When our daughter buys herself a car at 19 as planned, we will have a parent name on the title as well so she can remain on our auto insurance policy. Auto insurance is much, MUCH cheaper that way here. When she gets to the point of needing her own policy (probably after college), we'll remove the parent name from the title.

I haven't had a chance to read all the replies, but I would recommend he check out LCMS Lutheran (caveat - I am a member). The LCMS does require spiritual education before offering communion to be sure there is understanding of it's meaning and significance, as they take it very seriously. The spiritual education classes are usually a great way to get connected to the church, though, and also receive one on one time with the pastor -- often bringing healing to past hurts. The LCMS is known for a very strong doctrine of grace and forgiveness. They campaign against works-based legalistic teaching, instead seeing good works as simply a natural outpouring of the love we receive from Christ. Of course like any denomination, some congregations are more welcoming than others, but many I have attended are very warm and visitor-focused.

You may find the LCMS (type of Lutheran) church to be a good fit. Beliefs regarding Holy Baptism and Holy Communion are similar to those of the Roman Catholic church (sacraments not symbols). The services in many LCMS churches will mirror the mass you are used to, and the church year is followed. Some differences are lack of veneration of saints and Mary (although they are respected and there are feast days on the church calendar to encourage people to learn about their lives, there is no asking them to pray for you), lack of belief in purgatory, and Scripture elevated over church tradition (although some church tradition is appreciated and referenced, it is not seen as infallible like Scripture). You mentioned confession -- it (in unison in the group prayer setting) and absolution are a part of the LCMS worship service, with the focus on grace and assurance of full forgiveness through Christ. (Individual confession is not required and is seldom used, but the pastor is happy to meet you for that purpose if you feel especially burdened and desire to individually hear Christ's words of forgiveness for you.) Note -- just giving a VERY brief info to the OP. Understand that there are many nuances to all these things. :)

I've got the one! If you go to jcpenney.com, search for "by&by Girl Skirt with Panels". I've been buying this same skirt in various sizes for various daughters for years now. (They have a maxi skirt too, but I don't think that's what you're looking for.) The "Skirt with Panels" comes to or below the knee, depending on size and height. It has an elastic waistband and a nice soft flared shape, and it washes and dries well. Looks great with a variety of blouses.

I agree with the kudos regarding Joanna Hensley. I have had two students take Latin 2 from her. She is their favorite online teacher ever, and we have had a great experience with her (unlike past Latin experience elsewhere). My students now love Latin, want to continue on to a full translation course (now that they have completed the Latin grammar), and have done well on the NLE.

You may want to consider the Kimber Pepperblaster II -- it's available on Amazon, so good for shopping while newborn-holding. :) There is a safety on it that would deter immediate use by a toddler, but admittedly not a young child that spends much time examining it. It's powerful stuff, so you'd need to exercise care with it. Of course, the trade off of being careful is that you might be able to protect that same toddler with it. (FYI -- it's about the size of an iPhone but quite a bit thicker. Amazon markets it to cyclists for protection from vicious dogs or people. ) This "blaster" is more powerful than the little canisters -- the design keeps it from blowing back on you in the wind, or getting rendered ineffective by rain. Here's a link with a viedo that tells about it... http://www.kimberamerica.com/pepperblaster

...they used to be considered related, but as I understand they are now considered separate conditions. A wonderful resource is http://www.trich.org/about/for-kids-teens.html. Even better, call this organization and the sweet people will explain concrete ways to help your child. I never knew (until someone I care about dealt with this) how many people are affected by this, because it is not talked about. There are real physiological causes -- it is not a "habit." Interestingly, it tends to be genetic in families who have thumb sucking, nail biting, or hair twirling types of behaviors. :grouphug:

SWB recommends Apologia, however she points out in the WTM that the Biology text is the weakest of the Apologia series. We have local science classes (for a fee, Christian worldview) taught by a mom who was a scientist for many years. She uses all the Apologia texts EXCEPT the Biology one. She used a secular text for several years and now has been happy to find Science Shepherd for next year. Granted, this is all what I have heard from others -- no personal experience with the Biology text! I will note that, based on our experience with Apologia's General Science, Apologia is definitely written from a Christian perspective (and sometimes a very strong specific view within Christianity) in some sections. Charmaine

Nope -- I'm not new here. I've been around since the "old boards," just don't post much. These are different from the Utilikilts, I believe, with special pockets made for ammo magazines, badge holders, etc. I was just surprised that the offering was coming from a well-known law enforcement supplier. So now there's the option of petitioning your local law enforcement for cops in kilts...:tongue_smilie: Anyway, I thought the video was enjoyable regardless of prior kilt exposure... no pressure to watch if you've reached "functional kilt" overload!

For your military/law enforcement guys who need a kilt: www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoX7ZqaNPOQ We thought it was an April Fool's joke from the video, but my husband called 511 Tactical just for kicks and the lady laughed and said she's pretty sure it's for real. She said "we came in this morning to find it on the front page of our website." And it's no longer April Fool's Day... Either way, I immediately thought of you ladies -- enjoy!

Being LCMS, I am a bit biased, but I'd try for a different Lutheran congregation. We drive past several on Sunday mornings to get to our congregation of choice. We're the only homeschoolers there, but there is no parochial school. The kids fit in fine, even at confirmation age. I even had several adult volunteers come help judge our homeschool speech tournament. As a life-long Lutheran who attended Lutheran grade school, I tend to seek out churches without an attached grade school. I noticed you are in Memphis? I went online and see that both Messiah and Trinity (there in Memphis) have no parochial school and seem liturgical. There is also a WELS church (pretty similar to LCMS) there in Memphis called Gloria Dei if neither of the above work out for you. If you decide to switch churches but stay within the LCMS, there is a yahoo group called LCMShomeschool you can join. It helps those of us from congregations without other homeschoolers connect. There is actually a gathering in Kansas City called "You are Not Alone" this summer. Maybe it would help your daughter to connect with other Lutheran homeschoolers as well, even if your new church is friendly? Or maybe she could find a penpal or two from the group.

After experience living in both Fort Wayne and Indianapolis, you will likely find the areas south of dh's work (Franklin Township, Greenwood, etc.) more similar to Fort Wayne than the areas north of dh's work. The Center Grove school system (just southwest of Greenwood) is very well known.

:bigear:

Did anyone's dc take Latin from Miss Casarow at Regina Coeli last year? If so, would you please share your experiences with this specific instructor? Miss Casarow will be teaching Wheelocks I this fall, and it seems like all the feedback here over time has been about Mrs. Robinson (who will still be involved, but not the classroom teacher for that particular level). Thanks so much!

I use mvelopes.com -- it is a web-based personal finance tool. When I switched to my Mac, I did a lot of research and finally switched from Quicken to mvelopes. All my data came over pretty easily. It's a monthly fee ($13 I think) instead of an upfront (or every year or two) purchase fee. But I've been sooo pleased with it. Not sure if it would be what you'd want or not, but it's made budgeting so much easier for us than with Quicken I thought I'd throw it out there! Charmaine :001_smile:

...but it's valet. $22 per day and $12 for a partial day. It is very expensive, but sooo nice. We make up the difference by bringing coolers of food that we don't have to shlep across town. Since the Reds game will be going on when we arrive at the convention on Thursday, there is likely to be more difficulty getting into the $5 garages. Of course that shouldn't impact Friday and Saturday. If you're carpooling with some other folks who'd split the cost, it might be worth the ease of pulling up and getting out!

Just wanted to throw another option out there: Veritas Press online Omnibus classes. To cover a full year of Omnibus online, you'd have to sign up for two classes: Omnibus Primary and Omnibus Secondary. We're thinking of signing up our oldest next year for just one of the courses (probably Primary) and doing the other at home -- in maybe a little more relaxed fashion. We have been using VP online for a Literature class this year, and have been very pleased. Lots of motivation for dd, lots of discussion (2x per week), lots of getting called on to speak. There has been a lot of literary analysis included, at least in this 6th grade course. Also, I have heard that the achievement level of the students in the Omnibus courses is high and really motivates the kids to read and be ready to discuss. We'll probably always do some of Omnibus ourselves. But it makes Omnibus feel more doable to me to know this option is out there if I am overwhelmed, especially down the road as I have 3 kids in different levels of Omnibus at once. Hope this helps! Charmaine

Cyndi, I understand where you are coming from with "how you want it to be." I put so much pressure on myself when things in my homeschool don't look like the "ideal" I have, or the "ideal" I've read about. But really, even without the situations you are dealing with, good parenting means helping a child do their best, meet their individual potential, and use their God-given (I believe) gifts. Even with my children, who have had the benefit of being homeschooled from the beginning, I am learning that this doesn't look the same for each child. Throw in challenges, unique talents, life situations -- each child is ALWAYS a unique mix. By doing the best for each one that you can, by focusing on the skills they need to learn NOW, by pointing out to them their accomplishments... you will lay the groundwork for a lifetime of learning. Your children haven't been homeschooled from the beginning. Some haven't even had exposure to modern conveniences for very long. That's okay!! They are likely to be different from children who have had those advantages. That's okay too!!! Be joyful about their backgrounds and who they are. They will bring unique perspectives and gifts to this world. Be encouraged that there have been many brilliant people (and some not brilliant, but strong of character) who have not had advantages early in life who have changed the world. It may help you if you start your year writing down where each child is at -- academically, socially, emotionally, etc. At the end of the school year, revisit this and sum up each child's progress. It will really help you to look back at this when you feel down or feel like you're not "getting anywhere." I know your children each have a purpose -- it doesn't need to be reached by following the same path everyone else seems to be on. What a blessing it is to all of us just to read your family's story thus far! Best wishes for a blessed homeschool journey. Charmaine

This board is so wonderful... :001_smile:

We have used and enjoyed Biblioplan. It is basically a schedule for studying history. It includes Story of the World (SOTW) in the schedule along with other history spines, and offers literature selections as well. I have found Biblioplan's literature selections more reliable for our tastes than the SOTW activity guide. We used Biblioplan along with SOTW 3 and 4 because we wanted more emphasis on U.S. history than SOTW provided. Biblioplan helped us accomplish that. Similarly, Biblioplan will provide a greater focus on Biblical history in year 1 than SOTW. (You still read all of SOTW, but there are other readings added.) We have especially enjoyed the recommended family readalouds. There have been 2 in three years that we haven't totally LOVED, even my husband. Hope that helps! Charmaine

My daughter completed Building Thinking Skills Level 2 in 5th grade, as well as several Mind Benders books. We are planning to start Martin Cothran's Traditional Logic I in 7th grade. So what should we do for Logic for 6th? I had planned to follow WTM's suggestion: Critical Thinking Book One and Book Two. However, I recently mentioned this to two friends, who both said it was awful. They recommended the Thinking Toolbox and Fallacy Detective. Reading on the boards, I see mixed reviews here about Thinking Toolbox and it's examples. Then I read the article (http://www.memoriapress.com/articles/How-to-Teach-Logic.html), where Martin Cothran recommends NOT studying fallacies before formal logic, so that would rule out Fallacy Detective, if Martin is correct. What does everyone think? Should I stick with Critical Thinking? Just do one book of it? Use another Building Thinking Skills book at the next level? Use one of the other resources above or a different resource? Skip logic for the year? Email Martin Cothran? :bigear: Thanks very much for any insight... Charmaine ETA: We may be starting LToW this year if that makes any difference...

for your help!:seeya:

My friend is trying to diagram the sentence, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding." I think we've got most of it. Couple of questions... Do both the words "all" and "your" modify "heart"? Each on their own separate diagonal line? Do both the words "your" and "own" modify "understanding"? Each on their own separate diagonal line? Thank you.

I went to the one in Indianapolis. They were expecting around 8,000, but said they estimated 10,000 were there at the event. There were people as far as I could see in every direction, but I couldn't get high enough to really tell. It was very peaceful, very uplifting. I went with dh, my parents, my oldest dd, and a friend's two boys. It was a great experience. We were behind three older men who told us two of them had been lieutenant colonels in the military. I was brought to tears during the national anthem when they all snapped to a military salute. That and the 10,000 people singing it just got to me. :)

is soooo yummy! We had a homeschool club that learned about France and we had French crepes sent in (from Marky's) since I was too lazy to make them. Spread with nutella and rolled up really thin -- big hit. Also, my SIL goes to Paris occasionally and she said hazelnut crepes are sold on every street corner.:thumbup: Charmaine