We had a bedbug infestation this year. I wouldn't wish bedbugs on my worst enemy! We didn't realize what the problem was until most of the house was infected. We decided to go with whole-house heating treatment. We had treatment in late July, but had to have another treatment in September. They had closed off the bathrooms, not realizing that there was a closet connected to the master bathroom. There were still bedbugs in the closet, so we had more bedbugs. When they reheated the house, that took care of the problem. Check mattresses, especially at the head of the bed. Look for black dots, as previously mentioned. You could have a pest control company check out your house. They would be able to let you know if it's bedbugs, or something else. If only one room is involved you may be able to treat it yourself. There is a lot of information available online. I hope that you don't have bedbugs! Susan

This home is just 5 minutes from mine, I'll have to drive by and check it out. Of course, the price is waay out of my home budget! Hope you and yours are doing well! Susan

You might want to look at TruthSeekers by Awana. This program is for churches that want a program that is easier to use than the traditional Awana program. It does not use uniforms or their traditional award systems. It is meant to be used as a large group/ small group program, with a game component. It can be used at any time: Sunday AM, Sunday PM, weeknight. Take a look at truthseekers-us.org Susan (frequent lurker, seldom poster)

Praying for you and your family, Valerie. Susan

I got a Kenmore French door fridge earlier this year. It has water, but it is a button to push inside the fridge, so it is very unobtrusive. It does come in white, although mine is black. I do like the pull-out freezer drawer.

Congratulations Valerie! Wishing you and your family the best. You know that I usually lurk here, but I had to log in to send my best wishes! I am planning to find a part time job while my last ds finishes his last 2 years of HS. Keep in touch! Susan

At the wedding of my nephew and his lovely bride they served individual mini-pies in 3 or 4 flavors. They were delicious, and were a big hit. The mini-pies make for less mess as they don't need to be cut. Mini-pies, cupcakes and carrot cake would make for plenty of desserts and surely everyone would find a dessert to enjoy. Susan

BJU Earth & Space DVDs are appropriate for high school students. There are no childish skits on the DVDs. The course is challenging and worthy of high school credit.

I used Stevenson Reading with my son with learning difficulties (maybe undiagnosed dyslexia). We started when he was 7, and used it until he had completed everything that was available. It is important to start at the beginning, even though your son probably has some reading skills. Stevenson teaches using nemonics and starts with long vowel sounds. These are peanut butter and jelly words (like oa & ea) and layer cake words (silent e words). It builds from there. There is a spelling component. I haven't checked out their site in a long time (my ds is 16 now), but at one time there was a way to ask questions on the site. They have simplified their teacher's manuels to make them easy to work with. I hope this is helpful, Susan

My son picked "Fingerprints of God" by Steven Curtis Chapman. The chorus is especially meaningful. Susan

Currently we pay $40 per child. We have been involved in several Awana programs over the years, and they all had different ways to cover the costs. Besides uniforms and books, remember special theme night activities and Awana store night. Those special activities can really add up. Also, the fees cover awards. I'm not only talking about the regular awads like wings, jewels and patches, it needs to cover the end of year awards. These awards cost about $3 each for Cubbies and 1st & 2nd books in Sparks, and about $10 for 3rd book in Sparks. In T&T the 1st book award is $5, 2nd book: $10, 3rd book: $12, and Timothy award is $19. So these costs are figured into Awana fees. Many churches have multiple child discounts and scholarship programs to help those in need. If your child is involved in scouts or sports, how much do you pay to participate in those? Awana isn't Sunday School, which is free to participate in. Awana is a special program that includes a lot of incentives for the children who participate. Some churches have a budget that covers most of the costs, some don't. Only you can decide if this is the best use of your family's limited budget. Susan

Valerie, If we had sold too much we wouldn't have had time to talk! Take care, Susan

Carol, I guess that I shouldn't be surprised that I sold Writing Tales guides to someone from WTM. That was where I heard about them myself! I hope that they work well for your son. Susan

Hi Valerie! I just wanted to let everyone know what a pleasure it was to meet Valerie at the TAFA booksale in Ft. Worth. There weren't a lot of shoppers, and most seemed to have a good idea of specific things that they wanted. They were not looking for BJU or Abeka, but were looking for Math-U-See, Teaching Textbooks and SOTW. I was surprised to sell my Writing Tales teacher's guides. I thought that no one would have heard of them. But they sold quickly, the buyer showed me her shopping list, and Writng Tales was printed on it. I still took home lots of stuff (and have to figure out what to do with boxes of curriculum), but I was fortunate to sell quite a bit. I had been saving things for a while, and decided to try to unload some books as my youngest begins high school this year. Valerie had her books marked at value prices, and they still didn't sell. I don't know what she could have done differently. I enjoyed chatting with her, it made the time go quickly. Susan (TXSusan - rarely posting, often lurking!)

Lara, I agree with you that many SS curriculums have minimal content but maximal fun. I'm not against fun, but at church I want my child to spend time in the Bible. Several years ago I was in the same place that you are now, dissatisfied with my church's SS material. I researched and found Discipleland. Discipleland has materials for age 3 - 6th grade. It is colorful and age appropriate as well as digging deep into scripture. For example: I teach the 3rd-4th grade class. Level 3 covers the life of Christ indepth. We spend an entire year studing Jesus from birth to resurrection. Level 4 covers Acts, we spend 9 months studying the book of Acts. Then we spend 3 months in the book of Daniel. The 1st-4th graders were the first to use Discipleland, now all classes Pre-K - 6th are using it. All of the teachers have been pleased with their materials. I hope you find some good materials to share with your pastor. Susan

Yes, that is the one we are using. We actually also paid a separate fee to get a print copy of the material as well. My husband uses that to help him to be more familiar with what ds has been studying before they do guided practice driving. But it isn't necessary to get a print copy, the program is complete on-line. Susan

The state curriculum mentioned by Tejas Mamacita is not available anymore. We have used for our 1st, and are currently using for our 2nd, 'Help for the Teenager Who Wants to Drive' by the National Driver's Institute. It is not as expensive as 'Driver's Ed in a Box' and is very thorough. We will use it again for our 3rd son. You will have to pay a separate fee for each student. Susan

Keep in mind that your child may choose to go by the nickname, and maybe at a young age. We have 3 sons with names that can be shortened, but we called them by their given names from birth. The youngest and oldest still go by their given names, but at age 5 Daniel decided that he was Dan. And that was it. I still think it's because he didn't want to write Daniel. When he needs to write his given name he forgets how it's spelled. All of the mail he recives due to the PSAT says 'Danil'. On the other hand, my parents always called me Sue. In Junior High I decided that I was Susan, not Sue. It took a long time, but by the time I went to college almost everyone called me Susan. Even today people try to call me Sue, and I 'gently' correct them. Or not so gently if they keep it up. So if you don't want your child to have a nickname, give her a name that isn't easily shortened. Susan (never Sue)

Holly, You can order your supply kit from BJU for about $60. The other kit mentioned has supplies for all of the labs, BJU's kit has only the supplies needed for the labs they actually do(I think that Home Science Tools puts it together for BJU). You will need to gather some other items at Wal Mart, etc. You will need a balance. We just love Mr. Harmon! My 2nd son is taking chem this year. Some people don't like the chattiness of the class. It was a LINK class, meaning small Christian schools were 'linked' to the teacher and could talk with him. Some of the questions they ask are helpful, some not so much. My son fast forwards through some of the extra chat. It is a good way to take a quality chem program at home, and the labs are doable at home. Susan

We use 'Help for the teenager who wants to drive' from the National Driver Training Institute. It is an approved course in Texas. The student completes training online, then the parent uses a list of skills to teach each unit's driving skills. My husband is the drving teacher, with one graduate, one in training, and one still to go. We wait until 16 to get the permit, and until 17 to get the license. Traffic is very heavy here in the DFW area. As the training progresses I ride with the student on routine trips. He is currently driving to and from church, as we don't need to go on the highway. Google them to find the website, and find out the pricing. It is a lot less than Driver's Ed in a Box. Susan (who's been a member for years but only posts when she really thinks she has something to add to the converstion)

Debi, As a fellow Awana leader and mother of a ds with Asperger's Syndrome I want to thank you for going the extra mile to meet the needs of all of your clubbers. Your ideas for your special needs student are great. Awana has some additional resources available to help you. There is a book you can order, called "Awana for Me", that gives suggestions to help for children with all types of special needs. Also, there are labels that you can download to modify the verses in each of the Sparks books. You can access them by going to http://www.awana.org, and logging in to the ART site. Just put in your e-mail address and create a password and you can enter the site. Click on Sparks, and look at the links on the right side of the page. Under Curriculum you will see 'Sparks verse labels'. Click on that link and you can see the labels, and the directions for using them. It even suggests that you modify the verses further if your clubber needs more help. I hope that this information is helpful to you. I pray that God will bless you as you teach these little ones about Him. Susan

My ds, age 14, takes 50 mg. We started with 30 mg. and worked our way up until we found the dose that worked. I appreciate that Vyvanse lasts longer than his former drug, Focalin. Susan

The BJU Space and Earth science is meaty enough to be a high school level course, in my opinion. If you choose to use the DVD or streaming options, Mrs Vick is great at presnting the material and Miss Corey demonstrates most of the labs. It is a very interestion class. Susan

ThelmaLou, My husband has taught #1 son to drive, and #2 passed his permit test today. He uses 'Help for the Teenager who wants to drive' by the National Drivers' Institute. This is one of the approved courses in Texas. It was recommended by a friend who has taught 3 of her kids to drive (1 to go). It took our 1st son about 14 months to complete all of his work, and he had about 65 hours behind the wheel. I started being his front seat passenger when my husband had worked out most of the kinks. He is much calmer in the passenger seat than I am. It will be awhile before I drive with son #2, maybe he will be ready in January. Then he can rack up a lot of hours driving us to all of our activities. We expect that he will get his license when he is 17, just before his senior year. There are many other approved courses, but we have been very pleased with this one. Another one some of my friends like is 'Virtual Drive'. Susan

Greta Lea, The 45 min/ 1 hour is how long a daily lesson takes. A quiz takes 5 min. I usually schedule a separate week at the end of each unit (5 weeks) for review, the test and the writing assignment. The writing my ds has done usually consists of 1 or 2 typewritten pages. Because the class consists of 75 lessons, there is time in a normal semester to have the 3 weeks devoted to review, testing and writing. Susan