Thank you!! I'll contact them. :D

I just wanted to say thank you for this thread! I have been considering this same issue for DD, and was leaning more towards 4-H, but only because the only GS troops I've heard of are run through the schools (how the heck does one FIND a GS troop anyway?:001_huh:) Maybe we will try both. At least if one or the other doesn't work out for us we will have a backup. :D

I think that you probably will end up trying out some curricula that don't work out in the long run, (especially if you spend enough time around this board! :tongue_smilie:) For me, it was Galloping the Globe that just didn't work. And it was more a lack of time. I should have read the reviews closer, because I was expecting something with a little more structure to it. I think if you read the reviews and ask (specific) questions about the programs, you are more likely to find something that works the first time around.

Yes, God does assign biological gender. But.... over the thousands of years that we have written records, the idea of what those biological genders are has changed. What is "male" and "female" today is not what was "male" and "female" just 100 short years ago. Even something silly as hair. "Men" used to have long hair. That was the way it was. Today, little boys with long hair are mistaken for girls. This is what most people mean by gender being a societal construction. Biology is designed by God, but what society thinks goes with each of those genders is not static, and is not assigned by God. And what about those people who DON'T have clear biological genders? I don't think this is as simple as saying God made you a boy (or girl), so act like it.

I think this article is interesting. I took a Queer Lit class a few semesters ago, and we talked a LOT about how gender is constructed by society. There is evidence of a number of societies that acknowledged a third gender. The male/female binary DOES leave many people pushed out in our society. I don't know how I feel about what these parents are doing though. My own daughter tends toward "boy"ness. She likes shopping in the boy section, her favorite toys are cars, blocks, Power Rangers, Spiderman.... but at the same time she loves dance class, and loves to wear dresses. (Interestingly enough, a friend recently commented on how DD is both extremely girly and extremely... tomboyish.) I haven't gone as far as to purposely obscure her gender, but I also don't prescribe certain roles for her based on her gender. And I struggle against others (in particular her grandmother, who likes to tell her "Girls don't do that" or convince her to have a Tinkerbell birthday cake instead of a Spiderman one, or refuse to buy her a toy unless she picks out a girl toy... :glare:) Even within my protection, DD has started to make comments like "But people will make fun of me" regarding the Spiderman bookbag that she picked out and loved. Or if she wants to buy a shirt from the boys section. It makes me sad to watch my 5 year old really, really want a shirt, but be afraid to buy it because of what other people think. I think children are better served by parents who support their choices, encourage them to be themselves, and raise their children to not worry about what people may think of their (appearances, clothes, etc.).

:iagree:I got Unschool (nope), Classical (yes), Waldorf (I'm not even sure what this is!), Unit Studies (maybe a little), Christian (Well, that we are- but it doesn't have any bearing on our schooling), and with 0% School at home (which we couldn't be farther from! :lol:)

I have an only. DD is 5. Given that I have another 8 years at least until I finish school, she'll be 13 before I have another. I always wanted a lot of children. But the older DD is getting, the less sure I am that I'll ever have another child. We lead a very "unsettled" life- coming and going as we please, sleeping and waking as we please, eating as we please..... in the future we'll be traveling and hopefully staying out of the country for extended periods of time. With just the two of us- this is possible. DD also loves dance, and while it is reasonable right now, as she gets older it will be more expensive, and, did I mention I'll be a student for another 8 years? :tongue_smilie: All this to say... I do want another. Desperately. I don't feel like our family is complete. But, I'm not sure where things will go for us. If we do increase our family it will probably be through adoption, and probably an older child at that. (As in, somewhere between 8-13 when DD is 13.) I also struggle with "socialization." DD and I are both naturally introverts and neither of us finds it easy to make friends. She actually does better than I. But I don't want her to be isolated from other children. If I had another child I don't think it would be quite as big of a deal.

spam posted after OP=reported

:bigear: Very cool looking. Wonder if it works as well as it claims....

I'll probably push Latin back until middle school or so, maybe even late middle school realistically. I'd like to start it in 3rd/4th, but that'll be a couple years before we (hopefully) go to Brazil for an extended stay, so I'll be doing Portuguese instead in preparation. That'll put us at three modern languages, so we probably won't add another until DD is fluent enough in one to drop it as a language study and just maintain through speaking/literature/etc.

We have a dog... she's the biggest chicken there is and probably wouldn't save us from a fly, BUT.. she's big, and she sounds awfully mean. We have friends that have refused to come in the house- I'm pretty sure strangers won't be taking that risk! :tongue_smilie: DD and her aren't exactly the best of friends... in fact, they are pretty jealous over my attention, but she puts up with DD and has never even made the slightest motion to hurt her (even when DD was learning to crawl/walk and using the dog as leverage... putting toys in her ears/mouth/nose.... taking snacks and food right out of her mouth...) Oh, she's a lab. We got her mother from a breeder known for larger-labs, and before she got sick at the end of her life she was 120-130 pounds. The *little* dog (the one we still have) is 100 pounds during the summer, 110 or so in the winter.

:D Your first post had me laughing, and then this. Duck-billed platypus. Awesome. :lol:

I've heard some pretty crazy stories about Ambien. They gave it to me during the last week of my pregnancy and tried to give it to me again while I was still in the hospital after having DD because I wasn't sleeping. I've taken it a few other times before- but never had negative reactions to it. But I don't take it anymore. When I get desperate I take a xanax to turn my brain off long enough to fall asleep. Not sure why I feel like xanax is better than ambien!

:iagree:I am a Christian, but I agree with the rest of this statement. It's about the intent.

Language tutors multiple times a week- both French and Spanish. Failing that, 3-4 different programs for each language that would form a solid basis instead of having to pick one program that inevitably has weaknesses.

I just picked French, since that's the only DD is actively learning right now. She'll be adding Spanish within the next year or two. (For me, the answer would be French, Spanish, and Portuguese. Just started seriously studying Portuguese on my own, this should be an interesting little experiment! :tongue_smilie:)

Not only have I not watched any season finales yet- I'm also about 2 weeks behind on all my shows. They are on DVR at my parents house- where we are headed next week! I can't wait to spend a week of evenings vegged out and relaxing. But I'll be watching: Grey's Anatomy and Private Practive, House, Bones, Criminal Minds, and Chuck. I'll probably eventually catch up on all the CSI franchises this summer while there.

I'm a fairly modest person- the complete opposite of my mother. Growing up, she would always change right in front of me, walk in on me changing, etc. Even after I asked her not to/made it clear that I was uncomfortable. To this day (and she's in her 50s!) I dress much more conservatively than she does. Dad always had on either a robe or some pants. DD and I still bathe together- but that's at her request. When she starts asking for privacy- she'll have it. But she loves being naked, and is just now getting the idea of modesty. :tongue_smilie: (Other than bathing- I wear at least shorts and a tank top around the house. Even when I'm alone I don't walk around nekkid. I may have some paranoid tendencies though... worried I'm being watched while I'm walking around in the buff. :lol:)

Wow! Congrats, and great job! I'm hoping to get my lack of self-control handled this summer and start losing some weight myself. :tongue_smilie:

(I hope I didn't already ask this question on here... I'm really not sure, but I don't *think* I have. :tongue_smilie:) I'm having some trouble figuring out what to do about registering this year as a homeschool. DD is 5, and we are in Maryland, so this coming year is our first "official" year. Here's the situation though. Our "primary" address (the one on my driver's license, the one I use for financial aid, etc.) is in Charles County. But we actually LIVE most of the year in Wicomico County (since this is where I go to school.) I didn't change my address because I'll only be here until I graduate, and it really never made sense to change everything over. (Plus- I don't have any of the required documents I'd need to change, I don't have bills where I live, no lease, no mail... nothing. I rent an apartment that's attached to my landlord's house.) No problem until I started thinking about where I'd send the letter. Charles County or Wicomico County? I suppose it doesn't really matter, I could just register in Charles County, but it would be a pain to schedule portfolio reviews all the way back home and possibly miss school to do them. I mean, if I really counted the days we are probably there nearly as much as we are here (summers, holidays, every other weekend, school breaks..) Any thoughts from those more experienced than I? I'm so confused.... :tongue_smilie:

:bigear: My state requires both art and music- so I'm assuming I'll have to at least minimally teach both each year. I'm planning on doing music, art, music appreciation, and art appreciation each one day a week. (Uhm- music and art appreciation may just end up being 10-15 minutes of looking at/listening to a piece, but hey. At least it'll be exposure to some of the "classic" works! :lol:) It was either this, or every other week, but it makes it easier for me to plan things if they happen at least once a week since I made a weekly master list. I couldn't figure out how to indicate things that only happened every other week. :tongue_smilie:

WOW. Really????? This is. absurd. I get food stamps. I live on 12K a year - I've had to borrow toilet paper and laundry detergent from friends, but luckily we get them and my daughter never goes hungry. But next time I go up for recertification- I'm going to have to jump through all kinds of hoops to "prove" that I still need the food stamps, because I'm a college student (therefore, not working) and my daughter is now over 5. The rule says that if you are a student and your child is over 5 you have to show proof that you can't afford daycare. (And I'm just waiting to hear- well you should send her to school. :glare:) And yet..... someone who has over a million dollars in the bank still gets it? I mean, besides the whole, government loop hole, obviously someone screwed up here.... what about social responsibility? Whatever happened to feeling some responsibility for caring for you and yours?? Geez. I can't WAIT until I can claim complete responsibility for all that is mine- including the food put on my table. (Then again- just a few days ago I told someone I'd never be a millionaire- I'd be giving it away long before then. Who needs that much money?)

I'd pick the lab in a heartbeat... but we are a lab-loving family. :D They are amazing dogs... loving, sweet, fun.... We just lost a dog last summer, I don't think I could adopt an older dog right now- just not ready for that right now.

There was!! :tongue_smilie: