Well my husband is sick today. He went to the DR first time in years and asked her if this year has been a bad year for illness. He has a sinus infection and ear infection (they also think it could be part viral like my DD). The Doctor stated that people she never see's in her office (like DH) has been in once or twice this year will illness. It just seems like more is going around and stronger bugs than what we are used too. That made me feel a little better.

Most of the kids that we are around that are sick happen to be at the Mothers Day Out I work at. Of course we have rules about it but we usually don't find out until it is time for them to go home that they are sick or a family member of their has been sick. A little boy in the class I teach (and my youngest is in the class) has 5 kids in the family. Their mom brings these kids NO MATTER WHAT. One day he threw up at lunch (an hour before he went home) and when the mom picked him up she stated that he had been sick the day before but she thought he was over it. We only have 2 more days of school and 1 work day. I am not working next year (first time in 7 years) but my youngest will still be attending. I already asked the director about this little boy and she said that his family will not be attending next year. Hopefully this will help. I am praying that since my other two children and I are not there that we will be able to cut out the germs. We already change clothes in the washroom the minute we get home and wash hands right away. I may just need to have us all take baths or at least the little one next year when she gets home to get the germs off her. At most of our other activities the parents are very good about keeping kids home if anyone in the family is sick. The only other place we run into the germ issue is church (again some families that send kids no matter what). Again we may have to start bathing after church activities to get germs off.

I recently replaced all the pillows, all of the kids mattresses and we pulled up carpet in the playroom/schoolroom. I think we might do the living area and hallways over the next couple weeks. I am also thinking about getting our air ducts cleaned on our air conditioner. We have leather furniture and not a lot of "extra" stuff in the house so those things don't hold germs. We also no longer have pets due to allergies and my asthma. I do dust a few times a week, vacuum daily, and wash linens 2 x a week during allergy season. We change pillow cases every other night during this season too. Right now Lysol is our friend. Typically once June hits we are well until late September early October. October to December and then March to May is when we are sick the most. That is when our allergies are acting up too so it probably is connected.

Nope ... My mom is overweight and has a spotless house, her finances are good (paid of house and cars). In fact my parents have no debt, plenty of saving for their future and 3 paid off houses. I am overweight and at times my house is a mess (due to three kids and a hubby that works all the time) but overall it is clutter free and clean. Our financial status is due more to pay cuts and layoffs than anything to do with weight. I personally have worked 3-4 jobs at a time and still am overweight (though I am in the process of getting it back down to healthy).

I have a 3 year old, 5 year old and newly 8 year old. I work at a Mothers Day out 2x a week and my kids either go to school there or are there doing their schoolwork upstairs (it is held at our church). We also have church, field trips, park days and acting during the week. So we are around a bunch of children. We also live in central Texas and all have allergies (mold, oak and ragweed). Lately when we get sick I hear comments about how we are ALWAYS sick and there must be mold or something in our house. There are 5 of us. If one of us gets sick we are pretty much guaranteed to pass it around to at least 2 more. My 3 year old has ear infections about 3 times a year. My 8 year old and I tend to have allergies and get strep/or virus germs once every 3-4 months. My 5 year old occasionally (like once a year) will come down with something. My husband gets sick maybe once every other year. Then there is the random stomach bugs that we get once or twice a year. Plus add on allergies and sinus infections due to allergies ... someone is sick every month or two. Honestly, I have felt like it was normal until people made comments. My kids all have their tonsils and have never had tubes. Their doctor does not feel like it is needed and honestly why have surgery unless we have too. I have a very weak immune system due to an auto immune disease. I catch things easily. I also have asthma so I have always gotten ill easily. This year has been harder on us for illness but last year we were well most of the time. SO ... does this seem normal? How do you prevent illness when you are so active? We do probiotics, vitamin c, a daily vitamin and a little extra D vitamin just to help. We eat pretty healthy and drink lots of water. I guess I am just annoyed at the comments I have been getting. Some of them seem to blame it on the fact we homeschool. They think if we left the house we would not be sick so much. Like my house is breeding germs or something. Ummm if we did not leave the house we probably would NOT get sick as much. It is playing with all the darn kids that get us sick. :tongue_smilie:

The number 1 reason I homeschool is because in high school I had to FIGHT to get into honors and AP classes. I was making over 100 average every six weeks in English. Half of my classes in regular class where reviewing things for the kids that goofed off. However I did not "test" high enough for honors classes so they wanted me to stay in regular classes. I told my guidance counselor that I would drop out and get my GED because I was bored. They finally put me in Honors my Junior year. I took AP English, AP Chemistry 2 and another AP class. I had Honors Math as well. I scored A's the whole year in every class and did fine. I scored a 32 on the ACT and yet when I got to college I still felt behind. IMAGINE if I had stayed in the regular classes like they wanted me to! My husband graduated in the top 3% of our class and still struggled with English in College. We live in a very good school district. There is NO reason for kids to struggle so much if they do their job in High school.

We line dry the kids clothes because I resell them and I want to make sure they don't shrink, get too much wear and that I can get stains out. I also do most of my clothes. My husband likes his to go in the dryer. I have a bar hanging in my garage above the washer and dryer. I hang shirts, dresses on hangers and hang them on the bar. Pants and shorts get put on a drying rack. I do it all in the garage during 9 months of the year (because it is so warm here). It usually just takes half a day and then I put them directly in the closet or drawers. It does not take extra time since I have to hang the clothes anyways. Socks, undies, towels and sheets get put in the dryer. When it is cold outside I hang dry in the bathroom on the shower curtain bar overnight and use the hanging rack in the bathroom to dry pants. I have done this for years.

I have a good friend that is a midwife (known each other since childhood), a good friend that is a doula and a good friend that is an OB. All of these woman I love an adore but I decided to have someone else has my OB. I just don't feel comfortable getting nude in front of someone that I hang out with all the time. Heck I don't really love getting nude in front of my DH. LOL

I lived on my own before I got married (moved out at 18) but my husband did not. He went from his Mom's house (say that because she babied him) to ours when we got back from our honeymoon. I REALLY wish he had lived on his own first. When we got married I was debt free, had my own car, did not even owe college bills and had money in savings. He on the other hand had a car payment and no clue how to budget. The first several years were really hard. Even after 12 years there are times that I get frustrated with how he handles money and I think if he had some time to do it all on his own he would understand it more. We were 21 when we got married so I don't think we were too young either.

I was going to say Texas too. Austin is a great area to Homeschool in. We do not have to report to anyone and are considered a Private School in this state. There are tons of possibilities for homeschooled kids. There are sports groups, acting, singing, etc. Lots of one day schools, co-ops and more! We really love it. There are so many businesses that are homeschool friendly as well.

I have family all over Alabama and TN. My uncle is in the National Guard there and has been keeping me updated. I feel so bad for everyone that is affected.

Here is a link to the local news closures. That might give him an idea of what the area looks like. click here

I am INFJ and it fits me too. Everytime I have taken this test it ends up the same. I- 91% N-41% F-62% J-78%

This is me and the OP's post reminds me of "teen Me". I was in Choir and active at church but all the activities drained me. I had one good friend and met my husband in high school and that really was all the friends I needed. I honestly just loved reading, writing, singing, serving the Lord and spending time with family.

My grandparents Nanny and PawPaw Bertha (my great grandmother but I called her by her first name because everyone thought it was cute when I was little) Nanny (last name ... another great grandmother) Granny and Mr. (last name ... he was divorced from my grandmother and an evil man) Memaw and Papaw (great grandparents) Mr. (last name) Mrs. (last name) -these were step grandparents and were in their 40's when they had their boys so in their 70's when we came along ... loved them dearly though. Husbands- Oma and PawPaw Grandma My kids call their grandparents ... Nana and PawPaw (mine and really the only grandparents they have) MeeMaw and Grandpa (first name) - Husbands Parents and his mother has passed ... his dad really has nothing to do with his kids since their mother passed 3 years ago so my kids don't really know him. SAD Grandpa (first name) - My bio father but they have only met him 2 times They also call their great grandparents Granny Great Great Nanny (she passed a year ago though) Grandma (last name) - She passed a year ago and was my step grandmother Oma and PawPaw Grandma

We will do a payment plan when it comes time. My parents are pretty determined to pay for them for all three kids but I don't know if I feel comfortable with it.

I have this problem too. Mine is more though because I HATE changes and being around a bunch of people. Even growing up I did not enjoy holidays after the age of 8 because of these two things. Also my husband works a TON around Christmas so everything is done by me. Around Easter I have two birthday parties (both girls born in early April) plus Easter. These scenarios stress me out. I try very hard to make it fun for my kids and push through my issues. I don't do a lot of activities that most do for their kids. We don't color eggs at Easter for example. I do take them to an egg hunt in town though and we still have our family get together on Easter. In the fall we do go to a pumpkin patch and the church Halloween festival. We don't trick or treat door to door or hand out candy at home. At Christmas we have a family dinner here at home and decorate a few weeks before. I am very anal so I will always be deep cleaning the house in March/April and November/December. There is not really anything I can do about it so I just try and do it over a two week period so that I don't stress myself out. I also shop online to keep me from having to go out and shop during the busy seasons. I mail things to most family members and if we do have a family gathering I make it simple (at my house). Everyone is always assigned a dish or two to bring so that I don't have to do it all. My kids usually have a great time and then I crash and burn for about a week (literally sleep a ton and veg out) after each major event.

WOW! I never have been told I am a sloppy mother. Thanks! I always see myself as super strict and on top of everything. My kids are convinced I can see through walls. :001_smile: Honestly though ... I am not comfortable in "clothes" and pretty much dress in night dresses or very loose shorts/sweatpants and T-shirts when at home. When I leave you will NEVER see me in sweatpants. Even if I am going to play at the park I am fully dressed (even if just a dress with shorts underneath). My kids must have something on their rear (underwear/diaper/pull-up) but otherwise I don't really care at home. ODD usually wears a dress and has always been one to keep something on. Son has sensory issues so he usually just has rear coverings and maybe a T-shirt. Youngest likes to just wear her undies. She is newly potty trained and it is so much easier for her to not have to mess with a bunch of clothes. She will wear a t-shirt sometimes but that is it. If we are leaving the house then of course it is full clothing. I don't allow them to go around the yard without clothes on or go without clothes on if anyone other than grandparents are here. I will say that living in central TX and NOT wanting to pay $400 air conditioning bills may contribute to how we dress. We keep the house at about 80 and honestly are in swimsuits 80% of the time from May to October. If we lived in Colorado we probably would wear several layers of clothes. :lol:

My dad was out for almost a year and then three jobs fell into his lap over a three month time period. I pray that something similar happens (just sooner).

I do one of five things 1- Trade once or twice a year curriculum with a friend in another state (we do this currently with History and Science). 2-Sell at local group sale. 3-Sell on here or another forum I am on 4-Sell on Ebay (I have over 1000 feedback on ebay mostly selling stuff with 100% feedback. So far no issues for me) 5-Put on paperback swap or take to used bookstore to sell (this is for when i just want it out of the house and am 100% sure I won't use it again). c

Exercise is KEY in keeping my cycles regular. My diet is secondary but high protein/low carb helps. Drugs did not work very well for me.

Last Summer we did lite math, Science and a lit study (FIAR). We worked on it 4 days a week for about an hour or two a day (depended on how in dept the kids wanted to go with the FIAR books). The kids LOVED it. This summer we have to play catch up because we are behind on some things (due to illness at the beginning of the year). IF we finish early we are going to focus on Spanish and History. These are the two subjects I slack on the most.

My kids have their own cards starting at age 5. We live outside of the city limits though so it is attached to our paid family account. In the summers they are allowed to have their own account (all school age kids can) but we have never switched it over just for that.

I got mine yesterday or the day before.

I bought it from the coop and my oldest LOVES it. She usually does about 10 lessons a week on her own. I love it because I HATE art and really am not good at teaching shading or any of the other aspects she is learning right now.