Then you should move to Oregon! We get snow once or twice a year, and it never lasts more than a week -- usually 3-5 days tops. Yes, it does rain, but that's why it is so green and beautiful. Contrary to stereotypical views about Oregon and parts of Washington state, it doesn't rain here every.single.day. I've been here all my life and it honestly rains about 5 months out of 12, and that is combined with alternating sunny days and various other normal weather conditions. It's hard on most transplanted Californians to adjust, but most of us that have been here a long time don't know any better and we just don't think about it. :D Blessings, Lucinda

Today there is a 20% off sale at Lulu.com, where many books are available. I just ordered SWB's The History of the Medieval World for just $21.63 with shipping. All orders receive 20% off with coupon code HAPPY, and 25% off orders of $500 or more with coupon code BIRTHDAY. There are a lot of really good books available through Lulu, and so if you are in the process of pulling together 2nd semester books or books for next year I'd encourage you to take a look. Blessings, Lucinda

Praying, praying. :grouphug: Blessings, Lucinda

I tried Shurley then EG before finally going to R&S last year, and I wish to high heaven's I'd done that in the first place. Now dd is doing R&S English 5 despite her being at 6th-7th grade in everything else. But I am confident that R&S is an excellent grammar program and we are going to stay put now that we have the right curriculum. Grammar CAN be tedious no matter what curriculum you choose, and we as teachers do need to keep in mind that our culture places a great deal of emphasis on entertainment. I have to remind my own self that every subject does not have to be fun in order to be effective and worth the time. Grammar may not be our dc's favorite subject, but it is important that they are taught correctly and that they get the necessary information in their minds. They also need to learn that not everything in life has to be fun and entertaining. One important point about R&S is that it is not only thorough, it is also easy to teach. I LOVE the TMs and credit their layout design as being the reason for this. I've learned through experience that when I'm happy as a teacher, it has a positive effect on my students. The way I look at it, if it's an excellent curriculum that is thorough and easy to teach, then it will still help engage the students and teacher in a way that produces the desired outcome, even if it isn't their favorite subject. Blessings, Lucinda

Just read the other posts and have to agree about using two vehicles. I voted to buy the van, but even though it would cost more in gas during a down time it would still be less expensive in the long run. If dh gets a job before you've had to use your reserves, you could then buy the van. Blessings, Lucinda

http://www.knitpicks.com :001_smile:

I am an on and off again knitter that never seems to advance too quickly at a time. But still, it's fun to pull out the knitting when you want something else to do. I love working with my hands, and knitting is a soothing pastime. I can see in the future that I might want to take a knitting class so I can learn more things than I would do on my own. I've watched some tutorials online, but they don't answer me back when I have questions. :~p So far in my knitting career I've made scarves out of wool and also acrylic, dishcloths from cotton yarn and two really nice woolen tea cozies that I'm very proud of. Learning to do tea cozies has given me the courage to try knitting hats, so that will be one of the next projects I'm going to take on. And all those dishcloths I made last year give me courage to make the poncho I just posted about. When you learn the smaller projects, they teach you techniques that can be used for bigger ones. Knitpicks.com is a great resource for knitters. I've ordered from them twice and got excellent customer service and high quality products. It's also fun to walk through a knitting store to touch and feel all the different types of yarn. I hope you enjoy learning to knit, RoughCollie! I'd say start with the needles you have and if you enjoy knitting, add to your collection from there. Get yourself a knitting bag too. Blessings, Lucinda

Thanks for the link, HollyDay! I have an itch to knit the poncho after looking at it. I've had some really nice yarn sitting in my bag for way too long now. Blessings, Lucinda

If you were thinking of buying a vehicle with payments, I'd have voted 'NO', but since you have cash to buy the van is much different. A reliable mode of transportation for the family that gets you all safely where you need to go would be a wise purchase, even now. Then tighten up and be as frugal as possible from there. Blessings, Lucinda

:iagree: What she said. Blessings, Lucinda

Thanks so much, swimmermom3. I will keep this in mind for sure. I have been on Citalopran (Celexa) in the past, and it was one option we discussed. I'll most likely be back in touch with my physician to talk it over again. Blessings to all, Lucinda

Thank you for the input everyone. I'm going to give this another week and see how I feel. I'm taking 1/2 daily dosage and think it would be best for me to not take any more than that. My MD has to be involved because I am on other medications too, including one for irregular heartbeat. Blessings, Lucinda

I have struggled with depression for many years and have been on and off anti-depressants. This has been a really rough year for us, and the cold and gray winter season has had a big affect on me as well, causing me to really feel down and very fatigued. I was with my MD last week and asked for help in going back on meds because I really do need help with this. He recommended Wellbutrin, but to start out with 150 mg 1x daily instead of the usual 2x (morning and evening). I realize that our body chemistry needs to have a chance to build up and adjust when we go on medications. I'm already feeling a bit better after having been on the meds for five days, but I feel hit with an edginess now and then that I'm sure is from the anti-depressants. I'm really hoping it will ease off after I've been on them longer, but thought I'd ask those of you that have been on Wellbutrin if that might be typical. Unless it becomes unbearable, should I wait another week or two before calling my doctor back? Did any of you Wellbutrin users experience anything like this in the beginning? Blessings, Lucinda

I will never live in a place where there are extreme temperatures and no changes of the seasons. I love winter, spring, summer and fall so much, that I just can't give them up! Blessings, Lucinda

TT has been a Godsend for us. It is working beautifully for dd, and because I am not a good math teacher I am happy too! We have used TT for the past two years and plan to stay with it all the way through. I also supplement with LOF once per week just for fun and to add variety. This is a recommendation of TWTM for reasons stated regardless of math program you are using, not because TT needs to be supplemented in order to work. Not only does the teaching part of TT work successfully, but the parent set up and gradekeeping is excellent. I can go in and check on how dd is doing, even down to problems she has missed so I know what is happening and can follow along. At the end of each school year I print off the grades and put them in my teacher's binder along with our records. BTW, I am also friends with another family with six dc that are hs'd. Each student has their own laptop loaded with their level of TT. That family loves TT too and has purchased all the levels. Blessings, Lucinda

Good morning! I couldn't resist chiming in with the others as you explore your options for hs'ing your dc. TOG is not an all encompassing curriculum such as SL or MFW and others, but it is the spine (literally the backbone) that holds your family's education program together. It is based on year plans broken up into units, each unit covering a different period of history. From there everything is connected, making it a beautiful way for the family to simultaneously do unit studies together at the levels each child in the family. Like others have pointed out, the subjects covered vary according to age of your student. (Additionally, YR-1 does cover Biblical studies because it is all about the ancient world.) I would suggest that you read the siggy lines on the posts of many of us here in the Hive. You will see TOG combined with other curriculum choices along with the ages of our dc. A good example would be mine below. You can see that we are on TOG YR-2 and that we use WA for our writing program. Along with these, use TT for math, Apologia science, SP and VFCR for spelling and Latin/Greek based vocabulary, R&S for grammar, etc., etc. Have fun exploring, and feel free to ask questions any time. I love talking about TOG. :~) Blessings, Lucinda

Not at all what I meant LisaK, not at all. (I don't understand how what I'm saying could be misunderstood..) Excess can be habitual to people of all shapes and sizes. Excess and greed connected to any kind of consumption is what I was getting at, and I don't mean occasional instances. Scripture is very clear that we are to love God above anything else and that we are to love our neighbors. Overindulgence (excess) is closely associated with idolatry and greed is putting ourselves above others. Blessings, Lucinda

Beautifully, beautifully put. I think your point is headed exactly in the right direction. One definition of gluttony as defined in the dictionary is, "habitual greed or excess in eating" (emphasis mine). These behaviors are definitely not Christlike, they are purely from the flesh. This is where the rubber meets the road in Christianity...We are to submit our desires to God, and allow the Holy Spirit to transform and change us as we trust and depend on Him. Blessings, Lucinda

I LOVE and use TOG with my own dd and we started in 5th grade while she was at UG level. I had read that the recommendation of Lampstand Press is to wait until the oldest child is about 5th grade, then bring the younger children in at LG level with picture books, etc. to get the family all used to studying together. I didn't have younger students, but felt that 5th grade was a good age for her to get started. Now there are a number of moms here in the Hive that start their dc sooner and say great things about doing it that way. Some are using the time their dc are in LG level to study the R level themselves to prepare for teaching up ahead. I think it depends on your budget and your goals. I think if it were me, I'd go with TWTM method using SOTW for the younger years, getting into the four year cycle of history, etc. and then add TOG when your dd is a bit older. I'm sure there are others that will share other opinions, but these are my thoughts fwiw. Blessings, Lucinda

Great subject for discussion, Tia. I have heard very little about this subject in all the years I've attended church. When I was a kid it was pointed out regularly that drinking and smoking were sinful, and I always wondered why they left out the part about gluttony. We have certainly seen enough church potlucks, cake walks and pie socials to prove that our example of eating needs to be overhauled. Along with a lack of teaching very little about taking a sabbath rest, the most churches are very guilty of ignoring to teach about taking care of our personal temples. This is one area that I believe contributes to the American church being asleep. It would be quite interesting to learn about what is taught about this in churches abroad in other countries. I'll also add that I don't believe that the inclusion of food with church events is wrong. Sharing a meal in fellowship with believers is a tradition that began in ancient days and is not, in itself, the sin. It is the overeating on a regular basis, failing to eat the right foods that promote health, making an idol of food that I feel are the real sins. This is one of the areas of sin that are big (no pun intended) in America today. I think that strong contenders for the "greatest" sin would be materialism and idol worship. Thanks for bringing this up. We really do need to have more conversations about being better stewards of what God has given us. Blessings, Lucinda

That is our situation exactly to the T. But even if it weren't this way, I'm confident that TT could be a math curriculum students can excel with. In fact, I've read a number of testimonies from parents who's students fared excellently in high school and on to college after going with TT all the way through. Math is math. There is no gray area with math as there can be with so many other subjects. We just need to make sure our students have regular, consistent and progressive teaching in the subject. Blessings, Lucinda

Oh rats....2cents beat me to it! But here is a link to an article about the Frenchman that did the scientific research. As to the hairnet, it was the style of the day during the Renaissance. Apparently people thought it was attractive. :tongue_smilie: Blessings, Lucinda

My suggestions listed previous to this were a response to SWB's post. I personally think that having organizational structure within a forum is extremely helpful. FWIW. Blessings, Lucinda

I like the breakdown Mallory suggested to. From there I would like to see breakdown such as this within each grade level group: 1. SAMPLES (Finished work that has gone through editing, revisions, polishing, etc. for that particular grade level.) 2. PLEASE CRITIQUE (Student work that parent's are requesting feedback on. NOTE: There should be a clear way for the parents to bring discussion to a close when they've gotten enough.) Then possibly a category called... 3. WORK IN PROGRESS (A section for that grade level to showcase the progression of particular pieces that students are working on. Or, this category could alternately be placed within the SAMPLES section.) 4. TEACHER TO TEACHER (A section for adults to discuss various aspects of teaching writing to that particular grade level.) This type of organization would help me navigate through the options with ease and would be greatly appreciated. Blessings, Lucinda

I want to point out that a supplement like LOF is not necessary for success with TT. I've added LOF to the mix for dd just for fun. This is a recommendation of TWTM for any math curriculum in the Logic stage just for variety to keep students engaged. I think that a number of moms choose LOF for that reason, plus the fact that LOF is popular in its non-traditional approach to math. So anyway, I just wanted to point out that TT does not have to be supplemented unless you choose to do so for the reasons I've stated. Blessings, Lucinda