My dh got one, and he complained that I was using it so much that he never got a turn. Then he took it with him to Iraq, (which is why we got it in the first place) and I miss it! However, mother's day is coming up, and my dh already told me that's what I'm getting! :D

I don't know Tara...I think when it comes to sexual preditors, there's no such thing as being too paranoid. Sexual abuse is much more common than people realize. I don't think anyone is advocating making this man wear his own scarlet letter on his chest, but just pointing out that there may be very good reasons for the mom's concern. :)

Actually, I'm not sure which I'm looking at. I thought they were the same, just different formats. Hmm..I guess I better research better! :lol:

From what I understand, regardless of residency, legally you fall under the jurisdiction where you live. Anyway, I've liked just about most places we've been stationed. Military people are the same regardless, and that can make up for a lot. If we ever got Ft. Polk, I've already told dh that we'll see him after his assignment is over. Come up to Ft. Lewis, that's where I am! My want list would be 1. Hawaii 2. Hawaii 3. Hawaii It aint happenin', though. :glare:

I'm going though a major homeschool burnout, and I'm looking at Oak Meadow for next year to hopefully tide us over until I can recharge my batteries some. I've talked it over with the kids and they really don't want to go back to ps. My main question to all you Oak Meadow users is how teacher intensive is it? My kids will be 14 and 12 next year, using their 8th and 6th grade levels. I don't mind helping them with their work, I'd have to do that if they went to school anyway. Do they turn their work into the Oak Meadow staff and they grade it? I do plan on calling them with my questions, but I was just wanting to know from actual users, not just from Oak Meadows. I just don't want ANOTHER curriculum. I'm also hoping for some outside accountability for my kids. Thanks!

I thought so too, but for myself anyway, it was too much Open the encyclopedia, outline, etc, without any narrative spine pulling anything together, like SOTW does. At least that's how it seemed to me.

:iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree:

I not only would but I have. When my kids we 5 and 7 they stayed with their grandparents so dh and I could go on a cruise for our 10th anniversary. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. When my kids were 1 and 3 I left them with their grandparents to take dh to Officer Cannidate School, which was a 2-3 day car trip. There wasn't any need to take the kids to sit in a car that long, so we didn't. They had fun. I'd say go for it!

Rootbeer HISTORY The first documented evidence of the production of "root beer" was in the American colonies. Prior to that, sassafras was being shipped back to Europe after the New World was discovered. I have not found any evidence of root beer being made with it, only tea, and mead. (I have found one instance in Digby’s The Closet Opened where sassafras is an ingredient.) http://www.greydragon.org/library/brewing_root_beer.html (if you want to read a little more) But hey, what can be more American than the American colonists???

Hey, don't knock the Twinkies. As an adult, I refuse to buy them and my kids have never had one and wont under my roof. Luckily for me, my mom in the early 70's had no such reservations for her children and I got a Twinkie every day in my lunch (or hostess dingdongs) from 1st-2nd grade, and that's one of my most favorite childhood memories. Is it wrong that every time I pass a Twinkie display at the grocery store I secretly want to grab about 50 boxes for lunch desert? American...how about cowboys? And cowboy hats and cowboy boots? I'd be very surprised if those originated someplace else.

I can make soap. Would that allow me to come???

Well, I guess it would depend on your definition of scared. I love a good "BOO" moment in a movie. The last really good ghost movie that was suspenseful enough to scare me was probably The Frighteners with Michael J. Fox in 1996. (Unless there's a movie I'm not remembering) But even though I was screaming and jumping and grabbing my dh during the scary parts, I knew it wasn't real and as soon as the movie was done I wasn't scared anymore. Wait, Scream I thought was pretty scary during the movie as well, but again, once the movie was done, I was able to put it out of my mind. Now, with newer scary movies like The Ring I didn't find scary or suspenseful at all, and was actually disapointed in the plot. It seems like the newer style of scary movies tends to focus more on gore and other weird things and I just flat out don't like them. War movies can at time deeply disturb me, but I wouldn't call it scary. What does scare the living daylights out of me are ghost type of stories that I can image to be true. I'll flat out stay up all night with every light on in the house after seeing or reading something like that. I really have to make myself stay away from those types of movies/tvshows/books because they can pop into my head months and months after I see or read something like that. A Haunting on the Discovery channel can scare me much longer than any horror movie nowadays. Luckily, Hollywood has to make everything so over the top that I don't think they are capable of the fine art of a true psycological thriller anymore.

The problem with me is I that I LOVE to organize. The more organization the better. I can't tell you how many times I've opened excel to start a new spreadsheet to organize something. Shopping lists, weekly/monthly menues, cleaning details, homeschool schedules, you name it. What I have come to realize is that "organizing" is just a way for me to feel in control without actually doing any organizing! The more complicated the system is, the harder it is to follow though, so a few months later I need to come up with a new organizational plan. What works best for me is to simplify. It can't be about organizing but setting up some routine that I can follow rather easily. I wish I were more like you Janainaz. I get those same pictures in my head of those other eighteen things that needs to be done, but instead of running around GETTING them done, I freeze up and get almost nothing done. It's actually very frurstrating. It's like I feel defeated before I get started. Anyway...I've got to go...I'm in the process of "organizing my pantry" right now, which entails spending the next hour or so looking up different tupperwear type containers to store all my foodstuff in...knowing that once it's all organized, the food will then jump out and start cooking itself and life will be peaceful for me. Right???

They better be since I just bought some chickens for eggs.

Um...myself. Twice. :confused:

You know, in a lot of ways I could have written this post. I also love to organize, and then get bored with that system and reorganize it again...I too move every 2-3 years, and in every house I need to find a different way to organize things to fit the space in that house. And, I also tend to fall into extremes, then get frustrated with myself because it just doesn't magically get organized or stay organized and clean and give up... I really, really recommend using a system like flylady. www.flylady.net. At times I use Flylady's system more so than other times, but when I do things really run smoothly. (it freaked me out at first when my house stayed clean for two whole weeks. :lol:)

Maybe they could put their catalog on Kindle 2? :lol:

Oh their sooo cute! Is this your first time with chickens or are you an old pro? I just bought 8 chicks for the first time two week ago and they are currently living in my entry way. My dh and I agreed on 8, but I'm feeling some more coming on.....

Uh...water? and that's only if I have enough clean glasses. :001_smile:

I'm so sorry. In answer to your question, my sister just found out on facebook about a dear family friend who went to church and school with us died from cancer a couple of years ago. I'm looking for the appropriate words to say right now and can't find them, but it is a shock when you find out something like that. :grouphug:

I don't think curriculum itself makes for a smarter child, but I do agree that consistancy with an educational methodololy can. That's what I like about WTM, it's not that you can only use one or two different curriculums to achieve an excellent education, but how you use them. SWB received an excellent education long before her mother and she wrote TWTM and SOTW. So smarter, yes. Now, a lot of people are starting to talk about raw intellegence. I think the two (basic intellegence vs. being "smarter") are different. I've met people with a relatively high intellegence but are to lazy to develop it. I do think educational styles can help students develop their intellegence more so than others.

Well, I plan on starting a square foot garden. I've been in the garage nailing the frames together. I'm going to the garden center on the 30th to pick up some compost and peat moss. (They've found a supplier that harvests the peat moss "organically" or whatever, so it's better for the enviroment than regular peat moss.) Since I live out in the woods a little bit, there are TONS of rabbits, and I have two cats that would love to use my garden as a litter box, so I'm also making chicken wire cages to fit over my garden to keep the animals away. I've also purchased WAY to many seeds, so I'm keeping myself entertained planning where I'm going to be putting everything.

hmmm...right now it's not doing much. I keep wanting to poke it with my mouse button to get it to do somehting. :lol:

Dang it, why didn't I think of that??? :)

Dr. Cullen is a charactor in Twilight. Twilight fans will get it. And yes, I think 8 hours is way to long. I'm already making out my mother's day gift wishlist. ;)