Much of the conversations that happen between people are not purely scientific. There are those who are atheists and those who are religious who use the topic of evolution and other concepts to beat each other up. I agree that science cannot prove God does not exist. Yet, so many people try to wield it to say that and thump others over the head. Of course religious people do similar. It is a natural human tendency to be defensive when we believe in something strongly. The problem comes when people can't show humility along with their strength of opinion. I was told once by my English professor in college that God needs defending like a lion in a cage. It has stuck with me ever since.

You give me too much credit, there are thousands more funnier sentences than that!

Okay, I think it's coming together for me better now, thanks for all this advice. He is so young, only 7 months old, there HAS to be a way to get through this. I clean both litter boxes each morning. However, I am going to clean them twice a day now, because like mentioned above, it could be in the morning they are too full. That would make sense why he has only been doing this in the morning. I also need like the idea of just closing doors and keeping him in a smaller space for several weeks. That is all doable! I will do both those things starting today!! If he does this once every 8 months or year and we have to retrain him that is also completely doable. It's this everyday thoroughly cleaning and doing bedding that is tough!!

We start at 9:am and have breakfast and chores done before.

So sorry

You are taking my words so specifically I am really having a hard time with this conversation. I just mean how regular folks will use scientific theories and throw them in the face of a religious person to show them God can't exist. Yep, that's another can of worms.

I think some people hold on to ToE as if it were a religion or cherished dogma. I was just making the point that a professional scientist would not do that, or to the best of his human capability not do that. For me personally, what happens in the scientific world has little to do with my religious beliefs. The belief of God, specifically the God of Abraham that is also believed by those of Jewish and Muslim faith, has been around a lot longer than ToE and will be around a lot longer when/if ToE goes by the way side for something new. When people use an example of evolution to show that God must not exist, I take little heed to it because science theories change and will continue to change. God remains and always will be unchanged. Our understanding of Him changes as time goes on, but God does not change.

Than 200 years!! LOL My comment was just saying that it is possible for ToE to change and years to come could be something different. How am I suppose to know what could be discovered to change ToE, but science does change. Scientists are suppose to be open to things changing, they don't hold onto ToE as if the world will end if it is proven to no longer be a scientific theory. If ToE changes to something else than it just changes to something else because something new was discovered.

I agree in the scientific community there are theories that have more strength than others and I agree that ToE is one of them. But, they are changeable all the same. 150 years may seem long to us, but in the grand scheme of existence in the world it's just a teeny speck! Regardless if you think the world is 10,000 years old or 10 million, it is still just a speck.

The problem is there is too much information and it's really hard to get through. I will have him checked out by a vet to be absolutely sure. I believe male cats are more prone to UTI. I like the idea of retraining. I assume that if he uses the litter box 95% of the time that the litter box is just fine. I wash everything and clean everything that has been peed on with special pet enzyme cleaner. He is neutered, he was neutered at 5 months age.

It is my understanding that when scientists use the term "scientific theory" they are meaning an explanation based on knowledge that has been repeatedly confirmed by observing and experimenting. But, it is important to note that a scientific fact, or scientific theory are not final. They are the best we know now with the information we have. Science is moving and changing and what is a scientific theory today can be thrown out 10 years from now based on new information. So, this includes the scientific theory of evolution, it could possibly change or be non existent 50 years from now. ETA: Here are some links that support what I am saying. http://ncse.com/evolution/education/theory-fact http://ncse.com/evolution/education/definitions-fact-theory-law-scientific-work

I don't know what else to do. My son is extremely sad because we may have to bring him to a No Kill shelter because maybe he just can't be trained to be in the house. We got two kittens a few months ago from the animal shelter. They are brother and sister. He has been using the litter box about 90% of the time but once a day or once every two days he pees somewhere else. First it was rumpled clothing on the floor. So, I made sure we things were picked up. Than it was my kids room, on the carpet or on the bed. So my husband cut their door and made a dutch door where the bottom closes and the top part can be left open for light, air conditioner and heat. Than he went on the bathroom rug. I cleaned that up and took it off the floor and stored it away. Than he started going on my husbands side of the bed. He leaves for work very early and even when I am still in the bed! So, than I got a second litter box. But he is still peeing on my husbands side of the bed. Again, most of the time he uses the litter box, I see him use the litter box. I know he is the one doing this becuase I have caught him on several occasions and when I catch him I never hit or hurt him or rub his nose in it I just pick him up and bring him to the litter box.I clean these litter boxes everyday. I am really not sure what to do anymore. I am very sad as this is a loving cat, but I can't have him peeing everyday. I feel like I have done everything I could. I really doubt this is a UTI infection because he is not in pain when urinating( I have watched him use the litter box) and his area down there is not red and he doesn't go just little amounts, he empties his bladder on these spots.(soaked through) Any ideas?

I think most board games have some sort of educational value, if anything they teach critical thinking and strategy skills. But, for school time I do have some games I like to bring out. We enjoy the 10 Days .....games that are geography. They really are fun and you do learn qute a bit of geography. We have 10 Days USA, 10 Days South American and 10 Days Asia. My plan is to get all of them. For language arts games I really like Upwords and Bananagrams. Scrabble is good or Boggle as well. Quirkle is an excellent game! We have Equate but haven't played it yet. It doesn't look all that interesting but I think it's quite educational. It is like scrabble for math. You make equations instead of words. I am just not sure about the "fun" factor. But again, we haven't played it yet. Several games our family loves: Bohanza Settlers of Catan Carcossonne

We have a 2 by 3 magnetic white board. I really like the magnetic aspect. I noticed the ones at Staples are better quality than at Walmart, but they also cost quite a bit more. As for maps I decided to just get a paper map and than get it laminated at Staples. They tell me it will cost about $25 for the lamination. I prefer the maps to have blue water. The antique looking maps are really beautiful, but because everything is a various shade of brown it ends up being really hard to find stuff and to actually use. I have no wall space for all this stuff!! So, I decided to hang the 2 by 3 white board and put a narrow wood piece with a lip on it below the white board. This way I can display the maps and any other stuff like graphs or projects. This is why I want the maps to be laminated so they will be strong enough to stand up. I just don't have the room to have maps on the wall and a white board and various other cool stuff and so this seems like a good solution.

Young kids are going to say a lot of things about wanting to go to school and until they are older I personally don't give it much of a thought. I think you are worried about a lot of "what if" stuff and that can be crippling. You have to stand strong with what you believe is good for your kids. If you feel this pre school will be good for your daughter than you just need to deal with the repercussions that come. If your son wants to go to school you just have to say no. Or if you daughter ends up wanting to go to K than just say no. I am all for considering what our kids want but many times young kids don't know what is good for them, they can also sense weakness in us parents and will pounce all over that!! Do you have a Girl Scout, Brownies, Campfire Girls or American Heritage Girls group in the area. We use Boy Scouts and American Heritage Girls as social activities for our children. I do not have a homeschool group either. Do you have a local YMCA or a park district. Our community park district has classes and kids groups.

Yes, he checks his work. We do Life of Fred and that's sort of how it works. However, I also go over his work. I want to see if he is having any problems or if he is getting it. I want him to have the responsibility of checking and correcting his work but I also want to be paying attention to what is going on, so this seems to work well for us.

I haven't seen any thing about it on ihomeschoolnetwork, don't they usually talk about it before it starts. Normally it would be starting on Monday.

There are a couple options you could try. One would be to do a loop schedule. Another option is to split your school year into 3 or 4 terms and make a schedule for each term. Have a "mid term check" and see where you are in your schedule and if you have fallen behind in history or science you can focus on that for a bit. Basically, it sounds like you need more checks and balances through out your year to stay on task.

My son will be a 6th grader this year. I gave him an assessment called DORA from Let's Go Learn. His reading level is about 4th or 5th. His comprehension is low and spelling and also vocabulary. I agree with the assessment except for maybe the vocabulary. But reading and talking I suppose are different. He also really needs to improve his writing skills. I have only just begun to get him to write freely. For several years he absolutely hated writing. So I did not work on any formal writing lessons but just teaching him to get his thoughts on paper. He can do that really well now and will even write 1 or 2 full sheets of paper with a story or a topic that interests him. Now I really need to work on grammar and paragraphs etc... I am looking into Michael Clay Thompson. But just wondering how others teach language arts. In the past we have done a more natural and hodge podge form of language arts. We have done lots and lots of reading. I have always read to him since he was small and we also use Sonlight as our main curriculum. So, I am just needing a different approach to language arts.

What subjects do you cover language arts like...spelling, vocab, reading comprehension, grammar? I don't know why I am having such a hard time figuring out language arts this year for my 6th grader. He has just really been struggling with this subject and I feel like I just need to get it right! What have you used for several years and feel strongly it's a great program?

I think Science in a Nutshell is great. We have only done one and the reason I have not done more is the cost. For schooling just one child the cost can be high, but for more kids it's a good deal. I think the journals are great, just basic information for the child to write stuff down as they learn. The only issue I have regarding content of Science in a Nutshell is the lack of information or teacher content. If you have other materials to learn the topic or if you just know about the topic than it will be fine. Personally, it did not give me enough information to teach completely without other books. If you have this issue as well you could turn it into a research assignment to learn more about it.

Even good teachers in the classroom setting have a pre planned set curriculum. I think education is both teaching and choosing quality materials. The teaching aspect of homeschooling really depends on the parent doing the teaching. The best thing to do is to discover what sort of teacher you are, what keeps you motivated, what helps you to get school done. There are days and even years where sometimes school just has to get done and all our ideals can get thrown out the window. There is no one way to be a teacher and the great thing with home education is that we have freedom to discover who we are as teachers and how our children learn best. I started out homeschooling doing everything from scratch, pulling together lessons, piecing together curriculum because I felt our homeschool should look absolutely nothing like a classroom. Than I started to get a bit burned out, it was soo much work and this was just for one child! So, I went to a boxed curriculum and than lost all flexibility. Now, 13 years later I sort of do both. Some subjects we do more freestyle and leave lots of flexibility and some subjects we just get the work done. I did go through a period where I spent many hours studying different methods and teaching styles but, in the end it did not really help me get school done. I find being very selective on quality curriculum has the best results. My teaching has developed naturally over the years by just the practice of educating at home, using different curricula, and teaching different children. There are numerous curriculum choices out there that give more flexibility than a pre planned schedule. We love Life of Fred for math!! I love using this as our main and than supplementing here and there if we have to. Adding in math games and stuff like that. Science is also a great subject for flexibility.

Spelling Power teaches rules and is secular. It's a different sort of program, your child does not look at the words before spelling them. Some kids find this difficult. One son really liked this program and the other got frustrated that he was expected to spell the word without having looked at it first. However, I think one can work with their child and help them through that. I am not using Spelling Power right now, not because I don't think it's good but I just really felt that learning the rules was not helping to improve my sons spelling. So, we are taking a different route this year with Michael Clay Thompson and I am hoping his emphasis on vocabulary and word study may be a better way to teach my son to spell well. But, I think Spelling Power is a great program for teaching children to spell and use the phonics rules. It is really easy to use as well.

Yes, that is what I think part of the problem is, he just doesn't want to stop and pay attention. I think RD will work well and it shouldn't be too much to add in. Sometimes it seems really easy to keep adding to language arts.

I am not sure how to measure his oral vocabulary. My husband and I use high vocabulary when we talk, so he picks up on that. He seems more advanced in oral language skills than his friends, so I think that is all good. We use Sonlight as our main curriculum so I read books that are higher level, though I do have to stop and explain and discuss things quite often. I have thought about stopping Sonlight for that reason and it's also the reason we have stopped and started Sonlight in the past, but I think it's good for him and eventually it will work out, My plans this year for language arts was Michael Clay Thompson, that will probably be good for vocabulary but not sure if that will help with reading comprehension. I can make sure we do more of the reading comprehension questions from our Sonlight IG. I hate to add more language arts to our curriculum, but maybe I can add in Reading Detective and start at the beginning level which is for 3rd and 4th.