I had to say other. That is because it depends where I am living. Here, I do not get the creeps. Some places which were higher crime areas or a recent crime had happened there, I did.

We have sponsored children through Compassion International. Our first child was in Haiti and unfortunately, they had to stop it with that local organization because of financial irregularities. So I know they are keeping watch. Our next child we have had for 8 years so far. She is in Ecuador.

We had a Christmas once long, long ago in a tiny tiny tlf. We got one of those little trees too. My then very young son really liked the tiny tree. It was better suited to his small size then. Is your home to going be ready soon?

I have two adhd children and one not. The oldest was only moderately adhd when he was in high school and did very well on the PSAT and SAT. Next is my severely ADHD dd. She is a much harder worker than my older son, a very good writer, and very dependable. She gets 90 pluses on her tests like IOWA or Stanford. She is on medication and it helps tremendously with normal school work. So she takes the PSAT and scores quite a bit lower than her IOWA and Stanford scores would predict. Now I now a big part of the problem is the SAT and she will be taking the ACT in February. I think her big problem overall is the test is too long for her. It is really too bad since she does very well on essay tests and on short answer tests like are usual in the college environment. She is already on the max dose of Vyvanse and like I said, it helps a lot on a daily basis. I really want her to do as well as her normal school work and her regular Iowa or Stanford tests show she can do. SHe won't need a scholarship but does want to go to a good school with a good learning environment. Any suggestions?

My second two children have medical issues. The one who is next has severe migraines, and several other issues. These affect which college she will go to since we are increasingly aware that she has to have a single room. She will likely fail if she can't manage her migraines effectively. I know how bad it can get since I was hospitalized with my migraines in college, they became so severe. Other issues we feel important are how easy will it be for her to travel ( not necessarily to where we live now since we will probably be moving in the summer before her enrollment but wherever). Also for us a definite plus is flexibility with exam times, strong honor code, choral group or groups, and climate (she doesn't like the cold).

I went and picked up the test booklet from the school today but we hadn't gotten the test scores as of yesterday. Hopefully today or Saturday, we will get the scores. The high school confirmed with the college board that the scores were sent to our house.

It really depends on where we are living. Here, I know we aren't missing anything they want to do. They have so much more opportunities in homeschooling it isn't any comparison. Not only that, they also have less arbirtary pressure. The one who is missing out is me. I am sacrificing a lot for their education and raising. But I only have 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 more years to go and think I can manage it.

None of us here consider it music. I like songs with a beat like dance music but don't consider rap to be dance music. I am not a lyrics fan but rather listen to the musical aspects of songs. Sometimes the lyrics are part of that but often they are not for me. I focus more on melody, beat, and harmony. We listen to many, many types of music but rap is not one. One of my dd's biggest problems with her current youth group is the listening to Christian rap and heavy metal. She doesn't like either style and is like me and mostly listening to the music.

The ones from 6th and 8th don't count and don't need to be reported to anyone.

Trying to ask you this gently- is she in the same ethnic background as your son? Is she from a family who never attended college but your son is from a family that did? SInce you are not talking about Pell Grants but rather grants done privately by the college- those may be some of the considerations. Other ones could be their respective majors, if the college has a shortage of females, even if there is no shortage, did she get a grant specified for women only, etc, etc.

My middle got a brochure from the Citadel which was unfortunate since while she really wants to be in the military, her medical issues preclude that. The odd thing is that it includes her full middle name which wasn't listed on the PSAT form. Her first and last name barely fit on the form let alone her middle names. So that has made me curious where they get their info. She thought they got it from the military since we are an AD family but I don't think so since they are a state school and I don't think the military gives out lists of military dependants to people. Any thoughts?

Anyone have any experience with this? I assume they got her name from the student search service but is this one of those that goes out to anyone listed? We haven't gotten her PSAT score but are the colleges and other services getting them so much earlier than us? (It can't be from her score last year since we moved in between).

Why is she doing poorly in Saxon? Is she having trouble understanding the math or is she bored or is she making careless mistakes? If it is the first problem, no, I wouldn't put her in Algebra without the pre-algebra or the fraction and decimals books. LOF is a challenging program that makes you think. Even with the companion book, I don't think the program has enough problems for challenged students.

This has nothing to do with scams but other things that some elderly people get into trouble. Yesterday I was at the commissary. It has very wide lanes in between the parking slots, plenty for two large cars plus a shopper or two walking. Anyway, I was parked in the non handicapped parking slot next to the farthest handicapped spot. My bagger had two cars and was putting the groceries in my midsize Hyundai Sonata (not some huge thing). The elderly lady got into her car and tried to pull out. There were no cars coming and plenty of room. She had problems. My bagger pulled the car to a slightly different location since she was having problems where no one else would but to help her. She finally made it out. The one side of her car that I saw had scrapes, black marks, and cracks in her rear bumper with a lot more damage there. Obviously this woman keeps hitting things and by the looks of the car, she hits and keeps going hence the long scrapes. She either has vision problems or she has some type of dementia, mental limitations, or some other problem with her neurological system or maybe her medications are making her an unsafe driver. I don't know but I do know she shouldn't be driving. Other people shouldn't be having control of their own finances. It is very sad. I have already prepared myself but am having a hard time convincing my husband. I think it is easier for me since I am so happy that I am still so mobile after 15 years of inflammatory arthritis. I already know that if I live long enough I will have to live in at least a retirement community if not an actual assisted living facility. It is best to get used to this idea when you are younger so you can move there when you need to and look forward to it. I have already seen some great facilities that had things that I would enjoy so I know that what I need is simply to keep having money to move there. I really feel badly for those whose parents and other relatives are getting scammed.

In terms of when the scores come, we were moving in mid December last year and I know that the scores came before our movers which was Dec. 8th. My dd was taking it as a 10th grader last year and this year as an 11th grader. We aren't thinking she will be a semi-finalist or a commended but she is set for college expenses courtesy of her father's almost 23 years of military service so we aren't stressing. We just hope to get a good idea of what levels of colleges she should apply to.

The SAT and PSAT are supposedly testing aptitude (but really it is the apptitude to do well on other tests, not necessarily in college or life). The ACT is an achievement test. It is mostly testing knowledge.

So I have a kid with probably a very rare condition. Like the specialist who she sees thinks she may have a condition which only 169 other children have been diagnosed with it. She has osteoporosis and right now the thinking is she has the idiopathic juvenile variety which would be great since she is 13 in two weeks and probably will reach puberty soon when the disease ends. In the meantime, though, she is on Fosomax, which our insurance pays without question. She also has had two dxa scans so far this year which the insurance paid for without question. Since she had been on Fosamax for 6 months, the specialist doctor ordered that she have another bone scan now to see if the medication is working and should be continued or if it isn't. Since this is a serious medication with possible serious side effects, finding out whether it is working is important. So as usual we have to deal with clueless personnel. The tech says well insurance pays for only one scan a year. (Probably true for general screenings of normally aged people). I try to explain to her that our insurance will pay since she has a rare condition and this is appropriate treatment. Now as with standard procedure, I had already signed waivers that I will pay any unpaid bill, deductible, co-pay or whatever the insurance doesn't pay . So she gets out this form which has nothing to do with us since my kid isn't old enough for medicare and neither am I and gets me to sign another form saying once again that I will pay if the insurance won't pay. I am very well aware that almost all osteoporotic patients are medicare eligible but she is a kid and I am 46. So then she starts asking the standard history questions which don't apply anyway either. Yes, her grandmother and greatgrandmother had osteoporosis but when they were in their 60's and 80's, not 11 and 12.None of the doctors think that their histories of problems when they were elderly has anything at all to do with hers. I know these are stupid problems but sometimes when you have a chronically ill child, your frustration level just boils over. Better that I complain here then start screaming there.

I think the things you need to consider are both the future plans of the student and their personality. As you could see in the article, the program that has students transferring to very good colleges and university is highly selective, only 25 accepted from over 300 applicants and I bet hardly anyone qualified to apply. These programs are not available at many cc's. But for a highly dedicated and tenacious worker, cc could work out well. That isn't the typical student at a cc thought. Also, it really depends on your future career. Going for science, engineering, competive professional careers- I wouldn't risk it. Going for a typical college major like communications, education, English, etc, maybe.

The ones I use do list salt if it is a necessary ingredient. If it is optional, like salt and pepper to taste, then it is not listed in the ingredient list.

Get rid of the public school model and go with complete vouchers. Would it help everything- no. But with competition there would be better service. The money would go with the student. That is actually done in a number of other countries and all kinds of special schools pop op like schools that help older students learn a specialized trade.By going to a competitive model, we would also gratly decrease the administrative overhead because it wouldn't pay. There could be one type of voucher for regular students and an enhanced voucher for special needs like blind or autistic.

I am confused by your post Maria. I do understand how it would be difficult to simply focus on writing in literature or to arrange by decriptive versus narrative vs. something else. I have seen this done in high school or junior high texts and it usually is done with selections or poetry. But I am not sure what you object to in thematic divisions. Do you mean that you have a problem with a course in poetry or drama or science fiction novels or do you mean something else by thematic? I have had my oldest do an extra course in science fiction and fantasy literature. I will have my middle do one in mystery fiction.

There are always kittens and cats available. I would not get one from anyone that had animals who were sick not quaranteined. I have owned cats for 26 years. I think the four cats I had during that time (most of the time, two cats at a time), had a total of two or three illnesses that were cold types. The cat I have now is 8 and a half and he has never had an illness. Cat upper respiratory viruses are fairly rare in healthy populations. I think it is a bad warning sign.

My daughter is in a writing novels class at co-op. One of the first few weeks she came to me and asked me about Philippians 4:8 and how that influences our reading and what we watch. I said that I focus mostly on the true and that means I read many things that other Christians might not. I am a criminologist by training and obvious that makes me interested in crime. Not in gory details that are inserted unnecessarily and I stay away from those kinds of books and shows. However, acknowledging that there is evil and we need to work to overcome it also important. So I read mysteries as long as they aren't pro-criminal. That doesn't mean they can't be from the criminal's point of view since if it is seen as evil and not praiseworthy that can be okay. I also don't have to view only happy movies since our fallen world is definitely not a continuously happy place. But they all need to be true to what I see as God's truth and that includes that all people sin. HP, LOR, and Narnia books are all okay in my house since they uphold the basic truth that there is a struggle between good and evil. My kids have seen Star Wars movies but I would have quickly put a stop to it if they became obsessed with them the way I have sometimes seen some kids do. Nobody here likes Twilight and so no one reads it.

He is 15. Although you may not agree with some of the positions of this church, he is almost an adult. Taking him out now is likely to cause a serious disagreement in the family and is not likely to change his mind on this issue. Not only that, but if this is his one social activity, he may decide to rebel and decide if I can't do a respectable activity, why not a not respectable activity? Engage in a conversation and talk about how your beliefs are different. It doesn't matter which way our beliefs are - our children may adopt others. The best way to influence a teen is to model the behavior you want and talking with them.

Praying for you and your sister, Joanne.:grouphug: