About three months ago I stopped at a local store and picked up a variety of sports bras and training bras in soft colors for my dd (9) just to surprise her. She is the youngest in the family and just needed a boost. Her chest has just barely started to develop, but it made her feel special and a bit more grown up to have me buy them for her. My thoughts were, "What's it going to hurt anyway?" I guess I wanted to get used to the idea of her maturing just as much as I wanted to please her. It was our special little secret. :~) It is inevitable that these girls are going to develop and need bras. My dd didn't change in any way emotionally or attitude wise after putting on a bra. I felt that being proactive in this area was wise, and she feels special and loved. Blessings, Lucinda

I was a freshman in college in my mid thirties, went straight through four years of college and then continued on for a fifth year for a complimenting certificate to add to my degree. My education totally transformed my life, making not only a better future for me career-wise, but also to round me out as a mature person. I received loans, grants and scholarships for my education and am still owing money on the loans - so I'll be paying for a long time yet. If I had to do it all over again I would do it again even with the loans. Life without that education was very, very different for me. Today I am grounded in a way that I could never have imagined. I understand the world better. I know how to contribute to the community better. I am wiser and more confident than I would have been otherwise. And when I needed to step up my career, that education did indeed serve me well. Education is incredibly important for both men and women. I will certainly encourage my daughter and my granddaughters to pursue as much college as they can. Blessings, Lucinda

I just found the site because of this thread. Thanks so much! I found some great things there this morning that will help us out more than anything I've found so far with both copywork and geography notebooks. Blessings, Lucinda

I am a very responsible woman and have made many sacrifices over the years, more often than not doing the sensible and right thing. But along with that, there have been times that throwing all caution to the wind and doing something completely frivolous has been exactly what my children and I have needed. Foreign travel is educational and life changing. Frivolous perhaps, especially with the timing, but if your gut is say "GO", then follow your instincts and have the time of your life. You and your family will remember it for the rest of your lives. Blessings, Lucinda

After art, I'd have to say I love to teach history, writing and read aloud literature. I am an art teacher by profession, but don't seem to fit it in at home as much as I should...still love it though. And its a natural fit to add history and literature to the visual arts. Blessings, Lucinda

I think I will opt for the kit from HOAC. I am not looking for unit studies really, and I don't want to spend a whole lot of time designing and piecing it together myself at this time (although it would be fun, I just don't have time right now). The 4H book looks helpful, so I think I'll add that to the lapbook kit and call it good. I appreciate the input ladies! Blessings, Lucinda

nt

That is fascinating information. I have often had conversations with others about gifting and how it is related to our personalities. Now I'm going to have to check out Isabel's book (if its available). And to think -- she was homeschooled. I love stories like this about people. Thank you for sharing it. Blessings, Lucinda

and have learned to be happy with either one. I learned that the more storage I have, the more junk I hold on to. As I get older I'm trying to keep things more simple. I've been throwing out a bunch of stuff that I used to think I needed. LOL! Right now we live in a medium - large sized old bungalow built back in the WWII era. It is 1644 sf, soon to be 1850 sf when my attic studio is finished. There are four of us plus one dog and one cat. I feel blessed and have no complaints about the size. We have tons of projects to complete though and that takes time and money. Blessings, Lucinda

I feel the same way! Isn't it encouraging to pull it all together and realize that there is (sort of) an explanation for why we do the things we do? I mean, I don't feel quite as "odd" knowing that there are others out there with this quirky personality too. As a person of deep faith, I know that God created me to be who I am for a purpose beyond my own imagination or comprehension. Blessings, Lucinda

I'm also and INFJ, although when I was younger I was much more extroverted. Blessings, Lucinda

Ours came about 4 days earlier than they said it would. :party: Blessings, Lucinda

More ideas to share anyone?

I can only recommend Shurley English since that is what we have been using for the past two years. I have used one set of curriculum over both 3rd and 4th grade, simply because I was told by people on this forum that there was very little difference between SE3 and SE4. I know we need to be repetitious in the grammar stage, but we are on a tight budget. For this reason have just taken our time with the program. We also do a lot of dictation and book reports. There are some really nice things about SE...like the fun jingles and the way they teach classifying sentences, but it is rather teacher intensive. Dd is doing well with her grammar though, and that is always the best kind of referral. Also, the Classical school where I teach part-time uses SE and the students are really excelling. Next year we are going to go with Writing Strands and then I will be looking for a more advanced grammar study for 6th grade. It will either be SE or one of the recommended curriculum you've all brought up here on this thread. Blessings, Lucinda

Thank you, Christie, for organizing this project. I know it will be a lot of fun for everyone. We'll be anxiously awaiting your instructions. Will you post them on the forum, or will we get that detailed information via e-mail? Blessings, Lucinda

Dd is in love with horses and is just beginning to take riding lessons, so of course she wants to do a lapbook on horses. I found the HOAC lapbook at Currclick.com, but wanted to ask if anyone else has done it before I go ahead and buy it. Are there any other lapbook kits out there that would be less expensive, any better or at least as good as this one? We've only done one lapbook since homeschooling, so we don't have much to go by yet. I would love to get input from others on how to make this fun and worthwhile academically for dd and I. Blessings, Lucinda

Our family is on a CSA through a local organic produce farm and we get kale frequently. Our favorite way to cook it so far is to stir fry it in a skillet with olive oil and fresh garlic - sometimes onions. We start by cutting it up into fine shreds and by seasoning the oil with the garlic/onion mixture. Get the pan nice and hot then throw in the shredded kale. Keep stirring until the greens are nice and wilted. Finally, top it off with a little balsamic vinegar as you serve it or put the vinegar cruet on the table for those that want it. We love our greens with BV and have it regularly. Bon appetite! Blessings, Lucinda

We were effected by a huge downturn in high tech several years ago. After working his way to the top of management and loving his work, Dh had two very long periods of unemployment during that time -- the second one lasting a full year. The economy was very sour here in our region and people with graduate degrees were applying for assembly line and driving jobs. The competition was horrendous, and my dh was in his 40's. Trying to reinvent his career at that age was very painful and hard. He finally left high tech and ended up driving trucks for a living. He still grieves over it. We faced seven long years of hardship during all of this, even losing our home and retirement. But I have to say that it was the best thing that ever happened to us. At the time it was not fun, but looking back we can both see so much good that came out of it. We have stronger, better priorities now. Our faith grew in leaps and bounds during that time, and that made it worth it all in itself. With God's help we have been able to rebuild our lives, even owning a home again. Right now we are faced with dh's current employer cutting back everyone. He is only working one day per week until they give the go ahead for everyone to come back. Hopefully they will be back to full-time again soon! But what amazes me is that this time we are both very confident and positive about where we are. Neither of us is worried about it, I guess because we have gone through a lot worse and lived to tell the story. All I can say is that whenever we face hardship and times of trial, there are things to learn and grow from. Keeping our eyes focused on the things that matter the most is what gets you through it. Center on the positive things every single day and choose to trust the God of the universe. Blessings, Lucinda

Sound s like a popular idea! I vote to do a new group that would start sooner than next school year. We would love to be sending and receiving postcards over the summer. Anyone else feel the same way? Blessings, Lucinda

This would be just perfect for our family. Please do keep us posted so we can participate. Blessings, Lucinda

:lurk5:

Funny you say this -- I always go into the settings of whatever program I'm using and eliminate the auto hyphenation of words. It drives me crazy! If you use a right justified format for paragraphs, there is no reason for hyphenating multiple times in a doc. The worst thing is having them on two, three or more lines in a row. Very tacky!! :tongue_smilie: But that's just me and the fact that it was drilled in to me to polish up the text on everything I create. Sorry! LOL! This reminded me of a similar story about a young woman learning from her mother how to roast a ham. The mother didn't know why, but you were supposed to cut off the two ends when placing it in the roasting pan. In search for the answer they went to Grandma, who promptly told them it was so it would fit into the pan! Yes, we do so many things in our culture without even knowing why. We humans can be so silly, can't we? Blessings, Lucinda

If it were me, I'd toss with this dressing and then place it all in the oven on a tray to roast. We roast a lot of veggies, including broccoli and cauliflower. All you do is put them on a tray (single layer) and roast at 425 degrees for about 10-15 minutes. They should be just a bit golden around the edges to taste the best. Cloves of fresh garlic would be good. too. Bon appetite! Lucinda

I just watched the interview on Dateline while also reading this thread. I have to say I strongly agree with Chucki and Janet. Mudslinging is not going to change this situation at all. This woman and all of her children need tons of prayer. Okay, I'm now ducking from the tomatoes that I'm sure are being aimed my way.... Blessings, Lucinda

bump