The saying about heat and humidity is only true to a point. I had thought that after being in Central Valley California and Laughlin NV where temperatures hit 114 in the shade. Up to a certain point, which I can't quite remember since it has been at least 10 years when I read the exhibit sign at the Living Desert museum in Palm Springs, heat and humidity is worse. Somewhere around 107 or something like that, it doesn't matter. Now my worse problem with humidity was when I moved from Belgium to FL. WE had had a 9 hour flight to NY, a 6 hour delay in NY, and eventually landed in Orlando at 2 am. At around 3am, I went outside to go to our rental car. I had such a hard time breathing since the air was so heavy. Then there was the time in 2007 when we decided to travel from FL to vacation in Jamestown, Williamsburg, James River area in July. I thought Florida was bad but it was hotter there and more humid. (I had lived on an island in Florida and our humidity rarely rose above 70).

Yes, I have triple risk for dying from flu (I have asthma, Sjogren's Syndrome and am on immunosuppressants). With that, everyone in my household is required to get flu shots every year. DH would be required anyway since he is military. Youngest is at risk herself since she only gets asthmatic problems with viruses and wasp stings.

I have homeschooled one through graduation, the next will finish homeschool in two more years and then I have a third. She is a seventh grader as of today and doesn't want to go to school. SHe is my only extrovert but gets enough social interaction with soccer, swim and dive in summer, and co-op and 4h in school year. My biggest deal with schools is that we are a military family and move frequently. AS long as my dh is in the military, the most stable educational environment I can provide is my homeschool. Like this year when we moved mid year, I was able to continue their homeschooling lessons as before. Not if they had been in a school. They would have entered classes either ahead or behind based on what the new school system or private school did. Once you start homeschooling a high schooler, it is difficult to put them back and any notion I might have had of putting either of my two remaining children back was shown by the medical problems they have developed. By homeschooling I am creating the most effective system for schooling them while they go to doctors and xrays and whatnot. Even if something were to happen to me, my middle could finish high school through virtual, online and college classes and would not go to school. My youngest who is gifted in math and science may end up in school but only if we stay in an area like we are right now and she can attend the Math, Science and Technology school. That would take care of one of the biggest problems I see with PS which is bullying and losers detracting from the learning. WIth a selective school where only geeks can attend, I think those problems disappear. Other social issues could remain but those would be similar in CC too. I don't know about schools in other places but around here the private schools match or exceed the public university cost which isn't free at all. As long as dh is public employee, I can't see us being able to afford that option since I am a non- disability receiving disabled person.

YOu need to find a dentist who will test you with other anesthetics. Novacaine and lidocaine don't work on me. I have to have other things like carbocaine or injectable benadryl. Ler me describe my experiences as a child. Having teeth pulled where they first gave mne shots that hurt and then pulled the teeth with no anesthesia. Then as a newly married wife I ripped my fingernail half off. They needed to sew it back in place. They gave me four shots and I said enough since the shots were very painful and weren't doing anything. Then for years I had cavities filled with no anesthesia even tried since it didn't work for me. Finally one blesssed dentist listened to my story and tried carbocaine. No more pain for me.

My master's thesis touched on stalking behavior. I would definitely report it even if they don't think anyone is angry with them. It doesn't have to be anger based harassment. Someone could have formed an irrational attachment or delusion about either the house or someone in it. Unless they are new to the neighborhood and it is likely to be insurance, realtors,etc, and they are in different cars, I would report it. In my research I found cases of people being stalked because they smiled and greeted a customer at a counter, they sat next to a person on a plane, all kinds of chance encounters. IF you need more information about typical stalking behavior, you can PM me.

I don't know about Abeka biology but I found their other texts to be very dry. How about using a video program like thinkwell and adding dissections and experiments? SOme other video programs may work. DOes she like to watch tv shows about science? IF she is totally uninterested in science, I would lay down the law with her. This is what you need to do to get into college. Here are our options for how we will do it. Choose or you are not going to anything more than a community college at first. I have ADHD kids and I simply never allowed them to do things like leave experiments. I do try to make the material palatable as best as I can but all children find subjects they don't like. They have to do them anyway. It isn't always the subjects you think they should find dry. I was so surprised when my first decided that Geometry was his favorite subject and now when my last loves diagramming. On the other hand, first didn't like writing and we still did it. Second doesn't like languages and she still has to do that. Third doesn't like geography and we do it anyway.

I said over 1500. That was for last year. I used Calvert for one which was about a thousand, I used BJU Spanish for another which was 399, I used ALEKS which was almost 20 a month. THe Lightning LIt was about 150, the CC class was free but the book cost 90. THe homeschool co-op cost about 150. Soccer cost 34 plus equipment. I can only see things beng more costly next year. DD will probably take a 3-5 credit cc class each semester (300-500 without books, each semester). I am not sure how much my co-op will cost. I have to buy 2 Chalkdust sets. I have to buy Rosetta Stone. I have to buy dissecting specimens. I have to buy whatever science equipment I need for younger dd. I may end up buying BJU Biology and Life Science but haven't decided yet.

Dd had a good visit with the gynecolologist and she believes she has PMDD. SHe may also have something else but we will try this first. She will double her dose of lexapro on her PMDD days (she takes 10mg lexapro for headache prevention). SHe was given fiorocet for the pain of her severe cramps. SHe said that some of the non-medication treatments were not applicable since she already exercises a lot and she doesn't drink any caffeine products except during the very occasional visit to a Chinese or Japanese restaurant. SHe also is already taking supplemental vit d and calcium because of very strong familial history of osteoporosis. We discussed putting her on bc pills but decided to try this way first since those stop growth and she may be still growing and also because of her headache history. Now the gynecologist told me that the bc pills I took which caused my basilar artery migrianes were probably 9 times more potent and they don't even make those kind anymore. If she has to go on those, they will be a tiny dose so as to not trigger more headache problems. AS it is, she has bad migraines during that time already.

I have signed up to teach a combined govt and econ class this year to high schoolers. I have a separate post asking for resource advice but I would also like to ask for any advice on teaching high schoolers in a co-op. My initial idea is to teach the class and not worry about whether students are working up to par. I have heard many complaints about students not being prepared. SInce the class meets only for 30 hours a year, that doesn't even count as half a credit without outside work. I won't worry about that and simply focus on giving parents and students enough information, readings, and projects so they can accumulate a half credit in each subject, if they choose to do so. The co-op has been inexistence longer than I have been homeschooling (18 years versus my 14 +).

Nicole M said "This is why programs like Head Start work. They give children exposure to language that they do not get at home." Actually Head Start Programs have not been shown to be long term educationally stimulating. The advanced progress disappears after 3rd grade, I seem to remember. That isn't to say that there are other objectives, intended or not, that happen. For example, I believe that Head Start children get better health care and probably have less chance of neglect. However, it doesn't help with future crime statistics nor with academic success after third grade. That is probably because the schools these children go to are generally the worse schools around and not much learning is happening.

The labs are just the latest addition. If it is anything like the chemistry, it mostly consists of lectures and going over problems. THe latest edition added the labs.

I would do it now too. It is especially good to encourage your children in what they have a talent. I think it is especially important since your don't like editing.

I am unclear which math you want him placed into. Normally, Geometry follows Alg 1. I would check with the school what their math sequnce is and follow that. Not necessarily the same books, but the same topics. The book or program doesn't usually matter, it is whether the student has mastered the work.

Hi all, I have volunteered to teach government and economics for high schoolers at our local co-op. I have an economics degree and have plenty of experience and knowledge about government and current affairs. IO have worked on campaigns, read papers daily, and generally keep abreast much more than most people about government. I will have these students in class once a week for 50 minutes for 30 weeks. For my own daughter and any other parents that want it, I intend to have them do enough work to get a half credit in both government and economics. Obviously, that would entail work outside the class. Now many of the kids will be in speech or debate and can get hours towards their government or ecomonics by researching a debate topic or writing and performing a speech on some issue. I am very excited about finally teaching a course and want to make it very interesting and informative. I don't want dry readings since I know that both subjects can be fun. I haven't thought either subject before since my oldest didn't do economics with me (we ran out of time) and he did his government through a variety of non text means like reading through the Federalist papers, campaigning, Boy Scout merit badge, and current events readings and discussion. ANy helps for me? I know that I can expenct that some students won't do the work and in this situation, we are facilitators and leave the final grading and the credit giving to the parents. It won't be on my head. However, I would like to help parents who want to make it into a credit class to be able to do so. Basically it seems like since we meet for 15 hours a semester, I will have to give them 3 plus hours of homework a week. Is that how it works?

I would take the every day job since that is sort of my schedule anyway. No, I don't work, but I get up early and take care of pets, the kitchen, the garden, and the bills. I don;t get the girls up unitl around 8:30. I am not up at 5:30 either but I found easiest to have a routine of things to do without children. On the other hand, I could certainly adjust to a one day a week but it sounds like a very long day for your child. That would be my hesitation.

My daughter was 11 when she had an delayed anaphalactic reaction to a wasp sting. She has been carrying the epi-pen since. She has a purse which she normally brings which has her epi-pen, inhaler, and wallet with military ID. (It also has tons of other stuff like lipstick, mirror, hair things, etc, etc). I have seen younger chidlren with them and I know that she was very responsible about other allergies frim about age 5 (she has a bad reaction to peanuts and would always ask about that before taking a treat, it wasn't a anaphalactic reaction so we weren't quite as worried about it).

I like both the seatbelt laws and the motorcycle helmet laws. I have buckeld my seatbelt before there were laws and continue to do so. However, there are enough ignorant people out there who only do so because of the law. They don't understand physics, they don't understand statistics, they have an overly optimistic view, whatever. They need the laws to keep them safe and to keep others safe. That unbelted adult passengar can very easily end up killing a child in that car who didn't have any choice in the matter. As others have pointed out, the costs are not only financial to the rest of us. They also include extended traffic jams when someone dies at the scene of an accident whereas if they were wearing their seatbelt the accident wouldn't have required the amount of investigation a fatal accidents causes. THere are the emotional costs of responders and witnesses. There are the potentially worse treatment of someone at the ER who has a less onvious injury or disease who is waiting while they are trying to save the life of an unseatbelted person. THere is the costs of families losing their breadwinners. THere are so many costs and the only price is not being allowed to follow your ignorant choice. It is a clear choice to me.

All three of my children have read the entire series. I have read none of it but then I am not a fan of fantasy. My oldest read The Hobbit and THe lord of the Rings before he read HP. They are in fact less interested in witches and witchcraft then I was at their ages. (I didn't want to be a witch but was interested in a sociological sort of way). The HP series really helped my youngest improve in reading. The stories were a great incentive for her to read and she devoured the books. Like another poster, I just quietky refrain from making comments when I hear the anti-HP crowd chirp up just the same way as I generally don't broadcast our old age creationist views either. We are reformed CHristians and are quite active in any church we belong to at the time.

USAA has been great for us all these 22 years and their banking has never given me any problems (unlike all the previous banks that I have had). Publix Land's End All the wonderful companies that would ship to us when we were overseas and really needed things. Ones that come to mind are JC Penney, Nordstroms, Amazon, . Netflix- my movies come so fast and no problems when I recieved a broken disc or the time the movie was scratched up.

I have never in my life copied a workbook and then sold a workbook. However, I have bought lots of books and workbooks that I have never used since I often buy too many homeschooling materials than we can actually get through. I don't sell books usually but I might have sold a workbook. I don't really remember since I have been homeschooling for 15 years. I do know that I never bought one, copied it, and sold it unused. The way I have done it is no violation of any copywrite law.

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I have a very independent 10th grader (very soon to be 11th). I don't discuss English or history per se with her but she discusses them with me at times and shows she knows what she read with her papers and essay tests. She is doing Spanish independently but that is not going well and we will be switching soon. She is doing geometry independently for a few more days (she will be done). She is doing chemistry partly independently and partly with me since she is having a hard time with it. She switched books and is doing very well now but I need to be there to keep her on track. Music is usually done independently. THe geography she is finishing up with me is done with me since we are watching videos for this portion. I am unsure what I am doing next year since I am awaiting the co-op schedule and her deciding what she will do at CC.

I honor people's copyright and this is a big issue in our family. My dh, and both dd and I are very strong on the copyright thing. I think that stealing is stealing. I was very disappointed a number of years ago when I received a photocopied Lyrical Life Sciences. How dishonest. I do have the Calvert manuals and will not give them away or resell them. I will throw them away when I don't want them. It was my agreement with the company and I will honor that. I give away or sell items that I am allowed to. I certainly never copy workbooks and sell those copies or sell the original. That is plain dishonesty and stealing.

That is a great idea about the Princeton Review. She is my child with the strongest character but I do agree with not sending her to a school where she will be a loner. She is very anti-illegal drugs and is so not into partying. I will be looking at that site.

I did almost all of his history uing teaching company videos, along with supplemental readings and papers or exams I assigned. Originally he was a history major but he shortly changed to a philosophy major. I had him do the History of Philosophy lecture series along with various history series in the given time frames. It turned out that philosophy was his favorite and he even got to hear Dr. Robinson in person one time during college. I am currently having dd15 do the History of Music series and along with actually listenting to music and performing, I am counting that as Intro to Music and giving it a half credit.