I will be using Lightning Lit for literature and writing prompts. IEW for writing instruction. Daily Grams for grammar along with a diagramming workbook (she loves to diagram and just needs a few lessons on a few more difficult topics), Apple Spelling drills for spelling, and I just need an easy vocabulary program -hopefully computer based.

We have military health insurance and since dh has 22 years in, we will always have it. AS active duty, we pay nothing for the insurance and have a $1000 cap. When he retires, it will be a 3000 cap if he has no other insurance. THen when he hits 65, we have Tricare for Life which is a free great supplement to the Medicare ? Medicaid? I never remember which is which.

I have wondered this myself. Dh and I just don't get it. WHat is even funnier to us is people who support a college team that no one in their family went to or is even planning to go to. We have watched several events live. When we do that, we cheer for the home team. (We are usually going with youth or church group). That generally involves our kids enjoying the antics of the mascot or the free things they throw.

Reading, watching shows I don't watch, or woodworking. Sometimes he goes to bed earlier.

I disagree with the list in the OP about several but most vehemently about the one with swimming pools with diving boards. We just finished my both daughter's first year of diving and both are interested in doing it more. Not all of the pools around here do have boards but enough that we have a number of divisions.

I should add that as with any look at the darker side of humanity and especially a show with murders, not everyone is acting in a wholesome manner. But this is implied like putting on a shirt, not by wild tossing around in bed.

No, it is a show that was seen on tv and the most is someone taking a shirt on or off type of thing. No nudity or anything like that. We watched it with our older elem- teen children and had no concerns. It is as I said a thoughtful show and the emphasis is usually not on the romance at all. IT isn't all mushy or anything like that and does give a realistic look at life in wartime small town England.

What are you asking about? I love the series and several of the characters have boyfriend/girlfriend relationships and one of the sergeants has problems with his wife but romance is not the main focus of the series. It is a very good mystery series set in WWII and has many thoughtful episodes. I am not sure this answered your question.

I don't think we are moving to SC but she may be applying to colleges in SC including one we were thinking about visiting. It seemed it might be a good match but the director of admissions was admittedly only familiar with DC homeschooling laws and didn't realize they were so different in so many states. It is a college that gets at least 50% of students from DC but is looking to expand its reach.

There can be racism by any person of any color. In my judgement, the racist comments were made by Prof. Gates and his arrest was not racist at all. I am not familiar with the area in which Prof. Gates lives. Based on the fact that he is a professor, I figure it is an upper class area. I live in such an area. It is a quiet neighborhood. If someone was outside arguing with police loudly and refused police instructions to go back inside, I would expect such a person to be arrested. If my adult son, who has a bad attitude about police, did such a thing, I would expect him to be arrested. Also, if the houses are not very close to each other, the neighbor did the right thing by calling. They were having problems entering the house and were trying to force open the door. Maybe she did know the Professor and knew he was out of town. You don't expect people to try to breakdown their own doors or to be surprised if the police show up when they do such a thing. Gates' first comment out of his mouth was racist. NOw are there some police who stop people because they are black? I am sure there are. When I was with immigration, we had officers who couldn't distinguish between immigrants who were coming on business or actual vacation and those who were trying to enter as illegals. They would end up harassing all Latin Americans who arrived. It was a sign of ignorance. Inspectors who were better mannered and more professional treated everyone with more respect but honed in their questioning on those with suspicious documents or suspect stories. That turns out to be a better investigative tool since you don't waste your time trying to figure out how to charge a millionaire Mexican with trying to enter the country to get a job as a gardener or construction worker.

Yes, the one with the most questions was from SC. The NC one stated they would work with us and if her scores are very good, there would be absolutely no problem. THe one in Sc seemed very confused by it all. I was educating him politely about how homeschooling is different in different states. He was the one who wanted what we turn in at the end of the year and I told him that will be the ACT test score. He is checking with the registrar next week. I told him that if we applied we would send him an official transcript and he kept talking about the diploma. I said we could send a copy of that too if she decided to enroll. He didn't seem to by anti-hopmeschooling at all so I haven't crossed it off. He just seemed confused.

Absolutely not. Since he started his comment with "I don't have all the facts" his next statement should have been "so I can't comment".

I am giving my daughter half a credit for driving. She took a four hour drug and alcohol class, a road rules and driving tips course and she has been driving for a calendar year. Her driving includes high speed interstates, driving in torrential rain, night driving, mountain driving, rural driving and driving in cities. She has more than 50 hours of driving and much more driving experience than I had before I got my driver's license and my half credit of drivers ed. Do most colleges count it towards GPA- no but if we move to someplace where they want x number of credits, it helps.

We need to do a college trip for my soon to be 11th grader. Since we are military and my dh has a rank where we average only 19 months before moving, we need to combine a trip to Jacksonville Fl (for dd's drivers license) with college visits. Some things I am already doing is visiting a National Park, going to see the Atlanta Aquarium, and probably driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway and/or Shenandoah National Park on the way home. But we are still planning some sort of visit or driveby to 8 colleges. At least two of them will be drive bys. THe other six may be pared down by one or two or may end up not having college tours and information sessions at each. I will have dh, both girls and myself but only one car so I am not sure how much we can split up. I know that I have the Congaree National Park for my dh and the youngest will like that too. I need to locate a military battlefield also for dh and/or a NHS site. That may be another boring thing for dd12.

I am researching colleges to visit on our upcoming roadtrip. I am runnign into strange requests at colleges in NC and SC for diplomas from organizations or the state. We are military and have never homeschooled in those states and don't know what they are talking about. I talked with one person at one college and she said don't worry about it. Another is checking with his registrar. They both seemed to want documents we send to the state but as I told the one man, I plan to send ACT scores next year for my daughter the same as I send to them. Be my guest if you want to see both.

We have USAA and pay 154 a month. This is with three drivers, one being my 20 yo son, and two cars. We have full coverage and live in a big city suburb.

I have a graduate degree in criminal justice and did all my coursework for a Phd in it too. Sex criminals are notoriously recidivists. When I was studying, there was I believe one program in the country that had some success with rehabilitation but I think the courts later stopped one of the main aspects which was high levels of supervision even after all parts of sentence was served. So do I think that given the current state of knowledge, law, and actual programs that it is safe to charge rapists as juvenile- not on your life. Actually murderers who had no sexual component to their crimes are usually the least recidivistic.

I think what you did is fine. Obviously these schools don't have much familiarity with homeschooling. I would also make sure he is apply to more homeschool friendly schools.

I have a daughter who is attending a summer program for fine arts. For this she has to wake up at 6:30 am to catch the bus before 7:30 am about a 1/2 mile from our home. She gets home around 2:15pm. While she has had a good experience learning some new things (mostly singing solo in front of people), her sleep has been completely disrupted. She is so tired and is ending up going to bed around 10 or earlier each night and still needing a nap in the afternoon. When she wasn't attending that program, she would normally go to bed at 11 and wake up around 7:30 with school starting soon afterwards. For her, almost 16, starting around 7:30 is no issue although some days she prefers 8. On the other hand, her younger sister who is still growing, needs more sleep and needs to sleep in later. The schools around both here and in FLorida where I lived noticed the sleep problems and adjsted to some degree their schedules. I know in Fl where we lived, the latest start time was for the middle schoolers and was around 9 am. THat seems about right.

I do it by hours. In the current transcript, (see my previous note on another thread) I am counting only one year of Choir. She also gets a half credit in History of Music but that is using Teaching Company courses as well as listening to other selections and attending performances and that I listed for another year. Our kids need extracurriculars if they are applying to colleges that are selective or above. Some, particularly large state universities, don't care since they get so many applications they go by the numbers and completeness of the application. Most others do look at extracurriculars and it is best to have ones that show long term commitment such as music group participation.

We are active duty military so are our costs are different- 150 individual deductible, 300 family deductible, 20% co pay, $1000 catastrophic cap. WE also pay either 3, 9, or 27 I think for prescriptions if we get them at a commercial pharmacy eagain only to the catastrophic cap. We have been in this plan since 2006 and every year we hit the catastrophic cap. THis year we hit it in 2 1/2 months. Nothing like chronic illnesses, allergies, post surgical PT, and fractures to run up those bills. We could have a lesser cost plan but then we give up freedom and add umpteenth hours of haggling with insurance and going to wasted primary care visits just to get referrals. Now that is a true waste- having to go to primary care to get referrals to specialists. I have always gotten all that we wanted but each required another visit to primary care. Since I get them anyway, what is the point of seeing primary care to get them. We do pay a lot for our dental bills since the military has a very limited dental benefit. This year we will be paying close to 2500 in dental bills.

I have done things like this with older children. We never had the opportunity with kindergarten age children. If you have the money and you get good vibes about the place, why not? It isn't like kindergarten is so jam packed with schoolwork that you can't do it in four days a week.

My last one had a big not back to school breakfast. I am new to this area and schools don't start until Sept so I am not sure what the few groups I am in will do.

No, I didn't. I also didn't want a medicine that had a small chance of irreversible and deadly blood problems when my children were younger. Last year, I decided that the really small chance of problems with that medicine was worth taking since my children weren't little any more (The youngest was 11). I have been on the medicine a year and no problems. BUt in terms of children, my children were all small and I only knew I had definite medical problems after the second. I didn't know I had a potentially deadly problem which would more likely result in miscarriages but could also cause strokes and more likely to do that with childbirth. I didn't have anymore since number 3. WHen number 3 was 10, dh had a vasectomy. I was then 44. Like others, I had times when I thought about having a fourth.

Praying for you,