I tend to not have friends who have little babies. My youngest is 13 and I have nothing really to add to the conversation about little ones. I also don't want conversations about sleeping through the night, feedings, diaperings, etc. I am much more interested in talking to parents with teenagers or adult children. That said, while it appears that I am different from the parents around me, I am not so sure that I am . For example, my daughter is on a team that meets at my house. Sometimes, she plays music while they work. We listen to all kinds of music but mostly she will play 80's and 90's dance music. The music isn't mature rated or however that rating goes. Come to find out that one of the girls lives in a household where they listen to only contemporary Christian music. So I talk with my daughter about this and she said, that's funny since she watches Hannah Montana and some other shows that certainly don't feature Christian music. Now my daughter likes some music for which I don't like the lyrics- I Believe in Miracles by Hot Chocolate comes to mind and she hasn;t been allowed to download that song just because she does play her music with her friends.

I have lived on two continents- North America and Europe I have lived in Washington DC and area for first 18 years Chicago, IL Los Angeles CA area (2 separate times) Dayton OH area (2 separate times) Brunswick, GA area Montgomery, AL Sacramento, CA area Albuquerque, NM Hainault Province, Wallonia, Belgium Space Coast Island, Fl Now in Washington, DC area once again We are not here to stay and don't know when we will be moving again.

We sold our last house from overseas. We had crumbling bricks on the facade of our patio and were going to get them fixed. We had not cleaned the carpets yet. The agent put the house up as a listing with a front photo. Three days later it sold- before carpet cleaning, before crumbling facade repair. We sold for a very nice profit too. We used a realtor with a very good sales record and a long history. He served us very well. I would definitely raise the heat and do what the realtor says to do at least for a while. If it doesn't work, rethink.

I have barely started thinking about since we just decided recently that we are going to have our youngest skip 8th. The only think I know is she will most likely be doing LOF Advanced Algebra and then Geometry. I also know she doesn't want to do Biology next year. Her sister will be doing a world history and I may have them both do this together. I am completely unsure of the reading I will have her do too. I do know she will continue with Rosetta Stone Spanish. Part of what she does depends on what outside classes she has whether in co-op or outsourced in some other way.

I think 5 is a large family. We have three. But even in the non homeschooling families, 3 kids is pretty common. Four is not that common but I think it is on the large side of average. Five is unusual though not in homeschooling.

I don't think stores around here have double coupon days nor in the last place I lived. I do get the paper and look at the ads and remember things like that in the midwest, California, and the southwest but never seen that here.

Let me just say that Dave Ramsey is only one financial advisor/counselor and his ideas and examples may not be the right ones for everybody or parts of his may not be right for you. Is is better to have emergency savings rather than paying with credit cards? Yes. Is it wise to spend less then you make? Yes. But the specifics is different for different folks. If you don't have a burdensome debt problem, the best advice for yo may be quite different. For example, the emergency savings. I would say that having 1k in savings is a minimum. But then, how much should you have in very low interest savings? Three months? Why? If you are a family that is likely to fell unemployment, yes. But if you are retirement eligible military- I don't see a need to tie up tens of thousands in low savings rate. I don't even think I would advise most families with incomes above the median to save three months in a low interest savings. How much should they save in ready cash- the deductible for the home, renter's or car insurance, the co-pays if a medical problem costing 10K arose, the cost os anew home appliance, something like that. But that doesn't equal even one month's salary of savings for many people. For others, it might be three or more month's worth of salary. Just giving percentages for this doesn't necessarily make sense.

I met some as an Immigration Inspector and when I was living in LA. But the strangest one is that we had dinner in the same restaurant as Slobodan Milosovic back in the early nineties in Dayton, OH. He was there for the Dayton Peace talks and we were PCSing and leaving the next day so we were eating at the OClub. They moved us to a mezzanine area and brought the State Department party in.

Yes I do know how hard autism is because I have seen a few of my friends struggle with their older children. But please be sure to note that families of some other children struggle a lot too. Bipolars also can be wild and uncontrollable. SInce they are not intellectually diminished, a lot of people don't understand. In a way its even worse because when they are doing something bad, they know exactly what they are doing and can be destructive in a very deliberate way. HOwever, if they are medicated or not on a manic high, they would never do such a thing. I only had a sister with this but it was stressful enough. Then there are the parents of schizophrenics who sometimes even lose their lives to the disease. OR how about major depressives whom medication doesn't treat? HOw is the stress of a suicidal person compared to the stress of an autistic? I am so aware that parents of autistic children have very severe stress. I just think that parents of mentally ill children also have severe stress. Theirs is often not as long lasting simply because many mental illnesses usually appear in adolescence or early adulthood. But then you have your mourning happening later. It is a severe shock to find out that your bright, kind , well functioning child suddenly turns out to be severely disabled., if only for periods of time. Let;s not play who has it worse. I acknowledge that many of you have it very hard. I don't have it that hard. But I know that others with mentally ill kids also have it very hard.

I am sure that moms of autistic kids have a lot of stress. But I also know that moms of other kids with mental disorders have a lot of stress too. Even ones that are supposed to be so common like major depression. Well there is depression and then there is major depression and then there is something like major depression for which medications don't work. That is kid #1 who is doing very well now and has been for over a year. BUt then there is severe ADHD with PMDD thrown in and while that is not every day, it surely tries your patience for two weeks of every month (or like this month three weeks because her cycle is messed up). So, yes SwellMom, I agree with you.

My middle one probably won't have a roommate in college either. Her brother did and his first roommate changed rooms because of him. Somehow his second didn't mind him. But my middle really should have a single for medical reasons let alone her personality. She gets frequent migraines and has PMDD and needs to be alone. The third one, my only extrovert, will probably love having a roommate. It took her a while to be happy being alone but it wasn't like she and her sister got along well when they were sharing a room. Now, they do get along okay at times though this is a difficult period since the younger is 13 and very hormonal.

I know a young man accepted to the United States Air Force Academy. In my homeschooling co-op, we have parents who have older homeschooling graduates who attend Princeton, Georgetown, and William and Mary.

Actually you not only don't have to be a gradaute of an accredited high school to go to a service academy, you can even be a graduate of a relaxed homeschooling environment and get in. I think it did help that he had great SAT scores. (It wasn't my kid but a friend of his)

Growing up, I had to share a bedroom with my sister. My dh had to share a bedroom with his brother. Both of us hated doing that. We like having our children have their own bedrooms. They all have different personalities and the two who get along best together are 7.75 years apart and different sexes. I am sure that others think me as extravagant but when we decide how to spend our money, different bedrooms for our children is one of the priorities. Maybe because we are living in a high cost area that is seen as strange. Maybe because so many homeschool families have so many children. We only have three and we think it is a real blessing to let each have their own room. It makes my life so much easier since my home is a lot quieter. It is also a lot more peaceful since we moved into a large house. I can always put one child on each floor.

I have an economics degree from the University of Chicago. ALthough we had no finance specific courses, we did get recruitment from the big investment firms. I would say it depends on what he wants to do. If he wants to be in the investment banks in NY, it does matter more to what school you went. IF at local houses, it probably doesn't matter if he went to college at all.

I was trying to explain this to a mother who hasn't done it. I was talking about that even though my dh will have two years on stations next November, I am not moving in the October-February time frame of any one my kid's senior year. He can, I won't. I told her that the students worse time is JR year- 1st half of Senior and the parents is second half of Jr to a bit over first half of Senior.

I would like to add a strong addition to want MomintheGarden said. IN the summer before or the fall of Jr. Year, have your child take the SAT and ACT full length practice test. See if there is a difference between the two. COncentrate on the better one. My quick story- my oldest had close scores on both the SAT and ACT so I didn't think much about this with number two. SHe scored okay, but not grweat on PSAT in sophomore year. In Junior year, she scored better on part but worse on part of the PSAT. I was about to panic. Then I decided to try the ACT. SHe didn't do very well at first. I went over the test with her. SHe had not understood the directions well and had psyched herself out thinking she didn't know much chemistry and guessed on those and many other questions. She then did the ACT practice test again and scored a lot better. Now she has practiced several times and is scoring in the very good range. She will not be doing the SAT at all.

I'm with Nan. I have graduated one, nearing on second , and haven't started high school on third. While I had great plans for how homeschooling should look, reality set in. Both of my two oldest had moves in high school and for both, it was problematic. My second had and still has medical issues. My graduation standards are realistic and would have to become even less idealistic if my children weren't quite as capable as they are. If, for example, I took in a foster child who didn't come to math as easily as mine did, I might have to stop at ALg. 2 with him or her rather than pre-calc as minimum. WIth my third, I expect that advanced math after Calc will be her last hs math class (whether that will be linear algebra or something else, I will decide in a few years).

In regards to the previous post, the Art of Problem Solving test has problems that are taught in ALgebra 1 in many programs including the three math programs I used for my three children (EPGY, Jacobs, LOF). I would think it is a good test if one is using that particular program but not many others.

Okay, I never thought there was anything all wrong with my middle daughter than severe ADHD which is well controlled by ADHD medications in the daytime. I was looking on this board and saw a post about echolalia and looked it up. Here is what my dd does? When she is unmedicated and particularly in the time of the month closest to her monthly, she repeats phrases sometimes. But she is a highly auditory child and she doesn't repeat all of them. IT only happens generally for a short while after her medication wears off. Later on in the evening and in other times of the month, she is much less likely to do this although she does pick up phrases that sound good or interesting to her that she repeats. HOwevr, it never seemed like autism to me because she has a great sense of humor, interacts with others well enough, and all symptoms of her ADHD including this one are well controlled by her medication. Any thoughts?

My son did Great Ideas in the History of Philosophy course with the TC course in high school and he is now a senior in philosophy.

My church is not a country club nor a judgemental place. I don't go to churches like that. Like one of the previous posters said, we join different denominations in different areas depending on the particular churches there. Here I am a member of an urban PCA church. I have been attending slighlty over a year and have never heard a tithing sermon. My pastor works thorugh a section of the Bible and preaches on that. Our big focus is how God calls us to be his sons and daughters and how freeing that can be. Not freeing to sin but to not feel it is something we need to accomplish. I think God put us here because this was a message one of my kids really needed to hear.

One great advantage of FL over VA where I am now is free dual enrollment. Here it costs 270 for one class.

I didn't think I would have this idea (not paying for humanities but paying for science or technology) but it is actually crossing my mind. Why? Well my first is getting a humanities degree, philosophy, and is going to apply to grad school and try to become a professor. While philosophy wouldn't have been my choice, we see it is his and he is good at it and we did think he would become a professor since he was little. (He thought he would go into the military but we didn't). The second is wavering between some type of psychology/neuroscience degree, and political science. She probably wants to become a prosecutor and her personality is a perfect match for that. Then comes number three. Her gifts are math/science/engineering. SO she is 13 and although all her Odyssey of Mind group can tell she is the engineering power, although her robotics class can tell, although we can tell, she has decided that it is boring. THe problem with her is that she is an extrovert and I think she doesn't like being in an introvert world. (our family is also 4 introverts plus her)/ Now I don't need to threaten or withhold funding yet at all. THat won't be my first strategy. AMong other plans are for her to continue emailing a friend who is also an extrovert and an engineering girl. Furthermore, I will be taking her to women in engineering events and hopefully getting her into a summer engineering program. Now what if she decides to follow through on her stubborn ideas and four or five years from now is still intending to major in things she isn't good at? I don't know right now.

I don't think my son reacted out of fear when we told him he had to get a job or get back to college or leave our house. ANd we didn't say that to induce fear. It was to induce reality. He was an adult who needed motivation to do the right thing (he was recovering from major depression). Going to the community college for a short while provided the outside influence he needed. Doing that, he got a job wherein his depression started lifted. THen when we moved here, we told him he had to apply to transfer to the local university, go get a job or leave. He decided the best course of action was to apply. He was astounded that he was accepted, started his classes, and his depression completely went away. Do I feel bad for threatening him to throw him out? NO. It was what all the medical personnel and counselors told us to do. The wrong thing to let him do both medically and for his life was to let him continue to stay in his room and sleep. ANd he didn't realy think there was anything coercive about what we said since that was our expectation for all of our children from when they were small. They know that they go to college, join the military, or get employment once they graduate. No hanging around here. AS it is, we have to keep reminding our second of this too. Not because she is lazy or anything but because she is extremely anxious, particularly right before her time of the month. She gets very emotional and talks about how she can't go away to college and she can't leave the dog and the cat and her mommy. Well the best thing for her is to go away as scheduled in that year and a half. Most of the time, she can see that. Some of the time, her anxieties get the better of her. Oh and neither of my older kids had their problems at 8. My son had not suffered depression nor had my daughter developed anxiety issues. I am sure that other older parents here can also tell you that any other issues their kids developed in older teen or adulthood were often not there at age 8 (think alcoholism, drug abuse, criminal issues, becoming an unwed parent, schizophrenia, bi-polar, etc, etc,). I know that you are thinking of your own experience but many of us have had children who have turned out not to be like us. Neither my husband nor I were either depressed or particularly anxious. So how we behaved as teens and young adults doesn't have much bearing on how our very different children behave and how we react to them.