I had to vote other as you left out his category.... Of course I color my hair because I like to, even though I have grey/white. I have been coloring my hair since I was 12. All sorts of colors. I have been the same red palette for um, 20 years. Sometimes it is redder, sometimes more purple, sometimes it is coppery, usually I like a good bright, totally unnatural dark red. I am starting to get more white (not gray) but that only makes me dye it sooner. It would be just like contrary ol' me to stop dying it once it turned white. I'm silly like that. However, I have always wanted to have that awesome hair with the one gorgeous white lock in the middle of wine red hair. Thank goodness they have gotten so good at reds nowadays. :D I don't even want to think how much I have spent on hair color over the years. That and razors.

LOL, technically I didn't help last year... but I couldn't help myself. ;) John from EE won't be there, he'll be in Alaska, and I have trouble not helping people out when they need it. It's almost pathological. I must have a major martyr complex, lol. It was serendipitous. I tried to get some other people to help, but my one friend can only do part of it, and i can only do part of it, so it worked out ok. I'm kind of freaking out about it. :confused: I have no idea why.

Oops! I am a dummy. I'll be helping out at the Exploration Education booth Thursday, parts of Friday and the end of Saturday. Stop by and say hello! I didn't mean to be working at this thing, it just sort of worked out as I needed some new balsa wood, and they asked if I could do it. LOL.

IS it wrong that I wish I had a real clue? Honestly, I feel like this year is a disaster, but I think i always feel that way. Here is my off the top of my head assumption of what I might do. I think I sort of smush 7-9th together. Math: Thinkwell Alg. 1 (we have until August to complete) I have TW Alg2 paid for already, LoF beginning & advanced algebra (these will all weave in and out of each other) LA: MCT lit, WWW 2, ML 2, possibly an online writing class, different spelling for each kid Science: I think we'll do Biology next year. Thinkwell Biology is already purchased. Plus The Way Life Works. History: I wanted to do a different history next year (HAOH is great, I just wanted a break) but my kids want to do it again. I have no idea what else, I can't even figure out what the subjects are!! My brain is fried!

I have no teens, so I can't help you with that. I think there at at least 2 levels, more likely three. 1. Flirting, when you obviously like someone and want to start something. 2. Flirting, when you and the other person enjoy and like each other, but aren't in the position to "go there" for any myriad of reasons. 3. Being Flirtatious, when you act a certain way that others think is flirting, but is unintentional or easily misconstrued. I know many people (myself included) who can fall into this category at any given moment. Most talkative women can be misinterpreted as flirtatious, just because of their personality and the person on the receiving end. Then there is the other general flirting to get a deal on an oil change or something....and those that have that sexy pheremone ;)

I think that unschooling would be a lot of hard work to be done correctly. Just what "correctly" is, is open to interpretation. ;) I have tons of unschooler friends, with varying degrees of styles, methods, etc. etc. Some appear to be doing better than others, but really... it's not my family, and I don't know what is really going on in their house and lives. Most seem to be running around to a thousand activities. My MOST unschooly friend (you know the kind... with a kid that can't read at 11 as she has never shown an interest while the younger one is reading giant novels) her 11 year old decided she wanted to go to school and so they spent a year "getting her up to speed", then she went to school. She still has trouble with some things, but heck... I would never have made any of those decisions. The other is still happily unschooling. I suppose that is the ultimate child led situation... I would NOT let my kids go to a school, especially a middle school girl. I, personally, dislike unschooling for my own reasons.... but I could care less if someone else does it. I do dislike how unschoolers' style of parenting can screw up an activity, playgroup or co-op you've put together. :tongue_smilie: I also dislike how many they tend to lump anyone who doesn't unschool into a big YUCKO category. As if you are torturing your kid by doing math every day. Way to be accepting.

My dad bought me that one. It is pretty excellent. I wanted a totally different one, standard, "normal" and he sends me that one. I was irritated, but it is pretty great. It doesn't seem to focus as sharply as a regular microscope, but the fact that everyone is able to look at it at the same time, and you can take photos if you want...that makes up for it. If I were gong to buy a microscope, I would want to shuck out the big bucks... like $200+, under that they all seem to be less than you want. So, for the lower price range, this is not bad at all. If I remember correctly, I think it had a green spot on the screen, but it went away. Weird.

I taught myself to read when I was 2. Real books. I just did it. I was reading at probably a college level by the time I went to pre-K. I was not taught a thing. I don't remember what other kids were taught as I was probably reading Watership Down under the piano (my favorite spot in PK). I think it was a combination of my family surroundings, genetics, a great photographic memory (although I hear that doesn't exist), and the fact that I just figured out the code naturally. I have no memory of even thinking about it. Ever. Let's just say, my school didn't know WTH to do with me. I was also a good speller. I could always tell when something was wrong because of how it looked. I only recently learned anything about spelling and phonics as I have one slow reader who is also a horrid speller. All of a sudden at 41, I'm like..."Oh. That makes sense! I never knew that!" I live in a bizzaro world. ;) I also never had a problem pronouncing things, or figuring out meaning. The context always helped my with the puzzle. Sad that I peaked at the ripe old age of 4-5.

The dark chocolate with caramel and sea salt bars... OMG! Their hummus is great. In the frozen section... the pizza with ham & gruyere is a staple in our house. I think it is called "tarte d'alsace" it has a green edged box. I buy stapes there, oil, nuts, rice, flour, their jams are good, frozen veggies and fruit etc.

:smilielol5:

My friend posted a photo of this on FB the other day. Well, I will assume it is the same (as I haven't looked at the video) as how many dath vader unicycling bagpipers can there really be? BTW.... that's a lot of levels of geek going on there. :D

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes with Jeremy Brett from the 80's are exquisite. My kids adore them, as do I. The actor that does Watson first is phenomenal. I love the interplay between these two characters/actors, the second Watson is not nearly as good. Jeremy Brett is still excellent though, so they are still worth it. We watch these every winter/spring. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086661/

Yes, consider yourself lucky!

Reason # 3422 to homeschool.... Although this should be in the top 10, if you were sorting them out. :D

Thanks for your thorough explanation. :D Here is where I stand on the whole thing. So you, myself and my friend (who is also a woman) all say the tower, for the same reasons. My son and my husband both say the bridge, as they don't think the tower "does anything". I think that's funny, as I think a bridge has less possibilities. I wonder if it is a male vs. female thing. ;) Anyway, there are 2 separate classes.. the one with the older kids is first and I can trouble shoot for the younger kids based on that. BTW, this is for a gifted program where I am pretty sure that all of the kids have had at least 2 sessions of a pretty intense engineering class...so they should be well exposed to this type of concept. I do wish there was some sort of review/preview of book. I am just going to need to hope!

OK, 32 of you looked at this and didn't vote? :toetap05:Come on! I need to order this tomorrow and my son said, "Any of those is fine." Ugh. I need a three sided coin or something. <shaking my head sadly, while walking into the distance> :crying:

What, are you all making dinner or something? :lol:

Think of it this way.... your non-uber $$$ bookshelves are worth/cost the same as those fake ones, as the real books on them cost a boatload of $$$ if you add it all up. You just do it slowly, and you can choose to read something instead of just look. This makes sense in my head, not so much in the typing. Oh well. ;) I also wonder what the titles are.... do you get to choose, or is it just one bonehead's idea of what would be a "classy" "refined" book? Do they have different editions? Oh... my brain....

I use stevia and there is no way it is cup to cup on sweetness. You use much less stevia.

This is stupid, but I just can't decide which of these to get for an inventor class I am teaching. 24 kids (12 ages 10-14 and 12 ages 7-10) 2, 2 hour sessions Choice 1: small bridge http://www.discountedbalsa.com/products/12512.htm Choice 2: tower http://www.discountedbalsa.com/products/12514.htm Choice 3: large bridge http://www.discountedbalsa.com/products/12510.htm After they do this they will be able to do whatever they want with a whole bunch of other balsa. The large bridge is about max on my budget, FYI. THANKS IN ADVANCE!!! And if you can think of any cool projects or ideas, please tell me!!!:D I have 6 weeks to fill!

LOL

WE just finished the NME (we did the Iliad sub section) and are also doing the Medusa exam. I ordered with a bunch of other HSers, but I am the "designated boss" of it all, so we kept the cost down and ordered a few study packets. We are doing ancients this year, so it made sense to me. :D I love that calling ETC is a local call for me.

This is hysterical, and my pet peeve. When I meet someone and they're like "Yeah, I'm from Chicago" and I say "Oh where, I'm from Armitage & Orchard" and they say "Um, Wheaton...Northbrook... Schaumburg... Park Ridge" I want to punch them. I might let Oak Park or Evanston slide, but seriously. You might be from the Chicago suburbs if you understand all the traffic updates, you might be from Chicago if you only know the Ike from the Kennedy, but you are probably a bit confused about the Stevenson. You might be from Chicago if you can know where someone is talking about only using block numbers of the N/S & E/W directions. (I was 2000N, 600 W, BTW)

Is it wrong that I don't know who half these people are?

:iagree: The Cincinnati Library rocks! I have 3 library cards, my personal, my educator, and one from the big library system across the river in KY. I have nothing out right now from KY. On my personal, maybe 20 (this is including CDs & DVDs) on my educator cards right now only around 50. I just returned about 30. I have a whole new bag to return and then a bunch of holds to pick up. My librarians are awesome. I love that I can call up, know who I am talking to by their voice and only use my first name..."Hi Nancy! It's Korin...can you....?" It's great. Plus free internet, wifi, ebooks, free room rental, etc etc. No wonder our library system is always in the top 5 in the country. PLus they love homeschoolers as we keep their circulation numbers up. :) And my son won a color nook this summer for their reading contest.