I guess I'm not that stingy with my friendships. I consider people a friend if we are acquainted, see each other on a fairly regular basis (even as infrequently as once every few months), and are comfortable around each other. What's wrong with considering someone a friend? I think it's nice.

Um, if they're really not going to be available to teach and instruct their elementary age children, then homeschooling is NOT for them. As for Calvert, it is VERY teacher intensive. It's an in-the-box curriculum, but the homeschooling parent teaches every single subject in the younger grades. I used it when I first started homeschooling twenty years ago (and my choices were Calvert, Abeka or Bob Jones), and it was fabulous. Those teacher manuals taught me how to teach. Perhaps these parents should be looking into private schools.

So, for all you Trixie fans out there...who still remembers that scene where Jim gives Trixie that charm bracelet and tells her she's his "special girl"? *swoon*. And then they...gasp...held hands for the rest of the plane ride home! My little ten year old heart was all aflutter.

How about the Betsy-Tacey series? She's not a detective, but I adored those books as a young girl.

Just so y'all know...Brian Belden is mine. :D

It is very definitely a cause. If you have this problem, and are overweight, losing even five to ten pounds can eliminate it. My MIL suffered with this for years. When she finally lost some weight...it went away completely.

I plan it all out, and then I call. And I make sure to say, "Do you have any discounts on this room for any of the days of my stay?" They will NOT offer you any discounts, you have to ask. And I call back repeatedly before our departure date to get discounts that I find on my own applied. And if one agent says "no", I call back and speak to another agent. Works like a charm. Make sure YOU understand all the discounts, and how they can be applied to your stay. I can't tell you how many times I've found things the agents didn't know they could do. Hang out on the Disboards to get "schooled" on this sort of thing. They have a "discount code" subforum for just this sort of thing. And many times Dis-ers know the code before the Disney reservation people. And don't forget my favorite Disney site for travel planning and reviews, the wickedly funny, and very knowledgeable, Josh, at www.easywdw.com

The symptoms completely depend on the age of the victim. LOL Teens and older...it's usually awful. Eight to twelve...bad sore throat and tired for a week, maybe two. Younger than eight...you hardly know they're sick. Especially if they're younger than five.

Yep, one of my friends I hadn't seen since third grade. She and I had other mutual friends, and she friended me that way. It so was fun to catch up on her life again! I love Facebook for that reason

I plan my own trips. We always stay on property. We always use the meal plan. We always park hop. We're Disney's dream vacationers. LOL

Sigh....kissing more of my money goodbye. I'm starting to hate this board. It's making me a pauper. :D

Nope. Just say you slammed your hand in a door. Don't even say "car door".

No worries...I do that all the time. I just thought maybe I'd missed the obvious somewhere, and responded to the question incorrectly. Wouldn't be the first time. :D

:confused1:

Meningitis can kill your child in less than 24 hours, and there will be not one thing you can do to stop it. The vaccine has no serious side effects that I know of..it is very well tolerated. And as another poster said...tetanus is a stupid, stupid way to die. And die you will. The illnesses these diseases prevent are not something that you easily recover from. Most parents today have never seen a child with these illnesses. It's awful. It's even more awful to be treating one of these children and listening to their mothers sobbing...because the illness could have been prevented, and now their child is seriously ill. The risk of a serious reaction from any vaccine is very small. Many things that parents call "vaccine reactions" are mere coincidences. I agree with absolutely everything in this article. And that's my official medical opinion. :D http://theweek.com/article/index/257110/the-worrying-rise-of-the-anti-vaccination-movement

Nothing. I believe homeschooling is superior to everything else out there, and in a positive, thriving, homeschool, I can't think of one thing that would ever cause me to think differently. Even in a less than perfect situation, I can't think of much that would stop me from continuing our homeschool journey. I have loved every minute of it, and have been lucky enough to not suffer from the burnout and stress that can derail the homeschool train for many. It has truly been one of the best decisions I've ever made, and I'm so fortunate to see my exclusively homeschooled and graduated kids, thriving and excelling in their respective universities and careers. If you are having doubts, let me assure you that homeschooling works. The days are longer than the years. If you are diligent, if you work hard, if you're willing to sacrifice some peace and personal time, if you don't give up when things are difficult...your reward will be tremendous. It is worth every second, and there can be so much joy in the journey. But there is even more joy in the results. I am truly grateful for the privilege of homeschooling my children.

It's an awesome movie! I've always said to my dd that we will probably never see the world's most talented ballerina, because her life's circumstances don't allow for the luxury of ballet lessons. I'm so happy Michaela got the chance to show us her talent. She's a beautiful dancer. Oh, and my dd's former ballet teacher is in the film. He's a YAGP judge, and teaches classes at the competitions. He still guest teaches at her company when he's in town.

I think that depends on how old you are. I was in sixth grade in 1975-1976, and yes, we read all of those selections...in fourth and fifth grade. Actually, we read "The Jumping Frog..." in third.

I have pretty much written my own curriculum by combining LOTS of different resources for each subject for 20 years now. It's a sickness. :lol:

Yes, polio was a summer virus, back in the day. Whenever a child came down with a sore throat or similar symptoms, parents would worry. There was a time when all swimming pools closed because they thought that they might be a transmission route for polio. It's why my father, growing up in Washington D.C. in the 30s and 40s, never learned how to swim. Several enteroviruses can have polio like symptoms (specifically 68 and 71), and this may be one of those or a new one that will have the exact same effects as polio. And if it's anything like polio...it can spread like wildfire. Very contagious through the air, and on surfaces. And very arbitrary in its effects. Some kids escaped unharmed. Others suffered lifelong paralysis. However, the problem with polio, is that once you contract it...you have it forever. It will come back to bite you again in your 50s and beyond with post-polio syndrome. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/post_polio/detail_post_polio.htm If this is another enterovirus that attacks like polio...and it sounds like it is, I hope the medical community jumps on it quickly and stops it in its tracks. No mother wants to live with the fear that mothers 60 years ago had to live with. Seeing your kid in an iron lung for months is horrible. And having to worry about permanent paralysis every time your child complains their throat hurts is chilling. And there is nothing you can do to stop it...we can only treat symptoms. The disease will do whatever it wants to do. We just have no idea today of what these illnesses were really like. No idea. Sobering.

White cabinets never go out of style. We are redoing our dated "golden oak" cabinets to white with black granite (or something similar) counter tops speckled with white. I have a retro themed kitchen, and white will work nicely in it.

It doesn't sound like school is serving her needs. Can you homeschool her?

My favorite thing is when people who have been homeschooling for a few months are just FULL of advice on how to do it correctly. Uh huh. I sit by quietly and smile. They'll learn.

Yep...I want my soup hot. :D

I have a Vitamix. You can blend the ingredients as little or as much as you want, so you control the mushiness factor. If you put in vegetables and liquid and blend it enough, you actually get heated soup. Yep. You don't have to cook it, the blender heats it for you. It's fabulous!