I've never been bored with work, even when I've had boring jobs. I think sometimes it might be a personality trait. I'm sort of like a goldfish, I think the other side of the bowl is cool every time I see it.

Agree with the people above... of the two that are in my state, academically I'd rather my child go to public high school than those. But living in a town that has two boarding schools ("better" than most of those but far from the best) I know that academics are only part of the reason for choosing these expensive schools, the families that choose to send their kids there often have a different frame of reference than I do (also, about a million more dollars :p )

I combine IEW and Bravewriter. I basically do freewrites and 1 project per season for bravewriter, then SWI-A when I can (we afterschool so we're really the victims of scheduling) and the IEW checklists/methods in her school homework. Over the course of a year, IEW has worked better for my daughter but it took a while for me to see the positive effects (at first, when a new dress up is introduced, it actually seems to have a negative effect because they can't use it well yet...). BUT The writer's jungle (bravewriter) was something *I* needed to read -- and she has gotten a lot out of some of the bravewriter (partnership writing) stuff too.

All I want for Christmas is the world's greatest pencil sharpener. :)

I'd do the SWI-B. I could have lived without the videos for ME (I still got and watched them) but my daughter likes listening to Andrew over listening to me. I think she just gets tired listening to me so much! Plus I'm not "funny," just grim and overworked.

Yup, we lived in an "all washed up by 8" area, BUT friends from other areas say it's not like this all over America. Even in areas like these, her son can probably play if he gets a private coach to work with him coming up to the next season. But something is wrong when that is the culture/expectation.

There was a study done on this recently. The fingerprick thing is accurate when they average many drops (9?)... not so much if they did 1 or 2 drops. A lot of the low-cost screeners (this, the dried blood spot thing) have important limitations that vary from measurement to measurement.

I guess one thing that comes to mind is whether the new job is located where there are a lot of other jobs that are potentials for your husband. I know several people who relocated, spent their entire savings getting a worse house in a high CoL area, then got laid off (since they were so vulnerable as new hires) and were in a terrible situation! It's hard for me to comment on the commute. On days I commute, it's 1.5-2 hours each way, if nothing goes wrong. I think it's common in urban areas and most people find a way to work remotely at least half the time.

There are a ton of little photography things that add up, if you know what she has you could get a lens hood, flash diffuser, or something else along those lines. Fun to play with when you start, and useful later on!

20 years ago when I thought I was wanted to be a lawyer, I did an internship in an office where one woman was a part-time lawyer, a full time homeschooling mom, and a part-time homeschooling activist. None of the legal stuff stuck but when I had kids I remembered her passion about homeschooling... ultimately decided afterschooling was more my thing, but I will never forget how she was so passionate about her kids' education.

Yeah, that so horrifies me. Teachers need to stop saying things like, "Math isn't my thing" or "I'm just not a math person." Seriously, would it be ok for a teacher to say, "Books aren't my thing"or "I'm just not a reading person" to the children they teach? I'd also like to have standards more oriented toward every child making progress, rather than every child reaching the same bar. I know that's pie in the sky but I hate it that my children are almost penalized for exceeding the bar to begin with...

We have a septic system but town water. Growing up we had well water and septic, but we lived close to a stream so the well was always full. But if you live where your well never goes dry and have BOTH, you have the problem of your septic backing up if it floods (AWESOME when your toilet stuff comes up in the water you are using for laundry, etc). It's hard to keep your lawn from looking weird when you have septic. There's always that green circle (my kids call it the fairy potty circle) above the tank that's greener in the summer and melts the snow first in the winter. Plus buying and selling a house with septic is really annoying, you might need to replace the entire system when you sell if it doesn't meet regulations. And you have to have your septic pumped which isn't cheap depending on where you live (my parents seldom pumped theirs but where we live we can TELL every year and a half that the septic needs to be pumped), and can't send crazy things down the drain (like even those trash disposals that say they are septic friendly really can mess things up). That sounds like a laundry list of horrible things but honestly, I'm so used to it now I don't mind. There's opposite annoyances (like when they flush the hydrants in town, being on town water means we have days when we don't know whether we're going to turn on the water to BROWN water and can't do laundry).

I always thought that was regrets only. I RSVP as soon as I know, yes or no. Is the "only RSVP if you are coming" idea a regional thing?

Oooooh, thanks so much! She doesn't need to hand it in, the teacher just thinks that the endless drill-type homework is a stupid use of time for her, and would rather she spend time on more thinking-type activities. We'll probably TRY to do an open middle problem each week (even if it's not awesome for the 1 child format), then move on to some of what you've posted (which looks much better).

My daughter goes to public school. Her teacher suggested we do the problems from this website - http://www.openmiddle.com/ - in lieu of the regular math homework. But to me most of these problems work best with a group of kids where they all arrive at the answer differently, then discuss. I'm not sure how to use this at home. Has anyone used this, or something similar? Should I just have my daughter try to work it through using DIFFERENT strategies herself and then compare? Or should I pretend I'm a fellow student so we can discuss? The problem with the latter is I could never make it work for me in book discussions... she always just waited until I broke down and said something, then latched onto it. She's a hair away from 7 and in first grade, if that helps.

I hardly tell my husband anymore, we just disagree too much. He considers me part of the problem this time around. As far as telling my kids, I do tell them if they ask -- but telling my 5 and 6 year old anything is like telling the whole town.

It was from 12-4 and nothing on the invite to indicate no meal. The appetizers couldn't be a meal, actually they were only out for half the time and we didn't eat them.. because we thought a meal was happening. But it didn't confuse anyone from the local social circles because it was expected that a wedding at that time wouldn't include a meal. To me 12-4 means you are feeding me lunch. But I think it's just an example of how every group of people has a different way of doing things, and weddings have a way of bringing out conflicts in expectations!

Cake and punch sounds amazing. A potluck sounds like wedding hell to pull off. I will say that though it depends on social circles and region of the country. My cousins from the South NEVER had dinners at their weddings, and no one they knew did, either. They just had nicely served appetizers and cake. First one that got married, we were so confused... and hungry by the end of the night! If potlucks are a thing where they are, it might work.

I know parents who teach their child the SAME curriculum that they will learn in school, so the kid is seeing the same problems or texts, the same way, but weeks, months, or a year later. And then the kid is like, "Oh, that problem with the bees" when they get it in school. But I don't think you are doing this, it sounds closer to my approach... it's not "ahead," it's "beside..." Different methods, different emphasis, than the school.

Agree -- it's often a conversational band-aid that stops me from saying something more offensive. I most often find myself saying it to my "healthy" husband who reminds me of the carcinogens I'm eating as I'm eating them (in a non-specific way that's hard not to see as directed toward me, like "bacon causes cancer" while I'm cooking bacon). Honestly if I'm about to eat a slice of ham and someone (who knows I eat meat) says they don't eat meat for ethical reasons, "everything in moderation" is less offensive response than some other alternatives "But pigs are so delicious!!," "whatever floats your boat," and awkward silence sound just as bad or worse to me.

We've still got a half bushel from the bushel we picked earlier int he month. In September and October, we go through maybe 1/4 bushel a week. My favorite for October apples is the pinovas. Earlier on I like the ginger gold. I must be the only one who isn't in love with honey crisps.

I'm so sorry. :(

Thanks all! The perspective helps since we're in a subculture where it's not unusual for kids to be totally scheduled all day, for 5-6 days a week with maybe 1 day partly off. To keep the blocks of unstructured time, I think we will have to accept that we need to drop something, or do something on an alternating basis, to add anything. Any other way, the hours just won't add up.The idea of being a little more flexible (like 1 hr min on Monday, but 3 hr min on Tuesday) depending on activities could also help, at least if it cuts down on the time we spend in the car.

I need a little insight from parents who have been here, and done this…. My older daughter is almost 7 and goes to public school. Aside for afterschooling, she does a spanish class, dance, swim, and an AM exercise class. She wants to add another day of dance, another day of swim, and then next year add an instrument (she took general music classes prior to this). She is also highly social and has what feels like a million parties, playdates, and so on. Up until now, I have always “scheduled in†2 hours of “unstructured time†per day, on the grounds that I’m a Type A person that needs to protect my children’s free time from its worst predator: Me. No matter what happened, they had time with nothing to do every. single. day. But what happens when your child becomes the “predator†devouring their OWN unstructured time. Do you just let the unstructured time go since it’s their own choice to develop passions that are time-consuming? Is there an age/sign for knowing when they CAN choose well?

Agree - we do the read-a-thon because it all goes to the school organization.. We also send in box tops because they are already there, but other than that we donate directly to the classroom.