Right! Or. date like when to drop without a problem kind of thing. Some of what I wrote above is tongue-in-cheek, but I do wish I'd taught them more about getting through the obstacle course of bureaucracy! 😊

Hi Everyone, My two are 18 and in college. They're wonderful, I'm not complaining. For various reasons, the last year has been really red tape-y. I handled it, but it was a lot of stress. Last week a bunch of red tape came at us re: their college, scholarship money etc. I delegated one piece of dealing with red tape to my son and touched bases w/ him a couple of times. Boring story, short: I wish I had known to teach my kids how to deal with annoying bureaucracy and red tape. In retrospect I would teach them: how to put the phone on speaker while they're on-hold. (In other words, don't just hang up and forget the whole thing.) how to "dog" a detail until it's completely managed. How important it is to get a confirmation that important info. has been received. How important it is to memorize your social security number. How essential it is to know key calendar dates. How vital it is to track down all of the requirements a college might need. Okay, I'll leave it at that, but you get the idea. I'm not saying that we should create Bureaucracy 101, but I am wishing that I'd sprinkled in these lessons as I worked w/ my high schoolers. Like I did one day: out of the blue we were driving and I pointed out where to find the VIN number on the car. I just mentioned it in passing. I kept it short and I could tell they were listening. I'm trying to share stuff I wished I'd done, before I get any older and start forgetting what I forgot!! Wendy p.s. I wrote another post about what I wished I'd instilled re: cleaning the house and cooking. I put that in the elementary age forum.

So cool! Can you say more about this. ♥

I have twins. At five, one picked up reading quickly in various ways. But his brother didn't read until he was seven. He's doing beautifully today so there was zero long-term damage. 😊 I taught him using the I See Sam "books." They're short. (It looks like they're free here. This is news to me.) To me the only downside to printing them out, is that the bought ones come in different colors as you advance in reading. So the first set are on red paper, the second on orange etc. It was so much fun. My son loved it and responded really well. I saved all the books to hopefully teach grand kids one day! (Okay, I'll be ancient, but I have hope.)

Great question. Following.

I had real sleep problems when I was pre- and in menopause. I know this sounds woo-woo, but a friend who was into herbs recommended lemon balm tea. After I determined that it was totally safe -- and it is -- I found a health food store that sold loose lemon balm tea. I'd make a cup before going to sleep and it seriously cleared up my terrible insomnia. (I remember telling a friend, "Don't drink this stuff and drive.") Just a thought: you might make the tea, put it by your bedside and drink it when you wake up in the night. Maybe it was all placebo, but it really helped me. Menopause is so different for everyone: I never had a single night-sweat. Instead I was seriously claustrophobic. Elevators were a real problem. I wouldn't get in one if "too many people" were already in it. My poor kids and husband. On trips they'd see people in an elevator and all turn to me with faces asking, too many or are we good here? This was entirely new for me, it's gone now. I'm 57. And I had bad insomnia. Everything went away at some point. Definitely by the time I was 51 or so. Hang in there -- I know it's hard. Wendy

Hilarious! I do this all the time too!

Well said re: confidence. I never would have even thought to take a homeschooling approach seriously without TWTM. When I pulled ours from Kindergarten, my dad didn't speak to me for over a year. Dh would drive the two hours w/ the kids to see the grandparents. Without Susan and Jessie, I never could have withstood his anger. My mom was more like, "but you wont homeschool them for high school, right?" Um I hate to break it to you, lady. . . Now that they're 18 nobody is more astounded than I am at how spectacularly home school was for us. I loved hearing this too.

It's been years since we read SOTW, but Churchill was left out of everything I was exposed to as a student. Other than a quick mention. I can't remember if he was included in SOTW, I'll check. For now, this book The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance during the Blitz by Erik Larson completely changed how I thought about WWII. Forever, I'd thought the U.S. was the reigning good guy -- and in many ways, yes -- but Churchill held the Nazis back on his own for years. England and the English people were bombed and attacked again and again. The book just came out, but I wish I had read it as a teen. I highly recommend reading. It's a page-turner!

Right, I know they're old enough to climb, but a baby gate is a gentle, sweet reminder to the kids: stay out!!! 🙃 Adding: My kids LOVED the Space Center. Loved it.

I found so many baby gates at a second hand kid's store. You might want to get baby gates to keep them out of certain rooms. Where are you in Florida? Just wondering if you're anywhere near Legoland? In Winter Haven. Holy cow, that was my boys' Mother Ship. One of my sons suggested origami so that they can make something a little more intricate. Also, he said that you might want to buy a stack of colored construction paper that they can use up for planes etc. Outdoors, my boys were happy with a small kids' pool filled with water. And sand! They loved a sandbox. I LOVE bubbles for outside and water guns!! My kids LOVED water guns. And they never forgot the time we did water balloons -- they still talk about that.

This is awesome!! And so true. ♥♥♥ I always loved this one! She also said something similar about chocolate and getting the squirmies out by running around. I wish I could remember. The chocolate enticement always made me feel better: because I did that too! I remember her saying once that her dad could look from his house into hers and see the kids running.

Thank you!! Fixed the name. Long, hard hot weekend. I'm still recovering. 🙃 I happened to pick up TWTM the night before Kindergarten and was too far on the K path at that point, but I also told dh, "you've got to read this." Dh -- who hadn't been on board at all -- wanted them pulled by Thanksgiving. But then I was panicking so I didn't pull them. By Christmas they were home for good (pun intended). They're 18 today and doing beautifully. Susan and Jessie deserve an eternal standing ovation for what they did for my family. That's a beautiful, beautiful memory. ♥♥♥ Made me teary.

I haven't read everyone's comments, but just wanted to say that after years of bickering it finally dawned on me to treat dh the way I hope my sons will be treated by their spouse's one day. That really turned things around for me. (We're married 21.) The other thing that has helped a lot: I act very respectful of his time. I might need something that only he can do and I might say, "I know you're swamped with a, b, and c, but could do blank by Tuesday night? Adding: there's a lot to be said for growing older. I look at problems very differently than I did twenty years ago. ♥♥♥

I don't have a curriculum suggestion, but listening to the Tim Ferriss podcast would be an excellent beginning and middle. I've been listening for years. So good. The perfect episode to start with is #351. On episode 351: "First is Allen Walton (@allenthird), founder of SpyGuy, an online security store based in the Dallas, Texas area. Walton struggled in high school and spent a few years playing video games before his mom made him apply for a job at a local surveillance chain, where he worked from 2009-2011. He became interested in starting his own business after being exposed to The 4-Hour Workweek. In 2014, he went out on his own and started SpyGuy, his current business. He built the business to $1 million in revenue on his own, relying on what he learned in books and podcasts, and it now brings in seven-figure revenue with five employees." I also highly recommend reading the 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss. Let me know if you want more ideas. Very cool that he wants to start a business!! ♥♥♥

I know they're kid-movies, but they're so well done. Ghibli anime. My favorites are Tortoro, Ponyo and Kiki's Delivery Service. If you haven't seen them they are so good!

Definitely the fall!!

I would love a thread on the biggest lesson you've learned from SWB and/or Jessie. Mine was this. It was 2011 or '12 in Richmond, VA when I saw Susan speak in person. I'm paraphrasing, but at one point she said, "If you're an engaged parent, there's very little you can do to harm your children, but saddling them with student loans is one way to harm their future." Mine were only seven at the time, but I never forgot this info. ♥♥♥ Re: Jessie. She has an audio called What I Wished I'd Known or something like that. I listened to it two or three times. She tells how she and her husband put 16 year old Susan in a freshman dorm, and Susan returning home with scary stories about dorm-life. I can't remember if Jessie recommends against student housing, but that was -- for sure -- my takeaway! Mine are 18 today, in college and living at home. What are your takeaways from SWB or Jessie? Wendy

It sounds like you're staying safe. We're reading twins -- do you have a favorite book list that you can send?

Wow. Such good ideas. I love the idea of fostering a dog (I'd teach a few commands too). And the Meals on Wheels idea is great. I have nice memories of volunteering at Meals on Wheels with my grandparents in the summer. ♥ When we first locked down in 2020, I started a blog. I'm also a huge reader. Here are my most awesome books ever list. I'd also train myself -- I'm doing this now in Atlanta -- to get up each morning a bit earlier w/o feeling awful. That way I can walk the dog outside in the early hours before the heat gets bad. I need my sleep or I'm a total zombie. I just moved my alarm back every 15 mins. since late May. I feel dumb, but I hadn't realized that Texas was in lock down again until your post. Wendy

I wish we had one -- that's awesome!!

This is my dad EXACTLY. My parents have a pretty display of pitchers in their dining room window. We moved one pitcher like an inch over to see what my day woul do. Yep, he walked in and fixed it within thirty seconds.

The title of this thread sounds like a great book title. Well, we did a cruise before Covid. And we've been to Savannah twice to see family, but stayed in fun hotels. My sister, though, is flying from Tucson to NJ and then leaving out of NJ for a cruise around Iceland. She goes w/ her mother-in-law!!

My kids loved Great Courses. I just wanted to put in a plug for the library. Libraries in the both of the states we've been in had a great selection of Great Courses! Have fun!!