I have to take mine off...It is on Christmas Day!! hee hee Yes take the day off!! You deserve it. Holly

Homeschool all the way with the use of our homeschool co-op for science labs and few classes (max of classes through co-op would be 3 classes and the rest at home). Holly

didn't get sent at all but did go to one to report sexual harrasment, believe it or not!! This was in middle school about 21 years ago. They got whacked for it but I didn't want that. I just wanted it to stop. Holly

I had one ectopic pregnancy. Yes you can bleed to death. I almost did and thank goodness I was at the hospital on a watch. When I was at home I felt alot of pressure on my rectum. It was so painful and the pressure was unbelievable. It took my breath away. I would get sharp pain every now and then. I didn't have the typical symptoms of ectopic with shoulder pain that you are supposed to get. I did have pain right in the center of abdomen. They didn't think it was ectopic with my symptoms but after the ultrasound they couldn't find the baby. The next evening they thought I was just miscarrying the baby in the tube. However a few hours later my BP was dropping really fast and I was writhing in pain. They sent me to the OR stat. The pain comes really fast and hard. They said if I was at home with this then I wouldn't have made it. PLEASE go to the dr or ER!! Call them and see if they can get you to the ER to get the ultrasound done now. I was 7 weeks pregnant with this ectopic. My tube did rupture and the baby was died after they took the tube out. My ob was devasted as he is against terminating babies. This broke his heart as it broke ours. Call your Dr immediatly! This is not something to mess around with. Holly

I forgot to post my reasons for schooling year round.... The first two years of homeschooling it was a battle to get the kids back to schooling at home when summer break was over. The 3rd year I decided to give it a try with schooling year round with breaks throughout and it worked out great. No more fighting or tears since then. We do not school in all subjects in the summer. We keep up with Math, reading and writing. Science and History only happens if there is a need. I tend to do more gardening in the summer and the kids help me with it as well as learn about plant life. However this year we will do history throughout the summer because we are behind due to my surgery from last year. We are still playing catch up. It will be a light school in the summer though. Holly

For 2 years what we did was take the whole month of December off then took the 1 week off every 9 weeks. At another time we went with 9 weeks with 3 weeks off. Personally I like having the whole month of December off then take 2 weeks off every 9 weeks. Now we go by TOG units which is usually between 8-9 weeks then take 2-3 weeks off depending on the month ending of. We also take the day off when dh is home. First of all you need to see what your state law requires. Mine requires only 180 days of school. So you can go with that or in my case I just school as usual to my schedule and still get about 200 days of school or more. You can go with whatever your curriculam is and see where you want a break for yourself to plan or gain sanity back for yourself. There are so many ways of doing it. HTH Holly

I really wish I can get up early. Right now it is 8 to 8:30 am. My kids are up before me (and I hate that). I used to get up at 6:30 to see my dh off to work then have quiet time for me. Now working a job at nights so I don't go to bed until 12:00 or 1:00 in the morning. I wish I was a morning person (I used to be) so I can feel accomplished throughout the day. Holly

When I was 17 I had to have mine cut and extracted out. They did put me under but very very mildly though. I wasn't out all the way. I was sedated enough to not be bothered by what he was doing to me but was very aware of what was going on. I would go with the one that has very good experience. I would also go by word of mouth. I went to a great surgeon but my dh went to one that we would never recommend to anybody. I didn't like her at all. He developed infection. After a few weeks, I heard from others that she is NO good. So it would be good if you can ask others in your church, homeschool group and so on to get a good feel of which one would be best. You can also interview them as well. Holly

My kids actually requested that I give them grades. So I grade them. However I do make them do their missed problems over. Holly

This post is very interesting since we shelved our logic book last year. I got fed up with doing it. Hmmm this has spured me on to get back to doing this. Thanks Holly

I am still struggling in teaching my dd with HFA reading. I am currently using the Pecci method called "At Last! A reading method for every child". We are at a stumbling block on this just because I do not like sight method of reading. They do a mixture of both but the section we are getting into relies way too much on sight than what I am comfortable with. I would like to know if any used Scaredy cat with success. Holly

We got a higher end tankless water heater. We had no issue of noise at all. It is inside our mechanical room behind our kitchen. I highly recommend going with propane tankless water heater as the savings are much higher going that route instead of electric run. We noticed a big difference in our energy bill. When we put ours in we had to run new piping under the house due to switching from electric to propane water heater. We LOVE our tankless water heater. No more fighting over who takes a shower first or running the washer first. With ours we can adjust the temperature easily now. We can flush toilets, run the shower and washer just fine. It just depends on what kind you are getting. My bil got the lower end of it and they can only run one thing with hot water so make sure you know what you are getting. Holly

:( I do. I haven't worn a watch for about a year. I am going to try again but with nail polish on the metal parts that touches my arm. I broke out in hives big time with severe itching. Somebody just told me recently to try clear nail polish on the parts that will be touching my arm. I can't even wear leather bands either. Holly

For us it is $12 for 1/2 hour here in Indiana. She is GOOD!!! Very strict and orderly. We love her. I babysit her kids while she teaches. Holly

I agree with hsmamainva. We do allow some stims but we are careful to keep an eye on our dd when we try to eliminate a stim (a bad one) because it usually brings on something much worse. We always have told her what we are doing that day. If we are going somewhere we always tell her ahead of time in what order and where we are going and how. Now there are times when we goofed up and she would be upset. That is ok... Consistency is the BIG key. Timeouts do not work at all. Consequences do work very well. Reward system works well only if it is geared to them not somebody else. They need something very concrete in order for it to work. It also has to be very immediate! Not something that is at the end of the week. They do not see past the day of current day. Build their strengths and keep it up as well as trying to work on their weakness. Holly

I will be going to the IAHE homeschool convention because it is so close to home. I really would like to go the the Midwest one but dh said he doesn't want to go. I do not want to go by myself so I am stuck here for the time being. Holly