Chilean Sea Bass is on the list of fish that should only be eaten on rare occasions (and never for children) for women of childbearing age due to the mercury content (I have the list posted on my fridge). So, I would've told her that out of concern for her health I couldn't possibly serve it to her and I hoped she'd enjoy the side dishes. We eat a lot of fish here (we're having tilapia and seafood scampi for dinner tonight, LOL) but I wouldn't know how to begin to cook it (DH cooks). And, I definitely don't think I could eat it to the exclusion of all else - YUCK. What a way to get totally sick of something. If it wasn't so expensive, I'd cook it and botch the job but she'd probably spit it out and say yuck since her manners are obviously lacking. Definitely an @ss. I think any guest should let the hostess know about any food issues (allergy, religious or otherwise) and be prepared to provide their own if the issues are very uncommon and/or difficult or expensive to meet. I definitely think she should have told you more than 5 hours before the meal.

This is actually the reason I use Comic Sans in a lot of stuff I do - I want it to look like handwritten letters so it's not confusing to my son. I also have a font called Billy's Crayons that actually looks like a kid wrote it in crayon.

Would they fit in one of those craft store containers used to hold spools of cross stich floss when it's wound on cards? This is the only one I was able to find with a picture: http://www.createforless.com/Darice+Organizer+17+Hole+Floss+_and_+Needlecraft+with+100+Cardboard+Bobbins/pid17677.aspx?utm_source=googlebase&utm_medium=cse Otherwise, maybe a toolbox of some kind?

I took your question to mean a belief in a Young Earth/24 hour day/7 day Creation? I grew up United Methodist. They don't take any stance on Evolution but below is their statement on Science in general. I know the UMC is pretty liberal on most issues, pretty much a "live and let live" attitude. I've definitely never heard anything resembling a belief in a literal, 24 hour day/7 day Creation. Science and Technology We recognize science as a legitimate interpretation of God’s natural world. We affirm the validity of the claims of science in describing the natural world, although we preclude science from making authoritative claims about theological issues. We recognize technology as a legitimate use of God’s natural world when such use enhances human life and enables all of God’s children to develop their God-given creative potential without violating our ethical convictions about the relationship of humanity to the natural world. In acknowledging the important roles of science and technology, however, we also believe that theological understandings of human experience are crucial to a full understanding of the place of humanity in the universe. Science and theology are complementary rather than mutually incompatible. We therefore encourage dialogue between the scientific and theological communities and seek the kind of participation that will enable humanity to sustain life on earth and, by God’s grace, increase the quality of our common lives together. From The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church - 2004. Copyright 2004 by The United Methodist Publishing House. Used by permission.

I saw a thread the other day about the RS Abacus and when I did a search I found a site that shows how to make one using pony beads, narrow dowels and popsicle sticks: http://satorismiles.com/tag/abacus/ (I believe the author of this blog is a member here). I also saw abacus activities here: http://www.alabacus.com/pageView.cfm?pageID=315 and some other ideas here: http://homeschoolmath.blogspot.com/2007/05/basic-abacus-as-manipulative.html

I'm laughing at all the experiences we've had. I've also avoided ever assuming that someone is pregnant unless it is very obvious (9 months along with a firm belly pointing out front with a t-shirt saying "Baby on Board"). We were visiting another state a couple of years ago and arranged to meet some of my cousins, who I see VERY rarely while we were there. We met my one cousin at a restaurant for dinner. She arrived looking pregnant but was wearing a very loose (maternity style) blouse so it was hard to tell for sure. So, I said nothing and acted like I didn't notice anything. (she was single, divorced from her ex-husband). Two years later we were invited to a party for her father (my uncle) and when we got there - she had a son. In this case I feel kind of bad - does she feel like I ignored her pregnancy because I disapproved? she might have been able to use someone sympathetic to talk to you (we are close in age and I had also been divorced). We did end up talking a lot when we saw her at the party, even stayed at her house and ended up having a great time so I hope that made up for any slight she felt previously.

This happens to my DH all the time. He's 53 and has white hair (which he's had since his 20's so....). He doesn't take it too badly since he knows he's older than what is usual, in fact his younger brother actually has an 18 year old grandchild. He does correct people and let them know he's the dad. I NEVER assume about people I see with children. There are a lot of older moms, there are a lot of younger moms - I've seen people insulted when others think their children are actually their siblings. My oldest had someone refer to her younger brother as her child - when she was 14 and he was 2!! I've had people comment that I must have had my youngest when I was a teenager. Actually I was 24 but I've always looked somewhat younger than I am (kept getting carded until I was 35). I just shrug it off but I must admit, its actually kind of flattering lately. :tongue_smilie:

Very interesting thread. Personally, I have a lot of environmental allergies. I recently went for testing because I felt my allergies weren't under control. A few times in the past, when my allergies weren't controlled well, I had severe asthma attacks. I'm allergic to just about everything environmental - trees, grasses, ragweed, dust, dogs, cats, rats, cockroaches, etc. I was told that food testing comes up with many false positives and that you need to do elimination testing to see what's really a problem. That came with an extensive list as well but I'm only seeing signs of an allergy with pepper, paprika, pecans, mustard and maybe peanuts. Obviously none of them are life threatening (mostly headaches). I've been told repeatedly that being around cigarette smoke frequently as a child has likely contributed to my problems (I had bronchitis on a yearly basis). None of my children have any allergies other than very mild hayfever in my oldest (maybe a handful of days out of the year when counts are high, she gets a stuffy nose) and maybe my son (he seems to get mildly stuffy on days I'm really bad). I lived on peanut butter with all my pregnancies (and my son still does), have always had pets (a lot with oldest dd - dogs, cats, rabbits, ferrets, reptiles, birds), don't keep a spotless house by a long shot (not filthy but cleaning kicks my allergies up), all kids are fully vaccinated, we eat processed food occasionally...... I think some people may be born with a tendency that if they are exposed to the right trigger, they will develop allergies. While others, exposed to the same trigger, will have no effect. Certainly our environment (in general - air, water, foods, soil, etc.) is not nearly as clean/in its natural state, as it was in the past (although here in the Northeast it got pretty disgusting shortly after the Industrial Revolution.) It may be another one of those things that they are never able to prove conclusively.

I've never reported anyone on any board I'm on because I just don't care that much about most of the hot button issues. I come here for ideas, advice and in the hopes I may be able to help others. I occasionally read the political/religious/debate posts because I find the very different points of view fascinating. I'm not emotionally attached to any particular viewpoint so I guess it's easier to stay out of it. I always thought I was exposed to a wide variety of idealogies and cultures living where I do but I have learned a lot about what other people believe (and why) by reading homeschooling boards.

My first two are 11 years apart. My first and second were inductions. My second and third were c-sections. I have problems during labor where my blood pressure crashes and I pass out. My second was an emergency c-section, my last scheduled. Ironically, my last pregnancy was also the only one that I went into labor on my own, 5 days before my scheduled c-section. By far my easiest recovery was my last. I had no problems after the c-section, no issues. My first was a v. delivery but I had issues with blood pressure, epidural didn't work right, etc (the opinion has been expressed that she probably should've been a c-section as well). I had the same types of issues with my two labors even 11 years apart. It evidently is just how my body reacts. I wasn't extremely young with my first (24) but I wasn't excessively old with the next two either.

There's a whole generation of children who were raised drinking their formula from plastic bottles heated up in the microwave and have now reached adulthood (or at least older childhood). If half of these claims were true we could expect to see a sharp increase in nutritional deficiencies, cancers and other health problems among a good portion of the population that was born between 1985 and 2000. Cancers may take time to appear but nutritional deficiencies would show up very quickly. The fact that there isn't is as much a case for them being harmless as any of the "data" showing them to be harmful.

:iagree: I thought this didn't sound like much of an experiment. The articles linked also seem to just have a few specific incidences without enough information to conclude whether the microwave was the issue or not. (Did the nurse heating blood heat it too long? make it too hot? what was the patients health status in general?) When I was single all the cooking I did was microwave or boiling water (pasta). Now, DH does all the cooking and he'll use it to thaw, heat leftovers and sometimes, veggies. We do both heat our tea water and make popcorn in the microwave. I grew up before they were available and love the convenience (I'm probably aging myself a little with that statement. DH actually remembers when color television came out. :D)

We haven't been at this too long so won't have much but: 100EZ Lessons - ds hated it. 5 in a row - both kids hated it. DS hated reading the same book all the time and wanted to do just one aspect from the book in more depth (ex: night of the moonjellies - he wanted to learn more about ctenophores and other ocean animals - not switch to learning about running a business, then types of boats, etc. Thankfully I was able to borrow this from the library. We switched from one book/many topics to one topic/many books.:) Things that are working: MEP - DS likes the mix of activities. The brief lessons and frequent review seem to work well for retention. A large variety of learning games (from Kelly's Kindergarten), file folder games (file folder fun) and anything active.

The 4-H will often have a variety of groups each with a different emphasis. I'm in Northern NJ and I know in the NW, very rural portion of the state there's more livestock, farming, etc. while in the Eastern, very urban part of the state they do more citizenship, science and technology, plant science and personal development. There may be a single organization that overviews the various 4-H's and can put you in touch with specific groups (ours is the Rutgers Cooperative) try searching "your state 4-H".

Right now, REAL Science Odyssey is offering previews of their lessons free. http://www.pandiapress.com/trybeforeyoubuy.html The Life Science will give you the first 9 Units and the Table of Contents which will give you an idea of everything that is covered. You probably could mix it up by doing a chunk of the Life Science (say finish all the Human Body stuff), then do Earth Science for a while (maybe weather and water cycles), then return to Life Science and cover the Invertebrate animals. If you put your switches in logical places it should provide something different without losing the continuity of the programs.

I'm not sure what to call kindergarten/Pre-K/First grade, etc. Right now, DS is doing MEP Year 1, Progressive Phonics, Explode the Code (starting soon) and Units. I use Homelearning Year by Year and my kids interests to pick topics. Next year we'll continue with MEP (I really like this program) and PP/ETC but I'm going to add Handwriting without tears. Our units next year will mostly be Geography, Continents/Countries and Habitats - so I guess a study of the World. The following year, when he would technically be kindergarten (if he went to public school) I plan to stop the Unit studies approach and do History Odyssey and REAL Science Odyssey doing each once or twice a week. Of course, plans can always change and nothing is ever set in stone. ;)

We use free resources for Math and Reading - MEP for Math: http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mepres/primary/default.htm (there's a yahoo group and I've seen a few users on here) and Progressive Phonics for reading (www.progressivephonics.com) although I am planning to start Explode the Code to get my son extra practice. The rest of what we do I put together myself. I use Enchanted Learning, The Learning Page, Homeschool Share, DLTK, and a ton of other sites to find free resources. I also check out a ton of books from the library on whatever topic we are studying. I do have the Usborne Encyclopedia of World History (advanced for my kids but it gives me info I can bring down to their level), a general Science Encyclopedia, and every Magic School Bus episode DVR'd. I did order the Sonlight catalog for their book lists. I do a lot of printing and probably spend a lot on ink but this method works very well for us since my kids are young but really want to learn and a lot of the curriculums are either too easy (covering stuff they already know) or too hard (expecting too much writing or sitting still). If I'm going to spend a large amount of money on a curriculum and still have to spend a lot of time adapting it, I might as well spend the time without the money.

Definitely eclectic/Unit Studies here. But, my homeschooling kids are still very young and we are constantly evolving. I probably will continue to use the eclectic label to avoid a more narrowly defined label (plus knowing us we will always be using a mix of things).

I agree with adding things in slowly. It will give you a chance to see how things work, if they need to be tweaked and gradually build up what you're doing. My son is only 4 1/2 but I'm using this time to explore what he likes to do, what seems to work best for him and what kind of schedule works well for us as a family. Usually he wants to do more than what I have prepared.

Right now I'm doing mainly unit studies with my two kids since they are so young (4 1/2 and 2 1/2) but starting next year (January 2011 - we school year round, very slow in summer, all fun stuff in December, start "new" year in January) I want to get more into the four year cycle especially with History and Science. I was wondering what some of you with two kids close in age do to avoid teaching two different things to the kids (my youngest wants to do exactly what her older brother is doing even now). We only do as much as we do now because my son loves to "do school" but we keep it a mix of reading, crafts/activities and games. If I start next January my son will be 5 1/2 and my youngest 3 1/2. She'll be too young to get much out of it but would listen to read-alouds and could do a lot of projects that don't involve writing (which isn't my oldest's strong point anyway). She probably won't retain much at all which is fine but when she does get old enough to actively participate we would be in year 2 of the cycle. If I wait another year (until 2012) my son will be 6 1/2 (which for him would still be kindergarten if he went to PS) and my daughter 4 1/2. She'd probably be able to participate just as much as he does at that point based on what she does now, and would probably retain a lot more. In this case I could continue to concentrate on Reading/Writing/Math and do Unit studies for History/Geography/Science for another year. Thank you for any suggestion.

This is more our dilemna. We're 30 minutes from NYC, 90 minutes from Philadelphia, 4 hours from DC....plus I belong to 3 different local homeschool groups, a Mom's Club group....we have YMCA classes, homeschool gymnastics classes, art classes, music classes, etc. all within 5 minutes. It can be hard to resist the urge to do it all.

I'M in NJ and its definitely a "What Rules?" state. No notification, no reporting, no testing absolutely nothing. IF someone reports you truant all you have to do is send a letter stating you're homeschooling. At that point, the burden switches to whoever made the claim to prove that you're not. From the local boards I'm on this only seems to come up if you're withdrawing a kid from school (in which case they recommend sending notification) or there's a custody situation. NJ public schools have way too many other things to worry about, IMO.

I agree with the others - Latin can be very helpful in understanding English. It can also give a jump on learning any of the other Romance Languages since the roots are the same. Anyone interested in Science or Medical fields will also find Latin very helpful and, of course, its useful for the SAT's if your kids will be going to college. My oldest is taking Latin 2 right now in the public schools. They learn about the culture in addition to the vocabulary. She loves learning the myths and cultural aspects but she's already noticed that the vocabulary aspect is helping her in her Biology classes and studying for the SAT's.

Thankfully in our house this is definitely not true. I don't cook. I will microwave in a pinch, boil water for pasta and throw whatever DH tells me into the crock pot. That's it. My teaching style leans more toward the trying to do too much. I love to research, plan, prepare. Implementation doesn't always go as well but my kids are still young so it works for now. I love finding new ways to make things fun, different ways to get an idea across, activities and games to play.

I've only been "officially" homeschooling for less than a year but we've already changed some of our curriculum. Mainly because I gained a better understanding of my son's learning style and what works best for him. I dropped The Reading Lesson and picked up Progressive Phonics combined with using a lot of early readers; dropped random workbooks in Math for MEP because he was already counting to 100, writing his numbers and wanted to learn addition and I wanted to go in a logical progression; I got more resources for hands-on Science and more literature selections for everything. I'm sure we will change again because as he gets older I want to do more History (SOTW probably) and Science rather than the unit based stuff we're doing now. He's very young (4 1/2) so his needs may change as he gets older. We are limited for funds so before I buy something I'll have to research it a lot to make as sure as possible that we'll like it. The one thing I'm sure we'll never do is a boxed curriculum - that's definitely not my style or his.