As I posted, we have had more than 10 inches of rain here and non-stop winds for almost 18 hours. Schools, government services, work, etc, is mostly closed for the second day. We are on the island which TS Fay is exiting Florida to continue on in the Atlantic, reorganzing to come back in the county north of us. It was interesting to see how the winds changed directions as the center passed over us.

Hi all, We ended up being in probably the worst hit county. We had a tornado yesterday and having our second day of torrential rain. So far we have lost pals fronds and one tree and possibly the brandnew Wii. Since it is less than a week old, someone else is paying. We had plugged into a surge protector and everything else that was plugged into surge protectors is working including computers, tvs, dvd players, etc/ I am hoping the thing just needs to be plugged into another outlet. But either the surge protector guarantee or the fact that the Wii is less than a week old should protect us. The center of the storm is our county and has been for more than than twelve hours. Now they think this stupid storm is going to turn around and go through Florida just north of us. My dd is supposed to have surgery on Friday and I hope we can still do this.

The only one that worked for me was one that I developed. It was just because of my interests. It wasn't very involved either. I was living in Sacramento. I ran across Polacco book about the Oakland fire. I decided to do a mini-fire unit. I read the Polacco book aloud. I found a book about the Yellowstone fire, and another about the Great London fire. We discussed fire safety and practiced stop, drop and roll. We discussed what were the three elements that a fire needed. There were no crafts, no projects, just a video or two and some books. I always wanted to do fun units though they were too much work and I don't like crafts. We have failed Konos (I thnk we lasted one or two weeks), FIAR, Beyond FIAR, Prairie Primer, Amanda Bennet, and the latest, TOG. I have figured out that I can't do lots of planning and preparing. It doesn't get done and crafts are completely out. If they can do it with my materials- great. Otherwise no.

I said yes, always, but I guess I should have said it depends. Yes, always for the type of books I get on tapes- unabridged. I wat thinking about those. Both of my daughters used tapes this summer for a summer reading program. In the first case, my 11 yo (and the entire family) heard The Prince and the Pauper on tape unabridged. SHe was listening to this for her book club. The other girls in the club read abridged versions or didn't finish the book. My daughter was the best able to discuss the book. The reading level was too difficult for her and after a good try of about five pages, we got her the tapes. She knows how to read, reads plenty of books, but uses tapes for books that she wants to read and are still above her reading level. My older dd is an auditory child. She read The Tale of Two Cities, was reading the Cliff Notes for it, and still has trouble remembering what happened. I am going to look for a movie version for her to have her recollect what the differences are. Then later on in the summer, she hear the unabridged version of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. She remembered great details from it and can discuss it very well. Can she read- yes, she reads a lot. But unless a book is highly engaging, she won't remember well what she read. She needs to hear to have a good memory of it.

Yes, do go to the doctor. I think you ar falling into depression. When all the troubles hit with my oldest this year, both myself and my youngest had to star taking St. John's Wort. It helped keep things evened out for me. My halth has definitely been affected. All the three normalshave been trying to shiled me a bit from all his problems since my health has been so badly affected but I still need to do things to help him. I have been praying for you Tammy and I will continue.

We are watching and got extra water and filled up our car's gas tanks. We live on an island. If it gets near here, we will have to evacuate. In our almost 22 years in the military, we have never had to do that anywhere for any reason- earhquakes, fires, floods, terrorism, anything at all. I can't plan anything like I wanted to since all of FL is in the zone of possible hitting. We are also scheduled to have our older daughter have surgery this Friday so I don't want this.

We are probably more liberal in movie watching than many. However, I would not ever show an unannounced R rated movie to any teenagers. I wouldn't even show a PG 13 without announcing what we were watching. There are plenty of fun movies that have lots of laughs that aren't like Pineapple Express. That one looks like a bad imitation of Cheech and Chong movies and we aren't having them watch those either. We judge movies by content, message and intent. I just wouldn't impose our standards on others. On the $15 catered picnic, personally I would love that. I am always havening to make things in the most inconvenient times and for us $15 for what you said you get would be wonderful. I can't say that I have ever been to a youth activity like that- just that I would prefer that over the normal stuff I have to do. In the areas I have lived in, Boy Scouts never had such elaborate picnics. The Explorers in Belgium went on a weekend trio to overnight at a castle and that cost some money but I don't recall specifics. That was Explorers and I think with Explorers, you need to expect extra costs. The Boy Scouts normally had camp outs that cost around $20 a kid.

I will be praying here. Waiting is the hardest time.

I really need help with a number of things. Main issue- I have a number of medical problems that give me some bad side effects that affect my looks some from my underlying illnesses but more from my medicines. Anyway, I have them and need to keep taking the medicines. I am needing to do things to look better but am having such a hard time with it. My hair is thinning, and I can't figure out how to find clothes that fit me. Last year, I finally found a few evening gowns that fit me well so I am set there for the meantime. I found nice shorts and I bought four pairs of them. What I need are nice skirts and some pants. A few new dresses for regular things would be good too. I really would like to get stuff over the internet but since I have had such a hard time finding a pair of pants that fits in person in stores that I am not sure I will find it on the internet. I vary so widely in sizes depending on the manufacturer. I wear anything from a 14 to an 18. I have an hourglass figure but don't want things tight around my hip or thigh area. I am so tired lately and yet I know I need to do this. I don't even think I have anything very appropriate for my dh's promotion party next week at the marina. Shorts would be too casual and I don't want to wear anything too formal. I will get a hair appointment early this week before Friday.

I have been home with the children and not employed, not at school for 14 years. I have 7 more years of homeschooling to go (or maybe just six). I will not be going back to employment most probably. I might, if my diseases get better, teach at Community college a class or two. Most likely, I will not be employed. I have so many plans for what I will do-- become a Master Gardener, help at a military base if one is near where I live, volunteer at the local library, continue being in book clubs, take cooking classes, get more active at church, etc, etc. My dh is getting promoted soon so I know I probably have at least 3 more years in the military. I have too many interests and books to read to get bored. I have too many movies to see, music to hear, plants to grow, cookies to bake, etc, etc. Homeschooling is what is best for my children but it is only one of my many interests.

I just used cc over in the high school board to refer to community college. I completely forgot about CC for Christian Content. But really I don't complain about all kinds of other opinions I don't agree with on a philosophical basis, so why should they>

We had our catastrophe with homeschool academy so we are up in the air. DD 15 is starting cc next Monday for one class. I have current math curriculum I am using with oth girls. Younger dd is still finishing last year's science. I am having dd 15 read Stephen King's On Writing to start of her English while I decide on what to do next. She read a lot while waiting for her learner's permit today. DD 15 is having shoulder surgery next Friday so I have decided reluctantly not to start everything back until Labor Day.

Our CC has a FAQ that says the difference between normal and honors is definitely not the workload. They don't let the teacher give more work since all fulltime students have lots of classes and they want good students to take honors classes. The difference is that honors classes actually involve discussion and foster higher levels of thinking than the normal classes. The regular classes apparently just want regurgitation.

I suspect it is legal since they charge no fees- just the teachers collect fees and they ask for a donation to the church each month. Actually I bet that many people who have met my daughter would be astonished that anyone wants to discriminate against her. She is such a hard worker and this is not simply my judgement. In VBS, the main person in charge of music just kept repeating to me over and over again how blessed they were to have her work for them since she was so prepared and never had to be told to do anything a second time. (A big change from their usual teen helpers). The adult choir has no problems with her and she never has any behavioral problems. Although she has medium to severe ADHD, I have never been called out for her behavior problems in things like Sunday School, camps, classes or anything. Now my youngest who has no ADHD has been moved in classes for talking too much, etc. since she is a chatty extrovert. This group already restricts the classes to those who have homeschooled over one year since that prevents public school problems. The first statement alone would be appropriate. These are classes for 7-12 graders and they should be able to read well and behave appropriately in a classroom. The additional statements how you don't want anyone with any ADHD, mental or emotional difficulties is just not necessary. I don't see what having a phobia about something not related to school (let's say flying in an airplane) has anything to do with behavior in the class.

So after a 3 and a half hour wait, dd goes into the advisor's office. She asks what is the difference between honors and regular psychology because she noticed that reg. psych had 37 students max but honors has 12 max. She doesn't mention she knows the class size difference. The advisor doesn't realize at first she is homeschooled and says, the honors class is very small and you interact a lot with the professor and other students. He says it in such a way as if the student would find that a negative. Both of us luaghed and said we think that is great. I piped in with none of her classes ever had more than 12 people in them. We had her Stanford test scores and she had a 3.92 GPA so she is signed up for it and gets honors privileges at the library. Now I think it is great she gets the kind of class she wants. What is kind of sad is that the lower scoring kids or less motivated kids get large classes where they can get ignored.

As many of you know, my girls' homeschool academy had to be cancelled due to low enrollment. I was looking for substitutes further away. One I had heard about looked promisiing. The classes looked good, the prices were good, the schedule was good. Then come the rules. Something about all children have to read well and be able to sit in class and participate fully. That part is fine. My daughter reads very well, she expresses herself well, and she doesn't create problems in class at all. Last year she was consistently the best prepared child in her classes and always did the work even when she had a seven month long headache. The business about reading and participating is in bold letters. Then comes the kicker- no attention deficit children, ...... . As my daughter said, she doesn't want me to fight it since she refuses to go to classes run by such ignorant people. I guess they wouldn't like Michael Phelps to visit their classes either.

I will chime n here about needing to get him to a doctor. I also completely agree that depression in men is different than in women but one similiarity is the same- abnormal sleep patterns. Depressives sleep too long and and the wrong time or else they don't sleep. The not getting up and the strange decision process are red flags to me too. All kinds of scenarios can rise up. It is imperative you get him medical help. I will be praying for you and the children. If he is depressed, please realize that depressives in the midst of a depressive episode and not medicated are not good decision makers and their reasoning process is out of whack. Unfortunately, I am getting a first hand look here at depression in a male and it isn't pretty. (No, not dh, rathr my 19yo son)

I have a 11 1/2 yo dd who was gong to do most of her classes in a homeschool academy that would meet once a week for discussion and assignments and then she would have done the work at home. That got suddenly canceled today. She is a child that I was either going to have in a program like the academy or was going to enroll her in private school for this year just because she doesn't like to do work for me but those very well for others. My main option right now seems to be Calvert 6 with ATS. I am hoping the schedule and the teacher feedback will help. I also need ready made schedule that does not need much from me. I will be able to help her but just have no time to schedule and plan things for her this year. We are potentially looking at a very short notice move and possibly overseas and I was going to use the time she spent in academy to prepare for the move. Now I will just have to do it with her at home. Has anybody used Calvert 6 and can you tell me about it?

The fourteen year old turns fifteen this Friday. She is a good writer. She is going into 10th grade. THe two girls don't get along and don't want to work together. I should have said, DD 15 had another great reason for doing things in classes. She is a super auditory child. SHe has memory problems from remembering things she reads unless they are very interesting. She apparantly read all through The Tale of Two Ciities this summer and can't remember what she read barely at all. I am seeing this with the geography I gave her to do. SHe reads it over and over again and doesn't remember because she is so bored. She is managing to do math okay because I read it outloud to her. What is strange is she is an avid reader. SHe just has a hard time with boring textbooks and certain pondorous writing. She loves to watch Shakespeare plays and always reads the dialogue since she can't understand the English accents enough. So she has no real reading problems but she has a memory problem.

The leadership made serious errors in judgement. I had planned that one or two classes maight not have enough enrollment but I was very flexible about what my girls would take. It was cancelled because they expanded too fast in a bad economic environment and there was not enough enrollment. WHat I really don't know is if they let us have second choices, there would have been enough. For example, my older chose American History but would have gladly done American Goverment or World History. My younger was going to do a unit study on Anne of Green Gables. That would have including history and literature. She was also going to do a separate class on missionary geography. The older would have done eithr Chemistry or Biology although her first choice was Chemistry. I am just sick with this. I had a few reasons I was doing this. First of all, my life is so super hectic right now. I have a few chronic illnesses which one is not in good control. I am on serious medicines which means I need to keep going to the doctor every month and getting blood tests. That is if he likes what is happening. If he is not happy with the control, he may put me on medicines that involve even more visits. My oldest is suffering from major depression and has been hospitalized three times this year. My middle is going to have shoulder surgery next Friday and had a non-stop headache for seven weeks that is now gone but she still gets headaches. My husband just got on the promotion list and not only he will have more travel and more responsibilities but so will I (just responsibilities). That means we will likely have a short notice move. I needed some simplicity in my life. Furthermore, older daughter really liked the organization of weekly classes to keep her on schedule. Since she is socially very shy and opened up some in classes, I liked it for that reason too. The younger one performs well for everyone but me which is why I wanted classes for her. She is an extrovert and really needed more social interaction.

I am so upset. My homeschooling group suddenly cancelled all academy classes. My girls were going to do most of their work this year at the academy. Now I have six classes gone for the older one and four for the younger. I don't know what I am doing. It is English, History and Science plus two electives, and History, English and two electives for the younger. I am at a loss.

I have red-brown. Dh is strawberry blond. All our three children started our auburn (1st two) or red. Oldest is now dark ash-blond with red-brown beard, middle is a dark golden blonde, youngest is red. The really stupid thing is dh, youngest, and I will be together (with or without other siblings) and sometimes someone will ask where did she get her red hair- hmm- how about red-brown plus red-blond can equal red-red.

:iagree: I completely remember the last time on this board that this was discussed. There were so many people who mentioned the broken bones from just jumping and coming down wrong. At that same time, there was some magazine or newspaper that came out with statistics on trampolines. Absolutely I will not allow them. We have a mini trampoline that is about a foot at max of the ground. . I also don't understand the trepidation about immunizations which have a very low risk of problems versus trampolines which have a much higher risk.

We think its great. It also makes us happy that he is ADHD, just like some of us. No, ADHDers are not losers.

My dd is 11 1/2 and just got her epi-pen this summer. She is very allergic to wasps. We let her go to events without us. She was a volunteer at the library this summer. She even gets to go to the library (a few blocks) by herself. She carries the epi-pen with her and know how to use it. We had several kids in VBS with epi-pens. They just made sure they got older teens or adults to be their group leaders. I guess I really should be astonished by this but unfortunately I have heard several similar type problems with other medical conditions in Christian organizations and groups that it isn't really surprising. Very disturbing is more like it. It certainly isn't very like Jesus, is it?