Thank you, everyone. It is kind of fun! Sometimes I don't think my face is wide enough to hold all this grin. :D Actually, they've spent most of their time talking about just this very thing. It isn't either/or -- so I'm pretty happy about that. :001_smile: On the one hand, I understand it, because 'round here we definitely have our share of homeschoolers who were home, but not schooled. As a matter of fact, my neighbors are sending their kids back to PS this fall after having them home for almost a year and a half on "vacation." But, in my limited experience, that's the exception, not the rule, and I'm hard-pressed to think of *any* other group that could be acceptably singled out in this way, i.e., "Oh! You're one of those? Then you have to be better than everyone else!" It was quite an emotional roller coaster for a bit. This has been my "job" for almost five years -- making sure that he could do whatever he set his mind to. And the realization that this door might have been slammed in his face because of the choices I made was pretty heartbreaking. I'm just glad that feeling didn't last long. :D

Thank you, Ladies! I can't believe I forgot the best part -- the big smile and bear hug I got when he found out his test results, and the "Thanks for homeschooling me, Mom!" :lol: Congrads on the new grandson, Polly!

A lot of really kewl things have happened the last couple of months, and I thought of these boards. So here I am to brag on my son and thank those who were so helpful. My husband and I were just talking today about how homeschooling my son was the absolute best decision we ever made, and now we are reaping the rewards in a big way. I'm getting a lot of pats on the back from friends and family for doing such a good job, but it definitely wouldn't have been possible but for all the information and feedback here. This was my only resource for learning about how to do things and what was available -- except for TWTM and TWEM books, of course! :D Jann in TX -- Thank you for all your patience while we got his math program straightened out. He has literally been flying through math ever since, working independently with no hitches or glitches. It breaks my heart to think we wasted so much time with Saxon insisting that we could "make it work." We'd probably still be fighting that beast if it wasn't for your help, and it was greatly appreciated. He has -- finally! -- decided what he wants to be "when he grows up." He's never had a plan before, other than "I want to go to college." But why, or what he wanted to do -- not really. And we were always worried about how to pay for it. We are all dead set against him graduating from college with a huge pile of debt. He decided he wanted to check out the Marines, and after talking to them, he was sure that was what he wanted to do. But, of course, as soon as the recruiter found out he was homeschooled, he wasn't very optimistic. He told us my son had to score at least 50 on the ASVAB because he's homeschooled. Since neither of us knew what that was or what it involved, both my son and I were concerned that, now that he'd finally found something he *really* wanted to do, the simple fact that he was homeschooled was going to ruin the whole thing. When we asked if he could take the GED, we were told that was even worse than being homeschooled. So we were very proud of him when he scored in the 80s. :001_smile: He was so far behind when we pulled him out of public school, we spent extra time catching him up before he "officially" started high school. So, technically, he has only done high school for two years, but he does have 15 credits. We had planned on two more years, but he has told me he wants to work extra hard this year and finish high school in three, rather than four years. I think it might be three years and a couple of months, but he's definitely motivated. And even if he changes his mind this year and decides he wants to do something else, he'll be finished with school and ready to move on to whatever that is. Since we aren't a military family, I couldn't figure out where this came from. But in talking to him the past few months, he has really thought this out. Some of you may remember how quiet and introspective he is -- there's a lot going on in there, but most of the time I have no idea what it is. We've discussed his decision, of course, almost to death -- and every time we do he only makes me more proud of him. All the stuff that we have been working on -- all the stuff that I thought was so important -- has actually, really and truly been "getting in there" and he's using those thinking skills now. Of course I'm worried that he's chosing something that's so dangerous. But I've always said it was my job to make sure he could take care of, and think for, himself. And he is definitely doing that. He really doesn't need me anymore! 95% of me is really happy about that. :001_smile: Thank you so much for helping me with the tools and encouragement (directly and indirectly) to raise and educate this fine, outstanding young man.

You guys are so nice. It's been an absolutely *awful* week -- and only got worse today. Just wanted you to know your posts meant a lot to me. Thank you.

I'm also wondering, with all those crowds, what, exactly, will the little ones see besides a bunch of butts?

I'm having trouble with it, too -- and now I've read the other posts, so I can't play. Now, if we were talking cash, I know what I would say. :D

I understand your reluctance. I wouldn't want to have to deal with all of that either. That's why, when we lived near San Francisco, we stayed home and watched the football games on TV. Better seats and no traffic. :001_smile:

That about sums up my thinking on it, too. Ridiculous. There is foolishness everywhere -- like the time . . . Oh, never mind. :lol: But this whole thing just makes no sense at all, and for them to get snarky with Joanne is just icing on the cake. "Anywhere else" is right.

Thank you, Peela -- I wanted to ask the same thing but couldn't figure out how, and then forgot. I don't understand how this diet could be unhealthy for dogs since that's what they were eating before "dog chow." I was actually going to try to find out when bagged dog food first started being manufactured but, like I said -- I forgot.

Even half price wasn't good enough. I PBS-ed them.

Thanks -- that's really sweet.

I think you've got a great idea, except for stocking the fridge. My son wouldn't mind scarfing down on that stuff one bit, and probably wouldn't even notice I wasn't cooking. Put stuff in there that they have to cook -- and not nuke 'ems, either -- and that might get their attention. I'm having a similar issue here right now and I'm 'bout ready to throw him out. He did something last night that just floored me -- and when I was upset I basically got, "Well, there's nothing I can do about it now." So I'm probably not the one to be answering this thread, because at this point I'm thinking a roof over their heads is too generous. :lol: I'm sorry you're hubby isn't supporting you. That's got to add to the frustration tremendously. At least mine is on my side -- he's just not here. :D Good luck to you!

I made mine with the food processor in just a few minutes. Time is money for me, too, but I was also looking to solve some stinky problems -- which it did.

I haven't had any problem, so far -- and actually old rags that i thought were stained forever are getting cleaner. BUT I put a load in the washer around lunch time and just let it soak until the next morning, when I wash it. So that's probably why I don't have any problem with the powder dissolving, though I use cold water. I'm also using vinegar for fabric softener and a spray on spot treatment (I'm too lazy to go look at the bottle to see what kind it is). I'm very, very happy. The old thread about stinky towels as soon as they got wet set me to experimenting, because I had the same problem. My clothes now smell like nothing, and my washer isn't stinky anymore, either.

That's the recipe I use, but with Ivory soap instead of Fels Naptha. I made a batch the beginning of November and still have over half of it. I love it.

Same here. I know that zero is a number and "oh" is a letter, but it depends on who I'm talking to and what the situation is.

Yeah! It's pretty handy -- I'm not sure how to do this, but it's this little guy right here: http://67.202.21.157/forums/images/buttons/firstnew.gif When you pull up the list of threads, it's first on the title line if you have unread posts in that thread. I can't think of a better way to describe it, so I hope you can find it! Most all of the little icons have "tool tips" when you mouse over them. I guess I spent too much time doing that one night. :lol: HTH!

Same here -- I'm linear unless there's a post that's just kind of "hanging out there" with no quote and I can't tell what they're responding to. Then I sometimes switch to figure out who they're talking to. Other than that, linear works fine, especially if you click on the little icon that takes you right to the first unread post -- then you don't have to go through all the ones you've already read. I'm sure there are more bells and whistles that I haven't bothered to figure out -- like hybrid.

And if it isn't, I wouldn't pay it either -- not after our "learning experience" with the California child support system. All money -- thousands of dollars in rent, utilities, cash -- paid to the mother before child support was ordered was considered a "gift" by the court. So much for doing the "right" thing.

No, I really don't think so. While I agree with Joanne that non-payment of child support isn't the only consideration, I think it does show a level of responsibility that is less than ideal. It breaks my heart to see kids who think Dad is just a great, misunderstood guy, but he never calls, never shows up on "his" weekends, doesn't remember birthdays -- doesn't keep his promises. They think he's wonderful because he's a ghost. He's never around to be the "bad guy" -- sending them to their room or making them eat their vegetables. I don't think the connection should be completely broken, though. When the kids are older, they can make up their own minds about him. So when they ask, "Why did you never come to see me? Or pay child support?" and he says, "Your mother wanted a baby, I didn't" -- that will pretty much clear it up for them.

I started to post this on the other thread, and it just seemed like a thread-jack. So I'll start a new one: This makes sense to me -- especially after seeing the "snacks" Puppy brings home. Lordy! And the dogs that I've had, and our neighbors dogs, that went after our chickens never suffered any ill-effects from eating chicken bones. ;) But the cost just scares me to death. I'm having trouble just feeding our people right now. I've tried different foods with our "kids" and everything seems to upset their digestion except Purina Lamb & Rice -- and I am *not* a Purina fan. I'd really rather feed them something else! Right now, the four of them (two big ones and two tiny ones) are going through about 70 pounds of food a month -- but I'm hoping that will slow down once Puppy isn't a puppy anymore? They are also, with the exception of Puppy, just a *tad* overweight. Anyway -- my question is -- I'm thinking of starting the two little ones first to see how the cost goes and if I can even find a cost-effective supply around here. But my new buddy -- the little Chihuahua who was abandoned -- has some major issues, like a heart murmur and almost no teeth! And the vet said in not so many words that we shouldn't spend too much money on him -- he's pretty old. He has one fang on the top and a few teeth on the bottom. I thought we might have to get soft food for him, but he turned up his nose at that and went after the Purina the "big dogs" were eating, so he just gets that. Actually, he'll eat almost anything -- I shudder to think what that means when I watch him basically vacuuming up the floor. He even ate the bird seed I spilled on the floor the other day. He's quite handy. :D So -- I'm wondering if he'll be able to eat the chicken wings, etc., that are recommended for the little dogs? I don't even have to ask my vet if he would support a raw foods diet for our dogs. I've known him for ages and I already know the answer is "No!!!!"

She said a food with *no* grain would make him *gain* weight? I would expect it to be the other way around -- that very active dogs would benefit from grains. Is she a vet?

:party: Happy Birthday!

We just saw this last week. We all *loved* it but it was *so* creepy. I had forgotten Heath Ledger was in it and spent half the movie trying to figure out who The Joker *was*! Amazing -- just amazing. I don't think my son, at 12, would have been old enough to watch this movie. I'm not so sure I'm old enough now!

And here I was expecting another Aldi's convert! I've only recently started shopping at our local Aldi's. Though I hate to do it, I do shop at four or five different stores now to save money, but *only* because we only have one Main Drag in this town and I have to pass by all those stores anyway. If I had to go out of my way at all, I wouldn't do it. That said, not everything at our Aldi's is cheaper, but it's not more expensive, either. And I don't shop there every week. I've gone Commando and plan our meals and my shopping around the weekly sales. I don't know how it is in other places (maybe someone can indulge in a *slight* hijack and answer this question?) but we don't get an Aldi's flyer every week. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure we even get one every month. But I was really pleased with the sale price stuff we got. And Sweetie is taking a lot of stuff on the truck with him to try to keep expenses down -- soup and the like -- and the Aldi's brand was usually cheaper and he likes it just fine.