The high school years of homeschooling were my most fun and rewarding. I really enjoyed learning along side my children, and sharing and discussing the material. Much easier than the elementary years, where so much hand holding, and oversight was required. And both of my kiddos received full-ride, four year scholarships to the universities of their choice, where they are now both happy and successful (and grateful that they homeschooled K-12). Homeschooling through high school can be a wonderful thing for kids and parents alike. But you need to do what you feel is best for your child. Best wishes in your decision making process.

I would just tell her that there is no way you can babysit and homeschool. It just isn't going to happen. And offering to help her find a sitter would let her know you're serious. I'd say something like, "I'll ask around and see who might be available and what they charge."

I'm LDS, so being prepared for anything (natural disaster, job loss, illness, etc.) is what we do. We have food storage (which is rotated regularly) to last one year, as well as water (most important...and a couple of gallons won't be enough if your water is contaminated and you have no electricity...pretty much a given in an earthquake situation, which is my most likely disaster scenario), cash, medication, etc. If you want to know what to store to feed your family the basics for a year, based on what we do as Mormons, here's a calculator: http://lds.about.com/library/bl/faq/blcalculator.htm Be sure to note that food supplies are stored in the proper kinds of containers (example: flour is not stored in the paper bags it comes in, but in properly sealed cans/containers). Here's a site that is one of my favorites for food storage and recipes: http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/ Also note that we are not preparing for a terrorist attack, nuclear fall out, or anything of that sort. Most often, food storage is used when people face unemployment or other types of financial disaster. The next frequent use of food storage is for natural disasters. Help is not going to get to you for at least 72 hours, and you should have 72 hour kits prepared for every member of your family if you live in an area prone to natural disasters. There are also several companies that sell food storage ready to go with yummy foods that are easy to prepare and store. Some of my food storage is of this type, some is from my church cannery, and some is from the good old grocery store. Feel free to ask if you have questions.

Doctors want to see the structure of the lungs, look for a foreign object that may be evading other diagnostic tests, check for tumors, see how the lungs are working, look for lesions, check for airway obstructions or strictures, look for signs of infection (pus, fungus, parasites, etc.), check for fluid, mucous, polyps, you name it. In short, they want to find out why your dd is coughing. Is she having the flexible or rigid bronchoscopy?

An easy fix is a prescription diuretic. They've been around forever, they're very safe, and the only real side effect is that you'll urinate more...but that's what lowers the bp. If your numbers are not too high, that's probably what your doc will start you on. You'll have to make sure you're not losing potassium with it, but eating a banana and having some OJ every day usually takes care of that. If not, there are diuretics that protect against potassium loss.

I've found that the more expensive, programmable, crock pots are much better at temperature regulation. Also, the crock pot itself should be 2/3 full. Anything less than that will cook much more quickly.

My favorite event there! You'll love it!

I love learning, I guess. I love learning with my kids. I do unit studies, and those have always brought fun into our homeschool. We figure things out together. I don't mind making big, giant messes in the name of learning. We built an entire medieval castle out of appliance boxes one semester. We have big celebrations with food and fun activities to wrap up each unit. Those sort of activities energize me, because I love to plan them and see the results. Researching and buying curriculum are fun for me. Lesson planning makes me giddy. I stop just short of spreading out all the new curriculum on my living room floor and rolling around in it (most of the time :D ). It makes me happy. My kids have never attended a brick and mortar school, or done any online classes. When each one of them began homeschooling, we got the discipline issues under control right off the bat, and I've never really had any major issues with any of them. Occasionally one of them had a bad day, but nothing that became a huge issue, or continued day after day. I can honestly say that they've been a joy to teach. My two oldest are now in college (both on scholarships...just putting it in there to encourage moms that it can and does work), and are on their respective dean's lists. They both have told me how grateful they are that they were homeschooled, and that they plan to do the same with their own children some day. I also have an incredibly supportive husband, who helps me in any way that he can, and who has no problem helping me around the house. I think because I love teaching, and because I love what we do in our homeschool, it's always been a source of joy for me. I look forward to each day. I'm excited about our subjects, and about the opportunity to work with my kids. My 21st school year begins on September 2, and I can't wait! I'm having so much fun with only one child at the moment. I'm really getting to know him, and we're building a wonderful relationship as he begins his teen years. When I was educating three at once, it was also fun...but in a different way. Each season of my homeschooling adventure has been a gift, and I'm so grateful that I've had this opportunity in my life.

This is my 21st year of homeschooling, and I can honestly say I have never been blasé about it, or felt burned out or overwhelmed. I love homeschooling my kids, and it's been one of the most fulfilling, rewarding, energizing things I've ever done.

In the nicest way possible....I don't give a rat's patootie about "all the other kids" and how their parents choose to educate them. It's not my job to pick up their slack. My responsibility is to my own children. I chose homeschooling 21 years ago because the public school system was failing all the kids I knew. I wasn't giving it the opportunity to fail mine. And my children are not going to receive a less than adequate education "for the public good." This person is off his rocker.

Huh...I've been married for 26 years, and I've never found marriage to be hard at all. It's the best thing I've ever done.

Before you see a physician, be aware that not all physicians accept that PANDAS even exists (it is considered hypothetical by many physicians in the medical community), and may not offer you any type of treatment. There is no diagnostic test for PANDAS.

Not really. He'll be 14 in November, and most of his friends are a year or two older than him. Plus, he's my youngest, so he's always tagged along with the "big kids". Now, he and his friends make action movies and film them all the time. They write out scripts, stage shots, and do special effects with all the cool, different apps out there. So maybe some would term this "playing", and others wouldn't. He and his friends also play video games, go outside and shoot baskets, go to the pool, watch movies, read and discuss current books (one of their favorite things to do is hang out at our local Barnes & Noble and participate in some of their book groups and such), and just sit outside on the patio around the fire pit and shoot the breeze. And that basically sums up my 13 year old's summer.

My kids rent a lot of their textbooks from Amazon. It's saved them a ton of money!

What is there to throw away? Are you talking about the caps you throw on the ground? In the little paper bag things? Those mostly burn up...we don't ever have anything to throw away. And if we do, it all goes into the trash. Even the big fireworks we set off. Whatever is left over goes in the trash the next morning.

Free shipping from Amazon means you'll get it when they're good and ready to ship it to you. Sometimes that's a couple of days. Sometimes they won't get to it for a week or so. You're not paying anything for the shipping, so in my book, you have forfeited your right to complain about when they ship it. If you need something by a certain deadline, and you order from them, you'll have to cough up the shipping costs. You really might want to take a look at Prime again, especially if you order a lot of things from them. It not only includes shipping, but free streaming videos, free Kindle titles, free music downloads, and some other goodies. I've found it to be well worth the cost, even at $99 a year. I can think of only one time they may have taken more than 2 days to get something to me, and that was no biggie. Make sure that you are not figuring weekends into your two days, as something ordered on a Friday or Saturday will not arrive until the following Tuesday or Wednesday.

Uh....zombie post.

The fees here are ridiculous...and everything has a fee. Just to register for high school is $90, and then the real fun starts. My kids have never attended any brick and mortar school (or online equivalent), but my dd did participate in drill team at the local high school her senior year. The fee for that....$3,000. And that wasn't the worst part of it for me. When we were in the office one day, a girl transferring here from another country was also there with her father. She asked about drill team, and the snooty secretary said, "Are you sure you can afford that? It's going to cost you around $3,000 per year." The girl looked crushed, and her father was shocked that the "public" school could charge that much for a school sponsored extra curricular activity. I just wanted to pop the secretary in the mouth for her condescending attitude.

It's completely worth it!! If there are any characters you want photos with, figure out where they'll be beforehand ( a cast member can help you), and then run there as soon as you're in the park. The Halloween parade is the best Disney parade out there (IMHO), and I love the Headless Horseman!!

I changed denominations because I felt that the church I was raised in had strayed so far from the church as Christ had established it on earth, as to be no longer correct in its teachings and practice.

Ebola is a non-issue for Americans. Completely. Cross it off your list and move on, people. And I mean that in the nicest way possible. :D

Of course you'll ask for ketchup. :D We just go sneak it off someone else's table now. There was that one time we got caught.....

No kidding!! You couldn't pay me to be there during the summer or busy holidays. Too darn crowded, and other guests are too rude. Whatever happened to manners? If my kids had remained seating while an older woman stood on a bus, they would have been in serious trouble. I hope you have fun in spite of the difficulties (the biggest for me being humidity and LINES...I don't do lines).

I'm confused about what you said, and I mean this sincerely, I'm not being snarky. Disney already does charge off site guests for Magic Bands. They are free (and mailed to you before your vacation) for on site guests. What Mr. Kargridis said was to expect the price for those to go up, not that they would be completely done away with. I didn't say that off site guests would not be able to use a Fastpass...but the old paper Fastpass machines are in the process of being completely eliminated (in WDW, not Disneyland), as Disney converts that park completely to RFID technology. My point was that the perks for onsite guests are going to increase even more than what exists currently. I'll try and find the transcript for that news conference and link it. Maybe I'm completely misunderstanding you...not unusual, I do that all the time here. :D

Her symptoms are inconsistent with Ebola.