Hey - that's a neat idea!!! This is our first "back to school" not going since I just pulled dd out last December. I have been wondering if she's thinking about things she'll miss, so making it a special day would be really fun! I'm thinking cinnamon rolls for breakfast and a day to relax and play or watch movies and build forts. Thanks for the idea!!

I like that and looked for those locally but didn't find them. I may just make my own job chart using Sharpies on a cheap dry erase (they did have those) and then leave the spaces for dry erase pen check offs. Cool!

Yep, we're at a Bible church right now, and while the Statement of Faith is right on, it's what we're seeing in action that is causing us to have concerns. Like a pp mentioned, very "seeker", a movement away from expository teaching/preaching toward more topical, so much casual attire accepted that the worship team is not dressed as nice as my plumber. But I have no idea where to turn. The very thought of wasting week after week visiting is just overwhelming to me. I don't want to be a "church hopper", I want to put down roots, claim this is MY church where I can really get in there and learn and serve.

:iagree:Terrible.

Okay, that was pretty cool! DH and I are feeling led to pursue the question of Calvinism vs Arminianism and where we stand - in light of our church getting more and more "emergent" and "seeker" and him wanting us to possibly move from there. My top ones were #1 Reformed Baptist, #2 Presbyterian Church in America/Orthodox Presbyterian (:confused:), #3 Reformed Churches, #4 Southern Baptist, #5 Mennonite Brethren. Um, so... now I am more confused than ever. My results would surely have been different had I not answered "yes" to the predestination question since I am still not sure on that. Praying it over still. What's Orthodox Presbyterian? Off to google that one.

And, I'm sorry to sound ignorant (because I truly know nothing about the military) but can we seriously afford to turn away a great kid who wants to join because of this? Aren't we lacking in recruits? Or is it just that the Marines aren't lacking? Sounds like a stupid policy to me. Anyways, sounds like you've turned up some great advice and I'd call a different recruiter!

:lol: I love the "Wanna know the best part? You get to share a room!"

Yeah, I agree too. It's not as if you want him to think that while he was gone you became this magical new creature, able to single parent, keep a spotless house, and leap tall buildings! :tongue_smilie::D Get your kids, and let your mom come when she can to hug his neck too. This will be a priceless time and the closets and drawers can stay like they are so they won't get re-messed up!

One of my dd's friends recently said to her "you have lots more time to read than me AND you get to sleep a lot more!" :001_huh::D

Is this just because he's still hungry after dinner or has a sweet tooth or something? I'm the opposite because I don't want my kids thinking they get to be in the habit of having sweets after dinner. But, we do sometimes have ice cream, or yogurt (I get the small ones and poke a popcicle stick in it to make an ice cream), pudding, fruit (esp strawberries with a little choc syrup or Nutella), ice cream sandwiches, jello. Are you hoping for healthy options or just snack ideas?

:grouphug: I'll have one of them thar Mike's too! The extry hard ones!

Me too!!!

My dad had a massive heart attack at 52, then underwent an autopsy, and had an open casket. Anything they do will not typically involve anything that you could see, but it may affect which outfit is chosen (like a higher neckline). I am so sorry for your loss.:grouphug:

I wish I could be happy where I'm at. I won't even post my weight. I also have a DH that loves me, but he also wants me to be healthy. We were just gone on a camping/hiking trip for 4 days and discussing the fact that his parents never did that kind of thing with him when he was a kid because they were never physically able to. We don't want to be those people as we age. But I hate to exercise as well. I can't ever find work-out clothes that fit me. I am terribly self conscious in a gym, my knees hurt and I don't feel able to do too much in the gym. I should just start by getting out and walking. It just seems like such a waste of energy. I have a very, very hard time losing weight and I usually have to cut my calories to like 800 a day to show any weight loss. That kind of diet is not sustainable. I'll watch this thread to see if someone has come up with the "key to happiness at your current weight"!

We're going to get started on The Doll People this week. I'm looking forward to it!!!

Then there are some of us that come to all of this later, too late. I have been a Christian for many, many years, but was not particularly growing. Neither was dh. The last 2 years has seen a tremendous growth in our walk, leading to homeschooling and even the desire for more children. Unfortunately I just turned 42 and think that my cycles are in their decline. Not only that, it was very difficult to conceive my ds and I lost 2 in between my dd and him. And then I had preeclampsia so badly with my pg with him that I almost died. Really. My dh is terrified of me getting pg and going through that again and losing me. We had to make the decision that this was the family God had planned for us. We are both open to other options I think, but I don't think either of us is feeling led to be proactive in that way.

I've got a pretty good list that is in pdf format that I'd be happy to email you if you want to pm me your email address. BTW, you're in my area, we just got home today from a good trip to the Hill Co - to the Frio River. It was a really, really great getaway! But MAN do we need rain!:001_huh: They are down 19 inches and burn bans all around. Check for those before you go and it might change how you plan to cook and pack wood.

Well, I'm certainly no expert since I've only done this for less than a year, but WHEW! Your schedule makes me exhausted just looking at it! I think you are doing too much. Too long on math for a little guy. And two full blocks of LA is too much also. And then you have all the other stuff. I'm sorry, I just don't see a 1st grader needing to do composer study. I would look seriously at making sure your basics get done, math, reading, writing instruction, maybe science, and bible. Get all those done within 2 hours, and then you can see if you really need the others and add them in on a rotating basis for a MAX of 30 more minutes. At your pace they'll be doing 8 hours of study by the time they're in 4th grade, you don't want that!! Just my $.02

Yes, BUT is it possible that those kids with grammar problems are also not strong readers? I ask this because as I am working through R&S 3 with my dd I have no idea what the predicate and subject are. I'm embarrassed that I have to use the TM!!! But my grammar is generally thought of as good, and I have always been an excellent speller. I attribute this to being a voracious reader. And to the fact that I didn't grow up in the *habit* of using poor grammar as many of my Southern friends have (sorry, not to insult!) I will still plan to complete our grammar studies, but we are hoping to do more writing, and of course reading, and lots of dictation and copywork. I guess those don't help with the "rules" though, because that does tend to come up. Just wanting to point out that I think a lot of people use poor grammar because they don't read enough.

This is an interesting thread for me because I am still pretty new to hs'ing and those new friends that have come along with it. I feel MORE pressure now that I'm hs'ing to do. it. all. Educate the kids, keep the home, manage the bills, manage our lives (shopping, errands, playdates, field trips, vacations, outside family responsibilities), stay on top of current events, be intellectual and theological, be a sexy wife, have time for friends, the list goes on and on and on. And I do get bogged down in the "tyranny of the urgent" and often feel like no one notices. If I put tons of pressure on myself to keep the house better for a few days, then I have forgotten the laundry and dh has no undershirts. If I focus on laundry and cooking then suddenly the floors are disgusting. I have struggled and struggled to find a schedule for this fall that will help us stay on top of this stuff so that I do create for myself some time to read or watch a movie or visit the board, whatever. I did agree so much with Angela's post about dh wondering what happened to that fun and sassy girl he married. That girl didn't have so much on her plate! I'd like to find that girl again myself!

Wow! Thanks Deidre! I know I tried to sync before and the Mac did recognize the Sansa and I could find the music folder, but it never would allow music to be dropped there. I will need to go feed my son and then will try it and report back! :D Thanks, YOU ROCK!

:bigear:

Do you want (or would you mind) a Christian based program? Cheerful Cursive does all these things. We are getting ready to use it with my dd. It teaches placing the letter w/in the alphabet, tracing the whole letter, showing what the manuscript and cursive forms have in common, teaching shortcuts, shows capital letter variations so you can see other ways to identify the letter, helping to read cursive. I think it looks really great. It's available at Rainbow Resource.:)

I know this has been discussed before, so I apologize if it's redundant, but I thought your collective wisdom could help me. We have a Mac (it's a decent G4). We also have an mp3 player for my dd. I used to load her music on to it with Windows Media Player on my PC laptop, but it has died. iTunes is not necessary because we usually purchase her CDs that we just want to load on to her mp3 player. Since my laptop's demise, I have used my mother in laws computer but this is becoming inconvenient. I can't get a version of Windows Media Player to download on to this Mac. Is there ANY other media player I can get for this Mac that will recognize her little Sansa player? I want to be able to manage her music, load more music via CD (wish that I could purchase via iTunes) but I REALLY want to load audio books on to it. Can anyone help?:confused:

Hmmmm...and I'm a vodka gal myself.:confused: :D