You don't write how much older your oldest is. I agree with some others that certain programs can be too much depending on your circumstances. In my case, I couldn't handle Sonlight with three children at widely different ages/stages. I couldn't do two cores and keep a toddler occupied. Later on, I tried TOG with two and that worked until we got medical problem after medical problem. I know that when I had a highschooler, a fifth grader, and a first grader, I spent my time mostly with the highschooler and the first grader. Fifth grader listened to SOTW, and first grader listened to fifth grader's science. Fifth had me to help with math, English, Spelling. She did extra history by herself. That was five years ago so this is my best memory. The highschooler had me help him with math, and do discussions in history and literature. I helped in French when needed.

I would say that in school time, she spends at least 8 hours a day. SHe also spends more time on weekends. Other than shoolwork, she volunteres 2 hours a week at the library, sings in choir for 3 hours a week, has Explorers for 1.5 hours a week, has shooting for 3 hours every two weeks, and projectionist duty for at least one hour a week.Her free time is usually spent reading or watching movies. She also likes to do lots of exercising.

Praying here.:grouphug:

I know that at many of my different functions, coffee is served in not matching cups. Sometimes they are casual- fun coffee mugs; sometimes they are more formal- non matching china. Almost never does anyone serve all matching cups unless it is a very small gathering. One great place to pick up either are estate sales. I still have a few favorite coffee cups from such.

We will be moving before June. It could be as early as a few weeks or as late as May. One of the possible places is Massachusetts. I have always heard horrible things about it. Can anyone tell me how bad or maybe how it is not so hard? We are talking about the area near Lexington MA.

I am getting nervous again. I had her school just about planned out. Most of her work this year was going to be directed by the Homeschool Academy with math and Spanish either with me or online. DH will be promoted and soon. We will likely be moving before the school year is out and maybe before Christmas. Depending where and when, there is certainly a chance and maybe a very strong chance, that she will move at least twice in the remaining three years of high school. I moved once with an overseas move between 10th and 11th and it was difficult with my oldest. That was from a low reg state to a no reg area with us having an umbrella school. This time we have a med reg to ? to ?. I feel like I should have her visiting colleges in case we go overseas again but at least she has visited one unlike her brother who simply refused. Any advice from anyone who has been there/done that?

Praying for the school. Praying for peace for you, Drew, too.

My middle is so hyper. I am so scared and unsure of this. I not only don't have big hair, I have thinning hair due to medications. I am sooo not ready for this. Guess while I am still thinking about how to start this school year, I have to be preparing for a move. It looks like he will be promoted maybe even in 2008 since he has an early number.

Yes, dh has explained to her that she could not do karate for six months and then have everything all right or never be able to do lots of things like push-ups (she wants to maybe join the military or law enforcement so needs to be able to do those) or archery.

I remember doing that when I was little. I used badmitten rackets draped with fabric for the offering basket. I think my two younger played church when they were younger. Kids do imitative play on things they like or find interesting. Nothing wrong with liking church or finding it interesting.

My dd has a very bad posterior labrum tear and that is why her shoulder is dislocating. She will have same day surgery next Wednesday. She is bummed that she won't be able to drive for six weeks afterward since she is only getting her learner's on Aug.15th. She will learn for a few days, then stop for six weeks, then start again. It will be six months before she can do karate. She is bummed.

For a tenth grader At a homeschool academy: Chemistry Drawing British Literature Computer programming and Web Design Private music lessons At CC unsure yet but probably Psychology or Sociology At OSU online Spanish II At home ALgebra II Government 1 semester/Economics 1 semester Some of these may change since we find out our homeschool academy schedule next week and we still haven't been able to register at the CC. ALso we find out today what kind of shoulder surgery she will have on her writing arm and how long her recovery will be

I am praying.

It isn't accurate at all. My info isn't there. I donated a few times in the primary period, and have donated twice so far to McCain since June. Okay the latest stuff might not be there bit my original donations in January should be since others were. I saw another list that only listed those who gave more than $250 at a time. I don't.

It very much depends on the child. Both of my olders were relatively independent by fifth grade. I thought some subjects (math lessons always) but they did reading and work by themselves. I was available for help and I assigned. Those kids are both introverts. Not so for my youngest, an extrovert. After lots of struggles last year when she was in fifth, she finally is able to do some work on her own. SHe doesn;t like to. I am having her do Academy and co-op classes for most subjects this year as a result. She will be doing English, History, Geography, Drawing, Music, Speech, Sewing, and PE with others. I will continue doing math (which she mostly does on her own), science (together), grammar and spelling work, and Spanish (partly with me, partly by herself).

Most black criminals have black victims. Almost all crime involves same race victims and criminals. In the US, if it is a cross-racial crime, it is much more likely to be a black criminal and a white victim. In criminological studies on sentencing, the only possible discriminatory factor is the race of the victim but that was hard to factor out because in crime, race and poverty are closely related. If the victim was black, the sentence tended to be a bit more lenient. That actually led to more lenient sentences in general for black criminals since the black victims were almost always victimized by black criminals. (In my previous life, I was a Phd student in Criminal Justice)

I will be praying for you. I have two out of three children that have been to cardiologists. My son was thought to have an enlarged heart and a heart murmur when he was less than 2. False alarm. Then when he was 18, he started having fast heartbeats with skips at times. He wore a monitor and has been followed up and so far, no real problems. My daughter had fast heartbeats that we only found out about since she was doing online PE classes where she had to measure her heartbeat while exercising. It would go too high. She had a heart monitor for a month and again, no problems. She is just one of those people whose heart rate goes faster than usual but not dangerously fast. I hope you have similar benign results.

Both my daughters have some ligaments that are too long. That makes them more likely to get sprains and breaks in those areas. A normal situation with those joints is something called subluxation- popping of the joint but not all the way like a dislocation. Well in April of 2007, both dds were doing wheelbarrow races at a homeschool field day. THe older one's shoulder sublaxation and caused the younger to fall on top of her. This caused the older's labrum to tear. WE didn't know that at first. She had a normal x-ray and then had PT for months. After almost half a year, the Physical therapist decided that something more serious than a sprain was going on. SHe had an MRI which showed the tear. She was going to have surgery in January but because of her headache (which went on for seven months(, the orthopedist wanted a okay from the neurologist. By the time, we got that and saw the orthopedist again, she wasn't having pain. Of course, she also wasn't doing that much physically at the time because of her headache. Her headache went away in early June and she started getting much more active again. After she started archery day camp, she was having severe pain a number of hours after each session. We figured she was having problems with the labrum again. We saw the orthopedist last week and he figured out that she was now dislocating her shoulder repeatedly and it wouldn't hurt then, but rather later. He dislocated her shoulder a numebr of times during the visit and it seemed to me and her, that it was dislocated in two different directions. He said she had a rare type of dislocation problem and sent us off to have an arthogram MRI. She did that on Friday and will see him on Monday to discuss the results and figure out what will be done. She wants to go into law enforcement or the military and needs to be able to use her shoulders properly.

I agree that calling this behavior as an error in judgement is sort of like calling Thnaksgiving dinner a little snack. More to the point, we can't move on since there are potentially laws that were broken. His head of campaign finances has admitted to paying Rielle Hunter thousands of dollars in moving expenses. Were these campaign donations? I did not support Edwards since I am not a Democrat, but I have donated to campaigns before. If it turned out that my campaign donations were going to completely personal and non-campaign related expenses like hiding love-children and their mothers, I would be livid. When I donate to a campaign, I expect it to be used for things like ads, mailings, office expenses, transportation costs for the candidate, things like that. Also, if someone gives a person more than 10,000 in a calendar year, the giver has to declare that to the IRS and pay a gift tax. There are some exceptions like funding your child's education but it is one reason even wealthy parents often only give a 40,000 down payment on a home for their married children (both parents can give 10,000 to both child and child's spouse).

Yes, it really is horrible. The news was reporting that they had nothing on to indicate they were Americans so I guess it was just hatred of foriegners in general or Westerners in particular. Who knows?

Thanks Jen but I don't know what I want except I want my dd's shoulder problems to be almost as easy as the first proposed fix (3 hour surgery, 3 days down time, no hospital stay). I am of very unclear mind about my husband's career. I am somewhat scared of him staying in since he may get deployed and also I am not sure that I would like the extra responsibility I would have eventually. I also don't know if I really want to keep moving. On the other hand, it is a sure employment in this climate and a payraise. If he retires, he can probably get a job that he would like better and maybe even pay better. I wouldn't have to move anymore. But the old anxiety that I have from losing both parents at a fairly young age (13 for when my father died, 23 for when my mother died), really would play a number with that decision until he accepted an offer and everything was really set.

On Monday, my life is changing in several important ways. We find out what is wrong with dd's shoulder and what kind of surgery she will be having and when. My Dh will figure out whether he is retiring in about a year or he is continuing to serve in the military. After my dd knows the above two things, she will make decisions about what classes she is taking in homeschool Academy, CC, online, and with me, and I have to quickly plan out what I am teaching and order material. It is finally all happening and my waiting will be over.

If you mean, have a delayed starting a textbook or a certain program to go on a trip? Yes, definitely, certainly three times. The first time. my children got a life-changing education in disasters and history (Aug-Sept 2001 with 9/11 spent in DC area, and and witnessing tropical depression, bad car accident which we could help with, tornado, and of course, terrorism). The second time, we visited the Mediterranean and then traveled through Eastern Europe. That was extremely educational -history, art, natural science, government. The last was a short delay by gong to a state park the week school started. We again did natural science, some history and plenty of physical fitness (hiking). Go ahead and do it.

I understand that children are at little risk of Hep B but everyone who ever eats out in or any catered food or prepared food is at risk of Hep A. That is spread through contaminated food. Check the statistics for Hep A in your state. I was surprised in that in several states I have lived in, Hep A is considered in an epidemic state. Hepatitis is not a pleasant disease at all and can cause one to end up with permanent liver problems. What is the thinking of not vaccinating for this as I am trying to understand?

Meningitis is not a new vaccine. My son got it about four years ago and my older daughter got it about three years ago. This year, my youngest will get it. If your kids go to camps, dorms, or barracks; it is an important vaccine. The disease is spread among young people (teens and early adults primarily) in close quarters. Every year, several kids/ya in whatever area we have lived in get it and die. I don't know how many get it and just get very sick but survive. Neither of my olders got any reaction from the vaccine.