Obviously you could do the math but the idea that no one should ever offer HDHPs because people can't afford it is what is irritating to me and yes, I understand completely the frustration of the government taking away the option. There has been a lot of that going on. Taking it away is politically viable only because others consider high deductible plans bad. That is what makes me annoyed.

I always use the high deductible plan. We are middle class. We cannot even put the entire amount of a regular premium for low deductible plan. But we put in slightly less (than what our premium would be under a regular plan) into our Health Savings Account plus the company we buy through (not our employer but Blue Cross) puts in a percentage of our premium. So for less than the amount of a regular premium we have over the years (though we have had to use it and have had to use the entire deductible at times) still managed to save enough in our HSA to cover the deductible if we were suddenly to get cancer or something.

I don't have most European brands available. We live in Alaska so shipping and getting parts shipped can be a pain though we live a little over an hour from one of the biggest air cargo ports in the world. Figure that one out. I'm glad to hear Whirlpool is good because our second choice would be whirlpool I think because if it works than I don't need something fancy or expensive. I hate the fact they all have heating elements on the bottom though. Even if I tell the kids to always turn it off the one time something falls off the top rack onto the element will be the time they forget to turn off the dry setting. Instrument panels- that is one of three problems with our current Frigidair dishwasher, or shall I say drying rack for the past three years? If I pay money for a Boesch it must have the hidden buttons and steel handle rather than an instrument panel you have to yank on every time you open it. But I'm struggling with paying almost twice as much as the Whirlpool. I only need to to actually wash the dishes and if the Whirlpool worked that would be an acceptable price but if the Boesch lasted longer than I would fork out the bucks but there is no guarantee either way. I hate spending money.

I have never shopped a Black Friday Sale until recently. My family doesn't care for madness or frenzy and even a regularly crowded store is overwhelming so growing up Black Friday meant avoid stores at all possible costs and most people I talked to would say the same thing although obviously there is a large chunk of the population who thinks differently. Then a couple years ago when I realized I could get a really good deal online for something I already needed. Sometimes you really do need pants. So yesterday my husband and I sat on the couch for awhile to do a little shopping. Mostly household stuff that has been on our want list for a long time and we have been waiting for a deal or saving up for. I think many Americans get drawn in because they can get a deal on stuff they would already buy anyway but I do know that there are places in America where people shop for fun or just looking. I try to avoid looking until I have to because if you don't know it exists you don't realize you need it. All this to say that I can see why having companies like Amazon giving good deals on a specific day would spread the Black Friday plague.

What is your favorite dishwasher? Has anyone been unhappy with a Bosch? We are looking at ones with a water softener built in or we will have to install a softner for the whole home or as an add-on on the water line to the dishwasher. I have been skeptical of dishwashers and have mostly used them for drying racks over the years but it would be lovely if I had one that actually worked.

Now I know my cargo tactical pants I wear pretty much every single day are horribly unfashionable. :) I knew this forum would teach me something. ;)

Ok, so now I'm thinking about that app but I suppose it is only for Ipads of which we have none. The actual physical skill of writing is one of the major difficulties and if we could spell without writing and work on handwriting separately that might help. I need to teach him to type!

Ok, now that I read through the posts again. My child with dyslexia and A.D.D. needs all those components just to be able to do the reading and does better with all the components together and yes sometimes I struggle with wanting to hurry him up but I know he needs to have everything down pat. He is the one for whom I originally purchased Barton. My other child I have chosen to do Barton with for other reasons and he has very mild-moderate speech issues and would struggle (with a few things) with a regular ed class but survive. I probably wouldn't have purchased Barton but already had it and knew how to use it. But he really his speech issues are mild to moderate (he still at 9.5 feels his throat when figuring out how to sound out a b or p for example but he can figure it out once he had the tool for doing so) and though his hand writing is atrocious I don't know that it would qualify for special needs. I'm posting over here because you are all Barton pro.s and the other forum wouldn't have the familiarity. He does learn sight words quickly or maybe I should say at a normal pace (I had gotten used to his older brother who really really struggles) and so though I think it will help him to know the rules for spelling and we can do it slowly I do think he would pick up a lot of spelling by seeing the words and would be able to use his memory of how the word looks from reading to his advantage. I really am working on dividing the words up to help his pronunciation. When you have a word like significant he can't always say it unless he breaks it up into his parts and says it slowly and then quicker up to a normal pace.

Sorry Oh Elizabeth. I should have left that part out about the timeline. That is what happens when I post at midnight. We only have a few lessons of level 5 so I was thinking I would give myself some time to sort out a plan. We have been doing the two components together for what seems like forever. :)

Without getting into the whys too much (other than this isn't for my son with dyslexia but speech and motor coordination issues. I'm wondering if anyone has successfully done this before, divorced the reading lessons separate from the spelling. It would mean going through the initial teaching twice but the second time it should go quick and we can take longer on the parts that are focused on spelling plus it would work like a review too. I'm hoping to finish level 5 before Christmas because I would have to study a bit to figure out how to do it without messing him up but I would love to hear if someone has managed it. I'd also like to hear from those who regretted trying it.

Oh, I missed the ordering post. Sorry Caidmyn. I agree with everything you wrote OneStepAtATime. I would have loved for some of the lesson to have split the two different teachings into two completely different lessons with more practice in between.

The reason level 4 is difficult has more to do with the difficulty of the English language than it does with Barton's method of teaching. My non-dyslexic children often just memorized things over time such as when the "o" or "a" says the /u/ sound but sight words are almost impossible with my child with dyslexia so breaking these words down as difficult as it was opened up so many more words to him. I do not know if Barton would be overkill for your particular child but level 4 was worth the 2 times we went through it as much as we hated it.

History isn't a simple class of memorization in my home. It is our time to learn to sort, verify, read opposing viewpoints, etc. Often, two books about a subject will take a simple fact and come up with totally different narratives and we try to be discerning of where the fact ends and the opinion begins. In high school I show them how books are footnoted so you can check references and how we might treat a book without references. We go through a lot less material but at least we know that we don't know everything which is a great start.

Every high deductable plan I have been on(and I always choose high deductable if I can as the numbers were always equal even if I used the entire deductable) pays 100% well check ups, vaccinations, and sometimes (not always) routine blood work, etc.

Only dealing with how to pay or who pays won't help everyone. It may help this or that individual but society will still be paying the high cost. We need to deal with the actual cost of care not just how to pay for it. I took my son to a local provider rather than the ER for his stitches to save money. 40 minutes and some thread, a needle, rubbing alcohol, cotton and bandage cost over $1000. It would easily been over twice maybe 3 times that at the ER. Both ER's in our state have groups of doctors that are separate from the hospital and choose the rate they charge. They are monopolies since private doctors can't work there. It is billed separately from the hospital so I could see that the doctor cost 3x's as much as the hospital (including payment for building, cleaning, nursing staff, equipment), the separate x-ray technician bill, EKG bill. You would think the doctor would be the cheapest bill since he didn't do much compared to all the technicians, didn't have to pay for equipment, or deal with the room before or after, scheduling, nursing, etc. They are a monopoly and are gouging big time but if we only focus on who pays then we aren't dealing with the root of the problem which is doctors using state governments to prop up monopolies or pharmaceutical companies charging obscene amounts because they can per government enforcement. When deregulation is spoken of it is never dealing with enforced monopolies, only payment procedures. Also the fact that people can't shop around because you aren't allowed to see the cost before you are treated (fought this battle a lot) doesn't help.

That may be true but with supply (where I live) so low and demand so high it would be nice to know the majority would stay in business! I don't see doctor's books. I can't tell you if they are just raking in the cash or if there would be a lot quitting. Knowing what I know of the health care industry I would skeptical if someone told me they did. I think most of us do see the need to find a way to exert downward pressure on prices since we do not have an open market (in our state you have to file for a certificate of need for providing a service). We had two hospitals fighting over permission to build a few extra beds despite the fact their are only two major hospitals (often overflowing) for the general public in our biggest city. Also, it is really hard to shop around when they refuse to give you prices before the procedure is done. Imagine a mechanic doing that! He would get his socks sued off. So with our current environment there is no feasible way for consumers to exert that pressure even for optional or pre-scheduled things much for those in emergency situations.

I guess all the docs who talk to my father are lying too.

I'm not sure how one would come up with numbers for this. Medicare doesn't pay the same prices as the private sector. In our state if you are going to be eligible for Medicare within a decade you simply can't find a doctor. They have their required number of Medicare patients and refuse to accept new patients because they lose money on them. I'm not sure if this loss is actual loss or just relative compared to private insurance or self pay individuals. That is why my Father can't find a doctor for his heart condition. Even though he has insurance and will pay cash they won't take him because then they would be stuck with him once he hits that magical age when Medicare kicks in. Everyone is focused on insurance but really I think health care costs are the biggest factor. I just paid over $1000 for a needle, thread, and forty minutes of a doctor's time. That number makes no sense to me.

I hate it when people post to my wall but mostly because it has been people who think they are posting something I agree with but don't or I think it is just dumb and really doesn't have substance but they think it does (or maybe I just don't get it) and therefore things get awkward real fast. They weren't looking for a debate but they don't "get" my stance and I would rather not correct them in public but through regular conversation and certainly not in front of others. People who post on my wall prepared for a real debate and whom I don't worry about their feelings because they are ready to defend their side I don't mind at all. I find this happens less often though.

My cousin(in her 50's) had so many and severe allergies as a kid nobody thought she would make it to adulthood. She still has most of them though things changed over the years. My aunt in her 80's is allergic to nuts and a few other things. These are people I know who have had allergies pretty much there whole life. A few others have developed allergies later in life.

The way I do school, by the time I'm worried that they really need school or will fall behind they can do plenty of chores. It is NOT a punishment just a fact of life that if you are doing school on the weekend then you have less time and the "was sick" child can have a couple extra chores beyond what are regularly his or hers.

Like other posters we do modified school when children are sick. This depends on the age of course. Younger children get more read aloud time, if it is a cold then older kids can read more books and do less difficult things. Then when they are well they can double up on difficult stuff without needing as much time to read that biography, etc. If they are constantly sick, I have one that gets so throats easier, he has a cup of tea and a cough drop right before he reads aloud and we move on with life.

Similar here, but I mostly don't pronounce short "E"s and "I"s properly. They both come out in a similarly lazy sound that is halfway between the two in any unstressed syllable.

Democrats and Republicans have had the same foreign policy for too long. I guess tofu is all I'll ever get. I suppose you blame Bush for all the garbage that has happened the last 8 years with Obama and Clinton as secretary of state because that is what partisans do. They blame the other side. I guess it makes them feel better about their tofu.

Think foreign policy. It makes perfect sense. Think Taliban, think Syria, think Libya. Think war. For many (American soldiers included) these are huge issues not burgers. Domestic policy is often more controlled by Congress, States, and local legislation in varying degrees. That is not the case with foreign policy. Our local elections and our working from the ground up will not affect foreign policy. Therefore we should think more about foreign policy when electing the president. So I'm not sure why we are talking about pizza and burgers. It isn't just a matter of taste or preference. With many local elections the analogy works fine.