Wow, Tanaqui, you just described my 4 year-old to a tee. It's exhausting.

Husband received paint for his birthday, so we motivated ourselves this weekend and now my kitchen, living room, and dining room are beautiful colors instead of stark white. I'm thrilled! I discovered that one of husband's work benefits is 9 free credit hours a year at his university for anyone in his family. I'm starting classes to prepare for the CPA, something I've wanted to do ever since I realized that I was in the wrong, wrong, wrong grad program ten years ago. Woohoo!!! Edited because autocorrect is awesome.

I suggest using duct tape to secure a sock around her hand. When my crazy boy burned his feet horrifically, we made him duct tape boots. We put the sock on, then wrapped it carefully (not on the skin) around the sock, over and over so that he couldn't stretch it or pick it off. We cut the boots off every day or two and rebandaged his feet and made new boots.

I use multiple programs to slow my boy down without boring him. He's 7.5 years old and in level 3B of Singapore (using Intensive Practice and CWP), nearly done with Miquon Green, doing Life of Fred, and starting Beast. I'd rather he do four math programs at a time than be in 7th grade math when he's 8 years old. We're a math family, and he's a very mathy kid, but I suspect his brother will not be doing four programs at the age of 7.

Last year, we started July 1, took all of August off, schooled all of September and October, took most of November off to recover from a move, schooled most of December (yes, even Christmas Eve), schooled all of January and February, and took about a week and a half off each in March, April, and May. We finished at the end of May. I really liked that. I had planned to start again July 1, but that didn't work out, so we'll start August 1 this year and take a few weeks off in October, take a week at Thanksgiving, a week in January when the grandparents visit, and two weeks in February for a vacation. I'm sure I'll want at least a week here and there in these spring like we did last year. We all get itchy as the weather improves. I generally school 5 days a week plus a day for co-op during the traditional school year (so, 6 days a week). I do this because my kid really struggles to come back to lessons after more than two consecutive days off, and, to his brain, co-op is a day off. I count days, aiming for fulfilling the state's attendance requirement at home, not including co-op. Co-op certainly counts toward the required days, legally, but not counting it makes it easy for me to fit all of our curricula in without stress. If I counted it, I'd have to change a lot of my goals. I'm sure I will someday, but in this season of not taking more than two days off at a time (except when we take at least a full week), it's easy to count the way I do and still finish by the end of May. I am Done at that point. Ski season has ended, so my husband is around more, and I Need To Have Time for Me after a long, long winter. I'll plan to return to full school in July again next year, but we'll see. I consider us year-round schoolers, so not taking more than a few full weeks off at a time fits with that. I like not scheduling the other breaks because I still have little kids who get sick often, and give their illnesses to me. :-)

I don't plan for sick days either. I do count school days, because I am required by my state to keep attendance. When we reach our required number of days, I decide how much more I want to do before we quit (we school more days than we are required), but how much more will change each year depending on life and where we are in our curricula. We school five days a week, plus a day of co-op (yes, that means I often school one weekend day...it works for us). This allows me to take a week off here and there for mental health or entire family illness while still getting plenty of school days. My child does best with no more than two days off in a row. I'm willing to fight to get him back into a routine (the fight can take a week) after a full week off, but not after three days. To his brain, co-op, which falls on a Friday, is a day off, hence the weekend day of school. I don't count sick days as school, even though they would count in a public setting. Last year, we had 210 school days before I quit for the "summer break." I am Done by the end of May, so I start early enough to have plenty of days before June. Last year, we schooled all of July, took off August, went back for September and October, then took most of November off to move. It worked really well.

Nope. I lost a retainer at camp, as did many other kids each year. I probably won't let my kids take theirs with them when the time comes.

This really resonates with me. While there are many problems with our marriage, this issue, the character flaws I am developing, is possibly the one that concerns me the most.

Hah! I think my J moved away when my second child was born, but I still test INTJ. I love planning. I might love planning more than teaching. I might, also, be a bit behind on planning. I need to make a new daily routine, figure out science (they want more, more, more!), and look at all the books to finalize the plans I began months ago. And the 4 year-old wants school. I DID NOT expect that. I think he only wants science and math, but still. Edited because I have to learn how to keep my fingers off of the publish button.

It makes you crazy! We did it all too. He ended up having multiple food allergies, and, at 4, still has sleep issues. We swore we would never do it again, but, surprise! I was still getting up with the two year-old five times a night when the new baby was born. I still go a bit wonky when anybody cries.

We used to be fine and getting better, then we were fine and not getting worse or better, now we are difficult and getting worse. We used to have a very solid savings account, but in the three years since husband graduated from graduate school and we moved across the country to follow the work and had another surprise baby, we've nearly wiped that out. I've been trying to tutor to fill the gap, but that isn't happening often enough. I'm starting to substitute teach in the fall with thoughts of even more work ASAP. It's pathetic that we were more financially stable when he was a grad student and I watched one baby in our home while staying home with our other two, but that's what happens when you move to a high COL area and the income isn't there (despite a PhD). Not a good decision, but he insisted. He still thinks it was the right decision because he loves his job. He doesn't care about money and doesn't worry about debt. I thought we should have stayed in our low COL area. It might have taken longer to find a job, but we'd still have our savings account (and I had contacts to go back to work there. No contacts here in that field). Edited for typos

I hear you!! I read every book ever published about colic...and all the blog posts on the topic too. No one even came close to describing the crazy I was living. Seriously, your book is about a baby who cries for three hours every evening? And colic usually resolves around 3 months. Hah! Those authors had No Idea. We're all lucky we survived.

I appreciate your answers. We have had very challenging periods in our nearly ten year marriage that we were able to weather with therapy. Unfortunately, the last four years have been more bad than good, and the last two years have been almost entirely bad. I've now written and erased five different explanations to justify the above. Suffice to say that this isn't about falling out of love. It's about going through horrible, horrific situations and realizing that no matter how often I ask for help, I end up going through them on my own. He can't, or won't, be there for me. And it's about years and years of walking on eggshells to keep him from anger. And years and years of being told I'm the problem...and, ultimately, believing him and walking on more eggshells. I'm in therapy again. We might do therapy together, but, honestly, I'm not hopeful. This is a painful mess.

I would really like to hear from those who decided to pursue divorce, whether mutually with your spouse, or independently, essentially, I guess, blindsiding him or her. I would appreciate the perspective as I contemplate the challenges in own marriage. I read the board rules carefully, so I think this topic is permitted, but if I'm wrong, I'll be happy to delete it.

I read WTM in 2010, when my oldest was two, but I don't think Google helped me stumble upon the forums until 2012. At that time, I was doing intentional but very relaxed preschool at home with DS1. I lurked heavily for about 2 years before joining (I'm very shy online). I am grateful to WTM and the forums for helping me discover the world outside of the Abeka and Saxon with which I was homeschooled.

I live in an area with insanely rapid growth and the subsequent insanely increasing housing prices. To get what you outlined, you'd need to pay $275,000-$325,000, if you don't care about the school district, just general safety of neighborhood. Add in a concern for school district, and the price jumps to the $300,000 to $400,000 range and keeps on going up. I know people who bought NOT move-in ready homes for $400,000 just in the last few months. I know people who have spent $600,000 for the newest three or four bedroom homes in the hot school districts. Craziness. We were lucky to find a house in a safe neighborhood that, while clean and livable, had not been majorly upgraded. I would never send my kids to these schools, though.

That's awesome! It's great when you find your groove, isn't it? I also feel like I've found the sweet spot. Staying under 20g net carbs has been easy this week, I'm averaging 1400 calories, without feeling hungry at all. I could tell I'd really arrived when I went 8 hours between meals yesterday without even noticing it (that happens when I keep my carbs low). I'm also super thirsty, but that's normal for me when I'm vey low carb. I'm watching my electrolyte intake carefully this time and not finding any issues with blood pressure or attention. Thanks for sharing your experiences with that, ladies! Fourth of July campout starts in a few hours. I've marinated chicken to cook over the fire, and I'm packing eggs for breakfast. No marshmallows or chips for me!

I went several times as a teenager, but that was 20 years ago. Like your DH, I thought it was awesome, at least until we tried to leave. I would never go as an adult, even if I lived there now. I just don't like those kinds of crowds.

I find it interesting that salty has almost the same number of votes as sweet. Whenever I tell people that I don't like sweets, but I'm crazed for salty snacks, they think I'm crazy. Hi fellow salt lovers!

I get dressed and do my hair and make-up every morning, though when that happens is unpredictable. I'm working on creating the habit of being ready for the day by 8am. We don't wear shoes in our house, so no to that.

You are doing it perfectly.

I don't know McRuffy, but I'll offer a very strong vote against TouchMath. The program teaches reliance on counting to do all calculations and does not offer the child a chance to develop number sense or conceptual understanding. I was not impressed.

One. Or three? It's just as challenging to teach my one school-aged child as it is to teach my one child and his two friends. This is due to my child's LD's and other issues and his friends' lack of them. DS2 has quite his own share of other issues, as well as a very intense personality. By the time he's school-aged, I'm sure I'll say with conviction that I can only homeschool one child well. Not sure how I'll have anything left to give when it's time for DS3 to join us. I'll figure it out.

When in the food entry page, click the "..." button (settings), then click "change columns." You can select four columns, do likely you'll have to deselect "carbs" before selecting "net carbs." Of course, these instructions are for the iPhone app, so if you are on an android, you might have to look around more. I used to have an android, so I know you can change to net carbs in that app too.

Edited because I posted before I typed anything. I use FatSecret, but check the settings on your app. On mine, net carbs is an option, but not a default. Years ago, I used a counter online that didn't count net carbs. I found that I could eat about 40 grans a day and be close to 20g net (calculated occasionally by hand), as long as I was eating those carbs as veggies and the occasional fruit and wasn't trying to get away with eating junk. :-)