I believe that many people want to help people in need. Some want to do it with big government programs. Others don't. It seems like liberals tend to criticize conservatives who believe in both small governments and personal responsibility. Oddly enough, those stingy, mean conservatives give more, statistically, of their own money to charity. If health care is a concern for you, buy a plan for someone who needs it or donate to a charity that provides it. Requiring everyone to help would take money from my family that we use to support charities we want to support and help people we have chosen to help. My husband and I give a minimum of 12-15% of his GROSS income to charity. We are a single income middle (of the middle) class family. If we see someone who needs help, we give extra. Last month, my husband gave away his CAR. I have to say it makes me angry when people act like we don't care about people just because we don't support big government programs. Oh, and my dad worked three jobs and my mom cleaned houses to support us growing up. We qualified for free lunch programs but wouldn't take them. When I say we don't believe in government programs, I mean it. And as little as my parents had, they always managed to give. That being said, I would never vote to force someone else to support a charity that I liked. That isn't giving anymore, it is stealing.

Dd learned writing the date in Saxon. I have her write out the date but no more than once a day. After that she can use the numbers. By doing both each day, she learns the correlation well.

The house we are moving to next week has (including the basement) about 2800 sq. ft., I think. At least 1/3 of that is basement which we will use for a school room and toy area. In February, there will be 6 of us. Four bedrooms are important to me. I want a girls' room, boys' room, and a guest room. We live far enough away from family that anyone who comes to visit will spend the night. I consider the new house, which is about the same size as our current one, to be more than we need but a nice size to enjoy. I wouldn't want to downsize at this point, but I live in a fairly low COL area. I would make do with less if it meant struggling to make mortgage payments. My mom says it doesn't matter what size your house is - you always need one more closet.:tongue_smilie:

I like Saxon. My Dd6 will be doing Saxon 3 this year, so I don't have any experience with the higher levels. We haven't used any other math curricula, so I can't do a comparison, but my daughter has a very good grasp on math. She LOVES the manipulatives. I like the incremental approach. One of the things I like best about Saxon is the repetition of the problems. At one point, Dd had trouble ordering numbers. She might put them in this order 31, 35, 27 because the 7 was higher than the one and five. When she missed these problems repeatedly over a period of weeks, I knew I had to really work with her on that skill. (She would do them correctly if I had just gone over them with her, but would miss them days later.) If she had been in a mastery style program, I'm not sure I would have caught that skill problem.

I find this kind of opinion interesting. When I taught high school, most of the students couldn't even tell me the name of the vice-president - many didn't even know the president. They had, however, gotten a thorough education in the value of abortion, the benefits of welfare, the direness of global warming, etc. The democrats take the "educated" because the schools - especially colleges - have liberal programs. Many, many "educated" people do not understand the historical importance behind the first amendment, much less the second. I would hazard a guess that the "uneducated" -those without college educations- present themselves very differently in the liberal vs. conservative departments. Many people in my family do not have college degrees. They are all self-supporting, and many are very successful. My aunt and uncle didn't even finish high school. Through a lot of hard work, they are now worth several million dollars. "Uneducated" does not mean stupid. Oh, and Rush Limbaugh does not pull his ideology out of thin air. He is not successful because he tells people what to think. He is success because he espouses the views of a large group of people whose opinions have been marginalized in traditional media and a liberal education system.

When my daughter was 4, we did Saxon 1. It wasn't too hard for her, but on almost every page they had to do one problem where they drew 6 pencils or 8 books or 7 apples, etc. My daughter was able to read the problems herself and do the work, but her fine motor skills were shaky. Those problems where she had to draw took a loooong time and were frustrating. If I had it to do over again, I still would have done Saxon 1 but would have used tiny stickers for those problem.

Dh and I don't really have a plan for disability, but we do have a safety net. If we can't find any other way, we will at least have a roof over our heads and food to eat at my parents.

Have a happy attitude.

Do you have a Tuesday Morning store nearby? It is possible to buy 500 thread count or higher for less than $50. I bought a set for myself that I love. I also like to buy them for wedding gifts.

Of my grandparents, only my paternal grandmother was one of less than 10 kids. She was one of eight. My grandfather was one of 14. My mother was one of 10. Each of those 10 felt loved and cared for by their parents. It is possible to love and nuture a large family. My mother was the oldest daughter, and she worked really hard helping with the housework, but much of the housework can be done more easily now with dishwashers, wrinkle-free clothes, etc.

My paternal grandparents left the Amish church after they were married. My maternal grandparents were Mennonite. The Amish broke off the Mennonite church, so they are brothers in a way. We moved when I was almost 10 and there wasn't a Mennonite church close by, so I certainly wouldn't consider myself an expert. My mother's family is from Bucks, Co. Pennsylvania. The Mennonites there have beautiful, well-kept farms. I think, like with most populations, there is a general appearance to an area. I've seen run down areas and beautiful areas. I read some things written about the Amish on the other thread. Some people thought they were unfriendly. How would you react if people stopped their cars to take pictures of you, asked intrusive questions because they were curious about the Amish (not interested in you as a person), and felt free to judge your way of life? Many Amish are exposed to inappropriate curiousity over and over again. I visited a Mennonite church with my in-laws. My MIL bought peaches from a Mennonite orchard. She knew my family history and thought it would be fun to visit the church. It was a stricted Mennonite church with no musical instruments. Men and women sat on opposite sides of the church. Everyone wore traditional clothing. After the service, my MIL was telling her friend from the orchard that my family were Mennonite and Amish. They asked who I was. I mentioned that my grandfather was the youngest son of M.T. The lady said, "Oh, you must be B. and R.'s granddaughter." Turns out that some of the kids running around were my Amish third-cousins. The Amish and Mennonites have a fairly complete, close society within themselves. But, even before they found out who I was, they were very friendly. It is not uncommon for a family to make extra for Sunday lunch so that they can invite visitors to dine with them.

That is cool!!!!

I didn't intend to imply that situations can't affect behavior. They obviously can. Some kids thrive in ps; some don't. I still believe that parenting is the single biggest external factor in behavior. Obviously, each child is different. My point is this: If the same child were raised in two different situations, which variable change would have the most impact - different parents or different education? I could have told you within the first two weeks of school, with a 95% accuracy rate, which students came from stable homes with involved parents. That doesn't mean I don't think going to school affects behavior.

In the school district where my husband grew up, the school is encouraging "problem" students to homeschool so that they don't have to deal with them. Basically, they tell the parent, "Just sign this paper saying you homeschool." They have no expectation that these students will actually be taught anything at home. I'm sure there are homeschooled kids who return to school as discipline problems, but I taught in a school with 1,500 students for 3 years. The only homeschooled kid (that I knew of) was a quiet, mellow student who never made any waves. I believe behavior to be a parenting issue, not a school issue.

Congratulations on the job offer. I have only moved with my husband's company so I don't necessarily have any advice for you about selling a house etc., but I thought I'd let you know what his company is doing now (we are in the middle of a transfer). If your husband knows what some companies do with relocations, it might help him know what to ask for. House - the company has our house appraised by two different appraisers. If they are 5% or less apart, the company will average the two. We can then sell the house to the company. We also have the option to try to sell the house for two months before we give it to the company. If we sell it ourselves, the company will give us an additional 7% of the home's value. Relocation - the company will hire a moving company to pack and move us. We have a two month window of temporary living. Temporary living includes either a furnished apartment or a hotel room (suite for a family) depending on what is available. It also includes a food allowance of $85 dollars/day (for 2 adults and 3 kids). Finances - the company will act as a bank and forward us the equity in our home so that we can close on a new house quickly. Dh also gets a month's salary as a moving bonus after the relocation is complete. My BIL's company is almost identical in it's relocation policy. As a new hire that might be a stretch. If they won't buy your house, they might at least physically move you and give you temporary housing. BIL's company also offers (and I believe Dh's although we've never used it) a familiarization trip where they will pay for gas/lodging/food while you look for a place to live. Moving is always a hassle, but if the company can take away some of the stress (either buying the house or moving you) it becomes a lot easier. I wish your husband the best on Monday.

Once my brother accidentally shot off a cap gun in church. He was in high school.

1/2 hour - 15 min. in town, 15 min. on highway, backroads When we move it will be less than 10 min. if the roads are clear (snow/ice wise, not traffic - we'll be living in a rural area) Dh will be glad to make the change. He doesn't like city driving. In our city, just the stoplights drive him crazy. We don't have backed up traffic. I doubt I've waited through the same stoplight twice more than 5 times in three years, and those were due to construction or accidents.

When my youngest was born, the older two were 2 and 3. We have a partial fence in the back yard, but it is possible to go through the neighbors yard to the street. I sat down to eat lunch. I think Mom was holding the baby. The 2 year old was by himself in the backyard. It was the first time the 3 year old wasn't with him. I never worried about him before, because she knew the boundries. In the time it took me to quickly eat a bowl of soup he was gone. I looked frantically in the house and called outside while Mom walked the creekbank - there is a fence partway down so we weren't worried about the actual creek. He heard me calling and came from the back of a neighbors' house. We live on a quiet street with no through traffic, and he couldn't have been out of our yard more than 7 minutes (and probably less than 4) and we only looked for him for about 2 minutes before we found him, but when I realized he had crossed the street, I was horrified. I felt like a terrible parent. I can't imagine how I would have felt if the police had been called.

I sold books on eBay (thousands of them). I would never list a book without describing a tear. I would have described a book with a tear as Good- and stated why. I always tried to describe books in such a way that the buyer would be pleasantly surprised at any difference of opinion, not disappointed.

Last year, when my son turned 4, I had about 40 people at his party. It started small but grew quickly. At first we were going to have the little boys from church (a pirate party). Then we decided to invite any siblings that wanted to come. We go to a small church. All the kids are homeschooled. The average family has about 4 kids. It wasn't hard to get close to 30 kids. Next, my sister (who lives in Spain) was unexpected able to come with her 4 kids, and a friend of hers from across the state came to see her (with two more kids). Then my SIL brought her 3 kids up, again, unexpectedly. It was just one of those things that grew. I didn't mind for several reasons. I have big parties for the sake of all the kids, not just mine. Many families come from 30 min. to 1 and 1/2 hours away to go to our church. It takes an effort for the families to get together. All the kids love the parties we throw (we throw at least one a year besides birthday parties just to give the kids a good time). I do goodie bays for them, too. For the pirate party, they all got a reversable pirate vest (yes, I made one for each kid), a sword, and an eye patch. I view it as a ministry to the church. It is good for the kids to have fun with one another and have some shared memories. My kids enjoy the planning. Organizing a large event and working to make it happen are good skills to learn. It is also a good creative outlet for me. We always request no gifts. None of the kids seem to mind. As a side note, all the kids in church know when my kids birthdays are:tongue_smilie:. Oh, there is a little girl who has the same birthday as Dd. Because we do no gifts, it is no big deal. We sing happy birthday to each of them.