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I appreciate all of your comments. I spoke at length with a dear friend (who is also godmother to my children) about this after church yesterday. I printed out the posts and asked her thoughts on the topic. She is Jamaican. She took a very deep breath and said that she agreed with my feelings about ...

Believe me, I waited several days before posting so I could cool down and try to not convey an anti-HOD sentiment. I apologize that I was still so strong in my previous post. I know that Carrie must work very hard to scrutinize books before using them for HOD. I am grateful for that and I know it is...

raceNzanesmom wrote:I think Carrie usually puts a caution in the guide IF she knows a word is offensive/outdated. I'm guessing perhaps she didn't know this one.

I hope this is the case. It's like the n-word, but refers specifically to children.

I guess I feel disappointed and even somewhat betrayed because I now feel as though I have to edit and pre-read everything in LHFHG. In my mind, it's not an open-and-go curricula if I have to read every word of every lesson before presenting it to them. It feels sort of wrong that HOD encourages us ...

OK, I was blissfully reading The Adventures of Reddy Fox earlier this week to my three boys. I never thought it would be necessary to pre-read HOD books for 5 and 6 year olds, but I guess I was wrong. In chapter 17, Unc' Billy uses the word "pickaninnies" to describe his children. Pickaninny (picani...

I would definitely do some easy poetry or Bible verses for dictation. Proverbs and the New Testament would be my preference because they seem more "dictation friendly." You could even dictate some passages from her favorite children's books. Try making up your own sentences/stories involving your DD...

Hello, everyone! We've been following your suggestions and Julie's schedule for the past two days. I have continued with our 8 AM start time and we have completed by 11:45 AM both days! Whoo-hoo! Things are looking up, timewise! :D I, however, feel very disjointed and unsettled during school-time, b...

Are you sure the children haven't hidden it somewhere so they can have more play time?

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist a little kidding. My kiddos would definately do that!

On a more serious note, I am praying that your missing box will arrive very soon.

You and your family are in our prayers.

Hi everyone and thank you for the replies and advice. I have thought carefully about how to implement certain strategies that you have all suggested. Some may work well, some are going to require divine intervention to get me to change my very set ways. I noticed dropping the extensions was a very b...

I'm doing 3 guides right now. DD3 is doing LHTH from 8:00- 8:30 in the morning. I start DD8 with her math, science, cursive, and extensions for Bigger at the same time. I also start DS6 with his math at the same time. I start LHFHG for DS6 and both Ds5 at about 8:45 and the two youngers usually fini...

I just finished talking with DD and she had a lot of tears to cry. She wondered if we had "bought" her in the way that Phillis Wheatly was purchased as a slave. She felt like her birth mother didn't want her and sent her away or sold her to us. It was a great relief to be able to soothe those fears ...

If God wants you to have another child, you will have another child! :D Nothing can stop His perfect plan and timing for your life when you are seeking His will. As far as infertility issues go, I've been there and done that. I was told I could never conceive and in vitro would be a 10% chance of su...

Thank you so much for your gracious replies. DD came to me a couple hours after my OP and asked how many more pages of the book we were supposed to read that day. I told her there were just a few. She asked me to go ahead and read them to her. I told her we didn't have to read it if it upset her too...

I recently (about a month ago) bought a pencil sharpener that I'm actually happy with. I found it on amazon and it's rather pricey, but when I added up the cost of all the little sharpeners I've bought (for 5 kiddos), this one has been worth it. It's called the Westcott ipoint manual pencil sharpene...