This is an excellent summary. I agree - a lot of people on the street will hate you. Sad but you have to get a thick skin because more often than not the person you'll deal with will hate you. My dh has had people verbally abuse him AFTER he has risked himself to help them. Very little respect anymore.

Pay varies wildly if this is true. We're nowhere near this. Dh has 20 years as a local LEO, most of it in narcotics investigations. What's described above is just about the exact opposite of what LE is like in our state. Do lots of research! My advice would be get a degree in CS and go federal. At a minimum avoid states without unions, especially the state with the lowest pay in the country. The only reason we have a comfortable life now is that I worked until we could pay off the house, and will work again to cash-flow college for the kiddos. I feel for people raising a family on police salary around here. But my DH loves it and can't imagine doing something different. I'm an accountant and the thought did cross my mind when I was young that I'd love to work for the IRS's criminal enforcement division. I can't remember exactly what it is called but it sounded great to me way back when. They weren't hiring when I finished my master's so I went with public accounting. The short version is that a financial degree would be good for certain law enforcement areas, too.

My twins are going to be Luke and Leia. I couldn't be more proud of their choice, and I refuse to admit whether or not I suggested the idea right after last Halloween.

Nope, not a problem. I love being an introvert. My husband is an extrovert and it looks tiring. The only time I've ever thought my introversion was problematic is now that my kids are getting old enough to crave friendships. Well my son is fine with a few friends here and there. My daughter inherited my dh's extroversion. She wants dozens of friends around her at all times. It's hard to quench that appetite for people when (1) I homeschool, (2) I live out in the country, (3) I'm an introvert, and (4) I don't have a big family or live near relatives. Takes effort. Oh, and my children exhaust me. That's an introversion problem.

We don't have one (yet), but my dd really wants a chameleon. They don't like to be handled, so it doesn't fit your criteria. We also have kids who really want a frog or twelve. No one around here wants to deal with crickets, either. I've never ordered from either LLL Reptile or Backwater Reptile but both have a lot of options on their webpages. And LLL has youtube videos of different setups. Or you could try to visit a Reptile Show. It might be too tempting to take a baby of some sort home even if we are ill-prepared for it. I could see us at a show oohing and aahhing over a teeny tiny tortoise only to find out after we bought it that it will outlive me.

Those are the four I go to, also. However, Costco and TJ are a once per month luxury because they are nearly an hour away. Costco is almost always cheaper. So, if we use something often, I stock up at costco - chicken, maple, cheese, milk (although I can't stand their milk bottles), eggs, apple sauce pouches, canned tomatoes, peanuts, spices, sugar, paper towels, toilet paper, laundry soap, dish soap, some toiletries. That sort of thing. Most of my produce comes from Kroger or Aldi. I don't shop at Aldi for much but their cheese and milk are fairly cheap. I get some produce there, as well. Best price for avocados, potatoes, and onions. Never had their meat. My meat comes from Costco or Kroger. I get specialty/organic/oddball things at TJ - hot dogs, tri tip roast, frozen chicken, frozen veggies, snacks, lunch meat, cheese. Normal grocery stuff like ketchup and tortillas come from Kroger.

I make ice cream cakes for several birthdays. Just work in layers and refreeze between. Soften the ice cream before spreading then refreeze. I never top w icing, just end w a layer of vanilla or other pale colored ice cream. I write on that layer or put sprinkles, depending on the birthday kid. I've made them w crushed candy as a layer - think butterfinger or Andes mints. Yum. Mine are always different, never pretty, but always delicious. Hubby and DD always request one. If DS didn't love carrot cake, he'd ask for one too. I priced one from baskin Robbins this year but ended up making my own. They are pricey out. ETA I line my pan w Saran Wrap so I can remove it and serve on a nice platter. I build the cakes in a metal pan w sides.

My son doesn't need as much sleep as his twin sister. Some kids just need less. He stays up late in his room and gets up with the sun. And at that age he loved books even though he couldn't read. He did very similar things as your daughter. I wouldn't worry if she's getting plenty of exercise. As a PP mentioned, I'd read that much every day if I could get away with it, too!

toss with fresh mozzarella cubes in a balsamic vinaigrette (can add pasta for a pasta salad) roasted and used as a pasta sauce (like a PP mentioned above) cook in some wine with garlic - especially good in a cake pan on the grill along side shish-kabobs. salsa chunky guacamole If they are large enough, cut the top off, squirt out the seeds, stuff with tuna or chicken salad - sort of an appetizer

I bought RSO Life for my first graders but we haven't bothered with it yet. So far, we just pick up books from the library on topics that fascinate the kids. I like your list. My top choices for my kids would be weather, human anatomy and some nutrition, reptiles and amphibians (DD's passions right now), mammals, entomology, and space/planets. Raise some bullfrog tadpoles and butterflies. Make an insect board - pin dead ones with labels. They help with the fish tank responsibilities. That sort of thing. I'm sure I'll eventually pull out the RSO life but for now, it hasn't been a priority even though we all love science! I hope to add a microscope soon, too. I have a lot of slides and they currently use a pocket scope occasionally. We did a magic school bus germs/yeast/mold kit. Now, every time I let the bread grow mold, I show them that I was doing science and they get excited.

I have two rising first graders - turned 6 at the end of April. I think mine are a bit less mature than their peers. They were preemies, fairly sick ones, and were sheltered and coddled for the first two years of their life. No real delays now, except my son has Apraxia of Speech, and my daughter weighs 34 pounds but is as healthy as a (tiny) horse. They both love gymnastics. My daughter has a natural gift for it - she is strong and tiny and powerful. They are pretty active and love to be outside. They can both read very simple books but they have to be pushed; they have very little stamina. Neither will pick up a book to read. My son is obsessed with books, but mostly books beyond his level where he looks at the pictures - think books about space with pictures galore or encyclopedia-type books. They have quiet time most week days, neither naps anymore but they listen to audiobooks alone in their rooms for about an hour. My daughter still needs to be taking naps, and she'd have a better temperament if she took them. They are fairly shy but enjoy being around other kids. I try to find those opportunities as often as possible. Neither can sing but like tmusic. My son is very well behaved but my daughter can be a spit-fire. She's a gentle, sweet girl 95% of the time. But when something sets her off, she escalates it quickly. Time in her room alone is usually enough for her. She rolls her eyes and acts like a teenager sometimes. Boys are so much easier - I assume that trend will continue. They love art, particularly my girl. I'm one of those anti-mess moms so they don't get art as much as they should. My son is good with math and puzzles and problems. They are at the same level in math books (Singapore, about to move to 1B), my daughter just takes a bit longer to pick up on things. My son loves science and history. He wants to be a pilot (or an engineer like his Papa). My daughter loves animals, art, and gymnastics. She wants to be a vet. My son has some struggles with speech but I understand him well. He tends to take a long time getting to his point. My daughter has excellent conversational skills, if the topic interests her. They both use fairly advanced words appropriately, probably from being read to so much. I heard my daughter correct my son's grammar the other day. It made me proud! Chores - nope, I need to start that! They are very helpful when asked, they just don't have anything assigned to them. Their rooms are disaster areas. I'm bad about enforcing a clean room. They are twins so they've always had a built-in playmate. They struggle if forced to play alone. They play well together and have great imaginations. It is interesting to read the other responses!

I schedule a lot more days than are necessary for our state but we're finished after a few hours max. We took the entire month of June off and are back at it in July. They'll have a week in August, a few days for Thanksgiving, a few weeks at Christmas, a week around their birthday in the spring, and all of June. That is more than a public school. But, if there are random days we feel like not schooling, we just don't. Too long in the summer lets my kids forget too much. Even all of June was too much for mine but we had to schedule vacation and camp and swimming lessons. I can understand the OP's husband thinking public school schedules are normal. However, 6-7 hours at school and bus time, too, is "normal". That doesn't mean I homeschool for that long. We're playing and relaxing while those in a school finish their school hours. I think it's all a trade-off. I much prefer year round schooling.

ETC is Explode the Code. My kids were just turning 5 and starting kindergarten when we tried PAL Reading and Writing. We gave it a while but it just didn't go well. They did love the poetry memorization, though. We still know several of the poems; we learned them all even after moving to AAR.

Could still be reflux. My preemies had terrible reflux for a year. But they were diagnosed and put on meds before they were discharged from the hospital. Your little guy went home much earlier than mine (born at 28 weeks, discharged at 40 and 41 weeks corrected). One of mine threw up like you are describing for the better part of the entire first year. We can look back and laugh about it now but it made for a stressful year. If this is new, I might take him in. But exposing a preemie to the germs that lurk in the ER might make me hesitate, too. Hard call. Glad you're taking him to be certain.

If you don't pick a tankless, DO NOT SKIMP on capacity!!! Learn from my mistake - get the biggest water heater you can find. Or give up on ever taking a bath in a full tub of hot water.

I think OPGTR and AAR together is overkill. Pick one or the other, I'd say. My kids balked at OPGTR. They love AAR. In K, we did AAR and a smidgen of handwriting (HWOT), and that's about it for language arts. I have PAL reading and writing. It was a flop at our house. An expensive flop. Mine were too young for it, which I found out after I spent HOURS assembling those (insert bad word) file folder activities. AAR was a kinder, gentler intro to reading. They are starting 1st now and are almost finished with AAR 2. In hindsight, ETC would have been a good addition to AAR for my kids.

We have it. I like the look, and it's held up well. The little grooves drive me crazy for spills but it cleans up ok. I just make sure the grooves are cleaned well.

Here is the version we love: http://sweetgrace.typepad.com/the_inadvertent_farmer/2009/01/a-good-morning-for-great-granolarecipe.html Very maple-y and delicious. Just leave out the add-ins and use it with yogurt and fruit. I've made it plain without the coconut and extras. I should note if you use nuts, add after cooking. The blog puts them in with cooking IIRC but then they taste burned. And I don't use the wheat germ. And it is good with melted coconut oil as the oil.

Both of my kids have listened to the entire series on audiobooks. My son has listened many times but enjoys the Henry Huggins series a bit better.

In my experience (it wasn't 20 week but a bit later, maybe 24 - I had a lot w my twins), if there is a problem, the tech never says anything (even if it's an ongoing problem you already know about but it got worse, they are very cautious). They get the doctor in there. You could always have the tech tell the doctor to ask your mother and kids to leave for a minute in case of concerns. Tell the tech ahead of time if you have concerns. They are very, very, very gentle if there is a problem. I've been there, they were fantastic in a bad situation and it was always the doctor telling us about concerns. Also, sometimes they can't see the gender. At 18-19 weeks or so, they told me one is a boy and one may be a girl. But don't paint any pink walls yet.

Can't speak to a front loader but we just had to replace our washer, and we picked a top load without the agitator. The capacity is huge, and I love no agitator. I love the big capacity. It's noisy, though. We got ours at Lowe's. My advice is to read the reviews on whatever you select. If at least two people says it's noisy - believe it!

Yep. Pluto will always be a planet to me/.

I agree with some of the previous posters who said they married late. DH and I married late and had our kids even later. I was 33 when I had my kids. I was able to build retirement and have a great career. We also had zero debt except for our house when we married. We bought a home that was not a stretch to pay for. Even after kids, I worked for three more years (hardly seeing my babies). Finally, we paid off our house. Only then, was I able to stop working and homeschool. This wouldn't have been possible if we had a mortgage. But, we live ok on his salary alone because we saved before we had kids. But at this point, saving much of anything for retirement beyond my DH's pension isn't happening. When the kids get near college, I'll have to go back to work and cash flow college. So, right now, we don't get ahead, we just try not to get behind! I've thought through ideas for earning a small amount to add cushion to our savings, but haven't found anything that works with DH's hours since we have no family in the area for childcare help. Since we can't change what we've done in the past, I'd say right now the only way to get ahead financially for most people is two incomes and living well below their means. For us, that would eliminate homeschooling. We've made the choice right now not to get ahead. Sad that we must chose between those two things.

Dishes! My most hated task. I can't wait until I can make the kids do them. I'd try now but I hate broken dishes more than dirty dishes.

I loved new clothes and new supplies, but the actual act of going back to school made me sick. I hated school. I hated new things, new kids, new teacher, new routine. I would spend hours obsessing about having to correct the teacher when my name was called so the teacher would call me by the name I use (nickname of middle name). It caused me great angst. In high school, college, and then grad school, I was stressed about making sure I was on schedule and made it to the right class. I was the sort to have recurring dreams about getting to the end of a semester and not having gone to a particular class once. I guess I was a introvert with anxiety! After my last grad school class (two master's) and my exam for certification in my field, I vowed that, except for an eye exam, no one would EVER test me again for anything! So. No, I didn't look forward to the first day of school. I still love school supplies and back to school sales!