In a calm, manner of factly fashion for both. At this current time, nudity would likely include having tell at least one to stop giggling and my youngest to stop pointing it out repeatedly and loudly, but in a general 'yes they're naked' and moving on with the lesson sort of way. For mental illness, we discuss it more at length than nudity. Not only because both I and my partner have mental health conditions, but something like 1 in 4 people with deal with at least one in their lifetime and I want them to be properly informed as I would for any physical condition so I would feel uncomfortable glossing over it. In specific for Vincent Van Gogh, we could discuss how he openly spoke about the frustration it caused him, how no one knows what we would call his mental illness today but it included anxiety and depressive states but he also had clear periods that he enjoyed and treasured as do many people with such conditions, and how little support and stigma there often is and how that sometimes leads people to harm themselves. More generally what we already talk about is how the balance of chemicals in the brain and function of receptors and these malfunctioning causes problems, what we can do to care for our mental health, what support we can get and give, and, in a discussion with my eldest who kept smacking himself in the head, alternatives to harming themselves.

Top recommendation for eloping for you to pass on: Have someone take lots of pictures. It's what one of ours did for us which even shutterbug me hadn't thought about and it really helped us make out day - I think it is something I would have regretted if they hadn't done it. We eloped - grabbed 3 friends, went to the registry office, took the witnesses out to lunch, we later when to the movies (and now watch that movie every year on our anniversary), and went home for cake. Best day for us.

:iagree: I would think being friendly is the basic way to treat friends, those one would like to be friends with and most people in general. Would a bisexual or pansexual person have to never joke or be friendly to anyone and keep everyone at arm's length to keep from 'leading them on'? It would be very lonely to have to keep everyone at arm's length in case they can't handle rejection - and I would hate for any of mine to blame someone else if they did not return their affections. That's just life which is far richer if we can be friendly with many and enjoy friendship for what it is - a wonderful relationship and connection with another person - rather than a stepping stone. If I found one of mine treating friendship like that, they'd need far more social skills lessons... Maybe if being friendly was more encouraged, then appreciating said friendships so such clarifications would be less needed, learning the difference between friendly and flirting and graciously accepting mistakes between rather than blaming others for 'leading them on' would be more common, and the OP's daughter would have a lot less stress.

Super Congrats! :party: :party: :party: :party: We sadly had similar. With our fourth, my MIL's words to my partner were "I thought you'd gotten your power cord cut!" <_< And my mother between each spent a large part of our calls/letters asking abut what birth control I was on, how I couldn't possibly want another (felt bad for my little sister when she went on about how I couldn't possible want a third and used her as an example), and such to the point I didn't tell her about 2, 3, or 4 until I was several months along (she's thousands of miles away which makes that easier). It's soo disheartening,but we're here happy for you :grouphug: :hurray: :thumbup:

My sons get letters addressed as Master from family on both sides of the pond as well as official mail like their yearly savings letter from the bank though official mail like that are addressed M. [First Initial] [Middle Initials] [Last Name] while family always seems to spell it out. I address mail without titles so I've not really thought about it until they were getting letters. In my mother's family history, the maiden name was given to either the first son or the first child as a middle name though a few added it as a second or third middle name when married. I didn't do that as I was quite happy change my name. We're not very traditional here, but then all traditions have to be invented and started somewhere. We both chose new surnames (he kept his old one as a second middle name to honour his brother), I changed my name entirely, I use Mx. as title when needed and possible, and I pretty much always refer to him as my partner even though we've been married almost 12 years (we were writing partners first and longer and it just fits for us).

Yes, it'll be fine, start when it's best for you and yours. We're starting next week and we hadn't finished the last year until the last day of July when some were already starting their new year. Different ways work and a week to recover will do more good most likely I think than pushing it.

How did they expect you to do to honour it? Celebrate what you want and when. We do May Day here, we go to the local parade and rally (that is officially in remembrance of a local strike/lock out in 1833 and our continued local efforts on workers' rights), we enjoy the community events, the history and current issues with it, and it's become important to us over the years. I imagine if it were around now after all the summer stuff/just before the start of our school year and there wasn't the local connection or recognition beyond sales that we could connect to (which was how it seemed where I lived in the States) I would have less energy for it and likely wouldn't bother.

Our goal is 'comfortable and legible when done at speed' - I want them to be able to write as they want without it being painful or embarrassing.

The 'Wrath of God' argument frustrates me the most. Out of all the things our nations have done that God could be angry about or could corrupt us, why is homosexuality used as the big one? Why not hospitality like Sodom and Gomorrah? Why not violence - are we turned more towards the rotten fruits of violence with national histories and current issues of genocide and slavery? I mean, the US hasn't even made slavery completely illegal yet (13th amendment allows it for those convicted of a crime) and none of it was or is by the Book. Like of all the things in our history for God to be mad at the people about, of all the things that could corrupt us and turn us away, why do so many pointing their finger at sex and who has or wants sex with who? That feels more like the Puritan-type roots feeding into modern thinking than anything to do with the texts - the texts point at a lot more that make a people go bad and a country go bad than sex.

Yes, Iceland is actually offering asylum. The offering of their homes came after the Icelandic public found the number Iceland's government was officially stating they were taking in too low which pushed their government to discuss raising it and pushed several other European countries to do the same. But then, the EU isn't exactly known for enforcing it's own rules on member states which is why the camps and crisis has gotten as bad as it has (there have been camps in the EU well before this and groups being kicked from country to country within the EU that should have EU citizenship and right of movement and in some places communities being walled off and many other things that is causing the crisis in those camps and areas to be far worse than if the EU enforced it's own rules properly). Whether or not the offers are actually used is not clear, but it has pushed Iceland and other European countries to start talking which will hopefully lead to come follow through.

I find the comparisons to communism laughable - mainly because it ignores how often governments and corporations in capitalist countries force buy and worse people out of their homes. I mean, what is now Central Park was once a thriving village, there is a long history of it. We had a large corporation push the council into force buying a row of homes and business, despite the people who lived and worked there's wishes, so they could be a new uber green flagship store and facilities that supposedly would bring jobs to the area. It was going to be the start of new life into that area. They boarded the whole area up, said they'd be done by last Christmas, and the row still sits empty. They officially pulled out a few months back. We lost a shop that refurbished and sold furniture at discount to help fund a local homeless youth hostel, a freezer shop, and other local amenities and jobs and dozens of people were forced out of their communities - more than one was forced to live with friends and family and one old man shoved into care home as he'd been living in the home he'd paid to adapt was taken from him - because of a corporation's wishes convinced the council and none of us benefited or likely would have benefited from the posh shop but people are forced to deal with it. The corporation is still holding on to the land in hopes of turning a profit. Personally, I think there should be more protection for communities than the whims of corporations or the dreams of the rich wanting to turn our areas into their projects when we get no support from anyone for our own projects to uplift the area that people spend their lives on. We have decades and more of evidence of how damaging and destructive forced moves and community destruction are, it is a violation. I think wanting everyone to have their right to shelter and fair say in their own community that they live in compared to here today and gone tomorrow investors to me is an important part of a democratic process that hears everyone rather than a totalitarian regime that can leave you on the street because it likes where your house it, but not you being there. There are plenty of ways to uplift an area and protect the community if we put people at the heart of projects rather than just letting those with the cash walk all over us.

Each of ours get to pick a show. As they watch Netflix and Youtube, this tends to be 15-20 minutes each. They all like it and the only one to cause a problem is my eldest who will try to sneak extras if I am not in the room. So now they also watch when I'm working in the living room when before they'd watch when all 4 came down in the morning on days off lessons or as soon as they were done all done. This has had the added bonus recently of them playing cards together while I'm finishing up other stuff. Video games caused us a lot more problems as they fight more over what to do. This has brought about the opposite of TV - they cannot play until I go upstairs. This has had the added bonus of them stop asking when they can as I don't go up until their father, who works nights, is close to getting up when before I could get asked repeatedly by all. And now we have a rota so the big kids can't constantly control play: Tuesday they have to pick something to play together, Wednesday is F's pick, Thursday is M's pick, Friday is family play where we take turns, Saturday is A, Sunday is O, and Monday is screen free. Currently they get an hour, adjusted with behaviour or other things that come up. So far its working, but it has been a long tweaking process that I imagine will continue into the future.

Personally, I now no longer do anything that involves going out before 2pm regularly. I need my mornings, my partner works nights so anything that requires us both to be involved won't happen regularly before 3pm anyways, and it just doesn't work for us anymore. I might consider it again if family BSL came back as we had a lot of support there, but I physically cannot handle it with lessons as well with the kids getting older. While I may take the kids to the park for physical or nature activities or just play by themselves, it's a special event like the annual science fair at the local college that gets me to agree to meet and be social with people in the morning. As a family, we've found we're more likely to enjoy and continue regular social unstructured activities if we arrange them at people's homes. Several HE kids in the area made a club and got a parent to agree to host and it's been going for about 2 years now - mine spend almost every Monday their with their dad just doing what they want mostly. We have the group here irregularly. My partner and I run a group for our adult friends here twice a week in the evenings after the kids go to bed. Park and softplay and other out of house meetups are rather rare for us these days - they're more for special events. The only not home based regular activity is Cadets and Badgers which is obviously evening based and quite structured...which reminds me, that starts up next week so I really need to sew on those badges...

Year 7 begins secondary level which is formatted on the site and in the books differently to the primary books. The website can be confusing. The student books are the practice books that are seen in Arcadia's link, you can download them chapter by chapter from Year 7. The first set is under Practice Book 7A contents, there is a second set under Practice Book 7B contents further down the page.

I hope things are going better at the moment and you and your husband find more peace and understanding. I second/third getting your records if you can and going through with someone knowledgeable. I got mine for 3 of mine, it was mostly helpful (though there was a gap in M's - just before she was born to the day after is blank - having that gap filled would have been very helpful as I had been put under for manual placenta removal). I don't think it was a needed part of my healing but just getting the papers can be helpful for people in taking back as much control as possible for a painful and random event. To answer your original question, I was unfazed really I was pleased - but I have multiple disabilities, married to someone with multiple disabilities, have many disabled friends and family members, so none of it was outside of the experience I already had and had been expecting and working for it for years. I imagine it would have been different if I were entirely able with little experience or connections to the disabled communities or hadn't faced what many other disabled parents face of having so much pressure to explain and prove to many medical people, health visitors, and social services types on how we would ensure our disabilities didn't get in the way of our kids being 'normal' and blaming it everything on us in some of the oddest ways (I still have a filed letter from an actual doctor trying to say my child had a significant speech delay and trouble understanding questions because I have a USian accent - even when speech issues ran in my partner's family and his only articulation problem was th-fronting which his father and the entire local dialect has but I do not and both I and my partner are neuroatypical with conditions that often affect language - that doctor wanted it to be anything else so she could complain about our parenting and home educating) and seeing that flipped to us being the best experts and role models for them as such 'successful disabled people' in the beat of a diagnosis. Systems are off like that.

I mostly use BBCiplayer these days but then you'd likely need a UK proxy. Youtube can be very useful for finding documentaries for wide range of ages and topics as long as you can sort through for quality/woo/parodies. When I am up for it, I can search through for topics and save them with title to favourites folders by topics so I can find them later or worst case scenerio re-search for it with titles that worked before. Personally, I'm not sure how much mine get out of documentaries. I love using them, and many times the kids make good remarks while watching it, but afterwards if I ask about it I just get either nada or really random comments not really based on the topic. Like we watched Animal Super Parents, they made lots of comments abut the frogs and the penguins and everything while we watched it, but afterwards it was painful trying to pull out a thing they'd learned from it that had anything to do with what we watched - one discussed a random animal that hadn't been mentioned in it! I wish I could figure out how to use them better.

Medical abuse is a big issue that as a society we don't really have a discussion or terms around - it's a great violation of personal autonomy and privacy while we are often at our weakest by people given great trust. Some of that has to do with rape culture - being socialized in a culture that continuously sends images and rhetoric that diminishes the pain and ongoing trauma of sexual assault, treats it as a punishment people deserve a lot, and often treated as entertainment for others has affects including on people who become medical professionals. Some of that is with power in socialization that some people take too far when in authority and I think some is because we that the conversation around it only happens when something major happens and we d not have a socially acceptable and sometimes even actual way to make complaints about any of it that is useful. I am a disabled person, I have been medically abused several times (mainly because I see so many and had a string of awful luck with them while pregnant - it's a major reason why we chose to stop having kids is I couldn't handle further pregnancy related medical abuse). I still have issues with medical abuse that happened over ten years ago. One of which was a sexual assault. They asked my partner to leave and I asked why an internal swab was needed to determine pregnancy (the only reason they would give for it) when I had my paperwork from my midwife there, already had a bump at 16 weeks because I was a tiny 18 year old, and was there after vomiting for several hours (hyperemesis gravidarum hit my first pregnancy so hard). I was held down by two OB/GYN nurses while a third inserted a a large plastic round tube into me, made remarks while I cried from the pain, pulled it out and left laughing about how I had been taught a lesson while I sat in what my partner describes as a frightening pool blood that we both feared I was miscarrying. I was so ashamed I didn't tell him or anyone else what really happened for over 5 years. And I never got the results of that swab though I imagine the amount of blood made it petty inconclusive. Like other sexual assaults, it was all about power, and if we could discuss these issues as a wider society, find a way to give victims of medical abuse back their own power in a way we felt would actually do something we could move beyond so many extreme cases and 'doctor bashing threads' because we felt we could deal with doctors who betray the trust we put in them but as it stands now many who are brave enough to make said complaints are dismissed, doctors just move to work elsewhere, or other things that make it feel useless to complain. Another medical professional I made a complaint about who had done several illegal things in caring for me was promoted soon after - I felt so powerless and useless which only feeds into the trauma any kind of abuse gives people. We need better systems in place for people and visible accountability.

I do to a point - I balance their ideas with where they are now, how well they're doing, how they are feeling about maths, and my ability to teach it alongside their siblings' maths. My about to be Year 6 child has been doing MEP for maths all the way through, often finds the patterns before I teach them, and generally gets maths but struggles with complex word problems and wandering brain. He usually loves maths but really wants a break from MEP so he can spent more time on other things which I'm more than fine with, but he also really wants to go to the University Technical College which is Year 10 entry and gives extra classes for those struggling with English, Maths, and Sciences, but doing so would cost him doing Computer Science and/or a language which he doesn't want to give up. So, we've looked through some things and landed on Math Essentials (the Middle School book then problem solving) as it is video taught and is said to be able to be done in 20 minutes and then go back to MEP for secondary levels when he can do it mostly by computer. He's been set on his idea for a while (he wants to build robots that help people, the UTC gives him access to big robotics and a chance at work experience and apprenticeship with companies that do that) but even if he changed his mind this will set him up well for maths GCSEs which he'll be taking anyways. Looking at where they are emotionally and in ability, where they want to be, and making a plan that allows for change is possible and for us is the goal. Seeing how what we're doing fits with his goals and that we can change things to fit him and still get there or elsewhere has only encouraged him. I think your plan is sound - 9th grade for Algebra 1 is still quite good and if both like the programme you're using then keep it.

Molesting a small child is wrong regardless of what else there is to the story. As someone who was abused for years, I find the common idea that those abused often become abusers and abusers were often abused and that adds to the story really uncomfortable and upsetting - it causes a lot of abused people unneeded further trauma and stress in fearing that when most research on the topic shows nothing of the sort. Abuse and trauma may cause damaged thinking linked to mental health problems, but most evidence suggests that we are no more likely to abuse others than those socialized in similar situations without the abuse (in fact, evidence strongly shows that people with mental health problems are more likely to be further abused than abusers themselves). There is no evidence that molestors and rapists are more likely to have been abused themselves - most research on the topic shows more common beliefs and socialization in their view of self and others than any common traits of abuse. The myth on that really needs to die. I think the link on pair bonding is kinda creepy - very patriarchal in its focus on male desires and pleasures in the level of a relationship. Personally, I spent about a year with my partner in text-to-text stage as we met online and then went to living with each other. People connect differently -- and I don't buy the level of physicality is so vitally important as to use as a marker compared to emotions or cognitive connections that it would somehow to blame for Josh Duggar's choices. I think the socialized worldview and view of self (the parents constant control alongside excuses and blaming others for things he had done) has far more to do with his actions than how they courted. I don't think how they courted helped but that was more a continuation of what was already there.

For us, google books used to be a great resource for finding books, but rules changed and now very little is really available to us in the UK. I stopped using it really as so much that was once there has now gone to no preview/no ebook available. Forgotten Books which lets me search for words or pictures has become the most useful for us alongside many other archive services.

Absolutely essential manipulates would be cube blocks and popsicle sticks for all of mine along with math tools like rulers, scales, analogue clock that they could adjust and measuring cups. I also really like other fun things like tubs of marbles or conkers and we also used dice, stencils with various shapes (good for art as well), blocks of different shapes, charts of numberlines and number facts, cards with numbers or shapes or symbols on them. I have a drawer of manipulates and rulers and stencils and a binder with numberlines, charts, and cards in binder pockets. The scale, clock, and cups are far rarer to use so end up in odd places and the blocks run off regularly for other play. We have an abacus that my older 2 used a lot and worked well for them, but my 3rd found it overwhelming. It seemed like she couldn't separate what she was working with from the rest of the frame. Once we put that aside and just worked with sticks or cubes (I would get out just enough that she and I both had enough for working out - when we worked on 5, she would have 5 sticks and I would have 5 sticks and there would be no more out) it started to click better for her. I also used a whiteboard for her a lot so we could draw out what we were doing or off the cuff maths games for her.

Almost always. I have a desk and seat next to my bed so I sit up, take medication, get dressed, brush and pull up hair, put on hat if we're going out or having people over so I don't have worry about the frizz, and so on so I then hit the ground already going. It's taken me years to get this way though but I feel better for it. I do not wear makeup at all though as I have no energy for it or skill beyond ovedone theatre makeup - I now only own chapstick to help M-6 who gets bad eczema around her mouth and various nail polishes the kids have bought over the years. Shoes are only if we're leaving the house. I always wear my necklace even while sleeping so that's always there too. Today was one of the rare exceptions - I ended up changing into a nightgown so I could be extra comfy. Between struggling to remember new medications to get rid of my latest infection (I literally stared at it yesterday unable to remember if I'd taken it yet or not) and struggling with the emotions and logistics of my brother-in-law's funeral on top of usual bleh, extra comfy was a high need for me even though almost all of my wardrobe is picked with comfort in mine anyways.

I agree that they really shouldn't sign up for sailing lessons without being strong swimming especially if there are a lot of people and that the lax test for it really needs to be looked into before something horrible happens. I know the event permission sheets I get when my kids do things through their activities, there is a box that asks for important information and one of the examples is "can't swim" even though they've never been anywhere near water. Knowing and being realistic of what they can and cannot do is important. I'm in the UK, even though we're about as far from ocean as one can get here there are still major rivers and lakes -- which everyone is warned not to swim in - and the ocean isn't that far. Swimming is part of the national curriculum but many say the way it is done gives few real benefits or really teaches swimming at all. Even though the news is currently filled with swimming world championship, it can be really hard to access. My partner grew up in a fishing village by the North Sea where teens like to go swimming in wetsuits, but even there where it is high risk, they bus into another area now for lessons and there are complaints because it is such a high risk area but still has little provisions accessible to most people. As others have said, a lot of it is down to what is locally or politically viewed as important. We now only have one public pool in our city which is really awkward to get to for most of the city and has no parking and very rare public transport, the other was closed last year. We were promised another one within the new arena/leisure centre that opened this year - first it was downgraded and then it was cancelled altogether. When the local University tried to build one that would have public access, the council wouldn't give planning permission because they felt the area had plenty. To be fair, there are several - all in private gyms. From my own research, only one has swim lessons or open access to those without very pricey membership (I think because it is a sports store with pool and gym facilities rather than mainly a gym so it's not their main income and the swimming lessons are outsourced). It's very easy here I think to get to secondary school without really learning to swim - some only do it for a term in primary, one day a week for very little time. I tried when my eldest was 5 or so for regular lessons but it was difficult to access financially and physically as a disabled parent - it was easier to use things closer to me for physical development especially as the pricey lessons had him waiting most of the time and me doing it was hard with my mobility problems. It became more difficult with A-8 who has always been water phobic (we've only just gotten to the point of washing her hair without her thrashing and the few times she's been in a pool since being a baby, she wrapped herself around me like an octopus which as someone with joint problems is very painful) and then M-6 has severe eczema - her first time in a pool you could literally see the red spreading across her and she started screaming. I'm hoping for at least the older 2 to go to the store-pool for lessons this autumn, M-6 will need to do a skin test at their pool first. I'd love for them to be strong swimmers - it's just been very hard to access for us.

We have our landline and so do all the family and friends to my knowledge (and as a 3 adult house with mainly home based hobbies and one being a night worker, it is very rare for no one to be at our house -- our answering machine is usually for when the toddler has turned off the ringer while playing with it...) but it has happened when they are out elsewhere. My eldest has asked to use others phones and they've all seen us ask for when our mobiles have died or we forget it (we're very bad with mobile phones, mine still has most of the £10 on it from when I bought it years back as I just don't think to have a phone out with me as I dislike using the phone and we're either in town with easy access to phones or out where there is little coverage - I do like having it sit in my room for emergencies though). I've considered getting my kids those uber walkie talkies when their older to deal with the access issue. I have had issues here with their friends claiming they don't know their home or their parents numbers (when it is obvious they do but don't want to call). This has resulted in my partner checking their parents' numbers in his phone in front of them before their parents leave and me more than once commenting that I can just message them on facebook. They always seem to prefer calling on their own than us doing so after knowing we can without them though we always check what was said anyways.

Yes, it's folded on top of a bookcase in our bedroom. My partner and I eloped and it was the nicest dress I had at the time - light blue with silver and purple flowers. Every year I try to put it on, my partner wears his fancy blue shirt, and we take pictures (I say try because the years I was pregnant were a no go and menopause hasn't been kind to my waist...). I'm big on pictures and traditions. We also watch Spirited Away each year (we saw it at what was then a little cheap artsy cinema that evening). I no longer have the leggings I wore before and after (it was November, it was cold) or the shoes I wore which ended up being really uncomfortable. For our tenth anniversary, we went out with our kids and friends and family and had a reception-like meal where we wore our wedding outfits though I added a new blue cloth cap and light blue shiny cloak (he added a beard and much longer) because they looked really nice, made things far warmer, and the cloak covered the small light green stains that got there somehow years back that I don't know how to remove safely. Our 12th anniversary is this November, we're buying doughnuts (a dozen dozen which will result in one doughnut per month we've been married) to feed everyone and then some though we probably will do pictures beforehand rather than eating rather than cover them in sugar and things.