I'm very happy in my life, despite the circumstances and worries that happen daily, I find joy in the little things. A beautiful evening sunset in all it's glory, the early morning sun rays on my living room floor as I open the shades, my four little ones climbing in bed with me in the morning for a quick snuggle, daily letters from my oldest daughter who is away at camp, picking fresh veggies and fruit from our gardens and orchards, cooking/baking new recipes, homeschooling lots of little ones. These are the daily moments in my life when I am just overcome with joy to The Lord for all the blessings I have in my life. I praise HIM and thank HIM constantly throughout my day, for all the wonderful things in my life ! Last year, was a very hard summer, this is my summer of immense joy ! We live on very modest income from just my husband's job, have a large family, lots of work on our farm and tons of bills. Last summer our water pipe broke causing us a $1,200 dollar water bill and another $ 2,000 in cost to fix it. Last summer our barn was damaged from storms and needed to be taken down and that was another $ 5,000 dollars plus long hours of labor by my husband. Last summer my sweet 19 year old daughter was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, it hit us so hard ! One thing after another came at us like waves from the ocean hitting the shoreline, one thing after another trying to knock us down and destroy our willpower. Each time we were knocked down, we stood back up stronger, ready to fight again. We learned so much from that time last summer, we huddled together and we worked as a team to overcome anything set against us. We hit our knees in prayer, in fact, I spent most of my summer last year on my knees. My daughter struggled through two long surgeries and lots of recovery time throughout the summer to fight the cancer, to save her reproduction system, to save her life, she made it through and is now much stronger for it. Even though she has years of constant check up's and medical interventions ahead of her, she is so full of joy ! She is a fighter, just like we raised her, she won't let anything get her down. She is now living at summer camp working as a camp counselor and conquering all her fears and inhibitions. She was once terribly afraid of heights and very shy, but signed up to be the high ropes course instructor and rock climbing wall instructor. She did it to challenge herself, to knock out her fears, to overcome anything that stood in her way. Her motto "Mountain Get Out of My Way" is her rally call now. She writes me daily through emails telling me about each new challenge she conquered and crossed off her list. She loves the high ropes course and rock climbing wall now, she feels empowered teaching and training her young charges about the ropes course and climbing wall. She learned that she absoultely loves teaching and working with children and her shyness totally disappeared since she moved into a leadership position. She is rid of that fear of heights, she conquered that foe, destroyed those doubts and demons. Daily she makes new goals for herself, challenging herself further, pushing herself harder. She is living her dreams and achieving everything she always wanted to do. She will return to college in the fall stronger and better for it with even more determination to make all her dreams come true, no matter what future may lay ahead of her. I am so very proud of her, each day she strives to be more, do better and challenge herself further. I live in her shadows, covering her in constant prayer, pressing her on, supporting her and always, always, there for her in case she falls. Where once again, I will help her get back up and back on that path again. Happy ? You bet I am, I am on top of the world !

Another Berks County resident here ! I have a 25 year old son, a 21 year old daughter (my first homeschool graduate who is now attending Penn State University), a 10 year old son, an 8 year old daughter, a 6 year old son and a 4 year old son. I'd love to hear from some other local homeschooling moms !

Your son sounds just like my 10 year old boy. My son taught himself to read at 3 years old, but hated to read fiction. I tried everything, I got him all those popular books boys his age are supposed to love like 39 Clues, Captain Underpants, Goosebumps, Magic Tree House, ectera, but he read them only because I made him, he didn't enjoy them at all. He looked at reading as something to be dreaded instead of enjoyed. Then I stumbled upon some Childcraft encyclopedias and brought them home figuring the kids could use them with homeschooling. My son was thrilled, he spends hours reading them and has begged for more encyclopedias. So I have been hitting the thrift shops and picking up all kinds. I found encyclopedia books on wildlife, dogs, machinery, the ocean, tropical fish, gardening and regular everyday encyclopedia's on all kinds of things. He gets so excited everytime I bring new encyclopedia's home for him. I am so happy ! He is finally enjoying reading and reads for fun all the time now. My son has always been a very serious child, he isn't one to enjoy frivilous books like my other children. He wants to read books that he learns from all the time. I thought the fiction books would give him a bit of fun, but he just didn't enjoy them. Now I am learning to allow him to find his enjoyment in his own way and in doing things that make him happy.

I had the same problem with my children and I happened to be in our local Ollies store one day a few weeks ago and they had the Hooked On Phonics Math Addition and Subtraction set marked down to just $14.99. I purchased it thinking that I had nothing to loose, my 8 year old and 6 year old could use the lively singing on the cd's and the accompanying workbook to learn their math facts and it worked great ! In only a few weeks they are mastering what I couldn't drill into their heads over the last 2 years. It was well worth the money, in fact, so much so that I would have willing paid twice that for the help it gave me. They also had tons of other Hooked on Phonics sets at Ollies at great prices and I also purchased the division set for $14.99 too. Some of the other sets were Hooked On Phonics Handwriting, Spanish, Master Reading and the Kindergarten and First Grade programs. If you have an Ollies Store close by you may want to check it out for the Hooked On Phonics Math sets. It really helped out my children, hopefully, you will have the same results. Good Luck !

I'm going to take up sailing, I always dreamed that I would love to sail and enjoy time on the lakes or ocean. I am also going to spend a heck of a lot of time just going fishing and enjoying my time finding fun and interesting new relaxing hobbies. Besides that, I am going to spend lots of time with my husband working on our farm and orchard and probably selling veggies, fruits and flowers on the side for additional income to save for retirement. I won't be done homeschooling until my youngest graduates when I turn 57, so I will be older, but there is still going to be tons of life left in me for lots of fun activities into my golden years. I am looking forward to those years in the future, I like to enjoy whatever "season" of my life I am in and I look forward to my future years with joy and hope that I will get to constantly challenge myself to learn new things and continue to live each day of my life to it's fullest !

Hello, I'm a new poster, but I dealt with ezcema in 4 of my 6 children and pretty much got rid of it completely in almost all of them with only very occasional flare up's if they eat dairy unknowingly or their skin gets very dry from the weather. My oldest son (now 25) had it very bad when young and so did my 3rd and 5th son, but these things below really helped to keep it at bay and later got rid of it entirely in my oldest son. My other two just get occasional light flare up's, but it is usually gone in a few days when we step up the treatments below. I have never had to use any steriod creams or prescription drugs for ezcema on my children with the following methods adhered to daily. What I did: 1. I only used Dove natural unscented soap on the child because Dove is moisture rich and will not dry out the child's skin. I also only give the child very quick baths every other day to keep the skin from drying out. Showers are best if you have an older child who can take showers, because they are less likely to dry out the skin. 2. I took all dairy out of the child's diet, I started an elimination of dairy diet with the major cultprits first such as: milk, cheese, ice cream ectera, which usually made a huge difference within 3 weeks time. If the ezcema still persisited, then I moved into hidden dairy culprits which are added dairy items to processed type foods. If possible, it is best to keep child on a whole food's diet and avoid as much processed type foods as possible for best results. 3. I have them drink lots of water, to keep the skin hydrated, no sodas or sweetened drinks, just tons of fresh water daily. 4. I used Nelson's calendula cream made from marigolds from the health food store when the rash was bad, but for daily use I use Aveeno Oatmeal lotion, which is great for everyday use and much less exspensive. 5. I dress the child in all 100% cotton clothes because cotton allows the body to breathe and release moisture and allows the child to feel more comfortable with flare up's. 6. The most important thing I have done and I totally recommend for all ezcema problems is to add 1 teaspoon of flax seed oil (from the health food store refrigerated section, I use Barleen's) to the child's oatmeal or smoothie daily. One tablespoon daily for adults. The flax seed oil not only gives the child nutrient rich Omega 3 oils but is super healthy for clearing up problems with skin. It works wonderfully and my whole family uses it now for all types of ailments. The best part of using the daily dose of flax seed oil is the fact that the child's hair will grow thick and gorgeous, the flax seed oil feeds the hair and skin and makes hair beautiful. My daughters love to use it for this reason alone, besides the health benefits, they love the way their hair looks from using daily flax seed oil. I have shared these methods with friends and family who have ezcema problems and it worked with great sucess on everyone I know that dealt with ezcema, if you adhere to all the natural methods above, I promise you will see good results in a few months time. Blessings.........