WE have one cat, one dog, two hermit crabs, one hamster, one 50 gallon aquarium, and just for a few weeks, 12 eggs that we are incubating. The only definitely permanent members of the household are the dog and the cat since we will most likely give away all the others when we are PCSed again.

WHen we were stationed in Europe, the Stars and Stripes had articles about this scam. IT involves saying they will pay you more since they really want it but will be sending you a money order, cashier check. something like that. You get it, put it in the back, send the item to them (or in your case, give it to them) and ten days or later, the amount of the cashiers check or money order is charged back to you since it was a high quality fake. Like others said, meet somewhere like a police station and only take cash.

Is it legal where you live to own a wolf without a permit? I would check on this since in many areas, owning a wild animal without a very special permit is not permitted. It may even be covered by federal regulations since I think the wolf is an endangered animal.

Prayers for your family and :grouphug:

I think that is an unfounded rumor about Calvert. They are not a religious homeschooling provider and they never asked me about my husband.

Yes, we don't have problems either.

One of ours had the color rule too. The director mentioned red hair and then immediately apologised as she noticed my dd looking astonished.

Well it would be great for a single person but our family needs the room so we don't drive ourselves crazy.

I have two I am homeschooling. Next year, they will be taking physics together. I expect that dd2 will find it easier than dd1. DD1 doesn't care. She knows her sister is better in mechanical things and often asks her to help her with a problem like fixing her bike. She is aware enough that she is a better writer and reader. It is good enough for her. DD1 wants to be a prosecutor and DD2 an engineer.

I disagree with the article. Elementary ed in many places, or at least a teaching cert with another degree, is not a bad job. Many places do still hire. Now a bad degree is journalism. I don't care what the average starting salary is if only 3 people get it and everyone else is unemployed.

THose are the strickest rules I have seen in a co-op. Not the cohabitation, though I have no idea how that would be handled. But the length of the sleeves and no low risers. I do like to wear higher pants but am finding them hard to find. We just have no underwear showing and shirts tucked in rule here. We even allow shorts, though not short shorts. No tank tops though.

Sorry, can't help. My girls and my boy weren't or aren't like this. So, no, not all girls are drama queens.

Here in the US, Lemonade is a non-fizzy drink and I really like it. I grew up in Northern VA and most kids called it coke. Other words used were soft drink and sometimes soda. SOmewhere I have lived, either Chicago or Ohio, people called it pop.

Oh no, the students who my daughter saw sleeping at the tests did not do the tests or only did a tiny portion of the test. She never thought that people resting after they finished a portion was strange and she often finishes first anyway.

Sorry, then I really have no idea why anyone would complain about a 4-6 page (2-3 SS) assignment every three weeks. That seems totally reasonable.

Yes, I was telling Dd that although the school district here proudly proclaims how many students take AP classes, what the hidden secret is how few pass the test. I saw the stats last year since they were in the Washington Post and I was astonished.

FIrst of all, I would not be one of the parents to complain. I expect teachers to say what they expect and then do this. I either praise or I don't say anything. I don't complain and have a hard time understanding why someone would complain if you did what you said you would do. On the other hand, two - three pages single space every week seems a lot to me. How easy it is to write that much and how quickly a child will do it completely depends on a child. I have one who will write a well written scene of a page and a half double spaced _ the norm around here- in about five minutes. But she was in an honors college class that required a paper a week and that paper was supposed to be no more than two and half pages (double spaced) which was doable for her. She may very well have been able to double that (what you seem to require) but it wouldn't take an hour. For my oldest and my youngest, that assignment would be quite a long one. As a pp suggested, you may wnat to change page length to paragraphs or certain topics covered. As a grader, I prefer shorter papers that cover the material to longer papers that cover the same material but wander around doing it.

My oldest is a natural test taker but he didn't want to do any more standardized tests than absolutely necessary. He chose to apply to colleges that didn't require them. My dd1 may very well end up taking some but we haven't figured that out yet. Some colleges she may be interested in do want them. My dd2 will definitely take some. SHe is my only mathy/science kid so she will end up taking some of those. AS to the AP- ds took none, dd1 has taken one and whether she takes more depends on whether the college will accept them but I suspect she will take two more at least. DD3 will probably take them in sciences and calc.

First of all, in our case, this area is getting overrepresentation by 4 people since 4/5 of us are Floridians, not Virginians. ANd in the same respect, our Fl district is getting cheated by 4 people. Second of all, no one needs any other info except number of people to figure out how many people live in each district. They definitely do not need race, and not homeowner or renter status either. I filled out the form and no one has come by or called. I filled it out correctly including putting down that we are renters but I don't like it. I also put down that we are humans since scientists concur that races are a cultural construct and not a biological fact. If I wanted to be more exact, I would have put down homo sapiens but I figured human was clear enough for what I meant.

We get vaccines except for Gardisil. We do get flu vaccines. I am a triple risk person, and one dd and dh are single risk people. THat means we should all get it to protect me and them. I have studied the vaccine issue a lot and have found that there is no scientific evidence for a link between vaccines and autism so I never had that consideration in mind.

SO my dd was very worried about the AP test but I told her to do it and we can cancel it if she felt she did badly. SInce the girl next to her didn't do have the test and put her head down to sleep, that was one of her first clues that maybe she didn't do so badly. Then other behaviors was a guy who loudly insisted he was going to write the essay on zombies and another guy who was flashing gang symbols.

So were they doing the 1-2 page writing or the 2-3 page writing every week along with the readings? First of all, I would not complain if it was all spelled out. However, I think the essay, if every week, is a bit much. I guess it depends on the grades of the participants. Certainly more than I would expect from 9th and 10th graders. Even for olders, I don't know that I would do an essay a week.

I will pray. :grouphug:

Vancouver, BC, Canada

Florida Virtual School is an option I would like to see in more states. You don't lose your homeschooling legal rights. You enroll your kids in as many classes as you want and they do them. THey do not give out HS diplomas since they aren't a degree granting institution. They are not part of the public school system but are paid by the public schools or individual schools or students or the state. The only requirements for a given class are whatever the requirements are for that class. By the way, HSLDA does allow you to pursue issues like dual enrollment, Florida Virtual School, or taking a class at a public school. I believe that half of your education has to be parent directed. But that doesn't mean that even if you use an outside provider it isn't. Adter all, when I used Calvert with one of my kids, I decided when and where she would do the assignments. I modified the assignments. It was parent directed.