Routine Hepatitis A Vaccination in the United States Sorry, I wasn't clear. I was referring to the Western area since the OP said she lived in Montana. I believe in those 11 western states the vaccine was recommended for all kids.

I say no thanks and shut the door. I did have a very good friend who became Mormon this way. She married the guy that came to her door.

The rates of Hep A have decreased dramatically since 1999, when routine vaccination of children for Hep A began. If people weren't vaccinating there would be far more than 2 cases.

B. I plan meals and shop once a week. I don't use coupons or look for sales, because the kind of things I buy almost never go on sale. I do try to plan around what's in season. We eat a lot of fresh fruits and veggies, depending on what looks good.

I'm talking about content standards, which are basically lists of things that should be taught at a certain grade level. Here is an example of Massachusetts' highly regarded grade 5 math standards Here is an example of NCTM standards. I don't consider these standards. I think they're worthless.

How is that possible when there are numerous tests, all covering different things? Curricula vary widely from school to school, and state to state. There are no content standards.

NCLB isn't content standards. And I disagree that it's not working.

If you're talking about organizations like NCTM and NCTE I don't consider those content standards.

We do? What are they?

I would be thrilled to see national content standards. Unless they're crappy.

I got a ticket for doing that once. I parked just outside the ATM and ran in, leaving the car running because it was -20 degrees and I wanted to keep the heater running. I didn't know it was against the law. I was about 15 feet from the car, but it didn't stop the cop from writing me a ticket. This was before I had kids; there was no one in the car.

I went to college in the late 70s, when Calculus was the first college course. I've never even heard of College Algebra until very recently. What is it, and how is it different than high school algebra? Is it a review course? More intensive algebra? I googled, and the descriptions sound like a condensed Algebra 1/2 class. With all the emphasis on 4 years of high school math, it surprises me that so many kids would be taking algebra in college.

Mathematics 6 I tried using this. I liked it. My kids didn't. There is not an answer key for the entire book, which was a problem for me.

Yes. My oldest dd had some trouble learning to read the ps way, but once we started a good phonics program she did fine. She's an excellent, but somewhat slow reader. She struggles terribly with spelling and writing. She was informally diagnosed as having a language based learning disability WRT written expression. There is a strong family history of dyslexia on my dh's side, and my son is dyslexic. I guess it's not officially "dyslexia", but it's related.

After 6B we did Chalkdust Prealgebra and Foerster's Algebra 1. We have also used ALEKS all along.

Yes, I was planning to have her continue with ALEKS during the year. My biggest worries are that she won't be ready to handle proofs, and she won't be ready for Algebra 2 next year. I was thinking that Algebra 2 was quite a bit more abstract and difficult than Algebra 1, but it's been so long since I took those classes I could be way off. Maybe that's what I'm asking, now that I think about it more. Are Geometry and Algebra 2 substantially harder than Algebra 1, or would a child with a strong Algebra 1 background be expected to continue to do well regardless of their age?

Also, she would be using (UCSMP- Chicago) Geometry. If you have experience with that I'd be interested in hearing about it.

My kids are going back to ps this fall. My rising 7th grader did pretty well with Foerster's Algebra 1 last year. We did a little review last week, and her work was very inconsistent. Some of it she sailed through, and other problems she had no idea how to do. With a little review it came back to her and she could do the problems easily. I'm not 100% convinced she understands it as well as she should. The school gave her a placement test and she did well. They gave us the choice of whether to take Algebra again or go on to Geometry. I'm conflicted. She wants to take Geometry. I think she'll be okay with it, but I don't know if she'll be ready for Algebra 2 next year. That seems like a big jump. OTOH, I don't want her to repeat Algebra 1 if she's going to be thoroughly bored. Anyone BTDT?

My kids are going back to ps this fall. My rising 7th grader did pretty well with Foerster's Algebra 1 last year. We did a little review last week, and her work was very inconsistent. Some of it she sailed through, and other problems she had no idea how to do. With a little review it came back to her and she could do the problems easily. I'm not 100% convinced she understands it as well as she should. The school gave her a placement test and she did well. They gave us the choice of whether to take Algebra again or go on to Geometry. I'm conflicted. She wants to take Geometry. I think she'll be okay with it, but I don't know if she'll be ready for Algebra 2 next year. That seems like a big jump. OTOH, I don't want her to repeat Algebra 1 if she's going to be thoroughly bored. Anyone BTDT?

I'm INTJ, married to an INFJ. I'm an epidemiologist.

My son started figure skating last year, and this is all new to me. He loves it, but I have no idea where we're going with this. I'm curious about the levels. How often do your skaters test? How rapidly did they progress? Does your coach have a long range plan, or do they just kind of do the next test when they feel the skater is ready? I tried to discuss it with his coach, but she was pretty non-committal about it. I'm not in any hurry, and I don't want to rush ds, but I do like to have some idea of where we are headed. I can't tell if this is purely going to be recreational or if he is going to be competitive. I'm getting mixed messages, because she says he's progressing rapidly and has lots of potential, but he's done several competitions but only one test. I don't know what's typical. We have a small club and I don't know anyone there yet. So far he's passed pre-preliminary. If you can enlighten me I'd appreciate it.

First, I'd much prefer wood. Not going to happen, so please don't try to make me feel guilty about the carpet. Thank you. :D I want a nylon frieze. Everything I've read online leads me to believe that nylon is superior to polyester. So why was the guy at Lowe's so insistent that polyester is better? Do they make more money by selling certain brands or something? Nylon is more expensive so it doesn't make sense. He was downright pushy about it. If you have frieze, do you have problems vacuuming it? I had something all picked out and then my neighbor friend told me a horror story about her friend who had her entire house carpeted and then was unable to find a vacuum that would work on it. Apparently it was so thick the beater brush catches and it was an enormous workout everytime she tried to vacuum. She eventually had to rip it all out and have it replaced. I've found similar stories online. I brought home a few samples and one is clearly more difficult to push my Dyson over than the others (and of course it's my favorite). But it's just a 2x3 foot piece, so it's really hard to know what a whole room would be like. How did you pick the color? I want tan/beige neutral with flecks, but there are about 15 swatches that are very similar to each other. I can't visualize how they will look in the room. This is why we didn't replace the awful, cheap, ugly carpet when we moved in here 7 years ago. I am terrible at making decisions!

The list looks great to me although I'm not familiar with a couple of those. I'm secular/liberal, and it would be hard to offend me with any book, unless you were clearly trying to mock my beliefs or lifestyle. I think you're fine.

Do you have an appointment with the doctor? You really need a physical exam.

My kids are going back to ps this fall. So far, on the middle schoolers I've spent $300 for school supplies and $300 for enrollment (includes activity fees, yearbook and some lunch money). I haven't bought supplies for my high schooler yet but have spent at least $500 on pom related expenses for her. What is most irritating is they won't use half the stuff I bought, and I won't get most of it back at the end of the year. And do middle schoolers really need markers glue and scissors at school?