Many people do that, for just that reason, and it stresses me out. I love language, and while I don't mind using the vernacular in casual speech, I want the formal language to also be in use.

We own a labradoodle. He's 6 now, we got him from a breeder and there are definitely plusses and minuses. I had poodles for twenty years before my experience with him, so he got on my nerves a LOT. A poodle is calm and obedient by a year. It took King 4 years to get to the same point, which my lab-owning friends assure me was a normative for them. It is true they are hypoallergenic, but the grooming (mine is about 100 pounds) is crazy. I had mini poodles for years and I could groom them myself, but this boy needs a professional groomer. He's also VERY VERY energetic. It drives me nuts, because he's constantly ready to turn on the crazy at any moment. However, he's very very intelligent. Door handle opening intelligent. He's an excellent guard dog, trained to defend the chickens as well. He's probably the most big-hearted animal I have ever had. He still wants to sit on our laps at night.

It's not calling for persecution, per se, but it is IMO a form of persecution because it's libelous. The flyer contains a number of already disputed / disproven allegations about Planned Parenthood. I still think the employee should have sucked it up. It's grandstanding, and two wrongs don't make a right.

Filling a prescription is not performing murder. The so called "abortion pills" don't really do that, and pharmacists should know that. It's grandstanding based on religious arguments, and I believe the point is that is not something which should not be foisted upon the masses.

I clicked on this thinking it was about actual bookshelves. :lol I'm definitely in remodeling mode.

You're quoting statistics for the GLOBE. That's out of 7 billion people. It's tragic for the individual, but microscopic in the whole. Furthermore, measles doesn't kill. Complications of measles do. So the cases you're quoting include the most deplorable, impoverished and war-torn areas on the planet. Because you're getting your information from WHO. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs286/en/ This same fact sheet goes on to explain why those complications arise. Leading causes of death among children in the United States, per the NIH and the CDC: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001915.htm Communicable diseases don't even rank. Again, I need to restate that I am all for vaccinating against the measles. However, my interest is in maintaining a logical view on it. Vaccination is not a "no-brainer," and hysteria about the topic helps no one.

You know that Scarlet Fever is actually a systemic bacterial strep infection, right? Both my boys had it when they were younger. It's treated now with antibiotics.

I have talked to a lot of different pediatricians and two immunologists about this because I have a vax damaged child (per said immunologist) and had two more children after her. My favorite response was "there is no medical reason to turn a baby into a pin cushion." The current (IMO insane) vax schedule is there for convenience. The scary thing for me is that before the age of three, our immune systems are still forming. Messing with them like this is a fundamental alteration, and you simply can't know beforehand whether vaccines will injure your child in some way. I was miltantly on-schedule for child number one. I happily delayed for the other two. And yes, the CDC has a published delayed vax schedule as well. As with our decision to home educate our children, I see no reason to be bullied into vaccinated ahead of what is sound medicine because the majority of the population has a short attention span, and the CDC assumes they won't attend the innoculations. Furthermore, vaccination is NOT IMMUNIZATION. Most adults are no more innoculated against the disease de jour, measles, than those unvaccinated children they lambast. I've been pretty horrified by the one-sided PR rollover this is getting. I don't know whether the quoted choice up there about "dying" from measles or pertussis was hyperbole, but it's that kind of red herring statement that makes me roll my eyes. I grew up in a time when the vaccines weren't so widely distributed. There are those of us with living memory of these diseases and you hear from some of us that "it wasn't that bad, you guys just are being whipped into a fear frenzy because you don't know," and then you hear from some of us that "you guys don't remember how many people DIED from these scary diseases, you weren't there and you don't know." Measles, if you really look at the statistics, is not a horribly deadly disease. I consider it worse than chicken pox, but it's no polio or smallpox. The secondary complications that are cited by scared individuals were extremely uncommon. The media outlets today are misquoting data left and right, to the point where I've honestly wondered if they're just making stuff up. Seriously, if you were to do an analytic on current reporting, the stats are all over the place. I mean -- even people on this thread are saying things like "unvaccinated people willfully spread disease." No they don't. They're not carriers, that's not how it works, and a calm mind can recognize that. We don't latently carry measles, guys. In the absence of the introduction of disease, unvaccinated children aren't any different. We need to move past "BUT YOU'RE TRYING TO MURDER MY KID." Personally I think it's all smoke and mirrors, bread and circus, to keep us from looking around. The measles outbreak and all those naughty people not vaccinating their kids are just the current shiny bird. Never mind the actual science behind vaccination, never mind that there are indeed reasonable people who might have good reasons for not blindly following a government handout, never mind fundamental civil rights. Pertussis, for instance, is also bacterial. That's one vaccine that actually does have a huge failure rate. But the CDC perhaps rightly doesn't attribute the American people with the capacity for an informed, reasoned discussion about vaccinations, so it has become this do or do not debacle. Us and them. Would I want the majority of us vaccinated? Yes. Do I accept this current vaccine schedule as efficacious? NO. Do I support mandates? NO. We're already teetering on the edge of a plutocracy, and you do NOT want the government having the power to inject you with whatever big pharma has cooked up this year. They've already vilified chicken pox (varicella) and they're doing a hard sell on HPV, even though that vaccine is not really ready. I just feel that there is a lot of middle ground that is being ignored in this "debate." I think anyone who wants to vaccinate their children should do so, informed or otherwise; but do not presume to legislate how I protect my own kids without scandalous amounts of actual hard research on your side. Most folks just aren't going to do that work.

I see some of my points above as well! And frankly, great, great advice. My nickle: Homeschooling is not school at home. Do not expect your child to work for seven hours straight. Expect the freedom and extra time to be a problem at first. Give you and your child time to “deschool.†That’s the phrase for easing into it and not expecting a lot at first. And by first I mean MONTHS. You won’t set her back. Everything counts. Explore the websites you'll see here.... there are literally vaults worth of good, free content online, including fun games that actually teach. Chores are ok, appropriate and NECESSARY. It’s part of their education, and fills some idle time. Frankly, some “chores,†like canning, sewing, knitting, gardening, dogwalking, etc, can be fun. They learn more than we think they learn, and certainly more than we can prove. Try not to compare yourself with benchmarks from the public schools. I keep an eye on it but remember, the scope and sequence goals are their highest aspirations. You don’t learn on a point system. See number 4.

We use this http://www.amazon.com/Daily-Warm-Ups-Geography-Social-Studies/dp/0825144906/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_3 Up until 7th we were using the Evan-Moor Daily Geography series, which I found more than ample. We use geography in concert with a broader social studies curriculum so I don't want to make it into too big a thing yet.

I'm actually really uncomfortable reading that school's expectations of a kindergartener. I am not worried about your child's progress at all.

I was coming here to say Dick Blick but I see my work has been done for me. :) Believe it or not, for an office supply house, Quill.com sometimes has really nice stuff as well.

Here is a nerdy review of them by Felicia Day. Skip to 1:22 . I don't think they'd be too young for a 15 yo but you're going to want a lot of them.

I totally see allergy here. To what? We thought our mal / gsd cross was allergic to his food, for very similar reasons. He housetrained very well, but suddenly relapsed. Just as you describe, he would strain and fluctuate. He'd be completely shocked by the spatter when he'd erupt and sort of run away from it, making it worse. It smelled "sick." We switched his diet to the natural stuff at Costco that's JUST turkey and sweet potato or salmon and sweet potato. That helped somewhat, but it turned out our dog's issue is fleas. If he's not strictly on-time protected with the flea meds, he gets itchy and contracts diarrhea. It's the weirdest thing. FWIW I think the outside / backyard advice is sound and kind, until you figure this out. It's far better than going straight to euthanasia or the pound, and he'll get some dignity back. Just make sure he gets lots of visitation. ETA This is what we feed our dogs now. It completely cleared up the shih tzu's hot spots and itching. Took about two weeks. http://www.naturesdomainpetfood.com/about-natures-domain/natures-domain-salmon-meal-and-sweet-potato-formula-for-dogs

I think the easy bake oven is a ripoff and the supporting products really suck. They're not really tasty and they are terrible for you. I LOVE your idea for your child, and I think it is true that personality will out. If you make it clear to your daughter that this a gift made out of respect to her, and that this is REAL stuff, not kiddie stuff, she will get it. At least, that's how it went with my daughter when this was an option. Further, you can always buy a pink toaster overn or spray pain the one you get with krylon high temp pink paint. You can make this work.