

LOL. Just make sure it's where the rain really WILL wash it off ... we had some parts of the bricks drawn on by chalk, and between the angle of the wind/rain and the overhang of the eaves ... it took quite some time before it wore off on its own. :) Big chalk drawing is a blast though.

Ditto what the others said ... FIAR is enough, but if your child is actually ready, the things you can add are phonics or math or handwriting. Everything else will be lightly touched on in the FIAR units. :) We love FIAR here.

Not so much board books (they don't last long around here!) but after that stupid CPSIA law, I'm making sure I keep anything that we might want to hand down ... no telling if it will be around when the kids are grown. Of course books go OOP all the time anyway so there never are guarantees. I do hand down a lot of stuff, but the really good ones ... they fill a room of our house.

I have to agree with the poster who pointed out that not all s*xual activity is consensual. I am also very glad that my daughter is still very young and we have lots of time to learn more before we have to consider a decision. So many parenting choices are scary these days! It often feels like you can't win no matter what you choose.

My son, at that age, HATED drawing. He'd scribble or make patterns or paint or whatever, but he would NOT draw even the most basic stick person or tree. Just refused to do it. I kind of worried, because his fine motor skills seemed to be lagging too, but I didn't push. At his preschool graduation (he attended one day a week that year) they had a wall hung with drawings the kids had done of their families. I cried like a baby when I saw Ted's ... the boy who wouldn't draw had drawn the most complete picture ... down to the fingers and toes of each person. And he'd labelled us all by name and age. LOL. None of the other kids' pictures even came close to that level of detail. I figured then I should just let him go at his own pace. Perfectionism is what holds him back. We occasionally pull out a Draw Write Now or a Mark Kistler and have a family 'art lesson' just so he can see that there are steps if he wants to follow them, but these days (first grade) he draws on his own just fine. Perhaps not up to what other first grade kids do, but quite well considering his former reluctance. Ed Emberley has some nice easy drawing books too.

One thing I do is just model thinking, out loud. If the kids ask a question, instead of just giving an answer, I'll try to vocalize the thinking process. Just like I model folding laundry or writing the alphabet. Another thing (a strategy that cropped up during the tantrum years, LOL) was reasoning, and bargaining. If my son was insistent about something that couldn't be done (but was not yet being rude!), I'd make a counter-proposal. He would have to listen, and then tell me if he agreed with it or disagreed with it. If he didn't, it was his turn to come up with a solution. It taught him how to compromise, and how to think things through. For example, no, we couldn't play one more game before bedtime, but if it mattered that much to him, perhaps we could write it on the calendar to be sure it got played the next day. Those sorts of things. (Not giving in to tantrums ... teaching him that there were ways to think to avoid the tantrums.) I love all the replies to this thread. It's a great topic.

Not sure if this is what you're looking for, but when I was a kid, I found an electronics kit (Radio Shack, I think) at a yard sale ... and fell in love. I had so much fun with it I went out and bought a newer model to increase the range of things I could do. It had everything from morse code telegraphs to doorbells to lie detectors to water level detectors. There were a lot of components attached to a board (heavy cardboard, actually), with springs that you would then wire together in the appropriate configuration based on the manual. These days they come with fancy LCD screens and stuff, and may not be quite the same, but there's nothing quite like a handful of wires and batteries and bulbs and resistors and things. Check out some of the 100-in-1 or 30-in-1 type Electronic Kits at places like Radio Shack and see if that is what you are looking for. Another option would be to hit up the really old science books at your library, and just buy random parts from an electronics store. They had cool projects back in the days when the Apples and TIs and Commodores were popular ... I recall one kids' computer book talking about rewiring your home PC to direct your radio controlled cars. LOL.

Crockpot. :) Seriously, that thing has saved my sanity so many times.

I wonder how to balance it all too. I grew with the assumption that I would go to college (which I did) and heard the "you can be anything you want to be" message over and over. Oddly, the one thing I've ended up being is a SAHM homeschooler ... no training for that! LOL. Fortunately my mother's domestic efforts seeped in subconsciously, and though I'm not good at domestic things, at least I've got a vague idea of what to do (and a mom to call ... and she's the kind who both sews and installs toilets herself). I want both my children to be able to run a rudimentary household ... basic cooking, sewing on buttons, not washing new red shirts in with the white business shirts... stuff like that. I also want them to be academically prepared for whatever their future career choice may be, whether that includes college or not. I do believe that it's important for even a SAHM to keep up a 'resume' for those just-in-case times (at least keeping volunteer work and stuff like that on it). And I hope to give them a better Biblical foundation than I received as a child. As someone pointed out ... there's only so many hours in the day. Sigh. But we'll do what we can, and trust that they will at least learn how to teach themselves whatever we missed. One of these days I'd like to learn to knit, myself, actually.

We did Noeo Bio I this year and have enjoyed it. I figured, at least it was 'real' books, so if we didn't like it, we'd still have a nice reference library. :) So far, so good. We've cut back on the notebooking, and we've supplemented occasionally on experiments, but overall it has been a good fit for us ... very gentle and conversational since it's book-oriented. Just a few pages a day. I have a wiggly kid, and I deal with an anxiety disorder, so the low-pressure approach was great. There may be better programs out there, but for us it works. (I do wish I wasn't all thumbs with science experiments though!)

It would've bothered me, but I don't like folks coming to the door either. :) I've seen what big trucks do to yards, too, and I would definitely have wanted to be consulted before one went across my yard ... so it's just as well the vehicle was in the way, you know? It's just a tow job for him, but it's a yard work hassle for you afterwards. Sure, being neighborly is important ... but the neighbors have to ask neighbor-like too! :)

Actually, the pre-80s ones are probably the classics no one reads anymore so they are in decent condition. :/ I know I find plenty of 80s discards at our library sales. On the other hand, our library regularly purges things that haven't been checked out in X length of time, so I guess some of them end up getting discarded anyway. Yeah, this is part of that stupid CPSIA law. Join the underground ... collect old books!