Is there such a thing? My oldest is a freshly minted 18yo*. She knows what she wants to do and even know what she has to do. She wants to enlist in the Air Force so the issue is she needs her GED. And some college courses but the college courses aren't the issue. The other issue? We RV full-time. I do know that quite a few states allow you to take the GED exam without being a resident of that state, but what of studying? If I understand correctly a person must take at least one GED class (or whatever it is) before taking the GED, or maybe that is just my state? Are there any moms out there than can help another mom out? :) *Disclaimer: I am not one of those parents that when a child turns 18 they have to start doing every single little thing on their own, not all 18 year olds are ready. My oldest is 18 but, if she were in PS, she wouldn't graduate until June of this year. Then I'd give her a few months after that. Once she is 19 then I will start cracking down. I say this because this is why I am looking into this for her instead of her looking into it.

Decisions suck. Unless I am deciding if I want mint chocolate chip or Extreme Moose Tracks. Pressing on. I don't know if I have mentioned it before but we full-time RV. Great! Right? Sounds adventurous! It is a lot of the time but we are still living life and life happens. I am talking myself through this as much as asking advice so I apologize for the long post! We are getting some money from our tax return and are deciding what would be the best use of it. Our RV is old (1994) and needs a few improvements and we have a couple other things we need to do... Organization for the RV (shelves for some cupboards in order to use more of the space, baskets for other cupboards) New pedal for toilet (current one broke, we use a 1X2 piece of wood to press it LOL) Awning (don't have one, the material has holes and was ripped when we purchased the RV) Generator (current one is dead and it would cost more to get it fixed than buy a new one) Second battery for solar battery bank (this isn't really needed but would be nice so we didn't have to run the genny all the time) Resurface counters (they are old and made of wood, they have expanded is a few places) RV brakes and tires (brakes need servicing and we may new 2 tires, not 100% on that yet) Antennae/Extender (We rely on internet for work so we need a better set up to reach signals farther away) Dental appts ('Nuff said) Eye check up for son (he needs a new script for his glasses) Bikes (Older doesn't have one and we ran over the youngers with the RV, quite by accident but, the bike isn't usable LOL) In-line skates (not REALLY needed but I'd like some for me so I get out more and can go around with the kids, I don't want a bike, skates are less bulk) Storage Rack for the RV (one of those "platform" type things that goes in the hitch that you can put stuff on. I see RV's and vehicles with them all the time) OK that's what I originally had planned. However, as I said life happens... We also are thinking of a "new" vehicle. Why? Oh, no reason... just the transmission is about to flop. We have a 97 Caravan that fits the whole family (5 people and the dog) and if we can get it to shift we are doing great. It's slipping all over the place, clunking and revving when driving. It's a fish out of water gasping it's last breath. Aside from that the windshield wipers don't work, the doors don't lock, the headliner fell down and the back brake lights went out. We were going to take care of some of that with our tax return but with the tranny going it's a moot point. Here's the rub. We do have another vehicle we can use. It's a 99 Civic. We have been the only owners. It runs great. It is also small. It's hard having all of us in it. I have an 18yo daughter and a 14yo son, they are pretty much adult sized. The youngest, though only 7.5yo, is a lug of a boy and wears a 10/12 so he is big too. It would be misery. However, we could do it. It is doable. Just cramped. The dog would just have to stay in the RV when we go places. So I figure we could do one of two things. Scrap the van and use the Civic. We can then take care of all the stuff we need to with a little left over because we don't need to fix the van. or Sell the Civic and use some of the tax return to get a "new" mini-van and hold off (at the latest until next tax return) for some of the stuff that isn't essential to our survival. I did think of maybe doing what needs to be done and see what's left. Be as frugal as possible and if there is enough left over then get a bigger vehicle. I just don't know though! LOL Mountains and mole hills.....

My son is 7, I have been letting him earn money through various ways. Just a dollar or two here and there. He wants to spend it on those gems, diamonds, coins whatever the going currency is in those apps on a tablet. Like to speed up farming times, building times etc within those popular building/farming games. I don't want to let him buy them, they are way overpriced and he'd use them in (literally) 5 minutes. He would also spend all the money he gets on them. I just don't think this is the wisest choice for him to spend his money on. It's a waste. Should I let him? It is his money. Am I belittling what he wants (as something I wouldn't spend a penny on) because *I* think it isn't worth it? Or am I teaching him that the value isn't there. Or is it that the value just isn't there for me? I really do think it is a waste of money. You could spend, literally again, hundreds of dollars in these games. My son would do it if he had hundreds of dollars and I let him. What says the hive?

Out of Milk does have the tax rate, I did see that. You just can't upload pictures.

I really want one but I can't find one that has all the features I need. What I want: Barcode scanning- with manual input if it doesn't register so that when I am out of something I can scan it and it and it registers what I have put in. Price - with customizable tax rate Pictures - where I can snap a picture of the item and upload it to the app. Categories - so I can order the items in my list the same way I go through the store. What I'd like - Pantry list - so I know what I have and what I don't. The closest I have come is "Out of Milk", but you can't upload pictures and "Our Groceries" but there is no price or pantry option. Is there such an app?

Is the card still usable if the chip gets destroyed? :blush:

I have seen and heard of local co-ops offering classes, either for free or for a fee. Some are offer them online and some are in a "classroom". I have always wondered..... Is permission needed from the publisher (or author) to use the materials for a class? I am asking because I am thinking about starting my own co-op and want to have classes. I do know that you can't by one book and use it for the class. You either need to 1. Buy enough books to cover the class, 2. Have each student procure their own copy, or 3. Buy a classroom license (if available). But again, do you need publisher (or author) permission to even hold a class using those materials? For example, a co-op I know of would hold classes using Saxon Math and Apologia Science. The instructor and the students each had their own book. Did they get permission from the publisher to hold these classes? Everything I could find on google had to do with copyright issues. Which if everyone had their own copy wouldn't be an issue. If I was to do this, I just want to make sure I am all kosher! I know there are those on here that have started and taught in co-ops. Any insight? Thanks Hivemind!

Depends on which family member. One of them... not only no but hell no. I'll take a tent tyvm. The others? As long as there are ground rules from the beginning and the house is ginormous enough for the whole family and on a farm. Only if there were no other option.

Mine do. Early being like 30 minutes to an hour early. We don't do "Santa" but we do stockings and have a big present with the stockings.

How do I get this through to my 7.5yo? It has been a recent trend (He learned it from his cousins when we visited at Thanksgiving) to blame everything else for things he has or is doing. For instance. This morning he was trying to take the milk out of the fridge. It was behind a couple things and he knocked them out when getting the milk. I made him clean up the mess and he asked why do I need to clean it up, it's the fridges fault. Later his brother was apparently doing something he didn't like and he yelled at him to stop. I told him to tone it down, I don't want to hear his shrill yelling. He went on to say it was his brothers fault he yelled. Logic doesn't work yet, I have tried it and he just keeps insisting that it isn't his fault that he does things. I honestly didn't go through this with my older two. Is this a phase? Do I just keep explaining why he isn't to blame others? I know he is young and he doesn't quite understand (I don't know, maybe he does) but I don't want this trend to continue! I tell you, my youngest will be the death of me!

How do I not confuse my child with these? He likes AAS and he likes Saxon Phonics but the way Saxon teaches the phonetic sounds (for reading) is much different than AAS. Should I even use both together? Should I nix one altogether or should I do one then the other? Does anyone have any insight on this for me? :)

Thanks ladies.... door opened... attitudes better.... now for a drink! ;)

Seems like such a simple thing. He is 7. We are at my sisters and my older son is playing with the cousins in their room. The door is closed. Only to block some of the noise. My 7 year old isn't in there. He refuses to open the door without me standing right next to him, I can't even be 5 feet away, I treid. He is afraid they are going to say they don't want him in. I have told him just to open it, they only closed it because of noise. He won't listen. So now he is moping about, literally moaning and whining because he won't open the blasted door. I am getting really frustrated with him so I need another opinion. Do I open it for him or continue being steadfast (or is it stubborn?) and make him open the door. WWYD?

I assign chores. If I didn't they would, literally, do nothing. I think chores being done are just dependent on the child. Some kids will just do them, some need to be told. If your kids do chores without being told then keep that going! Don't mess with it by forcing chores on them! :)

When my kids were that age we put life jackets on them and let them go. There were always plenty of adults around watching the kids so safety just wasn't an issue.

I feel the pain. I wonder at times.... was I that ravenously hungry when growing up? I have taken to strict management of the snacks. I shop at Aldi and get a slew of snacks (good ones too!) for cheap. I have a drawer and a cupboard that I can control at all times. It's called my desk and I put everything in there. They have to ask to get into it :sneaky2: and then I control how much they get. I started this after I found a garbage stash from the kids. It is amazing how long the snacks last now! The hubs is bad for it too. He snacks almost as much as the kids. On a side note, how do they all stay so skinny while eating so much. I don't eat the snacks. I buy the ones I don't really care for.... oh well.

Le sigh. This has nothing to do with Starbucks, Red Cups, Christmas or the fast decline of Christmas. I have a friend from high school that always used to say "Le Sigh" (she still will!) and you made me think of her, I thought she was the only one who said it! I literally LOL'd at this. I can just image Miss Martha (events in the post are fictional, if they resemble any real happenings it is purely coincidental) looking at me as I blithely toss said cup into the trash compactor. Red Solo cup... I fill you up.... let's have a party......I love you Red Solo Cup..... Yes, let's fill our cup... eggnog.... adult eggnog. Then we will forget the cup, the red and Starbucks!

Ingles where we like to shop has free cookies for kids. The bakery people hand them out if there aren't any in the display. They have actually mentioned the free cookie to me if I pass by and my kids don't have a cookie in hand LOL! I also let my youngest have a cheese stick and individual chocolate milk. He hands the empty packages to the cashier and she rings them up then throws the packaging away.

You can use it as a skin tag remover?? How? :)

It's horrible. I have used it for years as a "conditioner" for my hair. I rinse it out so the smell isn't that bad. Then I spray with some lavender or some other EO that I have made into a spritz. No biggie. However, I have heard others wax poetic about the uses for ACV. Facial tonic, deodorant, astringent, anti-bacterial for cuts and scrapes, gets rid of acid reflux, aids in weight loss... and the list goes on. My issue? The smell. Ugh. I tried using it on my face. It was fine until I sweat, then I can smell a sour smell. Same when I tried it as deodorant. Am I doing something wrong? How can I use this supposedly awesome product if I am going to walk around smelling like a rotten apple?

After I had my youngest... at 33 almost 34 I never had a regular cycle. He was born in 2008. Between that year and 3013 I had maybe a dozen cycles. Half of those in the first 18 months after he was born. I had hot flashes. That was it. I am not 40 and haven't had a cycle in over 2 years. I went through the change early... I am not upset about that.

Welllll, take my info for what it's worth... I am not conventional as you can see from my post about unschooling. :) However I probably shouldn't use the term unschool. Unschoolers are very quick to tell you that if you have any... "structure" (not the word I am looking for but it'll do) that you aren't an unschooler. It can't be workbooks and text unless the child wants to do it themselves. You can't "push" it on them. I am not quite like that. Wait. Scratch that. I am no longer going to be like that. I do want them to have some structure so we are doing some things from texts and workbooks and others are a free for all. Math, Grammar, Spelling and Writing are all structured. Regardless of what the unschool community says my 13yo son would never pick up a writing utensil, unless to write down a game cheat code, again if I didn't make him. It just depends on how far you are also willing to sluff off the society norm too. I see the merit of having kids learn things at particular ages but I also don't like to sit for 3 hours while my kids toil away at a math lesson. Been there done that, didn't buy the t-shirt. My youngest is the only one that is "behind". I wish I had the foresight to wait with my older son. I had to really beg him to do things when he was the age of my youngest. My oldest? Not so much. She has always ate up learning. Always. She has always been a couple levels ahead. It boils down to what it your goal for your children? What do you want them to learn and more importantly, what do they want to learn? I have done things with my kids by asking them, what do you want to learn today? They actually learned a bit of Morse Code. They did it for two days before they got bored and went onto something else. My 13yo is doing Code Academy. He says he wants to be a programmer and learn HTML/CSS/Java (and any other acronym out there). My daughter wants to go into the Air Force and work her way up to an Officer. No, she doesn't just want to go in as an officer. She wants to work her way up from enlisted. We haven't talked to a recruiter yet so that may change. I have no earthly clue what my youngest wants to really do yet. Right now he says he wants to be a train conductor, we'll go with that until he changes his mind. So ask them, what do you want to learn and go for it. Try it for awhile. A few weeks won't matter. The math, Latin and writing will still be there. But again, take what I say for what it's worth! :)

True... very true, thank you. I honestly didn't even think of that. Aren't y'all supposed to be psychic? ;) Again true, however the fact he can count and he can add and subtract (which no I didn't originally say because I wasn't talking about that) means he is getting some learning. I cook and go to the store with my kids etc. That's why I said he didn't have much formal training. I compartmentalize things. Formal is workbooks and text books. Everything else is informal and just fun and learning. And.. just sayin'... I never said I didn't do anything with him, just not a lot of formal I guess I have done quite a bit of the "living math", I just didn't think of it that way! That's what Jean in Newcastle said too. I just never thought of saying it then.

My problem is (was) that I was just trying to say without formal training he learned to count. I wasn't expecting people to say "Wow he should be counting much farther, he isn't doing what he is supposed to as opposed to my kid". Which was the feeling I got from the previous posts. Perhaps he is "behind" from his peers. You don't think I don't know that? We don't start our official school year (I am incorporating some formal work this year) until Thursday. I have been working with him on a few things and he is picking it up at an amazing pace. I think he is fine. Rather than have him struggle to remember at 5 or 6, because trust me, I did try and he struggled, now he can do it with ease. Perhaps my argument was simple. Sometimes simple is all you need. Again, it just seemed that all I was hearing was he should be doing more and doing better and my question was why? Why should he? By what rules and what standards? You can bet by the time it is all said and done all things will be equal. I don't see why a child has to be or should be doing particular things at a particular age regardless of what other do.Even the Bluedorns say that math is fine to wait on "Ten-year-olds are perfectly capable of jumping right into a sixth-grade math textbook (such as Saxon Math 65) with no previous experience with math workbooks or textbooks. Skipping grades K-5 in math will in no way hinder your child's success in math." That isn't to say I follow the Bluedorns teachings, I don't, but if they say math can wait then I think it can wait. So should I have done more math with him earlier? Maybe. Is it going to hinder him later? Absolutely not. My whole point of my original post is that he managed to learn to count on his own without much formal training. It's celebrated when a 4 year old teaches themselves to read but since he is older and taught himself to count it doesn't need celebration. Shoot, even adults in their 40's get their GED and it is celebrated. Should they have gotten it sooner? Imagine telling a 45 year old person, oh, that's nice you finally got your GED, that should have happened when you were 17-18! I am just making a point. Any milestone should be celebrated regardless of age without someone coming down and saying, jeez so late? What took them so long. That is where I am coming from. It just burst my happy bubble. I'll just tuck my tail between my legs and keep going.

And why do they need to count earlier? He never showed much interest in it before hand. Should I have forced him to it? With consternation on my part of frustration on his part? Who made the rule that a child of 5 or 6 is supposed to count higher? Who made the rule? I didn't make it, so I don't need to follow it. If you don't agree that is fine but there is no need to rain on another's parade because you buy into the whole must-learn-X-by-the-time-they-are-Y. That is the beauty of unschooling. You learn at their pace. Not some obscure pace that society has placed on certain age groups. I appreciate your sentiment but that wasn't the point of my post.