I dunno - I guess I feel like at 16yo she can make this call. It was nice of your dd to share with you, but this is HER deal. If she felt "yelled at" enough to feel like quitting, I would support that... but I wouldn't push for that by any means. I grew up taking riding lessons from number of different stables, and almost without fail the instructors (who are generally also the owners, or closely tied to them) were grumpy, irritable, and yelled. A lot. It was just part of the gig, honestly - I learned not to take it personally and just to buckle down and do what I could to not get in trouble so often. As an adult, I would absolutely NOT take that carp, so I avoid those types of people - but if my kids were involved in something that meant as much to them as riding meant to me, and what was available was a grumpy old yelling coach, I'd pretty much just tell my kids that they needed to determine what/how much to take & learn as much as they could from the situation (obviously there are limits - cursing, hitting, specific bullying, etc). Amusingly enough, as an adult my dad told me one day that he couldn't believe I loved riding so much after several instructors that he found to be particularly mean - but I guess I just knew that it was just "the way they were" and no reflection of me specifically. Of course, what your child can take will depend in large part upon their personality and support group (I think my 8yo would pretty much never go back somewhere if the instructor yelled at him!). Also, there is a difference between "yelling because you're trying to get attention/focus/response", "yelling because you're a grumpy guts and you just yell a lot", and "yelling specifically AT someone as a way to personally and harshly berate them and make them feel bad about themselves" (and many other reasons). A lot would depend on what actually went on in there... Amusing side note - I told my dh yesterday that I am waiting for the neighbor to come over and get mad at me for "yelling" at her kids, who came over to play and did something disrespectful that I called them on. From my perspective, I merely firmly stated (from a distance, so my voice was somewhat raised - and I couldn't remember his name, so I pretty much pointed & said "hey you") the fact that they needed to "obey my request or leave" (I had asked them fairly nicely to stop doing something and they continued doing it). From their perspective, I can totally see them telling their parents that "the crazy neighbor lady yelled at us!!" :D Sorry for the rambling. :)

YOUCH!!!! Spoken like someone who doesn't know that a CHEAP saddle can be $250+ and a NICE saddle can be over $2000... :lol::lol: I've known people who ride shows in saddles that I am halfway afraid to touch in case I scratch or mar them... plopped on top of their $30k horse... lol :) Car Saddle Carrier? Auto Saddle Rack? I'm not very inventive - I generally go for blandly descriptive... sorry! ;)

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p969.pdf Here is a link to the IRS publication 969 that deals with HSAs, FSAs, MSAs and HRAs. None of these can now be used for nonRX medicines UNLESS you get an rx for them!! So, if you can get your Dr. to give you an rx for Tylenol, you can then consider it a qualified medical expense. Also, you can definitely reimburse yourself for qualified medical expenses using your HSA - the HSA bank doesn't monitor what you do/don't spend it on (generally), as that is your responsibility for accurately reporting on your tax return. They will send you a statement showing what you used during the year and then you are required to state on your tax return how much of that was for qualified expenses. Remember that there is now a *20%* additional tax (instead of just 10%) on funds used for non-qualified things!!!

A bit, but not terrible - I'd suggest drawing lines for her on papers like that so that she is able to do the writing without having to concentrate on the line-up. My 1st grader writes very neatly, but my 2nd grader writes VERY sloppy (much worse than above! :D). I am constantly having to have him re-write. eta - I can absolutely READ every bit of it, btw, which is great!

My ds5 will be finishing up AAS 1 soon & reads at a 2nd/3rd grade level. I have ALWAYS emphasized letter sounds over names (in fact, I was often heard to say in the beginning "I don't care what it's called - what does it say?"). I don't know anything about AAR, but AAS is great & goes entirely with sounds (although it does make sure you teach ALL the sounds for each letter, not just the "main" sounds).

I tried to get my 8yo to do a typing program last year, but he just wasn't able to progress well in it so we stopped. Until he is able to progress through a touch-typing program, I am not going to let him type out his thoughts in formal way (he has access to a computer for personal use with notepad, so he is welcome to do it there). It took me a long time to learn to touch type on my own, and I feel it is very important to do that before you get comfortable doing it hunt and peck and have trouble switching!!

You are absolutely correct - I mis "spoke"!! I meant to say that after the C-sec the Dr indicated that the possible reason he flipped right back to breech after the aversion was because of the cord being wrapped around & causing him to not turn as fully or easily as desired. Or something like that - it has been about 6 years no, so I'm a little fuzzy!! lol Funny that so many people found it uncomfortable but not painful - I might have just had a rough Dr (last-minute Dr, since I was using a midwife up until near the end and had never met either the C-sec or aversion Drs before).

I did that with my 2nd and it was WAY more painful than the after-effects of the C-sec I ended up having when he flipped right back around. If it happened again, I'd probably just jump straight to C-sec (I was very worried about that originally, since I had a 2yo and couldn't imagine not being able to carry him around, but after having done it I have determined it really just wasn't that bad). It doesn't actually take a very long time - most of the time you are in there is just sitting around waiting to get started. The hardest part, as I recall, was the Dr telling me (repeatedly!) that I needed to relax so that my muscles would relax so that he could do the work. RELAX??? With someone putting you in that much pain?? rofl...ok... After it was done, my baby flipped over breech right away - it was like twisting a rubber band up. When the Dr. let go, he "sprang" right back to breech before I even sat up on the table. I just went back to "normal pregnant" until the C-sec later that day. ETA - after reading above post, I did want to point out that the REASON my ds was flipped turned out to be because the cord was around his neck. They had to get that taken care of in the C-sec, and I ended up being very grateful that it had not worked (as then I would have been pushing him out with the cord still wrapped tightly around his neck, which could have been serious). It did hurt. A lot. I have a fairly high pain tolerance (the nurses after the C-sec kept trying to push drugs off on me and were always astonished/annoyed when I told them I was fine & didn't need anything) but that HURT. To be fair, though, I did get an epidural on the 1st... after about 20 hours of labor...

Ditto!! When I read HOA on the first, I flipped down to the 2nd - once I realized BOTH had HOA, I voted neither... If I were to vote on a place without HOA, I'd definitely go for the one with land (regardless of the house). However, I have lots of horses - so we wouldn't even LOOK at anything under 2.5 acres when we were trying to find a house. :) Also - if neither of these are really speaking to you, I'd strongly consider just renting and waiting for the right opportunity. There is a LOT of time available to buy a house - once you've bought one, it is harder to get out... I really like the house we ended up buying, overall, but I very much considered it a "long-term jumping off point" (as in "10 ears from now I want to buy something with more land"). Now, however, it has been 4 years & it is looking more and more like "um - maybe we can buy something else... in another 15+ years... or so... if we save enough...". Don't get me wrong, I LIKE the house, and I'm glad we found one that fit our family so nicely, but it was never my idea of a forever home. Now I'm wishing I'd held out some for that!

I use Calibre - it lets you pick and choose exactly what to send over, while letting you save EVERYTHING (from Amazon or not) all in one nice place! :)

I think it would be pretty awkward if you have any out-of-house, time-sensitive things to get to (church, co-op, shopping before closing hours, etc). It might be a better idea to just flip all of the clocks immediately, in 1 fell swoop the night before (instead of dragging it out weeks later). If he does that, perhaps he will have an easier time adjusting.

Sell. As quick as you can. A house is only "worth 100k" if you can SELL IT FAST for 100k. Otherwise, it is worth much less. Before making a decision, I would go look very closely at the market in that area - what has sold, how long it has taken, whether the neighborhood is getting better or worse, who ends up deciding just to rent instead of sell (often because it has been waiting to get sold a long time). Also, keep in mind all of the "extras" involved in renting; you will undoubtedly have to invest money in the house to get it sold, possibly even to get it rented. How much money will that be? A realistic amount, not an "oh, we can do xyz whenever ourselves" amount. When you rent, even if the renters are decent, you will likely also have to put money into the house at the end of that period to get it ready to sell (carpets, appliances, etc). How much will the mortgage cost? That could be several thousand dollars right there. It may be that the housing market will pick up - if so, yay! However, I am starting to side with the financial analysts that say the market is going to get way worse before it ever gets better. That just makes sense - the government bail-out is the only reason it isn't "that bad" right now, and that sort of government debt just is not sustainable...

I'd say it depends on what you usually see a Dr for... I very (very) rarely go see a Dr for anything outside of annual checkups (and those only to get Rx!). For something such as you've described, I definitely wouldn't go. After all, even if it is broken they will likely pretty much tell you there isn't much they can do but bind it (maybe) and recommend that you take it easy. They'll probably write an Rx, too, if you want one (which I very rarely do - I have a high pain tolerance level and Aspirin or other otc are usually fine). I'd just try to take it easy for a few days & see what happens. Of course, if it is severely broken & a rib punctures something then THAT sucks - but I'd think you'd be able to determine if it were THAT broken... :)

I want to point out that ALL servers are required to make AT A MINIMUM the *Federal* minimum wage of $7.25 - regardless of what they make in tips. There are very elaborate calculations for this, but the long and short of it, as far as I can recall from many years ago work with the subject, is that the server has a base wage that is low (often $2.15 or something like that) and reported tips. If the reported tips plus the wage base end up being less than minimum wage, the employer has to bump it up to minimum wage. There is often a "standard amount" that is usually used as the reportable tips (say 10% of all that server's tickets for that period). The server can also do a personal calculation and put in that amount as reportable tips (say by actually counting their tips for the night and reporting that). 1) If the server chronically reports their own tips as being under the 10% (as an example), the manager is liable to become concerned with the abilities of that server to adequately do the job. If everyone pays said server so little that the AVERAGE is under 10%, there is obviously a problem. 2) Often (perhaps more often than not) servers are willing to accept whatever the "restaurant standard" is as their reportable tips because they have made more than that average amount. (understand, of course, that LEGALLY they are required to report what they actually receive) 3) In general, if a server's wages are having to be constantly bumped up to reach minimum wage, either that server is terrible and ought to be let go OR that restaurant is having financial issues and needs to re-evaluate how many servers they can afford to have on staff (or other issues). So... tip at a steady average of 10-20% and don't fret about poor John or Sally not making at least minimum wage... :)

BTW - you might want to have them do a bloodtest sometime and check his liver. They did that for our dog and his test came back bad - we had to put him on a low-protein diet & give him 1 denamarin pill a day for 6 months!!! Blech. Fortunately, we just had a follow-up bloodtest last month & he was clear, so we were able to finally stop the pill and diet.

Grace - I lived in Albuquerque from 1992 to 2000, then lived outside of Abq from 2000-2008 (after I got married). Now we live "down the road" in El Paso. I loved Abq - I thought it was a wonderful city! We still have family up there, so we go visit fairly often. They have WONDERFUL things for kids to do all over the place! El Paso is bigger, but not nearly as "friendly" to me (either in the people or in the kid-stuff). Explora, the Zoo, the Aquarium, etc - all excellent! I went to school at La Cueva (which I saw mentioned several times earlier in this old thread) and it was a quality school (of course, that was awhile back!). I still have a few friends in the area that homeschool, and they indicate to me that there is a good, strong homeschooling group.

Hugs & good wishes to you!!!! About 6-8 months ago, my 2yo little dog got into "something" and ended up twitching in 1 place on the floor vomiting, peeing & pooing. We rushed him to the vet and the general consensus was "he got into something" (to this day we have no idea what, and it still worries me!). Anyhow, I ended up at the vet's office on a Saturday afternoon and the vet had left. The techs were able to stabilize & put IVs in (and other meds based on calls with vet). However, as I was getting ready to go I noticed that THEY were all getting ready to go as well!! I basically said "uhhhhh- isn't anyone going to be here to watch my dog? What if things go downhill?" and they pretty much said "well - someone will drop by and check tonight & a couple times tomorrow, and the vet will be in to check him Monday". So, they wanted me to basically pay them hundreds of extra dollars for my miserable and potentially very ill sweet boy to hang out in a cage for the weekend? I don't THINK so! I don't know whether they generally let ppl take their animals with IVs home at that office, but I spoke with the vet directly (family friend & neighbor) and basically said "I might as well take him home where we can keep an eye on him and call you rather than leave him here" and she agreed. I was pretty irritated, honestly, since that was NOT the care I would have expected had I just left that day. However, I was perfectly capable of checking & adjusting his IV and taking him for mini-walks at home during the day - and he recovered fully & (as far as we can tell, after 6 months of meds to treat liver problems) completely. So don't let anybody make you feel bad for taking him home!! :)

We are finishing up Shurley English 1 right now and I won't be getting the next level. I've found that he really just doesn't NEED the constant repetition, so I generally pick 1 of the 3 sentences to label (and sometimes not even that much if there is some other activity going on that lesson). Also - it seems a weird jump, to me, to go from label, label, label, WRITE LONG 2point par (a few times), label, label, label, WRITE LONG NOTE (a few times), label, label, label... it was an astonishing day when it went from dull dull repetition that he didn't need to very very tough, no lead-in writing, back to dull dull repetition...??

I'll listen in!! I have a 2nd & 1st right now and I am currently operating on 2 individual table-desks set up right next to each other (mainly because we had them around & I couldn't decide what I might want instead...). Likes: - there is a definite "your space" "my space", which they REALLY need. If I had a joined table, I would have to put some sort of divider up, for sure! - easily moveable. I am revising our "school room" all the time, so I wanted flexibility for a couple years to sort out what works & what doesn't. - I could line them up against individual walls to separate & drop distractions. I haven't done this, yet, but some days I have been tempted!! We don't have much wall space, though, except by a big window (which has a different type of distraction!). Cons: - our desks are really way too short. I need to somehow raise them by 6 inches. Make sure anything you get has enough legroom underneath - those boys are growing FAST!! lol - they aren't big enough to have a place for putting assignments. Work in progress - I tried making folders with daily tasks, but the folders keep getting knocked off the desks & dumped out. ARGH! - I want more table room myself - I like to spread my things out. I think I'd really like a horseshoe desk, but then I realized that I would have troubles because I spread out so much an couldn't do so on their desks!!! So, I'd have to have access to a table behind (which makes it less neat to be able to get closer to the kids working). I think a horseshoe also offers more space underneath for storage boxes for assignments, maybe. I don't think I'd like a round table. I like to be closer than that - I usually peer over the tops of their papers as they write and make corrections immediately, which seems like it would be harder to do from a big round circle away. So - horseshoe or rectangle for 2 kids might work well for *me*, or these individual desks if they were taller. Next year I'll have 2 extra kids, though, so I am still searching for overall flexibility! I think 1 rectangle desk with 2 individual on the sides making sort of a long, drawn-out horseshoe might work...

:iagree::iagree: This I totally agree with. My dh has a college degree in physics from a highly rated physics college - but the job he currently does & earns a hefty chunk in would not have required even a high school diploma if you had the correct training. He does well at it, though, in part BECAUSE he is the sort of person who did well at getting a college degree. Being able to apply yourself diligently to something like that is a life-skill in and of itself, degree or not. As a family, we value education and anticipate our kids going into college. However, it is NOT a party & play deal - we'll match funds that they save if they apply it to college use, but we aren't going to just flat out pay for it whether they want to apply themselves or not. Also, if the career they choose to pursue doesn't have any need for a college degree and they choose to do a trade school situation or similar instead that would certainly be reasonable to us.

For the first part of Level 1, we did a lesson a day & moved on. We are now on lesson 20, and at this point (and over the last few lessons) I do a lesson in 1 day & then review that lesson, and some of the prior lessons as needed, a few days later. As we get closer to the end of the book & the lessons get deeper, we slow down more... next week, I will go back over lessons 18 and 19 before moving on to lesson 20 (but I will do lesson 20 in 1 day). The following week, I will review lesson 19 & 20, spot check prior lessons, and then move on to lesson 21. This is in conjunction with doing the card review each time, of course!

:iagree: All of this sounds just right - the adoption was just finalized, it is very REAL now to her... she needs time to get past that. Of course, during that time she shouldn't be allowed to do/say hurtful things (any more than she should at any other time!). Just make sure she knows you love her and that this is just another step in the journey that is life. :)

If you are selling a product, and the company is paying you to sell a product, I think that is great. If it is some networking scheme, I'd be out the door like lightning - when someone has a product that they aren't willing to risk the loss on, and when the "scheme" is more important than the actual product, I just find it distasteful. If they expect you to buy the product and try to resell it - nah.

:iagree::iagree: I really truly did LOVE the experiments - and the videos that went with them. My science-loving ds 7 did, as well!! What did us in, though, was two-fold. 1) The cost. I hate to say it, because usually we don't have a problem with cost. However, the price of the monthly program is already pretty steep - when you add to that the cost of supplies for each unit, the price-tag becomes a real "better get our money's worth" deal. 2) We weren't getting our money's worth, I'm afraid. I think if my ds was a few years older, and able to navigate the system on his own better & get more out of what he is seeing, then this would have been great. Unfortunately, I had to do almost everything with him - which meant it didn't get done as often as it should. So, we were paying too much & using it too little (our fault, of course, but that's how things go sometimes!!). Other notes: The site is fairly difficult to navigate and it isn't set up very well for tracking progress. Reiterating - cost for supplies can be STEEP - I got all the supplies for one of the units at once when we started (so I could make sure to do it! :)) and it cost something like $50. This was on top of the $30 per month for the program, and it was for only 1 unit (we didn't have much of the stuff on hand). She does say, however, that you don't need to do ALL the experiments - just pick & choose wisely! She has a 3-5 year mastery program with box kits & dvds out that I absolutely plan to save up money for and use in a couple years. I really did LIKE her, and how she taught, and her love of science. The experiments & videos really WERE great. My son liked it all as well. Older kids who are able to do much on their own will probably get a lot more out of it than younger kids who have more troubles in the large amounts of reading.

:iagree: For us, also, this would be an open & shut case - we would just deal with the daycare in some way that makes homeschooling do-able (whether this be limiting the number of kids, doing it at only specific times, doing school only at specific times, or shutting it down altogether). Especially if one of your options is to spend money on a school. Can you revise your homeschool schedule to do school before and/or after the daycare? I do school 4 days a week year-round so that I can work part-time. There is nothing that says you HAVE to do your HS at a specific time of day or for 5 days a week. Do you do daycare on the weekends? If not, why don't you make Sat & Sun two of your "main days" for school-work? I would find it EXTREMELY difficult to do homeschooling with so many little ones about - especially when they aren't mine (which changes what you do/don't do). I would likely stick my kiddos in a room doing independent work (and expecting, at that age, very little to get done without my supervision) and then have 4 "major times" during the week where we sit down together with no distractions to do school. You have to make a choice - do both and make it work, or do one or the other.