Your amaryllis will survive outdoors if you are in a temperate climate. Here is an article that may help you in the reblooming process: http://flowergardens.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_rebloom_an_amaryllis_bulb

When I am busy, multi-tasking to get things done, I find that something is lost in the process. Joy is literally sucked out as my mind races to keep up with the next thing on the list. I don't think about what my food tastes like, how the sun feels on my face, or even laugh at my son's natural goofiness. It just ain't right. Thus I try to live deliberately with whatever task is at hand. For me, reflection leads to contentment and often joy. Of course, some things are easier than others to face deliberately. Cooking, for example, or reading good literature. There is nothing deliberate in my attitude toward bathroom cleaning--can't imagine there ever will be! Jane

4-H has been a wonderful experience for my son. As a younger child, he did hands on club projects. The teenage years offer a great deal in terms of developing leadership skills and extracurricular work. For example, last fall he was a member of a forestry judging team. The teens have raised money for a ski trip, do community service work together, etc. Terrific organization.

Be Happy With What You Can Afford By Michelle Singletary Thursday, February 7, 2008; D02 In a recent online discussion, I received a question about a problem that plagues many people. It has to do with the Joneses, or rather the friends, family, co-workers or neighbors we try to emulate with our own purchases. Intellectually, we know it's wrong to want to keep up with the Joneses. In an economic downswing like the one we're having now, we learn the Joneses aren't really so well off themselves. Their accumulation of bling has made them as broke as anyone else. And yet it's still hard to watch others amass stuff without feeling envious. It can make you feel like a financial failure by comparison. That's what one person was feeling when she wrote to me during the chat. She opened with: "Michelle, I need you to smack me on the head, PLEASE." I liked the use of all caps for "please." It meant she knew the answer but just needed confirmation. She went on to write: "I have a friend who is going into debt. She has $8,000 in student loans, $2,500 in credit card debt from her honeymoon, $2,500 in medical bills, and only $6,000 in savings. She is planning to buy a $300,000 house in June using (sigh) an ARM loan of 100 percent and using the $6,000 in savings for closing costs. Her mortgage would be 40 percent or more of her and her husband's monthly income." I doubt in the tightening credit market that the friend can get a loan for 100 percent of the purchase price. Even so, the woman told the friend it was a bad idea to get a mortgage that would consume so much of her household net monthly income. The friend is hardheaded. She's going on with her plans to purchase the house. Credit counselors, who see people long after they've made money mistakes, say if your mortgage is taking up more than 36 percent of your take-home pay, you are likely to get into deep trouble because that leaves little room to save or handle any financial crisis. If you live in a high-cost area, keeping the percentage of your housing within that range may be tough. If so, then just know that you will have to make deep cuts in other expense areas. So here's this friend trying to help -- trying to give the right advice -- but now she's bothered by what her friend will have compared to her own situation. It bothers her even though she knows her friend may end up struggling financially to live so well. She says: "My dream is (any) house instead of a cramped one-bedroom apartment or a new car instead of a 12-year-old car with over 125,000 miles on it or new furniture or even a nice haircut. But my husband and I can't afford it right now." I knew there was a "but" coming before it came. "I'm so blessed to have what I have, and yet I want to be the one getting a house . . . please just smack me. Do you have a quote that I can tack up on a mirror or carry in my pocket so that I remember at every minute how blessed I am? Sometimes, I am so foolish I forget." In many respects, it's covetousness that has gotten us into our financial straits -- a love affair with debt, a shunning of saving. Our wants have exceeded our ability to pay -- truly pay, with cash, not credit -- for the things we see others enjoying. Yes, this reader needs to be figuratively smacked, but not very hard. At least she knows better and just wants reassurance that she's the sane one. In the midst of this mortgage meltdown, we all should learn from the mistakes of people struggling to stay in their homes. Without a doubt the mortgage industry and its players carry a lot of blame for this mess -- most of it, in fact. However, many borrowers were reaching for too much without considering the long-term cost. If you are renting, you are not a financial failure. While homeownership is a path to prosperity, it isn't the only path. If you have a modest home, stop using mega-mansions as the standard by which you measure your success or happiness. Need I point out that many of the Joneses living inside those mansions are in debt so deep, working so many hours or multiple jobs, that they can't enjoy what they have. If you are driving a paid-for hoopty being passed by people in newer models, don't be jealous. Remember that new car smell fades to fat car payments. Without a car loan, you have more financial freedom. So, my dear reader, I leave you with this message from Henry David Thoreau to put on your mirror or carry on a notecard in your pocket: "A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone."

Virtual hugs coming your way. How proud you must be! Standing ovation to both you and your son! Jane

Well, Gwen, my son uses old Dolciani texts which have tables in the back of the books. He has found that sometimes it is easier to use the tables than to hunt for a calculator. What I have not made him do, however, are the interpolation problems that I had to do back in high school. I viewed those calculations as a drag back then and would not subject him to them. But I agree that knowing how to read a table is a good skill. One problem that inevitably arises in trig when a student becomes heavily dependent on calculator usage is that the student doesn't think about a common sense, expected answer. So his calculator may be set in degrees, not radians, and his answer is nowhere near correct yet he doesn't realize this. I think that doing calculations away from a calculator will give students a more intuitive sense of what is going on. Jane

Radiation monitoring is performed on a logarithmic scale. So logarithms have their uses in medicine and power generation.

In fact, there is no escape from logarithms in a Calc II course or even in Precalc when students do radioactive decay or exponential growth problems. Using logarithms as a calculating tool seems to have gone by the wayside with calculators. Everyone has their own comfort zone with calculators. Our rule has been to use one (if one wants) on any sort of application problem. So when my 9th grader did Conceptual Physics, he could use a calculator. He was introduced to the graphing calculator in 8th grade. I had him solve systems of equations using algebra, but check his solutions using graphs on the graphing calculator. I figured this was a good introduction to features like the trace key. As a math instructor, it has peeved me to see students turn to the calculator for simple calculations (like 24 x 15). My goofball son prefers decimals to fractions, with all operations performed by hand. Drives me nuts sometimes, but at least he isn't using the darn calculator! Logarithms usually rear their head in an Algebra II course; depending on the curriculum, it might be precalculus. Jane

And, to be honest, I cannot remember where the cabins were located precisely, other than to say there was a very cold lake in walking distance. (I even went to my files to pull out the ten page travelogue that I wrote on this trip. No specific mention of which cabin location.) Our cabin was simple, but certainly sufficient. It had a knotty pine interior, beds, a bath, period. Outside there was a picnic table and a grill. Greater luxury could be found at the lodge, but the cabin certainly suited our purpose. Our son was five at the time, so he had lots of outdoor space to run in. Sorry that my memory is not better. Jane

Custer is absolutely wonderful. We rented a cabin there and were astounded by the wildlife that we saw. In fact, one morning, as we were driving on the loop to have breakfast at one of the old lodges, we watched a coyote stalk pronghorn. Wind Cave was also terrific, as was the nearby Mammoth Site. The Black Hills are truly sacred ground and worth visiting. Jane

Here's a photo... http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Cedar_Waxwing_dtl.html

nt

We are using the Fourth edition which is split into two volumes. I found the second volume for $1 at a library book sale (my favorite way to acquire texts!) and my husband picked up volume 1 on Ebay, I think. There is always a risk with used texts in that one does not know how much writing and highlighting they contain, but we have had good luck so far. The text book site will grade the multiple choice quiz and allow your student to email his essay answers to you. Personally I prefer my son to hand write essay type answers (he needs to practice legible handwriting for upcoming tests!) I have not tried to purchase any of the instructor's materials for this book, but I did not succeed when I tried to buy some instructor's materials from Pearson to accompany the 7th edition Campbell Biology text. We lucked out and found this very pricey book with unused Internet access code for $1.99. I paid more for the study guide and the investigations book. In particular, I was seeking a teacher's book to accompany the latter but no go--I didn't order the text from Pearson's so they were not going to allow me access to instructor's materials. I have had a very different response from Oxford University Press who has always sent me teacher's manuals for free. Personally I find the multiple choice tests to have some lame questions, but that is the nature of multiple choice! My son will run through the quiz just to make sure he has names and places down. I prefer the essay questions or focusing a discussion on something from TTC lectures. I have always wanted to take a peek at the primary document sourcebooks that accompany Spielvogel but have not run accross one. I may take the plunge and buy one for volume 2 since I suspect that some key documents for American history will be analyzed. Jane

May I recommend for your "free time" (HA!) reading Deep Economy by fellow Methodist Bill McKibben. McKibben theme's echo '70's publications like Small is Beautful and Limits to Growth, updating the ideas to include challenges faced today. His books are never dry and I find his arguments for ethical decision making to be most appealing. Jane

It could be the version. Does your library have Ferry's version? Many people seem to prefer it. Both my son and I thought that the Sandars version was readable and interesting. Frankly I cannot even try to read online texts--reading a screen for long periods of time is torture for my eyes! I really would recommend that you see what versions of Gilgamesh are in your library, being careful to do a quick read in the beginning part of the epic since some versions are rather explicit.

Long before middle school my son had exhausted all of the Asterix books (in English translation) that reside in a friend's house. Around 7th grade, the lad came home from a library book sale with several Asterix books in French and a French dictionary. "I'm going to teach myself French." He began spending long afternoons in his room with the books and the dictionary but found he was only making minimal progress. He told me that we wanted to learn French to read Asterix in the original, which seemed as good of reason as any. He began his French studies in 9th, concurrently working on Latin at a more advanced level. French has not been one of his favorite subjects and it became clear that he'd probably draw the line after two years of study, although he would continue with Latin. But an interesting thing happened today. He pulled out those forgotten French Asterix books. Lo and behold, he can read parts of the dialogue! The narrative boxes are harder, but much of the dialogue makes sense, particularly with the visual clues. So there is indeed a reason to study French and maybe even continue with it? One never knows... (especially if I invest in some more French Asterix and Tintin volumes!)

My son is using the Spielvogel Western Civ text. He reads a chapter, does the associated online activities (quiz and essay questions), and reads literature of the period. He currently has two writing assignments. The first is a paper comparing the journey of Aeneas into the Underworld with that of the pilgrim Dante in Inferno. He is also doing some research (additional reading in books from the library) on the consequences of the Hundred Years War. Last year, studying the ancients, he watched The Teaching Company lectures on Great Battles of the Ancient World. This year, he has been watching the lectures on the early and late middle ages by Professor Daileader. There are some suggested questions in the handbook accompanying the lectures from which we may select a topic for a paper. Additional TC lectures that we have listened to have included Elizabeth Vandiver's series on the Aeneid (a major focus for us last year) and the Cook/Herzman lectues on Divine Comedy. I feel that TC lectures enhance the quality of our discussions. I had my son do timeline and context pages with the Ancients. This year, I have found that he is better off focusing on a more specific topic of interest than the context work. There are so many primary source documents available from the Internet that you can also go off on diversions when something interests your student. If you feel that you need some hand holding, you might want to purchase a study guide to accompany your history text. Good luck and have fun with this! Jane

Letters of recommendation usually go directly from the third party to the college. People do these as a favor, so asking someone to repeat the favor is an annoyance. Jane

Oh Gwen! I would be banging my head on a brick wall at this point! The letters of recommendation are probably saved in a Word file somewhere--but what a pain in the neck to have to trace one's footsteps. I always look at things like this and wonder what the moral of the story is. Perseverance? We're all holding your hand, Gwen. Thank you so much for walking all of us on the board through the process, frustrations and all. Jane

For example, my son is doing the middle ages this year. I assigned The Once and Future King to lighten things up after a particularly dry tome. Surprisingly he has adored Inferno--we continue to talk about it. I honestly thought Dante would be a chore! I don't think you have to buy completely into one program or stick to a text. There is often a way to find a best of all possible worlds path to meander on. Jane

It seems that in my day most students applied to one or two colleges--maybe three. Colleges themselves have made the application process more demanding, more difficult and more daunting. Most kids seem to need some help in just negotiating through the hoops. Tethering via technology is an issue, in my opinion. When I was a college student and spent a summer backpacking through Europe, my parents received one or two phone calls, some letters and numerous postcards. When my friend's daughter was in Vienna last semester, she had a blog with photos of her experience. She not only emailed her mom but used one of the chat services to talk with Mom regularly via the Internet. When she had a bad day, she talked to her Mom. Toward the end of the semester, she was really missing home and chatted (and cried) regularly. My friend and I thought that technology was part of her problem! If she had not been able to find a shoulder to cry on so easily, would she have found more inner resources? Of course, my parents were worried sick in my absence and probably had quite a few more gray hairs as a result! Jane

There may be other enzymes that are just as effective, but I don' know. I have tried without success to buy just plain papain powder at the co-op since I am not using the meat tenderizer for anything other than blood stain removal. (We seem to have our share!)

Pizza on the grill! I am less experienced with this but you can probably read about it on the net.

Granted, I don't use 100% whole wheat for this, but my solution to the summer heat/homemade bread issue is grilled bread. In fact, on our relatively warm evening tonight (fifties temperatures), we had grilled bread sandwiches with spiced turkey tenderloins, guacomole, and lettuce sandwiches. For grilled bread, I essentially use the old Better Homes potato based refrigerator dough, except I substitute King Arthur's white wheat for some of the flour . (My recipe to follow.) Let the dough rise in the refrigerator over night. About an hour before you grill, I remove the dough from the fridge. After 20 minutes or so, I role eight disks. These will puff and cook fairly quickly at medium heat. The recipe: 3 1/2 cups flour (again--I use half white wheat but it may be worth trying with whole!) 1/4 cup sugar 1/3 cup instant potato flakes or leftover mashed potato 2 Tbs. milk powder 1 Tbs. salt 1 egg (or 1 heaping Tbs. soy flour) 1 Tbs. yeast 2 Tbs. butter enough water to make a soft dough. I mix the dry ingredients in my food processor, cut in the butter, using the pulse mode. I then add the egg or mashed potato (if that is what I am using--otherwise potato flakes with the dry). Add enough water to make your dough. I then place the dough in a plastic bag in the refrigerator where it will keep for about five days. After that it gets a bit sour. This may not be what you where looking for, but it does provide an option for hot days. We have plenty of them in NC on which we use our gas grill. Jane

The Lonely Planet guides cover most countries in the world and suggest accomodations at the el-cheapo price range to higher. I would say they are books for low budget student travelers as well as middle class travelers who may want more of a cultural experience than just the tourist mill places provide. Rough Guides are similar. Libraries usually have books from these series and some content is available on the Internet. By the way, we did a month long homeschooling loop through Britain using Lonely Planet and Rick Steves. Jane