On both my husband's and my side we exchange presents with one of the siblings and their families per year. Its like drawing names, but it actually rotates so we get a chance to give to everyone. The two families we have this year have 3-5 teens/young adults plus the parents. It is not expected or required to give individual gifts, but rather a gift to the whole family. We usually give a movie or a game but even that is a little hard and I usually have to ask the wife/mom if they have what we are considering. I am looking for other ideas. We dont typically spend more than $30 but would consider up to maybe $50 if the idea was really cool. Oh and it has to be mailed. Thanks!

My husband and I joke about this often. We have 7 kids here,1 in heaven.(not crazy big but out of the ordinary)He is an LDS( Mormon) Bishop. I am a homebirth midwife. We homeschool. We tease about trying to get a show:001_smile:

Okay....my kids don't have say in most things?!? If I feel as their mother they need tylenol for their fever or something I don't ask their opinion!

The rx is mine left over from another illness. I don't give it to the kids. Just me so I can stay well enough to care for them. I have heard that about stomach bugs being food poisoning etc but I can't see how that could be true. We get it one after the other every few days and can often trace it to the source. A friend who came down with it just after playing with us or something. Thanks for your opinion. A little harsh but whatever.

Sorry. I know its not really the flu. But a stomach bug of some kind is what I mean. I grew up calling it the flu and habits are hard to break! I worry about not getting rid of the bug or whatever but once I start throwing up it doesn't stop for me for a couple days. Its really hard for me to be down like that multiple times per winter. What I've done is when I start to feel like I'm going to throw up I take a zofran and then I don't. I seem to get well just fine. Its always over for the kids in 12-24 hrs but like I said if I go down that path its much longer for me. I'm sensative that way. Thank you!

Sorry for the long title. Eta: oops should say the flu This is the 3rd time I have done so and it seems to work amazingly well. I have 7 kids and don't have time to be throwing up everytime one of them is which is what has happened in the past. I realise I may still have the bug but not having to deal with throwing up is heaven. Thoughts?

My husband is panicking about the state of our children's education. I feel they are fine, but he wants proof. I understand as he is not the one here everyday and doesnt know as much as I do about how they are doing. They have never taken any standardized test of any kind. As near as I can tell, they are at least on grade level for everything except my 13 year old is behind in math. While neither I, nor he, feels testing is the end all be all of an educated person, the fact is its only a few years away that they will need to take SATs and such, so Im okay with them doing it now. For practice, if nothing else. And hopefully it will help my husband know they are doing ok, or let us know if there are areas where they are not. My oldest is 14 and would be in 9th grade by age, but is ahead in some subjects. The next one is 13 and would be in 8th. She is ahead in a lot, behind in math(we are working on it!) What test should I get(I need to be able to administer it myself) and what grade? Should I do 7th and 8th since most kids test at the end of the school year? Do I need to do test prep before hand? This is totally new to them(and me!) I have younger kids as well, but I probably wont test them at this point. Thank you!

You can do homebirth midwifery without becoming a CNM. Apprentice trained, direct entry midwifery is legitimate. Its what I am and what I look for, and always have, in a midwife. I have a very small practice. 1-2 births a month and I fit it in with homeschooling 7 kids just fine. Its fairly good money too for the amount of time involved. Inconvienant at times of course.I agree with your husband. That is a lot of money to spend on a degree for someone who wishes to work part time while homeschooling and raising a family. You get done with school and you then have to work your tail off to pay back that money. There are other ways.

I don't know of a pattern but it looks like laceweight yarn on big(10 or 11?)needles. Just stockingnette stitch as far as I can tell.

I have a daughter who really struggles in math and we are trying to focus on it this year to catch her up. She is 13 and doing all other classes at 9th grade level. She is smart, esp gifted in language arts areas. But math is just really hard for her. She did MUS up till Epsilon. Could. not. get. fractions. Tried LOF and then Key to. Lots of tears and sweat and we got her past it, barely. She is now doing LOF decimals, but failed the bridge 3x in a row for this section(2nd or 3rd bridge) so I had her stop. She signed up for Khan academy today and went through easy stuff just to gain points. If I can get her through all the arithmetic, will it be enough to start pre-a? The website says so, but I wanted other input. If she likes the format, could I continue to use it for pre-a or A1 and would it be enough? I mean starting at algebra I have to count it for HS credit, so would it? I hope this is making sense. We also do problem solving/word problems with Challenge Math together as a family, so she gets that too. Thank you!

Thank you. This helps a lot!

Sorry, one more thing. I am considering removing the answers and checking each lesson myself rather than having him self-check. He will be honest, but I want to keep tabs on how is is doing so I can spot patterns. thoughts?

Jann,I am using 8th edition Introductory Algebra. (this is Alg 1, right, for HS transcript?) what do we do with the problems in the margins? should he work them? I am nervous about the major change of structure. We have used MUS since 1st grade a my son loves it and has done well. I hope this text works out, I dont want to lose time if it doesnt. thanks for you help.

Are there any good ones? We are slmost done with Childrens Homer and have really enjoyed it and I thought a movie version would be fun. We have netflix. Thanks!

Ahhh. Thanks. Never seen it!

I feel like I should get this reference but I don't. Fill me in?

My son is running cross country at the local hs this year. His couch has asked for grades every 3 weeks. I've never assigned grades before but was planning to this year anyways. Is there a template somewhere for a progress report? Do I include percentagesor just letter grade? What about attendance(umm...100% LOL!) Also I'm unsure how to calculate grades. My kids complete all their work to my satisfaction so would that just be straight As? We are doing more tests this year so can use those but daily work is just done, yk? Thanks!

How long did it take her to go through the khan pre-a? Did the LOF early books work for her, but not the beginning algebra? Do you think it would have if she had done one of the pre-a books? Thanks!

Is it needed? I thought I had read somewhere that they could go straight from decimals/percents to beginning algebra. Thanks!

3 bedrooms. 7 kids. Its tight.

I want to see pictures too! That is quite a bit bigger than the duggars 7,000 square foot house.

What Melinda said is right on, but I have been to quite a few LDS funerals, and no one looks down on non-LDS people if they are dressed differently. Its understandable and they are so thankful for the support. We dont worry about wearing black to a funeral. Regular church clothes is fine. Khaki's and knit shirt with a collar would be fine for the boys if you dont have white dress shirts. Sleeves on the girls is good, but I do know lots of LDS people who dress young girls/toddlers in sleeveless even on sunday. It will be held in a chapel, most likely. Babies/toddlers/children are very welcome but it is customary to step out with them if they get noisy, either happy or sad. The foyer has speakers for sound as does the mother's lounge(like a cry room, but only for women, in case some women feel more comfortable breastfeeding there). Non-messy snacks and quiet toys are welcome to help them make it through the meeting. I am sorry about your father in law. Wishing your family peace. Oh, and be prepared to enjoy the "funeral potatoes" :D

2000 sq ft. 7 kids. 4 boys in 1 room, 2 girls in the other. 1 year old girl with us. Her clothes/diapers are in the girls room though. Its tight. Less than 1/5 acre too so not alot of outside space.

:lurk5: ETA: ironic how I picked the popcorn smiilie without even thinking, LOL!!!(I was just trying to sub the thread)

http://www.homeschoolfreebie.wholesomechildhood.com/thestoryofcivilization/ Anyone have any reviews of this book series? I want to know if its worth the time/energy to download it all to iPods. Thanks!