How wonderful that you and the family are going to Fiji Rose. That is just an imaginery dream spot for those of us on this side of the world. I hope you have a super holiday! Cheers!

Good gosh, welcome to a new page as well!

Hi Rose..have been thinking about you as the school term comes to a close knowing that there is a very BIG event coming up. Time seems to have passed very quickly.
and have fun packing for 6 people....can't wait to see the photos...forget anything you like but not the camera!! Fiji should be glorious. Hope the wedding goes well...will be thinking of you.

Best Wishes for the Wedding, I am sure the day will be just wonderful.
Congratulations to you and Paul, and the kiddywinks..

Oh Rose, I really felt for you today. When my D#2 was about 6 months old, I thought there was a possibility that she was deaf because she didn't react to noises I made behind her when she was in her cot. She had a number of tests done and it was determined that yes, she did have some hearing loss, due hopefully to a build up behind her ear drums so it was decided that she needed to have grommets so she didn't lose the ability to learn speech. So, at the age of eight months, my tiny little princess (she was also quite small when she was born) was put into a white hospital gown and I too held her while she was put to sleep. I promise you, you are not the first, nor will you be the last mum to be led out weeping buckets of tears for their precious baby. It was the hardest wait but she was eventually brought out smiling when she saw me.
She had three sets of grommets in three years, because as they grow the grommets pop out.
BTW She is now 19, has no hearing loss and talks the hind leg off a donkey!

Hi Rose! I hope you'll read yoiur messages once more before you leave for your long awaited wedding in Fiji. I hope the trip & the festivities ALL go well & that you somehow find the time to relax & enjoy yourself a little bit. You constantly amaze me with all that you are able to juggle in your life. Was glad to see that Veronica's surgery went well. She's just like her mother - strong & brave to be able to fight through all obstacles! I wish you, your husband, & your children a long & happy life together.

Rose loved your 'rant' on easy especially the 'move the knife Rose' bit. Made me laugh.

I just wanted to say that I hope you have the most wonderful wedding and that I wish you all the best of life and happiness together, you deserve it. Take care and lots of love xxx

Hello Rose - I feel like I am here in the dark..... Do I understand correctly you are a bride-to-be and.....your wedding is in Fiji? Wow! How very exciting. If this is the case, I wish you a long and happy life with your new husband. I will be anxiously awaiting the arrival of your pictures!!!!! I hope you have a safe trip and Congratulations!

Remind me, how does it go...for better AND for worse?!

He's just trying on the vows for size!


All the best wishes

Looking forward to Phantom, Rose. Hope you all have a wonderful holiday in Fiji, and warm wedding wishes to you all!

Wishing you all the very best of everything on your special day, Rose .. I hope your day is just perfect and if some things do not go exactly to plan I hope they are funny enough to make a great story. I look forward to seeing the pics, I am sure you will all look beautiful ..... xox

Rose, Paul and family - I hope everything goes wongerfully perfect for you at your wedding.
Have a great time and enjoy your trip.
to the Bride & Groom!

Hi Rose
Just been to the health and fitness page and thought I'd drop in. You weighed in at 65.5 and they said you need to lose another 7??? That's tough! I'm thinking another trip back to the health retreat... how else will you know if you've reached the goal??

Hi Rose
Beautiful couple of photos from your wedding.

Rose, Congratulations to you and Paul. It is a beautiful photo and I hope you had a fabulous time in Fiji. Let us know how it all went.

Hi Rose.
home.
How did everything go? Was it as wongerful as you hoped, or better?
Congratulations to both you and Paul, and the children.
May your lives together be as wonderful as hubby's and mine.

Rose, let me also share congratulations on your recent nuptials, you both are visibly beaming, so much love and happiness showing on your faces, and what an exotic place to share your vows and begin your married life together - much joy to both of you. My husband and I will be celebrating 20 years together this October, time has just flown by and I have a difficult time remembering what my life was like without him in it.

Aimee :-)

Rose, popped in yesterday to have a look at the happy snaps but cannot get the link you have posted.
Get a 'Can't find...' message.
I have looked at the one you have on Flickr and would love to see the rest.

Thank you Rose, it was an absolute pleasure to be able to share your wedding photos.
You can't fake smiles like that!
What an idyllic setting for a wedding.
Beautiful.

Rose, lovely, absolutely lovely! You both look so happy, portends wonderful things and events to come! A toast to the all of you!

hi Rose. Have tried a few times to access http://gallery.mac.com/rosepaul
without success. Would love to check out the rest of your photos.

I'm planning to visit Australia either March or April next year. Looking forward to it.

Rose, great to see the wedding photos. You all look so happy and relaxed.
We are going away for a couple of weeks in August and when we get back I will see if we can finally get to meet.

Rose, you look beautiful on your wedding day, as does the whole family...and no, I don't think he should leave you so soon for Honkers, didn't the vows include "wherever you go, so go I"? (Only where an E-ticket is required).

It did seem like a home game for the yarpies, heck, I was with 6 of them!!! all Wallaby supporters of course...you're right, it was difficult working out the new rules, in the end we gave up and just enjoyed the bodies/game. Freezing cold mind you - now that's real dedication for you.
take care,
Love
billy
x

hey Rose, lovely wedding photos..you all look gorgous.... many happy memories

Rose, gorgeous wedding photographs. You both look so happy and content as it should be, congratulations and long may it continue x

Hey Rose...were you at the game yesterday?? If so, was Lote as beautiful as ever?? and wasn't it an amazing outcome? and do you think we can beat the AB on their home turf?
Have a good one.x

Coeliacs hey!!
My son's girlfriend suffers from Coeliac Disease ..
The pantry is slowly filling up with gluten free products.
So when Mariel comes to dinner, I at least have something there to throw together should I get short notice!!

Almost too late!
to you Paul
Hope you HAD a wonderful day.

Rose, yours is the most common question about homeschooling. It's easily answered by saying that when children are raised in the community instead of inside the walls of an institution they learn community, IMO better than the regular school children do.

My children are steeped in real life community interchanges, with people of all ages and interests. Most significantly, we volunteer within our community and we make it a point to meet people from many sectors of our community. We also network with other homeschoolers and have monthly and weekly get togethers.

We go grocery shopping and stop to say Hi to people we run into (I also teach my children math while at the store and how to be aware of others around them and say "excuse me" when passing between a shopper and what s/he is looking at on the shelf). We sit with others in car mechanics' and doctors' waiting rooms. We attend library and 4-H clubs, and church events. We do daily chores, including cooking and laundry, and answering phones. We visit fire stations and our elected officials, attend performances and meet-and-greets with people from all over the world (entertainers, philanthropists, scientists, authors and illustrators, sports, media). There's a lot happening in a real community -- even a fairly rural one, like mine -- if you tune yourself in.

Soon we'll be running a homebased business together.

Why is community important? Because it becomes our identity and our sense of personal worth to see ourselves in relation to our community. We can't "give" until we know we have something worth giving. This awareness starts and is continually honed within a secure family unit. I think most people aren't connected enough to their parents and siblings and children any more. Homeschool families develop tremendous family bonds (from necessity ).

They transfer that respect for others into larger society. I've worked with groups of kids from regular schools, as well as church classes (mixed regular and homeschool) and classrooms of children who do not attend regular schools. Homeschooled children tend to develop the best sense of self- and others-worth. They tend to accept others, even those with disabilities, as individuals, not "freaks." Also, most discipline problems results from too little unregulated down time and too much thrown-together-in-a-small-space time. When the homeschoolers get together, it's for a time and then they can go home. If they don't behave, they lose that chance to do a big group thing. Community becomes a reward in itself that fosters self-control and leads to self-confidence and appropriate self-expression.

The homeschool world is not a world of labels (jock, stoner, emo, geek) and ridicule and pressure to conform. They learn how to speak naturally and respectfully with people of all ages and abilities. A JOKE among the homeschooling community when asked "how will your kids learn to get along with others&q

Can't be cut off in the middle of a joke! ...

A JOKE among the homeschooling community when asked "how will your kids learn to get along with others" is to (wish we could) answer: "Oh, I give every child a degrading nickname and make sure the younger kids get milk money every day so the older kids can bully them out of it. The older one we trap in corners and pulls wedgies on once a week."

Actually, the opposite is true. Resolving conflicts and learning appropriate behavior always comes first in our home. Relationship repair and building always trumps academics in our home. But in the final analysis, what good is a person who can't or won't get along with others? (I also makes class time more fruitful when we are behaving and not emotionally stewing.)

One nationally-known homeschool mom famously says: Whenever I have to punish kids in my home I always punish at least two; one for wrong behavior and another one for a wrong response to the first's wrong behavior. Too funny and often too true.

How do homeschool kids "turn out"? My results aren't typical, but they're not atypical, either. My oldest daughter was 1st runner up in a community pageant that emphasized how well contestants represented their community. She fits in easily and comfortably in most new circumstances. People we know who do trade shows and on-site events like to have her along because she's self-motivated, learns fast, answers readily and confidently and interacts so naturally with adults. She spent a year as a nanny between high school and college and possibly saved the baby's life the first day on the job (and, no, she didn't endanger it before saving it). She's been asked to join a township governance board at the age of 20 partly because of the community real-life conservation science program we participated in for 7 years as part of her homeschool experience. She's holding a 4.0 grade point average in college.

My middle daughter with learning difficulties is comfortable with her strengths and has a significant "fan base" within the community who are delighted to be a help to her. My youngest has a social calendar to rival anyone else's.

Short answer: The question of homeschoolers and community is moot, a non-issue. All it takes on the part of the homeschooling parent is to be willing to be part of the community and the rest follows.

As I read the article you posted more in-depth, I can see homeschooling between the lines throughout his article. Unfortunately, a lot of parents don't have the circumstances and/or personal character skills and/or the interest to homeschool, but even within families where kids are sent off to school, parents can be more proactive about their children's development into fully functioning adults. Dr. Hawkes raises some provocative issues and I hope it causes a lot of people to think about change.

One of the websites I am developing is a library of answers and info

hi Rose...it has taken me an unpardonable amount of time to return your call...life does get away from us...doesn't it.

That was a very interesting conversation topic you initiated with the article by Jacques' headmaster. I feel very strongly about the subject matter that should be taught in schools. There has been a lot of public debate [eg tv Q&A] on private schools and why parents choose them...a lot of people just don't get it.

Some of us care very much about the values that our children are exposed to outside of the home and the manner in which they are taught. I don't know how the government would educate all of the school age kids if private schools didn't remove the burden of cost from them.

Never have asked...what do you teach? I think it must be awful to be restricted in what you are allowed / able to teach. Lachies school will organise for the students to pick up subjects that they don't teach outside the school....really amazing to someone like myself who was never allowed to study art [the only thing I wanted to study] and HATED her school years.

It took many years before I enrolled myself in college to study something I was passionate about and shouldn't have been amazed at the consistently high marks I achieved! What better gift would that have been to a child...the knowledge of how easy and enjoyable it is to be a high achiever if you choose something you are interested in. Much better than a decade of school reports stating..'she could do much better...'

I'm beginning to waffle so must away....ciao for now

Rose, please pass on to Jacques a very from me.
Hope the had a great day.

Seems like I am forever here for birthdays!
Belated greetings for Elinor.
Hope she had a wongerful day.

Rose, please pass on my best wishes to your sister for her thesis.
Good on you for proofreading it.

Well Rose, your comment about Elinor's photo today on the Easy page promted me to stop by and say hello, as I haven't been here in a while. You have some lovely family pictures on your page and it seems I also missed your birthday, so a belated happy birthday and my best wishes to you and all of your family.

Like Greg, I thought I'd pop in and say Hello. That photo reminded me about going to Canberra for a wedding in August. Shaun was 10 months old and wore so many clothes to the wedding, it was a wonder he could move at all.
After the nappy and singlet, there was a long sleeve tshirt, woollen jumper, knitted leggings, corduroy overalls, parker, beanie and boots. Changing his nappy was a feat!
It also sleeted that day and was windy and freezing.
I love your wedding photos!!

Rose your Christmas family shots are beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
You have a VERY good looking family

Rose, your family bring the Merry into Christmas.
Thank you for sharing them with us.

Hello Rose - You have a beautiful family! I love the Christmas picture! Merry Christmas to all of you!