I will be 57 when my youngest graduates from homeschooling. I plan to get a small boat and do lots and lots of fishing. I will also do lots and lots of reading all of those books I never got time to read while homeschooling, but that will be while fishing at the same time. I can't imagine a better future life, a little umbrella to shade me from the sun, relaxation, reading, a cooler full of food and fishing. Retirement from homeschooling doesn't get any better then that !:001_smile:

Jane Austen Are we allowed to bring back the dead ? :lol: Oh, and for two very much alive authors, I'd pick Jennifer Crusie and Susan Elizabeth Phillips.

Just last week, our youngest was walking around with one of those mini paperbacks. It was the Art of War by Sun Tzu. It was obviously for school, well to me it was. He asked what it was for and I told him that the baby knows her letters and sounds, and that it was being used successfully on my forums, so we were going to use it to teach her to read. I think he believed me. This quote above has had me in hysterics for the last 10 minutes ! :lol: My husband's eyes glaze over and his tongue starts to loll out of his head when I go on and on about curriculum choices, methods of homeschooling ect. So just for my own personal fun and to give myself some giggles, I interject something outrageous like the above into the coversation to see if he is paying attention. He never catches them, he just smiles at me and tells me what a great job I am doing with the kids and then heads off to do something else. I have learned that he will never be someone who is going to get excited about methods of teaching, homeschooling curriculum or anything else in that context. But he is supportive, he loves that we homeschool and that I enjoy it as much as the children and he will ooh and ahh over their papers and projects. He always tells me I am doing an awesome job as the kid's teacher, raves about me to friends and co-workers and if I tell him it is "educational", will allow me to make almost any curriculum purchase I want to buy. He hands over that debit card quickly if he know's the purchase is going to benefit his children's education. He just is not going to be that husband that I can bounce ideas off of and that wants to discuss the newest homeschooling curriculum choices. I have to do that with my homeschooling friends, because he is just not "there" for those issues. Those are just the facts, I have accepted them and after 10 years of homeschooling, I am at peace with how our relationship in terms of homeschooling works. :001_smile:

Walmart has the Scotch Thermal Laminating Machine for only $24.99. Check out the awesome reviews on Amazon, but buy from Walmart, they are about $12.00 cheaper then Amazon. You can purchase the laminating sleeves on Amazon though (with Prime there is free shipping), they are 50 of the large pouches for about $11.XX. The sleeves are more exspensive at Walmart (about $ 2.50 more). I guess that is how the recoop their loss on the laminating machine. I bought a laminator two weeks ago, the machine works fantastic !! I have been laminating everything in sight ! It is so much fun, I think I have become a true laminating junkie ! Oh, the fun we have making our own flashcards and posters now !! It has really saved us a fortune in making my own, but be forwarned, it is addicting !! You will find yourself wandering the house looking for items to laminate !

I'm continuing to cover you in prayer Molly !! Could you please explain more about your vein popping out by heating your hand ? Please explain in detail how you heated your hand and what you used to heat your hand. I would love to know the secret, my own daughter (age 21) gets CT scans and tons of bloodwork for ovarian cancer. She has such tiny veins and the techs are contantly jabbing and jabbing at her to get a good vein. I would love to find a way to aid her in getting a good vein to pop out quickly, so she doesn't have to go through any additional pain. Blessings to you !!

Covering you in prayer Molly !!

I have a (just turned) seven year old named Henry Levi. We love the name Henry here, it is a very solid name. It was one of my favorite baby names for a long, long time, the name itself just seems to make you want to smile. The name is quite interesting and unique, just like our Henry.:)

I had the same problem with my now 11 year old son right around the time he turned 9 too. My son always had little "worries", but when my oldest daughter was diagnossed with cancer, he got much, much, worse. He was worrying all the time and like your child, needed constant assurance that he wasn't going to get cancer too. My son also did the constant hand washing and wouldn't touch anything his sister came in contact with, which was very hard in our household since she was around everything. My son would also worry about his other siblings getting it, especially our younger sons who he felt were not as "diligent" on hand washing as my nine year old was. I assured my son that the cancer was not contagious, but this is how he processed it and manefested it in his head. Kid's see things in a different way then we do as adults. At nine years old, he had not yet gotten real logical reasoning skills. Heck, even my own mother (my daughter's grandmother at 70 years old) was afraid she would catch the cancer from our toilet seats or something, so I understood the reasoning skills of a 9 year old were even harder to explain things too. What I realized was he was just living in fear, he just came to me to ask all these questions because he needed assurance. He wanted to have something stable to hang onto during this rough time of dealing with his older sister's cancer. He wanted me to tell him all was okay, he was okay and he would continue to be okay. He was worried about the what if's, he was worried about his own mortality. I get that, I just needed to find a way to make him understand that he was going to be okay too. It took a lot of reassuring, a lot of talking to him about how he was just fine. He was not ill and he was not going to get this cancer. He was going to be just fine. I just comforted him each time he came to me, instead of telling him he need not worry about catching a germ from that particular thing that he touched. I just told him that all was well, he was well, he was healthy and calm. We got some great children's meditation tapes, called "The Indigo Child". I put them on at bedtime to help him sleep. They helped relax him and destress him. I put up some little signs around the house, signs that read "I am healthy", " I am confident", " I am calm", " I am peaceful", " I am positive", " I am strong". These signs helped to subconsiously assure everyone in our household, we would read them everytime we passed by them without even realizing it that we were reading them on a subconsious level. They motivated us, they gave us peace, they gave us confidence, they were a contant assurance in troubled times. My daughter who was battling cancer benefitted from these signs greatly too. I changed his diet to lots of whole foods and fresh fruits and veggies, just like his big sister's. Good vitamins and lots of omega 3 oils. I actually did this for our entire family also, it benefitted all of us. I read him beautiful bible stories and built up his trust in God and about how God loves him and wants the best for him. We stopped listening to the radio and tv commericals that constantly were "hawking" products for some medical illness or another, because these scared my son into believing he had one of those illnesses too. Even if they were for something totally out of his realm like heart disease or errectile disfunction. I tried to make the world around him calm and relaxing. It not only helped him, it really helped us all through these troubled times. It gave us all peace, our house became a haven and an oasis of peace and calm. The healthy foods changed our health and our outlook, the mediation tape's helped us learn to self-cope and relax, we read some children's books on dealing with anxiety the natural way and self coping techniques, we got rid of the doom and gloom of radio and televison commericals that were trying to scare the beejubus out of us so we would use their products. And we built a stronger more secure belief in the "after-life" and our trust in God. We brought peace and calm into our world. These all helped to build up my son's confidence, they helped to errode his fear. Now two years later, my daughter is healthy again and well. My son is now 11 and doing very well with his coping skills. Sometimes he still comes to me with questions about if this or that is okay and I ask him "Ben, tell me why it is okay, use your reasoning skills and explain to me why this couldn't happen" , "use your logical mind and not your emotional one and tell me why this isn't so". This technique helps him to rationalize his fears and realize that he isn't thinking logically. He will tell me why it can't be so, he will then smile at me and say, "your right mom, I wasn't using my rational mind, I was using my emotional side and allowing irrational fears to creep in". But the most important thing is, he now has coping skills, to assure himself on his own, but he also has me and daddy, to help alay those fears and set him right again when he needs to discuss them. I always let him know that I am constantly here for him, I will always listen to him and I will never discount his fears. But I will help him rationalize them, realize his flawed thinking in allowing the fear to take over and help him build up his confidence that all is well. He is now 100% better then what he once was, and he had good reasoning skills now that will help him in his future. I think this is most important, teaching him how to cope with his fears, since there will always be fears that crop up in his life. By teaching him to understand where and why the fears happen and how to cope with them, he is becoming more secure in his logical reasoning skills. Nine is a hard age, I truley understand. Give him time, give him lots of love, listen to him and tell him to come to you when he is afraid and build up his confidence. Try to find ways to make the home peaceful and calm. Perhaps work on his diet and help him to eat a more healthy diet, diet really does play such an important role in our emotional health as well as our physical one. Let him know that you will always help to alay his fears, until he is a bit older and can learn to do it for himself. Good Luck to you, I will be praying for you and your son ! :grouphug:

Thanks for this, I am interested in purchasing this art program for next year. By the way, if anyone is interested, while browsing around on the site I found a free Leonardo da Vinci lap book download that was $10.00 and is now FREE. I just downloaded it (you just go through checkout and it is added to your cart and then the link is at the end of checkout). It is really nice, I just looked through it, my kids will love doing this lap book ! Thanks again !

Thanks for the alert, too bad they just sold out. I missed it this time, hopefully they will come up again in the future. They looked really nice and my kids would have enjoyed having them. Thanks again !

If you don't have time to read, get the Cd version from the library like I did and listen to it throughout the day while cooking and cleaning. Dave Ramsey really set us on fire and helped us get motivated to really make and stick to a budget. We are now debt free except for a small mortgage left on our home, which we are paying off in double payments quickly. We have a 6 month fully funded emergency fund in place and lots of sinking funds for little things that crop up, such as car repairs, replacement vehicle, home maintenence, home schooling exspenses, ectera.... We have a grocery budget, clothing budget and all types of other budgets in place that we stick to each month, so that we can snowball the rest right into savings. Dave also helped us to really think about our future and to put money away for retirement at 15% each and every month. And he taught us the importance of paying off the mortgage early and the sense of freedom it gives you long term. We are much better for having read the book, I can't recommend it enough !

Best exercise for thighs and saddle bags is to do many reppitions of squats. I'd start out at something like 30 a day and work your way up. Hold onto a chair or bar for support while doing them. Good Luck, you are doing great !!

My husband was the one who really convinced me to "try" homeschooling, I was the one that didn't think I could do it. He convinced me that I could and gave me tons of information and support to build up my confidence in teaching my own children. He has always been my biggest supporter and cheerleader in everything I do. It is now 10 years later and I have graduated one homeschool student who is in her junior year at the local University majoring in Early Elementary Education and I continue to homeschool my youngest four children. Today I am so proud of myself for all I have accomplished and how I have grown as a parent in the homeschooling arena. It has really helped me to evolve in many of my parenting ideals and values. It has really encouraged me to grow in my own education while I teach my children at home. I think one of the reasons we found homeschooling as a great approach for our family is we already did many "out of the mainstream" parenting techniques, such as : homebirthing, extended breastfeeding (until toddlers turned two years old or so) babywearing, gentle disciplining, co-sleeping, selectivly vaxing, homeopathic care, whole foods/vegetarian diet, simple living, ectera....Homeschooling just seemed to fit in well with our natural parenting philosphies of keeping our children home, attached and close to us. We were already pretty used to being looked at as "those oddballs" for our parenting values, so homeschooling wasn't as big of a stretch for us as it may have been for some other families. In fact, our extended family is more appalled by the fact that we don't have cable or satelite television then they ever were about the fact that we homeschool or follow any of those other "kooky" (their term) parenting techniques that we do. The biggest topic of conversation from them when they come for a visit to our home is "did you get cable television yet" ? We have not had cable television in more then 10 years, but this is still the number one question we are asked at every visit. It never gets "old" for them. They truley believe that any day now we will crack and give into this modern television craze.:lol:

Does anyone know of any good books on the subject that would address the "hard sell" and how to avoid them or recognize them ? I would love to find some good books on the subject for my teen's to read and learn before they head out into the world, preparing them for these types of situations beforehand would be essential to helping them make good decisions in their futures. Thanks for any help you can offer me !

I do not have any marketable skills, except childcare, I have been raising children for the last 26 years of my life. I had my first when I was 18 years old and have had 5 more children since that time. I am now 44. But, I do have in my favor two strong hands, a very hard work ethic and a "never say die" attitude that reminds me daily that I am not above doing ANY job I need to do to feed my family. When I was divorced from my first husband and had to support two young children all on my own, I did all kinds of work to make a living. I worked in a slaughter house, I worked in a pretzel factory, I cleaned houses ( I scrubbed lots of other people's floors, windows and toilets), I nannied, I worked at a grocery store, I worked in a mail processing plant, I waitressed, I worked at Walmart and I worked in a nursing home. I also worked any shift available and adjusted my life to accomodate the job. Many times I did two or three jobs at a time. I know if hard times hit us again, I would make it, because I will sincerly take any job available to support my family. But because of my first marraige ending and dealing with a major health crisis of cancer in one of my children, I learned to always live carefully and be prepared for anything, just in case. So now, we live a very simple lifestyle. My husband and I work very hard to keep to a strict budget, incur no debt, use no credit cards, shop thrift stores, yard sales and GoodWills, our vacations are camp out's in the backyard (FREE), we have a HUGE garden and orchard every year to grow much of our own foods, were working on paying off the rest of what's left of our small mortgage on our farm, we never buy anything without cash, we buy used cars with cash only that we budget in advance for, we keep our grocery budget to no more then $125 a week (including paper goods) for 3 adults and 4 children (we eat lots and lots of beans & rice and sometimes on special occasions we have rice & beans ):001_smile: I also socked away a nice 6 month plus emergency fund, so if hard times hit, we can deal with it until we can find work again. Every pay check, we put alot of it away for those "just in case times". We also have so much fun coming up with ideas on how to do "this or that" cheaper or make something run longer, work harder or stretch to another day. We are huge on conserving and recycling everything we use. We make a game out of living simply and we have so much fun doing it. We learned most of all to be grateful and appreciate what we do have instead of what we don't. We are so very blessed ! Because we live simply, because we don't require much to survive on, I can do it again if I had to on minimum wage. It is not my ideal, It certainly wouldn't be something I look forward to doing, but it is nice to know that If things got really bad again, I could make it on just a simple minimum wage job. And sometimes, in bad economies, those are the only jobs really available in hard times. And typically, those are the very jobs that most people can't afford to accept, because they couldn't eat and pay their bills on minimum wage jobs. They raised their standard of living to a much, much, higher working wage. We keeps our standard of living at the bare bottom. But, we also have something that money cannot buy, we have peace of mind. We know that we can survive if the %^#%^& hits the fan again ! So I figure, if things got really rough for us, I could afford to live pretty simply again on a minimum wage job. Been there, done that and I have the t-shirt to prove it ! :lol: I edited to also say: My children are all being raised to either get a college education in a field that will keep them highly competive in terms of job situations or they must attend a technical school to earn a degree in some type of skilled labor that will allow them to make a sizeable income after graduation. Such as plumbing, electrician, military, ect... They also must take a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace course as young adults to get them started on learning to live on less, conserve more, and save and plan for a rainy day whether that be unemployment, illness or emergency situations. I want them to really think and plan out their future's, not just career wise, but so that they have financial independence. I want them to approach life with an " I can" attitude instead of an " I can't". So I am giving them these skills before they leave our home and set out to conquer they world on their own. They are also being encouraged to postpone marraige or having children until they have graduated from college or technical school and can support a family well. I don't want them to have to struggle all their life with low paying jobs. I want so much more for my children. However, I am also teaching them the importance of living simply, well below your means, to conserve and use what you have in your hand, so that they can always be prepared for "just in case's" and always learn that the main focus is not on having more, but appreciating more. Gratitude in any situation is so very important ! It is what keeps us from feeling depressed or downtrodded on when tough times hit (and they will hit, they always do). As Thomas Jefferson said "Man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can do without".

I found out I had a fibroid during an ultrasound when I was pregnant with my 3rd child. I was 32 years old at the time. I was very concerned on how it would impact my health (my fibriod at the time was about the size of a large golf ball and grew a bit more throughout the pregnancy). I had a wonderful doctor who just checked on it every so often during the pregnancy and advised me after giving birth to breastfeed as long as possible, for breastfeeding shrinks the fibroids and helps keep them at bay. He also joked with me that If I could continue to breasteed until I hit 40, I would have no future problems with these pesky fibroids and would need no possible surgery for them. At the time I laughed along with him, we were not really planning anymore children after number 3, so I never figured I would be breasfeeding for the next almost 8 years. I laughed and God had other plans for us ! After giving birth I breastfed my 3rd child for over two and a half years, right into and almost throughout my next pregnancy with number 4. While checking on baby number 4 during my pregnancy ultrasound, the doctor looked and told me there was no sign of anymore fibroids and everything looked wonderful. Those fibroids never did return (I am now 44) and I went on to have 3 more children after the initial finding of my fibroid. Numbers 4, 5 and 6. All were breastfed for over 2 and a half years each ! So please take heart and don't worry and remember, breastfeed, breastfeed, breastfeed as long as possible !! Breastfeeding not only helps baby in so many wonderful ways, It does so many wonderful things for mother's health also !!

I would first find out what the side effects of the growth hormones are before making any decisions. Can these growth hormones lead to cancers later in life, sort of like they are now finding with the HRT ? Will it cause any disturbances in his body that may be a huge con for you in the long run, such as sleep disturbances, hormone inbalances, ectera. I am big on being who nature intended us to be, but I also have a little guy myself, so I understand your concerns. I've also had a daughter with cancer, so I worry about everything that can lead to more cancer problems in our family and what goes into my children now. I would want to know much more about the side effects before thinking more about trying this therapy, especially if it is to gain just a few inches.

Many Catholics ( I am one) take little bottles to mass with them and fill them up in the holy water font before or after service. I use the holy water to bless both myself and my children during the week when I pray over them. I used it especially, when my oldest daughter was going through a cancer crisis and couldn't attend church with us. I would fill up the bottle with the holy water and bless her with it as I prayed over her and it made her feel so much better. Blessing and praying with holy water is something I learned in my family from little on up, my grandmother did it with us and now I do it with my own children. It is a passed down tradition in our family and we all enjoy it. We are Italian Catholic.

After reading your updated post please scratch everything I said in my previous post. DO NOT GIVE THIS FRIEND ANYTHING OF MONETARY VALUE !! She is someone who will always be "needy" because she chooses to live that way. The bankruptcy taught her nothing, she still lives a rich man lifestyle on a poor man's purse. Most high incomed people couldn't afford a horse or two purebred dogs. Now I understand exactly why her family has backed away and refuses to help her out financially, it all makes sense now. Really, don't give her anything unless you want to gift her with a Dave Ramsey book (cost about 10 bucks on Amazon), that is the most I would give. But most likely, she will use it for a doorstop or cup holder instead of it's intended purpose. Let her fall, she needs to fall before she learns to walk on her own. And sometimes, even that doesn't teach some people. Be a good friend and back away, I don't even know if emotional support is good for you to do at this point. Your emotional support will probably just be hard for you to watch the eventual outcome and will just prolong her "neediness" and stupid choices. She doesn't need emotional support, she needs a good kick in the pants and a wake up call. But you can't give that to her, life will, don't worry, life has a way of waking everyone up eventually. I've been woken up far to many times to count. I'd keep busy and keep away, let her solve her own problems. This type of person doesn't want real help, they enjoy being a victim and have that mentality. You deserve better !

I think it would be great if you could get her to read or listen to Dave Ramsey. It sounds like she needs some help in budget organziation and living a more simple lifestyle. Dave also recommends getting a "beater car" until she can afford better. Basically, she pays in cash for a junk type car that is not attractive or stylish, but at least will get her from point A to point B. In the meantime, while driving the beater car, she starts saving her pennies by living on a strict budget and starts budgeting money in for a better car once she gets her bills under control and back on track. It worries me for you to help too much, you may be enabling her to continue this lifestyle where she will always be "in need" and never being financially independent. It sounds like their families already have "been there done that" with her and her husband and are refusing to help out anymore. There may be a very good reason for that, that you do not know about. She may be a good friend, but you can be a good friend back by offering support in the emotional way, steering her towards Dave Ramsey and talking to her about getting her budget and bills under control. At most, you could help her out with purchasing a really cheap beater car (with cash only) which should cost about $400 to $800 for a get her to work car. That is how we started out, we only had beaters until we could afford better and even then, we only paid full in cash for the better models when we had our bills and budget under control and our emergency fund finished. A beater car would probably cost you as much in the end as renting her a car for a few days. I think rentals run like $250 to $300 or so a week and until you pay insurance, tax ectera you are probably looking at $400. I could be wrong here about the exact cost, but years ago I remember paying about that much when we needed to rent one on vacation. Good Luck to you, you are a good friend to her !

Praying for you Molly, may God Bless you and keep you in HIS perfect peace !!

We have 6 children here. Ages are 26 year old boy, 21 year old girl, 11 year old boy, 9 year old girl, 6 year old boy and a 4 year old boy. I'm going to be 44 real soon and I am very content with the number of children I have and I am all done in the baby making department. Now I am looking forward to future grandchildren in the next 5 to 10 years.

Snap Circuit is all the rage here too this year ! I got the 300 for my 11 year old son and the 100 for my 6 year old son, they both have been playing non-stop ever since opening them. Snap Circuit has been played with more then their new Wii games. I am so thrilled with this gift, it was a definite HIT this Christmas for all of us !! I'm thinking about the big 500 for next year as a family gift.

An Excellent book on the subject is: Click here: http://www.amazon.com/Backyard-Homestead-Produce-food-quarter/dp/1603421386/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260394 The Backyard Homestead by Carleen Madigan. Basically it is how to feed your family and live a sustainable lifestyle on just a 1/4 acre. Great book with many ideas for living a more simple lifestyle. We live on an 11 acre homestead that we purchased back in 1999 to live a more simple lifestyle. We grow alot of our own foods, we have a nice orchard and we love living a more back to nature kind of lifestyle for our family. Before we moved to our homestead, we practiced living a more simple life while living in the city and saving our pennies for our farm. We taught ourselves to garden with containers in windowsills and the back porch, to find many economical ways to save money, to cut back on all utilities and to make do with less. We got rid of all non-essentials like cable, internet, eating out, vacations ectera. This helped us so much once we got to our homestead and to be able to do it all on a larger scale. It helped us to learn what we needed to know and to be better informed once we were actually on the homestead and living that sort of lifestyle, it really helped cut down on culture shock and we were able to assimilate to a more simple lifestyle in the country much more easily then had we not prepared for it ahead of time. Good Luck to you !

Hello All, I was all set to order the Hearthsong Domino Race Set Special Version today when I saw that it was no longer in stock. I called the company and they told me they would not receive anymore of the Domino Race Sets in until December 21st, but then they had to fill all their back orders (from November) and ship them out before taking the newer orders (which takes several days to process before shipping) and then shipping, so I would not receive it until at least a few weeks or more after Christmas. This was going to be the "big gift" for my children for Christmas and I am so upset to find that they are already sold out of it. I was really hoping that shopping now, they would have them still in stock and I screwed up bigtime ! Does anyone know of any other high quality and very nice wooden domino race sets that are not too pricey that I could purchase instead ?Something well made and equal to the Hearthsong version. Or do you think that the Hearthsong version is one of the best on the market and it would be better to wait on that rather then to purchase something that is second rate or not as well made ? I am not sure what to do, part of me thinks to just wait until after Christmas and give the kids a picture of it from the Hearthsong Catalog from "Santa" and tell them Santa will drop it off in a few weeks after Christmas and part of me says to look for something else so as not to dissapoint my little ones on Christmas morning when they would be so excited to open up their gift. Any suggestions, advice, opinions would be appreciated.