30DS had gotten too easy for me as well (as had No More Trouble Zones, and Banish Fat/Boost Metabolism), so now I've moved on to Bob. :lol: His workouts are KILLER, once you get past the annoying camera work. :glare: I have the Cardio Conditioning, and the other one that's weight training (forget the name of it, but it's the one that uses dumbells, NOT kettlebells), and it is kick. butt. Just ignore the facial expressions of the "modification" girl. :tongue_smilie:

I agree. People look at the same pile of evidence and come up with different conclusions all. the. time. It's why there's more than one person in a jury.

:iagree:

It doesn't have to be an either/or thing. My children attend Primary at church as another source of spiritual learning. Similar to how some of our children attend co-op classes, even though we're homeschooling. Different teachers can offer different insights, then can talk things over with their peers, build life-long friendships with other adults and children in the more intimate classroom settings (typically no more than 6-8 kids per adult, max. usually less), and they get to hear the message from someone other than mom and dad, which we all know is sometimes the only way a message will get through to kids. :tongue_smilie:

My church (LDS) has it both ways. We meet as families for the first hour, where we take Sacrament (communion), and listen to speakers (picked from the congregation) give talks on various Gospel topics, then we divide up for Sunday School by age group. Toddlers go to nursery, kids go to Primary, teens go to youth classes. After that there's also gender specific classes for teens and adults (so ya, 3 hours of church, but you're doing 3 different things, and it's actually very engaging). I love worshipping as a family. I love holding my children on my lap as we watch the Sacrament being blessed and passed (we don't go up for it, it's brought to us on trays and passed down the pews), and whispering into their ears what it represents, how thankful I am for my Savior, and how much He loves us all. I don't expect my kids to sit still, but I do expect them to be quiet, and for the most part they do. They don't hate it. It's part of our Sunday routine, and they expect it. :) (They still bolt right out of the chapel when it's time for Primary though. :lol: ) In Primary they get the Gospel message presented to them in a way that's easier for them to grasp, and sometimes one of them will sudden perk up when they hear someone in Sacrament meeting (the first meeting) say something they recognize from a lesson they had in Primary (or at home). It makes them feel grown up. :) ETA: and I don't worry so much about "getting" much out of Sacrament meeting while my children are young. I'm there to partake of the Sacrament and worship My Father and His Son, and listen to the speakers bare witness to the truth of the gospel. I have Sunday School to "get" things from.

Amen. I've seen a lot of people (not here) saying this whole kerfluffle is "violating Ham's right to free speech". Um. No. He had the right to say what he had to say. GHC had the right to hold him to the contract he *voluntarily signed* and disinvite him for what he said that was in violoation of that contract. "Freedom of speech" doesn't equal "no consequences for the things you say."

I also run 4+ miles, 3-4 days a week, plus I can do two levels of 30 Day Shred in one go, and I love love LOVE Zumba! It's as intense as you make it. If you do ALL of the moves, arms+legs+bootyshakin', etc. then it really burns off the calories! I am always *dripping* sweat at the end of an hour class, and the time goes by SO fast!

*I* love this show. :lol: My kids do too. My two older kids both learned that s and h makes the "shhhh" sound from the "Sh-sh-shark!" episode. And the little song Frog sings to tell the difference between a "b" and a "d" is one I often hear my DD singing when she's doing her spelling and trying to remember how to write the right letter. It's an awesome show!

Is there perhaps a natural cleaning "recipe book", where all these different recipes are in one place? (like laundry detergent, all-purpose cleaner, glass cleaner, etc.)

Most deffinitely.

Whoops. My apologies then. I meant my post in a positive light. :)

I meant peculiar in the scriptural "you shall be known as a peculiar people" sense. It was a rebuttle to the veiled implication by the use of the word "lukewarm" that she wasn't a true Christian, and would be "spewed from the mouth".

I'd call it peculiar. :D

Edit. I was wrong. :p

This whole debackle (kerfluffle :lol: ) has been a rather interesting example, to me, of the power of the politics of fear. Cast out seeds of doubt, use words like "warning", "beware", "compromiser", "diseased" (as was in that "We Believe" letter), "anti-Christian", and make people too leery of what's being "warned" against to ever consider looking into it themselves lest they allow the "danger" into their own home, but they'll still spread the "warning" onto others. It's frightening in it's efficiency. :(

I agree (although I read a different lesson, not the first one). Amazing. :)

nm

Dear SWB, Thank you SO MUCH for all that you've done for homeschooling. 2 years ago I started having panic attacks as my oldest child prepared to enter kindergarten. My own PS experience was... less than ideal. I was bullied frequently, and I feared my DD would encounter the same. I was raised by PS teachers, so homeschooling was a "hiss word" in our household, but I started looking into it as a "last resort" option, should DD start being bullied and no longer safe (emotionally or physically) at school. I was a complete homeschooling ignoramous. I thought homeschooling was going to be buying one of those "complete curriculum" sets you can find at Costco, and trying to fill the hours of 8am to 3pm with worksheets and recess. The first few books I checked out from the library on the subject didn't help. They were all of the "Rah! Rah! Homeschool!" variety, gushing about the joys of doing unit studies, and/or going over the evils of public school. NONE of them explained how to actually DO homeschool. I even bought a book called "Homeschooling Book of Answers", but the people providing the answers were all unschoolers, whose responses to the question of "How do you prepare your lesson plans?" were "Lesson plans? Why would I want to do that?!" I felt like a hopeless case at ever figuring out how to school my own child. I'd initially avoided checking out your book from the library because 1)the other books were much thinner, and 2) another homeschooling mom had discouraged me from reading it because "...you have to be Super Mom to homeschool the way that book says you should!" As a last-ditch effort I finally checked it out, and my whole world changed. FINALLY a homeschooling book that showed me what homeschooling can look like! More than just "You can use unit studies to teach your kids about pirates! Isn't that cool?!" it actually spelled out what the parent should do, what the student should be expected to do, and what order to do it all in. I finally felt like I had a map I could use to orient myself, and start on my homeschooling journey with my DD, and I was excited by the prospect of exposing my child to HISTORY, not just "Social Studies" (which I always thought was the most boring subject in my elementary years). My DH and I finally decided to turn to homeschooling not just as a "Last Resort", but as a "First Choice". :D Thank you for the wonderful new world you opened up for my family. -Jenamarie

:iagree:

Well, it makes *me* think of some sort of fancy bavarian pastry. One made with airy, buttery pastry, filled with some sort of unhealthy cream filling, maybe with some fruit mixed in, and drizzled over with chocolate and powdered sugar.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (aka Mormon) believes the Bible to the the word of God "...as far as it is translated correctly". We also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God, and that it is a companion to the Bible and helps clarify the Doctrines contained in the Bible, by being a second Witness of Jesus Christ. Circumcision is not required. Belief or disbelief in Evolution is left up to members to decide for themselves. You'll find Creationists in the LDS faith, and Theistic Evolutionists, etc. All you'll ever hear explicitly taught in an LDS service is that God created it all. The answer to "how long did it take?" is left up to the individual member to decide. You can go to www.mormon.org and do a live-chat with missionaries, or just browse around the site to get more of a feel for what we believe.

I agree with MamaSheep, this is the core stuff. Good luck on your spiritual journey. :grouphug:

I love it when you post. :001_wub:

The Oregon Coast!

Again, a similarity with LDS. :lol: We believe that Baptism is an entering into a Covenant to take His Name (Jesus Christ) upon ourselves, and Confirmation is when we recieve the Gift of the Holy Ghost, which is the right to have His Presencee with us always, to help guide us, warn us (of temptation or danger), and sanctify us. The Sacrament (what we call Communion) is a renewing of that Covenant, re-witnessing that we have taken His Name upon us, that we will always remember Him, and keep the commandments that He has given us. Although we don't believe the bread and water (we don't use wine) turn literally into his body and blood, we do view it as a symbolic "taking in" of His Atonement, an interalization of the covenant, and making Him a part of us. It's also a renewal of our Baptismal covenant in that we are re-washed of our sins. We're to take it with a repentant heart, knowing that we aren't perfect and that it is only through Him that our scarlet sins are made white as snow, which will eventually allow us back into the presense of the Father. ETA: LDS also take the Sacrament weekly, and it's done at the beginning of the meeting (after a couple hymns), and is considered the most sacred part of our Sunday services. We're strongly encouraged, if for some reason we can't stay for a whole meeting, to at least come for the Sacrament. I've seen a few LDS police officers time their breaks while on patrol to coincide with the passing of the Sacrament, and then go back on duty.