My understanding is that the Texas and Colorado FLDS people are related. They went back and forth. I thought the Texas compound was the more devout or more like ZION. I also read that things were not so "bad" until Warren Jeffs took over after his father died. By bad I mean more strict with the rules about laughing, TV and dress. I can't help but think of Jonestown. Obviously a lot of those people were happy living in that situation, but some weren't. When it came to "drinking the Kool-aid" some people fought against it and some didn't. Were those people taken advantage of by a person in power who was sick? IMO Yes. I guess the best/worst case scenario is that there are a few incidences of underage sex/preganancy. That the state has crossed the line by lumping everyone in together and that a lot of these mothers can be reunited with their children. However I can't help but think there must be some incest, molestation and other abuses taken place. I think I have said this before but Warren Jeffs has admitted to relations with his own daughter and that worries me. This man is like a God to these people. If this was standard practice no wonder the state stepped in. I think they have to protect the privacy of the children so it wouldn't suprise me if we don't have the whole story. On the other hand I am suprised we have seen footage and heard as much as we have. My other line of thinking goes like this. The state gets some complaints about underage pregnancy and abuse. The state goes to investigate but are shut down. No cooperation whatsoever. So the state makes a statement by taking the kids out and disrupting their lives, bringing attention to the whole group. Kind of a "clean up your act" message to the FLDS. Who knows?

Ben didn't seem afraid of the smoke monster while he was saying goodbye to his daughter. Maybe it was grief. I liked seeing Ben kick some a#$ in the desert instead of being kind of nerdy. The thing is that Whidmore did kind of find the island. I guess that means the info never really got back to him. I can't wait to see that red headed girl from the boat knocked off.

Mine knows who she is. She doesn't "get it" though. "Why is Hannah Montana everywhere?", "Why is she so COOL?" We spend time in Wal-mart though. Her merchandise is everywhere.

We had a cowboy party one year. I took a large embroidery hoop and wrapped it in a rough rope. I was like a lasso but stiff so you could get it around the horses neck when you throw it. We had a childs rocking horse so we used that. They sold tiny bales of hay at our local craft store. We used those as centerpieces on the table.

My kids have been acting strange with the good weather too. I took them on a few hikes/walks this week and that seems to have jump started them. I am jealous of you, finishing school. Next year we won't be taking as many breaks. We have 8 more weeks. Congrats....

My mom is cool about it. She gets why we chose this for our kids. We are very close though so she has been there through the thought process and evolution of it all. My in-laws. Different story. I started homeschooling my niece which was ok with them because she is "a handful" at school. When they found out we were taking their precious grandsons out of school they just about had the big one. I explained to them that there is curriculum. They had no idea what that was. They seemed a little better or rather relieved I wasn't relying on just the amount of info in MY brain to teach the kids. They still quiz the kids though.."What did you learn today?" "Oh, you played playstation all day, is that what you do every day??" "Can you count yet? Let me hear you count to ten." It was the same thing with potty training though. They should write books on parenting they did it so perfectly(sarcastic) We are going to have an end of the year "graduation" for the kids. They can show off all their projects and books they have read to friends and family. The in-laws WILL be invited. I don't think you can change someones opinion totally but maybe getting excited about new curriculum and school supplies and sharing it with them would help them to understand. I think most grandparents just don't want you to screw up their grandkids. They like to brag to their friends...

When asked about who or where the husbands where they replied "the focus here is on the children" Ya, no kidding. The focus isn't on you getting the children BACK, it is on finding out what you have been doing to them. I also found it ironic that they were willing to use the media for their purpose. I do feel for them as mothers and for the children but how do you go about fixing any of this. What a mess.

I don't know if this was posted. Everyday Math is what our town and state uses. It is THE reason we started homeschooling. Our state just tested 28% proficient in Math.(72% failed) I have had my 10 year old in MUS this year learning multiplication all over again. What a nightmare. Other names for it reform math, fuzzy math.

I have been thinking about this recently. My original plan was to do nothing but I think I have a better idea. I was going to sign my dd up for Time4Learning. I think they have a trial for 3 weeks. If she likes it we may do that for awhile. I think we have 6 weeks off this summer. Personally I plan on planning and preparing for the next year and organizing the house better. Fun day trips once a week or so. Catch up with our PS friends we hardly see now. Taking care of the garden and the pool takes a bit of time. We keep up with our Karate classes too.

This is out first year too and we use MUS. My dd is coming from 3 years of PS with a spiral program. It just didn't work for her. She touched on everything including Geometry, Division, and Multiplication but didn't know how to add very well. As a result we had to start a lower level with MUS to get a better foundation. I knew we would never be able to use testing as our evaluation method because MUS doesn't follow our PS spiral program. However I feel very confident that my dd will KNOW what she is doing. Like everyone said it is something you have to look at over the next few years not just until the end of the school year. Marathon not a race type thing. It was a big decision/risk for us to use MUS in case the homeschooling thing didn't work for our family. Is there a reason you are testing or can you use a portfolio as your means of evaluation?

I just this past week went through the kids rooms and I am getting rid of 90% of the toys. They each have 1 toy box and when that is full they have too much stuff. I get so stressed out over the amount of stuff under foot. I figure it's better to have a managable room they can clean themselves.

I think it is hard to draw a line between abuse and difference in parenting...in this situation. It all gets lumped in as "wacko" officials have said -these kids have never seen a TV or a listened to a radio: to my way of thinking not really a bad thing, different but not abuse to me -one lady commented on the fact that these kids didn't know what to do with crayons: again different but maybe they play with sticks and their imagination. -they don't have playgrounds for the kids, I don't know if this is true but I don't think it qualifies as abuse to not have a climbing structure. The wacko sick parts are the underage pregancies. Warren Jeffs has admitted he has had inappropriate relations with his OWN DAUGHTERS!! Their "temple" has beds in it for comsumating the "spiritual marriages". It is sad that these mothers have had their children taken away from them, the children likely don't understand. Some of the mothers have been brought up in this environment as well. A lot of these mothers are children themselves. In my opinion it IS a cult, I don't think there is any good answer or outcome here but I feel the officials had to do something.

We bailed on Witch of Blackbird Pond. It bored her. We are reading The Secret Garden too!! I translate the Yorkshire English. It is very awkward for me to read it though. I have purchased a few books that after previewing I knew I would lose her. It is OK so stop reading a book that isn't interesting.

The only advice I can give you is what I do with my mother. She has to sit as close to the front as possible, no reading or looking down and we are careful about taking winding roads. Highways are better. How you adapt that to a 2 year old is beyond me. What does mom do??

My parents always rode. I remember being young and riding on the gas tank. I think I would feel safer if there were a bi#*% bar. I don't know what they are actually called. I would say 10 for shorter rides but I see kids a round 7 or 8 on the back. If your kid is a sleeper like I was, be careful of the longer rides. Apparently I would fall asleep on the back. That being said grandma still rides and I don't let the kids ride with her.

sorry, when I read your post quickly I thought it was about bears. The attacking bison video likely didn't help but that is an example of people getting too close. People like to try to jump on bison and ride them or get really close for a picture. There is even a story of a mother putting honey on her childs hand to get a "cute" picture with a bear. People can be really ignorant. There is wildlife everywhere. Really I wouldn't worry about it. We would have moose walk throught the campsite or elk. They won't bother you. It is worth the trip!!!

We lived in Wyoming for a few years and Yellowstone was a great place to visit. There are plenty of gift shops to buy arrowheads and stones maybe that will satisfy him. It has been a few years since we were there but at the time this was what our experience was like. Anytime we hiked in the backcountry we carried bear spray, it is basically mace but in a bigger can. Some people also wear bells the theory being that most problems occur when people surprise a bear. They have bear cans at all campsites and it the backcountry sites they have bear poles. You would need to be prepared with some rope and pull all your toiletries and food up into the tree via the bear pole. The rangers are very careful if there is a lot of bear activity in an area they will close it down. We also had to watch a video on what to do if there were a bear and the policies for storing food. You do have to get a backcountry permit before staying out overnight. I wouldn't worry too much about it. You do have to take precautions but it is well worth it. Did you know only like 10% of visitors of national parks go off the regular boardwalks to see the backcountry? You will be able to see things that vey few visitors ever see. We hiked Avalanche Peak with my mom and it was amazing. I think a lot more accidents happen with the hot pools and people falling in. When we were there a man let his dog out to go pee and his dog jumped into one of the pools, he went in after him. Duh!! There are also more bison attacks because of stupid people.... http://www.nps.gov/yell/photosmultimedia/safetyvideos.htm Don't worry about the bears. There was a time in Yellowstone that they had stands where they allowed visitors to watch the bears eat out of garbage cans as an attraction. That was when a lot of the bears were having confrontations with people. They were becoming accostomed to humans. They have since learned and go to great lengths to keep visitors and bears away from each other. They use specially trained dogs and rangers will destroy problem bears. Check the Park's website and they will have some resources for you. Have fun. Sorry this was so long but you have brought back a lot of great memories. I see a family trip in my future when the kids are a little older.

Not really MY story but here you go.... Our good friends that we went to high school with, have known for 13 years live in the same town as we do in New Hampshire. He travels a bit and was headed to California. We knew he was leaving that morning, his wife was preganant at the time. He was scheduled to fly out of Boston but his travel agent for work called the day before and had rescheduled him to fly out of Manchester, NH because it is closer, less traffic and the flight was cheaper. He left that morning out of Manchester. Turned out he was originally flying on September 11th, Flight 175 out of Boston. He still has the itinerary from his original travel plans.

We bought one because we had a dog that would open the fridge and help himself. We have stuck with it because it seems to make sense. We spend more time in the fridge than the freezer. I love it!!

http://www.geocities.com/gpielstick/Homeschooling_Forms.html I don't know if this will work for you. I submit a report card for my kids Karate class. It earns them extra patches. I just make my own with a cute letterhead and as I go down through the subjects I write what they have accomplished. Some subjects like Math I have grades and I will give a percentage but for reading I include the number of books read and for narrations I include the titles. For a subject like phonics I just write what lessons were completed. They are laid back though so it doesn't matter that I don't have a "grade" for each subject.

I have been married for 10 years and my hubby is a horrible snorer. He actually went to have a sleep study to see if he had apnea and needed one of those masks. We have tried most everything but here is our solution. He sleeps in his own room. I know not very conventional but it works for us.

These are the timelines that I have. http://knowledgequestmaps.com/walltimelines.htm I have these timeline figures. I bought the big CD. I love having all the figures. http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/HTTA/timeline.htm More expensive but I didn't have to "figure" things out and I had the wall space. There are some layout suggestions on the Homeschool in the Woods website.

We have land as well and will definately be taking advantage of the garden as a food source instead of just a hobby this season. I was just hearing on the radio that because of the weather this year the growing season will be quite a bit shorter and that will have a major impact on the food market. More good news. :confused: It does seems like things are coming to a head a bit doesn't it?? A couple years ago I was worried about the bird flu and before that I was worried about Y2K. I think it may be my nature to just worry.

Watching the little ones in their dresses get loaded onto buses. How heartbreaking. This had been coming for awhile now. That Warren Jeffs has been in prison for months. Sad for everyone. Some of the children belong to mothers who have been raised in this lifestyle for generations. I think most of them don't know any different.

I always thought you just filled to the top. Shows what I know. I did that with oil in my car once too. I thought you kept putting in quarts until it came to the top. My hubby was really mad.