It must vary for some reason because our Zillow estimate has always been spot on. Go figure. Lucinda

Oh yes, I'm there with you. I certainly do feel your pain! I had three sons by a previous marriage, and they are all grown and gone now. Although I remain very close to each of my sons, none of them are practicing the faith that they were raised with. It is heart wrenching at times, but I am praying for them daily and doing my best to always express and be an example of unconditional love. My former husband suffers from a mental disorder and was not the best husband and father. My sons all love him, but they did not receive a father's love that would lead them to understand the love of a Heavenly Father. And along with others in their generation, my sons have rejected the religious trappings of the church. Still -- no matter what -- I know in my heart that God is at work in and around their lives because I believe in the power of prayer. I sincerely dedicated those babies to the Lord, and I believe that God is the God of the impossible! Each day I hold on to the Acts 16:31 scripture, "...Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household." (Emphasis mine.) I pray this verse to increase my faith and remind me of God's promises. I used to pray that my sons would start by going to church again, but now I pray every day for God to speak to them at a level that they can understand through nature, through things that they read and hear, through the written word, and through circumstances. What I pray for my sons is that they come to know God in a personal relationship. This is key. Have you read Ruth Graham's book, Prodigals and Those that Love Them? I have a copy that I'll send to you if you would like. I found it to be very encouraging. Blessings, Lucinda

I'll give my vote for Zillow.com too. We have followed our house value for the past three years with it, and interestingly enough -- the financial officer that handled the purchase of our home also used Zillow (along with sale reports of other area homes) to prove the value of our property to the underwriters of the loan. Blessings, Lucinda

Still praying here too. Thank you for the update. Blessings, Lucinda

I want to view a TOG webinar, but could not access the video with QuickTime on my MacBook. I went to the Apple website and downloaded a Windows plug-in for viewing media, but I can't open it to install because it does not support my Stuffit Expander. :lol: So now what do I need? Blessings, Lucinda

I use Moneydance and like it a lot. I used Quicken for years, but wanted to change to something else when I got my Mac. Moneydance is very easy to learn and is for Mac, Linux & PC platforms. There is a free trial, I think for the first 100 transactions, and then you have the option to buy. The cost is very low -- I think I paid $39.99 for it when I decided to stay with it. Anyway, I think its worth looking into. Blessings, Lucinda

I heard Dr. Ryken speak at a conference last summer and he is excellent. He teaches this subject at Wheaton, so is a real expert. I agree that it might be a stretch for some hs'ers, but perhaps you could read the books and then teach from what you have learned presented at their level. I would definitely read the books for your own enrichment as well. Blessings, Lucinda

Prayers have commenced! Will watch for updates. Blessings, Lucinda

I just downloaded a copy of the notebooking pages from CurrClick, and they look very nice. They are quite flexible for all sorts of bird study pages for upper and lower grammar stage students. Very nice indeed, and they are free!! Blessings, Lucinda

For personal comments and more details about the specific curriculum I've listed, here's a link to my blog describing what we are doing this year for my dd's 5th grade lessons. Now here's the short version: Tapestry of Grace - includes history, geography, Bible and worldview, literature, & composition (via TOG Writing Aids program that we also purchased). We chose Yr. 1 for this year, which covers ancient history. (BTW, we will be using Yr. 2 for 6th grade.) Easy Grammar 5 - Dd is sailing through this grammar program, but we would go back to Shurley Grammar as a second choice. Spelling Power - This is a buy-once curriculum, then you use it all through school. We're tried a couple other spelling programs and this one is the best for our needs. Very easy once you get through the initial instructions. Teaching Textbooks 6 - Math with a teacher in the box! :) Dd loves this math program and is progressing nicely. Latin for Children B - Second year Latin instruction, again with a teacher in the box! :) We are also involved with a co-op that uses A.C.E. curriculum for general science supplemented with lots of hands-on projects, experiments, videos and field trips. I am not the teacher. Instead, I teach art to the co-op students. Blessings, Lucinda

I'm sure we could all pull out various research results to prove our individual points. Here is one that I've looked at that only goes up to 2009, obviously leaving out the more recent Haiti and Chile earthquakes, and others: DATES FROM & TO PERIOD NO. EARTHQUAKES (Mag. > 6.99) --------------------------- ----------- ------------------------------ 1863 to 1900 incl 38 yrs 12 1901 to 1938 incl 38 yrs 53 Reference list 1901 to 1938 1939 to 1976 incl 38 yrs 71 Reference list 1939 to 1976 1977 to 2014 incl * 38 yrs 144 (to Sept. 2009) predict >180 in total. Reference list 1977 to date * Although periods are shown up to 2014, this report was initially written in 2006. Therefore the final period (from 1977) will be updated as required until the end of 2014. In the meantime a predicted total is shown. The earthquake (SW off coast of American Samoa) on 29th September 2009 is the last included in these numbers. Apart from the "long-term" trends shown above, which show an ongoing persistent increase, it is perhaps more stark to record that earthquakes across the planet show a marked increase in activity since 1997. There are more major earthquakes occurring now, and this on an ever more frequent basis. (Source: http://research.dlindquist.com/quake/) -------------------------- Actually, I don't weigh my opinion or belief this subject solely on earthquake frequency alone. According to the Matthew 24 passage, there are other signs that must be evident as well, and they do seem to all point toward the soon return of Christ. Blessings, Lucinda

It is in Matthew 24, in the words of Jesus Himself regarding His second coming. In verses 6-8 of that chapter He says, "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains." For those that study Bible prophecy intently, it is quite noticeable that there has been a huge increase in earthquake activities during the past couple of years. There is also a great deal of pestilence on the earth, and the events in the Middle East are all happening as prophesied in the Book of Daniel and in Revelation as well. Many Christians believe that we are indeed living in the last days before Christ's return. If anyone is interested in a website link or two that goes deeper into these subjects, pm me and I'll send it to you. Blessings, Lucinda

For Christmas dd bought her daddy a chair-side remote caddy and promised that she would faithfully put the remotes in place every day. So far, we're seeing an improvement, but Christmas was only, what - two months ago? Blessings, Lucinda

Aaaah, tethering! Now that's exactly what I need to do. For us it would be the scissors that are supposed to ALWAYS be in our hs caddy, pencils (that are ALWAYS supposed to be in the same place with the scissors), dd's hairbrush and yes, those vulnerable hair ties mentioned. Somehow, I have learned to go straight to the Barbie box to find them though. There are usually several of the missing elastic ties wound around those poor, unsuspecting dolls! Blessings, Lucinda

Gosh, it seems that we've been unschooling and didn't even know it! :lol: Blessings, Lucinda

I had a similar thing happen in 1998. My dh and I were scheduled to go away for a long weekend with friends, and although my mil had come to live with us temporarily we all agreed that dh and I would not change our plans and would still go on our trip. (My mil had lived alone in another state for years prior to coming to Oregon to be closer to us so it seemed okay to everyone.) As we were preparing to go on our trip I had the strangest feeling about leaving my mil, but everything was set in motion and it was as though it could not be stopped. We said goodbye and I knew -- I just knew -- that we would never see her again, and I think she knew too. It was unspoken, but very real. When we returned from our trip, I knew she was dead. The lights were not on, and the dog was outside. She had passed away on the kitchen floor that morning. I have a strong sense of discernment that has come and gone over the years. This was one of the strongest occurrences I've ever experienced. Blessings, Lucinda

Oregon is pretty easy so far, and we've been at it for three years now. We were required to file a letter of intent with ESD initially, and then there is testing for grades 3,5,8 & 10. I've heard some of my long-time home school friends say they don't know why testing is required because there seems to be no accountability in place. I do plan to have my dd tested this year though, just to play it safe. Blessings, Lucinda

Elfinbaby -- you've got to win with that one! I also stole a car when I was a teenager. I was fifteen and with my bestfriend, who's parents had left us alone while they went on a hunting trip. We went for a joyride in the family car, neither of us having a license -- let alone any driving experience. We scraped the fender on the fence backing out the driveway on one trip, but the fatal one was when we went to the store and ran into my friend's mother's best friend. That one got us busted. :lol: (I cannot believe how utterly stupid we were!) I sat and visited with Mel Tillis in his backstage dressing room for an hour after a concert in 1980. He didn't stutter once! Oh, and my second cousin's name was Sherlock Holmes. No joke. Okay, and one more...I was driven to the hospital in a police car to have my third child. What a fun thread! Blessings, Lucinda

We're in the Pacific NW of the United States....Oregon to be exact. Blessings, Lucinda

This is great, too, Jackie! I guess it would depend on the specific details and situation involved. So whether we go with an online school that was "legal", or deal with it as you suggest here, I would do all I could to insure my dd is not cheated out of the education I believe I've been called to provide for her. Blessings, Lucinda

This is a great idea, and I tend to agree that it would be my plan as well. I'd just supplement as I saw fit (i.e. Christian worldview and Bible) so that dd's education was complete. Blessings, Lucinda

I'm so glad that you young moms are starting to think ahead on this fact of life, because when I was a younger mom I did not have a clue as to what was up ahead. Nothing prepared me for letting go of my three oldest sons, and it was very painful. I thought I was going to die! But I did get through it, and gradually adjusted to the inevitable. The truth is, it's a mother's job to let go! I think it is different with sons than it is with daughters, but that's a general statement that I'm sure differs with families and individuals. My experience has been that sons need independence and so they cut the strings and head out into the world with a vengeance. At some point, all of my sons started calling home more frequently and/or coming home for visits a bit more often and that helped. But really - we have to face the truth that eventually our sons go off to college, military or whatever, get married and have wives and family. And once that happens, they have even more relatives to consider. Thankfully my own sons are very thoughtful and good about remembering special days and visiting us, but life if very, very different now that they are grown up than when they were young. I'm over being sad all the time about it, because really -- you don't want your sons to become grown up mama's boys, right? I mean, the goal is to train them to be strong men that are wonderful husbands, fathers and providers. They just can't be all that and stay too closely attached to their moms. As to daughters, I think in a lot of cases it takes place differently. Even when they go off to college they are on the most part more likely to call home and come home more often than sons do. My experience so far with daughters is that the relationship is, well, more relational than with sons. I don't know how else to say it. It's almost like some daughters need their moms close by longer than sons do, so the emotional and physical "moving out" may be more gradual than with sons. As to what younger moms can do to prepare -- I'd say just being aware that it is going to happen up ahead is half the battle. The other things you may want to do for yourself is develop personal interests outside of raising children that you or you and your dh can pour yourself into. You are REALLY going to need something meaningful to do with your life when your children are gone. Please trust me with this! Think now about your life's passions and participate in it somehow on a part-time basis while your kids are young. Then gradually involve yourself in it more as they become more independent and you have more time. Once the nest is empty, dive in! You really need to have a plan, dear mothers. If you don't, you will flounder and will be in even more pain. Another helpful thing would be to purposely give your dc opportunities to gain independence BEFORE they leave home. Gradual letting go, planfully and purposefully letting go is the key. I'd encourage you to make this a goal in your parenting. In closing I'd like to add a word of encouragement. Ladies, the years after raising children can be very rich for you personally. You'll finally have time to do some things with your life that you've been longing to do but didn't have time. And get this -- your families are going to get bigger!! (Keep in mind that you will need to have a house that has a big area for entertaining if you have a lot of kids and they all get married and have children.) Yes, someday you will be grandmothers and your family gatherings will get bigger and bigger! Trust me, after the grief subsides from the empty nest, other blessings will come your way. Just remember that each phase of life is beautiful in its own way. :grouphug: I wish I could give you all hugs right now. I really wish that there had been a thread like this for me to read when I was younger and that someone had said to me what I'm saying now! Blessings, Lucinda

I was educated in ps, and although I had the personality to do it, I did not learn to address groups of people skillfully or effectively. That came much later when I was in college. Interestingly, neither of my parents were confident public speakers, and out of their three children I am the only one that has done any speaking or teaching on a regular basis. My dd, on the other hand, is not only hs'ed - she is the only student in our academy. Yet she is very skilled at speaking out in group discussions and making presentations before others. She is mostly around adults every day, so this may be part of the reason, along with the fact that I have been working with her on how to address others with success. But more than anything, I do attribute her personality as the main reason for this. I agree with the other posters that state it is personality more than anything that makes the difference. I would only add that how we train them to speak at home as well as other situations we put them in contributes to it all as well. Another important thought is that in your case it was up to one individual to make the decisions that were made, and he may have been influenced by a certain bias or even mood that day. Perhaps it would be a good idea to compare this situation to others as a final observation about your child. Blessings, Lucinda

I just store them in buckets with lids that seal shut completely. As long as lids are closed properly, critters should not be able to get in. Blessings, Lucinda

During my perimenopausal days I had that happen more than a few times. Some women also have fibroids that cause heavy and/or longer bleeding. As it turned out, I had both and it was not fun! Its good that you called the gynecologist. You may need an ultrasound at some point if it continues, but take note that fibroids are not always easily detected. It may take a few tries and/or opinions before knowing it for sure. In the meantime, take good care of yourself with lots of liquids, rest and some good vitamins. This too shall pass. You are at a stage of life that seems to go on and on, but it does come to an end and there will be relief. Blessings, Lucinda